is the worst for this is not only against Truth but Right even though that Right entirely accrueth from your own free Promise 2. The Promises of the New Covenant are of a most glorious and valuable Nature They are not about small things or things of little moment but about worthy and dear-bought Blessings They contain Spiritual and Eternal Riches such as the healing of our Nature the pardon of our Sins a safe conduct unto Eternal Happiness The glorifying of our Souls the resurrection of our Bodies and then Life everlasting or an unchangeable state of happiness These are the greatest things indeed in comparison of which all the things of the World are but as a Maygame vain and empty or the smallest Matters as the Apostle calleth them 1 Cor. 6. 2. Reconciliation with God is our Priviledge here And is it a light thing to be at peace with the Living God to enjoy his Amity and Love to study and fit our selves to do his Will to live in constant Communion with him now to have access to him at all times to obtain from him whatever in Reason and Righteousness we can ask A Christian is never upbraided with the perpetuity of Addresses never denyed Audience never has cause to doubt of Success has more familiarity with God and a surer Interest in his Love than the greatest Favourites have in any Prince or Potentate upon Earth But then the Eternal Enjoyment of God hereafter Phil. 3. 14. I press towards the Mark for the Price of the High Calling in God in Christ Iesus It is an high Price that is set before us then we shall have a larger Capacity to know God and enjoy him and receive his Benefits Psal. 17. 15. As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness Oh! cry out 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 3. They are precious Promises worthy of our Esteem For they are not about things that we have nothing to do with but such wherein we are deeply and intimately concern'd In God's Promises there is due Provision made for the Desires Necessities and Wants of Mankind Let me instance in Pardon and Life the first inviting Benefits Acts 26. 18. Pardon answereth the Fears and Life those Desires of Happiness which are so natural to us 1. The Consciousness of Sin and the Fear of God's Wrath and Displeasure should make Offers of Pardon acceptable to us The great Scruple of the guilty Creature is how Sin shall be expiated and God appeased Mic. 6. 6 7. We fear Punishment from an holy and just God and cannot get rid of Bondage till Sin be forgiven The Justice of the Supreme Governour of the World will be ever dreadful to us The Gospel serveth for this use to give us the knowledge of Salvation by the Remission of Sins Luk. 1. 77. 2. The other great Priviledge is Eternal Life Corrupt Nature is not against the Offers of Felicity There was never a Creature heard of that would not be happy for there was never a Creature but loved himself Therefore what more powerful Inducement to bring us into the way of Holiness than this blessed Hope set before us that we may see God and live for ever Tit. 2. 12 13. It is true we are greatly inchanted with false Happiness but shall not such an Offer be precious to us Ioh. 6. 34. Then said they unto him Lord evermore give us this Bread 4. All this is given to us wretched Men without any desert of ours nay we had deserved the contrary Without our asking or thinking the Covenant was framed and modelled to our Hands and in the Frame and Contexture of it we may see a constant Strain of Covenant-Grace in the Richness of the Benefits the Graciousness of the Donor the Seasonableness of the Offer the Readiness of the Help when once we set our selves to seek after God and please and serve him and lastly in the Sureness of the Reward notwithstanding Frailties and Imperfections III. The Influence of the one upon the other or How do these Promises promote the Divine Nature 1. From their Drift which is to draw us from the Creature to God and the World to Heaven to mortify the Esteem of the false Happiness which tainteth and corrupteth our Natures and to raise us to those noble Objects and Ends which dignify and adorn the Soul and make it in a sort Divine It breedeth an excellent Spirit in us which is carried above the World and the Hopes and Fears of it 1 Cor. 2. 12. Alas what a mean Spirit have they that drive no higher Trade than providing for the Flesh or accommodating a Life which must shortly expire Like foolish Birds who with great art and contrivance feather a Nest which within a little while they leave But how Divine and God-like are they who look to higher things to please God enjoy Communion with him and live with him for ever 2. The Matter of the Promises Many of which concern the Change of our Hearts the Cleansing or Healing of our Natures Heb. 8. 10. I will put my Laws in their Minds and write them in their Hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People Ezek. 36. 25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your Filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony Heart out of your Flesh and I will give you a Heart of Flesh. Jer. 33. 8. And I will cleanse them from all their Iniquity All which are Encouragements of Prayer to God for this Benefit If God doth not exclude us we should not exclude our selves 3. The Conditions or Terms on which our Right is suspended Not Pardon without Repentance Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins might be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Acts 2. 38 39. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the Remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost c. Not Heaven or Eternal Life without Holiness Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God Mat. 5. 8. 4. The Power with which it is accompanied 2 Pet. 1. 3. According as his Divine Power hath given us all things that pertain unto Life and Godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and Vertue He gives us Life temporal and spiritual and that immutable Life of Felicity hereafter The Divine Nature is communicated to us by virtue of the Promises
For Continuance in the new Covenant and delightful Obedience unto God The Remedy is not only suted to the Disease but the Duty to the Reward Our Duty is to know God and to love Him and our Reward is to see Him and be like Him 1 Ioh. 3. 2. There is a marvellous Sutableness between the End and Means Holiness and Happiness Conformity to God and our Communion with Him the Holiness required of us now and the Happiness we expect hereafter perfect Conformity and uninterrupted Communion And they differ only but as the Bud and the Flower the River and the Ocean Here it is begun hereafter perfected III. In the Application of his Grace to particular Believers he hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence 1. In the Way God taketh to convert Souls to Himself there is a sweet Contemperation and Mixture of Wisdom and Power There is a Proposal of Truth and Good to the Understanding and the Will and by the secret Power of his Grace it is made effectual We are taught and drawn Ioh. 6. 44 45. No Man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him In the 45th vers And they shall be all taught of God Every Man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me There is opening of blind Eyes and the turning of an hard Heart Acts 26. 18. To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light c. Eph. 1. 18. The Eyes of the Understanding being opened c. Col. 3. 10. Renewed in Knowledg Turning the Heart Acts 16. 29. God opened the Heart of Lydia Acts 11. 21. The Hand of the Lord was with him and a great Number believed and turned to the Lord. His Hand implieth his Power Thus God worketh strongly like Himself sweetly with respect to us that he may not oppress the Liberty of our Faculties Christ comes into the Heart not by Force but by Consent We are transformed but so as we prove what the Will of God is Rom. 12. 2. He draweth we run Cant. 1. 4. The Power of God and Liberty of Man do sweetly consist together As God is said to create in us a new Heart he is also said to give us a free Spirit Psal. 51. 10 12. Eph. 2. 10. We are said to be his Workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them So he puts a new Heart and we are said to walk in his Ways Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new Heart will I also give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony Heart out of your Flesh and I will give you an Heart of Flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them Thus God sheweth forth the powerful Efficacy of his Grace and doth also win the Consent and good Liking of the Sinner he obtaineth his Effect and yet doth preserve the Liberty of Man's Nature and the Principles thereof It is not only Voluntas mota but mutata the Nature is changed and renewed 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2. In the perswasive and moral Way the Wisdom of God is seen as taking the most likely Course to gain the Heart of Man discovering Himself to us as a God of Love Kindness and Mercy Guilty Creatures stand aloof from a condemning God our Fear of his Justice maketh us run from him Gen. 3. 7 10. Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord. So all his Posterity forsake God and hate him But God though the Superior though the wronged Party maketh Offers of Peace and sheweth how willing he is to be reconciled to us Having first laid the Foundation in the highest Demonstration of Goodness that ever could come to the Ears of Man to hear of or enter into the Heart of Man to conceive namely in giving his Son to die for a sinful World 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. What more apt to make Man relent And then because Man had fallen from the Love of God to the Creature Ier. 2. 3. What Wisdom doth God shew not only in the Offers of Pardon but Eternal Life and Blessedness infinitely beyond the false Happiness which carnal Self-Love inclineth us to that it is a Shame and Disgrace to our Reason to think these things are worthy to be compared together What are all the Pleasures Profits and Honours we dote upon to the Pleasures at God's right-Hand the Riches of the Inheritance of the Saints and the Glory which cometh from God And therefore what more powerful Motive can be produced than this Blessed Immortality Indeed God is invisible and the Glory is to come and sensual Pleasures are at hand ready to be enjoyed But Faith checketh Sense Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the Evidence of Things not seen O the Wisdom of God in the Frame of the Gospel 2. In the Effect it self the new Creature which is the wisest Creature on this side Heaven To evidence this to you I shall shew you that all Wisdom and Prudence consisteth in three things 1. In fixing a right End 2. In the choice of apt and proper Means 3. In a dextrous effectual Prosecution of the End by those Means 1. In fixing and propounding to ourselves a right End A wise Man doth not mind Trifles but is conversant about Things of the greatest Reality Necessity and Excellency such are God and Heaven All other Wisdom will prove but Folly in the end Others disquiet themselves about a vain Show Psal. 59. 6. Poor silly Creatures cark and labour and turmoil to get together a few poor transitory Enjoyments where there is neither durable possession nor solid Satisfaction The Honours Pleasures and Riches of the World are but Pictures and Shadows of the true Honours the true Riches and Fulness of Joy at God's right Hand Surely he is a wise Man that chooseth God for his Portion and Heaven for his Home Prov. 15. 24. The Way of Life is above to the Wise to avoid Hell beneath He is wise and hath chosen the true Sort of living which mindeth the Salvation of his Soul and looketh after Eternal Life Surely this is above and beyond any Wisdom Man can pretend unto to be happy not for a while but for ever 2. In the Choice of apt and proper Means A Man is wise enough if he knows his Duty and the Way to Happiness God hath appointed us the Way wherein to walk to fear him and love him and keep his Commandments Deut. 4. 6. Keep these Statutes for this is your Wisdom Job 28. 28. The Fear of God that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil that is Understanding There is an Excellency in this sort of Life Prov. 12.
