what Enemies are we to our selves because ignorant herein SERMON XXXIX Further sheweth How acceptable unto God it is to beleeve in Christ the Mediatour And setteth forth the dangerous Nature of Trusting in our own Righteousnesse JOH 17.8 And they have known assuredly I came from thee and have beleeved thou hast sent me WE are prosecuting this Evangelical Point That Faith in Christ as a Mediatour is acceptable unto God as well as obedience to a command That as love is the fullfilling of the Law so Faith of the Gospel Several Reasons have already been laid down we now proceed to give you more 1. Therefore Faith in Christ as a Mediatour is acceptable because of the difficulty of and opposition to it When we are seriously sensible of sinne yet to rely on the love of God in Christ is like Esthers venturing into Ahashuerus his presence If I perish I perish or like the Lepers into their enemies the Syrians Camp Thus saith the afflicted soul If I lye despairing under the burthen of my sin I am sure to be undone I cannot finde any hope within my self It 's therefore venturing on Christ It 's good to go to him I am like that woman of the bloudy Issue that had spent all she had on Physicians but yet could not be cured I have run to every refuge tried every conclusion but still my soul cannot have any safe bottome to stand upon Let me therefore by Faith fly to him as a Mediatour In the midst of these depths and agonies of heart to trust in Christ is an high heroical disposition like that of Job Though he kill me I will trust in him Job 13.15 Like that of the Canaanitish woman whose faith Christ so commended Though she were put off and called dog and told the bread did not belong to her Mat. 15.27 the promises of grace and pardon were not her due yet for all that she will hold upon Christ and not let him go Oh then consider that if thou like Peter wilt venture to go though upon the waters to him here is a special discovery of the noblenesse of thy Faith That thou regardest Gods command and his promise more then all Satans temptations and the sence or suggestions of thy own soul As it is with love to God when God doth afflict and chastise us yet to keep up a tender fervent love to God argueth the greatnesse and purity of thy love so in the midst of broken bones and trouble for sinne to depend upon the grace of God in Christ argueth the excellency of Faith Our Saviour when he said Blessed are they that beleeve and see not sheweth that he who beleeveth Joh. 20 9. when he hath the least prop of sence and encouragement from outward things doth put forth the purer and nobler acts of Faith Now for Abraham to beleeve though Sarahs womb was a dead womb argued stronger Faith then if she had been a fruitful woman Thus the difficulty and opposition in such temptations makes faith the more acceptable 2 Faith in Christ must be as acceptable as Obedience because there is great Obedience in Faith For although Faith in Christ doth not justifie us as it 's an Obediential act for then we should be justified by a work but as it 's an Instrument receiving the Righteousnesse of Christ an hand to take that inriching Treasure yet there is very great Obedience in every act of beleeving go over the several acts of it knowledge assent and fiduciall application all these are therefore put forth by a beleever because God saith it Hence it 's called the Obedience of faith Rom. 10.26 And we are said to captivate our understandings herein 2 Cor. 10.5 For a man in beleeving walketh not by sence or humane reason or principles of the world but the meer revealed will of God so that whether we regard the doctrine to be beleeved or the promises to be embraced we must conclude that faith is a spiritual Martyrdom It 's not reason but Gods Word moveth thee as we told you in the Jews They went about to establish their own righteousnesse and would not submit themselves to the Righteousnesse by Christ Rom. 10.3 You see by that expressien how a man must be much humbled and captivated ere he can yield up himself to Christs Righteousnesse Oh then think not that Faith is not an high degree of Obedience It 's a renouncing of all humane thoughts apprehensions and whatsoever seeming worth or righteousnesse may be in us Oh how deeply was Paul humbled ere Phil. 3. he would come to account all things dung and drosse and to be found not having his own righteousnesse but that which is by Faith in Christ So that although Faith as it is a work doth not justifie yet it 's a great work and that of pure and meer obedience For whereas in all other moral duties Love and Patience there is some ingrafted notions within that convince of that In beleeving there is nothing but the command of God and his promise that inviteth to this duty 3. Faith must needs be acceptable to God because that only of all graces hath a relative fitnesse to receive Christ and his benefits Rom. 3.23 and in many other places Remission of sinne and so the Spirit of promise and also Justification is still said to be by Faith not by Love or Zeal or any other grace because they are of an active nature and go out to God This of a passive nature and receiveth Christ so that the Scripture useth a peculiar phrase to expresse the nature of Faith making it a supernatural Instrument or organon to receive Christ as the hand of all parts of the body taketh a Treasure when given and thereby a man is enriched It 's true it 's not for the dignity or merit of Faith that we are justified Therefore the Learned observe well that it 's never said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for Faith as a cause but by Faith as an Instrument so that it 's not properly Faith in Christ that justifieth but Christ apprehended by Faith as it is not the hand but the treasure taken by the hand that enricheth or as the Scripture excellently describeth it It was not the bare seeing of the brazen Serpent or any excellency in the eye but the brazen Serpent that did heal Seeing that Faith hath that aptitude of all other graces to apply Christ and God makes use of it and appoints it for this end no wonder if that be so well-pleasing to him 4. Faith in Christ as a Mediatour is well-pleasing because by this we also are enabled to all obedience to all duties of mortification and holinesse so that this Faith which receiveth Christ as a Mediatour receiveth him in his fulnesse of grace as an head and thereby we have strength and ability to every thing that is holy Act. 15. purifying their hearts by Faith That implieth both our Justification and our Sanctification Hence
of the world not to think it strange if there are some who dare not run into the same excesse of Riot with them Do not complain of their rigidnesse and singularity that they have no good fellowship with them and so are not fit to live in the world How can two walk together except they be agreed vnlesse there were the same natures the same principles never think there can be the same hearts yea do thou by them be admonished and hasten out of this world by an heavenly change upon thee It 's no staying in this Sodom in this Babylon SERMON LXXXIX Of growth in Grace shewing that and how many wayes a Godly man may be more sanctified JOHN 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth HItherto our Saviour hath pray'd for the preservation of his Disciples in this world from the evil thereof We now proceed to the second main general part of his Petition which is their Sanctification So that in this verse we are to take notice of the Matter it self prayed for Sanctifie 2. The Subject Them 3. The Instrumental cause Through thy truth 4. The Description or Explication of this Thy Word is Truth We will conjoyn the Matter prayed for and the Subject together Sanctifie them The word to sanctifie is of a large signification in the Scripture but to our purpose here are two principal ones First To sanctifie is often to consecrate and set apart to an holy use and thus many expound it that our Saviour doth by this prayer commend them unto God in their Ministerial labour That as the Priests of old were sanctified by many external Rites so are the Disciples in a spiritual manner by Christ at this time and this appeareth probable by the verse following As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world This therefore is part of the meaning but I shall referre the considering of that notion to the next verse The second general and frequent use of the word is to make inwardly holy by renewing all the parts and abilities of the soul to walk in an holy manner and in this sense it is partly to be taken here because the Word of God is the instrumental cause of it And if you ask How could Christ pray for the sanctification of his Disciples who were already sanctified To this the Answer is easie That he prayeth for the continuance of and increase in sanctification That they may be more and more increasing in holinesse for no man is come so farre that he cannot go further he is not at the utmost of holinesse Hence we see the Scripture speaking of or supposing persons already godly doth yet exhort and command Sanctification still 1 Thess 5 23. I pray God sanctifie you wholly and preserve your whole spirit soul and body blamelesse Here those that are already sanctified yet are prayed for to have a further degree and deeper rooting of Sanctification So Ephes 4.23 24. There he writeth to such as are already converted That they be renewed in the spirit of their minde and that they put on the new man yea to these Disciples our Saviour speaketh Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted c. By this you see That even those who are sanctified or converted may be more sanctified and converted more closely to God For although it be true That if Sanctification be strictly taken for the same with Regeneration then it 's the infusion of a supernaturall life at once So that as a man is born but once naturally so we may say he is regenerated and sanctified but once yet take it more largely for the improving and increasing of grace thus put into us then we are to be more converted and more sanctified daily and in this respect Sanctification is said to differ from Justification because the former doth admit of degrees and is more or lesse but so is not Justification Observ That whereas the Disciples though already sanctified and made holy yet are prayed for that they may be more sanctified We may gather That the most holy men that are are yet to be more holy It 's not enough to be once called or converted but we are to grow in grace As it is not enough for a childe to be borne but he must grow up to be a man Thus Revel 22.11 He that is holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be holy still and 1 Cor. 7.1 Perfecting holinesse This is a very necessary point for our Saviour John 15. saith He chooseth us that we may bring forth more fruit Doest thou increase in thy faith in thy heavenly-mindednesse in thy zeal Thou canst blesse God when thou findest thy health and bodily strength better when thou findest thy estate increase and why then art thou not more desirous and rejoycing to see thy heart grow better to see thy soul more sanctified And indeed concerning the former things our Saviour saith Which of you by taking care can adde one cubit to his stature But here by fervent and constant prayers we may adde many cubits But to open this Doctrine Let us consider How many waies a godly man may be more sanctified and that is seen in several particulars First He may be more sanctified intensively by adding more and more degrees to the grace he hath received Our Love our Faith our Patience even all our Graces are capable of augmentation It 's not with us as with Christ who received the Spirit without measure so that Christ could not be more holy then he was he could not do any thing more obedientially to God then he did nor love God more then he did but we may all cry out with that man Lord I believe help my unbelief Lord I love help my want of love Therefore James 1.4 we are exhorted to let patience have her perfect work Even as Apelles upon all his Pictures would write Faciebat non fecit because he would still be perfecting it thus are we to all our graces Hence are those daily exhortations To grow in Grace Even a Paul even the tallest Gyants are to grow in Grace Paul saith He knoweth but in part 1 Cor. 13. and then he can but love in part and believe in part Oh then this is of great concernment to think that thy best graces may yet be made farre better Thy Grace is nothing to a Pauls and a Pauls is nothing to the Law or the Rule Look to it then and be as desirous to grow in Grace as ever thou wert to get into the state of Grace Secondly We may be more sanctified extensively in regard of the Objects about which our Graces are to be exercised and in respect of our Relations 1. There is an extension in respect of our Objects of Grace As we are bound to do better then we doe so to do more then we doe What godly man is there that can say he hath done all things God required
upon this will bring much Consolation Considering 1. Gods taking the more care of them 2. Their being quaiified as that come under Christs Fraier 3. And that God will ere long take them out of the world Quest Answ Observ How many wayes a godly man may be more sanctified 1. Inrensively 2. Extensively 3. In the deeper radication of grace in our hearts 4. Subjectively 5. Efficienter Growth in Sanctification illustrated by the contraries unto it which are these Reasons Vse Observ That the word of God is the instrument of our sanctification The explication of the point The necessity of learned officers in the Church The Word is Gods instrument and faith is mans The Word is not the principal or efficient but the instrumental cause The necessity of Gods efficiency Without Gods blessing men may by the Scriptures through interpretation be corrupted Instrumentall Causes are physical natural or moral One cause must not be opposed to other causes The Word is the ordinary means The word to some through their wickednes becomes an instrument of greater sinfullness Doct. The Word of God is Truth In how many particulars Gods Word is true I. In regard of the efficient Cause God II. It 's the Rule of all Truth III. It 's true materially IV. Qualitatively V. It 's true Instrumentally There is a threefold Truth we cannot attain to without the Scripture 1. True Doctrine 2. True Piety 3. True Consolation VI. The Scripture is true oppositely to all the Opinions Doctrines and Religions that men set up by their own fancy The excellent properties of the truth of Scripture 1. It 's the truth of God 2. It 's infallible 3. Eternal 4. Universal 5. Supernaturall 6. A holy truth 7. A precious truth 8. A bitter truth Doct. Truth and holinesse are requisite in Ministers of the Gospel Why it is requisite Ministers should be endowed with soundnesse of judgement Why Ministers must be holy Vse T Doct. 2. That Christ hath a peculiar love of those who are in Church-Office according to his rule and way In what particular Christs care is shewed to his Ministers Observ Christ was sent of the Father and did not of himself undertake that office he was imployed in while on the earth Of Christs Commission consider these things The necessity of Christs being sent Observ None may undertake the publike Office of the Ministry without a lawful Call thereunto Dist 1. There is a two-fold sending Mediate and Immediate Dist 2. The substance of the Ministerial Office is the same with that which every Minister hath Rules for private Christians exercising their Gifts Whether reading be preaching Heinsius Grotius Vocation to the Office of the Ministry consists in these things I. Inward qualifications II. Outward Distinct ult That there is a distinct Oâ—fice of the Ministry That none may enter into this Office without an authoritative mission Doct. That Christ set himself apart to be a Sacrifice for us In my Treatise of justification What Christs sanctifying himself implieth I. His purity and holinesse II His ready offering himself for us III. His fitnesse for the office of a Mediatour 1. The fitnesse of his Person 2. His fitnesse in regard of his Offices 1. Prophetical 2. Priestly 3. Kingly IV. He is prepared for this work Benefits of Christs sanctifying himself V. That he was wholly set apart for us VI. That if by faith we improve him not for those ends God appointed him we make him a Christ in vain VII It denotes him a sinner by imputation VIII That he was a Priest to make atonement for us Concerning Christs priestly-office Consider these things Wherein this prayer and his intercession in heaven differ The adâ—unct of his Priestly Office Observ That Christ was not only the Priest but the Sacrifice it self Propositions concerning Christs Priesthood I. That Christ was both Priest Sacrifice and Altar II. What things are necessary to a Sacrifice III. He offered himself to God IV. It was by way of Expiotion V. The necessity of it The properties of Christs Sacrifice I. It hath infinite worth in it II. Though Christ offered himself as a Sacrifiae yet the application must be as God hath appointed III. Christs bloud washeth away not only the guilt of sin but the filth of it IV. The vertue of his Sacrifice abides for ever V. It 's continually useful VI. It 's prevalent with God VII It 's that Christ presents to his Father VIII The purity of it IX The vertue of it Observ Christ died not only for our justification also Concerning this point consider I. How many wayes is the Christ is the cause of our Sanctification II. What is implied in our being sanctified by Christ III. What may be inferred from our being sanctified by Christs sanctifying himself IV. Wherein the truth of Sanctification lieth Doct. That Christ though God yet as man did pray unto the Father Upon what grounds Christ who was God as well as man did pray The difference between Christs praier and ours What advantage Beleevers have by Christ Doct. In what respects Christ did as much for one believer as another There is some difference between beleevers in respect of Christs Death Observ That such is Christs care and love to his remembred in his prayer and death even before they had a being Doct. Reasons Doct. That the faith which â—ustififieth and saveth us maketh us wholly to depend on Christ The several kinds of faith The object of faith It 's an act of the will as wel as the understanding The seat of faith These things are required to justifying faith I. Of faith under the notion of receiving Christ The receiving of Christ implyeth 1. That we have nothing of our own 2. That we are wholly passive in justification 3. That faith doth not justifie for any intrinsecal worth in it 4. Faith is excluded as it is a work 5. And why faith and no other grace doth justifie II. This receiving is not a bare receiving but an imbracing also III. In this act of faith there is a fiducial reposing of the soul upon Christ IV. An application of Christ V. This recumbent act of faith may not only thus receive Christ but we may be assured that Christ is ours Faith hath two acts a direct and a reflex Quest Observ God hath appointed a perpetual Ministry to the end of the world Quest Answ Doct. Consider That there is a two-fold Unity among the godly I. Invisible II. Visible III. 1. The excellency and necessity of unity among Christians appears by the vehement and affectionate praier for it 2. It s a means to bring the world to believe the truth 3. It s promised as a special part of the Covenant 4 Hereby a serviceable helping of one another in spirituaâ—l things is preserved 5. God suffers sad persecutions to befall them that thereby their discords may be removed 6. Unity strengthens 7. It is beautifull and comely 9. Divisions are the fruit of the flesh 10. Because all things
these things named in the Text and further the Apostle chargeth these persons to whom he attributeth these priviledges that they were dull and slow that they needed to be taught the first principles By all which it appeareth that the godly ought to have better things then those mentioned Do not therefore gather the Apostasie of those that are truly godly because sometimes you see men of eminent parts and professions in Religion become degenerate and unsound for possibly these never had the Truth of grace and such also were those named by Peter 2 Pet. 2.20 where some are said to have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Christ and yet were again entangled in their former lusts We grant that the Faith of Christ had so farre a powerfull operation upon them that they left off those pollutions they lived in whilst Heathens but yet that they were never changed at the very root and heart appearrth in that the Apostle cals them but washed Swine they had not changed their Swinish nature they were not made Sheep though they had an outward Reformation Now that all such though never so wonderfull for parts and duties if falling off never were truly principled with the work of grace in their souls appeareth by that eminent place 1 Joh. 2.19 They went from us because they were not of us If they had been of us they would have continued with us Here it is plain that whosoever is truly of the Church of God he will alwaies abide so Indeed when we see the fall of such who seemed such glorious Starres and such tall Cedars we ought in an holy manner to fear and tremble We that stand are to take heed lest we fall but this doth not prove the total Apostasie of those that do truely belong to God Mat. 13. He that did beleeve and receive the Word with joy did yet at last wither because he had not a good and honest heart Now when we say all these mentioned had not true Grace we do not mean they were grosse Hypocrites as if they did outwardly professe they beleeved but inwardly were the clean contrary No only we take an hypocrite in a large sence for one who hath some imperfect and inchoate works of Gods Spirit upon him which are like dispositions in a tendency unto true Grace as the Embryo to a Childe but yet they fall farre short of Sanctification They in their thoughts and hearts are reall and serious others apprehend them to be in the state of Grace but still though Virgins they are but Foolish Virgins They have not that Oyle which will serve when the Bridegroom cometh Terrible it is to hear this and oh what sharp goads should they be in our sides lest we never as yet have gone further then such persons Say it again unto thy self Am I not gone further then such and such persons 3. It is good to observe That even the Adversaries to this Truth do grant that God is able to confirm a man in grace so that he shall never fall They grant God doth establish the Angels in that happy condition that they shall never fall from it yea they will not contend but that de facto God did confirm some as the Apostles that they should never be separated from Christ Now if this be granted it will overthrow all those reasons that they bring to prove the perishing estate sometimes of the godly For thus they argue If a Godly man shall certainly be preserved to what purpose then are all Counsels and exhortations Why are they commanded to fear and to take heed lest they fall Do not all these Admonitions seem vain and absurd As if we should bid a man take heed he do not fly up into the air if he do he will fall Now if there be any absurdity in this will not all this hold as well in those Apostles whom they grant to be infallibly preserved to Eternal Life Though Christ told them Their Names were written in heaven That he went te prepare a place for them yet for all that he exhorts them to take heed of the least motions of sinne and abide in him though he promiseth they shall continue in him 4. Consider That of those who pleade for an Apostasie of the godly there is a destinction to be made Some go further then others some hold one way and not another As first Some hold that though men be Elected to Salvation yet they may perish because their Elect on is not absolute but conditionall supposing their perseverance and thus the Arminians but some Papists and the Lutherans they hold that no Elect man can ever perish for then God might be frustrated in his Councels which were absurd to think Others they say That men may have true grace for the present but yet not Elected They do not make true Faith proper to the Elect only but say many besides such have for the present true lively grace now with them The Elect man he cannot fall from his grace but the other may The Learned Vâ—ssius doth at large endeavour to make this the Opâ—nion of Austin as we told you Though some deny it and bring places that seem to evince the contrary whose Opinion soever it be it cannot be justified by the Scripture Lastly Others hold that a Godly man though Elected may for the present totally lose all his grace and not so much as any Sparks remain but then they say he will not alwaies abide thus he shall at last recover So that he shall not finally perish Now we cannot joyn with any of these Opinions but affirm the truly godly though never so weak yet shall certainly be preserved to happinesse so that though he may fall grievously yet the Spirit of God doth not wholly and finally forsake him 5. When we say that such as are given to Christ shall never perish this is to be understood of all and every one of them Not only such who have an high degree of Grace but even those that are babes such as are like the smoaking flax and bruised reed Where there is true grace though but like a grain of Mustard-seed yet that shall be so quâ—ckened and enlivened that it shall never goe out and this is of great Consolation to the godly who are apt to think that though some eminent Beleevers be carried on to happinesse yet such weak and frail things as they are shall never hold they cannot withstand any temptation they presently are ready to fall as soon as ever they are set on their feet but they are to know that the same divine protection and power is to all because they are Christs It is not because one hath more godlinesse then another but because all are in Christs hands A Childe in the Ark was as safe as any strong man so that our protection is not founded upon the measure of our grace but the truth of our grace That which is true grace will persevere Perseverance
unity is seen in the sympathizing that all believers have one with another and that in respect of mourning and rejoycing In respect of those that mourn So we are to weep and mourn with them We are to bear one anothers burdens We are to be affected with the Churches calamities as being also of the body As the Apostle said the care of all Churches lay upon him 2 Cor. 11.28 Who was afflicted and he did not burn the same proportionably is to be in every believer Therefore this unity of believers should be vigorous this way what evils what exercises befall others they should be affected with them as their own This discovers they are lively members of the body for if Christ though in Heaven was sensible of the persecutions done by Paul against the Church saying Why persecutest thou me how much rather should every particular member account the temptations of others as his own As it is thus for mourning so also for rejoycing there ought to be such an unity among believers that we are to rejoyce in the gifts graces and good things that others have as if they were our own But O the self-love the envy the repinings that are apt to be in one godly man against another The spirit in us lusteth to envy saith the Apostle even in believers Hence are those daily exhortations against grudgings murmurings and envyings one against another and these are made the fruit of the flesh because where the Spirit of God worketh and enliveneth there is joy peace and long-suffering all graces contrary to such unquiet distempers Now this is very difficult to flesh and bloud that those parts and gifts which obscure thine and those good things in others that seem to hinder thine yet to rejoyce and blesse God for them as if it were to thy own self but this spiritual and mystical unity will enable thee thereunto Neither is the Sun or air more requisite then this union no wonder if our Saviour doth thus affectionately pray for it 6. This union is seen in their mutual striving together in promoting the Kingdome and glory of Christ They all have the same heart the same shoulders the same tongue to blesse and praise God They are like so many servants in the same house all promoting and furthering their masters work That as the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. saith all the Officers are one He that plants and he that waters are one because they agree in one end which is to set forward the work of God Thus it is here Though there be never so much variety in the gifts and graces and conditions of Gods people yet they are all one in this work The Glory of God is the end they all look upon Thus you see in how many particulars this Unity diffuseth it self In the third place We are to know that the invisible unity doth extend it self farther then the visible For this is to the visible Church only but that to the invisible So that in this respect there is an unity between all believers that ever have been with Enoch Abel Abraham and all that of old ever were This is believed in that which usually is called the Apostles Creed I believe the Catholike Church Sometimes there was added the one Catholike Church and this is believed and not seen but by this it is that all the godly who have been are and ever shall be make up one body All Christs sheep will have one sheepfold So that there is an invisible Union where there cannot be a visible one In the fourth place Concerning this visible Union for we make these all one you are to know some are of this unity both visibly and invisibly externally and internally and in appearance Now such only who are both waies of this Unity enjoy God are indeed members of Christ and receive benefit by him but the other are only in name and title like a withered branch in a Tree or an artificiall eye or leg which though joyned to the body yet receive no life or nourishment thereof Think it not therefore enough to be of this unity many have gloried and rested on this that they are of such and such a Church yet their condemnation is greater then those of Sodom and Gomorrha In the fifth place This unity therefore when it 's true and advantagious doth first terminate on Christ and then descends to others Hence it 's added That they may be one in us There must be first an unity with Christ the Head and then it extends to other members So that this is to be looked upon as the foundation and cause of all there must be first an incorporating into Christ He that is joyned to the Lord is made one spirit with him Lastly This Union visible is not interrupted in some effects of it by distance of place For in regard of praier there every one is remembred when the Churth is praied for So that the poor Christian who cannot pray for himself yet hath the praiers of the whole Church of God what a comfortable refreshing should this be to every godly soul Vse of Exhortation to lay to heart more the divisions differences and breaches that are among the godly Learn of Christ here to be affected with the unity of the Church and again and again he commended peace to them We are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem God is the God of peace the Gospel is the Gospel of peace Believers are called the children of peace Take heed of being a Jonah in this Ship Let not thy pride thy conceits thy discontents make thee tear and rend the Church that Jerusalem may be as a City compact together SERMON CXIII Of Vnity among Christians the Benefits and Necessity of it And the mischief of Division JOHN 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee c. WE have declared the Nature of this Unity Let us now consider the Excellency Benefit and Necessity of Union amongst the godly and the mischiefs of breaches and differences amongst them First The Excellency and Necessity of it appeareth in the vehement and affectionate prayer for it made by our Saviour When he puts the whole company of believers together he pitcheth upon this as the most eminent That they may be one And although our Saviour had not the Spirit in measure and so could not vainly repeat the same thing often yet within a little space he doth four times mention this vers 21 22 23. Now certainly that thing which our Saviour in whom the treasures of all wisdom are did much press and urge must needs be of very great moment here is not pardon of their sins Justification Adoption Glorification mentioned but Vnity as if the whole kingdome of grace and glory did consist in this obtain this and you have all and our Saviour as he pray'd then so he preached Love and Unity so that whereas in matter of Justification he commended Faith above
It 's good to distinguish between the sufficiency of Christs death and the effectual application of iâ— IV. Christs speciall love to some rather then others is no ground of despair V. In this Point as in all others we must not go according to our carnal affections but Scripture VI. That the Scripture speaketh indefinitely of All. Why the expressions of Christs dying for all is to be taken in definitely and not universally I. Reasons why the Scripture speaketh thus universally about Christs Death II. Reprobates receive much benefit by Christs death How the maintainers of Universal Redemption differ among themselves Grounds of the Point The Qualifications of such to whom Christs death is made savingly advantagious The priviledges that come by Christs Death to those that have interest therein Doct. That all the spirituall good the godly enjoy is only the gift of God I. Election is free II. Vocation is of grace III. Justification is of grace Reasons IV. Glorification is of grace Reasens Of Gods peculiar propriety in his people as the ground of Christs praier for them care of them and of all the good that accrueth unto them Propositions concerning Gods peculiar propriety in his people 1. A people become Gods peculiar ones freely by grace 2. And from his meer goodness not out of any want 3. They are Christs and the holy Ghosts as well as the Fathers 4. Their being Gods excludeth all other creatures How the propriety in God is the cause of all good Doct. Christ hath all things the Father hath 1. The same Name and Titles 2. The same nature and essence 3. All the essential properties of God 4. Christ doth all the works the Father doth 5. The saâ—e will 6. The same propriety in all the godly How all Christ hath is the Fathers 1. By eternal generation 2. By vertue of the hypostatical Union Vse Therefore 1. Christ is truly God 2. The people of God are happy 3. Take heed of refusing Christ speoking Doct. As the people of God make in their work to glorifie Christ so it is well-pleasing to God How many waies the people of God glorifie Christ 1. When by faith they own him to be the promised Messias 2. When there is relying on him as Mediatour 3. To glorifie Christ there must be an outward profession of him 4. A receiving him as Lord and King 5. A suffering persecution for his sake 6. And by a holy life 7. By walking chearfully in the midst of all troubles Why it is our duty to glorifie Christ 1. Because Gods purpose from Eternity was to put infinite glory on Christ 2. It is the end of the Ministry to glorifie Christ Vse Doct. The greater the dangers are Christs people are in the greater is Christs care of them I. If God remove some mercies he makes a supply of others If he greateâ—â—gers 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 strenâ— III. Christs care of his appears in the dangers themselves IV. Christs care in sanctifying the troubles that they may be for spiritual benefit Doct. The godly mans life is full of spiritual danger I. Of the contagion of sin in the world II. Of the temptations in the world by lawful comforts III. He is in danger from the deceitfulnesse of all things in the world IV. From the sutablenesse of the worlds temptation to that corruption within V. Because of the clogging disposition all things in the world work in erspect of heavenly things VI. In respect of the discouragements the world puts upon godly men 7. Because the worldly snares are improved to the utmost by the devil 8. A godly mans danger appears by the Examples of Scripture The worlds great enmity against those that are godly The several waies whereby a godly man fals into trouble in this world 1. Because of their many sinnes God brings many troubles on them 2. From Satan 3. Their trouble ariseth from the wicked and prophane in the world 4. And sometimes from the godly themselves 5. No condition and relation free from trouble 6. A mans trouble ariseth from himself Doct. Christ by Death went to the Father All these particulars are involved or implied in the Point The benefits of Christs aseension and exaltation Doct. That all Governors that have a charge over others are to watch and pray for the good of those they are betrusted with Doct. God is an holy God and able to make others holy I. He is essentially holy II. Oppositely holy to all false Gods III. Holy in his Will and commands IV. Holy efficiently V. He is finally holy VI. Holy exemplarily Doct. That all the people of God if not kept by Gods grace would be undone in soul and body That God keeps all his from temporal dangers prove Of Gods keeping all true beleevers from spiritual evils 1. God keeps the truth of grace in them 2. He keeps in the actual stirrings of the soul to good 3. He makes them hold out to the end Observ That it s not enough to be put into the state of grace unless by Gods power we are kept therein Quest Answ How far men may acknowledge Gods help and yet not give the full glory to him How many ways the power of God doth keep us Why there is such a necessity of Gods preserving power From the Apostate Angels and lapsed Adam Quest Answ Vse Depend on Gods gracious power only in thy way to heaven And take heed of these things Doct. That the people of God are kept to salvation through Faith Consider these Propositions 1. That whatsoever priviledge is attributed to faith either in respect of justification or salvation it is not for any dignity in faith 2. Though faith be instrumental to our conservation yet faith it self needeth Gods help as well as other graces Why faith confirmeth us rather then other graces Observ That its a special mercy to be kept in the truth and pure faith we have received Grounds proving it to be such a special mercy I. Because of the frequent and diligent exhortations given to all that they fall not from the truth 2. Because one main end of the Scripture is to inform and keep us therein 3. Because the Lord hath appointed Officers in the Church for this end among others to preserve the truth 4. Because the more godly endeared any are to God this priviledge they shall have to be kept in the truth at least so as not damnably to erre 5. Because that is the foundation and necessary pre-requisite to hoâ—inesse 6. Because of the proneness that is in men to be lead aside by errours 7. Errors of judgment are damnable as well as sinfull practises 8. Because of those heavy censures the Scripture inflicts upon heretical persons 9. The more noble the subject is in which any habit or perfection doth consist the more noble is that perfection 10. Gods command is laid upon us to believe the true Doctrine as well as obey the holy command Doct. It is a special mercy for Ministers of the Gospel to
are reduced to one Quest Seeing God hath promised one heart and way and Christ praied for it how comes it to passe there are so many breaches among the godly Answ 1. True unity is from Christ and terminated in him There is a wicked unity 2. A directed and ordered unity 3. It is consistent with such graces that yet have an outward appearance of dissolving unity Remedies for the preventing and healing divisions in the Church False wayes of unity 1. By Papists 2. By Socinians The true uniting principles As to true Doctrine II. Rules to keep up unity in Church-order and to prevent Schism III. Rules for Unity in respect of love to prevent wrath and quarrellings Observ The Father and Son are two distinct Persons yet one in Nature and Essence Consider 1. God considered absolutely and relatively 2. There is notwithstanding but one God 3. This Doctrine of the Trinity is an object of faith and cannot be demonstrated by reason The characteristical properties of the Persons in the Godhead Observ That all believers are united to Christ and in him to the Father I. Consider those Scripture-expressions to represent this Unity II. There must be an unition before there can be an union III. There is a naturall union with Christ and a supernatural IV. This union is wholly spiritual V. It 's also reall VI. The necessity of this union with Christ VII The excellecy of it VIII IX X. XI Observ That Unity among believers is a special means to inlarge the kingdom of Christ Consid I. That notwithstanding the Doctrine yet unity simply as such is not an infallible note of the true Church The Papist answered Unity without true Doctrine no note of a true Church The Papist no such cause to boast of Unity Why Unity is an attractive loadstone to bring others unto the faith What those proper sins are that divisions amongst the godly are apt to breed in the world Observ That the believing of Christ being sent unto the world is the foundation of our conversion unto God Of the nature of Faith as it is dogmaticall or historicall 1. It 's wrought by the grace of God By means of the Word 3. The heart of man is naturally not only unfit but contrary and opposite to the way of beleeving heavenly truths 4. This faith may be without sanctification of the inward man 5. Where this faith is there will be some kinde of pious disposition of heart 6. The motive of it is divine 7. It s grace though but common grace 8. It s the foundation of conversion The properties of it 1. It lifts a man above his natural reason 2. It contradicts not reason 3. It s the substance of things hoped for c. 4. It hath universality in its assenting Observ That the glory which Christ hath he communicates one way or other to his people Consider I. Christs personal glory is incommunicable II. What are those effects of that glory which Christ vouchsafeth to his III. None are made partakers of that glory of Christ but by union with him 1. No man till he be united unto Christ hath any true and solid glory In what respects humane and earthly glory comes short of heavenly Corollary II. That the meanest Christian surpasses Solomon in all his glory Corollary III. IV. It consumes all love and desire of vain-glory V. Let them faithfully do Christs work notwithstanding all reproaches wicked men load them with VI. Admire the bounty of his grace VII Doct. Christ though God had many things given him of his Father There is a twofold giving What things were given Christ of the Father Observ Unity among believers is part of that glory which Christ as Mediator hath obtained for them Consid I. Unity is the Churches glory Their glory actively and passively II. Christ purchased as Mediator this priviledge as well as others Christ said to be in believers several wayes 1. By communication of the same nature with us 2. Sacramentally 3. By his Spirit 4. By a gracious inhabitation and sanctifying presence Doct. How Christ lives in a believer The false ways of Christs being in his people How or in what manner Christ is in his people How Christ is in his people more particularly The fruits and effects of Christs being in us Doct. As Christ is in us so the Father being in Christ is also thereby in us How the Father is in Christ Quest How the Father and Son can be in believers and yet they have such great remainders of sinne in them Answ Doct. The Father and Christs being in believers is the cause of that perfect and consummaâ—e unity which they ought to have of themselves What is implied in their being made perfect in one The causes of this unity Doct. That faith is knowledge What knowledge faith is not 1. Not a knowledge by sense 2. Not a perfect comprehension and intuitive vision of the thing we believe 3. Nor like those imperfect acts of the soul which are called Suspicion opinion or doubting 4. Nor is it from the evidence of any internal principles What knowledge the knowledge of faith is Reasons why faith must be knowing or have knowledge accompanying of it Observ God the Father loveth believers even as he loveth Christ I. Wherein the love of God to Christ and believers is not alike II. Wherein Gods love to Christ and believers is alike 1. In loving Christ and them as one mystical person 2. In the properties of it 3. In regard of the effects of it Obj. Answ Doct. It 's of great consequence to the world to know how greatly believers are loved of God The usefulness of the worlds knowing how greatly the Saints are beloved of God will appear in these particulars How difficult it is for the world to be so perswaded Observ Without grace here there is no glory hereafter What we mean by grace Doct. 2. Glory is a gift Observ The greatest part of our happinesse that we shall have in heaven lies in this that then we shall be with Christ and have immediate communion with the Lord. Of immediate communion with Christ in heaven Consider these things The grounds why Gods presence in heaven is that which makes the happinesse of a glorified beleever Doct. It is a necessary duty in a Christian in his approaches to God to think on those attributes and relations in him which may excite and stirre up holy confindence and boldnesse Consid I. No wicked man is in a condition fit to pray or approach unto God upon these terms II. It s of great consequence for the humbled Christian in his prayer to improve this relation of a Father Doct. 2. Christs prayer for his people will certainly and infallibly prevail for them Doct. The great end of our being in heaven is to behold and enjoy the glory of Christ How much is comprehended in this expression of beholding Christs glory What is that glory which they shall behold shining in Christ Doct. Christ as Mediator had his glory given him Propositions aâ—out this point Christ as God cannot have any thing given him unless by way of manifestation and external celebration Obj. Answ Doubt Sol. Doubt Sol. Doubt Sol. Socinians Argument Answered How many wayes we may glorifie Christ Doct. 2. That it s no free-will or preparatory work in man that begins either his grace or glory but the sole gift of God Observ That God the Father loved Christ as Mediatour and thereby all believers in him from all Eternity How righteousness may be attributed unto God Observ God whether considered as a Judge of the world or a Father to beleevers is righteous in all his wayes I. God is just in all his administrations to devils and wicked men II. The righteousnes of God as a Father to his people in all their afflictions Observ The world is ignorant of God in a saving manner Demonstrations of the Point The causes of salvation Observ Christ is the original and fontal cause of all the knowledge that believers have Propositions about the point Doct. That it 's an indearing respect of believers to God that they do own him and cleave to hint when the whole world go quite contrary Propositions clearing the Point Doct. That Believers do not only at their first conversion but in the whole progress of their life need constant illumination and teaching from God I. In respect of the object II Observ That it is not enough for the people of God to be loved by him but they are to endeavour after the sence and apprehension of this in their own hearts Conside I. The love of God is taken two waies in Scripture II. God may love a man and he know it not III. The sence of Gods love to be laboured for IV. The sence of Gods love may be immediate or mediate V. The love of God to his is incomprehensible The advantage a believer hath by having the powerful feeling of Gods love Propositions to inform in this point I. II. It s possible for the sense of Gods favour to consist with some doubtings III. The sense of Gods love may consist with a feeling of a spiritual combate within us Helps to get and keep this favour of God
a Command yet withall sheweth the difficulty of it and whence it doth come to pass that the children of God sensible of their sins are so hardly brought to Beleeve As also why ungodly men think it so easie a thing SERM. XXXIX Further sheweth how acceptable it is to God to beleeve in Christ the Mediatour and setteth forth the dangerous nature of Trusting in our own Righteousness SERM. XL. Further setteth forth the Excellency and Necessity of pressing the Doctrine of Faith in Christ the Mediatour and of our being affected with it and invites the greatest sinners to come unto him for Salvation SERM. XLI JOHN 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine Of praying both for the Godly and the wicked with the Reasons and Motives thereof SERM. XLII The Excellency and Efficacy of Christs Mediatory prayer set forth in many Aggravations of it for the Consolation of the Godly SERM. XLIII Of the Extent of Christs Mediatory Prayer and of his Death That he praied and died not for all and every one of mankinde but only for the Elect and that the Scripture expressions of Christs dying for all are to be understood indefinitely and not universally SERM. XLIV Reasons why the Scripture speaks thus universally about Christs death when yet but some were intended Also what Benefits Reprobates have by Christ with some Arguments further proving the point of Christs dying not for every man but some SERM. XLV The Application of the former Subject setting forth the Necessity of Faith and Repentance as to the interesting us in Christ The Freeness of Gods Love The Qualifications of those to whom Christs death is made advantagious and also their priviledges above all others SERM. XLVI Of Free-Grace opposite to Arminianism tending to raise the hearts of those that are Godly to Joy and Thankfulness SERM. XLVII Of Gods Propriety in his people as the ground of all the good that accrueth to them SERM. XLVIII JOHN 17.10 And all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them The Deity of Jesus Christ cleared and defended against the Socinians SERM. XLIX Of mans glorifying of Christ and how many waies that is done SERM. L. JOHN 17.11 And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee holy Father keep through thine own Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are Of Christs tender care of all his people in the greatest of their care and afflictions SERM. LI. Of the great danger of Gods peoples being in the world chiefly from its tempting and seducing to sin SERM. LII Of the danger Gods people are in in the world in respect of its hating and opposing of them with Reasons why the Lord makes the world such a disquieting place such a valley of tears unto his own people SERM. LIII The Exaltation of Christ improved for the Joy of all Beleevers SERM. LIV. That all Civil Governours as well as Ecclesiasticall from the meanest Master of a Family to the greatest Monarch have from Christ a spirituall charge of those that are under them and are above all things to endeavour the good of their souls SERM. LV. The great Lord-keeper of Israel from inevitable Ruine both of body and soul extolled SERM. LVI That it 's not enough to be put into a state of Grace unless by Gods power we are kept therein How farre men may acknowledge Gods help and yet with the Pelagians Arminians and Papists not give him his due Glory And also sheweth how many waies the power of God keepeth his people SERM. LVII Reasons proving the Necessity of Gods preserving his children in Grace That God keeps them by Faith Also why and how Faith keeps them rather then other Graces SERM. LVIII The greatness of the mercy of being kept sound in the Truth and the damnableness of Errour demonstrated SERM. LIX That it 's a speciall Mercy for the Ministers of the Gospel to agree in one Wherein their unity should be and the Reasons of the differences that are among them SERM. LX. The great Pattern of Unity the Nature and Property of the Unity that is between God the Father and the Sonne against the Socinians That the Ministers of God should endeavour after a perfect Unity even to be one as the Father and Sonne are Also some Rules guiding thereunto SERM. LXI JOHN 17.12 While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled The great changes that even a Godly man is subject unto in respect of the having and losing those sensible supports both outward and inward which God at sometimes vouchsafeth to them Also what those sensible injoyments are and why God doth so change the condition of his people SERM. LXII Sheweth how prone men are for to know Christ after the flesh and wherein it appears SERM. LXIII Of the Saints Lord-keeper shewing how safe the Godly are kept to Salvation by Christ as a trust committed to him SERM. LXIV Of the manner of Christs keeping those that are his Of a four fold principle that is operative to the preservation of Beleevers And of the excellent effects of the Lively Meditation of this Doctrine of being kept by Christ to Salvation SERM. LXV Of the Perseverance of the Saints The Question stated SERM. LXVI Of the Perseverance of the Saints SERM. LXVII Arguments proving that every one that is in the state of Grace shall be preserved to Eternall Life SERM. LXVIII Of the sonne of perdition Shewing that some persons are wilfully set for to damn themselves though they have never so many excellent Remedies and Means to the contrary And what are the Causes that move them thereunto and Characters of such persons SERM. LXIX Of the son of perdition Shewing more Causes and Symptoms of such wretched persons that are desperately bent to damn themselves SERM. LXX Of the sonne of perdition Sheweth from the example of Judas that men may be eminent for a while in the Church of God and afterwards prove desperate Apostates SERM. LXXI Of the sonne of Perdition SERM. LXXII Of the sonne of Perdition SERM. LXXIII The great stumbling-blocks of Religion removed SERM. LXXIV Of the Scripture SERM. LXXV Of the truth of Scripture-prophesies and against Judiciall Astrology and Witchcraft shewing the vanity and wickedness thereof and of seeking to them SERM. LXXVI John 17.13 And now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves The Joy of Saints handled both as a duty and priviledge as being one great end of Christs Prayer Command Promises and Ministry SERM. LXXVII Of Joy and Comfort shewing how many waies the Spirit of God works it in the hearts of his people SERM. LXXVIII The severall
sorts of Joy and the Nature of Spirituall Joy shewing also how farre it transcends and differs from worldly joy SERM. LXXIX The excellent effects of Christian Joy SERM. LXXX John 17.14 I have given them thy Word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world That the Word of God preached and received doth inrage the wicked world and Reasons thereof SERM. LXXXI Of suffering for Christs Cause and how it ingageth God for to take care of such as so suffer also the duty of Ministers about preaching Gods truth SERM. LXXXII Of wicked mens hating the Godly the Causes Effects and Properties of it SERM. LXXXIII The Application of the foregoing Observation both to the godly and the wicked tending to encourage and rejoyce the one under all their sufferings and deterre and reclaim the other from all oppositions SERM. LXXXIV Of Conformity to Christ in not being of the world and in his sufferings SERM. LXXXV John 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil Sheweth why God continueth his children in this world of sinne and sorrow and doth not take them immediatly to Heaven and also how farre 't is lawfull for a man to pray for or desire to be taken out of this world SERM. LXXXVI That 't is a greater mercy to be kept from sinne and all evil in our afflictions and troubles than from the afflictions themselves SERM. LXXXVII That God hath determined a precise time to every particular man in the world how long he shall live SERM. LXXXVIII JOHN 17.16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world The Heavenly man much improved by much considering that he is not of this world SERM. LXXXIX JOHN 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth Of Growth in Grace Shewing that and how many waies a Godly man may be sanctified SERM. XC The Contraries of Growth in Grace A Comfortable Advertisement to such as mourn under their sense of not Growing with Reasons of the Necessity of Growing in Grace SERM. XCI Of the Causes of Sanctification and in particular of God as the Instrumentall Cause SERM. XCII Of the Truth of the Scriptures SERM. XCIII The transcendent Properties of the Scripture SERM. XCIV JOHN 17.18 As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I sent them into the world How requisite a sound minde and a holy life are to a Minister of the Gospel and Christs peculiar love to and care of such SERM. XCV Of Christs Mission to the Office of a Mediatour SERM. XCVI Of the publick Office of the Ministry some distinctions concerning it and the Necessity of a lawfull Call thereunto Also shewing wherein private Christians should exercise their Gifts both ordinarily and in extraordinary Cases SERM. XCVII That the Scripture appoints a distinct Office of the Ministry Sheweth wherein the Call to the Ministry consists and that none may enter into that Office without an Authoritative Mission also what the Ministry of Preaching is and whether Reading be Preaching SERM. XCVIII JOHN 17.19 And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the Truth Of Christs sanctifying himself to be a Mediatour Shewing what is implied in it how pure willing and fit he was for that Great undertaking SERM. XCIX Sheweth further what is implied in that phrase of our Saviour I sanctifie my Self Handling chiefly the Priestly Office of Christ in opposition to the Socinians and for the Comfort and Direction of Penitent sinners SERM. C. Of Jesus Christ as Priest Sacrifice and Altar The Properties of that Sacrifice The way how men come to partake of the Benefit of it Its Efficacy as to Sanctification as well as Justification SERM. CI. Of Sanctification as the Effect of Christs death shewing that no man truly beleeveth in Christ for Justification that doth not also for Sanctification SERM. CII JOHN 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also that shall beleeve in me through their word Sheweth why Christ who could do all things yet puts up prayers What difference there is between his prayers and ours and the great advantage Beleevers have by Christs praying for them SERM. CIII In what respects the Benefits of Christs mediation extends to all Beleevers alike and in what not for the comfort of weak Christians and such of them as are most contemptible in the eyes of the world SERM. CIV That in some particulars the poor weak Christian hath more respect from Christ then the strong one SERM. CV Of Christs love and care of every one of his before they had a being SERM. CVI. Of both the moving causes and effects of Election and of Christs prayer and death Against Arminians and others SERM. CVII Of Faith the severall kindes of it and especially of Justifying Faith its object and seat c. SERM. CVIII Of Justifying Faith shewing what things are necessary thereunto and how or in what method the Spirit of God inableth the humble soul to Beleeve SERM. CIX Of Justifying Faith SERM. CX Of Justifying Faith that it is a fiduciall Recumbency in Christ SERM. CXI That a Gospel Ministry is to continue to the end of the world and for what ends SERM. CXII JOHN 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may beleeve that thou hast sent me Of Unity among Gods people the Nature of it SERM. CXIII Of Unity among Christians the Benefits and Necessity of it and the mischief of Divisions SERM. CXIV Of Unity among the Godly More particulars setting forth the excellency of it and mischief of Division Answering this Objection viz. Seeing God hath promised one heart and way and Christ prayed for it How comes it to pass that there should be so many breaches amongst the Godly SERM. CXV Of Unity among Beleevers Cautions about it Also setting forth some good uniting Principles with a censure of some bad ones SERM. CXVI Of Christian Unity setting forth some Rules for Unity in Doctrine Church-order and Affection for the preventing of Errour Schism and Wrath. SERM. CXVII Of the distinction of Persons and Unity of Essence in the Deity against the Socinians SERM. CXVIII The Glorious mystery of the Saints Union with Christ and with the Father by him opened SERM. CXIX Sheweth what a speciall means Unity among Beleevers is to enlarge the Kingdom of Christ and yet notwithstanding that Unity without true Doctrine is no Infallible Mark of the true Church against the Papists SERM. CXX A Consideration of Faith in its Generall nature as Dogmaticall or Historicall carried out to Scripture-Truths because of Divine Authority SERM. CXXI Of Dogmaticall Faith the Properties of and Contraries to it SERM. CXXII JOHN 17.22 And the Glory which thou gavest me I gave them that they may be one even as we are one Of the Glory which Christ communicates
