cost Christ as little to wash away the guilt of great sins as of small Christ is a great Physitian And David prayeth Pardon my iniquity for it is great Psalm â—5 11. Though thy sins bee never so bloodily circumstantiated though never so often reiterated though thou beest never so loathsome yet if thou canst beleeve There is a Fountaine opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem for sin and for uncleanness and therefore let no man exclude himselfe from a right to Christ who is willing to take Christ upon Christs termes Hee that excludes himself offers the greatest injury imaginable First Unto Iesus Christ for hee makes him a lyar Christ hath said If any man come to nice I will in no wise cast him out and hee saith Christ will cast mee out although I do come to him Secondly Unto his own soule For hee necessitates himselfe unto damnation For Christ hath said expresly Hee that beleeveth not shall bee damned Object But I am afraid that I am a Reprobate and that God hath excluded mee from having any interest in Christ. Ans. Who told thee so It is one great sign thou art not because the Devil would perswade thee that thou art But howsoever Secret things belong to God but those things which are revealed to us and our children God hath kept the black Book of Reprobation secret Hee openeth the whole Book of Election to some of his children but hee keeps his black Book unrevealed It is a sin for any man to think himself a Reprobate unlesse hee can prove that hee hath sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost for this thought would hinder him from the use of means for his salvation and cause him to despair which is a sin of the first magnitude and therefore take heed of complementing thy self into Hell by a sinfull modesty in refusing to beleeve in Christ Take heed of dallying or delaying in the great work of laying hold upon Christ upon Christs termes Remember God excludes none from Christ but such as exclude themselves by unbeleef And remember Whosoever beleeveth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him 2 You must study the Freeness of the Promise of Christ. God promiseth Jesus Christ freely Ho every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and hee that hath no money Come yee buy and eat yea come by VVine and Milke without mony and without price c. Christ is offered in the Gospel sine pretio sine merito sine motivo without price without merit and without any motive inducing on our parts Therefore the Holy Ghost saith VVhosoever will let him take the water of life freely Let not then thy undeservedness hinder thee from laying hold upon Christ as thy portion Say not I am not worthy that Christ should owne mee Christ will owne thee not because thou art worthy but because hee delights in mercy Micah 7. 18. Say not I am not humbled enough and therefore I dare not lay hold upon Christ. For humiliation is not required to make us precious to Christ but to make Christ precious to us and if thou beest so far humbled as to bee willing to take Christ upon Christs termes thou art humbled enough unto Divine acceptation though not unto Divine satisfaction Every stung Israelite who was inabled to look up to the brazen Serpent was healed though hee was not stung to that proportion that another Israelite was 3 You must study â—he condition upon which Christ is promised It is certain Christ is not tendered absolutely without any condition Christ is not offered to a proud sinner resolving so to continue or to a Drunkard resolving to persevere in his drunkennesse Those Texts which declare the Freeness of the offer of Christ doe also mention a condition to bee performed by those that will have him Isa. 55. 1. Revelat. 22. 15. In both places the condition of thirsting is expressed Let him that is a thirst come Ho every one that thirsteth Quest. Doth not the mentioning of a condition take away the freeness of the tender of Christ Answ. By no means The reason is because this very condition is the free gift of God The Apostle saith Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might bee by grace The condition of Faith doth not make the offer of Christ not to bee of grace but therefore it is of faith that it might bee of grace for as Christ so also faith is the gift of God Wee do not preach conditions unto justification in a Popish sense as if they merited out of congruity the pardon of sin or in an Arminian sense as if wee could do any thing by our free-will without grace to dispose our selves unto justification but in a Scripture sense wee say That all those on whom God intends to bestow Christ freely hee freely openeth their eyes to see their undone condition out of Christ hee humbles them under the sense of their sad condition and out of his free mercy inables them by faith to lay hold upon Christ and to accept of him upon his own termes Faith is not the cause for which but the cause without which God will not give us Christ. Quest. But what is the condition upon which Christ is promised Answ. There is if I may so speak Conditio praeparans disponens and conditio applicans the condition required to the preparing and disposing us for an interest in Christ and the condition applying Christ to us and bringing him into our possession 1 The condition required to the disposing preparing and fitting us for an interest in Christ. And this is the sight of our sins the sense of them and a real willingness to part with them There is no man qualified according to the Gospel to rest upon Christ for pardon of his sins who is not really willing to part with them And no man will bee willing to part with his sins which hee naturally loves as himselfe unlesse hee see the sinfulness