he hath not received The meaning is not then whosoever hath the improvement of Nature to him shall be given true Grace but whosoever hath true Grace given to him to him still it shall be given and he shall have more abundance God will heap favours on them i. e. The beginning of Grace is a pawn of more Grace and every former Grace shall be a pledg of future First God gives Grace therefore we have it whosoever hath then he adds more to it to him it shall be given 1. The words are a Reason why Christ said to the Apostles Vnto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven For or because whosoever hath to him shall be given I pray mark it I say It is a Reason not why natural men should have Grace given them but why the Disciples should have Grace given them 2. Having or not having is to be understood of Saving Grace Therefore speak I in Parable to them because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand Ver. 13. Here Christ gives the Reason clearly which he toucht in Ver. 11 But to them it is not given why he spake to the Scribes and Pharisees in Parables because hearing Christ before preach plainly the Kingdom of Heaven they would not understand nor believe nor obey him Hearing they would not hear And seeing his Holiness and his Miracles they would not believe nor receive him for the Messia Thus seeing they would not see And therefore they deserved that Christ should now preach in obscure and cloudy Parables to them We see then the cause of Christ's preaching in Parables was the obstinacy of some who were present and they were not meer simple men unlearnd men but the Scribes and Pharisees and Priests who follow Christ only to carp at and catch him 2 To deride him and he was not to give holy things to Dogs From these the mysteries of Heaven were justly vailed because in seeing and hearing they did not and would not see nor hear and understand Observe hence Obs Such minds as hearers bring to Christ such Sermons doth he preach to them Because they would not understand they shall not When they will not understand those things that are clear and manifest Christ involves his speeches in darkness because the Disciples do plainly and honestly receive what is given they are worthy i. e. counted worthy to whom more secret mysteries should be Communicated Obs As it is the mercy and gift of God that some hear and understand what they hear so it is the dreadful judgment of God that some in hearing hear not nor understand Having travel'd thus far in the Explanation of our Text we now arrive at the several Theses or Doctrines contained in it upon which we will lay the Structure of the following Discourse 1. Doct. The matters of the Kingdom of Heaven are Mysteries 2. It is a matchless aend blessed Priviledg to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 3. The Divine knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some not to others 4. Where there are beginnings of true Graece though never so weak God makes rich additions of more Of these we will treat in order as they lye before us 1. Doct. The matters of the Kingdom of Heaven are Mysteries 1. Jesus Christ is a great Mystery The Creator became a Creature He who made Man was made Man He was born of the Virgin-Mother and yet made his Mother He that was the Father of Eternity was born in time He never offended his Father and yet was the greatest offender in the world A sinner and no sinner For he knew no sin and yet was made sin for us He was David's Son and yet David called him Lord. Mat. 22. 42 43. 2. Justification by Jesus Christ is a great Mystery There is a Curse denounced against them that break the Law Gal. 3. 10. and yet the Saints are not cursed though they never kept the Law The Saints cannot be Justified by the Law and yet the Law Gal. 5. 23. cannot but Justifie them There 's nothing hinders Acceptance but Sin yet Sin doth 1 Tim. 1. 13. not hinder their Acceptance 3. Faith is a Mystery The Apostle saith Faith is the substance Heb. 11. 1. or subsistence of things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen See and not see things not seen and yet Faith sees them Things to come and yet makes them present and gives them present Being It is a Mystery Christ was born some thousand years after Abraham and yet Abraham saw John 8. 56. his Day By Faith Moses saw him that is Invisible saith the Text Invisible and yet saw him It is a Mystery He saw him by Faith who could not be seen by Sense It is said of Abraham that against hope he believed in Rom. 4. 18. hope 4. Regeneration is a Mystery That a man should be born again and yet not enter into his Mothers Womb it is a Mystery How can a man be born when he is old saith Nicodemus John 3. 