and Body not the regenerate only and a Man is not only to look after the welfare of the Soul But his Body also it being the Instrument which it useth in its operations 2. The Spirit is sometimes put for Reason and the Flesh for sensual Appetite as Eph. 4. 23. And be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind And 1 Joh. 2. 16. The Lusts of the Flesh But this will not take in the whole Sense of this place for other faculties are corrupted besides the sensual Appetite and other Faculties must be renewed as well as the Understanding 3. There is another acceptation of Flesh and Spirit that is that Spirit signifieth the uncreated Spirit who is the Author of Grace As Joh. 3. 5. Except a Man be born again of Water and the Spirit Where Spirit is put for the Holy Ghost who immediately worketh Grace in us called therefore the Spirit of Sanctification as that Saving Grace which is the effect of his work is called the Sanctification of the Spirit And the opposite Principle Flesh signifieth the corrupt Nature of Man as Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh Corrupt Sinful inclined to earthly things Now though this would bear a good sense to interpret Flesh and Spirit of the Holy Ghost and Concupisence or natural Corruption for no question he concurreth to the mortifying of the old Man till Sin be wholly expelled Rom. 8. 23. and still doth quicken and excite the new Man to Action Gal. 4. 25. yet here the Apostle speaks of two inherent Principles 4. Therefore by Flesh and Spirit is meant the old Man and the new and so by Spirit is meant the renewed part or the new Man of Grace in the Heart Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That is there is a work of Saving Grace wrought in our Hearts by the Spirit of God which new Nature hath its Motions and Inclinations which must be obeyed and followed by us And by Flesh is meant inbred Corruption or the old Man which is corrupt with his deceivable Lusts Eph. 4. 22. Now then you see what it is to walk after the Spirit to direct and order our Actions according to the Inclinations of the new Nature 2. For the consequent and fruit of it and ye shall not fulfil the Lust of the Flesh. Here two things must be explained 1. The Lust of the Flesh. 2. Fulfil 1. For the Lust of the Flesh. By it is meant the inordinate Motions of corrupt Nature The Flesh doth not consider what is right and good but what is pleasing to the Senses and craveth their satisfaction with much importunity and earnestness to the wrong of God and our own Souls especially in Youth when the Senses are in Vigour and Lust and Appetite in their Strength and Fury And generally all carnal Men are govern'd by the Lusts of the Flesh called by the Apostle The Wills of the Flesh and the Mind Eph. 2. 3. By which the Heart is drawn from God to things Earthly and Carnal Well then by the Lusts of the Flesh are meant the Motions of inbred Corruptions 2. Ye shall not fulfil that is accomplish and bring into compleat act especially with deliberation and consent Mark he doth not say that the lusting of corrupt Nature shall be totally suppressed but it shall not be fulfilled The best of God's Children feel the Motions of the Flesh but they do not cherish and obey them The Lusts of the Flesh may be said to be fulfilled two ways 1. When the outward act is accomplished or when Lust hath conceiued and brought forth actual Sin Iam. 1. 15. Which may sometimes come to pass in the Children of God when they walk not in the Spirit or obey not the Motions and Directions of the renewed part This again may be done two ways either upon Surprize or Deliberation By way of Surprize Gal. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon deliberation when Men plot and make provision to fulfil their Lusts contrary to the Apostles advice Rom. 13. 14. Make not provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Thus it was with David in his great Sin and this doth mightily aggravate the offence and provoke the Lord against us 2. When for a continuance we obey the Flesh usually accomplish its Motions without Let and Restraint and with Love Pleasure and full consent of Will this is proper to the Unregenerate The Flesh doth reign over them as its Slaves this is spoken of Rom. 6. 12. Let not Sin reign in your mortal Body that ye should obey it in the Lusts thereof Let is not have a Power over you as Slaves Well then the meaning is you will not abuse your Christian Liberty as an occasion to the Flesh or give up your selves to do that or seek that which the Flesh lusteth after Doct. The more Christians set themselves to obey the new Nature the more is the power of inbred Corruption mortified and kept under To understand this Point let me lay down these Propositions I. That there is a diversity of Principles in a Christian Flesh and Spirit 1. There is a good Principle called Spirit because the Spirit is the Author of it Ezek. 36. 26. A new Heart and a new Spirit will I put into you It is called also the Divine Nature 2. Pet. 1. 4. because it is made up of those gracious Qualities wherein we resemble God The Seed remaining 1 Joh. 3. 9. because it is not a transient operation but a permanent habit disposing and inclining the Soul to God and Heaven The new Man Eph. 4. 24. because we have it not by Nature but by Grace we are new formed to the Image of God Now the use of this Principle may be known partly by the manner how it is wrought in us and partly by the uses and ends for which it serveth 1. For the manner how it is wrought in us by the Spirit that is set forth Heb. 8. 10. I will put my Laws in their Mind and write them in their Hearts The directive and imperial Power of the Soul is sanctified and seasoned by Grace the Mind enlightned the Heart inclined The Mind is enlightned by the Knowledg of God's Will and the Heart inclined that we may delight to do his Will it is suited thereunto Therefore the New Creature doth both serve to direct us and so performeth the Office of a Guide and Leader to the Godly in all their Actions so far in Religion as God's Glory is concerned and also to move and excite us to that which is Good For the Spirit is willing though the Flesh is Weak Mat. 26. 41. 2. By its Uses and Ends. None of God's Gifts are given in vain The new Nature is the choicest Talent that the Sons of Men are intrusted withal Therefore it hath its Use and End which is to fit us for God and Heaven 1. It disposeth the Soul to a sincere Obedience to God as an inherent
in Jest and for fashion sake I am sure most live as if there were no such matter and the many Impostures and Cheats of Christendom and the divisions and scandals amongst us have weakned the Faith of many that were it not for shame they would turn professed Infidels There could not be such Boldness in sinning such Coldness in spiritual and heavenly things such Neglect of Christ and Heaven if Men were true and sound Believers Others content themselves with a negative Sense they do not question or contradict these Articles of Faith because they do not consider them but take up the common Opinion Hand over Head and were never assaulted with Temptations to the contrary they do not doubt of it say they but are they rooted and grounded in the Faith Col. 7. 23. Their not doubting comes from their non-attention Others have a speculative Assent there is a Certainty of Evidence and a Certainty of Adherence The former consisteth in the Conviction of the Mind the latter in the Bent of the Will and Affections An Object rightly propounded extorteth the former from the Understanding not expecting the Consent of the Will the latter followeth Imperium Consensum Voluntatis The former arises from the Evidence of the Thing the latter from the Consideration of the Worth Weight and Greatness of it 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful Saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners They must not only be apprehended by us as true but seriously considered as the highest and most important Things so as that we may adhere to them with all our Hearts It is such a Belief of the Gospel as produces a firm and cordial Adherence otherwise it will not serve the End and Purpose of the Gospel which requireth us to crucify our Lusts sacrifice our Interests and perform those things which are unpleasing to Nature upon the Hopes it offereth to us and with confidence and joyfulness to wait upon God for his Salvation in the midst of all Pressures and Afflictions If your Adherence were more firm you would find your Comfort more lively fresh and constant your Obedience more uniform you would not be so shaken with Temptations and Assaults and the Incursion of worldly Cares and Sorrows In great Temptations the Children of God see the need of a firm and cordial Assent to the main Gospel-Truths Heb. 6. 1 2. Nay in ordinary Practices in every Prayer you make to God Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw nigh to God with a true Heart in full Assurance of Faith 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy Hands without Wrath and Doubting 4. Endeavour to arrive at the highest Degree of Assent Faith is or should be strongly perswaded of what it believeth It is an Evidence not a Conjecture not a Surmise but a firm Assurance We should certainly know what we believe We know thou art a Teacher sent from God Joh. 3. 