of Christ and of God But that because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience In Rev. 22.8 that They have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone That is no other than that as it is here expressed in the Text they are turned into Hell There are none that live and continue in such Sins as these are whose end is destruction Phil. 3.10 howsoever they may flatter themselves with hopes of the contrary that can expect any other lot to befall them than such as this How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her It was said of the Whore of Babylon Rev. 18.7 And holds true of all other Whores and sinful Persons in any kind or condition whatsoever By how much the more that the heart of any People is drowned and swallowed up in Lust and Carnal Pleasure by so much the more are they from thence exposed to Hellish Torments and Tortures which shall accordingly light upon them This is a thing which is no way to be doubted or called in question as having the Word of God it self clear for it And there are few but are ready in mind to acknowledge it and seem at least to be perswaded of it But Secondly That is not all Not only Open and Scandalous Sinners but also close and secret Hypocrites and Formalists who have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof These come into this number also of those that are wicked and so consequently that are turned into Hell The Scripture takes a special notice and observation of those and fastens a special Character upon them to this purpose as we have divers Instances of it thus Psal 125.4 The Lord will do good to those that are good and to them that are upright in their hearts But as for them that turn aside to their wicked ways that is to say Hypocrites and Double Dealers the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity that is reckon them in the number of Wicked Persons and accordingly deal with them In Matth. 23.15 The Hypocrites they are made to be Children of Hell as all one with them And Matth. 24.52 it is said of the Unfaithful Steward that His Lord shall come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Where the Portion of Hypocrites is made to be The Description of Hell as that which is in a special manner appointed unto them Thirdly Which carries yet a little farther and enlarges this Name a little wider All Carnal and Unregenerate Persons whosoever are yet remaining and abiding in the State of Nature and not converted and brought home to Christ These are moreover the Wicked in the sense of the Text and have answerably the Doom of the Text falling upon them as being liable to be turned into Hell The Scripture is clear for this also as we have it in Joh. 3.3 from the mouth even of Christ himself in his discoursing with Nicodemus Verily Verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God What is it to be born again That is to have a new Nature and Principles put into him over what he hath brought into the World This is here to be supposed and taken for granted that as the Apostle Paul expresly tells us We are all by nature the children of wrath Ephes 2.3 I was born in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me saith the Prophet David of himself Psal 51.5 And it is applicable to all other Persons whosoever they are The whole frame of the thoughts of every man's heart by nature is evil and only evil continually Gen. 6.5 From whence so considered there is no Agreement betwixt God and him or Communion betwixt them For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness or what communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 this is that which makes God and Man Enemies and exposes Man for his particular to the Judgment of God and draws down all his Wrath and Vengeance upon him in the Demerit of it for there is no unclean thing or that defileth which can enter into that holy place Rev. 21.27 Therefore there must be a Change and Alteration wrought before any one come thither And they must be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light and begotten again to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Now there is nothing less than this which will serve the turn to bring men to Heaven and so consequently to keep them from Hell That which we call Good Nature if it be not moreover sanctified and renewed by Grace it is but Bad Nature still and Nature Corrupt and sodenounces such Persons as are the Subjects of it to be Wicked Persons notwithstanding all that seeming Comliness and Amiableness which may be in them Take Civility and Morallity and Ingenuity and such Principles and Dispositions as those of Temperance and Sobriety and Justice and Liberality and the like Although in themselves simply considered they are very noble and honourable Quallifications and such as had never more need to be extolled than in such times as these are wherein there is so much failing and decaying of them yet for all that they are not enough of themselves alone to bring men to Salvation If Men have no more but these they may go to Hell for all these And this is clear from the Passage of our blessed Saviour himself in Matth. 5.20 Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees it was as to outward appearance very perfect and exact Righteousness especially some amongst them above the rest As we may see in the Apostle Paul himself when he was of that Profession He was touching the Righteousness which was in the Law blameless as he says of himself Philip. 3.6 But yet when he came to be converted and to become a Christain he durst not stand to it as he again delcares of himself in the eighth and ninth Verses of that Chapter No more have any others besides cause to trust or to rely hereupon as which will 〈◊〉 serve them Men may have fair and civil outward Carriages and Deportments in regard of the World and yet have naughty and desperate hearts full of Pride and Envy and Malice and Rebellion of Spirit Now such as these they are wicked Persons also in the Language of the Text and Children of Hell it self These are such as the World does sometimes very much abound with who under the Visage of common Civility and External smoothness of Conversation are Great Haters and Opposers and Despisers of the Power of Godliness and of those who are the true
the Apostle advises us in Rom. 13.13 14. Take heed of having too easy and favourable thoughts and apprehensions of such things as these are of death and judgment and calamity as if they had no great matter in them for it will not appear to be so when they shall come in good earnest Wo unto you that in this sense desire that is diminish and despise and disregard the day of the Lord which is a kind of desire interpretatively as being next to it for you have no ground or cause for it The day of the Lord being dark and not light yea very dark and no brightness in it as it is here exprest And further here consider the great difference which is betwixt man and man in this particular for whiles this day of the Lord is said to be thus and thus it is still to be taken in a variety of Emphasis according to the variety of Persons which are concern'd in it The same day being occasionally and respectively either one or t'other unusquisque sibi est aut tenebrae aut lumen says St. Austin Every one is to himself either darkness or light Si pius lumen si impius tenebrae Those which are gracious and truly religious to such the day of the Lord whether in death or judgment it is a day of light and joy and of comfort in death as it translates them to Glory and in Judgment as it finishes Glory to them On the other side to those which are wicked and ungodly and profane and atheistical to them it is a day of darkness and horror As the cloud which we read of in Exod. 14.20 It was light to the Israelites whiles it was darkness at the same time to the Egyptians A direction to one and an obstruction to the t'other Where by the way take notice of the unhappiness of all wicked and ungodly persons in the perverting of those things which in themselves have the greatest excellency by making a contrary use and improvement of them There 's nothing which wicked men partake of but it 's either the worse for them or they for it The Word of the Lord and the Table of the Lord and the Temple of the Lord and the Day of the Lord. The Word of the Lord they make it reproachful and instead of the savour of life to them to be the savour of death The Table of the Lord they make it to be vain and contemptible and instead of discerning the Lord's body eat and drink to themselves their own damnation The Temple of the Lord they make it execrable and instead of the house of Prayer a den of thieves The Day of the Lord they make it terrible and instead of a day of light a day of darkness As they profane the day of the Lord as it is taken for a day of devotion so they contemn the day of the Lord as it is taken for a day of judgment and visitation So much for that and so much also of the whole Text. SEVERAL SELECT SERMONS Upon Various Texts out of the NEW TESTAMENT Sermon I. MATTHEW 5.20 That except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It was that which was laid to the charge of our Blessed Saviour whilst he converst here upon Earth as is also since to some of his servants in conformity to him that whiles he preacht the Doctrine of the Gospel he did nullifie the vigour of the Law and the Precepts of it That which the Pharisees were more especially guilty of themselves which was to make the Commandment of God of none effect by their Traditions they most falsly and injuriously and unhappily object to Christ as if he came into the world for this purpose to destroy the Law and the Prophets Now therefore did it very much concern him to clear himself of this accusation which we find him to do in this present Scripture by shewing that he was so far from nullifying or destroying the Law as that he did so much the rather strengthen it and confirm it and further inforce it by the sense which he put upon it as leading men to a stricter and exacter observation of it than as yet they had been acquainted withall and this is the scope in particular of this Text which we have now in hand Our Saviour had for the general profest it in the 17th verse of this Chapter Think not saith he I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil Now in this verse before us he proves and demonstrates what he there profest For I say unto you That except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness c. IN the Text it self there are two general Parts First The Preface or Introduction Secondly The Doctrine or principal matter which is delivered in it The Introductory Preface that 's exprest in these words For I say unto you The Truth and Doctrine which is delivered in these words Except your Righteousness c. We shall a little invert the Order of these words in the handling and begin first of all with the second Branch of them as that which is principally intended and that is the Doctrine or Truth it self which is here propounded and delivered to us Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees c. Wherein we have a disparagement of the Righteousness of such and such persons in order to Eternal Salvation so as that these who do partake of no more but only that shall never partake of this The word Scribes is the name of an Office amongst the Jews who were noted especially for their Learning and Knowledge in the Law The word Pharisees that is the name of a Sect who were noted especially for their life and conversation Now the Righteousness of either or both together is here declared to be very defective And the point which arises from hence is briefly this That Pharisaical Righteousness is unsufficient to bring a man to Heaven If a man have no more Righteousness in him than of the Scribes and Pharisees he shall never enter into the Kingdom of God For the better opening of the present point unto us there are two things to be done by us First To shew what this Pharisaical Righteousness is and wherein it consists Secondly To shew the Defectiveness and Insufficiency of this Righteousness in reference to Eternal Salvation and what it is which makes it so to be as is here by our Blessed Saviour declared concerning it First What this Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was or is which is thus insufficient Now this may be reduced to these two heads either first the matter and substance of their Righteousness or secondly the manner and circumstances Their Righteousness it was observable and remarkable in either of these particulars but yet defective in each First For the matter and substance of their Righteousness it