4. Can he enter the second time into his mothers Womb and be born So Conversion is a Mystery That a man should be the same and not the same the same man for soul and body and yet not the same in regard of supernatural Life and Being put into him It is a Mystery To see a mans Judgment and Affections turned backward He that was proud before now turned humble and he that was ambitious before now despise the vain World it is a strange Mystery The men of the World stand wondring at it as 1 Pet. 4. 4. the Israelites did at Saul Is Saul also among the Prophets And the Church admired at Paul Act. 9. 21. 5. Humility is a Mystery The Saints know themselves to be Kings and yet refuse not to be every mans Servant To lye lowest is the only way to rise highest Whosoever shall humble himself the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Matth. 18. 4. Matth 23. 12. August de Temp. heaven But whosoever doth exalt himself shall be abased Videte magreum miraculum c. saith Austin See here a great miracle God is on high and yet the higher thou liftest up thy self the further thou art from him and the lower thou humblest thy self the nearer thou art to him The Angels those great Courtiers and Princes of Heaven such is their humility they become Ministring spirits to the Saints surely the Angels humility is a Mystery Again That a man should use the World as if he did not 1 Cor. 7. 29. 30 31. use it weep as if he did not weep weep and not weep rejoyce as though he rejoyced not rejoyce and not rejoyce And they that buy as though they possessed not buy and not buy that they that have Wives he as though they had none married and yet unmarried it is a Mystery 6. Self-denial is a
be given to them that have grace be it never so small Then Saints see what your work is What 's that to receive How may we receive more grace First Open thy soul to receive grace For to receive a thing is sometimes a motion of the subject or faculty opening it self to receive it As the hand doth open it self to receive a gift and a vessel must be opened to receive oyl or cordial pour'd into it The earht opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah And Numb 16. 32. Gen. 4 11. the earth as God said to Cain opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now the opening of the soul to receive Grace consists in these three Things 1. In believing the Promise when the soul believes its door stands open to receive the golden Treasures of Grace that are brought into it out of the store-house of the Promise And therefore saith the Text They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto Acts 14. 27. the gentiles 2. In love to grace promised for love is an opening grace When a man loves a friend dearly he opens his Arms to embrace and receive him so when a man loves grace he opens his heart to welcom grace into it And therefore ye shall find this passage between Christ and his Spouse saith Christ Open to me my love And saith the Spouse I rose up to open to Cant. 5. 2. Vers 5. my beloved He that loves Christ will open the two-leav'd gates of his soul to let in Christ with all his train 3. In desire after grace promised for the desire of grace is an opening of the soul to receive grace As the Lord saith Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide i. e. ask freely open thy mouth in Prayer as wide as thou wilt And I will fill it 2dly Lye low The valleys that receive all the showres and floods into their bosom lye low under all the high hills and proud mountains so the humble Saints that lye in the bottom of self-abhorrence under all the rest receive the showres of grace the floods stay upon them and they drink them in they are overflown like your low grounds with abundance of grace 3dly Accept of grace to receive grace is to accept of grace As Jacob said to his brother Esau Nay I pray thee if now I Gen 33. 10. have found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand i. e. accept of my present at my hand Vse 5. What shall I do that have no grace To him that hath shall be given But what shall I do that have not Consider grace is a gift and therefore 1. God can give grace where it is not he gives grace where is none he doth good to them that are not good A gift is bestowed where it is not See Isa 44. 3 I will pour water upon Isa 44. 3. him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring i. e. as I pour Water and Floods upon the dry and thirsty ground that hath none so will I pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Where observe God gives showres of grace where there 's not a drop before 2. He can give grace to whom he will he can love whom he will and he can give grace to whom he will this is the Prerogative of Gods Love he can love any one Man being a narrow creature cannot love any one one that is fowl and ugly and crooked but God can love any one he can love unhandsom and deformed Creatures and marry them and make them lovely Naaman the Syrian was a Leper and therefore wondrous ugly he was a Leper in Body and Mind too The beauty of the mind presents a crooked person comely to us but Naaman had beauty in neither part he was a Leper in body and an Idolater in mind and yet God loved him and by a poor maid in his house sent him to the Prophet of Israel and healed his outside and healed his inside made his Body comely and made his Soul comely 3. He makes notorious sinners noteable Saints he makes Persecutors Preachers As he did Paul and all the Church admired it But they had heard only that he who persecuted us Gal. 1. 