2. We know and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Joh. 6. 69. 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that we have a Building of God 1 Joh. 5. 2. We know that we shall see him as he is 1 Cor. 15. 58. Be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord knowing that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Invisible things revealed by God should be certainly known because God hath told us such clear firm Apprehensions become us Faith is not a bare Conjecture but a certain Knowledge not we think we hope well but we know is the Language of Faith It is not a bare Possibility we go upon nor a probable Opinion but a certain infallible Truth I put you upon this partly because we have a great Argument in the Text If Iob could see it so long before it came to pass should we not now see it Believers of old make us ashamed who live in the clear Sun-shine of the Gospel Iob lived long before the Gospel was revealed the Redemption of Souls was at that time a great Mystery being sparingly revealed to a few But one of a thousand could bring this Message to a condemned Sinner that God had found a Ransom Iob 33. 23. Partly to put you upon earnest Prayer to God and other holy Means The Spirit opens our Eyes and inclines our Hearts Eph. 1. 17 18. I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my Prayers that the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of Him The Eyes of your Understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints II. I exhort you to apply and improve it to your particular Comfort I shall speak 1. To the Careless 2. To the Sensible 1. To the Careless who do not give diligence to make their Interest clear that they may be able to say I know that my Redeemer liveth Some are contented so they may be well in the World and live in Peace Credit and Mirth here but never look after an Interest in the Redeemer or to get a sure Hope of a Sentence of Absolution from him at the last Day They content themselves with a general Belief that Christ died for Sinners and only make use of it for the Increase of their carnal Security and Boldness in sinning We must not only consider what Christ hath done but what we are to do that we may be Partakers of the Benefits The general Work of Redemption Christ hath performed for us without any Consent on our part he took our Nature fulfilled the Law satisfied the Justice of God merited Grace but we must thankfully receive him live in him and to him before this is applied to us or we can have the Comfort of it 2 Cor. 5. 17. 2 Cor. 13. 5. They content themselves to think and hope well but do not make it sure upon good Grounds And when Questions and Scruples are raised in their Hearts there is not a full hearing of the Matter the Court is broken up ere things are well determined and so they run the Hazard of Uncertainty and live and die venturing their Souls upon the bare possibility of being saved never put it out of doubt nor assure their Hearts before God 1. Ioh. 3. 19. 2. To the Sensible To live upon this Truth in the midst of their Calamities especially that they may enjoy the Comfort of it in a dying Hour Obj. You will say we could take comfort in this if we knew we had a Redemer at God's right-hand but alas after all our Profession of the Name of Christ and long waiting upon God I cannot make this close Application to say My Redeemer liveth or My Spirit rejoyces in God my Saviour Joh. 1. 47. Answ. But cannot you bless God for the Gospel and
Mind and Judgment so the Heart is new moulded The great Blessing of the new Covenant is a new Heart Now the Heart is new when we are inclined to the ways of God and enabled to walk in them 1. There is a new Inclination poise and weight upon the Soul bending it to Holy and Heavenly things The inclination to Holiness David prayeth for Psal. 119. 36. Encline my Heart unto thy Testimonies and not to Covetousness To Heavenly things Paul asserteth 2 Cor. 4. 18. We look not to the things which are seen but to the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are Temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal When we always live in delightful foresight and expectation of Blessedness to come 2. The Heart is enabled also Ezek. 36. 27. I will put a new Spirit into you and cause you to walk in my Ways Where there is a new Heart there is new Strength or Grace given To serve God acceptably and with Reverence and Godly Fear Heb. 12. 28. Indeed God assists this Power or else we fail and wax faint but a Power there is in some measure to will and do For the Kingdom of God stands not in Word but in Power There is a Power to overcome Fleshly Lusts the Heavenly Mind is not given us in vain 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly Beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul A Power to overcome Worldly Lusts Phil. 4. 13. When we seek no great things for our selves here in this World we can the better bear all Conditions I do confess as I said before God must assist this Power both in willing and doing purposing and performing We may have assistance in one kind and not in another Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Rom. 7. 18. To will is present with me but how to perform that which I would I have no Power To will is more than to think to exert our Will into Action is more than both In all we need God's help Some may have the Power to Will when no Power to Do so Peter se posse putabat quòd se velle sentiebat But yet I describe a Christian or a new Creature by his Power because God's Children are never so deserted but that there is some help from God There are Auxilia necessaria helps of Grace simply and absolutely necessary which are not denied when liberal and plentiful aids of Grace are suspended and therefore a Christian is to be described by his Power though still in a dependance upon God 3. A new Life or a new Conversation called walking in newness of Life Rom. 6. 4. Surely he that hath a new Principle the Spirit and not the Flesh a new Rule the Law of God and not the course of this World a new scope the pleasing glorifying and enjoying of God and not the pleasing of Men and his own fleshly Mind must needs walk in a different course both from other carnal Men and from what he himself carried on before but all these are true of the new Creature he is influenced by another Principle Rom. 8. 12. Gal. 5. 16. looketh upon himself as having another Rule Gal. 6. 16. Psal. 1. 2. and propoundeth to himself another design and scope Phil. 3. 20. 2 Cor. 5. 9. and therefore must needs live another Life Well then by these things you may judg of your Estate III. Use. To exhort you to look after this that you be the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus You will say what can we do This is God's Work in which we are meerly Passive I Answer It is certainly an abuse of this Doctrine if it lull us asleep in the Lap of Idleness and we think that because God doth all in framing us for the new Life we must do nothing The Spirit of God reasoneth otherwise Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure This Principle can neither be a ground of loosness or laziness You are under an Obligation both to return to God and to use the means whereby you may return Your Impotency doth not dissolve your Obligation A drunken Servant is a Servant and bound to do his Work his Master loseth not his Right by his Default An insolvent Debtor is a Debtor and if he cannot pay all he is bound to pay as much as he can Besides you are Creatures in Misery if you be sensible of it your Interest will teach you to do what you can to come out of it and God's doing all is an Engagement to wait upon him in the use of Means that we may meet with God in his Way and he may meet with us in our Way I say in his Way for God hath appointed certain Duties to convey and apply this Grace Now we are to lie at the Pool till the Waters be stirred to continue our Attendance till God giveth Grace Mark 4. 24. And I say that God may meet with us in our Way for God influencenth all things according to their Natural Inclination God that enlightneth the World by and with the Sun burneth with Fire reasoneth with Man acteth necessarily with necessary Causes and freely with free causes he doth not oppress the liberty of the new Creature but preserveth the Nature and Interest of his own Workmanship draweth Men with the Cords of a Man Hos. 11. 4. He propoundeth Reasons and Motives which we must consider and so betake our selves to a Godly Course The Object of Regeneration is a reasonable Creature upon whom God worketh not as on a Stock or Stone but maketh use of the faculties which they have shewing us our lost Estate and the possibility of Salvation by Christ sweetly inviting us to accept of this Grace that he may pardon our Sins sanctify and heal our Natures and lead us in a way of Holiness unto Eternal Life Now these means we are to attend upon and it is some advantage when you own your Duty and are sensible of a necessity of changing your Estate who would otherwise be altogether careless and mindless of such a thing But when you look on it as a Duty that must be speedily and earnestly gone about if you mean to be saved you are in a fair way of cure By Exhortation we demand God's right and make the Creatures sensible of his own Obligation that he may go about this work as well as he can at least that he may acknowledg the Debt confess his Impotency and beg Grace Besides there are some things to be done before this Renovation in order thereunto as Wood is dried before it is kindled There are some preparations before Conversion and we are to be active about them As for instance that we should rouse up our selves and consider our case Psal. 22. 27. All the ends of the Earth shall remember and
