Good spell that is the good speak or say the good tidings the word of good news Under which name it was revealed by the Angel to the Shepherds who were watching their flock in the fields the night our Saviour was born Behold saith the Angel I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luk. 2. 10 11. I call it the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ for so much the name of Saviour implies And saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Neither is there saith S. Peter Acts 4. 12. Salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved The next words I used shew the way and manner how and whereby Christ purchased this Salvation unto men and the means whereby it is attained through him namely by cancelling of sin by his alonement made he reconciles us to his Father that we through him might turn unto God and perform works of obedience acceptable unto eternal life All which was foretold by Daniel chap. 9. 24. where prophesying of the time of Messiah's coming he said Seventy weeks were determined upon the people and upon the holy city to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness To prove in particular that Christ dyed for sin I shall not need No man that ever read the Gospel but knows it That by the atonement he made for sin by death he hath reconciled us to his Father is as evident by what S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them That the ministery of the Gospel is the Ministery of reconciliation v. 18. whose Ministers as Embassadors for Christ beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God v. 20. For by reason of Sin all mankind is at enmity with God and liable to eternal wrath Christ by taking our sins upon him abolished this enmity and set us at peace with God his Father according to that the Quire of Angels sang at his blessed Birth Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace Good-will towards men that is Glory be ascribed to God forasmuch as Peace was come upon earth and Good-will towards men All this is plain But that which the greatest part of men as may be guessed by their practice seem to make question of is that last parcel of my Description That therefore Christ took away sin and reconciled us to his Father that we might through him whose righteousness is imputed to us perform works of piety and obedience which God should accept and crown with eternal life But that this is also a part of the Gospel as well as the former is plain and evident First by that of S. Peter 1 Ep. ch 2. ver 24. where he tells us That Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness Secondly by that of the Apostle Paul to Titus ch 2. 11 c. The grace of God saith he that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men Wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Is not this plain Thirdly by that of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us v. 8 9. that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works that is not according to the Covenant of works wherein the exact performance was required lest any man should boast namely that he was not beholden to God for grace and favour in rewarding him he adds presently lest his meaning might be mistaken That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them As if he should say Though of our selves we are no ways able to perform those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in yet now God hath as it were new created us in Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactness which the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by grace and favour and not by the merit of works because the foundation whereby our selves and services are approved in the eyes of God and have promise of reward is the mere favour of God in Iesus Christ and not any thing in us or them Agreeable to these Scriptures is that in the Revelation where glory is ascribed to Iesus Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father that is that he might make us kings and Priests unto God his Father For and is here to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that Kings to subdue the world the flesh and the Devil Priests to offer Sacrifices of prayer thanksgiving works of mercy and other acceptable services to our heavenly Father Moreover and besides these express Scriptures this Truth may be yet further confirmed by Demonstration and Reason Repentance is a forsaking of sin to serve God in newness of life Now the Gospel includes Repentance as the subject wherein it worketh as the Body which it enliveneth as a Soul Or to use a similitude from weaving Repentance is the warp of the Gospel and the Gospel the woof of Repentance Repentance is as the warp which the Gospel by the shuttle of Faith runs through as the woof whence proceeds the web of Regeneration Therefore is Repentance everywhere joyned with the Gospel Both Iohn Baptist and our Saviour so published it Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Repent and believe the Gospel Our Saviour in his last words or commission to his Disciples tells them Luk. 24. 47. that Repentance and Remission of sins which is the Gospel should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem All which is elsewhere comprised in the sole name of preaching the Gospel which argues that the Gospel of Christ and consequently our Faith in the same supposeth Repentance as the ground to do its work upon So S. Peter in his first Sermon Acts 2. 38. conjoyns them Repent saith he and be baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins as if he had said Repent and that thy Repentance may be available betake