natural condition Surely such as ever were so they would be otherwise affected However men may be haply perswaded in an ignorant and secure condition when they have no sight or view of sin or of the wrath of God against it so as to rest satisfied in such a Righeousness as this is yet when their consciences are opened and awakened they will have other thoughts of it and discern the insufficiency which is in it In the time of sickness in the hour of death in the approaches of Judgment when they are leaving and forsaking the world going to give up their accounts to God at his Tribunal then this confidence in their Pharisaical Righteousness will vanish and come to nothing then they will see what little stress or strength is to be put in it as that which will not be able to afford them any peace of conscience or satisfaction of spirit Thirdly It does occasionally deprive men of the means of Salvation and set them so much the further off from true happiness The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees meeting together with the corruption which was stil inherent in them it was thus far prejudicial to them Therefore our Saviour tells them That the Publicans and Harlots went into the Kingdom of God before them Matth. 21.31 Not as if Whoredom and Oppression were better abstractly considered than moral Righteousness or in their own nature did more dispose unto salvation But that in regard of the Subjects in which they were they had accidentally a more happy effect for Publicans and Harlots being convinced of their own unrighteousness did from hence so much the more eagerly look after the Righteousness of Christ whiles Scribes Pharisees being conceited of their own righteousness had the Righteousness of Christ hereupon in greater contempt and contemning Christ's Righteousness did thereby put away from them eternal life And thus have we seen the point explained and enlarged unto us That Pharisaical Righteousness is insufficient to everlasting salvation Now the consideration of this Truth may be thus far usefully improved First We see here the misery and unhappiness of all such persons as are defective and coming short of this Righteousness If they cannot come to Heaven who do not go beyond such persons as the Scribes and Pharisees were what may we think of such as do not indeed go so far If those who are no more than merely Civil shall be shut out of Heaven what shall we say to those who are absolutely wicked and prophane What room will there be found in that holy place for such as these surely such as they must needs perish without recovery whiles they continue in such a condition Our Saviour by this comparison does not take men off from Moral Righteousness which is very requisite and necessary for them and comely and commendable in them wheresoever it is No but he does rather carry them on to somewhat further As the Apostle Paul speaking of Ministerial qualifications Covet earnestly the best gifts but yet shew I unto you a more excellent way So our Saviour here speaking of Christian qualifications he does not simply disparage Morality or Civility no more do we with him But he requires somewhat else besides to be joyned with it which is superiour and transcendent to it Therefore absolutely to be deprived of it does admit of no excuse whosoever they be that live in waies of wickedness and prophaneness in murther and drunkenness and uncleanness and injustice and oppression and such sins as these are they are sad and miserable creatures They which do such things they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God as the Scripture has peremptorily told us And they shall so much the harder inherit it as such as are better than they are are as if we heard excluded from it which therefore should so much the more effectually work upon them to bring them to reformation and amendment of life If Formality shall be shut out of Heaven what will become of prophaneness If coldness in Religion shall be punisht what shall become of Atheism and no Religion at all If those who keep the Law in the letter of it celebrate the Sabbath heat the Word receive the Sacrament give alms to the poor and perform such outward duties as these shall notwithstanding some of them be debarred of eternal salvation what will become of thee that never mindest any of these things that livest as if there were no God or Hell or Heaven or day of Judgment surely thy case must needs e desperate whilest thou so continuest For we must take in this with it that there are differences and degrees of punishment as there is also of sin for the preventing of an objection which may be truly made to this purpose for some people perhaps when they hear this that Pharisees with their Civil Righteousness shall be kept out of Heaven may be ready to make this Reply that then we had as good be absolutely prophane for we can then be but so excluded But such as these must know that their punishment shall be so much the greater as their wickedness is the more And though both shall be cast into Hell both one and the other yet these latter shall have greater damnation and shall be more the children of Hell as the Scripture expresses it And that 's the first Use which may be made of this Point Secondly This serves to call men to an account for the righteousness which is in them and to humble them under the reflections of it If such righteousness as this which we have now mentioned will not serve to bring men to Heaven then we see here the sad condition of such persons as have no more to say for themselves than this comes to that think their case to be good in reference to Eternal Salvation because they come up to some formalities of external obedience because it may be they have some knowledg in the Doctrine of Religion or because it may be they abound in some outward performances therefore they think that they are presently heirs of Heaven and have the Kingdom of God belonging to them as theirs Alas if it be no more than so with them their righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees And if it does not so we see here what a censure our Blessed Saviour passes upon them as those who shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven That so they may be taken off from a condition of carnal security wherein at present they seem to be involv'd It is true that civil righteousness it has many other accommodations with it which are not to be deposed It keeps up Order and Peace and Unity betwixt men and men It preserves Families and Societies and States and the like without which men would be no beter than so many Salvages and Tygers and Bears and wild creatures there would be no living and subsisting in the world But yet as to matter of
deceive you with vain words for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Rev. 21.8 The abominable are said to have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone and Rev. 22.15 Without are dogs Dogs what are they namely filthy beastly people who have impudence joyn'd with their uncleanness What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial St. Paul makes the question 2 Cor. 6.14 and we may answer it in the negative even none at all Such as these they are at a very great distance from Grace and eternal Salvation forasmuch as they are in a state of absolute repugnancy and opposition against it and therefore may justly tremble at such a Doctrine as this is howsoever they may otherwise be perswaded and flatter themselves Secondly all hypocrites or secret enemies and haters of goodness which though perhaps they may not be so openly and notoriously scandalous as some others are yet have bitter and malicious spirits and affections in them against the ways of God Such as these being of a devillish nature and the spirit that works in the children of disobedience ruling in them they are therefore far from the Kingdom of God and the government of Christ and his spirit which is a spirit of Holiness This was the condition of those other persons in this Chapter which came to Christ The Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians they came to him with a malicious affection to intangle him and insnare him in his speech and thereby to betray him who therefore were said here implicitly to be far from the Kingdom of God which this honest Scribe was not And so in other places of the Gospel our Saviour does in special manner strike at the Pharisees for thus their malicious opposing and contradicting of the known truth which does set men in as great a distance to this purpose as any thing else and nothing more even there where 't is veiled with the fairest pretences that may be Thirdly all such persons as are meerly civil or formal which have no more but common and moral honesty in them though this in it self and simply consider'd be very good we do not speak against it nor had not need in these times yet such I say who are no more than so they are far from the Kingdom of God There 's an infinite distance betwixt Civility and Piety betwixt God Nature and Grace betwixt Formality and the power of Religion Those which go no farther than that they come far short of this and so in conclusion if they go no farther of that which is the consequent of it eternal life Thus our Saviour himself tells us Matt. 5.20 I say unto you that except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Scribes and Pharisees they were very strict and exact persons in many respects Their conversation to the world was very fair and free from offence they were punctual in their observations of the Law and the outward parts of God's worship and service and yet for all this our Saviour tells the people whom he there speaks to that except they took care to go beyond them there was no coming for them to Heaven no more there was not they must have somewhat more in them than this or no Salvation And thus it has likewise been apprehended by those whom God has pleased to enlighten and to work a further work in them As for instance the Apostle Paul himself we cannot have a better proof of this point than in his Epistle by considering him what he was before conversion and considering him what he was after Take it from his own mouth Gal. 1.14 He there tells us what he had been before how he he had profited in the Jews Religion above many of his equals and had been exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his Fathers So Phil. 3.6 He says that touching the righteousness which is in the Law he was blameless and if any other had whereof he might trust in the flesh he had more well but now at last he durst not trust to it for all this as ye may see in the words that follow in ver 7 8. What things were gain unto me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things to be but loss c. This is the judgment which St. Paul passes upon himself before conversion to be but in a lost condition notwithstanding all his exactness in the way of a civil conversation his outside and formality in Religion And so it is likewise with any other persons besides who are no more but so They are in this respect but short of the Kingdom of God There 's a double defect or insufficiency in meer civility to this purpose First in regard of the object or matter which it is exercised about which is considerable chiefly in the inferior things of the Law and such as do regulate and reform the outward conversation as Justice and Temperance and Sobriety and such as these but as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier and more substantial matters as Faith and Repentance and Self-denial and Mortification here 't is more lax and remiss or nothing at all Secondly in regard of the Principle and Spring whence these actions proceed which is not an heart any thing changed or renewed in the spirit of its mind as the Apostle speaks but still remaining in its natural condition and original corruption and defilement which it had contracted to it self In each of these respects does civility sall short of Salvation And therefore let none of us rest satisfied or contented with it let this be the Vse and Improvement which we make of this observation to labour to find a further work than this comes to upon our hearts A sight of our wretched and miserable condition by nature and mourning under it A new byass and inclination put upon us carrying us out to that righteousness which is in Christ a closing with Christ upon the terms and conditions of the Gospel to forsake our dearest lusts to forego our strongest corruptions to be willing to do or suffer whatsoever he shall lay upon us to deny our selves perfectly for him and to submit to his Scepter and Government to take place in us to have a special savour and relish of the Truths and Doctrines of the Scripture especially as they are any thing more pertinent to the practical part of Religion to love the children of God upon this account because they are his children and have his image instampt upon them These and the like are such things as are somewhat further than meer civility and the common honesty of the World which whosoever have not in themselves more or less and in some kind of measure and degree are so far forth in this distance and remoteness
