propounds a third motive in these words taken from the benefit which by beleeving on Christ we shall in some measure be enabled and made capable of bestowing the like blessing upon our brethren and that by our prayers If such a man should see his Brother sin a sinne which is not unto death he shall aske and he shall give him life As an instrument God at his request shall give him life God will make him an instrument of conveying speciall favour to such a man First the words containe three parts First a promise of obtaining life for such of our brethren as we shall see sinne not unto death and shall aske life for him Secondly an acception from this generall promise he would have it understood of some speciall transgression of them that sinne not unto death he would be so understood and would not inlarge this promise so farre as that a faithful man by his prayers shal obtaine pardon of sinne for such as sin unto death but not for that that is the onely caution that he gives least this promise be taken to extend too far Thirdly A prevention of an objection or doubt that might hence arise For might some man say All unrighteousnesse is sinne and every sinne is a sinne to death and the wages of every sinne is death Rom. 6. ult And therefore if the promise extend only thus farre to procure peace and pardon for such as sinne not unto death then either you must grant some veniall sins or else this promise is of none effect for if every sin be mortall and you onely promise pardon of sin to such as is not unto death and no man sins but it is unto death this promise is of none effect Iohn Answers to this Objection vers 17. and saith though all unrighteousnosse be sin yet there is a sin that is not unto death It is true the deserved wages of al unrighteousnes is unto death but there is a sin that is not unto death not that there is any sin which doth not deserve death but not that which doth undoubtedly cut off a man from all hopes of life but notwithstanding that sin he may be converted As sometimes our Saviour said of the sicknesse of Lazarus he is sick but not irrecoverable Iohn 11.4 So that the meaning of the Holy ghost is that there is a finne unto death which doth not onely kil the soule but irrecoverably out of which there is no hope of recovery or salvation and that sin they must forbear to pray for This promise thus opened will afford us three notes First That a faithfull Christian or which is all one a beleever on the name of Christ is not to hide his eyes from observing and discerning the sinnes and slips of their brethren If any man see his brother sinne a sin which is not unto death which he cannot see if he neglect to observe them Secondly A faithfull Christian discerning the sinne of his brother is to pray for him Let him aske when he sees him sin not unto death Thirdly A faithfull man praying unto Christ for the sinne of his brother shall obtaine life at Gods hand for him pardon and peace and grace for him For the first of these Doct. A faithfull beleever is not to hide his eyes from observing the sinnes and failings of his brethren If any man see his brother sinne a sinne he must observe him else he cannot see him Gal. 2.14 When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel c. he observed them and discerned their course hee turned not his eyes from beholding it but he did take notice of it Heb. 3.12 13. Take heed least there be in any of you an evill heart of unbeleefe in departing from the living God take heed hee doth not speak of himselfe onely though that principally but least there be in any of you an evil heart of unbeleefe that is not only for every man to take heed to himselfe but to his brethren also as appears by the following verse implying that a man should not only take heed to himself but as much as in him lyes take heed to his brethren And if you should aske how should I prevent another man from having an evill heart of unbeleefe he tells you how By exhorting one another daily while it is called to day looke to your selves and also to your brethren and shew your care of them by stirring them up daily And this is that the Apostle speakes of in Hebr. 10.24 Let us consider one another and provoke one another to love and good workes see therefore and observe one another and see where any thing is amisse and stir up one another to every holy performance Reas 1. It is first taken from the love we owe them Secondly from the love we owe our selves First The love we owe to our brethren God requires our love to our brethren yea towards our enemies Oxe or Asse we should not see one of them fall under their burden or goe astray and hide our face from them Deut. 22.24 If you should see the beast of your enemy to sink down you shall not passe by him and let him alone but you shall raise him up from under his burthen Now if God require so much love to our beasts and that to the beasts of our enemy how much more doth God require this love to our brethren that if we see them going out of the way we should call them back againe if we see them to sinke under the burthen of sinne not there to let them lye but though we could finde in our hearts there to let them lye yet we ought not so to satisfie our selves but to looke unto our brethren in such a case and doe the best we can to recover them