is and nothing more true That no works of ours in this life can abide the Touch-stone of God's Law and therefore not able to justifie us in the presence of God but to condemn us But it is true also That we are therefore justified through Faith in the bloud and righteousness of Christ that in him we might do works pleasing and acceptable to Almighty God which out of him we could not do For as the bloud and sufferings of Iesus Christ imputed to us through Faith cleanseth and acquitteth us of all the sins whereof we stood guilty afore we believed so the imputation of his righteousness when we believe makes our works though of themselves far short of what they should be yet to be acceptable and just in the eyes of the Almighty Christ supplying out of his Riches our poverty and by communication of his obedience continually perfecting ours where we fail that so we might receive the reward of the righteous of him that shall reward every man according to his works Being therefore in Christ we are so much the more bound to frame our lives in holy obedience unto God's Commandments in that before we were justified we could not but now henceforth we are enabled to do that which for Christ's sake will be acceptable and pleasing to Almighty God our Father This is that which S. Peter tells us 1 Epist. 2. 24. That Christ his own self bare our â—â—s in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness So S. Paul Tit. 2. 11 c. The grace of God saith he that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ ver 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Here you may see that Christ is therefore given us to be a propitiation for our sins and to justifie us that in him we might walk before God in newness of life so to obtain a crown of righteousness in the world to come But if this be not enough to perswade us to take on this yoke of Christ yet I hope this consideration will do it when I shall shew you that That Faith can never be true which is not attended with these fruits Nor is there any other mean to assure us we are truly come to Christ and ingraffed in him but this If we have taken up this yoke of Christ we may know then we have put on him If we have never put our necks to his yoke we never put on him It is S. Iohn's express assertion 1 Epist. 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the the truth Ch. 2. 3. Hereby we know that we know him viz. to be our Advocate with his Father and the propitiation for our sins if we keep his commandments The Reason is plain Because the one follows the other as the heat doth the Fire or the light the Sun Which I thus demonstrate both on Christ's part and ours On ours thus He that sincerely sues to and seriously relies upon another for a Favour which nearly concerneth him and no other can do for him will by all means endeavour to avoid whatsoever he knows may distaste his Patron and do his best to approve himself in whatsoever he can learn is most pleasing unto him If you should see a man having a Suit to some great Courtier for a pardon of his life and yet shewing no care of doing in his presence what he knew would deeply offend him and wilfully neglecting that he knew would give him the best content would you think such a man in earnest and sufficiently perplext with fear of death and seriously relying upon that man to save it I know you would not If therefore out of a true affrightment and sense of the wrath of God for sin with a sincere and serious Faith thou suest unto and reliest upon Christ for mercy and redemption as the only name under heaven whereby thou canst be saved how canst thou but love him with all the Powers of thy Soul and therefore do thy best to please him upon whom thou dependest for so great and unvaluable a benefit If thou dost not surely thou hast not yet weighed thy misery sufficiently thy Faith is insufficient and counterfeit it never yet came home to Christ that he might ease thee The same appears on Christ's part For unto whomsoever Christ is given for Iustification through the imputation of his merits and righteousness in him God creates a new heart and reneweth a right spirit as the Psalmist speaketh Psal. 51. 10. that is by virtue of this union he conferreth upon him the grace of his Spirit for the abolishing of the body of sin and enabling the Soul in some measure against the assaults thereof to abandon at least the more eminent notorious enormous and mortal sins though sins of ordinary infirmity shall not be quite subdued in this life If therefore I see a man run still without restraint into gross and open sins and walk not blameless in the eyes of men I conclude he hath not this Spirit of grace within him and therefore was never ingraffed into Christ by a true and lively Faith Wheresoever therefore is a true faith and unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. there follows a new life He that cometh to Christ sincerely takes his yoke upon him too Labour therefore as S. Iames saith to shew your Faith by your works For not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father saith Christ shall inherit the kingdom of heaven DISCOURSE XXXII S. MATTHEW 11. 29. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls THese Words are a continuing of the former Exhortation to take upon us the yoke of Christ First in general That we follow his Example Learn of me Then in particular wherein we should follow him In Meekness and Lowliness For I am saith he Meek and Lowly in heart Then the Profit we shall reap thereby Do this And ye shall find rest unto your souls For the first Learn of me Observe That Christ is given unto us not only for a Sacrifice for sin but for an Example of life They are the words of one of our Collects For he is our Lord and King and Subjects we know will naturally conform and fashion themselves unto the manners of their Princes Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis And those which do so are accounted the most devoted to them and are the best accepted of them If Christ then be our Lord and King we must acknowledg him to be such by conforming to his Example
unto Christ is I will farther make plain thus He that believeth that Christ is an atonement to God for the sins of all repentant sinners and surely he is an atonement for none else must repent and turn from all his sins that so Christ may be an atonement for him else he embraceth not what he believeth He that believes that God in Christ will accept and reward our obedience and works of Piety though short of perfection and of no worth in themselves must apply himself accordingly to do works of Religion and Charity that God in Christ may accept and reward them For our Belief is not that saving Belief until we apply our selves to what we believe To believe to attain Salvation through Christ without works of obedience to be accepted in him is as I have already said a false Faith whereof there is no Gospel no Promise To believe the contrary That Christ is given of God to such only as shall receive him to perform acceptable obedience to God