〈◊〉 Make no provision for the flesh they are provident in sin studied to please their Lusts. Surely such a like care should we have of Sanctity Providing things honest Rom. 12.17 Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.17 When men are solicitous that the new Nature be not annoyed as they were formerly that the carnal Nature might be gratified it is a sign that serious Godliness possesseth their hearts Now men were careful heretofore that their lusts might want no satisfaction and shall they not be careful that the course of their obedience shall be carried on without interruption Secondly Industry and Diligence is notable in the servants of sin We read of some that do evil with both hands earnestly Micah 7.3 There is an eager disposition in many to sin Wicked men take a great deal of pains to go to Hell we all served sin with all our might and strength Now should there not be such an unwearied diligence in Holiness Rom. 12.11 Not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. As industrious as you were in obeying your base lusts and vile affections so industrious should you be in obeying the Precepts of Christ. Our vigor is turned into another chanel See Paul's instance Acts 26.11 I punished them ost in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even unto strange Cities compared with 2 Cor. 5.13 For whether we be besides our selves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause Thirdly With a like promptness and readiness of mind There need no great deal ado to draw men to evil as a stone runneth down hill of its own accord because of its natural tendency thereto and the smallest temptations seem to have an irresistible force in them Prov. 7.21 With the flattery of her lips she forced him Now after Grace received we should be as ready to obey the motions of the Spirit There is no greater evidence of the new Nature than that our obedience becometh more easie and even There needeth not much ado to perswade the new Creature to such things as belong unto and suit with the new Nature 1 Thess. 4.9 For as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write to you for ye your selves are taught of God to love one another Inclination preventeth perswasion Others with much ado are brought to a sense of their Duty and after all they put off God with a little compulsory service which they have no mind unto and had rather forbear than do it Fourthly Resolution and Self-denial How firm are men to a purpose of sinning and go on still though it cost them dear much expence of time waste their Estate bring a blot on their Name yea many a wound in their Consciences and flesh and blood is consumed Prov. 5.11 O that we could thus deny our selves for Christ Every lesser hinderance is pleaded by way of hesitancy and bar to our Duty a little inconvenience in the Service of God seemeth irksom and grievous to us Those that do not take notice of the inconveniences of sin but will easily take notice of the troubles of afflicted Godliness What iniquity have you found in me Jer. 2.5 Alas that we cannot more deny our selves for God who gave us all that we have and can give us greater things than ever we lost for him Fifthly They stopped at no sin Ye yielded your members to uncleanness and to inequity unto iniquity from habitual sin they proceeded to actual from one kind to another rested not in the lust or purpose but were still accomplishing what their lusts craved at their hands So will you count your selves servants of Righteousness because you have some purpose to do good or have some wishes to be better though they never come into act and effect Alas a Christian is to be determined not by knowing or wishing and woulding but by doing He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Joh. 14.21 And whoso keepeth my words in him verily is the love of God perfected 1 Joh. 2.5 The carnal Nature venteth it self not in Lusts only but Practices so doth the new Nature it is an Habit and Principle that influenceth your daily course of life the same God that ruleth the Heart doth also rule the Life the root is for the fruit and the life within to inable us for action without so we have the root and life of Grace and Holiness that we may bring forth the fruit and do the works of Grace and Holiness Therefore whatever wishes and desires men have if they live as they did before neither God nor any wise man will judge that they are freed from sin and become the servants of Righteousness Sixthly The Progress they went forward from one sin to another and never stopped Now as they heaped up sin upon sin so should we add to Grace Grace 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity You should always grow more pure and holy and aim at an higher degree of Sanctification till all be perfected in Heaven 2 Cor. 7.1 Perfecting holiness in the fear of God The more Grace overcometh Nature the more comfortable every day will your lives be and Religion will grow a more easie and delightful thing to you the compleat subjection of our will to the Will of God is the health ease and quietness of our wills therefore study to be perfect 2. The Reasons why it must be so 1. From the Love and Goodness of God shewed in our Change which should constrain us and awaken in us principles of gratitude towards him 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us c. Luke 7.47 Her sins which are many are forgiven her for she loved much It is a trouble to them that God hath been so long detained out of his right that the Devil hath ingrossed so much of their choicest time and best strength and therefore now they would make some recompence as Travellers that set forth late ride the faster Especially doth this hold good of them that have been great sinners it is possible that some have stuck at no villany but have ingulphed themselves in all manner of dissoluteness O how zealous should they be for God for time to come and bestir themselves that they may shew forth the sacred influence of Grace as they have done the cursed rigour of Nature 2. By Grace we have received a new Principle and Power Now Principiata respondent suis principiis a new Heart sheweth it self by newness of Life therefore the power and effect of Grace must as much discover it self as formerly we bewrayed the power of sin otherwise why is this new Principle planted in our hearts It is dangerous to receive objective Grace in vain