if the Apostle 1 Tim. 3.5 say of every creature for nourishment it is sanctified by Praier when yet the creatures have in themselves a naturall strength to nourish how much more is this to be seen in the means of grace which work not by inherent but instituted efficacy altogether If therefore we would have our preaching and your hearing doe any good be powerfull to an heavenly alteration and change then look up with your eyes to heaven It 's from God that this must do me good It 's from God that this must teach my heart In vain is a Teacher without if there be not also a Teacher within 1 Cor. 3. You see the Apostle there taking beleevers off from all Ministers and Instruments and to rest on Jesus Christ They are necessary but as Ministers by whom we do beleeve not as authours of our faith Let us consider Why Praier is thus necessary in the use of all other means And First From God in these respects 1. He is the sole author and fountain of all grace It 's not the gifts or parts of Men and Angels that remove the stone of the heart that can make the withered dry bones to live again unlesse the Spirit of God breathe upon us Jam. 1. Every good and perfect gift is said to come from above That as the naturall Philosophers say The Sun and Stars are the cause of all the life and perfection which is in these things below insomuch that without them all things would be destroyed This is much more true in heavenly and supernaturall effects therefore he is called the God of all grace and the God of all consolations 2 Cor. 1.3 There is no godlinesse no comfort can stream in the heart but from this Fountain we lie like so many lumps of earth like so many noisome Lazarusses in the grave till God bid us Come forth So then to have any doctrine or truth enter into thy heart to have the Ministry effectuall and powerful to thee is of greater consequence then thou art aware of There must be much strugling and striving with God ere thou canst behold him in his glory in the Ordinances Thou must be Jacob ere thou canst be Israel as an Ancient said Wonder not if you see men living in the same lusts and roving in their former excesse of riot though the clouds drop upon them daily yet they are a barren wildernesse Alas all the rain in the world would not make the Earth spring forth and encrease had not God at first commanded the earth to doe so and certainly if God can by his Word make the dull dead earth so glorious that Solomon is in his greatest state not like the glory thereof how much rather can he make a heavy dull earthly carnall people glorious and admirable in variety of graces he can make them a Paradise who were a parched heath Praier therefore is necessary because God onely hath the command over all Ordinances to blesse as he pleaseth 2. On Gods part we are therefore to pray that so all the glory and praise in every thing may redound to him so 1 Cor. 1. that he who glorieth may glory in God only Hence it is that as in the Old Testament we reade of many good women and they were most of them barren to humble them and that they might see it was not their goodnesse but Gods glory and power to give them children So it is here God many times causeth not the best and choicest Ministers to be fruitfull in conversion of others to be able to say Behold I and the Children which thou hast given me that hereby all the glory may be attributed to God onely 3. Therefore after all doctrinall Instructions is Praier to be used because God in anger many times for mens sins doth blast the Word to them doth not give them a tender and an understanding heart Oh then how much is he to be sought to that hath the key of all mens hearts that openeth and none can shut that shutteth and none can open Rev. 3.7 Observe that expression it denoteth Gods absolute Soveraignty that all the devils in hell and all the wicked Instruments in the world are not able to hinder the good effect that God hath appointed such a Sermon or such a Ministry to produce What then though we sow all the day long though we exhort entreat and beseech yet if God be angry with thee and will let thee alone in thy sins thou shalt die and be damned in thy obstinacy and unbelief Though Solomon with all his wisedom were here to perswade thee thou wouldst be wilful in thy iniquities The seeing eye and the hearing ear are both said to be the gift of God Pro. 20.12 and what a terrible expression is that to the Israelites where after all the miracles and wonderfull works that God had done before them it 's said God had not given them an heart to understand till that day Deut. 19.4 and famous is that place Isa 6. thrice repeated in the New Testament of blinding their eyes and hardening their hearts lest they should understand and be converted Who then is there but must necessarily conclude that God is earnestly to be praied unto lest he be left to a spirit of slumber and giddinesse lest God sware in his wrath that no preaching shall ever do thee good How did Paul rejoice to be at Ephesus because an effectual and large door was opened to him 1 Cor. 16 9 It was opened by God the Ministers themselves nor the people had not ability to doe it Thus on Gods part we have cause to pray Secondly If we consider the nature of all Preaching and what kinde of cause the Word is of conversion that will also compell to Praier It 's disputed among Divines what kinde of causality the Preaching of the Word hath in regenerating of men I shall not now lanch into that deep Ocean but two waies are wholly to be denied 1. The Preaching of the Word doth not convert necessarily as the Fire doth necessarily burn the Sun doth necessarily shine No for then wheresoever the Word is preached all their eyes would be opened all their hearts softened that hear it but experience doth wofully confute this We see Christ who preached as one having authority and no man ever spake like him yet he threw in his Net and catched few fish yea we doe not reade of so many converted by his Ministry as by some of the Apostles 2. As it doth not work necessarily so neither as a natural cause that hath inward power to produce its effects As the fire hath an inherent strength to burn the Earth an inherent power to bring forth fruit or as a two edged Sword pierceth For though the Word be compared to it yet 3. This efficacy is only by Institution according to the command and good pleasure of God Of it self it worketh no more then Exhortations to a
and lastly what is strongly in the heart cannot but empty it self in words Hence are those expressions I cried unto the Lord with a loud voice so that a vocall praier is commanded as well as a mentall only in that we must remember there ought to be a threefold attention first unto God the object unto whom we pray that our thoughts be not distracted 2. To the matter that it be lawfull and according to Gods will 3. To the words that they be sober grave and decent in so religious a duty And thus much from that expression Christ said Father In the next place let us consider how Christ could pray for being God it seemeth praier is as incompatible to him as to God The answer is in respect of his divine nature so he could not pray but in his humane nature and as he was in the state of humiliation so he did not only pray but he praied wirh agonies and strong cries as the Apostle saith Heb. 5.7 for in this consideration he was capable of many mercies which God did bestow upon him and also upon all the Elect for he praied for them also yea he did not only pray in the state of humiliation but in his glorified estate Now whilest he is exalted on his Throne he makes intercession for us Heb. 7.15 1 Joh. 2.1 Though this Intercession in Heaven is not in that humble way of supplication as while he was in the flesh but a presenting of his sufferings and obedience to the Father with an earnest will that all his Elect should partake the benefits thereof But of this Point how Christ could be said to pray more in its due time This praier Christ powred forth so far as it relateth to the Church of God and all beleevers is part of his Priestly office for the Priest was to doe two things first to pray then to offer a sacrifice Now Christ in this Chapter he praieth and afterwards offereth up himself an holy and unspotted sacrifice for the sins of his people and as the High-Priest was to carry the names of the twelve Tribes in his breast to present them to God so doth Christ here he presents all his children unto God the Father by this praier There is no godly man so mean so weak so inconsiderable but he is commended unto the Father and may justly expect the fruit of this praier That all the Children of God are under the fruit and benefit of Christs Mediatory praier Take up these two forementioned places 1 Joh 2.1 If any sin we have an Advocate with the Father Here is supposed that upon every sinne we commit there is an inditement an impleading of us an accusing of us unto God Thou thinkest nothing of thy sinnes when committed they are presently out of thy minde but oh the charge and Inditement that is against thee before God only the godly they have Christ an Advocate he dosh constantly pleade for them he takes their parts and he is sure to prevail What treasures of comfort are here for the godly when thou art not thinking or minding thy own self Christ in heaven is pleading for thee It 's good to have this Friend in the Court of heaven so Heb. 7.25 He everliveth to make intercession for them he ever-liveth and this he attends unto When thou art sleeping and canst not pray for thy self he maketh Intercession for thee So that Christ though exalted and made glorious in heaven hath not laid aside his love and earnest affections for thy good But as Joseph when lifted up in Pharaohs Court sent for his Father and Brethren to give them the good things of Egipt Thus it is here Christ said he went to his Father to provide mansion places in heaven for them Joh. 14.2 Oh the unspeakable dignity and happinesse to be under Christs Intercession If we do so much esteem the praier of a godly man on earth and the effectuall praier of one righteous man prevaileth much The excelltncy of praier appearing in that it only is compared to Frankincense Heb. 5. cap. 6. signifying as this doth recreate and refresh man so doth a true right praier please God what then will the praier of Christ himself do If a Job If a Daniel If a Moses could do so much in praier when yet their praier needed Christs praier for acceptation and impetration how prevalent must Christs praier be for his beleevers To open this Doctrine Consider First The matter of Christs Praier for his Children and that is 1. For the accomplishing of all grace here and glory hereafter There is no heavenly or spirituall mercy but Christ hath praied for it Thou dost not only pray for it alas what are thy praiers but Christ hath praied for it thy conversion and sanctification is praied for There is no man to be converted by the Word but Christ praied for that mans conversion Joh. 17.20 It was said of Austin because his Mother Monica praied so earnestly about him that it was impossible a childe of so many praiers should perish but that is not necessary though all the men in the world should pray for such a mans conversion it might not be only we may say It 's impossible a childe of Christs praiers and tears should perish Again 2. Pardon and forgivenesse of sinne and that as oft as it is committed is the matter of his prayer We have an Advocate as you heard Alas upon the committing of any sinne if there were no more strength to do them away then is in the praiers and tears of the godly if all the guilt lay upon them to discharge how insupportable would it be but there is no sinne at any time committed by thee if repented of and forgiven but Christ hath praied that it may be forgiven thee so then though there be weaknesse unbelief and dullnesse in thy praiers yet there was no fault to be found â—n Christs praiers In all thy agonies desertions and temptations pleade the Intercession of Christ 3. Further Another main spirituall mercy praied for is preservation from sin v. 15. I pray not thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil Oh admirable and necessary praier we are in the world as in an infected Hospitall as in a fiery furnace Now to be here and not diseased not to be burned therein is the wonderfull expression of Gods power and goodnesse for this River to run into the Sea and not to partake of the salt taste thereof is beyond expression Christ hath not praied that we should have no afflictions or troubles in the world but that we should be kept from the evil of them He did not pray for Peter that he should not have wofull and sad temptations but that his faith might not fail in the midst of them O what a comfortable cordiall may it be in times of great commotions and violent temptations how do the godly fear lest their
strength should fail them lest one time or other they should yeeld to sinne and be overwhelmed Now in the midst of all these fears Christ hath praied for thee as well as for Peter that thy faith may not fail Insomuch that we may say Christs praier for beleevers is all their hope and foundation In some sad exigences how carefull are we to have the praiers of all Gods people to be remembred in such and such a Congregation but if all the Churches in the world should pray for a man it would not amount to so much as Christs praier therefore let the godly comfort one another with these things Lastly He hath praied for their glorification Thus he praied that they may be one even as he and the father are one and that they be where he is viz. that they may enjoy that glory which Christ had purchased for them Therefore he is called the Resurrection Job 11.25 because he will raise up such at the last day The body though dead and consumed to ashes shall not alwaies be in the grave neither shall the soul have such rags and deformities upon it continually but shall be cloathed with glorious robes Thus you see the chief and main matter of Christs praier not so much earthly and temporall things as heavenly for although Christ did comfort his Disciples even in earthly straits Mat. 6.25 that they had a Father in Heaven and if he did provide for all the creatures in the world they might much rather be perswaded of his care to them and Paul argued Rom. 8. he gave his only Son for them how shall he not give all things else Yet the great things that Christ before his sufferings thought fit to commend unto God were spirituall and heavenly benefits And that is the first consideration The matter of Christs Praier Secondly Take notice of the nature of this Praier it 's by way of Mediation It 's a Mediatory Praier and so differs from all the praiers of other men As they are bare meer men so their praiers are bare meer praiers There is no merit no mediation in thee but Christs praier is of a farre more transcendent nature Even as the bloud of the Martyrs came farre short of Christs Their bloud was not expiatory it was not by way of a Sacrifice for sinnes whereas Christs was Thus there is a vast difference between praiers and praiers God may regard one mans praier more then anothers it may be more effectuall as in that supposition though Daniel and Job stood and praied they should not be heard Job you know was commanded to pray for his Friends and his praier was accepted of more then theirs and Daniel was said to be a man greatly beloved because his praiers were so readily heard Likewise the praier of many or a Church is more prevalent then the praier of one single person So a Praier from one in office as a Minister is more then of one in a private condition but yet the praier of Christ as in the office of a Mediatour doth farre surmount all So then in Christs praier we are especially to look to the Mediatory power to the impetratory efficacy of it It 's not a meer supplication as ours are but a powerfull obtaining of what is desired His praier can be no more refused then his bloud they both are in the same nature they go along under the same respect his bloud may as well be without advantage as his praier The high-Priests praier for the people was of greater concernment for the people then their own praiers I tell thee all thy own praiers are not of that consequence to thee as Christs praier is all Mediatory and impetratory efficacy is from that Thirdly Consider the dignity of the Person who did pray for beleevers and thereby cometh an infinite efficacy and worth to it Christ who praied for us being God and man in regard of his divine nature there cometh an infinite worth upon his praier his praier is like himself and from this account it is that it is meritorious with God that it is just with God to grant him his Requests his Supplications are put up in his own name he needeth no Mediatour there is none to make way for his acceptance with God so that this Meditation affords unspeakable consolation though all thy praiers and duties be nothing worth yet Christs is of infinite value The dignity and merit whereby any good cometh to us is not for our praiers but for Christs Certainly the people of God do not live so chearfully upon this consideration as they ought They are careful to pour out their own praiers but not by faith to rest on Christs What needest thou fear who canst bring praiers of infinite merit The Lord Christ hath praied that I might have this mercy he hath praied that this grace should be vouchsafed unto me What fault can be found with Christ What blame or imperfection is to be seen or found in him how can Christ be denied in justice It is his right to have his Requests answered Fourthly Consider the respect and relation Christ stands in towards God the Father And then you will still say his praier is of great concernment to 〈◊〉 Now his relation is the only Son of God and dearly beloved by him This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Mat. 3.17 So that his praiers are heard unquestionably upon a twofold ground the one of justice because infinite in worth the other of love because the only begotten Son This Heb. 5.7 He is said while he praied to be heard in what he feared and Joh. 11.12 Christ thanks the Father that he heard him alwaies and often doth he professe that the Father loveth him the Sonne and that the Father and the Son are one This also is very comfortable to meditate upon Thou hast the praier of him who is the only begotten of the Father whom the Father heareth alwaies and to whom he denieth nothing if we are able to say Lord this is not my praier only This is not my desire only but it s the request of Christ so beloved of thee then thou maist justly beleeve thou shalt be accepted of O Lord though I have no lovelinesse no comelinesse yet Christ hath Some have doubted whether Christ was heard in every thing he praied for and they instance in his praier that the cup might passe from him but that was only conditionall If it be thy will and therefore he added Not my will but thine be done That which he absolutely praied for was Gods support and preservation of him as also the raising him out of the grave That which seemeth to have gteat difficulty is his praier Luke 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they do but of the efficacy of this we need not doubt of because the Pharisees and others they sinned against their knowledge and conscience and for such Christ praied not but
others that knew not what they did many of them were converted afterwards and did beleeve in him whom they had pierced so that we need not doubt of speeding when we bring Christ with us Hence Joh. 16.24 Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you If we were to draw nigh in our Name If we did appear in our own Name we might justly look for anger in stead of mercy but God is not angry with Christ he doth not frown upon Christ Fifthly The praier of Christ had all those internall qualifications that are requisite to acceptation For first There was holy faith and confidence the Preface is Father which is not a bare Title but an expression from inward affection indeed Christ was not capable of justifying faith he was too perfect a subject to need such a grace yet as the habit of faith doth include no imperfection in the subject but a full dependance and affiance on God so Christ did beleeve and in this sence he cried My God My God why hast thou forsaken me My God My God were acts of fiduciall dependance As for repentance and sorrow for sinne which is requisite in all our praiers such also Christ was not capable of but then for love and zeal to God for heavenly affections c. The Sea is not fuller of water then his soul was of such enlargements No distraction no deadnesse no imperfection did cleave to his praier but as he himself was without sinne so also was his praier Besides the extrinsecall dignity and worth of Christs praier there was an inherent perfection and fullnesse of all graces in him Oh then though the godly labour and groan under manifold weaknesses Their praiers are so imperfect that they need to be praied over again and confession is requisite for our imperfect confession yet remember the perfection of Christs praiers There was no spot no blemish in this Sacrifice of his lips At the end of thy praier when thy heart smiteth thee for thy roving thoughts thy dulnesse thy distractions comfort thy self with this there was no such defect in Christs praier Christs praier was like that curious confection and ointment which had so many precious ingredients in it Sixthly Consider this Praier of Christs had that generall nature in it which all our praiers have to be a condition and medium to bring about the good things we desire For some have disputed about praier What use is there of it seeing God knoweth all things before we ask and he is unchangeable our praiers cannot alter his purpose To this it 's answered That our praiers are not to acquaint God with that he knew not or to change his will only God who hath decreed to do such things he hath appointed praier as a condition or means for the accomplishment of them Even as God hath ordained the earth to bring forth fruit but it must be tilled and sown and as mankinde is to be multiplied but by marriage so good things are appointed for the godly but by praier Mat. 7.7 This is therefore called the golden chain reaching from earth to heaven Ascendit precatio descendit miseratio and for this end is both a command of praier and a gracious promise to it so that he who praieth not presumeth grosly if he expect the fullfilling of any good thing to him As it is thus with praier in the general so also with Christs praier whatsoever Christ was to purchase at Gods hand for his people the same he was to pray for Psa 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance And thus in this Chapter he praieth for that glory which yet was from the beginning appointed for him so that Christs Praier was a speciall means to bring about all those admirable mercies promised to his people Seventhly Take notice of this that this Praier of Christ sanctifieth all our Praiers They become accepted of through him He is the Altar upon which the incense of the Churches praiers is offeted Rev. 8.4 As our tears need washing in his bloud so our praiers need Christs praier he praied that our praiers may be received There is not any one Praier could ever ascend to heaven were it not for Christs Intercession The Popish doctrine therefore is very injurious to Christ which inventeth other treasures besides the treasures of Christ They tell us of a treasure or bank of praiers which may be applied to this or that necessitous person They tell us of other Mediators in heaven besides Christ Mediators not of expiation but intercession whereas you see it 's Christs expiation and intercession that go together to work our redemption But if Christs praier be thus all in all what need we pray are not our praiers superfluous Answ No for they are not to that end which Christs was not for merit or mediation Even as though Christ suffered for our sinnes yet we also are afflicted but not for that end so our praiers are for other ends to set up God to debase our selves to quicken up our graces to give us an holy Communion and fellowship with him to shew our obedience to his command who doth in so speciall a manner require this duty Vse Are the people of God under the benefit of Christs praier then how happy and blessed are they what can be denied them There is no fear of having their requests granted for God looks upon them and Christ as one mysticall person as the head and members Who is able to preach of this Subject It is too glorious Christ is in heaven making Intercession for thee Wo unto thee every day every hour Were it not for this Advocate wo to thy own praiers though never so laudable were they not put up in Christs Name Oh how little do the people of God run to this Fountain when their hearts are like a dry wildernesse This is indeed the Key of heaven that opens it for thee and thy duties if not for my sake yet for Christs sake Though I am unworthy yet Christ is worthy to be heard But oh the terrible estate of wicked men I pray not for the world They have no benefit in this Mediation SERMON III. Sheweth how prevalent the Praiers are that are poured out to God as a Father And what disposition and frame of heart this compellation Father may breed in every one that doth fervently pray to God JOH 17.1 These things spake Jesus and lift up his eyes to heaven and said Father c. THE next thing in order to be treated of is Christs Praier it self and that is first in reference to himself and therein we may consider 1. The matter of the Praier Glorifie thy Son 2. The Arguments to enforce this for that is the best praier which is most argumentative Many words without arguments is like a great body without nerves or sinews Now these arguments are several and strong 1. From the Relation he stands in to
plain by that of our Saviour If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them John 13.17 Therefore meer knowledge without doing is not happinesse And this we see the very Heathens could pitch upon that happinesse did not consist in a speculative knowledge but in virtuous actions Yea Aristotle observed that a prophane dissolute life did not corrupt speculative sciences as Geometry and the Mathematicks but it would immediately morall habits So then Knowledge with affections and good effects is that which leadeth to eternall life Hence wicked men are many times said not to know God because though they have never so much speculative understanding yet because by their lives and ungodly waies they dishonour him therefore they are said not to know him Now the concomitants or effects rather of this knowledge are of two sorts either internall in the heart or externall in our actions We will enumerate the first and then the later Saving knowledge hath this internall effect 1. That it makes a man have a firm and divine immoveable assent to Scripture-truths For if we should have all the knowledge of men and Angels yet believe nothing what advantage could it be to us There may be knowledge meerly apprehensive as those heathenish Writers Julian Porphyrius and others who argued and disputed against the Christian Religion in this they knew what it was else they could not have disputed against it but they did not believe it to be true The Pharisees that so much opposed Christ they knew the sense and meaning of this doctrine but did not believe it so that if knowledge be not accompanied with faith though we had the highest degree of it yet it would profit nothing Therefore Christians are not called knowing men so much as Believers that is their frequent title because the firm assent they give to Gods truth is that which is most available to salvation Enquire then after thy faith men of great knowledge are many times great Atheists or Scepticks they can say as much for one way of Religion as for another and hereupon are alwaies wavering and doubting but have no determinate fixing of the heart upon God yea Aquinas observeth that a knowing man hath more temptations against his faith then one more simple It 's well then when with thy knowledge thy faith is also firm and stedfast 2. Then is thy knowledge saving when the main and noble act of the will doth presently follow which is to choose and take God for our chiefest good and to imbrace the goodnesse of all those things we know for the devils they have knowledge enough called therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of their exceeding great knowledge yet they are most maliciously opposite to God because by their wils they do not choose and imbrace that which is good The two main pillars of the soul or the chief faculties thereof are the understanding and the will The object of the understanding is truth of the will is good Now the understanding is to be like a torch or starre to guide the will and whatsoever the minde discovers to be true and good that the will is readily to receive so that then our knowledge doth attain it's proper perfection when it prevaileth upon the will and moveth that the understanding is the counsellour the will is the Queen if that then be moved to choose the good discovered then hath the understanding obtained its end See then how it is with thee thou knowest God and Christ but how as the chiefest good as to be chosen above any worldly excellency and therefore thy will cleaveth fully to them this is rightly to know While something is done upon the will till that be bowed and changed the strongest hold stands out against God Oh then pray and again pray that thy knowledge may so farre prevail on thy will that it shall renounce all other things to adhere to God only 3. This knowledge of God must draw out those eminent affections of love joy delight and fear of God You see God in the Scripture is made the proper object of all these affections as if we had them for nothing but God our love that God will have all Thou shalt love him with all the heart and so for our fear that is often required Sanctifie the Lord God and let him be thy dread and we are often commanded to rejoyce in the Lord So then seeing God is the proper object of these affections and we may not place them any where but on him and things relating thereunto it behoveth us to see whether our knowledge do thus kindle and inflame us after God or no. Certainly it 's the greatest reason that our knowledge should have such Divine operations for if we know God as he is revealed in his word he is there discovered to be so great so glorious full of all goodnesse that we cannot but give him the superiority in all things 4. Another inward effect must be a melting sorrowfull and grieved heart that we have provoked God by our sinnes For who can but grieve and lament his folly when he knoweth how great and terrible a God he hath provoked Thus Manasseh after his great troubles and afflictions laid upon him when he had prayed mourned and humbled himself it 's said Then Manasseh knew that God was the Lord Then he knew not before 2 Chron. 33.13 A man then truly comes to know God when through the apprehension of his Majesty and glorious power he abhorreth himself is afflicted because of his rebellions As you see when Job had a further discovery of Gods greatnesse how greatly he debased himself 5. A genuine and proper effect of the knowledge of God and Christ is trust and dependance upon them This is so great a matter that it 's called the just mans life The just shall live by faith Heb. 2.4 Now this grace of trust or dependance is branched into two parts First A trust on God for his protection care and providence over us This is the trust David doth so often speak of in his Psalms and the Prophet makes him accursed that makes not God his trust Jer. 17. The rich man trusts in his riches the idolater in his Idols the great man in his power but all these set up another God besides the true God They that truly know God viz. that he is the Lord of hoasts that he is the principall efficient and all creatures are but instruments depending on him both quoad esse and operari will quickly see it a sacrilegious and idololatricall sinne to trust in any but the true God Psal 9.10 They that know thy Name will trust in thee All our unbelief diffidence and distrust all distracting cares about these things below argue our want of knowledge of God Therefore Mat. 5. when our Saviour forbids these dividing cares he saith All these do the Gentiles seek after they that know not Gods power and his goodnesse they are solicitous sinfully about
yea there is no man but his failings are more then his duties there is more corruption then grace so that if there be sincerity though imperfection we may say Lord we have finished the work thou gavest us to do Indeed humility is required because of our imperfections but not diffidence To doubt and to refuse the comfort God offers is not humility but disobedience like that of Peters who would not let Christ wash his feet 2. Another mistake may be about the nature of true faith and hope as if we were to divide between Christ and our selves and so from both conjoyned together gather our assurance even as the Papists define spes hope to be partim à gratiâ partim à meritis nostris proveniens but those that go thus to divide must needs divide themselves from comfort for the object of our faith and trust must be Christ only We may joyfully take those evidences of grace we see in our selves but to put confidence in them would be to make our selves our own saviours 3. This mistake may breed much disconsolatenesse when we limit our assurance and evidence to the time of our death that if God give us it not then we give up our case as desperate Indeed it 's a most blessed thing and a mercy much to be prayed for that as Simeon so we having seen Christ in our hearts and lives may then depart in peace It 's the haven after all the tempests we have had here but yet God may deny us this cordiall even the best of Gods children have found that God hath not kept the best wine for the last but God doth sometime to his as they did to Christ give him gall and vinegar to drink For as the wicked ungodly man who the next moment is to drop into eternall flames may yet die with great carnal presumption that God is his God that Christ is his Mediator in whom he will trust and so feareth not quakes not at the dolefull judgement coming upon him so the godly man though ready to be crowned with Immortall Glory and there is but a moment between him and everlasting happinesse yet may think his case doubtfull if not desperate may seem to have no hopes no joy yea be so tempted that he shall think all he did was but in hypocrisie and falsehood that there was no truth in him this may be Therefore let the godly not limit God to that time of death Vse of Admonition to awaken your selves at this truth Think how nearly it concerns you Dost thou live in such a way as that thou art able to make this glorious profession Is not God is not his word is not thy own conscience against thee How speechlesse and confounded wilt thou be when God shall bid thee give an account of all thy talents Oh that men should not lay this later end no more to heart that none saith O my soul now all is well now thou takest thy mirth but what a change will the hour of death make With what comfort wilt thou look upon the devils work and sins work which thou hast been doing all thy life time especially take heed of unprofitablenesse and decayings in the way of godlinesse thou that hast looked towards heaven but art turned out of the way be sure thy end will be miserable It had been better for thee saith the Apostle never to have known the way of righteousnesse You may have desires may have breakings of heart and yet return to sinne again oh think with what a violent flood these thoughts will come upon thee Oh me wretched and undone sinner I have no refuge no hope many resolutions I had but they vanished away and now I must live no longer my time is expired my course is finished Oh that God would adde as to Hezekiah some years to my life Oh that I could bid the Sun stand still or time go no further till I were at peace with God but these are vain wishes Let not then this truth go before it hath left a sting in thy very heart O Lord nothing troubleth me but that I did not think or minde these things sooner Meditate on these things your night is coming upon you Will you alwaies delay or else be secure and not matter these things many have done foolishly and dropt in a moment into hell do not thou be so overtaken May we not conclude that the auditor with whom this truth will not avail may fear he is delivered up to an impenitent heart SERMON XXI Of Gods being Glorified by Mans Salvation That Christs chief end in what he did for man was the Glory of God which bespeaks both our Imitation and unspeakable Consolation JOH 17.4 I have glorified thee on earth THe cirumstance of this holy profession which Christ made being considered Let us proceed to the Profession it self and that is He had glorified God on earth Christ in the state of humiliation was inferiour to God and so he did referre all things to his Fathers glory so that in this profession we may consider 1. What is the matter or object whereby God is glorified 2. The end or final cause that moved Christ therein The matter is our salvation and that redemption Christ purchased for us The end which Christ looked at in all this was chiefly the glory of God Indeed he looked also at his own glory and our glory but the ultimate and chiefest of all was Gods glory So that from hence we may observe That our redemption and salvation obtained by Christ is a glorifying of God and Christ did thereby chiefly aim at Gods glory We put both the matter of Gods glory and Christs end together and certainly this Truth discovered will be like that sweet box of perfume which opened caused such a fragrant smell And 1. Let us see how or wherein God was thus glorified by Christs Mediation for us It being of infinite comfort to know this for how many times are we apt to be cast down What are we that God should regard our salvation who are we that God should crown us with glory God doth not need us he is happy without us Now this may exceedingly encourage Though we be not worthy to be saved God is worthy to be glorified If there were nothing but our good and happinesse involved in Christs death who would think it probable Christ should suffer meerly and ultimately for us but there is also the glory of God deeply concerned which is more worth then all the world yea then all our souls for though one soul be more worth then a world yet Gods glory is more worth then all our souls and their salvation So that a Christian fixing his faith and meditation here may be in a transfiguration and say It is good to be here God doth not lose by thy Salvation If Gods honour were to be impaired if his truth broken if his justice violated then who dare open his mouth for salvation but God is
gates of hell fall to the ground The devil that had power over mens hearts and kept men captive in their lusts is wholly conquered Alas all the power done in temporal deliverances cannot be compared to this redemption It 's true the eye of faith and not of the body must admire this Lastly God is glorified in his Justice and that more then the heart of man can conceive for although in respect of us there be nothing but grace and all that we have and receive is mercy yet in respect of Christ there was exact justice God laid our sins upon him he became a Surety in our stead he undergoeth that wrath that curse that did belong to us God did not abate of any thing that Christ could suffer without sinne so that we have not the pardon of our sins upon any unjust and unlawful terms The Law and Justice cannot complain Gods justice then against sinne is abundantly seen in that though Christ was the only beloved of the Father yet he is not spared but must be made a curse and endure the wrath due unto us so that if a man would consider what arguments should keep him from sinne if he would be affected with Gods wrath against it let him look on Christ crucified oh how can it be that sinne should be so pleasing and delightfull unto thee which was so bitter and full of wrath to Christ Would not God spare his own Children but his justice must be satisfied through Christ then what may wicked men expect Are they able to conflict with Gods wrath Can they satisfie his justice This bloud of Christ though it speak better things then that of Abel to the godly yet it 's more terrible then that to the wicked for thereby it testifieth that God will have bloud he must have an atonement for sinne and that cannot be by thy sufferings though in hell Therefore Gods justice is more glorified by Christ then by the damned in hell for there they are never able completely to satisfie therefore they are kept in those chains to all Eternity The debt is never paid but Christ discharged all to the utmost and therefore the grave could not contain him Thus you see how in every respect God is glorified by our salvation through Christ Though to us a Son be given and to us a childe was born Isa 9.6 He was a Saviour and Mediatour in respect of us not himself yet all this did at last referre to Gods glory That was the Ocean in which this stream did empty it self Thus you have heard wherein God was glorified by Christ In the next place consider the end that Christ did propound in all his doings and sufferings I mean the ultimate and chief end not the proxime or immediate end and that also was to glorifie God his chiefest end was not either to glorifie himself or us these were subordinate ends 1. Not himself hence Joh. 8. I seek not my own glory but the glory of him that sent me It 's true he is said to have an eye to the end of his sufferings Heb. 11. and the Scripture makes his exaltation a consequent of his humiliation yet this was not chiefest in his thoughts The name and glory God gave him exalting him above every great thing was not principally regarded by him but the glory of God So that by this we see how precious the glory of God should be to us how deer in our esteem When we see Christ preferring it above his own glory The aim that Christ had did arise from that love and zeal he had to God for none can referre all things to Gods glory who do not love him above all things who do not give him the preheminency in every thing One said Fiat justitia ruat mundus Let the glory of God be exalted though the whole world be ruined thereby as love to God so purity of intentions and an excellent rectitude of the heart is requisite else self-love and self-respect will be more prevalent then Gods glory 2. As Christ did not principally intend his own glory so neither our happinesse but only as the means to glorifie God Because Gods glory is so deeply interessed in our salvation therefore did he procure it He did not glorifie God that we might be saved but he saved us that thereby God might be glorified yet this doth not at all derogate from the Love of Christ to us neither doth it make us the lesse beholding to him though he would not have saved us had it not been for Gods glory But hereby he demonstrated both his love to us and God at the same time he loved our souls and salvation yet not above the glory of God That would have been unlawfull Therefore at the same time he did demonstrate both his love to us and to God and yet kept the due order that ought to be in his love first to God and then next to us Now the ground and reason why Christ did referre all his obedience both active and passive to Gods glory is 1. Because God himself makes all his own actions to the glory of his Name The end of Creation of Redemption of Christs coming into the world All these were ordered by God for his own glory so that as the work was imposed on Christ which he was to aim at was also required by God Had it been possible for we may suppose impossibilities for illustration sake for Christ to have procured our salvation for other ends then to glorifie God it had been sinne in him for if God be so jealous of his glory that he will not have it attributed to any other beside himself how much would his jealousie have been provoked if this matter wherein his glory is most visible should have been given to any other Gods glory then is the supreme and universal end to which all are to subordinate themselves 2. The glory of God is more noble and hath greater worth in it then any thing else Therefore that which is most noble must be the end as the lesse noble the means Seeing then the glory of God is of infinite excellency even like God himself no wonder if Christ did referre our Salvation to that most high end and by this we are to see that it 's our duty to prize the glory of God above our salvation for our salvation is but the good of a creature but the glory of God is infinite even as God himself We are to judge of and rejoice in the glory of God as more excellent then our own happinesse yet this is not so to be understood as if a man were to be willing to be damned that God might be honoured For it 's our duty to will our salvation we are to seek for immortality and glory and Rom. 2 It 's not lawfull to be willing absolutely for Paul spake conditionally I could wish to be separated from the presence of God If it be not lawfully to will our bodily
the like for us Heaven and eternal glory cannot be had without much working and suffering Rom. 8.17 If we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him Hence are those commands and expressions Strive to enter in at the strait gate Mat. 7. Be in an agony The violent take the Kingdom of heaven That the righteous is scarcely saved Be not weary in well-doing because we shall have a recompence if we faint not Gal. 6.9 That implieth such labour and discouragements in the way to heaven that it is very hard not to faint not to be weary to give over all As the people of Israel in the wildernesse murmured and wished themselves in Egypt again because they found it so difficult to get into Canaan Hence Heaven is called a rest Heb. 4.9 There remains a rest What doth that imply but here in this world we are toiling and troubled and never have any rest but in heaven there is rest that also denoteth how sweet and excellent a place heaven is and how much we while in this world shold desire it and pray for it Whereas our desire to be in this world is as if a man should be willing to lie in a bed full of thorns pricking and gaâ—ling of him Thus hath God appointed a Fight before the Crown labour before our wages tempests and storms before the haven wearisomnesse before a rest Therefore in the 2d place Every Christian must up and be doing that doth expect Salvation Sluggishnesse and lazinesse will deprive of this glory Oh when such shall see themselves shut out of all happinesse and tormented for ever in those eternal flames then how will they cry out of their lukewarmnesse and unprofitablenesse what a terrible sentence is pronounced upon the unprofitable Servant Mat. 25.30 He is to be cast into utter darknesse where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth If Christ himself must first work and then look for a reward let not the Servant think to be above his Master We must not think to have heavenly glory as our Saviour saith Mat. 5. The Lillies of the Field have a greater glory then of Solomons yet they spin not they labour not No but the Scripture crieth out aloud to every one To work out his Salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Oh then that the consideration that Christianity is a work No work no glory would make us shake off slothfulnesse and negligence Do not think God will provide heaven for thee as he did a Wife for Adam in a deep sleep he thought of nothing he took no care about any such thing They that say Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die little think of the way and the work God requireth before happinesse Those that like Dives fare deliciously every day that live in ease and security let them think this Calm will breed a great Storm as they say before Earthquakes there is a wonderful stilnesse and calmnesse So all their pleasure ease and delight is but the forerunner of unspeakable torments and misery 3. Hence we see That good works and an holy active life is not forbidden but commanded by the Scripture To preach Christ or faith or grace or the benefit of the Sacraments so as that a godly exact and diligent walking and working is excluded is to preach another Christ another Gospel then we have received Our Saviour by those Parables of divers talents as also of the foolish Virgins and of the unjust steward Mat. 25. of hiring Labourers into the Vineyard did hereby commend the necessity of working Paul fought a good fight and all the godly Worthies commended by him Heb. 11. had an active laborious faith and they are accounted blessed that die in the Lord Why because their works follow them Rev. 14.13 yea at the day of judgement that judicial processe will be according to the works we have done or we have not done for omission of duties though there be no commission of sinne the sentence of condemnation will be pronounced so that concerning this duty of working there have been errours on both sides sometimes Satan hath so prevailed as to perswade men against working to fancy a kinde of notional faith that will not purifie or clense the heart a painted fire that will not burn Sometimes again when he could not prevail that waies then he hath set up working to overthrow beleeving to make Christ and his grace ineffectuall Take we heed then that we split not our selves at either of these rocks but conform our selves to Christ who was never idle but like a careful Shepherd went up and down seeking the lost Sheep This is the devils great temptation to tempt thee not to work or if thou workest to puff thee up with confidence about it and so to make thee â—un in vain The Popish Doctrines they have so infected men about works teaching them to put confidence therein that it was an infinite mercy to the Church when the true doctrine about Christ and the grace of the Gospel beâ—aâ—e to be published and by reason of some expressions there arose up the Antinomians and others who cried down working as if that were to bring the Law in again for justification but both these misse the mark both the Pharisee with confidence in his works and the Publican without his works are excluded this place of glory 4. There is therefore a necessity for many considerations while we are in our journey to heaven that we should be working all which are good to be laid to heart that so we may avoid all unprofitablenesse and at last to be able to say and now my work is done O Father glorifie me The first is from the command and will of God Every Page in the Bible presseth doing Gods will yea we are to be stedfast immoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord 1 Cor. 15. So that if there were no other motive to excite us the command of God might be greatly provoking He who hath a command and a Soveraignty over all That commands the very inanimate creatures and they obey how much rather should we yeeld obedience to his will and the rather because whatsoever work he commands as it is good in it self so it 's good to us It 's good in it self When the devil and sinne tempt to that which is evil thou presently givest up thy self and shall God require that which is good and thou refusest it Besides It 's good for thee as well as good in it self It 's a work thou wilt never repent of it will never be matter of grief to thee Whereas for all other works of the flesh and the devil they will prove thorns in thy side There will be a horrour upon thy Spirit for them making thee to cry out Oh that I had never done this or that sin is called dead works Heb. 6.1 because they argue a man dead and devoid of spirituall life and so they also carry to eternal
death but these works of God they are living works partly because they proceed from a life of grace and partly because they will live for ever they will go to the grave with thee to heaven with thee they will never forsake thee 2. It 's our duty to work because God hath made them the necessary way to walk in if we will be saved Without holinesse no man shall see God Labour for the meat that perisheth not Hence if we consider every gracious work of patience love meeknesse we shall see blessednesse is promised to them Not that these justifie only the person justified cannot be without them They are the media ordinata ordained mean in the use whereof we are to arrive at eternal happinesse It 's faith only that receiveth Christ and his righteousnesse yet this faith cannot be separated from an holy walking It 's the eye only that seeth yet the eye cannot be separated from the other parts of the body and thus the Apostle doth immediatly oppose Rom. 4. beleeving working grace and works in respect of Justification yet he doth at the same time presse the Children of God to all holinesse and the fruits of righteousnesse 3. Working is necessary by way of gratitude and thankefulnesse to God and Christ If there were nothing else but this this might pour coals of fire upon thee for how many works of Gods grace hast thou been partaker of If Gods grace did not work all the day long for thee thou couldst not be a moment preserved out of hell and as for Christs working reade the History of his Life he was alwaies finishing the work of thy Redemption and Salvation he had nothing to do for himself all was in reference to thee Oh then how unworthy wilt thou shew thy self of all that love and kindenesse which God and Christ have done for thee If thou like the Sluggard let the Field of thy Soul grow full of briars and thorns Oh how can thy heart be so cold and slothful When thou considerest grace is working for thee all the day long if Christ had no more zealously and earnestly wrought my peace for me then I do perform his duties my soul had perished irrecoverably Lastly Therefore it 's necessary we should work Gods work because we have for a long time spent our selves in the Service of Satan and doing the works of the devil Oh this should be a perpetual goad in thy side this should be fire in thy bosome to consider that there was no hour no day no season but thou didst take the opportunity to satisfie thy lusts Thou never couldst have enough of sinne No thirsty man did more greedily swallow down water then thou didst sinne yea how active to draw on others to infect others with the same plague thou hadst I tell you this will lie heavy upon the godly soul If I were to live Methusalems age it would not be time enough to do God service for the dishonour I have put upon him Thy time is short and thou hast much to do because thou hast undone so much In the next place Consider That it 's lawful for the people of God in all the work they do for God to encourage themselves with this that there is an everlasting glory laid up for them Even as Christ had an eye to this glory so it 's lawful for us Thus Moses had an eye to the recompence of the reward Heb. 11. The godly Rom. 2. are said to be such as seek for immortality and glory Rom. 5.2 They rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and Paul accounted all these sufferings but light in respect of that eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Indeed Gods glory is to be sought in the first place and then our glory so that it 's a shame if in all our doings and sufferings for God we are not full of joy because of that unspeakable glory apprehended by faith Faith makes it present as if we already were partakers of it So that whatsoever temptations and discouragements are in the work of the Lord this glory will abundantly make amends for it Are there reproaches and disgrace in the world All the while thou didst sin and the devils work thou hadst the love and good-will of the world but since thou hast betaken thy self to the service of God thou art the scoff and reproach of all O think of the glory God will crown thee with before all the world Again are all the works of God painful difficult and contrary to flesh and bloud thou must strive and wrastle much in praier be alwaies in a combat and conflict Remember this everlasting glory yea God therefore doth many times put his Children upon all exercises and sad temptations which make them ake at the very heart and all is to encrease their glory the more Thus Job thus Paul they had extraordinary trials that they might have extraordinary glory Furthermore is there self-denial required in Gods work Must thou part with thy pleasures with thy profit thy delights still remember this glory will make thee no loser for alas what proportion is there between these petty things thou leavest and those everlasting treasures God hath provided for thee In the sixth place That the glory of Gods people may be full he giveth them time and large opportunities of working for him and keeps thee in this world not for any earthly and outward advancement of thy self but to serve him in thy generation as it 's said David served God in his generation Act. 13.36 and God calleth Moses his servant Whatsoever thy relation thy place thy office be God hath appointed thee to work and therefore he prolongs thy life till thy work be done This is a comfortable consideration which all the godly may take that death shall not seize on them while thay have work to do for God and when that is finished then this summons to everlasting glory As for Infants this Truth reacheth not to them and if any like the Thief on the Crosse are called at the last hour and so are not able to work in the Vineyard yet even such have an habitual prepared heart for it if they had the opportunity But for others whose daies are prolonged they are thus to think with themselves I have this day this week longer to adde to my work God hath for me to doe Take heed of mispent time take heed of losing daies and weeks The night is coming when none can work Vse 1. How much comfort and joy the godly may take at the hour of death Their work is done now they have nothing but the Robes of glory to put on That fulnesse of glory they are immediatly to possesse should swallow up the fears of death and the love of the world With what joy should they cry out Farewell Friends Wife and Children welcome God welcome eternal glory Alas thou hast no glory here Thy body is a vile body thy soul a