through him and yet not to apply and buckle our selves thereto were indeed to believe what is true but yet no saving Faith because we embraced not the thing we believed as we believed it Thou sayest then thou hast Faith and believest that Christ is the atonement to God for the sins of all such as leave and forsake their sins by Repentance why then repent thee of thy sins that Christ may be an atonement for thee Thou sayest thou hast this Faith That God in Iesus Christ will accept thy undeserving works and services unto eternal life why then embrace thou Christ and rely upon him for this end that thou mayest do works of Piety towards God and Charity towards men that so God in Christ may accept thee and them unto eternal life Now if this be the Faith which is Saving and unites us unto Christ and no other then it is plain That a saving Faith cannot be severed from good works because no man can embrace Christ as he is promised but he must apply himself to do them For out of that which hath been spoken three Reasons may be gathered for the necessity of them First It is the end of our Faith and Iustification by Christ yea the end why he shed his bloud for us that we being reconciled to God in him might bring forth fruits of righteousness which else we could never have done This is no Speculation but plain Scripture S. Peter 1 Ep. 2. 24. telleth us that Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness S. Paul Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. The grace of God saith he that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works These words contain the Summe of all I have hitherto told you That Christ is therefore given us to be a Propitiation for our sins and to justifie us that in him we might walk before God in newness of life so to obtain a Crown of righteousness in the world to come Answerable is that place Ephes. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us v. 8 9. we are saved by grace through saith and not of works lest any man should boast he adds presently lest his meaning might be mistaken as it is of too many That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them as if he should say Those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in which we could not perform of our selves now God hath as it were new moulded us in Iesus Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactness the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by Grace and Favour and not by the Merit of works because the Foundation whereby our selves and our services are approved in the eyes of God and acquitted of guilt which the Scripture calleth to be justified is the mere Favour of God in Iesus Christ and not any thing in us And this way of Salvation excludes all boasting for what have we to boast of when all the righteousness of our works is none of ours but Christ's imputed to us whereby only and not for any merit in themselves they become acceptable and have promise of Reward But that men should be saved by Christ though they be idle and do nothing I know no such Grace of God revealed in Scripture Now that in Christ we may perform works of righteousness which God will accept and crown is plain by the tenour of Scripture S. Paul Phil. 1. 11. desires that the Philippians might be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Iesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God And the same Apostle tells the Romans Rom. 6. 22. That being made free from sin and become servants to God they have their fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life that is as the Syriack turns it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have holy fruits whose end is life eternal And if we would seriously consider it we should find That the more we believe this righteousness of Faith in Christ the more reason we have to perform works of service and obedience unto God than if we believed it not For if our works would not be acceptable with God unless they were compleat in every point as the Law required if there were no reward to be looked for at the hands of God unless we could merit it by the worthiness of our deeds who that considers his own weakness and insufficiency would not sooner despair than go about to please God by works He would think it better to do nothing at all than to endeavour what he could never hope to attain and so lose his labour But we who believe that those who serve God in Christ have their failings and wants covered with his righteousness and so their works accepted as if they were in every point as they should be why should not we of all men fall to work being sure by Christ's means and merit we shall not lose our labour A second Motive why we should do good works is Because they are the Way and Means ordained by God to obtain the Reward of eternal life without which we shall never attain it Without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Look to your selves saith S. Iohn Ep. 2. ver 8. that ye lose not those things ye have wrought but that ye may receive a full reward The
votes are tendered Secondly He praies for Grace and Peace from them not as Authors but as the Instruments of God in the dispensation thereof Are they not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation And if it be no Idolatry to pray unto God to give Grace and Peace from the outward Ministery of his Word no more is it to pray unto him for it from the invisible Ministery For certainly it is lawful to pray unto God for a blessing from an Instrument which he is wont to give us by an Instrument Secondly It may be said it being a Salutation that the words Grace and Peace need not be taken in that special and strict sense but in the large and general wherein Grace sounds favour at large and Peace all manner of prosperity In which sense no man will deny but the blessed Angels have an interest in the dispensation of the favours and blessings of God to his Church and so God may be prayed to to give them as he is wont by their Ministery Grace and Peace from him which is which was and is to come as the Author and Giver and from the Seven Spirits as the Instruments and from Iesus Christ as the Mediator There is yet one place more in the Apocalyps to confirm this Tradition Chap. 8. 2. I saw saith S. Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seven Angels which stood before God Is not this as plain as Tobit Why should then the one be accounted Magical rather than the other I add moreover that these Angels are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principes primarii or chief Princes mentioned in the 10. of Daniel 13. Michael one of the chief Princes saith the Angel there came to help me Now Michael we know is one of the Arch-angels and why therefore may not these chief Princes be those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof S. Paul speaks in his adjuration to Timothy I charge thee saith he before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the Elect Angels not the good Angels at large but those Angeli eximii the Seven Arch-angels which stand before the Throne of God And it may not without reason be conjectured that those Seven chief Princes famed in the Persian Monarchie took their beginning from hence namely that Daniel who in respect of his account for wisdom and of his power under Darius the Mede had a main stroke in the moulding and framing the Government of that State caused the Persian Court to resemble that of Heaven ordaining Seven chief Princes to stand before the King Of which we find twice mention in Scripture as in the Book of Esther where they are recorded by name and styled the seven Princes of Media and Persia who saw the King's face and sate first in the kingdom and in the Commission granted to Ezra by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 14. they are called the King's seven Counsellors Forasmuch as thou art sent by the King and his seven Counsellors c. And it may be the Church of Ierusalem when they chose Seven Deacons to minister unto their Bishop had an eye the same way HITHERTO of the Number of these Arch-angels now a word or two of their Office And that is First to be the universal Inspectors of the whole world and the Rulers and Princes of the whole Angelical host which appears in that they are called Principes primarii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chief Princes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archangels i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chief of the Angels their universal jurisdiction is meant by the words sent forth into the whole world whereas the rest are limited to certain places Secondly to have the peculiar Charge and Guardianship of the Church and affairs thereof whilst the rest of the world with their Polities Kingdoms and Governments is committed to the care of subordinate Angels who according to their several charges may seem to carry those names of Thrones Principalities Powers and Dominions That the charge of the Church quà talis belongs thus peculiarly and immediately to the Seven Arch-angels may appear by S. Iohn's saluting the Churches with a Benediction of Grace and Peace from their ministery and the typing of them by the Seven Eyes and Horns of the Lamb as Powers which the Father since he exalted Him to be Head of his Church hath annexed to his Iurisdiction Hence it comes to pass that we find these Angels peculiarly both before and in the Gospel to have been employed about the Church-affairs In the Old Testament the Angiel Gabriel one of the Seven revealed to Daniel the time of the restauration of the Iewish State and coming of Messiah and the Angel Michael one of the chief Princes was his assistant when he strengthened Darius the Mede who founded the Monarchy which should restore them and is in special termed Dan. 12. 1. the Prince that stood for Daniel 's people In the Gospel we find the same Angel Gabriel imployed both to Zachary and the Blessed Virgin with the Evangelical Tidings and that Zachary might take notice that he was one of the Seven he says unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God Likewise in the Churches combate with the Dragon Apocal. 12. 7 c. Michael and his Angels are said to be her Champions and in her quarrel to have cast the Dragon and his Angels down to the Earth And in this Prophecy of Zachary it is said that these Seven eyes of the Lord took care of one stone which Zorobabel laid for the foundation of the Temple and therefore the work could not be disappointed but should certainly at length be finished So as by this time we may guess the meaning of that which Hanani the Seer told King Asa 2 Chron. 16. 9. The Eyes of the Lord that is these Seven Eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth to shew themselves strong in the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him DISCOURSE XI S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations THEY are the words of our Blessed Saviour when he cast the Buyers and Sellers and Money-changers out of the Temple and forbad to carry any vessels through it Concerning which story it is worth observâ—â—â—on that our Saviour whilst he was upon earth never exercised any Kingly or coactive Iurisdiction but in vindicating his Father's House from prophanation And this he did two several times Once at the first Passeover after he began his Prophesie whereof you may read Iohn 2. 14 c. and now again at his last Passeover when he came to give his soul a sacrifice for sin This is that which S. Mark relates in this place as do also two other of the Evangelists S. Matthew and S. Luke The vindication of God's House from Prophanation how little account soever we are wont to
in becoming Christians and so needed not to be expresly mentioned For that enumeration in the Apostles Decree is to be understood with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an Et caetera a Scheme usual in the allegation not only of Texts of Scripture but of pastages commonly and vulgarly known We may find an Example of it Hebr. 12. 