good God and have some taste of his bounty It is said Psal. 145.9 The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works He is good to all Creatures much more to all men the wicked not excepted though some men are but as a wiser sort of Beasts as they cater more for the Flesh and wholly value their Happiness by the Body and the Interests of the bodily Life They shall not want Invitations to lead them to God though they love their Bodies above their Souls yet they shall not want Arguments to love God who giveth them food and gladness and fruitful Seasons and plentiful Estates and many of these common Mercies which point to their Author and discover their End Acts 14.17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our Hearts with food and gladness These Mercies where they are bestowed argue not a good People but a good God 2. That he may reward some good in them and mortifie the remaining evil in his People by Afflictions None shall be a loser by God they that cannot tarry for the Heavenly Reward shall have a Temporal one such as they prize and affect Mat. 6.2 Therefore when thou doest thine Alms do not sound a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the Streets that they may have Glory of Men Verily I say unto you they have their Reward So for Prayer verse 5. and for Fasting verse 16. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they have signifieth an acquittance or discharge they acquit God of other things they have a reward suitable to their affections and their work their affections are altogether upon Temporal things The Spirit of an Heir and the Spirit of an hired Servant differ An Heir can patiently tarry till the Inheritance falleth but an hired Servant must have wages from day to day or from quarter to quarter So worldly men must have something in hand they have not a lively hope of Blessedness to come and cannot tarry for the Eternal recompence So suitable to the Work which is external a meer out-side Duty so is their Reward proportionable Nebuchadnezzar did God some service and God had his Reward for him inlargement of Greatness and Empire Ier. 27.6 And now have I given all these Lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my Servant So Ezek. 29.18 19 20. The Word of the Lord came unto me saying Son of Man Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon caused his Army to serve a great service against Tyrus Every Head was made bald and every Shoulder was peeled by carrying Baskets of Earth to fill up the Channel between it and the main Land yet he had no wages nor his Army for Tyrus for the service which he had served against it Therefore thus saith the Lord God behold I will give the Land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and he shall take her Multitude and take her Spoil and take her Prey and it shall be the wages for his Army I have given him the Land of Egypt for his Labour wherewith he served against it because they wrought for me saith the Lord. The Lord thought of rewarding this Ambitious Man for his hard Labours and Toils Mal. 1.10 Who is there among you that would shut the Doors for nought Neither do ye kindle fire upon mine Altar for nought God's service is good service even to those who do but outwardly and grudgingly perform it Levites and Porters had their allowance and superficial work meeteth with an External Reward 3. To shew that these are not the chief good things by which his special love is manifested unto us God will not now govern the World by sense but by Faith and therefore Prosperity and Adversity of themselves do not clear up a Man's Estate before God and are not perfect demonstrations of his love and hatred nor can a Man judge of his acceptance with God by his outward condition nor should we quarrel with the Wicked about their outward condition which are their portion not ours Eccles. 9. 1 2. No Man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them All things come alike to all there is one event to the Righteous and to the Wicked For these things are promiscuously dispensed without any difference evil things to good men and good things to evil men Josiah died in Battles as well as Ahab Is Abraham Rich So is Nabal Is Solomon VVise So is Achitophel Is Joseph honoured by Pharaoh So is Doeg by Saul Hath Demetrius a good report of all Men 3 John v. 12. So had some false teachers that complied with Men's Lust's and Humors Luk. 6. 26. Wo unto you when all Men shall speak well of you Had Caleb Health and Strength Josh. 14. 11. So have VVicked ones Psal. 73. 4. There are no bands in their death but their strength is firm Hath Moses beauty So hath Absolom 2 Sam. 14. 20. Learning and VVisdom is given to the Egyptians as well as to Moses Act. 7. 22. and Daniel chap. 1. 17. Ishmael had long life Gen. 25. 17. as well as Isaac Gen. 35. 29. Is greatness and powerful Reign given to David So to Infidels so that nothing hence can be concluded To bring us to look after more distinguishing mercies these are given to others as well as to his Children II. VVho are those carnal men to whom God will give no more than carnal felicity In the General those that chuse these things for their Portion Men have according to their choice THY GOOD THINGS chuse and have It absolutely holdeth good in Spiritual things Luk. 10.42 Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her But it is not always so in carnal things tho' many times it is here a Man may chuse and not have they that chuse worldly greatness and the wealth and credit of the VVorld cannot always have their choice God denieth it to some in mercy that they may look higher But sometimes he giveth it to others in wrath God giveth them their Hearts desire in Judgment These are their good things the only things suitable to their Hearts the VVorld is all they care for let God keep his Heaven and his Spirit to himself It is good to observe what our Heart calleth ours As Nabal 1 Sam. 25.11 Shall I take my Bread and my Water and my Flesh which I have killed for my Shearers And Laban to Iacob Gen. 31.43 These Daughters are my Daughters and these Children are my Children and these Cattle are my Cattle and all that thou seest is mine A Carnal Man with a lively gust and rellish calleth these things his things A Godly Man owneth them as coming from God and referreth them to him 1 Chron. 29.14 All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee VVell then how just is God in
of Trial God hath his end in these things for humbling and exercising the good and hardning the wicked But in the day of Recompence then it shall be only ill with them that do Evil and well with them that do Good and the Retributions of his Justice shall be fully evidenced 3 dly The Person By that Man whom he hath ordained meaning thereby Christ. But why doth he call Christ Man rather than God 1. Partly with respect to the Gentiles Incapacity to apprehend the Mystery of the Trinity or the Incarnation of the Son of God and it concerneth us to dispense Truths as People are able to bear them as Christ taught ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as they were able to bear it Mark 4.33 Therefore Paul would not offend them by Doctrines which they could not yet understand You will say the Resurrection was as offensive Answ. That was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one of the first Points of the Apostolical Catechism Heb. 6.1 2. Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto Perfection not laying again the Foundation of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptism and of laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the dead and of eternal Iudgment So that the Apostle could not preach the very Rudiments of Christianity if he had not mentioned that 2. Christ is to discharge this Office in the visible Appearance of Man As the Judgment was to be visible so the Judg. The Judgment is not to be acted by the Father or the Spirit but by Christ in the Human Nature Therefore his coming is called an Appearance Tit. 2.13 Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. And 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Iudg shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his Appearance And when the Judgment is spoken of Christ is often designed by this Expression the Son of Man Mat. 24.30 They shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory And Mat. 16.27 For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works He is the visible Actor in the Judgment sitting on a visible Throne that he may be seen and heard of all and the Godhead doth most gloriously manifest it self by the Perfections of his Human Nature 3. This Power is given to Christ as a Recompence of his Humiliation For therefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name That at the Name of Iesus every Knee shall bow of things in Heaven and things iâ Earth and things under the Earth Phil. 2.9 10. which is at the day of Judgment Rom. 14.10 11. We shall all stand before the Iudgment-seat of Christ. For it is written As I live saith the Lord every Knee shall bow to me Then all Creatures in Heaven Earth and Hell are to own the Soveraign Power and Empire of the Crucified Saviour Some do it willingly as the elect Angels and Men others do it by constraint as the Reprobate and evil Angels when they are forced to stand before the Tribunal of Christ to receive their final Doom and Sentence This is the last Act of his Kingly Office and the Fruit and Consequent of his Humiliation Therefore this Christ spake of when he stood before the Tribunals of Men Mat. 26.64 Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the Right-hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven The despised Man who was before them as a Criminal in their repute summoneth them to answer before his Tribunal at that Day when his Shame shall be turned into Glory and the Scandal of his first Estate shall be fully taken off and those that despised him as Man shall be forced to acknowledge him as God Secondly The Subsequent Proof Whereof he hath given assurance to all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead I hat is a sufficient Testimony to convince the whole World The Resurrection is a Certain Proof and Argument of the Dignity both of Christ's Person and Office It is an Attestation to his Person Rom. 1.4 Declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead To his Office and Doctrine Iohn 5.27 28 29. And hath given him Authority to execute Iudgment also because he is the Son of Man Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done well unto the Resurrection of Life and they have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation How doth this make Faith to all the World for that is the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Answ. God hath not given Faith to all Men but he hath given an Argument to all Men that is a ground of Faith from whence Faith may evidently conclude that Christ is our Judg for he hath raised him from the Dead Where is the force of this Demonstration Others were raised from the Dead as Lazarus and the like and yet they are not Judges of the World I answer Christ died in the repute of Men as a Malefactor but God justified him when he would not leave him under the Power of Death but raised him up and assumed him into Glory thereby visibly declaring unto the World that the Judgment passed upon him was not right but that he was indeed what he gave out himself to be the Son of God and the Judg of the World to whom Power is given over all Flesh to save or destroy them If he live with the Father in Glory and Majesty it will necessarily follow that he was not a Seducer but that Holy and Righteous One by whom God will execute his Judgment Secondly What Influence this hath upon Repentance 1. The very Day appointed inferreth a necessity of Change both of Heart and Life For how else shall we stand in the Judgment who have broken God's Laws and are obnoxious to his Wrath and Displeasure If we should never be called to an account for what we have been and done here in the World we might then freely indulge our selves in all fleshly Delights and do what we please But this is a Principle of Fear and Restraint that for all these things God will bring thee into the Judgment Eccles. 11.9 Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth and let thy Heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Iudgment None of us can hide or withdraw our selves from that great Tribunal before which we are to give an
account of what we have done and received in the Body And therefore it is best while we are in the way to make our Peace with God and to break off our Sins by Repentance Otherwise what Quiet can we have in our selves or how can we keep our selves when we are serious from trembling at Wrath to come We may smother Conscience and baffle all Convictions for the present but Christians you and I must be judged Now when God riseth up to the Judgment what shall we answer him Iob 31.14 What then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him That must be thought on before-hand If we have no Answer which will satisfy now much less then 2. From the manner or strictness of that Day 's Account he will judg the World in Righteousness Eccles. 12.14 God shall bring every Work into Iudgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Hypocrisy shall be disclosed Sincerity shall be rewarded nothing shall be hidden from God's Search no Person shall be exempted no Work either open or secret but God will bring it into Judgment His infinite Wisdom knoweth all and his infinite Justice will give due Recompence to all The Businesses of all Nations and Persons shall be openly examined What then is our Duty but to exercise our selves both in Faith and Repentance that our Judg may be our Saviour and it may go well with us when this Search is made 3. Chiefly from the Person sufficiently attested by the Miracles of his Life and Resurrection from Death God hath determined and ordained the Person by whom the whole World shall be judged And from thence we may judg of the Rule it is by his Doctrine and by our receiving or not receiving Christ. Surely it is our Interest to be in with him who will cite us before his Tribunal To accept his Person as our Lord and Saviour Iohn 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God To believe and entertain his Doctrine as the Message of God Iohn 5.24 He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death to Life To imitate his Example 1 Iohn 4.17 Herein is our Love made perfect that we may have Boldness in the Day of Iudgment because as he is so are we in this World To trust in his Merit Psal. 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his Wrath is kindled but a little Blessed are all they that put their Trust in him To love him and live to him 1 Cor. 16.22 If any Man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha If he say Come ye Blessed or Go ye Cursed we must abide by it to all Eternity Wo to them that neglect his Offers contemn his Ways oppose his Interest oppress his Servants But blessed are they whose Redeemer is their Judg he who shed his Blood for them must pass the Sentence on them and one that is Flesh of our Flesh and Bone of our Bone is the final Judg between us and God Will he be harsh to his sincere Disciples But to say all in a word Surely this Consideration should do the Work effectually because his Gospel and Covenant is nothing else but a free Promise of Pardon upon Condition of Repentance Luke 24.47 That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations And to this end the Apostles were to preach that Christ is Judg Acts 10.42 43. He hath commanded us to preach unto the People and to testify that it is he who was ordained of God to be the Iudg of Quick and Dead To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins Nothing sheweth the necessity of Remission of Sins so much as the Judgment and the necessity of Repentance to Remission so much as the Judg who in his Covenant hath made this Condition Nothing doth befriend the great Discovery of the Gospel which is free Pardon of Sin by Christ upon Repentance so much as the sound Belief of this Truth that Christ is Judg. Doct. That the great Purpose and Drift of the Gospel where it is sent and preached is to invite Men to Repentance This appeareth abundantly by the Scripture that Repentance is one of the first and chief Lessons which the Gospel teacheth When the Gospel-Kingdom was to be erected or set up Iohn the Baptist crieth Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3.2 So when Jesus himself began to preach his Note is the same Mat. 4.17 He began to preach and to say Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand His Doctrine and the Doctrine of the Baptist is all one in substance and necessarily it must be so The Gospel findeth Men under the Tyranny of Sathan and offereth to bring them into the Kingdom of God So when he sent abroad his Disciples first to the Iews Matth. 10. and afterwards to the World Luk. 24.47 That Repentance and remission of Sins should be preached in his Name The Disciples were faithful to their Commission Acts 2.38 Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of Sins But to give you some Reasons of it I shall 1. Enquire what is Repentance 2. What the Gospel doth to promote it 3. How convenient and necessary this is for all those that are willing to come out of the Apostacy of Mankind and to return to their Obedience to God First What is Repentance Sometimes it is taken largely for our whole Conversion to God through the Faith of Christ as in the Text He commandeth all men to repent that is to turn from their Sins and believe the Gospel 2 Tim. 2.25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth Where the owning of the Christian Faith is called Repentance Sometimes strictly as opposed to or rather distinguished from Faith as Acts 20.21 Testifying both to the Iews and also to the Greeks Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Iesus Christ. Where Repentance is said to be towards God as the End as Faith is conversant about Christ as the Means And there it signifieth a return to the Love and Obedience of our Creator which was our Primitive Duty before the Fall as Faith implyeth all the Duties that belong to our recovery by Christ. In short in the strict sense there is not only a Sorrow for what is past which is a beginning and help to the other part for 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow working repentance unto Salvation not to be repented of but also a full purpose of Heart to live unto God Gal. 2.19 I through the Law am dead to
have sealed it and made it sure So the Jaylor Acts 16.34 He rejoyced believing in God with all his house He was but newly Converted and recovered out of the Suburbs of Hell ready to kill himself just before so that a Man would have thought you might as easily fetch Water out of a Flint or a spark of Fire out of the bottom of the Sea yet he rejoyced when he was acquainted with Christ so that you see none reflect seriously on the Gospel but they find cause of Joy We cannot consider and believe the great things which Christ hath done and purchased for us with some hope of the enjoyment of them without Joy Secondly The Reasons of this Joy These must be considered with respect to the Object the Subject the Causes 1. The Excellency of the Object which is Jesus Christ and the incomparable Treasure of his Grace 1. He is excellent in Himself as being the Eternal Son of God Now when he will come down not only to visit but redeem a sinful World this should be matter of Joy to us He came down was not thrust down he came as the Pledge and Instance of the Father's Love Iohn 3.16 God so loved the VVorld that he gave his only begotten Son To make Divine Nature more Amiable that we might not fly from him as a condemning God but return to him as a pardoning God and willing to be reconciled to sinful Man 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their trespasses to them And in our Nature dyed for us Revel 1.5 Who hath loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own blood Christ would shew us a Love that passeth Knowledge and would surprize Men and Angels with an heap of Wonders in the whole business of our Deliverance from Sin and Misery And surely we bring down the price of these Wonders of Love if we entertain them with cold Thoughts and without some considerable Acts of Joy and Thankfulness 2. He is also Necessary for us Rom. 3.19 And all the World may become guilty before God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã subject to the Judgment of God or obnoxious to his Wrath and Vengeance What could we have done without his Passion and Intercession If he had not dyed for Sinners what had we to answer to the Terrors of the Law or Accusations of Conscience or to appease the fears of Hell and approaching Damnation How could you look God in the Face or think a comfortable Thought of him or call upon his Name or pray to him in your Necessities In good sadness what could you do Would you bewail Sins past but what Recompence or Ransom for your Souls was there If you had wept your Eyes out it would not have been accepted without a Redeemer or some Satisfaction to Divine Justice Micah 6.6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand of rivers of Oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul Would you commit Sin no more or serve God for the future exactly If that had been possible with a sinning Nature yet payment of new Debts doth not quit old Scores or paying what we owe doth not make amends for what is stolen you might have lain in your Blood We could not find out a Ransom which God would accept Psal. 49.7 8. None of them can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of their Soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever No it is the Lord's Mercy to find out a ransom for us Iob 33.24 Then he is gracious unto him and saith deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a ransom 3. He is so beneficial to us We have cause to rejoyce if we consider the many Benefits we have by him 1 Cor. 1.30 31. But of him are ye in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption That according as it is written he that gloryeth let him glory in the Lord. Ignorance alienates from God Depraved Nature brings Doubts and Fears which always haunts us about Eternity and the way thither Now when God hath provided such a suitable and alsufficient Remedy should we not rejoyce and esteem him and delight in him and count all things but Dung and Dross in comparison of him that we may gain him and his Grace 2. The Subject 1. They are affected with their Misery for according as our sense of our Misery is so is our Entertainment of the Remedy Those that heal their Wounds slightly little care for the Physician A Doctrinal sight of Sin maketh way for a dead Opinion about Christ. It is they that are often in tears and groans thrô the feeling of Sin and fears of the Wrath of God who do most esteem Christ and rejoyce in him Matth. 9.13 I am not come to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Acts 2.37 And when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do A Saviour is welcome to them for he is to them a comfortable and suitable Remedy 2. They mind their End which is to return to God as their proper Happiness When the Soul seeth nothing better than God then nothing is sweeter than Christ Intention of the End maketh the Means acceptable Iohn 14.6 Iesus saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Heb. 7.25 VVherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Christ is of no use but where God is our chiefest Good for if we be indifferent as to the Favour of God why should we prize Christ 3. Their Heart is suited to Spiritual things To excite Delight and Complacency there are two things necessary The attractiveness of the Object and the Inclination of the Faculty Delight and Pleasure is Applicatio convenientis convenienti If the Object be never so lovely yet if the Faculty be not suited there is no delight We use to say One Man's Food is another Man's Poyson Rom. 8.5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Every Man's taste is according to his Constitution some are so lost and sunk in the dregs of Pleasures Honours and Profits that they have no relish for better things Tho' Christ be so excellent and so suitable and so Alsufficient to Soul-necessities yet Carnal Men cannot âavour him This Excellency is only valued by a Spiritual Mind Scarlet maketh no more shew in the dark than a
Exod. 5.1 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel Let my People go And this proud Creature hath the Boldness to deny him Ver. 2. And Pharaoh said Who is the Lord that I should obey his Voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go And he standeth it out after many Warnings and foregoing Judgments And he doth not stand alone but hath more Fellows in the World Nehem. 9.29 They dealt proudly and hearkned not to thy Commandments but sinned against thy Iudgments and withdrew the Shoulder and hardned their Neck and would not hear Every Command of God every Offer of Grace is a Message from God To you is the Word of this Salvation sent Acts 13.26 and it should be respected with as much Reverence as if an Angel himself were the Messenger Only here is the Difference God saith to Pharaoh Let my People go To us he saith Let Sin go It is pity he should have the Repulse Sin will be as bad an Inmate to the Soul as the Israelites were a Snare to Egypt they were fain to thrust them out at length and were glad they could be so rid of them I say this is the Contest between God and his Creatures whether Sin shall go or tarry whether Christ shall be accepted or no He sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and he hath sent Prophets Apostles Pastors and Teachers to us Let Idols Images and false Worship go Swearing Sabbath-breaking Adultery Murder Disobedience to Parents Lying Covetousness let it all go there should not be an Hoof left This is God's Message Now if you will try it out you shall see whose Word shall stand God's or yours Jer. 44.28 his Threatnings or your vain and delusive Imaginations If you put it to the Trial you have more Boldness than an Angel Iude 9. Yet Michael the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation An Angel durst not use one passionate Word and will you dare to set up other Gods to profane the Sabbath to swear lie or be drunk and to say we will not let these things go let God say or do what he will to the contrary The Contest on God's part is managed for a long time in a mild condescending way He beseecheth his own Creature Ier. 13.15 16. Hear ye and give Ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Give Glory to the Lord your God before he cause Darkness and before your Feet stumble upon the dark Mountains and while ye look for Light he turn it into the Shadow of Death and make it gross Darkness Be not obstinate it is better that you should take down the Stoutness of your Hearts than that I should pull it down Let me have the Glory of this Conquest voluntarily I shall carry it at length You dream of Happiness and Pleasure alas you cannot injoy these vain Delights long Come leave them and I will make you as happy as Heart can wish but if not take that that followeth you will stumble into the Dungeon of Hell and then be as miserable as Almightiness can make you Iob 9.4 He is wise in Heart and mighty in Strength who ever hardned himself against God and prospered You will never get the day of God if you contend with him there is nothing to be expected but Blows You may indeed overcome him but it is not by resisting but stooping a tender Heart overcometh him Jer. 31.20 Is Ephraim my dear Son is be a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. And Isa. 57.18 I have seen his Ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore Comforts to him and to his Mourners But a hard Heart is no Match for God it is ever foiled in the Enterprize if they yield not to his Mercy they are consumed by his Wrath. Pharaoh would contend with God but found his Maker too hard for him at last So Iulian the Apostate Ezek. 22.14 Can thy Heart endure or can thy Hands be strong in the Days that I shall deal with thee I the Lord have spoken it and will do it And 1 Cor. 10.22 Do we provoke the Lord to Iealousy are we stronger than he It is a foolish Contest it ever endeth with our Destruction 2. It is in it self the sorest of all Judgments when other means are urged in vain God giveth them up to Hardness of Heart it is one of the Chains of Darkness in which captive Souls are held unto eternal Judgment A stormy Conscience that lieth under the Power of perplexing despairing Fears is not so bad as an hard Heart They are both Chains of Darkness Despair and Obstinacy as in the Devils but in Men Despair may make way for Repentance God hath them in the Briars many are brought to Heaven by the Gates of Hell God hath begun with them but left these Again it will end in Despair the Heart that is not sensible now will then be sensible enough We read of the Worm that never dieth and the Fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 In Hell Men will remember how every Sabbath God did stretch out the Arms of his Mercy to imbrace them and they would not how Christ offered a Plaister of his own Heart's-blood to cure them but they refused it and made light of it how the Holy Ghost put many good Motions into their Hearts but they rejected these Thoughts and would not be interrupted in their Ease and false Peace O the deep Wounds and Stings these Thoughts will occasion when 't is too late 3. It never goeth alone but bringeth other Judgments along with it Pharaoh had Plague upon Plague Zech. 7.12 They made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone lest they should hear the Law and the Words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former Prophets therefore came a great Wrath from the Lord of Hosts more than ordinary Displeasure So Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy They shall be destroyed not afflicted only and that without Remedy there shall be none to help And Rom. 2.5 After thy Hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Iudgment of God God will harden his Heart against you shut up his Bowels against you in your greatest Straits when his Patience is quite spent God will retaliate Zech. 7.12 13. They made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone lest they should hear the Law c. Therefore it is come to pass that as he cried and they would not hear so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of Hosts There is a time when the stoutest-hearted Sinner who careth least for God shall stand in need of his Help
are Holy though sinners by nature yet dedicated to God and by vertue of the Parent 's Covenant accepted into the visible Church This agreeth with the exact rules of friendship to be a friend to us and our Families as David was to Mephibosheth for Ionathans sake 2 Sam 9.7 Fear not for I will shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy Fathers sake So Rom. 11.28 As concerning the Gospel they are Enemies for your sake but as touching the Election they are beloved for the Fathers sake For so many thousand years This is a friendship like God whose kindness is expressed in a way becoming himself Well then every Child is capable of dedication to God in the solemn way of an Ordinance 'T was a grief to Gehazi to have the Leprosie cleave to him and his Posterity it is a comfort to you that your Children are Holy Another Leper was born of him another Child is born to God of you More especially when the Covenant breaketh out then Children are a blessing indeed an Heritage from the Lord Gen. 9.25 26. Cursed be Canaan a servant of Servants shall he be to his Brethren And he said blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Ham is cursed in the person of Canaan whose progeny was excluded from the Grace of the Ordinances Instead of blessing Shem as he had cursed Cham Noah blesseth and praiseth God Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. God is his God that is happiness enough which is to be ascribed to his Grace But to return God hath implanted an affection in Parents to their Children he hath a Son himself and he knoweth how he loveth him and he loveth him for his holiness Heb. 1.9 Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oil of gladness above thy fellows So many times in a condescention to good Parents he bestoweth this priviledge that they shall have Godly Children Look as to a Minister those whom he converts to God they are his Glory and his Ioy and his Crown of rejoicing at the day of the Lord 1 Thes. 2.19 20. So as to those whom we have been a means to bring into the World if they are in the Covenant of Grace it is a greater blessing than to see them Monarchs of the World 3. 'T is a gift and a blessing dispensed as a reward and heritage with respect to the obedience or disobedience of their Parents God would by all ways and means ingage us to godliness now because our temporal happiness or misery much dependeth upon our Relations and Children he would make this one motive to invite us to walk in his ways This is one way or means to let in happiness or trouble upon us Sometimes he promiseth Children and flourishing Children as a reward of piety and threateneth no Children or unhappy Children as a punishment of disobedience See Iob 5.4 compared with 25. Of the wicked it is said ver 4. His Children are far from safety they are crushed in the Gate and there is none to deliver them 'T is promised to the godly ver 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great and thine off-spring shall be as the Grass of the Earth So the Second Commandment Exod. 20.5 6. I the Lord thy God am a Iealous God visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shewing Mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments and many other places Though not all the Godly and only they have the gift of prosperity and a successful posterity yet God is pleased in express terms to adopt this blessing into the Covenant Wicked Parents are ordinarily great snares and plagues to their Children and the godly prove great blessings Because this is an argument often pressed in Scripture I shall a little state it how far wicked Parents may procure a judgement and godly Parents a blessing to their Children 1. How far wicked Parents may procure a Judgment to their Children Answ. Punishments are either Temporal or Eternal For Eternal no man is punished with Eternal punishment for anothers sins properly and directly there we stand upon our own personal account occasionally a Child may be punished eternally for his Father's sin as being deprived of the means of Grace by the Parent 's revolt from the true Religion As for external means the Parents who are a kind of Trustees may put away the means of Grace from their Families When God cometh to tender Grace to them he tendereth it to them in the name of their whole house Luk. 19.9 This day is salvation come to this House Forasmuch also as he is the Son of Abraham as a Believer he had an interest in Abraham's promises Gen. 17.7 I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and thy Seed after thee So Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved thou and thy House that is put in a way of Salvation If a Family reject the strictness of profession and give up themselves to cursing swearing uncleanness gaming hatred of reformation and of a lively Ministry the Children born in the Family may be justly left to be wicked by these examples and prejudiced against the ways of God 2. For Temporal Punishments These may be supposed to come both on those that continue in their wicked Parents Paths and Courses or on those who do break them off by repentance 1. If they continue in them then both Parents and Children are considered as one Body and Society Isa. 65.6 7. I will recompense even recompense into their bosom Your iniquities and the iniquities of your Fathers together There is a cup still filling and when we add more Water then it runneth over As by a figure added to a number already set the value is increased to a much greater sum than the single Figure would bear if it stood alone So the personal sins of the Child are made much more hainous by the foregoing offences of the Parents Or as a fire that is already kindled when it meeteth with more combustible matter the flame is the more increased so by the addition of the Childrens sins to their Ancestors the judgment is made more exemplary and remarkable nay it may be the judgment may begin with the Children when the Parents in this World do escape and go unpunished The Parents kindle the Fire and the Children come and cast in more Fuel and then no wonder if the burning be the greater 2. If they be godly The judgments may continue though they be sanctified to their holy posterity Thus God's quarrel for the sins of Manasseh continued in the days of good Iosiah 2 Kin. 23.26 The Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations
A Fourth Volume Containing One hundred and fifty SERMONS ON Several Texts of Scripture By the Late Reverend and Learned Thomas Manton D. D. In Two PARTS PART the First Containing LXXIV Sermons PART the Second Containing LXXVI Sermons WITH AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE To the Whole LONDON Printed by I. D. and are to be sold by Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIII AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF THE Principal Matters Contained in this VOLUME A Page ABraham's Faith opened 1. In his clear sight of Christ to come 474 The Grounds of this Faith 475 The Strength of it 476 2. In overlooking the Difficulties that lay in the way of the Promise 482 The Grounds of this Faith 483 The Strength of it ibid. The Effects of it 488 Acceptance with God for the pardon of Sin the highest matter in the World 945 Account There are Books of Account kept between God and the Creature 261 At the Day of Iudgment these Books of Account shall be opened 262 All shall be called to an Account ibid. Iudgment shall pass upon all Men according to the Account then given 263 The Advantage of calling our selves often to Account ibid. Mens Account shall be answerable to their Mercies ibid. Adherence Resolute Adherence of Faith how seen 471 The Grounds of this resolute Adherence 472 Adoption How the Spirit witnesses of our Adoption 1135 Afflictions should not make us question our Adoption 1136 1139 Afflictions come from God 1133 Afflictions and Miseries may befal Gods ' People 1210 Bearing Afflictions becomes God's People 1137 We must not faint under Afflictions 765 Afflictions of the Righteous prove a Life to come 1215 Angels look into the Mystery of Redemption by Christ 918 What of this Mystery Angels look into ibid. The manner how Angels look into it 920 The Reasons why Angels look into it ibid. Angels fallen Why God would not save fallen Angels but fallen Men 658 Page Anger of God God may be angry with his own People 273 Anointing what it signifies 712 Christ was anointed by God 716 Why Christ was anointed 717 Who were anointed first Christ then Believers his Fellows ibid. Apparel Sobriety to be used in it 75 How to judg of Excess in Apparel 76 Helps and Motives to Sobriety in Apparel ib. We must not envy the Apparel of others 75 Appearing of Christ. Vid. Coming Assurance to be laboured after 114 What Application there must be when Assurance is wanting 115 B BAckslider in Heart what he is 1109 The Backslider in Heart shall be filled with his own Ways Vid. Filled Balaam's Plot to destroy Israel 802 Observations from hence 804 Believing what is necessary to it 723 Believing in God and Christ how they differ 235 Why believing in Christ is specially required besides believing in God 245 Believing in Hope against Hope opened with the Reasons of it 484 Better We are not only to be good but to grow better 429 Blessedness True Blessedness not to be sought on this side Heaven 129 Blessedness eternal wherein it consists Vid. Heaven 116 Duties of those that have an Interest in this Blessedness 130 Blessings spiritual we are to be much affected with them 426 We are to be in a capacity to praise God for spiritual Blessings 425 In Thanksgiving spiritual Blessings to be owned 424 Body The Qualities of a glorified Body 119 Brazen Serpent the History of it 747 The Typical Vse of the brazen Serpent 748 The Resemblance between Christ and the brazen Serpent 749 The Excellency of Christ above the brazen Serpent 751 Breasts Naked Breasts condemned 78 Brethren Christ having taken our Nature is not ashamed to call us Brethren 1083 Comforts from being Christ's Brethren 1088 Whether Believers may call Christ Brother ibid. Bruised Christ bruised by the Serpent and bow 538 Burden What a Burden Sin is 1125 None can take off the Burden of Sin but Christ 1126 C CAlamities In all Calamities we must look to God 1132 Vid. Afflictions Calling of Christ twofold outward and inward 784 Canaan The Woman of Canaan that she was a Believer 467 The Greatness of her Faith ibid. Her Temptations and Trials 468 Her Victory over them 470 Captives To whom we were Captives 164 The way of redeeming Captives 165 Care of the World What that Care is that is to be moderated 79 How sinful Care may be discovered ib. Whence it ariseth 80 Arguments against distrustful Care 1099 The Cure of sinful Care 80 Carnal Things Men are addicted to them more than to spiritual things 1111 Cause When we do not honour God as the first Cause 33 Centurion's Faith opened 460 The Greatness of his Faith 459 How it discovered it self 462 How this Faith was bred or begotten in him 461 Certainty conditional and actual what 1104 Charitable We must be charitable to others according to our Power 87 Reasons why we must be charitable 336 Charity or Love to the Brethren the Properties of it 995 Children are a Blessing 833 834 Much of the Providence of God exercised in and about Children 834 How far Parents may procure a Blessing or a Curse to their Children 836 How far godly Parents are blessed in their Posterity 837 Motives to Parents to take care of their Childrens Education 839 Christ. That Christ was God proved 152 Why Christ was called the Great God 150 Why Christ must be God ibid. Christ to be honoured and praised by Saints 1175 1183 Christ's Growth stated and proved 855 856 How Christ grew in Wisdom and Knowledg 855 Coming second of Christ the Preparations of it 139 Second Coming of Christ will be glorious 138 Why Christ's second Coming will be glorious 144 Inferences from Christ's glorious Coming 146 The Personal Glory of Christ at his second Coming 140 His Attendants then 141 His Work then 142 The Consequents of Christ's second Coming 143 Belâevers to look for Christ's second Coming 131 Objections answered 135 Reasons of it 132 The Advantage of looking for Christ's second Coming 135 How we are to prepare for Christ's second Coming 138 The Privilege of the Saints at Christ's second Coming 133 Coming to God How we are said to come to God by Christ 965 Who they are that come to God by Christ 964 Common Work not to be rested in 291 Comparison fourfold between this Life and the next 1211 Conceit Why Men are apt to conceit well of themselves 316 Arguments to press you against this Self-conceit 320 Conditions of the Gospel Man cannot perform them of himself 405 Confession with the Mouth what it is 953 The Matter to be confessed 954 The Way by which it is to be made ibid. The Necessity of it to Salvation 957 The Respect that Believing with the Heart and Confession with the Mouth have to one another 955 Conflict with Sin in the Regenerate and Vnregenerate the difference between them 365 Conflict spiritual we are to arm our selves for it 1101 The use of Faith Hope and Love in the spiritual Conflict 1105 Conscience the Nature of it
other Sins or to feed a Lust and therefore we had need to deny it as it is Lust. 2 dly You should deny them as worldly Lusts so you must abstain from them not serve them as they are stirred up by worldly Objects they keep us from better Employment and therefore Grace teacheth us to deny them as they tend only to such a vile purpose Many Arguments there are 1. Whatever is for this World must be left on this side the Grave Pomp Pleasure and Estate must be left behind us Job 1.21 Naked came I out of my Mother's Womb and naked must I return thither There is no carnal Pomp and Pleasure in the next World Here we bustle for Greatness but Death ends the Quarrel Like foolish Birds we seek to build strong Nests when to morrow we must be gone Open the Grave and look upon the Reliques of Man's Mortality thou canst not discern between the Rich and the Poor the King and the Peasant all are alike obnoxious to Stench and Rottenness Those Desires that carry you out to the World must be mortified A Mill-wheel runs round all the Day and at Night it is in the same place So whatever we gain and purchase in the World it must be left at Night when we go to Bed when Death finds us and in the same place at Death we are as naked as we came into the World 1 Tim. 6.7 For we brought nothing into the World and it is certain we can carry nothing out A Man's Wealth doth not follow him but his Sins do his Iniquity will find him out Consider at Birth a Man is contented with a Cradle and at Death with a Grave yet here we join House to House and Field to Field Isa. 5.8 as if the whole World could not contain us 2. As they are only for this World so our abode here is but short and uncertain and therefore if it be worldly Lust it should be less prized for it lasts but for a time Within a very little while those that are most potent powerful and shining in the Splendor of the World shall be turned to Dust and Ashes God hath made Life short for many wise and merciful Reasons that the time of our Labour might not last too long He hath made us to enjoy himself and because he loveth the Saints he would have them the sooner with himself and would not be long without their Company and that we might love eternal Life therefore this Life is short and that he might gratify the Saints for he that hath a Journey to go would pass it over as soon as he can God makes their Journey as short as is convenient for his Glory and to shame wicked Men because they delight in that which is but of a short continuance but their Torment is Eternal The Pleasure of Sin is but for a Season but the Torments of Sin are for ever and ever therefore this should put a check to your Desires it is only for a World that passeth away nay the Lusts of this World pass away 1 Iohn 2.17 The World passeth away and the Lusts thereof The time will come when we shall have no lusts to these things it begins at Sickness but at the Day of Judgment we shall have no relish of these things and when the whole World is burnt up it will be our torment that we have prostituted our Affections to such low and unbeseeming things we shall see the Vanity when it is too late Men will have little love to the World then 3. If they be but worldly Lusts they should not be cherished were they never so durable Why Because this is not our Happiness and our Rest. Carnal Men have more of the World Christ committed his Purse to the worst of his Disciples Of the other he saith They are not of the World even as I am not of the World John 17.16 In this World God is most liberal to the worst therefore here we should not set up our Rest. Look as it is said of Abraham Gen. 25.6 that he gave Gifts to Ishmael and to the Sons of Keturah but he gave the Inheritance to Isaac Wicked Men have their Portion but not the Inheritance God will not be in their Debt therefore they have Gifts Therefore saith a Christian Why should I cherish these worldly Lusts this is not my Portion but the Portion of others From Men of the World which have their Portion in this Life Psal. 17.14 The World is Satan's Circuit he compasseth the Earth It is the Saints Slaughter-house they shed the Blood of Saints and Prophets Rev. 16.6 It is the place where God is dishonoured They are favoured and loved most by the World whom Christ hath rejected and past by 4. Worldly Lusts do hinder us from our Work We were made for another World and this Life is lent us for a while to look after Heaven We cannot drive on those two Cares at once for the World and Heaven too as a Man cannot look with one Eye to Heaven and with another to the Earth therefore why should we indulge worldly Lusts Who would lose a Crown to be owner of a Dunghil And will you forfeit Heaven and the Joys of God's Presence for worldly Conveniences Lust hinders your care of Heaven It is true a temperate and religious use of the World furthereth it but worldly Lust doth take off your Heart from God and Heaven and unfits it for it so that your Heavenly Desires are hindered 5. In a sense worldly Lusts do hinder us of the Comfort of this World Want encreaseth with Enjoyment as the Fire encreaseth by laying on more Fuel The more we enjoy the more we desire so we do not enjoy what we do possess The more we have the more we want so that a covetous Man neither enjoys this World nor the World to come 6. If it be worldly Lust then take heed of it for thou art as thy Love is If thou lovest this World thou art a worldly Man if thou lovest God thou art a godly Man if thou lovest Heaven thou art a heavenly Man A Man is not as his Opinion is but as his Affections are A bad Man may be of a good Opinion but a bad Man can never have good Affections The Soul as Wax receives the Impression from the Object Thou art a Person of the World if thou lovest the World Take a Looking-glass and put it towards Heaven there you shall see the Figure of Heaven the Clouds and things above put it downward towards the Earth you shall see the Figure of the Earth Trees Meadows Fruits So doth the Soul receive a Figure from the things to which it is set if the Heart be set towards Heaven that puts thee into a heavenly Frame if thou appliest it to earthly Objects thou art a Man of the Earth 7. The more we mortify these worldly Lusts the more we prevent Affliction We might prevent the bitterness of the Cross if we would