Trust the very scope of this Parable sheweth it and it may be further confirmed by Isa. 43.21 22 23 24. This People I have formed for my self they shall shew forth my praise But thou hast not called upon me O Jacob but thou hast been weary of me O Israel Thou hast not brought me the small Cattel of thy Burnt-Offerings neither hast thou honoured me with thy Sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an Offering nor wearied thee with Incense Thou hast bought me no Sweet-cane with Money neither hast thou filled me with the Fat of thy Sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities That where God hath given a People advantages he expecteth answerable service and Improvement and that we are bound to this by the Covenant of Grace wherein we give up our selves to the Lord for his use and service and that God reckoneth upon this Gen. 18.19 I know my servant Abraham that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him And Luke 13.7 Then said he to the dresser of the Vineyard Behold these three years have I come seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and Isa. 63.8 For he said Surely they are my People Children that will not lie Only now I presâ—â— that Unfruitfulness and breach of Trust is a great Crime and a disappointing the righteous expectation of God a very provoking thing and therefore the sloathful Servant that doth not answer the Ends of his trust nor fulfill his Covenant Vow must needs be highly culpable though he should not break out into acts of gross excess and apparent enmity against God 4. He that ceaseth to do Good Evil must needs ensue and the unprofitable Servant hath his blots and blemishes which render him odious unto God Homines nihil agendo malè agere discunt saith Cato Standing Pools are apt to putrifie and the Psalmist saith Psal. 14.2 They are all become filthy and abominable for there is none that seeketh God When the Gardiner holdeth his hand the ground is soon overgrown with Weeds Sins of Omission will make way for Sins of Commission and those that neglect Improvement lose all reverence and awe of God every day more and more and so are given up to an hatred of his People and many brutish Lusts As a Carkase not embalmed is more noysome every day Job 15.4 Thou castest off Fear and restrainest Prayer before God 1 VSE Let us all be ashamed of our Sloath. There is more evil in it than we are aware of 1. Consider the Necessity of Diligence There is nothing in Religion can be gotten kept increased or maintained without great Diligence No Comfort without it 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 3.14 Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace No Grace without it 2 Pet. 1.5 And besides this give all diligence io adde to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge No hope of coming to Heaven without it Heb. 6.11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end Illi falsi sunt saith Salust qui diversissimas res expectant ignaviae voluptatem proemia virtutis 'T is in vain to think that a loytering Profession will ever bring any glory to God Comfort or increase of Grace to our selves or breed in us any comfortable Hope and expectation of Blessedness to come All excellent things are hard to come by 't is true in Earthly matters 't is much more true in Spiritual 2. Consider the evil of Sloath. A sloathful man and a prophane man differ very little Prov. 18.9 He that is sloathful in work is brother to him that is a great waster the one getteth nothing and the other spendeth all Thou wilt say thou art no Drunkard no Whoremonger But thou art idle and negligent so that you and they are Brothers all the difference is as between a Consumption and an Apoplexy the one destroyeth in an instant the other consumeth by degrees the one is like splitting a Ship that goes down to the bottom presently the other like a leaky Ship that sinketh by degrees Though you do not run into the same excess of riot with others yet you are idle in the Lords work it cometh much to the same effect the Heart groweth poorer and poorer till at length it ends in final hardness Nay in some sense Negligence is worse than gross Prophaneness Many from great Sinners have turned great Saints but few from a lukewarm careless Profession have come to any thing Therefore these are spued out of Gods mouth Rev. 3.16 There is more hope of a Sinner than of a lukewarm careless person for he doth not think himself evil and so is more liable to Security God may give Grace to the one but taketh away the Talent from the other 3. Consider the Rewards of Diligence This labour will turn to a good effect 1 Cor. 15.58 Your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. If there were nothing in chase or not so great a Reward we had more Excuse but when the Reward is so full and so sure shall not we labour for it We labour and toyl and use all diligence to obtain the things of this world and shall we think to go to Heaven with our hands in our bosom or lying upon a Bed of ease To see men under the power of a Lust may shame us Psal. 127.2 Men rise early and go to Bed late to gain the world men labour sweat and travel and spare not cost to go to Hell The Devil gets more Servants than God with all his Promises Threatnings and Mercies shall they be so diligent that have such bad work worse wages and the worst Master and shall not we bestir our selves 4. The whole course of Nature inviteth us to Labour and Diligence in order to our future Estate The Sun is unwearied in his motion that he may go up and down Preaching God to the world Prov. 6.6 Go to the Aunt thou sluggard consider her wayes and be wise There is a great deal of morality hidden in the bosom of Nature if we had the skill to find it out What can the Aunt do She provideth her meat in Summer and gathereth her food in the Harvest These little Creatures are not able to endure the cold of Winter therefore work themselves deep into the earth but they carry their food along with them and should not we have as great a sense of futurity We cannot endure the day of the Lord unless we make provision Pro. 10.5 He that gathereth in Summer is a wise Son but he that sleepeth in Harvest is a Son that causeth shame Now is our season to work that in the day of our Accounts we may not be unprovided The Means against Sloath are Faith Patience and Love
10.38 That ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him 1 John 4.16 We have known and have believed the Love that God hath to us John 6.69 We know and believe that thou art Christ. We must first know before we can believe In Faith there is a Knowledg an Apprehension as well as Discourse a pregnant Apprehension Faith is a clear Light it freeth the Soul from the Mists of Prejudice by representing God in the Allsufficiency of Grace and Power Heb. 11.3 Through Faith we understand that the World was framed by the Word of God It puzzeled the Philosophers but Faith maketh all clear After Faith 2 Pet. 1.5 Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledg Faith is the Fruit of Knowledg Knowledg is the Fruit of Faith So Psal. 119.66 Teach me good Judgment and Knowledg for I have believed thy Commandments that is a fuller manifestation First we receive the Word by Faith then we know more Oportet discentem credere First we know That it is then How it is The ground of Faith is that they are revealed How or what they are we learn by more acquaintance and experience Light is always increasing most necessary to the Christian Life Faith is as Knowledg is more or less explicite yet not so explicite but that there is some impliciteness in it as long as we live here 1 John 2.3 It doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him We have not a particular Account not a Reason of the Thing but we have a Reason why we believe it 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a proper Act of Faith God is always on the giving and we on the receiving Hand we receive the Word we receive Christ and we receive Remission of Sins and Glory the main of our Duty is but a Receiving Let me press you to receive the Word to receive Christ. 