and cursedness of them and feels in some measure the smart of them The woman who had the bloody issue never thought of coming to Christ till all her mony was spent in vaine among other Physitians Tâ—e Prodigal childe would never have returned to his Father had hee not seen himselfe utterly undone by wandring from him 2 The condition applying Christ to us and bringing him into our possession This is Faith which therefore is the proper condition of the Gospel upon which Christ is tendred Now this Faith is not a bare receiving and taking of Christ. For there are many who take him and mistake him There is no man but is willing when hee is dying to take Christ as the men of the old world were willing to go into the Ark when the Flood came but this taking and receiving of Christ if it bee right hath six Properties 1 It is a receiving of Christ with all his appurtenances
beloved and it is my highest priviledge that hee will give mee leave to love him who only can satisfie my soul and redeâ—m it from death eternal who hath justified mee by his blood and sanctified mee by his Spirit whom therefore I love with all my heart and all my soul and all my might and all my strength Finding therefore that God hath drawn out my heart to love him and make choice of him alone I from hence gather and ground my hope that God loveth mee according to that Scripture 1 Ioh. 4. 19. Wee love him because hee first loved us I finde my heart much inflamed with love to all the children of God because they are Gods children and the more I see or finde or hear of God in them the more I finde my heart cleaving to them and I thinke I can truly say with David That my delight is in the Saints and those that excel in grace not because they are friends to mee or I have relation to them in regard of outward obligations but because they bear the Image of God upon them and manifest it in their holy conversation I love them whether rich or poor And though I did never know some of them but onely hear of their holiness and piety yet I could not but exceedingly love such Therefore I hope that I am passed from death to life because I love the Brethren 1 Ioh. 3. 14. I do not only love God and the children of God but I labour to keep his Commandements and they are not grievous to mee But I pray with David O that my waies were directed to keep thy statutes Lord inlarge my heart and I will run the waies of thy Commandements Give mee understanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart for therein do I delight I finde I am one that is very thirsty after Jesus Christ and the grace of Christ and I thirst to have his image more and more stamped upon mee and I would fain bee assured by Gods Spirit that I am transplanted into Christ and therefore I long and indeavour after a true and lively Faith because that Grace is a soul-transplanting and uniting grace Now Christ hath promised to satisfie the thirsty Matth. 5. 6. and such Christ hath earnestly invited to come though they have nothing to bring but what may make against themselves yet to come empty and hee hath promised to fill them Isa. 55. 1 2. I am willing to confess and with all my heart to forsake all my sins I am willing to give glory to God in taking shame unto my self I acknowledge my self a guilty malefactor and judge my self worthy of the just condemnation of the righteous Judge of all the earth And I do not only confess my sins but with all my heart I desire to forsake them and to turn to the Lord Now hee hath said hee will have mercy on such and will abundantly pardon them For his thoughts are not as our thoughts nor his waies as our waies Isa. 55. 7 8. It is my constant indeavour to dye to sin to live to newness of life And this is my comfort and hope that hee who hath begun a good work in mee will perfect it For it is hee that worketh all our works in us and for us Isa. 26. 12. and hee that hath wrought in mee to will to do that which is pleasing in his sight will work in mee to do also and that of his good pleasure Phil 2. 13. I hope I am one whom God hath taken into Covenant with himself because hee hath bestowed upon mee the fruits of the Covenant because hee hath circumcised my heart to love him and hath put his fear into mee and hath wrought an universal change in mee and hath given mee a new heart and a new spirit yea his own spirit which hee hath put within mee even the Spirit of Truth which will guide mee into all Truth It is his own promise to give his holy Spirit to them that aske it of him as I have done often Luke 11. 13. and I hope that God will make it in his due time a witnessing and a comforting Spirit I will wait upon him for the accomplishment of all his promises both of grace and to grace Hee hath said hee will bee a Sun and a Shield he will give grace and glory and no good thing will hee with-hold from them that walke uprightly And hee hath promised to subdue our sins for us and hath said That sin shall not have Dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. That hee will bee our God and wee shall bee his children and hee will save us from all our uncleannesses I hope I have a share in this blessed Covenant of Free Grace As for my Affliction that lyeth upon mee though it bee in it self very heavy I much more desire the sanctification of it than the removal I earnestly labour to learn all those lessons which God teacheth mee by Affliction I know I should not bee scourged nor bee in tribulation but that I have need of it it is for my profit to make mee partaker of his holiness Afflictions are an evidence of Sonship Heb. 12. 