Gospel of all the Prophets there was not a greater than Iohn the Baptist he was fed with Locusts and wild Honey therefore mortify Pleasure 3. By Custom this Sin is rooted and so hardly lest because it doth not only pervert the Constitution of the Soul but the Constitution of the Body Now when the Body is unruly as well as the Affections Grace hath more to struggle with A Man that hath habituated himself to carnal Pleasure because his Body is distempered and perverted is not so soon healed That 's the reason that when the Apostle speaks of Meats and Drinks 1 Cor. 6.12 he saith he will not be brought under the Power of any So again when Men are given to Wine it is their Custom and rooted Disposition therefore avoid not only the gross Act but the very Beginning that it may not be a settled Distemper Whenever you take Pleasures they should be used with fear It is the Charge the Spirit of God commenceth against those Iude v. 12. Feeding themselves without fear Mark it is not enough for your acquitment that you do not drink to Drunkenness or feed to actual Excess and Distemper but suffer it not to be a rooted Disposition in your Hearts for then it will be hardly left Austin speaks of his own Experience in this kind Ebrietas longe à me est crapula autem nonnunquam subrepit servo tuo Lord I was never a Drunkard it is far from me but Gluttony creeps upon me unawares and so hinders me from the Duties of the Spiritual Life The Throat is a slippery Place and needs to be guarded with much Watchfulness and Care lest this Distemper be rooted in the Heart Iob sacrificed while his Sons were feasting chap. 1.5 For Job said It may be that my Sons have sinned and cursed God in their Hearts In all these things should we use much caution 2 dly The next Particular the Apostle mentions is the Lusts of the Eye or Covetousness This is an Evil very natural to us and we cannot be watchful enough against the Encroachments of the World We need it in part and we love it more than we need it Worldliness is a Branch of Original Sin it is a Disease we are born with The Tenth Commandment that forbids Original Sin saith Thou shalt not covet The Best find Temptations this way We are daily conversant about the things of the World and we receive a Taint from those things with which usually we converse we find by Experience that long Converse is a bewitching thing Again the World is a thing of present Enjoyment we have the World in Hand and Heaven in Hope The Judgment of Carnal Men is quite different from the Judgment of the Word The Word of God counts the World to be but a Fancy and an Apparition and Heaven to be the only Substance Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not It is not in comparison of better things And the Fashion of this World passeth away 2 Cor. 7.31 But Prov. 8.21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit Substance Heaven is the durable Substance this is the Judgment of the Word but wicked Men think quite otherwise We have sensible Experience of the Profits of the World and therefore we judg thus perversly and call it durable Riches and Heaven but a meer Fancy to make Fools fond withal Besides Worldliness is a serious thing it doth not break out into any foul Act therefore it is applauded by Men. Psal. 10.3 The Wicked boasteth of his Heart's Desire and blesseth the Covetous whom the Lord abhorreth We think well of it at least we stroke it with a gentle Censure A Drunkard is more liable to Reproach and Shame than a Worldling Worldliness is consistent with the gravity and strictness of Profession and therefore above all Corruptions it is usually found amongst them that profess Religion but dissoluteness of Luxury will not stand with that external Gravity and Strictness which the Profession of Religion requires Licentious Persons procure shame to themselves and are publickly odious but now this being a serious Sin and possibly it may win the Soul from other Vices therefore we indulge it the more Again it is a cloaked Sin the Apostle speaks of the Cloak of Covetousness 1 Thess. 2.5 It is a hard matter to discover and find it out there are so many Evasions necessary Providence and Provision for our Families is a Duty and it is a Duty enforced by Nature and Grace Here Men evade the Charge of Covetousness they think their carking is justified as being no more than the prudent management of their Affairs But consider it is an Evil which the Lord hates Covetousness bewrays it self by an immoderate care after the things of this Life immoderate Desire and immoderate Delight 1. By an immoderate Care after worldly Comforts When we are so sollicitous about outward Supports what we shall do and what will become of us that is a sure sign of a worldly Heart We dare not trust God's Providence but cark our selves Luke 12.29 And seek ye not what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink neither be ye of doubtful Mind The words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies Do not hang like a Meteor in the Air hovering between Heaven and Earth between Doubts and Fears This is to take God's Work out of his Hands as the Care of the Son is a Reproach of the Father It is a sign we dare not trust God's Providence but will be our own Carvers we reprove and tax his Providence as if he were not sollicitous enough for us Obj. But must we not be careful and provident I answer 1. Do your present Work and for the future leave it to God God would have us look no farther than the present day provided we do not embezel our Estate by idle Projects or in carnal Pleasures or wasteful Profusion and provided we be not negligent in our Calling Let us do our Work and let God alone for future Times It is a Mercy God would have our Care look no farther than the present day Mat. 6.34 Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil thereof God is very careful of Man's Welfare he hath made carking a Sin he might have left it as a Punishment Every day hath Trouble enough for our Exercise and that 's as much as God hath required 2. It is bewrayed by an immoderate Desire The Temper of the Heart is very much discovered by the Current and Stream of the Desires As the Temper of the Body is known by the beating of the Pulses so is the Temper of the Soul by the Course of the Desires Or as Physicians judg of the Patient by his Appetite so may you judg of your Spirits by your Desires how they are carried out whether to Heavenly Things and the Enjoyment of God or to the World A carnal frame of Spirit will be known by an unsatisfied Thirst and the ravenousness of the Desires when they
Disadvantage to your selves for a Man that hath begun to be strict and careful and holy and righteous and profess himself to be taken out of the Kingdom of Darkness and made experience of the Ways of Christ yet if he falls off he doth as it were after Trial pronounce to the World that Satan's Service is better than Christ's As Iacob kept wrestling till Day-light appeared and would not let go his hold-fast so till the Morning of Glory come still keep on and continue your Courage Or as Elisha would not leave his Master till he was taken from him into Heaven so be constant to the last let the World know you see no cause to leave Christ or to be weary of his Service and to begrudg the Strictness of Religion Matth. 20. you read some were called into the Vine-yard sooner some later but they all kept working to the End and Close of the Day There 's a different time of Calling some begin with God in Infancy some in riper Age but none must be weary of well-doing But how apt are we to turn aside from God Our Righteousness must be as the Morning Light that always increaseth till High-noon but our Righteousness is like the Morning-Dew it is gone as soon as the Sun breaks out in Strength and Power We have a great many Resolutions when we begin a Course of Godliness but soon grow weary Look as a tired Horse is ready to turn in at every Inn so upon every Occasion and Temptation we are ready to turn away from God but it is not enough to begin to live godly strictly righteously but while Life lasteth you must hold on in God's ways it must be during your whole present State and Abode here in the World II. The Reasons why this Duty of our heavenly Calling must be in the present World 1. Because this is the Time of Grace There is no other Time to get the Favour of God and an Interest in Heaven but here upon Earth Now we have the Means hereafter the Recompences Now Christ saith Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden Matth. 11.28 Hereafter he will say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Mat. 25.34 Now he calls us to receive Grace hereafter we must receive either Vengeance or Glory In the Angels Song we find Luke 2.14 Peace upon Earth Here God proclaims Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation to the Creature if it will submit to God Now the Golden Scepter is held out and you will have no more such a Season This is God the Father's God the Son 's and God the Spirit 's Time but after this Life you shall have it no more It is the Time of God the Father's Patience and these are the Days of the Gospel when God the Son is offered to us and now we have the Advantage of the Spirit 's Impulses and his Convictions upon our Hearts But after this Life there 's neither Prophecy nor Gospel nor Conviction nor Means offered any more then comes Recompence and Retribution Zanchy speaks of some which had a Fancy that the Gospel should be preached hereafter in the other World to those that never heard of Christ in this World as to Children to Turks and Pagans to justify this Conceit they alledg that Place 1 Pet. 3.19 By which he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison But that 's a clear Mistake The Apostle speaks there how the Spirit of God went forth by Noah's Preaching in warm Conviction upon the Hearts of those that are now in Prison that were sometimes disobedient to the Warnings of Noah and are now held with Chains of Darkness in the Prison of Hell But however there is nothing to this World Now you have the Means and God's golden Scepter is held out Now Christ saith Come but if you refuse hereafter he will say Depart Now is the accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.1 2. This is the Time of our Exercise and Trial. 1. There must be this Exercise before we come to Heaven We do not leap into Heaven without any Preparation The Vessels of Glory must first be seasoned with Grace Col. 1.12 Who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light First we are qualified and seasoned then filled brim-full As when the Virgins were chosen for Ahasuerus they were to accomplish their Months of Purification so we must have a Time of purifying and cleansing from Corruption before we can get to Heaven Balaam would die the Death of the Righteous but not live his Life Numb 23.10 Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his As it is said of the Snake that when it is stricken with Death stretcheth out it self straight though crooked before at oportuit sic vixisse you should have so lived You should be sober righteous and godly Enoch before his Translation had this Testimony that he pleased God Heb. 11.5 Some-thing must be done here there is no Triumph without a Warfare 2 Tim. 2.5 If a Man strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned unless he strive lawfully that is according to the Laws of the Race or Exercise so we cannot expect to die in the Lord unless we live in the Lord Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Your Works die not when you die Eccles. 11.3 If the Tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be In the time of the Law there was nothing to be gathered upon the Sabbath-Day but a double Portion to be gathered before those that provide nothing on the sixth Day had nothing on the Sabbath-Day The Sabbath is a Figure of Heaven of that eternal Rest we shall have there if we do not make Provision during the time of Life there can be nothing done afterwards 2. It is only here this is the fittest Place for Exercise Here are Difficulties Snares and Temptations and these serve to discover the Glory of Grace and this makes it worthy of Praise that we can act for God in the present World where so many miscarry 2 Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present World Here is the fit Place for our Trial where we have so many Difficulties Snares Baits Avocations and Scandals to take us off from performing the Duty of our Heavenly Calling As Death leaves us so Judgment finds us Upon our Behaviour in the present Life both our everlasting Woe or Weal depends Hereafter is not a time of Labour but of Reward and Punishment there is no room for Exercise and Trial there no Snares in the next World Grace cannot be found worthy of Praise there for that is God's Day called the Day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.10
will be little enough to repent the loss of that which is past Consider a Man can never come soon enough into the Arms of Mercy nor soon enough out of the Power of Satan Present Necessity admits of no Deliberation therefore charge your selves to be more solid and serious Sin if you let it alone will gather more Strength Jer. 13.23 Can the Ethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots then may ye also do Good that are accustomed to do Evil. When a Stick hath been long bent it will hardly ever be set right again Some that have been late converted have much bewailed their Disadvantage their standing out so long till their Inclinations were fixed and that they have got a stubborn Nature so strong and ever apt to recoil upon them Consider we would not have God to put us off when we come for Mercy and are in present need and shall we put off God We would count a Delay to be as bad as a Denial therefore take heed of Delays in this kind for if ever you be called to Grace you will smart for it soundly Christ waited upon the Spouse for Entrance Cant. 5.2 My Head is filled with Dew and my Locks with the drops of the Night and then the Spouse waited for Comfort ver 6. I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone my Soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no Answer What is the Reason when the Work is begun and the first stroke is given to Sin that Christians walk so mournfully for a great while O they have made God wait long and stood out many a Call therefore the Lord exerciseth them with waiting Let all this work thee to comply with the Importunity of the present Conviction of the Holy Ghost Vse 2. Is to reclaim us when we are greedily set upon other Businesses and Projects than the great Business of our Lives as to get Wealth Honour and great Estates Remember what is thy Duty and Work in this present World Consider 1. The shortness of Life We have a great deal of Work to do in a little time therefore we should not waste it every day we are nearer to the Grave We are sensible of the Decays of others but not of our own thou seest others wax old and die remember thou thy self art going that way When two Ships meet one another in the Sea the other Ship seems to fail faster than yours tho both pass away alike because you are not sensible or do not observe your own Motion We see others are mortal but do not number our own Days This is a Point of Prudence Psal. 90.12 So teach us to number our Days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom A Man would think of all Points that were plainest and soonest learned yet it is very hard to learn the lesson of our own Frailty I mean to learn it by Heart to learn it practically 2. The Uncertainty of Life We know not when Death will surprize us it is ill to be taken unprovided when Death comes to say Hast thou found me O my Enemy Every day we have cause to look to it more are mistaken in reckoning upon Life than upon Death Thou art asleep in the Wolf's Mouth there is no Remedy but imploring the Shepherd's Help A Carnal Man that goeth on in Sin provoketh God to his Face and trieth whether he will cut him off yea or no. We are sure to live to enjoy what we provide for Heaven but we are not sure to live to enjoy what we provide for the World A Man may not rost what he took in hunting but when he cometh to enjoy his Estate God cutteth him off Luke 12.20 Thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided And shall my Master come and find me idle 3. After Death followeth Eternity the great Amazement of the Soul Now if Death find you at Peace with God Eternity will be comfortable and Death sweet Body and Soul part but God and the Soul meet When we can see Angels ready to do their Office and Conscience becometh our Compurgator I bear you witness you have spent your time in this World in obeying and serving God and then Body and Soul take leave of one another it is a blessed parting But now when you have not regarded your Work you are then delivered up to Satan by such an Excommunication as shall never be reversed Accursed till the Lord come and then Body and Soul meet to be tormented for ever It is a sad parting when Conscience falls a raving and we curse our selves and the day of our Birth O that ever such a Creature were born O that I had been stifled in the Womb and never seen the Light 4. The necessity of working out our own Salvation God's Stipulation with Mankind is not made up all of Promises something is required Holiness is the way to Salvation Men that live as they list can claim nothing The World is a common Inn for Sons and Bastards in the time of God's Patience he keeps open House for just and unjust but no unclean thing entreth into Heaven At the great Rendezvouz God maketh a Separation Psal. 1.5 The Vngodly shall not stand in the Iudgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous The wicked shall not be able to look Christ in the Face nor vail themselves in the glorious Assembly 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Our Desires settle into Opinions we think God will not damn his own Creatures and an universal Hope is natural 5. The Folly of not doing our Business To get bodily Supports is but our Errand by the by these Souls were not given us to scrape up Wealth and only to provide and purvey for the Body Let us use them to the end that God gave them to think of Eternity Luke 10.41 42. Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is needful And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her Martha was careful to entertain Christ in her House but Mary to entertain him in her Heart The one thing needful is the Care which every one ought to have of his own Salvation Every thing is best that helpeth us on towards Heaven and that is evil that hindreth us in our pursuit of Heaven This will appear to be the greatest Wisdom at length and not to spend your Lives in getting Honours or Pleasures or screwing your selves into the Favour of great Personages It is commonly said of a Man that hath gotten an Estate that he
hath spent his Time well but the Apostle commands Eph. 5.15 16. See that ye walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise redeeming the Time because the days are evil Those other are the worst Fools who make no Provision for the future they part with Jewels for Trifles SERMON XII TITUS II. 13 Looking for that blessed Hope c. I Observed 1. The Teacher The Grace of God 2. The Lesson the whole Duty of our Heavenly Calling To deny Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly c. 3. I come to the third general Branch The Encouragements to Learning here are two Eternal Life and Christ's Death There are two great Principles of Obedience Gratitude and Hope Gratitude or Thankfulness because of the Obligation that is left upon us from Christ's Death and then Hope because of the glorious Reward that is set before us So that whether we look backward or forward we meet with Obligations to Obedience Backward there is an excellent Merit ver 14. Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity c. Forward there is a glorious Hope Looking for that blessed Hope c. There is nothing lost by God's Service the Lord might deal with us out of Soveraignty and rule us with a Rod of Iron but he is pleased to draw us with the Cords of a Man and with Bands of Love Hos. 11.3 to indent with us and propound Rewards as if we were altogether free before the Contract Men do not use to covenant with their Slaves we are bound to serve him whether there had been any Reward or no but the Lord will not leave us without an Encouragement We are apt to have hard Thoughts of God and to think him harsh and austere requiring Work but not giving Wages But consider we have the highest Motives as well as the noblest Work we are not only to live soberly righteously and godly in the present World but to look to the blessed Hope Life and Immortality is brought to light by the Gospel There is no such Encouragement to vertuous living any where as in the Gospel Lactantius saith of the Heathens Virtutis vim non sentiunt cujus premium ignorant They do not feel the force and transforming Power of Vertue because they are ignorant of the Reward of Vertue The Heathens had no such Encouragement as Immortality and Eternal Life and the happy Enjoyment of God and Christ for evermore But to handle the words a little more distinctly We have here 1. the Reward it self called a blessed Hope Then 2. the time when it shall be accomplished to the full at the coming of the Lord. Both these things you must look for Christians as often as you think of Eternal Life you must also think of Christ's Appearing Before we enter into Glory we must first give an Account Carnal Men fancy a Heaven without a Day of Judgment they would be saved but they would not be called to an audit and reckoning with God Many can brook sitting upon the Throne with Christ but not coming before his Tribunal but they that would live holily must look for both the blessed Hope and the glorious Appearing of Christ. Many Points may be observed out of this Verse Doct. I. That looking for the blessed Hope conduceth much to the Advancement of the Spiritual Life I. What this Looking is II. What Influence and Power it hath to work us to the Spiritual Life I. What this Looking is It implies Patience but chiefly Hope 1. Patience in waiting God's Leisure Patience is a Grace very needful in our Pilgrimage where we are exercised with so many Difficulties Heb. 10.36 For ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the Will of God ye might receive the Promise you do not only need Holiness but Patience It is long before we can bring our Hearts to do the Will of God but after that is done you have need of Patience that you may wait God's Leisure for your Reward For the Reward is not given till there be time for Labour and Exercise and Troubles coming on make time seem very long Whatever Grace we may spare we cannot spare Patience if we would persist in well-doing for we are to wait for the blessed Hope The good Ground bringeth forth Fruit with Patience Luke 8.15 Look as the Ground endures the Plough the Harrow the Cold the Frost that in due time the Seed may spring up so we have need of Patience that we may wait upon God for the blessed Hope And as Patience is very needful in the present Life so it is inseparable from Hope 1 Thess. 1.3 it is called the Patience of Hope To every Grace he gives a proper Action there is the Work of Faith the Labour of Love and the Patience of Hope Faith propounds Work Love makes us to labour and sweat at it and Hope makes us wait with Patience for our Reward and Recompence Rom. 8.25 But if we hope for that we see not then do we with Patience wait for it What we hope for we wait with Patience for between Hope and Having there is an intervening time to exercise Patience There is want of the thing desired and Delays are troublesome Now to keep looking is a Work of Patience 2. It chiefly implies Hope This looking for is the formal Act of Hope an actual Expectation of Blessedness to come Now because there 's a bastard and blind Hope and there is a regular and good Hope 2 Thess. 2.16 Who hath given us everlasting Consolation and good Hope through Grace therefore let me tell you First What this Expectation is not Secondly What it is First Negatively what it is not 1. It is not a blind Hope such a Hope as is found in Men ignorant and presumptuous that regard not what they do Presumption is a Child of Darkness as Hope is a Child of Light Presumption is the Fruit of Ignorance and Inconsideration When Men are once serious they find it the hardest matter in the World to hope for guilty Nature in it self is more presagious of Evil more inclinable to Fear and Sorrow than to Joy and Hope But yet a blind Confidence is very common because Men do not consider what they do but hand over head make a full account that they shall go to Heaven without Warrant and without Evidence And therefore you shall find it is one of the first things God works by the Word to break down our former carnal Hopes and make Men see they are out of the way lost and undone Creatures Paul in his presumptuous State thought he had as much to shew for Heaven as any Man in the World Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died The Commandment coming in full Conviction upon his Heart he began to be serious and then he found himself lost and obnoxious to God's Judgment The Excellency of Hope doth not lie in the Strength
mingled with the Wheat and besides the Persecutions of the Wicked their very Company is a Burden Iacob's Cattle and Laban's are together but then they shall be separated and the Saints shall be gathered together and sit as Judges of them giving their Vote with Christ in their Condemnation 4. It is a Day of Glorification to Christ and therefore the Saints long for it a Day when Christ shall be honoured and get to himself a glorious Name God got himself a great Name when he drowned Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Sea O what will it be when he shall cast all the Wicked into Hell Now Christ will come to shew the Fulness of his Majesty the Terror of his Wrath and to glorify his Justice upon wicked Men. Christ sheweth his Majesty every day but we have not Eyes to see it our Eyes are dazled with Worldly Splendor but then all Mists shall vanish The Saints that love the Glory of God must needs long for that time when Christ shall be seen in all his Glory when God shall be dishonoured no more and the Kingdom of Sin and Satan have an end and wicked Men shut up under their everlasting State And then from the Saints God hath perfect Glory in them and from them here God hath not his perfect Glory from us nor in us This is the Comfort of God's Children that God is glorified in their Glory that they may live to praise him for ever without Weakness and Distraction and that 's the reason of those Expressions To whom be Glory for ever and ever They delight in their own glorious Estate because they shall ever be in a Capacity to bring Glory to God Nay then God shall be glorified in all his Counsels and Decrees in the Wisdom of his Providence and in the course of his Judgments for in the Day of Judgment the full History of the World shall be brought before the Saints whereas now we see it but by pieces 4. Why the Saints look for Christ's Appearing is the Profit of this Expectation which they shall receive partly as it engageth to a heavenly Conversation Phil. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for a Saviour Where should we converse most but where Christ is Now where is Christ but in Heaven and therefore our Minds should be ever running upon it our Eyes ever looking that way and our Hearts ever longing for him Partly as it engageth us to Faithfulness in our Relations there is a Day coming when we shall give an account for the Duties of our Relations because that is the particular Sphear of our Activity 2 Tim. 4.1 I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus who shall judg the Quick and the Dead at his Appearing and his Kingdom Paul there presseth Timothy to discharge the Duty of a Minister and so for a Master of a Family and for a Servant Your Relations are not things of chance but they fall under the special Care of God's Providence and therefore you must be accountable for them here God hath confined you by the Wisdom of his Providence to serve the great Ends of your Creation therefore whatever is omitted you are to give an account of your Relations Magistrates Ministers Masters Servants all of their several Relations Partly as it calms the Heart against the Injuries and Molestations of the present Life 1 Pet. 2.23 our Lord Christ when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judged righteously So you must learn of him when you meet with Trouble and hard Usage and unworthy dealing in the World commit your selves to God the Judg is at the Door and he will review all things again Look as Paschalus a Minister of the Albigenses when he was burnt at Rome cited the Pope and his Cardinals before the Tribunal of the Lamb thus do you Partly as it engages to Perseverance If a Man hath followed a distressed and afflicted Party for a long time if nothing comes of it he tires but remember if we follow Christ here all our Pains will be recompensed to us 1 Iohn 2.28 Abide in him that when he shall appear we may have Confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming Christ will come and that with Salvation to them that look for him therefore let me be faithful in my Duty Obj. 1. But how can we look for it when we know there are some Signs that precede the Coming of Christ therefore certainly he is not like to come in our days Will he alter the prefix'd time of his Approach and change the Jacets of that great Journey Answ. 1. Tho Christ keepeth his pace yet it is good for us to alter ours tho we cannot hasten his coming yet let us be always ready 2 Pet. 3.12 Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the Day of God It is good for us to get ground upon our Fears and our Sins and to declare our readiness to meet with Christ every day we live in the World is a day lost in Heaven 2. If any Age had cause to think Christ would come certainly we have It was not far off in the Apostles days they were called the last days but ours are the very Dregs of Time When we see an old Man weak and feeble Aches and Diseases of the present Life encrease upon him we say certainly he cannot live long So if we look upon the Temper of the World sure it cannot endure long Christ will come to set all things at rights One Forerunner of Christ's coming are the Dreams and Delusions that are abroad Mundus senescens patitur phantasias as the World grows old it is much given to Fancies as old Men are to Dotage and Dreams 3. If Christ come not in our days yet Death is at hand Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto Men once to die and after that the Iudgment Every Man 's particular Judgment follows upon his departure out of the World and then the general Judgment follows as Death finds him either among the Sheep or Goats Iudas died sixteen hundred Years ago yet as he died so shall he be found After Death there 's no change of State therefore your business is always to be ready to depart in Peace and hasten to an eternal State Obj. 2. How can this be the Property of God's Children to desire his coming Are they always in this Temper and Frame many weak ones tremble at the thought of it for want of assurance of God's Love it is the Terror and Bondage of their Lives to think of Christ's coming and sometimes the Saints do not actually feel such an Inclination and Strength of Desire Answ. 1. The meanest Saint hath some Inclination this way Can a Man desire that Christ may come into his Heart and will there not be such Desires that he may come to Judgment since Comfort and Reward is more naturally embraced than Duty The very first Work of
went triumphing into Heaven and in like manner he will come again Dan. 6.10 Daniel went into his House and his Windows being opened towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his Knees three times a day and prayed and gave Thanks unto his God Daniel had reason to look towards the Temple tho ruined because of the Promise of God to his People that prayed towards the Temple so now and then we should look up to Heaven there is Christ above within the Heavens We are called often to lift up our Hearts to God and our Eyes to Heaven from whence we look for a Saviour there 's our Treasure and our Jesus Vse 3. Of Trial. It is good to see how we stand affected towards this Appearing Nothing can content true Christians in the World Do we look beyond it Whither is the bent of our Hearts how is it with them 1. If there were this Looking there would be Preparing A Man that expecteth the coming of a King to his House he will furnish his House accordingly and make all things ready Surely you look for no Body when you do not sute and prepare your selves to entertain them When the House is sluttish and the Kitchin cold do you look for great Guests What are we to do to prepare our selves for Christ's coming 1. Judg your selves 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Iesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates By judging your selves God's Act is anticipated 2. Get into Christ. Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus They that are in Christ need not fear God's Judgment you may set Christ's Righteousness against Christ's Judgment Guilty Felons desire not the Judge's Presence Art thou in the Case wherein thou wouldst be found of him 2 Pet. 3.14 Be diligent that you may be found of him in Peace without Spot and blameless 3. Walk strictly We are between the two Comings of Christ his first and his second Coming let us live Soberly Righteously and Godly When a Man is providing Matter of Condemnation for himself can he be said to look for Christ's Coming 2. How do you entertain Christ for the present in your Hearts and in his Ordinances Can a Man slight Ordinances and expect Christ's second Coming A Woman that never careth to hear from her Husband cannot be said to desire his Coming So if Christ has often knocked at the Door of our Hearts and we will not give him entrance how can we be said to look for his Appearing SERMON XVII TITUS II. 13 And the glorious Appearing c. I Proceed to the Manner of his Appearance the glorious Appearing The Note is Doct. II. That Christ's second Coming to Iudgment will be very glorious Here I shall shew I. How glorious it will be II. Why it will be so glorious I. How glorious it will be You may conceive of it if you consider the Preparation for his Approach the Appearance it self and the Consequences of it First It will be glorious in regard of the Preparation for his Approach The Scripture mentions two the Trumpet of the Arch-Angel and the Sign of the Son of Man 1. There is that great Noise of the Voice of the Lord that begets a Terror in the World which is ministerially managed by an Arch-Angel though the Power and Success be of God That great Noise startles the Dead in their Graves and summons all the World to appear before Christ's Tribunal There 's much spoken of this in Scripture 1 Thess. 4.16 For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a Shout with the Voice of the Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God Matth. 24.31 He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds from one end of Heaven to the other Some expound this Trumpet Analogically some Literally Analogically some think it only signifies the Power and Virtue of Christ by which all the Dead are awakened out of their Sleep and forced to appear before his Tribunal and they say it is therefore exprest by a Trumpet because the solemn Assemblies of Israel were wont to be summoned by the sound of a Trumpet But why may we not take it Literally for the audible sound of a Trumpet Look as at the giving the Law the Voice of the Trumpet was exceeding loud so such an audible Voice like the Voice of a Trumpet is there when Christ comes to Judgment to require an Account of the performance of the Law which is as it were a terrible Summons to all the World and a near Sign of his coming Look as at his first coming Christ had his Fore-runner and Harbinger Iohn the Baptist the Voice of one crying in the Wilderness The Kingdom of God is at hand so at his second coming Christ hath his Fore-runner an Arch-Angel that shall sound a Trumpet which maketh his Coming glorious because it shall awaken and startle all the World This Sound shall be heard all the World over by the Dead as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 37.7 8. of a noise and clattering among the Bones and Bone ran to Bone and then they were clothed with Flesh and Sinews so such a noise shall there be among the Bones when Christ comes to Judgment Here in the Church God speaks in a stiller Voice but it is not regarded He speaks by his Angels and Messengers they sound the Trumpet to the Spiritual Battel they pipe but few dance till by his mighty Power he raiseth Sinners from the Dead So at the last Day God hath his Messengers there is the Arch-Angel that is to manage the Ministerial Excitation and the mighty Power of God accompanies it to make the Dead live and awaken out of Sleep 2. There is a Sign of the Son of Man that is spoken of Mat. 24.30 Then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory What it is we cannot certainly tell until Experience manifests sure we are it must be such a Sign as shall make the World sensible of his Approach Some think it shall be some strange Star such as there was at his first Coming the wise Men were conducted to Christ by a Star this is but a meer Conjecture Others suppose it shall be the Sign of the Cross which shall appear in the Heavens because that is Christ's Badg by which he was known here in the World The great Subject of the Gospel is Christ crucified therefore it is called the Word of the Cross and so they think the Sign of the Cross shall be imprest upon the Heavens in the sight of all the World To confirm the Conjecture they urge the Appearance that was made to Constantine in his War against Maxentius the Tyrant and Persecutor
of the Mouth of the Lion and this is called presenting his Spouse to God Ephes. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church Christ hath shed his Blood and washed her clean and decked her with all the Jewels of the Covenant and then he shall present her to God and the Form of Surrender you have Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the Children God hath given me Behold here I am and all thou hast given me there is not one wanting O what a glorious Sight will this be to see the great Shepherd of the Sheep leading his Flock into their everlasting Folds and all the Elect following Christ with their Crowns of Glory upon their Heads singing to the Praise of the Lamb O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory c. To see them with Harps in their Hands triumphing thus in the Salvation of God all Enemies gone and the Church lodged in everlasting Habitations Besides consider the Acclamation and Applause of the Angels O how should we strive to be one of this Number 3. The next Consequent is the burning of the World that 's described at large 2 Pet. 3.10 11 12. how that Fire shall come out from God and burn and devour all things and melt the very Firmament Certainly that Fire is to be taken literally for it is opposed to Water the first Water by which the World was destroyed Now by this Fire I conceive the World shall not be consumed but renewed and purged because in the everlasting State God will have all things new he will not only have the Bodies and Souls of the Saints new but will have new Heavens and new Earth for it is a deliverance from the Bondage of Corruption Rom. 8.21 If the World shall be no more the Habitation of the Saints yet God will renew the World that it may be a continual Monument of his Power Now this burning of the World some place it in Preparation before the Day of Judgment but I conceive it is a Consequent for it seemeth to be an Instrument of Vengeance on the Wicked I will not say with the Schoolmen the feculent and drossy part of this Fire is reserved for the Torment of the Wicked in Hell but in general it shall be the Instrument of God's Vengeance upon them so much is asserted 2 Pet. 3.7 The Heavens and Earth that now are by the same Word are kept in store and reserved unto Fire against the Day of Iudgment and the Perdition of ungodly Men. There are some that say this Fire shall begin the Day of Judgment Et causam dicent in flammis the Wicked shall plead their Cause in Flames but this were to execute before the Sentence Sodom's Fire was dreadful but nothing to this Burning It was a dreadful Sight when God rained Hell out of Heaven and the poor tormented Creatures ran screeching and yelling to and fro because of those Flakes of Fire and Brimstone but this Fire shall come out of the Throne of the Lord Dan. 7.10 A fiery Stream issued and came out from before him to consume his Adversaries and to remain in Hell with them for evermore which will be much more dreadful God hath Diluvium Ignis as well as Aquae a Deluge of Fire as well as of Water As one saith very wittily As at the first he drowned the World propter ardorem libidinis because of the Heat of Lust so in the end he will kindle a Fire to burn the World propter teporem charitatis because of the Coldness of Love The Object of your Adulteries will be burnt God will have nothing impure in the everlasting State the World shall be purged with Fire Thus you have seen how the Appearance of Christ will be glorious II. Why the Appearance of Christ will be so glorious 1. To recompense his own Abasement His first Coming was in Humility he came riding upon the Fole of an Ass but now on the Clouds they are as it were his Royal Chariot Then he came with Fishermen a few Apostles to be his Messengers but now he comes with Angels Then he came in the form of a Servant to be judged now he comes as the Son of God to be the Judg of all the World When the Day of Judgment is spoken of Christ is called the Son of Man Mat. 25.31 When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all his holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory Mat. 26.64 Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right Hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven And Dan. 7.13 Behold one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of Heaven and came to the Antient of Days and they brought him near before him Why so He that was the Son of Man that came in such a mean Condition at first shall then be glorious and so it taketh off the Scandal of his present Estate He that appeared in so low a Condition that was betrayed crucified spat upon pierced dead buried then shall be crowned with Glory and Honour When he came to teach us Righteousness he comes as the Son of Man but when he comes to reward Righteousness then he comes as the Son of God 2. That he might shew himself to be fully discharged of Sin The Glory bestowed upon his Humane Nature by God the Father noteth his plenary Absolution as our Surety We hear that he is taken up into Glory that God hath acquitted him that he was taken from Prison and from Iudgment Isa. 53.8 but then we shall see it with our Eyes when the Father sends him from Heaven with Power and great Glory At the first Christ came like a Man charged with Sin in the Garb of a Sinner therefore it is said Rom. 8.3 God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh. But then Heb. 9.28 He shall appear the second time without Sin The first time the World looked upon him as one that was forsaken stricken and smitten of God but then he comes as one that is honoured of God his second Coming shall make it evident that he is discharged of the Debt which he took upon himself The Apostle doth not say Those that look for him shall be without Sin but he shall be without Sin The discharge of our Surety is enough it is a sign the Debt is paid 3. He comes in great Glory that he may be as a Pledg and Pattern and Cause of our Glory Christ's Coming is still suted to his Work There is his first Coming and that is in Humility for we fell by Pride he came to redeem us therefore he comes humbly and lowly in the form of a Servant as one that came to suffer not to ruffle it in the World and tread upon the Necks of Kings Then there is his spiritual coming into the Heart to sanctify it this coming is invisible it is with great Power but hidden But when he comes to
We were all forfeited to God but all the Elect have an Interest in the same Redeemer This will somewhat explain the Mystery 2. In that Law there was another Redemption that was to be made to Man and so there was a two-fold Redemption figured in the Legal Dispensation 1. There was a Redemption of the Inheritance or of the Person of the Brother that was waxen poor and so through Poverty had sold himself or sold his Land Levit. 25.25 If thy Brother be waxen poor and hath sold away some of his Possession and if any of his Kin come to redeem it then shall he redeem that which his Brother sold. And ver 47 48. And if a Sojourner or Stranger wax rich by thee and thy Brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto the Stranger or Sojourner by thee or to the Stock of the Strangers Family After that he is sold he may be redeemed again one of his Brethren may redeem him The Goel or the next of Kin was to redeem both the Land and Person so sold. All this noteth our State by Nature we forfeited our Inheritance and sold our selves to work Iniquity there was a voluntary Forfeiture on our Part and we could not redeem our selves for we were waxen poor And when we had sold our selves all of the Kindred were altogether waxen poor and could not redeem us Psal. 49.7 8. None of them can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransom for him For the Redemption of their Soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever Therefore Jesus Christ comes from Heaven and takes Flesh that he might be of our Blood and Kin and so jure Propinguitatis as being next of Blood he had a Right to redeem and help us when we had forfeited our selves and were become Slaves and Vassals of Sin and Satan 2. There was the Redemption of Captives I confess I do not find express mention in the Law of this kind of Redemption though some Types of this Captivity there were and therefore here we must allude to the Customs of all Nations Therefore I shall shew First To whom we were Captives Secondly The manner of redeeming Captives both among the Jews and all Nations First To whom we were Captives to God to Satan to Sin 1. To God We were the Prisoners of his Justice and Wrath and therefore called Prisoners in the Pit in which there is no Water Zech. 9.11 It is a Description of our natural Bondage In our Original State we were God's Creatures but in our degenerate and fallen Estate we are God's Prisoners 2. We were Captives to Satan as God's Executioner given up to his Power that he might blind harden and lead us to all manner of Sin by a just Tradition 2 Tim. 2.26 That they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his Will Natural Men are at the Will of another as Christ told Peter John 21.18 Another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not So Satan leads and carries us up and down but it is there where we would our selves be we consent to this Bondage and are acted by the Spirit of the Devil and are at his beck Nay that is not all but we are also given up Captives to Satan that we might be tormented by him therefore he is said to have the Power of Death Heb. 2.14 The Devil as God's Executioner hath a great Power over carnal Men to stir up Bondage and Fear and Horrors of Wrath and to take them away to Torment though not as he will but as God willeth Satan is our Keeper as God is our Judg and Conscience which was made to be God's Deputy is as it were Satan's Under-keeper stirs up Fear and holds us in Chains of Darkness 3. We are Captives to Sin Every natural Man is a Slave to his own Lusts Tit. 3.3 Serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Man in his natural State is a Slave to his own Affections For the explaining of which let me tell you while Man was in his Original State and Condition his Actions were to be thus governed the Understanding and Conscience were to prescribe to the Will and the Will according to right Reason and Conscience was to stir up the Affections and the Affections according to the Counsel and Command of the Will were to move the Spirits and the Members of the Body This was the Order setled in Man's Nature before the Fall But now by Corruption there is a woful Change and Disorder and the Head is where the Feet should be the bodily Spirits move the Affections the Law in the Members prescribes many times to the Law of the Mind carnal Pleasures move the Affections and the Affections carry away the Will by Violence and the corrupt Bent of the Will blinds the Understanding and so Man is led headlong to his own Destruction and therefore the Apostle saith that carnal Men are sold under Sin Rom. 7.14 I am carnal sold under Sin As Captives in War were sold to be Drudges to those that bought them so Man by Nature is sold to be a Drudg to his own Lusts and to be at the Beck of every carnal and unclean Suggestion Here is the Captivity of Man by Nature there is the Judg and that is God to whose Wrath we are subject there is the Prison that is Hell there is the Keeper of the Prison that 's Satan and there are the Ropes and Chains by which we are bound and they are partly our Sins Prov. 5.22 His own Iniquities shall take the Wicked himself and he shall be holden with the Cords of his Sins And partly the Terrors of Conscience for the Devils are said to be reserved in everlasting Chains under Darkness unto the Iudgment of the great Day Jude 6. which signifies the Horror that is upon the damned Spirits expecting more Judgment from the Wrath of the Lord and at the Judgment of the Great Day The Devils that are most sensible of their Estate as being actually in Torment are said to be held in those Chains of Darkness and we as their Fellow-Prisoners are held in the same Chains though in the time of God's Patience we do not feel it Secondly Let us come to the way of redeeming these Captives Among the Nations there 's a four-fold way of redeeming Captives either gratuitâ manumissione by free Deliverance or else Permutatione by way of Exchange or else violentâ ablatione by way of Force and Arms or else soluto lutro by paying the Price or Ransom The two last are most proper to this Case taking away by Force or paying a Ransom though to me the former also have their Place 1. By free Dismission on God's Part that holdeth in the present Case we are freely dismissed namely as there is nothing done on the Captive's Part to free himself It is said Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in
