love Thus then you see now to know whether your faith be right in Jesus Christ being commanded to believe in him One thing more and that is if faith lye under a Command let us all then be obedient to this Command and labour to believe in his Son Jesus Christ more and more if we have no faith let us do it if we have faith let us do it more and more I shall give you two or three motives and answer a question and so conclude First for Motives know you can never truly love God till your sins are forgiven you you will think God is not your God till your sins are forgiven but if you find that your sins are forgiven you you will love God then to purpose you will love God then in truth and in strength Mary loved much why many sins were forgiven her now unless you believe in Jesus Christ you cannot have the forgiveness of your sins and so you will be questioning whether God love you or whether he be not a hard God and a hard Master and dont pardon your sins and so you cannot love God truly and love God with strength If therefore you would love God with truth and strength believe in his Son Jesus Christ that you may know your sins are forgiven Secondly This believing in the Lord Jesus Christ makes our persons very acceptable unto God Eph. 1.6 he hath made us accepted in his Beloved How are we made accepted by faith in him if we have not faith in him we are not accepted therefore the Apostles put us to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Col. 3.17 There 's the acceptation of your persons And so of your Prayers our Prayers will never speed in Heaven and have gracious Returns unless we believe in the Son of God 't is for Christs sake that our Prayers are heard as you may see in the verse before the Text and the Text together whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his Commandments And what 's one Command That we belieive on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ why now our Prayers come to be heard when we keep his Commandments Lastly It is that which doth exalt the grace of God and honours him very much to believe in his Son Jesus Christ It 's said in 1 Joh. 5. He that believes not hath made God a Lyar. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself There 's encouragement to believe in the Son of God He that believeth not God hath made him a Lyar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son And this is one record that God hath given us eternal life in him And this is another that he Commands us to believe in him that we may have this eternal life Now what a dishonour is this to the God of truth to make him a lyar but now to believe in his Son doth exalt the free grace of God God hath made all the promises to Jesus Christ and in Christ they are all yea and Amen And mark it All the promises of God in him are Yea and and in him Amen unto the Glory of God by us 2 Cor. 1.20 When we believe in his Son Jesus Christ in whom they are all concentred in whom they are all yea and Amen but if you do not believe in the Son of God They are not all to the honour of God God hath not his glory in that way that he looks for by Jesus Christ So that we should believe in the Son of God because it doth exalt his honour and his free grace and promotes his Glory abundantly and the contrary brings reproach and dishonour upon God One question more But happily some will say I cannot believe what should I do To that Soul and to all of us I would say thus much First attend diligently unto the means by which God works faith Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Attend now unto the means the Gospel especially which is the means that God hath appointed to work faith by and doth work faith by Eph. 1.13 In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your Salvation When they heard the word of truth the Gospel of Salvation then they came to trust in him So when people do attend unto the means of Grace and attend seriously unto it God doth work faith and increase faith where it is by the same means You know Pipes dont give water but water comes through Pipes so the Gospel is the Pipe through which God lets out this water of grace and conveys it unto us and will you see it performed in Acts 13.48 And when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed When they heard the Gospel Preached as many as were ordained to eternal life believed they attended upon the word and the means of grace and it was not in vain they believed Attend therefore upon the Gospel and the word Preached as an Ordinance of God appointted and designed of God purposely to work faith in your Souls many persons they come to hear the Word they come only to hear a man what he can say and what notions and new things there may be but they come not to it as an ordinance of God appointed to work grace and faith in the soul and so miss of their expectation upon that account Secondly Consider how freely Jesus Christ is offered in the Gospel and offered unto you and at what a cheap rate Christ is to be had In Isa 55 come without money and without price come and drink of the waters of life freely Why the Lord Jesus Christ is a free gift Rom. 5.15 saith the Apostle not as the offence so also is the free gift A free gift Jesus Christ and grace is and Joh. 4.10 If thou haddest known the gift of God O Christ is the gift of God and what is required now but receiving of this gift will you not receive a gift and such a gift as this is when it is tendred to you by God himself and tendred to you in such a glorious manner and God doth put off this rich gift at a very low rate if you will receive it Rev. 3.20 I stand at the dore and knock if any man hear my voice and open the dore I will come into him and Ch. 22.17 whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely here 's Christ with the water of life and bread of life with his Righteousness with all that is useful for you for the present and to eternity here he is receive him O how great will our condemnation be if we dont receive him when as he is offered so freely to us 3. Lastly you cannot believe you say and I believe you too you cannot believe I but pray unto God to inable you