Now wilt thou wait diligently till it be accomplished The Physician cures the Disease but the Patient must take the appointed Medicine you must not expect he should cure it and thou feel it not as it were by Spells and Charms without thee without putting thee to the Trouble of Physick Take up a Resolution to look after the Cure of thy Soul and observe the whole Progress of the Work and what a Wound is given to Sin in every Ordinance what in the Word what in the Lord's Supper how thy Resolution is strengthened against it how the carnal Nature wears off every day the Work is not perfect in an instant but he is still turning therefore when thou beginnest to be dead to Sin die more Ye are dead therefore mortify Christ hath perfectly bought off all Sin in every kind and degree should not we strive to have all that he hath purchased At least do not strengthen thy Bonds the Sin thou canst not avoid hate it and keep up the lively resistance still hear diligently pray earnestly watch narrowly and keep thy self from thy Sin do not only pare the Nails of it but cut off thy very right Hand and mortify and subdue it yet more and more that Christ may have his Conquest in thy Soul SERMON IV. 2 PET. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. IN these Words the Apostle extolleth the Grace of God towards us in the Gospel In them take notice of First The Means 2dly The End and Use of them 3dly The Method and Order in which this Effect is wrought in us First The Means whereby God conveys his Grace to us viz. The Promises of the Gospel which are set forth 1. By their Excellency Exceeding great and precious Promises 2. Their Freeness Are given to us 1. Their Excellency is set forth by two Adjuncts They are exceeding great and precious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The one noteth their Intrinsick Worth and Value they are exceeding great The other our Esteem of them they deserve to be precious to us 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called from the Matter of them which are great and precious Gifts such as Pardon and Life begun in Sanctification and perfected in Glory 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precious deserving and challenging our Esteem being so suitable to our Necessities and Desires Our Necessity ariseth from the fears of Misery so justly deserved Our Desires are after a proper Happiness which is only offered to us in the Promises of God not only as probable but as certain to be ours if duly qualified Now these Promises being so great and precious should attract us to all Purity and Holiness for what is greater and deserveth to be more esteemed by us than Remission of Sins and an Inheritance among the Sanctified 2. Their Freeness given made freely made good freely 2dly The End and Use of them That by these ye might be Partakers of the Divine Nature By the Divine Nature is not meant here the Essence of God but his communicable Excellencies or such Divine Properties as can be imparted to the Creature and these not considered in their absolute Perfection but as as they are agreeable to our present State and Capacity These are sometimes called the Image of God Col. 3. 10. The new Man which is renewed in Holiness after the Image of him that created him because they imply a Likeness to him And sometimes the Life of God Eph. 4. 18. Being alienated from the Life of God because it is a vital Principle And here the Divine Nature and that for two Reasons 1. Because these are communicated to us by God they are created in us by his Divine Power and therefore the Word Created is so often used on this Occcasion Eph. 2. 10. We are his Workmanship created in Christ Iesus 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature Creation is proper to God We have them by virtue of our Communion with him They flow from God as the Light doth from the Sun 2. Because by these Perfections we somewhat resemble God Therefore it is said 1 Pet. 2. 9. We shew forth his Praises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Vertues or Divine Attributes his Wisdom Goodness Bounty Holiness for in these we most resemble him If you take in his Power there is some resemblance of that too as to the moral Exercise in taming our own Flesh mastering our Inordinate Lusts and Passions and vanquishing all Temptations This is a Spiritual Power and so spoken of Prov. 16. 32. He that is slow to Anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit than he that taketh a City And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Phil. 4. 13. To live above the Hopes and Fears of the World is a great Ability and Power And vanquishing the World is made the Fruit of the new Birth 1 Ioh. 5. 4. That which is born of God overcometh the World And in that place where the Spirit of a Christian is described 't is said to be a Spirit 2 Tim. 1. 7. of Love Power and of a sound Mind We conceive God to be a Spiritual Being of infinite Wisdom Goodness and Power To his Wisdom answereth the Spirit of a sound Mind to his Goodness a Spirit of Love and what is the Original and Pattern of the Spirit of Power the very Name discovereth namely God's own Power So all his Attributes leave their Impress upon us 3dly The Way Method and Order how we receive this Benefit of the Divine Nature Having first escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. As we dye to Sin the Divine Nature increaseth in us There is a putting off before there can be a putting on Eph. 4. 22 23 24. We put off the old Man which is corrupt by its deceitful Lusts. We begin the Work of Sanctification with Mortification in the first place and then proceed to the positive Duties of a new Life for the Plants of Righteousness will not thrive in an impenitent and unmortified Heart As the Corruption of Sin is driven out and expelled so the Divine Nature succeedeth Intus existens prohibet alienum these things are not consistent cannot be joyned together The Corruption that is in the World and the Divine Nature can no more agree than Darkness and Light Rom. 13. 12. But let us see how this Mortification is expressed 1. What is to be avoided 2. The Manner of shunning it 1. What is to be avoided The Corruption that is in the World through Lust. Observe Sin is called Corruption as often in Scripture because it is a blasting of our primitive Excellency and Purity Gen. 6. 12. All Flesh had corrupted his Way upon the Earth Psal. 14. 1. They are all corrupt and abominable that is degenerated
Love is our Breast-plate that guards the vitals of Christianity and Hope is our Helmet that covers our Head that we may hold up our Head in the midst of all the troubles and sorrows of the present Life 1 Thess. 5. 8. Both Graces are necessary therefore it will not be unprofitable to insist upon them I begin now with the former The Lord direct your Hearts to the love of God Where note 1. The Grace prayed for the Love of God 2. The Efficiency which is necessary to produce it the Lord direct your Hearts The word direct notes sometimes conduct and guidance and sometimes bending or setting streight the thing that is crooked Conduct and Guidance as we guide Men that they may not go wrong Psal. 119. 5. Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Ships that are best rigged need a Pilot and they that love God most need to have their love ordered and directed to the best advantage of his Glory and Service This for the first signification guidance and direction But at other times it signifies the bending inclining or making streight what is crooked and what bends and tends another way in this Sence I take it here Our Hearts are distorted and writhed and averse from God and all good naturally yea and after Grace received are apt to wander and return to their old bent and byas again therefore the Apostle prays that God would form and set their Hearts streight that they may be more indeclinably fixt towards God And this Prayer he makes for the Thessalonions whose work of Faith and labour of Love and patience of Hope he had so much commended before and of whose sincerity he had such great confidence for those he prays that their Love might be directed and their Hearts more fixedly set towards God The Note then will be plain and easy Doct. That we cannot have or keep up any true Love to God unless the Lord set our Hearts streight and keep them bent towards himself I shall inquire here 1. What is Love to God Love is the complacency of the Soul in what is good Love to God is the complacency and well-pleasedness of the Soul in God as our all-sufficient Portion To open it to you I shall describe it I. By its Radical and Internal Acts. II. By its External Effects III. A little touch upon the Properties of it and then you will see what the Love of God is 1. The Radical and Internal Acts are two Desire and Delight Desire after him and Delight in him 1. Desire after him Love affects union with the thing Beloved and so love to God implies an earnest seeking after him in the highest way of enjoyment that we are capable of in this World This appears partly by the kind of Mercies that we affect and partly by the fervency of our endeavours after him 1. By the kind of Mercies that we affect There are some Mercies vouchsafed to the Creature that lie nearer to God than others do and do least detain us from him as his Image and Favour or his renewing and reconciling Grace When we love God these are sought in the first place As you shall see how the temper of the Saints is described and distinguished from the temper of the brutish Multitude Psal. 4. 6 7. The Many say Who will shew us any good but Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us and this will put gladness into our Hearts The Many the brutish Multitude seek an uncertain good and they seek it from an uncertain Author Who will shew us They do not acknowledg God in these common Mercies but the Children of God must have his Favour Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us As the Beams of the Sun do chear and refresh the Earth this is that that doth revive their Souls So Mat. 5. 6. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness Well then they that desire to be like God in Purity and Holiness and to recover his Favour lost by Sin do certainly more love him than those that only seek temporal Mercies from him God's sanctifying Spirit witnessing his love to us is the greatest gift can be bestowed in this Life and will more witness his love than any thing else can be given us This the Saints seek after that they may be like God that they may be accepted and well-pleasing unto God this is all their Ambition 2 Cor. 5. 9. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of the Lord. Other things may please the Flesh but that is not their design those things that bring them nearer to God take up their Mind and Heart Now as it appears by the Mercies we affect so it appears 2. By the fervency of our endeavours after these things For if the Image of God and Favour of God be sought superficially or as things that we may be well without and the Wealth Honours and Pleasures of the World be most earnestly sought after surely we do not love God Psal. 63. 8. My Soul followeth hard after thee The whole Spiritual Life is but a pursuit of the Soul towards God and the more constantly and earnestly we seek him to enjoy more of his saving Graces and Benefits the more we have of the love of God in us Therefore David expresseth this desire as exceeding all other desires Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I might dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple He sought not the glory of the Kingdom Success in battel Victory over his Enemies in the first place or not so much as Converse with God and Attendance on his Worship in the Tabernacle all was nothing to this that he might have Communion with God Therefore this is the radical Act of Love this fervent burning desire that carries the Soul thorow all Duties Ordinances Services they are still making their way to a nearer access to God and larger participation of his Grace till they come eternally to enjoy him in Glory 2. There is another Internal Radical Act of Love that is a Delight in him Our full joy is reserved for the other World but delighting our selves in God is a great Duty now for Love being the complacence of the Soul in God as a apprehended to be good or a delightful adhesion to God as our all-sufficient Portion and Happiness it cannot be imagined Love can be without any delight in God even now Now in this Valley of Tears the hope of enjoying him hereafter is our Comfort and Solace in the midst of our Weaknesses and Afflictions that there is a time coming when we shall more perfectly see kim as he is and be like him 1 Ioh. 3. 2. the Apostle tells us We rejoyce now in the hope of the Glory of God that we have this in
Use of it for the time As though he did not destroy the property of the Fire yet he suspended the burning when the three Children were in the Furnace So of a sudden can he blast our Strength Psal. 26. 5 6. The Stout-hearted are spoiled they have slept their Sleep none of the Men of Might have found their Hands at thy Rebuke the Chariot and Horses are cast into a dead Sleep Whatsoever Strength Courage Wit or any other Point of Perfection any Man hath God who gave it can take it away when he pleaseth or suspend the Use of it All this God can do with a Rebuke with a Word of his Mouth Now as the Strong cannot find their Hands so the Wise cannot find their Hearts Iob 5. 14. They meet with Darkness in the Day-time and grope in the Noon-day as in the Night Who were these The Wise and the Crafty whom he speaketh of in the foregoing Verses In the clearest Cases they are to seek and so their well contrived Plots come to nothing There is a Blast and Plague upon their Judgments so that they do involve and confound themselves and what by self-conceit and froward self-will they drive on their Designs so precipitantly and furiously that they must needs miscarry They do not seem to have the Judgment of ordinary Men. Thus though Men be endowed with good Gifts and Qualities both of Wisdom and Strength God can easily take away their Power and Will to use them 2. From without By casting in some casual Event which we foresaw not and could not think of Man cannot foresee all the Wheels which move in a Business if he did he is not able to turn them So that besides taking away his Wisdom Courage and Strength when the Work is to be done God puts some Impediment in his way which was unexpected There are certain sudden Accidents which none can foresee and prevent any of them able to turn the Enterprize another way The most casual fortuitous things are ordered by God for the great Ends of his Providence As for Instance Haman travailed with a Design to cut off all the People of the Iews but his chief Spite was against Mordecai Now by chance the King could not sleep that Night and calleth for the Book of Memorials Esth. 6. 1. and found the Discovery of a Treason by Mordecai there recorded which spoiled all the deep Plots of Haman against the Iews Ahab intended to avenge himself upon Micaiah and to escape in the Battel changed his Robes and Royal Apparel and counselled Iehoshaphat to put on his And a Man drew a Bow at a Venture 1 Kin. 22. 34. God directed the Arrow to the Heart of the King of Israel Iehoshaphat escapeth and he is slain So that notable Instance the Sun-shine upon the Water 2 Kin. 3. 22 23 24. When the Moabites came to distress Iehoshaphat when they cried Moab to the Spoil it was indeed Moab to a sore Destruction Now these and many such like Instances teach us That the most casual and fortuitous things do certainly and infallibly fall out by God's Providence and Heavenly Government And again That there is some Occurrence which Providence casteth in by the way to disappoint the most likely Means and whatever Gifts and Qualities Men are endowed withal yet Events are not in their Power but depend on the free Concurrence of God I speak nothing now of the Influence of Angels upon Human Affairs whom God maketh use of in the Government of the World III. The most able Instruments do often provoke God to disappoint them whilst their Abilities of Counsel and Strength are a Means of hardening their Hearts in carnal Confidence and often engage in Business that proves mischievous to them I say In the most lawful Businesses they provoke God to disappoint them because they undertake them without God but too too often being unrenewed and unsanctified their Wit and Power is used against God 1. It is a great Crime to go about any Business without God Prov. 3. 5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thy Heart and lean not to thine own Understanding In all thy Ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy Paths When our Wisdom and Strength is set up as an Idol or Image of Jealousy God is obliged to blast it Therefore they that make their Bosom their Oracle their Wit their Counsellor they seldom carve out to themselves a good Portion In all serious Business we must ask his Leave Counsel Blessing 2. But many times Men of great Abilities being unsanctified employ them against God They are ordinarily the Devils greatest Agents and Factors for his Kingdom In seducing our first Parents he made use of the Serpent which was more subtil than any Beast of the Field Gen. 3. 