1. Receive the Word give it a kind entertainment There is an Act of Consideration meditate upon it seriously that Truth may not float in the Understanding but sink into the Heart Luke 9.44 Let these sayings sink down into your Hearts Believe it the Truth is a Soveraign Remedy but there wanteth one Ingredient to make it work and that is Faith Heb. 4.2 The Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it There is an Act of the Will and Affections which is called a receiving the Truth in Love 2 Thess. 2.10 Make room for it that Carnal Affections may not vomit and throw it up again Christ complaineth that his Word had no place in them John 8.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like a queasy Stomach possessed with Choler that casts up all that is taken into it 1 Cor. 2.14 A natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God Let it lodg and quietly exercise a soveraign command over the Soul 2. Receive Christ in the Word In a Contract there is not only a receiving a Bond but by virtue of the Bond an Inheritance conveyed to us So you must not only receive the Word we are not saved by giving credit to any Maxim of Religion Fides non est assensus axiomati Not they that saw the Ark many saw it and scoffed but they that were in it were saved from drowning When a Man is ready to perish in the Floods it is not enough to see Land but we must reach it stand upon it if we would be safe It is not a naked Contemplation but a real Implantation into Christ. Now if you will know it whatever was in Christ in the History must be in you in the Mystery You are Adopted Sons 1 John 3.1 Christ must be formed and conceived in you Gal. 4.19 You must suffer and be crucified to the World and Sin Rom. 6.6 You must be buried and raised up again Col. 2.12 All is to be done in a spiritual manner I speak not this to turn all Scripture into an Allegory but every Act of Christ hath some Spiritual Accomodation So much for these two acts or parts of Faith They have known surely and have received thy Word Before I go off from this Clause there are two or three Observations to be raised especially if we compare this Verse with John 16.27 28 29 30 31. For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and believed that I came forth from God I came forth from the Father and am come into the World again I leave the World and go to the Father His Disciples said unto him Lo now speakest thou plainly and speakest no Proverb Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any Man should ask thee by this we believe that thou camest forth from God Jesus answered them Do ye now believe From whence I observe That this was but a late Acknowledgment Vers. 30. Now we are sure and by this we believe that thou camest forth from God And presently within an hour Christ commendeth it to his Father They have known surely and have believed 1. Observe How ready Christ is to take notice of the Good that is wrought in us He watcheth for an occasion to commend us to God Satan and his Instruments they watch for our halting Jer. 20.10 All my Familiars watched for my halting peradventure he will be inticed Let us watch say they we may have Matter against him The Devil is a Spy that lieth upon the catch that he may frame an Accusation against you before God A Dog doth not wait for a Bit from his Master's Trencher more than he doth for a passionate Word some evil Gesture and Practice whereof to accuse us so his Instruments watch to defame you in the World But now Jesus Christ looketh after Matter of Praise and Commendation Now we know verily and believe and Christ presently telleth his Father of it Oh what an encouragement should this be to press us to grow in Knowledg and to abound in every good Work you furnish your Intercessor with matter of Praise and give your Advocate an Advantage against your Accuser Christ watcheth for a good Action as the Devil doth for a Bad He is a swift Witness not only against his Adversaries but for his People Mal. 3.5 I will come near to you in Judgment and I will be a swift Witness against the Sorcerers c. He cometh to convince them sooner than they are aware none of their Sins are unknown to him and they are brought in Court before they dream of it And the Godly have a Witness in Heaven too So Job 16.20 Behold my Witness is in Heaven and my Record is on High And he is a swift Witness we reap the Fruit of many Actions as soon as they are performed A continual Experience we have of this disposition of Christ in the speedy answer of Prayers Isa. 64.24 And it shall come to pass that before they call
with the Spirit of Christ assisting but not reforming as an Angel sometimes appears in an assumed Body But 't is dangerous to rest in this it maketh our sin and Judgement the greater if after a taste we rest in a common work Historical Faith if not growing into a saving sound Faith 't is a kind of mocking of God and an Hypocrites portion As for instance We profess to believe him Omniscient yet fear not to sin in his presence Omnipotent yet cannot depend upon his Alsufficiency to believe a day of Judgement yet make no preparation for our Account Tit. 1.16 Mens sins and Judgements are aggravated according to the sense they have had of Religion and so their latter end may be worse than their beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 And sad it will be for those that from hopefull beginnings fall off from God I will tell you a man may live and die with a temporary Faith and Affections to God and Holiness without making any visible Apostasie and yet have no sound Faith of the right Constitution Yea if you regard what little rooting Grace hath in mens hearts how weak their Pulse beateth this way how strong their Affections are to the World and the things thereof how little they can vanquish the cares and fears of this world and the temptations that arise from voluptuous living 't is to be feared the far greatest part of Christians are but Temporaries 3. Oh then be sure to get this truth of Grace into your Hearts let your Hearts be effectually subdued to God let there be a Principle of Life set up in them Religion respects our Principles as well as our Performances 2 Tim. 1.5 The end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned There must be a renewed Heart as the fountain a well informed Conscience as our guide and Faith unfeigned as our great encouragement And so all acts of Charity to God and men are accepted with God as a piece of Obedience done to him If we will not regard the Manner God will not regard the Matter Oh then get this renewed Heart and a lively Faith and an awakened Conscience This is to get Oyl into your Vessels and if once you get this it will never fail but increase exceedingly like the Sareptan's Oyl But how shall we get