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
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
things found in them but the carnal minding is not mortified nor doth the meek holy heavenly Spirit prevail in them There are others 2. Who are regenerate but Grace is weak in them and corruptions break out and shake off the Empire of Grace for a time tho it habitually prevail and governs their Actions Now for the former we must perswade them to get a good and an honest heart that is that their intentions be more sincere and fixed their way more thorough and exact least they get a Name for Relgion to do a mischief to it For most of the calamities of the Church and the Prejudices against Religion and hardening by scandals and blemishes come from that sort of men and are to be laid at their doors And for the second we are to advise them and call upon them to distinguish themselves from the carnal state more clearly and explicitely For tho God may accept them yet whilst they border too near upon the carnal World it is in vain to find out Evidences whereby they may assure their hearts before God For tho God possibly hath given them saving Grace and will accept them at last yet he will not give them assurance and we do but perplex Cases of Conscience to reconcile the Tenor of Christianity with their weak estate Exhortation doth better than Tryal If they be sincere they will come on in the way of godliness and then that which was doubtful will be more clear and satisfactory and their sincerity will be more unquestionable 3. Because God's dear children write bitter things against themselves either out of weakness of Judgment or consciousness of too much prevalency of corrupt affections and tenderness of God's Honour and trouble for their own imperfections it will be necessary further to state the point There is to the very last flesh and spirit in the best Gal. 5.17 For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh yet there is enough to distinguish them from the carnal World and that is the potency and the predominancy of the spiritual Principle Denominatio est a potiori not from what is perfect but from what is sincere and habitually reigneth and beareth the upper hand in the soul. But then the Question returneth How shall we know the prevalency I answer 1. Negatively Not by a bare sense of duty or a dictate of Conscience that sheweth what ought to be done but many times we do quite otherwise for many hold the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1.18 A dictate of Conscience is unsufficient to change the heart and sanctifie the life Nor barely by the resolution of the Will for that may be uneffectual and without a full purpose of heart I go Sir said the first Son in the Parable but went not Mat. 21.30 Many resolve well but they have not an heart to verifie and make good their Resolutions Deut. 5.29 The Jews said All that the Lord hath spoken we will do Oh that there were such an heart in them saith God! Nor by a faint desire for many can wish not only for Heaven and Happiness but that it might be otherwise with them in point of Holiness that God would change their Natures but they do not use the means The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing Prov. 13.4 None goeth to Heaven by the Sluggard's wishes not by prevailing in one act or more for many in a pang of Zeal may do much for God Gal. 4.18 It is good to be zealously affected always in a good matter Psal. 106.3 Blessed are they that do righteousness at all times Nor by every kind of dislike and resistance of sin that may sometimes arise from other Lusts for they sometimes fight among themselves James 4.1 Whence comes wars and fightings among you come they not hence even from your lusts which war in your selves Or from Hypocrisie to hide and feed some other Lusts the more plausibly Or if from Conscience the resistance is too feeble to break the power of sin till the heart be renewed or more thoroughly set towards God and Heavenly Things 2. Positively 1. By the course of our Actions Habits are known by the Uniformity of Acts when the effects of the Spirit are more constant than those of the Flesh and the drift and business of our lives is for God and our salvation our bent and business is the pleasing of God and the saving of our own souls Men must be judged not by a few Acts but their Walk or the Tenor of their Conversations They that spend their time in knitting one carnal contentment to another and glut themselves with all manner of vain delights and God hath from them but what the Flesh can spare a little formal slight service that they may pacifie Conscience and enjoy their Pleasures with less remorse what are they doing but the Flesh's business 2. By cherishing the best Principle with all care and diligence and mortifying and suppressing the other The better Principle must be cherished that is we must get more degrees of Faith Love and Hope that Faith may be more strong Love more fervent Hope more lively 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. On the other side the Flesh would fain be pleased before God but you must subdue it more and more 1 Cor. 9.22 I keep under my body and bring it into subjection give it not what it craveth Rest not in endeavours without success for Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flâ—sh with the affections and lusts thereof A Christian is seen proposito conatu