1. Now these make God their opposite Party that engage in any such Enterprize upon the Confidence of their Wisdom and Strength and then they are snared by the work of their own Hands Psal. 9. 16. God delighteth to be seen to put Rubs and Stumbling-blocks in their Way that they may fall by some miserable Disappointment and their Craft and Power may turn to their own Ruin IV. To say and do or to make a thing to be is the Act and Name of Jehovah which Glory he will not communicate to any other Lam. 3. 37. Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not that is Who is able to bring about what he speaketh and purposetn unless God permit and give way thereunto Therefore whatever Preparation of Means or Likelihoods there are we must not be too confident of future Events We cannot bring them to pass by our own Power and God doth not always work by likely means he hides Events from Men Isa. 48. 7. Lest thou shouldst say I know them Now the Event could not be hidden if the Lord went on in a constant Course giving the Race to the Swift c. God carrieth on his Providence so as to leave no Footsteps behind him He goeth not one Way so often as to make a Path of it that Men may see the plain Tendency thereof The USES follow It teaches us I. The Nothingness of the Creature and the All-sufficiency of God That is a great Lesson indeed and mightily useful to us throughout the whole Spiritual Life First It is a Notion which the Scripture much delighteth in to represent God as all and the Creature as Nothing At first when Moses enquired God's distinctive Name God giveth him no other but I AM Exod. 3. 14. And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM And I AM hath sent me unto you What thing is there under the Cope of Heaven that cannot say I am that I am The least Worm hath its own Being But this as God's distinctive Name implieth that he encloseth all Being within Himself Secondly The Creature is nothing Isa. 40. 17. All Nations before him are nothing they are accounted less than nothing and Vanity
in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The Author Tit. 3. 5 6. Not by Works of Righteousness which ye have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour Till we are in him and be one with him we have not this great Benefit 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature We are destitute of that Image of God wherein we were created and better we had never been born unless new-born 2. The Favour of God which is an immediate Consequent of his Image God delighted in Man as innocent but Man sinful is the Object of God's Wrath Loathing and Aversation Therefore Christ died to recover Man to the Love and Favour of God 2 Cor. 5. 14. To make peace between the offended Sovereign and Subject offending To interpose between God angry and Man guilty Now this Breach continueth till we are reconciled by Christ till we love God and are beloved by him And better we had been in a lower rank of Creatures than to continue under God's displeasure for the Misery of the Beasts dies with them Death puts an end to all their Pains at once but the Wrath of God not appeased by Christ continues on the Sinner for ever 3. Fellowship with God was lost by the Fall Man was driven out of Paradise and shut out of God's Presence by a flaming Sword Gen. 3. 24. the Emblem of his Wrath and all Entercourse was broken off But Christ came to open the Way by whom we have access unto God with boldness and confidence Eph. 3. 12. Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in a time of need We need daily access to God we cannot live without him How can we look him in the Face with any Comfort when we have no Mediator we cannot have any serious thoughts of him without trembling 2. There is no removal of that Misery which we have incurred which is the Death and Curse wherein we are involved by Sin As long as the Curses of the Law stand in full force against us we can have no firm confidence if we look to time past there is a huge heap of Sins the least of which is enough to sink us into Hell if we look to time present our nature being not yet healed our Hearts swarm with divers Lusts and we are ready to sin again if to time to come Death Hell and Judgment affright us Christ findeth us where Adam left us in the High-way to Hell and Damnation Joh. 3. 18. Condemned already and to hope for any release unless it be upon God's Terms is to make him untrue and unjust Certainly God will not break his Word and disturb the order of his Covenant for your sakes Therefore how will you escape the Curse and Condemnation of the Law if Christ be not given to you 3. There is no obtaining of what we should desire and pursue after as our proper Happiness but only by Christ. Man was made for God and cannot be happy without him and he is most compleatly happy in the full Enjoyment of him Now there is no coming to that blessed State but by Christ. Ioh. 14. 6. He is the Way to the Father The most eminent Sence is with respect to our final Blessedness when we come into his immediate Presence So Ioh. 5. 11. This is the Record that God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son It is Christ alone that can put us in the way and bring us home to Eternal Bliss USE 1. Is to confute the Worlds Opinion who measure God's Love by outward things or worldly Felicity Alas The Love or Hatred of God is not known by these things Eccles. 9. 1 2. Neither can the Heart of Man be satisfied with them These things can give us a Belly-full but not a Heart-full Psal. 17. 14 15. Those that take up with the Creature never felt the weight of Sin are not serious in matters of Eternal Concernments The only true Happiness is in having God for our God Christ for our Redeemer the Spirit for our Sanctifier and Comforter Use 2. Is to excite us to bless God for Jesus Christ. The Apostle doth frequently in all his Groans and Afflictions Rom. 7. 25. I thank God through Iesus Christ our Lord c. Blessed be God for the Grace of Iesus Christ whereby we have Pardon for what is past and Grace for the future to perform what God will accept So 1 Cor. 15. 57. Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. God by Christ hath given us the Victory over Sin Death and Hell So should you especially in the Lord's Supper it is an Eucharist be thankful that God hath given Christ for us which is an unspeakable Gift And now he cometh to give him to you afford him an hearty welcome into your Souls as you take him and apply him by Faith and give up your selves to him as his Redeemed Ones You come to look upon Christ who made his Soul an Offering for Sin he is here represented as crucified before your Eyes and is by God specially offered to your acceptance and with him Pardon and Life You must be joyful and thankful for these great Gifts and Benefits so dearly bought so surely sealed so freely offered and in the sense of all this devote your selves to God Use 3. Make it your main Care to see if Christ be given to us Without him you cannot have any true Remedy against Evil nor any solid Hope of Good Certain it is that in our Natural Estate we were without him Is there a Change The two great Ends for which Christ came were to appease God and to be the Principle of a new Life Is Christ given for these Ends Have you received him Do not think Christ fell from Heaven into your Bosom whether you would or no. Did you ever feel your Misery without him and cry mightily to God Give me Christ or else I die and perish for ever I confess Conversion is not always evident in feeling but it is in the Effect and Fruit. What Fruits have you then abiding in you The great Fruit of Christ being given to you is the Spirit 's dwelling in you Rom. 8. 9. But ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you The great Work of the Spirit is to sanctify the Soul to the Service of him that redeemed us Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Clear this and the Cause is decided III. I come now to the third part of