6 7 8. God hath promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love and fear him And I have had much experience of his faithfulness who hath not suffered mee to bee tempted above what hee hath inabled mee to bear therefore I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him Hee hath chastized mee less than mine iniquities deserve Hee chastizeth mee here that hee may not condemn mee hereafter Faith is the condition of salvation Beleeve in the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt bee saved And this is his Commandement that wee should beleeve in his Son Iesus Christ Now I find nothing so hard to mee as to beleeve aright to cast away all my own Righteousness as dung in point of justification and to cast away all my unrighteousness so as that bee no bar to mee and to role and cast and venter my immortal soul upon Jesus Christ and his Righteousness for life and salvation by him alone and to see my self compleat in him this is supernatural Yet I must and will give glory to God and say Lord I beleeve help thou my unbeleef And by this I prove that this precious grace of faith is wrought in mee because Jesus Christ is to mee very precious and I finde in the Word that to them that beleeve hee is precious and I am willing to take Christ upon his own termes as hee is tendred in the Gospel and am willing to give up my self soul and body wholly to him and my love to God and to the children of God is a fruit of my Faith as also my desire to bee made like unto him For hee that hath this hope in him purifieth himself
THE Godly Mans Ark OR City of Refuge in the day of his DISTRESSE Discovered in divers SERMONS The first of which was Preached at the Funerall of Mistresse Elizabeth Moore The other four were afterwards preached and are all of them now made publick for the supportation and consolation of the Saints of God in the hour of tribulation Hereunto are annexed Mris. Moores Evidences for Heaven composed and collected by her in the time of her health for her comfort in the time of sickness By ED. CALAMY B. D. and Pastor of the Church at Aldermanbury The second Edition corrected and amended London Printed for Iohn Hancock Brother to the late deceased Eliz. Moore to be sold at the first shop in Popes-head Alley next to Cornhill And for Tho. Parkhurst at the three Crowns over against the Great Conduit at the lower end of Cheapside 1658. TO Those of Aldermanbury-Parish Together With all others who attend constantly upon the Word of God there preached and more especially to such of them who are admitted to partake of the Lords Supper there administred Beloved in the Lord I Need not spend much time in giving you an account how these ensuing Sermons come to bee made publick It is not because they are more worthy than those which you hear weekly Nay I may truly say without boasting they are less worthy though I think none of them much worth than many others It is not because I desire to bee in print But it is 1 To present you with the Pattern of a Woman whom God did pick out to make an example of great affliction and great patience that when you come into great troubles you may bee comforted with those comforts with which shee was comforted 2 To acquaint you with the pains shee took and with her diligence in time of health to make her salvation sure That so you may bee provoked to lay up suitable seasonable and sufficient provision against an evil day and not have your Evidences for Heaven to get in the hour of adversity It is the grand sin of most people to delay and prorogue their solemn preparation for affliction and sickness till they come to bee sick and in affliction There are many in Hell who purposed to repent but were prevented by death therefore Bernard saith good purposes go to Hell and only good performances lead into Heaven To prevent your delaying and deferring to provide for affliction these Sermons are printed and to perswade you that whatsoever you do for Heaven you would do it speedily and with all your strength The Subjects handled are so plain and easy and the stile so rude and unpolished that I was resolved to have buried them in perpetual oblivion had I not been conquered by this following together with the forementioned consideration that they are calculated only for people under great troubles at which times learned debates about Discipline and controverted points of Divinity painted Eloquence and curious Language are of very little esteem and account Afflicted consciences are oftentimes puzled but never comforted with doubtful disputations Neat and elegant expressions may skin over but cannot Cure spiritual diseases Nothing can heal a wounded conscience and keep a man from sinking into despondency in the day of great tribulation but a real right and particular Application of the Promises to help a doubting Christian to performe this great work there are thirteen plaine Rules and Directions laid down in the following Treatise My prayer is that they may prove useful and successeful Seneca indeed comforts his friend Polybius and perswades him to bear his afflictions patiently because hee was the Emperours Favourite and tells him That it was not lawful for him to complaine while Caesar was his friend But this was but a poor Cordial For Caesar himself a little while after was so miserable that hee had not a friend to help him much less was hee able to help his friend The Word of God affords a better Cordial it bids a true Child of God not to bee overmuch dejected under the greatest affliction because hee is Gods Favourite It tells him That it is not lawful for him to complain while God is his friend and the Promises of God his rich portion and inheritance Though Job lost all hee had yet hee lost nothing because hee lost not his God who is All in All and they who have him