it I answer 1. You have this Oyl from Christ. The Unction is from the Holy One 2 Joh. 2.20 As the Precious Oyl was first poured on Aaron's Head and then came down to the Skirts of his Garment so Christ is first possessed of the Spirit and then we have it by our Union with him Joh. 1 16. Of his fulness we receive Grace for Grace We must go to the Fountain every day to seek new supplies Christ was anointed with the Oyl of gladness above his fellows Zech 4. Christ is represented by the Bowl and the two Olive Trees that alwayes poured forth Golden Oyl Christ as Mediator is the Store-house of the Church who is intrusted with all Gifts and Graces for our benefit Oh bring your empty Vessels to this golden Olive-tree The Widdow only brought Casks the Oyl failed not till the Vessels failed 2. If you would have it from Christ you must use the Means of Grace the Word Prayer Sacraments Meditation We need continual supplies must use continual Prayers seek the Grace of the Spirit to keep in our Lamps Luk. 11.13 So the Word God droppeth in something to the Soul that waiteth on him Mark 4.24 Take heed how you hear for with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again If we be earnest and diligent in waiting upon God God will abound to us in blessing his Word to us So for Meditation Mat. 13.19 The High-way Ground did not bring the Word to their minds again doth not revolve it mindeth it not heedeth it not So for the Lords Supper 't is a means to root us in the Love of God when we so often renew our Oath of Allegiance to him to excite our Faith in Christ. All these are a price put into our hands to get Oyl in our Lamps and prepare for his Coming 3. Keep your Vessels clean The Spirit dwelleth not but in a clean Heart Doves build not their Habitations on Dung-hills He cometh as an efficient Cause as a Spirit assisting before he comes as a Spirit inhabiting and purifieth our Hearts by Faith 4. After you have gotten this Oyl cherish it that it may not decay Of its own nature it would do so witness that stock of Original Righteousness which Adam had Gods Promise by which it is secured supposeth our endeavours to waste it Luk. 8.18 Whosoever hath to him shall be given but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have 5. Do not only cherish and keep it from decay but see that you encrease it 2 Pet. 1.5 Add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge 1 Thes. 3.10 Perfect what is lacking 1 Thes. 4.1 That as you have received of us how you ought to walk and please God so you should abound therein A little Faith will be as no Faith not honourable to God nor comfortable to you nor useful to others All our doubts perplexities uncertainties come from the smallness of our Graces 'T will not make an Evidence therefore give diligence No endeavour labour pursuit after God but hath its recompense not an earnest thought an earnest Prayer or time spent What shall I say They whose Hearts are upon the wayes thereof go on from strength to strength You are almost at home nearer than when you first believed Then you thought all your pains too much now all too little Let me apply all to the Sacrament 1. There we come to meet the Bridegroom in a way of Grace The Marriage Covenant between God Incarnate and his espoused Ones is here celebrated and solemnized The Sacrament is a Transfiguration of the last Marriage Supper to ascertain us what entertainment we shall have at the Day of Judgment when the Bride the Lamb's Wife shall be made ready and cloathed with fine Linnen Rev. 19.23 and then be received in to the Nuptial Feast Blessed are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All is now prepared in this Duty 2. In some respect there should be a Serious Preparation for the one as for the other as we would prepare to dye or prepare to meet Christ the Judge Christ did not wash his Disciples feet when he took them with him to Tabor to his Transfiguration but when he took them with him at his last Supper Joh. 13.7 Surely to rush upon the presence of the Bridegroom with a perfunctory careless common frame of spirit is a dangerous thing When a People come hand over head prepare themselves slightly pray slightly before they come and live carelesly and negligently they slight the Bridegroom and wrong themselves strengthen themselves in sin rather than
of Arms. I remember in Ecclesiastical History when Valens the Emperor railed against all the Defenders of the Godhead of Christ they did not meddle with Polinus out of Reverence to him for he was a very holy strict Man none durst lay Hands upon him 3. Many times they profess and join to the Church and so we have benefit by their Gifts and Abilities Authority and Power for God doth his Church a great deal of good by carnal Men. Conviction may bring them as far as Profession and the temporary Faith of a Magistrate tho carnal may be a Protection to Christianity as an Hedg of Thorns may be a good Fence about a Garden of Roses If they are Men of Parts they may help to defend the Christian Doctrine as a living Tree may be supported by a dead Post and the Gifts of carnal Men are for the use of the Body as the Gibeonites joined to Israel and were made hewers of Wood and drawers of Water or as the Carpenters who helped to build Noah's Ark perished in the Flood or as Negroes that dig in the Mines of Knowledg God may imploy them to bring up that which may be of great use and profit to the World they may help to build an Ark for others tho they themselves perish in the Water We would not refuse Gold from a dirty Hand neither are we to slight the benefit of carnal Men's parts for the common Profession of Christianity that they are under tho they are Slaves to their Lusts yet it is a real benefit and help to the Saints 4. They serve for a Warning to the Saints When this Conviction is strong upon them and grows to an height by the Stings of Conscience and Horrors of them that die in despair God warneth his People tho we would bear off the Stroke yet God knows how soon this Fire may be kindled in our own Breasts when Men see what Convictions will do being stifled and not complied with and Men live not according to their Light it is a warning to others As a Slave is many times beaten to warn a Son of his Father's Displeasure and Naturalists tell us a Lion will tremble to see a Dog beaten before him so do the Children of God tremble at the Convictions of wicked Men. Oh the Horrors of their Conscience declare what God hath wrought upon them tho few take little notice of it Thirdly In respect to the World it self this Conviction serveth both to lessen and encrease their Judgment The Terms seem to be opposite 1. Sometimes to lessen their Judgment Certainly the degrees of eternal Punishment are not equal there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 23.14 a greater Judgment there is a hotter and a cooler Hell there are few Stripes and many Stripes In the World to come it is more tolerable for some than for others Mat. 12.41 The Condition of the Ninevites was made more tolerable by the Conviction wrought by Jonah's Preaching because there