them of the Contrary by manifest Experience as we have an express place to this purpose in Deut. 29.19.20 The Lord will not spare him but his Anger and Jealousy shall smoake against him This was the Condition of the old World They were Eateing and drinking and then the Flood came upon them and swept them all away And so t is still to this present day when men cry Peace and Safety then Destruction comes upon them as Travail upon a Woman That 's now the first thing here considerable viz. The time of this Dispensation now he powreth out of it The Second is the Measure of it It 's in Abundance Effundit he powreth it forth Here are not onely Drops but Showers Waters of a full cup are wrung out unto them and so the Scripture still sets it Pour out thy Wrath upon the Heathen that have not known thee and upon the Kingdoms that have not called upon thy name Psal 79.6 And upon the Wicked he shall rain Snares c. This is sutable to the carriage of wicked men in regard of Sin For they commit Sin with greediness and add Drunkenness to Thirst and drink down Iniquity like water as the Scripture speaks They put no bounds at all to their wickedness but are unsatiable and unmeasureable in sinning and accordingly is it fitting that they should be so dealt withall in regard of Punishing as it is said concerning Babylon By how much She hath Glorifyed her self and lived deliciously so much Torment and Sorrow give her Rev. 18.7 This is that which we may oftentimes observe in the Dispensation of Gods Judgments the full current and carrear of them with which they proceed Methinks this word Powreth-forth it carries many things in it at once the Suddenness of the Judgment the Violence and the Excessiveness As when God has a mind to be Gracious he tumbles in Blessings upon his People in a great measure and abundance So likewise when he has a mind to be Revengeful he powers forth wrath and Indignation upon those which are Obnoxious to him that 's the Second this the measure The Third is the Subjects or Persons upon whom this cup of Vengance is poured forth now this it is not exprest but implyed and it refers to two sorts of people both good and bad both the people of God and his Enemies the Godly and wicked men both each have a share in these Judgments As in Ezek. 21.3 Behold I am against thee and will cut off from thee both the Righteous and the Wicked And Eccles 2.16 There is no Remembrance of the Wise more then of the Fool all things fall alike to all As for the Godly and Righteous to speak of them first for the other will come in afterwards in the latter clause of the verse Even these have this wine of Gods Judgments now and then poured out unto them God afflicts even his own People and that in a most heavy manner now and then Yea he begins with them first of all they drink of the cup first Ezek. 9.6 Begin at my Sanctuary in his charge to the destroying Angel And 1. Pet. 4.17 The time is come that Judgment must begin at the House of God And Jer. 25.29 49.12 I begin to bring Evil upon the City which is called by my name Here 's the order which God now observes in his Judiciary Dispensations to inflict Correction first of all upon his own people This is that which he does for sundry Reasons First That so by this means he may the more warn wicked men and teach them what to expect for themselves For if it be thus with the Green-Trees what shall be done to the dry if they drink of the cup which it belongs not to surely those to whom it does belong especially they shall not escape it as it is there again Jer. 49.12 Here 's matter of Terror and Trembling and Amazement to all wicked and ungodly persons they for the most part do very much Rejoyce and Glory in the sufferings of Gods people well but if they did rightly consider it they would see that they had no cause to do so for this makes so much the worse for themselves when they which stand in the gap are once removed the Judgment and wrath of God will now break in so much the fiercer and faster upon the rest that stay behind The reason why God sometimes does not punish wicked men is because his Children stands in his way and he cannot come at them Secondly God afflicts also his people as being most provoked by them of any other The sins of Gods Servants have the greater Aggravation in them as being against greater Bonds and Obligations and Ingagements which lie upon them You onely have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your Iniquities Amos 3.2 Thirdly To prevent Scandal and hereby to stop the mouthes of wicked and ungodly men that they from hence forth may not charge the Lord with Injustice and Partiality towards his own as if he allowed and favoured Sin in any which he does not do for these and the like Considerations does he poure his Judgments even upon his own Servants And so much also for the Second General in the Text as to the Discription of Gods Judgments to wit in the Execution he punishes The Third and Last is the Participation of it in these words But the Dregs thereof all the wicked of the Earth shall wring them out and drink them In which passage we have two things more considerable of us First The persons mentioned and they are the wicked of the Earth Secondly The Evil denounced against them and that is That they shall wring out the Dregs of the cup of Gods wrath and shall drink them up we may take notice of both First I say here are the persons mentioned The wicked of the Earth He might have said onely the Wicked and added no more but he joynes the Earth unto it to make it so much the more Emphatical and fuller of it's Signification as indeed it is by this Expression which for the opening and explaining of it to us does contain these Intimations in it First The place and Seat of Wickedness and that is this World here below Wickedness it springs out of the Earth and there it resides there 's no place for it in Heaven it comes not there at all No unclean thing shall enter thereinto for there dwelleth Righteousness as it is in 2. Pet. 3. Not in the old Earth but in the new which is all one with Heaven it self and belongs unto it Secondly The Wicked of the Earth to denote unto us both the Affection and the Portion of Wickedness For their Affection its set onely upon the Earth and the things of it They mind Earthly things and nothing but them Philip. 3.19 If ye could Anatomize and rip up the heart of a carnal Person ye should find nothing but earth in it There
following explications c. First It is defective in the Principle from whence it doth proceed Pharisaical Righteousness is not enough to bring a man to Heaven because it hath not a sufficient ground and foundation for it and that is a changed and renewed heart The Tree must be good before the fruit can be good that comes from it as our Saviour himself has told us Now this Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees it was such a Righteousness as did issue from such persons as had none of this change wrought in them And so may likewise do from any others of the same stamp with them Therefore of it self it is ineffectual to bring men into the Kingdom of God Wheresoever there is not Regeneration there cannot be Salvation and whatever falls short of the one falls consequently short of the other Now this is that which is here observable of us as to this particular Men may abound in all the outward duties both of piety and justice and yet remain in their natural estate and unconverted And so 't is defective in the Principle There are divers false and sinister Principles which Pharisaical Righteousness may proced from which are far short of the New Creature and the work of saving grace in the heart As 1. first of all the want of Temptation and pravation to evil The reason why many are not so bad as otherwise they would be is because they have not those instigations in them to evil as some others have It is not because they are in themselves any thing better but because that evil which is in them is not drawn out as possibly it might be were these persons in such company had such Arguments propounded to them and such perswasions fastened upon them as others have they would be as bad as others are should God but let Satan loose upon them and expose them to his fiery darts we know not what would become of them no more than of any others besides whom perhaps they most disdain Secondly The want of opportunity and occasion to be afforded unto them We use to say that opportunity makes a Thief And so it does any other sins besides that we can think of The reason why many persons do no more mischief than they do is because they have not those means and advantages for it but are outwardly restrained from it As good men do not alwaies that good which they would do for want of an opportunity so evil men do not that evil But this does not therefore make them to be any thing better in themselves it being no thanks to any man to abstain from that evil which he has not ability to commit Impotency is not Innocency nor want of opportunity Grace Thirdly Natural Ingenuity and the principles of moral honesty these are such as go very far to the producing of this Pharisaical Righteousness There are many who by the common light of Nature and the dictates thereof are convinced that such sins are to be avoided and such duties are to be practised who yet in the mean time do retain evil hearts in themselves loving even that evil which they abstain from and hating the good which they do The Pharisees they did all things to be seen of men Matth. 23.5 Lastly Self-love in fear of shame and punishment and the like this is that which hath an influence upon them and makes them to be that which they are The Laws of Men are such as prevail upon many persons more than the Laws of God and the fear of Men more than the fear of God It is not renewing Grace but restraining that keeps them in order and which is productive of Righteousness in them which is one ground of the defectiveness and insufficiency of it the principle from whence it proceeds But secondly As it is defective in it from its Principles so it is defective also from its Concomitants and the consistencies of it A man may be much in the outward duties of Religion and yet for all that favour himself in the basest and vilest lusts pride and malice and envy and covetousness and hatred both of goodness it self and those which are good The Scribes and Pharisees they were the greatest enemies to Christ and his Doctrine and that sometimes a great deal more than some persons of a more loose conversation such persons as these think both to cover and also to excuse their secret and inwad abominations by outward and glorious practices which are seen in the eyes of the world Thirdly This Pharisaical Righteousness it is also defective in regard of its Effects in that it does not reach to these things which are desirable in it As first it is such as do not satisfie the Justice of God That Righteousness which does not satisfie God's Justice it cannot bring a man to Heaven because notwithstanding that Righteousness he is liable to eternal condemnation Where the Debt is not paid the Debter cannot be discharged All a man's external Righteousness it will never make a satisfaction to God's Justice neither to God's Preceptive Justice in commanding nor to God's Vindictive Justice in punishing This Righteousness it falls short of both and so consequently makes him that hath nothing else in him to fall short of Eternal Life and Salvation First God's Preceptive Justice in commanding it does not satisfie that For God's Law and Command it reaches farther than this not only to the outward man but to the inward not only to the body but to the heart not only to the matter or subsance of the action but to the manner and circumstances the latter whereof this Righteousness whereof we now speak does not reach or attain to not to the Law in the Spirituality of it and as our Blessed Saviour here expounds and interprets it in the present chapter Secondly For God's Vindictive Justice in punishing it does not satisfie that neither All that a man can do in a way of obedience cannot satisfie or make amends for what he has not done or done otherwise than he should do in a way of Transgression Pharisaical Righteousness it is no way expiatory of sin and therefore no way productive of Salvation Secondly As it does not satisfie the Justice of God so neither does it satisfie the clamours of conscience and so it is defective in that of conscience that is if conscience awakened and thoroughly inlightened Indeed some kind of consciences and according to the circumstances which they may be in this Righteousness it does abundantly satisfie and give contentment unto them There are a great many of people in the world with that Pharisee which I before mentioned in the Gospel who sit down very confidently with such a Riheousness as this is and think their state and condition to be very good occasionally from it But alas it is such kind of persons as know no better who never had sin set home upon their hearts nor their consciences ever enlightened to see the wretchedness of their