Life Evil and Death Secondly The Manner how this is to be done it must be set forth with all Evidence and Conviction as to the Reason of Men with all Earnestness and Affectionate Importunity to awaken their Affections In short 1. So as will become the belief of these things We must not speak of them as a thing spoken in jest and by rote but as firmly perswaded of the truth of things as if Heaven and Hell were before our Eyes and as evident to Sense Heb. 11. 1. We look upon these things naturally as at a distance and so have but a cold apprehension of them but we should by Faith see them as near at hand As you would pull a Man out of the Fire Iude 23. or as falling into a deep Pit or bottomless Gulph as one in the greatest earnest Belief puts a Life into Truths which otherwise are but dead and weak in their Operation I believed and therefore did I speak as if we had a deep sense of these things upon our own Hearts 2. As will become Experience 2 Cor. 5. 10. Knowing the Terrors of the Lord we perswade Men. A Man that knoweth the Terrors of the Lord that hath been scorched himself will set them before Men as if they were at hand ready to surprize them Others that talk of these things but as cold Opinions they will not be so careful to rouse up Men to mind the case of their Souls If one went unto them from the Dead then will they repent Luk. 16. 30. 3. So as will become Zeal for the Glory of God which is much promoted by the Subjection and Obedience of his Creatures and his Interest in them therefore we should be diligent and industrious in drawing Souls to Christ. Col. 1. 27 28. Christ in you the hope of Glory whom we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Iesus 2 Cor. 11. 13. They have blind unbelieving Hearts therefore need to be taught cold careless Affections and need to be warned and this with the greatest Wisdom that can be used that all may be presented to Christ at the last day This is that which sets all a going When we are wooing for Christ we should not do it coldly and triflingly but as those that would prevail for their Master that he may be glorified in their being gained to him 4. So as will become compassioners of precious and immortal Souls for whom Christ died Souls that must live for ever in Heaven or Hell Oh mind them of their Duty warn them of their Danger they are ready to tumble into the Flames of Hell every moment therefore with all earnestness set Life and Death before them We should use the more compassion to Souls because God himself who hath employed us hath expressed so much of his Compassion he doth not only tell them they will die but expostulateth with them Why will you die O House of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. And Ezek. 28. 25. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die and not return from his ways and live The greatest quarrel Christ hath with Sinners is because they will not come to him for Life John 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life Two Reasons make this more evident 1. This is God's Will 2. This is of great Profit to the Souls of Men. First This is God's Will that his Law should be propounded with the Sanction of it that is with Penalties and Rewards God might rule us with a Rod of Iron require Duty out of meer Sovereignty but he will draw us with the Cords of a Man Hos. 11. 4. with such Arguments as are fitted to Mans Temper as he is a reasonable Creature that is by Promises and Threatnings We are best moved and induced to any thing by those two Affections of Fear and Hope the one Affection serveth for Aversation and Flight the other for Choice and Pursuit Therefore he that knoweth the Wards of the Lock accordingly suiteth the Keys and doth not only require an exact Duty but also promiseth Good and threatneth Evil. Sovereigns in their publick Edicts do not argue with their Subjects but only interpose their Authority but God condescendeth to reason with his Creatures He doth not say as sometimes Thus shall ye do I am the Lord but if you do thus this will be your ruine and obey these Statutes for your Good Deut. 6. 24. and so doth perswade as well as command Secondly It is of great Profit to the Souls of Men. 1. It is of Profit that they should often be minded of the Issues of things Israel's want of Wisdom cometh from this Deut. 32. 29. O that they were Wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end that is how Obedience and Disobedience will succeed with them Lam. 1. 9. David's trouble at the prosperity of the Wicked arose from want of this Psal. 73. 17. Then I understood their End Rom. 6. 21. The end of these things is Death Fugientes respice what will they leave in their farewel and departure Jer. 17. 11. At his latter end he shall be a Fool. The first addresses of Sin smile upon us but the Sting is in the Tail So the beginning of Godliness is Bitter but afterward it yieldeth everlasting Peace and Comfort 2. That they may reflect on both combined either of them single is of great force but both joyned together comes in upon the Heart with greater Power We need a Bridle and a Spur a Bridle because of our proneness to Evil and a Spur because of our Backwardness to Good We have both we are compassed and hedged in with our Duty on every side If we look back there is Death to affright us if forward Heaven to allure us there is Eternal Life to draw us there is Eternal Death to drive us If God had only terrified us from Sin by unexpressible Pains and Horrors and made no promise of unspeakable Joys this were enough to engage us to live without Blame and Blemish that we might not be cast into the Prison of Hell or if only to quicken our Diligence he had propounded Hopes and Happiness as the Priviledg of those that live Vertuously and Holily and evil Men did utterly perish when they die this were enough to draw us If God had only promised Heaven and no Hell there would not be so strong a Motive but can we be cold and dead when both Life and Death are laid before us and both for ever this is very unreasonable Solomon telleth us Prov. 15. 24. That the way of Life is above to the Wise to avoid Hell beneath Every step they tread is a going from Eternal Death and an approach to Eternal Life Therefore as we would escape the Torments of Hell and possess the Joys of Heaven we should be serious We are undone for ever if we be not blessed for ever and the
Flesh. Thy poor pined starved Brother is thine own Flesh. 2. The Possible Equality of all Men as to Condition and as to State of Life They are equal by Nature and it is possible they may be in the same State of Life You stand to Day another is fallen you are liable to the same Corruption and the same Calamities To the same Corruption Gal. 6. 1. If any one be fallen ye that are Spiritual restore such a one with a Spirit of Meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Rigid Censurers may fall into like Sins or worse themselves Alas the Devil is very assiduous in tempting and the Lord permits him to surprise those that are severe to others Therefore you should shew Pity and Compassion to the fallen And then as to possibility of Calamities Heb. 13. 3. Remember them that are in Bonds as bound with them and them which suffer Adversity as being your selves also in the Body There 's a twofold Interpretation of that Place some understand it of the Mystical Body of Christ but I think rather it is meant of the Body of Flesh while we are here in the present Life Strange changes may come before we go out of the Body they that are highest may be lowest In 2 Kings 4. 13. We read of the Shunamite that had given Harbour and Entertainment to the Prophet and the Prophet said What is to be done for thee wouldst thou be spoken for to the King or to the Captain of the Host and she answered I dwell among mine own People She was well and needed nothing she was able to dwell at Home and to maintain her self well enough and needed not the Prophet to speak to the King for her but afterwards there comes a great Famine and her Inheritance was invaded and she that would not be beholden to the Prophet was beholden to Gehazi the Prophets Man Compare 2 Kings 4. 13. with 2 Kings 8. 3. There may be great Changes here in the Earth great Calamities may befall us therefore since we are in the Body and since those that are high to day may be low to morrow and you may need the like help from others we must have a fellow-feeling with them God who is the great Arbiter of Human Affairs can pull down and set up at his pleasure We have opened the Rule the first Part of the Text. II. The second Part is the Commendation of this Rule For this is the Law and the Prophets that is this is the Sum of the Doctrine of God The Law and the Prophets were the Scriptures only then in force and therefore the Phrase is used proverbially in many places Mat. 11. 13. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied till Iohn Luk. 16. 31. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them Acts 24. 14. I believe all the Law and the Prophets have spoken The Law and the Prophets were all the Bible they had for that time Now saith Christ the Law was as the Text and the Prophets as the Comment upon the Text to expound and confirm the Law by a larger Explication But you will say Is this the whole Sum of the Law and the Prophets Are there not Doctrines delivered there insisted upon concerning our Respects to God and all the Institutions of his Worship are they not contained in the Law and Prophets I answer The Proposition must be understood according to the Matter in hand this is the Law and the Prophets as to all they say concerning our Converse with Men. You may have many Rules in the Law and the Prophets where they are more copiously delivered but they all issue themselves into this general Rule The Worship of God and Duties to him are also established by the Law and the Prophets for when our Lord had spoken of what we owe to God as well as to Man he saith Mat. 22. 