be perswaded to do another thing In this case thou hast sinful and dishonourable thoughts of God Thou thinkest of him as a man like thy own self and the ground why such apprehensions are ungodly and unbeseeming the Majesty of God is because he is immutable and unchangeable in his nature There is no ground of change or alteration in him because there is no ignorance in his understanding he foreknoweth all things no mutability in hiâ— will therefore thy praiers though they are necessary and usefull yet they have no such influence upon God as to change his minde or to make him of unwilling willing 3. There are some things so absolutely promised that do not suppose any condition of Praier on our parts As the initiall workings of grace The beginningâ— of our conversion especially that promise Zech. 12 that God will pour on us the Spirit of praier and supplication The fullfilling of this promise cannot be by way of praier for it 's a promise to enable us to pray and so we could not make it self to be a condition for it self Indeed we may pray for the Spirit of praier but that is to be understood in regard of a further measure of this Spirit As we may exercise Faith in the promise for a further degree of Faith we may beleeve that God thereby may encrease our faith and make it more strong Thus the promise of sending Christ into the world and giving him to be a Saviour to his people doth not suppose our praier but rather praier is a gift from this We therefore pray viz. acceptably because we are united to Christ and have his Spirit dwelling in us Thus God also in the conversion of his people cometh in with his grace upon them before they desire or seek after him at least in a right manner I was found of those that sought me not said Christ Isa 65.1 Therefore this is not to be understood universally of every good thing that God hath promsed but for the most part of those things which do suppose us already godly and put into a capacity and spirituall ability of praier Then God will not do for us till we seek unto him As the Mother doth not expect the childe that cannot yet speak should ask for such a thing at her hands 5. God hath required Praier as a constant duty to be performed by all notwithstanding any purposes or promises made by him I say as a constant duty required of all and therefore that is an unjustifiable position of some That it 's not lawfull or a duty for wicked men to pray But when our Saviour speaks so universally Ask and ye shall have and Gods wrath is to be poured upon the Families of the earth because they call not upon God It 's plain it 's their sin that they do not pray and although God will not hear the Praier of sinners but it 's an abomination to God yet for all that it 's their duty to pray not indeed to pray sinfully not to keep up their sins and their praiers together but to empty themselves of their poison to lay aside their superfluity of naughtinesse and so to come with pure hearts and pure hands to God as David I will wash my hands in innocency so will I compasse thy Altar Psa 26.6 It 's therefore a duty enjoyned all and that indispensably to pray unto God Again I say It 's a constant duty required of all not as if there were to be no intermission but when the time and season doth require it as they are called constant Sacrifices which were offered every day though not all the day long and this overthroweth that opinion of some who think it no duty to pray unlesse when they feel some motion or impulse of the Spirit of God upon them so that if they are a day a moneth a year without this they will not pray This is not according to the Rule Again it 's a constant duty required of all Therefore it 's a presumptuous conceit of those who apprehend themselves above Petitions They will do nothing but sing praises to God and give him thanks as if they were Angels in heaven but as for Petitions and Confessions they are so perfect they are above them Why do not such men refuse to eat and drink saying they have such perfect bodies they need no sustenance Doth not Christ himself here importunately and fervently put up his Petitions to the Father 5. Though God will not perform the good things he promiseth without our praiers yet our Praiers are not meritorious They deserve not at Gods hand Though we cannot have the promised blessing without Praier yet not for our Praier Therefore it 's not only arrogant but an irrationall doctrine in Popery to assert Praier to be a meritorious work Doth the beggar deserve an alms because he asketh Who would not rather say that praier is a plain profession of our beggery emptinesse and utter impotency Thereby we proclaim that of our selves we are not able to procure the least mercy Therefore when we come to God take heed of trusting in Praier of idolizing thy duties It 's a sin we are prone too but as they say of clothes Pride of them is an extreme vanity because the very putting them on should put us in minde of our sin that made nakednesse a shame so our very praier should make us abhorre our selves and set up God as the only fountain of all hope and comfort if we could help our selves why pray we to him 6. Therefore it 's disputed whether God doth require Praier for the mercies sake or give the mercy for Praiers sake As for example God hath promised encrease of grace sanctification of all afflictions if we rightly pray to him Now the Question is whether he giveth this mercy for praier sake or not rather because he will give such a mercy therefore he enableth us to pray and certainly this latter way is the truth God gives us not the mercy because we pray but because he will vouchsafe such a mercy therefore he quickneth us up to pray The mercy is not referred to praier but praier to the mercy Therefore 7. As long as God keeps up our heart in a praying way so long there is hope of the accomplishment of the mercy we pray for Thou preparest the heart and hearest with the ear saith David Psa 10.17 Not but that in some temporal mercies the soul may be kept long in a praying waiting frame and yet the mercy it self be never given us but then it will be with us as with Paul My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12. So that still God is good to thee though thou hast not that thou praiest for if a praying frame of heart be on thee on the other side it 's an heavy defection not to be able or willing to pray I speak not of a tempted Christian who praieth even while he saith he doth not he cannot pray but of those
that praier doth not draw God to us but our hearts to God In our earnest Petitions we do not bring Gods will to ours but ours to him Praier is a golden chain that reacheth from heaven to earth and although we think to move God to us yet we move our selves to him as the Ship that is fastened with the Cable doth not bring the haven to it but it 's self to the haven so that the change praier makes is not on God but on our selves 6. Praier is necessary because hereby Faith is drawn out in all the choice and excellent effects of it Praier without faith is like the musicall Instrument without an hand to make a sound melodious It 's like a picture without life but of this more in the qualifications of a praier The demand then may be What is that Praier and how must it be accomplished that is a fruitful Praier such a praier as will bring about what we desire And 1. It must be the praier of a righteous man such who washeth himself from his sinnes for sinnes they have a tongue and they cry for vengeance and will quickly cry louder then our praiers Hence a wicked mans praier is said to be an abomination to the Lord Pro. 28.9 and the blinde man could see and say this God heareth not the praiers of a sinner There is a twofold sinner a sinner wilfully going on in his wickednesse and such God will not hear but then there is a sinner praying mourning and repenting as the Publican who said Lord be mercifull to me a sinner and such sins God doth hear Nay all men are sinners in this respect and thus God should hear no praier at all if he did not hear such But for other kinde of sins of which all places are full those God doth loath and their duties David hath expressed it fully If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear me Psa 66.18 Oh then look to thy self and thy life when thou goest to pray If the tongue that praieth be a cursing swearing tongue If the eyes lifted up to heaven be full of wantonnesse and adultery If the hands held out towards heaven be full of violence fraud and injustice God is of purer eyes then to behold such 2. They must be fervent zealous praiers The effectual fervent praier of a righteous man availeth much Jam. 5. He must be righteous but many a righteous godly mans praier may have no successe if it be full of dulnesse distractions and lukewarmnesse Therefore it must be fervent We must be Jacobs wrestling with God ere we can be Israels prevailing with God Praier is compared to Incense and it 's the fruit of Gods Spirit which is compared to fire Rom. 8. They are said to be groans unutterable It 's not then enough to pray unlesse it be fervently and zealously otherwise they are like a Bird without wings or a Messenger without feet 5. They must be beleeving praiers Let him ask in faith nothing doubting For he that doubteth is to conclude he shall not receive any thing in spiritual things that are necessary our faith is to be absolute in other things our fiducial faith is to be guided by our doctrinal faith so farre as those things make for our good and Gods glory our faith is to conclude of them This is the grace that crowneth our praiers This grace God highly honoureth insomuch that Without faith it 's said it's impossible to please God Heb. 11. Now though presumption be a weed that comes up of it self yet Faith is a gift of Gods own planting and great opposition great difficulty there is to put this forth Lastly It must be persevering and constant Praier our Saviour spake that Parable of the unjust Judge that we should pray incessantly not give God over till we obtain the blessing not to be discouraged though we meet with many delaies and great discouragements like that Woman of Canaan whose Praiers had an holy kinde of impudency and pertinacy in this to take no deniall Vse of Exhortation To be a people much in praier that it may be said of thee as of Paul Behold he praieth and of thy house as of Gods Temple an house of Praier Oh what shall those prophane persons and prophane Families expect but Gods dreadfull vengeance who rise and go to bed without such fervent zealous praiers never expect good from that man or Family that is not tender and constant in this duty he is like a Tree in the barren Wildernesse that cannot bring forth any fruit and do not say I have no time to pray this and that businesse puts it out Wouldst thou have time to receive mercies from God and no time to go by praier to God Shall the Sluggard sit still neither plow or sow or take pains and yet expect his ground should yeeld a plentiful crop oh what hope would there be that God would blesse the Ministry work conversion by it If ye were more diligent in this duty But how greatly is it neglected by most and those that do it how formall and customary are they so that it brings no good at all to the soul Think of these things more and tremble under them SERMON XXVI Of Heavenly Glory as opposed to Earthly And how the hopes thereof earnestly sought and prayed for will comfort a man against the fear and in the midst of all Trials and Afflictions JOH 17.5 And now O Father glorifie thou me with thy own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was THE next thing in order to be pursued is the nature of that glory which Christ praied for For Christ being near the bitterest part of his Cross and seeing nothing but gall for him to drink he comforteth and encourageth himself with that glory which is provided for him and this makes him so earnest in praier for it where by the way we may see the arrogant presumption of those who hold they are above Praier They will give thanks to God as Angels do but their perfection is such that they need not present Petitions in Praier what a Diabolical delusion is this for Christ himself though he confessed no sinne in Praier yet was not above Petitions as we see in this Chapter and if it were granted which cannot be that they were so pure as to be without sinne yet they have not as yet glorified bodies and therefore for that glory in heaven they ought to pray but why do we meddle with these who indeed need praier most and that to see themselves deluded and to be in a farre more dangerous estate then many other persons We come 1. to the description of this glory praied for from the nature or inherent property of it It 's a glory with Gods own self Glorifie me with thy own self This as you heard is spoken partly oppositely to humane glory and the honour of the world for as Christ despised the shame and was not
he plainly feeleth God working in him The wicked man knoweth God by the creatures and his works abroad but the godly knoweth him by the new creature and works of grace upon his heart and this is the most excellent knowledge when he knoweth God by the regeneration and sanctification of his nature by his heavenly and gracious quicknings to holy duties and against sinne If in regard of out naturall life we live and move and have our being in God how much more in our supernatural life Those know God indeed that feel those divine workings upon their souls As Job before when God had humbled him said I have heard of thee by the ear but now my eye seeth thee Job 42.5 So saith the godly I have heard many Sermons of God but I never felt him till now or as the Queen of Sheba who had heard much of the fame of Solomon but when she came to be an eye-witnesse of it then she was astonished and judged all her former apprehensions nothing Thus it is with the truly sanctified though you tell him what good parts what Scripture understanding what abilities in duties he had Oh saith he all that time I did not know God I never knew him till these inward workings were upon me I spoke of him as a man will do of some strange Countrey he had often heard of but never saw Argum. 5 5. The true godly man only knoweth God because he only hath communion and fellowship with him he only is admitted into Gods presence All wicked men though never so knowing are at a great distance from God They know not the light of his countenance what it is to have the assurance of his favour what to have those experimental sweetnesses of heart which flow from the enjoying of him Therefore it s added in that of Joh. 18. I will manifest my self to him and come and sup with him that is God will give us a joyfull chearfull familiar fellowship with himself he will make known himself as Joseph did at last to his brethren God draweth nigh to them and they to God and this indeed is a choice way of knowing of God when we know what it is to have his love shed in our hearts when we hear God speaking peace to us when it 's not duties nor any religious performance but God himself that the heart partakes of Thus the Psalmist inviteth to taste and see how good God is Psa 34.8 Oh hast thou ever had this tasting and seeing then thou knowest God comfortably Now the ground of all this is because obedience love and fear are the end of all knowledge therefore that knowledge which doth not obtain its end is no knowledge and hence the Scripture saith If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 and generally the Scripture describeth wicked men by this that they know not God as Paul said of the Jews If they had known Christ to be the God of glory they would never have crucified him 1 Cor. 2.5 Thus did men know God as they ought they could not think and speak or live as they do Vse Rest not in any kinde of knowledge about God till it hath these effects on thee Never judge thy self to know any thing of Religion till it hath thus transformed thee till it be the acknowledgement of truth after godlinesse but alas where are the persons where is the Family where are the people that know God The ungodliness they live in proclaim they know no such divine Majesty Oh consider that God knoweth not thee likewise with a knowledge of approbation of omniscience he doth and that will be thy confusion but not of complacency at the day of judgement he will say Depart I know you not Oh that we were such of whom it may be said Their obedience their pure and holy life their delight and acquaintance with God manifests they know God and then you will not die with such terrour with such fear I go to him I have known I go not to an unknown God SERMON XXX The Great End of the Ministery And what should be the end of both Ministers and people in their Preaching and hearing JOH 17.6 I have manifested thy Name to as many as thou hast given me out of the world WE have considered the action or efficacy of the person or efficient spoken of in the Text We now come to consider the person himself and that is Christ who saith of himself I have manifested thy Name Christ speaks in this as he is the great Prophet and chief Shepherd of our souls for being intrusted with this office he did faithfully discharge it whoever reads over Christs life and seeth how laborious and diligent he was to bring men to the knowledge of God and to save their souls must needs say The Lion of the Tribe of Judah went up and down more earnestly to save then the roaring Lion of hell is busie to destroy Hence Joh. 4. while he is emploied to bring home but one poor Sheep that was gone astray the Woman of Samaria he is so earnest in it that he forgets to eat his bread and tels them his meat and drink was to do his Fathers will which was to declare the truth of God and invite sinners to come in unto him so then we see here an excellent President for all the Ministers of the Gospel to follow As Christ was wholly in this to make people know God so ought they to be In Christs works of his Mediatorship and of his Miracles we may not imitate him we cannot but in this of his labour and tender love to mens souls we are bound to follow him Obs That the end of the Ministry and Ministers should be to bring people to the knowledge of God to the saving knowledge of Christ Thus Paul exceeded the Heathen Hercules in his manifold labours to this purpose especially see what a divine profession he makes to them of Ephisus Act. 20.26 27. I take you to record this day that I am pure from the bloud of all men Here we see there is a soul-murder as well as a body and the Ministers of the Gospel are to keep themselves pure from that for if the bloud of Abels body crieth aloud what outcries will the bloud of peoples souls make Now Paul kept himself thus pure by declaring unto them all the Counsell of God so that if we would doe our duty we must be Lights shining upon the understandings of men that they may know beleeve in and obey God And so Paul again at large 1 The. 2. There his very heart flameth out into affectionate words for their salvation The end then of our Preaching and of your hearing should be to have God manifested to your souls how apt are both Ministers and people to fail of this great and necessary end To open the doctrine you may take notice that as the Logicians speak of a twofold end Finis operis and
But you see it is a most pleasing thing to God for which he commends his disciples as much as their obedience that they did thus receive him In the next place consider the circumstance of time when this is affirmed of them Now they have known c. What is the sence of that Did they not know and beleeve in Christ before Yes but he speaks here of their proficiciency and growth Now they have known and beleeved more assuredly then ever So that it 's not simply their faith but their growth and encrease in faith that our Sauiour takes notice of From whence observe That it 's not enough for the people of God to have grace but they are to thrive and grow in it To be as the Disciples more assuredly beleeving so as if they did not at all beleeve before Thou art so farre to exceed thy self over what thou wast once that thou maist say my faith my heavenly-mindednesse my love to God was none at all comparatively to what it is now This is a necessary Subject to preach on when you see so many withered Trees so many sick of a consumption in grace Alas of how many may you say the contrary They did once beleeve they were once zealous but now you may say they have none of these respectively to what they had God is not satisfied with the truth of grace unlesse there be also growth in grace If thou have received a Talent and canst not say Thy five hath gained a ten there is a fearful curse against thee as an unprofitable Servant Joh. 15.2 See what quick work God makes and how it is growth he looks at Every branch in him that bringeth not forth fruit he taketh away God loves not slothfulnesse and unprofitablenesse no more then prophanesse He doth not say If it bring forth poisonous fruit or wilde grapes but if it bring forth no good fruit and if any doth fructifie then he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit See here the Husbandmans care is still for more fruit If thou art no better then thou wast if thy faith thy love have not an encrease Gods expectations are not answered Hence Heb 6. those that are babes in Christ are severely reproved and they are to be carried on to perfection Not to grow is a kinde of barrennesse yea it 's a degree to Apostatize Therefore the Apostle in that place threatens such Non proficients with that dreadful sinne of Apostacy 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us perfect holinesse in the fear of God It 's not enough to have holinesse but we are to perfect it and he that hath any fear of God will thus endeavour and certainly if the rich man would have more wealth the great man more greatnesse how much rather the godly man more godlinesse To open this let us consider how many waies the graces of Gods people are to grow and thrive And first In respect of their degrees and measure The weak faith is to grow a strong faith their strong faith a stronger and thus of their love of God Therefore love is required with all the soul and all the might Mat. 22. The duty of growth in grace is required of the highest Gyant as well as the lowest dwarf in grace Phil 3. See how Paul stretcheth out himself to run as if he were but a new beginner There is not in the growth of grace as in nature a term or stint then they go no further No but as they say of the Crocodile he groweth as long as he liveth and when he ceaseth to grow he ceaseth to live Thus it is in the work of grace There is a necessity of growing while any Christian life is in thee Thy grace may be made better and more confirmed grace That man knoweth not what godlinesse is that can say Soul take thy ease thou hast godlinesse enough No they cry out Their leannesse their poverty they are climbing up the hill but cannot get to the top Let then the man that feareth God study the improvement of his graces Oh say There is a greater measure and further degrees yet to be had I am ashamed to see how short I come of what â—ought to be I stagger and reel through doubts and unbelief My heart is divided between God and the creature Oh how often is my heart even as cold as a stone There are no burning affections 〈◊〉 hot zeal I see a better way Oh that I could attain unto it Secondly Their growth ought to be in depth and rooting of their graces As the Apostle speaks of the dimensions of Gods love it hath a depth and a breath Eph. 1. Thus the love of the godly and all their graces have their spirituall dimensions and as before we spake of their growth in height so now of growth downwards in a better setlâ—ng and deeper radicating of their holinesse within them Our Saviour speaks of a foolish builder who did not dig deep enough nor build on a rock Mat. 7.26 and the three sort of hearers did all miscarry upon this Point There was not root rnough What makes the backsliding Demas the apostate Judas but neglect of rooting Oh then look every day that thy Repentance root it self more in the heart That thy faith be more deeply implanted in thee otherwise when a temptation or storm ariseth thou wilt be plucked up by the roots and certainly we may see this is the root of all evil to professors They measure their graces by the boughs and branches thereof not by the rooting whereas we see in all trees the deeper the rooting is the better they are enabled to spread abroad sear then lest thy graces be not got to the bottome of thy heart fear lest something lie closer and deeper in thy heart then grace doth Thirdly They may grow in the extension and kindes of all graces It 's the Apostle bids them adde vertue to temperance and so chains graces together 1 Pet. 1. The people of God they sometimes are careful to avoid such and such sins but then there are others either that they are not convinced of or do not attend unto and there they sail frequently but the godâ—y man is to grow in extension he is to avoid one sinne as well as another He is to perform one duty as well as another Oh then remember the work of grace is an exact and circumspect thing There go many things to make a man godly we may leave out many necessary ingredients and then marre the whole box of ointment David praied to be cleansed from secret sins Psa 19.13 such as he did not understand to be sins Oh it 's happy when the godly are thus growing that they leave off many foolish customes they once practised That they set upon many duties they once wholly omitted These disciples how hardly were they drawn off from many doctrines that they had been brought up in Fourthly They are to grow not only in their
yea if a godly man were to desire a way for to put him out of all doubts between God and his soul what better way could he require then this 4. In beleeving there is a receiving and a participation of all that Christ hath and hence receiving and beleeving is put for one another It 's also metaphorically expressed by eating and drinking Joh 6. That as by those actions we receive meat and it becometh our very substance so it is here by beleeving in him Christ is made ours even all that he hath is ours Thus by Faith we are said to be branches partaking of the fatnesse of the Olive Rom. 11. Oh then how excellent is this act of Faith which is the hand to put on all the glorious robes of Christ upon our soul It being not enough to know there is a Christ so qualified unlesse he become ours 5. This beleeving works an holy confidence and boldnesse at the Throne of grace It makes our praiers and duties full of fervency and alacrity Eph. 3.12 We come with boldnesse through Faith We see the Scepter is held out and so we may readily enter in and Heb. 4.16 Let us come with boldnesse to the Throne of grace Oh how much should the broken hearted sinner live in the Meditation of these things God opens the way by his grace and thou shuttest it by thy unbelief Through Christ the way to heaven is made a broad way and thy doubtings make it narrow When Christ cals Peter to come to him though upon the waters it 's not presumption but disobedience if Peter refuse 6. This is accompanied with large and vast thoughts of Christ This file their hearts and mouths with Christ as you see the Apostle Paul in every verse almost affectionately mentioning him Phil. 3. with what disdain doth he renounce and throw away all things in comparison of Christ The excellency of the knowledge of Christ and at another time He would know nothing but Christ crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 He that doth thus beleeve in Christ so manifested cannot but have his soul and all within him taken up this way Though there be many speak of Christ and talk of Christ yet none hath him indeed and none do truely esteem him but such persons as these Is then Christ dearer and closer to thy heart then all earthly comforts and delights Canst thou say the thoughts of Christ are sweet the meditations about him are my meat and drink all the day long this is precious Lastly This purifieth the heart and makes us an holy heavenly people If we be risen with Christ we set our affections on things above Col. 3.1 2. and he that hath this hope purifieth himself as God is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 Act. 15 9. As the Sun brings heat and light where it is so where faith is it makes the heat active and operative as Heb. 11. This is the beholding of God as in a glasse whereby we are transformed into his Image from grace to grace Beleeving gets spirituall strength even as eating and drinking doth bodily Therefore while thou abatest in thy faith thou dost not only lose thy comfort but thy spiritual strength If thou cease to beleeve not only doubts and fears but even lusts and sinnes will prevail over thee Thus you see what it is to beleeve in Christ thus manifested Now the grounds why it 's the duty of Gods people thus to know and beleeve are 1. Because Christ would otherwise be in vain he would not be of that use and improvement God hath appointed him for If the childe will not suck the breasts are filled in vain If the Prodigal will not eat the fatted Calf is in vain provided The Fountain runneth in vain if none will drink of it Oh then consider this if I do not by faith thus receive Christ I do as much as lieth in me make Christ of none effect I do as much as lieth in me make as if there had never been such a person as Christ If then the Apostle makes those false Teachers in such a dangerous estate that by corrupt opinions did make Christ to die in vain and his Crosse of none effect no lesse provoking must thy sin of unbelief be It takes Christ out of the world R. 2 2. We are thus to beleeve in Christ because in and through him God doth magnifie his glory His attributes of grace mercy and unspeakable bounty are exalted through Christ If then we do not thus receive Christ we deprive God of all this intended glory The Creation of the world and all the mercifull wondrous works God hath done for his Church were not intended to exalt God as Christ in all his benefits and therefore if it be so great a sin not to give God the glory in them how inexcusable will it be to fail in this R. 3 3. The insufficiency of all other things to satisfie the broken and troubled heart may justly make the godly fly to this So the disciples being to acknowledge Christ as the Mediatour they say Whither should we go thou hast the words of Eternal life If they run to their duties to their graces these are too weak to lean upon They are as Noahs Dove that findes the waters covering all the Mountains and highest Trees Seeing then we must have something to fix all our hopes and affections upon and all other things will fail how unwise are the godly if they keep a moment from Christ R. 4 4. Our necessity may enforce us And this floweth from the forenamed insufficiency in all other things Doth not thy own heart disquiet thee Doth not the perfect Law trouble thee Doth not the devil accuse thee and shall not all this make thee seek out for that which will answer all Paul tried all other things but he found nothing like Christ and thou art the rather to improve this to the full because there is not the least ability or priviledge in Christ that thou canst spare Christ is all over bread and food There is nothing in Christ but is of special use Oh then what folly is it that thou shouldst bour to know the fulnesse of any creature for thy wants and not of Christ He is an Ocean and not one drop in him but is of admirable efficacy He is a Pearl and so the least of that must be very precious if thou continuest in fears and lusts it 's because thou dost not improve all of Chrsst It 's not enough to touch the hemme of his garment but thou must receive whole Christ Vse of Instruction That all those sinners who love their sins and will not depart from them are wholly barred from all this comfort stand aloof off and bewail thy Leprosie Christ received not that fulnesse from his Father for thee abiding and continuing in thy sins Oh miserable and wretched though they live in ease and pleasures having all things their carnal appetites desire one thing is necessary and that
is so well-pleasing to God that we should believe in Christ our Mediatour It 's accepted of as well as our Repentance or love or any other obedience And 1. Because hereby God is exalted and magnified in his glory We cannot glorifie God more otherwise Now then if God aimed at his glory in the Creation of the world but much more in the redemption of his Children There is not a way to exalt his glory more then by beleeving Thus Abraham in that of his concerning a Seed which did relate to Christ it 's said he staggered not but gave glory to God Rom. 4.20 The glory of his power of his goodnesse he regarded not the dead womb nor any other difficulties Thus it is here when thou seest sinne against thee the Law against thee Justice against thee and that every thing hath a dead womb yea a damned womb for thee to overlook all in Christ is an high degree to glorifie God Oh then ckeck thy unbeleeving thoughts Say Is there any way in the world whereby I can glorifie God like to the relying on Christ and leaning upon his grace So much dishonour as despair casteth on God so much glory faith attributeth to him resist then all the buzzing temptations of Satan and say What shall I not glorifie God What shall I not give God honour 2. The acceptablenesse of it doth appear in the frequent and constant commands that Christ giveth about it It 's true he commands Repentance Love Self-deniall but above all he requireth faith The question he propounded to most that came to him was Do ye beleeve This is so great a duty in Christianity that the Heathens abhorred our Religion as irrational saying It 's only beleeved with them whereupon they called them in scorn Beleevers But this is the grand and primary duty Heb. 11.1 There is no coming to God without this and Eternal life is said to be in this Above all take the Shield of faith Eph. 6.16 If then we see the Scripture so constantly enjoyning this above all yea and threatning with damnation if we do not beleeve How is it that the godly stand aloof of and still are not resolved whether they should beleeve or not Thou dost not so about Repentance Thou never questionest whether thou shouldst grieve or mourn for thy sins Thou wouldst think it high wickedness to do so Why then shouldst thou doubt whether being burthened with sin thou shouldst seek ease by faith in him Is not the command as indispensable for one as the other 3. It 's acceptable Because hereby Christ as a Mediator is improved for all these glorious ends he was appointed by God and thereby Christ is also glorified What shall such unsearchable riches of grace as are bound up in Christ be buried Shall there not be daily acknowledgements of him Now consider that if by Faith thou dost not receive him thou declarest Christ lived in vain and died in vain by what reason thou dost not beleeve for one effect thou must not for another and so for all Thus it will be as if there had never been such a person as Christ We may in some sence call it thy Antichristian unbelief He that denieth Christ to be come in the flesh is Antichrist 2 Joh. 7 Doth not thy unbelief deny him For the denying of his office is by consequence the denying of his person Thy unbelief doth that practically which the damnable heresies of Socinians do doctrinally make as if Christ were not a Mediatour and such who had satisfied the wrath of God for us Oh then know it 's not all thy sins do so immediatly oppose Christ as a Mediatour as thy unbelief doth which makes Divines say that in some sence only unbelief damneth beeause that rejecteth the Mediatour refuseth the Saviour so that as we say It 's not the disease but the neglect of the medicine that kils 4. It 's very acceptable to God because It 's the most evacuating grace It emptieth us wholly of our selves God he delights in humility now nothing humbleth us and takes us off all our seeming worth like faith in Christ for therefore I wholly trust in him for righteousnesse because I have none of my own If I had any rags that could cover my nakednesse I would not be ashamed but now being all over impure and unclean my Faith makes me catch hold on him Thus Paul he counted all things dung or drosse Phil. 3. because of the righteousnesse which is by Faith in Christ Seeing then Faith gives all to God and Christ makes us miserable wretched and hopelesse in our selves No wonder if God doe so accept of it Consider therefore how it debaseth thee and carrieth thee off every thing that is thine and then thou wilt say this is the grace God loveth this makes me nothing and God all in all 5. Faith in Christ must needs be acceptable because hereby we bring a righteousnesse into Gods presence which doth best please him which satisfieth him to the utmost for Christ is made our Righteousnesse and the end of the Law to us he became sin that we might become the Righteousnesse of God through him 2 Cor. 5. ul Now then if we by Faith can bring the Righteousnesse of Christ in all our duties and performances we must needs please him This is to bring Benjamin with us Oh what satisfying Reasons doth Faith in the Mediatour bring O Lord It is not my Righteousnesse nor the Righteousnesse of Adam nor the Righteousnesse of Angels but of Christ who is infinite that I bring before thee O Lord doth not Christ please thee better then I can O Lord is not this obedience better then my Repentance Oh then that we should not be more sollicitous to beleeve in every duty in every approach to God for that brings Christ that presents not our persons or duties but Christ Thus Paul he would be found in Christ not having his own righteousnâ—sse Phil. 3.9 Ye know not how righteous God is nor the Law nor what God requireth that do not thus press to beleeve Other grounds of this excellent Evangelical Point I defer and come to the Vse which is of Direction to the people of God Oh what joyful comfortable and blessed lives might you live if acquainted with this Truth Art thou dejected filled with unbelieving thoughts it 's from thy ignorance of this Truth You would be more filial and Evangelical were you possessed with this Truth more The Devil labours to keep you off as Saul did Jonathan and the people from eating honey whereas if they had not forborn it their enemies had been quite vanquished he keepeth thee from this honey he knoweth if thou wert beleeving no sin or temptation could stand before thee Heb. 5.13 The babe Christian is said to be unskilful in the word of Righteousnesse what is that he knoweth not Christ and the righteousnesse by him Therefore the Spirit of God is said to convince the world of Righteousnesse Joh. 16.8 O
little knowest what thou maist be and do even the most abominable things that are if left to a Temptation Now this is a special thing in Christs praier to have present help of grace in such a streight Thus v. 15. I pray that thou shouldst keep them from the evil of the world Not to be taken out of the world but to be preserved from the sinfulnesse of it and thus for Peter Christ saith Satan had a desire to winnow him but he praied that his faith might not fail Luk. 22.32 Had not the fruit of this praier intervened Peter and Judas might have been both alike Oh then the tender godly man that is obnoxious to over-whelming fears if such and such temptations should befall him he should be undone that saith one time or other this or that affliction will break him Let such consider that it 's not their strength but Christs praier is their support he that praied Peters faith might not fail hath done the like for thee 3. Perseverance in the way of grace against all oppositions and difficulties This his praier extends to v. 34. Father I will they be where I am and how careful was he to keep them that none of them who were given him might perish The perseverance of Gods Children doth not depend upon grace within for Angels and Adam lost it but upon the promise of God and Christs Intercession Oh how often do we break our Covenant with God on our parts if we were left to our selves we should be branches broken from the Vine pulled from the root we should become Trees not twice but twenty times dead But it is the praier of Christ that keeps up all life and vigour It 's better with us then with the People of Israel all the while Moses held up his hands he prevailed but when he was weary then their enemies prevailed But it is not so here Our Intercessor never giveth over he doth not intermit for a moment so that as long as Christs Intercession shall abide so long shall we be preserved 4. Christs praier extends to their vivification and quickning up to holinesse Sanctifie them by thy Truth They were already sanctified but he praieth for encrease and growth therein The hearts and affections of the most holy are in some degree polluted and unclean therefore they need this further Sanctification and preparation of them for what is holy Lastly This praier doth extend to our communion and intimate Fellowship with the Father as is abundantly expressed That they may be one as thou and I am one they in me and I in them Man as he is a man is Animal sociale and as a Christian he desires fellowship which is not only with other members but chiefly with the head And this Communion is the ground of all spiritual and heavenly joy the fulness of it being that eternal glory in heaven 7. The excellency and comfortablenesse of it is the more aggravated by the contrary viz. the devil who is the accuser of the Brethren and he continually brings in matter of accusation against us If Joshua hath rags on Satan will revile him certainly he that is so great an Enemy to a godly mans praier labouring either to hinder it or distract it or marre it with some proud self-confidence how much rather if he could would he hinder the praier and intercession of Christ Now though he can finde much accusation against the godly mans praier yet none against Christs Though he be an accuser of the Brethren yet not of Christ the head The Prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me Joh. 14.30 Vse 1. of comfort to the Godly behold we open to you Treasures of consolation when you cannot do not pray yet even then is Intercession made for you We are apt to think as the Disciples did If Christ were corporally present with us If he were visibly speaking to us as to that Woman Be of good comfort thy sins be forgiven We should judge our selves happy but it 's better for us Christ appeareth for us in heaven This is more advantagious then his corporal presence can be Oh then see what is thy staff to lean upon not thy praiers or duties but Christs Intercession Oh maintain this plea against the devil and thy own troubled heart Say what condemnation or accusation can there be of Christ how can the Father refuse him pleading for us O Lord if I had nothing but my praiers my duties I were not able to look up to heaven Vse 2. To discover the woful and damnable estate of wicked men They have no Intercessor for them If they sinne they have no Advocate It was a dreadful thing when God bid Jeremiah pray not for this people Oh but when Christ shall not pray there is no way or hope open for thee Should all godly Ministers and Friends pray for thee yet if Christ intercede not they can doe thee no good The devil accuseth thee Justice arraigneth thee and there is none to speak a word for thee SERMON XLIII Of the Extent of Christs Mediatory Praier and of his Death That he Praied and Died not for all and every one of mankinde but onely for the Elect And that the Scripture-Expressions of Christs Dying for all are to be understood Indefinitely and not Vniversally JOH 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world HAving handled the positive part I come to the exclusive The Subject that is shut out of Christs praiers and that is the world I pray not for the world The word world is as large in signification according to Scripture-use as it is in comprehension so that we may say it hath a world of significations Some say It 's not used at all in the Old Testament but that is a mistake for in our Translations it 's very frequent I shall instance in some choice ones It is used sometimes for this whole Universe in all the parts of it as when it 's said Before the Foundation of the world Sometimes and that most frequently for men who are the Inhabitants of the world and it 's observed by the Learned that John the Evangelist doth use it in the most various significations The world when it signifieth men the Inhabitants of it either is used â—niversally for all or else Synechdochically for the greater part for all as Joh. 3. God so loved the world viz. mankinde he did more for that then for Apostate Angels Though Learned men expound that otherwaies it 's used synechdochically for a greater part but indefinitely good and bad as when it 's said the whole world went after Christ but it 's many times used definitely for a certain kinde of men And that either the wicked and ungodly who are the greater in quantity and thus by our Evangelist often The world hateth you and I have overcome the world Or else it 's used for the better part of the world though the lesse for the world of the Elect and
for their sinnes as being expiated by Christs Death but because by their unbelief they reject this actuall Reconciliation made for them so that all men have a generall Remission of their sinnes but those only have a speciall Remission that by Faith accept it But this also is rejected as absurd although it be observable that most of those places they bring for Universal Redemption speak of the act and so the Huberians keep more to the plain words then they do who pleade for universal grace Joh. 1.29 The Lamb that takes away the sins of the world 2 Cor. 5. God was in Christ reconciling the world speak of actual not potential or conditional Reconciliation and they themselves say universal redemption not redimibility 3. There are the Arminians and Remonstrants men of greater Learning and more refined understandings then the former and they hold Christ died for all in respect of Impetration not Application Christ died intending a Ransome for all if they beleeve but who should beleeve and who not doth not arise from Christs Death but comes partly from grace partly from free-will So that by this Position though Christ died yet not one man might be saved But this in the issue will be found derogatory to Christ and leaveth the greatest weight of our salvation upon merit 4. There are those that come nearer and are in the number of the Orthodox about Election Conversion Free-will and Perseverance in grace Only they hold Christs dying intentionally for all But how they can reconcile their Opinion with their other Tenents holding Christs universal love to all in his Death if they do beleeve and yet at the same time a special love to some to make them beleeve and not others is judged very difficult and also wholly unprofitable as to any duty or comfort The Doctrine whereof they think the more to establish by this opinion Lastly There are those who say Though Christs Death is in it self suffieient for all yet the purpose and intention of Christ was to give himself a ransome for some only with these I joyn as having Gods Truth on their side I wâ—ll briefly give you some grounds because others have largely handled it 1. Because we are said to be elected in Christ our Head So that Election though it be originally from the meer will of God yet we are chosen in Christ as the Mediatour If then Election be only of some as it 's plain Rom 9. then Christ died only for some For Christ is but the medium whereby Election doth bring about all the effects thereof Seeing therefore Election is only of some and that is in Christ as the medium Christ also must be for those only that are Elected 2. Out of the Text For whom Christ would not pray as a Mediatour he did not die Shall he give his bloud and will he not vouchsafe a praier his intercession and his oblation go together 3. Those for whom Christ died he did not only die for their salvation but grace to prepare and fit for it Tit. 2.15 he died to make us a peculiar people zealous of good works Now this must needs convince for we speak of dying for all and think only of salvation but Christs death was to obtain Faith and Repentance as the means to Salvation therefore we may as well say universal Faith and universal repentance as well as universal redemption 4. There cannot be a greater love then Christ to die for one and if he hath delivered up Christ for us how shall he not with him give us all things Rom. 8. Therefore to say Christ died for all and yet will not save all is to grant the greater and deny the lesse Vse of Instruction In stead of needlesse and impertinent disputes about Christs death for all do thou labour and apply thy self for a particular share in his death We know not who they are that are shut out but therefore we encourage and exhort every one Oh consider the sad consequences of having no share in his death Who shall accuse It 's Christ that died Christs death keepeth off all accusation and condemnation Oh then wo unto that man who is to answer all accusations and condemnations in his own Name and must justifie himself from the works he hath done It 's now a dispute in every mans mouth Every one will be arguing in this matter when alas the Question is of such a vast comprehension that it 's onely for learned moderate and sober men to handle SERMON XLV The Application of the former Subject Setting forth the Necessity of Faith and Repentance as to the Interesting us in Christ The Freenesse of Gods Love The Qualifications of those to whom Christs Death is made advantagious And also their Priviledges above all others JOH 17.9 I pray not for the world THe controversall part being dispatched so farre as was convenient in this place we now come to the practicall We leade you out of the Camp that ye may gather honey For you may ask To what purpose is all this Dâ—sputation What matter is it whether Christ had a speciall or an universal love in his Death I acknowledge it is very good to keep within the bounds of Sobriety and Piety and not to be so disputative about the universality of Christs Death as to be sollicitous whether we are in the number of those for whom he died for whether he died for all or for some If we repent not and beleeve there will be little comfort or advantage for us either way Vse 1 And therefore the first Vse shall be of Instruction to demonstrate the necessity of conversion and turning unto God from our sinnes for all men that pretend to any reason or piety howsoever they differ about Christs death yet agree in this that no man hath benefit by Christs death but such who cleanse themselves from their iniquities who renounce their former lusts that were like so many Lords quot vitia tot Domini And take Jesus Christ for their Lord and King There was scarce any Heretique ever so besotted as to preach Christ so died for all that it 's no matter whether ye repent or no whether you forsake your sins or no Christ died to save you No they agree in this though otherwise so different that no benefit of Christs death is actually applied to any man till by Faith and Repentance he be a qualified Subject so that the wicked man wallowing in his sins hath cause to tremble and quake under this Truth he may say Mihi nec seritur nec metitur Here is nothing makes for me in all these Opinions If I be Calvinist Arminian or any other way I cannot have any quietnesse or look for any comfort till I and my sins are divided Only that of Origens might give thee some ease if it could be true that all men and devils shall be saved at last after they have been a long while tormented in hell But this is so directly contrary to
therefore see what violence they offer to this phrase By this giving to Christ is meant say they the disposition and ready Obedience which some give to Gods call O monstrous Transubstantiation like that of the Papists of the bread into Christs body For that which the Scripture giveth expresly to God they take away and give to man The Scripture saith God giveth them and they say man giveth himself We see that not only the ignorant and unlearned but even learned men corrupted may wrest the Scripture to their destruction But to discover this Interpretation is refutation enough Indeed it cannot be denied but that in this Chapter there is a twofold giving of some to Christ 1. By Election and Sanctification to Eternal Life 2. A peculiar segregation or destination to some Office Of this latter our Saviour speaks afterwards say some when he said None had perished of those whom the Father had given him but the Son of Perdition But of the former he speaks v. 2. He giveth Eternall Life to every one that was given him and v. 9. They were given him out of the world wheras Judas was alwaies of the world and thus it is taken here So that to be given by Christ is for the Father freely out of his meer good pleasure to choose some in Christ to Eternall Life sanctifying and calling of them in time So that the Fountain of all the good we have is the meer grace and love of God The discriminating difference why Christ prayeth not for the world but his Disciples and in them all beleevers is not from any good or worth in them but meerly from the meer gift of God Obs That all the spritual good the godly enjoy is meerly and solely from the gift and grace of God This is a Point that the Scripture doth most diligently presse and that over and over again because we are so apt to attribute something to our selves Thus the Apostle speaks generally Jam. 1.17 Every good and perfect gift comes from above The earth is no more able to give light to the world then we can do that which is truly good of our selves Therefore 2 Cor. 21.4 What hast thou thou hast not received The Apostle makes an universall charge so that to say I have received from my self and made my self to differ from others as Grevinchovius the Arminian is to blaspheme in an high manner and to put our selves in the place of God You see whatsoever priviledge Gods people have it is because they are given to Christ For the full discovery of this we shall instance in some of the choicest and most fundamental priviledges the godly have and you shall finde they are all so many beamlings from the glorious Fountain of grace They are so many sprouts from that Root And first of Election which is the first step of Gods love to us this we shall finde to be only of Gods gift and that is demonstrated thus Reasons 1 1. From the Original of it It 's only the meer pleasure of his will If it be asked why hath God mercy on this or that man so as to make him happy to all Eternity the answer is So is the will of God Eph. 1. Rom. 9. You see there all is resolved into this The counsell of his will and Mat. 11. Even so Father for so it pleaseth thee Hence Rom. 9. It 's not of him that willeth or runneth but of him that sheweth mercy Those therefore that finde the certain effects of this ancient and unchangeable love of God with what praise and glory are they to break out unto God if they had not only the tongues but the hearts of men and Angels they were not sufficient for this work to glorifie God for what is a drop to the Ocean a spark to the fire a stone to the Moutain a candle to the Sunne Hence it is for this use that it 's necessary as the Apostle doth often to inform the Children of God concerning their Election because that is the first round in that Ladder of Gods mercies descending upon us Oh then be thou astonished at this goodnesse of God it lay in his will to refuse thee and take another There was nothing but his meer Soveraignty and absolute good counsell hath made thee a fit vessell for glory and left others as vessels of wrath by their own voluntary Apostacy in Adam Oh say in thy Meditation O Lord I am silenced I can go no further the waters overflow me Reasons 2 2. This Election is meerly of Gods goodnesse because it 's not for any foreseen merits or faith We had nothing at all to be more acceptable to God then others for there are some who are enemies to the grace of God and under the praise of nature and free-will hide their secret opposition to Gods grace Whereas Bonaventure said well If we must erre it 's safer to erre in giving too much to grace then too much to free-will These corrupt Doctors they have no way to vent their poison but by saying and maintaining that though God hath chosen some before others yet it was because he did foresee who would by Faith and good works with perseverance therein continue faithful to God But how extream injurious is this to Gods Election for by this means we shall choose God first and not God us But what saith our Saviour I have chosen you and not you me 1 Joh. 4.10 Not that we first loved God but God us Here you see that it's God who first beginneth with us God first chose us God first loved us and then we loved him Therefore let not the Godly heart endure such Doctrines that shall tell us God saw a better use of thy free-will in thee then in others And hence it is that thou art Elected to glory and not others for then it would not be pre-destination but post-destination And besides then no man could be Elected before the last moment of his life For who can tell whether he shall persevere or no So that these Doctrines rob God of his honour and his people of their comforts Reasons 3 3. Election must needs be of Grace and so we are given to Christ because of that wretched and sinfull estate we are all in by Adams Fall Upon his Apostacy we are all involved in his guilt We are by nature Children of wrath Ephes 2.3 Though there were no actuall sinnes to witnesse against us Seeing then there was nothing in us but sinne and misery it 's no wonder if God doth what he doth out of his meer grace and favour I acknowledge there are many eminent and learned Divines called Supralapsarians because they hold an Election of some and a pretention of others even before Adams Fall and thereupon make Election not an action of grace because it supposeth no sinne but of meer dominion and soveraignty whereby he may dispose of his creature as he pleaseth but I think it more consonant to Scripture to hold an