27. in the citation of that Text of Haggai Yet once more and I will shake not the earth only but the heavens which the Apostle there repeats with this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Yet once more saith he signifies the removing of things that are shaken that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Hebrews speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Yet once more and the rest signifies so much for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet once more alone signifies it not but that whole Sentence Now that I may not have held your ears all this time with so long a story without some matter of Instruction let us obâ—erve by the example of this Cornelius How great a favour and blessing of God it is to live and dwell within the pale of his Church where opportunity and means of Salvation is to be had If Cornelius had still dwelt among his Countrymen the Italians where he was bred and born or in any other Province of that Empire he had in all likelihood never come to this saving and blesâ—ed knowledge of the true God but died a Pagan as he was born But by this occasion of living at Caesarea within the confines of the land of Israel where the Oracles and Worship of the most High God were daily resounded and professed he became such an one as ye have heard a blessed Convert unto the true God whom with all his house he served and worshipped with acceptation If this be so Then should we our selves learn to be more thankful to God than most of us use to be for that condition wherein by his Providence we are born For we might if it had pleased him have been born and had our dwelling among Pagans and Gentiles who had no knowledge of his Word or Promise and such our Nation once was But behold his goodness and mercy we are born of Christian Parents and dwell in a Christian Country and so made partakers of the name and livery of Christ as soon as we were born How great should our thankfulness be for his mercy Nay we might have been born and bred in a Christian Nation too and yet such an one where Idolatry false worship and Popery so reigned as there had been little hopes or means either to be saved But behold we are born bred and dwell in a Reformed Christian State where the Worship of God in Christ is truly taught and practâ—â—ed where no God is worshipped but the Father and in no other Mediator but his Son Iesus Christ. How should we then magnifie our good God for his so great and abundant mercy towards us Luther or some other tells a story of a poor German peasant who on a time beholding an ugly Toad fell into a most bitter lamentation and weeping that he had been so unthankful to Almighty God who had made him a Man and not such an ugly creature as that was O that we could in like manner bewail our Ingratitude towards him who hath made us to have our birth and habitation not among Pagans and barbarous Indians a people without God in the World but in a believing and Christian Nation where the true God is known and the means of Salvation is to be had Thankfulness for a less benefit is the way to obtain a greater To acknowledge and prize God's favour towards us in the means is the way to obtain his grace to use them to our eternal advantage Whereas our neglect of Thankfulness in the one may cause God in his just judgment to deprive us of his Blessing in the other Consider it AND thus much concerning the Person to whom the Angel spake Cornelius And he said unto him Now I come to the Message it self Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up into remembrance before God Where before I make any further entrance there is an Objection requires to be answered namely How Cornelius his service could be accepted of God as here it is said to be whenas he had no knowledge of Christ without whom no man can please God I answer Cornelius pleased God through his Faith in the Promise of Christ to come as all just men under the Law did which Faith God did so long accept after Christ was come till his Coming and the mystery of Redemption wrought by him were fully and clearly made known and preached which had not been to Cornelius until this time For though he had heard of his preaching in Galilee and Iudaea and that he was crucified by the Iews yet hâ— had not heard of his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into glory or was not assured of it till it was now confirm'd unto him by one sent from God himself And it is like that having heard somewhat of the Apostles preaching and of the Iews opposing their testimony and so knowing not what to believe he had earnestly besought God in his Devotions to lead him in the way of Truth and make known unto him what to do This being premised I return again unto the Angel's words wherein I will consider Three things 1. The conjunction or joyning of Almsdeeds with Prayer Thy Prayers and thine Alms. 2. The efficacy and power they have with God Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up into remembrance before God 3. I will add the Reasons why God so much accepteth them which are also so many Motives why we should be careful and diligent to practise them For the first The joyning of Almsdeeds with Prayer Cornelius we see joyn'd them and he is therefore in the verses before-going commended for a devout man and one that feared God And by the Angel's report from God himself we hear how graciously he accepted them giving us to understand that a Devotion thus arm'd was of all others the most powerful to pierce into his dwelling-place and fetch a blessing from him Therefore our Saviour likewise Matth. 6. 1 5. joyns the Precepts of Alms and Prayer together teaching us how to give Alms and how to Pray in one Sermon as things that ought to go hand in hand and not to be separated asunder It was also the Ordinance of the Church in the Apostles times that the First day of the week which was the time of publick Prayer should be the time also of Alms. So saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 16. 1. Now concerning the collection for the Saints saith he as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye 2. Vpon the first day of the week that is upon the Lord's day let every one of you lay by himself in store as God hath prospered him that there