23. in times past now PREACHETH the faith which once he DESTROYED See the Work and Free-grace of God! Would God shew mercy to him that destroyed the Faith Yes he gave Faith to him that destroyed the Faith Paul if he could would have kil'd Christ and yet God gives him Christ The Gentiles were the greatest Sinners in the World and they were at the height of sin when the Gospel began to be Preached to them they were counted unclean the unclean Act 10. 14 15. beasts swine and other Beasts which the Jews under the Law might not eat did signifie the Gentiles and the Jews not eating the unclean beasts did signifie that they should have no communion with the unclean Gentiles yet on the GENTILES Vers 45. Acts 11. 17. also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost And forasmuch as God gave them i. e. the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto us 4. Sometimes God makes his greatest Act of Love to pass upon the greatest sinner Paul you know was a Saul indeed chief of sinners he saith it of himself and yet notwithstanding Acts 9. 3 4. Christ Preached from Heaven to him he sent men to Preach to others as Philip to the Eunuch but Jesus Chrrist doth himself Preach to Paul Jesus Christ when he was on Earth in the form of a servant called the other Apostles as Matthew at the receipt of custom and Peter when he was fishing follow me but when he was on his Throne in Majesty he Preacht from Heaven to Paul Wondrous love to a wondrous sinner 5. He bids thee pray and he 'l give Ask and it shall be Matth. 7. 7. Luk. 11. 13. given you But you 'l say he saith this to Saints Sol. See what our Lord Christ saith to the Woman of Samaria If thou knew'st the gift of God and who it is that saith John 4. 10. to thee Give me to drink thou would'st have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Dub. But I ask and yet 't is not given Resp Questionless he that bids us ask means to give As we bid our Children say I pray you father give me such a thing we do it not but when we mean to give it them Object But I cannot pray I cannot pray for grace Answ 1. He that will give thee grace when thou prayest will give thee grace that thou mayest pray As God first formed Adams body and it lay dead before him on the ground without breath or life or soul in it and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life or spirit of lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 7. and man became a living soul So when thou lyest dead before the Lord without any life or breath of Prayer in thee thou canst not so much as breathe before him he 'l breathe a Soul of Prayer into thee he 'l put breath into thee as he did into Acts 9. 11. Saul Behold he prayeth saith God 2. Sometimes a man sends a gift to one that never asked him for it so doth God sometimes send his gifts of grace to them that never ask for it he gives them before they ask it Opposers and Persecutors are said to be the greatest Sinners yet saith Christ upon the Cross Father forgive them they know not what they do he spake it of those that put him to Death Some might have said Lord they are opposers of thee even to the Death be it so saith Christ I have mercy for opposers too and for persecutors too Father forgive them they know not what they do But Lord they do not beg for pardon wilt thou give such a kindness to them that ask not for it They do not acknowledg their fault if thou wilt shew mercy to them stay till they acknowledg their fault and be humbled and ask pardon nay saith Christ I will prevent poor sinners with my love Though they do not ask forgiveness yet I beg forgiveness Father forgive them But Lord these are great sinners and less mercy would serve the turn forgiveness is a great mercy no saith Christ no mercy less than forgiveness will serve the turn they 'l be never the better for any mercy without forgiveness therefore they shall have it Father forgive them but forgiveness is a great mercy be it so saith Christ I know what I do I have great mercy the greatest mercy for the greatest sinners and because they cannot ask it I will ask it for them Father forgive them Vse 6. Wo to you Professors that have not true grace from Matth 13. 12. Luk. 8. 18. them shall be taken away even that which they have Luke saith From them shall be taken that which they seem to have For if we speak of true grace they have not grace only seem to have it They seem to be holy and their seeming holiness shall be taken from them They seem to believe and their seeming Faith shall be taken from them They seem to repent and their seeming Repentance shall be taken from them They Matth. 