Treasures and his Jewels Let me first exhort then direct 1 st I shall exhort you by these Considerations how God will own his peculiar People above all the World besides and how he doth value them above all the World 1. How he owns them privately in their own Consciences he owns them in his Ordinances he owns them publickly in his Providence and most publickly he will own them in the Day of Judgment 1. He owns them privately in their own Consciences God's holy ones are said to be sealed by the Spirit Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption God sets his own Seal upon them to signify his Right and Property in them As a Man marks his Sheep or a Merchant seals his Wares to declare his Right and Property so all that are God's they are sealed by his Spirit and they bear his Mark. As the Worshippers of the Beast have the Mark of the Beast so the People of God have the Lord's Seal he owns them There is the Spirit 's Witness to tell them God is theirs and there is the Spirit 's Work to cause them to become God's the Spirit witnesses to them by Impressions and tells them God is your Salvation and seals them by Expressions and makes them choose God There is a mutual Appropriation Cant. 6.3 I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine He chooseth them for his peculiar People and they choose him for the peculiar Treasure of their Souls Whom have they in Heaven but God and who doth God regard in the World but they they have his Privy-Seal in their own Consciences 2. He owns them in his Ordinances so as to maintain Communion with them as he doth not with others When others pray God takes no notice that such a Prayer is made they hear but cannot say God owns them But now he owns his People in their Approaches Isa. 58.9 Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say Here I am God doth as it were say It is the Voice of my People What would you have here I am ready to help you and to give you Grace No King will do so much for his Favourites as God will do for his People Zeph. 3.10 he calls them his Suppliants This is not a peculiar Privilege for some peculiar Saints that they are thus honoured of God and answered by him in Prayer but all are a peculiar People and God hath Affections and Blessings enough for them all When the Wicked come and pray God takes no notice of them as if no such Men were in the Congregation Isa. 1.15 When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine Eyes from you yea when you make many Prayers I will not hear They have no Visits from the Spirit nor sensible Returns of Prayer It is sad to come to Ordinances and God to take no notice of us when the Spirit of God comes into the Congregation to bless the Worshippers by Head and Pole and you are left out of the Account and past over You know what is said in the Law Exod. 29.42 43. At the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation before the Lord where I will meet you to speak there unto you And there I will meet with the Children of Israel God did not only promise to meet with Moses but with all the Congregation and certainly the Services of the Church now are not less fruitful than the Services of the Tabernacle When God's People come together God meets with them and talks with them and sends them away with Gifts of Grace and spiritual Encrease for they are his Suppliants and his peculiar People 3. God owns them in the course of his Providence sometimes with outward Blessings Thus God set up Abraham as a Mark of Envy to the Nations about him As Benjamin's Mess was five times as much as the rest so many times in outward Blessings God owns his People But I cannot much press this but the aim of Providence principally concerns them Rom. 8.28 All things work together for good to them that love God All things may seem to work against them but they work for them It is a Mercy that God takes notice of them and visits them day by day Iob 7.18 That thou shoulst visit him every Morning and try him every Moment Brambles are not pruned and pair'd as Vines are Wicked Men they are as Sheep whom no Man taketh up God doth not look after them But God's Children may take notice how the special Care of Providence serves their special Necessities and particularly as to their Afflictions they do not spring out of the Dust but every day God is mindful of them and ordereth such Dispensations to keep them in order whereas wicked Men are only under the general Care of Providence they cannot discern such particular Love and Aim at their Good and spiritual Welfare 4. He will own them before all the World at the last Day I will confess them saith Christ before my Father which is in Heaven Luke 12.8 These are the Fruits of my Purchase he will present them to God Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the Children which God hath given me But wicked Men are disclaimed Then will I profess unto them I never knew you Mat. 7.23 O how will their Faces gather Blackness when Christ shall disclaim all Acquaintance with them I never had any real and familiar Converse with you in publick or private Worship 2. How he values them He doth not stand upon other Nations for their Safety either to preserve them or to divert the Destroyer from them As for Instance when God raiseth up some furious Instrument that is Flagellus Dei the Scourge of God to pull down and waste God finds Work for them abroad to save his People and therefore he saith Isa. 43.3 4. I am the Lord thy God the holy One of Israel thy Saviour I gave Egypt for thy Ransom Ethiopia and Seba for thee Since thou wast precious in my Sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give Men for thee and People for thy Life He let the Sword go into other Countries to save Iudah that was his Heritage if the Sword must drink Blood and eat Flesh let it go to Egypt Ethiopia Seba into Idolatrous Countries He puts other Nations in their stead and counts them as a little Chaff to save the Jews And then the highest among the Nations which is another Argument are rebuked for their sakes God plucked the Scepter out of the Hands of Kings and the Diadems off from their Heads Psal. 105.14 15. He suffered no Man to do them Wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not my Anointed meaning those that are anointed with his Grace God will rebuke the mightiest Potentates Again tho they are never so despicable yet Countries whom God hath deemed to Destruction hath he saved for their sakes It
earnestly Micah 7.3 It is the difference between us and civil Men but unregenerate they are like Cypress Trees fair and tall but fruitless of a comely Life but none of these good Works are to be found in them It is the difference between us and Hypocrites A Hypocrite like a Carbuncle seems to be all on a fire but when you touch it it is quite cold so they pretend to Religion talk much but have no true regular Zeal no spiritual Warmth It is notable our Lord himself proves his Divine Original by his Works Iohn 10.38 Tho ye believe not me believe the VVorks that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him So is this the sensible Evidence you are in Christ and Christ in you Graces are not always evident in feeling but in Fruit the Effects cannot be hid Then they are Signs and Evidences to God himself the Lord will look upon them as Marks and Evidences of his People Look as the destroying Angel was to be guided by a Sign Exod. 12.12 13. by the sprinkling of the Door-posts not that he needed it but because God would have it to be so So the Lord sutes his Dispensations and guides them by a Sign It is true God in his Gifts is arbitrary but in his Judgments he proceeds by Rule according to our Works At the last Day God will judg you not by your Profession but by your Practice what you have done he will not say You have prophesied in my Name you have eaten and drunk in my Presence but you have fed me clothed me visited me That the Faith of the Elect might be found to Praise and Honour he will have Works produced Not that God wants Evidences of our Sincerity but he will have all the World know we have not been unfruitful A Man that expecteth to be posed is preparing to answer and would give somethink to know the Questions aforehand Christ hath told us what are the Questions upon which we shall be examined and taxed at the Day of Judgment he will say Have you fed and clothed my People have you ministred to their Necessities have you relieved them with spiritual Counsel and Admonition have you been good holy and just Therefore let us provide to give an Answer that we might not be ashamed at the last Day Thus this Zeal for good Works hath the place and room of a Witness to God as the Rule and Measure of his Process to our selves as the ground of our Assurance and to the World as the great vindication of the Honour of our Profession 2. It is a Fruit of Christ's Death partly by way of Obligation for certainly God hath not been at all this cost and labour for nothing he did not project the sending of Christ and Jesus Christ did not so give up himself in the Work of Redemption for nothing but to inflame us to a great height of Piety They that live at a low rate of Holiness cross and disgrace the whole Design of the Gospel they are not apprehensive of the Love of God in giving Christ nor the Love of Christ in giving himself Our Redemption was carried on in such a way not only that the Comfort but also the Duty of the Creature might be raised to the highest Partly again as Christ hath purchased the Gift of the Spirit to fit us for good Works yea to make us zealous in them Titus 3.5 6. According to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour Now the Spirit dwelleth in our Hearts to set our Graces a working Iohn 4.14 The Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of VVater springing up into everlasting Life So Iohn 7.38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living VVater This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him shall receive The Spirit is not a Fountain sealed up but flowing forth The Spirit of God is a mighty Spirit and comes in upon the Soul not only as a gentle Blast but as a mighty rushing Wind he comes not only in the appearance of a Dove but of cloven Tongues of Fire Acts 2. He comes as a Spirit of Power to quicken and awaken the Soul to great heights and fervours in Obedience Look as Men acted by Satan the unclean Spirit are restless in Evil and carried headlong as the Herd of Swine into the Sea so those that are acted by the Spirit of God are much more carried on with great Earnestness in the Ways of God The Devil hath not such Advantages to work upon his Instruments as the Spirit of God hath upon us The Devil works and operates in all the Children of Disobedience Ephes. 2.3 The Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience But the Devil cannot work but by Man's Consent neither can he work immediately upon the Soul but only by the Senses and by the Fancy but the Spirit of God can work immediately upon them in whom he acts Therefore being acted by him they must needs be zealous and earnest for the Spirit of God nescit tarda molimina knows no slow Motions The Soul in it self is dead and slothful and apt to yield to Laziness and Delays but when we are acted and quickened by the mighty Spirit then draw us and we will run after thee Cant. 1.4 When the Spirit puts forth its Force upon the Soul such as are drawn by the Holy Ghost they are not in jest as carnal Men are but in earnest they do not dally with Religion but make it their great business to surprize Heaven and carry on constant Communion with God Matth. 11.12 The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence and the Violent take it by force Vse 1. Information 1. That Grace is no Enemy to good Works Libertinism is ancient and natural Christ died to improve Piety not to lessen it but to raise it to the highest to make us zealous of good Works that we might be carried on to Heaven with full Sails Therefore he that grows looser less watchful against Sin less diligent in the exercise of Holiness less frequent in Communion with God less humble and penitent after committing of Sin offers the greatest Abuse to Grace that may be and perverts its natural Use. There is no freezing by the Fire we may freeze indeed by painted Fire that may make us contract Chilliness and Drowsiness but true Grace is a Fire that warms and inflames our Affections Christ came to make us more chearful and lively but not slack careless and cold 2. It informs us what little Reason the World hath to cry out upon Zealots for Christ died to make us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã zealous of good VVorks Men that are only contented with a brain Religion speculative Notions they cannot endure Heats and Fervors they would have
were opened and the Heart serious they are more hardly obtained there are more natural Prejudices against our Coming to Christ and coming to Heaven The whole Earth is full of his Goodness God feedeth all his Creatures even the young Ravens that cry there is not a Worm but he provides for it but he pardoneth but a few blesseth but a few with spiritual Blessings saveth but a few But here is the Reason Bodily Wants are more pressing and Faith is presently put in Exercise Men are careless of their Souls and content themselves with some loose Hopes of Ease and eternal Welfare Certainly he that dareth not venture his Estate in Christ's Hands he dareth not venture his Soul there they say they find no Difficulty in believing in Christ for Pardon of Sin and eternal Life and yet cannot trust God for such Maintenance and Support as he giveth the young Ravens Iohn 11.24 Martha saith unto him I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last Day As if it were an easier matter to raise him up after so many Years than after four Days But the Reason is Faith is not put to a present Trial and Men are careless of things to come and do not mind the Danger and Hazard of Eternity Certainly he that dareth not in the Use of means trust God for this Life doth not trust him for everlasting Life Eternal things are counted a Fancy but worldly things are desired in good earnest Vse 2. To press us to improve these two immutable Grounds that we may grow up into a greater Certainty His Saying is as immutable as his Swearing God's Word is valuable enough of it self but only because we count an Oath more sacred God hath added it over and above Men are slight in Speech but serious in an Oath Well then since you have a double hold-fast on God make use of it in Prayer and in Meditation in Prayer when you speak to God in Meditation when you discourse with your selves 1. In Prayer you may urge God with his Promise and Oath We put our selves in remembrance by pleading with God therefore God alloweth the humble Challenges of Faith Put me in remembrance saith God Isa. 43.26 or rather put your selves in remembrance By pleading with God we wrestle with him that we may catch a Heat our selves Tell the Lord what an hold-fast you have upon him shew him his Hand-writing As Austin said of his Mother she shewed him his Hand-writing Or as Tamur brought out to Iudah the Bracelets and Staff and Ring and said Whose are these So you may plead Ah Lord are not these thine own Promises and is not this thy Oath The Children of God have done both they put him in mind of his Word Psal. 119.49 Remember the Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope As if he had said Lord thou hast invited my Hope I should never have had the Boldness to have expected so great a Mercy and Privilege in Christ if thy Promise was not passed God forgetteth not and yet he loveth that the Saints should put him in remembrance he would have you to revive these Grounds of Trust and Confidence Then they put him in mind of his Oath Psal. 89.49 Lord where are thy former Loving-kindnesses which thou swearest unto David in thy Truth It is a great advantage in believing thus to put in a modest Challenge to God 2. Improve God's Word and Oath in Meditation when you discourse with your selves And here I shall shew First How we may improve God's Oath in Meditation Secondly When and in what Seasons First How Thus. God that cannot lie hath passed his Word he who is Truth it self the supream Truth the Original of all Truth Then say Hath he given me his Word and Oath and why am I still upon Terms of suspense The Word of an honest Man is wont to be enough and an Oath is the end of Strife if there be a Controversy God hath passed his Oath and why doth the Controversy still remain between me and God How is it with me Is the Controversy ended and taken up Am I satisfied with God's Oath Do I live as one to whom God hath given such a high-way of Assurance The World lives by guess and devout Aims and have good Meanings and Conjectures Ay but Christians should not rest in a may be or content themselves with a possible Salvation with lazy Conjectures or loose Hopes Art thou still upon Uncertainty upon terms of Hesitancy and Suspense See how St. Iames describes them Chap. 1.8 A double-minded Man is unstable in all his ways and it is our Character we are double-minded divided between Hopes and Fears full of anxious Thoughts and as Chaff is driven in the Air or Waves tossed in the Sea to and fro with various and uncertain Motion so are we carried up and down Dost thou live up to the Assurance that God hath given thee and to the Preparation and Provision he hath made for thy Certainty and Confidence Briefly That you may know what a Sin it is to be upon Uncertainty consider the Dishonour you do to God and the Damage you do to your selves 1. The Dishonour you do to God Unbelief accuseth God not only of a Lie but of Perjury you accuse him of a Lie with respect to his Word and of Perjury with respect to his Oath and solemn Engagement 1 Iohn 5.10 He that believeth not God hath made him a Liar But God forbid will you say Why then are you so doubtful notwithstanding so many offers of Grace and Mercy Why so full of Trouble and Jealousy when Difficulties do arise O base barbarous Ingratitude you take a Stranger 's Oath but you deny God the Honour that you vouchsafe to any that bears the Face of a Man If a Man pass his Oath his Brother shall accept of it Exod. 22.11 and will you not do thus to the great God that cannot lie 2. The Damage you do to your selves you frustrate the Oath of God and weaken your own Comfort Wherefore did God give us his Oath What! that we might rest in a possible Salvation and walk with him as Dancers do upon Ropes every moment to be in fear of falling Did God lay so great a Foundation for so weak a Building Who would build a Hovel on such a Foundation as would serve to bear a Palace God's Oath is a Foundation for the highest Confidence and do you think God gave it only that you might rest in Conjectural Hopes and Uncertainties Nay you run the hazard of a dreadful Curse God hath sworn in Judgment as well as in Mercy Psal. 95.11 Vnto whom I sware in my Wrath that they should not enter inter my Rest. Do you think this Rest only concerned Canaan No but it reacheth the Unbelievers of all Ages O it is terrible when God swears against Us The greater his Condescension in the Gospel the greater is his Wrath when it is refused
Fathers were Idols and not Gods But how can it stand with the Providence of the true God to permit it and forsake Mankind so long Those Times of Ignorance God over-looked sent them no Means nor Messengers then but now he doth And so he teacheth them and us that it is not sufficient to follow the Religion of our Fore-fathers unless they had followed the Will of God If God over-looked them and vouchsafeth you more Grace you must not be prejudiced by the Tradition but improve the present Advantage 2. He as much as in him lieth taketh off the Prejudice of the Practice of former Times by a prudent and self-censure As also elsewhere 1 Cor. 2.8 Which none of the Princes of this World knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory 3. He insinuateth that Ignorance doth not wholly excuse those that err but rather commendeth the Lord's Patience Secondly The Duty of the present Time 1. The Duty pressed is Repentance The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Repentance is a returning to our Wits again We were sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã foolish Tit. 3.3 When the Conversion of the Nations is spoken of it is said Psal. 22.27 All the ends of World shall remember and turn unto the Lord as if they were asleep distracted or out of their Wits before the Light of Christ's Gospel shined into their Hearts not making use of common Reason We never act wisely nor with a Condecency to our reasonable Nature till we return to the Love and Obedience of God 2. This is here represented not as an indifferent and arbitrary thing but as expresly and absolutely commanded God's Authority is absolute if he hath commanded any thing Contradiction must be silent Hesitation satisfied all Cavils laid aside and we must address our selves to the Work speedily and seriously without delaying or disputing or murmuring God doth not advise or intreat only but commandeth or interposeth his Authority Now to break a known Command especially of such weight and moment is very dangerous Luke 12.47 That Servant which knew his Lord's Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many Stripes James 4.17 To him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is Sin A Man in the dark may easily err and go astray but while we know better and what is the express Will of God concerning us we must set our selves to do it 3. As universally required all Men every where not only Iews but Gentiles and not some sort of Gentiles but all you Athenians and all the World this universally bindeth Some must turn from their Idols but all from their sinful Ways Whosoever will not repent when God calleth for Repentance they smart the more for it Impenitency under the Means is the worst sort of Impenitency I may say as Christ Luke 13.5 Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish II. The Argument or Motive Which we considered 1. As propounded 2. As confirmed First As propounded Where note 1 st The Time He hath appointed a Day wherein he will judg the World 2 dly The manner in Righteousness 3 dly The Person By that Man whom he hath ordained These Circumstances must be opened and then we must consider how they make an Argument For opening the Circumstances 1 st The Time appointed but not revealed He hath appointed a Day The word Day is not taken strictly for such a space of Time as is usually signified by that Notion but it is put for a certain fixed space of Time The Work cannot well be dispatched in twenty four hours There is Iudicium discussionis Iudicium retributionis a Judgment of Search or Trial and a Judgment of Retribution Tho by the absolute Power of God they may be commanded into their everlasting Estate in an instant yet the Causes of the whole World cannot be discussed in an instant especially when God designeth the full Revelation of his Justice in all his Proceedings with Men. Therefore the Apostle calleth that Day the Day of the Revelation of the righteous Iudgment of God Rom. 2.5 When this time will be we cannot tell for God hath not revealed it Mat. 24.36 But of that day and hour knoweth no Man no not the Angels in Heaven but my Father only And therefore it is Curiosity to enquire and Rashness to determine Acts 1.7 It is not for you to know the Times or the Seasons which the Father hath put in his own Power It is enough for us to believe the thing which is not strange to Reason that God should call his Creatures to an account Natural Conscience is terrified with the hearing of it Acts 24.25 As Paul reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Iudgment to come Felix trembled And the same guilty Fears are incident to all Mankind Rom. 1.32 Knowing the Iudgment of God they know also that they who have done such things as they have done are worthy of Death That we are God's Subjects is evident to Reason because we depend upon him for Life Being and all things that we have failed in our Subjection to God in denying the Obedience due to him is evident by the universal daily and sad Experience of the whole World that Error and Sin will not take place to all Eternity but that there must be some time when the Disorders of the World shall be rectified is a Truth that easily maketh its own way into the Consciences of Men but is fully determined by the Gospel 2 dly For the manner He will judg the World in Righteousness that is then the whole World shall receive the fruit of their Doings whether they be good or evil But doth God ever judg the World otherwise than in Righteousness I cannot say that for far be it from the Iudg of all the Earth not to do right Gen. 18.25 He never doth any thing unjustly or unrighteously now but then he will fully manifest his Righteousness He now judgeth the World in Patience but then in Righteousness There is a difference between a defect of Justice and a Transgression of the Rules of Justice There is no Injustice in God's Dispensations of present Providence but yet there is a Defect or not a full measure or manifest Demonstration of his Justice shewed now on the godly or the wicked Therefore it is said Eccles. 8.14 There be just Men to whom it happeneth according to the Work of the Wicked and again there be wicked Men to whom it happeneth according to the Work of the Righteous He doth not pass this Censure upon the wise and righteous Providence of God but either speaketh according to the Judgment of Flesh and Blood which is apt to judg hardly of so strange a Distribution or according to the visible Appearance of things when evil things happen to good Men or good things to evil Men. For outward things being not absolutely good and evil are dispensed promiscuously and in the day
saw that any thing was good he uttered and declared it and said it was good Gen. 1.4 God saw the Light that it was good He said it first of Light then of other Creatures God would be no Author nor Example of smothering the due praise of Good Actions That Man hath little Goodness in himself that will not own it in others Indeed we are forbidden to call good evil and evil good Isa. 5.20 as the World is usually guilty of this Misnomer none are good but those that flatter them in their Sins and none are evil but those that are zealous for God This preposterous Judgment is forbidden but it is no where forbidden to call good Good and to own the Graces of others that were enviously to defraud the Vertuous of their due Respect Secondly Positively How is it then true that no Man is good Ansâ Three ways No Man is of himself good nor perfectly good nor good comparing him with God 1. No Man is of himself Good but only by participation of God's Goodness As all the Stars derive their Light from the Sun so do we derive our poor weak Ray wherewith we shine from the Father of Lights Iam. 1.17 Every good Gift and every perfect Gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights It is God that makes us to do good and receive good For he worketh all our works in us Isa. 26.12 and hath a greater share in the good that we do than we have our selves All the Tribute that we pay him we have it out of his own Exchequer for we have all and every part from God he giveth the Will the very first Motion and Inclination to any good and he giveth the Deed and the final accomplishment Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Our good Works are more God's than ours we may say of them as Austin of his Illegitimate Child In âo nihil habuâ praeter peccatâm Lord I had nothing in this Child but my Sin So it is true of the Fruit of our Souls as well as of our Bodies nothing is ours but the deââct all the good is Gods yea as he sweetly saith in another place speaking of this very Case in his Comment upon the 137 th Psalm Opus tuum vide inâme Domine non meum nam meum si videris damnas me tuum si videris coronas me nam quecunque sunt opera mea abs te sunt ideo tua magis quam mea sunt Regard O Lord in me not my work but thine own if thou regardest my Work thou damnest me if thine own thou crownest me since whatsoever good I have I have it from thee and therefore it is rather thine than mine Well then no meer Man is good that is good of himself 2. No Man is Good that is absolutely and perfectly Good The perfection of Righteousness so as to do good without Sin is not to be found in any Man no not in the best Man upon Earth In Heaven indeed they are made perfect Heb. 12.23 To the Spirits of just men made perfect But here upon Earth there is not a just man that doth good and sins not Eccl. 7.20 but either at one time or other he will Sin or in the same action none doth Good and Sins not Noah Abraham Lot Moses David Peter they had all their naevos their Blots and Blemishes nay in all things in their best Actions there is somewhat faulty and defective Nehemiah where he doth appeal to God for the Remembrance of his great Works he desireth God to spare him according to the greatness of his Mercy Nehem. 13.22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and that they should come and keep the Gates to sanctifie the Sabbath-day Remember me O my God! concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy And we read of Aarons bearing the Iniquity of the holy things Exod. 28.38 And in many things we offend all James 3.2 Some in all things and all in some things either by way of Omission or Commission This is true of Regenerate and Unregenerate 1. As to the Unregenerate When God looked upon his Creatures as they pass'd his hands he saw all was Good Gen. 1.31 But when he looked down from Heaven upon Men in their Natural Condition and as they had made themselves and defiled themselves so they were altogether become filthy and abominable and there is none that doth good no not one Psal. 13.3 And there is none righteous no not one Rom. 3.10 That is pleasing and acceptable with God it is true of them none is Good 2. As to the Regenerate none is Good that is wholly free from Sin Paul complains I know that in me that is in my Flesh dwells no good thing Rom. 7.18 And Christ saith to his own Disciples those who were the Children of God those to whom he makes a Promise of the Spirit Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children c. even the Children of God are evil in this sence that is not perfectly Good In optimis non nihil est pessimi There is some Evil in the best 1. There is Evil in their Natures there are the Reliques and Remainders of much sinful Corruption the Flesh and Spirit like Hannah and Peninnah always vexing and thwarting one another Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh. The most of the Sanctifying Grace which we have is the least part of that which we want and that we should have In the best Sin is like a wild Fig-tree cut off the Boughs and Branches yet still there will be some strings that will be sprouting out again or like the Leprosie in the House that could not be cured by scraping till it was pulled down to the ground There is a Tincture of the old Leaven which remains in the best Heart 2. There is Evil in their best Actions Isa. 64.6 But we are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags Not only our Sins but our Righteous Operations the productions of the Soul cannot exceed the force of our Principles and if there be a double Principle there must be a double Operation 3. There is new Evil which we contract by our Actions Iohn 17.10 He that is washed needeth not save to wash his Feet He that is purged from Sin and washed contracts new Soyl In bono itinero pulverem colligis saith Bernard In the good we do we contract filth as we gather new dust in our walking up and down So that none is perfectly throughly Good 3. No Man is Good in Comparison with God That goodness that we have in participation from him will appear no Goodness in Comparison with him If the Heavens themselves the purest part of the World are not clean in his sight how much more evil is
cause them to see their Misery and Impotency by the Law To Evidence this I will shew 1. What is the Covenant of Works 2. I will prove that all Men by Nature are under this Covenant 3. This is that Covenant which Natural Conscience sticks to 4. This Covenant rightly understood is the most ready way to convince a Iusticiary or to prepare Men for Christ. First What is the Covenant of Works I Answer It is the Covenant made with Adam in Innocency in which life was promised under the Condition of perfect Obedience to be performed by a man by his own Natural strength The Parties contracting in this Covenant are God on the one side and Man Created in the Perfection of Nature on the other side God and Adam with all his Posterity And the terms of this Covenant are perfect and unsinning Obedience and this perfect Obedience to be performed by us by our own strength Gal. 3.12 The Law is not of Faith but the man that doth them shall live in them That is the Law Covenant only promiseth Life to him that observeth what the Law prescribes and so hath perfect inherent Righteousness of his own it offers Life upon no easier terms than constant universal perfect Obedience Now the Sanction and Confirmation of this Covenant is by a terrible Curse explained by the Apostle Gal. 3.10 As many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them The Law pronounceth a Curse upon every Man who fulfills it not in every Tittle and every jot of it and who continues not so to do from the first minute of his Life to the hour of his Death which fallen Man can never do And therefore as long as he is under this Covenant he remains under God's Curse and Wrath. If he omit any thing that is required or commit any thing that is forbidden so that thô he should but once Sin he is under the Curse Secondly I shall prove that all Men by Nature are under this Covenant till they be reconciled to God by Christ. This Covenant concerns all Adam's Children untill they have a new Claim in the Second Adam for God contracted with Adam as a publick Person representing all his Posterity and so it concerns not him only but all his Heirs Take them in their Infancy they are under this Covenant therefore they are said to be by Nature Children of wrath as well as others Eph 2.3 All Men are under the deserved Curse of the Law by reason of Sin Or take them in their grown Estate Iohn 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already because he believeth not in the Name of the only begotten Son of God that is because he is not freed from the Covenant of Works and the Curse of the Law by the Son of God Every Unbeliever is condemned already by the Sentence of the Law which they lye still under before they lay hold upon Christ the only Remedy for their deliverance The Sentence of the Law stands in force till you get it repeal'd by Christ. And some men will find that this Covenant is in force against them at the Day of Judgment âor then there will be proceedings against them according to it All the World are judged according to one of these two Covenants Iames 2.12 13. Some shall be judged according to the law of liberty others shall have Iudgment without mercy Impotency doth not free any of Adam's Sons from this Covenant because this Impotency was contracted by our own Sin and doth not make void God's right as a Creditor doth not lose his Right by the Debtors Inability to pay him If a Man bind himself and his ãâã to pay such a summ of Money and he will vainly spend his Patrimony and so render himself unable to pay it he and his Heirs are still liable to a Process as long as the Debt remaineth unpaid or unremitted We and all ours are bound to perfect Obedience for the future and to make satisfaction for Sin past which we that are poor Creatures sold under Sin are never able to do Therefore this Covenant doth absolutely put us into such a State as that there is no Remedy for us but by flying to Jesus Christ. Thirdly This Covenant is that which Natural Conscience worketh on and seemeth most so to do so that when we urge Men with this Covenant we do but beat them with their own Weapons When the Covenant of Works was made with Adam all Mankind were then in his Loyns it was made with him in their Name and therefore Men by Nature do still retain a deep Impression of this Covenant as appeareth in that as soon as Conscience is awakened it judgeth Men according to this Covenant As Rom. 1.32 The Apostle speaks of the Heathens Who knowing the Iudgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death The benummed Consciences of Heathens when they came to themselves they were afraid of Judgment according to the tenor of this Covenant And the same is seen in the endeavour of a Natural Conscience to do something that may make a shew of Good Works and a tolerable plea by this Covenant as in that Pharisees Plea Luke 18.11 12. I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican Christ speaks it of those that trusted in their own Righteousness the Pharisee brings a little Trash a few inconsiderable things I fast twice a week I give tithes of all that I possess and this is his Righteousness Again That Natural Conscience works towards this Covenant seems plain by the strange Affectation of the Righteousness of Works which is in all Mens Hearts and unwillingness to hear of any other Rom. 10.3 They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God A Man would fain have a Personal inherent Righteousness in himself he is loth to be beholden to any other He would patch up any Righteousness of his own and is prone to trust in it a proud Creature will not submit Nay even the Regenerate God's own Children thô they are well instructed in the Righteousness of Faith and sufficiently see the Impossibility of a Righteousness of Works thô they have been under brokenness of Heart yet they are ever lingring after this Covenant with a Natural Desire of it and to rest in their own Duties And that was the Reason of that Expression of Luther Every one of us hath a Pope in his own Belly something that pleads there for the Merit of Works Fourthly This is the most ready way to convince a Iusticiary and to prepare Men for Christ by a sight and sence of their own Sin and Misery and Impotency by this Covenant and this for several Reasons 1 Reason Because every Man is apt to flatter
Children 2 Kings 2.24 And then for Grown men God will have Judgments for them It is a sad time and it calls for much Weeping Lamentation and Grief that we live in an Age wherein Moral wickedness abounds Drinking Whoring Swearing Murdering Stealing and such like Abominations Take this Observation God doth not usually punish in this World for Unbelief and want of Love to Christ he leaves it to the World to come but for breaches of the Moral Law he doth Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men When the two Tables are violated by Ungodliness and Unrighteousness then the Wrath of God breaks out by some notable Judgment So Heb. 2.2 Every transgression and Disobedience of Moses received a just recompence of Reward And Hos. 4.1 2. The Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the Land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land by Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing and committing Adultery they break out and Blood toucheth Blood There are Sins against the Moral Law reckoned up which provokes the Lord's Anger As in Temporal Favours God expresseth love to those that are morally Righteous so in Temporal Judgments he hath expressed his Hatred against Immoralities I confess some Gospel Provocations God doth punish in this World as for Instance when men persecute the Profession of the Gospel or when they grow weary of the Gospel after they have long had it then it concerns God as Governour of the World to punish such the Good of the World being very much concerned But chiefly his Judgments are for Sins against the Moral Law of God when these are broken in our Streets there ought to be much Weeping and Lamenting before the Lord in a sense of these things 4. It Condemns those that will pretend to the peculiar Love of Christ when they are not Moral but froward undutiful in their Relations unconscionable in their Dealing and have not learned to be sober to possess their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour what do you talk of being Christians when they are not so good as Heathens Never think of the higher Mysteries of Religion of Believing in Christ and Communion with God when you live so contrary to the Light of Nature as the Apostle speaks of the Natural Branches and the Branches contrary to Nature Rom. 11.24 It is in vain to think of grafting things that are contrary to Nature if the Natural Branches be not grafted in There are certain who are doubly dear both in the Flesh and in the Lord not only in the Lord upon the Account of Religion but in the Flesh upon the Account of Nature as Onesimus was dear to Philemon when Converted Philemon 16. There were many Moral Heathens of a sweet Nature that had great Command over their Passion Many civil Carnal Men will rise up in Judgment against high-flown Christians that pretend to great heights of Faith and Love to Christ but are defective in Morals As it was said of the Men of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba that they shall rise up in Iudgment against this Generation and condemn it Mat. 12.41 42. so will these Heathens Men morally Just Exact Punctual in their Dealings rise up in Judgment against many that pretend to believe in Christ Si non praestat fides quid praestitit infidelitas How should this put you to shame when those that are graceless cannot be taken Tardy in those things wherewith you are charged I say if their Moral Principles and Civil Institutions binds them to the Peace and good Behaviour and will not suffer them to do wrong and all the Laws of Christ will not confine you within your Duty how great will your Condemnation be see that you be not exceeded by them I may represent it thus when a School-boy knows more and better of Arts and Sciences than a University-man is not this a great shame to him I remember it is said of Sarah Gen. 20.16 Abimelech said Behold I have given thy Brother a thousand Pieces of Silver behold he is to thee a covering of thine Eyes unto all that are with thee and to all other thus was she reproved Here is no word of Reproof how was she reproved Why here a Pagan King dismisseth her untouched with Gifts to her Husband he provides for her safety and this was a reproof of Sarah's dissembling his Morality was a reproof to her that was acquainted with the true God and a Professor of the true Faith and yet was found tardy You are shamed and Christ is put to shame in you 5. It invites us to go so far for Jesus loved this Young Man est aliquid prodire tenus What was in this young Man Here 's his Care to seek after Eternal Life his reverend Esteem of Christ's Person his outward Conformity to the Laws of God his abstaining from all gross sins from his Youth O these are amiable Properties and Qualities and those that are endowed with them Christ loveth them Obj. But here 's an Objection How is this a Motive Christ was Courteous and Respectful to this Young Man but now he is in Heaven what Love doth Christ shew now upon Earth to those that are Moral 1. Moral Vertues will at least procure a Temporal Reward Christ loves Vertue so that he rewardeth the Shew of it it keeps off many Temporal Judgments and procures many Temporal Benefits as the Ninevites Repentance though not real kept off the Judgment Ionah 3.10 and Ahab's Humiliation kept off the Judgment in his days 1 Kings 21.29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me Because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the Evil in his days but in his Son's days will I bring the Evil upon his House It encourageth us to seek him since he rewardeth a Temporal Repentance with Temporal Favours O what will the hearty Humiliation of a true Penitent do when a Counterfeit one is thus far accepted with God And so that kind of Zeal that was in Iehu was not without its Reward 2 Kings 10.30 Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart thy Childâen of the fourth generation shall sit on the Throne of Israel though he did it with an imperfect Heart The Egyptian Midwives when they saved the Children of the Israelites though it were by a Lye the Lord multiplyed them and blessed them Exod. 1.20 Therefore God dealt well with the Midwives and Ver. 21. It came to pass that because the Midwives feared God that he made them Houses So Austin observes that the Romans as long as they did excell in Justice and Temperance were rewarded by God with Victory and Prosperity as long as that Empire kept honest in Civil Vertues it had eminent Success and their Common-wealth prevailed and overtopt the Nations but when they degenerated into Beasts
that Riches are evil in themselves but that it is hard for such Creatures as we to possess them without sinful and inordinate Affections 4. Consider who it is that speaks it Alas if it had been the saying of any private Divine or particular Minister we might tax it as rash and rigorous but the mouth of Truth it self hath spoken it even Jesus Christ whom we own as our Lord and Master He knew the way of Salvation and knew the state and danger of Souls and he hath interposed his Authority and represents the difficulty It is Jesus Christ that had so much Wisdom to judge aright of matters Jesus Christ that had so much regard to the Comfort and Happiness of Men that he would not fright them with a needless danger and therefore certainly you should take such an Admonition to Heart from the mouth of him whom you call your Lord and Master and from whom at last you expect your doom and judgment he hath said it If any wise Man hath said it from the Experience of almost all Ages and Persons you ought to have regarded it but when our Lord hath said it he who is the Amen the Faithful and true Witness why should we not believe him I pray what do you think of Christ was not he able to judge of the Case It was the saying of Plato ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is impossible to be excellently good and eminently rich Therefore Celsus a Heathen who sought all occasions to disgrace the Gospel saith that Christ borrowed this saying of Plato but he is confuted by Origen in his Book against him This proud Heathen was sensible there was Wisdom in the speech therefore he would deprive Christ of the Honour of it But now since we believe the Doctrine of Christ and own it as the Speech of Christ who is our Lord and Master therefore it should more sink into our Hearts Thus for the Explanation of the Point from the Circumstances of the Text. II. Let us see whence this difficulty doth arise I answer Because of the sins to which a wealthy Estate doth expose us 1. Riches are apt to breed Atheism and Contempt of God They that are wholly drowned in Pleasures of Sense do not look into the Invisible World and see God which is the Father of Spirits Prov. 30.9 Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord There is a Practical Atheism when Men forget or despise God and a Speculative Atheism when they deny God Now the Rich are apt to do both A Man that tumbles in Wealth Ease and Plenty is apt to forget and despise God But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his Salvation Deut. 32.15 Nay in some sort they deny God they live as if there were no God at all none to call them to Account Men that have seen no Changes and were never humbled under God's mighty hand never think of an Invisible Power I remember the Psalmist saith Psal. 55.19 Because they have no Changes therefore they fear not God they have not an Awe or Reverence or due sense of a Divine Power upon their Hearts because they never have been acquainted with Changes the Condition they have lived in hath been a constant tenour of Worldly Happiness So Zeph. 1.12 They are settled upon their Lees that is are not tossed from Vessel to Vessel as Wine that is racked They live in an even course of Worldly Prosperity and in abundance of Worldly Comforts without a Change and this choaks and gluts the Heart that they have no sense of the Lord's Goodness Changes do more awaken us and make us look to God as the Fountain of good and evil Isne vices magis in nobis excitant sensum divinae bonitatis quà m continuus tenor faelicitatis qui nos inebriat In short The Pleasures and Thoughts of the World do so take up their Hearts that there is no place for any serious thought and solemn remembrance of God such as should beget an awe in us It is said Isa. 5.12 The Harp and the Viol and Tabret and Pipe and Wine are in their Feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands Thoughts of God are suppressed as soon as they do arise and they take no notice of the work of God's hands nor what he doth in their days to revive the sense of his Eternal Power and Godhead nor do they take their Comforts out of God's hands but look altogether to natural and to second Causes as being sufficient to themselves to live of themselves Indeed they may seem in Opinion to own a God as others do they take up the current Opinions and perform customary Worship but they do not glorifie him as God or repair to him with that life and fervency as those that stand in need of him nor consecrate their best Time and Strength and Affections to his Service It is usually the broken-hearted godly poor and those that have had frequent Experiences of the Changes of Providence that exercise themselves to Godliness and seek after God in good earnest The great Landlord of the World hath more Rent from many poor Cottages than from divers great Pallaces for they wallow in Plenty and never think of God 2. Riches keep Men from being broken-hearted and seeing their need of Christ. It is the poor needy Soul sensible of its own sin and misery that is likely to thrive in Religon and prosper in any heavenly design and pursuit Now those that are rich have so many entertainments of sense to inveagle their minds and divert their thoughts and are so besotted and inchanted with present delights and Pleasures that they have no feeling of their Condition or sense of the necessity of God's Grace therefore it is our Lord begins his description of Blessedness Mat. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven How few of them that are rich in Estate are poor in spirit the sense of their present Ease and Welfare makes them forget all thoughts of their spiritual Condition and reconciling themselves to God by Christ. The Prodigal never thought of going to his Father 'till he began to be in want Luk. 15.17 18. While Men have any thing in the World they are senseless and secure in the midst of all their sin and âisery and if they can live without God and apart from God they will not come at him Ier. 2.31 Wherefore say my people We are Lordâ we will come no more unto thee As if this merry World would always last and there were no Judgment to come and God would never bring them into his Presence but they live a Life of Estrangement from God they can live upon themselves and their own supplies and things that fall to them by the Bounty of God's Providence 3.