But the third sort which do not only call Christ their Lord but do the will of his Father these are the only true Christians for these there is hope but for none other Not every one saith our Saviour that saith unto me Lord Lord c. Our Saviour foresaw there would be among those who believed on his Name such as would think their Faith sufficient c. that as for Works they might be excused having him for their Lord and Captain of their Salvation who himself had both undergone the punishment due for their sins and fulfilled that obedience which they should have done so that now there remained nothing on their part for to obtain Salvation but to trust and rely upon him without any endeavour at all to please God by Works as being now become unuseful to Salvation If ever there was a time when Christians thus deceived themselves that time is now as both our practice sheweth plainly by a general neglect of such Duties of Piety and Charity which amongst our fore-fathers were frequent as also our open profession when being exhorted to these works of Piety to God and of Charity towards our brethren we stick not to alledge we are not bound unto them because we look not to be saved by the merit of works as they but by faith in Christ alone As though Faith in Christ excluded Works and did not rather include them as being that whereby they become acceptable unto God which of themselves they are not Or as if Works could no way conduce unto the attaining of Salvation but by way of merit and desert and not by way of the grace and favour of God in Christ as we shall see in the handling of this Text. We greatly now-a-days and that most dangerously mistake the error of our Forefathers which was not in that they did good works I would we did so but because they knew not rightly the End why they did them nor where the Value of them lay They thought the End of doing them was to obtain eternal life as a reward of Iustice due unto them whereas it is only of Grace and Promise in Christ Iesus They took their Works to have such perfectness in them as would endure the Touchstone of the Law of God yea such Worth and Value as to merit the Reward they looked for whereas all the Value and acceptableness of our works issues from the Merits of Christ and lies only in his righteousness communicated unto us and them by Faith and no otherwise But setting aside these errors of the End and of the Value of works we must know as well as they That not every one that saith unto Christ Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven Now for the Explication of the Words To call Christ Lord is to believe in him to acknowledge him to look for Salvation by him or as the Scripture expresseth it Luke 6. 47. to come unto him Every one saith our Saviour there explaining this very Text we have in hand that cometh unto me and heareth my words and doth them I will shew you who he is like where To come unto Christ is put in stead of that which in the former was To say unto him Lord. The doing of his Father's will is the doing of those works of obedience which his Father hath commanded in his Law and now committed to his Son whom he hath made the Head and King of his Church to see executed and performed by those he bringeth to Salvation But how and in what manner we shall see by and by The Text consists of two parts The one negative Not every one that saith unto Christ Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven The other affirmative But those who do the will of his Father shall only enter thither But these are so nearly linked together that they cannot be handled asunder And the Observations which I shall draw thence depend on the whole Text. The first and chiefest whereof is this That Faith in Christ without works of obedience and amendment of life is not sufficient for Salvation and consequently not that Faith whereby a Christian is justified For if it were it would save us If it be not sufficient to save us it cannot justifie us This floweth directly from the Text and cannot be denied if ye remember what I said before That to call Christ Lord is to believe in him For the better understanding of this you must take notice that there is a threefold Faith whereby men believe in Christ. There is a false Faith there is a true Faith but not saving and thirdly there is a saving Faith A false Faith is To believe to attain Salvation through Christ any other way than he hath ordained as namely to believe to attain Salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of God in him which is a Faith whereof there is no Gospel A true Faith is To believe Salvation is to be attained through obedience to God in Iesus Christ who by his merits and righteousness makes our selves and our works acceptable to his Father A saving and justifying Faith is To believe this so as to embrace and lay hold upon Christ for that end To believe to attain Salvation through obedience to God in Christ so as to apply our selves and rely upon Christ for that end namely to perform those works of obedience which God hath promised to reward with eternal life For a Iustifying Faith stayeth not only in the Brain but stirs up the Will to receive and enjoy the good believed according as it is promised This motion or election of the Will is that which maketh the difference between a saving Faith which joyneth us unto Christ and that which is true indeed but not saving but dogmatical and opinionative only And this motion or applying of the Will to Christ this embracing of Christ and the promises of the Gospel through him is that which the Scripture when it speaks of this â—aith calleth coming unto Christ or the receiving of him Iohn 1. 12. As many as received him to them he gave power or priviledge to be the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name where receiving and believing one expound another So for coming Come unto me saith our Saviour Matth. 11. 28. all ye that are heavy laden and I will ease you This last is very frequent Iohn 5. 40. Ye will not come to me saith our Saviour that ye might have life And Chap. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Ver. 44. No man can come unto me unless the Father draw him 45. Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me and such like All which express the specification of a saving Faith which consists in the embracing receiving and applying of the Will to the thing believed What this embracing receiving or applying