have All. My purpose at first was onely to have printed the Sermon preached at Mris. Moors Funeral together with her Evidences for Heaven collected by her in the time of her health But the importunity of friends hath overswayed mee and caused mee to adde four more preached immediately afterwards on the same Text. And now Dearly Beloved having this fair opportunity to speak to you in writing give mee leave to propound and lay before you some cautions and admonitions some Rules and Directions for the right ordering of your lives and conversations in these dangerous and divided times that so you may bee able after my decease to have them in perpetual remembrance 1 Take heed of mistaking in the great work of Beleeving and Repenting Faith and Repentance are the two great gospel-Gospel-graces And the reason why so many miscarry to all eternity is not for want of them such as they are but upon a pure mistake in thinking they have them when they have but a shadow of them Where one goeth to Hell by desperation hundreds go thither by presumption O! quam multi cum hâc vanâ fide vana spe ad aeternos labores descendunt How many thousands go to hell with a vain faith and hope of heaven And therefore bee much in examination whether your Faith be right or no. Examine your selves whether yee bee in the Faith prove your own selves To bee mistaken in the great work of Beleeving is to bee necessitated to damnation For hee that beleeves not shall bee damned Ask your souls often whether your Repentance bee of a right stamp or no whether it bee a Repentance unto life a Repentance never to bee repented on To bee mistaken in purchasing of Lands can but hurt your outward estates but to bee mistaken in the graces of Faith and Repentance will undo your souls to all eternity What the Characters of a true Faith and true Repentance are you have frequently heard I will not now repeat them Only remember that self-flattery is self-mockery that soul-delusion is soul-damnation Pray unto God to deliver you from that great murderer of souls the sin of Presumption 2 Take heed as I have said of delaying and putting off the great work of providing for Heaven till sickness or old age The Lord Christ commands you to seek first the Kingdome of God and his Righteousness c. First before other things first more than other things You must seek after Heaven in the first and chief place and if you seek it in the least and last place you will never obtain
unmerciful and an uncharitable man is a wicked and an ungodly man Let it bee the care of all those amongst you who are rich in estate to be rich in good works Let every man lay up for the poor according as God hath prospered him remembering that saying of Christ. Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was an hungred and yee gave mee meat I was thirsty and yee gave mee drink I was a stranger and yee took mee in naked and yee cloathed mee I was sick and yee visited mee I was in prison and yee came unto mee 14 Take heed of separating from the publick Assemblies of the Saints I have found by experience that all our Church-calamities have sprung from this root Hee that separates from the publick worship is like a man tumbling down a hill and never leaving till hee comes to the bottome of it I could relate many sad stories of persons professing godliness who out of dislike to our Church-meetings began at first to separate from them and after many changes and alterations are turned some of them Anabaptists some Quakers some Ranters some direct Atheists But I forbear you must hold communion with all those Churches with which Christ holds communion you must separate from the sins of Christians but not from the Ordinances of Christ. Take heed of unchurching the Churches of Christ lest you prove Schismaticks instead of being true Christians 15 Though you never live to see the times setled yet labour to get your consciences setled Pray for the Spirit of Truth to guide you into all Truth in these erring dayes Remember that saying of Christ If thine eye bee evil thy whole body shall bee full of darknesse if therefore the light that is in you bee darkness how great is that darkness God hath given you your understandings to be the guide of the whole man As the Eye is the guide of the body and the Sun of the world so is the understanding of the man therefore you must in praying pray that God would give you a right understanding in all things Pray not onely for the grace of Sanctification but ofâ— Illumination Avoid as soul-poyson all Doctrines 1 Which tend to liberty open a door to prophaneness and are contrary to godliness 2 Which hold forth a superstitious strictness above what is required in the Woâ—d 3 Which are Antimagistratical and Antiministerial 4 Which lift up corrupt nature and exalt unsanctified reason 5 Which preach free-grace to the utter ruine of good works 6 Which lessen the priviledges of Infants and makes their condition worse under the New Testament than under the Old 7 Which are contrary to the Analogy of Faith the ten Commandements and the Lords Prayer 16 Take heed lest being led away with the errour of the wicked you fall from your own sted fastness Take heed of a threefold Apostacy of which this Nation is deeply guilty Of Apostacy 1 In your Judgements from the Truths of Christ and from the Faith once delivered to the Saints 2 In your Affections from that ancient love desire and delight which the Saints of God have had heretofore and you your selves once had in and towards the Ordinances of Christ and the godly and learned Ministers of Christ. 