whom yet they fastened many impious actions upon for certainly nature would have told them That was God quo nibil melius cogitari potest Thus the God whom Christians according to the Scripture doe serve is the onely holy and true God Thirdly He is holy in respect of his will command and approbation His word is an holy Word The Scriptures are holy Scriptures They command They approve They encourage and comfort nothing but holinesse David Psal 19. compareth them to Gold often refined that hath no drosse and Hab. 1. God is of purer eyes then to behold Iniquity viz. by approbation Therefore he is said to be angry with the wicked all the day long Oh then though other men love thee and thou art in love with thy own self yet if not holy God doth not God cannot love thee Fourthly God is holy efficiently He is the Authour and cause of all the holinesse we have Iames 1.17 Every good and perfect gift comes from him We are his Workmanship created to good works He made the Angels holy He created Adam holy yea he infused all holinesse into Christs humane Nature and therefore much rather must he cause all the holinesse that is in us Therefore Christ by praying that God would sanctifie his Disciples doth thereby teach that none can make holy but God alone Let then the proud Patrons of free-will be confounded at this They that cannot make themselves Creatures will they say ' they make themselves holy Creatures Minus est te fecisse hominem quam justum Fifthly He is finally holy That is all our holinesse is to terminate in him Holinesse doth properly respect God as the Object and therefore though a man praieth heareth giveth alms yea his body to be burnt and doth not with a pure and chaste Intention look at Gods glory in all this it is not holinesse Hence it is that many have low thoughts about holinesse and grosly mistake in it taking copper for Gold and Samuels Ghost for Samuel himself Thou art not holy till thou canst truly say in some Degree at least though with much opposition Whom have I in Heaven but God and none on Earth besides him In Heaven Heaven it self would not be heaven to a gracious heart but because God is there Sixthly God is holy exemplarily He is the Rule Pattern and Example of holinesse 1 Pet. 1.15 Be ye holy as I am holy Levit. 20.26 So that if we would know how we are to be holy it must not be as men think or as the world prescribeth but as God is holy Not that we can attain to an equality but to a similitude onely So that the principle of the world must fall to the ground They will doe as others doe or as most doe Oh but rather Consider that God himself hath set down a Form for thee and because there is such fulnesse in him as in an Ocean therefore we have a necessity of growing every day No man is as holy as the patern therefore still he is to be perfecting Holinesse and Righteousnesse in the Fear of God 1 Cor. 7.1 Thus you have heard that God is holy But in the next place know it is our Duty to improve this Attribute for our Good For so our Saviour doth not look upon it as an absolute property in God but as that which may be profitable unto his Disciples So that we are to make use of this by Faith And that first Because when God becomes our God by the Covenant of Grace he is wholly ours and all his Attributes are for our benefit and advantage I will be their God Now God is not our God nulesse his Wisedome be ours his Holinesse be ours that is for our benefit For we cannnot separate God and these Oh then what an unwise and foolish thing is it in a Christian when he hath such a Treasure and yet will make no use of it Such a Mine and yet improveth it not In God there is holinesse for all Angels and men much more for thee Secondly God being thus absolutely good he is communicating of it and it is a Rule The more any thing is good the more diffusive it is of it self As we see in God who though glorious and happy enough in himself yet he created a world and ordained many to Eternall Glory out of his meer good pleasure and Fullnesse not that he needed or wanted any Oh then it is very acceptable and well-pleasing to God that we should come with thirsting Souls unto this Fountain and draw Water out of it That we should suck plentifully at these full Breasts and be refreshed Vse of Instruction to the People of God who are greatly afflicted under this great Temptation They are not an holy People Oh they finde sinne captivating them sinne prevailing over them but where is an holy heart holy affections and holy aims in what they doe Oh they say Could they finde they were more holy though they were poor and afflicted yet they should rejoyce Let such Consider It is their Unbelief and want of earnest Praier if they be not richly supplied and furnished in this for God is infinitely holy and he delights to communicate it The larger the Vessell is the more willing he is and will be to fill it and there cannot be any Prayer more acceptable then to begge for this above all things Vse 2. Is God thus holy Then let the most holy be humble in all their approaches to him for he is of such pure Eyes that he findes spots and blemishes yea damnable matter in thy most holy duties Angels holinesse is not proportionable to him Thirdly Of Reproof to wicked men who deride scoff and maliciously oppose holinesse What is this but to rise up against God himself Is not Holinesse the Glorious Attribute of God And do the Beams of this shining in his People offend thee This argueth thou art of a perverse and of a devilish Spirit for thou shouldest rather reverence and honour it saying Oh that I might live and dye like such holy men Indeed there are many would like Balaam die like a Godly man but not live like him as One said He would live like Croesus but die like Socrates Yet this is impossible There must be an holy Life else there will hardly be an holy Death SERMON LV. The Great Lord-Keeper of Israel from inevitable Ruine both of Body and Soul extolled JOH 17.11 Holy Father keep through thy own Name those thou hast given me c. WE have dispatched the Introductory Compellation and now proceed to the Petition it self and in that Consider 1. The mercy praied for and 2. The Amplification of it The mercy praied for is Keep The amplification is 1. From the Subject described by their Election from Eternity And 2. Actuall donation to Christ in time Those thou hast given me This is often repeated by our Saviour as being a main Argument why nothing should he denied them that were thus
indeared both to Father and Son and also the frequent Iteration of this might produce the more faith and confidence in the Disciples 3. This is amplified by the manner or instrumental cause how they are to be kept Through thy own Name 4. The End or Consequent of all this That they may be one as Thou and I are one Of the Mercy praied for Keep and the Subject Those thou hast given me in the first place I shall not enlarge any thing more upon this Description Neither is there any difficulty in the words only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by some serva and they take it properly for those were said to be servari who were taken in warre and so the Conquerour had full power over them to put them to death but of his clemency he saved them and thereupon were called servi but the Greek word hath no such allusion Only there is a twofold keeping external and temporal from the violence and rage of wicked men in respect of their bodies and lives because the world hates them And 2. Spiriutal and internal in grace and holinesse and this he doth principally pray for as appeareth by the matter instanced in Keep them in their outward condition that they be not destroid keep them in their spiritual condition that they lose not their faith or other graces Keep them in bono that they be not undone deficiendo Keep them a malo that it hurt them not Inficiendo If they do sinne keep them reficiendo by repairing and raising them up again If then the Disciples though thus wonderfully given by the Father to Christ do need a daily keeping lest they be undone every way then it holds true also of all beleevers Obs That even all the People of God were they not kept by Gods grace and power they would every moment be undone both in Soul and body It is not our grace our Prayer our Watchfulnesse keeps us but it is the power of God his right arm supports us We may see David praying to God that he would keep him in both these respects from temporal dangers Psa 17.8 9. Keep me as the Apple of thy Eye from the wicked that oppose me Where he doth not only pray to be kept but he doth insinuate how carefully God keeps his people and in what precious account their safety is even as the apple of the Eye and for spiritual preservation he often begs it Psa 19.13 Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sinnes Though David be Gods Servant yet he will like a wilde Horse run violently and that into presumptuous sinnes if God keep him not back yea he prayeth that God would keep the particular parts of his body that they sinne not Psa 141.3 Keep the door of my Lips he entreateth God to keep his Lips and to set a watch about his mouth as if he were not able to set guard sure enough Thus much more are we to pray that God would keep our hearts our mindes our wils our affections for they are more masterfull Let us briefly consider the first God keepeth us from temporal dangers and that upon these grounds 1. Man hath by sinne forfeited all his temporall mercies there is nothing due to him no health no wealth not the least comfort but every man here upon the earth might be like Dives in hell begging for a drop of water and not able to attain it Gal. 3. Cursed is he that keepeth not the Law and Gen. 3. upon sinne death in all the concomitants of it came into the world so that if all these curses of the Law be not every moment inflicted upon us it 's because God keepeth us He beareth off the blows that Justice and the Law would lay upon us So that it's Gods goodnesse that keepeth thee alive that keeps thee on this side hell that keeps thee from that proper doom which belongs to thee The Sentence of death is passed upon all long agoe onely the execution of it is put off till God pleaseth Who art thou then that repinest and art troubled under such a losse such an affliction how many thousands more are there that God keeps thee from None is so miserable but he may see others more miserable then himself It is the Lord that keeps all these curses from thee and thee from them 2. The godly man would be undone if God did not keep him from his own imbecility and infirmity He hath no power to preserve himself from misery Hence man is called Enoch and in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that he doth not only deserve all misery but he is prone of himself to fall into it did not God keep him Job 14.1 and Job 5.1 Man that is born of a woman is full of trouble even as the Sparks fly upwards So that as the Spark if not stopt doth of it self ascend upward Thus man of himself though there were no outward cause to drive him yet would stumble and fall into all desolation Therefore the great troubles men lye under are self-created they come by our indiscretion blindenesse or some sinful way or other Therefore Solomon observeth that a mans misery is great on the Earth because he hath not judgement to discern the times and seasons of things Eccl. 8.6 If therefore God did not keep the Godly man no Childe would sooner fall or run into the fire then he would into mischief You may reade of that good King Josiah for whom the Kingdom made such Lamentation how foolishly he ran upon his own Death 2 Chro. 33.22 3. Did not God keep us the devils rage and enmity is such that he would not onely destroy the Soul but the body You see his malice when he had liberty to possesse the bodies of many how miserably he tormented them and when God gave him leave to afflict Job in his Estate and body he did it to the utmost There wanted no evil while he could do it Now there is no reason why the Devil should not do thee the same mischief continually but onely God bindes up this roaring Lyon The Devil is said to be a Murderer from the beginning and that for the body as well as the Soul he tempted Cain to murther Abel he tempted Judas to betray Christ Oh then wonder that God keeps thee when there are such Legions of Devils crafty and potent enough to procure thy destruction 4. Did not God keep the godly he would be undone temporally because of the hatred and malice wicked men bear to every godly man Therefore Christ said they were as Sheep among Wolves Can they hope for mercy from a Wolf David complained that his Soul was among Lions and Ezechiel complained he dwelt among Scorpions Now then seeing the world is so full of malice and the number of wicked men is like the Sand upon the Sea-shoar to them They are as the Israelites Army seemed to the great power that came against them like a Flock of
Birds Now what is the reason that wicked men have not their will of destroying the Godly It is onely God that keeps them yea God keeps every part of them He keepeth their feet Every stone else might be their Death Yea Psa 34 20. He keepeth all their bones he maketh their Beds in their sicknesse What an expression is that There is no Nurse can so diligently and tenderly look to the sick as God doth to a godly man diseased Oh then that we should attribute our Estates to such care and diligence of our lives to such places to such second causes and not rather look up to God who keepeth us all the day long His keeping of all the godly doth not diminish his care in keeping every particular man for it's God that keepeth every man and that keepeth the Church in generall How could this Ark that had no Sails no Pilot no Stern have been kept in the midst of the Deluge but that God preserveth it Psa 121.3 God is said to be the Keeper of Israel and such an one that neither flumbreth or sleepeth Certainly could the people of God for their Estates Lives and all they have commit all to this Keeper they would live with more joy Thou saist who will keep me Who will keep mine Oh remember a better Keeper then if thou hadst all the Monarchs in the world Whence then arise your fears and doubts but because you are your own Keepers or Friends must keep or such an Estate and so much wealth must keep you See what David tels us Psal 121.1 Except the Lord keep the City even the Watchmen watcheth in vain Though he watch and doe not sleep yet there must be a better Keeper Say so of thy House of thy Family of thy Children and of all outward worldly things Therefore let the Use of this Branch of the Doctrine be to all that are godly to cast off all fears and perplexities about any worldly thing They have a faithfull Keeper all their mercies are in his hand The world nor the devil cannot take them away Is not the Childe secure because he hath a Loving Father who keeps all things for him We are not our own Keepers no more then our Creators And if thou losest any outward comfort stay thy self with this I have a wise and an holy Keeper who would not have suffered this or that losse to fall out but that it was best for me to do so and thou maist be encouraged to this holy Security because 1. God is an Omnipotent God None saith Christ is stronger then my Father Joh. 10. We betrust men with things and there comes a stronger then they who takes all away but none can do so here 2. He is a faithfull and wise Keeper He will not lye or deceive thee Thou wilt have no cause to complain as Jacob did to Laban That he had defrauded him so many times Thou canst not trust in riches or in men for these are unfaithfull These are a lye but God is not like man he will not deny himself 3. He doth not onely keep thee himself but appoints others also to keep thee Armies of Angels are appointed by him to keep thee yea all the creatures are a Safeguard to thee The stones in the Field are at peace with him who feareth God Did not thy Faith lie asleep in thee as Christ in the Ship there would never be so many dangerous Tempests to overwhelm thee But I proceed to the second part which is more principally intended by our Saviour and of greater consequence to the godly for what iâ— their Goods and their bodies be kept but their Souls lost Will this keeping avail them if he keeps us that an hair of our head do not fall to the Ground but our graces they are lost a man could take little comfort therefore let the godly know of a Truth That it 's the power of God that keeps them to Salvation 1. It 's God onely that preserveth and keeps the Truth of Grace once wrought in thee We see Adam and Angels lost their precious Treasure of Grace And can we think to be better Conservators then they were No thou wouldest immediately of a Paradise become a noisome dunghill and a hell did not the Lord keep thee Hence the Apostle praieth so often that God would strengthen and settle them No Leaf would fall sooner to the ground then our Graces wither did not God keep them We see then upon what Rock the godly are built what it is that though they are in the midst of spiritual Thieves and Robbers yet their Jewels are not stolen it is because God keeps them Hence is the perseverance of the godly Hence it is that Peters Faith is not totally and finally lost David and Peter were in sad and great Temptations in danger to lose all the Truth of grace put into them and all had been gone but that God kept them So that as in natural things God is not only the Creator but Preserver of all things And if he did not uphold them by his arm they would fall into their first nothing Thus did not God graciously keep thee thou wouldest fall into that old desperate state of impiety again and be as prophane and wicked as ever before 2. The Lord doth not onely keep the habits and being of grace but also all the quickenings and actuall stirrings of the Soul to good Such Sparks would quickly go out did not the Lord keep them alive We might say of them as of mans life They are but a Vapour and a Bubble Thus 1 Chro. 29.18 When David and the people had with so much willingnesse and delight offered unto God he praieth that God would keep this for ever in their hearts If then thou finde thy heart at any time raised up to actual hungrings and thirstings after God if it break for the longing it hath to God alwaies then runne to God that he would keep this excellent frame of heart alwaies in thee That the world and the Temptations thereof may not bring thee down again from this Mountain of Transfiguration Say O Lord It 's not in me to keep this frame of heart alwaies I shall quickly lose it Something or other will take away this live Childe and put a dead one in the room of it Oh therefore O Lord do thou help me and keep me I renounce my own strength I see my own weaknesse and certainly if we are to pray to God for daily bread though we have a Bâ—rn full of Corn because he can immediatly blast all and within an hour or moment make us like Job how much more have we cause to pray for this daily Keeping even though we were the strongest Christians for we see what many of the chiefest Rank in Piety even David and Peter did when without this actual Custody or preservation They fell into the Dunghill and from thence would have fallen into hell had not the grace of God
stopt them Now you must know There is a great difference between the Degrees or quickenings of Grace and the Essence of Grace Christ did not so pray that his Disciples might not fall from any Degree of their Grace Neither doth God so keep them as that they never stumble No we see the contrary to this For the Disciples fled through fear when Christ was apprehended and though Christ in particular praied for Peter That his Faith might not fail him yet it did in some measure otherwise he could not with cursing and swearing so sadly have denied the Lord Christ Christs Prayer therefore and Gods keeping doth infallibly extend to the Essence and Truth of Grace They shall never lose that but for the Degrees and Intensions they are amissible yea so farre loseable that to the eye of others there is no difference between a wicked man and them As in the dead of Winter we cannot by the outward appearance tell which is a dead Tree or a living onely there is inward sap in one which is not in another And thus there is an inward principle of Life in one which is not in the wicked man The Godly then notwithstanding Gods keeping and Christs praying may lose much of their grace fall into sad waies and run much into debt though they do not prove Bankrupts Therefore Thirdly God keeps them spiritual by making them to persevere and to hold out till the very last So that notwithstanding all the difficulties which are in the way to Heaven yet as it is said of Christ He will not suffer his Holy One to see Corruption So neither will he suffer his Holy Ones eternally to perish Here we see Christ praying for his Dâ—sciples and afterwards for all Beleevers that they may be kept by his power and be one with him so that this is a sure Argument for the perseverance of the Saints Christ hath praied to God to keep them and the Father heareth him in all that he prayeth For hence God hath promised Jerem. 32.40 to put his fear into the godly wans heart that he shall never depart from him and he hath the immortall Seed within him keeping of him that he cannot sinne viz. unto Death and so as Cain and wicked men sinne who are altogether corrupted Oh then what matter of Encouragement is this to the Godly man who is apt to fear his entrance into Canaan when he seeth so many Anakims and tall Giants in the way He begins to tremble when he thinks of the Apostles Exclamation who shall be saved If it be such a difficult thing to get to Heaven the way be so streight and so many prove Hypocrites and Apostates What will become of me How shall I doe When the Godly are thus afflicted let them remember God keeps them and with him all things are not onely possible but easie He that could keep the Israelites shoes that they did not wear out he can much more preserve and deliver thee from being tyred out in thy way toward Heaven 4. God keeps his people from the Temptation of sinne or their hearts in the Temptation Rev. 3.10 Because the Church kept Gods Word therefore God promiseth to keep her from the hour of Temptation This keeping Austin acknowledged with much affection saying O Lord when I had a heart to sinne thou keptst off the Temptation and when I had the Temptation thou keptst off my heart Had Josephs heart been as ready as his Temptarion was strong he had been wholly overcome Oh then how great a Favour and Mercy is this which the Godly enjoy every Day They may as soon Number the Starres in the Heavens as the preventing Graces of God to them continually This is so great a matter that as often as we are to pray we are commanded to pray that God would not leade us into Temptation But how un-apprehensive are we of all Gods Goodnesse and Kindenesse toward us herein but even as the Sucking Infant apprehends not all the care and love the tender Mother vouchsafeth to it so neither are we affected with all that grace of God in keeping us continually Vse of Admonition to the people of God To whom all their praise is due while they are not undone in soul or body and to whom their Praiers are to be directed in Fears or Danger of either Even unto this mighty and wise God who is the Keeper of Israel Every Day would bring forth evil to undoe thee were not Gods gracious Power ready to stop it Be then humbled under thy own Weaknesse Say O Lord I lean and depend wholly and continually upon thee Thou art my Refuge my Strength and my strong Tower All other things they are but Reeds and tottering Wals Especially desire Gods spirituall Preservation Thy own Danger and Sence will make thee pray to God to be kept corporally but a man must have a spirituall Eye and a tender heart that can fear his Spirituall Destruction In the midst of bloudy Warres what a wonderfull Mercy was it thought to have your Estates Houses yea and your Lives kept from the Fury and Violence of an Enemy Oh that we could every Day and every hour be as sensible of the Danger of hell and the Devil with his subtle Suggestions and Temptations seeking to allure us and thereby fly unto God for his Defence Vse of Terrour to wicked men who are given up to Spirituall Judgements For God neither softens their heart nor removeth Temptations but a ready Door is set open to act all their wickednesse Thus Solomon saith Eccles 7.26 He that is abhorred of the Lord shall be enticed by an whorish Woman And Rom. 1. Men are there given up to vile affections Oh the heavy doom of ungodly men that have none to keep them from falling in the Mire They have many Occasions to sinne and they love and embrace them SERMON LVI That it 's not enough to be put into a state of Grace unless by Gods Power we are kept therein How farre Men may acknowledge Gods Help and yet with the Pelagians Arminians and Papists not give him his due Glory And also sheweth How many wayes the Power of God keepeth his People JOHN 17.11 Keep through thy own Name those thou hast given me THe Mercy prayed for and the Subject for whom described in these words Those whom thou hast given me have been treated of Our Saviour doth so often repeat this Description of his Disciples Whom thou hast given me that although we have said much of it yet what more may be added shall be brought in vers 34. where in the last place it 's mentioned I proceed therefore to the Instrumental Cause or Manner how God is pray'd to keep them and that is Through his own Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which expression admits of various Interpretations although all be subordinate and none contrary to each other Some take Name for Glory Gods Name for his glory Ezek 36.22 Psa 79.9 and then the Preposition
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they take for propter for it answereth the Hebrew ב Beth which is sometimes used so Gen. 18.28 Luke 22.20 And indeed here is a truth in this because whatsoever God doth about his Church he doth it for his own glory There is no merit or worth in us to move him It 's his own glory only as Joshua urged What wilt thou do for thy great Name Josh 7.9 Yet this Exposition seemeth not to be so pertinent Others by Gods Name understand his power his strength his might and thus it 's often used Prov. 18 10 c. and then the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers per and so the Hebrew ב is often used called therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beth auxilii This seemeth very pertinent and is part of the meaning but last of all that which late Interpreters pitch most upon is that Name is here taken for the Truth Doctrine and Knowledge of God both for the Object the Doctrine that is known and the Grace is that Faith whereby we are enabled to know it being usuall in Scripture to call the Object of any affection by the affection it self That Name is here taken for the Truth and Doctrine manifested by Christ appeareth from ver 6. where it's so used where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expounded by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those therefore that understand it of the true and pure Doctrine Christ hath delivered retain the proper sense of the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keep them in thy Name in thy true Doctrine So that they say Christ prayeth first for the purity of their Faith 2. their Unity of Love and Charity which are the two Pillars that bear up the Church of God Others take Name not for the Object but for our Knowledge and Faith of this Doctrine and so you have a notable use of the word Revel 2.13 and they make the Preposition instrumental Keep them through the knowledge and faith of thee as we have a like phrase 1 Pet. 1.5 They are said to be kept by the power of God through faith These three later Interpretations we take as one whole compleat sense for they are kept by the power of God in the true Doctrine and a true faith in Christ is the means whereby we are kept From the first Interpretation that God keeps us by his power Observe That it is not enough to be put into the state of Grace unless by Gods Power we are kept therein Or When a man is regenerated it 's not his own strength or ability but Gods power meerly that keeps him Let us take notice of that place again 1 Pet 1.5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is observed to be very emphatical for it 's properly used of those who keep a place by a Garison of Souldiers it 's a military word here it 's applied to the Power of God that doth keep us as safely as strongly and as securely as if we had an whole Army about us So that the word denoteth two things 1. The Defence and Custody in a strong manner the people of God have 2. The great Danger we are in from Satan sinne and the world for what needeth such a defence if there were no danger It 's then God that keeps us and that to salvation Though God did never so much for us at the first yet should he not keep to the very last to salvation it self we should suffer shipwrack in the very Havens mouth To open this Doctrine Consider First That the power of God is necessary both to the beginnings of grace and the progress Christ must be not only the Author but the finisher of our faith Heb. 12 2. When the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.3 had shewed that God through his abundant mercy had begotten us again he sheweth this is not enough but we are kept afterwards by his power only the power of God in working grace in us at first findes us in a different estate then when it preserveth or keepeth us At first the power of God findes us dead in sinne and in respect of any holiness like that Chaos at first without form and void Therefore Ephes 2. it 's a quickning power which infuseth supernatural life and so maketh us of spiritually dead to live It 's an Omnipotent insuperable Power like that of Creation which was out of nothing and therefore we are said to be created and his new-creatures But in the progress of Grace the power of God findes us not dead but with spiritual life only there cannot be any further motions or actings of this life without power from above Acti agimus and moti movemus it 's God that inableth us to believe to hunger and thirst after the enjoyment of him Even as Conservation doth not finde the creature in the Womb of nothing as Creation did only it continueth that being already existent which otherwise would fall into nothing Thus did not the Lord bear up daily by his power that heavenly building raised up by him at first in thy soul it would become a very ruine and not a stone left upon a stone It 's this later kinde of power the godly need all the day long if his right hand bear them not up they immediately fall to the ground Secondly Although we say It 's the power of God onely that keeps the godly and not their own strength yet it cannot be denied but that the Scripture as in some places it affirmeth Gods keeping of us So it also speaketh of a godly mans keeping himself Thus 1 Tim. 5.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keep thy self pure James 1.27 Pure Religion is to keep a mans self unspotted from the world 1 John 5.18 He that is begotten of God keepeth himself Sometimes they are put together Jude v. 21. Keep your self in the love of God and not long after he addeth To him that is able to keep you So 2 Tim. 1.14 Timothy is exhorted To keep the good thing committed to him by the holy Ghost By these places we see a godly man is said to keep himself and Gods power likewise Doth not this seem to attribute too much to man or at least divide the work of preservation between God and our selves I answer No. For first Our own keeping is wholly insufficient and unable without Gods keeping when man attends to the utmost with all watching and diligence yet if God come not in with his power all is in vain We like Gehezi may lay the staffe to the dead childe but it will not rise till the Prophet himself come Satan and his power is greater then ours if considered in our selves Therefore no wonder if we of our selves cannot combate with him he that is with us is stronger then the devil but not we our selves And 2. Though we keep our selves yet this is wholly from and by
God We act with subordination and dependance on him we keep our selves because God inableth us to do so as the less wheel is moved by the greater as the greater orbmoveth the less so that here is no glory or praise due to us no more than the pen that writeth or the hatchet that cuts for we depend wholly upon God both quoad esse the essence and being of grace would not continue did not he uphold it as also quoad posse and quoad operari Therefore our keeping is not contra-distinct or separate keeping from God as if he were one partial cause and we another as when two lift one burden but ours is from him by him and under him as the Master guideth the hand of the Scholar to write Hence in the third place We may acknowledge Gods power to help us and that several wayes and yet not not give the full glory that belongeth to him All the Erratical Starres that have been in the Churches firmament have at last acknowledged some power some auxiliary help of grace but yet justly condemned by the Orthodox as robbing grace of its due praise for if a man should say It 's Gods power that helpeth us because he created us at first with a rational soul so giving of us understanding and will whereby we are inabled to choose what is good here Gods power is acknowledged but at a remote distance Here like some Heathens we sacrifice the wax to God but keep the honey to our selves thus Nature and Grace is confounded Pelagius at first thought this would serve But if a man should go further acknowledging Gods power in revealing the object though he worketh nothing upon the subject Here God is acknowledged but at a low rate Thus also Pelagius said It was the grace and power of God to make known and reveal the objects of faith but when revealed then we have power to believe them as a man cannot see till the Sunne arise but of himself he hath perfect eyes to behold the light Here is power given to God but not enough who doth not onely prepare the object but fit and sanctifie the subject Further If a man confess the power of God to help Not absolutely to do that which is good but to do it more easily and willingly as Pelagius at last did yeeld Here is Gods power acknowledged but still here is not glory enough ascribed to God God will have all the glory or else none Lastly If we acknowledge the help of God to keep us necessarily yet if we make it a general indeterminate cause and not efficacious till by mans will it be particularized Here is something attributed to God but yet still much ascribed to man Therefore though the Jesuites have many large Tractates De auxiliis gratiae yet because they do not make Grace efficacious in it self antecedently to our will but our will to improve that Therefore still we say They advance not Grace for it 's not Grace unlesse it be Gratuita omni modo Thus then you see a necessity of informing your judgements in this Point That no subtill Hereticks under fair pretences and acknowledgements of Grace do deceive you For Pelagius deceived the Eastern Bishops by this means yea Sulpitius was seduced by the Pelagians who had been a long enemy to them which when he perceived he was so grieved that he enjoyned himself perpetual silence as the Centuriators observe In the next place Let us consider How many waies the power of God doth thus keep us and let it not be thought tedious if I be long on this Text I do not compell the Text to go one mile one Sermon further than it would The honey drops from the comb without any crushing of it And First The power of God keepeth his people in the way of grace inspirando by inspiring and breathing into the Soul such holy thoughts and quickning meditations that thereby we are kept in the fear of sinne and love of God alwayes The Apostle saith We are not able to think of our selves any thing tending to our own good or the good of others but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3 7. How vain idle and distractive would our thoughts be if the Spirit of God did not suggest and put in other things Therefore that is promised as a remembrancer to bring to our mindes such things as we let slip when the Church prayeth Arise O North and blow O South Cant. 4.6 that her garden may give a smell it 's a prayer for the heavenly and holy breathings of Gods Spirit into the soul Secondly The power of God helpeth excitando by stirring up and quickning those habits and principles of grace which are in us Our faith our love are apt to lie dormant in the soul till they be awakened Thus David though in the state of grace prayeth often That God would quicken him that he might keep Gods Commandments Psal 119. And this the Church prayeth for Cant. 1. Draw me and we will run after thee so that were there not this drawing this quickning the people of God would be like so many lumps of earth they would be very Idols in all their duties seeing they would not see and though knowing yet not understand This exciting grace is as necessary every moment to thee for spiritual life as the air is for thy natural Thirdly The power of God keeps inclinando by inclining and determining the heart For though the heart have grace in it habitually yet the world and sin tempt strongly so that these habitual principles work not till God incline and determine the heart as Ezek. 36. besides an heart of flesh God promiseth to cause him to walk in his statutes David prayed That God would incline his heart to keep his Law This determining grace is that which Pelagians Arminians and Jesuites object against whereas if the power of God doth not this our power will have the greater part in our Salvation Fourthly The power of God keeps us dirigendo by directing and ordering our steps so that we do not fall We are very weak and unskilfull and like babes who are said Heb. 6. to be unskilfull in the word of righteousness Christ and the way of faith is unknown to us a strange thing to us As Sampson being blinde needed one to direct him where the beams were Thus we need direction concerning the Author of our strength and how we may be made partakers of it When David was in Saul's armour he could not tell how to weild or manage it The Lord Christ he it is that strengthens his people a kinde of omnipotency is communicated to them by him I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 But there is much skill and an heavenly act required to make use of Christ and to derive power from him Therefore the Lord helpeth us by directing our hearts unto the love of Christ and faith in him 1 Thess 3.5 Hence David many
times prayeth God would direct and order his wayes This directive power is of consequence to us for without it we should throw our selves into every pit Fifthly The power of the Lord keeps us applicando by an efficacious applying of the means of grace to us For when we say God's power keeps us in grace that is not to be understood immediately as Angels in Heaven are kept but mediately by the Word and Ordinances Therefore the organical and instrumental cause of our conservation is the word of God as our Saviour afterwards prayeth God would sanctifie them by his truth his Word was truth So that this makes much for the advancement of Christs Ministery and the Gospel preached for by the lively working of these we come to stand fast These are the continual rubbings that keep heat in us These are the Cocks that crow to put us in minde of our sinnes These are the frequent alarms against our spirituall enemies that they surprize us not in our security Sixthly The power of God keeps us corroborando by strengthening and fortifying the powers of the Soul while they do work A man that is paralytical though he hath life in him yet cannot steadily and firmly move the parts of his body but they shake as if they did not belong to the body Thus even while the people of God are acting and working what is good they do it so remisly so faintly that did not the Lord confirm them all their duties would be very uncomfortable to them Hence Paul so often prayeth That God would strengthen and settle them that he would establish and build them on the work It 's a blessed thing to walk in the paths of godliness with an imboldened and confirmed heart Seventhly The power of God doth keep us suaviter alliciendo by putting strong consolations and sweet delights in our soul while we are doing his will Nehem. 8.10 The joy of the Lord is your strength We glory in tribulations when we are filled with joy As fear and unbelief make feeble knees and weak hands so joy and heavenly delight doth strengthen and confirm the soul What is that which makes Angels and Saints so inseparably adhere to God and that to all eternity never weary of him Is it not the infinite joy and delight they have in God So while God doth thus give us to taste and feel how good he is while we have an experiment of the preciousness of Christ upon our hearts we stand immovable like so many Rocks in the same place though never so many waves beat on us Eighthly Gods power keeps us from sinne reprimendo by repressing and curbing those reliques of sinne which are within us For from our own selves would arise such noisome lusts that would separate us from God even as from the earth arise such black vapours that hide the Sunne from it The Spirit of God therefore doth mortifie the body of sinne keeps this root from sprouting forth and is ready to crush the Cockatrice in her eggs Lastly The power of God doth keep us arcendo by driving away and keeping of the devil from us How strangely this roaring Lion is set upon us as a prey appeareth by that of our Saviour Luke 12. Satan hath desired to winnow you he would spare no godly man Therefore he is called the Tempter because all the day long it 's his work to seduce to sinne so that herein the necessity of Gods power appeareth Ephes 6. We wrastle with principalities and powers Thou art no fit match for them You see that Adam in the state of integrity was overcome by him It 's God then that keeps these roaring Lions tied up otherwise what could poor Sheep do to oppose so many Lions Vse of Instruction With what thankfulness and joy we should bless God at the close of every day Hast thou not been a Cain a Judas this day Bless God that kept thee Hast thou not by words or works broken thy Communion with God Oh acknowledge his goodnesse to thee Thou mightst have been tempted and seduced by sinne or Satan so that great wounds and gashes might have been made upon thy Conscience Oh say Lord I am amazed at thy power and grace in keeping of me The Godly are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preserved ones and well may they be called so for did God withdraw his hand you should see them wallowing in filth and made like the vile ones upon the Earth Do not then presume on thy own strength but depend upon Gods power SERMON LVII Reasons proving the Necessity of Gods preserving his Children in Grace That God keeps them by Faith Also why and how Faith keeps them rather then other Graces JOH 17.11 Keep through thy Name those thou hast given me WE have heard how many waies God keeps even converted persons from falling into their first Chaos and confusion Let us Consider the Grounds Why there is such a Necessity of Gods preserving power that so we may be humbled in our selves and God exalted 1. We may be strongly convinced of the great necessity of Gods power in keeping of us by the Apostate Angels and lapsed Adam What can more forcibly teach us this Truth then their Apostacy Did not God create Angels full of Light and Glory like the Starres and yet the Apostle Jude saith They kept not their first habitation Did not also God create Adam after his own Image in Righteousnesse yet how quickly did he become a Prodigall and spent all You see here the most glorious of all Creatures furnished with a rich stock yet in a very little space proved Bankrupts and lost all Oh then what shall the godly man think of himself who hath not such strength of grace as they had And besides they had no corruption or principle of Rebellion within them to betray them as we have Who then is not compelled by this consideration to acknowledge the glorious right hand of God to uphold his Servants from falling every moment for in that all the Angels did not fall as well as some it is to be attributed to the meer confirming grace of God therefore they are called the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 God did by his power graciously confirm them in what was good and denied such help to those that revolted Oh then let the Godly Soul pray fervently Lord keep me daily Adam yea the glorious Angels could not keep themselves and shall I think my self secure Secondly Therefore need we the power of God to preserve us though furnished with inherent grace because grace abiding in us is but a Creature that needeth help and support as well as other Creatures Though Grace in us be the most glorious thing in the world and the Image of God yet being still a created being it needeth preservation from God So that as in our naturall life we live and breathe and move in God So it is much more in our Spirituall Life So that as our grace because of
the flames and yet expect Gods power to keep thee this is to tempt God Peter will be in the High-Priests hall and where wicked company is and no wonder if it prove a Temptation to him he that handleth pitch shall be defiled with it He that cometh near an infected person may blame himself if the plague seaze on him Thirdly Be thankefull unto God for every daily assistance Be much in praise and acknowledgement of this his gracious power Unthankfulnesse makes God withdraw his mercy how often hath God assisted thee both by preserving in what is good and from what is evil yet thou hast not called upon thy Soul and all within thee to blesse his holy Name Therefore thou shalt to thy woe finde what a sad thing it is to be left to thy own self and not to have his grace to help in time of need The second Interpretation takes Name for the Knowledge of God and Faith in him So that the sence is Keep those thou hast given me by Faith as 1 Pet. 1.5 This is part of the meaning and from thence we observe Obs That the people of God are kept to Salvation through Faith Faith is a special Instrument to preserve us We are not only justified but sanctified and preserved through Faith hence the Apostle John cals faith our Victory over the world 1 Joh. 5.4 And Eph. 6. when we are exhorted to put on the whole Armour of Christianity he saith Above all take the Shield of Faith he giveth the preheminency to that To open this Consider 1. That whatsoever priviledge is attributed to Faith either in respect of Justification or Salvation it 's not for any merit or dignity in Faith Therefore it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is through faith not for Faith for if it were for Faith as a work then the Apostle Rom 4. would not oppose working to beleeving and the worker to a Beleever so that to put any confidence in our Beleeving to trust in our trusting is to give that to Faith which the Jews did to works and in this sense not only those that seek to be justified by the Law or works fall from Christ and make him to die in vain but also those that set up Faith in this Consideration 2. Therefore though Faith be instrumentall thus to our Conservation yet Faith it self needeth Gods help as well as other Graces We need his help to beleeve as well as to love God and arise from sinne Therefore though the power of God keeps us by Faith yet it also keeps Faith Vt nos custodiat per fidem ipsam custodit fidem We should fall from our Faith as well as other graces did not God strengthen and confirm that Onely when that is established God by it doth preserve us in the exercise of other graces so that being confirmed by God this confirmeth and establisheth us rather then other graces and that in these particulars Faith is that grace to which the promise of Gods power is made preheminently To him that beleeveth all things are possible Mar. 9.23 So that as all the promises are yea and amen in Christ as the Foundation and meritorious cause so they are yea and amen to Faith as instrumentall It 's of Faith that the promise may be sure Rom 4.16 What promises then or deeds of gift God hath made over to his people They are all made effectuall to the beleever No Faith no help no assistance 2. Faith only receiveth into the Soul Christ who is the authour and procurer of all strength Paul saith He can do all things through Christ that strengthens him Phil. 4.13 But how shall we make Christ ours How shall he come to dwell in us The Apostle saith By Faith Eph. 3.12 So that herein Faith is greatly instrumentall to keep us because it brings Christ with all his power into our soul It deriveth all ability from him It 's not Faith but Christ by Faith received that doth thus enable It was not Sampsons hair the weakest part about him but Gods power whereof that was a Symbole or sign that did confirm him No wonder then if Faith be thus serviceable to preserve us Seeing that by it Christ is wholly made ours in whom all Fulnesse both of grace and power dwels 3. Faith doth instrumentally preserve us in that it renounceth all our abilities and carrieth out to God onely This Faith hath peculiar to its nature above all other graces it emptieth a man of himself it makes a man renounce whatsoever priviledge and righteousnesse he may seem to have Thus Phil. 3 Paul refuseth all priviledges accounts all gain losse in respect of Christs Righteousnesse which is by Faith As the Criple cast his eye upon the Apostles hoping to be healed he had no thoughts of his own Sufficiency but their power only So it is here Faith makes a man cast his eye upon God and look up to him only for ability Oh then prize and nourish this grace of faith which doth so nullifie thee and omnifie God 4. Faith is serviceable to keep us by improving and making effectuall those instituted means appointed by God for to preserve us Such is the Ministery of the Word preached c. These are ordained by God to keep a man in holinesse Those that think they are above these and can be kept without them Let them think as well that they can live without food But how come these iustituted means of grace to be effectuall in us the Scripture attributes it to beleeving The Word did not profit when it was not mixed with faith Heb. 4.6 So that as the Word preached is used by God to beget Faith in us at first so afterwards Faith doth improve the means of grace for all encrease If therefore we would expect to have the Ministry and the holy means of grace to keep us in the way to heaven it must be faith that makes all these profitable 5. Faith is a means to preserve us because by that the devil who doth most sollicite our undoing is repelled No grace but Faith doth so immediately and formally repell him Whom resist stedfast in the Faith 1 Pet. 5 9. And by Faith we overcome the wicked one for Faith is not strong with its own strength and therefore it must needs overcome the devil as David overcame Goliah not by his own valour but in the Name of the Lord. 6. Faith is therefore helpfull to our preservation because in some sence it stirreth up and acts all other graces What the Papists say of Charity that it is the assistant form of all other graces we may say of Faith That it doth direct act and stir up all other graces to work Therefore faith is said to work by love Gal. 5.6 Thus it works by patience it works by repentance Therefore Heb. 11. all the glorious atchievements that those Worthies wrought are attributed to Faith Thus we see how many
downwards so the withdrawing of Gods gracious power would immediately cause the most holy man to fall into his old rubbish and filthy vomit of sin it 's not therefore onely possible but certain and inevitable that every converted man would be apostate from God did not a mighty grace daily preserve him and this is fully evidenced by that prayer all are taught to pray though never so holy that God would not lead us into temptation doth not that plainly teach us That we are so weak and infirme that there is no temptation if left to our selves but it would wholly overcome us Oh then Let the most eminent and chiefest believers daily pray that God would not leave them to their own strength and temptation for this is to be left in hels mouth Secondly As it 's possible thus for believers to suffer shipwrack and lose all if left to themselves did not God keep them So God for holy and wise ends hath in some measure and degree left them whereby they have fallen foully and dreadfully So that we may say they were like Sampson they lost their strength the Philistims rose upon them onely in time their strength came again As a man in an Apoplexy or Lethargy hath an inward principle of life but there are no outward demonstrations of it Now this apostasie and decay may be in several particulars 1. In respect of the acts and exercise of grace These are interrupted the streams do not runne They seem to be a barren wildernesse rivers of living water do not flow out of their belly God findes as in that Church Revel 2. Their works are not filled up or perfect Hence God promiseth Ezek. 36.17 not only to give the habitual principles of grace but the actual exercise of them when the just is said to live by his faith that denoteth a continued acting yet many times these actings of faith and other graces are intermitted The pulse beateth slowly if at all 2. Not only the actings of faith are interrupted but the contrary actings of sinne are put forth in stead of faith they break out into unbelief in stead of fervency and heavenly-mindedness they are dull and earthly so that now not the house of David but of Saul doth overcome Now grace is dormant and sinne is awakened and lively yea they commit foul and enormous sinnes such as the light of nature would palpably condemn as we see it in David with what contrivances and devises did he accomplish his adultery and murder adding one grievous sinne to another and no doubt would have gone further had not the Lord stopt him in his way Not that these grosse vices did totally drive away the Spirit of God and eradicate all the principles and seed of grace within for then how could David immediately upon Nathan's reproof have so melted and ingenuously confessed his sinne but for the while the root only of grace was under the ground there appeared no fruit or as a man that is mad hath a principle of reason though for the present the use of it is violently hindered or as Eutiches who fell from the window Acts 20. and all thought he had been dead but Paul said There was life in him Thus it was with David there was a secret principle of grace but that was overwhelmed and stopt up by many lusts as when foggy mists do arise and obnulliate the Sun It 's true David at that time knew those actions to be sinne and so he could not but sinne against his conscience but it was a general conscience it was not it may be practical and convincing quoad hic nunc so that he did not sinne maliciously though he was seduced by strong lusts Whether it was a sinne of infirmity is discussed by some But we cannot say David's sinnes at that time were of ignorance or infirmity nor yet properly of malice but of a mixt kind It was not of meer malice prevailing from a total want of a principle of good but from the not working of that good principle They were not sins of ordinary infirmity saith D. Ames but of extraordinary Thirdly Not only the acts but the habits also of grace may in respect of their degrees be much abated and grown languid This indeed some have doubted of Whether a godly man can or doth fall from any degree of his grace and they have held the negative That a degree of grace is of the same nature with the essence of grace and both indefectible But when sinne in the acts of it hath prevailed on the godly as many examples declare no doubt but the principle of grace is thereby debilitated If darknesse be introduced the light cannot be so prevalent If sicknesse increase health must impair Now sinne doth expell grace both meritoriously and efficiently in a well-explained sense Fourthly That we may not be too large in this None can positively dogmatize how farre and in what sinnes a godly man may fall and how long he may continue ere his recovery As it 's difficult to give in a Catalogue of the Fundamentall Articles of Religion without the faith whereof a man must necessarily perish so it is to lay down what sinnes and how perpetrated do immediately expell grace from the soul Indeed we may speak to the negative what shall not be done but to the positive How farre that is difficult to say we may say they cannot commit the sinne against the holy Ghost or the sinne unto death that they cannot die in final impenitency or obstinacy but to go further and to set down the very peg as it were hitherto they can fall and no further to give the minimum quod non and the ultimum justum non esse is harder in grace then in nature The godly therefore are to hear these things with trembling and with all diligence to attend to such means as are appointed for their preservation to eternal life God may leave them in a dreadfull miserable condition so that they may for the present seem to be so many Cains and Judasses Fifthly Observe That as without Gods special custody we would certainly be undone So the godly when sinning do deserve Gods eternal forsaking of them The ground of their indissoluble union with God is not any good in them but Gods meer grace They do often and often deserve that God should withdraw all favour from them as he did from the apostate Angels so that it 's a calumny of those who oppose the Saints perseverance that we teach the godly man though he give way to all licentiousnesse and impiety yet may be assured that God will never leave him and he shall be saved for though we are to say more to this yet for the present we affirm That a godly man is so far from having any such absolute certainty in a way of sinne that he is to conclude the contrary if he do thus and thus rebell against God and not cleave to him God will at last wholly