eventu Some Victory there must be over the carnal mind See that the power of the Flesh be diminished in you both as to the motions of it and your obedience to it VSE 2. Is Exhortation First Negatively Not to mind the things of the Flesh That is Take heed not only of the grosser out-breakings of the Flesh but of serving it in a more cleanly manner by too free and full a gust and relish in any outward thing for by this means it securely gets interest and gaineth upon you If you freely let loose the heart to every alluring Object and withhold not your selver from any Joy Lust will grow bold and head-strong and be hardly kept within bounds Motives 1. Consider your engagement as you are Christ's Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Every man is engaged by his Profession and Covenant sealed in Baptism so to do which should be a very moving Argument to press us to do things cross and unpleasing to the Flesh. 2. Your comfort dependeth on it For here is your evidence either you must mortifie the Flesh or gratifie the Flesh if you gratifie the Flesh you are not under the conduct of the Spirit and so not under the hope of glory if you mortifie it then you shall live The only evidence that
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
was upon Moses and gave it to the Seventy Elders As if what were given to his Assistance were taken from him and his Abilities were lessened with his Work whereas 't is only meant of the Communication of the same Graces 2. The Meaning is He that useth his Gifts well shall be amply rewarded so amply as if the Happiness which others expect should accrue to them and be put on their Account Thirdly The Reason of both in the 29 th Verse For unto every one that hath shall be given That these Expressions are proverbial is out of question with the Learned Habenti dabitur is an Expression verified in all Ages and in all Countries The Rich have many Friends and he that hath much shall have more every one will be presenting them and they have great Advantages of laying out themselves and improving themselves more than others have So on the contrary side by the neglect of others and their own incapacity to improve themselves poor Men commonly grow poorer Upon this occasion were the words first used which our Saviour is pleased to translate and apply to his own purpose The Sense of the Words as they lie here will be known by taking this copulate Axiome and Proposition apart The first Branch speaketh of Gain the second of Loss 1. Branch Vnto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have abundance The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not only signifie the Possession of a thing but the Use which is the end of Possession and so he that hath is he that hath to purpose that occupieth and trafficketh with his Grace or Gift received with that care and diligence that belongeth to so great a Treasure and Trust To him shall be given he shall increase his Stock and accordingly the Comfort Benefit and Reward that belongeth to it Yea it follows He shall have abundance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a single Abundance but a continual Increase even unto Perfection an Increase of Gifts Graces and Rewards The summ is To him that useth and improveth God's Grace shall by degrees be given so much as that at last he shall have all abundance 2. Branch of this copulate Axiome is From him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath As he that had one Talent but had it not for his Master's Use is counted and reckoned as though he had none We have not what we have if we use it not well as we say of a covetous Man Avaro tam deest quod habet quà m quod non habet 'T is as if we had it not idle Gifts and Habits lie dead and useless In Luke 't is Chap. 8.18 And from whomsoever hath not shall be taken that which he seemeth to have He maketh no use of his Gifts but lets them lie idle as if he had not had them Of Grace and Righteousness the Proposition holdeth most true of Reprobates their Grace and Righteousness is but a Pretension of other Gifts which they have they have them not for use for the Lord's Service and so in effect they have them not Therefore they shall be taken from them that is they lose their Reward Ezek. 33.13 If he trust in his Righteousness and commit Iniquity all his Righteousness shall not be remembred 2 John 8. Look to your selves that we lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full Reward Gal. 3.4 Have you suffered so many things in vain If it be yet in vain Men may suffer many things for the Truth who afterward make foul Defection from it but all is vain lost and to no purpose as to any thing that can be expected from God The Nazarite was to begin again if he had defiled himself in the dayes of his Separation Numb 6.12 Thus for their putative Righteousness for other common Gifts which they really have they shall be deprived of all the real Benefit which otherwise they might have had if they had laid them out for the Glory of God their own Salvation and the good of their Neighbours Doct. That all the good Gifts which God hath bestowed upon men increase by good use but wither and are lost by Negligence For this is the summe of Christs Sentence and Reason Now that I may speak distinctly of the point I must say something as to the Increase and something as to the Loss 1. For the Increase To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly I shall deliver my sense of it in these Propositions First That diligence is the means and Gods Blessing is the cause of all increase and both must be regarded or else we profit nothing we cannot expect Gods Blessing while we sit idle and 't is a wrong to Grace to trust meerly to endeavours or without looking up to God 'T is said in Pro. 10.4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the diligent hand maketh rich That is that 's the Means for Verse 22. 