keepeth up Joy in the Soul and no Violence of Temptation is able to break it and remove us from the Truth Rom. 8.24 25. We are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for But if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it They are Confident that in God's Time they shall have Salvation and final Deliverance tho' it be not to be seen any where but in God's Promise by Jesus Christ. Well then the fewer External Comforts we need the stronger is our Faith the more the weaker Weak Christians must be carryed in Arms dandled on the Knees fed with sensible Pledges and ocular Demonstrations or else they are ready to faint 2. The Imperate Acts or Effects of Faith they are produced by Vertue of this Property Faith's prevailing over Sight and Sense I shall name four 1. To promote Holiness and reduce us and reclaim us from the false Happiness Surely none will accomplish the Work of Faith with Power and so glorifie God and Christ in the World that is live in all holy Conversation and Godliness but those that have that Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen those that live always as in the sight of an Invisible God are the thorow Christians What greater Check can there be to Temptations to Sin than to live always in the Sight of an Invisible God Gen. 39.9 Or to Temptations to the World than an Invisible Glory Or to the Troubles and Molestations of the World Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us And 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light Afflâction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory If Godliness expose us to Difficulties Molestations and Troubles Faith seeth the Final Rest Glory and Happiness If we are inclined to the Honours and Pleasures of the World Faith seeth the most shining Glory will soon burn out and end in a Snuff Psal. 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad And 1 Ioh. 2.17 The world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the Will of God abideth for ever If Sense present the Bait of present Profit Pleasure or Honour Faith seeth the Final Shame Ignominy and Loss and so we are guarded on all sides against Right-hand and Left-hand Temptations This is a General I shall speak of more particular Effects 2. To keep the Heart tender and in awe of God's Word Surely 't is a Blessed frame of Spirit and very useful to us to tremble at the Word of God Isa. 66.2 To this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my Word And to stand in awe of his Word Psal. 119.161 My heart standeth in awe of thy Word Now this can never be unless we have that Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen for many times the Word threatneth Evils which are not likely to come to pass if we look to the visible face of things and all that part of God's Discipline is lost unless we can believe unseen things See Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by which he condemned the World and became heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith The World was then in a Jolly Condition and little dreamt of a Flood The Earth flourished as much as ever and there was Building and Marrying and Planting but God had told him of an universal Destruction of all things by a Deluge therefore he admonisheth the careless World and provideth for his own and Family's Safety So we read of Iosiah when he heard of the words of the Book of the Law he rent his Cloaths 2 Kings 22.11 We do not read of any actual Trouble that was then in the Land or any Danger nigh When an Age is very corrupt and ripe for Judgment God giveth Warning But alas few take it or lay it to Heart for the World is led by Sense and not by Faith they are not affected with things till they feel them Few can see a Storm when the Clouds are in gathering but securely build on the present Ease and Peace tho' God be angry But in the Eye of Faith a sinful Estate is always dangerous therefore they fall a Praying and humbling themselves and cry to God mightily and use all means of Safety while a Judgment is but yet in its Causes 3. To support us against the greatest Dangers and Terrors Heb. 11.27 By Faith Moses forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him that is invisible To depend upon God's Aid and Succour in a time of great Extremity and Danger needeth a strong Faith as to appearance he was ready to be swallowed up being pursued by a wrathful and Puissant King The Sea was before him the Egyptians behind him and the Craggy and unaccessible Mountains on each side but the Terrors of Sense may be easily vanquished by those Invisible Succours which Faith relyeth upon An Invisible God can bear us out against Visible Dangers 4. To teach us how to carry an equal Mind in Prosperity and Adversity in Prosperity when we are born up by the Chin we have but too much Confidence and when we are lessened and but short in the World we are full of Diffidence and distrustful Fears Psal. 30.6 In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved When a Child of God hath gotten a Carnal Pillow under his Head he lyeth down and sleepeth sweetly dreaming many a pleasant Dream of uninterrupted Felicity in the World but if God taketh away his Pillow from under his Head then he is as diffident as formerly confident then God will be favourable no more God is the same his Promises the same the Covenant the same the Mediator the same but our Condition is changed because we look to things seen live upon things seen and still imagine of things according to what we see and feel So for supplies of Maintenance and Provision if we have them not in View and sight how little can we depend upon God If Sense be against the Promises the Promises do us but little good How few can comfort themselves in God when all faileth Hab. 3.18 or make his All-sufficiency their Store-house Gen. 17.1 No they must have a full heap in their own keeping How few can take his Promises for their Heritage Psal. 119.11 No they must have Lands and fixed Revenues or else they know not where to have Food and Raiment for themselves and Children How few can be contented to trust the Purse in God's Hands and be contented to take their daily Allowance from him which yet is a necessary Point of Faith of
waited for the Promise Our Respect to the Word is made up of a mixture of Obedience and Dependance there must be a Consent to both and we must resolve for the Holy and Heavenly Life Faith is an Act of the Will as well as of the Understanding Heb. 11.13 These all dyed in Faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them Besides being perswaded there is embracing The promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us 2 Cor. 1.20 And they are exceeding great and precious Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 In one place you have both 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Iesus came into the World to save Sinners Therefore embrace them you must with all your Hearts and submit to this way of Covenanting with God 4. Your Judgments must highly esteem these Promises and your Hearts find full Contentment and Satisfaction in them We read often of receiving the Word with Joy and the confidence and rejoycing of Hope Heb. 3.6 Usually the Word of God hath too cold and slight Entertainment in our Affections and we do not value those precious Promises as we ought to do they should be dearer to us than our Lives and give us more Satisfaction than all the Enjoyments of the World Psal. 119.111 I have taken thy Testimonies as an heritage for ever they are the rejoycing of my Soul they do you good to your very Heart and the more you are acquainted with them the more you will see the worth of them Luke 6.23 Rejoyce and leap for joy for great is your reward in Heaven And of the Eunuch when he had sealed Covenant with God Acts 8.39 It is said he went his way rejoycing Faith cannot do its Office that it begets an Holy Gratitude to God to draw us off from the Allurements of Sense and fortifie us against Adversities and Troubles and engage us to the Duties of Christianity which are distrustful to Flesh and Blood unless it did fill our Hearts with an higher and better Joy than the World yieldeth Surely 't is Comfortable to be pardoned and reconciled to God to be in the Way and under the Hopes of Eternal Life Thirdly The Effects which these Acts produce These may be stated by the several Uses for which the Word of God serveth 1. T is the Seed of a New Life 2. The Constant Rule of all our Actions 3. The sure Charter of our Hopes 4. Our Strength and Preservation against all Temptations from the Devil the World and the Flesh. 5. Our Comfort and Cordial in all Afflictions 1. 'T is the Seed of a New Life 1 Pet. 1.23 Being born again not of Corruptible seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever And Iames 1.18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures And also 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature When we so believe the Pardon and Grace and Blessedness offered that our Hearts are changed into the Life and Likeness of God for the Truth is not rightly owned and believed till this Change be wrought both in Heart and Life then we are cast into the Mould of this Doctrine Rom. 6.17 Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine that was delivered to you Gospel Truths serve not for Speculation or meer Talk and Discourse but for Sanctification and therefore if this Seed be sown and engrafted in your Hearts and you begin to live to God an Holy and Heavenly Life you have the surest Evidence of your Faith for Causes are made sensible to us by their Effects 'T is usually brought as a proof of the Word the Sanctifying Vertue of it so 't is of the Sincerity of your Faith for the Word profiteth not unless it be mingled with Faith and since both Faith and the Word concurr to this Effect it may be ascribed to either Surely therefore if we believe the Word of God and value it as we ought it doth leave the Impression of God's Image upon us for it is the fairest Draught and Representation of God that ever was in the Law and Life of Christ 2 Cor. 3.18 If our Souls and Lives be a Transcript of the Word this Image is thence deduced to us by the Spirit and of necessity it must be so for Christs comforting Promises of Mercy and Glory are made to these New Creatures who live the Holy and Heavenly Life They have God's mark and Signature upon them and therefore are said to be sealed to the day of Redemption Eph. 2.30 and Eph. 1.3 This Renovation of the Soul is the Seal of God the Pledge of his Love and the Earnest of the heavenly Inheritance 2. The Constant Rule of all our Actions There is a fixed determined Rule from whence we cannot swerve and vary without Sin and if we would have Communion with God here or enjoy him hereafter We must keep close to this Rule Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this Rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God This Rule that is the Word of God which directeth us as to our General Path and Way and all our steps or particular Actions Psal. 119.105 Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths We must hide the Word in our Hearts Psal. 119.110 Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee We must consult with it upon all occasions as willing to understand our Duty Psal. 119.24 Thy Testiminies also are my delight and my Counsellors And because we may mistake thrô Error of Mind or be tempted aside thro' aversion of Heart and manifold Temptations Therefore we must earnestly beg it of God Psal. 119.133 Order my steps in thy VVord and let not any Iniquity have dominion over me And we must use all study our selves Rom. 12.2 and constant watchfulness Eph. 5.15 See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Now that which I say is this When the Word ruleth the main Course of our Lives and teacheth us how to live in the World soberly righteously and godly the tenderness of the Word and high respect to it that we dare not transgress it whatever Temptations we have so to do sheweth that Faith hath obtained its effect in us For trembling at the Word fearing of a Commandment and whatever of that kind is spoken of in the Scripture they are all Fruits of Faith 3. 'T is the Charter of our Hopes Iohn 20.31 These things are written that ye might have life through his Name 1 Iohn 5.11 This is the Record that God hath given unto us eternal life and this life is in his Son Now the Work of Faith
will bind us but Faith in Christ to whom we must give an Account in the Solemn Judgment Acts 17.30 31. He commandeth all men every where to Repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the VVorld in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead In which Words I observe four things 1. That God requireth of all that will submit to the Gospel Repentance and New Obedience 2. That the binding Consideration is that the Judgment of every Man's Estate is put into Christ's Hands who in the day appointed will declare and determine every Man's right and qualification 3. That the Efficacy of this Consideration dependeth on the strength of our Faith or Belief in Christ. 4. That the strength of our Faith dependeth on that Assurance given ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Woe be to those that now refuse Christ or do not Believe him so as to Obey him 2 Thes. 1.8 In flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. 8. 'Till we believe in Christ all his Offices are useless to us and therefore without Faith he will do us no good Who would learn of him that doth not believe him to be the great Prophet sent of God to teach the World the way to true Happiness Who would Obey him that doth not Believe that he is our Lord that he hath Power over all Flesh at whose Judgment we must stand or fall Who would depend upon the Merit of his Obedience and Sacrifice and be Comforted with his gracious Promise and Covenant and come to God with boldness and Hope of Mercy in his Name and be confident that he will Justifie and Save who doth not believe that he is a Priest who once made an Atonement and doth continually make Intercession for us In the dayes of his Flesh all that would have Benefit by Christ he did put them to this Question Whether they did believe he was able to do it To the Father of the Possessed Child Believest thou that I am able to do this Mark 9.23 to Martha Joh. 11.26 Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye Believest thou this So still it holdeth good this is the most necessary Grace that maketh way for all other Respect to Christ. Secondly That this Respect is an high Value and Esteem of Christ above all other things That Faith implyeth an Esteem of Christ is plain by that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.7 Vnto you therefore which believe he is precious And that it is a Transcendental Respect and Esteem so as that all other things are lessened in our Opinion of them and Estimation of them and Respect unto them in Comparison of Christ appeareth by other Scriptures as Phil. 3.8 I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ He had counted and did count as not repenting of his Choice he could deny his own Honour Ease Profit and Estate his own every thing but his own God and his own Christ so Matth. 13.45 46. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls who when he had found one Pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it The Pearl was accounted of great Price if he would sell all things for it Christ is so dear and precious that the most excellent things are not dear and precious when they are to be ventured for his sake Acts 20.24 But none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my Course with Ioy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Iesus to testifie the Gospel of the Grace of God No Faith but this will allure and draw our Hearts to Christ and no Faith but this will keep our Hearts to him there being so many other things either to keep us or to draw us off from him Nothing but this Transcendentall Respect begets the close adherence to Christ. Now I will shew three things 1. That Christ hath deserved this Esteem 2. That Faith only will give it him 3. The Notes or how this Esteem of Christ will shew it self 1. That he Deserveth it And that 1. By what he is in himself the Son of God and the Saviour of the World This is the chief ground of our Respect to the Mediator Acts 8.37 38. If thou believest with all thy Heart thou mayest and he answered and said I believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God So Martha maketh her Confession of Faith Ioh. 11.27 Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God that should come into the World So Peter in his own Name and the Name of his Fellow Disciples Ioh. 6.69 We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the living God This is the ground of adherence to him and dependance upon him that he whom the Christian World hath hitherto called their Saviour is the very Son of God appointed by God to execute the Office of King Priest and Prophet to the Church This giveth us ground to adhere to him and vanquish all Temptations 1 Ioh. 5.5 Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God The most part of the Christian World leap into this Opinion and the Name of Christ is prized but his Office is neglected there is a fond Esteem of his Memory but no real Improvement of his Grace Quandoquidem panis Christi jam pinguis factus est tractatur in Conciliis disceptatur in Iudiciis disputatur in Scholis laudatur in Eclesiis questiosa res est Nomen Christi But this is the true ground of a Christian's Esteem when soundly perswaded that he is the Christ. 2. What he hath done for us Christ requireth not so much at our Hands as he himself hath voluntarily performed for our sakes He pleased not himself that he might promote the Glory of God and our Salvation Rom. 15.3 He became poor that we might be rich 2 Cor. 8.9 He was obedient to the death even the death of the Cross that we might have Life Phil 2.7 He was made sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made a Curse for us that we might have the Blessing Gal. 3.13 Doth he require so much of us 'T is grievous to the Flesh to be crossed but he hath suffered greater Sorrows and Agonies that we might have Eternal Life 3. What he still doth for us He is our Life Gal. 2.20 You live upon and by his Life Ioh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also We use him not as an Instrument which is layed by when our turn is served
must open the Nature of it The Hardness of Heart discovereth it self by two Properties it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an insensible Heart and an inflexible Heart 1. An insensible Heart as a brawny Substance or callous piece of Flesh like the Labourer's Hand and Traveller's Heel This the Apostle intimateth Ephes. 4.18 19. Having the Vnderstanding darkned being alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the Blindness of their Heart Who being pâst feeling c. In one Verse he chargeth them with Hardness of Heart and in the first Words of the next Verse with loss of Feeling Feeling of all Senses though it be not the most noble yet it is the most necessary there is no Life without it it is diffused throughout the whole Body and in what Member soever it is lost there is no more Intercourse of vital and animal Spirits and where 't is totally lost there is no more Life There may be Life when other Senses are wanting a Man may be deaf and yet live blind and yet live but if he utterly lose his Feeling he cannot live Such a dead sensless Heart is the hard Heart as appeareth in the Wicked by that great Security Ease and Quiet which they naturally have though lying under the Guilt of many and grievous Sins and though they be obnoxious to the Wrath of God yet they are never troubled nor affected with any sense of their Condition They can sin freely in Thought foully in Act without any Remorse and Shame Ab assuetis non fit Passio Men are not moved by such things as they are much used to As they that live by the fall of great Waters sleep quietly because they are accustomed to the Noise so Men that are accustomed to Sin can swear and be drunk and commit Filthiness or go on in some other Trade of Wickedness and are never troubled Mithridates through the Custom of drinking Poison made it so familiar to him that he drank it without danger Elementa non gravitant in suis locis Elements weigh not in their proper place A Fish in the Water feeleth no Weight Sin is not burdensom to wicked Men it is in its own place This Insensibleness is the greater where Men will not be awakened out of their Lethargick Fit by all the Means which God useth to them by the Threatnings of his Word or the Judgments of his Providence There is a Method in God's Dispensations he threatneth that he may not punish and punisheth now that he may not punish for ever Now the Children of God are startled at the Threatnings and tremble when they see a Storm in the Clouds before it falleth As Iosiah had a tender Heart and melted at the Threatning 2 Chron. 34.27 And they are said to tremble at the Word Isa. 66.2 and Ezra 9.4 But wicked Men think this is a vain Scarecrow and though they are most obnoxious to the Judgment and Wrath of God yet they have no sense and tender feeling of it Therefore God goeth on to his second Dispensation he punisheth now that he may not punish for ever As Absalom set Ioab's Barley-field on fire that he might draw him to come and speak with him so God seeketh to make Men serious to bring them to the Throne of Grace and sue out their Pardon by many temporal Judgments But still wicked Men start aside and will not turn to him that smiteth them Ier. 5.3 Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive Correction As the Anvil is smoothed into Hardness by many Blows and Strokes so are Men more insensible of their Condition and will not regard the meaning of God's Providences Well then an hard Heart is insensible of what they have done against God or what God hath or may do to them And so far as we lose our Sense and Tenderness so far is the Heart hardned 2. It is an inflexible Heart it is not easily bent to God's Purpose say he what he will Men are as light as vain as mindless of Heavenly Things as basely wedded to the Delights of the Flesh as ever and obstinately and against all Means to the contrary refuse the Counsel of God for their Good Though God hath the highest Reasons of his side and great Variety of powerful and alluring Motives to gain Souls to his Obedience and these represented not only to the Ear by his Messengers but to the Heart by his Spirit yet Men are so addicted to their own Wills and Lusts that they will not suffer themselves to be perswaded by him to accept of his Offers and rich Mercies in Christ they will not obey the sweet Directions of his Word nor regard the Motions and Strivings of his Spirit to let their beloved Lusts go and comply with the Will of God 1. They are inflexible to the Counsels of his Word where God interposeth in the way of the highest Authority straitly charging and commanding us under pain of his Displeasure and reasoneth with us in the most potent and strong way of Argumentation from the Excellency of his Commands and their Sutableness to us as we are reasonable Creatures from his great Love in Christ whom he hath given to die for us from the Danger if we refuse him which is no less than everlasting Torment from the Benefit and Happiness of complying with his Motions which is no less than eternal and compleat Blessedness both for our Bodies and Souls and all is bound upon us by a strict impartial Day of Accounts when we are to answer for our Neglects or else to receive the Reward of our Diligence But alas the hard Heart defeateth the End of this whole Contrivance Neither the Awe of God's Authority nor the Reasonableness of his Commands nor the wonderful Love of Christ nor the Joys of Heaven nor the Horrors of everlasting Darkness nor the Strictness of the last Day 's Account will work Man to a sense of his Duty or gain him to make serious Preparation for his own Happiness and everlasting Salvation Out of what Rock was the Heart of Man hewen What will work upon you if this Doctrine upon which God hath laid out all the Riches of his Wisdom and Grace will not work upon you Hath God another Son to die for you a better Heaven to bestow upon you or an hotter Hell to scare you withal Would you have the Day of Judgment more exact and severe or greater Obligations to all Holiness and Godliness of Conversation than those already propounded or more Charms and Perswasiveness added to the Gospel O no that cannot be Infinite Wisdom hath already stated these things Or would you have God save you against your Wills or thrust these things upon you without your Consent Surely it is Obstinacy plain Obstinacy and hardness of Heart that maketh you stand out against God Psal. 58.4 5. They are like the deaf Adder that stoppeth her Ear which
Chair of the Scorner is a Preferment in Sin Psal. 1.1 Blessed is the Man that walketh not in the Counsel of the Vngodly nor standeth in the Way of Sinners nor sitteth in the Seat of the Scornful Jer. 23.34 to 39. And as for the Prophet and the Priest and the People that shall say The Burden of the Lord I will even punish that Man and his House Thus shall ye say every one to his Neighbour and every one to his Brother What hath the Lord answered and what hath the Lord spoken And the Burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more for every Man's Word shall be his Burden for ye have perverted the Words of the living God of the Lord of Hosts our God c. The Prophets used to begin their Prophecies with the Burden of the Lord and they would in mockery demand What Burden they had from the Lord for them Now shall we hear again of the Burden of the Lord. Saith God Every Man's Word shall be his Burden that is you shall dearly pay for this scoffing Language your Words shall be your Burden But these Marks may not be close enough let me propound other things 1. Did you ever lay down the Buckler before God and say I have done foolishly I will do so no more Were you ever feelingly convinced and your Lusts powerfully subdued Did you ever say as Paul Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do Every Man carrieth on his Opposition against God till he be brought to yield by a mighty Spirit breaking in upon him When were the Wings broken that you could fly no longer the Will subdued that you said Lord I have too long stouted it out against thee so that you were willing to be at peace with God Isa. 27.5 Let him take hold of my Strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me Were you ever forced to cry Quarter Didst thou ever apprehend God ready to smite and give Fire upon thee and then in a submissive Posture didst intreat him to stay his Hand 2. What Effect hath the Word upon you Isa. 66.2 To this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite Spirit and trembleth at my Word It is a great part of Sensibleness to tremble at the Word What meltings and yieldings of Heart do you express Doth it put you upon recourse to God 2 Chron. 34.27 Because thine Heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before God when thou heardest his VVords against this Place and against the Inhabitants thereof and humbledst thy self before me and didst rent thy Clothes and weep before me I have even heard thee saith the Lord. Didst thou ever humble thy self before the Lord to clear up Matters between God and thy Soul and to get thy Doubts resolved and thy Lusts mortified 3. What pliableness has there been in thee to the Holy Ghost's Motions A Man that hath a tender Heart yieldeth to the Motions of the Holy Spirit Psal. 27.8 VVhen thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart said unto thee Thy Face Lord will I seek There is a quick Eccho to God's Voice Isa. 6.8 I heard the Voice of the Lord saying Whom shall I send and who will go for us Then said I Here I am send me There is not only a readiness to obey but he offers himself to the Work When we grow lazy and backward in holy things and hang off it is a high degree of hardness of Heart Vse 2. Exhortation 1. To press us to beware of hardness of Heart It is a grievous Sin I shall use three Arguments 1. It depriveth you of Grace See before pag. 507. 2. It unfitteth you for Duty while we are under the power of it An hard Heart is forced and superstitious With what Coldness and Formality did David pray during the suspension of God's Grace We come into God's Presence with great Backwardness and Reluctancy while we are under the power of a hard Heart 3. It fitteth for Judgment The Heart groweth harder and harder and the Mind blinder and blinder till it be cast into an utter Indisposition and Impossibility of Repentance Hardness of Heart turns a Man into a Beast nay into a Devil and according to our Sin so is God's Wrath Rom. 3.5 After thy Hardness and impenitent Heart thou treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Iudgment of God 2. To press us to come out of this evil Frame of Spirit Arguments 1. As long as the Heart is hard you are very remote from the Comforts of the Gospel Christ came to heal the broken-hearted Luke 4.18 So Matth. 9.12 13. They that be whole need not the Physician but they that are sick I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance You are full of Sin but not sick as a Toad is full of Poison but the Toad is not sick because it is natural to him Will a Physician go about to cure a Toad Men lie under a great weight of Sin yet they sleep and eat and drink and trade and look as well as ever feel no Pain nor any thing to trouble them These Men have no Need and Will to be cured and of all Men are most properly said to be dead in Trespasses and Sins they neither break an hour's sleep nor abate one drachm of their carnal Delights but are Heart-whole The Physician hath no desire to meddle with them that will not take what he prescribeth as carnal Men will not submit themselves to God's Directions 2. You are very remote from the Work of the Gospel As God maketh a way for his Anger so he maketh a way for his Mercy and Grace The Heart is fitted and prepared for the Spirit 's Residence It is softned before it is quickned Ezek. 36.26 27. I will take away the stony Heart out of your Flesh and I will give you an Heart of Flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them The vital Spirit is not infused till the Body be organized and formed God made Adam out of the Dust of the Ground and then breathed into him the Breath of Life The Spirit of Grace coming into the tender Heart maketh way for it self Now for the Cure of it I will recommend unto you two Means two Graces and two Ordinances First Two Means Light and Love 1 st Light Jer. 31.19 Surely after that I turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the Reproach of my Youth Men that know not the Nature and Danger of Sin are little troubled about it Where there is no Knowledg there is little Conscience When the Troops of Syria were smitten with Blindness they were easily led into the midst of their Enemies 2 Kings 6.18 19. And when they thought themselves
If God were the immediate Author it would be no Sin for whatever God doth is good How then doth he harden the Heart I answer first Negatively secondly Affirmatively 1 st Negatively In the explication of this Matter we must avoid both Extreams some say too much of it others too little 1. We must not say too much lest we leave a Stain and Blemish upon the Divine Glory 1. God infuseth no Hardness and Sin as he infuseth Grace All Influences from Heaven are sweet and good not sowre Evil cannot come from the Father of Lights God enforceth no Man to do evil 2. God doth not excite the inward Propension to Sin that is Satan's Work He perswadeth it not it hath neither Command nor Approbation nor Influence nor Impulse from Heaven In all these Ways we must look upon Man's Sin All Sin is a Child begotten by that Incubus of Hell on the corrupt Soul of Man it is poured out as Milk into the Womb of their Hearts and there it is curdled as Cheese 2. We must not give it too little God doth not harden by bare Prescience because God foreseeth other Sins and yet they are not ascribed to God he is not said to kill or to steal or to do wrong as he is to harden There is a difference between God's concurrence to this Sin and others It is not only by way of Manifestation that is by his Plagues and Judgments he declareth how hard it is God hardned Pharaoh say some that is by frequency of Judgments shewed how hard his Heart was The Prayer by which we deprecate this Evil sheweth the meaning of it we would not say Lord shew not how hard I am by thy many Judgments upon me but Lord harden not my Heart lead me not into Temptation incline not my Heart to any evil thing And it doth not hold good in other Instances Deut. 2.30 Sihon King of Heshbon would not let us pass by him for the Lord thy God hardned his Spirit and made his Heart obstinate There was no such long Process to make it evident they had hard Hearts So Ioshua 11.20 For it was of the Lord to harden their Hearts that they should not come against Israel in Battel So that there is somewhat besides an evident Manifestation to the World by continued Judgments that it is hard Nor is it by a meer idle Permission for there is besides that his Decree and a Judicial Action of Providence as if God were like the Heathens Iupiter who was feasting in Ethiopia while things were out of order in Greece Or at least such think God hath no more to do than a Man that standeth on the Shore and seeth a Ship ready to be drowned when he might have helped it there is somewhat more than so Nor is it meerly by Desertion and Suspension of Grace it is true this is a part but not all as a Captain leaving his Souldiers in the midst of a Battel may be said to leave them in the Enemies hands God concurreth not only by way of Permission and Patience but by way of Action and Power not making Hardness but Doing and Willing the things whereby the Sinner is hardned Besides his Decrees there is his Judicial Sentence and an active Providence in order thereunto Many things concur to the hardning of the Heart all which God willeth and intendeth but justly the Wicked take these Occasions of their own accord Satan tempteth out of his own Malice but all this cannot be done without the Will of God there is at least a permissive Intention If there were not God's over-ruling it then he were not God Omnipotent there is a Supreme Power over-ruling and ordering every thing that is done in the World It was God's Will that Pharaoh should be hardned that he might dispose of it to the Ends of his Providence Exod. 9.16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up for to shew in thee my Power and that my Name may be declared throughout all the Earth If there were only a naked idle Permission then it may be said that he suffereth the Heart to be hardned rather than hardneth it which is the Phrase used 2 dly Affirmatively how God doth harden The inward Way is wonderful as God's drawing Sinners is secret so is his hardning But if you ask me by what means it is accomplished I answer 1. By Desertion by taking away the Restraints of Grace whereby he letteth them loose to their own Hearts Psal. 81.12 So I gave them up unto their own Hearts Lusts and they walked in their own Counsels Man in regard of his Inclinations to Sin is like a Grey-hound held by a Slip or Collar when the Hare is in sight take away the Slip and the Grey-hound runneth violently after the Hare according to his inbred Disposition Men are held in by the Restraints of Grace which when removed they are left to their own swinge and run into all excess of Riot Thus God took away his good Spirit from Saul 1 Sam. 16.14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from him and an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him Take away the Pillar that sustaineth the House and then the House falleth of it self God taketh away his Grace and then all runneth to Ruine as Darkness ensueth upon the withdrawing of Light Now herein God is not to be blamed 1 Because he is Debtor to none He may give his Grace to whom he pleaseth and with-hold it as he will he is not bound to give or continue but is free to bestow or with-hold Man sinneth when he doth not hinder Sin because he is bound to hinder it all that he can Nehem. 13.17 Then I contended with the Nobles of Judah and said unto them What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath-day When the People profaned the Sabbath and they did not restrain them 2. He knoweth how to make the best of any Evil to turn the greatest Evil into the greatest Good which Man cannot do and ought not being under a Rule We must not do Evil that Good may come on it Rom. 3.8 And not rather as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say Let us do Evil that Good may come whose Damnation is just 3. There is an actual Forfeiture God is so far from being bound to continue Grace that he is bound in Justice to withdraw what is given When Men stop their Ears God may shut them But 2. By Tradition He delivereth them up to the Power of Satan who worketh upon the corrupt Nature of Man and hardneth it he stirreth him up as the Executioner of God's Curse As the evil Spirit had leave to seduce Ahab 1 Kings 22.21 22. And there came forth a Spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade him And the Lord said unto him Wherewith And he said I will go forth and I will be a lying Spirit in the Mouth of all his Prophets And he said
sense of Sin and their Defection from God Satan's Condemnation is our Salvation He did the first Mischief therefore the crushing of his Head giveth hope of our Deliverance out of that State of Misery into which he hath plunged us The Words are dark in comparison of the larger Explications of the Grace of God by Jesus Christ which were after delivered to the Church Who would look for a great Tree in a little Seed Yet the seminal Virtue doth afterward diffuse and dilate it self into all those stately and lofty Branches in which the Fowls of the Air do take up their Lodging and Shelter So do these few Words contain all the Articles and Mysteries of the Christian Faith which are the Fountains of our solid Peace and Consolation In the Seed of the Woman is contained all the Doctrine concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God in the bruising of his Heel his Death and Sufferings in the crushing of the Serpent's Head his glorious Victory and Conquest As obscure as the Words are an Eagle-eyed and discerning Faith could pick a great deal of Comfort out of them The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Elders mentioned Heb. 11.2 the Antidiluvian Fathers so famous throughout all Ages for their Faith and Confidence in God had no other Gospel to live upon Abel that offered a better Sacrifice than Cain Enoch that walked with God Noah that prepared the Ark did all that they did in the Strength and upon the Incouragement of this Promise The Words are considerable 1. For the Person who speaketh them the Lord God himself who was the first Preacher of the Gospel in Paradise The Draught and Plot was in his Bosom long before but now it cometh out of his Mouth 2. For the Occasion when they were spoken When God hath been but newly provoked and offended by Sin and Man from his Creature and Subject was become his Enemy and Rebel the offended God comes with a Promise in his Mouth Adam could look for nothing but that God should repeat to him the whole Beadroll of Curses wherein he had involved himself but God maketh known the great Design of his Grace Once more the Lord God was now cursing the Serpent and in the midst of the Curses promiseth the great Blessing of the Messiah Thus doth God in Wrath remember Mercy Hab. 3.2 Yea Man's Sentence was not yet pronounced The Lord God had examined him ver 8 9 10. but before the Doom there breaketh out a Promise of Mercy Thus Mercy gets the start of Justice and triumpheth and rejoiceth over it in our behalf James 2.13 Mercy rejoiceth against Iudgment 3. They are considerable for their Matter for they intimate a Victory over Satan and that in the Nature which was foiled so lately Man by Sin had not only incurred God's Wrath but put himself under the Power of the Devil who had a âegal Power over fallen Man such as the Executioner hath from the Judg over the condemned Person And a tyrannical Power by Conquest Man being seduced by him from God Therefore it is good News to hear of a Victory over Satan and that his Power shall be destroyed In the former part of the Verse you have the Combate in the Text the Success 1. The Conflict and Combate And I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed It cannot be understood of the Hatred and Antipathy between Men and Serpents though that be alluded unto To what end should God thunder Curses and Condemnation upon the Serpent a brute Creature that understood them not Therefore it is meant of the War between the Devil and Mankind Satan and his Instruments for wicked Men are called his Seed Iohn 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil And Ignatius calleth Menander and Basilides ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Spawn of the old Serpent And on the other side the Seed of the Woman by way of Eminency Christ and his Confederates But I shall not consider the Conflict now as carried on between the two Seeds but between the two Heads Christ the Prince of Life and the Devil who hath the Power of Death Heb. 2.14 It was begun between the Serpent and the Woman it is carried on between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent but the Conflict is ended by the Destruction of one of the Heads the Prince of Death is destroyed by the Prince of Life 2. The Success and Issue of the Combate Where observe 1. What the Seed of the Woman doth against the Serpent He shall bruise thy Head 2. What the Serpent doth against the Seed of the Woman Thou shalt bruise his Heel 1. There is something common to both for the word bruised is used promiscuously both of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman In this War as usually in all others there are Wounds given on both sides The Devil bruiseth Christ and Christ bruiseth Satan 2. There is a Disparity of the Event He shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Where there is a plain Allusion to treading upon a Serpent Wounds on the Head are deadly to Serpents but Wounds in the Body are not so grievous and dangerous And a Serpent trod upon seeketh to do all the Mischief it can to the Foot by which it is crushed The Wound given to the Head is mortal but the Wound given to the Heel may be healed The Seed of the Woman may be cured but Satan's Power cannot be restored The Devil cannot reach to the Head but the Heel only which is far from any vital Part. 1. For the first Clause It shall bruise thy Head The Seed of the Woman crushed the Serpent's Head whereby is meant the Overthrow and Destruction of his Power and Works John 12.31 Now shall the Prince of this World be cast out 1 John 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil The Head being bruised Strength and Life is perished His Kingdom and Strength is his Head that is gone that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Power of Death Heb. 2.14 the Power to deceive and detain captive Souls Col. 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness 2. For the other Clause Thou shalt bruise his Heel Where 1. Note the Intention of the Serpent who would destroy the Kingdom of the Redeemer if he could but he can only reach the Heel not the Head 2. The Greatness of Christ's Sufferings his Heel was bruised as he endured the painful shameful accursed Death of the Cross. Doct. That Iesus Christ the Seed of the Woman is at enmity with Satan and hath entred the Lists with him and though bruised in the Conflict yet he finally overcometh him and subverteth his Kingdom 1. That Jesus Christ is the Seed of the Woman That he is one of her Seed is past doubt since he was born of the Virgin a Daughter of Eve That he is The Seed the most