13. 20. seem to joy in Christ and in Mercy and the Promises but their seeming joy shall be taken from them The spirit doth but assume them he doth not inform them nor enliven them As the dead bodies which Angels assume for a time they seem to live and talk and eat and drink but when the Angel leaves them because they were not the Angels proper bodies they vanish away and lose that life they did seem to have So the Spirit of God doth assume and act the souls of many men in the Church for a time to do service for God by them and all that while they pray and preach and hear and walk up and down in Duty out of one Duty into another and the Spirit leaves them because he did but assume them and then they drop down dead as indeed they are and always were Thus the Spirit did assume Judas for a time Judas was but a dead man in soul all the time he was with Christ only the Spirit of God assumed him and acted him and he followed Christ and went about Preaching the Gospel with the other Disciples but when the Spirit left him he betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver that was his proper work and despaired and dyed Vse 7. This should put the Saints upon a serious Tryal of their graces The Point tells you that where there are beginnings of true grace God will make rich Additions of more grace Oh then try what grace yours is if it be true grace God will give more grace As the Apostle saith He that hath begun a good work in you will perfect it If it be a good work God will perfect it he will cherish his own work Sirs God will not nurse up a spurious seed Bastard grace whereof he is not the Father Oh! then all you that would taste comfort from this Point try your graces The Evangelical Hypocrite is he I aim at There is Gospel-Hypocrisie so I call it for where the Gospel comes there are two sorts of Persons that walk beside it 1. Some directly oppose the Doctrine of it and those are Justitiaries that set up their own Righteousness as the Jews Rom. 9. 31 32. did And therefore it is said That Christ came to his own and his John 1. 11. own received him not And such are the Papists at this day who are justly by our Divines said to answer to the Jewish Pharisees These are Christian Pharisees they receive Christ in Name but set up their own Righteousness and will be justified by their own Works and saved by their own Merits 2. Others there are that receive the Gospel and so decry all their own Righteousness and cry up Christ they see nothing in themselves and look for all from Christ renouncing their own Righteousness and resting upon Christ alone for salvation These are of divers sorts 1. Some receive Christ with an Historical lifeless Faith they believe in Christ but will not part with their sins they gladly embrace Christ as a Saviour but oppose Holiness and will not change their lives and because Christ came into the World to save sinners they take liberty to sin and hope to be saved as well as any These are those we call our large Protestants who are as great Enemies to Christ as Papists are The Papists persecute the true Christians in the Point of Doctrine and these Enemies within us persecute the true Christians in Point of Holiness The Papists they will be saved by works without Faith these will be saved by Faith without works These are spots in our feasts The Epistles of James and John were written as Antidotes against this kind of poyson And Jude writes against these men ungodly men turning the Vers 4. grace of God into lasciviousness Arguing from mercy to liberty which is the Divils Logick Continuing in sin that grace may abound And my Beloved in this lyeth the very form of an Evangelical Hypocrite in denying his own Righteousness to establish his sin he will advance Christ to advance his lust Dub. But how can open sinners keep their lusts live in visible prophaneness and yet believe in Christ Sol. Because the Gospel brings the sweetest and highest Consolations along with it And therefore every man under sense of sin will fly thither for Sanctuary and hide himself under the Canopy of the Gospels mercy A man that travels under the fiery Beams of the Sun in an hot day the cool shadow of a Tree is very
