the safe possession of perfect happiness when the soul shall be out of the reach of all Adversaries and adverse Accidents no more subjected to those Evils that are its own properly namely the Conscience of Sin and fear of Wrath and sad Defections nor yet subject to those other Evils it endur'd by Society with the body outward distresses and Affliction Persecutions Poverty diseases c. 'T is call'd Salvation of the soul not excluding the body from the society of that Glory when it shall be rais'd and reunited to the Soul but because the soul is of it self an Immortall substance and both the more Noble part of Man and the prime subject both of Grace and glory and because it arrives first at that blessedness and for a time leaves the body in the dust to do homage to its Originall therefore it is only named here but Jesus is the Saviour of the body too and he shall at his coming change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body The End End or Reward for it is both It s the End either at which Faith aimes or wherein it Ceaseth it s the Reward not of their Works nor of Faith as a work deserving it but as the Condition of the New Covenant which God according to the tenour of that Covenant first works in his own and then Rewards as if it were their work And this Salvation or Fruition of Christ is the proper Reward of faith which Believes in him unseen and so obtains that happy sight 't is the proper work of faith to believe what thou seest not and the Reward of faith to see what thou hast believed This is the Certainty of their Hope that 't is as if they had already receiv'd it if the promise of God and the merit of Christ hold good then they that believe in him and Love him are made sure to salvation The promises of God in Christ are not yea and nay but they are in him yea and in him Amen sooner may the Rivers run back-ward and the course of the Heavens change and the frame of nature be dissolv'd then any one soul that is united to Jesus Christ by Faith and Love can be sever'd from him And so fall short of salvation hoped for in him and this is the matter of their rejoycing Ye Rejoyce with Ioy unspeakable The naturall Man sayes the Apostle receiveth not things of God for they are foolishness unto him and he adds the Reason why he cannot know them for they are spiritually discern'd he hath none of that faculty by which they are discern'd there is a vast disproportion betwixt those things and Natures highest Capacity it cannot work beyond its Sphere Speak to the Naturall Man of the matter of Spirituall grief the sense of Guiltiness and the Apprehension of Gods displeasure or the hiding of his favour and the Light of his countenance from the soul these things stirre not him he knows not what they mean Speak to him again of the Peace of Conscience and sense of Gods Love and the Joy that arises hence He is no less stranger to that As our Saviour speaks mourn to him and he laments not pipe to him and he dances not Mat. 11. but as it there follows there is a wisdom in those things though they seem Folly and Non-sense to the foolish world and this wisdom is justified of her own Children Having said somewhat allready of the Causes of this spirituall Joy the Apostle speaks of here It remains now that we consider those two things 1. How Joy ariseth from those Causes 2. the Excellency of this Joy as 't is here express'd There is here a sollid sufficient Good and the heart made sure of it being partly put in present possession of it and in a most certain Hope of all the rest And what can be more required to make it joyfull Jesus Christ the treasure of all blessings received and united to the soul by Faith and Love and Hope Is not Christ the Light and Joy of the Nations such a light as Abraham at the distance of many ages of more then two thousand years yet saw by faith and seeing Rejoyced Besides this brightness that makes light a joyfull object Light is often in Scripture put for Joy Christ this Light brings Salvation with him He is the Sun of Righteousness and there is healing under his wings I bring you said the Angel good tydings of great Ioy that shall be to all people And their Song hath in it the matter of that Joy Glory to God in the Highest peace on Earth and good will toward Men. But to the end we may Rejoyce in Christ we must find him ours otherwise the more Excellent he is the more Cause hath the heart to be sad while it hath no portion in him my spirit hath Rejoyced saith the Blessed Virgin in God my Saviour Thus 1. Ioh. 1.3 Having spoken of our Communion with Christ he adds these things I write that your Ioy may be full Faith worketh this Joy by uniteing the Soul to Christ and applying his merites and from that application arises the pardon of sin and so that load of misery which was the great Cause of Sorrow is removed and so soon as the Soul finds it selfe lightned and unloaded of that burden that was sinking it to Hell it cannot chuse but leap for Joy in the Ease and Refreshment it finds Therefore that Psalm that David begins with the doctrine of the Pardon of Sin he Ends it with an Exhortation to Rejoyceing Blessed is the Man whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Psal. 32.1 Thus he begins but he ends vers 11. Be glad in the Lord and Rejoyce ye Righteous and shout for joy all ye that are â—pright in heart S. Peter speaks to his hearers of the Remission of sins Act. 2.38 and verse 41. 't is added they received his words Gladly and our Saviour joynes these two together be of good Comfort thy sins are forgiven thee Thus Isaiah 61.1 Good tidings of Liberty to Captives is proclaimed and a notable change there is of their Estate Who mourn in Zion Giving them beauty for ashes the Oyle of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the Spirit of Heaviness Think with what Joy the long imprison'd debter drown'd in debt recâ—â—ves a full Discharge and his Liberty or a condemned Malefactor the news of his Pardon and this will somewhat resemble it but yet fall far short of the joy that Faith brings by bringing Christ to the Soul and so forgiveness of sins in him But this is not all This Believing Soul is not only a debter acquitted and set free but Enrich'd besides with a new and great Estate not onely a pardon'd Malefactor but withall highly preferr'd and advanc'd to honour having a Right by the promises to the unsearchable Riches of Christ as the Apostle speaks and is receiv'd into favour with God and unto the Dignity of Sonship taken from the dunghill
are reprov'd for it they say and possibly think so too I will take heed to my self I will be guilty of this no more and because they go no deeper they are many of them ensnared in the same kind again But however if they do never commit that same sin they do but change it for some other as a current of waters if you stop their passage one way they rest not till they find another The conversation can never be uniformly and entirely good till the fram of the heart the affections and desires that lodge in it be changed It is naturally an evil treasure of impure lusts and must in some kind vent and spend what it hath within 'T is to begin with the wrong end of your work to rectify the outside first to smooth the conversation and not first of all purge the heart Evil affections are the source of evil speeches and actions Whence are strifes and fightings sayes St. Iames are they not from your lusts which war in your members Unquiet unruly lusts within are the cause of the unquietnesses and contentions abroad in the world One Man will have his corrupt will and another his and thus they chock and justle one another and by the cross encounters of their purposes as flints meeting they strike out these Sparkes that set all on fire So then according to the order of the Apostles Exhortation the only true principle of all good and Christian conversation in the world is the mortifing of all earthly and sinfull lusts in the heart while they have possession of the heart they do clog it and straiten it towards God and his wayes it cannot walk constantly in them but when the heart is freed from them 't is enlarg'd and so as David speaks fits a Man not only to walk but to run the way of Gods commandements And without this freeing of the heart a Man will be at the best very uneven and incongruous in his ways one step like a Christian and another like a worldling which is an unpleasant and an unprofitable way not according to that word Psa. 18. Thou hast set my feet as hindes feet set them even as the word is not only swift but straight and even and that is the thing here requir'd the whole course and revolution of a Christian's life to be like himself and that it may be so the whole body of sin and all the memberâ— of it all the deceitful lusts must be crucified In the words there are 3. Things 1. One point of a Christians ordinary entertainment in the world is to be evil spokne of 2. Their good use of that evil to do the better for 't 3. The good end and certain effect of their so doing The glory of God 1. Whereas they speak against you as evil doers This is in the general the disease of Mans corrupt nature and argues much the baseness and depravedness of it this propension to evil speaking one of another either blotting the best actions with misconstructions or taking doubtful things by the left ear not chusing the most favourable but on the contrary the very harshest sense that can be put upon them Some Men take more pleasure in the narrow Eying of the true and real faults of Men and then speak of them with a kind of delight All these kind of evil speakings are such fruits as spring from that bitter root of pride and self-love which is naturaly deep fastened in every Mans heart But besides this general bent to evil speaking there is a particular malice in the world against those that are born of God which must have vent in calumnies and reproaches If this evil speaking be the hissing that is natural to the Serpents seed sure by reason of their natural antipathy it must be breath'd forth most against the seed of the Woman those that are one with Jesus Christ If the tongues of the ungodly be sharp swords even to one another they will whet them sharper than ordinary when they are to use them against the righteous to wound their name The evil tongue must be alwayes burning that is set on fire of hell as St. Iames speaks but against the Godly it will be sure to be heated seven times hotter than 't is for others Reasons of this are 1. Being naturaly haters of God and yet unable to reach him what wonder if their malice act it self against His Image in His Children and labour to blot and stain that all they can with the foulest calumnies 2. Because they are neither able nor willing themselves to attain unto the Spotless holy life of Christians they bemire them and would make them like themselves by false aspersions they cannot rise to the Estate of the Godly and therefore they endeavour to draw them down to theirs by detraction 3. The Reproaches they cast upon the Professors of Pure Religion they mean mainly against Religion it self and intend them to reflect upon it These evil speakings of the World against pious Men professing Religion are partly gross falshoods invented without the least ground or appearance of truth for the World being ever credulous of evil especially upon so deep a prejudice as it hath against the Godly the falsest and absurdest calumnies will alwayes find so much belief as to make them odious or very suspected at least to such as know them not this is the Worlds Maxime Lye confidently and it will alwayes do something As a Stone taken out of the Mire and thrown against a white Wall tho it stick not there but rebound presently back again yet it leaves a spot behind it And with those kind of evil speakings were the Primitive Christians surcharg'd even with gross and horrible falshoods as all know that know any thing of the History of those times even such things were reported of them as the worst of wicked Men would scarce be guilty of The Devil for as witty as he is makes use again and again of his old inventions and makes them serve in several ages for so were the Waldenses accused of inhumane banquetings and beastly promiscuous uncleanness and divers things not once to be named amongst Christians much less to be practised by them so that it is no new thing to meet with the Impurest vilest slanders as the Worlds reward of Holiness and the practice of pure Religion Then again Consider How much more will the wicked insult upon the least real blemishes that they can espy amongst the Professors of Godliness And in this there is a threefold injury very ordinary 1. Strictly to pry into and maliciously to object against Christians the smallest imperfections and frailties of their Lives as if they pretended and promis'd absolute perfection They do indeed exercise themselves such as are Christians indeed with St. Paul to keep a good Conscience in all things towards God and Men they have a regard unto all Gods Commandments as David speaks they have a sincere love to God which makes them study