All things disparaged in comparison of the one thing necessary 51 58 59 To chuse the one thing necessary an argument of four things 55 Natural ability See free-will and free-grace What it may what it cannot do 155 Pelaginas confuted 166 Natural condition A miserable condition 159 160 O Ordinances Touching those who are without Gospel-ordinances 9 Whence their efficacy arises 31 P Pharisee What their righteousness was 1 Touching Pharisaical righteousness See Rightousness Prodigies and signs 266 Punishments Degrees of punishments 4 Peace What peace Christs death obtains 275 What it implies 406 Patience Of God 29 Why God bears long Ibid Pride How it discovers it self 39 430 Proveing How taken 385 Prayer Satan sometimes prays 65 Comfort when we cannot pray See Comfort VVhy Christ prayed although he could do all things without it 72 Incouragement to it 446 Papist And Jew wherein a like 266 Transubstantiation 267 269 Against their Tradition 339 Perseverance True Christians shall persevere 76 87 369 See Grace Persevere in two things 103 Helps to it Ibid VVhence the opinion of falling away arises 369 Motives to it 408 Providence Our ignorance touching Providence twofold 111 The intricacies of Providence and the reason thereof 112 Not for us to foretell its future events 113 VVhat in Providence God will at last make manifest 114 The properties of Gods Providence Ibid. VVhen God will vindicate his Providence 115 Prophesie See Enthusiasts Not for its to foretell future events of Providence 174 213 Imagainary Revelations censured 337 Opposers of Christs prophetical office 436 Perswading How taken 305 Preaching How men come to count it foolishness 261 VVhat it is 261 337 VVhence its efficacy arises 261 VVhy it profits not without faith 263 Directions touching it 270 271 298 350 274 278 437 382 301 VVhat it is to preach Christ crucified 276 VVhence it becomes unprofitable 263 279 280 Parents Duty to their Children 266 R Pighteousness OF Scribeds and Pharisees what 12 Defectiveness of the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees 3 10 The Principles of Pharisaical righteousness 3 VVhy Pharisaical righteousness cannot bring to Heaven Ibid. Pharisaical righteousness in a sense worse than notorious sins 4 Civil righteousness commended 5 The righteousness exceeding that of Scribes and Pharisees Ibid. Moral righteousness not meritorious of saving-grave 11 Reproof How to be administred 41 46 The best of Christians ought to be reproved 41 Cautions to be observed in reproving a good man 42 Riches Their vanity 25 Resurrection VVhy Christ is so called 144 Religion The one thing necessary 47 Motives to diligence in it See Diligence VVhat required unto being acceptably religous 56 VVhence staggering in it arises Ibid. Religion justified 59 47 91 VVhat in it chiefly to be minded 296 Relations VVhence discord between nearest relations especially arises 53 Comfort under the loss of them 132 450 Reason The impotency of humane reason 90 91 112 173 254 255 259 269 How it discovers God 133 A check to the Contemners of it 269 Rehearsed In Scripture of the same words what it implies 341 Repentance How the goodness of God leads unto it how not 353 Reward Touching it 423 S Scribes Their office 1 Stumling-block 281 Satan Why he most tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why most of all be iempts Ministers 64 His winnowings what 67 Sincerity A double effect of it 101 Sinner In what respects a fool 19 His danger and misery in this life 24 426 His ignorance 90 Incouragement ot prosligate sinners to repent 108 His impotency 163 Different sinners have their different corruptions whence it is 265 Why God bestows many good things on them and bears long with them 347 How without God in the world 426 Spirit Of God why compared to wind 85 How to get its supplies 168 What it is to walk in it See Walk How it witnesseth the Truth of Scripture 435 Scepticism The danger of it 266 Scandal VVhat it is implied 281 Lords-Supper What eating and drinking damnation signifies 282 Sin An umprofitable thing in what respects 356 Whence men come to be ashamed of it 359 Its aggravations 422 Its heinous nature discovered 442 How men sin against the blood of Christ 443 Speaking A threefold speaking 411 Security The danger of it 416 417 Salvation A Christians certainty of it 433 In what sense it 's said a Child of God cannot sin 325 T Thoughts Vanity of them 18 The evil of distraction in them 45 50 Causes of distraction in them 45 52 Remedies against their distraction 45 52 Taking freely what it imports 458 Temptations Why Satan must tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why he most of all tempts Ministers 64 Support under Temptation 65 72 75 79 87 Walk against them 66 74 Why God suffers his to fall into them 73 How faith helps under them 75 Whence Christians come to recover out of them 78 The evil that comes by them 80 The good that comes by them 62 Time What knowledg of the times concerns us what not 113 130 171 What times it 's not fur us to know 169 Terrors Of the Lord what 303 Thirst spiritual what it implies 455 The excellency of spiritual thirst 456 Teason Gun-powder Treason 317 Truth How taken in Scripture 328 Toleration Against universal toleration 337 Tradition When equalized with Scripture condenned 339 V Vanity OF Thoughts See Thoughts Unity Among Christians 408 409 Bounded 409 Unbelief The hainousness of it 436 Voice of Christ in the Ministry the voice of the spirit in the conscience and the voice of the spirit in the Spouse to be heard 453 454 W Way Incourage any coming on in the Ways of God why 14 Word Ingemindation of words its end 41 60 World Take heed of worldly-mindedness See Mind Why continued 106 How taken in Scripture 152 Watch. Against temptation why 66 67 Motives to it 418 Work How Christ helps to the performance of a good work 164 Good works in what respects disparaged 156 Wisdom Humance in what respects disparaged 156 Walk To walk in the spirit what 372 373 What it implies 374 400 How walking in it secures against sin 380 Touching a Christians rule to walk by 403 404 Water of life what understood by it 456 What understood by Whosoever will let him take of the water of life Y Youth Motives to early Godliness 52 Good education a great blessing 266 Z Zeal How Christians come to decay in it 421 FINIS
not our God we have then a great deal too little what ever we have besides And if God be our God we have then more then enough even when we want every thing else This is the utmost bounds and perfection of all happiness whatsoever For God to be our God it is to be all things whatsoever we want or desire to injoy Grace and Glory both as it is exprest Psal 84.11 A son and shield all things requisite and convenient whether for this or a better life not onely the blessings of the womb and the blessings of the breast but which is also further added as the accomplishment of the blessings of Joseph The Blessings of heaven above and the blessings of the deep that lye under This is to be our God But how did David know that God was his God that he should here thus claim interest in him Surely he had some ground to say so or else he would have said â—t and such as we also must have if we say with any comfort There are many which scrape acquaintance with God which yet he will never own at another day Not every one that said Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven nor every one that saith My God had God for their God indeed No there 's somewhat more belongs to it than meerly so David said God was his God because he found himself to be his servant Beloved if God be our God then certainly we are his people that 's out of all controversie To be our God is a word of relation and implyes as somewhat on Gods part so likewise somewhat on ours That namely we have given up our selves to His holy Guidance and Government to be ruled and ordered by him in all whatsover we do Those whom God is a God to he hath put his Spirit into them and transforming them and chang'd them into a likeness to his Divine Nature And by this may we now discover whether it be so indeed with our selves yea or no. Have we taken Christ upon those terms and conditions as he is propounded in the Gospel not onely to be a Saviour to save us but also to be a Lord to rule us Have we done so indeed and in good earnest and do we find such principles in us as do sute hereunto Do we love God Do we delight in God Do we fear God Do we stand in awe of him and hate every thing which stands in opposition and contrariety to him Do we love the Cause of God Do we love the word of God Do we love the people of God Every thing that savors of Him Every thing that has interest in Him Every thing that has Relation to Him And that purely for Himself Eo nomine and in that consideration These things would be sought and inquired into for the satisfaction of our selves in this particular that God is our God indeed Which as t is the greatest Happiness to be right in so t is the greatest Misery that can be to mistake I am sorry I have not time to prosecute this argument so as I could wish which requires as much time to handle and to give the full explication of it as the extent of the benefit it self which is to all Eternity So much briefly of the first thing as carryes in it an Implication of Interest Thou art my God i. e. There is a Covenant betwixt us Secondly It carryes in it also an Implication of Activity Thou art my God That is thou art one who art Active for me For God to be our God is not a meer Title and Relation but withall a matter of Improvement And this is that which David likewise here implies in this Expression Thou hast showen thy self as a God unto me in all thy dealings and carriages towards me Those whom God is a God to he does Improve Himself to the utmost to them in all things which they stand in need of from Him I shall but name some particulars unto you As First My God to preserve me and defend me and keep me from Evil. This carryes a reference to what he had said before in the former Clauses concerning Gods Providence over him in regard of Birth and Sustentation Those whom God is a God too he does undertake so far forth to preserve them as may be good and convenient for them they had the benefit of his Power and strength And this had David experience of for his particular in sundry examples God had kept him from the Bear and from the Lyon and from the Philistins and from the hands of Saul c. Secondly My God to Direct me and Counsel me in cases of Uncertainty When I know not what to do nor whether to betake my self for Succor then art thou near me to advise me and to teach me what I shall do Thirdly My God to assist me and strengthen me in matter of Duty and Performance By thee I have run'd through a Troup and by my God I have leaped over a Wall Psal 18.29 Those whom God is a God too they partake of his inabling Grace which is more or less Auxiliary to them Lastly My God to fill me with a greater measure and degree of Grace and Holiness here and who will likewise bestow upon me Glory and full Happiness hereafter In all these particulars have those to which God is a God too and in Covenant with them the improvement of his Deity for them And thus much of the Blessing it self which he here mentions Thou art my God Now the Second so the last thing That 's the extent of this Blessing From my Mothers Belly Where by the way This phrase from my Mothers Belly it is not here to be taken Causative but Terminative It does not denote unto us the Conveyance of Sanctification and the Covenant of Free-Grace but rather the first moment and beginning of it Every man by Nature is in a state of Contrariety and Alienation We are Strangers to God from the Womb yea Enemies against him And so he cannot be said to be our God from our Mothers Belly in this respect Our Mothers Belly is the place rather wherein God and we first fall out and differ from one another This is the Sum of all That Parents they convey Sin but they do not convey Grace Religion it goes not by Birth and carnal Propagation Christiani non noscuntur sed fiunt We are not born Christians but made so and that by a Supernatural work of the Spirit of God upon our Hearts Therefore those words are not to be taken in this Explication as denoting the Cause from whence David was a Child of God but rather as denoting the time and season from whence God was his God and so the further duration and continuance of it all along from that time to this present moment wherein he wrote And so he does in this Expression bless God for two things at once First For being his God so Early And Secondly For being