and unsound but there were others spake otherwise they were Gods Jewels they would not joyn with the wayes of God but rather did withdraw from them Heb. 10.25 Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is we need not be so strict nor so oft in prayer and hearing and in speaking of the things and wayes of God the Commandements of God are grievous to them 1 Joh. 5.3 when Gods Commandements are grievous to a mans heart or spirit it 's a sign he hath a sick heart a sore heart a corrupt rotten heart when the Commands of God that would make them sound are grievous to them Many care not for examining their own souls when as the Scripture saith prove your selves examine your selves know ye not your own selves that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates walk circumspectly redeeming the time such men have unsound hearts and one day they will be discovered to their shame 11. Those that can walk up and down in the world without having their thoughts carried unto God that can go all the day long and never think of God or Heaven or Eternity or Christ these men have unsound hearts in Prov. 23.17 saith the wise man there Let not thy heart envy sinners but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long A man should have God in his thoughts all the day long and should be fearing God from morning to evening and sanctifie God in his heart and make him his dread and his fear wheresoever he goes a man should be afraid to displease God in any place in any Company at any time but now when a man goes up and down all the day long and never thinks of God nor fears God this man is rotten at the heart he hath an unsound heart for he cares not for God nor for his Company depart from us say they in Job we care not for thy company So though this man saith it not with his Tongue yet he saith it with his heart The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death how can you depart from the snares of death when you are not in the fear of God Some fear God in time of Thunder or in a common Plague but to live in the fear of God all the day all their lives they know not what it means these have unsound hearts and will be ashamed 12. Whosoever doth presume upon the merits of Christ and the mercies of God and walk loosely they are unsound hearted and shall one day be ashamed 't is a common thing in these dayes for Christians to presume upon Christ's merits why did not Christ dye for sinners is not God merciful yes but must you walk loosely now Christ did not dye for sinners that they might go and sin neither is God merciful to encourage you to sin but you will find Christ a Stone to grind you to powder and Gods mercy to be fury and vengeance to you that do so in Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus which walk not after the flesh mark but after the Spirit If men do presume upon Christs merits and Gods mercies and say they have a part in God and Christ they must not walk after the flesh but if you walk loosely you walk after the flesh what Drink Swear Whore Lye Cheat Rail Slander Backbite Defraud and Couzen in Bargaining and Selling you walk after the flesh you have no interest in Christs merits there 's condemnation and nothing but condemnation to you and mark what 's said in 1 Joh. 2.6 If any man say he abides in him that is in Christ he must walk as he walked what dost thou say thou art a Christian thou hast a part in the merits of Christ and in the free grace and mercy of God then must thou walk even as Christ walked in the world what 's thy walking is it so is it becoming the Gospel is it no otherwise than what Christ himself would do then thou mayest have comfort but if it be otherwise deceive not thy self thou hast an unsound heart and thou wilt one day be ashamed 13. They are unsound hearted who do account themselves rich strong wise knowing and full those that are conceited of their own worth of their own excellency of their own ability and as they have unsound hearts so they will be discovered one day for rotten hearted men and women It is incident to you all to have too high thoughts of your selves Paul tells you in Gal. 6.2 If a man thinks himself some body when he is nothing he deceives himself why should the Apostle lay down this Rule but that it was the practice of the Christians then these Galatians thought themselves wiser than Paul they must have another Gospel they must go another way to Heaven we will not be tyed to these wayes they thought themselves some bodies when they were nothing and so deceived their own souls O foolish Galatians they were fools indeed And the Church of Laodicea is a pregnant instance for you all to take notice of she said she was rich full and wanted nothing here was a Church had Priviledges Ordinances Enjoyments Apostolical men in her yet what saith Christ thou art blind thou art naked thou art poor thou art miserable thou wantest all things was not her shame discovered that Christian that is conceited of himself his Parts Gifts Graces Comforts Priviledges Enjoyments or Relations whatsoever they be that Christian is an unsound man and his shame will appear one day 14. Those Christians that do things in their own name and in their own strength they are unsound and they will be discovered and their shame will be thrown in their faces in due time 2 where almost is there a Christian but doth all in his own name and in his own strength I can do this and that saith one I can do so and so what canst thou do poor creature Christ tells thee without me ye can do nothing nothing to purpose nothing to please God nothing to afford you comfort or peace nothing to further your salvation without Christ the Apostle tells you We are not sufficient I Paul am not sufficient to think a good thought well see the Rule Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus don 't do it in your own name you are unsound if you do your principles are not right your knowledge is not right and sound but whatsoever ye do do all in the name of Christ what Christians and do any thing in any name but in the name of Christ you are base Christians and you should do all in the strength of Christ 2 Tim. 2.1 My Son he speaks to Timothy an Evangelist a man full of grace and of the spirit My Son be thou strong through the grace that is in Christ saith David I will go forth in the