3 In your conversations from that humble and exact walking with God in all good duties both towards God and man which was the credit and honour of the good old Puritan in former daies Let mee speak to you in the words of the Apostles Paul and Peter Wherefore my beloved Brethren bee yee stedfast and unmoveable c. The God of grace who hath called you into his eternal glory by Jesus Christ make you perfect stablish strengthen and settle you 17 Remember that it is the will of Jesus Christ that you who partake of the same word of life and of the same Sacramental Bread and Wine should admonish one another exhort one another watch over one another bear the burdens of one another provoke one another to love and good works seek the good of one another and not your own good only That you should warn the unruly comfort the feeble-minded and support the weak That this is your duty appears from Col. 3. 16. Phil. 2. 4. Heb. 1. 24. Gal. 6. 1. Rom. 15. 2. Rom. 14. 7. 2. Cor. 5. 15. 1 Thes. 5. 11 13 14. The 12th vers speaks of Ministerial and authoritative admonition but the 13 and 14. verses of fraternal and charitative These Texts will rise up in Iudgement against thousands of Christians at the last day I do not say that you are to admonish none but those of your own Society Admonition is an act of mercy It is spiritualis Eleemosyna spiritual Almes and you are bound by the royal law of charity by the communion of Saints the communion of Churches and communion of natures to distribute these spiritual almes to all that need them as God shall give occasion But this I say you ought especially to admonish them and watch over them This is novum though not solum vinculum Some Divines think that one chief reason why the Israelites were punished for Achans sin was because they did not admonish him and watch-over him For the Israelites were commanded in the plural number Josh. 6. 18. Keep your selves from the accursed thing c. Hee was one of the body and because they did not watch over him they communicated in his sin and in his punishment There is an excellent Law in this Nation That every Parish shall provide for its own poor And by parity of reason it is as just and equal That every Congregation should chiefly and especially look to the souls of their own members to warn them admonish them exhort them and watch over them That you may the better discharge this duty you must labour to bee acquainted one with another as far as your Callings and Relations will give you leave It is a great and common sin and much to bee lamented That there is so little knowledge and acquaintance between those that are of the same Congregation They sit in the same Pew together partake of the same Sacrament and yet converse no more together than if one lived at York and the other at London And when they do converse together it is a meer civill and outward converse as amongst sober heathens But there is very little Religious society between them for the spiritual edification one of another Now this must needs bee a great sin For how can you watch over one another edifie and admonish one another How can you support the weak comfort the feeble-minded if not spiritually acquainted one with another And yet it is not my opinion that every member of a Congregation is bound to know every fellow-member I beleeve it was not so in the Church of Jerusalem or of Samaria It is incredible to think that they all knew one
and not before the greatness of their sin in selling their Brother Gen 42. 21. They open the ear to Discipline In prosperity wee turn a deaf ear to the voyce of the charmer though he charm never so wisely But adversity openeth the ear and causeth us to attend When God spake upon Mount Sinah in a terrible manner then the people said unto Moses Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and wee will hear it and do it Deut. 5. 27. Memorable is that Text Jer. 2. 24. A wilde Ass used to the Wilderness that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure in her occasion who can turn her away all they that seek her will not weary themselves in her month they shall finde her in her month that is when she is great with young and near her time A wicked man in the day of his prosperity is like a wilde Ass used to the wilderness hee snuffeth at any that shall reprove him hee is of an uncircumcised ear and a rebellious heart but in his month that is when hee is bigge with Afflictions then hee will be easily found this will open his ear to Discipline 3 They will open the mouth to confess sin Judg. 10. 15. 4 They will command us to depart from iniquity Job 36. ◠9 10. Afflictions are Gods Furnaces to purge out the dross of our sins Gods files to pare off our spiritual rust Gods Fannes to winnow out our chaffe In prosperity wee gather much soil but adversity purgeth and purifieth us This is its proper work to work out unrighteousness Dan. 11. 35. Dan. 12. 10. 3 Gods end is not only to keep us from sin but to make us holy and righteous therefore it is said Isa. 26. 9. When they judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness And Heb. 12. 10. Hee for our profit that wee may bee partakers of his holiness As the waters that drowned the old world did not hurt the Ark of Noah but bare it up above the earth and as they increased so the Ark was lifted up nearer and nearer to Heaven So Afflictions when sanctified do not prejudice the Saints of God but lift them up nearer unto God in holiness and heavenly-mindedness 4 Gods design in afflicting his children is to make the world bitter unto them and Christ sweet 1 To imbitter the world There are two lame leggs upon which all worldly things stand uncertainty and insufficiency All earthly things are like the earth founded upon nothing They are like heaps made of wax that quickly melt away Riches and honours wise and children have wings and flye away they are like unto Absoloms Mule they will fail us when wee have most need of them They may puffe up the soul but they cannot satisfie it inflare possunt satiare animam non possunt They are all vanity and vexation of spirit so saith the Preacher but most people in time of health will not beleeve these things but when some great sickness betides them this is as a real Sermon to make out the truth of them then they see that a Velvet slipper cannot cure the Gout nor a golden cap the head ache Prov. 