is that which the Apostle calleth the Power of Death and the Terrors which follow upon it Heb. 2.14 15. That through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to Bondage The Devil hath no Power as a Judg to condemn Sinners He is not Dominus Mortis the Lord of Death but Minister Mortis the Minister of Death For being condemned of God the poor Sinner is put into his Hand that he may either terrify or stupify him and so more and more involve him in the Curse of God's broken Law and also he may hasten his Death and everlasting Destruction 2. Satan hath a Tyrannical Usurped Power So the Devils are called Rulers of the Darkness of this VVorld Ephes. 6.12 the blind idolatrous superstitious World And Satan is called the Prince of this VVorld John 14.30 And the God of this World 2 Cor. 4.4 God made him an Executioner but we make him a Prince a Ruler and a God Now Christ as a Priest disannulleth his legal Power by his Death and the Merit of his Sacrifice And Christ as the true King and Head both of Men and Angels pulls down Satan as an Usurper delivers the poor captive Souls out of his Power And as a Prophet he discovereth his Cheats and Delusions 2. His Works There is a twofold Work of Satan the Work of the Devil without us or the Work of the Devil within us 1. The Work of the Devil without us is a false Religion or those Idolatries and Superstitions by which Satan's Reign and Empire is upheld in the World This is destroyed by the Doctrine of the Gospel accompanied with the all-powerful Spirit of God And therefore when the Gospel was first preach'd by Christ's Messengers the Devil fell from that great and unlimited Power which he had before in the World Luke 10.18 I beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven 'T is an Allusion to his first Fall as Lightning flasheth and vanisheth and never recollecteth it self again So Iohn 12.31 Now shall the Prince of this VVorld be cast out When Christ did first set upon the Redemption of Mankind the Apostles went abroad to beat the Devil and hunt him out of his Territories and they did it with great Effect Therefore this is made one Argument by which the Spirit doth convince us of the Truth of the Gospel John 16.11 He shall convince the VVorld of Iudgment because the Prince of this VVorld is judged The silencing of his Oracles the suppressing of his Superstitions the destroying of the Kingdom of Wickedness and Darkness was an apparent Evidence of the Truth of the Gospel The old Religion by which the Devil's Kingdom was supported every-where went to wrack no more the same Temples the same Rites the same Gods all was made to stoop and bow before God as worshipped in Christ. 2. There is the Work of the Devil within us This concerneth the recovering particular Persons out of the Snare of the Devil who were taken captive by him at his Will and Pleasure Here we must distinguish between the Purchase and Application The Purchase was made when Christ died Col. 2.15 Having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a Shew of them openly triumphing over them in it that is on his Cross. Christ's Death was Satan's Overthrow then was the deadly Blow given to his Power and Kingdom This was the Price given for our Ransom and the great means of disannulling all that Power Satan had before The Application is begun in our Conversion for then we are said to be turned from Satan unto God Acts 26.18 To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Then we are rescued out of the Devil's Clutches and adopted into God's Family that being made Children we may have a Child's Portion III. That in this Conflict his Heel was wounded bitten or bruised by the Serpent 1. Certain it is that Christ was bruised in the Enterprize Which sheweth how much we should value our Salvation since it costs so dear as the precious Blood of the Son of God incarnate 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold c. but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot He thought not his whole Humiliation from first to last too much for the overthrowing of the Devil's Kingdom nor any Price too dear to redeem poor captive Souls 2. But how was he bruised by the Serpent Certainly on the one hand Christ's Sufferings were the Effects of Man's Sin and God's Hatred against Sin and his governing Justice for it is said Isa. 53.10 It pleased the Father to bruise him Unless it had pleased the Lord to bruise him Satan could never have bruised him On the other side they were also the Effects of the Malice and Rage of the Devil and his Instruments who was now with the Sword's-point and closing Stroke with Christ and doing the worst he could against him In his whole Life he indured many outward Troubles from Satan's Instruments for all his Life long he was a Man of Sorrows wounded and bruised by Satan and his Instruments Iohn 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do he was a Murderer from the beginning and abode not in the Truth because there is no Truth in him But the closing Stroke was at last then did the Serpent most eminently bruise his Heel When Iudas contrived the Plot it is said the Devil entred into him Luke 22.3 Then entred Satan into Judas Iscariot being one of the Twelve When the High Priest's Servants come to take him he telleth them Luke 22.53 This is your Hour and the Power of Darkness The Power of Darkness at length did prevail so far as to cause his shameful Death This was their Day 3. It was only his Heel that was bruised It could go no further for tho his bodily Life was taken away yet his Head and Mediatory Power was not touched Acts 2.36 This same Iesus whom ye have crucified God hath made both Lord and Christ. Again his bodily Life was taken away but for a while God would not leave his Soul in the Grave Psal. 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy One to see Corruption The Counsel and Purpose of God concerning Man's Redemption had then been wholly frustrated For if Christ be not risen your Faith is vain ye are yet in your Sins 1 Cor. 15.17 Once more tho Christ was bruised yet he was not conquered When the Jews and Roman Souldiers were spoiling him and parting his Garments then was he spoiling Principalities and Powers And when Satan and his Instruments were triumphing over the Son of God then was he triumphing over all the Devils in Hell for by Death he
it especially the Sick and the Dying He that formerly tempted then beginneth to trouble and he that formerly shewed you the pleasant Baits of Sin will then shew you the Hook he who now representeth Pardon easy will then represent it as impossible And when Death cometh he hath Power to hale away the Sinner to Torments For as the good Angels carry the Souls of the Faithful to Christ Luke 16.22 23. so probably the Devil hath a Power to carry them to Hell Now as the Devil hath this Power of Death he bringeth Men into Sin that he may bring them into Terror Yea Satan hath a great hand in the Troubles of Conscience which befal God's Children Well then how is this Power destroyed By satisfying the Law Christ destroyeth the Power of the Devil For first he blotted out the Hand-writing that was against us and then spoiled Principalities and Powers Col. 2.14 15. And when he doth actually justify we feel the Comfort and Benefit of it Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth Who shall condemn 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 Our Advocate is more gracious in Court than our Accuser having payed our Ransom and interceding for us and pleading it what Accusation from the Law can stand against those who have imbraced this Gospel 3. The Being of Sin For while it remaineth there is somewhat of Satan left which he worketh upon There is a Remnant of his Seed in the best the Godly are yet in the Way but not at the end of the Journey and therefore he hath leave to assault them while they are here but Christ will perfect the Conquest which he has begun and so the very Being of Sin shall at length be taken away Iude 24. To him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the Presence of his Glory And Eph. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish At Death Sin is totally disannulled the Physician of our Souls will then perfect the Cure As in the first Moment of our Birth we were Sinners so in the Moment of our Expiration all Sin dieth Christ taketh that time to finish his Work No Sinner can enter into the State of Bliss but the Vail of the Flesh being rent we are immediately admitted into the sight of God and so made exactly perfect 2 dly As to the general Case or his Interest in the corrupt World It is true the Kingdom of Satan yet remaineth But he doth and shall divide the Spoil with the Strong Isa. 53.12 Therefore will I divide him a Portion with the Great and he shall divide the Spoil with the Strong And though his Doctrine and Religion meeteth with Opposition in the World yet it doth prevail upon Opposition and against Opposition and by Opposition when in the Seasons of it he cometh to set his Kingdom on foot Rev. 6.2 I saw a white Horse and he that sat on him had a Bow and a Crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer This is an Emblematical Representation of the Rise and Progress of Christ's Kingdom Where you may note his Furniture a Crown and a Bow The Crown noteth his Dignity the Bow his Armour and Strength Psal. 45.3 4 5. Gird on thy Sword upon thy Thigh O thou most Mighty with thy Glory and Majesty and in thy Majesty ride prosperously because of Truth and Meekness and Righteousness and thy Right Hand shall teach thee terrible things Thine Arrows are sharp in the Heart of the King's Enemies whereby the People fall under thee Christ having the Grant of a Kingdom over the Nations is every way furnished with Power to obtain it by Means proper to the Mediatory Dispensation by his Word Spirit and Providence 1. His Word which is called the Rod of his Strength Psal. 110.2 The Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.4 When Christ will work the World cannot resist its convincing Power those that feel it not fear it John 3.20 Every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved 2. His Spirit Now what can stand before the mighty Spirit of God convincing Men of the Truth of his Religion John 16.8 9 10 11. And when he is come he will reprove the World of Sin and of Righteousness and of Iudgment Of Sin because they believe not on me Of Righteousness because I go to the Father and ye see me no more Of Iudgment because the Prince of this World is judged Shewing hereby Christ was the Messiah and therefore they were guilty of great Sin who did not believe on him That he was a righteous and innocent Person and no Seducer because Christ rose from the Dead and went to the Father That he was an exalted Prince above Satan and whatever things were looked upon as Divine Powers Many that were not converted were convinced of this 3. His Providence All Judgment was put into Christ's Hands to be improved for the advancement of his Mediatory Kingdom John 5.22 For the Father judgeth no Man but hath committed all Iudgment to the Son He hath the Government of all things Angels and all Events that fall out in the World None of the Creatures are left to their own Arbitrement or uncertain Contingences but under the Government of a supreme Providence which is left in Christ's Hands Thus you see though the Devil's Interest be held up by the combined Interests of the World agreeing together to promote the Idolatries and Superstitions wherewith he hath inspired them yet Christ is able to break and dissolve all this Force and Power Secondly How far was Satan destroyed or his Head crushed 1. Negatively 1. Non ratione Essentiae not to take away his Life and Being No there is a Devil still and shall be even when the whole Work of Christ's Redemption is finished For then it is said Rev. 20.10 The Devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever So Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Then Eternal Judgment is executed on the Head of the wicked State Sentence was passed before and the Devil feareth it Matth. 8.29 Art thou come hither to torment us before the time He was condemned before but then it is executed upon him he is finally punished and shall for ever remain with the Damned 2. Non ratione Malitiae not in regard of Malice For the Enmity ever continueth between the two Seeds and Satan will be doing though it be always to Loss
Field or Garden where the Senses being locked from all other Objects the Mind may fall more directly upon it self which otherwise in a Field or Garden would skip from Object to Object without pitching upon any seriously 4. The last Circumstance in the Text is the Time in the even-tide which is also a matter of an Arbitrary Concernment Time in it self is but an unactive Circumstance all Hours are alike to God he taketh no more pleasure in the Sixth or Ninth Hour than in the First Hour only you should prudently observe when your Spirit is most fresh and smart To some the Morning is quickest the Fancy being fittest to offer Spiritual and Heavenly Thoughts before it hath received any Images and Representations from Carnal Objects abroad Morning Thoughts are as it were the Virgin Thoughts of the Mind before they have been prostituted to these inferiour and baser Objects and so are more pure sublime and defecate and then the Soul like the Hind of the Morning with a swift and nimble readiness climbeth up to the Mountains of Myrrhe and Frankincense Cant. 4.6 Vntil the day break and the shadows flee away I will get me to the mountain of myrrhe and to the hill of frankincense and it tendeth much to season the whole day when we can talk with the Law in the Morning Prov. 6.22 When thou awakest it shall talk with thee To some the Evening seemeth fitter that when the gayishness and vanity of the Spirit hath been spent in business their Thoughts may be more serious and solemn with God and after the weights have been running down all day through their Imployments of the World they may wind them up again at Night in these Recesses and Exercises of Piety and Religion as David saies Psal. 25.1 Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. To others the silence and stillness of the Night seemeth to be an help and because of the Curtain of Darkness that is drawn between them and the World they can the better entertain serious and solemn Thoughts of God David speaks every where in the Psalms of his Nocturnal Devotions Psal. 63 6. When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches The Expression is taken from the Custom of the Iews who divided the Night into so many Watches whilst others were Reposing their Bodies on their Beds David was Reposing his Soul in the Bosom of God and he gave the less Rest to his Eyes that he might give the more to his Soul So Psal. 119.148 Mine eyes prevent the night-watches that I might meditate in thy word Certainly in the Night when we are taken off from other business we have the greatest Command of our Thoughts and the Covert of Darkness that God hath stretched over the World begetteth a greater Awe and Reverence Therefore Mr. Greenham when he pressed any weighty Point and perceived any careless used to beg of them that if God by his Providence should suffer them to awake in the Night that they would but think of his words Certainly the Mind being by sleep emptied of other Cares like a Mill falleth upon it self and the Natural Awe and Terrour which is the Effect of Darkness helpeth to make the Thoughts more solemn and serious So that you see much may be said for the conveniency of either of these Seasons Evening or Morning or Night It is your Duty to be faithful to your own Souls and sometimes to take the advantage either of the Night or of the Day or of the Morning or of the Evening as best suits us David saith Psal. 119.97 Oh how love I thy law it is my meditation all the day So he describes his Blessed Man Psalm 1.2 His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night That is sometimes in the Day and sometimes in the Night no time can come amiss to a prepared Spirit Isaac's Hour was in the Even-tide in the Evening he went out to meditate in which two things are notable 1. That he made Duty his Refreshment He had wrought all the Day and in the Evening he goeth to Recreate himself with God What a shame is it that what was his solace is our Burden If we had a Spiritual discerning we should soon see that there is no Delight to that of Duty and no Refreshment like that which we enjoy in the Exercises of Religion and in Communion with God The World's Delights are vain and dreggy they may provoke laughter but they cannot yield any pure solid and true Contentment It was Christs meat to do his Fathers Will Iohn 4.34 My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work It was sweeter to Iob then his appointed Food to hear Gods word Iob 23.12 I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food And David saith Psal. 119.54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage All the Comfort he had to drive away the sad and disconsolate Houâs of his Pilgrimage was to exercise himself in the Study and Meditation of Gods Word And it was Isaac's Evening-Comfort to go out and meditate Gracious Hearts must have Spiritual Delights the Word and Obedience and Prayer and Meditation As one said Aut hoc non est Evangelium aât nos non sumus Christiani Either these Histories are not true or our Hearts are much unlike theirs Oh how sweet would it be if we could make Duty a Recreation and our Work our Pleasure that in the close of the Day this might be our Solace after the work of the Day to take a turn with God in the Mount and to walk in the Garden of Love and as David saith Psal. 104.34 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. Isaac went out at even-tide 2. That at the Evening his Spirit was still fresh and savoury this was the time not of necessity but choice Many spend their heat and strength in the World toyling all Day and in the Evening come and offer God a drowsie yawning Prayer when all the Vigour of their Spirits is wasted You should bring forth the best Wine at last never so engage in the World as to hinder a Duty It should be the Wisdom of Christians to guide their Affairs with such Judgment that Duties may not become a burden and a weariness Now a Soul incumbred with business cannot act with such delight and freedom as it ought Too often do we suffer the lean kine to devour the fat Mary hath cause to complain of Martha so much time is spent in the World that we have no heart or strength for Communion with God and usually when all are asleep and wearied out with the World then we call to Duty Oh remember in the Evening and Close of the Day your Affections should be quick and free for Spiritual things Isaac went out at evening-tide I shall sum up the intent
comparison with Babes and Novices Therefore it is good with Mary to sit at the feet of Iesus and not presently with the Spouse to beg the kisses of his mouth but to go on by degrees 2. Though we must contrive a Method and Course yet there must be a liberty left for Things for all Seasons and Occasions As in the World though a Man hath disposed his business yet he reserveth a liberty for incidental and unthought of occasions so in these Spiritual Matters and in the course of Religious Exercises you must not bind up your selves from these occasions I shall name Four 1. Working and Forcible Sermons It is not good to lose the heat that we have gotten at the Word but to go home and chew the Cud. In the word there is Ingestion in Meditation you turn it into nourishment There must be a time for Concoction and when the Seed is scattered it must be covered 2. For present Impulses keep your selves free that you may not lose the advantage of such impulses Many times Christ cometh leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills Cant. 2.8 He impelleth our Hearts on a sudden and unlookt for by causing Holy Thoughts to shoot into our Minds by representing our Unworthyness Coldness and Deadness of Life or else he inflameth us by representing the Beauty and Loveliness of Grace Then it is good those thoughts should take the next turn and our Method must give way to Gods Dispensation As general Nature altereth its course in some great particular Exigencies fire descendeth and Water ascendeth so in this case the general work must be interrupted It is a kind of resisting God not to entertain these Motions I do not mean when they come upon you in the necessary work of your Callings but only that they may have the next turn 3. For remarkable Providences when God casteth us upon such Objects as stir up special Veneration and Reverence as some Marvellous Events or Creatures that discover his Wisdom and Glory or sudden Death of one near us It is of Excellent Use while such Experiences are warm to go home and consider of them As Waldo a Rich Merchant of Lyons was conversing with a Friend and he fell down dead and presently he went home and thought of the uncertainty of Life and the necessity of providing for a Future State and God blessed these Thoughts for his Conversion Or else the end falls of a Person Eminent for Religion when we see some Glorious Star fall like Lightning from Heaven these are Accidents that must not be passed over without some Mark and Consideration and then God doth as it were call you off from your usual thoughts 4. The present Exigence of the Spirit Choose that which is seasonable and what suits with your own Case a Sermon works more forcibly when it is seasonable Thus David Psalm 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul He means his sad Thoughts it was an advantage to him then to solace himself with those Comforts God had provided The Scripture useth this Similitude of Rain upon New Mowen Grass Rain when it comes seasonably refresheth the Grass and causes it to spring up which otherwise would be burnt up with the Drought and Heat of the Season so the Soul would be parched with a Temptation if it be not watered with seasonable Thoughts But I have spoken to this point before But you will say What is the Method that we should use Answ. Though I cannot exactly prescribe it yet give me leave to advise 1. For those that are wholly to begin this Duty it is best first to meditate about Meditation the Nature Use and Excellency of it and how they may carry it on with success It is a good preparative to the whole Work I do direct you to this course because this is that which the Soul standeth in need of this will lay a Charge and Necessity upon the Soul As to Pray is a good preparative to Prayer so to Meditate on Meditation is a good preparative to Meditation To quicken you consider the Motives alledged and when you have done all say Oh Soul Do but go and try Oh Lord help me and keep this up in the Thoughts of thy Servant 2. For the general Method it is good to keep the Method of the Spirit The Method of Meditation should follow that of Gods Dispensation Iohn 16.8 When the spirit is come he shall reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment First begin with Sin which is more easie and familiar to the Understanding it is good to lay the Foundation of all in the mortifying and purgative way and then go to Righteousness and after the Extermination of Sin we shall be fitter to entertain the Love of God and then go to Judgment Take another Method First consider the great End of Man that you may come to your selves then the Evil of Sin that you may bemoan and avoid it then the Miseries of the World or the Vanity of the Creature that you may contemn it then the Horrors of Death the Severity of Judgment the Torment of Hell that you may prevent it then the Excellencies of Christ the Priviledges of the Godly the Rare Contrivance of the Gospel then of Providence of Heaven of God and his Attributes his Power his Wisdom his Eternity c. with suitable Scriptures for each of these 2. For the manner how you must work upon these Objects 1. There must be pregnant Thoughts and Apprehensions Deep Consideration begins the Work you must set your Hearts to consider the Subject for when the Heart is once set these Thoughts through the Blessing of God will come in freely It is often spoken in Scripture of setting our Hearts to seek the Lord when the Heart is set for Prayer God comes in with a great enlargement so when the Heart is set to consider you will have serious and solemn thoughts If vain thoughts trouble you and interpose yet still set the Heart and go on as a Man in a Journey though dogs come out and bark upon him he rideth on to run after every Cur would be a great hindrance and diversion so if you stand quarrelling with every vain thought you lose your purpose and so the Devil will gain that by a Reflexed Act which you seek to reject in a Direct Act as Cryers in a Court in calling for Silence many times make the greatest noise Mr. Greenham was wont to lift up his Heart in a short Ejaculation and so go on 2. There are Serious Inforcements and Rational Inculcations Things barely propounded do not work it is by Lively Reasons they are whetted upon the Soul Look as it is in going to Sea those that only mind passage do not stay upon the Ocean and therefore do not fetch up the Treasures of the great Deep but those that go to fish cast out the Net again and again so must you you must cast
with straits and pinched for maintenance of your Families consider there is a Providence The World is Gods great Common and he doth not over-stock his own Common All things wait upon God how do the Beasts live but upon Providence Psal. 104.27 These all wait upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season Who is it that feeds the Ravens Psal. 147.9 He giveth to the beast his food and to the young ravens which cry And Psal. 145.16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Compare it with verse 19. He shall fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them Urge your hearts herewith to Patience under Miseries Not a Sparrow falls to the ground without a Providence therefore certainly your Crosses fall under the wise dispensation of God Psalm 39.6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain Again urge your hearts to thankfulness for Mercies look upon the first cause and acknowledge the Providence of God in all that you enjoy 2. Consider the Providences of God to your selves in particular for thou art a little World Consider how the Providence of God watched over thee in the Womb when he took thee out from thence how he provided two Bottles to sustain thee how he hath borne thee up from the Womb hitherto especially how he took care of thee when thou hast been in distress Oh it is sweet when we can cry as David Psalm 34.6 This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles I have been in these and these distresses yet the Lord hath heard and delivered me especially if he hath blessed thee from small beginnings and increased thy substance urge thy heart to trust in him for the future 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all thy care upon him for he careth for thee Fifthly The next Object of Meditation is the Excellency and Happyness of our Estate in Heaven See this Subject treated on in a Sermon on Tit. 2.13 Looking for that blessed Hope A Fourth Volume OF SERMONS ON Several Texts of Scripture BY THE Late Reverend and Learned Thomas Manton D.D. PART the Second Containing LXXVI Sermons WITH AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE To the Whole LONDON Printed by I. D. and are to be sold by Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIII Place this Title immediately before Page 671. TO THE Lady BAWDON MADAM IT needs no Apology that I have prefixed your Ladiship 's Name to this Part of the late Reverend Dr. Thomas Manton's Works since the Memory of the Author is so precious with you by whom you and your Children were baptized into the Christian Faith under whose Ministry you were brought up in the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Gospel and whose Works published both before and since his Death have been so highly valued by you But your Ladiship has a more especial Title to these Sermons because a great part of them being committed to my Care to publish the preparing them for the Press was performed in a great measure under your Ladiship 's Roof when the Providence of God called me there in my Attendance on your Honoured Mother the Lady Wharton in the last Scene of her Life The Duty I owe to the Memory of that Great Person obliges me to testify to the World what I as well as others who had the Honour of knowing her observed in her She was one whom God had indowed with more than common Gifts and Graces one of a piercing Judgment quick Apprehension great Presence of Mind useful in all her Relations But that which adorned all was her eminent Godliness which was visible in the whole Course of her Conversation She had a great understanding of the Mysteries of the Gospel and though she abounded in good Works yet she knew how to account all things Loss and Dung for the Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus her Lord. She was often in the Admiration of the Riches and Freeness of God's Grace in Jesus Christ and all her Hopes Trust and Confidence were in his Merits and Righteousness She had a very high Valuation and Esteem of the Ordinances of God and when her long Sickness had for some time hindred her from a publick Attendance on the Worship of God she would often complain of it That she was as a Leper shut out from the Sanctuary of God She was of a noble generous and charitable Frame of Spirit and her Charity was dispensed with great Prudence I cannot but mention one Branch of it viz. The relieving of sick Persons especially providing and giving Medicines to the Poor who had no Money to buy them and God did wonderfully own her with great Success herein In her latter Days God was pleased to exercise her with great Trials her Sickness was long and tedious her Pains great and sharp but under all her steady Adherence to God shewed the Strength of her Faith and the Truth of her Patience I have often heard her say this one thing silenced all Complaints It is God who hath done it All the Breaches God made upon her made no Breach between God and her Soul In her languishing Hours when her Strength failed her she expressed the inward Tranquillity and Repose of her Mind it being almost the last Words she said All is well all is well Thus she lived and thus she died and is now joined to that Great Assembly of Glorified Saints who are always praising blessing and adoring God where she is always beholding the Face of her God in Glory and fully understands the meaning of all the dark Providences of God towards her in the latter part of her Life I mention not these things to renew your Ladiship 's Grief for so great a Loss and to make your Wounds bleed afresh but to provoke you to a holy Imitation of so great a Pattern and to be a Follower of her as she was of Christ. Good Examples have a powerful Influence upon us for we are led more by Pattern than by Precept especially the Examples of those we love for such we are prone to imitate but more especially of those who are in nearest Relation to us for there Nature sides with Grace And what an Advantage your Ladiship has had in having such a Precedent before your Eyes appears by the fair Transcript you have been of so fair a Copy Madam God hath been pleased to exercise your Ladiship also with great Trials but you have had your Comforts and Supports God hath taken away some of your nearest Relations but he hath continued others to you What a Blessing hath God bestowed upon you in those excellent Daughters that have sprung from you But alas we are too apt to pore on our Losses and overlook our Enjoyments to make our Afflictions the Grave of our Mercies God hath given your Ladiship a better Frame of Spirit and taught you how
his Sufferings 1. In the value of the Sacrifice Nothing could expiate Sin but the Blood and Shame and Agonies of the Son of God A Man would have thought that a Word of Christs Mouth would have pacified God but so great was the offence that though he cryed with strong cries God would not hear him till he had endured his Wrath. Christ prayed Matth. 26.39 O my Father If it be possible let this cup pass from me But God would not bate him a farthing If you would know Sin go to Golgotha 2. The Extremity of his Sufferings His outward Sufferings were much If you consider the Majesty of his Person he was the Great God that filled Heaven and Earth with his Glory and yet was sold for thirty pence the price of a Slave His back was mangled with Whips his Body nailed to the Cross he was scorned in all his Offices a variety of Sorrow was poured in by the Conduit of every sense seeing smelling tasting hearing and feeling If you consider the Excellency of his Constitution his Body being framed by the Holy Ghost was of a more exact temper his Senses more lively they that enjoy Life in a higher measure than others the more delicate the Sense the higher the Pain the back of a Slave is not so sensible of stroaks as of one that is nicely and tenderly bred His Senses were kept lively and in their full vigour he refused the stupifying Cup that was given to him He kept his strength to the last this appeared by his strong cry when he gave up the Ghost Luke 23.46 And when Iesus had cryed with a loud voice he said Father Into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost But what is this to what is inward The Agonies of his Soul under the Curse and Wrath of God due for Sin his Desertion of the Father it is more to see the Sun eclipsed than to see a Candle put out he complained that his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death Matth. 26.38 His Soul dwelt with God in a Personal Union Christ knew how to value his Fathers Wrath he had an excellent Judgment and tender Affections When he sweat drops of curdled Blood he needed support from an Angel Now put all these Circumstances together and see if Sin be a light thing Object But many think this lesseneth Sorrow Christ hath endured so much what need they be troubled Answ. 1. These know not what Faith and Love meaneth Can a Man love Christ and not mourn for that which was the cause of his Sufferings Thou art the Man that laid all this upon Christ. 2. Slight thoughts of Sin are a disparagement of Christ's Sufferings you make nothing of that which cost him so dear 3. Christ's Death doth not nullifie our Duty in this kind but ratifie it He died not only to expiate the guilt of Sin but also to shew the heinousness of it God might have taken another course This for Humiliation 2. As to Reformation The Death of Christ furthereth this 1. By way of Obligation Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me The great Argument that quickneth us to the Spiritual Life is that it is a thing pleasing and acceptable to him If we knew any thing pleasing and acceptable to a Man that had redeemed us out of a miserable thraldom we would do it They are unthankful Wretches that dare to deny Christ any thing 2. By way of Purchase Our Liberty from Sin was bought at a dear rate not with Silver and Gold You disparage your Redeemer and seek to put him to shame if you live in Sin for you go about to make void the purchase and to overturn the whole business which Christ hath been establishing with so great a cost He paid dear for that Grace which you slight you tye the Bonds which he came to loosen 3. By way of Conformity to the purity of our Sacrifice He was without spot and blemish A Carnal Christian dishonoureth his Head and puts him to an open shame as if the Church were but a Sanctuary for naughty Men and Christianity a design to make us less Careful and Holy What a spotted Christ do we hold forth to the World We are to look upon Christ crucified so as to be crucified with him 2. The Day of Judgment The serious Consideration of that day is an help to Repentance Acts 17.30 31. He hath commanded all men every where to repent Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness As Hell worketh on Fear so this on Shame It helpeth Humiliation and Reformation 1. Humiliation It is a means to prevent the Shame of that Day if we do not call Sin to mind God will call it to mind Psalm 50.21 I will set thy sins in order before thee The Book of Conscience shall be opened and not only ours but Gods Book too Now it will cost us grief to look upon our Sins then grief with desperation terms of Grace are ended and we can have no hope A Sinner now blots the Book that is in his own keeping but then he cannot We will not own the Convictions of the Word when it sheweth our Face but then Iude 15. He will convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds that they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Confession now is neglected but then all shall be brought to light out of our own Reins 1 Cor. 4.5 Iudge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darknâss and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God Let us take shame before it be imposed on us Sins repented of will not be mentioned to our confusion but only to the glorifying of the Riches of the Lords Grace They that repent their Sins shall be then blotted out Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the days of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 2. Reformation It includeth Faith and Obedience 1. Faith Let us get our discharge before that day cometh then we shall have boldness 1 Iohn 2.28 And now little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming The Members of Christ's Mystical Body need not to be affraid of Christ's Judgment their Advocate shall be their Judge their Hearts are sprinkled with his Blood as the Door-posts against the destroying Angel They that are not careful to be found in Christ surely they do not believe that God will make inquisition for Sinners Is the day of Judgment a Fable Scripture
mentioned and no more whilst the experience is warm upon our Hearts when the Act is over we should be remembring again and again 4. The Mercies must be improved to a greater Trust in God and Love and Fear of God and Obedience to him 1. Trust The more we know of his Name the more should we trust him Psalm 64.10 The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him That is true Praise and Thanksgiving that endeth in trust It is the purest respect of the Creature and that which keepeth up a respect between God and us Faith is the best thanks I doubt we are not Spiritual enough in our returns to God we content our selves with verbal Praises and do not look after the growth of Faith and Trust 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a danger and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us He findeth it growing upon him whilst he was mentioning of it Every Experience we have is a condescention in God towards the strengthning of our Faith 2. Love it is a special part of this rendring God will be loved again where he loveth first Radius reflexus languet The cold Wall will reverberate and beat back the Sun beams A little Water put into a Pump fetches up more Psalm 116.1 2 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication Because he hath inclined his ear to me therefore I will call upon him as long as I live God is more indeared to us Love him as thy Father in Christ. Every Mercy cometh wrapped in his Bowels to the Saints and swimming in his Blood When Moses had received Mercies Deut. 10.12 Now saith he What doth the Lord require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul We have a good Master and Love is one chief part of our work We were bound to love him if he had never done us good much more when he is so gracious It is the end of all common Mercies Deut. 30.20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy dayes 3. Fear that we dare not offend so good a God That is a true improvement Hosea 3.5 Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their King and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days When we grow more presumptuous because we are well at ease that is naught But when it increaseth our Reverence of God and Holy Fear and Trembling then it works kindly You that have been conscious to the terribââ things of Righteousness which God hath executed in the high places of the Field you should fear love and trust him more than others You see what a Great God he is that he will find out those that hate him How suddenly can he blast Worldly Confidence however supported And how able is he to protect those that trust in him Will you offend such a God These changes do not only speak Duty to the Enemies but to you Habakkuk trembled at the thought of Gods Judgments on Babylon Habak 3.16 When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voice And David Psalm 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgments It is an appearance of God and tender hearts melt at it as a Lyon trembleth to see a Dog beaten Tender Hearts are affected with the Wrath that lighteth upon others especially when they are the Instruments 4. Obedience You should walk the more humbly and strictly with God David was at a los What shall I render This was one of his Resolutions Psalm 116.9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living This is your Duty to bind your selves to a more humble and holy walking with God This is a good use of Experiences The Army that have seen so much of God should be a School of Piety to the Nation There is a notable place Iudges 2.7 And the people served the Lord all the dayes of Ioshua and all the dayes of the elders that out-lived Ioshua who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel Whilst there were any to keep alive the Memorial of such Experiences what an awe was it upon their hearts Oh that you could get your Hearts in such a frame Methinks you should have such Arguings as this shall I that have seen the wonders of the Lord be proud vain carnal contemptuous of Holy things Such Holy reasonings argue a good frame Ezra 9.13 Seeing that thou our God hast given us such deliverance as this should we again break thy commandments Certainly none sin so dearly and with so much expense as a People saved by the Lords Mercies II. To render accordingly What is that It implyeth two things 1. Real Mercies require real Acknowledgments When your Lives were in jeopardy in the high places of the Field did God complement with you or save in jest And now in the day of your Thanksgivings will you complement with God and put him off with a little bodily presence What is a little cold thanks if you be proud and injurious and despisers of the Ministry regardless oâ Gods institutions cavilling at his Ordinances neglectful of Church-Communion a thing grown into fashion with many they content themselves with a loose Profession of Christ living out of the Communion of any particular Church A sad thing God would have Coals lye together Wine is best preserved in the Hogshead and Saints in Communion Did God take their thanks well that would own a Mercy but oppress the People Zach. 11.5 Whose possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty and they that sell them say Blessed be God I am rich They were grown great and high and God must have the Glory by all means but they used the People severely at their own pleasure There was a thanksgiving but withal there was disobedience and abuse of Authority and in that case keeping a day will be to no purpose The Devils leading Christ to the top of the Pinacle was but to perswade him to cast himself down again 2. The Acknowledgment must answer the proportion of the Mercy be it in word or deed It is true we cannot vie with God for degree and measure but we must do what we can 1. If the acknowledgment be in word Psalm 145.3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised it must be taken notice of in a more than ordinary manner The more of God is manifest the more it should be taken notice of Psalm 150.2 Praise him according to his excellent greatness According to the great appearances and manifestations of God so must our Praises be Let the high praises of God be
swallowed up of this Joy shall we be no more affected with it now We that shall so shortly be so full of joy shall we be empty now Shall not we rejoyce who have now a Title to Heaven and shall in a little time be in the full and perpetual possession of it III. The many Reasons which shew we should have a greater inclination to this Blessed Work than usually we have and be oftner in it 1. Because God hath done so much to raise it in us All the Persons of the God-head concur and contribute their Influence in that way of operation which is proper to each to give us grounds of joy 1. The Father giveth himself to us and his favour as our felicity and portion Gods Love is the bosom and bottom cause of all our Happiness which sets all other causes at work and when we have the sure effects of it can any thing so bitter befal us that will not be sweetned by the Love of God Or so evil that this shall not be ground of Comfort to us Psalm 4.6 7. There are many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased Carnal Men must have something good to sense but Godly Men take their full delight in God This doth them good to the Heart it is not like a little Dew that wets the Surface but like a soaking Showre that goeth to the Root And more enough to draw us off from the World enough to swallow up all our infelicities yea to encounter the Thoughts of Death Hell and Judgment to come 2. The Son is also matter of rejoycing to us as our Redeemer and Saviour You are to consider what the Lord Jesus hath done to deliver you from Sin and the bitter Curse of the Law and the Fears of Death and the Flames of Hell The Eternal Son of God came to heal our wounds Isa. 53.5 By his stripes we are healed To make our peace with the Father by the Blood of his Cross Col. 1.20 To vanquish our Spiritual Enemies and triumph over them Col. 2.14 15. to be the ransom of our Souls 1 Tim. 2.6 The Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2.10 the Head of his Church Eph. 1.22 The Treasury and Storeâouâe of all our Comforts Iohn 1.16 and in short he hath recovered us to God and hath given us an Interest in the Comforts of his Gospel and the Promises thereof which are in him Yea and in him Amen and is not this matter of joy and rich comfort The whole Covenant breed strong consolation in the hearts of Gods People Heb. 6.18 And David saith Psalm 119.111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart It doth our hearts good when we take these things for our Happiness Abraham rejoyced in the fore-thought or fore-sight of Christs day Iohn 8.56 Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And should not we rejoyce that live under the clearest dispensation of it The benefits of our Redemption by Christ should be so esteemed that no Affliction should be grievous The Kingdom of Christ is every where represented as a Kingdom of Joy and Comfort Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost And if we be real Members of it we should see more cause of rejoycing in Christ Jesus 3. The Holy Ghost concurreth in his way of Operation as a Sanctifier Guide and Comforter As a Sanctifier he layeth the foundation for Comfort for it is the spirit of Delusion that comforts us in our sins that by imaginary Comforts he may keep you from those that are real solid and everlasting But the true Spirit is a Sanctifier and therefore a Comforter he first poureth in the Oyl of Grace and then the Oil of gladness Comfort and Joy follow Holiness as Heat doth the Fire And then as a Guide either in his restraining Notions as he mortifieth Sin or in his inviting motions as he exciteth and quickneth to Holiness These are helps to our Comfort cannot a Man live merrily without Sin And do you think a Life of Holiness irreconcileable with a life of rejoycing no such matter it is the ready way to joy especially to joy Spiritual But chiefly as a Comforter he is purposely given us to keep in this Holy Fire and maintain a constant delight in God in our Souls And therefore it is called Joy in the Holy Ghost where God himself taketh upon him the Office of a Comforter surely there will be comfort Life will quicken light will illuminate and the comforting Spirit will comfort in that season and degree God seeth fit and we are capable to receive Now he comforteth partly as sealing partly as giving earnest 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts As sealing us by stamping the impress and image of God upon us which is the mark of his Children the sure Evidence of his Love and the Pledge of our Happiness And as giving us the earnest of a Blessed Estate to come that Life is begun which there shall be perfected Now consider all this when God himself will be our Portion our Saviour our Comforter should not all this cause us to rejoyce in God what-ever our Condition be in the World 2. All the Graces tend to this Faith Hope and Love 1. Faith That is a dependance upon God for something future that lyeth out of sight Now these invisible and future Objects are so great and glorious that they support and comfort the heart how afflicted soever our present Condition be 1 Pet. 1.8 In whom believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost In both these places Faith implyeth a firm belief of and dependance upon Christ as an All-sufficient Saviour by whom alone God will give us Eternal Life This Faith will breed a perpetual rejoycing in the Soul if it be firm strong and operative 2. Hope breedeth this Joy also Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in hope and Rom. 5.2 We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Though we be pressed with Miseries for the present yet there is a better Estate to come the excellency and certainty of which causeth us to rejoyce and giveth us a foretast of it Joy is chiefly for Injoyment but there is a partial Injoyment by hope which is not only a desirous expectation but delightful for tast or praeoccupation of the thing hoped for 3. Love to God also causeth us to rejoyce in him For it sheweth it self in a complacency and well-pleasedness of Mind in God as our chief good Psalm 16.5