they mock and despise is that Spirit that seals men to the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 If any pretend they have the Spirit and so turn away from the straight rule of the Holy Scriptures they have the Spirit indeed but 't is a fanatical Spirit the Spirit of Delusion and Giddiness but the Spiâ—it of God that leads his Children in the way of truth and is for that purpose sent them from Heaven to guide them thither squares their thoughtts and wayes to that Rule And that Word whereof it is Author which was inspired by it sanctifies them to Obedience He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a Lyar and the truth is not in him 1 Ioh. 2.4 Now this Spirit that sanctifieth and sanctifieth to Obedience is within us the Evidence of our Election and Earnest of our salvation and whoso are not sanctified and led by this Spirit the Apostle tells us what is their Condition Rom. 8.9 if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Let us not delude our selves this is a truth if there be any in Religion they that are not made Saints in the estate of Grace shall never be Saints in Glory The Stones that are appointed for that Glorious Temple above are hewen and polished and prepar'd for it here as the stones were wrought and prepared in the Mountains for building the Temple at Ierusalem This is the Order Psal. 84.12 He gives Grace and Glory as Moralists can tell us that the way to the Temple of Honour is through the Temple of Vertue They that think they are bound for Heaven in the wayes of sin have either found a new way untroden by all that are gone thither or will find themselves deceived in the end We need not then that poor shift for the pressing of Holiness and Obedience upon Men. to represent it to them as the meriting cause of Salvation this is not at all to the purpose seeing without it the Necessity of Holiness to Salvation is pressing enough for holiness is no less necessary to Salvation then if it were the meriting Cause of it it is as insepararably tyed to it as the purpose of God and in the Order of performance Godliness is as certainly before Salvation as if Salvation did wholly and all together depend upon it and were in point of Justice deserved by it Seeing then there is no other way to Happiness but by Holiness no Assurance of the Love of God without it Take the Apostles advice study it seek it follow earnestly after holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Grace unto you and peace be multâ—plyed It hath always been a civil custom amongst Men to season their intercourse with good wishes one for another this the Apostles use in their Epistles in a spiritual divine way suitable to their holy Writings It well becomes the Messengers of Grace and Peace to wish both and to make their salutation conform to the main scope and subject of their discourse The Hebrew word of salutation we have here Peace and that which is the spring both of this and these good things are all in the other word of Salutation used by the Greeks Grace All right Rejoycing and Prosperity and Happiness flowes from this source and from this alone and is sought elsewhere in vain In general this is the Character of a Christian spirit to have a heart fill'd with Blessing with this sweet good will and good wishing to all especially to those that are their Brethren in the same Profession of Religion And this Charity is a precious Balm diffusing it self in the wise and seasonable expressions of it upon fit occasions and those expressions must be cordial and sincere not like that you call Court Holy-water in which there is nothing else but falshood or vanity at the best This manifests Men to be the Sons of Blessing and of the ever blessed God the Father of all Blessing when in his name they bless one another yea our Saviours Rule goes higher to bless those that curse them and urges it by that Relation to God as their Father that in this they may resemble him That ye may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven But in a more eminent way it s the duty of Pastors to bless their People not only by their publick and Solemn Benediction but by daily and instant Prayers for them in secret And the great Father who seeth in Secret will reward them openly They are to be ever both endeavouring and wishing their increase of knowledge and all Spiritual grace in which they have St. Paul a frequent Pattern They that are Messengers of this Grace if they have Experience of it 't is the Oyl of gladness that will dilate their heart and make it large in Love and spiritual desires for others Especially their own Flocks Let us 1 Consider the matter of the Apostles desire for them Grace and peace 2. The measure of it that it may be multiplyed 1 Grace We need not make a noise with the many School-distinctions of Grace and describe in what sense 't is here to be taken for no doubt 't is all saving Grace to those dispersed Brethren so that in the largest Notion that it can have that way we may safely here take it What is preventing Grace assisting Grace Working and Co-working Grace as we may admit these differences in a sound sense but divers Names of the same effectual saving Grace in relation to our different Estate as the same Sea receives different names from the different parts of the shoar it beats upon First It Prevents and Workes then it Assists and Prosecutes what it hath wrought he worketh in us to will and to do but the whole sense of saving Grace I conceive is comprehended in these two 1 Grace in the Fountain that is the peculiar Love and Favour of God 2. In the Streams the Fruits of this Love for 't is not an empty but a most rich and liberal Love viz. All the Graces and spiritual Blessings of God bestowed upon them whom he hath freely chosen The Love of God in it selfe can neither Diminish nor Increase but it is Multiplied or abounds in the Manifestation and Effects of it so then to desire Grace to be multiplied to them is to Wish to them the living Spring of it that Love that cannot be exhausted but is ever flowing forth and in stead of abateing makes each day richer then another And this is that which should be the top and summe of Christian Desires To have or want any other thing indifferently but to be resolved and resolute in this to seek a share in this Grace the free Love of God and the sure Evidences of it within you the fruit of holiness and the Graces of his Spirit but the most of us are otherwise taken up We will not be convinc'd how basely and foolishly we are busied though in the best and most respected employments
of the World So long as we neglect our noblest trade of growing Rich in Grace and the comfortable enjoyment of the Love of God Our Saviour tells us of one thing needful Importing that all other things are comparatively Unnecessary By-works and meer Impertinences and yet in these we lavish out our short uncertain time we let the other stand by till we find leasure Men who are altogether prophane think not on it at all some others possibly deceive themselves thus and say When I have done with such a business in which I am engaged then I will sit down seriously to this and bestow more Time and pains on these things that are undeniably Greater and Better and more worthy of it but this is a slight that is in danger to undo us what if we attain not to the end of that business but end our selves before it or if we do not yet some other business may step in after that Oh then say we that must be dispatch'd also thus by such delayes we may loose the present opportunity and in the end our own souls Oh be perswaded it deserves your dilligence and that without delay to seek somewhat that may be constant enough to abide with you and strong enough to uphold you in all Conditions and that is alone this free Grace and Love of God While many say Who will shew us any good set you in with David in his choise Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon me and this shall rejoyce my heart more then the abundance of Corn and Wine This is that Light that can break into the darkest dungeons from which all other Lights and Comforts are shut out and without this all other enjoyâ—ents are what the world would be without the Sun nothing but darkness Happy they who have this light of Divine favour and Grace shining into their souls for by it they shall be led to that City where the Sun and Moon are needless for the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Rev. 21.23 Godliness is profitable for all things saith the Apostle having the Promises of this life and that which is to come all other blessings are the attendants of Grace and follow upon it This blessing that the Apostle here and so St. Paul in his Epistles joynes with Grace was with the Jewes of so large a sense as to Comprehend all that they could desire when they wish'd Peace they meant all kind of good all welfare and prosperity And thus we may take it here for all kind of Peace yea and for all other blessings but especially that spiritual Peace which is the proper fruit of Grace and doth so intrinsecally flow from it We may and ought to wish to the Church of God outward blessiings and particularly outward Peace as one of the greatest so one of the most valluable favours of God thus prayed the Psalmist Psal. 122.7 Peace be within thy walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces But that wisdom that doth what he will by what means he will and works one contrary out of another brings Light out of Darkness Good out of Evil Can and doth turn Tears and Troubles to the advantage of his Church but certainly in it self Peace is more suitable to its increase and if noâ— abus'd proves so too As in the Apostolick