doth not make it to be true but the Truth of it makes it to persevere So that where true Grace is there Perseverance will certainly follow as where the Sunne is there will be Sunne-beams Therefore that distinction though applauded by the Learned Vossius of a threefold Truth of Essence To which is opposed no Faith or a seigned Faith Truth of intension or degrees to which is opposed a weak and remisse Faith Truth of radication or perseverance to which is opposed a temporary abiding is well called by Amesius futilis destinctio a meer frothy distinction for the least degree of true grace hath perseverance annexed to it and the good ground and the bad are distinguished not only by their perseverance but by the very nature of the soil and therefore the good Ground only is called a good and honest heart so that we are not to say Grace if it be rooted but if it be true will be brought to Eternal Glory 6. Though the Godly shall surely be saved yet this doth not exclude a great deal of difficulty and many dangers in the way The Apostle saith The Righteous is scarcily saved 1 Pet. 4.18 which by consequence at least relateth to a spiritual â—alvation Hence the way to heaven is a streight and narrow way and they are to strive to enter in Luk. 13.24 It is compared to all the hard and difficult things as are It is called crucifying and mortifying of sinne It is often compared to fighting and conflicting Thus they are wrestling Jacobs ere they can obtain the Blessing many Iebusites and Enemies must be conquered ere they can possesse Canaan Lastly The Godly are not only to be preserved thus to Eternal Salvation but they are to be assured and perswaded of it So that two Priviledges God vouchsafeth 1. Their Perseverance 2. Their assurance and powerfull perswasion of this As Paul Rom. 8. I am perswaded neither things present or future shall separate us from the love of God in Christ As Paul doth not speak only of himself from some speciall Revelation he had but from such common Arguments that agree to all that are holy Not that this assurance is such an assurance is such an absolute one that though I walk in all prophanesse and drink down the deadly poison of sinne that it shall never hurt me but it 's a well-ordered assurance in the constant and diligent use of the means So that as we give all diligence to make our Election sure to us so commonly our assurance is It is true the most tender and exact godly ones as Iob and David are sometimes in desertions and cry out God hath forsaken them but ordinarily the more formal and carelesse we are in our approaches to God the more are our doubts and fears As in standing Pools croaking Frogs are generated By this Doctrine then or Perseverance we may see two Graces ought to be conjoyned which the Godly by their weaknesse make one oppose another They are to beleeve firmly on Gods promise and yet to be humble in themselves They are to rejoyce and yet with trembling when thy confidence devoureth an holy trembling then take heed of presumption When thy fear devoureth thy Faith and Joy then take heed of despair But as in nature there is the humidum and calidum radicale both which preserve life Or as to the heat of the heart there is the pericardium to cool it Thus in our way to heaven These are the two Mill-stones by which we are made pure bread And as in the Old Testament so here neither of them may be taken to pledge because one cannot work without the other SERMON LXVII Arguments proving That Every One that is in the State of Grace shall be preserved to Eternal Life JOH 17.11 Not one of them is perished WE have been delivering several particulars to state and clear this necessary Truth viz. That every one in the state of Grace the weak as well as the strong shall by a divine power be preserved to Eternal Life The next thing is to produce those Reasons and Arguments which will confirm it for when it shall appear to be Gods Truth and not mans bare Opinion then we may the more confidently rest on it Argum. 1 And the first Argument shall be from Gods Election Those whom God hath ordained from all Eternity to Everlasting Glory they shall never perish but such who have true grace though in the least degree God hath thus predestinated and appointed to happinesse So that this Argument stands firmer then Heaven and Earth for it 's built on Gods Election and it 's good to observe how the cause of all good and preservation from a perishing condition is reduced to this as the Original of all Mar. 13.22 The false Apostles are there said to seduce if it were possible the very Elect If it were possible therefore the Elect can never be seduced into a perishing estate if it be said that Elect is to be taken adjectively for as much as good and precious as the Septuagint sometimes useth the word in which all Israel is sometimes called Gods Elect Isa 45.4 Isa 65.9 This cannot stand for in the same Chapter v. 20. These Elect are said to be those whom God hath chosen So that the word is not to be taken adjectively as denoting some inward excellency but as a participle relating to Gods action The Elect whom God hath chosen If again it be said that the phrase if it be possible doth not denote an absolute impossibility but a great difficulty as in some other places it is used Neither will this serve the Arminians turn for though it be used so in some places yet unlesse they can prove it 's alwaies used so and therefore in this place they do nothing Now we say that we are not to depart from the literal meaning when there is no absurdity yea in this Text we are to stand to it because it is brought in by way of aggravation of the deceitful waies of False Teachers They were so insinuating so specious that had not the Elect a firmer ground then their own prudence and knowledge viz. Gods Election they would be undone so that Grotins his illustrations in his Exposition on Mat. 24. from Galen who useth this Proverb to expresse a pertinacious adherent man to his Opinion You may sooner unteach a man Moses and Christ or out of Austin when they can write in the water c. then they may perswade a Christian to forsake Christ are but fair paintings to his deformity The Scripture intends a full impossibility and not a difficulty because brought in to aggravate and indeed it would be frigid and jejune to make this the sence They shall come with such lying wonders that they shalt difficultly and very hardly seduce the Elect Besides the Arminian who holds that indifferency in a mans power that when all pre-requisites on Gods part are put yet he can will or not will cannot say it's difficult at
on them he addeth a Caution Let none of you suffer as a Murderer as an evil doer as a busie body in other mens matters but as a Christian that is Let him look that he do not for any wickednesse of his justly procure civil punishments but only let him keep to his Christian profession and if that be all his fault then let him not be ashamed Therefore he addeth Let such an one commit himself to God as to a faithful Creator Why Creator But because God looketh upon such Sufferers as his Creatures it 's because of my Image shining in them I cannot be a faithfull Creator and not take care of them saith God To this purpose our Saviour often because it 's not the meer sufferings but the cause and motive that is all in all If ye be persecuted for my Names sake and for Righteousnosse sake This must be the ground else we cannot pleade the promise of assistance 2. As it 's possible for a Christian to suffer for his own iniquities so nothing is more ordinary in the world though a man do suffer meerly for Christs sake yet to charge other crimes upon him and to pretend other grounds of their malice against such then meer Christianity This is good to be observed for if the Persecutors say true there was never any holy man or faithful Servant of God suffered but they made the condemnation just and thought at least some of them that they did God good service as our Saviour Joh. 16.2 Were not the Prophets of old whose bloud was shed by Jerusalem traduced as busie-bodies as Troublers of Israel as publike enemies and in Christs time Though the Sun was not more free from spots then he from sinne or any miscarriage in his Ministry yet what accusations did they frame against him and Joh. 8. It was not for the good works they said they stoned him but for his blasphemies So Joh. 18. If this man were not a malefactor we would not have delivered him to thee The Martyrs also when so many thousand of them died willingly for Christ yet by their Enemies they were represented as the vilest of men So that as they did with their bodies put them in Beasts skins that so Lyons might devour them more greedily Thus they defamed them and laid heavy crimes to their charge that so they might have the more just ground to condemn them So that when a Christian suffers as a Christian and when as a busie-body must not be determined by their Enemies nor by the greater part of the world but by Gods Word for they think all zeal against sinne rashnesse and madnesse and all reproofs of wickednesse a busie-medling more then needs Gods Word therefore must be the Star to direct in this Thirdly It must be also granted That a man suffering for those things which are against Christ which are palpably contrary to his Doctrine yet may be so farre seduced as to think he suffers for Christ This is ordinary with all heretikes who have judged themselves Martyrs and made all their sufferings to be for God when yet they blaspheme God Doth not the Papist put his sufferings upon Christs score Doth not every Heretique entitle God to his Cause Do not the Socinians who yet with their whole might oppose the Deity of Christ prerend great obedience so and adoration of him as a constituted God We grant then that men may be horribly deluded in their sufferings They may give their bodies to be burnt and not have true and sound Faith They may be acted by an heretical spirit and yet endure great miseries as the Circumcelliones out of a mad contempt of Death would make men kill them But these also have not Christs promises belonging to them unlesse it be Gods Word indeed and truly so for which the world hateth them they are not within the Ark It 's true Even such who suffer in such deluded waies may have great comfort may finde much consolation within but it 's the devil that transformeth himself into an Angel of Light It 's such comfort as mad men have that laugh and are pleased in the midst of their misery for God will never give comfort but to his own Truths The Spirit of God is not a Comforter but where it first leadeth into the Truth Indeed the confidence and comforts many have died with in their errours have been a stumbling-block but this is to be ignorant of Satans devices and the potent operations of strong delusions upon mens souls It cannot be denied but that even the best Christians who are hated and do suffer in the world have yet many imperfections cleaving to them and do discover many infirmities of the flesh so that as none can be perfect in love of God or in any other grace so neither in enduring the hatred of the world oh how hard is that Rule of our Saviours Mat. 5. when men revile to be patient when men curse to blesse and to render all good for all evil These things do so transcend humane power that many miscarriages several indiscretions and many carnal fears are apt to interweave themselves Now when the matter or cause of our sufferings in Christs and for his Name and if the heart be mainly set for God and his honour though subject to weaknesses such may pleade Christs assistance for all that neither may they fear Christ will disown them because of such adhering infirmities Do we not see the Scripture commending some as eminent when yet at that very time there was some imperfection Abrahams Faith so highly commended Rom. 4. yet had some diffidence mixed with it Jobs Patience so greatly exalted yet had some impatience breaking out God then takes not notice of thy weaknesse but of thy Grace and the godly sufferer may comfort himself that though he hath imperfections yet it is not for them the world hateth him As Bradshaw that holy Martyr said Though he was a sinner and had many Infirmities yet his Enemies did not put him to death for them but for the quarrel of Christ which he had espoused and the Truths of Christ which he preferred above his own life The Grounds of Gods endearment to protect such as are hated for his Name sake are 1. Gods propriety and interest in such It 's not their lives or Liberties are aimed at so much as his Name his Glory his Truth Now God cannot but love what is his own and that infinitely Therefore it hath alwaies been the Custome of Gods people in their Praiers to make their trouble to be in reference to him What wilt thou do for thy great Name said Joshua c. 7.9 And David It 's time to work for men have made void thy Law So it 's thy Temple thy Altars they have polluted and hence God accounts all the malice and madnesse of men discovered against his people as done to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 9 4. Could they do that to God which
kinde of perfection to do so Mat. 5. ult Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect He cals this patience and forgiving disposition a perfection If then they rail do thou bless if they curse do thou pray this is to pour living coals upon their head as Rom. 12.10 which some understand in a good sense it will melt the man as Saul was under Davids kindness and as you see fire will at last melt iron though never so tough or others in an ill sense as if when thou hast done thy duty God will severely punish them This is the way to bring fire about their ears Take heed therefore of private revengefull thoughts these are unbeseeming a Christian God makes this his Property Vengeance is mine Deut. 32.2 Although the Heathen could say Revenge was sweeter then honey and so it is to a natural man but it 's farre sweeter then honey to a gracious heart to be able to conquer his revengefull disposition private revenge is unlawfull yet a seeking to the Magistrate for to punish offenders or to obtain right is a duty onely take heed of revengefull thoughts in the pursuing of it Fourthly Doth the world hate thee for Christs sake Then rejoyce and be exceeding glad Mat. 5 12. And that for several Reasons 1. As it followeth in that Text Great is your reward in Heaven The more vilified and debased here the more glorified and honoured in Heaven So that wicked men while they think to do thee a mischief they are instrumentall to thy great glory They make thee more happy and more glorious It 's as if a man should be angry with another and in stead of stones he throw precious pearls and diamonds at him which the man takes up and enriches himself with or as if a man threw bread at a dog in stead of being hurt by it he is glad of it and takes it up and eats it Thus it is with wicked men their reproaches their slanders and oppositions make thee more refined and blessed all these will be like so many crowns of glory set upon thy head As the waters did not drown the Ark but lifted it up nearer to Heaven 2. Rejoyce because hereby God honours and puts a glory upon thee that thou shouldst be one who shalt be reproached and vilified for him Admire the goodnesse of God herein and say with David I will be more vile still Thus the Apostles went away rejoycing they were accounted worthy to suffer for Christs Name Act. 5.41 Phil. 1.29 It 's said to be Gods gift to suffer for him To you it is given It 's a priviledge and an honour to lose any thing for Christs sake as Nazianzen said He was glad he had something to loose for Christs sake And so zealous were the primitive Christians of the glory of Martyrdom that many were so dejected because God called them not to it that they needed consolatory letters to satisfie them Though the world look upon them as disgraced and miserable yet God honours thee and this thou art to judge of as the greatest mercy and dignity that ever befell thee 3. Rejoyce because God and Christ will hereby be indeared unto thee and give thee larger supplies and provisions of comfort Nihil crus sentit in ligno quando animus est in Coelo I will be with thee in the fire and water saith God Was not Peter singing of Psalms in the prison Oh then know this is the time of Gods peculiar love of his more mercifull approaches to thee thy winter will be thy summer thy outward troubles will be accompanied with the most inward joyes This is Gods way when the world most slanders and accuseth to give the believer strongest evidences of his Justification within The godly were most enlarged in soul when they were shut into straightest prison and they had most of a bright glorious Heaven when they were plunged into a dark dungeon thy incomes will be rich when thy expences shall be great the more men frown the more will God smile on thee 4. Rejoyce because hereby is a conformity to Christ and to all the holy men that have gone before thee So in Mat. 5.12 Rejoyce because so persecuted they thâ— Prophets of old and Rom. 8. it 's made the effect of our Predestination to bâ— conformable unto Christ in these afflictions they are an effect of Predestination These troubles and reproaches God from all eternity appointed thee unto as by which he would glorifie thee They came from that spring of the great love of God which he had toward thee before thou hadst any being so that hereby thou art made like to Christ a glorious Disciple doth not beseem a crucified Saviour neither rich and adorned members become an head crowned with thorns How many have gloried in being like some great and famous men in the world How much rather is this an honour to be reproached as Christ was to be slandered as Christ was the Disciple must not expect to be above his Master 5. Rejoyce as having an opportunity of the exercise and increase of grace The horse neigheth at the battel and war-like sounds as being glad of the occasion A valiant man delights in the occasions of his activity The Pilot sheweth his skill in times of danger and tempests Know therefore that when the world hateth thee God then cals thee out to a spiritual combate thou art then become a spectacle to God he beholds what excellent graces thou wilt shew forth what faith what patience what fortitude what heavenly-mindednesse Now if ever there is a time to shew thy spiritual might and courage yea here is not only an occasion to put forth thy graces but an opportunity to discover thy unfeigned love to God and Christ to own Christ when all the people would make him a King is no trial but to stand to him when they cried away with him Crucifie him this is a good evidence God will then say Now I know thou lovest me when these many waters the world throweth on are not able to quench it though father hate though friends hate though all hate yet this doth not discourage thee in thy love of God What a comfortable evidence is this of thy true grace Nay in some sense thou dost exceed the Angels in doing Gods will for though they be zealous and active in obedience to God yet they meet not with oppositions in their service They are not subject unto the reproaches and contempts of wicked men of the world and therefore in this thou art more then an Angel Lastly Rejoyce because God might have left thee to be such a malicious enemy to godliness as thou seest they are Every time thou hearest what slanders what malicious words the wicked of the world vent against thee O bless God and say I might have been left to such a spirit I was such a devil my self once I opened my mouth against such as fear God as well as he Oh blessed be
unknown duty amongst Christians Thus as the minde is to be more sanctified so we might shew all other parts of soul and body The will of a man is to be more bowed and made more vehement and powerfull in the things of God To overcome those velleities and incompleat wishings which are so apt to undo us To go beyond Paul as Paul himself desires to overcome himself Rom. 7. What I would not that I doe To have this no longer but what I would that I do And for the Affections who is not sensible what further Sanctification they need Sanctified anger sanctified desires How beautifull and comfortable would they be Who doth not finde them overrunning and going beyond all bounds so that nothing can order them within their limits The Body likewise though that be the bruitish part yet the Apostle prayeth for the sanctification of it which is then done when it 's no more instrumental to sinne the eyes the hands the tongue have an holy watch over them and are imployed for God Thus you see that every part of the whole man admits of further Sanctification A man cannot look over all that he hath and doth as God did on his works and see all exceeding good so as to rest thereupon and worke no more We may see every day more to be done and so never come to a full Rest till we are in Heaven Fifthly We are to be more sanctified Objectively that is Those objects revealed in the Scripture we are to partake more of to receive more sweetness and fulness from Doth not the Apostle pray for the Ephesians of whom he affirmeth the glorious priviledges of the Gospel Yet Chap. 1.17 18 19. That their eyes may be inlightned to know what is the exceeding power of God to them that believe And again Ephes 3.17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts that ye may be able to comprehend what is the breadth and depth and length of Gods love And lest it should be thought that we are able to do this to the full he addeth And to know the love of God which passeth all knowledge Yea the very glorious things of the Gospel even in this life are such 1 Cor. 2.9 That eyes have not seen neither hath it entred into the heart of a man to understand There is as much in God in Christ in Faith in every Scripture-truth that thou mayest make it new to thee every day Christ may be a new Christ Heaven a new Heaven for every divine Truth is like some stately and magnificent Palace wherein every room affords thee some new wonder and delight and this is the reason why John 4. Christ saith He that drinketh of that water which is Christ shall never thirst more Oh then this is our great sinne and our hindrance also that such dainties are in the Gospel and we do not suck them out There is no heavenly promise or comfort but if thou didst go to draw out of it thou wouldst finde it a deep Well which can never be drawn dry Oh then know if Christ and holy things do not ravish thy soul it 's because thy heart is narrow How can a vessel with a narrow mouth receive all the water of the Sea into it SERMON XC The Contraries to Growth in Grace A Comfortable Advertisement to such as mourn under their Sence of not Growing With Reasons of the Necessity of Growing in Grace JOH 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth THose that are already sanctified may yet be further sanctified and that in several particulars as you have heard There remain some other Instances to be added wherein this encrease of Sanctification may appear And the first which is also very remarkable is That our Sanctification is to grow efficienter by way of inviting exhorting and bringing home others to it For thus we are more sanctified when we are enlarged to sanctifie others instrumentally This some take to be the meaning Joh. 15.8 where Christ tels his Disciples that herein his Father is glorified if they bring forth much fruit And vers 16. I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth much fruit which is in respect of their ministerial emploiment So then if thou askest how may I be more and more sanctified The Answer is ready Be sanctifying others actively and instrumentally Think it the greatest honour in the world if thou art a means to make others holy for though God would use no means or Instruments in the Creation of the world yet he will in the Creation of the New Creature Now Ministers they are by Office appointed to sanctifie others The word or Truth which is the Instrument of Sanctification is published by them Therefore a sanctified Minister doth desire nothing more then to have a sanctified people he desireth that it may be a Vineyard a Garden not a Wildernesse that he is to till and look to he crieth out with Rachel in a spirituall sence Give me Children else I die All his Study and Sermons tend to this that his Hearers may be sanctified and certainly if Christ himself endured all that reproach and shame for Souls he desireth to have the same minde that was in Christ That as Christ is promised to see his Seed after the Travell of his Soul So doth he pray that after all his pains and endeavours he may see an holy Seed So that your Sanctification is that for which we pray and preach yea private Christians in their way are to encrease in their Sanctification by promoting it in others Psalm 51. when David had recovered out of his sinne then would he teach transgressors their waies When one Disciple was converted presently he goeth and calleth his Brother Oh the admirable Zeal that Paul shewed to his Kinsmen after the Flesh that he could wish to be an Anathema for them You that are Parents grow in this active Sanctification Let not God alone by Praier untill your Children be sanctified What a Comfort would it be unto you to be both the Natural and the Spirituall Fathers of your Children Thus ye that are Masters grow also in Sanctification by Sanctifying Servants by having a Sanctified Family Oh it 's to be be feared thou knowest not the Worth and the Excellency of a sanctified Estate or the danger of an unsanctified one that art no more diligent to call others out of it if rightly apprehensive herein Thou wouldst do as the Angel did to Lot while he lingered and tarried in Sodome pull him out by violence as it were that he might not perish Philosophers say There is this difference between those Creatures that are generated of putrid matter and such as come of their kinde that the former though they live and move yet cannot generate the like or propagate individuals because they come of putrid matter and certainly it 's thus here Those that are indeed born of God and have that Divine Seed in them all their Care and Delight is to
bring others into the same estate and condition also but then those who professe holinesse from carnall and corrupt ends they care not for this work of Conversion in others like Adulterers that respect not Children but their lusts Secondly We may be more sanctified in the better improving of the means of Sanctification For God he hath appointed spirituall Ordinances the good managing whereof will greatly advance the Principles of Sanctification within us Now the Ordinances are Prayer Hearing of the Word and Sacraments and whatsoever holy Institution Christ hath appointed and decreed for to make us better The way therefore to be more Sanctified is to pray better to hear better and indeed it would be well if thou didst set upon the Reformation of thy Corruptions but not only of them but of thy Duties also Not only to resolve I will be proud no more and earthly no more and passionate no more but I will not pray so formally so coldly nor so negligently as I have done any more A man that groweth better in his Health eats his meat better and doth digest it better And thus if thou wilt proceed from Holinesse to Holinesse Thou wilt pray with more Zeal and Faith hear with more attention and fear It 's impossible you should ever grow in Sanctification unlesse you do begin to amend in your duties As the Disciples were mending their nets else they could get no fish Thirdly and Lastly We are to be more sanctified in respect of Continuance and Duration It is not enough that thou wert once made holy and Righteous but thou art to continue and persevere therein to the end For how many did begin in the Spirit but yet have ended in the Flesh You have a terrible Instance Hebr. 10.29 where a man said to be Sanctified by the Bloud of Christ is yet said at last to tread under foot the Bloud of Christ making no account of it It is true this man was not truly Sanctified for then he could not have so totally apostatized for he had some imperfect and inchoate motions of Sanctification He was an Embryo and did prove abortive and thus all the Ages of the Church have given sundry and sad Instances of such Hypocrisies and Apostacies Therefore the Apostle John Revel 22.12 after the divers Visions and Revelations he had about the Church he concludeth Let him that is holy be holy still Let him continue and persist in his Holinesse So that whatsoever changes and alterations there may be in the Church yet thou art not to change or to vary in thy Holinesse and certainly such is the opposition and so great are the Contrarieties to all Sanctification in Heavens way That it 's a wonder of wonders that a man is not deprived doth not lose all or be discouraged out of it In the next place Let us illustrate this Growth in Sanctification by the opposites and contraries to it and they are First Idlenesse Negligence or Security He that is idle in his outward Calling can never expect to encrease in his Wealth Poverty comes like an armed man upon such and thus it is with him that is lazy in his spiritual Calling As Solomon observeth of the Sluggard He passed by and saw his Field full of Thorns and Briars Thus it is with every one that liveth negligently his whole life will immediatly be filled with all kinde of vice and folly Want of Exercise doth breed Diseases in the body and so neglect of spirituall Exercise doth consume the Soul Idlenesse and further Sanctification can be no more consistent then light and darknesse together Secondly Barrennesse This is the fruit of Idlenesse As the Apostle saith He that doth not work let him not eat Let him starve if he will This is also true here He that will not labour in a spirituall manner he shall not eat he shall neither have more Grace or more comfort Barrennesse in one that looketh to Heaven is a very hainous sinne Heb. 6.7 The Earth which drinketh in much rain and yet is barren is nigh to cursing Did not our Saviour say to the Fig-Tree that had no fruit on it Never fruit grow on thee more Matth. 21.12 So that God punisheth barrennesse with barrennesse It 's thy sinne to bear no fruit and it shall be thy Curse How severely was that unprofitable Servant dealt with who though he did not imbezill his Masters Talent yet because he hid it in a Napkin and did not improve it Therefore he is commanded to be cast into utter darknesse Matth. 25.30 Tremble then under all manner of unfruitfulnesse and unprofitablenesse Say How doth this agree with Growth in Grace Thirdly Another great opposite to further Sanctification is Apostacy and declinings in godlinesse which are either gradual in the truly godly or totall in him that appeareth to be so only Rev. 2. Gods great Controversie with some of those Churches was because they fell from their first love and they are commanded to strengthen the things that are ready to die This is to be a very Antipodes to encrease in grace when thy Sunne doth not stand still but go backward and still more backward Oh fear these Consumptions of the Soul Thou hast not the life the vigour the zeal of Grace once thou hadst thou art not the man thou wert once Thou art like Sampson that hath lost his strength like old Barzillai that canst not take thy wonted delight in heavenly things Oh be afraid of these languors and repent from whence thou art fallen But the godly Soul may be hereupon dejected and question whether ever it were truly sanctified or not for they finde much decay They have often dead and cold hearts yea they are not as lively as they have been They are even turned into stones and are like Idols in Christianity having eyes they see not and hearts they understand hot 1. Art thou thus exercised Despise not this Chastisement of God yea make an advantage of it To feel the disease is the way to be cured Blesse God that hath done thus for thee that though thou dost not grow in grace or encrease yet thou seest this decay and bewailest it A man that sees he goes behinde in his Estate and layeth it to his heart he will be careful to prevent it betimes 2. Know these humiliations and bewailings are a kinde of further Sanctification in thee For to grow in Grace is to discern more and more our Imperfections to be acquainted with all the need and wants that we are in As he that groweth in Learning seeth how much he is ignorant of and thus he that groweth in holinesse he seeth himself more unholy then ever he thinketh he hath lesse Grace then ever because he is more tender and discerning then he was before As a man recovering out of a disease is more sensible of pain and his weaknesse then he was in the height of his sicknesse 3. There may be a growing in gifts and parts and a growing in
Graece This distinction is greatly to be marked for a Christian through bodily distempers and old Age may decay in parts not have the memory nor the activity or the hot affections he had once and yet be a more mortified and solid Christian for Grace will not cure a man of bodily Diseases or of Old Age and because the Soul doth work dependantly upon the body as the body it 's Instrument doth decay so are the Souls Operations impaired thereby But be not discouraged this is not a decay in Grace it 's only in parts and gifts or a bodily constitution which though comfortable mercies yet are not Essentials to grace On the other side there are too many that encrease in Knowledge that are enlarged in parts but decay in grace yea their corruptions and lusts grow with them 4. Distinguish between a further Sanctification in respect of the solidity of it and the affectionatenesse of it Every decay in affection is not presently an abating in grace for godlinesse lyeth chiefly in the minde and will If these be solidly established and really bent for God Though affections be not passionately and sensiby put forth yet thou maist grow a more sound and firm Christian 5. There is difference between a further Sanctification and the certainty and evidence of it Many a Christian groweth in holinesse yet he is not sensible of his growth as in nature a man groweth yet doth not perceive it What our Saviour spake of the spreading and growing of the Gospel is true also in respect of Sanctification Mar. 4.27 It 's as if a man should cast Seed in the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the Seed spring up and grow he knoweth not how Thus the godly they shoot out in grace when yet they do not perceive it yea sometimes they are tempted to the clean contrary 6. Grant it be true that thou art lesse sanctified then before thou hast decaied sadly Let this then quicken thee up to make the more haste for the future Let this stumbling make thee get ground Sometimes a David a Peter are left to fall that they may rise and go the faster After some diseases the childe groweth more then ever The Traveller that hath overslept himself doubles his pace Thus let thy very decaies do good to thee In the third place Let us Consider the Reasons why that it 's not enough to be sanctified but we must be more and more holy every day And 1. We are not sanctified to stand still there We are yet in the way we are not yet come to our journeys end Hence our Christianity whilst in this Life is compared to running in a Race We are not come to the term and end of our Sanctification when we are first converted We are but put into the right way to happinesse we are but beginners We have much work to doe ere we shall receive a Crown of Glory You see that glorious Saint Paul who laboured more then they all yet Phil. 3.14 I presse towards the mark forgetting the things that are behinde 2. We are further to be Sanctified because there remain Reliques of corruption still to be subdued Sanctifying grace doth expell sinne but by degrees Even as the heat by degrees doth expell the cold Now the Apostle tels us Gal. 6. what is in the hearts of all the godly There are lusts rebelling against the Spirit and there is a law of sinne in our members If then Sanctifying grace do not encrease sin will encrease If we be not further sanctified we shall be further corrupted The heart of a man is immediatly susceptible of one of these either grace or sin If then there be not more grace there will be more sin you cannot stand at a stay If you swim not against the stream the stream will bear thee down 3. This is the end of all those afflictions and chastisements which God laieth upon us that we should be more sanctified John 15. Every branch is purged that it may bring forth more fruit These are like the compost laid on the ground these are the plowing and the harrowing of the ground to make it more fruitful The fire is to make the gold more pure from drosse The winnowing is to separate the Chaff from the Wheat and thus are all Gods Dispensations which come in Severity to thee They are to sanctifie thee more to make thee more Heavenly-minded 4. This is one great end of the Word and the Preaching thereof Sanctifie them by thy Word and Eph 4. We are to be edified to a full stature in Christ by the Officers in his Church So that as the Sun and the Clouds help to make the Ground fruitful as the Winde filling the Sails of the Ship makes it go more swiftly So should the Ministry and Ordinances Oh what knowledge and grace shouldest thou have attained to by this time Let thy profiting appear to all as Paul said to Timothy 5. The sweetnesse and excellency of grace if once tasted of should make thee insatiable to have more Shall the hydropical man the more he drinketh the more desire it and the earthly man the more wealth he hath be the more covetous of it What a shame then is it if the more gostlinesse thou hast thou art not the more desirous still to have more 6. It 's Gods promise that such who are godly shall grow more holy Isa 40.29 30 51. They shall renew they shall mount up like Eagles So Hos 14.6 7. That as it is a curse upon the wicked to grow worse and worse so it 's a blessing to the godly to grow better If God will blesse their outward store make their oyl encrease much more their graces Vse of Exhortation to stir up your selves in holinesse Endeavour after more grace then thou hast yet oh bewail thy leannesse thy barrennesse In how many things maist thou be bettered still Thou dost greatly deceive thy self if thou thinkest now I may sit down I have gone far enough Vse 2. to confute corrupt Opinion of most men that do not like this forwardnesse and strictnesse in the way to Heaven Can a man be too godly then he may be too happy as well and have too much of Heaven Doth not our Saviour pray here for his Disciples sanctified already yet to be more sanctified Do we not daily pray that Gods grace may come more into our hearts why then are we displeased to see it doth encrease SERMON XCI Of the Causes of Sanctification and in particular of Gods Word as the Instrumentall Cause JOHN 17.17 Sanctifie them by thy truth thy Word is Truth WE are now come to the Manner or rather the Instrumentall Cause of our Sanctification and that is Truth Sanctifie them by thy truth Some understand this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly sincerely and so those that limit this Sanctification to their Ministerial Separation for to preach the Word of God
riches his honours his greatness his parts his morality doth not free him from this impurity so that he ought to abhor himself as a monster as a toad This is the foundation of all our misery that we doe not look upon our selves as so many vile carkasses as so many dead dogs Till this be laid as the first principle Christ is not prized Sanctification is not sought after Oh therefore stand like the leprous person afarre off and cry out I am unclean unclean Thou wouldst be ashamed as Adam was to come with this nakednesse and filthinesse upon thee into Gods presence 2. Being unsanctified doth imply That even the holy things we are imployed about do not sanctifie us but we rather pollute them Hag. 2. He that was unclean though he touched the holy things though he ranne to the Temple and the Altar yet he was not thereby sanctified but he rather polluted them and thus while a man is unsanctified those very duties prayers and ordinances he doth runne unto will condemn him as appeareth Isa 1. by that severe expostulation with them that abounded in their Sacrifices yet did not wash them or make them clean 3. There is implied an utter unfitnesse and indisposition to any good work as on the other side a vessel sanctified was meet for his masters use So that till we be sanctified by Christs blood we have no fitnesse for any holy duty iron can as well swim and logs flie as a natural man be prepared to do that which is holy and supernatural Thirdly That our Sanctification is here attributed to Christs Sanctification of himself we see 1. That the initials and beginnings of Sanctification are wholly from him Some have endeavoured to make the very Heathens partakers of some kinde of sanctification making a pietas pagana as well as Christiana but they are to fear lest that might be applied to them which Bernard did to Abailardus Dum sudat Platonem facere Christianum scriptum facit Ethnicum There is no sanctification but where Christ is and Christ and his body cannot be separated as the gold onely in the Temple was sanctified and this is good to lay us low and to make us admiring of the grace of Christ How is it thou art sanctified and others remain prophane polluted like bruit beasts who hath made this difference Who infused this holy nature into thee Wast thou not as loathsom as wallowing in the filth of thy lusts as others till Christs blood did cleanse thee 2. Not only the initials but progressives and consummatives in Sanctification are to be attributed to his Sanctification Therefore you heard him called the finisher as well as the authour of our faith and the Disciples though already sanctified yet are still more and more to be sanctified It 's true here is a difference between our first Sanctification and the increase of it at first we were wholly passive Christ found us dead in our sinnes and wallowing in our blood but afterwards he findes us alive onely needing his continual exciting and quickening grace Therefore Paul though converted yet still lives a life of faith in Christ we need Christ all the day long How unholy earthly dull and lumpish is thy heart if Christ did not constantly sanctifie it Fourthly This Sanctification purchased by Christ must be in truth and integrity so Christ addeth sanctified in the truth that is truly in opposition to those legal and ceremonial sanctifications which did only cleanse the body but not reach to the soul Although in the New Testament we have no such external bodily Sanctification yet still there is an outward Sanctification and an inward both coming by Christ and one separable from the other Thus you heard the apostate is said to be sanctified by the blood of Christ which was not indeed and truly so for then he would not have totally fallen off but in respect of the external administration Hence 1 Cor. 1.2 the whole Church of Corinth though afterwards reproved for many sinfull practices yet are called sanctified and that partly because of the external dispensation of the Ordinances which they enjoyed So that there is a Sanctification external and a Sanctification internall External is when by our Baptisme and Christian profession We acknowledge our selves separated from the world to live unto God but internal is when we are so indeed How shall we call the prophane ungodly person a sanctified one Look to the truth of Sanctification here mentioned in the Text. Now the truth of it lieth 1. In the manner of working of it The Spirit of God by the Word doth thus sanctifie therefore some understand this in the Text by the truth as formerly our Saviour prayed God himself is the onely Authour of Sanctification We cannot make our selves holy no more then we can make our selves men yet God works not in the order of grace immediately no more then in the order of nature where he makes use of second causes Thus in the working of grace he appointeth second means as the Ministry and Ordinances and therefore Paul 1 Cor. 3. saith They were Ministers by whom the Corinthians did beleeve and there is no better discovery of true Sanctification then to examine the manner and way how thou hast received it for if the Spirit of God by the Word hath wrought it in thee then fear not this is of a more noble and supernatural being then what morality or principles of civility can incline unto thee As Christ himself was in his bodily nature conceived by the holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner Thus is every one sanctified in an higher and more sublime way then all the moral and prudential dictates of nature can carry us unto Oh then prove thy self what hath the Spirit of God and his Word done unto thee That was not more wonderfull in those who had a prophetical Spirit then in such who are sanctified To enable men to speak with strange Tongues is not more admirable then to give a man a strange heart to what he had once and strange in respect of others 2. It 's true Sanctification when it hath the universality and integrity of all parts which is the whole Image of God as Paul prayeth 1 Thess 5. I pray God ye be sanctified throughout in spirit soul and body This work of Sanctification it 's an entire compleat harmonical compages of all holinesse take any part of it away and you dissolve the whole fabrick It 's true Sanctification though it have not perfect and compleat degrees but not true if it want any essential parts and therefore called the Image of God which cannot be one grace no more then a man can be a man in one part and a beast in another but the Systeme of all 3. It 's true Sanctification in the permanency and continuance of it Perseverance doth not make Sanctification to be true but the truth of Sanctification makes it persevere Perseverance is an effect not a cause of
and preservation of it is more peculiar and emphaticall The weaker and more infirm thou art the greater is Gods power and grace manifested in thee Thus Paul said the power of God was perfected in his infirmities and when he was weak then he was strong 2 Chro. 22.10 This is Christs usuall way to magnifie his power and strength most in those that are the weakest of beleevers and therefore it is that many times he leaveth those that are strong and eminent to their own selves that so feeling their own infirmities they may be the fitter objects to glorifie Christs power Hence when Peter was in his failing and decaying condition then Christ praieth that his faith may not fail God that owneth himself to be the judge of the Widows and the Father of the Fatherlesse because they are most exposed to necessities will much more shew this in a spiritual way to such as have not the hopes or the encouragements as other godly men have 3. He doth commonly vouchsafe more inward comforts and evidences of his love to such giveth them more chearfulnesse and joy Even as you see in nature a Childe is not exercised with those cares and troubles that do molest when they come to years but minde their sport and play Thus to new Converts God many times revealeth much comfort and joy They may have more then than ever afterwards in their life time Then is the time of the Souls marriage to Christ and no wonder if a Feast be provided for them and their water be turned into wine 4. God doth in a singular manner keep them from those exercises and temptations which many times he lets fall on those that are more eminent Joh. 26. when Peter was young he went whither he would but when he was old then he should be bound Where there is spiritual strength God puts a proportionable burthen So that Christ in the dispensing of his exercises hath a respect alwaies to the measure of their graces he will not lay a Giants burthen upon a Childes back yea such is the wisedom of Christ herein that he doth prepare and fit his people by degrees for afflictions as the timber lieth in water to he seasoned by degrees for service There is a great difference in Gods providence to his own people some are more tempted then others inwardly in their souls Some again have far more outward troubles then others and in all these still regard is had to the strength of his people Christ being the head hath a respect to every member and so knoweth what is the fittest exercise for it Be not then inordinately cast down with fears fears about thy infirmities and weaknesses for if thou art weaker then others thy burthen shall be lighter and the lesse thou hast of thy self the more of Christs power will be in thee 5. Though they be weak in many things yet Christ makes them remarkably strong in some other things This is notable to consider that even such who have been weak yet in some passages have shewed more strength and couragious actings of grace then others very glorious Did not all the Apostles though the first fruits as it were of Gods Spirit for fear fly from Christ When Mary followed him to the Crosse yea Joseph of Arimathea which came to Christ by night for fear did afterwards publikely own Christ and that when he was crucified when were the greatest discouragements Hence the Apostle Rom. 11. exhorts in honour to prefer one another because there is no Christian so weak but even the strongest may be inferior to him in some respect Comfort then thy self in this that though weak yet thou hast sometimes been so enabled to do those things which yet others have failed in 6. To those that are weak God hath made glorious promises for the encrease of their grace Thus the Prophet Isaiah He that is weak shall renew his strength like an Eagle and shall not be faint Isa 40.31 and thus they are said to be blessed that hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse because they shall be satisfied Mat. 5. and by the Prophet Zechary He that is feeble shall be like David and David like an Angel of God Zech. 12.8 So that the meanest Christian may lift up his head with joy for though thou art infirm yet a glorious promise of strength is made unto thee Lastly God sanctifieth these weaknesses and infirmities unto them So that they get more good by their weak grace then many times others do by their strong It 's better to be a babe in grace fearing to fall then a presumptuous man like Peter to think we shall alwaies stand God suffers even strong ones sometimes to be overcome by Philistims that so they may fly out of themselves to the grace of God and depend upon his power Now the Sanctification of their weaknesse of graces lieth in this 1. They are hereby more bumble and self-emptied They remember those duties He that stands let him take heed he doth not fall and be not high-minded but fear Humility and self-emptinesse is a comely posture for a Christian now none are more so then such who are sensible of their weaknesse 2. Hereby Christ is advanced and exalted in his power as the weak Childe laieth fast hold on his Fathers arm Thus the power and might of Christ is to none so welcome as those that finde and feel themselves falling when the Disciples are ready to sink then they cry our Master help we perish 3. They walk more thankefully to God when the Israelites were in a barren wildernesse having no food or water but what God did wonderfully provide for them then if ever they would be stâ—rred up to thankfulnesâ— Thus when a childe of God wonders that under so many temptations and infirmities he did not this day or that day fall and break his peace with God he will be provoked to glorifie God and admire his grace The hungry Soul will be thankfull for every morsell of bread and thus will the humble lowly Christian apprehensive of its own imbecilities glorifie God for every moments preservation In the next place Let us Consider That there is some difference between Beleevers in respect of the fruits of Christs Death as well as there is an equality As in the first place Though Justification be alike yet their Sanctification is not one is made more holy then another That as one Starre differs from another in glory so one Christian from another in grace Hence some are called babes others strong men Some are called carnal comparatively others spiritual Some are said to be perfect not absolutely but respectively It 's true all the people of God are truly sanctified one is sanctified as well as another aequè but not aequalitèr only the measure and degree is very different Not that he who hath more may advance his power and attribute glory to himself No What hast thou that thou hast not received Not only the essence of grace but
every degree thereof is from the grace of God Therefore he that praied help my unbelief Mar. 9.24 argued that he could not have one degree of faith by his own power only Christ must bestow it on him 2. As sanctifying grace is very differently given to beleevers so those common gifts which are for service Christ giveth them in much variety Eph. 4. That all these gifts are the fruit of Christs death is plain and therefore the Spirit of God is given by Christ to his Church upon his Ascension Now 1 Cor. 12. The Apostle doth there excellently shew that though there be diversity of operations yet there is still but one spirit and the Scripture much delights in the similitude of a body where there is diversity of members with their peculiar operations and it 's hard for beleevers to be content with these various Administrations Every member would be an Eye Though Christ died equally for all yet he did not give gifts and offices alike to all This variety of gifts is represented by the Kings Daughter whose cloathing was of needle work and it should not tend to envy or division but to mutuall profiting and helping of one another 3 The means of grace are likewise differently administred For although Christ died alike for all beleevers yet the means of bringing them home are not alike Some live under more powerfull means then others Some have not the Spurs and encouragement that others have to that which is holy Again some live in clearer and more evidencing times of Gods grace then others all those that lived before Christs time are said to be in the dark in comparison of the Light that did arise by Christ Many Kings and Righteous persons desired to see what the Apostles did but could not But though all have not the like means yet there is not any one godly man though in never such remote and dark corners but the converting grace of God will finde him out and therefore that is not a sufficient reason which some pleading for Christs death universall for all when urged by this argument That if Christ died for all why then have not all the means of grace why is not the Gospel preached to every one if Christ died for every one They answer thus That even those who hold Christ died for all beleevers yet grant that all beleevers have not the same means of grace to some the Kingdom of heaven draweth nigh more manifestly and evidently then to others But this as I finde is insufficient because though the means of grace to one beleever may be more then another in respect of measure and degrees of Light yet not of efficacy That little means they have is blessed by God to be as effectuall as the most eminent and glorious means whereas by their opinion Christ is supposed to die for such who yet never were sanctified by any means whether more or lesse they did enjoy 4. Their temptatious either inward or outward are greatly different Every godly man hath no◠the buffetings of Satan as Paul had neither are all Martyrs Obadiah could live quietly in Ahabs Court when at the same time Eliah was pursued to death Rev. 10. The devil shall cast some of you into prison But some only yet in these different administrations all beleevers may take the same essential comfort and look to the same substantiall happinesse you must know also that none may nourish themselves in their weaknesses for those that grow and are more strong they have many priviledges which the weak attain not to As 1. The growing Christian shall grow more he that hath it shall be still added to him 2. The strong Christian doth in Gods ordinary way attain to more solid assurance and perswasion of Gods love Therefore 1 Pet. 1. by adding one grace to another they make their calling and election sure 3. God makes peculiar promises to such that do overcome and that do continue stedfast Rev. 2. They shall have the white stone they shall be made pillars in the Church of God 4. They are more serviceable to God The more grace the more improvement for God Others they blesse God for them Many are reformed and comforted thereby Lastly Their glory shall be greater in heaven Though some make the condition of all Saints alike in heaven yet it is more consonant to Scripture to affirm degrees of glory as there have been degrees of grace Vse of Instruction That the lowest Christian in Christs School is not to be discouraged Though never so blinde and blockish as thou art yet remember Christ is a Mediatour for such as are given to him and though some exceed others in grace yet all have the same Christ As though some men have better eyes then others yet all have the same Sun the poor as well as the rich the diseased as well as the sound SERMON CV Of Christs Love and Care of every one of his before they had a being JOHN 17.20 But for them also who shall believe in me through their word WE have heard our Saviour doth in this verse passe from the Apostles to all believers and it is Transitio perfecta as Rhetoricians call it for he mentioneth them he prayed for and so proceeds to others We are in order come to the object of this enlarged prayer and therein is considerable the circumstance of time who shall believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 's true some Copies which Grotius also followeth reade it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense for those that do believe yet because it is most universally received in the future tense and our Bibles go that way I do adhere unto that onely here is the doubt which Austin also of old made why he prayeth onely for them who shall believe for there were many at that time besides the Apostles as Nathanael Joseph of Arimathea the godly Maries and others who did believe were they then excluded from Christs prayer Some answer though they did believe at that time yet because after Christs Resurrection their faith was more clear and explicit therefore they may be comprehended in the future tense their former faith not being worthy the name of faith respectively to that they obtained afterwards But the more genuine answer seemeth to be that by the future tense is included the present tense also it being ordinary in Scripture to expresse a thing that hath a permanent duration by the future tense not excluding the present but denoting the constant succession in 1 Tim. 1.16 Therefore I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus might shew his long-suffering for the instruction of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who should believe in time to come That Doctrine of Christs long-sufferance was demonstrated to those that believed at that time in a more remarkable manner