thoughts shall be Established The word in the Text is Role that is put of thy burthen from thine own shoulders upon his So 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your Care upon him for he careth for you This for the right and more expedite performance of it supposes first our Interest in God and Acquaintance with him this belongs to the Covenant of Grace in each respect both on Gods part and on ours when we are in Covenant with God he will then undertake our thoughts for us and when we are in Covenant with him we shall be inabled to commit them to him and may safely and with Confidence do so First I say he will then undertake them when God at any time enters into Covenant and Ingages himself to be our God and takes us to be his people he does not onely hereby take upon him to bring us at last to Heaven and to land us safe there but to provide for us in all our way and Journey thither to guide all our thoughts and purposes and Actions and undertakings whatsoever upon which Ground we may safely settle and Establish our thoughts in themselves and then we shall be able also upon this account to cast our selves upon him This committing of our thoughts to God in a way of reliance it supposes our submitting of them first of all to him in a way of Obedience that 's the first Interest in God as requisite here Secondly The use and exercise of this performance the more we do it the more we may do it and it is of use to our selves to do it in some things which makes us the better to do it in others from particulars arising to Generals That we may still be further incouraged thus to do let us consider but two things more First That 's a thing very easie for God to settle our thoughts for us And Secondly That it is very pleasing that we should commit our thoughts to him to this purpose It is very easie first of all for him to undertake them and settle them we put him to no great cost or trouble hereby let them be as great or as many as they can be and of as great concernment he can as easily take care of a Nation as he can of a person and of the whole Church as one particular Believer and member of it he can rule the Ocean as well as the smallest River or Breach that passes through the Earth Secondly It is very pleasing to him also while we thus delight our own Souls we refresh his while hereby we have him in his Goodness and Power and Truth and the rest of his Attributes wherein he delights to be admired and Glorified by us So much may serve that and likewise for this whole Text. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XXIII Psal 104.34 My Meditation of Him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. As it is the Excellency and Priviledge of a man above other Creatures here below that he is capable of Reflection and Meditation and has his Thoughts and the workings of his mind which are remarkable in in him so is the Excellency and Priviledge of a Christian above other men that he has the ordering of those thoughts aright with the best advantage and contentment to himself that so whiles some are imploy'd in one thing and others are imploy'd in another He has his Thoughts fasten'd upon God and concentred as his chiefest happiness and united in Him and that with a great deal of delight and Complacency and satisfaction of Spirit This is that which we have here exhibited to us in this present Scripture which follows as a very good close of others which have been hanaled by us very lately we have heard of the several Properties of God in a Variety of Perfection Of his Power and Goodness and Faithfulness and Pittifulness and the like And what now remains as the Sum and upshot and conclusion of all this unto us but that the Meditation of Him should be sweet and that we should be glad in him Which is that which we have here presented unto us in these words which I have mentioned unto you IN the Text itself there are two General Parts considerable First Davids Contemplation Secondly Davids Exultation His Contemplation that is in thess words My Meditation of him shall be sweet His Exultation that is in these words I will be glad in the Lord. We begin with the former viz. Davids Contemplation in these words My Meditation of Him shall be sweet wherein again two particulars more First The Performance implyed and that is Divine Meditation My Meditation of Him that is of God Secondly The Qualification it self and that is pleasantness or sweetness My Meditation of Him shall be sweet First Here is considerable of us the Performance implyed And that I say is Divine Meditation It is here supposed and taken for granted that David did indeed Meditate upon God whiles he makes mention of his Meditation and so there is this in it That Gods servants they are much imploy'd and taken up in the Thoughts God in Holy and Divine Meditation This is that which there Mindes and Thoughts are very frequently carryed unto The Prophet David Himself was very much in this Performance as we may see in divers passages of the Psalms and we read of the Patriark Isaac that he went out in the fields to Meditate Namely upon God himself Gen. 24.63 Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us as whereupon it proceeds First The Gracious and Heavenly Frame and Temper of a Christian Soul being sanctified and renewed by Grace Mens Meditations are much as their hearts are Vain and Frothy Spirits they have commonly answerable Meditations and those that savour of the world they have their thoughts fasten'd upon it but Gods Children being born from above they have accordingly thoughts above in sutableness thereunto David he was a man after Gods own Heart as the Scripture declares him and therefore he was much in the Thoughts of God and so it is likewise with all others of the same frame and temper with him forasmuch as they are born of God and have his Image stampt upon them they doe bend their thoughts to him to Contemplate upon him They which are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 Grace it is the Byass of the soul which does move it and incline it to the Mark and the scope which is propounded to it and set before it which is thus Active in those that are Regenerate Secondly The servants of God are much in thoughts and Meditations of Him because as their hearts are made like unto him so which also follows thereupon fasten'd upon him They have made God their Happiness and therefore they doe accordingly make him their Meditation For where the Treasure
begin it and continue it with him in all conscionable obedience to him We are apt for the most part to please and flatter our selves with thoughts of security and indulgence To morrow shall be as this day and the next year shall be as the last and more abundantly But this is a matter of great uncertainty to us and it is fit should be so It is not for us to know the hour our selves but it is for us to prepare our selves for all times and seasons that may be and to endeavour to make the times so much the better and comfortable to us by our conformableness and fruitfulness under them Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig c. SERMON V. LUKE 10.38 Now it came to pass as they went that he entred into a certain Village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house Our Blessed Lord and Saviour who was the great Creator of Heaven and Earth was yet so far pleased to abase himself for our sakes as to have no place of dwelling and abode here upon earth Although he was the Son of the Carpenter yet he had no house built him of his own and that upon the same ground as he was willing to be the Son of the Carpenter which was a piece of his humiliation Foxes have holes and Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head But yet though he had none certain yet he had as many as he pleased at command and though he had ill entertainment from the World yet there were some whom he knew he could be acceptable and welcome unto Where-ever he had an heart he was sure not to want an house where there was ability and opportunity for it And thus here in this Scripture before us he takes up his lodging in the house of two godly and devout Women and Sisters Martha and Mary Wherein we have declared unto us a different frame of spirit in the entertainment of him It is a very pleasing and delightful Story and through the blessing of God upon our thoughts and meditations on it may prove as profitable THis whole Contexture of Scripture in the perfect view of it does contain in it especially two General Parts First Christ's Entertainment which he had in the place where he came And Secondly Christ's carriage and behaviour towards those which entertained him and to her especially which now received him into her house The former of these we have in the three first verses The latter in the two last and close of the Chapter We begin in order with the first the Entertainment which was here given to Christ which we have in the three first which we shall run over with as much expedition as possibly we can And we 'll take them as they lye before us forasmuch as Scriptures of this nature do require another kind of handling than others do Now it came to pass as they went that they entred c. In this we have two things observable First The nature of the place which Christ at this time turn'd into He entred into a certain Village Secondly The party that entertain'd him and took him in upon his entring into the Town A certain woman named Martha receiv'd him into her house To speak a word of the first the nature of the place He entred into a certain Village We see here that Christ did not only take care of Cities and great Towns and populous places where there was great resort of people coming to them and those it may be of quality and estate but also of poor Villages and mean places He had a special regard even to these for the exercise of his Ministry amongst them and the filling them with his heavenly doctrine And thus it does likewise become other Ministers also to bear after the example of Christ himself not only to affect such Auditories and to confine themselves to such kind of places which are more eminent in worldly considerations but also now and then where they are called thereto as there is occasion and opportunity afforded to turn aside into the Villages themselves Thus our Saviour Christ did here and thus we we find him also to have done in other places Jesus went about all the Cities and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom So Mark 6.6 He went round about the Villages teaching And Luke 17.12 He entred into a certain Village c. In Cantic 7.10 The Spouse invites her Beloved hereunto Came says she let us go forth into the Field let us lodge in the Villages This was the temper and disposition of Christ to condescend so far to such places as these are for the scattering of his heavenly Word and Doctrine amongst them And thus there is very good reason for other Ministers likewise to do upon occasion in divers regards First because here 's an opportunity of doing good as well as else-where There are souls to be saved in the Villages as well as in the great Cities And this is that which our work does chiefly and principally respect it is to convert men and bring men to Heaven and this is that which is indifferently to be regarded in one as well as in another All souls are in this sense equal they cost the same price one with another and we are accordingly to be tender and heedful of them Christ had compassion on the multitude when they were as sheep without a shepherd And this drew him abroad into the Villages a love to poor souls And we should labour to find the same gracious affections and dispositions in our selves Secondly There 's incouragement of a man's Ministry in these as well as in other places and sometimes more All Religion is not compast and comprehended within the walls of a City there are gracious souls in the Villages and Countrey-Towns yea often-times more of the sincerity and power of godliness indeed than there is in those places which are of higher education and so likewise a better and more cordial entertainment of the means themselves The full stomach loaths the honey-comb those which are at the well-head and enjoy the means of Grace in great abundance they are apt to scorn and despise those opportunities which are afforded unto them whereas others which are more straiten'd they have them in greater account And then Thirdly For a difference of gists and various improvements of those abilities which God pleases to dispense God bestows upon his servants in the Ministry sundry talents and those fitted to sundry dispositions and sundry places which call for a seasonable exercise and improvement of them Those which do well in one place they may not do so well in another and those which cannot so profitably be exercised and employed here else-where may do very well Now therefore that those which God has given in such and such a kind may accordingly be drawn forth there 's good ground for