〈◊〉 4. That riches avail not in the day of wrath and this imbitters the world 2 To make Christ sweet and precious When Christ and his Disciples were in a ship together Mat. 8. 25. it is said That Christ was asleep and as long as the Sea was calm his Disciples suffered him to sleep but when they were ready to bee drowned then they awoke Christ and said Master save us wee perish Even the best of Saints when fatted with outward plenty and abundance are prone to suffer Christ 〈◊〉 lye asleep within them and so neglect the lively actings of Faith upon Christ but when the storms of affliction and outward calamity begin to arise and they are ready to bee overwhelmed with distresses then None but Christ none but Christ. 5 Gods design in afflicting his children is to prove and improve their graces 1 To prove their graces Rev. 2. 10. Deut. 8. 2. to prove the truth and the strength of them 1 The truth and sincerity of their graces For this cause he loaded Iob with afflictions to try whether hee served God for his Camels and Oxen or for love to God As Solomons sword tried the true Mother from the false So the sword of affliction discovers the sincere Christian from the hypocrite Distresses are divine touchstones to try whether we be true or counterfeit Saints That grace is true which upon tryal is found true 2 To try the strength of our graces For it requires a strong faith to indure great afflictions That Faith which will suffice for a little affliction will not suffice for a great one Peter had faith enough to come to Christ upon the Sea but assoon as the storm began to arise his Faith began to fail and Christ said Why art thou afraid O thou of little Faith Mat. 14. 30 31. It must bee a strong Faith that must keep us from sinking in the day of great Distress 2 To improve our graces It is reported of the Lionesse that she leaves her young ones till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and howling and then at last gasp shee relieves relieves them and by this means they become more couragious So God brings his children into the deeps and suffers Ionah to bee three daies and three nights in the belly of the Whale and David to cry till his throat was dry Psal. 69. 3. and suffers his Apostles to bee all the night in a great storm till the fourth watch and then hee comes and rebukes the winds and by this means hee mightily increaseth their patience and dependence upon God and their Faith in Christ. As the Palm-tree the more it is depressed the higher stronger and fruitfuller it grows So doth the graces of Gods people Lastly Gods aim in afflicting his people is to put an edge upon their prayers and all their other holy services 1 Upon Prayer What a famous Prayer did Manasseh make when hee was under his iron fetters It is thrice mentioned 2 Chron. 33. 13 18 19. When Paul was struck off his horse and struck with blindness then hee prayed to purpose Therefore it is said Act. 9. 11. Behold hee prayeth In prosperity wee pray heavily and drowsily but adversity adds wings to our prayers Isa. 26. 16. The very heathen Marriners cryed aloud to God in a storm It is an ordinary saying Qui nescit orare discat navigare There are no Saylors so wicked but they will pray when in a great storm 2 Upon Preaching Prosperity glutteth the spiritual appetite adversity whetreth it 3 Upon a Sacrament How sweet is a Sacrament to a true Saint after a long and great sickness 1 It makes God and the word of God precious If God sets our Corn-fields on fire as Absalom did Ioabs then hee shall
for any thing in mee For what am I O Lord c. Thus you see how the Promises are the breathings of Divine love and affection and upon this account are very usefull and profitable For love is loves loadstone therefore the Apostle saith Wee love him because hee loved us first The sense of Gods love to us will kindle a love in us to God Even as the beams of the Sun reflecting upon a VVall heats those that walk by the Wall So the Beams of Gods love shining into our souls warms our hearts with the love of God The lovâ— of God constrains us as saith Paul 2 Cor. 5. 14. There is a compulsive and constraining power in love What did not Iacob do for the love of Rachel How was Mephibosheth affected with the love of David 2 Sam. 9. 8. It is our duty to love those that hate us but not to love those that love us is more than heathenish and brutish 2 They are the life and soule of Faith Faith without a Promise to act upon is as a body without a soul as a dead flower which hath no beauty or sweetness in it But Faith grounded upon the Promises will inable a Christian to advance in all manner of holiness What made Abraham forsake his Country and his Fathers house and go hee knew not whither Nothing moved him to this but because God had promised to make him a great Nation and hee beleeved it Of all graces none so causal of holiness as the grace of Faith It is a world overcoming heart-purifying life-sanctifying wonder-working grace and therefore the Promises must needs bee very usefull because they are the life and soul of Faith 3 They are the Anchor of Hope Hope is called an Anchor of the soule both sure and stedfast But the Promises are the Anchor of Hope All Hope of Heaven which is not founded upon a Promise is presumption and not Hope Presumption is when a man hopes to go to Heaven upon no ground or upon an insufficient ground But true Hope is a Hope grounded upon a Scripture-Promise And Hope bottomed upon Divine Promises will mightily availe unto purity and holiness Abraham Isaac and Iacob lived as pilgrims and strangers upon earth because they looked and hoped for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God The Old Testament Saints would not accept deliverance upon sinfull termes because they hoped for a better Resurrection The Papists and Arminians are much mistaken in teaching That the assurance of salvation is an enemy to godliness The Scripture saith the quite contrary 1 Ioh. 3. 