Times it s said The Church had Peace and Increased exceedingly Act. 9.31 We ought also to wish for Ecclesiastical Peace to the Church that she may be free from Dissensions and Divisions These readily arise more or less as we see in all times and haunt Religion and the Reformation of it as a malus genius S. Paul had this to say to his Corinthians though he had given them this testimony that they were enriched in all Utterance and Knowledge and were wanting in no guift Cap. 1. v. 5. Yet presently after v. 13 I hear that there are Divisions and Contentions among you The Enemy had done this as our Saviour speaks and this Enemy is no fool for by divine permission he works to his own end very wisely for there is not one thing that doth on all hands choak the seed of Religion so much as Thorny debates and differences about it selfe So in succeeding Ages and at the breaking forth of the Light in Germany in Luther's time Multitudes of Sects arose Profane men do not only stumble but fall and break their necks upon these Divisions We see think they and some of them possibly say it ouâ— that they who mind Religion most cannot agree upon 't Our easiest way is not to Embroyl our selves nor at all to be troubled with the business Many are of Gallio's temper they will care for none of those things Thus these Offences prove a mischief to the prophane World as our Saviour sayes Wo to the World because of Offences Then the erring side that is taken with new opinions and fancies are altogether taken up with them their main thoughts spent upon them and thus the sap is drawn from that which should nourish and prosper in their hearts sanctified useful knowledge and saving grace The other are as weeds that divert the nourishment in Gardens from the Plants and Flowers and certainly these weeds viz. Mens own conceits cannot but grow more with them when they give way to them then solid Religion doth for their hearts as he said of the earth are Mother to those and but Step-mother to this It is also a Loss even to those that oppose Errors and Divisions that they are forced to be busied that way for the wisest and Godliest of them find and such are sensible of it that disputes in Religion are no friends to that which is far sweeter in it but hinders and abates it viz. these pious and devout thoughts that are both the more useful and truly delightful As Peace is a choice blessing so this is the choisest Peace and is the peculiar inseparable Effect of this Grace with which it is here joyntly wish'd Grace and Peace The flower of Peace growing upon the Root of Grace This spiritual Peace hath two things in it 1 Reconciliation with God 2 Tranquillity of Spirit The quarrel and matter of enmity you know betwixt God and Man is the Rebellion the sin of Man and he being naturally altogether sinful there can proceed nothing from him but what foments and increases the Hostility 'T is Grace alone the most free Grace of God that contrives and Offers and makes the Peace else it had never been We had universally perish'd without it Now in this is the wonder of Divine Grace that the Almighty God seeks agreement and entreats for it with sinful clay which he could wholly destroy in a moment Jesus Christ the Mediator and Purchaser of this Peace bought it with his Blood kill'd the enmity by his own Death Eph. 2.15 And therefore the Tenor of it in the Gospel runs still in his name Rom. 5.1 we have Peace with God
not then be our wisdom to make the worthiest choyce seeing it is offered us and is extream folly to reject it Grace doth not pluck up by the roots and wholly destroy the natural passions of the mind because they are distempered by sin that were an extreme remedy to Cure by killing and heal by cutting off no but it corrects the distemper in them it dries not up this main stream of Love but purifies it from the Mud it is full of in its wrong Course or calls it to its Right Channel by which it may run into Happiness and empty it selfe into the Ocean of goodness The Holy Spirit turns the love of the soul towards God in Christ for in that way only can it apprehend his Love so then Jesus Christ is the first Object of this divine Love he is Medium unionis through whom God conveys the sense of his Love to the soul and receives back its Love to him And if we will consider his incomparable Beauty we may look on it in the holy Scriptures particularly in that divine song of Loves Wherein Solomon borrowes all the beauties of the Creatures dips his pencill in all their severall Excellencies to set him forth unto us who is the chief of ten Thousands There is an inseparable intermixture of Love with Belief and a pious Affection receiving divine Truth so that in effect as we distinguish them they are mutually strengthened the one by the other and so though it seem a Circle 't is a divine one and falls not under censure of the School's Pedantry If you ask how shall I do to Love I Answer Believe If you ask how shall I believe I Answer Love Although the Expressions to a carnall mind are altogether unsavoury by gross mistaking them yet to a Soul taught to Read and Hear them by any measure of that same Spirit of love wherewith they were penn'd they are full of heavenly and unutterable sweetness Many Directions and means of begetting and increasing this Love of Christ may be here offered but they that delight in number may multiply them but sure this One will Comprehend the greatest and best part if not all of them Believe and you shall Love Believe much and you shall Love much labour for strong and deep persuasions of the glorious things that are spoken of Christ and this will command Love Certainly did Men indeed believe his worth they would accordingly Love him for the Reasonable Creature cannot but affect that most which it firmly believes to be worthy of affection O this mischief of Unbelief is that which makes the heart cold and dead towards God Seek then to believe Christs Excellency in himselfe and his Love to us and our interest in him and this will kindle such a fire in the heart as will make it ascend in a Sacrifice of Love to him Many Signes likewise of this Love may be multiplied according to the many fruits and workings of it but in them all it self is its own most infallible Evidence When the soul finds that all its Obedience and endeavour to keep the Commands of Jesus Christ which himself makes its Character do flow from Love then it is true and sincere For do or suffer what you will withour Love all passes for nothing All are Cyphers without it they signifie nothing 1. Cor. 13. This is the Message of the Gospell and that which the Ministry aimes at and therefore the Ministers ought to be Suitors not for themselves but for Christ to Espouse souls to him and to bring in many hearts to Love him And certainly this is the most compendious way to perswade to all other Christian duties this is to converse with Jesus Christ and therefore where his Love is no other incentive will be needfull For Love delights in the presence and converse of the party Loved If we are to perswade to duties of the second Table the summe of those is Love to our Brethren resulting from the Love of Christ which diffuseth such a sweetness into the soul that its all Love and meekness and Gentleness and long suffering If times be for suffering Love will make the soul not onely bear but welcome the bitterest afflections of life and the hardest kinds of death for his sake In a word there is in Love a sweet constraint or tying of the heart to all Obedience and Duty The Love of God is requisite in Ministers for their preaching of the word so our Saviour to St. Peter Iohn 21.15 Peter lovest thou me then feed my lambs It is requisite for the people that they receive the Truth in the Love of it and that Christ preach'd be Entertain'd in the soul and Embrac'd by Faith and Love You that have made choyce of Christ for your Love let not your hearts slip out to renew your wonted base familiarity with Sin For that will bring new bitterness to your souls and at least for some time will deprive you of the sensible favour of your beloved Jesus delight alwayes in God and give him your whole heart for he deserves it all and is a satisfying good to it the largest heart is all of it too strait for the riches of consolation that he brings with him seek to Increase in this Love for tho its at first weak yet Labour to find it daily rise higher and burn hotter and clearer and consume the dross of Earthly desires Receiving the end of your Faith Although the soul that Believes and Loves is put in present possession of God as far as it is Capable in its sojourning here yet it desires a full Enjoyment which it cannot attain to without Removing hence While we are present in the body we are absent from the Lord saith the Apostle And because they are assur'd of that happy Exchange that being united and freed of this body they shall be present with the Lord and that having his own word for 't that Where he is they shall be also this begets such an assured Hope as bears the name of possession Therefore its said here Receiveing the end of your faith This Receiveing likewise flows from Faith Faith apprehends the present Truth of the divine Promises and so makes the things to come present and Hope looks out to their after Accomplishment which if the promises be true as Faith averrs then Hope hath good reason firmly to expect it This desire and Hope are the very wheels of the Soul that carry it on and Faith the common Axis on which they rest In the words there are two things 1. The good hoped for in Christ so Believed on and Loved 2. The assuredness of the Hope it selfe yea as sure as if it were already accomplished As for the good hoped for it consists 1. In the nature of it Viz. The Salvation of their Soul 2. in a Relative Property of it the End of their Faith The nature of it is Salvation and Salvation of the soul it imports full deliverance from all kind of misery and