was a temporal Repentance they humbled themselves for a while tho they were frighted to this Religiousness Aristides Cato and other moral Heathens their Condition will be more tolerable than those Men that live in a way of brutish and filthy Excess So there are many convinced that have helped the Church and been friendly to Religion when others have oppressed and opposed the Ways of God they have been a Hiding-Place a Shelter a Countenance a Protection to the People of God these shall not lose their Reward they have many Blessings in this World tho they continue Carnal and live and die in their Sins I suppose the more they comply with these Convictions their Condemnation shall be lessened tho not taken away This Advantage they have ut mitiùs ardeant they shall have a cooler Hell 2. Sometimes to increase their Judgment Those that maliciously oppose this Conviction they hasten their own Condemnation and heighten it Then it will be a Sin to them with a Witness when they knew their Master's Will and did it not James 4.17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is Sin They carry this Conviction to Hell with them and it is a part of their Torment this is the Worm that never dies Oh what a Terror will it be for them to think I had a better Estate discovered to me I knew somewhat of the Ways of God and now I am shut out for ever and ever There is a Worm that never dies as well as a Fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 There may be a Conviction so much as to enable a Man to speak to others yet he may be a worker of Iniquity and cast out of Christ's Presence How will this encrease their Torment their Knowledg serveth but to damn them the more The Characters are indelible and are not extinguished by Death To all other Torments there is added the gnawing of Conscience Look as in the Elect there is such a Spark kindled as shall never be extinguished their Knowledg they get here is not abolished but perfected and the Joys of the Spirit begin their Heaven a witnessing excusing Conscience to the Elect is the beginning of Heaven So in Hell Conscience will be always raging and expostolating with you Oh Fool that I was to neglect so great Salvation which others enjoy If I had lived civilly at least it had been better with me than now it is As they know more of God than others do so their Judgment will accordingly be greater And you know not how soon God may kindle this Fire in your Bosoms who for the present steep on carelesly in your Sins Vse 1. This may serve to perswade us that the Conviction of the World is a great Blessing and conduceth much to the advancement of Christ's Kingdom without any visible force with meer Spiritual Weapons in despight of all opposition which can be made thereunto The corrupt and ill-principled World cannot stand out against the Evidence of the Truth when it is soundly preached and in the Demonstration of the Spirit We have too slight an Opinion of the Weapons of our Spiritual Warfare 2 Cor. 10.4 The Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strong Holds Surely they are more mighty to pull down strong Holds than we are aware of The Spirit of the Lord tho he will not convert yet can so put to silence and bridle the Opposition that carnal Men make that it shall be ineffectual It concerneth God in Honour to go thus far on with the World for the promoting of his Kingdom and that they may not go on with an high Hand to oppose and crush it And this doth also evince the Truth of the Christian Religion such Convictions accompanying the preaching of it And God doth not wholly discontinue this Dispensation now There are ordinary Operations of the Spirit where the Gospel is preached which do convince the World The careless Professor
communicate it to his Members he is not weak when we are weak but able to do above what we can ask or think 3. As concerning the Life of Glory we have it by Christ also 1 Joh. 5.11 This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son The door which is shut against us by our sins is opened by Christ. Let us follow his Precepts and Example and depend upon his Grace and you cannot miscarry Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to light assured us of an endless Happiness after Death Heathens had but a doubtful conjecture of another Life we have an undoubted assurance and that is some great stay to us 4. Concerning the troubles and afflictions that we meet withal As to the troubles of the Church of God he is alive and upon the Throne he can never cease to live and reign Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool The enemies of his Kingdom must bend or break first or last 5. Against Death Christ hath broken the power of it as it hath no dominion over him so it cannot totally seize upon his Members in their better part they still live to God assoon as they dye and as to their Bodies The body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8.10.15 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand the last day upon the earth c. But what is this to us As it hath no dominion over him so not over us the power is broken the sting is gone If our flesh must rot in the grave our Nature is in Heaven Christ once dyed and then rose again from the dead Now this doth mightily secure and support us against the power and fears of death that we have a Saviour in possession of Glory to whom we may commend our departing Souls at the time of death and who will receive them to himself one that hath himself been upon Earth in flesh then dyed and rose again and is now in possession of endless Blessedness He is Lord of that World we are going into All Creatures there do him Homage and we e're long are to be adjoyned to that dutiful happy Assembly and partake in the same work and felicity SERMON IX ROM VI. 11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. THE Protasis or Foundation of the Similitude was laid down vers 9 10. the Apodosis or Application of it to the case in hand in this Verse The Foundation is Christs Example and Pattern dying and rising now after this double Example of Christs Death and Resurrection we must account our selves obliged both to dye unto sin and rise again to newness of life Likewise reckon ye also your selves c. In which words 1. Our Duty which is Conformity or Likeness to Christ dying and living 2. Grace to perform this Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through or in Jesus Christ by virtue of our Union with him we are both to resemble his Death and Resurrection 3. The means of inforcing this Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reckon Vulgar existimate Erasmus out of Tertullian reputate consider with your selves Others colligite statuite Doctrine That all who are baptized and profess Faith in Christ dying and rising from the dead are under a strong obligation of dying to sin and living to God through the Grace of the Redeemer Here I. I shall consider the Nature of the Duties of being dead to Sin and alive to God II. The Correspondency how they do answer the two States of Christ as Christ dyeth to sin for the Expiation