live godly in Christ Jesus they derive it from him and direct it to him they breath for him and bring forth all their actions for him for this is essential to an Evangelical life to do all in the strength of Christ as their root and to do all for Christ as their end And if this be a godly life to live to Christ then let us so think of him and so do that from henceforth our hearts and mouths may neither speak nor think but of him that all things else may be of no savour to us that nothing enter our spirit which resenteth not the Spirit and Odour of Jesus Christ and respires not his honour and glory I say let us be vigilant and faithful to do and desire nothing but the honour of Christ to regard nothing but his pleasure and glory so as to have no eyes but for Jesus no more life but what is consecrated to the honour of his Soveraignty and Greatness Vse We have shewed you what a godly life is and how you may attain a godly life Let us now stir you up to attain this godly life 1. Let me take St. Pauls word to Timothy that which he recommends to him is Piety Exercise thy self unto godliness 1 Tim. 4. 7. Truly all virtues are good and all suitable to the state of a Christian the acquisition and practise of them all useful and necessary but he would have his prime and chief care be To exercise thy self unto godliness for godliness is the Ornament and Mistress of all other virtues it leads us to God and makes use of all virtues to conduct us thither and having no Object but God teaches us the worship and honour that we must render to him and like a good mistress puts us into a ready and easie practise of virtues and entertains us in the exercise of actions that honour God and are acceptable to him 2. Godliness is profitable as Paul saith in the same place Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable to all 1 Tim. 4. 8. things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come True godliness is one of the principal foundations on which Christian perfection stands and is supported In the conduct of men all actions and exercises of their life are ruled according to the Piety and as we commonly say according to the Devotion they have If their Piety be not well-laid the rest of the Christian life will be unconstant and its exercises very uncertain and superficial as we see in the devotion of many which is only in the exterior Who as the Apostle saith having the form of godliness deny and despise the power thereof In such souls we see nothing solid nothing but inconstancy in their lives imperfection in their actions disquiet disturbance and adherence to several creatures in their spirits a small blast of adversity over-turns them Object But it is an hard thing to be godly we have Satan opposing us and he is too hard for us besides our own corruptions and strong temptations Answ While we strive to be godly we may safely expect the Presence of God he is never wanting to those that seek after him and never fails those that engage in his quarrels As he who plots sin shall be sure to find Satan standing at his right hand so he that pursues after God and Holiness shall find God nearer to him than he is to himself God hath not forsaken the earth but as he sustains the whole universe much more those who are seeking grace and participation of himself Are you then striving to be godly and aiming at a Divine life His almighty arms will bear you up and he 'l cherish you with his own goodness Wheresoever God beholds any breathings after himself he gives life to them as those which are his own breath in them where there is any serious and sober resolution against sin any real motion towards God there 's the blessing of heaven in it He that planted it will also water it and make it to bud and blossom and bring forth fruit Object But a godly life is an afflicted life Answ You have heard that grace in us is the life of Jesus in us We ought then to know what his life was The life of Jesus is Divinely Humane and Humanely Divine he is God and Man and therefore lives a life Divine and a life Humane As God he lives the life of God in the bosom of his Father a life of Glory Power and Majesty As Man he lived the life of Man in lowness humiliation in impotence in sufferings so that at the same he is living in the bosom of his Father and dying on the arms of the Cross There he reigns and governs and judges all the world here he is accused and accursed condemned and crucified at the same instant he is in the exaltation and greatness of his Majesty and in the lowness and humiliation of our Humanity Such also ought the Christian life to be on the one side it is great seeing grace makes us the Children of God elevates and unites us to God On the other side the same life is obscured dejected wholly in the spirit of humiliations and privations for grace cannot reign in the soul without operating therein annihilation death and humility Again The Saint by his Union to the Son of God is raised Eph. 2. 