from going astray And in respect of our selves this benefit we our selves shall have we shall learne a more holy feare of the Lord and have a more just jealousie over our selves we shall keep the better watch over our selves when we see our brethren fall before us Rom. 11.12 Be not high minded but feare to shew you that when we see other men through unbeleefe and corruption fall into any sinne we ought to benefit our selves thereby not to be high minded upon this occasion to blesse our selves and we thanke God it is not with us as it is with other men we are not such and such as these Publicans are wont to be but feare we in such a case the faylings of others should be the feares of Gods people the more they see others fall the more should they suspect their owne aptnesse to faile in the like kinde If such things doe befall the greene tree such as are full of the Oyntment of the Holy one how easily may the dry stubble kindle so that what out of respect to learne the more to watch our selves and out of compassion to our Brethren to restore them what by seasonable admonition Levit.
distemper with boyling in heat of wrath against his enemies he is all upon it to doe him any harme his heart is full of hot and bitter wrath so as that love which was as heat and fire to thaw and warme cold and hard hearts when it comes to the fire of wrath it is as it were cold water and allayes that heat and bitternesse and harshnesse which else our hearts are subject to This is the nature of love as it is the nature of water to coole hot distempers and as it is the nature of fire to thaw and soften hard frozen spirits so though it be but as one intire grace Yet in the act it puts forth a kind of variety of worke whereby one would thinke it did crosse it selfe but it doth not but doth all by the life of Christ thus you see what the effects of the life of sanctification is in the heart of a man after that God hath begun to roote the life of justification in us and hee discernes that God hath wrought a change in him and then these severall graces though in themselves and worke one opposite to another yet in a Christian heart they can meet and joyne together And therefore now doe but lay this to heart he that hath the Sonne hath life Will a Christian say how shal I know that I have that life in having of which I may know I have Christ Why do but consider with thine owne soule not now of the life of thy justification but hast thou found that ever God did fill thy heart with joy so as thy soule hath said the Lord hath done great things for my soule whereof he hath made me to rejoyce and hast thou found that when thou hast most rejoyced in the wonderfull mercy of God then hath thy heart most melted before the Lord thy God And thou hast been ashamed and confounded within thy selfe and never open thy mouth against God any more Doest thou see that the more God reveales Christ to thee who was crucified for thy sake the more bitterly thou moanest for thy wickednesse then it is a strong evidence of life and peace in thy soule were it not the mighty power of the life of Christ in thee thou couldest have had neither of both these graces much lesse combined together to worke the same thing at one and the same time if therefore God hath helped you to looke at the great mercy of God with joy and yet with shame and bitter mourning that ever thou shouldest dishonour such a God certainly God hath vouchsafed thee life and such a life as in which thou shalt live You shall have many a soule that is marvellously comforted in hearing the word rejoyce exceedingly in what they heare and goe home and say such a word was good and very comfortable and never man spake like that man and he never thought before that there was so much to be found in the word as now he conceives there is But now if this were the joy of Gods Elect if it were such a joy as would not vanish away like lightning in the aire a flash of joy it would sinke downe into the heart and leave so much the more deeper impression mourning by how much the more it hath had joy I grant that sometimes the joy of Gods owne servants may soone vanish away but it was never knowne that the joy of a living Christian did so soone vanish and depart away but that when it did most abound in the heart it did cause inward mourning and if not weeping yet an affection of greife and sorrow of soule that ever we have so displeased God the more God hath been mercifull to us the more are we shamed of ourselves inwardly grieve for our shamelesse carriages If therefore you only finde joy in hearing that may deceive you it is not the shortnesse of the continuance that argues the unsoundnesse of the joy but the want of this combination that will argue the falshood of it if God yoake not spirituall joy with spirituall mourning then suspect your joy for it doth not accompany salvation unto life And in very deed this you shall find to be true the joy of living soules in Christ though that oftentimes bee soon gone yet it leaves this spirit of mourning which keeps possession for it and that many times for a long time and you may read your comfort in the sorrow that it hath left behind for there is as much cause of comfort in this sorrow as in the joy when you had it when you see your soules can mourne unfeignedly for that