that he would be mindful and careful of it even to recover and convert himself Thus we shall find this word used in another place likewise of the Gospel as Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven He speaks it to his Disciples who in the first sense were converted already being regenerate persons This distinction is necessary to be premised for the prevention of a mistake For as to Conversion in the former sense so it is not within the compass of our own power any further than the use of means A man that is in the state of Nature cannot convert himself to the state of Grace no more than a man that is dead in his grave can raise himself to a state of natural life But as to Conversion in the latter sense so in some sort we have power unto it A man that 's already regenerate and converted he may stir up the Grace of God in him and so revive and recover himself from some spiritual deadness which was upon him And this is the Self-Conversion which is here call'd for in this present Text. Now the Phrase being thus explain'd unto us we come to the thing it self which is this That it is the duty of every Christian when temptation is upon him thus to convert himself that is as soon as may be to return and to come home to God again from whom he has declined There were two friendly Offices which our Blessed Saviour did here for Peter in the course of this Scripture The one was to forewarn him of the evil which hereafter would happen unto him upon Satan's tempting of him The other was to counsel him for his carriage and behaviour and demeanour of himself when this evil did indeed befall him and that was not long to lye in it but as soon as could be to free himself from it which is the duty of all other besides This it is upon these considerations First because so long as a man is in this sense unconverted he is in the disfavour and displeasure of God A Christian whiles he lies under the power of any temptation he is at a distance from God himself and cannot enjoy that freedom of communion with him I do not say that God and he are enemies as it is with a man who is in the state of unregeneracy and absolute unconversion but there is an over-clouding of friendship betwixt them There is not that sweet complacency and contentment of one in another Thus it was with the Prophet David whiles he was as yet unconverted to God and not reduced by timely repentance he had no joy nor comfort in God but for the time was as one which had no Grace in him at all And so accordingly we shall find him to express himself discoursing about it Psal 51 10 c. Create a clean heart in me O God and renew a right spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence c. And ver 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Secondly Great untowardness and indisposition to that which is good As a man that is very sick he is unfit for work and business so a man that is sick spiritually he is not so fit to serve God acceptably in the place wherein God has set him Like a broken tooth or a foot out of joynt not only painful but useless he is not ready to every good work as it becomes him Thirdly Further improvement in sin and eagerness after it So long as a man abides in his sin he contracts more sinfulness to him and is more hardened and confirmed in it through the deceitfulness of it As a man that is out of his way the more he goes on the further he goes out till he return again Even so it is with a man which is drawn away by temptation into any miscarriage the longer he stays and continues in it without amendment so much the worse will it prove to be with him in this respect These and the like considerations being all of them laid together do shew how far it concerns those which are fallen to return and to recover themselves as soon as they can Therefore let us make this Use of it as we have occasion for it according to that counsel of the Apostle in Heb. 12.13 Make strait paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed Those which are perverted by temptation they should take the first opportunity for returning and converting themselves as our Saviour here advises This is done three ways especially First by the preserving of a softness and sensibleness of spirit in us That man who will quickly return into ways of goodness must quickly spy ways of miscarriage It is a great advantage to this purpose to keep conscience in a tender frame those who have wide swallows and can down with any miscarriage without any chewing and those who have brawny shins that can endure any kind of striking without any starting they are not so quickly or easily recovered but for others they are easily reduced which therefore we should be careful of We find it much in David's heart it still smote him and upbraided him upon every occasion which was very useful to him Secondly By often reflexion and calling of our selves to an account That man that still goes on in his way and never minds whether he be in or out he may lose himself irrecoverably but he that often asks and enquires and considers he is the sooner reduced Even so it is also in these spiritual things By re-collection we convert our selves Thirdly After discovery by repentance and humiliation when we labour to set home sin upon us and aggravate and charge it upon our selves this does the better free us from it and bring us into a right path again Thus did Peter upon the look of our Saviour He went out and wept bitterly as the Text says of him This it mollifies and softens the heart and makes it pliable to any gracious impression which afterwards shall be fasten'd upon it And this is that which the servants of God are careful for their own particulars to do with themselves Which shews us by the way the difference betwixt the servants of God and other men As for wicked and ungodly persons when they are once overtaken with temptations they proceed still further in it and it gains and gets ground upon them Evil men grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3.13 But the godly they do rather reform and recover themselves Thus much of the words in the second sense as they have in them the force of a Command or intimation of a Duty And so much also of the First General Part of the Text The Qualification When c. The Second is the Improvement in these words Strengthen thy c. Which words
besides If Heaven were a meer Fancy if Glory were no more but an Imagination it the state and condition of Believers hereafter were but an empty dream if there were not such glorious Mansions provided for us as are sometimes hinted to us certainly we should have been acquainted with it from Christ himself If it were not so I would have told you That 's the second General viz. The Rational Illustration The third and last is the Additional Encouragement in those words I go to prepare a place for you This is a very comfortable passage and such as deserves very much to be regarded and taken notie of by us as giving us an account of Christs departure and removal to Heaven now at this time it was for the god and benefit of his Church that he might promote their intererest and do that which was most expedient for them We see here where Christs chiefest thoughts were when he was now leaving the world they were not so much upon Himself as upon his poor Disciples how to comfort and encourage them and how to cast and provide for them that it might be well with them however it went with him They were loth now to part with him and were much troubled at the thoughts of it and now he satisfies them and pacifies them with this That he went away for their sakes He did not go away first to take away the place from them and to prevent them by going before no but to take up the place for them and to make room for them against they came themselves There were three special acts of Christ whereby he might be said to prepare a place in Heaven for Believers by his Death by his Ascension and by his Intercession First by his Death he prepared for them by that so far forth as the merit of that did reach and extend hereunto Christ by suffering of death and therein satisfying the Justice of God did obtain unto all his Members a right unto everlisting Life and Glory Thus 1 Pet. 3.18 it is said that Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit Bring us to God how is that namely by reconciling us and re-joyning us to him again and so giving us an entrance into his glory according to that in Heb. 2.20 It became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings And so likewise in Heb. 9.11 12 15. Christ being become an high Priest of good things to come not by the bloud of goats and calves but by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtain'd eternal redemption for us And for this cause is he the Mediator of the new testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first testament they that are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance that is the eternal inheritance which was promised From these and the like places it is clear that Christ by his death did prepare Heaven for his people But if this be so it may be demanded What one may think of the Fathers that lived under the Old Testament and before he coming of Christ into the World If Christ by dying did prepare Heaven for Believers in what place were they who left the World before the death of Christ The Papists in answer hereunto tell us that they were in Limbo a place distinct from Heaven and in the confines of Hell which they have intended and devis'd for them But there 's no need at all for such a Device or Imagination as this is We say that they were even then in Heaven and that also by vertue of the Merit and Efficacy of the death of Christ which is of an infinite and eternal extent and reaching both forward and backward Forward to the salvation of all Believers that came after it backward to the salvation of all Believers that went before it Hence is Christ sometimes said in Scripture to be a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world not as to actual accomplishment which was perform'd in the fulness of time but as to virtual efficacy and extent as reflecting upon all Ages and Generations indefinitely and redounding to the special good and benefit of them as many as believed in them This is that which hath prepared a place in Heaven for all Believers under Both Testaments even the Death and Bloud of Christ According to that again of the Apostle Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a true and living way which he hath consecrated for us that is to say through the veil of his flesh and having an high Priest over the house of God let us draw near c. This serves so much the more to magnifie and advance the great love and kindness of Christ unto us that was pleased to take such a course as this was for us that he might procure and promote our happiness that was willing himself to die that we might live and to be crowned with a Crown of Thorns that we might be crowned with a Crown of Glory He went to prepare a place for us Went that is went unto the Cross And went that is went into the Grave he prepared it by his death and sufferings and the Virtue and Merit thereof That was the first way of his Preparation Scondly By his Resurrection and Ascension He prepared Heaven for us by going into Heaven before us After going to his Cross so also by going to his Grave When he had overcome the sharpness of death when he had by himself purged our sins he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 he did open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Opened it by himself entring into it There was the opening of Heaven Christs Personal taking possession of it And it was the opening of it for us also who are said upon that account to be our selves already entred into it namely in Him who is our Head and hath entred into it afore us and in our behalf according to that of the Apostle in Ephes 2.6 He bath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ This was that whereby our Saviour desired at this time to satisfie the minds of his Disciples as concerning his departure and present going away from them that it was in order to their greater good He left Earth that so he might go to Heaven and he went to Heaven that so they might come to Heaven after him and come to Heaven by him as he signifies in the verse immediately following And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also