his promise because I live ye shall live also Ioh. 14.19 Christ and the Believer are One this is that Great Mystery the Apostle speaks of Eph. 5. though ' it s a common known truth the words and outside of it obvious to all yet none can understand it but they that indeed partake of it by vertue of that Unction their sins were accounted His and Christs sufferings are accounted theirs and by consequence His Glory the consequent of his sufferings is likewise theirs there is an indissoluble connection betwixt the life of Christ and of a Believer Our life is hid with Christ in God and therefore while we remaine there our life is there though hid and when he who is our life shall appear we likewise shall appear with him in glory Colos. 3.14 Seeing the sufferings and Glory of our Redeemer are the maine subject of the Gospel and the Causes of our salvation and our comfortable persuasion of it ' it s a wonder that they are not more the matter of our thoughts should we not daily consider the bitterness of that cup of Wrath he drunk for us and be wrought to Repentance and Hatred of sin to have sin imbitter'd to us by that Consideration and find the sweetness of his Love in that he did drink it and by that be deeply possessed with Love to him these things we now and then speak of but they sink not As our Saviour exhorts where he is speaking of those same sufferings O that they were engraven on our hearts and that sin were Crucified in us and the world Crucified to us and we unto the world by the crosse of Christ. And then considering the Glory wherein he is And to have our eye often upon that and our hearts solaceing and refreshing themselves frequently with the thoughts of that Place and condition wherein Christ is and where our hopes are ere long to behold lin Both to see his Glory and to be Glorified with him is it not reason Yea ' its necessary it cannot be otherwise if our Treasure and Head be there that our hearts be there likewise The Third Expression here of the Gospell is that 't is the Doctrine of Grace The work of Redemption it self and severall parts of it and the Doctrine revealing it have all the name of Grace because they all flow from free Grace that is their spring and first Cause And 't is this wherein the Doctrine of Salvation is mainly comfortable that it is free ye are saved by Grace Eph. 2.8 't is true God requires faith it is through faith but he that requires that gives it too that 's not of your selves 't is the gift of God 't is wonderfull Grace to save upon believing believe in Jesus for Salvation and live accordingly and 't is done there is no more requir'd to thy pardon but that thou receive it by faith But truely Nature cannot do this 't is as impossible for us of our selves to Believe as to doe this then is that which makes it all Grace from Beginning to End that God not onely saves upon believeing but gives believeing it self Christ is called not onely the Author and finisher of our Salvation but even of our Faith Free Grace being rightly apprehended is that which stayes the heart in all Estates and keeps it from fainting even in its saddest times what though there is nothing in my self but matter of sorrow and discomfort it cannot be otherwise ' its not from my self that I look for Comfort at any time but from my God and his free Grace Here is Comfort enough for all times when I 'm at the best I ought not I dare not rely upon my self when Im at the worst I may and should rely upon Christ and his sufficient Grace Though I be the vilest sinner that ever came to him yet I know he is more Gracious then I am sinfull yea the more my sin is the more Glory will it be to his Grace to pardon it it will appear the richer doth not David argue thus Psa. 25.11 For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great But 'T is an empty fruitless notion of Grace to Consider it onely in the Generall and in a wandring way we are to look upon it particularly as address'd to us and 't is not enough that it comes to us in the message of him that brings it onely to our ear but that we may know what it is it must come into us then 't is ours indeed but if it come to us in the message only and we send it away again if iâ— shall so depart we had better never have heard of it it will leave a Guiltiness behind it that shall make all our sins weigh much heavier then before Enquire whether you have entertain'd this grace or not whether it be come to you and into you or not whether the kingdom of God is within you As our Saviour speaks 't is the woefullest condition that can be not to be far from the kingdom of God and yet to fall short and miss of it The Grace of God revealed in the Gospell is intreating you daily to receive it is willing to become yours if you Reject it not were your eyes open to behold the Beauty and Excellency of this Grace there would need no deliberation yea you would endure none desire your eyes to be opened and light from above that you may know it and your hearts open'd that you may be happy by receiving it The Apostle speaking of Jesus Christ as the foundation of our Faith calls him the same yesterday and to day and for ever Yesterday under the Law to day in those primitive times neerest his Incarnation and for ever in all succeeding ages And the Resemblance holds good between the two Cherubims over the Mercy-seat and the two Testaments those had their faces towards one another and both toward the Mercy-seat and these look to one another in their Doctrine agreeing perfectly and both look to Christ the true Mercy-seat and the great Subject of the scriptures This we see here the things that the Prophets foretold to come and the Apostles reported were accomplished were the same and from the same spirit they were the sufferings of Christ and his after Glory and in them our Salvation by free Grace The Prophesies look forward to the times of the Gospel and the things then fulfilled look back to the Prophesies and each confirms the other meeting all in Christ who is their truth and Center We have spoken already of the Author and subject of this salvation Now we come to say something of those who are Employed about it as well in Administring to it as in Admiring it And those are the Prophets and Apostles the first foretold what was to come the second Preached them when they came to pass In the Prophets there are three things here remarked 1. Their Dilligence 2. The Success of it 3. The Extent of its usefulness This
constrained semblances of reconcilement are but a false healing do but skin it over and therefore usually it breaks forth worse again How few are there that have truly maliceless hearts and find this intire upright affection towards their Brethren meeting them in their whole Conversation this Law of love deeply impress'd on their hearts and from thence express'd in their words and actions and that is unfeigned love as real to their Brethren as to themselves 2. It must be pure from a pure heart this is not all one with the former as some take it 'T is true doubleness and hypocrisie is an impurity and a great one but all impurity is not doubleness one may really mean that friendship and affection he expresses and yet it may be most contrarie to that which is here requir'd because impure such a brotherly Love as that of Simeon and Levi brethen in Iniquity as the expressing them brethren Gen. 49. is taken to mean When hearts are cemented together by impurity it selfe by ungodly conversation and society in sin as in uncleanness or drunkenness c. This is a swinish fraternity and friendship that is contracted as it were by wallowing in the same mire call it good fellowship or what you will all the fruit that in the end can be expected out of unholy friendliness and fellowship in sinning together is to be tormented together and add each to the torment of another The mutual Love of Christians must be pure arising from such causes as are pure and spiritual from the sense of our Saviour's Command and of his example For he himself joynes that with it A new Commandment give I you saith he that as I have loved you so you also love one another They that are indeed Lovers of God they are united by that their hearts meet in him as in one center They cannot but love one another where a godly Man sees his Fathers Image he is forc'd to love it he he loves those he perceives Godly so as to delight in them because that Image is in them and those that appear destitute of it he loves them so as to wish them partakers of that Image And this is all for God he loves Amicum in Deo inimicum propter Deum That is he loves a friend in God and an Enemy for God And as the Christians love is pure in its Cause so in its Effects and Exercise his society and converse with any tends mainly to this that he may muâ—ually help and be helpt in the knowledge and love of God desires most that he and his brethren may joyntly mind their journey heavenwards and further one another in their way to the full Enjoyment of God And this is truly the love of a pure heart that both begins and ends in God Fervently Not after a cold indifferent manner Let the Love of your Brethren be as a fire within you consuming that selfishness that is so contrary to it and is so natural to Men let it set your thoughts on work to study how to do others good let your love be an active Love intense within you and extending it selfe in doing good to the souls and bodies of your Brethren as they need and you are able Alium re alium concilio alium gratiâ as Sen. de benef Lib. 1. cap. 2. It is selfe-love that contracts the heart and shuts out all other Love both of God and Men save only so far as our own Interest carries and that is still self-love But the Love of God dilates the heart purifies Love and extends it to all Men but after a special manner directs it to those that are more peculiarly beloved of him and that is hero the particular love required Love of the Brethren In this is Implied our Obligation to it after a special manner to love those of the houshold of faith because they are our Brethren This concludes not only as Abraham said that there ought to be no strife but it binds most strongly to this sincere and pure and fervent love and therefore the Apostle in the next Verse repeats expresly the Doctrine of the mysterious New-birth and explains it more fully which he had mention'd in the entrance of the Epistle and again referr'd to it Verse 14 17. There is in this fervent Love sympathy with the griefs of our Brethren desire and endeavour to help them bearing their Infirmities and recovering them too if it may be raising them when they fall admonishing and reproving them as is needful sometimes sharply and yet still in Love Rejoycing in their good in their Gifts and Graces so far from envying them that we be glad as if they were our own there is the same blood running in their veins you have the same Father and the same spirit within you and the same Jesus Christ the head of that glorious fraternity the first born among many Brethren of which the Apostle saith Eph. 1.10 that he hath recollected into one all things in heaven and in earth The word is gathered them into one head And so suits very fitly to express that our union in him in whom sayes he in that same Epistle c. 4.16 The whole body is fitly compacted together and addes that which agrees to our purpose that this body grows up and edifies it selfe in love All the members receive spirits from the same head and are useful and serviceable one to another and to the whole body Thus these Brethren receiving of the same spirit from their head Christ are most strongly bent to the good one of another If there be but a thorn in the Foot the Back boweth the Head stoops down the Eyes look the Hands reach to it and endeavour its help and case In a word all the members partake of the good and evil one of another Now by how much this body is more spiritual and lively so much the stronger must the union and love of the parts of it be each to other You are brethren by the same new birth and born to the same Inheritance and such an one as shall not be an Apple of strife amongst you to beget debates and contentions No 't is enough for all and none shall prejudge another but you shall have joy in the happiness one of another seeing you shall then be perfect in love all harmony no difference in judgement nor affection all your harps tun'd to the same new Song which you shall sing for ever let that love begin here which shall never end And this same union I conceive is likewise pressed in the first words of the verse seeing you are partakers of that work of sanctification by the same word and the same spirit that works it in all the faithfull and by that are called and incorporate into that fraternity therefore live in it and like it You are purified to it therefore love one another after that same manner purely Let the profane world scoffe that name of Brethren you will not be so foolish