you see so good a God to such a wretch this very comfortable sorrow that is left in thy heart is an undoubted pledge that it is not a vanishing joy the power and work of it lasts long and wil abide in the soule for ever a man will in such a case mourne for his sin while he lives If you have therefore found your joy mixed with sorrow it is right else it is but a fading hypocriticall and false joy Againe further how doe you finde your heart affected with the duties of Gods worship Doe you come to duties marvellous unwillingly that if you could avoyd it you would not keep such duties in your house and if it must needs be you put it upon any body rather then upon your selfe you may be a living Christian but your heart is in a dead frame at that time and if it be alwayes so with you you never did truly live but if you finde your spirits at least your hearts comming on most willingly to Christian duties that you performe them like Free-will offerings not free so as without warrant from Gods Word but free in respect of grace Doe but observe thus much it may be you may come off freely before God because hee hath given you spirituall gifts and you can quit your selves well in the performance of them and that makes you come the more boldly but consider if the more willingly you come to Christian duties the more trembling your heart goes about them the more the soule is prepared the more it feares before the Lord and the more lowly the spirit is and awfull in the sight of God if a man can serve the Lord with joy and trembling together then the service you perform to God is heavenly and spirituall and lively and such as in which you live they come from a living heart and the sacrifice is lively and acceptable and argues you have life and therein you have Christ the God of peace but if a man have only feare in a duty but no joy or joy but no feare his heart is not in a good frame we must bring a better frame of heart before God then so before we can say that we have the life of sanctification Againe for another signe How doe you finde your selves in your tribulations are they altogether matter of burden and wearinesse to your hearts Have you no
lye till they be dead in trespasses and sins But above all things have fervent love among your selves forsake not the fellowship you have one with another as the manner of some is Heb. 10.25 26. Love covereth a multitude of sins So as that though there was much evill in Christians before yet their very lying together doth burn out all that superfluity of naughty stuffe that hangs about the servants of God 1 Pet. 1.22 see that ye love one another with a pure heart and fervency of spirit This warmth in Christians it is found in these foure things And thus you see the properties of this life Quest You say but if this were always found in Christian men how comes it to passe then that the servants of God do many times finde their hearts so cold in their prayers and appetite so little to the word and so unprofitable under it How should a man heare so much and profit so little if a man aid digest the word and is it not a common complaint of Christians how much they hear and how little they profit Yea and will not some Christians say he profits nothing at all no not any thing And is it so many times that Christians come together and they are little edification one to another very little profit sit together and talke of matters that little edifie but rather corrupt the spirits one of another how is it then that you say where ever there is life there is heat so such as makes them more lively in Christian duties And it might be objected that Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us c. A sign that till he came to them and came into conference with them and did rub them up they were very cold hearted and dull spirited and went on their way with much darknesse of soule without life and strength of soule until he came to put life into their spirits Answ It is true many times Gods servants are very cold and benumbed and a cold spirit growes upon them exceedingly so as that they scarce feele any life breathing in their knowledge or prayers or appetites to the Word or love to their Brethren little warmth in any of these partly through want of supplying the life of Gods grace with fit nourishment whereby the heart should grow warme As naturall fire if it be not supplyed with new fewell it will goe out and partly sometimes by pouring cold water upon it which is as much as in us lyes to dampe the fire And we doe power cold water upon this life of grace when we admit of any sinfull lusts in our soules those do marvellously eate out all that life and heate of spirit that sometimes we had in our hearts and sometimes by an excessive use of worldly things which without a very spiritual mind doth clog the soule as much as if you should throw cold water upon a fire it will damp it very much so is this case men sometimes walke in worldly businesses with worldly affections and sometimes give leave to distempered lusts and sometimes neglect to put any fewell to the fire of grace but as soone as ever they find the heart well warmed with some good Sermon or a good Prayer or Conference or the like they thinke this fire wil never goe out and so they begin to neglect it and so either the fire goes