3. Hee that hath this Hope purifieth himselfe even as hee is pure The true Hope of Heaven will make us live heavenly 4 They are the Wings of Prayer Prayer is a Divine Cordial to convey grace from Heaven into our soules It is a Key to unlock the bowels of mercy which are in God The best way to obtain holiness is upon our knees the best posture to fight against the Devil is upon our knees and therefore Prayer is not put as a part of our spiritual Armour but added as that which must bee an ingredient in every part and which will make every part effectual But now the Promises are the Wings of Prayer Prayer without a Promise is as a Bird without VVings And therefore wee read both of Iacob and Iehoshaphat how they urged God in their prayers with his Promises And certainly the Prayers of the Saints winged with divine promises will quickly flye up to Heaven and draw down grace and comfort into theâ— souls And upon this account it is that the Promises are so useful to a Christian because they are so helpfull in prayer When wee pray weâ— must urge God with his Promises and say Lord Hast thou not said Thâ—â— wilt circumcise our hearts to love theâ— thou wilt subdue our sinnes thou wilâ— give the Spirit to those that aske it Lord Thou art faithfull fulfill thesâ— thine own promises And wee must remember this great Truth That the Promises God makes to us to mortifieâ— our sins for us are greater helps against sin than our promises to God to mortifie sin Many men in the day of their distress vow and promise to leave sin and fight against it in the strength of these promises and in stead of conquering sin are conquered by sin But if wee fight against sin in the strength of Christ and of his promises if wee urge God in prayer with his owne Word wee shall at last get victory over it For hee hath said That sin shall not have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. 5 They are the foundation of Induâ—try The promises do not make men â—azy and idle as some scandalously say 〈◊〉 they are the ground of all true laâ—our and industry therefore the Apostles perswade us from the consideration of the Promises unto the study of soul-purification to have our conversation without covetousness to flee from Idolatry and to separate our selves from sinfull communion Divine promises are â—reat incouragements unto spiritual diâ—â—gence Object Though conditional Promiâ—es bee the foundation of industry beâ—ause wee cannot have the thing promiâ—es unless wee perform the conditions yet absolute Promises say some are foundations of lasiness and therefore they a firm there are no absolute Promises in Scripture Answ. Absolute Promises are made foundations of industry in Scripture as well as Conditional The Apostle exhorts us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it is God 〈◊〉 worketh in us both to will and to do of hiâ— owne good pleasure And the reason is because God performeth nothing which hee promiseth though never so absolutely but in the diligent and conscientious use of the means on our part God promiseth Ezek. 36. 26. to give us a new heart and a new spirit c. but theâ— hee adds vers 37. I will yet 〈◊〉 this bee inquired of by the house of Israel 6 They are the rayes and beams as one saith of Christ the Son of Righteousness in whom they are founded and established As all the liâ—es in a Circumference though never so distant carry a man to one and the same Center So all the Promises carry us to Christ the Center For the Promises are not made for any thing in us nor have they any stability from us but they are made in and for Christ unto us unto Christ in our behalf and unto us so far as we are Members of Christ. Now Jesus Christ is the ground of all soul-purification soul-consolation and soul-salvation And therefore I may safely conclude that the promises are most singularly usefull and advantagious And that it is the duty of all those that desire to live holily and comfortably to consider and ponder the profitableness and beneficialness of the Promises 9 And lastly you must meditate on the great necessity that lyeth upon all men to get a