one and the other were Spiritual or Sacramental namely in being Signs resembling and assuring Christ with the Spiritual Blessings through him 3. In what sense these Sacraments are said to be the same with ours to wit not in the Signs but in the Spiritual thing signified which is the Soul and Essence of a Sacrament We come now to such Observations as these Words and Explications will afford us The first whereof is That if the Seals and Sacraments under the Law were the same with ours then must they also have the same Covenant of Grace with us for the Sacraments are Seals of the Covenant If the Seals then were the same as our Apostle affirmeth how should not the Covenant also be the same and seeing their Sacraments were differing in the Signs from ours how could they be any way the same with ours but only in what they sealed and signified The Fathers therefore were saved by Grace and through Christ as well as we So true is that the Apostle says Acts 4. 12. There is no other name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved For Iesus Christ as it is Heb. 13. 8. is the same yesterday and to day and for ever that is He was a Saviour of old is still and shall be for ever hereafter This is that which S. Peter yet more expresly affirmeth Acts 3. 25. saying Ye are the children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying to Abraham And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed Yea not only from Abraham but even from that time when God said The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent's head was this Covenant made with men and at length diversly shadowed in the Types and Sacrifices of the Law until Christ himself was revealed in the flesh For the better understanding of this we must know what a Covenant is and what are the kinds thereof A Covenant is as it were a Bargain between God and man wherein God promises some Spiritual good to us so we perform some duty unto him if not then to incur everlasting punishment This Covenant is of two sorts the one is called The Covenant of Works the other The Covenant of Grace The Covenant of Works is wherein God on his part makes us a promise of Eternal life if we on our part shall perform exact obedience unto his Law otherwise to be everlastingly condemned if we fail The Covenant of Grace or of the Gospel is wherein God on his part promises us sinners Christ to be our Saviour and Redeemer if we on our part shall believe on him with a lively and obedient faith otherwise to be condemned The Covenant of Works God made with man at his Creation when he was able to have kept the conditions he required but he through his disobedience broke it and so became liable to death doth Corporal and Spiritual And though the Covenant of Grace then took place as we have said yet was the former Covenant of Works still in force until Christ who was promised should come in the flesh And therefore was this Covenant renewed under Moses with the Israelites when the Law was given in Horeb as Moses sayes Deut. 5. 2. The Lord God made a Covenant with us in Horeb. For all the time under the Law the open and apparent Covenant was the Covenant of Works to make them the more to see their own misery and condemnation and so to long after Christ who was yet to come and at whose coming this obligation should be quite cancelled Yet nevertheless together with this open Covenant there was a secret and hidden Covenant which was the Covenant of Grace that they might not be altogether without the means of Salvation whilst Christ yet tarried This truth is plain Gal. 3. 17 c. where the Apostle affirms That the Covenant of Grace in Christ was four hundred and thirty years afore the Law was given and that therefore the Law could not disannul it or make it of none effect but that the Law so he calls the Covenant of Works was only added to it because of transgressions until the blessed Seed should come v. 19. and that it might be a Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ v. 24. For in the Moral Law of God under whose curse they stood bound they might as in a Glass see their sin their guilt their want of Righteousness and in their Ceremonies and Sacrifices they might again as in Shadows of Heavenly things behold the means of their Reconciliation through his bloud who was to be slain and offered to God for them Now though this Covenant of Grace afore Christ be the same for substance with that under which we are now since his coming yet the circumstances and outward fashion thereof are so varied that the Scripture for this regard makes of this one Covenant two Covenants calling one the Old Covenant for the old manner thereof under the Law and the other a New Covenant for the new manner thereof now the Gospel is revealed Having therefore already seen the agreement and onâ—ness of them for the inward part let us now behold their differences for the outward fashion and so we shall see that as the Fathers ate the same Spiritual meat and drank the same Spiritual drink and yet there was some difference in them so the Fathers were under the same Covenant of Grace with us and yet after a different fashion This difference S. Paul Gal. 4. 1. c. setteth forth thus by a similitude The heir as long as he is a child c. i. e. The difference of the condition of those afore Christ and since is but as the condition of Heirs when they are under age and when they come to full years They are Heirs and Lords of all in both conditions as well in one as the other only the difference is that in the one condition they are in the state of Servants under Tutors and Governors in the other they enjoy the freedom of Sons So the faithful in the Law enjoyed the same Covenant of Grace with us but under the bondage of worldly Elements but we now have the same in a state of freedom as not held under such burthensome Elements and Pedagogies as they were But elsewhere he shews this difference more expresly both on God's part and our part First On our part Heb. 8. and elsewhere thus The Old Covenant which required so many external services is called a carnal Covenant the New wherein no such are required but works of the Spirit only is a Spiritual Covenant whereof God means when he saith v. 10. I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and so he will be their God and they shall be his people For in the Old Covenant he wrote a Law as it were upon their hands and fleshly members in that he required so many fleshly washings and sprinklings and