quit out or else is so damped as that you can discerne no life no savour or power of Religion there And therefore such a thing may befall Gods servants they may grow dul hearted one way or other as you have heard But yet thus much let me say though this sometimes do befal the spirits of Gods people yet even then when they want burning and chafeing and stirring up there is something in them that argues some life and where is some life there is some heat so much life as there is so much heat is there so much as you take away of your Christian heat so much life you take away And therefore for these two Disciples that went to Emaius It is said when they were talking one with another they were talking of Jesus Christ and upon all the things that befell him in his passion And said Christ to them ver 17. What manner of communication is this and what is the matter that you are thus sad what was it that made them sad was it not an affection of griefe for all the evills done to their Saviour that was life of grace and some heate there was in them that their spirits should be so troubled to see their Elders and Princes and all the people to cry out so bitterly against the Lord Jesus Christ and not to leave him till they had crucified him there was some sad expression came from them upon that occasion And so though it left the outward man sad yet there was something in the heart though full of doubting through unbeleife what this Christ was and what this would come to we hoped this was he that should redeem Israel c. then Christ began to put a little warmth into them by saying ought not Christ to suffer these things v. 24 25. and so he opens to them the Scriptures spoken of himselfe and these words put new life into them and did blow up the spirit and heat of that decaying life which was overwhelmed with griefe and care their hearts was heated yet So that take you a Christian man when he is even in the most disordered framelook how much he hath lost of his spiritual heat so much of his true life if he have left to be warm so much life hath he lost and if his warmth be smoothered his life is smoothered for the present And even as life will shew it selfe in the very sad face of the heart and dejection of spirit that they fall into and sometimes in the deepe sighs and groans of the heart which in such a case it sometimes will breake forth into So a Christian soule when his heate is most damped there is a sad face in his spirit that he discerns all is not well with him his spirit is benumbed his heart in his own thoughts is frozen within him It is a burden to him and a matter of sadnesse to his spirit and therefore hee doth expresse himselfe sometimes with many sad and deep sighs and groanes about his forlorne and lost estate and yet sometimes you shall have his heart even then when his heart is most cold which is worse then the former for you shall sometimes have a Christian soule not onely not affected with sadnesse 〈◊〉 this when his life is smothered within him but vanish away in much empty carnall delights and contentments and rejoycing in those comforts which have no life at all in them A Christian man that hath his life so deaded may come not onely to have nothing left but sadnesse of heart to behold it but hee may loose his sadnesse too and even
our brethren and enemies beast would require it if we finde them out of the way or fallen downe under their burthen and you see God requires this love to our selves that we should make some use to our selves of our brethrens fall As first if you see a brother sinne whatever sinne it be learne we to feare God and that is true Christian affection to be first affected with an holy feare of your owne weaknesse we should be jealous of the sinfull frame of our owne hearts that doubtlesse of themselves are as apt to start aside as any of our brethrens be the want of this as you heard Ieremiah reproved in Iudah and this Paul required of the Romans Be not high minded but feare and what priviledges hath the Church of Rome above others the Apostle knew that the Church of Rome had not received an impossibility of errour in his time he made account in his time if that Israel which was the naturall branch were cut off then be not thou high minded but feare for if they be cut off why maist not thou First therefore lay we our hands upon our owne hearts and see if there be not the like folly in me the same roote of unbeleefe in me or if I be not led to the same am not I led to as great or a greater evill then theirs is This use should we make to our selves Againe we should labour to make benefit to our selves by it looke at your brethren in this case with such an eye as may stirre you up the more to pitty them if they be gone out of the way call him back againe if he lye under his burthen lift him up or if his estate and condition be such as that you can by no meanes have opportunity to speake to him or if you should happily your labour would be in vaine and if you should faile here and cannot reach him yet whether he will or no you may power out your soules to God in his behalfe and so may you doe him good we ought so to doe and not to faile therein and that will be of speciall use to helpe us this way to heare of the sinnes and falls of our brethren is much but to see them is more to