A Religion devised by Mahomet b With the assistance of Sergius a Nestorian Monk and some other Jews and Hereticks that Impostor and made up for the most part of foolish Precepts and as ridiculous rewards c To the observers of his Laws he promises a Paradise furnished with pleasant rivers fruitful trees silken carpets beautiful women choice musick good chear rich wines c. designed chiefly to gratifie the flesh Compare it with the Popish Religion and how much more pure is it than that both in Doctrine Worship and Discipline Their Doctrine is impure It is in many things contrary to the Scriptures as about Venial sins Merits of Works Supererogation forbidding to Marry their seven Sacraments Purgatory c. And in some things it is contrary to reason and sense as in that ridiculous Doctrine of Transubstantiation Their Worship is impure witness their Prayers to Saints and Angels their Image-worship their making their publick Prayers in a Language the people understand not their Masses their denying the Cup in the Lords Supper to the people Their Discipline is impure for whereas the Church is to be governed by Christ his Laws only they have contrived a Discipline of their own and make their Canons and Constitutions to take place of the appointments of Jesus Christ thus the man of sin sits as God in the temple of God 1 Thess 4.4 O what a corrupt filthy Religion is that of Rome an intolerable Yoke and therefore our Forefathers did righteously cast it off and never let us their children any more put it on Secondly This Yoke of Christ is a spiritual Yoke it reacheth the soul as well as the senses There is an intra as well as an extra an internal power binding the heart as well as an external that aweth the outward man The Laws of men have no spiritual power they govern the outward man but can't reach to the heart and conscience A man may love sin meditate mischief think treason and yet liable to no humane Law without overt-acts But Christ's Law reaches the inwards it is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart It binds the soul to its behaviour Heb. 4.12 as well as the senses so that a man may be a transgressor of the Law though he refrains all open wickedness For the Law is spiritual Rom. 7.14 and therefore requires not only outward obedience in word and deed but inward in mind and heart Thirdly It is a strict and absolute Yoke it lays the soul under an absolute subjection allows of nothing to be done but what is according to the will of God what God doth either command or warrant nor doth it abate ought of what God would have performed Though the Grace of the Gospel passes by many sins Rom. 5.16 the free gift is of many offences to justification yet the Precepts of the Gospel allow of no sin Though the young Man kept many commands yet because he failed in one thing one thing thou lackest all was nothing â—â—â—k 10.21 The Covenant of Works did not require a more strict obedience when it was for life than the Law of Christ doth It leaves the Creature no liberty for the least sin It is a yoke of absolute subjection without conditions or reserves and when we give up our selves to the government of the Divine will it is to a subjection that is absolute we are to have no other God Exod. 20.3 he is to be Lord alone If you have a servant and bid him do this or that it may be he will tell you it is not my work it was none of my bargain I am content to serve in the Chamber but not in the Kitchin or to be your Steward but not to serve in the Stable But the yoke of Christ admits of none of these conditions for the Law is indivisible You may number the commands but you may not divide them for they are but the various significations of the same Divine will The Precepts of the Gospel are not to be taken disjunctim but completive not singly but all together and so they make one intire Law of Righteousness And therefore he that wilfully slights any one command of Christ breaks the yoke he violates totam legem Jam. 2.1 though not totum legis the whole Law though not every command As he that breaks one link breaks the whole chain Or as he that breaks a mans arm wrongs the whole man though he doth not break every limb Fourthly It is an extensive Yoke It comprehends the whole of mans obedience It prescribes every duty we have no need to run to humane inventions to direct our obedience both the credenda and the agenda whatever is to be believed and done in order to life eternal is prescribed in the Word Thy commandment is exceeding broad Psal 119.96 Will you see in a few things where the latitude of it lies First It reaches from Heaven to Earth It directs our carriage and behaviour to God and man and teaches us to keep a conscience void of offence towards both The grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to live righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.11 12. Holiness to God is not enough without Righteousness to man nor righteousness to man without holiness to God that obedience doth not answer the end of the command that is not extended to both some will make conscience of the first Table and not of the second and some are second Table Christians but not first Some are strict in their devotions but very unrighteous in their dealings They will not bow to an Idol nor allow of the inventions of men in the worship of God but yet make no conscience of breaking the commands of God that are given to govern their dealings with men they will not