thine own and other mens sins thou art blessed Christ saith Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness c. Though thou findest an exceeding great want of righteousness in thee yet if thou hungrest and thirsteth after it thou art blessed Christ saith Come unto mee all yee that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest This Text is as an Alabaster box full of precious consolation If thy sinnes bee a burden to thee Christ will give thee rest if thou carriest them about thee not as a golden chain about thy neck but as an iron chain about thy feet if thou beest heavy laden with them Christ will take them off thy shoulders and put them upon his Christ saith That hee will not breake the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking flax till hee send forth judgement unto victory If thou hast grace but as a smoaking flax Christ will not quench it but assist it till it come to a great flame Christ saith That the whole have no need of the Physitian but they that are sick And that hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance If thou art a sin-sick sinner thy name is in Christs Commission hee came to save thee Christ saith The Son of man is come to save that which was lost If thou apprehendest thy self to bee in a lost condition thou art amongst the number of those whom Christ came to save The Apostle saith There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ who walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit Though thou hast much flesh in thee and art sometimes overtaken with sin yet if thou dost not walk after the flesh as a servant after his Master if thou walkest after the Spirit there is no condemnation to thee The Apostle saith If wee confess our sins God is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness If wee confess our sins out of a detestation of sin with bleeding hearts and a sincere purpose of forsaking them God is bound by vertue of his promise to forgive us else hee were unfaithfull The Apostle saith That hee that hath begun a good work in us will perform it untill the day of Iesus Christ And therefore if thou hast truth of grace though but as a grain of Mustard seed do not doubt but that God in the diligent use of means will inable thee to persevere I might adde Nehemiah 1. 11. where God promiseth to bee attentive to the prayers of those who desire to fear his Name And Isaiah 26. 11. Isa. 26. 3. Isa. 65. 1. Isa. 55. 1. Rev. 22. 15. Ioh. 6. 37. But I forbear Rule 6. If thou canst not apply to thy selfe for thy comfort in affliction the conditional Promises lay hold upon the absolute Promises I have formerly told you that there are some Promises conditional others absolute some to grace others of grace some to those that are godly others to make us godly God hath not onely promised to pardon those that repent but to give repentance not onely to justifie those who beleeve but to give us to beleeve not only to give Heaven to those that love him but to give us grace to love him not only to save those that persevere but to inable us to persevere And therefore if thou canst not lay hold upon the Promises to those that are godly apply those which are made to make us godly If not those which are made to those who repent beleeve and persevere apply those wherein God promiseth to give us to repent beleeve and persevere If not the conditional lay hold upon the absolute There are these differences and agreements between conditional and absolute promises 1 For Conditional promises 1 All promises of life and salvation are conditional 2 Conditional promises are the fruit of Free-grace as well as absolute It is Free-grace which inableth us to performe the conditional and Free-grace which moved God to promise such great mercies upon such conditions 3 They are the fruit of Rich-grace and Rare-mercy as well as absolute promises 4 They are of great use to quicken a lazy Christian and to incourage him to diligence for no man can obtain the blessing promised but hee that performs the condition injoyned 5 They are rare Touchstones to try our interest in the Promises For hee that neglects to perform the condition cannot challenge an interest in the blessing promised upon the performing of it 2 For Absolute Promises 1 Though promises to grace bee conditional yet promises of grace are absolute and are made by God unto Christ in the behalf of his elect children according to that of David Ask of mee and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession 2 There are no Promises so absolute as to exclude all endeavours on our part God will do the things promised for us but by us Wee work but it is God who worketh all our works in us and for us 3. Absolute Promises are foundations of industry as well as conditional The truth of this I made out in the former Sermon 4 Absolute Promises are demonstrative arguments of special election and of the perseverance of the Saints There are some peculiar ones to whom God hath promised in the use of means absolutely to write his Law in their hearts to cause them to walk in his wayes to give them infallibly and infrustrably repentance faith and perseverance The promise of the first grace and of the crowning grace is absolute And therefore the Doctrine of Special Election and of Perseverance must needs bee true 5 Absolute Promises are mighty helps to wounded consciences and rare Cordials for fainting and despairing Christians When thou art in the dark and seest no light flye from the conditional Promises to the absolute say Lord thou hast not onely promised to give pardon to those who repent but thou hast exalted Christ for to give repentance Thou hast not onely promised to justifie those who beleeve but to give grace to beleeve Lord fulfill thine own promise unto thy servant c. Object All my fear is that these absolute Promises do not belong to mee Answ. Take heed of making desperate conclusions against thy selfe Say as the King of Nineveh Who knoweth but God may turn and have mercy Exclude not thy self Neither man nor Angel can say thou art excluded No man ought to beleeve himself to bee a Reprobate as I have shewed these promises belong to all that can lay hold on them as they are tendred As the brazen Serpent belonged to all those who were able to look upon it so do these Promises to all that can by faith look up that they may bee healed Say as the four Leapers in another case If I go on in unbeleef I am certainly damned And therefore I will venture upon Christ I will flye to