for our comfort that every believer though yet unborn was in Christs purpose and intention when he laid down his life as if they had been existent in the land of the living In the sixth place By this intention of Christ in his prayer and death it will inevitably and immutably be brought about that they shall in time be converted they shall believe and be brought into communion and fellowship with Christ For seeing as we have heard Christ could not but be heard in what he prayed for and the Father alwayes granted his Petition therefore it cannot be but that all those who are given to Christ shall one time or other be wrought upon by the Word Thus it 's said They believed Act. 13.48 as many as were ordained to eternal life and the Apostles were to go and preach in such places because God had much people there Act. 18. and Rom. 9. the Apostle doth fully shew That Election is the cause of all mercies vouchsafed in time and those who were not elected they were hardened and given up to a spirit of slumber Oh then the admirable love of God to those that are his there shall not be one of them but the Word of grace will finde them out They that were not his people shall be made his people Joh. 10. I have other sheep saith Christ that are not of this fold and those he will bring home Hence Rom. 8. we have that golden Chain which all the Arminian subtilties can never dissolve Whom he hath predestinated he hath called and whom he hath called he hath justified and those he hath justified he hath glorified To expound calling only of vocation to afflictions and to the cross and Justification only of the vindicating of their persons and cause against the calumnies of the world is too dilute and repugnant to the scope of the Apostle in that place we may then absolutely conclude of the conversion and believing of such who belong to Christ and that the Word preached will sometimes or other be effectual upon them In the last place It 's plain from hence That Gods Election and so Christs dying for us is not conditional or upon the supposition of our believing but our belief is the true and genuine effect of Election and Christs death For whereas Christ here prayeth for those who shall believe The Question may be Whether this belief be supposed as a Condition Antecedent to Election and Christs death or as an absolute Effect of both so that Christ doth not only pray for believers but also that they may be believers There is a great Controversie between Arminians and the Orthodox for they say God elected some such persons to eternal life indeed and gave them to Christ as a Mediatour but it was upon a supposition and fore-sight that they would believe and persevere in that faith to the end But the Orthodox do more consonantly to the Scripture and to the greater exaltation of Gods grace and magnifying of Christ affirm That God by one single act of the same time did elect a man both to grace and glory both to salvation and faith So that God did not elect us because he foresaw we would believe but he did elect us to believe as well as to salvation So that faith is not a condition but the effect and fruit of our Election This is a necessary truth to be proved and therefore the next day it is to be considered for the present I take it for granted That those who shall believe are such not who by their own power shall either believe or dispose themselves to it but who by the grace of God shall be inabled thereunto For the present consider the aggravation of this love of God in Christ to us before we had a being And 1. There is remarkable freenesse in it of grace if positively and absolutely considered For what could there be in us to move God to this mercy when we could not think or cry or pray or do any thing for our good even then God set his love upon us It was nothing in us seeing we were in the womb of nothing 2. This freeness is aggravated if comparatively considered for it 's the grace of God that makes some to believe and leaveth others in their natural corruption The Apostle considered this discriminating love of God to Jacob and Esau Rom. 9. before they had done either good or evil Oh then sit and admire the depth of grace the unsearchable riches of grace for what art thou to so many learned and noble men in the world to so many of thy own kindred and family that God hath past by yet took compassion on thee Didst thou not lie equally in the same mass of corruption and bondage to all sin 3. There is the Eternity of this love it was before the beginning of the world So that we cannot imagine any moment of time wherein Gods thoughts were not upon thee Lastly The unchangeablenesse of this love for the Councels of God and his purpose are immutable There is no change or shadow of change in him and therefore if once loved alwayes loved he predestinated thee before the world called thee out of the world justifieth thee in the world and will glorifie thee after the world Vse What infinite cause of praise and glory the people of God have Well mayest thou call upon thy soul and all within thee to praise God Well may this be the burden of every Psalm For his mercy endureth for ever yea if thou hadst the hearts of all men and Angels this were not enough neither can Eternity be long enough to glorifie God in this particular SERMON CVI. Of both the Moving Cause and Effects of Election and of Christs Prayer and Death Against Arminians and others JOH 17.20 But for them also who shall beleeve in me through their Word WE come to a Second Observation from the circumstance of the future tense Who shall beleeve in me For as was intimated there may be a twofold sence of these words 1. That this future Faith is mentioned as an effect and fruit of being given to Christ as also of Christs Prayer and Death for them So that he doth not only pray for them which shall beleeve but also that they may beleeve and in this sense the Orthodox interpret it Or 2. It may be interpreted as if Faith were here supposed as a condition on our part antecedaneous both to Gods Election and also Christs Intercession and death So that the sence should be These were given to Christ and Christ he praied and died for them because it was foreseen by God that such would beleeve upon the means of grace offered and others not In this sence Meisner a Lutheran urgeth it and thus all Arminians and others must take it who hold that we were Elected from a foresight of our Faith and perseverance therein But that this cannot be the meaning of our Saviour is evident because the ground of
Christs Prayer even in respect of those who shall beleeve is because They were given to him by the Father as appeareth vers 9. I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me Seeing therefore the Foundation of Christs Intercession is because they were given by Election to Christ as a people to be saved through him it 's plain that Christ praied not because he foresaw that they would beleeve but because they were Elected It 's true the Arminians do in a most violent and strange manner wrest that phrase of being given to Christ They understand it not of an action of the Father but of the disposition of the Subject Hence it is they speak so much of a probum ingenium or a docilis indoles as if it were some towardly disposition in man that fitted him for grace but thus it would be rather who have given themselves to Christ rather then that the Father had given them and indeed this is such a thorn in their sides that they cannot pull out if by such who shall beleeve were to be understood those that upon Gods foresight were known to improve the means of Faith better then others then all the difference from others and the utmost resolution of salvation yea and Election would be unto a mans self when yet the Apostle doth expresly stop such mouths What hast thou that thou hast not received and who made thee to differ from another 1 Cor. 4.7 The Text thus vindicated and explained I gather this Observation That Christ died not and so we were not Elected because we will beleeve but our beleef is the effect and fruit of Christs death and our Election Our Faith is not a condition upon which our Election or Christs Death stands suspended and indeterminate but these do make us infallibly and effectually to beleeve in time There are two common Opinions The one holding That God from all Eternity knew who would beleeve in time and persevere therein and thereupon they were Elected and Christ died for us This way go Arminians and others But 2. The Orthodox they affirm that God did from all Eternity choose some out of the corrupt masse to Eternall glory and for this end to give them Faith and holinesse as the means thereunto So that God did not elect us because we did or would beleeve but that we might beleeve we beleeve because we are Elected not Elected because we beleeve This Doctrine is very useful because it tends to humble and debase man and wholly to exalt the grace of God and therefore the more diligently to be confirmed because of late so greatly opposed And before we bring Scripture-Arguments Let us Consider some few things that will clear the state of the Question As 1. There is a difference of those who hold our Election and so Christs Death to be upon the foresight of something in us Some are more grosse then others For there are some that hold a man is Elected to glory upon the foresight of his cooperation with the grace of God as a true merit deserving this Election so that with them God did behold who by his free will would improve the offer of grace and for this as a meritorious cause they say God did Elect them unto Eternal Glory But this is so highly injurious to the Grace of God that though some Papists have maintained it yet Bellarmine Valentia and other Jesuites wholly disclaim it at least in words making no other cause of predestination in respect of all the effects of it but the sole and meer good pleasure of God 2. There are others and they say the foresight of the good or better use of our free-will then others is not a meritorious but a moving cause with God of our Election to Happinesse So that our Faith and Holinesse though they were not a meriting Cause yet were a moving Cause of our predestination but this is also too grosly repugnant and contradictory to Scripture 3. There are those who refine it more subtlely and that is That God did foresee who would beleeve and persevere therein to Death and such are peremptorily chosen to Eternall Life not that their Faith or Perseverance is any merit or moving Cause but a Conditio sine quâ non without which God would not choose such to happinesse so that say they it 's not for any intrinsecall Dignity or excellent worth in Faith but because of the many possible waies and means to Salvation God appoints this way of beleeving rather then another and thus the Arminians Only they acknowledge Holinesse of Life and Obedience to God to be thus a Condition foreseen as well as Faith though they would seem utterly to deny it 4. There are the Lutherans and they indeed hold Faith fore-seen as a Condition in our Election Only they say It 's not considered as a merit or a Cause no nor as a work but as an Instrument apprehending Christs merits and therefore make Election to be by Faith in the same sence as we are justified by Faith Hence they deny Holinesse or Obedience to be a condition ingredient to Election because Christ is not laid hold upon by that as by Faith although herein they contradict themselves because they acknowledge not Faith singly as so but Perseverance in Faith to be the Condition and that must be necessarily looked upon as a work not as an Instrument receiving Christ But the Orthodox they affirm consonantly to Scripture and sutably to the Glory of Gods Grace That God did from all Eternity choose some men out of that corrupt masse in which all were to Eternall Glory and by the same Act did prepare and appoint all those means which would effectually produce the same So that this Election is the Originall and Fountain of all Spirituall mercies because Elected Christ is appointed a Mediatour Because Elected they are called and enabled to beleeve in time So that we deny there are two Elections One to Glory another to Grace But God by the same single Act doth will both and therefore that there is not the same Reason of Election and of Justification or Salvation for these being Acts done in time do require Faith and Holinesse as antecedent but Election being an Act of God from all Eternity cannot presuppose any thing in us Now the Arguments to confirm us in this Truth they are these following First Because the Scripture when it speaketh of this great and wonderfull work of Election it doth still resolve all into the Counsell of his will not into any thing fore seen in a man Ephes 8. Roman 8. Roman 9. and in many other places it is still said He hath chosen us according to his Will according to his purpose Now if so be it were for any thing foreseen in us it would be rather according to the Counsell of our will and according to our purpose There cannot any rationall Answer be given unto this Argument for according to the Adversaries
undid the Jews Rom. 10. They sought to establish their own Righteousnesse and so would not submit themselves to that of Christ In Popery what is the reigning errour but that men are not taught to go out of the works they do and believe in Christ only Do they not expresly pleade for some co-partnership in the work of Mediation and is not also this poison sucked down every where in all mens hearts who is there till God hath humbled him over and over again that flieth wholly to Christ Nay even in a godly man what is that that keeps the soar so raw and the heart so unquiet Is is not because he would not be beholding to Christ only Therefore when a man is thus fitted by the Spirit of God as to see every thing is a rush a reed to lean upon but Christ Though I could weep a Sea of tears and those tears turn into bloud though I had all the grace of Men and Angels yet it would not reconcile me to God Then is he upon the Confines of Justification Therefore 6. When a man is thus driven out of all hopes and like the people of Israel seeing his Enemy of sinne following behinde and a Sea before then the Spirit of God stirreth up desires and hungrings after Christ then are his out-cries Oh that I could believe Oh that I had an Arm to embrace Christ For we see Judas coming thus far to bewail and confess his sins to throw away that silver he had so unjustly got to cry out of himself But then there were no desires no groans after Christ so that while the Soul is in this posture many times it's ground between hope and despair It is in great agonies like the woman that is to be delivered sometimes throbs come and there is an hope of deliverance but then all goeth back again sometimes they are ready to lay hold on Christ then comes a violent gust and puts all back again It 's true desires of faith if reall and sincere are faith initiall and Mat. 5. there is a promise of full satisfaction to those that hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse and that is implied when our Saviour saith a bruised reed he will not break and smoaking flax he will not quench that is where there are the least motions and tendencies of souls towards grace there shall be the greatest encouragement 7. God leaveth not the afflicted Soul in these desires and agonies but doth so strengthen and enable the heart that now he doth not only desire but actually receiveth and embraceth Christ His desire is put forth into actings so that it 's no longer Oh that I could rest upon Christ But he doth rest his soul on him with a lively recumbency Therefore Joh. 6. believing is called coming unto Christ Those tormenting slavish fears which affrighted him Shall such a sinner as I one that hath more offended God then many thousands approach near to him May I not only touch the hem of his garment but take him also in my arms These and the like Questions he can now answer and therefore cals upon his soul and chideth it Why art thou thus cast down and why art thou thus troubled within thee Beleeve on Christ So that now he doth with Simeon take Christ in his arms He can now say Lord let whatever come I shall bear it patiently now I have seen thy Salvation as it was with the poor Criple that could not stir or move when healed he can take up his bed and walk so the poor tempted sinner that before lay trembling afraid to pray afraid to come to the Ordinances can now arise and walk performing all duties with comfort and zeal You must know that this resting on Christ when thus humbled for sin is not an effect of mans power It 's not in mans strength to make this Iron to swim to walk thus upon the waters when every thing within and without is against man and yet for all this to depend upon the Lord Christ No it must be a divine and supernatural power from above and therefore the work of Gods grace in Faith justifying is as great though not as wonderfull as in miraculous Faith when any were enabled by beleeving to remove Mountains this was not by any greater power of God then when a poor humbled sinner by resting on Christ doth remove those mountains of sins and that great gulf which is between God and the soul We may well call justifying faith miraculous faith For is not this a miracle and a wonder of wonders That the soul thus in darknesse and plunged into the deeps yet should cleave unto Christ and say Though he kill me yet I will trust in him Oh we see if there were nothing but mans power and the troubled sinner were left to himself he would immediatly despair as we see in Cain and Judas Even as the stone naturally descends downwards when you take away the pillar it leaned upon so when you take away all the carnal props and hopes of a sinner and his sins do every way environ him he presently fals into the mouth of despair It 's therefore the great work of Gods grace to enable to beleeve To you it 's given to beleeve Phil. 1.29 And some are said to beleeve through the grace of God Act. 18.27 and faith is called the work of God not only because it 's that special grace which he doth so eminently require but because he is the immediate efficient of it Know then that the mighty work of God goeth to make the soul rest on Christ it would of it self despair a thousand times over and fall into hell before it would come to Christ and Experience confirms this in many sad and tempted Christians who though they goe from Minister to Minister and reade the good promises of the Gospel yet cannot beleeve till the Sprit of God enable them Now God enableth the humbled Soul to believe two waies directive and effective by direction and instruction and that in these particulars 1. By informing him that when the Soul is truly humbled for sin that it is a duty to beleeve in Christ That such are threatned with damnation who shall refuse to come unto Christ and this is a blessed lesson to learn when the Soul shall be thus perswaded that if in this case I receive not Christ I commit a worse sin then ever yet I was guilty of What a madnesse is it in me to damn my self for fear I should be damned I fear my other sins may destroy my Soul and not fear my unbelief This is the great crying sin of all others He that believeth not the anger of God abideth on him yea he is said to be condemned already and to make God a lyar Oh then how happy is that soul when the Spirit of God doth thus enlighten and perswade thee Once it was a Question and a doubt to thee Whether thou mightst lay hold on Christ Once thy thoughts were That
to beleeve though it might be matter of comfort and priviledge yet it was not of duty But O how graciously hath God taught thee otherwise Now thou ar◠as much afraid not to lay hold on Christ as to commit any other sin Thou art as consciencious in believing every promise as in conforming to every command Thou darest no longer listen to doubts and fears to Satans Temptations in this matter then thou darest to the lusts and pleasures of sin 2. The Spirit of God doth instruct us in this That thus to beleeve and rest on Christ is to perform or to do that to which Justification is promised He that believeth is passed from death to life and still Remission of sins is said to be received by Faith and we are justified by Faith Rom. 5. So that when the Soul doth rest on Christ he performeth that to which Christ with all his benefits are promised Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternnl Life So that the humbled sinner having his eyes thus opened he seeth it the greatest madnesse and folly that can be not to receive Christ and to rest on him Why thus he argueth I cannot he justified I cannot partake of Christ till I do believe so that to believe is as necessary in an instrumental way as Christ in a meritorious way Shall the diseased Patient question whether he shall take that medicine which will certainly heal him Shall the hungry man doubt whether he may receive that alms which will preserve his Life Thus the humbled sinner is convinced that as he must not murther his own body wilfully by refusing to eat meat so he must not his own soul by a wilful rejecting of the promise 3. The Spirit of God instructs him in this also That by beleeving he doth not only bring comfort and salvation to his soul but in a most eminent manner doth also glorifie God As Abraham by that remarkable act of Faith is said to give Glory to God Rom. 4.20 The tempted Soul is apt to think Why should I believe this is but to seek my self This is because I would have comfort whatever becometh of Gods Glory Oh but saith the believer when thus awakened if I could perform all the Commandments of God if I could love God so as to give my body to be burnt for his Name yet I could not glorifie God so much as by believing for this acknowledgeth God in Christ wherein God is more to be admired then in the creation and government of the world Lastly He is enabled to see the folly and unprofitablenesse of Vnbelief If he go not to Christ where can Salvation be had he is sure to be damned by keeping from Christ Therefore with those Lepers he is resolved not to perish but to go to God though he seem an Enemy to him And then 2. God worketh faith in us effectively as you heard by strengthening the heart of a man fiducially to repose on Christ if other graces as love and patience do not grow of themselves in mans heart much lesse doth Faith which is so supernatural every way SERMON CIX Of Justifying Faith JOHN 17.20 But for them also who shall believe in me through their word WE are treating upon the Doctrine of Justifying Faith and certainly we may say It 's good to be on this Mount of Transfiguration and having declared that method Gods Spirit leads an humbled soul into when it 's enabled to believe We proceed to further particulars instructive in this business The ultimate and last act of justifying faith was a fiducial resting upon Christ for all spiritual benefits But to understand this further Consider that the Scripture expression of it is very emphatical and denoteth several notions in it as when it expresseth it by receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word often applied to faith in this act it receiveth Christ Joh. 1.12 it receiveth the promise it receiveth forgivenesse of sins Act. 26.18 so that in this justifying act of faith we are to conceive a precious treasure offered by the grace of God even Christ himself and faith as the hand receiving of it and this expression is full of excellent matter for it teacheth 1. That we in this act of Justification or laying hold on Christ have nothing of our own All our righteousness is without us we are to receive it offered we have nothing inherent This Paul knew experimentally Phil. 3. when he would be found not in his own righteousness but that which is by faith His own mark that Any thing we may call our own we must not be found in and that is our own which is not only so effectivé by our own procuring and labour or merit but subjectivé which is inherent in us though it be wrought by the grace of God as the Just is said to live by his faith Hab. 2.4 It 's his faith subjectively though Gods effectively This word then receiving doth carry every man humbled Evangelically wholly out of himself and as was said to the woman looking into the Sepulchre Why look you for him he is not here he is risen So it may be said Why art thou searching and digging into thine own heart Thy works or graces these are not the object of faith It 's above thee It 's without thee though by faith applied to thee Even as the poor cripple that desired to be healed looked upon Christ expecting help from him he knew he had nothing in himself or as the indigent beggar looks without him and stretcheth out his hand to receive food or money So is it with the humbled sinner Oh then be directed here why doth God make thy own heart thy own wayes so bitter to thee Is it not because thou shouldst seek out for a Christ and look for a righteousnesse without thee 2. This word receiving implieth That we are wholly passive in our Justification That we are not justified by doing any thing or offering any thing to God but receiving from him Even as some Philosophers say Intelligere and sentire are passions Though we express them actively yet the soul therein is passive So when by believing a man is justified we are not to consider what he brings to God or doth for God but what he receiveth from him This is a fundamental principle to be grounded in it 's a mercy of mercies to be directed in the agonies of thy soul to the right way of believing to know the way to this City of refuge If a manslayer pursued by the avenger had not known the way to the City of refuge what danger had he been in It 's like the childe not coming the right way in it's birth now naturally we all think by doing to partake of Christ not receiving which made the Apostle so industriously assert this That it 's not to him that worketh but to him that believeth
that grace is vouchsafed So then be instructed in this Is thy heart groaning under sin all thy desires and inclinations are to Christ Know this is done intra recipiendo not extra mittendo This is done by receiving grace from God not doing any work for or to him yet how apt are we all to cry out with those What shall we do I till Christ inform us that the great work God approveth of is beleeving or receiving It 's the looking upon this brazen Serpent that healeth thee 3. This therefore implieth That believing on Christ doth not justifie for any dignity or intrinsecal worth it hath Not because it 's a more excellent and noble grace but meerly because that alone is receiving and applicative of Christ. We receive only by faith as we do corporally only by the hands yet the hands are not more noble then the eyes or the head Hence the Scripture never saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for faith but through faith and it 's never said actively saith justifieth but by faith we are justified passively So that as it would be absurd to say That the beggars hand hath made him rich in receiving large alms so it would be as absurd to attribute it to the dignity of faith when by it we are justified Therefore fourthly In that believing is expressed by receiving of Christ is implyed That faith it self is excluded as it 's a work So that not onely all other graces but faith if considered as it 's a work doth not justifie us The eye in looking on the brazen Serpent did not heal as it was a work but from the vertue of the Serpent exalted by Gods appointment When the woman touched Christs hem of his garment and healing was thereby conveyed It was not the touching as it was a labour and work but the vertue of Christ Thus it is in this case And hence lastly we see Why faith and no other grace doth thus justifie because this alone doth receive Other graces are active this is receptive Not that faith is separated from other graces they are existent together though they retain their distinct properties He that believeth on Christ is cleansed and sanctified he loveth God and is patient in tribulation but yet not by this is he justified As the Sun-beams have heat as well as light but it shineth by the light only not the heat so the earth hath driness as well as gravity but it fals downward not because dry but because heavy Secondly This receiving is not a bare receiving but such as is with imbracement As Heb. 11.2 These imbraced the promises Even as Simeon took Christ with joy in his arms So that there is great delight and cordial joy in laying hold on Christ Even as the Church said after she had lost her Beloved yet finding him at last she would lay hold on him and not let him go as Ruth to Naomi thus she cleaveth to Christ So that as a man receiveth with dearest imbracements some choice and precious friend he longed to see Thus it is with the humbled sinner Oh this is the beloved of many thousands whom my soul hath long prayed for long sought for What have I found thee Oh thou chiefest of many thousands Hence it is that Christ compareth himself to a Bridegroom and Husband and his Church to a wife to shew what real affections are in the heart of an humbled sinner for to lay hold on him Hence it 's called Believing with the whole heart and with joy unspeakable 1 Pet. 1.8 There was great feasting and joy for the finding of a lost son But oh the unspeakable joy for discovering a Christ that we thought was for ever lost as to us What meltings what ravishments are there at the meeting of him Oh how often saith the humbled soul did I think I should never finde thee How many times did I conclude that I should perish in my lusts and fears but Christ at last appeareth as he did to those women after his death who thought there was no hope Thirdly In this act of faith there is contained resting relying or fiducial reposing of the soul upon Christ. You heard the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did enforce this so that the soul before it believeth is to be conceived as a stone falling downwards which cannot stay till it meet with its center and then it enclineth no further In the Old Testament it 's called trusting in the Lord which in other synonymous expressions is sometimes called staying and leaning and so is a metaphor taken from those who have some great and heavy burden upon their back and thereby are crushed to the ground unless they have something to rest upon Thus it is with the afflicted penitent he cryeth out I finde such a load of sins that my back would break and heart would break yea every thing would fail within me had not I Christ to throw my self upon hence Christ is called the Foundation stone because all the building is established upon that Now that which in the Old Testament is called trusting in God in the New is called believing Illyricus thinketh this is the reason of the different expression because the God of Israel was known to the Jews therefore there was required only a fiducial adhesion unto him but in the New Testament Christ as Mediator was not known therefore another word is used viz. to believe which comprehends both an assenting knowledge and also a fiducial application So then by this act of beleeving the soul which was ready to sink under it's burden doth lean upon Christ and as a drowning man doth catch hold on the next branch to save him so doth a humbled sinner finding himself even falling into hell catch hold on Christ and therefore it 's called him· Fourthly In this act of believing there is an appropriation or application of Christ to be my Christ That whereas the promise runneth in the general Whosoever shall believe to him Christ is a Saviour This justifying faith doth in particular rest on Christ as a Saviour to him Thus Paul Gal. 2. Who loved me and gave himself for me and Thomas My God my Lord Joh 20. So that as when any threatning is denounced against a sinner the true convert will apply it to himself when guilty of such a sin I am the sinner this threatning meaneth So Christ being offered as a Saviour to every humbled sinner from this general he concludeth his particular Thus Paul Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief Hence it is that our Divines against Papists do well maintain That the object of justifying faith is the special mercy of God It 's not enough to believe that Christ is a Saviour but to rest on him to be my Saviour Hence faith is called eating and drinking Joh. 6. which is more then the meer seeing meat upon the Table only when we say special mercy is the
in its nature As the Soul could not produce rational acts if it were not essentially rational so neither could faith put a man upon fiducial acts if it self were not fiducial Again this believing is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 boldnesse or confidence Mat. 9.2 and so Varinus makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be bold on a man By these Titles then which the Scripture giveth Faith in Christ we see what a powerful operation it hath upon the heart What a Faith of spiritual miracles as I may say justifying Faith is and therefore know that thy doubts fears dejections and tormenting distractions are opposite to believing as darknesse is to light if God do above all graces thus approve faith then he doth above all sins abhor this dejecting unbelief 2. That such a special faith is required appeareth in that the Scripture limits this faith unto Christ as the peculiar and proper object Hence the Evangelist John cals it so often believing in him that brings Eternal Life and it 's Rom. 8. By Faith in his bloud that we are purged and have pardon of sinne and generally when it speaks of faith as justifying it relateth to Christ as the Object of it Not but that it believeth other Truths only in believing of this we are justified as the Israelite might look upon other Objects but beholding of the brazen Serpent only made him whole yea as we told you when the believing of other things is reduced to justifying Faith all other Truths are sweetned and qualified by that as if a man had the Philosophers stone it would turn all other materials into Gold 3. That Faith must be in a special manner fiducial and applying appeareth in the effects that commonly follow it For to this believing is attributed peace and unspeakable joy yea a triumphing over all oppositions and difficulties a boasting and glorying in tribulation Now this could never be without a particular interest in Christ for what peace and joy doth it bring to hear that Christ in the general came to save sinners Do not thousands go to hell for all that It 's therefore necessary to true solid peace that he become my Christ and my Saviour Hence it is that believing is the uniting of the soul to Christ as an husband which is an appropriate Interest as the Church expressed it I am my Well-beloveds and my well-beloved is mine Cant. 2.16 And hence also are those comparisons of an head and a body of a Vine and branches all which argue that the good we have by Christ comes because of our intimate union with him So that if we do respect those glorious effects which usually accompany believing they will necessarily suppose a fiducial appropriation of Christ in a special manner 4. This special faith is seen by the opposites and contrarieties unto it for he that doth not believe is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk 12.29 to be carried up and down as a meteor that hath no fixed place Thus while the soul is not fixed on Christ it 's like a reed tossed up and down with every winde as one in a journey and at a stand seeing two waies and not knowing which way to go or as a man that is uncertain between two arguments like the ballance with equal weights that doth not incline to one side more then another These dispositions of the Soul oppose faith and it 's a resting and a determining of the soul upon Christ And Lastly Diffidence and fear these are made contrary to Faith Fear not but beleeve Luk. 8.50 said Christ to his Disciples which supposeth that faith hath boldnesse and confidence in it We then may judge of the nature of faith by the opposite sinfulness to it and when we see fears wandrings uncertain tossings up and down of the soul in no waies stable and fixed then we may conclude that faith it self is a powerful composing and firm fixing of the soul upon the Lord Christ 5. That faith is thus in a special manner applying Christ appeareth also because otherwise it would be little better then the faith of devils and of such who have only a bare dogmaticall assent for the devils made a Confession of faith That Christ was the Son of the living God and therefore are said to believe yet they tremble and are in unspeakable horrour because they know he is not a Saviour to them and thus many believe that Christ is the Messias but because there is no fiducial adhesion and appropriation of him therefore he is not so to them Even as many saw Christ yet if they did not in particular apply themselves to him they were not healed of their diseases The hungry man may starve though he see a Table furnished with plentiful food if he do not put into his own mouth It 's particular Interest that enricheth that saveth and therefore it 's said The Just shall live by his faith Hab. 2. Lastly This truth may appear From the absurdity of that Position to say faith justifieth as it believeth the Word of God in general only or any Truth asserted in general for then my Faith would justifie me as well in believing Judas hanged himself as that Christ was crucified for me Or that Paul had a Cloak and Parchments as in the bloud of Christ Certainly forgivenesse of sinne is attributed to Christ only and seeing as you heard the object of faith justifying is bonum as well as verum That which is beloved must have the chiefest good in it as well as Truth and this may suffice to instruct you in this main Point that a Christian humbled for sin is not to rest or to be satisfied in this that Christ in generall came to save sinners or that he is able to save thee though an hainous offender but to apply him for thy own particular that thou maist say of all the glory of the Gospel which the devil did falsly of the glory of the world All this is mine Obj. But to this it 's Objected This is to preach Security and to imbolden men in a carnall presumption And therefore it 's a Doctrine to be abhorred as pleasing the Flesh Thus it 's branded as if it were one of Epicurus his Opinions that were called the Syrens of the carnall part of a man But to answer this Answ 1 1. That there cannot any doctrine of comfort and grace be preached but a carnal heart will turn it into the occasion of wickednesse When Paul preached the grace of the Gospel did not some infer from thence Let us sin that grace may abound and did not others turn the grace of God into wantonesse It 's one thing therefore to speak of the proper genius of the doctrine and another thing of the abuse of it through mans corruption If therefore any man living and walking in prophanesse do yet comfort and encourage himself saying I lay hold on Christ I belâ—eve in Christ· This man as he deceiveth himself so he doth grosly abuse
the grace of God No Christ doth not call to men that sin yet laugh and make merry but that are weary and loaden to come unto him and then he will ease them Answ 2 But 2. This Doctrine of special and particular Faith doth not encourage to presumption because it cals not upon sinnâ—rs abiding and wickedly persevering so to rest on him but mourning over and abhorring their sins Therefore no man is commanded to believe this first that Christ died for him but to believe the word of God threatning and discovering the horrid pollution that is upon us as also the generall contagion in every part the insufficiency and inability to help himself the necessity of hungring thirsting and seeking out after a Saviour So that in this order and method he must by Faith lay hold on Christ Answ 3 3. This special Faith cannot be presumption or encourage thereunto because the object of it is whole Christ a Lord and Soveraign as well as a Saviour The presumer he divides Christ looketh upon him as a Saviour not as a Lord and Law-giver and therefore takes Christ but upon his own terms not in the Scripture-way and so indeed he takes not Christ but an Idol of his own making and by this it is discovered that he doth not truly believe but presume It 's true Christ as the Object of our justifying faith is to be considered as our Surety and Mediatour as a Gift of the Father to us yet he cannot truly be received as a Saviour but as a Lord and King also So that God having inseparably joyned these two together Faith dare not Faith will not divide So that this will prove Jealousie-water to the Hypocrite he professeth a belief on Christ but it is Christ divided or a part of Christ he looks upon the Atonement he made as a Saviour but not on the Obedience he owes to Christ as a King Christ doth not only promise but command he doth not only offer precious Gifts but enjoyneth strict and exact duties and faith taketh in all these Answ 4 4. Faith cannot be presumption because it doth not only receive Christ but this particular doth also cleanse and purifie the heart Act. 15. When Peters Faith was kept up then all his other graces were enlivened therefore Heb. 11. all those notable acts of high Righteousnesse and Obedience are attributed to faith so that the same Faith hath two hands one inward whereby it receiveth and embraceth Christ the other outward whereby it stirreth up and quickeneth to other Graces Justifying faith though it only justifyeth as it embraceth Christ yet at the same time also it worketh by love by patience by zeal by heavenly-mindednesse So that the exercise of all other graces is imperately from Faith though not elicitely It 's true there is a dead Faith and as Luther called it an incarnate faith a dead faith The Apostle James speaketh against c. 2. which is a bare assent and profession without any lively operation and such a kinde of believer is placed by Sebastian Franco in the Catalogue of Heretiques a luke-warm believer but that faith which doth justifie carrieth a man not only to Christ but is a general exciter and promoter to all holy duties and obedience 5. Faith special cannot comply with presumption because it doth not only believe in Christ as the special object but includeth an assent to the whole Word so that it 's as general as the Word is if therefore the Word of God doth not beget security and carnal encouragements to sin neither can Faith For presumption properly consisteth in this to divide the means from the end to think of obtaining one without the performance of the other can never be admitted by faith which in the special application of Christ is guided by the universal direction of the Scripture Vse of Instruction to humbled sinners Be well informed in this that you are not to stand in generals which are accompanied with great fears and dejections of spirit but in a particular manner to lay hold on Christ Oh let thy necessities drive thee that easelesse and restlesse condition thou art in be like a stone from the center like a bone out of joint till thou art fully united to the Lord Christ Know it is a duty That thou sinnest in an high manner while thou dost thus frowardly keep off from him Vse 2. There is the happiness of believers They receive Christ and so in him all things He that hath the Sun hath all the Stars He that hath the Fountain hath the streams if he hath given us Christ with him he will give all things Now God looks on thee in Christ The devil that seeks to devour thee must devour Christ first And O what a poor weak thing is it to doubt about earthly provision when thou hast received Christ for all things SERMON CXI That a Gospel-Ministry is to continue to the end of the world And for what ends JOHN 17.20 That shall believe through their word I Shall now finish this fruitfull Text. The last thing considerable in it is the instrumental cause of faith and that is the Apostles Ministry This faith is wrought by their word To open this Consider 1. That the word which begets faith is called Gods word vers 6. and here the Apostles word in a different sense It 's Gods word originally and efficiently because revealed by him It 's the Apostles word ministerially because they are the Embassadours to publish it Thus Paul cals it his Gospel as in other places it 's the Gospel of God because the Ministers of God are Stewards to whom is concredited the dispensation of the Word therefore it is called their word 2. Whereas Christ prayeth for all that shall believe even to the end of the world and yet they are said to believe by the Apostles word when yet thousands and thousands have believed since the Apostles death and departure It s necessary that by the Apostles we do not understand only their persons but the succeeding Ministry unto them which is to be perpetual in the Church all that now or hereafter shall beleeve though by the present Ministers that lived many hundred years after the Apostles yet may be said to obtain faith by the Apostles word because they sit in the Apostles chair they deliver the Doctrin which they delivered and succeed the Apostles though not in personal and extraordinaries yet in ordinaries in which sense Christ promiseth to be with them to the end of the world The words thus explained we may observe That God hath appointed a perpetual Ministry even to continue as long as there shall be a Church in the world All that shall beleeve are brought thereunto by the Apostles word now they being long since dead it necessarily followeth either that none can now beleeve or else that there is a Ministry to be perpetually succeeding them for this spiritual effect That the Ministry and Word preached is the means of faith
variety and difference in gifts in graces in offices in outward conditionr yet they must all be one 3. You have the patern of this unity As thou Father in me and I in thee 4. The nature and quality of this unity That they may be one in us 5. The benefit and fruit of this union That the world may believe thuu hast sent me I shall first consider the benefit praied for That they may be one and observe That union rmongst the godly is of so great necessity and consequence that Christ doth in their behalf principally and chiefly pray for this Though in this Unity be included grace and sanctification yet that which is expresly mentioned is their agreement I have handled this Union as it related to Officers in the Church from v. 11. I shall pursue from this Text union amongst believers themselves and because our Saviour doth enlarge himself about it I shall also insist upon it To Open this Truth Consider 1. That the is a two-fold unity or union among the gtdly Invisible and Visible Invisible Unity is that whereby they being united to Christ their head by the Spirit on Gods part and faith on our part do receive spiritual life and encrease in which some Beleevers are compared to the several members of the body and Christ to the head because of that spiritual life and motion they receive from him This is the foundation of our visible union and without this though we may be outwardly of the Church yet we do indeed receive no saving advantage by Christ Of this union the Text speaks not because it 's such an Union that the world seeing it may thereby be induced to believe Therefore 2. there is a visible Vnion whereby Believers do outwardly and visibly expresse their compacted nearnesse to one another and so those particular Churches of Corinth and Ephesus are called Christs body in respect of their external union as well as internal for not only by faith but also by the Ordinances we have fellowship with Christ and with one another Of this visible Unity the Text speaks and this is made a special means to bring the world to believe Whereas on the contrary differences of Opinion and sad rents and sects in Religion is the only way to confirm men in their impiety and to think there is no truth and no religion at all In the second place This visible Union doth diffuse it self in many Branches As 1. There is an unity of Faith and profession when they all believe and speak the same thing This must be laid as the foundation of unity for unity in errour and idolatry or false waies is not peace but a faction or Conspiracy This unity of faith is reckoned among the many unities the Apostle mentioneth Eph. 4.5 Phil. 2.2 They are exhorted to be of one minde and the Apostle notably presseth this 1 Cor. 1.10 that they speak the same thing being perfectly joyned together in the same minde and the same judgement What a sad breach then hath the devil made upon Gods people when there are so few of the same minde and do judge the same things but as you heard it must be a samenesse and unity in the true Faith for the Jews they are one amongst themselves the Mahumetans are one the Papists are so one that they boast of it and make it a note of the true Church Now though this should be granted though they have a thousand divisions amongst themselves yet unless it be unity in the faith unity in the sound doctrine it is nothing at all 2. There is an unity of affection and love in the heart and outwardly one to another Love is called the affection of union and makes a man to be the object he loveth as much as his own and we see the praier of Christ abundantly fulfilled in this respect concerning the Primitive Christians for Act. 4 32. it 's said they were of one heart and of one soul Those thousands of believers were as if they had but one heart and soul among them and thus in Tertullians time the heathens did admire at the love Christians had to one another our Saviour makes it a surer sign of discipleship then if they wrought miracles Joh. 3.35 3. This union is seen in the publike worship and Ordinances which God hath appointed as God said of man at first it was not good he should be alone So it 's true of every believer he is not to serve God alone to think that a private Religion is enough Therefore you have the examples of the primitive Christians Act. 2.1 Act. 5.12 how they met with one accord in one place and that to have the enjoyment of publike Ordinances they praied together the Word was preached to them they received the Sacraments together and the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.16 17. sheweth how the Sacrament of the Lords Supper did declare their union and communion one with another Hence Heb. 10.25 The Apostle reproveth those whose manner it was not to assemble themselves together This vâ—sible union of believers in Church-Ordinances is their highest beauty and their chiefest advantage Hence David professeth his ravishment herein How beautiful are thy Tabernacles O Lord of hosts and Psa 110. it 's called the beauties of Holinesse and Hag. 2. this temple is said to be more glorious then ever the former was and that because of Christs presence therein preaching and reforming all abuses and corruptions When the Ark was taken Phinehas his daughter cried The glory is departed from Israel Hence the Ordinances even in this life are called the Kingdom of heaven because of Gods glorious presence therein David when banished Psa 63.2 longed to see the glory of God as he had seen it in the Sanctuary And then it s our greatest profit and advantage for Gods presence is promised to these So that the Christian Ordinances are the life of the Church There is a larger dispensation of Gods gifts and graces here then otherwise 4. This unity is seen in that publike order and government which Christ hath appointed in his Church as God hath appointed some to be Shepherds and to govern so others to hear and obey he hath commanded admonition and in some cases sharp reproof and where obstinacy is to cast out Now it 's very hard to have unity in this respect for as 1 Cor 14. it appeareth private Christians do difficultly keep within their sphere every member would be an eye as the Apostle there chargeth so it 's hard to meet with an obedient ear though to a wise and godly reproof It 's therefore a blessed thing as to have unity of faith so also of order That is to see every member of the Church with its relation in an harmonious way as it 's in the body though they be heterogeneal parts yet they all harmoniously consociate in their operations This unity of order is like the nerves and ligaments to this spiritual society 5. This
all in matter of Sanctification he comprehends all in love John 13.34 A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another A new Commandment not but that the duty was old onely envy and malice had so prevailed amongst the Jews that to love was a new thing as if it had not been a duty required before In John's Epistles it's called both new and old 1 John 2.8 And then again new because there are new motives and a new patern Love one another as I have loved you There was never such a Patern and President before so that it 's not every kinde of love and unity which will give content but that which is in the highest degree of unity it's added vers 35. By this shall all men know ye ' are my Disciples if ye love one another not if ye work miracles if ye cast out devils but if you cast out discord and variance and therefore there is not a greater scandal to Religion and holines then when those that do believe are as the Levites Concubine that was cut into many peeces Again Ch. 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you This is Christs Commandment as if there were nothing else he required but this and as if this were not enough at verse 17. These things I command you that ye love one another as if he should have said If bare information will not do it if instruction will not do it I lay my command and charge upon you Secondly This Vnity and Love is a special means to bring the world to believe the truth and receive Christ So that what the preaching of the Word and Gifts yea miracles use to do that unity and agreement may do This is twice affirmed to be the consequent of unity vers 21. vers 23. That the world may believe thou hast sent me It 's a special way to convince all the enemies of the truth Thus Chap. 13.35 Men shall know ye are my Disciples if ye love one another and do we not see by experience That Papists Heretiques and all prophane men are confirmed in their wickednesse by nothing more then the differences and opinions of such who are godly Do they not by books and otherwise in derision say One Sect saith that hath the Spirit of God another saith that hath and yet both are contrary one to another Can the Spirit of God be contrary to it self Can it be a Spirit of truth in one and a Spirit of falshood in others Now although this be no good argument because the Spirit of God is communicated but in measure to the godly they know but in part and so they love but in part many errours and divisions we are prone unto yet this is a very great stumbling block and therefore woe be to that godly man who by his pride self-conceit or erroneous Doctrine shall bring such a scandal to Religion what if many perish in hell because of thy froward spirit It is true there ought to be zeal against errours and corruptions though in the godly You see when Peter did not walk right Paul resisted him to the face and would not give place to him or other false teachers no not for an hour Gal. 2.5 Mark that No not for an hour Some think let them alone they will recover themselves they will do no hurt truth needs not be afraid yet Paul was afraid that an hours forbearance might do hurt Therefore he addeth That the truth of the Gospel might continue amongst you as if an hours forbearance might hinder the continuance of truth so that we are to use Scripture-zeal and Scripture-means to convince even those that are godly when erring in Doctrine Therefore the Scripture doth not commend an unity and love so as to let all errours and prophanenesse alone but in that which is good unity in that which is truth and holinesse is that which Christ meaneth here in his prayer and where this is it 's very potent to winne all gain-sayers It 's admirable to mollifie the hearts of the opposers Hence it 's so often reported of the primitive Christians That they were daily with one accord together Therefore the Evangelist Luke records it at least five times so that if nothing else should make thee tender about causing any breaches in the Church of God this should thou dost as much as lieth in thee to hinder any man that knoweth thee ever to believe and to be converted Thirdly This Vnity is promised as a special part of the Covenant of Grace That very Covenant which promiseth to write the Law of God in our hearts and to put his fear in our inward parts that also promiseth unity at the same time Jer. 32.39 I will be their God and they shall be my people I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever Insomuch that it 's one main branch in the Covenant of Grace So Zech 14.9 In that day there shall be one Lord and his name one The meaning is They shall not worship many gods or serve in different wayes of worship but they shall be one To this purpose Ezekiel prophesieth Chap. 37.16 22. which is not to be limited to the Jews only but also to all the believing Gentiles Oh then in these times of differences and breaches amongst the godly What should we runne unto What should we plead in prayer but these promises O Lord to be thus divided to have Altar against Altar Church against Church Prophet against Prophet Is this to have one heart and one way But you may say If God hath thus promised it and Christ hath prayed for it who was heard of the Father in every thing How comes it about that the contrary appeareth This is to be answered in it's time Fourthly Vnity is necessary because hereby a serviceable and beneficiall helping of one another in spiritual things is preserved The people of God are compared to living stones built up together while the stones keep in the building they bear one another but if once removed it fals down They are compared to members in the body while they are joyned together There is a mutual ministration to each other but when divided from the body no part can receive any nourishment Thus it is here while the people of God are in union Oh the wonderfull help they are to one another they provoke one another they stirre up one anothers graces but take these coals from one another and then the fire goeth out And this may be the reason why our Saviour doth not mention the Sanctification and holinesse of believers but their unity because this is a special means to preserve and increase holinesse Two are better then one because of heat and of help saith the Wise-man Eccles 4.10 and so it 's in this work of Grace two are better then one to warm one another How may thy zeal help against anothers lukewarmnesse