see such heavie burthens lye upon his soule that he is not able to subsist in such a case as this there will be a speciall compassion kindled in the heart of a living Christian for living Christians are loving Christians so farre as living so farre loving for the whole life of Christianity is but faith towards God and love towards our brethren Object But say you you would not have us to shut our eyes upon the failings of our brethren but to see and observe them but doth not the Holy Ghost say Love covereth a multitude of sinnes as if we should smother them neither meddle nor make with them Answ But yet though love cover a multitude of sins yet how doth it cover them First with a mantle of wisdome then with a mantle of faithfulnesse and then a mantle of compassion A mantle of wisdome when a man so covers it as not to skin it over Mantle of wisdome but to cover it so effectually as that it may be covered from the eyes of God and man Iam. 5.19 20. this is a wise covering of a multitude of sinnes when a man takes a course not only to cover them from the eyes of men but principally from the Conscience of the sinner himselfe as that in time he be not over-pressed with them and then when he is least able to beare them and so endanger wholly to over-whelme him for let a man goe on in sinne he goes on from day to day and thinkes himselfe fish whole and yet it is neither covered from Gods eye nor from the Conscience of such a soule and in the end it cannot but see it and then so bitterly bewaile it that it is much to be feared he will be quite over-whelmed with it And therefore this a man must have principall respect unto principally to cover his sinne from Gods eye and that it may likewise be so covered as not to be smothered and dawbed but cover it with an healing Plaister so as that in time it may be rooted out that no sprig of such a sinne may remaine there not a mantle of flattery but healing such as whereby they may be carefull to take a course that such evils may be covered with some corrisive Plaister Secondly Mantle of faithfulnesse with a mantle of faithfulnesse not to discover the sinnes of others further then will be of necessity for the healing of them If a man be fallen under his burthen or under his beast and he is not able himselfe to helpe him up he must then call them that are of strength and may be of use to helpe a man in such a case so that if in this case if a mans integrity of heart tells him that he aymes at no more in making knowne his brethrens failings but to helpe his brother out of those falls Prov. 11.13 When a man reveales a matter no further then to gather helpe to restore him it is well but because there is a snare in that a man had need be wary for a man may reveale it with derision and scorne and then though a man should speake it to them that are able to helpe him it would be a sinne to him as you may read Gen. 9.22 23 Noah being drunk and his nakednesse discovered Cam comming and seeing his father thus naked he in a deriding manner goes forth and tells his other two brethren when as he might himself have covered his nakednesse but he doth it not but goes forth and acquaints them and they do what they can to cover it they goe backward and drawes a garment upon him And when he awoke he by a spirit of prophesie knowing what was done he said cursed be Cam for ever and he made him a servant to both his brethren when it was in his power to have covered him but did not but made a jest of it to his brethren he was accursed for it but because they in a modest reverent manner did cover him a blessing fell upon them to this day To shew you that God requires this faithfulnesse in us in this case If we be able to doe it our selves we must not discover it but doe it our selves and let it go no further but if the burthen be too great that he cannot lift it up it is too weighty a matter for him then he may call in those that are able to help him in such a work so as that he do not speak by way of derision but rather with trouble of mind to see him thus foiled Thirdly So also a mantle of compassion Mantle of compassion so as that if so be that a mans brother be brought at length to see his failing and to acknowledge it and shall expresse himselfe that it repents
him he hath so done both in offending God and his Brethren then thou shalt forgive him our Saviour said so Luke 17.4 and the like you read Eph. 4. so that when the Holy Ghost commends this as a property of love that it covers a multitude of sins he meanes not that it covers them in silence or forgetfulnesse or carelesnesse as if we never meant to meddle nor make with them in a carelesse silence and in an indifferent putting of the matter from us as if it nothing concerned us but cover them by wisdome faithfulnesse and compassion even such as God for Christs sake hath shewed to us Object But you say againe but if a man be thus willing to see and observe the failings of his brethren It may be he shall be counted a busie body in other mens matters a Bishop in another mans Diocesse meddling in matters that concerns him not and makes us to do there where we have nothing to doe Answ We may be so counted but it is not to be doing where we have nothing to doe for God would have us to take notice of one anothers failings God and Christian love