as to be scorn'd out of it being so honourable and happy and the day is at hand wherein those that scoffe you would give much more than all that the best of them ever possess'd in the world to be admitted into your number Seeing you have purifi'd your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit Here is 1. The chief seat or subject of the work of sanctification the Soul 2. The subordinate means Truth 3. The Nature of it obeying of truth 4. The chief worker of it The Holy Spirit For the first 'T is no doubt a work that goes through the whole man renews and purifies all Heb. 10.22 2 Cor. 7.1 But because it purifies the soul therefore 't is that does purifie all There begins impurity Mat. 15. not onely evil thoughts but all evill actions come forth from the heart which is there all one with the soul and therefore this purifying begins there makes the tree good that the fruit may be good 't is not so much externall performances that are the difference of Men as their inward temper we meet here in the same place and all partake of the same word and prayer But how wide a difference is there in Gods eye betwixt an unwash'd profane heart in the same exercise and a soul purified in some measure in obeying the truth and desirous to be further purified by further obeying it 2. That which is the subordinate means of this purity is the Truth or the word of God it is truth and pure in it self and begets truth and purity in the heart by teaching it concerning the holy and pure nature of God shewing it and his holy will which is to us the rule of purity And by representing Jesus Christ unto us as the fountain of our purity and Renovation from whose fulness we may receive grace for grace 3. The nature of this work that wherein the very being of this purifying consists is the Receiving or Obeying of this Truth So Gal. 3.1 Where 't is put for right believing The chief point of obedience is believing the proper obedience to Truth is to give credit to it and this divine belief doth necessarily bring the whole soul into obedience and conformity to that pure Truth which is in the word and so the very purifying and renewing of the soul is this obedience of faith as unbelief is its cheif impurity and disobedience therefore Act. 15.9 faith is said to purifie the heart 4. The chief worker of this sanctification is the Holy spirit of God they are said here to purifie themselves For 't is certain and undeniable that the soul it self doth act in believing or obeying the truth but not of it self it is not the first principle of motion They purifie their souls but 't is by the spirit They doe it by his enlivening power and a purifying vertue recevied from him Faith or obeying the truth works this purity But the Holy Ghost works that faith as in the forecited place God is said to purifie their hearts by faith Verse 8. He doth that by giving them the Holy Ghost The truth is pure and purifying yet can it not of it self purifie the soul but by the obeying or believing it and the soul cannot obey or believe but by the spirit which works in it that faith and by that faith purifies it and works Love in it ' it s the Impurity and Earthliness of Mens minds that is the great cause of disuâ—ion and disaffection amongst them and of all their striâ—es Iam. 4.1 This spirit is that fire that refines and purifies the soul from the dross of earthly desires that possess it and sublimates it to the love of God and of his Saints because they are his and are purified by the same spirit T is the property of fire to draw together things of the same kind the outward fire of Enmities and persecution that are kindled against the godly by the world doth some-what and if it were more considered by them would do more in this knitting their hearts closer one to another but it is this inward pure and purifying fire of the Holy Ghost that doth most powerfully unite them The true reason why there is so little truth of this Christian mutuall Love amongst those that are called Christians is because there is so little of this purifying Obedience to the truth whence it flowes Faith unfeigned would beget this Love unfeigned men may exhort to them both but they require the hand of God to work them in the heart Verse 23. Being borne again not of Corruptible seed But of Incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever THE two things that make up the Apostles Exhortation are the very summe of a Christians duty to walk as obedient children towards God and loving brethen one towards another And that it may yet have the deeper impression he here represents to them anew that new birth he mentioned before by which they are the children of God and so brethren We shall first speak of this Regeneration And then of the Seed This is the great dignity of believers that they are the sons of God Io. 1.12 and the great Evidence of the love of God that he hath bestow'd this dignity on them 1 Io. 3.1 For they are no way needfull to him he had from Eternity a Son perfâ—ctly like himself the character of his person and one Spirit proceeding from both and there is no Creation neither the first nor the second can add any thing to those and their happiness 't is most true of that blessed Trinity Satis amplum alter alterj Theatrum sumus But the gracious purpose of God to impart his goodness appears in this that he hath made himself such a multitude of sons not onely Angels that are so called but man a little lower than they in nature yet dignified with this name in his Creation St. Luke 3.38 Which was the Son of Adam which was the son of God He had not onely the Impression of Gods footsteps as they speak which all the Creatures have but of his Image and most of all in this is his rich Grace magnified that sin having defac'd that Image and so degraded Man from his honour and devested him of that title of sonship and stampt our polluted nature with the marks of vileness and bondage yea with the very Image of Satan Rebellion and Enmity against God that out of Mankind thus ruin'd and degenerated God should raise to himself a new Race and Generation of sons For this designe was the word made flesh Io. 1. The son made Man to make men the sons of God and 't is by him alone we are restor'd to this they that receive him receive with him and in him this priviledge Verse 12. And therefore 't is a sonship by Adoption and is so called in scripture in difference from his Eternall and Ineffable Generation who is and that was the onely begotten son of God yet that we may
affections may be drawn off from it to this spirituall life that is not subject unto death Verse 25. But the word of the Lord endureth for ever And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you THE word of God is so like himself and carries so the Image and impression of his power and wisdom that where they are spoke of together it is sometimes doubtfull whether the words are to be referr'd to himself or to his word so Heb. 14.12 And so here But there is no hazard seeing there is truth in both and pertinency too for they that referr them to God affirm that they are intended for the extolling of his word being the subject in hand and that we may know it to be like him But I rather think here that these words are meant of the word it is called living as here Heb. 4. And abiding for ever is expressely repeated of it here in the Prophet's words And with respect to those Learned Men that apply them to God I remember not that this abiding for ever is us'd to express Gods Eternity in himself Howsoever this incorruptible seed is the living and everlasting word of the living and Everlasting God and is therefore such because he whose it is is such Now this is not to be taken in a abstract sense of the word onely in its own nature but as the principle of Regeneration the seed of this new life because the word is enlivening and living therefore they with whom it is effectuall and into whose hearts it is receiv'd are begotten again and made alive by it and because the word is incorruptible and endureth for ever therefore that Life begot by it is such too cannot perish nor be cut down as the naturall Life No this Spirituall Life of grace is the certain beginning of that eternall Life of glory and shall end in it and therefore hath no end As the word of God in it selfe cannot be abolish'd but surpasses the endurance of the Heaven and Earth as our Saviour teaches and all the attempts of men against the Divine truth of that word to undo it are as vain as if they should consult to pluck the Sun out of the Firmament so likewise in the heart of a Christian it is Immortall and incorruptible Where it is once received by faith it cannot be obliterated again all the powers of darkness cannot destroy it although they be never so diligent in their attempts that way and this is the comfort of the Saints that the life which God by his word hath breath'd into their Souls though it have many and strong enemies such as they themselves could never hold out against yet for his own glory and his promise sake he will maintain that life and bring it to its perfection God will perfect that which concerneth me saith the Psalmest 'T is grossely contrary to the truth of the Scriptures to imagine that they that are thus renewed can be unborn again This new birth is but once of one kind though they are subject to frailties and weaknesses here in this spirituall life yet not to death any more not to such way of finning as would extinguish this life This is that which the Apostle Iohn sayes he that is born of God sinneth not and the reason he addes is the same that is here given the permanence and incorrupâ—ibleness of this word the seed of God abideth in him This is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you 'T is not sufficient to have these thoughts of the word of God in a generall way and not to know what that word is but we must be perswaded that that word which is preached to us is this very word of so excellent vertue and of which these high things are spoken that it is incorruptible and abideth for ever and therefore surpasses all the world and all the excellencies and glory of it Although delivered by weak Men the Apostles and by far weaker than they in the constant ministry of it yet it loseth none of its own vertue for that depends upon the first owner and author of it the â—verliving God who by it begets his chosen unto life eternall This therefore is that which we should learn thus to hear and thus to receive and esteem and love this holy this living word to despise all the glistring vanities of this perishing life all outward pomp yea all inward worth all wisdom and naturall endowments of mind in comparison of the heavenly light of the Gospell preach'd unto us Rather to hazard all than lose that and banish all other things from that Place that is due to it to lodge it alone in our hearts as our onely treasure here and the certain pledge of that treasure of glory laid up for us in heaven To which blessed state God of his Infinit mercy bring us Amen Chap. Second 1 Pet. Chap. 2. Verse 1.2 Wherefore laying aside all Malice and all guile and Hypocrisies and Envies and all evil speakings Verse 2. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby THe same power and goodness of God that manifests it self in giving being to his creatures appears likewise in their sustaining and preservation to give being is the first and to support it is the continued effect of that power and goodness Thus it is both in the first Creation and in the second In the first the creatures to which he gave Life he provided with convenient nourishment to uphold that life Gen· 1. So here in the close of the former Chapter we find the Doctrine of the New birth and life of a Christian and in the beginning of this the proper food of that life and it is the same word by which we there find it to be begotten that is here the nourishment of it and therefore Christians are here exhorted by the Apostle so to esteem and so to use it and that is the main scope of the words Obs. in general The word the principle and the support of our spiritual being is both the incorruptible seed and the incorruptible food of that new life of grace which must therefore be an incorruptible life And this may convince us that the ordinary thoughts even of us that hear this word are far below the true excellency and worth of it the stream of custom and our profession brings us hither and we sitt out our hour under the sound of this Word but how few consider and prize it as the great Ordinance of God for the salvation of Souls The beginner and the sustainer of the Divine life of Grace within us and certainly untill we have these thoughts of it and seek to feel it thus our selves although we hear it most frequently and slip no occasion yea hear it with attention and some present delight yet still we misse the right use of it and turn it from its true end while we take it not as that ingrafted word