40. On these two hang all the Law and the Prophets These are the two things that all the Law and the Prophets seek to establish viz. Love to God and Man But our Saviour here speaks only concerning the second Table what concerns that is comprised in this Sentence All that part of Religion which is Inferioris Hemispherii of the lower Hemisphere of Duty is distill'd into this Quintessential Extract As in the Spirits of things the Vertue is contracted which otherwise is largely diffused while it is mingled with grosser Matter So here the Spirits the extract of Law and Prophets are all distilled as to Moral matters into this one Saying Whatsoever you would c. III. The third thing to be considered is the Illative Particle Therefore From what is this inferr'd In the foregoing Verses our Saviour speaks of Audience in Prayer If ye being evil know how to give good things unto your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father know how to give good things to them that ask him Therefore whatsoever ye would c. Christ makes many notable Arguments and shews that God is ready to give good things to us Ask and ye shall have c. he proves it from the kindness of Earthly Parents to their Children And now therefore to intimate this that if Men have their Prayers granted they must observe this Rule they must perform all duties of civil Righteousness as well as be earnest in acts of Piety Upon this limiting it to the audience of Prayer it plainly implies three things 1. That God is the Judg of Human Actions he will take cognizance of this whether you do to others as they do to you and you shall hear of it in your dealing with God that 's the first and lowest thing and remember you have to do with God as much as they have to do with you he shews this to bridle the Excesses of those that are in Power There are a sort of Men that think they may do any thing if they can do it safely Mic. 2. 1. That do evil because it is in the practice of their Hand They eagerly prosecute their Purposes and Desires when they have Power to effect them Now a Christian should pause upon the Matter and consider not only what is possible to be done but what is just and lawful to be done and Conscience should put a severe restraint when nothing else can hinder us as Ioseph said Gen. 42. 18. This do and live for I fear God He had a full advantage against them that wrought him so much Mischief but he had an inward Principle laid up in his Heart which begat a tenderness I fear God But when Men will do every thing they are able to effect and will do any thing as far as their Power will reach remember you must come before God and God can requite it though they cannot It is not Conscience which governs the greatest part of the World but Interest When it is not for Mens Interest they will do no wrong but when they have Power enough to do what they intend they
Bodies must be changed before they can be brought to Heaven We shall not all die but we shall all be changed saith the Apostle If the Body must be changed how much more the Soul if that which is Frail much more that which is Filthy if Flesh and Blood cannot enter into Heaven till it be freed from its corruptible Qualities certainly a guilty corrupted Soul cannot enter into Heaven till it be freed from its sinful Qualities Application I. Use. Of Information 1. That there is such a thing as the new Nature Regeneration or the new Birth and the new Creature It is one thing to make us Men another to make us Saints or Christians We have Understanding and Will and Affections and Sense as Men but we have these sanctified as Christians The carnal World thinks Christianity puts strange names upon ordinary things but is it an ordinary thing to row against the Stream of Flesh and Blood and to raise Men above those Inclinations and Affections by which the generality of the World are mastered and captivated For a Man to be another kind of Creature than the rest of Men are surely proceeds from a new Nature put into him 1 Pet. 4. 4. The World wondereth at Believers in their contemning the pleasant powerful Attractives of sensible things 2. That by this new Nature a Man is distinguished from himself as Carnal he hath somewhat which he had not before something that may be called a new Life and Nature a new Heart that is created Psal. 51. 10. and may be increased 2 Pet. 3. 18. In the first Conversion we are meer Objects of Grace but afterwards Instruments of Grace First God worketh upon us then by us On the Unregenerate the Spirit worketh while they do nothing that is good sometimes the contrary The Regenerate he helpeth whiles they are working striving labouring he quickneth and exciteth their Inclination to God They have some Principles of Operation there is Life in them and where there is Life there is some power to act or else God's most precious Gifts would be in vain therefore it is their Duty to bestir themselves 2 Pet. 1. 3 4 5. We have Understanding and Memory sanctified and planted with a Stock of Divine Knowledg and can retain things on the Conscience which if we do not we are highly culpable before God Mat. 25. 25 26. Thou wicked and slothful Servant c. We have an inclination to God and Heavenly Things and we must blow it up Isa. 64. 7. There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee 2 Tim. 1. 6. Stir up the gift of God that is in thee 3. How little they can make out their recovery to God and Interest in Christ who are not sensible of any change wrought in them They have their old Thoughts their old Discourses their old Passions and their old Affections and their old Conversations still the old darkness and blindness which was upon their Minds the old Stupidity Dulness Deadness Carelesness that was upon their Hearts knowing little or nothing or regarding nothing of God the old end and scope governeth them to which they formerly referred all things If there were a change there would be some hope the Redeemer had been at work in their Hearts You can remember how little savour you had once of the things of the Spirit how little mind to Christ or Holiness how wholly you were given up to the Pleasures of the Flesh or the profits of the World what a mastery your Lusts had then over you and an hard servitude you were in Is the case altered with you now is your taste of Fleshly Delights deadned your Souls taken up more with the Affairs of another World Is the drift aim and bent of your Lives now for God and your Salvation and the great business you attend upon the pleasing of God and the saving of your Souls Are ye not Servants to your Senses and fleshly Appetites and things here below but can ye govern your selves and master these Desires This is a change indeed But in many that profess Christ and pretend to an Interest in him there is no such change to be sensibly seen their old Sins and their old Lusts and the old things of Ungodliness are not yet cast off Surely so much old Rubbish and rotten Building should not be left standing with the New Old Leaves in Autumn fall off in the Spring if they continue so long so old things should pass away and all become new 4. It informeth us in what manner we should check Sin by remembring it is an old thing to be done away and ill becoming our new Estate by Christ. 2 Pet. 1. 9. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins Former Sins ought to be esteemed as old Rags that are cast off and as Vomit never to be licked up again If we are and do esteem our selves to be pardoned we should never build again what we have destroyed nor tear open old Wounds So 1 Pet. 1. 14. Not fashioning your selves to the former Lusts of your Ignorance nor cast our selves into the old Mould and Shape and return to our old Bondage and Slavery So 1 Cor. 5. 7. Purge out the old Leaven that you may be wholly a new Lump So ver 8. Therefore keep the Feast not with old Leaven neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness but with the unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth The unsuitableness of Sin to our present State should stir up our Indignation Hos. 14. 8. What have I to do any more with Idols Worldly things are pleasing to the old Man therefore we should not over-much esteem them They are not new Creatures that have not put off the Lusts of the old Man II. Use. To put us upon Self-Reflection Are we the Workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus that is are we made new Creatures It will be known by these things a new Mind a new Heart and a new Life 1. Have we a new Mind A new Creature hath a new sight of things looketh upon all things with a new Eye He seeth more odiousness in Sin more Excellency in Christ more Beauty in Holiness more Vanity in the World than ever he saw before Before they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They knew aâ—l things after the Flesh. A new value and esteem of things doth much discover the temper of the Heart Heb. 11. 26. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt They esteem the decay of the outward Man to be abundantly recompensed with the increase of the inward 2 Cor. 4. 16. A new Creature is not only changed himself but all things seem to be changed with him Heaven is another thing and Earth is another thing than it was before so is Sin and Righteousness yea he looketh on his Body and Soul with another Eye 2. As he hath a new