requires it it is not out of our element and charge but God layes a charge upon us to keepe and looke to this and that mans soule As it was said to the King of Israel keep this man and if he be gone thy soule shall goe for his soule It is for us to keepe diligent watch and to consider one another and to take heede there bee not an evill heart of unbeleefe one in another and therefore wee must not onely have respect to the wayes and words of our brethren but to the healing of their hearts to see there be no deceitfulnes in the bottome God therefore requires that we should exhort one another daily while it is called to day If therfore you do but keep your selves within these termes not medling with other mens sinnes with an hypocriticall eye to condemne them and to justifie our selves nor with a sensorious envious malicious wanton eye but with an eye of wisdome faithfulnesse and compassion in such a case you do not go beyond your Commission Object But you say I shall be more busie then I shall have thanke for my labour I may bee worse and they never the better Answ It may be they will be the worse for the while and never the better but he that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour then he that flattereth with his tongue Prov 28.23 A man must sow this seed in patience It may be a winter wil follow upon it but at length he shall find the fruits of his labours even as the Husband-man waiteth with long patience til the season and time of harvest yeeld him a comfortable increase he that deales plainly with his neighbour shall find more favor at the length then he that flatters him If you loose his favour it is but for a season and if a man in this case have been more busie then for the present he gets thankes for yet God will blesse it and recompence it and God wil not let such a man go without finding favour with himselfe how ever he may from others Doct. Vpon the sight of a mans brothers sin a faithfull man is to pray for him If any man see his brother sin let him aske So did holy Moses Exod. 32.31 32 33. This was the first worke he had to doe upon their sin and he spent forty dayes and forty nights about that worke when he saw it was a sin and punished it as a Magistrate he satisfies not himselfe in so doing but he gets to God and wrastles with him about it and layes his owne soule to pawne to God either pardon that sinne or if he do condemn them condemn him with them The like did God direct Iob to doe he bids his three friends goe to Job and he shall pray for you him will I accept Job 42.7 8. God would have it so Iob must pray for them when he sees them in a sinne And Ieremiah speaks to the same purpose Chap. 13.17 My soule shall mourne and weep in secret for you and the patterne of our Saviour is without exception Luke 23.34 happy was he that could doe him a mischeife and all men cried out away with him crucifie him crucifie him that when one would thinke a mans heart should burst with indignation yet he prayes to his father Father forgive them they know not what they doe he prayes for pardon of their sin when they use him most wickedly one that had never done them wrong And so you read of Stephen the first Christian Martyr Act. 7 60. when they flung stones about his ears he kneeled down and cryed with a loud voyce Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Reas 1. It is first taken from the compassion which we owe to our brethrrn we ought to pray for them if they had been but sick Psal 35.13 When they were sick I mourned for them my prayer shall be for them in their misery Now if a man should pray for men in any calamity how much more in this the greatest of all the rest we ought most to pray for our Brethren when they sinne Reas 2. Taken from the duty that lyes upon a Christian to exhort his brethren Heb. 3.12 13. and Levit 19.17 and neither of these can prevaile without prayer for this as wel as any thing else is sanctified by the Word and prayer 1 Tim. 1.4 5. Reas 3. Taken from the desperate danger of sin and the helplesnesse of a man under sinne unlesse God put in and therefore in some case though if man be too weake he may call in others to help yet however amongst the rest call for Gods help for unlesse we doe so all helps without him are in vaine though good helpes are of speciall use God blessing them to save and lift up a poore soule out of sin but know this that it is a worke of an Almighty power to deliver a soule from sinne no lesse then the Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ He redeemes Israel from all his iniquities Psal 1 30. last unlesse he put forth a redeeming hand there will be no good done there is such a deceitfulnesse in sin as that it will harden a man Sinne is of the nature of poyson it stiffens and hardens the body puts out the eyes and so inflames it with heate that it is not possible to quench it so when a man hath once sinned against God he presently looseth his eyes Satan and his Lusts having gotten him into sinne they first put out his eyes that he shall see no danger nor hurt in it and then he is so hardened with the sin he hath committed that no counsels or admonitions can recover him out of it but only the mighty hand of God and therefore prayer must be made to God for him Reas 4. Taken from the displeasure that God takes if he