neglect an Ordinance nor swear an Oath but yet will lie and deceive be uncharitable and cruel forgetting that command of God to deal justly and love mercy Mic. 6.8 As if that Law of loving thy neighbour as thy self were abrogated to let in a liberty for self to compass its own ends upon all without regard to any On the other hand some are very just and equal in their dealings with men but very neglectful and regardless of God they will not bow down to a Harlot but yet will bow down to an Idol They will not defile their bodies with fornication and uncleanness and yet in love to an unclean worship drink daily of the wine of Babylons fornication Rev. 17.2 they will not wrong their neighbour of a farthing and yet stick not to rob God of all that trust love Isai 30.10 fear and worship that is due to him they will not lye nor deceive among men and yet love a lying and deceitful Religion This is the fashion of the world to be in with one duty and out with another Some labour to keep conscience void of offence to man but
up and walk and immediately his feet and ankle-bones received strength Acts 3.2 6 7. There is a power conveyed by the Precept So it is here and therefore we should do as the lame man did How is that the eighth verse tells you He stood and walked and entred into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God Secondly The Law required a righteousness vested in the person It must not be anothers doing but our own The Law admitted of no days-man no Mediator no helper Anothers doing could no way be reckoned as ours nor anothers righteousness be any benefit to us Every man must stand upon his own bottom But the Gospel-Covenant admits of a Mediator one to come in between God and man therefore he is called The Mediator of the new Testament Heb. 9.15 and Heb. 12.24 Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant It admits of anothers righteousness instead of our own and allows us as real benefit by it as if it had been done in our own persons He was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners that is Law so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Rom. 5.19 this is pure Gospel And hence Jesus Christ is stiled The Lord our righteousness Jer. 23.6 And hence we are said to be accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1.6 and to be compleat in him Col. 2.10 And how pleasant doth this make the Yoke of Christ to be Thirdly Under the Law it was not enough that obedience was personal unless it was also perfect and perpetual Any one sin done at any time marr'd all All his righteousness shall be forgotten Ezek. 18.24 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 A man perished as really by the guilt of one sin as of ten thousand The judgment was by one to condemnation Rom. 5.16 that is by one sin for so the next words explain it but the free gift is of many offences to justification The Apostle here commends the grace of the Gospel by comparing it with the Laws rigour The Gospel justifies from many offences when the Law condemns for any one He that fails in any one thing is gone for ever Nothing is accepted but what is perfect The best affections will not excuse failure in actions nor desires to do eke out the weakness of doing But under the Gospel where there is a willing mind it is accepted according to what a man hath where the arm is short it is made up by uprightness of heart Where the will is beyond the power God accepts the will and passes by the weakness If a man sincerely desires and endeavours to do what he cannot do the truth of affection is accepted for action and God counts the desire of a man to be his kindness Prov. 19.22 Though that plea of the Apostle Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not finds no room under the Law yet it is a good plea under the Gospel O how sweet is this Fourthly Under the Law there was no room for repentance One transgression disannulled that Covenant and no repentance no sorrow no tears could ever make it up again Where personal perfect obedience is the condition of life there can be no room for repentance But this is one of the great priviledges of the Gospel-Covenant that failures in obedience may be made up by repentance And hence it is that we are so often called to return with a promise of healing our backslidings Jer. 3.22 Did God ever call Adam under the first Covenant to return when he ran away from God no never but drove him out of Paradise Gen. 3.24 So he drove out the man and he placed at the East of the garden Cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life But under the Gospel how frequently are we called to return and repent Though the first Covenant was dissolved by one sin yet many sins cannot dissolve the Gospel-Covenant For the free gift is of many offences to justification Rom. 5 16. This makes the Yoke of Christ pleasant that their failures and neglects may be repented of and find forgiveness For God hath exalted Christ to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins Acts 5.31 Fifthly The cords that bound on the Yoke of the first Covenant were threats and terrours The Law requires obedience upon pain of a Curse Cursed be he that makes a graven image which is an abomination to the Lord Deut. 27.15 Cursed be he that setteth light by father or mother v. 16. Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 and this Curse is eternal death But the cords that bind on the Yoke of Christ are not terrors but love and mercy I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that you present your selves a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service Rom. 12.1 And this makes the Yoke of Christ far more sweet and pleasant than the Yoke of the Law 2. Let 's compare the Yoke of Christ with the Yoke of Sin and it will appear infinitely more pleasant than that can be The pleasures of sin hold no comparison with the pleasure of Religion and godliness First The pleasures of sin are sensual pleasures such as gratifie only the flesh and please the brutish part and the more any man gives himself up to them the more he puts off man and sinks down into the nature of beast and therefore many Heathens have upon meer principles of reason abandoned sensual pleasures as inferior to them and have judged him unworthy the name of a man that could spend one day in pursuit of them But the pleasures of Religion are rational pleasures they are such as are suited to the rules of right reason pleasures that gratifie the inward man and feed the love and delight of an immortal Soul Secondly The pleasures of sin are debasing pleasures and this follows from the former The more sensual any man is the more doth he debase his nature Luke 1◠16 He is like the Prodigal feeding upon husks with the Swine and hence it is that the Lord by Amos calls those Rulers in Samaria Kine of Bashan Amos 4.1 Hear this word ye kine of Bashan that are in the mountain of Samaria Because they forgot the Lord and gave themselves up to their lusts and sensual pleasures therefore he reckons them among the beasts Kine of Bashan more like beasts than men The pleasures of sin are a very debasing thing Hence the same word in the Hebrew which the Scripture uses for a sensual Glutton is used for a vile person This our son is a glutton Deut. 21.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
all that see their need and trust to his supplies And therefore it is all the reason in the world we should obey his Call and take up his Yoke who injoyns no obedience but what he gives strength and power to perform Fifthly It is he into whose hand the Judgment of the World is committed he is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead Acts 10.42 And this is what you all profess to believe you say in your Creed that he is ascended into heaven and from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead and it is so for the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son John 5.22 He it is who disposes of all persons to their eternal condition the power of life and death salvation and damnation is in his hand He is the Husbandman who appoints the reapers to gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but to gather the wheat into his barn Mat. 13.30 He is the Bridegroom who takes the wise Virgins in with him to the marriage but excludes the foolish Mat. 25.10 Mat. 25.14 He is the man who travelling into a far Country delivered his goods to his servants to one five talents v. 15. to another two to another one v. 19. and after a long time comes againe and reckons with them blessing and rewarding the diligence of the faithful v. 21. v. 31. and dooming the unprofitable servant into utter darkness And is there not great reason then why every one should take up his Yoke especially considering that it is made up of those Laws that are the rules both of his Government and of his Judgment as he rules by them so he will pass Sentence by them the same Laws that are now given by Christ for a rule of life shall then be the rule of Judgment Our Lord Christ tells you so John 12.48 He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the words that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day If you will not submit to his word to guide you you must submit to it to try you you may decline his Precepts but you cannot decline his Sentence You will not obey him when he says Mat. 16.24 Follow me but you cannot resist him when he says Depart from me It is most rational therefore you should submit to his Precepts Mat. 7.23 or ye can't escape his wrath Psal 2.12 3. God the Holy Spirit he calls for thy obedience and for an early submission to the Yoke of Christ and therefore it is that he begins his work in the Soul betimes I know not nor is it for me to say how early but certainly it is very early There are none of you of any competent age but the Spirit of the Lord hath been dealing with you to bring you under the Yoke of Christ * Among such as are religiously educated there is scarce a child of ten years old but the holy Spirit hath been at work in his heart Increase Mather in his Book about Conversion pag. 134. The Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 and the Call of the Gospel is accompanied with a work of the Spirit where the Gospel calls outwardly the Spirit calls inwardly and this is the highest way of Gods calling There is no work of God beyond the striving of the Spirit in the heart and doubtless the Spirit strives less or more with all under the word He cannot be said to strive with all in the same manner nor in all with equal power and efficacy for then all would as well be brought under Christs Yoke as those that are But that he strives with all in one degree or other is evident For whence is it that many are under such frequent and strong convictions and that they are made to see sin and feel the burden of it convinced of their undone condition under it convinced of the necessity and equity of obedience and a holy life it is from the striving of the Spirit And whence is it that many are brought to take up the Yoke of Christ formally and feignedly that have no work of sound conversion wrought in their hearts So did the stony ground hearer he hears the word Mat. 13.20 and receives it and what is the receiving it but conforming to it So did Simon Magus Acts 8.13 he believed and was baptized and so came under the Yoke of Christ And whence is this but from the power of the Spirit put forth to convince of sin and of the equity of the ways of Christ This doth it Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves to thee Psal 66.