away from Israel and v. 3. it is said in general and Israel joyned himself to Baal-Peor Again in the same Chap. v. 9. it is said Neither let us tempt Christ as Some of them also tempted and were destroyed of Serpents and verse 10. Neither murmure as Some of them also murmured this Some was a great Some indeed even all the people save Moses Ioshua and Caleb whereof is said Numb 14. 1. And ALL the Congregation lifted up their voice and wept and v. 2. And ALL the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron and the WHOLE Congregation said unto them Would God that we had died c. wherefore they were as largely punished all of them dying in the wilderness Ioshua and Caleb excepted These places of many will suffice to shew that the word SOME in my Text intends not to extenuate the number of Apostates as implying they should be but Few but only shews they should not be All For where the Apostates are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some there Some also are not Apostates but excepted from the common Defection wherewith the rest were miserably overwhelmed The Observation therefore which this TINE ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SOME affords us is That the true Church of Christ was never wholly extinguished nor the light of his Gospel ever quite put out no not in the greatest darkness that ever was to overwhelm it By the true Church of Christ I understand That holy Society and Company of Believers which as they accord and are joyned together in one common Faith of all Divine Truths needful to Salvation so are they also free from the fellowship of such enormous abominations and mortal errors as destroy and overturn it This is that Society whereof by the grace of Almighty God we glory to be the members This that Society which in the Primitive times grew and flourished This that Society which when the times foretold of the Churche's Eclipse came and the Great Apostasie had overspread the face thereof was indeed much impaired indangered and obscured but never was totally extinguished but continued even under the Iurisdiction of the Man of sin yea in Babylon it self where he had this Throne For doth not Christ at length say Apocal. 18. 4. Come out of her my people How could they come out thence unless they had been there or how should Antichrist sit in the Temple of God 2 Thess. 2. 4. unless God's Temple were even there where Antichrist sate As a few living embers in a heap of dying ashes As a little Wheat in a field overgrown with weeds As the Lights of the heaven in a firmament overcast with clouds As a little pure Gold in a great mass of dross and mixed metal such was the faithful Company of Christ in the Apostate body of Christendom the Virgin-Church in the midst of Babylon But will our Adversaries say This is not sufficient to make you the true Church of Christ because some of you have always been but you must prove also that you have alwayes visibly been For the true Catholick Church must not only never have been interrupted or extinguished but it must have been a Society visibly known unto the world and not as Embers in the ashes but as a burning and shining Flame But this Objection deserves no answering because our Adversaries howsoever they would dissemble it do but play upon the present advantage which they think their own Church hath in this point above ours Otherwise when they forget the contention they have with us and are in a calmer mood they can be pleased to deliver other doctrine which if they would be so ingenuous as always to remember we needed not such a stir about the point of the Churche's Visibility For the difference between them and us hereabout is not so great as they would make it seem They themselves and the Fathers also teach That when Antichrist cometh the Visibility of the Church shall be eclipsed nay they affirm more than we usually in that case require For then they say the use of the Sacraments shall cease no Eucharist no Mass no publick Assemblies yea all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction shall be extinguished But here lies all the difference they hold the glorious Visibility of the true Church to have continued from the beginning unto this present and the overshadowing of the Light and Eclipse of the glory thereof under Antichrist to be yet to come We on the contrary maintain the clouding of the Churche's Visibility under the Man of sin to have been already and some part of the Visible splendor thereof to be yet to come Both agreeing in this that in the fatal Apostasy the Churche's Visibility and Glory should cease but we say That time hath been already they say It is yet to come we say That time of darkness was to continue many ages they say When it comes it shall last but three single years and a half Seeing therefore the whole Controversie lies in the point of Time Whether the Churche's fatal Apostasie be already past or yet to come it would be much the shorter and quicker course for both them and us to decide this Controversie To examine the condition and quality of both Religions by the Holy Scripture where we have also as S. * Peter speaks a most sure word of Prophecie whereunto we shall do well if we take heed as to a light shining in a dark place Now though this Answer be sufficient enough for the Objection of our Adversaries yet for the better understanding and clearer insight into the matter questioned we will further consider Whether and in what manner or measure our Church may be said to have been Visible during the prevailing Apostasie and in what respect again it was not Visible and in both agreeable to the State of the true Church under the frequent Apostasies of Israel First therefore we must know that by A Visible Christian Society in this Question is meant A Society or Company of Christian Believers joyned together in one external Fellowship and Communion of the same publick Profession and Rule of Faith Vse of Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction For these make the outward form and as it were shape of the Church whereby this Society is discernable from other Societies of men So that a Society by this outside severed and distinguished from other Societies is a Society visible and conspicuous to other Societies of men The question therefore is Whether that holy Society of Believers before mentioned who accorded together in one Common Faith with us of all Divine Truths needful to Salvation and kept themselves free from such enormous abominations and mortal errours which we now disclaim as utterly annihilating that Common Faith Whether such a Society as this has been in all Ages joyned and distinguished by such a common out-side from other Companies either of men in general or Christians in special or in shorter and perhaps plainer terms thus Whether the Society of men of our