life from Christ First there 's his own dignity express'd then his dignifying us who is himself the first begotten among the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the earth Revel 1.5 and then as followes Verse 6 hath made us Kings and Priests unto God the Father A Royal Priesthood That the Dignity of Believers is express'd by these two together by Priesthood and Royalty teaches us the Worth and Excellency of that Holy Function taken properly and so by analogy the dignity of the Ministry of the Gospel which God hath plac'd in his Church in stead of the Priesthood of the Law for therefore doth this Title of Spiritual Priesthood fitly signify a great Priviledge and Honour that Christians are promoted to and is joyn'd with that of Kings because the proper Office of Priesthood was so Honourable Before it was establish'd in one Family the chief the first born of each Family had right to this as a special Honour and amongst the Heathens in some places their Princes and greatest Men yea their Kings were their Priests and universally the performing of their Holy things was an imployment of great Honour and esteem amongst them Though humane ambition hath strain'd this consideration too high to the favouring and founding of a Monarchical Prelacy in the Christian World yet that abuse of it ought not to prejudge us of this due and just consequence from it that the holy Functions of Gods House have very much Honour and Dignity in them And the Apostle we see 2 Cor. 3. preferr's the Ministry of the Gospel to the Priesthood of the Law so then they mistake much that think it a disparagement to Men that have some advantage of Birth or Wit more than ordinary to bestow them thus and judge the meanest Persons and things good enough for this high calling sure this conceit cannot have place but in an unholy Irreligious mind that hath either none or very mean thoughts of God If they that are called to this Holy Service would themselves consider this aright it would not puff them up but humble them comparing their own worthlesness with this great work and wonder at Gods dispensation that should have honour'd them so Eph. 3.8 So the more a Man rightly extols this his Calling the more he humbles himself under the weight of it and would make them very careful to walk more like it in eminency of holiness for in that consists the true dignity of it There is no doubt that this Kingly Priesthood is the common Dignity of all Believers this honour have all the Saints they are Kings have victory and Dominion given them over the powers of darkness and the lusts of their own hearts that held them captive and domineer'd over them before Base slavish lusts not born to command yet are the hard taskmasters of unrenewed minds and there is no true subduing them but by the power and spirit of Christ thay may be quiet for a while in a Natural Man but they are but then asleep as soon as they awake again they return to hurry and drive him with their wonted violence Now this is the benefit of receiving the Kingdom of Christ into a Mans heart that it makes him a King himself all the Subjects of Christ are Kings not only in regard of that pure Crown of Glory they hope for and shall certainly attain but in the present they have a Kingdom that is the pledge of that other overcoming the World and Satan and themselves by the power of Faith Mens bona regnum possidet 't is true but there is no mind truly good but that wherein Christ dwells There is not any kind of Spirit in the World Noble like that Spirit that is in a Christian the very Spirit of Jesus Christ that great King the spirit of glory as our Apostle calls it infr c. 4. This is a sure way to enoble the basest and poorest amongst us this Royalty takes away all attendors nothing of all that is past to be laid to our charge or to dishonour us They are not shut out from God as before But being in Christ are brought neer unto him and have free access to the Throne of his grace Heb. 10. They resemble in their Spiritual estate the legal Priesthood very clearly 1. In their Consecration 2. In their service and 3. In their Laws of living 1. They were wash'd therefore this express'd Revel 1.5 He hath washt us in his Blood and then followes made us Kings and Priests There were no coming near unto God in his holy Services as his Priests unless we were cleans'd from the guiltiness and pollution of our sins This that pure and purging Blood doth and it alone no other Laver can do it no water but that fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness No blood none of all that blood of Legal Sacrifices Heb. 9. but only the Blood of that spotless Lamb that takes away the sins of the World So with this we have that other Ceremoany of the Priests Consecration which was by Sacrifice as well as by washing for he at once offer'd up himself as our Sacrifice and let out his blood for our washing and with good reason is that prefix'd there Revel 1.5 He hath loved us and then it followes washed us in his blood that precious stream of his heart blood for our washing told clearly that it was a heart full of unspeakable Love that was the source of it 3. There is anointing Namely The graces of the Spirit confer'd upon Believers flowing unto them from Christ For 't is of his fulness that we all receive grace for grace and the Apostle St. Paul sayes 2 Cor. 1.21 that we are establish'd and anointed in Christ it was poured on him as our head and runs down from him unto us He Christ and we Christians as partakers of his anointing The consecrating Oyl of the Priests was made of the richest Oyntments and Spices to shew the preciousness of the graces of Gods Spirit that are bestow'd on those Spiritual Priests and as that holy Oyl was not for common use nor for any other Persons to be anointed withal save the Priests only so is the Spirit of grace a peculiar gift of Believers others might have costly oyntments amongst the Jewes but none of that same sort with the Consecration-Oyl Natural Men may have very great gifts of Judgment and Learning and eloquence and Moral Vertues but they have none of this precious Oyl Namely the spirit of Christ communicated to them No all their endowments are but common and profane that Holy Oyl signified particularly Eminency of light and knowledge in the Priests therefore in Christians there must be light they that are grosly ignorant of Spiritual things are sure not of this order this anointing is said to teach us all things 1. Iohn 2.27 That holy Oyl was of a most fragrant sweet smell by reason of its precious composition but much more sweet is the smell of that Spirit wherewith believers
himself down amongst the Beasts and the consolations of the Spirit and Communion with God raises him above himself and associates him with the Angels But let us speak to the Apostles own disuasives from these lusts 1. From the Condition of Christians 2. From the Condition of those lusts As Strangers These Dispersed Jews were Strangers scatter'd in divers Countries as Chap. 1. V. 1 but here that is not intended they are called Strangers in that Spiritual sense that agrees in common to all the Saints possibly in calling them thus he alludes to their outward dispersion but means their Spiritual alienation from the World and Interest in the New Ierusalem And this he uses as a very pertinent enforcement of his Exhortation Whatsoever others do the serving of the flesh and love of the World is most incongruous and unseemly in your Person Consider what you are If you were Citizens of this World then you might drive the same trade with them follow the same lusts but seeing you are chosen and called out of this World and invested into a new Society made free of another City and are therefore here but Travellers passing through to your Countrey 't is very reasonable that there be this difference betwixt you and the World that while they live as at home Let your carriage be such as fits Strangers not glutting your selves with these kind of pleasures surfeiting upon their delcious fruits as some unwary Travellers do abroad but as wise Strangers living warily and soberly and still minding most of all your journey homewards suspecting dangers and snares in your way and so walking with holy fear as the Hebrew word for a Stranger imports There is indeed a miserable party even within a Christian the remainder of corruption that is no Stranger here and therefore keeps friendship and correspondence with the World and will readily betray him if he watch not the more so that he is not only to fly the Pollutions of the World that are round about him and to chuse his steps that he be not ensnared from without but he is to be upon a continual guard against the Lusts and Corruption that is yet within himself to curb and control his own lusts and give them resolute and flat refusals when they sollicit him and to stop up their Essayes and opportunities of intercourse with the World and such things as nourish them and so to do what he can to starve them out of the holds they keep within him and to strengthen that new nature which is in him to live and act according to it tho so he shall be sure to live as a Stranger here and a despis'd mock'd and hated Stranger And 't is not the worse that it be so if Men in Forraign Countreys be subject to forget their own at any time 't is sure then when they are kindlyest us'd abroad and are most at their ease and thus a Christian may be in some danger when he is best accommodate and hath most of the smiles and caresses of the World that though he can never wholly forget his Home that is above yet his thoughts of it will be less frequent and his desires of it less earnest and it may be he may insensibly slide into Customes and habitudes as