't is said The Blessing of the Lord maketh rich That is the Blessing of the Lord upon the use of Means God hath ordered it so in his Providence that diligence should be alwayes fruitful and profitable both in a way of Nature and Grace That the Joy of the Harvest should recompense the Pains and Patience of the diligent Husbandman and that the Field of the Sluggard should be overgrown with Thorns Iron by handling weareth brighter and brighter but by standing still or being let alone it contracteth rust by which 't is darkened and eaten out Take away Use and Exercise and Wisdom turneth into Folly and Learning into Ignorance Health into Sickness Riches into Poverty Strength of Body and Mind are both gotten by Use he that useth his Talent with fidelity and sedulity shall increase in it but such as are idle and negligent shall grow worse and worse God doth plentifully recompenese the diligence and fidelity of his Servants he that maketh use of any degree of Grace and Knowledge shall have more given him by exercising what he hath he doth still increase it Whereas on the contrary remiss acts weaken habits as well as contrary acts this is a common truth evident by daily Experience but then Gods Blessing must not be excluded God would have us labour rather to keep us doing than that he needeth our help He that made the world without us can preserve it without us as he that planted the Garden of Eden could have preserved it without mans dressing yet we read that when he had furnished the Garden of Eden with all delights God took the man and put him into it to dress it and to keep it Gen. 2.15 that is to use Husbandry about it that by sowing setting pruning and watering he might preserve those Fruits wherewith God had furnished that pleasant Garden and to bestow his pains upon that whereof he was to receive the benefit and that by busying himself about the Creatures he might the better
〈◊〉 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
and say it shall not be yea much reason to believe that God will give success to our endeavours for his glory in the world considering what hath usually befallen his servants in like cases tho we cannot draw a firm and certain Argument from thence yet 't is probable for the most part 't is so but in matters that concern eternal life somewhat of this hope may be observed as before conversion when we begin to be serious and seek after God we cannot say certainly God will give us converting and saving grace we must follow God tho we know not what will come of it as Abraham did Heb. 11.8 there the rule in such cases is I must do what he hath commanded God may do what he pleaseth Yet 't is some comfort that we are in a probable way Nay after conversion such hope men may have as to their own interest in eternal salvation They cannot say Heaven is theirs or that God will certainly keep them to his Heavenly Kingdom yet they dare not quit their hopes of Heaven for all the world nor cease to walk in the way of salvation 't is probable they are Gods Children 2. There is a firm and certain hope when we have assurance of things hoped for by the promises and offers of the Gospel as Acts 24.15 I have hope towards God that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust Without this hope a man cannot be a Christian. We must certainly expect the promised blessing to be given to those that are capable and duly qualified and all that are inlightned by the spirit do see it and expect it and positively conclude that verily there is a reward for the righteous Psal. 58. last This hope is the life of Religion and doth excite us to look after it by due and fit means their eyes are enlightned with spiritual eye-salve that they get a sight of the world to come Eph. 1.18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and the richest of the glory of his inheritance in the saints And if they believe the Gospel it cannot be otherwise I am certain there is such a thing Col. 1.5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel There this truth is made known all that close with the Gospel receive it and by it is this blessed hope of Glory wrought in us 3. There is a two fold certain hope one sort necessary the other very profitable but not absolutely necessary to the life and being of a Christian the first sort is the fruit of faith the second the consequent of assurance The first grounded meerly upon the offers of the Gospel propounding the chiefest good to men to excite their desires and endeavours the other is grounded on the sight of our own qualification as well as the offers of the Gospel the one is antecedent to all acts of Holiness the other followeth after it an antecedent hope there must needs be before the effect of the Holy Life can be produced for since hope incourageth and animateth all human endeavours no man will engage in a strict course displeasing to flesh and blood but he must have some hope and this hope the conditional offers of the Gospel doth beget in us and all serious creatures have it that mind their proper happiness Rejoyceing in hope is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 3.6 14. 