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentientur in te Arias Mont. virtus nolentium nulla est The word which we render submit signifies in the Hebrew to lye Your Margent reads it feigned obedience and to feign obedience when the heart is not right with God is a lye And whence is it that many are wearied out of their lusts and brought to a free and willing submission to Christ and his Yoke but from the irresistible power of the Spirit Acts 7.51 And whence is it that many do resist the Spirit of Grace How could he be resisted if he did not put forth his power and strive with the sinner Resistance is a forcible opposition made by one against another in his onsets and attempts So that it is most evident that the Spirit of the Lord strives with all to bring them under the Yoke of Christ at one time or other Now I pray do but consider what reason there is for your compliance with the Spirit herein First Consider what his work and design is It is to prepare the way of the Lord into the heart to break the Yoke of sin to destroy that confederacy with corruption which will be the ruine of thy Soul and so to captivate the heart to the obedience of Christ Whatever means he uses this is the end he pursues If he wound us if he break us if he empty and out us of our selves it is but to bring us to a more ready and free subjection to the Laws of Christ Wounds of Conscience are painful things and spiritual troubles are grievous troubles the burden of sin is a heavy burden but so long as these things are under the management of the Spirit as instrumental to a ready obedience to the Lord Christ there is all the reason in the world why you should undergo them Secondly Let it be considered how uncertain his striving is you don't know how long or how little while it will last He begins betimes but you know not how soon he may have done If you refuse his calls and repulse him when he knocks you have no promise he will knock again To be sure the more you resist him the sooner you quench him and where he is once utterly
he gives peace who can make trouble Job 34.29 All the world cannot give peace to a troubled Conscience Eccles 10.19 Solomon says Money answers all things But it can never answer the doubts and distresses of Conscience It is God that speaks peace there Psal 85.8 Thirdly To distinguish it from the worlds peace which is a carnal peace an outward peace a false peace but the peace God gives is a true peace an inward and spiritual peace John 14.27 2. It fills a man with the most lasting peace Therefore Solomon calls it a continual feast Prov. 15.15 Not a feast for a day as Nabals was Judg. 14.12 nor for seven days as Samsons was nor for an hundred and eighty days as that of Ahasuerus was Esth 1.4 but a continual feast without intermission and without end A Heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good man is always feasting he hath the continual entertainment and delight of a quiet Conscīence He may meet with many troubles and sorrows and afflictions but his peace and joy shall out-live them all His estate may be wasted his name reproached his body burned but his peace and joy cannot be touched It lyes out of the world's reach It is from Heaven and will abide in the Soul till it be consummated by the testimony of Christ in that heart-ravishing Sentence Well done good and faithful servant Mat. 25.21 enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thus subjection and obedience to the Yoke of Christ appears to be a pleasant good whether ye look to the matter of his service or to the state in which this service is commanded or to the sweetness with which it is attended And thus you have the truth of it made out positively Secondly That the Yoke of Christ is matter of pleasure and delight may be made out comparatively 1. Compare it with the Yoke of the Law either Ceremonial or Moral First Compare it with the Yoke of the Ceremonial Law and Christs Yoke is much easier than that And this will appear If you look to the observances and impositions of one and the other How numerous and chargeable were the observances of that Law how many and how costly were their Sacrifices Some were gratulatory appointed to express their grateful sense of mercies received these you read of Lev. 7.12 c. Some were expiatory these were appointed to atone for sin to pacifie Gods anger to remove guilt and divert judgment and how many and various were they Some were to be of the herd as oxen and heisers some of the flock as sheep and lambs goats and kids Some of fowl as turtle-doves and pigeons Some were to be of what grew out of the earth as corn and wine oyl and spices And of these some were burnt-offerings some meat-offerings some sin-offerings some trespass-offerings And some of them were to be offered but once a year Levit. 