yet because the Foundation of all our Christian comfort is in this Union and Unity is our whole spiritual Treasury Let us follow the Scripture Light in Explication of it And First It is good to Consider what synonimous or equivolent expressions the Scripture hath to represent this Vnity And we reade of an emphatical one 1 Cor. 6.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is joyned to the Lord The metaphor is from glue that doth so closely and inseparably joyn things together He is made one Spirit Is not this a wonderful expression of that intimate Union the believer hath with God He is made one Spirit with him not essentially as if he were made infinite omniscient c. but as it were morally as they say Amicus est alter ego Another word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 1.2 Truly our fellowship is with the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ Thus 2 Pet. 2.4 we are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partakers of the divine nature and often we reade of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Communion of the holy Ghost This Communion indeed is a consequent of our Union our Union is the Foundation of our Communion although the word doth not only signifie Communion but Communication sometimes howsoever this signifieth the unspeakable priviledge the godly have by their Union that now all things do become theirs which Christ hath our mala and his bona are communia We cannot fall and perish unlesse Christ also be destroyed with us A last word I shall instance in is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6.5 and hereby is intimated our co-planting into him and this the similitude of the Olive-Tree and the Vine doth admirably represent and certainly there is no kinde of Union scarce but the Scripture expresseth our Unity with Christ by it as that of the Head and the body of a Foundation and building of a Vine and its branches of a Husband and wife to shew hereby the Excellency and fulnesse of it every one of those unions having something that another hath not As David doth attribute several Titles to God of a Shield Rock Tower c. to shew that God was all things to him Thus is Christ all Unions to the godly as I may so say 2. There must be an unition as Cameron well observeth before there can be an union a Communication before a Communion Unition is to be conceived efficiently as the work of Gods Spirit joyning the believer to Christ and union is to be conceived formally The joyning it self of the persons together Now there is something on Gods part uniting and something on ours On Gods part that is the spirit of God Eph. 2.8 the Jew and Gentile have through Christ accesse unto the Father through one spirit So that as it 's the Spirit that sanctifieth the Spirit that worketh mightily in beleevers the Spirit that sealeth Thus it is also the Spirit that unites to Christ for of our selves we are aliens from God we all lie dissipated in ruine but it 's the Spirit of God that quickens us and engrafteth us into Christ As the Spirit on Gods part so Faith on our part Eph 3.15 Thus Christ dwels by Faith in our hearts and it 's by Faith we are ingrafted into the Olive-Tree therefore that is called eating of his Flesh and drinking of his bloud whereby we are made one with Christ our head We then may easily conclude all men living in their natural condition without the Spirit of God have nothing of this Unity They must needs wither and perish in their sins 3. We may conceive of a natural union with Christ and a supernatural A natural union all men have in that he took mans nature and not Angels upon him So that in this respect all men though never so wicked yet agree with him in his humane nature and thousands are damned though Christ took mans nature upon him The other union is supernaturall for as Christ though man yet was conceived in a supernatural way by the holy Ghost So all those who are mystically united to Christ are in a supernatural way changed by the holy Ghost and thereby joyned to Christ for it 's the Spirit of Christ as well as of God the Father that doth thus unite us to him We cannot then take any comfort simply in this that Christ was made man unlesse we have a spiritual Vnion with him as well as a naturall Therefore the Apostle excellently to this purpose urging Christs Incarnation Heb. 2.11 14. doth not press absolutely his being made man but so as thereby to help not all men but such as are his brethren all men are not Christs brethren but such as by faith are made one with him Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one that is of one Adam of one root as it is generally expounded but though other men be of that one root as well as such as are sanctified yet the Apostle limits it to such only that are sanctified and from thence draweth that comfortable inference Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren and v. 14. because the Children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himself took part of the same so that it 's plain by these Texts No man can simply take comfort in this that Christ became a man That he is of the same humane nature with Christ for it 's only to the children only to such as are sanctified that his Incarnation is advantagious Hence 4. This union is wholly spiritual and invisible Christ is the head and we the body Christ the husband and we the wife but all this is after a spirituall and mysterious manner The ligaments are spiritual insomuch that this is better felt experimentally then palpably expressed Therefore to carnal and natural men it 's wholly a paradox They cannot imagine what it is Even as spiritual and immaterial objects cannot be discerned by the eye No man hath seen God at any time So neither can this spiritual union be naturally perceived if we should preach all our life time upon it a natural man would never understand one iota or tittle about it Therefore when the Apostle speaking of the union between man and wife Eph. 5.32 therby representing the union of Christ and his Church addeth This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and his Church Oh pray therefore that thou maist experimentally feel this union with Christ That something within may close with this and thou maist be able to say O Lord though I reade it in no Book hear it in no Sermon yet my own heart can discern it 5. Though this union be spiritual yet for all that it is reall it 's not imaginary and a meer fancy but as Christ is a real Christ God a real God faith a real grace so real is our union with these and therefore the effects of this union are altogether real such as
JOH 17.21 That the world may believe thou hast sent me WE are treating on the Consequent of Unity amongst the Godly That the world may beleeve which belief hath been already considered relatively as a product of Unity We shall now take notice of it absolutely as it is in its own self It is believing that the Father hath sent Christ into the world We formerly spake of believing in its specificall nature as it justifieth by laying hold on Christ We shall here speak of it in its generall Nature because this believing is common both to the Hypocrite and the sound Christian For of that world which doth beleeve all do not believe in a saving manner So that although none who believe Christ sent into the world ought to stay in that generall but particularly to improve Christ that he may be sent for their good yet because the expression is here general I shall consider of it as a generall For whereas in the former Verse the Object of Faith was made Christ himself Ens incomplexum Here it is a Proposition though that onely is the Objectum quo and not quod upon which our Faith is ultimately terminated Obs That the Believing of Christ being sent unto the world is the foundation and first principle of our Conversion unto God Though men have never so much understanding in other Religious Points as that Scribe spoken of Mark 12. though not farre off yet they are not in the Kingdome of Heaven until they believe in Christ as sent by the Father to be our Mediatour That as the Apostle Hebr. 11. makes it a Fundamentall requisite in every one to believe that God is no lesse is required to believe that Christ is Therefore 1 Cor. 3. Jesus Christ is called the Foundation and by some made the adequate object of Divinity because every thing considered there doth either directly or reductively leade unto Christ So that I shall not speak of that peculiar Act of Faith applying Christ but that generall act whereby we know and assent firmly and immovably That there was a Christ God and man who was sent by the Father to redeem and save sinners For though all be thought to believe this yet the right and powerfull assenting to it is the foundation both of all holinesse and consolation but ere we speak of the Nature of it some distinctions are to be premised Distinct I As First That Faith is sometimes taken for the Object the Faith quae creditur The Doctrine beleeved and sometimes for the Grace of Faith quâ creditur whereby we do believe Colos 2.5 To be established in the Faith that is in the Doctrine So some are said to erre to deny or depart from the Faith that is the Doctrine But commonly it is used for the gracious actings of the Soul towards those Objects only it 's good to observe this distinction because some places are brought to prove Apostacy from inherent faith which speaks only of the doctrine 2. Faith is taken sometimes actively and sometimes passively Actively for fidelity and veracity in promises in which sence it 's attributed to God and to men Sometimes passively for the assenting unto Truths because of anothers Testimony And this again is twofold Either Humane Faith when we believe any thing meerly beeause of humane authority or divine when we believe because of divine authority and this is greatly to be observed for when I believe a divine Truth for humane Authority or witnesse my Faith all that while is but humane as those that beleeved Christ for the Samaritan Womans Testimony all the while they had no higher a ground then that it was but an humane Faith and then a Papist as a Papist and by Popish principles can have no more then an humane Faith for the utmost motive in which their Faith is resolved is the Authority of the Church which is but humane and so if the Church had propounded Titus Livius or Aesops Fables as some grant to be the Word of God people were bound to believe it but there is no divine Faith unlesse there be a divine Testimony and this doth sadly discover Millions of baptized persons yet to have no divine Faith for all the ground of their Christian Faith is Education and humane Authority it is not because God hath said it or he hath revealed it They cannot say with those Samaritans Now we believe no longer for Education sake or the Churches sake but because of the Authority and Divine Light which is coruscant in the Scriptures themselves Insomuch that the Jesuite Valentia doth confesse there are such inward discoveries of purity and Majesty in the Scripture that they breed such an inward reverence and perswasion that no other book can do 3. There is a distinction of great antiquity received in the Church between Credere Deum to beleeve there is a God Credere Deo to beleeve God speaking and Credere in Deum to beleeve in God by inward Union with him and loving of him Now although it be true that the Scripture makes no such difference adding the Hebrew Preposition Beth and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even where there is but a bare historicall beleeving there is a God yet for explication sake it may be received and those only said to beleeve in God who are justified and sanctified Though the Scripture attribute it sometimes to others Lastly Consider that the Soul hath several tendencies and motions to divers Objects Sometimes it assents to a thing by help of the sence and that is a knowledge by sence Sometimes by demonstrative Reasons it knoweth a thing and then it 's called Science strictly Sometimes by Testimony or Authority and then it 's called Faith Now if the authority be divine that saith such a thing then the Soul cannot be deceived because God cannot lye and so there ought to be greater certainty and firmer adhesion to those truths then any thing of sence and Reason yea in some sence it hath more evidence For there is a twofold Evidence of the thing it self and of the credibility of it of the thing it self And so indeed the matters of sence and reason are more evident in their own Natures to us Of the credibility of it and so Faith hath great evidence as the Testimonies for such Truths are evident and clear though the truths themselves are supernatural and highly transcending our humane capacity Distinct II These things premised Let us come to examine the Nature of Faith as it is dogmatical or historicall And 1. It 's wrought in us by the Grace of God It 's the power of God that works even this common faith No man could know and give assent to such divine truths unlesse inabled by the Spirit of God and therefore it 's said to beleevers That to them it 's given to believe Phil. 1.29 which takes in the whole nature of faith So some are said to believe through the grace of God No man can say
Jesus is the Lord but by the Spirit Acts 18.27 Some have thought that we may by humane strength come to beleeve divine truths as we may by our industry attain to philosophicall knowledge but this is to be ignorant of mans weaknesse and Gods power It 's true men may in an humane way comprehend the sense and meaning of the Scripture but to give a divine assent to it that is the gift of God For every good and perfect gift whereof this faith is a principal one cometh from the Father of lights James 1. Did not many learned Heathens Porphyrius Celsus Julian and others know what was asserted in the Scripture yet they did not believe but contemn it And certainly we are bound to acknowledge it a great mercy of God to have dogmatical faith For why are so many Heretiques left to themselves Some deny the Natures one or the other of Christ some his Person some his Offices and shouldst not thou doe thus if left to thy self Nay Is not a godly man sometimes sadly tempted about his dogmatical faith that he doubteth of a God or about the truths of the Scripture Certainly it 's a speciall mercy thus to be inabled to believe and it is good to be observed one reason why faith must needs be of God which is because the nature of it lieth more in the firmness of the act then in the certainty of the subject It 's not so much the object without as something within makes a man believe Gods Spirit doth more work in corroborating the heart then revealing the object Hence though the Doctrine be revealed to some yet they do not believe when at another time though they have but the same measure of light and the same argument propounded they do believe and why is all this but because Gods work in the believer is more ex parte subjecti then objecti Therefore it 's horrible debasing of Gods grace in working faith to make it no more then the revealing of the object for then man by his own power doth believe as when a man brings a candle in the room then a man seeth by his own power who could not before for God doth not only propound the object but enlightens the understanding and boweth the heart to believe 2. God works faith in us not absolutely or by the creatures the beholding and seeing of them but by the word Thus Rom. 10. Preaching hearing and believing are chained together We are then in and by the Word to expect this work of God not to flie to the creatures making them equal to Gods word for begetting faith or to enthusiasmes and private revelations but to the word of God which gives light to the simple but as the Word is an instrument of begetting faith so faith is afterwards an instrument of improving the Word for the Word doth not profit in the increase and benefit thereof unlesse there be Faith Thus as the Spirit of God doth at first work Faith and yet by Faith we are made further partakers of Gods Spirit So the Word doth at first produce Faith in us which when wrought doth againe improve the Word for further edification and growth in grace 3. The heart of man is naturally not only unfit but contrary and opposite unto the way of believing of heavenly Truth And by this it 's plain Faith is the gift of God because man hath not only an unfitnesse but a contrary repugnancy to the things of God Therefore 1 Cor. 4.14 the natural man is said not to receive the things of God neither can be both the act and the power is denied to him Therefore when Peter made that Confession of faith Thou art the Son of God Christ tels him Flesh and bloud had not revealed that to him Mat. 16.17 Therefore the Pharisees though they heard so much of Christ and saw all his Miracles yet they derided and opposed Christ They did not hear his Word because they were not of God as Christ told them Job 8.47 Know then as in respect of grosse sinne thou wouldst be like a Cain a Judas if God did not keep thee so also in respect of doctrine thou wouldst be the vilest Atheist or the most blasphemous heretique that ever was if God did not enlighten and confirm thee 4. Though God work faith thus yet it may be without a Sanctification of the inward man For seeing Faith as it's dogmatical carrying a man only to the Contents of the Scripture as they are true is seated in the understanding no wonder if thereby a man be enlightned only but not regenerated Hence we reade of some who did beleeve Joh. 2. yet they loved the praise of men more then of God That light in their minde did not serve to produce supernatural life and heat in the heart It was not a faith that did purifie the heart which is called the Faith of the Elect Tit. 1.1 because only appropriated to them The whole Epistle of James is on purpose to shew such a Faith that is not accompanied with holy works although therefore we say a true lively Faith can never be separated from sanctification yet men may be enlightned only in their mindes and perswaded of the truth in their hearts without any effectual change upon them It 's not enough to have such a faith as may make a man a true Protestant or orthodox so as to be neither Papist nor heretique for all this is but a cure of thy minde and with illumination may consist grievous pollutions Yet 5. Where there is but a bare dogmaticall Faith enabled thereunto by the Spirit of God there must needs be some kinde of pious disposition and tractablenesse of the heart For seeing the nature of faith lyeth in assenting to a Testimony and that of God there cannot be but some flexiblenesse of the heart to submit thereunto If indeed the Christian Religion were like the Arts and Sciences then there was no submission of the understanding required seeing it assents upon reason which is a sutable and connaturall argument to the minde as food is to the appetite of hunger But because these things are received for authority sake and have a supereminency to our naturall understanding Therefore it must be captivated Thus the Apostle excellently expresseth it 2 Cor. 10.5 the word doth bring into captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ a man before he believeth hath many proud thoughts many subtle thoughts many obstinate thoughts but Faith brings these down and submits because God saith so Now this cannot be done without some yeelding and flexiblenesse Hence the Schoolmen do determine that in faith and they acknowledge none besides miraculous but dogmaticall There is a pia affectio some pious and affectionate disposition to him for whose authority we do beleeve So that this dogmatical faith even in unregenerated persons is not like that of the devils for though the Apostle James saith They believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 yet their
Faith is not wrought by the Spirit of God neither is it upon divine motions but experience and manifest conviction They feel in part the torments of hell and therefore it 's experimentally evident to them that there is a God who is also just and terrible in his vengeance But the historical faith in an unsanctified man as it is the gift of God so it works some inclining disposition to God yea in the temporary believer who goeth beyond a meer dogmatist it works as appeareth Mat. 3. Some reformation and some joy so that the word makes some hopeful ingresse into him though at last it passe away as our lives even as a tale that is told having no setled continuance 6. This historical faith as it is wrought efficiently by the Spirit of God so the motive of it is Divine Authority and Revelation That as by the light of the Sun we see the Sunne so by God we come to know every thing of God This divine motive of faith is freely acknowledged to be in the Thessalonians by the Apostle 1 Thess 2.13 They received the word not as the word of man but as the word of God Hence the Prophets begin with Thus saith the Lord and Paul discovers himself to be called by God So that every thing hath but a weak ineffectual operation till it hath a maker a divine stamp upon the soul Oh when we once believe a threatning as it is Gods when we once believe a promise as it is Gods it must bear down all before thee What if the world come What if Satan come What if thy companions come telling thee this and this Oh but saith the believing soul God that cannot lie saith the contrary And truly herein is discovered that in Religion we have but an humane faith yea not so much for an humane faith will make great changes in our life when yet our divine faith doth not If a man tels thee of such danger of such evil in the way doth it not presently make thee turn out of that path But now when Gods word tels thee there is death and damnation in such paths that doth not at all move thee SERMON CXXI Of Dogmaticall Faith the Properties of and Contraries to it JOHN 17.21 That the world may believe thou hast sent me WE are discovering the nature of faith in the General as it is carried out to Scripture-truth because of Divine Authority We are to adde more particulars to clear this And First Though this Faith be not a peculiar saving grace yet it is a common grace of Gods Spirit It 's a common grace of God to be inabled to believe How many Pharisees and Jews saw the miracles of Christ as well as the Apostles yet did not believe so much as a Simon Magus did It 's the grace of God that makes a man to have a sound minde in Religion witnesse the many heresies and blasphemies divers are fallen into yet it 's a common grace not peculiar common I call it not in that sense as some plead for an universal grace which indeed is no grace but because an unregenerate man may have it as well as a regenerate so that no man may conclude this is enough for his salvation that he doth believe such and such principles of Religion unlesse also he hath that peculiar effectual purifying work of faith upon his soul As therefore those extraordinary gifts of Gods Spirit to work miracles to cast out Devils were common to such who yet were workers of iniquity Thus it is with this ordinary gift of Historical faith many men may believe the truth of those things the goodnesse whereof they never felt upon their hearts And many may maintain the Doctrine of Regeneration orthodoxly who never felt the power of it experimentally upon their own souls There is a faith that is common to the elect all the children of God have the like precious faith Tit. 1.1 in regard of the essentials yet there is a faith common to elect and reprobate so that no man may conclude his salvation because he is no Jew no Pagan no Papist Secondly Although this dogmatical Faith be common to the regenerate and unregenerate yet it 's the foundation of our conversion and in the regenerate when improued doth wonderfully provoke the increase of grace And this is good to be observed for though we make it not saving faith yet it is the foundation of saving faith He can never believe on Christ for his Mediatour that doth not believe Christ to be a Mediatour Therefore the Apostle describing the general nature of faith saith Heb. 11. He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that serve him No spiritual building can be made without this foundation as it is thus the foundation so if improved it doth wonderfully promote justifying faith The general acts of faith if vigorously prosecuted do mightily strengthen the peculiar and proper acts of it The more strongly we believe Christ to be a Mediatour the more will this help that he be so to me and therefore it 's observed that our Saviour put them so often upon the trial of their very historical faith Dost thou believe that I am able and doest thou believe that I am the Messias Partly because that was the great Question then Whether that individual Person was the Messias or no and partly because if it was believed that he was the Saviour then there was no such cause of doubt Whether he would be a Saviour to them that truly sought to him Insomuch that it may be questioned Whether it be a greater act to believe Christ to be a Mediatour or to believe him a Mediatour to me Although indeed there are more Objections against the latter for there are not only Objections against the truth but against the application of it because of the many sins and infirmities which I perceive in my self yet we would think the harder task were then over when the soul could believe such great things and transcendent to humane reason for when a man believeth that Christ is both God and man united in one Person whose office is to redeem the oppressed sinner may not then he conclude easily that he will redeem him For which is greater to believe such a Person God and man or that this Person whose Office it is to save will save thee Howsoever if we do not make comparisons between these acts of faith yet certainly the more strong and powerfull thy acts of faith are about the truths of Christ the more will they conduce to apply him to thee Even as in man the more vivid his senses are which do accompany his common nature with a beast the more strong and quick are his rational acts likewise So that this Dogmatical faith is the root as it were which if not thriving those peculiar acts of faith will wither Distinct III Thirdly The general properties of this faith are
to be considered And they are these 1. It lifteth a man up above his natural reason It addeth many cubits to his stature As reason directs and corrects sense as we see in Astronomy so doth faith direct and correct reason As Zacheus because of a small stature went up into a tree to see Jesus Thus the reason of a man being too low in it self must ascend up to the Scriptures that it may behold divine things so that they wholly overthrow faith and change the nature of it who made it with Abailadus of old to be imagination or with the Socinians strength of reason Certainly Julian and the Heathens of old confound Christian Religion upon this ground because it was faith it was not a science 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was Julians upbraiding now the Christians they gloried in this and Austin to confirm the Christian under many captious doubts saith thus Nomini te esse fidelem not rationalem To bring then divine truths to reasons comprehension is to put the Sunne under a bushell or to think to fit Goliahs shoe to Zacheus his foot 2. Though this faith lifts up reason yet it doth not contradict it When we say faith cometh by revelation not by reason flesh and blood cannot make such things known to us yet when once this revelation is discovered in the Scripture then reason doth wonderfully help to propugn and maintain this truth revelation must lay the foundation and then reason will build upon it so that inlightned reason and instructed reason out of the Word is of excellent use to explicate and clear divine mysteries Even as the Gold-smiths hammer is usefull to dilate and diffuse his golden mettal in many formes and this use all our learned Divines make against all Heretiques They doe by the help of reason and arguments out of the Scripture illustrate and confirm the Doctrine to be believed 3. This general nature of faith hath two excellent properties put together in one place Heb. 11.1 It 's there called The substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We shall not dispute Whether this be a definition of faith it 's enough that two differential marks are given of it And First It 's the substance of things hoped for concerning which word learned men say divers things but it may comprehend these particulars First that Faith is not an empty flying fancy for so Aristotle useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some manifestation meerly as the colours of the Rainbow or of birds feathers when the Sunne shines These have but an intentional being there is no reall solid being in them but faith is the substance of things hoped for and certainly this is greatly to be endeavoured after that thy faith be a reall substantial thing how many mens faith are but fickle fancies and uncertain notions and therefore with their dogmatical faith they are like the Apostle James his man without faith tossed up and down with every wave Jam. 1. The Apostle Ephes 4.14 saith Be not carried about with every winde of Doctrine that denoteth the levity and emptinesse of a thing Trees that are well rooted are not blowne up and down like feathers What then is the cause of instability and uncertainty of many mens Religion It 's because they have not faith wheresoever that is it is a solid substantial bottoming of the soul 2. The word substance doth imply that it makes the things hoped for though afarre off yet present to the soul and even to subsist in the soul for faith is not hindred in its actings by distance of place for that receiveth Christ enjoyeth Christ though in Heaven and he that believeth hath eternal life Hence we are said to be already translated from death to life John 5.24 because to faith these things are as sure as if they were already done Thus Paul you see him by faith speaking as confidently as if he were in Heaven already Rom 8. Who shall separate us from the love of God shall things present or things to come Shall life or death c Hence faith is called The beholding of things not seen 2 Cor. 3. Faith makes God present Heaven present Christ present as really and truly as bodily objects are present to sense and truly for want of this it is that we are so cold languishing dejected we doe not by faith make these things present if we did they would more divinely affect us and as it is the substance of things hoped for So of things feared likewise Noah by faith moved with fear prepared an Arke Heb. 11.7 Thus faith makes hell and damnation present it doth not look upon hell as a farre off but is affected as if it did see and hear those dolefull howlings in hell and so dare no more sin then if it were in hell already Oh what a mighty change would faith thus realizing things work upon us 3. The word comprehends Assurance Confidence and so indeed is hypostasis used both in Scripture and by humane Authours now this confidence of faith and assurance is seen in the knowing and assenting acts of faith as well as applicatory witnesse those resolute and confident deportments which the Martyrs had Had not they strong assurance of the truth who could endure such exquisite torments against subtil opposers And certainly the Martyrs in Queen Maries dayes are more to be admired then those in the primitive times for they suffered upon undoubted and clear points which only the Heathens gain-said But now these suffered by them that acknowledged a Christ and pretended the Glory of Christ as well as they So that this heavenly confidence and satisfaction of the soul that they care not for further disputing and doubting in the matters they do believe is a great property in faith And this manifesteth there is little faith now in Religion wherein men are apt to think all Religions alike and that one may do as well as another In these dayes to have such a substantiating reallizing and confident assurance is a great wonder The next word describing the generall nature of it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that doth imply First That the things believed bring an objective light with them As the object that is seen brings a visibility though faith in respect of humane reason be obscure and supernatural Arguments be inevident yet compared with the light in the Word it hath much evidence Hence the word of God is so often compared to light and that illumination which God worketh in the minde is partly faith as well as any other grace The things that are believed bring an evidence with them to the soul as the Sunne brings a visibility with it to be seen Therefore this believing is said to be by the Word set home in the demonstration of the Spirit and hence it is a man in some sense is passive
imperfections let them quicken up praier upon this consideration The glory Christ had he will give to beleevers Why had he such fulnesse but for thy emptinesse Why had he such glory but to make thee glorious Shall our vile bodies be made glorious like his glorious body and shall not our vile and corrupted souls be also made glorious like his soul This is excellently illustrated 2 Co. 3.18 where we are said te be transformed from glory to glory that is from grace grace is glory so much godliness so much glory thou hast and because it is not perfect therefore we proceed from glory to glory and how is this done by the Gospel for we beholding the glory of God in Christ are thereby changed Thus 2 Cor. 4.6 the glory of God is said to be seen in the face of Jesus Christ the meaning is that whereas God is in his own nature invisible and we are not able to conceive of him aright in Jesus Christ We see the infinite wisedom and grace of God so that we become glorious in grace by faith looking on God in Christ this makes heavenly this changeth and altereth the heart That as Moses by communing with God did obtain external glory which was so dazeling that the Israelites could not behold it So the people of God by Faith beholding God in Christ are thereby enlivened and made more heavenly every day Thus we see what those effects of glory are which Christ gives of that treasury of glory to us In the third general place Consider that none are made partakers of that Glory of Christ but by Vnion with him Now this Union is twofold either meerly external in the outward Ordinances in which sence our Saviour Joh. 15. supposeth a branch may be in him and yet not bring forth fruit By vertue of this Union we may obtain many glorious gifts and common graces from the Spirit So that we may have much spiritual glory in the eyes of others or else there is an internal and invisible Union and by this only we are made partakers of Christs glory Therefore none may be contented in any outside of Religion let thy duties be never so ravishing and affectionate yet not these but faith in the Olive Tree is that which maketh us partakers of this fatâ—ess so that the Union of Christ with the believer is the foundation of all grace and glory for as a branch separated from the vine or a member from the body doth not partake of any vital act and nourishment So neither doth that soul which is disjoyned from Christ if the beams of the Sunne had not immediate dependance and emanation from the Sun they could not have such lustre and Glory So neither were not believers joyned to Christ and made one with him they could not put forth such glorious acts of grace as they do for if power to work Miracles and transcend nature be called a glory how much more to perform the acts of grace which do also surpass the course of nature It 's a glorious thing to beleeve to be patient to be heavenly-minded to be zealous for God In these actions the spirit of Christ which is also the spirit of glory doth reside upon us 4. As union with Christ makes us partakers of glory So the foundation and Original of this is because Christ is one with the Father and one with us He is the Mediator between God and man So that by this means he receiveth glory from the Father which otherwise would be incommunicable to sinners and doth convey it to such as are his members So that still our eyes are to he fastened on Christ as a Mediator for none can or may approach to God in his own ablolute nature but as those who cannot look upon the Sun behold it in a basin of water where the reflexion is Thus we who could not draw nigh to that infinite wise and pure God having a Mediatour that both partaketh of Gods Nature and mans thereby is afforded an admirable passage of conveyance of glory from the Father through Christ to us as the light is conveyed from the Sun through the glass into the house Vse To make us admire the dignity and excellent condition of a Christian united to Christ for all the glory of Christ redounds and diffuseth it self to them Whatsoever priviledge or glory Christ hath it is proportionably communicated to thee therefore lift up thy head by faith and live joyfully in the meditation of this Doth not the woman though contemptible when married to an honourable person forget her Fathers Cottage and rags and saith Now she shall have the riches the glory the honour the state that her Husband hath since thy Soul hath been united to Christ all thy old poor despicable things are laid aside Truly the ground of all a godly mans discouragements and perplexities ariseth for want of faith herein SERMON CXXIII Practicall Conclusions from the fore-going Doctrine JOHN 17.22 And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them c. HAving cleared the sense of this Text and shewed what that glory is which Christ giveth us Let us proceed to make some Corollaries or practical Conclusions from this Doctrine And hence therefore in the first place this Conclusion is to be asserted That no man till he be united unto Christ hath any true and solid glory For if the glory of a Christian be in Christ the fountain as the Sunne-beams are in the Sunne then till partakers of Christ we do not receive any of his glory And this truth may quell the vain brags of the world and the boasts of carnal men Some account riches their glory their birth their glory outward honours their glory but these are not worthy the name of glory Christ came not into the world to give men riches honours greatness but a spiritual glory The Hebrew word for glory signifieth a weight and the Apostle alludes to this when 2 Cor. 4.17 he cals the happiness in Heaven an eternal weight of glory Let therefore a man be never so much exalted in this world yet if not given to Christ he doth not partake of Christs glory This earthly glory is no more true glory then a glow-worm is the Sunne The Scripture cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer fancy that presently passeth away All humane glory is but like Jonahs gourd that is presently consumed or like Herod Act. 12.21 who being arayed in royal apparel and blasphemous acclamations made to him he was immediately eaten up with worms Be not then any longer like children that account a toy a glorious thing thou art no wiser when riches greatness beauty c. are accounted matter of glory an obedient ear to Gods word is more glorious then an ear full of jewels interest in Christ is greater glory then all that of the world which our Saviour was tempted with yet is there any thing that is more apt to ensnare our hearts then this
resplendent beams thereof proclaim its presence This is excellently set down Joh. 14.20 21. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And ver 21. I will love him and manifest my self to him In the second place Though Christ be in us invisibly and spiritually yet he is truly and really and operatively in us So that we are not to look upon this as a fancy or delusion as some non-entity or meer notions of melancholy men No as Christ is a reall Christ so he doth really live and dwell in us if nothing were reall but what is corporeall then our souls should be no reall substances Then the soul of a man would be thought to be a meer fancy and notion likewise But as Christ is reall and the soul is reall so is Christs dwelling and living in it reall yea it is so reall that corporal things are said to have no reality at all comparatively Thus Christ Joh. 15.1 I am the true Vine and Joh. 6.55 56. My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drink indeed He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him Now why doth Christ say his body is meat indeed he doth not mean corporally but oppositely to corporall food The very food we eat is not meat comparatively to Christ for our bodies feed on that and yet perish they have not life alwaies abiding in them but who so hath Christ in him he can no more perish then Christ himself Christ is meat indeed and life indeed The godly then finde and know this life and dwelling of Christ to be a reall solid thing and therefore do though not corporally yet spiritually perceive it and know it to be more reall then their bodily life and actions It 's not lesse reall and true because spirituall and mystical Therefore that which on Christs part maketh him to be in us viz. his spirit that is reall and that which on our part receiveth Christ and whereby he dwelleth in us viz. faith that is also a lively grace Therefore though we walk not by bodily sence but by faith yet the things of Faith have as reall and lively subsistence in the soul as bodily objects can affect the body 3. Consider how Christ is to be conceived in his people and that the Scripture represents several waies 1. Christ is in us by way of Vnion so as to be made one mystical person with us I shall not be large in discovering this because I have touched on it heretofore only the first step of Christs being in us is by uniting of himself to us for we are by nature estranged from him and lie as so many lumps of earth devoid and destitute of all spirituall life and motion till Christ unite himself to us so that as it was Gods wonderfull power to call those dry bones and unite them together Thus it is also his admirable power to unite himself to a Beleever Christ doth not stay till we first unite our selves to him but he joyneth himself first to us and this is the first step of Christs saving grace in us 2. Christ is in us so that thereby we are made partakers of his person not only the gifts of Christ and the graces of Christ but Christ himself is in us as Gal. 2.20 Christ liveth in me and so Eph. 3.17 Christ dwels in our hearts so that this King of glory doth not only bring his rich Ornaments and Hangings to beautifie the soul but he himself also in his own person resides there Not indeed corporally as you heard but spiritually for though Christ be in heaven yet that is no hindrance to Faith It 's not distance of place that takes away from Faith no more then of time but as future things are present to heaven so are remote things locally present to it Even as to the eye some Objects though many miles distant are present Faith therefore receiveth the person of Christ and it 's not only the graces of Christ but Christ himself that dwels in the soul but yet by faith it is true many Divines affirm the graces of Gods Spirit to be in us but the Scripture doth expresly relate even to the person of Christ and the Spirit as well as the graces flowing from them 3. Christ is in his people by way of gracious operation as a powerfull efficient which enableth to all those holy and divine actions the godly perform Joh. 15. Without me you can do nothing As the branch without the Vine cannot bring forth any fruit Did not Christ daily move and breathe upon the soul it would alwaies work in a carnal and humane manner Paul saith He no longer liveth but Christ in him Gal. 2.20 For Paul of himself and in his own corruption would follow the boasts of the flesh persevere the desires thereof did not Christ quicken and sanctifie him 4. Christ is in us sacramentally that is in and by the right use of that Ordinance he is in a peculiar manner present to the beleever Therefore it 's called the Communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10. and although Joh 6. the eating and drinking of Christs body and bloud be not there meant of the Sacrament but of Faith in the general for it 's made necessary to every man that would have Eternal life yet by that expression is seen the intimate incorporation of the godly with Christ and in the right use of the Sacrament there is a more sensible visible assurance of such a presence whether Christs presence Sacramentally be other then his presence by a promise is not here to be disputed Certainly if the presence differ not yet the manner of confirming and assuring of it doth otherwise Sacraments would be Seals of the promise in vain and the promise it self would be enough and the enjoying of Christ in a promise would be enough without making use of the Sacrament and so that be wholly needlesse I shall not enlarge on this Point further But come we to the fruits and effects of Christs being in us This is the great necessary thing to finde that Christ is in us for either the devil and sin live in us we no longer live but sin and Satan or else Christ and his Spirit are in us and it 's good to observe what are the Evidences and demonstrations of Christs being in us 1. In whomsoever Christ is he is made a New Creature old things are past away It 's high blasphemy to say Christ is in constant habitual wicked men no 2 Cor. 5.17 If any be in Christ he is a new Creature Now whosoever is in Christ Christ is also in him for they are mutual and reciprocall if therefore thou livest in ignorance and prophanesse conclude assuredly that Christ is not in thee It was the devil that entred into the Swine and hurried them headlong into the Sea Thus still the devil doth hurry many wicked men violently
make it uselesse for there needeth not any more two meritorious causes of salvation then two Suns in the firmament or else if Christ merited as the remote cause and we as the proxime cause then salvation is to be attributed more formally to our grace then Christs sufferings So that as if the Sunne should inlighten the starres that they could make the day this would take off from the immediate glory of the Sun though that was remotely the cause of it Thus though Christ be the cause of our grace yet because our grace is in it self made the meer meritorious cause therefore it would obscure the glory of Christ Oh then let the gracious man take heed of any proud risings or stirrings of heart of any proud opinions or doctrins which may secretly fermentate him herein Fourthly Neither is the connexion between grace and glory causal in a physical and natural way as the fire burneth or as the acorn will naturally grow into a great Oak It 's ordinarily said That grace is the seed of glory or grace is glory begun and glory is grace consummated but all this is not so to be understood as if grace by any intrinsecal natural vertue did grow up to glory as a childe doth to a man No God might if he had pleased when we had done the highest acts of grace yet have annihilated us Though we had fought the good fight of faith yet he might not have given us a crown of glory for this heavenly glory accompanieth grace only by vertue of a promise Had not God promised and mercifully annexed such glorious priviledges our graces of themselves could not have procured them Fifthly Therefore is grace and glory connexed partly from the promise of God He is willing out of his free bounty to bestow heaven upon our gracious walking so that we cannot plead our graces but Gods promise onely neither is he a debtor unto us but unto himself and this is the righteousness mentioned by the Scripture when it speaks of God rewarding us as when it 's said If we confess and forsake our sins he is righteous to forgive them 1 Joh. 1.9 and so it 's just with God to remember our sufferings 2 Thess 1.6 and Paul saith It 's the righteous Judge 2 Tim. 4.6 which will give him the crown of glory Here justice and righteousness is not mentioned for strict commutative righteousness but the righteousness of Gods promise and fidelity So that God looketh upon the promise as on the rainbow which is a sure evidence that he will never destroy the world more and then grace is an antecedent to glory because Grace is an ordinable means to glory Without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 Sin cannot in it's nature be appointed the way to happiness Therefore the ancient saying is that it is via not causa regni so that by Gods commanding and appointing the way it 's as indispensably necessary as if it were a cause And then Lastly It makes for the honour and glory of God to make grace a necessary forerunner of glory For if every prophane and ungodly person might be saved this would redound greatly to Gods dishonour this would invert and contradict those places of Scripture which speak of Gods purity and holiness so that his eyes cannot behold the wicked that he will in no wise acquit the ungodly Exod. 34.7 That he is angry with the wicked all the day long Psal 7.11 Thus you see that there is an inviolable chain between sanctification and happiness and that it is gross and foul presumption for a man to separate these two to think he shall ever partak of one without exercising the other and therefore this Vse 1 In the first place doth thunder out unspeakable woe unto all wretched and ungodly men What hopes what expectations have ye of happiness Deceive not your selves any longer with such false surmises look over all the Bible and you shall see nothing but hell fire and eternal torments to such who are workers of iniquity What do you think God will alter the course of grace when he will not the course of nature Will God turn the day into night or the night into day Will he make the Sun stand still or the waters of the Sea part asunder to please the creature Yea these miracles he may and hath done but to save a wicked man living and dying in his wickednesse would be the greatest miracle that could be yea we may say such is the holiness and justice of God that he cannot do it What is it then that doth thus befot and bewitch wicked men What keepeth you from gnashing the teeth tearing the hair and crying out Oh this life those sins will as surely damn me as if I were in hell already without repentance And Vse 2 2. It speaks infinite comfort to those who have true grace though in the least degree For seeing that grace doth not as a natural cause produce glory but by the Covenant and Promise of God then the weakest grace may plead this as well as the strongest The lowest believer may say I have as good and as faithfull a promise as the stronger even a cup of cold water given to a Prophet upon right grounds shall have an everlasting Kingdom and therefore that cannot be for any worth or dignity in the good duty performed What is lesse then a cup of water and that cold yet for this there is promised an everlasting Kingdom And certainly if Paul thought 2 Cor. 4.17 these afflictions though in themselves never so great yet nothing comparable to that eternal weight of glory much lesse then are those lesse afflictions comparable to it And so I proceed to the second Doctrine Christ prayeth That believers though thus sanctified and perfected in one may be made glorious Now this plainly supposeth That Glory is a gift That it doth not follow upon our highest degree of Sanctification and therefore when the Apostle had said The wages of sin is death Rom. 6.23 he doth not also say the wages of grace is eternal life but he cals it The gift of God So that here is a difference between hell and heaven The wicked mans life deserveth hell it 's the proper reward of every ungodly action yea some say that hell is lesse then the sin God doth not punish according to the desert of it but it 's otherwise with glory and happiness for after we have done to the utmost yet it 's wholly in Gods good pleasure whether he will give a Kingdom or no. Now the Reasons Why eternal glory must be a gift even to the most godly men is 1. Because that all our best actions have some sinfulness cleaving to them insomuch that if God should deal strictly according to those adhering defects we might be damned notwithstanding the graces we have Therefore the Psalmist prayeth Psal 143.2 That God would not enter into judgement with his servant because in his sight no flesh
is not the devil still suggesting this unto thee if thou be the Sonne of God then it would be thus and thus with thee Gods children never do as thou doest Now this temptation hath so farre prevailed by Satans instigation upon some of Gods people that they have wholly given over to pray that they dared not to presume to pray And why because God is not their Father they may no more pray then the damned in hell So that the godly man is left in a wofull desolate estate all the while this truth doth not reign in his heart that God is his Father 3. This perswasion of God being our Father is of so great consequence that the Spirit of God is sent on purpose into our hearts for this very work Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Father So that as we remain blind and darkned in mind till the Spirit lead us into all truth that as we remain unholy and cleaving to our lusts till the Spirit sanctifie us so we do also remain in a doubting unbelieving and dejected disposition till God send this Spirit into our hearts so that when a man is humbled for sinne and feels the load of his transgressions it must be more then humane power yea or all the counsels and directions of the ablest Ministers that can inable such an one to call him Father Oh how often doth such a tempted soul say Oh that I could call him Father Oh that I could delight in him as a Father But now when this Spirit of Adoption cometh into our hearts see with what efficacy and power it cometh it maketh us to cry that denoteth earnestness vehemency and also confidence undauntedness notwithstanding the roaring cries of the devil and conscience to the contrary and thus it enableth us to cry Abba Father by way of ingemination implying that it is not once but twice yea often for indeed if the Spirit of God did not constantly thus keep up a filial frame every new failing would cast us back into a meer darknesse and confusion Therefore the Spirit of God hath this office of being a Comforter because we of our selves cannot sow that seed in our own souls 4. This is necessary because this only raiseth sweet comfortable and delightfull thoughts of God The relation of a Father is sweet and what a great difference is there between a childe praying to a tender father and a malefactor to a severe Judge David once said He remembred God and was troubled Certainly the more we think of God and his Attributes Omnipotent Wise Holy Righteous if not a Father the more terrible and dreadfull is the apprehension of him It 's necessary to have good endeared thoughts of God therefore the devils and the damned who are of the farthest distance from God they have hard and raging thoughts against him It being therefore necessary to keep up such thoughts in the soul as these Let God afflict smite destroy yet he is just and righteous yea and to be loved now this cannot be unless this faith is strongly carried out unto him as a Father 5. Perswasion of God as a Father is necessary because this only will produce faith and confidence in those that pray with such an assurance Now faith is the very soul and life of prayer He that prayeth believing shall receive and James exhorts Let him ask in faith nothing doubting Chap. 1. Our Saviour told the woman It should be according to her faith So that unbelief makes our prayers like a messenger without hands or feet and if so How shall we get our prayers animated with this grace Nothing conduceth more to this then the Meditation of God as a Father when this is assented to then it easily believeth God will do all necessary good for it such a Father will not give a stone to his childe when he asketh bread Thus Mat. 5. our Saviour maketh this an argument against all distracting fears and cares Your heavenly Father knoweth what you have need of Why is it that after prayer thy heart is as much troubled and disquieted as if the request had never been made known to God but only because faith did not reign and predominate in thy heart concerning Gods fatherly relation to thee 6. Perswasion of God as a Father is necessary because hereby the heart will be quickned to all those holy and filial dispositiâ—ns which ought to be in children If ye call him Father 1 Pet. 1.17 c. Passe your sojourning here with an holy fear The Scripture apprehension of a Father will not beget security and a licentious life but rather it will cause an holy reverence and a diligent attendance to avoid all those sins that may offend and provoke The Spirit of adoption is also a Spirit of Sanctification being born of God he doth not he cannot sin for how abominable and uneffectual would our prayers be if we should joyn prophaneness to those duties In stead of obtaining mercy we may justly expect that God would pour out greater wrath whereas a due and right apprehension of God as a Father will make a gracious and humble disposition in the soul Vse of Exhortation to the people of God that they strengthen and confirm this relation to them as much as may be Pray for that Spirit of Adoption which will inable thee to cry Abba Father Oh know that all the cause of thy disquietness distractions and diffidence of Spirit in thee ariseth from unbelief in this point If thou believe God is thy Father then sin is forgiven then no good thing will be denied thee This Father will treasure up for thee yea the properties of this Father are wonderfully quickning he is an omnipotent Father and so can do all things he is a compassionate Father and so will do all things he takes upon him both the bowels of Father and Mother also Parents have been hardned to their children as the Prophet observeth but God cannot be He is a wise Father and so ordereth every thing for the best This if duly considered would free thee from all distrustfull cares and thou wouldst learn from thy own childe to walk depending upon God casting all thy burden upon him because thou seest it taking no care what it shall eat or what it shall put on but resteth it self wholly upon it's Fathers care The second thing observable in the Text is The manner of Christs expression his Petition I will Father I will Some think this an expression not of prayer but of Christs just demand of his right to that which he had as God and therefore they think that whereas before he prayed as a man here he interposeth himself as God as thus Austin of old Omnipotenti patri se velle dixit omnipotens filius Others they make it an expression of prayer because in the former part the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used and thus Mark 10.35 when James and John