As all the actions of Christ they were in a sort introductive and preparatory to our Salvation so amongst the rest and more immediately was his Ascension and going up into Heaven that had a more imediate influence and efficacy hereupon of all other And accordingly should the Servans of God strengthen their Faith and Hope in God from this consideraion and they should thus argue and reason with themselves That he that hath prepared Heaven for them he will bestow Heaven upon them and he that is gone thither himself will bring them thither also with him for no action or undertaking of his shall ever be in vain As this was the end of his Death and for which he went out of the world to prepare a Heaven for us as I have shewn before so this also was the end of his Ascension and his going up into Heaven likewise that he might prepare it for us thus also Thirdly By his Mediation and Intercession Faiher I will says he that those whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me c. Joh. 17.24 And Heb. 9.24 Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self there now to appear in the presence of God for us Our blessed Saviour having procured for us a right unto Heaven by his Death he doth daily and continually present the Merit of his Death to his Father for this purpose to be applied unto us and so in that regard does make way for us It being but just and equal with God per form the Condition of Christs Obedience and Satisfaction being exhibited and presented unto him Therefore in Heb. 7.25 it is said that he is able to save to the uttermost or for evermore those that come unto God by him seing he ever liveth to make intercession for them His eternal and everlasting Intercession maketh their eternal and everlasting Salvation Hence also in Rom. 8.34 is there a special Emphasis laid upon this Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Forasmuch as this is the perfection and accomplishment of all men Thus we see how in all these ways Christ prepares this place for us By his Death and Sufferings By his Resurrection and Ascension And by his Mediation and Intercession Now farther that we may take to a full account of this expression yet more whiles Christ says that he goes to prepare a place for is Servants in this preparing is impli'd not onely his providing it but his furnishing it Preparing it has t is sense also with it As if some kind and bountiful Lord and Master here upon earth should not onely give his Servans an House but also provide them Houshold-stuff with it and furnish them with all necessaries for it not onely bestow upon them some rich and goodly Farms but also take care that the ground be well Stock'd for them and to have all things requisite and pertinent thereunto Thus does Christ do for the supply of his Servants he does no onely provide them Mansions but prepares the place for them so that they now shall have ned of nothing else when they come to them but merly to enter them and to take possession of them there is all things which they can desire fitted and provided to their hand Look as when he brought his People into the Earthly Canaan he drove out all their Enemies before them and prepared it for them before they came thither themselves even so does he likewise in order to their introduction into this Heavenly Canaan whereof we now speak as he supplies them with Mansions so he furnishes those Mansions which he has supplied He does not bring them into ruinated Cottages and Houses which will fall upon their heads nor he does not bring them to bare walls and nothing but the meer places themselves but he follows them with all appurtenances and additional accommodations whatsoever that can be thought of by them Forasmuch as he that sits on the Throne shall dwell amongst them therefore they shall hunger no more nor thirst any more neither shall the Sun light upon them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Rev. 7.17 And so again in Rev. 22.19 The foundations of the wall of the City were garnished with all manner of precious stones And in verse 23 of the same Chapter The City had no need of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof that is it had all things necessary belonging unto it All this it comes still to this purpose so much the more to commend the love of Christ himself unto us What a Blessed Lord and Master have those that are his Servants that does graciously and plentifully and honourably provide for them And who would not now therefore be Servant and Retainer to such a Person as this We see how ambitious sometimes men are of Places and of Preferments in the world if they get but a Place of Profit or Pleasure or Dignity here what an advantage they think it to them and how much they count themselves engaged to such persons as will prepare it and procure it for them such Places sometimes as when they have gotten them and attained unto them they are hardly worth the keeping of them in regard of the manifold snares and hazards which are attending upon them Oh but we see here what a Place Christ has prepared for those that are his I go says he to prepare a place for you A Place a Place indeed such as cannot well be exprest how glorious and amiable it is being beyond all exception and humane earthly apprehensions St. Paul himself who for a time had been in it and was as well able and likely to express it and to give an account of it as any man living in the world yet he prosesses he knew not how to do it he neither knew how he came thither neither was he able to declare what was there then when he came thence as we may see in 2 Cor. 12.3 4. I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago meaning himself whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweh such an one caught up into the third Heaven And I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth how he was caught up into Paradice and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful or possible for a man to utter Such is the nature and condition of this place which Christ hath prepared for all those that
therefore we should do all we can which may be useful and successful hereunto this we may be according as we do more effectually set home this point which indeed has so much comfort in it as in the place before-cited the Apostle gloried in nothing more than he did in this as being that indeed which is the chiefest matter of glorying and which does contain the greatest sweetness and comfort in it and that may be laid open to us in sundry respects First As keeps Christs death us from the wrath of God and purchases peace to us with God the Father for that it does as we may see in Col. 1.19 20. It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell And making peace through the blood of his Cross to reconcile all things to himself c. So Isa 53.5 6. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed Again Rom. 5.10 we are said to bereconciled unto God by the death of his Son what greater happiness can befall us than for God and us to become friends who were once at variance one with another this is purchased by Christ crucified and we have now boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus as it is in Heb. 10.19 and Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth as a Propitiation through faith in his blood c. Secondly It obtains to us peace with Angels and all other Creatures besides whether in Heaven or Earth whiles we remain in a condition of sin as God himself is our enemy so every thing else besides is ready to take up his quarrel against us and all the Creatures have hence an enmity to us but now by the Blood of Christ there is peace made for us with these also as we may see in that place above alledged It pleased the Father by the blood of Christ to reconcile all things both in heaven and in earth This makes us to be at league with the stones of the earth and with the beasts of the field c. as it is in Job 5.23 c. Thy Tabernacle shall be in peace c. Thirdly It frees us from the power and dominion of sin The Blood of Christ purgeth us from all sin not only from the guilt but the stain 1 Joh. 1.7 Christ by his death hath weakened and debilitated sin in us that it should not now have that strength in us This the Apostle hath fully intimated unto us Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucisied with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that we henceforth should not serve sin There is a power in Christ crucified to crucifie and kill sin in us Now therefore look what comfort there is in this as there 's a great deal to those who are sensible what sin is the same comfort is there in such a Doctrine as this which does mention and declare this unto us Fourthly It frees us from the power and tyranny of Satan He has hereby spoiled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in his Cross Col. 2.15 The Papists put a great deal of efficacy in the Material Cross and the signing of their selves with the figure of it as if that had such a power in it for the driving away of unclean spirits nay but this rather invites them they laugh at such a foppery as this That which terrifies them indeed is the vertue and power of the Cross and that conquest which Christ by his death hath obtained over them so that now Satan himself is but a vanquished enemy Indeed he may for a while molest them for their exercise and trial in the world and therefore we are still said to fight against Principalities and Powers but as for excluding them from eternal salvation this he is not able to do God shall tread him under our feet Rom. 16.20 c. Fifthly From bondage and thraldom to the Ceremonial Law Christ crucified frees us from hence Blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances c. Col. 2.14 And again that no man may judg us for meats c. So Act. 15.28 We have nothing now but necessary things upon us and such burdens as these are are taken off from our shoulder Sixthly It frees us from the inordinate fears of death and final dissolution thus 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. And again Heb. 2.14 He hath destroyed him that had the power of death the Devil and delivered them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage c. Christ has taken out the sting of this Serpent and drunk the dregs of this cup. Now this Doctrine containing so much sweetness and comfortableness in it what does from hence follow but that accordingly it should be a principal part of our Ministry to dispense it The Apostles still aimed at the joy and comfort of Gods people 1 Joh. 1.4 These things I write unto you that your joy may be full And my joy is the joy of you all 2 Cor. 2.3 c. And that 's the second Consideration as it is a Doctrine of the greatest comfort Thirdly As it is a Doctrine of the richest and most abundant Grace for it contains in it the exceeding love of God towards mankind and the hight of his mercy towards us In Christ crucified there 's a combination of all the riches and mysteries of the Gospel it was his love to be incarnate to be tempted to be persecuted for us yea but his Passion it was the accomplishment and perfection of all the rest Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15.13 There was never any thing wherein God more magnified his love and pity towards the sons of men than in giving of his Son to death for them Hence the Apostle to the Romans Chap. 5.8 God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us And 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us And Joh. 3.16 So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten son for the redemption of it Thus we see it carries in it the riches of Gods Grace Now therefore accordingly it is the main work of our Ministry which the Apostle Paul calls the Ministry of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.20 And this as a third Consideration For the Application of the Point reflects first upon us which are Ministers and Teachers as our duty in this particular for the ordering and disposing of our Doctrine Desire to know nothing amongst our people but Jesus Christ and him crucised But what 's the meaning of this must nothing else be Preached but one point what is it then to Preach Christ crucified For answer hereunto we must know thus much That the meaning hereof is not