'T is the first tast we have of the pleasures of the world to come Keep up this gust and tast and you are safe But then there is another hope that is grounded upon the evidence of our sincerity and is the fruit of assurance when we can make out our own claim and title to eternal life which is not usually done without much diligence Heb. 6.11 And we desire that every one of you do shew forth the same diligence to the full asurance of hope unto the end Much sobriety and weanedness from the world 1 Pet. 1.13 Much watchfulness that we be not moved away from the hope of the gospel Col. 1.23 That our hopes of eternal life begotten in us by the Gospel be not weakned and deadned in us 't is not enough thankfully at first to embrace the conditional offer but we must keep up this hope in life and vigour Much resolution in our conflicts with the Devil world and flesh 1 Thes. 5.8 Lastly some experience Rom. 5.4 of Gods favour and help in troubles and our sincerity therein when we are seasoned and tryed our confidence increaseth the frequent experience of Gods being nigh to us and honouring us in sundry tryals is a ground for hope to rest upon that he will not leave us till all be accomplished Phil. 1.20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or death Paul gathereth his confidence for the future from former experience Now these two sorts of hope must be distinguished for the first hope may be accompanied with some doubts of our own salvation or the rewards of Godliness ex parte nostri at least not ex parte Dei for there all is sure and stedfast and to doubt there is a sin it would detract from the goodness power and truth of God but when our qualification is not evident this doubting may do us good as it may quicken us to more diligence to make our title more clear and explicate especially when we are conscious to our selves of some notorious defect in our duty and have a blot upon our evidences indeed the rather when more Godliness might be expected from us as having more knowledg or helps or are obliged by calling and profession to greater integrity and Holiness of life Doubting is right when it ariseth from a right and true judgment of our actions according to the new Covenant and we cannot truly say who hath the greatest interest in us God or the world Sin or Holiness Would you have men muffle their consciences and think that they have more grace than they have or judg their condition to be better than it is absolutely safe when they are not perswaded of their sincerity Indeed when conscience judgeth erroneously and a man thinketh he hath not that Godliness which is necessary to salvation which indeed he hath he overlooketh Gods work his judgment of himself is erroneous and therefore culpable tho it be not unbelief or a distrust of Christ. Well then as to these two Hopes 1. That hope which ariseth from faith must every day be more strengthned for tho there be no fallibility in Gods promise yet our faith may be weak or strong according to our growth and improvement and in some temptations Gods Children for a while may question articles of religion of great
Heaven The whole genius of the Popish religion runneth this way where the worship of Christ is turned into a theatrical pomp and the simplicity of the Gospel is changed into weak and silly observances and beggarly rudiments which betray it to the contempt scorn of all considering men and is no more pleasing to Christ than the mockage of the Jews Souldiers that put a purple robe upon Christ and cryed Hail king of the Jews when they spit upon him and buffeted him In Christians 't is but to complement Christ to feast and make mirth for his memory and deck our bodies and houses whil'st we look not after rejoycing in the Spirit to be all for sumptuous Temples and costly furniture and rich Altar Cloaths and Vestments while his Laws are trampled under foot and those that would sincerely worship Christ and make it their â—usiness to go to Heaven are despised and maligned and it may be condemned to the fires 'T is not the pomp of Ceremonies but Faith and brokenness of heart and diligence in his service and living in the Spirit that Christ mainly looketh after Religion looketh more like a worldly thing in a carnal dress but the Kings daughter is glorious within Psa. 45.13 The glory of the true Church and every member thereof is in things spiritual as knowledge faith love hope courage zeal sobriety patience humility these are the true glories of the Saints not golden Images and rich accommodations and outward triumph and carnal revilings and the great thing Christ hath commended to us in his Doctrine is an holy heart and an holy life Psa. 93.5 Holiness becometh thy house O Lord for ever Not pomp and gaudry of worship but purity and holiness that 's a standing ornament 4. By herding with a stricter party whil'st yet our hearts are not subdued to God There are three places prove this Gal. 6.15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but a new creature And Gal. 5 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but faith that worketh by love 1 Cor. 7 19. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the commandments of God Men hug others because they are of their party and fellowship 't is religion enough to be one of them of such a party and denomination as obtains the vogue and is of most esteem among Christians in that age yet how strict so ever our party be if our hearts be not subdued to Christ all is as nothing in the sight of God till a man be a new creature 't is but a fleshâ—y knowing of Christ a man may change his party as a piece of Lead will receive any Impression either Angel or Devil or what you stamp upon it 3. This knowing Christ after the flesh will do us no good be of no comfort and use to us as to the salvation of our Souls 1. Because God is no respecter of persons 1 Pet. 1.17 If you call him Father who without respect of persons Judgeth every man according to his works The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the outward appearance but God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that doth not judge by outward respects The Prosopon of the Jew was his knowledge of the Law and injoying the Ordinances of God The Prosopon of the Christian is his profession of respect to Christ and esteem of him but God judgeth not by the appearance but by the internal habit and constitution of the heart manifested by an uniform obedience to his whole will otherwise circumcision may become uncircumcision or Christianity as Paganism Therefore 't is not enough to profess you are for Christ of his Faction and Party for there is a Faction of Christians as well as a religion they are of the Faction of Christians whose interest and education leadeth them to profess love to Christ without any change of heart or serious bent of Soul towards him Now this is the Prosopon according to which God may be supposed to judge for you do not think riches or poverty fear or love can so much as be supposed to be in God but profession or not profession is that he looks to 2. Because Christ hath put us upon another tryal than a fond affection to his outward person and memory namely by our respect to his commandments John 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me There 's the main other things will not pass for love though they be taken for such in the World And John 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Perfect friendship consists in harmony or an agreement in mind and will If you have any true love to Christ it will make the Soul hate every thing which it knoweth to be contrary to his nature and will Psa. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil and constraineth the Soul to set about every thing which it knoweth will please and honour him 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constraineth us If we do but love him and be sensible of the obligation he hath left upon us So it will be in a real spiritual love 3. Because they cannot truly challenge the name of Christians that do only know Christ after the flesh Christ being now exalted requireth a spiritual converse with him When Christ hath laid aside his mortal life we should lay aside our carnal conceits and affections There were some Jewish Impostors that Eusebius writeth of Mungrel Christians Chocabites and Nazerites who called themselves the Lords kinsmen a sort of Cozening and Heretical companions they were who for their own purposes forraged the Countrys up and down as the Gipsies now do amusing the World with genealogies and drawing the vulgar after them with many vain fancies denyed the Resurrection interpreting all said about it of the new creature pretending belief in Christ but observing the Law of Moses against whom the Epistle to the Galatians is supposed to be written And there were some that knew Moses after the flesh and seemed to pretend much zeal to the Law of Moses Now the Apostle saith they deserved to be called the concision rather than the circumcision whereof they gave out themselves to be patrons and defenders The true believers had right to that title because they had the thing signified by circumcision worshipping God with the inward and spiritual affection of a renewed heart and trusting in Christ alone for salvation who was the substance of the shadows and renouncing confidence in fleshly priviledges worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus So for Christians glorying in externals is scarce worthy the name of Christianity if they have the name not the reality 4. Because this knowing Christ after the flesh is inconsistent with his glorious estate in Heaven It pleased him not in the days of his flesh A Divine spiritual affection doth only befit the state of glory to which he is exalted Now
curse of the law and absolve us from the guilt and eternal punishment of all our sins and moderate the temporal punishment of them surely the cross may be the better born and then a life begun which shall not be quenched Blessed is that soul who hath these priviledges 6. See the way how we get assurance of Gods love and our own salvation We know the purposes of Gods grace by the effects by which he witnesseth his love to his elect ones by vocation our predestination is manifested by justification we feel the comfort of it so climb up to glory by degrees Those whom God hath predestinated from all eternity and will glorifie in the world to come he doth powerfully call The Scripture promiseth Salvation not to the named but described persons here then is your way of procedure Would you know your election of God Are you called