6. up and made to sit in heavenly places in Jesus Christ And at the same time the life of a Christian is exposed here to Temptations derided by men and condemned by the world at the same time it is in the greatest cherishing of God and under the fiercest agitation of the Cross So that an afflicted godly life should be no wonder being compared with the life of Christ Besides God enlightens the soul by grace 't is granted but 't is in annihilation he upholds her but 't is in confounding her he unites her to him but it is in separating her sometimes from himself and she remains separated from God as long as she remains upon earth While we are in the body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6. so she is at once united and separated Again This is the Conduct of God over his Church If we reflect upon the highest works we shall find he puts not on the Ornament of Grace he lays not the foundation of her estate but in lowness his grace his gifts his spirit and his communications When did he come down from heaven and give her his law with such appearance of glorious Majesty as never the like was but when he had brought her into a wilderness When the Lord Christ instituted the Sacraments which are Conduit-pipes to convey his graces to his Church he chose bread water such things as are mean little or nothing esteemed among men In the Birth of the Church he took the Cross for the Throne of his Empire a Calvary for his Seat-Royal he rejected an estate by Poverty Sufferings and Martyrdom and at this day he doth the same in the Regency of his Church And according to Gods proceedings in the Conduct of his Church is likewise his carriage in the sanctification and government of our souls he leads them by the Cross he retires from them he hides himself he leaves them in privations he humbles them annihilates them smites them overthrows them Whereby is discovered how they are as I think deceived who in their devotions and religious exercises seek resentments enjoyments content and satisfaction and would know and feel the excellency and elevations of grace I call it a deceit as I suppose for Christian grace consists chiefly in privations in lowness in rigours and that is it they stand most in fear of and avoid But as the life of Jesus began in poverty and ended on the Cross so a perfect Christian who would live a life of grace must resolve to walk among Thorns to bear privations and sustain desertions for the Cross and Thorns are things proper to Christian-grace and to the love of Jesus Let us not so much seek after assurance of heaven as a thing to come as after heaven it self present in us For where Heaven comes into a heart it will bring its own light comfort and assurance along with it Get Heaven into your soul and you will easily have the assurance of Heaven Let us have a fire in a room and we shall quickly have the light and warmth of it there also Men seek the assurance of Heaven as a thing to come but neglect the present power and possession of Heaven it self in their souls Oh! let us get the Sun it self into us and then we shall not be without its shine and smiles within us FINIS Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel PResent State of New-England Burges's Husbandmans Companion Burges's Englands Bond. Adams's Catechism Survey of Quakerism A view of Antiquity by J. Honner Abyssus Mali or Man's Corruption by Nature by W. G. England's present and most great incumbent Duty by Robert Perrott The Ark of the Covenant opened or a Treatise of the Covenant of Redemption Janewayes Life Meads Almost Christian Mr. Cawtons Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Vincent and Mr. Hurst Phelpes Caveat against Drunkenness Wadsworths last Warning unto secure Sinners Kidder on the Sacrament Wells Funeral Sermon by Mr. Tho. Watson Mr. Wadsworths Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Bragg Bishop Reynholds Meditations on the Fall and Rising of St. Peter Practical Divinity of the Papists proved to be destructive unto Christianity and Mens souls Burroughs's four Treatises Dr. Collins on the Canticles
Saints that they may be more serious in their duties 2. The other evil in a slight and formal Communion with God in Duties is unthankfulness Duties of godliness are not only a debt to God but a reward to us Therefore in slightness there is not only unfaithfulness but unthankfulness Both the Majesty and Mercy of God is despised and can God be well pleased with such things 3. There is a third evil in a slight Communion with God in Duties and that is unfruitfulness we get nothing from God in duties we pray slightly and therefore get nothing by Prayer we hear the word slightly and therefore profit not by it Now that the Lord may cure his people of this slightness of heart and make their graces grow he useth this dispensation to leave them in want of assurance 6. God increaseth his Saints graces by terrors within he not only suspends their comforts but afflicts their souls he writes bitter things against them 1. These rowse them up to seek God They that see themselves lost will find a way to God They that have Hell-fire burning in them will value Heaven and pardon and the least drop of Gods love Oh! now promises are precious and Gods love neglected is now sweeter than the honey and the honey-comb Now they cry Come Lord Jesus come quickly 2. These fright them out of their dreams and carnal slumbers as the cry made at midnight that the Bridegroom cometh awoke the virgins out of their sleep Among the other diseases of the soul Divine desertions cure deadness and dulness of heart Sometimes living men are in a lifeless state their hearts are so benummed that they seem to lye among the dead They can hear the word carelesly and sleep out whole Sermons there is no vigour nor activity in their graces at home and therefore the Lord hangs their souls over the mouth of Hell and makes them drink of that red wine the dregs whereof the wicked of the earth shall Psal 75. 