of it and after Death reviveth and liveth to God so we III. The Order first Death then the Resurrection from the dead so first dying to sin then being alive to God IV. The certain Connexion of these things if we dye we shall live and we cannot live to God unless we be dead to sin neither can we dye to sin unless we live to God V. In the two Branches the Apostle opposeth God to Sin I. The Nature of the Work It consists of two Branches dying to Sin and living to God Mortification and Vivification 1. Mortification is the purifying â—â—d cleansing of the Soul or the freeing it from the slavery of the flesh which detaineth it from God and disableth it for all the duties of the holy and heavenly life The reign of sin was the punishment of the first Transgression and is taken away by the gift of the Spirit upon account of the Merit of Christ however it is our work to see that sin dye it dyeth as our love to it dyeth and our love to sin is not for its own sake but because of some pleasure contentment and satisfaction that we hope to find in it for no man would commit sin or transgress meerly for his minds sake meer evil apprehended as evil cannot be the object of our choice Now then our love to sin dyeth when our esteem of the advantages of the carnal life is abated when we have no other value of the pleasures honours and profits of the world than is fully consistent with our duty to God and may further us in it Therefore we are dead to fin when we endeavour more to please God than to please the flesh and mind more our eternal than our temporal interests 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 What we mind and value most sheweth the Reign of either Principle the Flesh or the Spirit 2. Vivification or living to God is the changing of the Heart by Grace and the acting of those Graces we have received by the Spirit of Regeneration All that have received the gift of the spiritual Life are bound to exercise it and put it in act by loving serving and obeying God 2 Pet. 1.3 4 5. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust And besides this giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge c. They that have received Grace are not to fit down idle and satisfied but to be more active and diligent in the exercise of Grace and whatever remaineth of their lives must be devoted to
Graves mouth and wealth pleasure carnal rest worldly honour are no longer of use â—o us when we are to be laid in the dust One would think this should cure the mad desires of all mortal Creatures 1 Joh. 2.17 The world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God shall endure for ever When we come to die neither can the thing do us good and the very lust and desire is gone and is bitter in the remembrance of it Pray how little can all the World then do for you when you have most need of comfort the taste of these things is gone and the sting remaineth the pampered flesh must then be cast into the dust and all its pleasure will then be at an end Which will be a doleful day to those that had their good things here and all their portion in this life when that is gone which is so much valued and sought after and the true Felicity forfeited because it was undervalued and contemned how will they be ashamed of the folly of their perverse choice Therefore if we would joyfully bear or contentedly yield to the dissolution of our bodies we should now master and mortifie the desires of the flesh 4. To shew that in this state of Mortality and Frailty we may prevent the reign of sin Many will say We are frail Creatures we are not glorified Saints the desires of Nature are impetuous Ay but you may resist them and that with success The mortality of the body doth not excuse sin but aggravate it that for a little brutish pleasure that is but for a while we will forfeit eternal Joys and run the hazard of eternal Pains But can we avoid the pleasing of desires so natural Yes many that live in the flesh do not live after the flesh their Reason is not enslaved by sense but illuminated and directed by Faith to higher things The Apostle produceth himself as an instance 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 And he speaketh no more of himself than what is common to all Believers surely they may or can if they be not wanting to themselves crucifie the flesh with the affections and passions thereof yea they have if they are true Believers Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Indeed nothing seemeth harder and harsher than for men to get such a Victory over their own Flesh and to contradict motions that are so pleasing They are not stocks and stones they say How is it possible to be so dead to the interests of the animal life as not to be moved and sometimes greatly moved with these things which either gratifie or displease the flesh I answer in Christs words Mat. 19.26 With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible There is the Spirit of Christ to change our Natures and the Spirit of Christ to direct and influence our motions and Ordinances and means appointed to convey this Spirit to us as the Word which revealeth better things Sacraments which assure to us our great hopes and oblige us to live answerably there are many Providences to deaden the taste of the flesh and train us up for better things in another World and we are to be watchful serious heavenly 5. To shew that the tediousness of our Conflict and this troublesom resistance shall endure but for a little while All our business is that sin may not reign in our mortal body there will a time come when this mortal shall put on immortality 1 Cor. 15.53 and long before that our spirits must return to God that gave them Eccles. 12.7 Now the more we think of another life the stronger we are against sin the troublesom part of our duty is but while we are in the flesh or in the world and if we can but escape the corruption that is in the world through lust we shall be happy for ever Thirdly When is sin said to reign I answer in general That is said to reign which attaineth the chief power in the Soul and particularly sin is said to reign 1. Negatively when it is not opposed or but slightly opposed We must take in this part of the description because there are contrary Principles in us There is no question but fleshly lusts will solicite you but your business is to inquire whether you oppose them it may be you do for it cannot be imagined that whilst a spark of Conscience remaineth alive in us a man can apparently be tempted from his duty but his heart will give back a little but an ineffectual striving will not acquit us even the unregenerate have a remnant of natural Knowledge and Conscience which in its measure resisteth sin as Light resisteth Darkness as is seen in the Gentiles 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 work of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another And where supernatural Revelation is added it may do more for Christians know what is evil more than Heathens do and so may escape through the knowledge of Christ the common pollutions of the world 2 Pet. 