sanctified brought home to God Begin to live in the spirit 2. USE Do not know these things in vain nor reflect upon them meerly to satisfie curiosity or to keep up a barren speculative dispute but to cherish the love of God Holiness Patience and become more serious in the work of salvation What effects have you of this Predestination 1. Love to God From everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal. 90.2 Psal. 103.17 And from everlasting to everlasting his mercy is to them that fear him We see his love in his purposes and performances the one before the world began the other when the world shall have an end and so two eternities meet together eternal glory arising from purposes of eternal Grace so that whether we look backward or forward you see the everlasting love of God Oh then Let God be yours first and last let the everlasting purposes of his Grace be your constant admiration and the everlasting fruition of God in glory be your fixed end which is always in your eye and let the sense of the one and the hope of the other quicken all your duties Gods mercy you see from all eternity it began and to eternity it continueth we adjourn and put off God as if we had not sinned enough and dishonoured his name enough hereafter will be time enough to return to our duty If we begin never so soon God hath been aforehand with us some make early work of Religion as Josiah Samuel Timothy some are called sooner some later but tho all are not called so soon as others they are loved as soon as others for these benefits were designed to us from all eternity 2. Holiness That we might hate sin more and prize holiness more holiness is inferred out of election as a special fruit of this predestination Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us to be holy 'T is inferred out of calling for he hath called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 The calling is from misery to happiness from sin to holiness 't is inferred out of Justification Sanctification is the inseparable companion of it God freeth us a malo morali that freeth us a malo naturali impunity followeth uprightness our recovery were not else intire our case is like that of a condemned Malefactor sick of a deadly disease who needs not only the skill of the Physitian to heal him but the pardon of the Judg. And 't is inferred out of glorified none shall enjoy everlasting glory after this life but such as are holy here and if they be not sanctified and renewed by the spirit they shall never enter into the Kingdom of God for we cannot have one part of the covenant while we neglect another 't is not only the way but part of glory 3. Patience under afflictions The same notions are used of afflictions which are used of your priviledges by Christ 1 Thes. 3.3 Ye are appointed thereunto You should look to that in all that befalleth you he that appointed you to the Crown appointed you to the Cross also Called 1 Pet. 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called We are called to the fellowship of the Cross we consented to these terms Matth. 10.38 He that taketh not up his cross and followoth after me is not worthy of me Justified the comforts of it are most felt then Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God Glorified take it for degrees of holiness holiness is promoted by affliction Heb. 12.10 We are chastned that we might be partakers of his holiness Final blessedness 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding joy Christs last day is a glad day to you 4. More seriousness in the work of salvation 2 Pet. 1.10 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 without spot and blameless SERMON XLI ROM VIII 31 What shall we then say to these things if God be for us who can be against us WE are now come to the Application of these blessed truths and the triumph of Believers over sin and the Cross yea over all the enemies of our Salvation 't is begun in the Text What shall we then say The Words contain two Questions 1. One by way of preface and excitation 2. The other by way of explication setting forth the ground of our confidence So that here is a question answered by another question 1. Let us begin with the exciting question What shall we then say to these things Doct. When we hear divine truths 't is good to put questions to our own hearts about things There are three ways by which a truth is received and improved By sound belief serious consideration and close application sound belief 1 Thes. 2.13 For this cause also we thank God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Serious consideration Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts unto all the words I testifie among you this day Luke 9.44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears Close application Job 5.27 Lo this it is we have searched it out know thou it for thy good Now these three acts of the soul have each of them a distinct and proper ground sound belief worketh upon the clearness and certainty of the things asserted serious consideration on the greatness and importance of them close application on their pertinency and suitableness to us see all in one place 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief These are all necessary to make any truth operative we are not affected with what we believe not therefore to awaken diligence the truth of things is pleaded 2 Pet. 1.5 10 16. And besides this