away from us A Christian when he does at any time find himself in any cheerful and comfortable frame of spirit he should endeavour to keep it up and maintain it allhe can as that which is of very great consequence and importance to him not only for the sweetness and pleasingness of the condition it self but also in reference to that duty which is to be performed by him yea we must know that it is also more pleasing to God himself that his Children upon good and right grounds should walk comfortably and cheerfully before him and rather to close with the Consolations of his spirit than to lye down under the suggestions of Satan or the false and dark representations of their own sad and mis giving hearts therefore walk in the spirit also in this sense that is in the comforts and encouragements of the spirit And so much may suffice of the first term in these words to be explained by us namely what is meant by the spirit which we have shewn in a twofold Explication In the spirit that is in his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us walk in the spirit that is walk after a spiritual manner and in the spirit that is according to his motions and suggestions as objected and propounded to us walk in the spirit i. e. walk according to the guidance and moderation of the Spirit of God The second Term here to be considered is walking and what is meant by that Now in this there are three particulars which seem to be intimated and implied First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion Walking it is a business of motion he that walks he does not stand still Secondly Here 's implied strength in opposition to faintness or remisness he that walks he moves strongly Thirdly Here 's implied perseverance in opposition to declining or giving out he that walks he moves constantly All these particulars are in walking and so appliable to our Conversation in the spirit First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion he that walks he moves himself and does not stand still And thus must it be with us in Religion an the ways of God We must be active and put forward in them it is not only have the spirit or understand it or pretend to it no but walk in it that is be careful to improve the Doctrines and Principles of it in the activity and fervency of a godly and holy Conversation This is that which is in a special manner required of us as Christians and accordingly we shall find t preach'd and urg'd upon us As in vers 25. of this present Chapter If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit that is if we have a principle of spiritual life in us let us carry our selves answerably thereunto Look as the soul in the body it is not there after an idle manner but it does distribute motion and vigor to the several parts and members of it even so should it be with grace in the soul it should not nor will not be there to no purpose but so as to make the man of God perfect and ready to every good work that I may use the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 3. ult And so the Apostle Peter also signifies unto us in 2 Pet. 1.8 When he had spoken of the several graces of the spirit in the words before If these things says he be in you and abound they will make you that ye shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ This life of the spirit in us should work in us a walking up to it and whiles it is said here walking we may take notice of the variation of the phrase in the Original Text for it is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which latter signifies a regular and orderly walking a walking by rule so it becomes us to walk who live in the spirit so to walk as not turning either to the right hand or to the left not carried by our own corrupt lusts nor yet overswayed by the mis-guidings of others but led by the sweet conduct and inclinations of the Spirit of God in us and doing that which he requires of us In a word This is that which is commended to us in this Text that our conversation be answerable to our principles and that as we make any claim to Religion more than others so we should behave our selves suitably thereunto It is not leaves that God stands upon but fruit it is not profession but action it is not only the principles which are in us but the works and duties which come from us in a correspondency and agreement to those Principles Not every onethat saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven says our blessed Saviour but he that doeth the will of my father which is in Heaven Matth. 7.21 It is doing that God does principally look after And this it does sadly come home to the consciences of many people in the world which are very guilty in this particular which have a name that they live but are dead as was said of the Church of Sardis which talk much of the spirit and the gifts and graces of it but in the mean time shew but little power and efficacy of it upon their hearts by framing of their lives thereafter as it becomes them to do such as these can have but little comfort whiles they live here in the world or hope and expectation when they go out of it so remaining We see how the Scripture puâ—s all still upon action If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them John 13.17 And then are ye my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 And he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever 1 John 2.17 and many more places besides tending to this purpose Therefore we should not content our selves with any thing below this whatsoever it be First Not with agreat measure of knowledg only no more but so let not that satisfie or content us the devils themselves have this in great abundance and yet but miserable creatures they know and believe and tremble as the Apostle James speaks of them And there were many in this Church of Galatia to whom St. Paul here writes his Epistle which were very knowing and intelligent persons as to the Doctrine of Religion and Christianity which yet for all that the Apostle seems not to be satisfied with Therefore we may observe that he does not say Spiritually understand the law but walk in the spirit There have been some who have so supersticiously sought after and urged the former as that they have laid all the stress of Piety and true Religion wholly thereupon and counted them the only spiritual men which were exercised therein namely in finding out the
but in operations as walking it implies motion and action for so it does it is true that Religion and Christianity it begins here to wit in the infusing of gracious principles and dispositions into the hearts of those which are made partakers of it but here it does not rest These habits they are such as do exert and put forth themselves in a proportionable actvity and where there are the Principles there will be likewise the Operations suitable and conformable thereunto As it is in 1 John 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him i. e. in Christ ought himself also so to walk even as he walked Let us therefore be sure to make this good to our selves that it is thus with us so as the Graces of God's Spirit be active and operative in us and that we shew forth the vertue of him that hath call'd us out of darkness into his marvellous light as the Apostle Peter speaks in 1 Pet. 2.9 There are many which talk sometimes of their good thoughts and meanings and intentions and inward qualifications because they think no body can confute them and convince them in these matters But alas these are not enough without some outward acts of new obedience as discoveries that they are in us of a Truth as fairness of outward conversation is not enough without sanctifying Principles and a change of the heart within from whence it does proceed so neither is this declared to be in good earnest where it does not in some manner express it self in the life and behaviour Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven says our Saviour but he that doth the will of my Father which is in He aven Matth. 7.21 Christianity it is a matter of doing which is imply'd in walking Secondly It is matter of progress which is implied in walking also and improvement of that which is good A good Christian he is careful to put on and to go forward from one degree of grace to another They go from strength to strength as it is in Psal 84.7 Where grace is in the truth of it it is in the increase of it more or less it never stands at a stay but is still in motion and tending to perfection Thus we have it in the Apostle himself Phil. 3.12 13 14. Where he tells us that he counts not himself to be perfect but he presses forward to the mark c. Thirdly Here 's the extent of Christianity It is not only a work but a walk it consists not in some single performance but in an universality of carriage according whereunto it is denominated Grace it runs through a mans whole conversation and expresses it self in that as large as he has any opportunity of doing good afforded unto him whether publick or private in reference to others or himself Therefore it concerns every one accordingly to be careful to improve it There are many which single out some one or two duties or services to be done by them in which they rest themselves contented and neglect all others besides which do belong unto them This is not to walk as Christians for to walk it does imply a course and moving from one path to another and not always continuing in one A Christian he has his divers rounds as I may say which he takes to this purpose sometimes in his General calling and sometimes in his Particular and in his particular according to the various distribution of it But not to insist upon these things that 's the first thing here considerable in this first General to wit the nature of Christianity that it is a walk in the activity of it in the progress and in the extent The second is the Regularity of it it is an exact and orderly walking and we have two words in the Text which do signifie as much unto us First The word walk which in the Greek has this Emphasis with it it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to walk in order and rank Secondly The word Canon or Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 each of these speak this unto us And from both together there are two things here commended unto us which we may take notice of distinctly First That it is a matter of circumscription And secondly That it is matter of comeliness or order both of these are such properties as do pertain to the walk of a Christian First I say Circumscription to speak of that first A Christians walk it is remarkable for this it has its bounds and its limits set it Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere beyond which it cannot pass or hold A Christian is not a lawless person one that rambles and runs up and down like a wild creature like one distracted and out of his wits he is of a body politick which has its laws c. he knows not whether nor cares not how but he is confined and kept within compass he walks by rule And this is that which accordingly in other places we have exhibited unto us wherein we are bid to consider our ways and to ponder our paths and to take heed to our feet and the like This shews that we may not walk at random but with due regard had to our selves in this particular This is no piece of bondage but of liberty rather Profane and Atheistical persons they look upon the strictness of Religion as an imprisoning to them and think they cannot be free except they be loose and licentious but those who are the true servants of God are otherwise indeed and their practise is according hereunto they have restraints and impediments upon them and they reckon them as advantages to them and so they are Look as it is the priviledg of a man which is in his right senses that he is kept by the strength of reason in him from those exorbitances which one that is distracted falls into without controlement so it is the advantage of a man that is regenerate and a true Christian that by the strength of Grace in him he is kept from running into the same excess of riot with other men as we find that expression used 1 Pet. 4.4 Whiles it is said here emphatically by Rule for the better opening of this passage to us we may take notice of two things First Of somewhat excluded as opposite and contrary to this rule Secondly Of somewhat included as the kinds and parts of it and making it up For the first That which is excluded it may be reduced to these three heads First Custom and practise when men do things but because they have done them Secondly Humor and passion when men do things but because they will do them Thirdly Patience and example when men do things but only because others do them before them To walk by either of these Principles is to walk indeed by no Principles at all but opposite contrary to