16. Exod. 12. Levit. 23.16 Numb 29.12 Numb 28.11 Num. 28.9 Num. 28.3 4 5. some at their solemn Feasts as the Passover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles Some every New-moon some every Sabbath day some were to be offered every day and that both morning and evening as the daily Sacrifice and some according to special occasions which were very many for if any man did but touch an unclean thing he must come and offer a Sacrifice From all which numerous observances that Yoke of Moses must needs be very burdensom if we now were for every sin to offer a Bullock or a Lamb what a burden should we account it if Conscience did not make sin a burden the charge and expence would and so it did to the Jews therefore it is called a Yoke and that a heavy one Acts 15.10 A yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear In calling these things a yoke too heavy to be born it shews their observance of them was more because God commanded them than because of any intrinsecal good that was in them They bore the Yoke till God took it off but it was a very heavy Yoke But the Yoke of Christ is easie on this account his commands are few and facil not burdensom but beneficial as really our priviledge as our duty And therefore the Apostle Paul comparing the state of the Church then with what it is under the Gospel calls it Bondage Gal. 4.3 when we were children we were in bondage under the elements of the world By the Elements of the world the carnal Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law are intended by which as by first rudiments God did then instruct the Church in its minority And accordingly he calls the state of the Gospel-Church a state of freedom Gal. 5.1 Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with the yoke of bondage O how sweet and easie is the service of the Gospel The Covenant of Grace is made with us without those burdens and bonds which became their bondage what a motive should this be to a willing and chearful obedience Christ hath therefore made us free that we should serve him freely Our freedom from bondage by the liberty of the Gospel should strengthen our bonds to all Gospel-obedience Secondly Compare the Yoke of Christ with the Yoke of the Moral Law as a Covenant of Works and it will appear far more easie if you consider five things First The Law requires very difficult service but contributes no assistance so that a mans work is above his strength and where duty is great and strength little it becomes a burden intolerable If a man should be set to remove a mountain to fetch a Star from Heaven to keep out the Tide of the Sea how impossible would this be So is obedience to the Law in our present state of impotency and hence it becomes a bondage and burden Why is the Land of Egypt called the house of bondage to Israel but because they were required to make the same tale of brick without straw as before they did when straw was provided for them So the Law requires the same obedience of fallen man in a state of weakness as it did of innocent Adam in his full strength But in the Gospel-Covenant there is no duty injoyned but there is a power of performance vouchsafed and no commandment can be grievous where the assistance is suitable to the service That one command of believing is in it self more difficult than any precept of the Law Eph. 2.8 but if faith be the gift of God then how easie is it to believe whatever God wills is easie to be done when he himself works in us to will and to do Phil. 2.13 This makes the Yoke of Christ easie that there is power conveyed with the precept jubet juvat It is with us as with the man that lay at the gate of the Temple who had been lame from the womb Peter commands him in the name of Jesus to rise
have time to spare for your lusts for your sports and pastimes and pleasures and why not for Christ so that you can lay the blame no where but upon a cursed corrupt Heart thy destruction is of thy self Hos 13.9 CHAP. XI Wherein the tryal of our state is pressed with seven reasons for it USE 2. Of examination If it be the great concernment of every one to take up Christs Yoke betimes then the question is what progress have you made in this duty what Yoke are you under that of sin or that of Christ for all men young and old rich and poor high and low bond and free are under one of these Yokes either the Yoke of sin or the Yoke of Christ These are the two great Lords of the world and have the most extensive rule and dominion and therefore as ye read of the rule and Government of Christ so you read of the rule of lust Rom. 6.17 18. and the dominion of sin and of being servants of sin and servants of righteousness Now whose Yoke are ye under Matt. 6.24 no man can be said to be under both no man can serve these two masters He that is under the Yoke of sin is free from righteousness Rom. 6.20 And he that is under the Yoke of Christ is free from sin Rom. 6.14 Can ye make it out that ye are under the Yoke of Christ this is a question of very great importance and therefore every man should labour to be satisfyed about it And that for these seven reasons 1. Because every one of us are naturally under the Yoke and thraldom of sin not only ignorant of God and Christ but enemies to God and Christ and not only enemies by natural depravation but by actual opposition enemies by wicked works Coloss 1.21 serving divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 Every