men will do that are well seated in some other Country But by the troubles and unfriendliness of the World he gains this that when they abound most upon him he then feels himself a Sranger and remembers to behave himself so and thinks often with much delight and strong desires on his own Country and the rich and sure Inheritance that lyes there and the ease and rest he shall have when he comes thither And this will persuade him strongly to fly all polluted ways and lusts as fast as the World followes them it will make him abhorr the pleasures of sin and use the allowable injoyments of this earth warily and moderately never engaging his heart to them as Worldlings do but alwayes keeping that free free from that earnest desire in the pursuit of worldly things and that deep delight in the obtaining of them which the Men of the earth bestow upon them There is a diligence in his Calling and prudent regard of his affairs not only permitted to a Christian but requir'd of him But yet in comparison of his great and High Calling as the Apostle calls it he followes all his other businesses with a kind of coldness and indifferency as not accounting very much which way they go his heart is elsewhere The Traveller provides himself as he can of entertainment and lodging where he comes if it be commodious 't is well but if not 't is no great matter if he find but necessaries he can abate delicacies very well for where he finds them in his way he neither can nor if he could would chuse to stay there though his Inn were dressed with the richest hangings and furniture yet 't is not his home he must and would leave it That 's the character of ungodly Men they mind earthly things Phil. 3. they are drown'd in them over head and ears as we say If Christians would consider how litle and for how litle a while they are concern'd in any thing that 's here they would go through any estate and any changes of estate either to the better or the worse with very composed equal minds always moderate in their necessary cares and never taking any care at all for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it Let them that have no better home than this world to lay claim to live here as at home and serve their lusts they that have all their portion in this life no more good to look for than what they can catch here Let them take their time of the poor profits and pleasures that are here But you that have your whole estate all your riches and pleasures laid up in Heaven and reserv'd there for you let your hearts be there and your conversation there this is not the place of your rest nor your delights unless you would be willing to change and to have your good things here as some foolish Travellers that spend the estate they should live on at home in a litle whiles braving it abroad amongst strangers will you with profane Esau sell your birthright for a messe of pottage Sell eternity for a moment and such pleasures as a moment of them is more worth than an eternity of the other It were quarrel enough against fleshly lusts which war against the Soul That they are so far below the Soul that they cannot content no not at all reach the Soul they are not a sutable much less a satisfying good to it Although sin hath unspeakably abus'd the Soul of Man yet its excellent nature and original does still cause a vast disproportion betwixt it and all those gross base things of the earth that concern the flesh and go no further But this is not all these fleshly lusts
devouring fire as 't is in his Parable Iud. 9.20 Fire going forth from Abimelech to devour the Men of Sechem and fire from Sechem to devour Abimelech Verse 15. For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish Men. Verse 16. As free and not using your Liberty for a Cloak of Maliciousness but as the servants of God THis continues the same reason of the same Christian Duty if they will obey the Lord then they must obey Civil Powers for that is his will and they will not deny that their Obligation to him for they are his servants Verse 16. The words indeed are more general than the former but they relate chiefly in this place to the particular in hand so that neither in that kind nor in any other they dishonour their profession and abuse their Liberty mistaking it as an exemption from those Duties to which it doth more straitly tye them so then here the point of civil Obedience and all other good conversation amongst Men is recommended to Christians as conform to the will of God and the effectuallest clearing of their profession and very agreeable to their Christian Liberty The will of God This is the strongest and most binding reason that can be us'd to a Christian mind that hath resign'd it self to be Govern'd by that rule to have the will of God for its Law Whatsoever is requir'd of it upon that Warrant it cannot refuse although it cross a Man 's own humour or the interest of his private advantage yet if his heart be subjected to the will of God he will not stand with him in any thing one word from God I will have it so silences all and carries it against all opposition It were a great point if we could be perswaded to esteem duly of this it were indeed all it would make light and easy work in those things that go so hardly on with us though we are daily exhorted to them Is it the will of God that I should live soberly Then though my own corrupt will and my companions be against it yet it must be so wills he that I forbear Cursing and Oaths though my custom is for it Yet I must offer violence to my Custom and set against the stream of all their customes that are round about me to obey his will who wills all things justly and holily will he have my Charity not only Liberal in giving but in forgiving and real and hearty in both Will he have me Bless them that Curse me and do good to them that hate me and love mine Enemies Though the World count it a hard task and my own corrupt heart possibly find it so yet it shall be done and not as upon unpleasant necessity but willingly and chearfully and with the more delight because 't is difficult For so it proves my Obedience the more and my love to him whose will it is Though mine Enemies deserve not my love yet he that bids me love them does and if he will have this the touchstone to try the uprightness of my love to him shall it fail there No his will Commands me so absolutely and he himself is so lovely that there can be no body so unlovely in themselves or to me but I can love them upon his Command and for his sake But that it may be thus there must be a renewed frame of mind by which a Man may renounce the World and the Formes of it and himself and his own sinful heart and its way to study and follow the only good and acceptable and perfect will of God Rom. 12.2 To move most under that line not willingly declining to any hand to have our whole minds taken up in searching it and our whole heart in embracing it Be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is sayes the Apostle Eph. 5 17· Being about to exhort to particular Duties as our Apostle here is doing This is the task of a Christian to understand his Lords will and with a practical understanding that he may walk in all well pleasing unto God thus the Apostle likewise exhorts the Thessalonians pathetically 1 Ep. Chap. 4.1 and addes Verse 3. This is the will of God even our Sactification And then proceeds particularly against uncleanness and deceit c. Let this then be your endeavour to have your wills Crucified to whatsoever is sinful yea to will outward indifferent things with a kind of indifferency the most things that men are so stiff in are not worth an earnest willing In a word it were the only happy and truly Spiritual temper to have our will quite rooted out and the will of God placed in its stead to have no other will but his that it might constantly yea so to speak identically follow it in all things This is the will of God therefore it is mine That with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men The Duties of the second Table or well doing towards Men are more sensible to Men void of Religion than these things that have immediate relation to God therefore and so in other Epistles the Apostle is here particular in these for the vindicating of Religion to them that are without Ignorance usually is loud and pratling making a mighty noyse and so hath need of a muzle to silence it They that were ready to speak evil of it are called wittlessor foolish Men there was perversness in their ignorance as the Word imports And generally all kind of Evil speakings uncharitable censurings doe argue a foolish worthless Mind whence they proceed and yet they are the usual divertisement of the greatest part and takes up very much of Mens converse and discourse which is an evidence of the baseness and perversness of their minds for whereas these that have most real goodness delight most to observe what is good and commedadable in others and to pass by their blemishes 't is the true Character of vile unworthy Persons as scurvy Flies sit upon Sores to skip over all the good that is in Men and fasten upon their infirmities But especially doth it discover ignorance and folly to turn the failings of Men to the disadvantage of Religion none can be such Enemies to it but they that know it not and see not the beauty that is in it However the way to silence them we see is by welldoing that silences them more than whole Volumes of Apologies When a Christian walks unreproveably his Enemies have no where to fasten their teeth on him but are forc'd to gnaw their own malignant tongues as it secures the Godly thus to stop the lying mouths of foolish Men so it is as painful to them to be so stopt as muzling is to Beasts and punishes their Malice And this is a wise Christians way instead of impatient fretting at the mistakes or willfull miscensures of Men to keep still on in their calm temper of mind and