be vexed by Sathan for his Tryal Iob 1.12 And Paul had his Messenger of Sathan to try him to see what shift he could make with sufficient internal Grace against outward and vexatious evils 2 Cor. 12.7 8. Now it is better to undergo the fiery Tryal than the fiery Torment Tryed we are then but not destroyed Yea sometimes hurried to Death and yet we overcome Revel 12.11 Christ doth prevail upon opposition and by opposition When Sathans Instruments were killing Christians they were pulling down Sathans Throne and advancing Christs and when they were butchered and slaughtered yet they multiplyed 4. The Means and Manner of Victory is to be considered 1. Christ overcometh this Enmity by taking our Nature He might have destroyed him by his Divine Power but the Conquerer is the Seed of the Woman or the Son of God incarnate He conquered in the same Nature that was so lately foiled and thereby Sathans main design is crossed and counter-worked which was double Partly to make Man jealous of God as if he were envious of our Happiness and by this false representation to alienate our hearts and make a breach between us and him Gen. 3.5 God knoweth that in the day ye eat thereof ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil This way would he weaken the esteem of God in our Hearts but hereby we have a fuller manifestation of his love to make him the more amiable to us Rom. 5.8 But God commended his love to us that when we were sinners Christ dyed for us And Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And 1 Iohn 4.9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins We would be as God and Christ would be as Man Partly to depress the Nature of Man which in Innocency stood so near to God that was the end of his malicious suggestion But now 't is advanced and set up far above the Angelical Nature and admitted to dwell with God in a Personal Union Heb. 2.16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham The Nature of Man being only assumed by Christ the Angels are not concerned in it immediately Man had the benefit and honour put upon him especially in his glorified Estate Eph. 1.20 21. 2. By his Passion or Death on the Cross Heb. 2.14 For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is is the Devil Christ would not only take our Nature but also suffer in it so to frustrate and make void the Devils design which was to keep Men for ever under the power of Death wherein he had involved him He had brought Sin upon us and by Sin Death and in this Condition as the Executioner of Gods Curse he would still have held us but that Christ came to put us into a Condition of Holiness and Happiness and so make us capable of Eternal Life The Devil did not conquer Christ by Death but Christ did conquer the Devil When the Roman Soldiers were parting and spoiling his Garments he was spoiling Principalities and Powers 3. By his Resurrection and Ascension After he had been a Sacrifice for Sin by his Resurrection he overcame Death Hell and Sin and soon after he ascended into Heaven that he might triumph over the Devil and lead Captivity Captive Eph. 4.8 His Enemies were foiled upon the Cross but his Triumph over them was at his Ascension whereby he hath assured the World of his Conquest that he hath carried the day and gained an absolute and compleat Victory for our Lord in Heaven is out of the reach of Enemies as having done his work we are only left behind to scatter the Relicks of the Battle 4. By his sitting at the Right Hand of God he doth two things 1. He poureth out the Spirit endowing his Messengers with all Gifts and Graces ordinary and extraordinary to preach the Gospel to the Heathen World whereby the Old Religion by which the Devils Kingdom was supported went to wrack every where his Oracles were silenced his Superstitions suppressed No more the same Temples the same Rites the same Gods all fell before God as worshipped in Christ Iohn 16.11 The spirit shall convince the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged 'T is true in some parts of the World Sathan yet reigneth where Christ hath not pursued him with his Gospel or withdrawn his Gospel for the ingratitude of Men but where it cometh it prevaileth mightily and the World cannot resist its convincing power 2. By his Secret and Invisible Providence he defendeth his People and stilleth the Enemy and Avenger Christ as God incarnate having the grant of a Kingdom is every way furnished with power to maintain it by Means proper to the mediatory Dispensation by his Word Spirit and Providence this last we are upon All Judgment is put into his hands Iohn 5.22 Though there be many vicissitudes and changes in the outward Condition of the Church yet by invisible wayes God doth notably defeat Sathan and his Instruments And though there be ebbings and flowings of the two Kingdoms yet we have much experience that Christ is upon the Throne by his protecting strengthning and assisting his faithful People and prospering their just endeavours for the advancing of his Kingdom Sometimes he destroyeth Enemies Isa. 27.4 Who would set the briers and thornes against me in battle I would go through them and burn them together Sometimes he infatuateth their Counsels Iob 5.12 13. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot performe their enterprize He taketh the wise in his own craftiness and the counsel of the froward is carried head-long Sometimes he hideth his People in the secret of his Presence Psalm 31.20 Sometimes he blasts all their prosperity by an invisible Curse Iob 20.26 A fire not blown shall consume them Or else he divides them as you may read in 2 Chron. 20. Chapter 5. The Degree of the success How far is the Enemy and Avenger stilled I Answer 1. Non ratione essentiae not to take away his Life and Being No there is a Devil still and shall be when the whole work of Christs Redemption is finished for it is said of that time Revel 20.10 That the Devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and for ever So Matth. 25.41 Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels Then Eternal Judgment is executed on the
proper to the Mediatory Dispensation His Kingdom is to be a Spiritual Kingdom therefore his Means are suited his Spirit his Word his Providence 1. His sweet but powerful Spirit convincing Men of the Truth of his Religion And what can stand before the All-conquering force of it Iohn 16.8 9 10 11. And when he is come he shall reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Of sin because they believe not on me Of righteousness because I go to my Father and ye see me no more Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged He shall demonstrate to the World that Christ was the Messiah and therefore they are guilty of great sins who will not believe on him that he was a Righteous and Innocent Person and no Seducer Because he rose from the dead and went to the Father That he was an exalted Prince above Sathan or whatever was looked upon as Divine Powers because he converted most parts of the Habitable World and brought home Sinners from their Idolatries to Repentance and change of Life 2. His Word which is called the Rod of his strength Psalm 110.2 and the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 These Weapons are not Carnal but Mighty through God The World cannot resist its convincing Power 2 Cor. 10.4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down strong holds Those that feel it not fear it Iohn 3.20 Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light least his deeds should be reproved 3. His Providence All Judgment is put into his hands Iohn 5.22 All Events that fall out in the World they are not left to an uncertain contingency but under the Government of a Supream Providence which is in Christs hands 2. In the External Management of the Mediatorial Kingdom there are many vicissitudes and changes of the outward Condition of the Church The Harmony of Providence requireth it for the punishment of the Unthankful for the Tryal of the Sincere for the Reward of the Faithful and Destruction of the Ungodly Sometimes God doth notably defeat Sathan and his Instruments and the Devils Kingdom visibly goeth to wrack as at the first promulgation of the Gospel though the whole World lay in wickedness and Sathan every where had his Temples wherein he was worshipped his Oracles resorted to with great Reverence he ate the Fat of their Sacrifices drank the Wine of their Drink-Offerings yea often the Blood of their Sons and Daughters was offered to him yet all his strong holds were demolished the Idols whom their Fathers prayed to in their Adversity and Distresses and blest in their Prosperity are in a suddain set nought 3. Why this is great matter of praise and thankful acknowledgment 1. Because this is the great instance of the favour God hath put upon Man his dignifying of them above other Creatures that he would not wholly desert us in our faln Estate when the Devil had overthrown us by sin that the Son of God must come from Heaven to deliver us from the Bondage Sathan had led us into In our Redemption Titus 3.4 After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared Surely this is a great Mistery 1 Tim. 3.16 Christ made Man dyed for Men rose again carried our Nature into Heaven reigneth there over all his Enemies as God incarnate what will raise your hearts in thanksgiving if these things do not They are plain points they need no descants more than a Diamond doth painting 2. The many benefits that result to us thereby 1. A Capacity to serve and please God the most considerable part of the Creation had been else out of joynt God was robbed of the Use and Service of Mankind Luke 1.74 75. That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life We were in our Natural Estate governed and ruled by Sathan Eph. 2.3 4. easily taken Captive by him working upon the desires of our flesh 2 Tim. 2.26 we had no remorse for it nor desire to change our Condition Luke 11 21 22. All was in a sinful quiet and peace as when Wind and Tyde go together but now this carnal security is disturbed we are recovered and changed and made meet to serve and please God 2. A right to the Priviledges of the New Covenant which are Pardon and Life Acts 26.18 To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Sathan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified And Col. 1.12 13 14. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins 3. The Honour that redoundeth to God thereby By weak and despised Means God brings about the Ends of his Glory the Party delivered was faln Man who gave up at first Assault the Deliverer is Christ found in fashion as another Man 1 Cor. 1.25 The weakness of God is stronger than men That which in Mans Opinion hath least Wisdom Strength and Vertue in it that doth all By Man and Man crucified VSE If it be so great a Mercy see that you be partakers of it see that Sathans Power be destroyed as to your Souls Christ doth not only enter upon the World by Conquest but hath much to do with every individual Person before he can settle his Kingdom in their hearts There is a Combat between Christ and Sathan for the rescue of every Sinner and we are not easily brought to change Masters 'T is long e're we awaken 2 Tim. 2.26 That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil And after we are awakened e're we consent to part with our beloved Lusts. Now yield to him suffer him to save you You look to the outward Interest of Christ in the World and you do well but 't is easier to bring Men to own the True Religion than to bring them under the power of it The Victory we are concerned in is the taming our own flesh and overcoming the Corruptions and Carnal Inclinations or to set up Christs Government in the Heart where once Sathan ruled The Kingdom of Christ within us is most comfortable to us Luke 17.20 21. If once you are Christs you will most really be for his Interest in the World and there is an Enmity put into you Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between the two seeds 2. If it be so great a Mercy then do not loose it but use the Means appointed for your safety 1. By Baptisme you are ingaged for you are listed under Christs Banner we
Iehovah so saith Ieroboam Now where the Devil can get such a Party in the Church as shall not only set up but be mad upon Image worship who do more visibly promote his interest than they 3. That which is ascribed to Satan is bloody cruelty or seeking the destruction of Christ's most faithful Servants For he is called a Murderer from the beginning John 8.44 And Cain is said to be of that wicked one and slew his Brother And wherefore slew he him Because his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous Iohn 3.12 Enmity to the power of Godliness came from Satan and where ever it is incouraged and notoriously practised they are a party and confederacy of men governed and influenced by Satan Now where shall we find this Character but in Antichrist's confederacy Rev. 13.15 He caused that as many as would not worship the Image of the beast should be killed And again Rev. 17.5.6 The woman whose name was Mystery was drunken with the blood of the Saints and the blood of the Martyrs of Iesus And it hath been eminently fulfilled in the blood-shed of Germany France England and other Nations and all this to extinguish the Light and suppress the truth of Christ. O how many seeming Christians hath Satan imployed in these works of cruelty When once he had seduced the Church to errours and corrupted the Doctrine and Worship of Christ he presently maketh the erroneous Party Instruments of as cruel and bloody persecutions as were ever commenced by Infidels and Mahometans Witness their Murders upon so many thousands of the Waldenses and Albingenses whom they not only spoiled but slaughtered with all manner of hellish cruelty Some of their own Bishops complained they could not find Lime and Stone enough to build prisons for them nor defray the charges of their food The World was even amazed at their unheard of cruelties smoking and burning thousands of Men Women and Children some in Caves others at the Stakes and many other ways butchering them proclaiming Croisades against them and preaching the merit of Paradise to such bloody Butchers as had a mind to root them out Driving also multitudes to perish in Snowy Mountains What desolations they wrought in Bohemia what horrible Massacres in France What fires they kindled in England What cruelties they executed in Ireland and Piedmont If we should be silent Histories will speak and tell all Generations to come how little this Faction of Christians have of the Lamb-like Spirit of Christ Jesus and how unsatiable their thirst is for the blood of upright righteous men And then consider where the Sathanical Spirit ruleth and whether we have cause to be inamoured of Blood and Fire and Inquisitions 4. That which is ascribed to Satan is that he is the God of this World 2 Cor. 4.4 And again the Prince of this world John 12.31 John 16.11 He playeth the God and Prince here and sensual and worldly Souls are easily seduced by him The riches honours and wealth of this world are the great Instruments of his Kingdom And the men of this World whose portion is in this life are his proper Subjects As Christ is head of the Saints So is Satan of the wicked ungodly ambitious world St. Austin distinguisheth of two Cities of Ierusalem the City of God and Babylon which is the Incorporation which belongeth to Satan And therefore when you find any party of Christians who are of the World speak of the world and the World heareth them 1 Joh. 4.5 They that are to try the Spirits may soon see what to chuse and what to forsake Certainly the case is not doubtful where the head of that State without any warrant from Christ and with the apparent detriment and loss of Christianity exalteth himself above all that is called God and affecteth an ambitious tyranny and domineering over the Christian world both Princes Pastours and People And to uphold this Tyranny careth not what havock he maketh of the Churches of Christ and where the whole frame of their Religion is calculated for secular honour worldly Pomp and greatness 3. That it is God's purpose to set up one Kingdom and demolish the other not only in the hearts of particular men but in Kingdoms and Nations and Publick Societies Jesus Christ was appointed to be not only King of Saints Rev. 15.3 but King of Nations Jer. 10.7 And therefore not onely erect to himself a Throne and a government in the hearts of his People but to have his Religion owned and countenanced and supported by Nations and Kingdoms and publick Societies of men When Christ was promised to Abraham it was said Gen. 18.18 All the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him not only Persons but Nations So Isa. 55.5 Nations that knew not thee shall run to thee Isa. 60.12 The Nations and Kingdoms that would not serve thee shall perish Rev. 11.15 The Kingdoms of the world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. When Christ sent abroad the Apostles he said Matth. 28.19 Go teach all Nations They were not only to gain upon single persons but bring Nations to a publick owning of Christ. There is a personal acknowledgement of Christ when we receive him into our hearts Iohn 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God An Ecclesiastical acknowledgement of Christ when the Church as a Society is in visible covenant with him Ezek. 16.8 I sware unto thee and entred into covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine A National acknowledgement of Christ when his Religion is countenanced and supported by nations and befriended with the Laws and constitutions of Civil Government This is a great advantage Christ pray'd for it Iohn 17.21 23. That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us That the world may believe that thou hast sent me I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the World may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me By believing there is meant common conviction He had promised it before Iohn 16.8 When he is come he will reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Iudgement It is a great advantage when the Potentates of the Earth set open the doors to Christ and are careful of his interest in the world 4. When true Religion is thus received such an advantage should not be lost or carelessly looked after Partly because it is with much adoe that Christ gets up in the World not only by the labours of his Servants but by their deep sufferings As the Chief Captain said to Paul With a great sum obtained I this freedom Act. 22.28 So this Liberty was not only purchased by the Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. But with the expence of many oâ his Servants lives who counted not their interest dear
particular Mercy of a dwelling place and to Gods providence in and about our habitations And so it is of use to us 1. When we want a dwelling place Or 2. When we have one 1. When we want a dwelling place or such an one as may be safe and commodious for us A Child of God should not be dismayed nor altogether without hope as if God could not provide a dwelling place for him Now now is the time for God to shew himself most eminently to be an habitation Neither through ignorance and unbelief should we conclude our selves to be forgotten and forsaken of him We are very apt to do so and it is a great temptation when we are shiftless and harbourless Isa 49.14 Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Therefore I shall lay down some Considerations 1. Consider God's general Providence The Apostle telleth us that he hath determined concerning all Men the times before appointed and the bounds of their Habitation Act. 17.26 When and where Men shall live They do not flit up and down by chance but by God's Providence They are not born by chance nor do they die by chance nor live here and there by chance Some in this climate some in that in Europe or Asia or America That one possesseth so much another so little all is under God's guidance and direction As God divided the Land of Canaan by Lot which is a kind of appeal to God Iosh. 14.2 So the whole World is carved out by God's direction He inlargeth and streightneth Nations and Persons according to his own pleasure The generality of Men indeed are spilt upon the great Common of the Earth by a looser Providence but there is a more especial care about his people They are the Salt of the Earth and the light of the World Mat. 5.13 14. God sprinkleth them and scattereth them here and there for use and service They are his Jewels A Man is more careful of them than of ordinary and common Utensils And among them as any are more useful so they are more under his special care As the journeys of the Apostles were guided by the Spirit as well as their Doctrine The Spirit moved them or the Spirit suffered them not Act. 17.7 They assayed to go into Bithynia but the Spirit suffered them not Therefore certainly God taketh notice of their condition and in every place where they are scattered he will provide subsistance for them while he hath service and work for them to do and will follow them in all the places of their dispersion with the testimonies of his love and respect Psal. 99.14 For the Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance Men often cast them off as unworthy to be Members of the Church or any civil Corporation Yet God will not cast them off He may suffer them to be exercised and tryed but because of his interest in them he will take care of them 2. Consider his Covenant and Promise God offereth to be his peoples dwelling place and they chuse him and use him as such The Covenant is both expressive of God's Grace and our Duty what God is and what the Saints should make him to be how they should use him and imploy him God undertaketh to be our Habitation and we accordingly must address our selves to him for this benefit See Psal. 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty The qualification and the priviledge are both expressed there almost in the same terms implying that if we will take God to be to us what he offereth to be and what he hath promised to be we shall find him actually and indeed to be so when need shall require it and we make use of him for that end Therefore why should a Believer doubt of safety comfort and rest It is not any other priviledge that is promised viz. that he that dwelleth in God shall have more Grace or Heaven at least No but he shall dwell in God Nor is it any other qualification that is required whether love or fear or exact obedience but he that dwelleth in God Now when this duty and this priviledge are suited use God as an Habitation and he becometh so As delight is rewarded with delight Isa. 58.12 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my Holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the Holy of the Lord honourable c. Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord And courage or strength of Heart is rewarded with strength of Heart Psal. 27.14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy Heart Psal. 31.24 Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your Heart all ye that hope in the Lord. So dwelling in God is rewarded with dwelling in God For God loveth to make good the undertaking of Faith and will every way answer his peoples expectation Surely this should incourage us that our priviledge and our duty are so near of kin And that God promiseth much and requireth little only that we should own him by Faith to be what he is and what he hath promised to be Dwell in God and you shall dwell in God in all dangers and distreââs you shall have a safe and comfortable lodging in him Our dangers that compass us about are great and every day grow more and greater and therefore will easily invite us to seek a safe refuge God Almighty only requireth that he may be this refuge trust him and you shall have all that trust can expect from him Among Men protection costs dear every private Man that he may be protected by the Government he liveth under is willing to support it with a good part of his estate God that protects our Soul and Body desireth only that he may be trusted with the keeping of both and then he will be to us whatsoever Faith will have him to be Use God as your Habitation and he becometh so 3. Consider the constant experience of the Saints In the Text Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations He hath been so to his people living in every place and in every Age. When their Fathers were travellers in a strange Country God was a dwelling place to them To Abraham Isaac and Iacob when they were in Egypt when in Gerar and when in Padaâ-aram By one means or other they were still driven up and down in the World sometimes by special command sometimes by some judgment as by Famine But still God provided a place of shelter for them So for themselves in all their troubles and travels in Egypt there was a Goshen provided for them there In the Wilderness they had Tents and Quails and Mannah that fell round about them God kept a Market for them in the Wilderness and sent in provisions from Heaven Now they gather confidence in their remaining troubles and
Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith Observe there the saving of Noah from the Flood is a Type and Shadow of Salvation by Christ. The Flood drowned and destroyed the Impenitent World but Noah and his Family were saved in the Ark. We are warned of the Eternal Penalties threatned by God if we do not repent and believe we shall not be saved from wrath but if we believe and prepare an Ark diligently use the means appointed for our safety then we become Hâirs of the Righteousness of Faith are accepted by God and have a right to all the Benefits which depend thereupon It was a business of vast charge and an eminent piece of self-denying Obedience to prepare an Ark. So true Faith sheweth it self by Obedience We read of the Obedience of Faith Rom. 16.26 as the Fruit of the Gospel 3. With respect to it's Rule and Warrant And that is the Gospel and New Covenant called the Word of Faith Rom. 10.8 The Hearing of Faith Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the Hearing of Faith The Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 This is the Doctrine which iâ believed Now all that the new Covenant requireth may be called the Righteousness of Faith For look as to be justified by the Law or Works required by the Law is all one So to be justined by Faith and to be justified by the new Covenant is all one also And therefore whatever the new Covenant requireth as our Duty that we may be capable of the Priviledges thereof is a part of the Righteousness of Faith Now it requireth Repentance from dead Works Acts â7 30 He hath commanded all men to repent because he will judge the World in Righteousness We are to repent in order to the Judgment which will be either of Condemnation or Justification So the new Covenant requireth Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Iohn 5.24 He that believeth in Christ shall not come into Condemnation So it requireth new Obedience Heb. 5.9 He is become the Author of Eternal Salvation to them that obey him None are qualified for Eternal Liâe but those who perform sincere Obedience to his commands It is not absolutely perfect Obedience that is required but only sincere and upright And there is a necessity that we should be sincerely Holy not only in order to Salvation but Pardon 1 Iohn 1.7 If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the Blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin And in order to the Application of the Blood of Christ to our Souls or to the obtaining of the Gift of the Spirit or any new Covenant Gift Act. 5.32 We are his Witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him Well then these are the Conditions to be found in us before we are made partakers of the full Benefit of Christs Merit Repentance towards God Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and new Obedience And all these are comprized in the Expression The Righteousness of Faith For Faith receiveth Christ and the Promises made to us in Christ upon the Terms and Conditions required in the Gospel Only these things are of a different Nature and concur differently The Obedience of Christ in a way by it self of Merit and Satisfaction Faith Repentance and our Obedience only in a way of Application And in the Application the Introduction is by Faith and Repentance and the continuance of our right by new Obedience Yea in the Introduction Repentance respects God and Faith Christ Act. 20.21 Testifying both to Jews and also to the Greeâs Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Iesus Christ. We return to God as our chief good and soveraign Lord that we may love serve and obey him and be Happy in his Love Faith respects Christ as Redeemer and Mediator who hath opened the way for our return by his Merit and Satisfaction or Reconciliation wrought between us and God and given us an Heart to return by the renewing Grace of his Spirit Coming to God and being accepted with God is our end Christ is our way And indeed in the Righteousness of Faith the chiefest part belongeth to him who by his Blood hath procured this Covenant for us for whose sake only God giveth us Grace to repent believe and obey and after we have done our Duty doth for his sake only accept of us and give us our Reward These are not Co-ordinate Causes but he is the Supream cause all that we do is subordinate to his Merit and Obedience II. What is the Hope built upon it or the things hoped for by Vertue of this Righteousness And they are Pardon and Life 1. Certainly Pardon of Sins is intended in the Righteousness of Faith As appeareth by that of the Apostle Rom. 4.6 7 8. David describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without works saying Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose Sins are covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin If this be the Description of the Righteousness of Faith or the Priviledges which belong thereunto for now we are upon the Hope of the Righteousness of Faith then certainly Remission of Sins is a special branch of this Felicity 2. There is also in it Salvation or Eternal Life Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his Grace we should be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal Life The Crown of Glory is for the justified called therefore the Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 You have both together Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of Sins an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith These two Benefits are most necessary the one to allay the fears of the guilty Creature the other to gratifie his desires of Happiness Therefore the Apostles when they planted the Gospel they propounded this Motive of forgiveness of Sins Acts 13.38 Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of Sins And also the other of Life Eternal 2 Tim. 1.10 That Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel These two Benefits give us the greatest support and comfort against all kind of troubles Our Troubles are either inward or outward Against troubles of Mind or inward Troubles we are supported by the Pardon of our Sins Mat. 9.2 Son be of good cheer thy Sins be forgiven thee Against outward troubles we are supported by the Hopes of a better Life being secured to us 2 Cor. 4.17 18. For our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Again both are eminently accomplished at the last Judgement when the Righteousness of
slack who doth not come at the due and appointed time The time is set though unknown to us and accordingly it shall be kept God puts not off his coming not an hour after the time Heb. 10.37 out of Hab. 2.3 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry How much how much ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He will not stay a moment after the time appointed 2. It is not ignorance as not knowing the fittest time when to put a period to the course of the World or of our Lives That cannot be imagined for his waiting is guided by judgment Isa. 30.18 He waiteth that he may be gracious for he is a God of Iudgment He delayeth till the fit time come of putting an end to the troubles of the Faithful and the sins of the Wicked for he guideth all things with Wisdom and will take hold of the fittest season and occasion of putting his designs in action 3. It is not from forgetfulness of his promise For he is ever mindful of his Holy Covenant Psal. 111.5 He hath promised to come to accomplish the deliverance of his own and the punishment of the wicked and he doth not forget what he hath promised 4. Not from change of Counsel For he is Jehovah that changeth not Men change out of the mutability of their Nature or because they have not a due foresight of all possible difficulties But 1 Sam. 15.29 The Strength of Israel will not Lie nor Repent for he is not a Man that he should repent 5. Not from impotency and weakness as if he could not execute what he hath promised That among Men is the cause of delay Men must do as they can Sometimes they must be patient perforce they want strength to punish when they have a just cause and a good mind to it As when David had a strong mind to punish and put Ioab to death for the murthering of Abner but Ioab was too potent 2 Sam. 3.39 I am this day weak though Anointed King and these Men the Sons of of Zeruiah are too hard for me They had too strong a party in the Army and among the Soldiers But this case is not incident to God who is able to dissolve all things in an instant at the beck and nod of his Will 2. By assignment of the true cause why the World and the present State of things is not dissolved 1. Many that belong to the purposes of Gods Grace are not yet born and come into the World And all things in the World are continued and preserved with a subserviency to Gods Decrees This you shall find in that sometimes Providences are shortned Mat. 24.22 For the Elects sake those days shall be shortened that the Nation might not wholly be wasted and worn out that they might not have too great a trial God had Elect among them whom he would preserve the chosen among the Jews whom God would gather in the appointed time But on the contrary here in the Text time is enlarged for their sakes All particular providences wherein they are concerned are dispensed with this reference Rom. 8.28 And all that act under God are carried on with this encouragement For the Apostle saith 2 Tim. 2.10 Wherefore I indure all things for the Elects sake that they may also obtain the Salvation which is in Christ Iesus with Eternal Glory Surely the Apostle knew what was his Masters business and for what end the Gospel was to be Preached whatever became of the Messengers I endure all things for the Elects sake Providence being continued for their sakes he was to continue his labours in the Gospel whatever entertainment he met with 2. Many of them are not yet converted They are as yet brands lying in the burning hidden in the polluted Mass of Mankind and God will draw them forth for Iohn 6.27 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me And God will draw them forth in a way suitable to his Glory and their temper as men Which requireth time till they come to years of discretion and pains to work upon their Souls by commands threatnings and promises and alluring motives and sometimes disappointments in their worldly concernments and every one of these multiplied one after another And after many refusals of his renewed offers and slighting means they are at length gained and overcome by his powerful love Observe here two things 1. That God gaineth the Elect by the same means which are propounded to the Reprobate He dealeth in common with mankind in the external means shewing no more favour to the one than to the other They both it may be live under the same Ministry yet one is taken and the other is left Observe 2. That it is long ere many of the Elect are gained They may withstand many a call both from Gods Word and Providence But because it is night for the present we cannot say that it will never be day And then when they are gained it requireth some time to bring them to that measure of Grace that God hath intended to work in them that he may fit them for glory and we may grow into that perfect age which we are appointed unto in Christ Eph. 4.13 Till we all come to a perfect Man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The edification of the body of Christ is a work that is still kept afoot until all that are given to Christ of the Father be effectually called and united with Christ the Head and every one of them attain to their full and perfect measure of Spiritual growth And so long the World indureth 3. The Wicked by this forbearance of God are rendered more inexcusable 1. Because while they are in this life there is place for Repentance It is a great Mercy that they are not presently cut off and destroyed but that God giveth them opportunities of breaking off their sin by Repentance Rev. 2.21 I gave her space to repent and she repented not If God doth not suddenly execute judgment upon them their crime is the greater It was a favour not vouchsafed to the Angels they were executed quickly 2 Pet. 2.4 God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto the judgment The Angels were the most glorious Creatures yet when they sinned against God they were presently in termino in their final estate Man is yet in via in the way to a better estate For God to bâttâr to pieces vessels of Gold as soon as they had the least crack and flaw in them and spare Earthen Vessels this is the wonder of his Mercy Therefore it should be esteemed as a great favour and indulgence that he doth not presently thrust down sinners to Hell as soon they do provoke him much more that he hath provided a remedy and offereth pardon to them and hath not secluded them from all possibility and hopes
of recovery for ever 2. God provideth great helps and means of Repentance for them For he hath sent his Messengers into all parts of the Earth and commanded every one to Repent and prepare for the judgment Act. 17.30 And the times of their ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all Men every where to Repent because he hath appointed a day c. So that the World now perisheth for rejecting the means tending to recover them The sins of the Nations were not so great till God sent them the means When the Lord giveth any people the means to Repent their sin is the more aggravated and their judgment is the greater for the rejection of the means is a sin not only against our duty but our remedy and a vile ingratitude and obstinacy which hath no cloak and colour of excuse For though Men have an impotency of Nature and cannot convert themselves without the internal efficacy and power of the Holy Ghost yet the impotency of nature doth not necessitate men to wallow in a course of sin against the light of Conscience and to put away the means by which they might be reformed III. What encouragement there is from Gods long-suffering to induce Men to Repentance And 1. Gods forbearance and continuing of some Grace to us possesseth all Mens Minds with this apprehension that he is gracious merciful willing to be reconciled if we will but accept of terms agreeable to his glory and our good Therefore it is said that the goodness of God leadeth to Repentance Rom. 2.4 For wherefore should he defer vengeance and forbear so long to punish thy sinful course but only that thou mayest bethink thy self and make thy peace He could destroy thee in an instant and why doth he not but to see if thou wilt yet repent and love him and serve him If a Man were under a sentence of Death and the execution were delayed and put off from day to day would not he think it were a fit time to interpose by supplication and obtain his pardon Surely we should gather the like conclusion and make supplication to our Judge 2. The incouragement is the greater that we have not only time and life but many mercies forfeited mercies continued to us Such as food raiment friends house liberties health peace What do all these do but invite us to God For whosoever hath the Heart of a Man would be thankful to his benefactour Yea the very Beasts express a gratitude in their kind to them that feed them Isa. 1.3 The Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib The duâlest of the Bruit Beasts will take notice of such as feed them and make much of them And shall not we take notice of God and be obsequious to him from whom we have received all our supplies our Lord and Owner who hath fed us and most kindly intreated us Hosea 11.4 I drew them with the Cords of a Man the Bands of love Unless we renounce humanity we cannot but look upon our selves as having strong bands upon us obliging us to duty and mindfulness of God 3. These mercies do not harden in their own nature but meerly by the sinners abuse of them For in their own nature they have a fitness and tendency to recover Men to the Love and Service of God but through our abuse they become snares and intangle us in the service of the Flesh. In the Creature there is something good to lead us up to God who is the first and chief good something imperfect uncertain and unsatisfactory to drive us off from it âelf Is there any thing comfortable in the creature Whence came it Who put it there Common Mercies point to their Author if we would recollect our selves and receive them with thanksgiving Is there vanity and vexation in it Why is it but that the Creatures may not detain us from God that we may not sit on the Threshold when we may come before the Throne Our great fault is loving the Creature above the Creator Now the Creature is imbittered and is an occasion of so much vexation and trouble that we may not rest in it self All the good that is in the Creature is an image of that perfect good which is in God Now who would leave the substance to follow the Shadow As if a Virgin wooed should fall in love with the Messengers of a great King and despise the person himself There is a sweetness in these things mixed with imperfection the sweetness to draw us to God the imperfection to drive us off from the Creatures to make us look âigher They do as it were say to us We cannot satisfie you you must seek for happiness in that God that made us and you Now Men are inexcusable if after all this they forsake God for the Creature Ier. 2.13 My People have committed two evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of living Waters and have hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no Water 4. God hath provided a remedy for us by Christ. Whereby he would astonishingly oblige Man to seek after his own Salvation Iohn 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life There is love to the World in it there is man-kindness in it Tit. 3.4 After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward Man appeared A propitiation for the whole World 1 Iohn 2.2 He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World Here is a sufficient foundation for this truth that whosoever believeth shall be saved If after all this Man shall be negligent vain careless unmindful of his misery or remedy his own Conscience will bear witness against him that the cause of his sin and the hinderance of his recovery is from himself and from his own obstinacy and impenitency Hosea 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy hope God is not to be blamed for our destruction it is of our own procuring There was help in God but they would not accept it 5. Affected scruples whether this be intended to us are a sin and do not disoblige us from our duty They are a sin because secret things do not belong to us but the open declarations of God concerning our duty Deut. 29.29 Secret things belong unto the Lord but those things which are revealed belong unto us and our Children Let us perform our duty and the secret purposes of God will be no bar and hinderance to us To betray a known duty by a scruple is the part of an erring and deceitful Heart God may do what he pleaseth but we must do what he hath commanded This is the only true principle that will inable us to carry our work through to the last 6. God hath appointed means which during the time of his patience are liberally vouchsafed to us and we being