respect of the stability of their assent to divine truths when yet they had great temptations to assault them and we read sometimes of the Disciples that upon the working of some great miracles by our Saviour they are said then to believe not but that they beleived before only they did grow and encrease in this more Oh then in times of great disputes when learned and godly men differ in many things it behoveth the godly Christian to fly to this manifestation of Christ Oh say declare it Lord and still declare it to me more and more And certainly it appeareth by Mat. 24. That those who are false Prophets have so many fair pretences and deceivable wayes that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect so that it 's a very great mercy to be of a sound mind and established in the truth That as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever so also believers are to be 3. We need Christs daily declaration in respect of the efficacy and practical operation of our knowledge So that although we know all mysteries yet if the power of Christ doth not make us to acknowledge these things in a godly manner We are but as tinkling cymbals you see Paul made knowledge a meer puff a nothing without charity 1 Cor. 13. and our Saviour puts happiness upon the doing not knowing of these things John 14.17 A Christian may grow two wayes in the extension of knowledge or in the efficacy of knowledge and this is greatly to be lamented many desire to know more opinions and more notions many are still propounding more questions after questions but the Apostle Ephes 4. tels us of the knowing of the truth as it is in Jesus which makes a Christian put off the oldman and put on the new as also an acknowledgment of the truth after godliness Tit. 1. Oh therefore pray that Christ would declare his truths to thee so as they may not only be in thy head but sink down into thy heart and be there like fire inflaming thy bowels It 's not growing in knowledg at it is knowledge but growing in it as it is saving and operative which makes a man fitted for everlasting glory As it is not the knowing of what is excellent food that doth nourish a man but the eating of it and this only doth the Scripture vouchsafe to call knowledge indeed Oh then examine thy self Dost thou so know God as to live on him by faith to love and fear him Dost thou so know Christ as to make him a Mediatour to thee in an appropriated manner Doest thou so know the promises as to relie on them and to make them thy cordial in all temptations This is to know in the Scripture language So that the Christians knowledge is wholly in tendency to operation as all motion is for rest if it be barren it increaseth our condemnation and not further our consolation In the next place Let us consider what are the reasons why Christ must continually teach his people And 1. It is because all heavenly things are revealed from God only Even as it is said of the Creation John 1. All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made Thus all knowledge in a supernatural manner comes from him and without him we know nothing Now all those things which require a supernatural power for to give the first existence to them require such a power to continue them therein Hence as Christ made all things Heb. 1. he is still said to bear up all things by his power and thus likewise it is in regard of all saving knowledge that same Spirit of Christ which did at first teach us must in the whole progress of our lives teach us As a man cannot beleive of himself so neither increase in faith or know more firmly and evidently of himself All saving knowledge is part of that work of grace which God is the author of in the soul Now in all the course of grace and progress therein it 's plain we need the auxiliary power of God continually Thus the Apostle speaking even to those that did believe already yet he saith It 's God that worketh in us to will and do and as it 's God that beginneth so it is he that finisheth every good work Hence Christ is said to be the author and finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 As it is thus in grace if God did not keep every godly man he would fall into the dirt and all noisome lusts from which he was once converted So if God did not keep us firmly and constantly in his truth there is no damnable heresie or blasphemy that is fetched out of hel it self which a godly man would not fal into So that it 's the Covenant and promise of God which keepeth a man equally from erroneous opinions and sinfull practices 3. There is a necessity of Christs constant teaching his people because of the imperfection and weakness which is in their best knowledge That as he pray'd about his faith I believe help my unbelief so I know Lord help my ignorance and therefore it is that he will have a Ministry alwayes in the Church which as that is to grow constantly in knowledge so ought the people much more Oh then be affected with the true and right apprehensions of the sins of thy minde and thou wilt quickly see that unless Christ be thy teacher thou shalt die in thy ignorance 4. There is a necessity of Christs further teaching because of the great advantage in a grown knowledge As 1. A man is thereby more able to discern between things that differ he can separate the dross from the gold 2. He will be more evangelical in the frame of his Spirit Heb. 6. The babe is unskilfull in the word of righteousness Ignorance causeth many scruples and fears which do hinder those spiritual consolations that should abound in the heart of the godly 3 Hereby they may be guides to others The Apostle Rom 14. sheweth the many duties of a strong Christian in respect of a weak It 's a blessed thing to be a means of edification of others or the reducing of such as have gone astray for want of this growth many parents many husbands though godly for the main cannot do their duties Vse 1. Of humiliation to the best persons and the best Churches they still need more light It 's not enough Christ hath declared to them but he must still declare not indeed new substantials and essentials to salvation but in regard of the superstructures of holiness and truth That Doctrine in Popery The Church cannot erre makes her incurable and is also grosly arrogant In particular persons this would also breed self-emptiness an high esteem of the Ordinances it would prevent heresies and errours men being commonly confident of themselves therein as also any severe and uncharitable censuring of others knowing as it is said Phil. 3.15 God may in
some while he was here on earth or mediately and that is by the discovering of the work of grace upon our souls whereby we gather Gods love toward us and this is the ordinary safe way that we are to take otherwise under the pretence of immediate revelations we may fall into sad delusions and this way the Scripture suggests viz. that by our love to the brethren by keeping his Commandements we may gather that we are loved of God Do not then expect as if thou shouldst hear a voice from heaven in a glorious manner as Christ did Thou art my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased but begin at the work of grace and Sanctification in thy heart by which thou maist certainly conclude of Gods love as by the Sun-beams we may conclude the Sun risen yet this must be necessarily added that we can neither discern of the work of grace in us or have such full perswasions of Gods love thereby but by the spirit of God as in Rom. 5.5 we of our selves through the sight of the imperfections of our graces would run from the presence of God only it 's the spirit of adoption given unto us which makes us have an Evangelical boldness before him Lastly This love of God perceived and felt by the godly is of a transcendent and incomprehensible nature So that if we should spend our whole life in the meditating of it yet we are never able to go to the bottom of it This is admirably expressed Eph. 3 19. that ye may know the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge from whence followeth that we are filled with the fulness of God for this love to us is the same in kinde though not in degree with that whereby he loveth Christ himself Christ and his members are comprehended in the same act of love what an unspeakable consideration is this to a poor believer Again the love of God is such that he gave his only begotten Son to the vilest and most ignominious death for them which the Apostle puts also upon it Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world and this love was to us while enemies while adversaries and it 's not to bring about a temporall mercy for us but eternal even everlasting glory and lastly this love is immutable and unchangeable God will never alter his love or cease to love such Certainly such a love is that which the heart of a man can never sufficiently comprehend must needs inflâ—me the soul there cannot be any cold Ice under this torrid Zone Therefore in the next place let us consider the great advantages that a believer hath which hath this powerful sence and feeling of Gods love within his heart And 1. It doth in a wonderful manner encourage and embolden the soul and that under the thoughts of death and the day of Judgement If so be this were to be the next moment if this voice were heard Arise and come to judgement yet the experimental feeling of Gods love would keep the heart so far from being dejected and perplexed that it would rather rejoyce a man and make him lift up his head 1 Joh. 4.17 Herein is love made perfect that is not our love but Gods love to us as the Greek intimateth that we may have boldnesse in the day of judgement That day which is so terrible to the wicked the very name of it is dreadful to them that bringeth much comfort to him who is loved of God Now what a desirable life is this who would not give the whole world to enjoy it viz. that he may walk in such powerful apprehensions of Gods favour that though death come though the day of judgement come yet his heart is not terrified within him The Apostle John speaks of Gods love perfected in us 1 Jo. 4.12 that is in respect of manifestation and discovery as Gods power is said to be perfected in our infirmities or faith to be perfected by love which sheweth that though God doth love us yet till this be manifested and discovered to us his love is not perfected to us 2. The sence and feeling of Gods love doth make us patient and contented yea even rejoycing under all tribulations the more grudgings and discontents thou art assaulted with under any exercises it 's an argument thou hast the less feeling of Gods love upon thee for if this did diffuse it self thou wouldst be more then a conquerour in all these things and certainly if Calvin said gravely from the former consideration out of the place mentioned in John That so far a man is proficient in faith as he is well composed in his heart for the expectation of the day of judgement We may also speak in this particular that so far a man hath profited in Christianity as he can from the sence of Gods favour rejoyce and be above all tribulations whatsoever This the Apostle mentioneth Rom. 5.5 the cause of all those glorious graces mentioned viz. patience and glorying in tribulations as also hope which will not make ashamed all cometh from that love of God shed abroad in their souls and Rom 8 It 's the love of God which he felt in his soul that made him triumph in so glorious a manner that he challengeth all things as not able to hinder him from this love of God 3. This sence of Gods love is a notable inflamer and quickner of the heart unto all godliness to all holy duties How dull how cold and lukewarm are all such performances that flow not from this fire within All is but formality and a meer outside in Religion till we have some apprehension of Gods love toward us yea those that are truly loved of God but yet not assured of it how heavily do they move in any holy duties how sad and divided with unbelieving thoughts how prone to yield to such temptations that because God doth not love them therefore it 's a vain thing to seek his face any longer but if once God let this love shine in upon his heart then it 's like oyl to his bones then it 's like Ezechiels spirit in the wheels then many waters cannot quench this love So that any duty performed out of the apprehension of Gods love is in some respect worth a thousand of those done without it Oh therefore labour to keep this fire alwaies upon the Altar of thy heart 2 Cor. 5.14 the Apostle there saith that the love of Christ constraineth him the word is thought to be used of those Prophets who being immediatly wrought upon by the spirit of God could not keep in what they felt but they must deliver it and thus it is with a man strongly possessed with the feeling of Gods love he cannot keep it in he is in an holy extasie and ravishment he praieth he heareth he doth all things with all his might 4 This apprehension of Gods love will make us wonderfull heavenly It will take us from all things here below As a man on
or because that can adde any thing to his happiness but because thereby thou art made capable of his love and so he can communicate of his goodness to thee do not then take comfort so much from thy graces as the evidence of Gods love to thee thereby 5. Take notice that it 's most acceptable and well-pleasing unto God that thou shouldst walk in such sense and feeling of his goodness to thee For why are all those commands to rejoyce in him and to bless his name continually Why doth he invite thee to call him Father And why are there such thunderbolts in the Scripture against unbelief and distrust Why is it the main scope of the Scripture to represent God under all love and loving considerations but that all our thoughts of him should be hopefull and comfortable Do not therefore think thou goest beyond thy bounds or it's presumption in thee to draw nigh to God upon such assured apprehensions of his grace No the Scripture expresly commands the contrary Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace and Eph. 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Hearken not then to all those doubting temptations within nor all those deceitfull arguments of humane reason without but consider what the Scripture saith and certainly it 's preposterous humility as in Peter refusing to let Christ wash his feet to keep off from the Throne of grace when we are commanded to come to it Besides without this sense of love how can our hearts be raised up to bless and glorifie God It was Davids apprehension of Gods goodness to him that made him call upon his soul and all within him to bless Gods holy Name 6. Consider that this sense of Gods love is the proper and genuine effect of faith in Christ as a Mediator Thus our Saviour doth here make it the consequent of it They have known me whom thou hast sent that the love whereby thou lovest me may be in them It 's not enough to believe in the general That Christ is a Mediator to such as believe in him but with Paul Gal. 2.20 we are to appropriate him who loved me and gave himself for me with this Evangelist John we are to lean our heads as it were in Christs bosom with Thomas we are to say My God and my Lord. Now the genuine but not the necessary and inseparable effect of such an appropriating faith is the sense and assurance of Gods love to me in particular which love of God is so attentive to one believer as if there were no more in the world As they say of the soul it 's tota in toto and tota in qualibet parte so is the love of God totus in universis fidelibus and totus in singulis God loveth a particular believer as much as if there were no more believers in the world Though the objects of his love may be diversified yet his love is not divided or by division diminished Lastly Fix this alwayes upon thy heart that Christ hath prayed for this sense of the Fathers love upon thy soul You see in this prayer where he mentioneth all the great and consequential things unto believers this is brought in at the last as the adorning and sweetning of all the rest for if sanctified if hereafter to be glorified if Christ be in us and we in Christ yet if the experimental knowledge and assurance of this be absent we are as the Disciples under storms and tempests crying out We perish we perish Let the summary Use of the whole be by way of Exhortation to all believers to hunger and thirst yea to have their souls break in longing after the enjoyment of this love of God in us Oh bid all things stand aloof off till thou art made partaker of it Say How long Lord how long is it that thou absentest thy self When shall I have the imbracements of thy love When will the glorious Sunne break out and dispell all the dark clouds that are upon my soul Give not over importuning for it Because of this very prayer of Christ know to thy encouragement that this prayer abideth for ever Though it was once uttered by him upon the earth and he ceased to pray any further yet it still liveth in the efficacy and power of it yea that continual intercession of his in heaven what is it but the reviving of this prayer So that by the vertue of this prayer through his blood we are sanctified we are justified and shall hereafter be for ever glorified FINIS AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF THE Chief Heads contained in this TREATISE A Afflictions IT 's a greater mercy to be kept from sinne and evil in our Afflictions and troubles then from the afflictions themselves 444 The Grounds and Reasons why it is so 446 Antichrist That Antichrist should prosper and prevail in the shedding of the blood of so many Martyrs is a dangerous temptation c. 388 A two-fold Antichrist ibid. Apostasie Apostasie and decay in grace may be in several particulars 350 c. Those that plead for the Apostasie of the godly grant there is a distinction to be made 354 Apostats That men may be eminent for a while in the Church of God and yet afterwards prove dreadfull Apostats 372 Arians Arians confuted 73 149 Ascension The benefits of Christs Ascension 291 Assurance Assurance may be attained 356 Astrology How vain and wicked it is to go to Astrologers or Witches or be such 396 Arguments against Astrology and witchcraft 396 397 Atonement Christ was a Priest to make Atonement for us 507 Attributes It is a necessary duty in a Christian in his approaches to God to think to those Attributes and relations in him which may excite and stirre up holy confidence and boldnesse 657 B Beginnings THen Beginnings are hopefull when the Spirit in the Ministry or other means of grace did work upon us 382 Then will Beginnings and endings be alike when grace is radicated and enters deep enough into the soul 383 Good Beginnings will have bad endings when men professe Christ out of sinister and worldly respects ib. Hot Beginnings will end coldly 383 Behold What is that glory which they shall Behold shining in Christ 663 Beholding How much is comprehended in this expression of Beholding Christs glory 662 Belief Our Belief is the fruit and effect of Christs death and our election 537 Two opinions about this ib. The state of the Question in some particulars ib. Arguments to confirm us in the truth 538 Believe Why Gods children are so hardly brought to Believe 211 Why prophane men think it easy to Believe in Christ 213 Why Believing in Christ is so acceptable to God 213 214 Believer In what respect Christ did as much for one Believer as another 525 In some particulars the poor weak Believer hath more love and affection from Christ then a stronger 528 The particulars wherein ib. Wherein God sanctifieth their weakness and
Directions shewing how a man may prize Faith in Christ as a Mediatour 225 c. The properties of Faith 600 That Faith is knowledge 637 What knowledge Faith is not ibid. What knowledge the knowledge of Faith is 639 Reasons why Faith must be knowing ibid. The people of God are kept to salvaion through Faith 314 This is opened in two Propositions ibid. Why Faith confirms us rather then other graces ibid. That the Faith that justifieth and saveth us maketh us wholly to depend on Christ 542 The several kinds of Faith ibid. The object of Faith ibid. The seat of Faith ibid. The things required to justifying Faith 543 544 God inables the humble soul to believe two wayes 546 Of Faith under the notion of receiving of Christ 549 What the receiving of Christ by Faith implieth ibid. Faith hath two acts a direct and reflex 552 Arguments to prove that Faith is a particular application 553 The Doctrine of special and particular Faith doth not tend unto presumption 555 Father God is the Father of Christ in a transcendent way 13 Those prayers are successefull that are put up to God as a Father 14 We cannot call God Father but by the Spirit 15 What frame of heart this compellation Father breeds in every childe of God in seven particulars 15 c. Reasons why the title Father prevails so much with God 17 c. The Father is the original fountain of all good 53 All that the Father giveth shall come to Christ 54 Finish Christ did perfectly Finish that work the Father gave him to do 119 Some particulars about Christs Finishing his work 120 How he Finished it 121 c. The properties of the work Christ Finished 123 Flesh Flesh usually put Synecdochically for man 35 Fortune No Fortune 23 Free-will Free-will a dangerous Doctrine 125 It is no Free-will or preparatory work in man that begins either his grace or glory but the sole gift of God 668 G Gesture GEsture in prayer lifting up the eyes to Heaven 5 Ghost The knowledge of the holy Ghost necessary to salvation 100 Gift All spiritual good the godly enjoy is only the Gift of God Rules for private Christians exercising their Gifts 493 Given That none of those that are Given by God to Christ shall perish 352 Christ though God hath many things Given him of his Father 612 There is a two-fold Giving ibid. What things are Given Christ of the Father 613 Glory Christ hath a two fold Glory 24 Whether Christ did merit Glory for himself 25 Christ being invested with Glory redounds to the advantage of his Members in five particulars 25 26 The nature of this Glory Christ praied for 25 There were three degrees to it 27 This Glory of Christ doth consist in four things 27 28 Christs Glory is 1. Spiritual 2. Eternal 29 All men should be affected with Gods Glory more then their own good heavenly or earthly 31 c. Four Reasons why we are to pray for all our own comforts in reference to Gods Glory 33 34 Gods children are to pray earnestly for their Glory with God 143 1. What is implied in this 144 145 2. This Glory is earnestly to be praied for 146 3. This Glory is a cordiall against all afflictions in five particulars 146 147 The Glory that Christ hath he communicateth one way or another unto his people 605 Considerations for the understanding of it ib. Some Corollaries from this Doctrine 608 Glory is a gift 651 Glorifie To Glorifie is taken two waies in Scripture 24 It was the holy wise will of God to Glorifie Christ 25 We Glorifie Christ three waies 29 How we Glorifie God 102 As Gods people Glorifie Christ so it is well-pleasing to God 267 How many waies the people of God Glorifie Christ 267 Why it is our duty to Glorifie Christ 269 270 Grounds why Gods presence in Heaven is that which makes the happinesse of a Glorified believer 655 Glorification is of grace 253 How many waies we may Glorifie Christ 667 God God may regard one mans prayer more than another 10 God appoints times and seasons for his great works in relation to Christ 19 20 In relation to other dispensations 21 God doth all things for his own glory Vide Glory 33 God made the world for his glory ibid. The greatnesse of Gods glory 34 God is a universal good 57 God is an unmixed good 57 God is the proper and peculiar good 56 One only true God 90 Many fictitious Gods made by men 90 God is known three wayes 91 God is holy and so able to make other holy 297 God is holy several waies 297 298 If Gods people were not kept by Gods grace they would be undone in soul and body 301 God keeps all his from temporal dangers 301 Proved in four particulars ibid. Of Gods keeping all true believers from spiritual evils 303 Which appeareth in four particulars 304 It 's onely Gods property to fore knew things to come 395 God hath the dominion and immediate disposing of our being and continuance in the world 449 Propositions explaining this truth ibid. Arguments to prove the point 450 God considered absolutely and relatively Although there be three Persons yet there is but one God 583 Gods people are called out of the world 172 Vide People Godly It is the property of Godly men to have respect to all Gods word 201 Four Propositions to clear the point 201 c. Four Reasons of the point 202 Governours Governours that have a charge over others are to watch and pray for the good of those they are betrusted with 295 Proved by three Arguments ibid Motives to move to it 296 Grace Gods people must grow in Grace 188 How many wayes Gods people grow in Grace 188 189 Grounds and motives to it 190 Without Grace here there is no glory hereafter 649 There is infinite comfort to those that have true Grace though in the least degree 651 Grounds Vnlesse men be carefull to look to their Grounds in profession they will never hold out 382 H Happinesse THe greatest part of our Happinesse lies in this that we shall be with Christ and have immediate communion with the Lord. 653 Hate Hated Hatred Wicked men of the world have and will alwayes Hate those that are godly 425 There is a two-fold Hatred 426 The Causes of it ib. The Effects of it ib. The Properties of it 427 Whether every godly man be thus Hated 428 The duty of Christs Disciples under the worlds Hatred 430 Why the godly should rejoyce when they are Hated for Christs sake 431 Cautions to wicked men who Hate Christ 433 Head Christ is the Head of his Church 45 What is implied therein Vide Church 46 Heaven Of immediate communion with Christ in Heaven 654 The great end of our being in Heaven is to behold and enjoy the glory of Christ. 661 Heavenly-mindednesse Heavenly-mindednesse wherein it doth consist 454 Help How farre men may acknowledge Gods Help and yet not give the
558 A Ministry is appointed for spiritual ends 558 Arguments to prove the perpetuity of the Ministry ibid. N Name WHat is meant by Name in Phil. 2. 28 All Church-meetings Censures and duties should be done in the Name of Christ 28 All things have their successe in Christs Name ibid. What is meant by Gods Name 162 Nature All by Nature are in a state of enmity against God 14 The humane Nature was assumed by the divine 666 The Father and Sonne are two distinct Persons yet one in Nature and Essence 582 Natural Natural knowledge insufficient to guide us in the worship of the true God 92 O Obedience THat is proper Obedience that hath the word of God requiring of it 198 There are five grounds of it 200 Oblation Two things admirable in Christs Oblation of himself 503 Office The substance of the Ministerial Office is the same with that which every Minister hath 492 That there is a distinct Office of the Ministry 498 That none may enter into that Office without an authoritative mission 499 How shall we know what is an extraordinary Office and what is an ordinary Office 558 Offices Christ is fitted in respect of his Offices to be a Prophet Priest and King 503 504 Vide Priestly P People GOds People called out of the world 172 How many wayes a People may be said to be Gods 176 The godly are Gods People in a peculiar manner 177 The opening of this in five particulars 177 178 They are the Lords upon several titles 178 179 There ought to be a practical improvement of it 180 It is a sure Character of Gods People to be a willing People 204 Seven Reasons of this 205 c. Perseverance Several particulars about Perseverance that will be as so many answers to Objections made against that truth 352 353 c. Arguments to prove those that have true grace shall persevere 357 c. Power Power as it is expressed in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 35 It is not enough to be put into a state of grace unlesse by Gods Power we are kept therein 307 How many wayes the Power of God doth keep us 309 Why there is such a necessity of Gods preserving Power 312 Pray Whether it be lawfull to Pray for any one man in particular 229 Whether it be lawfull to Pray for a reprobate as such 229 Whether we may Pray in faith for others as for our selves 230 It is our duty to Pray for ungodly men 231 Motives to move thereunto 231 232 Prayer The matter of Christs Prayer 1. Himself 2. Apostles 3. Others who in time should believe 2 To all instructions c. Prayers is necessary ibid. Reasons on Gods part on the Words part on mans part 4 It should come from a spiritual and heavenly heart 5 Four Requisites to spirituall Prayer 6 It s a hard thing to Pray 6 Customary Prayer receiveth nothing from God 7 Prayer is mental vocal 8 Ends in Prayer 12 Praying It is good and comfortable Praying for them that discover the signes of grace in them 229 Predestination The Doctrine of Predestination should be preached warily 52 Diligently ibid. So as not to discourage humble penitents ibid. Predictions Three sorts of Predictions 396 Priest Christ was not only Priest but Sacrifice it self 510 Priestly Concerning Christs Priestly Office consider these things 508 The Adjuncts of his Priestly Office ibid. Priesthood Propositions concerning Christs Priesthood 510 Principles Principles that do constitute a gracious disposition 32 Vniting Principles in Doctrine 577 Vide Uniting Priviledges Priviledges that come by Christs death 245 Promised Things Promised must be prayed for 137 This is explained in seven particulars 137 138 c. Six Reasons why it is so 139 What are the conditions of such a prayer 141 c. Propriety They only can plead a Propriety in God and Christ who are carefull to keep his Word 182 Gods peculiar Propriety in his people is the ground of all good that accrueth to them 255 Propositions concerning Gods Propriety in his people 255 256 Gods Propriety excludeth all other creatures ib. How the Propriety of God is the cause of all good 258 Properties The Characteristical Properties of the Persons in the God-head 584 Properties in the godly which maketh them lovely and precious in Gods sight 687 Protect The grounds why God will Protect such as are hated for his Names sake 423 Protection Christs Protection is to one believer as well as to another 527 Q Qualifications THe Qualifications of such to whom Christs death is made savingly advantagious 245 Question The great Question that all ought to put is How may I get eternal life 67 We must take the right way to answer this Question 68 Vide Eternal Life R Reading WHether Reading be preaching 496 Redeemed That not all but some of mankinde are Redeemed by Christ 51 Redemption Our Redemption obtained by Christ is a glorifying of God 113 How the maintainers of Universal Redemption differ among themselves 241 Vide Universal Relation It is of great consequence for the humbled Christian in his prayers to improve this Relation of a Father 658 Religion We are not to condemn the way of Religion though some amongst them prove scandalous 377 Some considerations to bring this home 378 The unreasonableness and sinfulness of condemning Religion for some hypocrites therein 379 Repetitions Repetions of the same matter in prayer may be usefull 133 Vide Tautology When the ground of Repetition is good 133 c. When Repetitions are forbidden 135 Reprobates Reprobates receive much benefit by Christs death 239 Righteous God whether considered as a Judge of the world or as a Father to believers is Righteous in all his wayes 674 Reasons why God is Righteous in all his administrations 674 Righteousnesse It is a dangerous sinne to trust to our own Righteousnesse as it appeareth in four particulars 219 Means to drive them out of self-Righteousnesse 220 221 How Righteousnesse may be attributed to God 674 The Righteousnesse of God as a Father to his people in all their afflictions 676 S Sacrifice THat Christ set himself apart to be a Sacrifice for us 502 What things are necessary to a Sacrifice 510 The Properties of Christs Sacrifice 511 Salvation Salvation is to be desired in subordination to Gods glory 32 The everlasting Salvation of men determined 51 Salvation is of grace 253 The Reasons of it 253 The Causes of Salvation 679 Sanctification Growth in Sanctification illustrated by the contraries unto it 464 The Word of God is the instrument of our Sanctification 468 The Explication of the Point 469 The Word is the ordinary means of our beginning and increase in Sanctification 471 Christ died not only for our Justification but Sanctification also 515 How many wayes Christ is the cause of our Sanctification 515 Sanctified How many wayes a godly man may be more Sanctified 459 Reasons why it is not enough to be Sanctified but we must be more and more holy 466 What is
everlasting glory laid up for them 129 God gives them a large opportunity of Working ib. Put no confidence in your Workes ibid. World The World was not from Eternity 155 Proved by Scripture and four Reasons 156 That God made the World in time is usefull seven wayes 157 159 Gods people are in the World but not of it 170 The several significations of the World in Scripture 171 231 The people of God are called out of the World 172 Seven Demonstrations of it 173 c. Three Reasons of it 175 Worlds great enmity against those that be godly 283 What it is to be of the World 434 How Christ is said not to be of the World 435 The not being of the World is that which makes wicked men hate the godly 435 What it is not to be of the World The World is ignorant of God in a saving manner 678 Demonstrations of the Point ib. FINIS A CATALOGUE OF THE Chiefest of such BOOKS as are Printed FOR THOMAS VNDERHILL By Col. Edw. Leigh Esquire A Treatise of the Divine Promises in Five Books The Saints Encouragement in Evil Times Critica Sacra or Observations on all the Radices or Primitive Hebrew words of the Old Testament in order Alphabetical Critica Sacra or Philological and Theological Observations upon all Greek words of the New-Testament in order Alphabetical By Samuel Gott Esquire Novae Solymae Librisex Sive Institutio Christiani 1. De Pueritia 2. De Creatione Mundi 3. De Jnventute 4. De Peccato 5. De Virili Aetate 6. De Redemptione Hominis Essayes concerning Mans true Happiness Parabola Evangelicae Latinè redditae Carmine Paraphrastico varii generis Morton His Touch stone of Conversion Mr Hezekiah Woodward Of Education of Youth or The Child◠Patrimony The Lives and Acts of the good and bad Kings of Judah A Treatise of Fear A Thank-offering Mr Samuel Fisher A Love-Token for Mourners being two Funeral Sermons and Meditatitions preparatory to his own expected Death in a time and place of great Mortality Mr Herbert Palmer and Mr Daniel Cawdrey A Treatise of the Sabbath in four parts Memorials of Godliness and Christianity in seven Treatises 1. Of making Religion ones Business With an Appendix applied to the Calling of a Minister 2. The Character of a Christian in Paradoxes 3. The Character of visible Godlinesse 4. Considerations to excite to Watchfulness and to shake off spiritual Drowsiness 5. Remedies against Carefulnesse 6. The Soul of Fasting 7. Brief Rules for daily Conversation and particular Directions for the Lords-day His Sermon entituled The Glass of Gods Providence toward his faithfull ones His Sermon entituled The Duty and Honour of Church-Rest Mr William Barton His Psalms His Catalogue of Sins and Duties implied in each Commandment in Verse Mr Vicars Chronicle in four parts Mr Samuel Clark A General Martyrology or A History of all the great Persecutions that have been in the world to this time Together with the Lives of many eminent Modern Divines His Sermon at the Warwickshire mens Feast entituled Christian Good-fellowship Mr Kings Marriage of the Lamb. Mr Shorts Theological Poems The French Alphabet Jus Divinum Ministerii by the Provincial-Assembly of London Mr Thomas Blake His Answer to Blackwood of Baptism Birth-Priviledge Mr Cook His Font uncovered Dr John Wallis His Explanation of the Assemblies Catechism Mr Langley's Catechism Mr Austin's Catechism Mr Vicars's Catechism Mr Pagit's Defence of Church-Government by Presbyterial Classical and Synodal Assemblies Mr Tho. Paget A Demonstration of Family-Duties Mr Anthony Burgess Vindiciae Legis or A Vindication of the Law and Covenants from the Errors of Papists Socinians and Antinomians A Treatise of Justification in two Parts Spiritual Refining Part 1. or A Treatise of Grace and Assurance Handling the Doctrine of Assurance the Use of Signs in Self-examination how true Graces may be distinguished from counterfeit several true Signs of Grace and many false ones The Nature of Grace under divers Scripture notions viz. Regeneration the New-Creature the Heart of Flesh Vocation Sanctification c. Spiritual Refining the Second Part or A Treatise of Sinne with its Causes Differences Mitigations and Aggravations specially of the Deceitfulnesse of the Heart of Presumptuous and Raigning Sinnes and of Hypocrisie and Formality in Religion All tending to unmask Counterfeit Christians Terrifie the ungodly Comfort doubting Saints Humble man and Exalt the Grace of God His CXLV Sermons upon the whole 17th Chapter of St John being Christs Prayer before his Passion The Difficulty of and Encouragements to Reformation a Sermon upon Mark 1. vers 2 3. before the House of Commons A Sermon before the Court-Marshal Psal 106.30 31. The Magistrates Commission upon Rom. 13.4 at the Election of a Lord Maior Romes Cruelty and Apostasie upon Revel 19.2 preached before the House of Commons on the 5th of November The Reformation of the Church to be endeavoured more then the Commonwealth upon Judges 6.27 28 29. preached before the House of Lords Publique Affections pressed upon Numb 11.12 before the House of Commons Mr Richard Baxter Plain Scripture-proof of Infant-Baptism The Right Method for getting and keeping Spiritual Peace and Comfort The Unreasonableness of Infidelity in four Parts 1. The Spirits Intrinsick witnesse to the truth of Christianity with a Determination of this Question Whether the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles do oblige those to believe who never saw them 2. The Spirits Internal witness of the truth of Christianity 3. A Treatise of the Sin against the holy Ghost 4. The Arrogancy of Reason against Divine Revelation repressed The Christian-Concord or The Agreement of the Associated Ministers of Worcestershire with Mr Baxters Explication of it A Defence of the Worcestershire Petition for the Ministry and Maintenance The Quakers Catechism An Apology against Mr Blake Dr Kendal Mr Lodovicus Molineus Mr Aires and Mr Crandon His Confession of Faith The Saints everlasting Rest The TEXTS Explained and Vindicated in this TREATISE Genesis Chap. Vers Pag. 49 6 609 Deuteronomy 3 8 362 25 2 363 1 Samuel 20 31 363 2 Samuel 2 7 362 1 Kings 8 27 7 2 Chronicles 33 13 85 Psalms 10 17 139 17 89 301 19 1 159 68 20 451 69 11 176 103 14 528 119 6 201 Proverbs 28 9 141 28 14 358 Ecclesiastes 5 2 132 7 17 449 8 11 369 Isaiah 4 5 6 395 8 6 490 33 14 70 40 6 383 57 1 450 61 3 414 65 9 20 357 Jeremiah 32 39 358 50 27 451 Ezekiel 37 16 22 566 Hosea 9 4 413 Zechariah 14 9 56◠Malachi 1 7 657 Matthew 5 48 263 6 20 64 6 7 135 11 27 38 13 37 182 16 18 360 21 32 545 23 9 257 24 36 363 26 14 375 Mark 9 50 321 9 24 530 13 22 357 Luke 1 70 322 12 29 554 22 13 284 John 1 16 40 1 3 150 1 10 606 6 29 211 6 39 349 7 7 435 8 55 151 10 28 349 14 6 37 14 12 291 15 2 375 15 11 400
glory More properties of this glory II. The second part of the Point is that this glory is to be earnestly praied for For 1. Without seeking God will not bestow it 2. Thereby our desires after it will be more enflamed 3. III. The third part of the doctrine That this glory praied for will be a cordial against all affliction Because 1. It 's an universal Medicine 2. It 's the most sutable mercy to a gracioas heart 3. Because of the insufficiency of all other things to satisfie the heart 4. Because the way to heaven is full of briars and thorns 5. It exceeds all earthly glory 1. Earthly glory is but a puffe 2. It will not avail us at death Vse Observ That Christ had the glory he praied for with the Father before the world was That Christ had an eternal being Vse Quest Whence is it that any deny Christ to be the eternal God Answ What sins doe chiefly provoke God to give men up to strong delusions 1. Pride 2. Unfruitfulness 3 Neglect of the godly learnâ—d Ministry Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. Vse 5. Observ That the world was not from Eternity Proved from Scripture 2. From Reason Observ That God is only and properly known by the godly Some knowledge of God may be had several waies Of true saving knowledge peculiar to the godly Though many have some kinde of knowledge of God yet the godly only do truly know him Vse Observ Why the Ministers end in Preaching should be to bring his people to the saving knowledge of God From the necessity of it Because of the nature and properties of it The several significations of the word world in Scripture Doct. That the people of God are called out of the world Demonstrations of the Point They have not the Spirit of the world The Spirit of the world what They walk not after the rudiments of the world He lives not as others do Reasons How many waies a people may be said to be Gods Doct. That the godly are Gods people in a peculiar manner Consider How many waies or upon how many Titles those that are godly are the Lords Doct. I. 1. 2. The word of his Commandements 3. The Word threatning 4. The word of Consolation II. Because it is Gods Word III. And receive it with the whole heart IV. And make it a Rule for their lives V. They that keep Gods Word have a high esteem of it 1. For the spiritual effects of it 2. Because it 's so necessary 3. And so usefull 4. The Preciousnesse and dignity of it VI. They keep the Word who persevere in it notwithstanding all temptations Doct. It 's not enough for Gods people to have grace but they must thrive and grow in it How many waies the graces of Gods people are to grow thrive I. In respect of degrees and measure II. Depth and rooting III. In the extension and kinde of all graces IV. In the means and Instruments of their graces V. By exciting others to grow VI. In solidity and fortitude Grounds and motives Vse Doct. It 's our duty to know and beleeve in Christ as the only Mediator sent by God I. What Christ had or was as Mediator was for us I. His Incarnation 2. All that he did His Miracles Obedience to the Law His sufferings The benefits of his Mediation II Christ Mediaâ—iâ—â— for us is of God the Father III. It 's the duty of all Gods people to beleeve this fulnesse in Christ for them The ingredients or concomitants of Faith 1. 2. A relying and resting of the soul upon Christs fulness 3. There is a full satisfaction of the soul in this beleeving 4. A receiving of what Christ hath 5. A holy boldnesse at the Throne of grace 6. Large and vast thoughts of Christ 8. Faith purifieth and makes holy Why it is the duty of Gods people thus to know and beleeve on Christ Vse Doct. That only is proper obedience that hath the Word of God requiring it The grounds of this are I. From the Soveraignty of God· II. Gods promise is annext only to Gods command III. Because of the pollution that is upon mans understanding IV. From the fulnesse of the Scripture V. Else obedient persons could never bear up their hearts against the discouragements they meet with in Gods work Vse Obs That it 's the property of godly men to have respect to Gods Word Proposition to clear the Point How far godly men may sail Doct. It 's a sure character of Gods people to be a willing people I. The dulnesse in Gods people is not reigning but resisted and prai'd against Reasons 1. The sense of guilt and misery 2. The sense of Gods mercy 3. The divine nature they are partakers of 4. Because they were so willing heretofore to sin 5. Because they know none but willing service is accepted 6. Because of their great reward 7. Because of the joy and comfort that attends Obedience Vse Vse 2. Obs The Ministers of the Gospel are to preach Gods Word 1. It 's their duty 2. Their greatest honour 3. It 's his comfort and safety 4. Most useful and profitable Doct. Faith in Christ as Mediatour is acceptable to God Why Gods Children are so hardly brought to beleeve Why prophane men think it so easie to beleeve in Christ Why beleeving in Christ is so acceptable to God 1. Faith in Christ the Mediatour the main scope of the Scripture 2. The work of the Spirit in the Ministry is to convince of sin 3. It s the end of the Law 4. It 's the essence and marrow of the Gospel 5. The devil in all ages hath laboured to obscure this Doctrine Vse· Quest Answ Directions shewing how a man may come to prize this doctrine Vse An Invitation of the greatest sinners to come to Christ Doct. It 's very hopeful and encouraging to pray for those that discover signs of grace in them Consider these particulars I. It 's not our duty only to pray for our selves but for others also Quest Whether it be lawful to pray for any man in particular Answ II. Yet we may not pray for Reprobates as such A twofold faith in praier III Whether we may pray in faith for others as for our selves Then our prayers are liklier of a powerful effect when we pray for the godly Of praying for ungodly men Motives there unto Doct. All Gods people are under Christs Mediatory Praier Concerning which consider The Children of God are of two sorts The Priesthood of Christ exceeds the Priesthood of the Law The aggravations of Christs praier The several acceptations of the word World World how to be taken in this place Doct. Christs Mediatory Praier and his Death is only for the Elect. Considerations to clear the Point I. There is a necessary connexion between Christs Intercession and his death II. Though Christ in his praier and death had a special regard to some of mankinde yet no man that is damned can blame any but himself III.
is a grief thou must be grieved for how many sad thoughts and tears will require more sad thoughts and tears Vse of Instruction on the contrary It 's Christs special will that all who live wickedly should have no comfort Wo to ye that laugh and there is no peace to the wicked Isa 57.21 SERMON LXXVIII The severall Sorts of Joy and the Nature of Spirituall Joy Shewing also how farre it transcends and differs from Worldly Joy JOHN 17.13 That they might have my Joy fulfilled in themselves THese words are the finall cause of Christs solemn prayer for his Disciples Wherein you have The Benefit it self described and the Manner of possessing of it The Benefit it self is My Joy This may be understood Actively and Passively Actively for that joy which Christ might take from his Disciples being preserved in purity of Doctrine and Unity amongst themselves Thus some understand it and parallel a like place Phil. 2 2· where Paul bids them fulfill his joy which was the joy he would take by seeing their happy agreement but because it 's said in the Text That this joy may be fulfilled in the Disciples themselves Therefore it is more consonant to understand it passively of that joy which the Disciples took in him and the benefits flowing from him So that it may be called Christs joy both effectively because he is the Authour and giver of it as also objectively because it is in him in divine and holy things not in the world much lesse in the pleasures of sin Now the Manner of possessing is that it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filled up that they might have a good measure of joy overflowing he would have every part of the soul filled with it and every kinde of joy yea degree of it some superficiall joy for the degree of it or some transient joy for the continuance of it doth not answer our Saviours prayer it must be filled up Lastly Here is the Subject recipient of it in themselves This say some is spoken oppositely to worldly joy to such as men take in the pleasures of the world these are but in the face in the countenance they are not cordial and hearty Observ 1. That there is a joy in Christ which his people are to have fulfilled in them As they are to be filled with grace so with consolations and one floweth from the other though not naturally It 's of great concernment to treat of this joy because the people of God look upon it as a thing above their reach They are convinced of repentance of humiliation but not of walking joyfully There is a three-fold Joy 1. A Naturall Joy which is an implanted affection in a man and of it self simply considered is not a sin 2. There is a Sinnefull Joy which runneth into two streams either when the Object is wholly unlawfull when it 's a forbidden Tree and we may not eat of it And thus to rejoyce in our evil doings to take delight in the wayes of wickednesse this is a wicked joy that will end in tormenting sorrow and it argueth a wretched distemper of the soul otherwise it would finde sinne to be terrible and bitter but through the corrupted constitution of the heart it comes about that they delight in sinne as distempered stomacks do in coales ashes or such drosse Again there is a sinnefull joy when the Object matter is lawfull but then we exceed in the measure in the bounds or limits we over-joy The water runnes over the bank and then it gets soyl and it 's as hard to rejoyce in these things and to sinne not as it is to be angry and sinne not 3. There is a gracious and an heavenly Joy when the soul delights it self in God and Christ in all heavenly Objects For though to wicked men these things are a burden yet to an heavenly heart they are the most connaturall Object They are the proper center of the soul as David often professeth his joy in the Lord It 's of this we are to speak of only we must inform you something of joy in the generall The Philosophers speak of a three-fold affection sutable to one another There is Love which is carried out to an Object that is good simply considered There is Desire which moveth to some good thing but absent and not yet obtained And then there is Joy which ariseth from the obtaining and possessing of it And answerable to these there are Divine Graces and supernatural works of Gods Spirit in the soul There is the Love of God which next to Faith is of the greatest glory and activity in the soul 2. There are Desires and earnest longings after God to which hunger and thirst a promise is made of being fully satisfied 3. There is Joy which ariseth from the enjoyment of God onely you must know there is Gaudium viae a joy we have while in the way to Heaven which admits of much increase and meeteth with much opposition and there is Gaudium Patriae a joy in Heaven where the soul will then be so filled that it cannot receive any more To know the nature of this Joy Consider First That the efficient cause of it is onely God The Spirit of God is called the Comforter as you heard because he alone poureth it into the heart as the Heavens onely give rain and it 's called Gal 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit which doth imply that it comes solely by Gods Spirit and that there is excellent sweetnesse in it Lusts are called the workes of the flesh but this with other Graces The fruit of the Spirit Hence it is that as in respect of Regeneration the Spirit bloweth where it listeth So also in respect of Consolation How many of Gods children walk with much consolation and abound in much joy And others again go bowed down and greatly tempted not obtaining comfort though they would give a world for it So that as the Husbandman cannot have rain when he would nor the Merchant winde when he would neither can the godly have comfort when they would as appeareth by David praying so earnestly for the Joy he had lost It 's the fruit of the Spirit Therefore joy doth not flow from Graces exercised as by a natural resultancy as heat doth from the fire and light from the Sunne but by Gods voluntary dispensation of it The Schoolmen use to say That a man doth not merit that is their proud phrase by rejoycing in God or good things but by his Love which was antecedent and from which joy they say floweth by a naturall necessity But the Scripture makes these two Love and Joy two distinct works of Gods Spirit and that they are separable experience confirmeth it for many men that are high in Grace are low in Comfort As the tall Mountains have few flowers on them or Mines of Gold little grasse covering them Secondly To this Christian Joy is required a knowledge of God and faith in him as revealed
in the Word As there cannot be any love or delight in what we know not so neither any joy The bruit beasts have no joy properly because they have no knowledge They have a naturall delight but that is not truely joy Infants may have grace yet have no actuall joy Therefore when John Baptist a babe in the womb did leap for joy it was extraordinary and this is the reason why ignorant and carnal men are wholly destitute of all heavenly joy They have no knowledge no spiritual illumination so that as the blinde man cannot delight in pleasant colours nor the deaf man rejoyce in curious musick neither can the naturall man rejoyce in heavenly and holy Objects for he knoweth no better he is not acquainted with any other Comfort or Consolation but what is in the bowels of the creature Thirdly There is required a sanctified and heavenly frame of heart For such as a man is such is his joy The voluptuous man rejoyceth in his pleasures the intellectuall man doth so rejoyce in his studies and finding out of truth that some have forgot their time of food yea have not attended to their lives so great hath their joy been in such contemplations Thus the people of God being made new creatures and made partakers of a Divine Nature they now become to love and delight in those Objects which once they hated and abhorred They finde all the Consolations from the creatures contemptible in respect of God concerning whom they say with David The Lord is my portion and whom have I in Heaven but thee and in earth in comparison of thee The old Rule is Simile gaudet simili The heavenly heart delights in heavenly Objects Heaven it self and all the Glory of it do not or cannot affect a wicked man no more then fine flowers or pearles do a Swine So that this duty of rejoycing in God is altogether impossible to an ignorant carnall man they can no more in their souls thus be raised up to God then in their bodies they can flie in the air As our vile earthly bodies must be made spirituall and immortall ere they can be filled full of agility and be enabled to meet the Lord in the air So these souls of ours must be renewed and sanctified ere they can take any delight in that which is good Fourthly This Christian Joy requireth some kinde of possession at least in some degree of Christ or those good things we long for Propriety and possession is requisite to joy To know of never so many excellencies if a man have them not it doth but increase his misery The famished Lepers knew there was food enough abroad but till they were replenished they could not rejoyce in it What joy hath a poor man to hear of many others that are rich the sick man of many others in health If they have not such things in peculiar possession it advanceth them not at all Hence full and compleated joy is onely in Heaven because there is full and compleat fruition of God Then we are come to our journeyes end we cannot goe further or desire more then we have But in this life our joy may be daily filling our hearts There be many vacuities to be filled up There be many desires still to be satisfied so that we are to grow in our joy as well as in knowledge and in grace But yet because even in this life God is the God of his people and they are said to have him and to enjoy him and so Christ is said to dwell in their hearts yea the Father and the Sonne are said to be in them to sup with them to take up their mansions with them to dwell amongst them Hence it is that even in this life they may have unspeakable joy Therefore when the soul hath left the presence of God or is under many sad and black temptations thereby as we see sometimes in David and in the Church Oh the anxieties and perplexities that it is filled with Therefore in the Devils there is no capacity of any joy For although they have a self-love and though their wicked desires be many times successefull in tempting of men and destroying of their souls yet they cannot rejoyce because the state of misery they are in cuts off all hopes from them If therefore the godly would live joyfully let them take heed of interrupting their communion with God see you do nothing to eclypse this Sun If God hide his face all your comfort will presently wither In the next place Consider the transcendency and excellency of Christs Joy above all worldly joy It cannot be denied but that many wicked men spend their lives in jollity they seem to be the onely merry men and godlinesse is decryed for Melancholy for moping and for that which will undo a man But true joy in the Lord surpasseth all humane and worldly joy First The soul can more intimately and fully receive it's object then the body can Bodily and worldly pleasures are received in by the senses which are but narrow doors and gates of the soul but the soul of a man what it receiveth it doth let in with greater abundance Hence if the Object be finite and a meer creature it cannot fill the heart the heart is too bigg for it onely God is more then the heart can comprehend Therefore all the pleasures and all the joy that any man can take though he set himself to it as Solomon did yet are but like the joy of tickling or scratching comparatively to those immense joyes and consolations which God vouchsafeth Hence our Saviour saith Your hearts shall rejoyce John 16.22 This heavenly joy is like Elisha's oyl that multiplieth exceedingly and stayeth not till thy cruises fail to receive it Secondly This heavenly Joy surpasseth worldly in the pure and unmixed Nature of it It 's joy without sorrow It 's honey without any gall called The fruits of Gods Spirit because of the sweetnesse of it as the Apostle saith Perfect love casts out fear tormenting fear Thus joy from Christ and in him expels dejections troubles of heart No sooner doth this Sunne arise but all black and noisome vapours are dispelled Here is a joy that is like the Elementary fire they speak of pure and unmixed here are no mixtures to debase it or allay it But as for those worldly delights it 's as a mad man that teareth his own flesh and yet laugheth while he doth so So thou eatest and drinkest and makest merry while thou damnest thy own soul Thirdly It surpasseth in dignity for this Joy is in God himself it is in the highest good that can be There cannot be a greater cause or motive to rejoyce in but as for the creatures they are broken cysterns they are limited in their comforts they have their vexations as well as their delights but above all they are below man He debaseth himself when he taketh delight in these sublunary things they were made for him not