man naturally is the servant of sin Rom. 6.17 till he be made free by Christ and brought under his Yoke by the power of converting Grace Now what do ye know of this in your selves can ye say being made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Rom. 6.18 2. So long as a man is under the power of sin he is in a state of wrath The reign of sin subjects the soul to the wrath of God and no wonder for it is the highest contempt and affront the creature can put upon God to give up himself to the dominion of sin 1 John 3.4 Amos 2.4 he that doth sin transgresseth the law but he that subjects himself to the power of it contemns the law and despises the Authority of him that gave it and there is nothing can lay man under the wrath of God more than this 3. Because many there are that deceive themselves about the Yoke of Christ thinking they have put it on when they are mistaken Few will deny that subjection to Jesus Christ is a duty but the misery is they undo themselves with a self-deluding confidence that they have taken the Yoke of Christ upon them when they have not Many bless themselves in the goodness of their condition and the uprightness of their hearts with Christ when it is no such matter Solomon says there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness Prov. 30.12 This was the case of Laodicea she thought her self rich her state good her interest firm her heart right when it was quite otherwise wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Revel 3.17 who better perswaded of the goodness of his case than Paul and yet he was an utter enemy to Jesus Christ at the same time Rom. 7.9 4. To be deceived in a matter of this moment is a thing of very dangerous consequence If you take counterfeit money for true the loss is not great but if you take common Grace for saving Grace an hypocritical obedience to Christ for subjection to the Yoke of Christ a deceit in this matter is as much as the soul is worth It is an undoing mistake Matt. 25. v. 1. the foolish virgins that went out to meet the bridegroom thought their hearts had been right with Christ that they had had oyl enough in their lamps v. 3. and of the right kind till the coming of Christ discovered the mistake v. 10. and it was such a mistake as proved their utter undoing 5. It is a good argument of the goodness of thy condition and of thy sincerity of heart to be willing to come to the touchstone Some are great enemies to trying Doctrines they can't indure the searches of the word but cry out against such preachers as censorious these men will take Gods work out of his hand and be judges of mens hearts and states say they This is a very great sign of an unsound heart John 3.20 they come not to the light lest their deeds should be reproved Tertullian says of Hereticks they are lucifugae scripturarum they cannot indure to be tryed by the word So it is with an unsound professor 6. The knowledge of this is of great use living and dying First It is very useful in life it is that which you will be forced to have recourse to a thousand times before you dye When temptations or desertions are upon you the sense of the uprightness of your heart in your walking with God will be an admirable support So it was to Job when he was under the hidings of God and had lost the wonted comfort of the light of his countenance he comforts himself in his own uprightness He knows the way that I take my foot hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips Job 23.11 12. Secondly It is of great use in death For what is it that can support the soul in a dying hour but a sense of interest in Christ evidenced by the uprightness of the heart in walking with him This was that Hezekiah had recourse to when the sentence of death was upon him Isai 38.3 Remember O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which was good in thy sight O it is a blessed thing in a dying hour to have a witnessing conscience to the sincerity of our obedience For if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 John 3.21 It is of great use therefore to put this matter to the tryal For 7. The day is coming when God will put it to the tryal The fire of that day shall try every mans work of what sort it is 1 Cor. 3.13 It is not the livery of Christ nor the badge of baptism nor the name of a Christian nor outward profession of Religion that will stead us in that Day It is not saying Lord Lord Matt. 7.21 but doing the will of God that will then stand us instead not a profession of
and of righteousness and yet are not convinced of judgment these see the need of the blood of Christ to take away guilt but they see no need of the Grace of Christ to renew their hearts and these will never take up the Yoke of Christ But when the spirit of the Lord carries on the work to a through conviction both of sin and of righteousness and of judgment then it is that the soul is made willing to take up the Yoke of Christ And this brings me to the third preparatory work whereby a man is fitted to take up this Yoke 3. The third thing is the inclining the will There can be no taking up the Yoke of Christ till this be done for wherein lies our subjection to Christ but in a consent of will to take him for our Lord as well as our Saviour and yielding a ready obedience to his laws as well as relying on his merits And herein the most difficult part of conversion lies to bring the will to a free subjection to Jesus Christ There is no part so vitiated and corrupted by the fall as the will The blindness of the mind the stupidness of the conscience is not so great as the obstinacy and rebellion of the will By nature we are willingly subject to no Law but the Law of the members to no will but the will of the flesh Israel would none of me Psal 81.