they subsist after Life and have a Being is their firm Perswasion And therefore are wont to assign to the dead part of the goods which they possessed And Acosta telleth us that in Peru they are wont to kill some of their Slaves to attend the dead in the World to come Thus in a manner all Nations have received this Tradition from hand to hand from their Ancestors and the nearer to the first Original of Mankind the more clear and pressing hath been the conceit hereof Lapse of time which decayeth all things hath not been able to deface it out of the Minds of Men who though they have been gradually depraved and degenerated according to the distance by which they have been removed from their first Originals yet they could never blot out the sense of an Estate after this Life An universal Tradition is some Argument when there can be no solid and indubitable Reasons brought to convince it of falsity Now such is this spread throughout the Universe and with extream forwardness received of all Nations and hath born up against all the encounters of Time and constantly maintained it self in the midst of so many Revolutions of Humane Affairs by which many other things were lost 2. All men have believed that there is a God and very few doubted but that He is a Rewarder of Virtue and Punisher of Vice Now neither the one nor the other is fully accomplished in this World even in the Judgment of those who have no great Knowledge of the Nature of Sin nor what Punishment is competent thereunto Therefore there must be some state after this Life in which this retributive Justice of punishing the Bad and rewarding the Good shall be manifested For here Providence seemeth to be darkned and the World is offended with the Calamities of the Good and Prosperity of the Wicked 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this Life only we have Hope in Christ Iesus we are of all men most miserable 3. If there be an end of man when he dieth Why is man afraid of Torments after Death Heb. 2.15 Deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to bondage Men fear Deaâh not as a natural Evil as it terminateth our present Comforts but as a Penal Evil as it is an Entrance to unknown Sorrows 1 Cor. 15.56 The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law What 's the Reason of these stings of Conscience which are never so sensible and quick as when they approach near Death or behold themselves in some imminent danger What are these but presaging fears which anticipate miseries after this life If there were an utter end of men these troubles should in Reason then vanish But this is the Time when these Alarums are redoubled and those Tempests increase their Violence 2. The Light of Christâanity doth much more discover it That 's properly a Doctrine of things unseen That telleth us of a Prison where are the Spirits of Wicked men 1 Pet. 3.19 Of a Palace or Mansions in our Fathers House where are the Spirits of Just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 On the one hand it telleth us of a Worm that never dieth of a Fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 On the other side of Joys that are at the right hand of God for evermore Psal. 16.11 That Christ died to free us from the wrath to come 1 Thess. â 10 And purchased Heaven for us 1 Thess. 5.10 And is gone to Heaven to seise upon it in our Name Iohn 14.2 3. Having first left a sure Promise of Eternal Life to all that believe in him 1 Iohn 2.25 Which âromise was outwardly confirmed by divers Miracles accompanying them that went abroad to make this offer in his Name Heb. 2.3 4. Inwarâly in the Hearts of his People by giving them the first fruits of this Everlasting Estate in their Union with himself Col. 1.27 And the Joys of his Spirit which are therefore said to be full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 These are Truths interweaved throughout the whole Body of Christianity Now discourse but with your selves 1. Parâly concerning the thing it self Partly 2. Concerning the certainty of your Hope 1. Concerning the certainty of the thing it self Is the whole Scripture false The Gospel a Fable Are all the Oracles of the Prophets the Doctrine of Christ his Miracles Resurrection Ascension but a Dream Were they all deceived that followed Christ upon these Hopes That took such pains in subduing the Flesh And hazarding their Interests freely upon the Hopes of another World Are the wisest sort of men the World ever saw Fools All the Ordinances of Christ a customary Superstition Is Grace a Fancy The Joys of the Spirit Delusions or phantastical Impressions These rejoicings and foretasts of the Children of God a meer Deceit and Imposture Surely it cannot be that all this Solemnity should be used to establish a vain Conceit 2. Excite and work up your own Faith and Hope Is there not a state of Blessedness reserved for me in the Heavens Invisible and Glorious things which I am bound to seek after Thou hast not Possession but thou hast the Grant the Deed of Gift sealed thou hast the Conveyance to shew Gods own Word and Promise to assure thee Yea 't is not nudum pactum God hath given thee the Earnest of a greater summ 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the Earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts What should I do then but look for it long for it and earnestly seek after it Use II. Is for Reproof 1. To the Incredulous and Unbelieving to whom all Invisible Things seem a Fancy Scoffing Atheists they will not believe there is an Heaven or an Hell till they see them In the face of the Visible Church there may be such and in the latter times there shall be many such 2 Pet. 3.4 But in Hell there are none such because then matters of Faith are matters of feeling and to their bitter cost they find the Truth of what they doubted of To these I shall say God hath always tried his People and distinguished them from others by respect to things not seen Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by the which he condemned the World and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith By this he condemned the World at his costly Industry and care to frame an Ark but whilest he provided for his safety they perished in their Sins Must every thing be seen before we fear it or hope for it Why then do men provide for time to come so long before hand Why for Old-Age in Youth Why for Winter in Summer As the Industry of the Ant is recommended for our Imitation Prov. 6.6 7 8. Go to the Ant thou Sluggard consider her ways and be wise Which having no Guide Overseer or Ruler provideth her Meat in
Father A Prodigal Child hath some Encouragement from his Relation though his Manners be not answerable Luke 15.18 I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants And he arose and came to his Father But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him A Father will not be âevere to a returning Prodigal as God is not to penitent Sinners 2. But this is not all it is not a prodigal Son a rebellious Son that is here considered who by Moses's Law might be turned out of Doors and stoned Deut. 21.18 19 20 21. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son that will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and when they have chastened him will not hearken to them then shall his father and mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of his City and unto the gate of his place and they shall say unto the elders of his City This our son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our voice he is a gluton and a drunkard And all the men of his City shall stone him with stones that he shall die Such a Law did God make against Disobedience to Parents And if Children put off all respect of natural Duty Parents were to put off all Bowels and Compassion towards them But this is not the case here It is a good Child that is here spoken of His own Son that serveth him When a Son is dutiful for the main a Parent will not be harsh and severe to him upon every failing What ever Men are to Slaves or to the Children of others who serve them yet they cannot so divest themselves of the Heart of a Parent as to be inexorable to their own Children and correct them severely for a lesser fault This is the Expression that God useth to set forth his Indulgence and Compassion towards them that fear him Doct. That God's sparing his Children notwithstanding their manifold Infirmities is one of the Choice Priviledges of them that fear him I shall discuss this Point in this method 1. I will shew you what it is to spare 2. That this is a choice Priviledge 3. The Grounds and Reasons of this Indulgence or Sparing that he useth towards them 4. The Qualification of the Persons I. What it is to spare them It is seen on two occasions when he cometh to accept them and when he cometh to afflict them In accepting their imperfect Services and not correcting them at all or correcting them in Measure and in Mercy 1. Sometimes Sparing is spoken of in Scripture with respect to some Judgment to be inflicted and so it is an Act flowing from Mercy withdrawing or moderating deserved Judgments For we by Sin deserve the sharpest Dispensations of God's Anger and Wrath and so God is said to spare as with-holding or withdrawing the Judgment Ioel 2.17 Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach Sometimes as Moderating when he doth not stir up all his Wrath As it is sweet to find Mercy remembred in Wrath and that he will moderate the Judgment to us and make it more sufferable Ezra 9.13 Thou hast punished us less than our Iniquities deserve 2. At other times Sparing is spoken of with respect to a Duty to be accepted We need to be spared in our best Actions they being defective and defiled Nehemiah prayeth Nehem. 13.22 Remember me O my God! concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy He speaketh this when he had procured God's holy Ordinances to be duly observed he pleadeth no Merit before God but desireth rather to be spared and forgiven for he was conscious to his own many Failings Well then God spareth when he forgiveth our Sins and pardoneth the manifold Imperfections of our Services II. That this is a choice Priviledge So it will appear to be if we consider 1. The holy Nature of God 2. The strictness and purity of his Law both as to the Precept and Sanction 3. Our incapacity of appearing in the Judgment 4. The sense which Conscience hath of Sin All these must be considered because usually Men heal their Wounds slightly and afterwards they fester into a more dangerous Sore And again we are not affected with God's pardoning Mercy because we do not see with what difficulty it is brought about 1. The holy Nature and Justice of God His Nature inclineth him to hate Sin and his Justice to punish it Ioshua 24.19 Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins This he speaketh not to discourage them but that they might not have slight thoughts of God and his Service as if he would be put off with any thing and would lightly and easily pardon their Errors Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity That is without taking Vengeance of it The least Sin is an Offence to God so pure and holy 1 Sam. 6.20 Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God That is this God who is so jealous of his Institutions All this is mentioned to shew that God doth not make little reckoning of Sin and that which lesseneth the benefit of Pardon in our thoughts is usually some abasing of the Nature of God It is not from magnifying his Mercy as it is discovered in Christ and the New Covenant but from some wrong conceit of God as if he were not so Just and Holy as he is represented to be Psal. 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self Because he doth not always inflict Punishment they think Sin is no such great matter and not so hateful to God as indeed it is Oh no! God that is so willing to spare his People notwithstanding their Infirmities doth not cease to be Holy nor his Law leave off to be Righteous Therefore this is the means to heighten this Priviledge 2. The Purity and Strictness of his Law both as to the Precept and Sanction 1. The Precept which reacheth to the Soul and the Operations of every Faculty Thoughts Purposes and Desires as well as Words and Actions Therefore when David had admired the Purity of the Law he adds Psal. 19.12 Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from sâcret faults Oh the multitude of our Errors that we know And the multitude of them we know not But God knoweth them How imperfect is our Obedience How many times have we transgressed this holy Law of God Many Failings we do not observe and those which we do observe we are not able to enumerate If we were to be
his Love mentioned in the former Verse God's Children incourage themselves with his hidden Favour though to appearance God covereth himself with wrath and frowns His present severity cannot perswade them that all his Mercy is lost and clean gone and forgotten They can see it in God's Heart though they see it not in his Hand and it be not visible to their own Sense Though they feel him as an Enemy yet they will trust him as a Friend They know he will spare them even then when he pursueth them with the strokes of his wrath For Articles of Faith are not to be laid aside because of the contradiction of Sense 2. There is some sparing even in his striking for if he bring one Evil to prevent a greater Evil to save us from Eternal Misery that is Mercy He striketh for a while that he may spare for ever 1 Cor. 11.32 For when we are judged we are Chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World A Man would be pulled out of the deep Waters though it be by the Hair of his Head and his Arm broken in the Rescue If he take away any good thing from us to bestow some greater good we have no cause to complain for surely the greater should be preferred before the lesser and the felicity of the Soul in Grace and Glory should be preferred before the good of the Body God had neither spared nor saved any if he had not blasted their Worldly happiness Surely God doth not envy to us our Worldly Comforts but taketh them from us when they are likely to do us hurt 2. Use. To shew us the privilege of them that fear God or have a Son-like and Child-like affection to him He speaketh not here of the first Grace infused into the Penitent but of those that are already admitted into his Family Surely their Privilege is exceeding great 1. They need not be discouraged in their Duties though they be imperfect God will not call them to a strict account Christ when he Feasts with his Spouse he will eat the Honey with the Honey-comb Cant. 5.1 he accepts all heartily He that forgave all their Sins at first will excuse their infirmities They shall be tenderly dealt with all and their failings passed over as a Parent passeth over an Escape in an Obedient Son Alas if God did not spare us for our best Works and choicest Services who could stand Our Duties need a Pardon as well as those actions which are down right Sins for they are mixed with Sin 2. That he will spare us as to Afflictions and Judgments 1. Sometimes God may spare others for their sakes as he offereth to spare Sodom if there were Fifty Righteous Persons found in it Gen. 18.26 If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the City I will spare all the place for their sakes Afterwards the number was brought down to Ten vers 32. So God gave to Paul the lives of all that sailed with him in the Ship Acts 27.24 though in that Eminent danger for his sake 2. When he cometh to reckon with the Nation or the Community in which they live he many times spared them and they are not swept away in the common Judgment Isa. 3.10 Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him God will put a difference between them and others not always but when he pleaseth God may protect them in calamitous Times The Lord knows how to do it how to make Distinctions 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of Temptation 3. If they are involved in the common Judgment as two dry Sticks may set a green on Fire they may see some Moderation and Glimpses of favour Habb 3.2 That in the midst of Wrath God remembers Mercy Either it is sanctified or they are supported under it or the Evil is mitigated 4. If the worst fall out yet they are spared because they are not cast into Hell If they are not exempted from Temporal Judgments yet they are delivered from Wrath to come and that should satisfy Christians Heb. 10.39 We believe to the saving of the Soul 1. Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your Faith even the Salvation of your Souls Though the Body and its Interests be endamaged yet the Soul is saved which is our great hope 3. Use is to Instruct us in our Duty with respect to this choice Privilege 1. Let us be affected with the Love of God that he will spare us as a Man spareth his own Son If God should deal with us according to the merit of our Sins and be strict upon us what would become of the best of us Surely God seeth all our Failings Heb. 4.12 All things are naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do And doth disallow them and is displeased with them 2 Sam. 11.27 But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. If you deny the first you deny his being if you deny the second you debase his Holiness and Righteousness And his Law Condemneth them as worthy of punishnishment Gall. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Whence then cometh our safety From the New Covenant founded in Christ's Blood by which the Sentence of Condemnation is vacated Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ. This Sentence is repealed by a new act of God's great Mercy and Favour in the New Covenant 2. Let us believe the certainty of it on the Grounds before-mentioned viz. the merciful Nature of God the design of the Gospel is to represent him Amiable to Man 1 Iohn 4.8 God is love The satisfaction of Christ 1 Iohn 4.10 God sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins His gracious Covenant Psal. 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant His Fatherly Goodness Ier. 3.4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me My father thou art the guide of my youth 3. Keep your Qualification clear Besides the Ransom our Uprightness must be interpreted Iob 33.23 24. If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down into the pit for I have found a ransom If we do not continue to fear God or abate our Reverence towards him we lose our Comfort Therefore if you would stand right in God's favour our Love and Fear must be increased towards this good God And if he will stand upon the exactness of his Law we must not stand upon our own Interests and the Gratifications of the Flesh. We should not spare any beloved Lust or Interest so we may please and glorifie God A Sermon on 2 TIM ii 19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every
reasoned of righteousness c. In the Words we have an account 1. Of the Matter of Paul's Sermon 2. The Effect and Fruit of it 1. Felix trembled 2. Delayed and put it off Go thy way c. I. The Matter 1. In General it was concerning faith in Christ or the Christian Religion 2. In Particular three Heads are mentioned Righteousness Temperance Iudgment to come He made choice of these Heads as plainest and easiest to be understood and as a proper and suitable Argument for Felix was publickly stained with Vices contrary to these Virtues he was Brother of Pallas and one well known to the Emperour Claudius He was in his Magistracy very unjust acquiring great Riches by Bribes Tacitus reporteth him Infamous for this And he and Drusilla were Intemperate and Incontinent living in Adultery and he using her as a Wife who was another Man's Paul was not ignorant of this We must not shoot at Rovers but aim at a certain Mark in our Ministry A Physician that cometh to Cure doth not use at adventure one Remedy for all Diseases but Medicines proper to the Malady of the Patient The Method of converting Sinners requireth this to shew what Men must be that may stand in the Judgment Holy Just and Temperate II. The Effect and Fruit on Felix part Of Drusilla there is nothing spoken she being a Jewess this Doctrine was not new and strange to her but having heard it often is not moved by it through hardness of Heart But of Felix we read two Things 1. His Trembling ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he is all in an Agony made up all of Fear 2. His Delay and Put-off Go thy way 't is a civil denial and baffle put upon Conscience Conviction not improved usually makes a Man turn Devil he might have cast him into Irons but he rageth not It fared worse with Ionathan the High-Priest as Iosâphus telleth us when he had reproved Felix for his Injustice and Bribery he sent Assassines to murder him who mingling themselves with his Servants and making a Broil in his Family killed him so that the principal Author and Design of the Murder was not known It fared better with Paul 1. Partly from the force of the present Conviction it was so strong that he could not gain-say but only seeketh to elude the Importunity of it by the Dream of a more convenient Season 2. Partly from some mixture of his Sin Vers. 26. He hoped that money should have been given him of Paul ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Text in the Greek joyneth his Fear and Avarice together being afraid he bids Paul depart but hoped also that Money should have been given This expecting a Gift as it obstructed his Conviction so it broke his Rage and therefore he useth Paul the more civilly Doctr. That a Carnal Man may be deeply affected with the Christian Doctrine even to great Agonies of Conscience and yet finally miscarry This is evident in the Instance of Felix who trembled but yet delayed shaketh off the force of Paul's Sermon by a pretence of business and continueth in his Sin for after this he expecteth a Bribe and because that came not to pleasure the Jews he left Paul in Bonds 1. I shall speak of the Nature of this Trembling or Agony of Conscience which is here ascribed to Felix 2. The Cause of it God's Word in the General and in Particular the Doctrine of the Last Judgment 3. The Effects and Fruit how it doth or may come to nothing I. What is this Trembling ascribed to Felix Trembling at the Word of God is made a Fruit and Effect of Special Grace Isa. 66.2 To this man will I look even to him that it poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word And Ezra attempting a Reformation gathered to him all that trembled at the Words of the Lord God of Israel Ezra 10.3 I Answer We must distinguish of a Fear sanctifying and a Fear only awakening for a time of a Fear that is a Grace and a Fear that is only a Conscience A Fear sanctifying is such a sense of our danger as stirreth up in us a constant serious Care to avoid the Wrath of God and please him So 't is said Prov. 16.6 By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil This Fear is a Grace an habitual disposition of Soul which is spoken of in the places alledged The Fear only awakening is such a sense of our Danger as doth only trouble us for the present but doth not put us upon the right way to remedy the Evil we are convinced of Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light The Awakening is a Mercy especially if we are not only awakened from our drowsie Fits but we arise from the Dead if we forsake the way of Destruction and betake our selves to the service of God we are safe Many wicked Men are shrewdly shaken by the Preaching of the Word for a while they are a little awakened out of their drowsie Fits and begin to fear and tremble yet they return to them again and sleep the sleep of Death till in the Day of Judgment the Books of Conscience be opened and then they everlastingly awake with Terrors and never sleep more If they could as sweetly sleep in their Sins in Hell as they do now upon Earth Wrath to come would not be so terrible and tormenting a thing to them The differences between this sensible Work and Holy Trembling at God's Word are these 1. Holy Fear is a voluntary Act and excited in them by Faith and Love By Faith believing God's Threatning by Love which is troubled at the Offence done to God 2 Chron. 34.27 Because thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before God when thou heardest his words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof and humbledst thy self before me and didst rend thy cloathes and weep before me I have even heard thee also saith the Lord. Iosiah was active in this Trembling and Humiliation But this is an involuntary Impression arising from the Spirit of Bondage and irresistible Conviction which for a while puts them in the Stocks of Conscience but they seek to enlarge themselves as soon as they can 2. They differ in the ground or formal Reason of this Trouble Agony and Consternation of Spirit To be troubled for the Offence done to God is a good sign but to be troubled meerly for the Punishment due to us is the guise of Hypocrites Esau was troubled for he sought the Blessing with Tears when he had lost it Heb. 12.17 But how was he troubled Non quia vendiderat sed quia perdiderat because he had lost the Birthright which was his misery not because he had sold it which was his Sin So all wicked men saith Austin non peccare metuunt sed ardere they do not fear to Sin their Hearts are in secret love and league with their Lusts but they are
afraid to be damned it is not God's displeasure they care for but their own safety The youngman went away sad and was grieved for he had great possessions Mark 10.22 Because he could not reconcile his Covetous mind with Christ's Institutes So Felix trembled being convinced of Sins which he was loath to discontinue and break off 3. They differ in their effects many men tremble at the word of God coming in upon their Hearts with power but this awakning worketh diversly Sometimes to a solicitous Anxiousness about the way of Salvation and then it is good as those Acts 2.37 And when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do That was a kindly work to desire to be further instructed and directed into the way of Life and Peace Sometimes to rage Acts 7.54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth they were vexed at the galling truths which Stephen delivered and the conviction that was upon them kindled their rage against him Sometimes it produceth nothing but dilatory excuses as here in Felix go thy way for this time when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee II. The cause of this trouble and Agony was the word wherein the matter and the manner is considerable 1. The matter is to be considered both generally and particularly 1. Generally the word of God or the Doctrine of Faith in Christ. It hath a convincing power 1 Partly because of its Author the impress of God is upon it it partaketh of his Properties Heb. 4.12 13. For the word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper than any two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do God searcheth the Heart and the word searcheth the Heart God is powerful and his word is powerful in discovering a Sinner to himself and bringing a Sinner out of his lurking Holes and taking off all disguises 2 Partly because of its clearness and evidence to a natural Conscience if it be not strangely stupified and blinded by fleshly Lusts 2 Cor. 4.2 3 4. By manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every Man's Conscience in the sight of God But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them This Scripture sheweth that the Gospel is light which will discover its self if Men do not shut their Eyes And if men refuse the Converting power they cannot withstand the Convincing power of it for the work of bringing home Souls to God lyeth more with their Lusts than with their Consciences 3 And chiefly because of the Concomitant Blessing God hath appointed the Word to be the great Instrument of Convincing and Converting the World and doth accompany it with his Grace and Spirit sometimes to one effect sometimes to another To Convincing Iohn 16.8 The Spirit shall convince the World of Sin and of Righteousness and of Iudgment If it doth no more it shall leave them under a conviction of the truth Sometimes to Conversion as 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. God concurreth with his own ordinance by his omnipotent and creating power 2. Particularly the Day of Judgment is to be insisted upon in our Ministry The Apostles in planting the Faith observeth this point of Wisdom to insist much upon the Judgment Day Acts 10.42 43. And he commanded us to preach unto the the people and to testifie that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of Quick and Dead And to him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of Sins This was the great point which his chosen Witnesses were to insist upon So also Acts 17.30 31. But now commandâth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead The Apostles observed the Tempers of those they dealt with when with the brutish multitude they invite them by Arguments of Providence Acts 14.15 16 17. Sirs Why do ye these things We also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God which made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that are therein Who in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our Hearts with food and gladness When with the Learned he speaks of the first Cause and chief Good Acts 17.28 For in him we live move and have our being And binds all by his coming to Judgment ver 31. So he deals with Felix here he urges principles of known Dignity and Sobriety from the day of Judgment See also 2 Cor. 5.10 11. For we must all appear before the Iudgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the Body according to that he hath done whether good or evil Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men This was their great and powerful Argument Reasons 1. Because this made their access into the Hearts and Consciences of Men more easie because of its suitableness to natural Light That Man is God's Creature and therefore his Subject is evident by Reasons drawn from our dependance on the first Cause and Fountain of all Being That Man hath failed in his Subjection to his Creator and Lord is evident by daily experience that therefore God may call him to an account and Man should fear his wrath is a principle as evident as the former and justified by the guilty fears incident to Mankind because of their offences Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death Divine Justice must once publickly appear and rectifie the disorders of the World Now because of the sentiments of Nature the Doctrine of the final Judgment doth easily enter into the Thoughts and Conscienâces of Men. 2. This doth most befriend the great discovery of the Gospel which is justification by Christ and pardon of Sin by submitting to his instruction If
and happy Wisdom will teach us to live for ever And in her left hand riches and honour all good Things in this World so far as not to hinder us of the Things of a better World shall be vouchsafed to us 3. The third Argument is in the Text the Pleasantness of Wisdom which is added to sweeten the Difficulties in attaining to it or pursuing after it or exercising the Virtue of it in the regulation of our Lives and Actions It is hard to get it and then to exercise it but it is recompenced with an answerable Sweetness Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Where note 1. The Subject Ways Paths The general Course or particular Duties which Wisdom prescribeth 2. The Predicate Pleasantness Peace They are not only pleasant but safe they are accompanied with spiritual Sweetness and produce solid Tranquility in the Mind of Man Doctr. That the Man whose Actions and Ways are guided by Heavenly Wisdom enjoyeth true Peace and Delight I. For stating the Point 1. By Wisdom is meant the Heavenly Doctrine revealed in the Word of God especially the Gospel or Salvation by Christ. For this is called The wisdom and power of God 1 Cor. 1.24 And it is said the Holy Scriptures through faith in Christ Iesus do make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 He is a Fool that is wise to other things and is not wise to the saving of his Soul for he is wise in Trifles and neglects necessary Things Well then the Ways and Paths of Wisdom are the Ways and Paths of Faith and Holiness Faith is necessary to solid Rejoycing For 't is said 1 Pet. 1.8 In whom believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory And Rom. 15.13 The God of hope fill ye with all joy and peace in believing And Holiness concurreth necessarily for it is not only a godly Man's Duty but his Delight and it is rewarded with Joy and Peace 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world Some degree of Comfort followeth every good Action before our full and final Reward we have the solace of a good Conscience during our Service 2. That these Delights are not Carnal Delights but Spiritual Man is ever inviting himself to some Delight the oblectation of his Mind cannot lye idle but usually consults with Flesh and Blood in choosing his Delights and careth for the Body more than the Soul But bodily Delights and pleasing the sense were our old Slavery Titus 3.3 Serving divers lusts and pleasures These draw down the Mind and dull our Desires and Endeavours towards better things therefore here we need not use the Spur but the Bridle and must refrain our selves because these Delights corrupt the Mind and such a kind of Peace is not the quiet and repose of the Soul in God but the numbness and deadness of Conscience carnal Security not a true Peace But the Delights and Peace which Wisdom inviteth us unto are chaste and rational such as innoble the Soul and raise it to God and do not put it in Vassalage to Sense When our Joy runneth out in a Spiritual Channel there is no Excess in it no Snare by it The Pleasures of Sense are base and dreggy but these are Heavenly and Spiritual 3. It supposeth that the Man be renewed and recovered out of the common Apostacy For while a Man remaineth in it the Beast rideth the Man and nothing is sweet and pleasant but what gratifyeth sensual Appetite Regeneration and change of Heart is necessary to taste the Pleasures which are in the Paths of Wisdom For nothing is pleasant to Men but what is suitable to their Natures And we use to say that one Man's Pleasure is anothers Pain Distempered Souls are not capable of this Peace and Delight for every Man's Gust is according to his Constitution Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit Therefore the carnal Man that is wedded to his vain Delights is an incompetent Judge of the Pleasantness that is in the Paths of Wisdom Will he that is wholly addicted to the Flesh ever judge that there is more delight in the Exercises of Godliness than in the foolish Pastimes of the World That it is better to be mourning for Sin than rejoycing in the Creature and that the Congregation yieldeth a more solid Pleasure than the Theatre and that it is better to be mortifying the Deeds of the Body by the Spirit than to court the Senses If his Judgment may be convinced he will never yield to it in his Practice He doth not live by these Rules and Measures II. Let me now prove that the true Peace and Pleasure is no where else to be found but in obedience to Heavenly Wisdom 1. I prove it from the matter of this Peace and Joy and that is Wisdom heavenly Wisdom which leadeth us to Faith in Christ Love to God and an holy and heavenly Life And what is the consequent of these Things but the Pardon of all our Sins the assurance of the Love of God and the lively foresight and foretaste of endless Glory and Blessedness 1. The Wisdom that cometh from above doth teach us Faith in Christ as the whole Scripture manifesteth Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Well now can any Man be truly chearful till his Sins be forgiven Alas if Conscience were but a little awake in the midst of all his Mirth he would see a sharp Sword hanging over his Head by a slender thread and that all his Jollity is but like dancing about the mouth of the bottomless Pit into which he is tumbling every moment Nay let him stifle Conscience as much as he can yet he can never totally get the victory of it For he hath his Pangs and Qualms and hidden Fears if you dig him to the bottom and stinging Remorses of Conscience which though not always felt are soon awakened No this Man can never be truly merry Suppose none of this as yet ever felt yet this you must grant That he cannot be a Man recollect his ways or use any sober consideration why he came into the World and whither he is a going which every one that weareth the Heart of a Man should sometimes do but his Trouble is revived such Trouble as soureth his Contentments and puts a damp upon all his Mirth On the other side a Man that hath made it his business to enter into God's Peace by Jesus Christ and is humbly and broken-heartedly suing out his Pardon in his Name and hath the justice and faithfulness of God engaged to him that so doing he shall be pardoned hath not this Man true and
Psal. 17.14 15. From men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life and whose Belly is fill'd with the hid treasure they are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their Babes But as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Men are dazled with the splendour of Worldly Happiness and think it a fine thing to be well fed and well clad and well attended but this is all for them and theirs and shall we Envy them for this That they have more for Back and Belly than we have a little pomp of living especially when such great things be provided for us in Christ. Alass what is a more plentiful Table to the Everlasting fruition of God The Pomp of the World to the Honour Christ will put on us at the day of Judgment when he shall be admired in his Saints The favour of Princes to seeing God face to face Vain Glory to Everlasting Glory Their momentary Pleasures which pass away suddenly as a Dream to that Everlasting pleasure at God's Right hand A little Decking and Adorning of the Body to be satisfied with his likeness and to walk with God in White 2. Present Enjoyments Here I take in the notion of the Text his secret is with the righteous There is some difference what should be meant by the secret of the Lord. Sometimes it noteth 1 Spiritual Illumination or the knowledge of God's Will Psal. 25 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him he will teach them his Covenant They know more of God's mind than others do and they know it not only Literally but Spiritually That is by the lively light of the Spirit not Disciplinarily Now this is a great favour that God doth so love them that he doth admit them to his Arcana Iohn 15.15 I have called you Friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you 'T is a greater Evidence of God's Friendship to understand his Counsel in the Word and to be acquainted with the Mysteries of Godliness than all the Success Power and greatness of the World Christ gave his Spirit to the rest of the Apostles but his Purse to the Son of Perdition Some have Knowledge and Eminent Gifts others Wealth and Honour yea though they which increase Knowledge increase Sorrow yet the knowledge of a despised hated truth though it expose us to sufferings is better than to flourish in opposition against the ways of God through our ignorance obstinacy and blind prejudice And will you that are directed in the way of Salvation advanced to know God and the tenour of his Will far more than the Blind Carnal Careless World Envy them that are only acquainted with Christianity as a Report or Tradition calculated and formed to to a Worldly Interest 2. The secret of the Lord may intend not only direction in our Duty but Satisfaction about God's Dispensations for our Consolation in all Afflictions God helpeth them to interpret his Providence better than others called the secrets of Wisdom Iob. 11.6 And should the Saints whose Graces make them so sharp and Engaged that know more of God's mind than others in these very dealings which are so troublesome and offensive to them should they envy the Oppresâor and be so discontented to suffer a little that have more skill than others to look into God's ways and consider the course of his proceedings 3. Secret may imply the visible Blessings of God's Providence so 't is said Iob. 29.34 The secret of the Lord was upon my Tabernacle The singular Love God bore to him did preserve him and did guide him and his Family and made all his Affairs prosper Psal. 31.20 God shall hide them in the secret of his presence When they seem to be left open as a prey to the oppressions and injuries of their potent Adversaries yet there is a secret guard upon them and they are kept the World knoweth not how Now should such that are hedged round about with the guard of a secret Blessing leave their refuge for the defence of a little Interest in the World which God hateth and can soon blow upon Psal. 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty 4. Secret may note the intimate familiarity that is between God and them and that inward Consolation which they have with God in a course of Holiness which is hidden from the World 1 Iohn 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him Many secret Refreshings visits of Love expressions of Grace are bestowed upon them Now have such any cause to envy others They that walk with God meet him at every turn are so often comforted and quickned by the manifestations of God and the influences of his Grace Psal. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness The Psalmist preferreth his present condition before the greatest happiness of carnal men because he had opportunities of beholding the Face of God or enjoying the Comforts of his Presence This is as if a Child fed with Manchet should envy a Slave for being fed with the Bread of Sorrows 3 The Nature and mischievous effects of this envy For 't is not so tame an evil as the world doth imagine 1. It disposeth to fretting or murmuring against God's Holy Providence Psal. 37.1 Fret not thy self because of evil doers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity Prov. 24.19 Fret not thy self because of evil men neither be thou envious at the wicked It notes a certain taxing of God's Providence as if he did not rightly Govern the World 1. It tempteth to Apostacy from God's ways to the ways of the wicked That 's in the Text clearly Envy not the oppressor and chuse none of his ways implying that this emulation of their Happiness will draw you to cry up a Confederacy with them and to enter into their Lot and Net Prov. 24.1 Be not thou envious against evil men neither desire to be with them When we admire their Happiness it secretly inticeth our Hearts to take share and lott with them A Man is perverted by this Envy it weakneth our fear of God our value of Spiritual Blessings expectation of things to come and diligence in God's Service 3. It implieth and includeth many ill Principles which tend directly to the weakning of Faith Hope and Piety 1. It implyeth or includeth this Principle or Opinion That the felicity of a Man consisteth in these external good things which the wicked enjoy which is an error destructive to Godliness For change a Man's
Lingua Petiliani non est ventilabrum Christi It is well that every angry Christian's Tongue is not the Fan wherewith Christ will purge his Floor God considereth Men in his judgment not of this or that Party but as Righteous or Wicked II. In what sense is this denied of God For it seemeth God doth respect Persons giving more Grace to one than another though both be equal in themselves I answer First The Text speaketh of what is done by God in his Government Respect of Persons is not faulty except it be in judgment for so it is forbidden to Man that neither the Poor nor the Rich should be favoured in the judgment of their cause Levit. 19.15 Thou shalt not respect the person of the Poor nor honour the person of the Mighty but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy Neighbour And so it is applied to God 1 Pet. 1.17 Who without respect of persons judgeth every one according to his works Therefore God may be considered two ways either as a righteous Governor of the World or as a free Lord. And the decision in short is this That God that is Arbitrary in his Gifts is not Arbitrary in his Judgments Therefore we must not exclude the free distribution of his Graces for God as a free Lord may give his benefits as he seeth meet for that is not a matter of right and wrong but of meer favour Thus God of his free mercy called the Gentiles who were further off from him than the Jews and may give the Gospel and the Grace of the Gospel to one and not to another when both are equally unworthy of it As to his Gifts he may do with his own as it pleaseth him Matth. 20.15 We can plead no right either by merit or promise On the other side if you consider God as a Governor who Governeth Mankind by a Law which hath Punishments and Rewards Punishments threatened and Rewards promised he judgeth according to that Law and as obliged by promise Compare Rom. 9.16 and 1 Cor. 9.24 In the one place It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy But in the other so run that ye may obtain How shall we reconcile these places The first place belongeth to Gods Dispensation as a Free Lord the second as a Righteous Governor All Acts of Government are dispensed according to Law and Rule but his Gifts according to his own Pleasure If you ask why he doth nor give effectual Grace to all and hinder Sin in all He is not a Debtor but a Free Lord though we are all Children of Wrath though God seeth no more in one than another yet it pleases him to shew more Mercy to one than to another He speaketh not here of the Sovereign will and good pleasure of God who taketh into favour one that is of himself as unworthy as another but his love towards the Work of Grace in whomsoever it is found He speaks of his consequent rewarding Grace in dispensing of which he looketh not to outward Prerogatives or Observances 2. In his Gifts of Grace he doth not respect Persons or Nations or outward Prerogatives but the Counsel of his own Will He hath Mercy on whom he will have Mercy passing by others which are nobler richer wiser He is not moved by any bye Respects to any thing in the Creatures so to do Even so father for so it pleaseth thee Matth. 11.27 III. What is the meaning of this Qualification That feareth God and worketh righteousness and the respect which each hath to the other The Answer must be given according to the several acceptions of the Words Fear and Righteousness which may be taken strictly or largely 1. Strictly So the Fear of God implyeth his Worship Deut. 6.24 The Lord commanded us to fear the Lord our God for our good always or all that Duty of Man which is immediately given to God And Righteousness is also taken for the whole Duty of the second Table as often in Scripture Now thus it maketh a good sense for all Religion consists in these two The Faithful discharging our Duty to God and Man There are two Tables and we are to take care of both that we do not give Offence to God or Men by neglecting our Duty to either Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man So Rom. 12.17 Providing things honest in the sight of all men neither offending against the Rules of Justice or Mercy but abounding in the Exercise of both 2. Both are taken largely Fear for the principle of our Obedience to God and Righteousness for the Fruits of it whether they belong to the first or second Table As 1 Iohn 3.7 He that doth righteousness is righteous So that here Peter observeth the right order he beginneth with Fear as the Root of all Duty and Worship and then proceedeth to the Fruit which is an uniform constant impartial Obedience to the whole Law Which Method is also observed in other Scriptures As Psal. 112.1 Blessed is the man that feareth God and delighteth greatly in his commandments And Deut. 5.29 Oh that there were such an heart in them to fear me and keep my precepts This sense I choose and prefer and therefore shall examine 1. Why Fear is made the Principle 2. Why working Righteousness is required as the Fruit. 1. Why Fear is made the Principle of Obedience Certainly not to exclude Faith in Christ for without him we can do nothing Iohn 15.5 At least nothing acceptably Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God And God is especially to be reverenced and adored for his Goodness in Christ Hos. 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter day Let us a little then consider 1. What is this Fear of God 2. Why is it required as the Principle of all our Actions 1. What is it Holy Fear is of two kinds the Fear of Reverence and the Fear of Caution The Fear of Reverence respects God and not our selves Fear of Reverence is grounded on the Nature of God his Majesty Holiness Goodness and Justice The Fear of Caution upon the weightiness of the Work we have to do and our own Weakness The Fear of Reverence maketh us walk strictly the Fear of Caution watchfully 1. The Fear of Reverence is necessary or an awful regard of God that we may not offend him or displease him or give him just cause of being angry with us who is of such glorious Majesty Ier. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O thou King of Nations Of such unspotted Holiness Rev. 15.4 Who would not fear thee O Lord for thou only art holy 2. The Fear of Caution is necessary to make us watchful against Temptations The Work is weighty if we miscarry we are undone for ever Heb. 4.1 Let us fear lest a promise being left us any of you should come short of it We are