them to do them good to build them up so far was he from seeking himself in his calling Thirdly For a man to seek to be rich in his calling and to make that his end is against that great and glorious principle of the Gospel self-denyal It 's a great principle and a glorious truth self-denyal in the 16. Matth. saith our blessed Saviour v. 24. If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Crose and follow me he must deny himself now if I make gain or profit my end in my calling I dont deny my self but I set up my self and this is complained of by the Apostle Phil. 2.21 Every man seeks his own things and no man seeks the things of Christ every man is for himself his own honour profit and pleasure and dont deny himself Now self-denyal is a great and glorious truth that every man and woman should take notice of and put in practice else he is none of the Disciples of the Lord Christ Fourthly It is but a base and low end and directly against Scripture for a man to propound gain in his calling to be his end Prov. 23.4 Labour not to be rich that must not be your end most men do labour to be rich and to be great in the world but it should not be their end Labour not to be rich so that it 's directly against the Scripture it self Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but labour for that which endures to everlasting life There should be a mans end to labour for the meat that endureth to everlasting life and not for the meat that perisheth Fifthly Lastly men should follow a calling whether they get any gain or no they are to follow a calling and that to glorifie God God set Adam in a calling that he might glorifie him 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God This should be the end of men in their callings do all to the glory of God And in the 6. Eph. 5 6 7. speaking of servants in their calling Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ They must serve Christ and glorifie Christ in their callings be they never so mean the lowest and meanest Servant in a family should serve Christ Not with Eye-service as men-pleasers but as the Servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men They should not be men-pleasers they should not seek themselves but serve the Lord and seek to honour the Lord knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free They shall have a reward of the Lord if they be right in their callings and dont make gain profit to be their aim end And so much for that question I shall now come to the uses of the point that those that are in a state of grace whether they be little children or young men or fathers ought not to love the world or the things of it Vse 1. This doth inform us of the corruption of our natures which are very prone to love the world and the things of the world and therefore God gives a flat prohibition Love not the world nor the things of the world intimating that men and women since the fall are most prone to lvoe the creature for in their fall they were turned from God to the creature to leave the creator and to run to the creature and we are so turned to the creature that we do Idolize the creatures affect the creatures dote upon the creature and spend our time and strength about creatures and forget God and the things of God The water is not more prone to run downward nor the fire to go upwards then our hearts are to run out to creatures this is common to all men an universal sickness and disease in all men and their hearts and natures are exceeding corrupt that are so prone to these things that are forbidden It should humble us that we are so corrupt and go the wrong way and mind poor perishing vain things and neglect God himself who only can say I am that I am I am Substance and Being I am excellency I am worthy of love and yet I am not beloved 2. If those in a state of grace should not love the world nor the things of the world then I infer from hence that the number of such is very few there are very few that are truly in the state of grace very few little children very few young men very few fathers that love not the world the love of the world is so common that it proclaims to the world they have no grace or but seeming grace not saving grace All men seek their own saith Paul no man the things of Christ 't was so in the Apostles dayes they loved the world the things of the world the honours of the world and the preferments of the world and places of power and riches and pleasures and things of that nature which were sutable to the flesh and the old man they loved these and Christ was not regarded so in the Revelations All the world wondered after the Beast 'T is rare to find a man estranged from the world to live above the world Our conversation saith Paul is in Heaven where is a man now whose conversation is in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Common-wealth is in heaven we are Citizens of heaven our affections are in heaven our trading is in heaven 't is very rare to find such a man Thirdly If such should not love the world then those who are gracious godly should be content with a little of the world a little of the world should serve their turns a little will suffice nature and less will suffice grace a little will carry us to our Journeys end and 't is not wisdom to load our selves with thick clay when we have a Journey to go a Race to run The Apostle saith in the 13. Heb. 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have You are Christians you are in a Church state you are Young men you are Children you are Fathes be content with such things as ye have and be not covetous after the world and the things of the world and in the 1 Tim. 6.7 We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out and having food and rayment let us be therewith content A gracious heart should consider I brought nothing into the world I shall carry nothing our if I have Food and Rayment and things convenient for me while I am in the world what should I trouble my self any further to moyl and labour and keep a do for I know