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had no will to me We will not have this man to reign over us Luk. 19.14 Ye will not come to me that ye might have life John 5.40 It is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be Rom. 8.7 There is that enmity and opposition that reluctancy and stoutness of spirit against Christ and his ways such proneness to evil and aversness to good such strong prejudices such deep reasonings such solicitations of Satan such downright rebellion that a voluntary subjection to Christ is an impossible thing Psal 110.3 till God puts forth the all conquering arm of his power and subdues the soul to himself So desperately bent is the heart of every natural man against Christ and so strongly under the impulsion of indwelling lust to vitious practices that neither the promises of life and salvation can allure it nor the threatenings of Hell and Damnation deter it no fear nor hope no danger nor reward can stop it till an Almighty power do it And therefore to talk of moral suasions as sufficient to subdue and bring the will over to Christ is an idle dream of such as either never felt the day of Christs power in their own souls or else contradict their own experiences There is no power can reach to pull a man out of the hands of his sin but the power of the spirit of God As no man can convert himself so no means can reach to do it by the same reason that any one man perisheth in the enmity of his will to Christ and holiness all men would if left to themselves because there is the same original enmity to the things of God in all as there is in any And therefore the government of Christ in the soul is not by choice and consent first had but by power and conquest As it was with Israel God promiseth them the land of Canaan for a possession but it was not a land uninhabited that they might go and possess at pleasure without any more to do no but the Canaanites and the sons of Anak dwelt there and had it in possession and therefore if they will have it they must fight their way into it Thus it is here John 17.6 the elect are Christs by donation given to him by the Father and his by right of Redemption for he dyed for them and bought them with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 but yet Satan hath the possession and by the power of sin and lust detaineth Christs right So that if Christ will be possessed of his right it must be by conquest And therefore his first entrance into the heart is by way of victory Hence ye read of one sitting upon a white horse with a Bow and a Crown and he went forth conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.2 This is the Lord Christ He is said to sit upon a white horse a horse betokens war a white horse betokens victory and triumph And he is said to have a Bow and a Crown the Bow is an instrument of war the Crown is a token of Government The Bow stands before the Crown to shew us that where-ever Christ reigns in any heart it is by conquest and victory first obtained The Bow makes way to the Crown Every Soul is first a Captive to Christ before it is a Subject Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. 10.5 VVe never submit to his Scepter till we are first overcome by his power They shall be a willing people in the day of thy power Psal 110.3 It is a mighty power that brings the sinner to a submission and resignedness of will to Christ The Soul is first Captivated by his power and then freely submits to his termes This Royal Fort of the will is never yielded up nor the everlasting doors of the heart set open for the King of glory to come in till his power makes way for his presence and therefore this King of glory is said to be The Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battel Psal 24.8 It is his mightiness makes him appear glorious We should never own him nor open to him as King of glory if we did not feel his might by way of victory He alwayes first makes his entrance as the Lord strong and mighty and then the everlasting doors are set open to him to come in as King of glory So that it is manifest that the Government of Christ in the heart is first by way of conquest Not that this is done by any violent compulsion it implies a contradiction that the will can be compelled but by a supernatural power sweetly attemper'd in its manner of working to the nature and disposition of the will whereby the obstinacy is cured the enmity taken away and the will brought over to a free submission to Jesus Christ Thus God works in us to will Phil. 2.13 So that it is an act of omnipotent Grace in regard of God and yet the will hath still the dominion of its own act It is not forcibly compelled but worketh by a self-motion to that to which it is actuated by the power of Divine Grace And when the mind is thus savingly inlightened and the Conscience effectually convinced and the will by the powerful quickening of God sweetly framed for a full conformity and obedience to the divine will then is a man throughly prepared and fitted to take up the yoke of Christ And this is one way by which you may make a judgment in this matter If the mind hath been savingly inlightened