2.20 or be much troubled if they fall into them and God may give unto many some common internal Grace of the Spirit Heb. 6.4 5. which may occasion many convictions of the evil way they walk in But the business is whether there be such a Principle of resistance set up in the Soul that you walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 so that your hearts are habitually bent to God and your course of life is altered you dare not wittingly nor willingly give way to any known sin or live in the neglect of any known Duty as they do that live in any customary practice of sin or constant neglect of God or ordinarily break out into enormous offences It may be after all your care caution watchfulness resistance you may be overtaken or overcome by some violent temptation and may feel in your selves some infirmities you find you are guilty of many idle thoughts passionate words unwary practices but what is this to iniquities So those that say they relent and strive and have many wishes to be better but still continue in a carnal and ungodly life these do but sin against Conscience and never conquer the sin which they strive to resist till the opposite Principle be the ruling Principle for the main bent of your hearts and course of your lives the opposition and striving is but ineffectual If there be no sin but what you are truly desirous to
them so as to affect and esteem them and esteem and affect them so as to seek after them and so to seek after them as to seek after them in the first place 1. We must know them For the Things of the Spirit must be understood before they can be chosen and desired John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift The brutish world know not the worth of spiritual and heavenly things therefore mind them not 2. Believe them None will seek after that which they judg to be a fancy or of the certainty of which they are not perswaded especially when they must forgo present delights and contentments to obtain it such is Salvation by Christ 2 Pet. 1.5 10 16 And besides this giving all diligence to add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledg Wherefore the rather brethren give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 3. Affect and esteem them above all other things Heb. 11.13 Being perswaded of these things they imbraced them So esteem them that your desires may not be checked and controled by other things Heb. 11.26 By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the Son of Pharoahs Daughter 4. To pursue after them with all diligence Phil. 2.10 Working out your salvation with fear and trembling and John 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but that which endureth to everlasting life 5. Seek them in the first place that you may not only make it your business but the chiefest business of your lives to obtain these Things Mat. 6.33 First seek the kingdom of God This is to set your faces heavenward when you make it your great business to please God and save your souls 2. This is Life and Peace By Life and Peace is meant Eternal Blessedness he addeth to the Word Life the Term Peace because in Eternal Life there is freedom from all evil and the presence of all good for there can be no true solid peace where there is the fear of any evil or a want of any good but here being neither the Soul is fully at peace and rest therefore 't is said that God will give glory honour and peace to every one that doth good Rom. 2.10 Heaven is the new Jerusalem the City of Peace where we converse with God who is a God of Peace and enjoy full peace and rest from all our Molestations but tho it be meant of Heaven yet peace of Conscience is not excluded partly because 't is the beginning and earnest of it that peace which we now have in the Kingdom of the Messiah by our Reconciliation with God Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God and the testimony of a good conscience 2 Cor. 1.20 This is a continual feast Now the fruit of righteousness is peace Peace in Heaven and peace on earth Luke 2.14 and Luke 19.38 Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in Heaven and Glory in the highest 'T is begun here and perfected there And partly because whatever the Spirit worketh tendeth to our Peace and Blessedness not only hereafter but now Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing The Reasons are in common 1. With respect to Gods Justice God who is the most Righteous Governour of the world will make a just difference between the Righteous and the wicked by rewards and punishments it belongeth to his general Justice ut bonis bene sit malis male that it should be well with them that do well and ill with them that do ill Psal. 11.5 6. Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest shall be the portion of their cup for the righteous God loveth righteousness his countenance beholdeth the upright Surely God is not indifferent to good and evil to them that will please the flesh and obey the Spirit his Justice will not permit that the carnal and the regenerate who are so different in their lives should meet together in the end no surely the end of the one will be death and the other life and peace 2. To suit his Motives to the profit of Men. 1. There needeth something frightful to make sin a terror to us therefore doth he counterballance with advantage the pleasures of sin that are but for a season we are vehemently addicted to carnal delights therefore to check this inclination God ballanceth the choicest and highest pleasures with eternal pain that by setting one against the other we may be deterred from pleasing the flesh Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die 2. To encourage the godly in their self-denying Obedience The godly quit and forgo many pleasures which others enjoy Now to restrain and deny the flesh seemeth a pain and trouble therefore to encourage them to continue in an holy course tho it be distastful to the flesh and to renounce worldly pleasures and sensual delights while they may injoy them God hath told them of life and peace they shall have joy enough 1. VSE is Information To shew us the folly of wicked men who are self-destroyers and wrong their own souls while they despise the ways of Wisdom and prefer carnal satisfactions before the pleasing of God All that hate me love death Prov. 8.36 Not formally but consequentially a wicked man sinneth not purposely that he may be damned but that is the issue 2. It sheweth us the security of the wicked they sleep most soundly when their danger is nighest as Jonah in the storm that was raised for his sake they are upon the brink of Hell yet they go on merrily lulling their Consciences asleep with outward and vain delights but tho they sleep their damnation sleepeth not it were better to waken and escape the danger Prov. 27.12 A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished A little sober Consideration of this truth may be of use to them VSE 2. Is Admonition Oh let this stop us from going on in a flesh-pleasing course Consider whither it will lead you what followeth upon this 1. 'T is Death If it were a small thing you might bear it but 't is a case of Life and Death eternal Life and Death This will be the eternal ruin of your precious and immortal souls The more you please the Flesh the more you add Fuel to that Fire which shall never be quenched and provide matter for that never-dying Worm or eternal sorrow and confusion of face to your souls Those things that now please the Senses will one day sting the Conscience We should not affect that which will be Death to us Remember the Hook when the Flesh looketh only to the Bait. 2. T is Death threatned in the Word of God and therefore certain as well as dreadful Rom. 6.21 The wages of sin is death and Rom. 7.5 The motions of sin did bring forth fruit unto death If a man warn
giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledg c. wherefore the rather brethren give all diligence to make your calling and election sure c. for if ye do these things ye shall never fall for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So for Consideration Heb. 3.1 Wherefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high priest of our profession Jesus Christ. The weightiest things lye by and are as if they were not sleepy reason is as none and the most important truths work not till consideration make them lively so for application what concerneth us not is passed over unless we hear things with a care to apply them we shall never make use of them Eph. 1.13 After ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation 'T is not enough to know the Gospel to be a Doctrine of Salvation to others but we must look upon it as a Doctrine that bringeth salvation to our own doors and leaveth it upon our choice a plaister doth not heal at a distance till it be applied to the sore truths are too remote till we set the edg and point of them to our own hearts Now this Question in the Text relateth to all Three 1. It challengeth our faith What shall we say to these things Do we believe them and assent to them as certain verities The Apostle doth in effect demand what we can reply or say to these things The unbelieving dark and doubtful heart of man hath many things to say against divine truths let God say what he will the heart is ready to gainsay it yet 't is good to press our selves thoroughly with the light and evidence of truths to compel the heart to bring forth its objections and scruples if any mind to contradict have we any solid arguments to oppose truth wanteth its efficacy when 't is received with an half conviction and doubts smothered breed Atheism irreligion and gross negligence certainly the weighty truths of Christianity are so clear that the heart of man hath little or nothing to say against them therefore follow it to a full conviction doth any scruple yet remain in our minds 't is good thoroughly to sift things that they may appear in their proper lustre and evidence John 11.26 Believest thou this Pose your hearts 2. This question doth excite consideration or meditation We should not pass by comfortable and important truths with a few glancing and running thoughts 't is one part of the work of grace to hold our hearts upon them Acts 16.14 Whose heart the Lord opened that she attended to the things that were spoken Otherwise in seeing we see not and in hearing we hear not when we see and hear things in a crowd of other thoughts as when you tell a man of a business whose mind is taken up about other things no your minds must dwell upon these things till you are affected with them a full survey of the object sheweth us the worth of it What shall we say to these things That is what can be said more for our comfort and satisfaction Or what do we desire more How should we be satisfied with this felicity and love of the Ever-blessed God to his people 3. It awakeneth application to our selves that we may make use of these things for our own good Application is twofold direct or reflexive and the question may be explained with respect to both 1. Direct application As when we infer and bind our duty upon our selves from such principles as are laid down so What shall we say to these things That is what use shall we make of them Christianity is not a matter of speculation only but of practise therefore when we hear the truth of it enforced we must commune with our selves What doth this call for at our hands but serious diligence 2 Pet. 3.11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness The truths of the Gospel are not propounded that we may talk at an higher rate than others do but to live at an higher rate if I should be negligent indifferent careless What will become of me 2. Reflexive application is when we consider our state and course and judg of it by such general truths as are propounded to us direct application is by way of practical inference reflexive by way of discovery and to this sense may this question be interpreted What shall we say to these things Doth heart and practise agree with them Do I live answerable to these comforts and priviledges What am I one called and sanctified and one that continueth with patience in well doing upon the hope of eternal life 2 Cor. 13.5 Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye are reprobates If Christ be formed in his people is he formed in me Thus things must be brought home to the heart and laid to the conscience if we would make a profitable use of them USE is to awaken this self-communing To make our assent more strong our consideration more deep and serious and our application either by way of inference or discovery more close and pungent Do we assent Is this a truth to be lightly passed over If this be true what must I do Or what have I done Now this you should do upon these occasions 1. When you are tempted to unbelief There are some points which are remote from sense and cross the desires and lusts of sensual men and we either deny them or doubt of them or our hearts are full of prejudice against them and also the Devil doth inject thoughts of blasphemy or doubts about the world to come into the hearts of people especially in those that take Religion upon trust or are secretly false to that Religion they have received upon some evidence Now to prevent all this 't is good to commune with our selves that we may be well settled in the truth therefore see with what evidence the great things of the other world are represented unto us in the Word of God and what a just title they have to our firmest belief Faith will not be settled without serious thoughts and it soon withereth there where it hath not much depth of earth Matth. 13.5 6. No thoughts in the highway ground slight thoughts in the stony ground faith is a child of light and given upon certain grounds Luke 1.4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed and Acts 17.11 12. They searched the Scriptures whether those things were so Therefore many of them believed But presumption and slight credulity is a child of darkness the fruit of ignorance and incogitancy therefore 't is good in those truths that need it most to ask What say we to these things 2. When you are in danger