right to these Priviledges and will be matter of everlasting Comfort to you V. It is represented here as a thing evident in God's Government Now I perceive of a truth that God is no respecter of persons Now God's way of Government is either External or Internal and it is seen in both As for instance There are two Acts of Judicature Reward and Punishment I. God's Government is seen in rewarding God's External Government is seen in dispensing outward Blessings to his People as the fruit of their Obedience Micah 2.1 Do not my words do good to them that walk uprightly His promises as declared speak good as fulfilled Do good that is yield Protection Countenance and such a degree of outward Prosperity as supporteth and incourageth them in their service David owned God's dealing with him in this sort Psal 119 56. This I had because I kept thy precepts Now as to his Internal Government he giveth his People increase of Grace peace of Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 So God often rewardeth Grace with Grace Isai. 58.13 14. If thou call the Sabboth a Delight then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. So Psal. 31.14 Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart Proficiency in the same Grace is a reward of the several Acts and Exercise of it So also God delights to reward his Childrens Obedience with Internal Comfort 2. God's Government is seen in punishing Sometimes he useth the way of External punishment by visible Judgments exercised on his own for the breach of his Holy Law Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Heb. 2.2 Every transgression and disobedience receiveth a just recompence of reward Sometimes the way of Internal punishment by terrors of Conscience and punishing sin with sin Both Godly and Wicked For the Godly as to External Government 1 Cor. 11.32 When we are judged we are chastned of the Lord. Internal lesser penal withdrawings of the Spirit which God's people find in themselves after some hainous sins and neglects of Grace Psal 51.10 11 12. But the judgments of the Souls of the ungodly are most dreadful As when the sinner is terrified 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of death is sin Stupified Psal. 81.12 So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts So that the sinner is left dull sensless past feeling Eph. 4.7.8 Having the understanding darkned By horror of Conscience they are made to feel God's displeasure at the courses they walk in But when that is long despised and Men sin on still the other and more terrible judgment cometh the giving up a sinner to his own hearts lusts And losing remorse and tenderness is the sorest judgment on this side Hell 5. In all Acts of Judicature either in punishing or rewarding God is no respect-of persons His own people are not excepted when they fall into wilful or scandalous sins Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore will I punish you for your iniquities Prov. 11. last The righteous shall be recompensed on the earth much more the wicked and the sinner God judgeth not with partiality In his External Government he punishes sometimes with 1 a Blot on their name 1 Kings 15.5 David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside in any thing that he commanded save only in the matter of Uriah His plotting Uriah's death is more laid to his charge than the other sins which he committed many failings of his are left on Record Distrust Dissimulation rash Vow to destroy Nabal injustice in the matter of Ziba and Mephibosheth indulgence to Absolom his carnal confidence in numbring the people yet all these are passed over in silence as infirmities only the matter of Uriah sticks close to him 2 With many troubles for the vindication of his Justice and Providence tho' they be the dearly beloved of his Soul What troubles in his house ensued David's presumptuous sin his Daughter ravished Amnon slain in his Drunkenness Absolom driveth him to shift for his life his Subjects desert him 2 Sam. 12.10 11 12. Ely's Sons slain Israel discomfited the Ark taken his Daughter dyed in Child-bearing the old Man broke his Neck Do not think your Estate will bear you out Sin is odious to God by whomsoever committed 6. We shall shortly appear before the Tribunal of God where every Man's qualification must be judged whether he fear God and work Righteousness How soon it may come about we cannot tell most will be taken ere they think of it Therefore the word found is often used 2 Cor. 5.3 We shall not be found naked 2 Pet. 3.14 That we may be found of him in peace Phil. 4.9 Well then 1. Let us make our peace with God 2 Cor. 5.19 2. Fear God get a single heart Col. 3.23 Whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men 3. Work Righteousness 1 Iohn 3.7 He that doth righteousness is righteous You must do wrong to none good to all Charge your selves to practice this great Duty A Sermon on MARK iv 24 And he said unto them Take heed what ye hear for with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again and unto you that hear shall more be given WHat one said of Laws is true of Sermons That there are many good Laws made but there needeth one good Law to put them all in Execution so there are many good Sermons but there wanteth one good one to reduce them all to practice This Scripture conduceth to this very purpose And he said unto them Take heed what you hear c. The Words are a special Admonition touching the right way of hearing the Word Wherein we have 1. A Duty 2. The Reason to inforce it from the fruit and benefit intimated in two Proverbs for with what Measure ye meet it shall be Measured to you again And unto you that hear shall more be given 1. The Duty Take heed what you hear Attend diligently to the matter of Doctrine which I deliver unto you In Luke 8.18 it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Take heed how you hear and Take heed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã namely what you hear so 't is here 'T is a Doctrine most true as being of Divine Revelation most necessary and of great importance to your Happiness you are utterly undone without it Most Excellent as being about the greatest matter the enjoyment of God and the saving of your Souls 2. The Reasons expressed in a Proverb and a promise grounded upon a Proverb 1. A Proverb With what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again This passage is often repeated in the Gospel sometimes as a threatning Matth. 7.2 For with what Iudgment ye Iudge ye shall be Iudged and with what Measure ye meet it shall be Measured to you again Sometimes in the way of a Promise and differently applied to
the children of God He witnesseth objectively and effectively Per modum Argumenti per modum Efficientis Causa By way of Argument and by way of Causal Efficiency Objectively if I have the Spirit of God framing my Heart to love and honour and fear and obey him and delight in câmmunion with him surely I am a Child of God for where these are sincere love to God prevaileth 1 Iohn 4 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit There he speaketh of Love to God and so for Honour it is else but an empty Title Mal. 1.6 If I then be a father where is mine honour If I be a master where is my fear So for Fear or Child-like Reverence that we dare not offend him Psal. 103.13 As a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him His Children and those that fear him are equivalent Expressions 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye call on the father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear I illustrate by that Ier. 35.6 And they said we will drink no wine for Ionadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying Ye shall drink no wine neither ye nor your sons for ever So for Obedience 1 Pet. 1.14 As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance Eph. 5.1 Be ye followers of God as dear children So for delighting in communion with him Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father Gal. 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba father This ãâã most felt in Prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications Rom. 8.26 Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Jude 20. But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost Here we have the nearest familiarity with God whilst we dwell in the Flesh and our Souls are carried to God as light Bodies move upward This is the matter of the Evidence but the Spirit giveth a sight or sense of this if he be not grieved and ill treated but his sanctifying Motions be obeyed he sheddeth abroad the Love of God in our Hearts and filleth us with much Joy and Peace 3. If this be faithfully done and there be no other reason to break our Confidence the bare Affliction or the greatness and grievousness of your Afflictions should not For these sharp Afflictions are not only consistent with this Relation as the Instance of Christ sheweth but also it is an act of his Fatherly Love and Discipline The Exhortation speaketh to us as Children Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. Ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons God's Children must look to be chastened neither must our Father's hand be slighted nor must we faint under it It is an act of love and kindness to us that he will not suffer us to go on in our Sins God seemeth to cast off them whom he leaveth to their own Hearts lusts Hosea 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone But he loveth whom he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth The Rod of Correction will not wholly be laid aside while God's Children are in the Flesh In Heaven where there are no Dangers there is no use of it any more because then we are fully and perfectly sanctified but here you must be content to submit to the discipline of the Family Certainly you must not question his Love because something falleth out contrary to your desires God is a Father when he frowneth and when he smileth he is the God of the Valleys as well as of the Hills and Mountains his Love doth not alter with our condition the comfort of Adoption is not for such a time only 4. Because of our imperfection both in Holiness and Comfort we must submit to the Authority of a Father when we cannot see our Interest in his special Fatherly Love Alas most are so ill settled in the Peace and Comfort of the Gospel that every notable Affliction reviveth our guilty Fears as the Sareptan said to Elijah when her Child died Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son 1 King 17.18 She looked upon that sad Providence as a Judgment for her Sins so if God awakeneth in us a Spirit of Bondage Besides there is none of us but may justifie God that he is not needlesly severe yea some have so sinned that though they be not Filii irae Children of Wrath yet they are Filii sub irâ Children under Wrath though they need no Regeneration or Conversion yet they have grieved the good Spirit of God by walking inordinately therefore their business is to submit to the Authority of God justly correcting and punishing them for Sins Micah 7.9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him And by unfeigned Repentance to renew their Claim and promise greater Loyalty and Fidelity for the future Ier. 3.19 Thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me They must get their Wounds healed make up the Breach between God and them sue out their Pardon in the name of Christ and get a renewed Grant of it and a sense of their Adoption 5. If hitherto you have been quite Strangers to God such Providences may be an occasion to begin the Relation before they are over as they are helps to Repentance and Recovery Upon the serious working of your Souls the Lord may be found as a Father and admit you into his Family It is said The Lord loveth whom he chasteneth Heb. 12 6. There is a twofold Love in God the Love of Benevolence and the Love of Complacency the one while we are Sinners the other after he hath made us amiable Some God chooseth in the Fire or Furnace of Affliction Isa. 48.10 Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction The hot Furnace is God's Workhouse the most excellent Vessels of Honour are formed there Manasseh Paul the Iaylor in the Acts When the Prodigal began to be in
Heb. 2.15 Who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to Bondage At Death these Fears are more active and pungent 1 Cor. 15.56 The Sting of Death is Sin and surprize the guilty Soul with greater Horror and Distraction then they are summoned to their great Account If the Soul were mortal why should Men be afraid of Torments after Death They anticipate the Miseries of the Life to come not as it puts a Period unto their natural Comforts but as it is an Entrance into everlasting Miseries 4. The Scripture directs to this Argument the Justice of God for the Comfort of the Faithful 2 Thess. 1.5 Which is a manifest Token of the righteous Iudgment of God The Sufferings of the Faithful are a Demonstration of a future Estate there is a God If there be not a first and Fountain-Being how did we come to be for nothing can make it self Or how did the World fall into this Order This God is just for all Perfections are in the first Being If we deny him to be just we deny him to be God and the Governour of the World Rom. 3.5 6. Is God unrighteous who taketh Vengeance God forbid for then how shall God judg the World Now it is agreeable to the Justice of his Government that it should be well with them that do well and ill with them that do evil or that he should make a difference by Rewards and Punishments between the Wicked and Obedient It seemeth uncomely when it is otherwise Prov. 26.1 As Snow in Summer and as Rain in Harvest so Honour is not seemly for a Fool. When the Wicked are exalted Men look on it as an uncouth thing Now this Reward and Punishment is not fully dispensed in this World even in the Judgment of them that have no great knowledg of the heinous Nature of Sin and the Judgment competent thereunto Yea rather the best are exercised with Poverty Disgrace Scorn and all manner of Troubles their Persons molested their Names cast out as odious when the Wicked live in Pomp and Ease and oppress them at their pleasure Therefore since God's Justice doth not make such a difference here there is another Life wherein he will do it otherwise we must deny all Providence and that God doth not concern himself in humane Affairs and that a Man may break his Laws oppress his People and no great Harm will come of it Zeph. 1.12 The Lord will not do Good neither will he do Evil. And God would seem indifferent to Good and Evil yea rather partial to the Evil and to favour the Wicked more than the Righteous which is Blasphemy and a diminution of God's Goodness and Holiness Psal. 11.6 7. Vpon the Wicked he shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest this shall be the Portion of their Cup. But the righteous Lord loveth Righteousness and his Countenance doth behold the Vpright Obedience would be Man's Loss and Ruin and so God would be the worst Master 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable They that forsake the sinful Pleasures of this Life hazard all their natural Interests row against the Stream of Flesh and Blood would be ill provided for by their Religion Therefore there is another Life wherein God will reward his People Secondly I shall urge other Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul 1 st The Capacity of the Soul argueth the Immortality of it Now it is capable 1. Of Civil Arts. 2. Of owning the distinction between Good and Evil. 3. Of knowing Immortality and Matters of everlasting Consequence 4. Of knowing God and his Attributes 5. Of the Divine Nature which consists in the Knowledg and Love of God 6. Of a sweet familiar Communion with him Let us see how all these Capacities will prove the Matter in hand 1. The being capable of Civil Arts will prove the Soul's spiritual Substance far excelling the Beasts in Dignity for it is capable of all kind of Learning and witty Inventions as Grammar and the knowledg of Tongues and Rhetorick to form and polish our Speech Logick to refine our Reason Ethicks to order our Manners Medicine to cure the Distempers of our Bodies by Physicks or by natural Philosophy it knoweth all kind of Things all Ranks of Beings from God and Angels to the smallest Worm yea it acquireth such Skill as to make use of all Creatures for its own benefit James 3.7 For every kind of Beasts and of Birds and of Serpents and things in the Sea is tamed and hath been tamed of Mankind The Power and Skill of Man is large and reacheth through the whole Creation by one Means or other Man mastereth them Now what doth this signify but that Man hath a Soul different from the Souls of the Beasts Iob 35.11 He teacheth us more than the Beasts of the Field and maketh us wiser than the Fowls of Heaven And that will contribute much to the matter in hand Solomon puts the Question Eccles. 3.21 Who knoweth the Spirit of Man that goeth upward and the Spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the Earth Mark there he asserts that the Spirit of the Man goeth upward and the Spirit of the Beast goeth downward there is an Ascent ascribed to the one and a Descent to the other upward implieth Heaven and heavenly things downward the Earth and earthly things The humane Soul ascendeth to God the universal Judg of all the World whose Throne is in Heaven but the Soul of the Beasts taketh its Lot among all earthly things which are at length resolved into Earth Water and Air. In the Creation God is said to breath into Man the Spirit of Life not so of the Beast So in the Dissolution the one returneth to God the other leaveth off to exist and when they die they are no more 2. It is capable of owning the Distinction between moral Good and Evil. He that doth not acknowledg it is unworthy the Name of Man for to love or hate God is not indifferent nor to kill a Neighbour or hunt an Hare in the Woods to use lawful Matrimony or for a Man to pollute himself either with promiscuous or incestuous Imbraces Now if our Souls differed not from the Soul of a Beast they could have no such Apprehension or Conception The Beasts know Pain and Pleasure but they have no Knowledg of Vertue and Vice as is sensible to every one that considereth them but Man hath Rom. 2.14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the VVork of the Law written in their Hearts Well then Man hath a Life beyond this a further End of his Actions than a Beast which is to approve himself to God to whom he must give an Account whether he hath done Good or Evil. For a Conscience supposeth a Law and a Law
with the Blessing of eternal Life His Priestly Actions after the Order of Aaron were his Consecration to his everlasting blessed Priesthood after the Order of Melchisedeck Without these Sufferings he could neither be a faithful nor a merciful high Priest nor satisfy his Father's Justice nor have a full feeling from Experience of the Creatures Misery Well then as Christ was consecrated at his Death so is a Christian who runneth Parallel with Christ in all his Offices As Christ had an Inauguration into that Priesthood he executed upon Earth at his Baptism So hath a Christian for his spiritual Priesthood as soon as washed in the Laver of Regeneration but for his everlasting Priesthood at Death 2. My next Argument is This suteth with the other Privilege of Kings We are made Kings as well as Priests Now as our Kingly Office is not perfect till we come to Heaven so neither our Priestly and therefore it mainly respecteth our Ministration in the heavenly Temple How is a poor Christian a King here unless in a Riddle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as he vanquisheth the Devil the World and the Flesh As it is a Princely thing to be above inferiour things and to trample them under our Feet The Heathen could say Rex est qui metuit nihil Rex est qui cupit nihil He is a King that is above the Hopes and Fears of the World that feareth nothing and desireth nothing This is indeed in a Metaphor a Kingly Spirit to have our Hearts in Heaven and to look upon all sublunary things as beneath our Care and Affections Christ's Kingdom is not of this World neither is a Believer's Here upon Earth we reign only in a spiritual way But the Privilege cometh fully to be verified when we tread Satan under our Feet and triumph over Enemies and reign visibly and gloriously sitting upon Thrones with Christ at his Coming judging the World and Angels themselves Matth. 19.28 Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory ye shall also sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Luke 22.29 30. I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me That ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom and sit on Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Psal. 49.14 The upright shall have Dominion over them in the Morning And 1 Cor. 6.2 Know ye not that we shall judg the World And ver 3. Know ye not that we shall judg Angels Neither will this Kingdom be terminated and ended at the Day of Judgment but they shall be Kings eternal in Heaven Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom 2 Tim 2.12 If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him that is in Heaven With respect to this Title Right and Interest we are said to be made Kings Now proportionably the other Privilege of being made Priests must be expounded also We are spiritual Priests upon Earth we have our Sacrifices of Prayers Praises and Alms and devoting our selves to God But this Office is not compleated till we come to Heaven and do immediately minister before the Lord. Then we have Entrance into the holiest Heb. 10.19 Having therefore Brethren Boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Iesus Not in Spirit but in Person For if the chief Part of our Kingly Office be yet behind why not the chief Part of our Priestly Office also 3. Then we are qualified and prepared Sanctification must go before Consecration and the more sanctified the more consecrated And when our Sanctification is finished then our Consecration is consummated and not till then Now in this World our Justification and Sanctification is imperfect we are not got above our legal Fears and Grace is very weak in us You know before we can serve the living God our Consciences must be purged from dead Works Heb. 9.14 As the High Priest was not to approach God without his Washings lest he die And we are bidden to draw nigh to God with a true Heart in full Assurance of Faith having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water Heb. 10.22 If we have the Privilege of Priests we must perform the Duties of Priests Now we are not perfect as appertaining to the Conscience nor are we fully cleansed and sanctified till the Vail of the Flesh be removed and we be presented to God without Spot and Wrinkle Somewhat is begun indeed that will tend to and end in perfect Sanctification enough to qualify us for our Ministration at this Distance from God There is enough done on Christ's Part by way of Impetration and Merit Heb. 10.14 For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified or consecrated he hath payed the Price but as to the Application that is by Degrees The Priest under the Law was seven Days in consecrating this figured all the time that interveneth before we enter upon the everlasting Sabbath Our whole Life is the time of Consecration which goeth on by Degrees and will be made compleat both for Body and Soul at the Resurrection for then shall we be made fit to approach the Throne of Glory and serve our God in a perfect manner in the eternal Temple of Heaven In this Life our Consecration is not yet finished we cannot come so near God we are qualified indeed to come to the Throne of Grace but not qualified to come to the Throne of Glory But the Work is a-doing and in time it will be accomplished 4. We have not the full Privileges of Priests till then which is Intimacy full Communion Nearness of Access to God and Ministration before him This is the Privilege we have as Priests The Apostle telleth us Heb. 9.8 The Holy Ghost signifieth that the way to the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing How did the Holy Ghost signify this I answer by the whole Oeconomy and Frame of that Dispensation God kept State and Majesty then and his People must not come too near him The common Israelite must not come too near the Sanctuary they were not to camp or pitch their Tents round about it but only the Levites lest they die Numb 1.52 53. And the Children of Israel shall pitch their Tents every Man by his own Camp and every Man by his own Standard throughout the Host. But the Levites shall pitch round about the Tabernacle of Testimony that there be no Wrath upon the Congregation of the Children of Israel It was a dangerous thing for the common Israelites to be too near the Symbols of God's Presence to teach us the Distance between God and Men and their Unworthiness to come near him and his holy things But though the Levites might encamp near it yet none but the Priests must
one wounded with Thieves and he had Compassion on him and went to him and bound up his Wounds pouring in Oil and Wine and set him on his own Beast and brought him to an Inn and took Care of him ver 33 34. So here The Papists indeed make this Limitation Nisi probabiliter praesumatur aliunde nacturum qui eum corripiat Except he probably presume that another will reprove him But this Presumption must be evident and rational not probable only and where I am privy to it and know it and procure it and know how much better he is able to manage it than my self then I am not to take it out of his Hands or when others are present whose Gifts and Office more oblige them to it 6. When he doth expect a better Opportunity his Omission is not faulty for the present for all things must be gone about in their Season Eccles. 3.7 There is a time to keep Silence and a time to speak And in another Place Because to every Man there is Time and Iudgment therefore the Misery of Man is great upon him Eccles. 8.6 7 8. He speaketh of the Misery Men contract upon themselves by disproving publick Disorders especially in great Persons Princes and Potentates Therefore certainly it concerneth us to take a fit Season Not when a Man is drunk as Abigail told Nabal not a Word when the Wine was in his Head 1 Sam. 25.36 37. Not when they are in the Heat of Passion for then they are not capable of discerning Right and Reason Iam. 1.20 For the Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God Therefore Opportunity and Conveniency of Circumstances must be considered and improved Yet here is Caution still we must not adjourn it too far Life is short and Sin groweth Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the Deceitfulness of Sin And it must be done at length if we have long waited for a Season and cannot find it we must make it and break a Rule of Civil Prudence rather than violate Conscience for Civilities must not prescribe to Religion 7. If it be uncertain whether that which you reprove for be a Sin as suppose some kind of Games or Sports which are questionable because usually they do hurt ingross time and inchant the Mind and are as the excelsa Mundi the High-places of the World that have a strange Blast and Judgment of God upon them though we cannot say that for the Nature of them they are utterly unlawful What shall we do in this Case Many weak People are importunate to have others reproved for these things but if once we give way to this it looketh like an Itch of reproving and if we reprove for doubtful Matters Men fly from our Reproof for what is clear and open Yet we may hold an Argument and prudently debate things and discourse about them but take heed you do not hinder your selves in Matters that are of more weighty Importance 8. When greater Loss and Damage may come to our selves by the Reproof than Benefit to the Reproved It is out of Question that he that can easily discharge this Duty without any considerable Inconveniency and only forbear it out of Sloth and Pusillanimity hath the greater Sin if he doth it not for he standeth with God for a Trifle But now if a considerable Damage shall redound to my self in discharging this Duty it is of Weight in this Matter Our Lord saith Matth. 7.6 Give not that which is holy unto Dogs neither cast ye your Pearls before Swine lest they trample them under their Feet and turn again and rent you As suppose there be a Danger of your Life having to do with a contemptuous Sinner if I carry my Life in my Hand and put it to hazard there must be many things considered in this Case But now in extream Cases if our Neighbour be in present Danger of losing his Soul with the Danger of my bodily Life I am to do what I can to save his Soul The Work is good the Danger depending upon a future Event is not absolutely certain God can preserve me however it is a part of much Self-denial to venture all in God's Hands 9. Publick Reproof is sometimes not always necessary If the Sin be publick either as committed in Sight before all 1 Tim. 5.20 Them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear or as judged by a publick Judicatory Or if an hidden Sin tends to the Damage of the Community or a greater hurt follow upon it than the Loss of my Neighbour's Fame or if the Person have lost all Right to Fame or to a good Name as some have forfeited it I need not stand nicely upon their good Name but in such Cases I am to reprove publickly In other Cases the Reproof must be private and the Rule is Matth. 18.15 Go and tell him his Fault between thee and him alone Vse 1. If we are to reprove others let us take Care that we be innocent our selves not culpable but blameless They that are faulty themselves cannot reprove others without Blushing and great Shame Pull out the Beam out of thine own Eye Physician heal thy self Matth. 7.3 4 5. And why beholdest thou the Mote that is in thy Brother's Eye but considerest not the Beam that is in thine own Eye Or how wilt thou say to thy Brother Let me pull out the Mote out of thine Eye and behold a Beam is in thine own Eye Thou Hypocrite first cast out the Beam out of thine own Eye and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the Mote out of thy Brother's Eye Rom. 2.21 Thou that sayest a Man should not steal dost thou commit Sacrilege The Iews were tender of Idolatry after they had smarted in the Matter of the Golden Calf yet all the latter Prophets condemn them for Sacrilege and robbing God of ãâã due If we are faulty our selves either in the same kind or worse we spoil our Reproof Psal. 141.5 Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a Kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oil. They may admonish with the greater Authority Others are remotely bound they nearly others not without special Repentance and Humility acknowledging their own Sins and desiring they may not be Examples to harden others A Sinner is not freed from the Debt of Love but he is bound humbly to acknowledge his Sin and forsake it that he may be fit to reprove others Vse 2. If others be bound to reprove certainly you are bound to take a Reproof Solomon brings in the wretched Sinner when his Sin hath found him out speaking thus Prov. 5.12 13. How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised Reproof and have not obeyed the Voice of my Teachers nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me These are the Lamentations of one that is ready to perish in his Sin And Prov. 10.17 He is in
plentiful Life of Worldliâgs with the forfeiting of the Soul the Pleasures of Sin for a Season with the Pains of Hell 4. The fourth sort of Comparison which the Scripture directs us unto is Temporal bad things with Eternal good things and that is the Case we have now in hand Thus Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the Sufferings of this present Time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us Sufferings for the present may be very great but the Glory that is revealed to us and shall one day be revealed in us is much greater as there is no Comparison between a little Flea-biting or the prick of a Pin with eternal Ease and Rest or the trouble of entring by a strait Gate or Entry into a glorious Palace 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory The Sufferings of the present World are leves breves light and short not in themselves but in comparison with eternal Life In themselves they may be some of them very sharp and grievous and some also very long and tedious but look what a Point is to the Circumference that is Time to Eternity and what a Feather is to a Talent of Lead that are present Evils to future Glory and Blessedness All this is spoken to shew that it is better to be miserable with the People of God than happy with his Enemies and that we should not be drawn away from Christ neither by the comfortable nor troublesom things we meet with in the World 6. This Happiness which Christ hath proposed is at the general Resurrection or Christ's coming to Judgment for that is the Point which the Apostle is now discoursing of There is a distinction between the Good and the Bad at Death when the Spirits of just Men are made perfect Heb. 12.23 and the Spirits of the Wicked are sent to Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 The Soul dieth not with the Body but some go one way some another the Souls of just Men to God's Palace of Glory where they are with Christ and the Souls of the Wicked to the Prison of Hell But this Retribution is not sufficient for two Reasons because it is private and doth not openly vindicate the Justice and Holiness of God and it is but on a part the Soul and not the Body 1. Because it is private and dispensed apart to every single Person Man by Man as they die Certainly it is more for the Honour of God to bring his Judgment to Light as the Prophet speaketh Zeph. 3.5 Every Morning doth he bring his Iudgment to Light Here the Love of God towards the Good and the Justice of God towards the Wicked is not brought into the clear Light nor at Death neither the Mouth of the Pit is not visibly opened nor the Glory of Heaven exposed to view But then this different Respect is more conspicuous when the Justice of God hath a publick and solemn Triumph and his Enemies are branded with Shame and Ignominy and the Faith of his Elect found to Praise and Honour and the one are publickly condemned and the other justified by the Judg sitting upon the Throne Acts 3.19 That your Sins may be blotted out when the Times of Refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. 2. As it is upon a part the Soul only The Bodies of the Holy and the Wicked are both now sensless and moulder into Dust in the Grave and till they be raised up and joined to their Souls can neither partake of Wo or Weal Pleasure or Pain The Soul though it be a principal Part is but a Part the Body essentially concurreth to the Constitution of the Man and it is the Body that is most gratified by Sin and the Body that is most pained by Obedience and therefore the Body which is the Soul's Sister and Coheir is to share with it in its eternal Estate whatever it be Therefore that we may not be in part punished nor in part rewarded there is a time coming when God will deal with the whole Man and that is in the Day of Christ's solemn Court and Audience when all the World shall be summoned before his Tribunal 7. The Apostle proveth this because the Righteousness of God's Government will not permit that his People should be accounted of all Men most miserable To clear this I shall shew First In what sense the Apostle saith If there were no Life to come Christians were of all Men most miserable Secondly How this will not consist with the Righteousness of God's Government First In what sense the Apostle saith If there were no Life to come Christians were of all Men most miserable I put this first Question that we may not mistake the Apostle's meaning when he pronounceth Christians to be of all Men most miserable if our Hopes in Christ were terminated with this Life Take him right and therefore 1 st Negatively 1. It is not to deny all present Providence or watchful Care over his oppressed People No. Eccles. 3.16 17. And moreover I saw under the Sun the Place of Iudgment that Wickedness was there and the Place of Righteousness that Iniquity was there He meaneth not in the Mountains of Prey only but in the Tribunals of Justice there was Iniquity and Wickedness I said in my Heart God shall judg the Righteous and the Wicked for there is a Time there for every Purpose and for every Work So again Eccles. 5.8 If thou seest the Oppression of the Poor and the violent perverting of Iudgment and Iustice in a Province marvel not at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they Both these Places shew that there is a Providence though God for a while permit his meek and obedient Servants to be oppressed and in the Eye of the World they seem to be forgotten and forsaken and utterly left to perish yet in due time God will exercise a righteous Judgment on them and their Enemies The like you have Psal. 58.11 So that a Man shall say Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth It is not meant of hereafter but now It is many times found that Godliness and Holiness are Matters of Benefit and Advantage in this World abstracted from all Reward in another Life The World is not governed by Chance but by a wise and a most just Providence It may be God doth not relieve the Oppressed so soon as Men would yet in due time he will not fail to shew himself the Ruler of the Affairs of Mankind So that this is not his meaning to exclude all present Providence 2. Not to deny that we have such Benefits by Christ here in this World as not to make our Condition more valuable than that of the Wicked We have Hopes by Christ of the Pardon of Sins and that is
good without it All things are Mercy even those that fall out contrary to our Expectations Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good to them that love God to them that are the Called according to his Purpose Well then they that know the want of Grace or the worth of Grace will earnestly seek it 3. Let me plead the possibility of obtaining it For the three Persons conspire and agree together not to your Ruine but Salvation Whatever may be expected from Infinite Love Eternal Merit and Almighty Power it is all offered to those that will seek after it There are none but are sensible that they need to address themselves to God for Pardon and a Blessing Now God is an holy God how shall Sinners deal with him As the Prophet said to Ahab If it were not that I regard the Presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look towards thee nor see thee 2 Kings 3.14 Whatever we seek and expect from God we must seek it from Jesus Christ who hath purchased all Isa. 53.5 He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Ephes. 1.7 In whom we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins And he is appointed to bestow all that which he had purchased Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and Remission of Sins And by his Intercession he doth apply all Heb. 7.25 VVherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Well then if we will go to Christ he sendeth us to the Spirit who worketh all and doth accomplish in us the Pleasure of his Goodness Go to the Spirit he must heal you and help you The Spirit sendeth us to the Means Acts 1.4 And being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the Promise of the Father You shall find him present in the Ordinances O what Incouragement have we to be serious and in the use of the Means by which the Spirit worketh 4. We are obliged by our Baptismal Covenant Matth. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Father Son and Holy Ghost take upon them to convey this Love Grace and Power and we take upon our selves to accept the Father for our Lord and Happiness Christ for our Redeemer and Saviour and the Holy Ghost for our Guide Sanctifier and Comforter to obey his Motions to use those Means whereby we may feel his Power to avoid those wilful Sins which may grieve the Spirit and cause him to suspend his Operations and Comforts There we are consecrated as Children to the true God consent to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and obey his Spirit Now make Conscience of this Vow Vse 2. Is to put us upon Self-reflection Is the Love of the Father and the Grace of Christ and the Communion of the Holy Ghost with us Do we seek our Happiness in Father Son and Holy Ghost Or do you consent that God shall be your God as reconciled to you in Jesus Christ 1. As to the Father Do you own him as your rightful Lord and are you willing to return to his Obedience by Jesus Christ Do you take him for your Portion and Felicity Do you expect to receive all your Happiness from him valuing and preferring his Favour and Love above all the Pleasures Profits and Honours of the World Psal. 4.6 There be many that say VVho will shew us any Good Lord lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us Admiring it 1 Iohn 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! His Favour is Life Psal. 30.5 yea better than Life Psal. 63.3 Because thy Loving-kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Willing to forsake all rather than forsake him Behave your selves with that Thankfulness as those that owe your selves and all your Happiness to him 2 Cor. 5.14 15. The Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judg that if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again Carry it as those that are obliged by Love 2. Do you take Christ for your only Saviour and Redeemer giving up your selves to be saved by his Merits Righteousness and Intercession as he hath promised in the Word Do you trust your selves and Souls with him for Pardon Peace and endless Happiness depend upon his Covenant and Promises for Reconciliation with God and everlasting Fruition of him in Glory trampling upon all things rather than turn your Back upon your Redeemer's Grace 5. Do you yield your selves to the Holy Ghost Are you unfeignedly desirous to be rid of Sin as displeasing to the Holy God how dear soever it hath been to you And do you submit to the Spirit to be sanctified and perfected by degrees in the Means he hath appointed being ruled by his Motions rather than the Desires of the Flesh Do you observe his Accesses and Recesses and behave your selves accordingly FINIS AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF THE Principal Matters Contained in this VOLUME A Page ABraham's Faith opened 1. In his clear sight of Christ to come 474 The Grounds of this Faith 475 The Strength of it 476 2. In overlooking the Difficulties that lay in the way of the Promise 482 The Grounds of this Faith 483 The Strength of it ibid. The Effects of it 488 Acceptance with God for the pardon of Sin the highest matter in the World 945 Account There are Books of Account kept between God and the Creature 261 At the Day of Iudgment these Books of Account shall be opened 262 All shall be called to an Account ibid. Iudgment shall pass upon all Men according to the Account then given 263 The Advantage of calling our selves often to Account ibid. Mens Account shall be answerable to their Mercies ibid. Adherence Resolute Adherence of Faith how seen 471 The Grounds of this resolute Adherence 472 Adoption How the Spirit witnesses of our Adoption 1135 Afflictions should not make us question our Adoption 1136 1139 Afflictions come from God 1133 Afflictions and Miseries may befal Gods ' People 1210 Bearing Afflictions becomes God's People 1137 We must not faint under Afflictions 765 Afflictions of the Righteous prove a Life to come 1215 Angels look into the Mystery of Redemption by Christ 918 What of this Mystery Angels look into ibid. The manner how Angels look into it 920 The Reasons why Angels look into it ibid. Angels fallen Why God would not save fallen Angels but fallen Men 658 Page