no estate so low as to be shut out from that and a right inform'd and right affected conscience towards God shews a Man that way and causes him to walk in it As the Astrologers say that the same Stars that made Cyrus to be chosen King amongst the Armies of Men when he came to be a Man made him to be chosen King amongst the Shepherds Children when he was a Child Thus grace will have its proper operation in every estate In this Men readily deceive themselves they can do any thing well in imagination better than the real task that is in their hands They presume that they could do God good service in some place of command that serve him not as becomes in that which is by far the easier the place of obeying wherein he hath set them They think if they had the ability and opportunities that some Men have they would do much more for Religion and for God than they do and yet do nothing but spoile a far lower part than that which is their own and is given them to study and act aright in but our folly and self ignorance abuses us 't is not our part to chuse what we should be but to be what we are to to his glory that gives us to be such Be thy condition never so mean yet thy conscience towards God if it be within thee will find it self work in that If it be litle that is concredited to thee in regard of thy outward condition or any other way be thou faithfull in that litle as our Saviour speaks and thy reward shall not be litle he shall make the ruler over much 3. As a corrupt mind debaseth the best and excellentest Callings and Actions so the lowest are rais'd above themselves and ennobl'd by a Spiritual mind A Magistrate or Minister though their calling and employments be high may have low intentions and draw down their high calling to these low intentions they may seek themselves and self ends and neglect God And a sincere Christian may elevate his low Calling by this Conscience of God observing his will and intending his Glory in it An Eagle may fly high and yet have its eye down upon some carrion on the earth and a Man may be standing on the earth and that on some low part of it and yet have his eye upon Heaven and be contemplating it That which one Man cannot at all see in another is the very thing most considerable in their actions namely the principle whence they flow and the end to which they tend This is the form and life of actions that by which they are earthly or Heavenly Whatsoever be the matter of them the Spiritual mind hath that Alchimy indeed of turning base Mettals into Gold Earthly employments into Heavenly The handy work of an Artisan or Servant that regards God and eyes him even in that work is much holier than the prayer of an Hypocrite and a Servants enduring the private wrongs and harshness of a froword Master bearing it patiently for the Conscience of God is more acceptable to God than the sufferings of some such as may endure much for a publick good cause without a good and upright heart This habitude and posture of the heart towards God the Apostle S. Paul prâ—sses much in this very Subject Eph. 6. as being very needful to allay the hard labour and harsh usage of many of them this is the way to make them easy to undergo them for God no pill so bitter but respect and love to God will sweeten it And this is a very great refreshment and comfort to a Christian in the mean estate of a Servant or other labouring Men that they may offer up their hardship and bodily labour as a sacrifice to God and say Lord this is the station wherein thou hast set me in the world and I desire to serve thee in it what I do is for thee and what I suffer I desire to bear patiently and cheerfully for thy sake in submission and obedience to thy will For Conscience In this there is 1. A reverent complyance with Gods disposal both in allotting to them that condition of Life and particularly chusing their Master for them though possibly not the mildest and pleasantest yet the fittest for their good there is much in the firm believing of this and hearty submitting to it For we would naturally rather carve for our selves and shape our own estate to our mind which is a most foolish yea an impious presumption as if we were wiser that he that hath done it and as if there were not as much and it may be more possibility of true contentment in a mean than in a far higher condition the Masters mind is often more toyl'd than the Servants body And if our condition be appointed us at least we would have a voyce in some qualifications and circumstances of it as in this if a Man must serve he would wish willingly that God would allot him a meek gentle Master and so we in other things if we must be sick we would be well accommodate and not want helps but to have sickness and want means and friends for our help this we cannot think of without horror But this submission to God is never right till all be given up into his hand that concernes us to do with it and every Article and circumstance of it as seems good in his eyes 2. In this Conscience is a Religious and observant respect to the rule God hath set men to walk by in that condition so that their obedience depends not upon any external inducement and so falls when that fails But flows from an inward impression of the Law of God upon the heart thus a Servant's obedience and patience will not be pinn'd to the goodness and equity of his Master but when that failes will subsist upon its own inward ground and generally in all estates This is the thing that makes sure and constant walking makes a Man step even in the ways of God When a Man's obedience Springs from that unfailing unchanging reason the command of God 't is a natural motion and therefore keeps on and rather growes than abates but they that are moved by things outward must often fail because these things are not constant in their moving as a People that are much acted by the Spirit of their rulers as the Jews when they had good Kings 3. In this is a tender care of the glory of God and the adornment of Religion which the Apostle premis'd before these particular duties as a thing to be specially regarded in them the honour of our Lords name is that we should set up as the mark and to aim all our actions at either we think not on it or our hearts slip out and start from their aim like bowes of deceit as the Word is 4. There is the comfortable perswasion of Gods approbation and acceptance as is express'd in the following Verse of which somewhat
Captain or Leader of our salvation as the Aposte speaks was consecrate by suffering that was the way by which he entred into the holy place where he is now our everlasting High Priest making intercession for us if he be our Leader to Salvation must we not follow him in the way he leads whatsoever it is if it be as we see 't is by the way of sufferings we must either follow on in that way or fall short of salvation for there is no other Leader nor other way but that which he open'd up so that there is not only a Congruity in it that his followers be conform to him in suffering but a necessity if they will follow him on till they attain to Glory and the consideration of both these cannot but argue a Christian into a Resolution for this via regia this Royal way of suffering that leads to Glory through which their King and Lord himself went to his Glory It could hardly be believ'd at first that this was his way and we can as hardly yet believe that it must be ours Luk. 24. O fools and slow of heart to believe ought not Christ to have suffer'd these things and so to enter into his glory Would you be at glory and will you not follow your Leader in the only way to it Must there another way be cut out for you by your selfe O absur'd shall the servant sayes he be greater than his Master Are you not fairly dealt with if you have a mind to Christ You shall have full as much of the Worlds good will as he had if it hate you he bids you remember how it hated him But though there were a way to do otherwayes would you not rather chuse if the love of Christ possess'd your hearts to take a share with him in his Lot and find delight in the very trouble of it is not this conformity to Jesus the great ambition of all his true hearted followers We carry about in the body the dying of the Lord Iesus sayes the great Apostle besides the unspeakable advantage to come that goes link'd with this that if we suffer with him we shall reign with him there is a glory even in this present resemblance that we are conformed to the Image of the Son of God in sufferings Why should we desire to leave him Are you not one with him Can you chuse but have the same common friends and enemies Would you willingly if it might be could you find in your heart to be friends with that World that hated your Lord and Master Would you have nothing but kindness and ease where he had nothing but enmity and trouble or would you not rather when you think right on 't disdain and refuse to be so unlike him As that good Duke said when they would have Crown'd him King of Ierusalem No said he by no means I will not wear a Crown of Gold where Iesus was Crown'd with thornes 2. This Spotlesness and Patience in suffering are both of them set here before us the one Verse 22. the other 23. Whosoever 't is that makes such a noise of the injustice of what he suffers and thinks to justify his Impatience by his Innocency let me ask thee art thou more just and innocent then he that is here set before thee Or art thou able to come near Him in this Point Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth This is to signify perfect holiness according to that Iames. 3.2 Man a litle world a world of wickedness and that litle part of him a litle world of Iniquity all Christs words and actions and all his thoughts flow'd from a pure Spring that had not any thing defiled in it and therefore no tentation either from Men or Satan could seize on him other Men may seem clear unstirr'd but move and trouble them and the mudd arises but he was nothing but holiness a pure fountain all purity to the bottom and therefore stirr and trouble him as they would he was still alike clear The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me This is the main ground of our confidence in him that he is a Holy Harmeless undefil'd high Priest and such an one became us sayes that Apostle that are so sinfull the more sinfull we the more need that our High Priest should be sinlesse and being so we may build upon his perfection standing in our stead yea we are invested with him and his righteousness Again there was no guile found in his mouth this serves us concerning all the promises that he hath made us that they are nothing but truth hath he said Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out then you need not fear how unworthy and vile soever do you but come to him and you have his word that he will not shut the door against you and as he hath promis'd access so hath he further promis'd ease and Souls rest to those that come then be confident to find that in him too for there was never a false nor guilefull word found in his mouth But to consider it only in the present action this speaks him the most innocent sufferer that ever was not only judicially just in his cause but entirly just in his Person altogether righteous and yet condemn'd to death and an opprobrious death of Malefactours and set betwixt two as chief of the three I am sayes he the rose Sharon and the Lillie of the valley And the Spouse saith of him My wel beloved is White and ruddy thus indeed in his death ruddy in his bloodshed and white in his innocency and withal in his meekness and patience the other thing wherein he is here so exemplary Verse 23. Who when he was reviled reviled not again This spotless Lamb of God was a Lamb both in guiltlesness and silence and the Prophet Esay expresses the resemblance in that he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter he suffer'd not only an unjust Sentence of death but withall unjust revilings the contradictions of sinners none ever did so litle deserve revilings none ever could have said so much in his own just defence and to the just reproach of his enemies and yet in both he preferr'd silence None could ever threaten so heavy things as he could against his enemies and have made good all he threatned and yet no such thing was heard from him The heaven and earth as it were spoke their resentment of his death that made them But he was silent or what he spoke makes this still good how far he was from revilings and threatnings As spices pounded or precious ointment poured out give their smell most thus his name was an ointment then poured forth together with his blood and fill'd Heaven and Earth with its sweet perfume was a favour of rest and peace in both appeasing the wrath of God and so quieting the Consciences of Men and even in this particular was it then most fragrant in