8. wring out and drink them that by this strong potion he may rowse them up and quicken their dull and drowsy spirits 3. These terrors work them more closely to Christ And for this cause God gives his People sad visions of sin and wrath he shakes the soul with Earth-quakes that she may stand faster upon her true Basis and Foundation These storms make their hearts gather in to Christ That I may be found in him saith Paul The soul must have some dry land to stand upon and when the flood of Gods terrors overflow the soul then she flyeth to Christ as Noah's Dove to the ark 7thly The Lord increaseth grace in his Saints by afflictions he makes them by marring them Divine Wisdom works by contraries he makes them shine brighter by their Eclipses and clears up their light by darkness Schola crucis Schola lucis And truly It is the property of true-born grace to grow the greater by the cross As the laurel tree is not smitten Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 55. nor blasted with lightning no more is heaven-born grace hurt by any afflictions but much bettered by them 1. God increaseth his Saints graces by sharp sicknesses by diseases unto death i. e. this startles mightily Oh Lord thou didst surprize me unprovided and if thy hand had cut me off with that disease my soul had been cut off from heaven for ever This enters deep upon the soul and strikes terrour upon the heart the Lord I hope shall never find me so again This stirs up thankfulness to the Lord that hath not only in this tryal saved me from the grave but also from Hell 2. Sicknesses deaden the Saints to the world They that in sicknesses are always leaving the world learn to dye unto the world They have death always in their eye They see themselves still upon the borders of the grave They are ever and anon lanching in eternity and this makes grace grow 3. Sicknesses are searchers Thou enquirest after mine iniquity Job 10. 6. saith Job and searchest after my sin When God smites our bodies he searcheth our hearts and makes enquiry in our lives and now saith the soul Let us search and try Lam. 3. 40. our ways When God is searching VS it is high time for VS to search our selves and this also makes grace to grow 4. Sicknesses dig Wells of godly sorrows in the heart They are as it were Gods Mattocks and Spades whereby he delves deep into the center of the heart and digs Wells of repentance which send forth streams of confession of sin which before would not run because they had no vent being covered and stopt with the earth of lust and hardness and worldliness upon them but now they find a passage When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the Psal 32. 3. 4. 5. day long for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me and my moysture is turned into the drought of summer I acknowledged my sin unto thee and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin 2. By poverty and narrowness of estate Many men must Aquilone maxime gaudent densiores ab afflatucjus laetioresque materiae firmioris Plin. Nat. Hist l. 17. c. 2. Jer. 6. 22. be kept short and bare that they may thrive in grace Pliny saith That trees generally like best that stand to the North-wind It causeth them to spread thick and more flourishing and makes the Timber more strong and solid The Lord threatneth the Jews with a people from the North-Countrey the Chaldean Army which should carry them captive into Babylon The North wind winnowed them and fanned all their Idolatry They flourished gallantly in Religion after the North wind had blown upon them 1. The cold blasts of poverty correct pride and moderate high thoughts Make a man poor and you make him humble Pride is an absolute enemy to grace and prosperity is the seminary of pride The North-wind of poverty cools the courage and tames the spirits of men and now they know God and themselves Their Plumes fall and now they will digest a reproof and sit upon even ground with the lower Saints When the world frowns upon them they seek the smiles of God before they were too high for him 2. Poverty teacheth them to pray they can now fall upon their knees those that never called upon God learn now to visit the Throne of grace and cry Lord Give us this day our daily bread Nay they long for the spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father Nay those that have prayed in their fulness now pray feelingly They can go to God in sense of wants before they did not hear nor feel their own Prayers In their prosperity they did not care what Prayers they put off God with Now they set the highest rate upon Prayer for they are fain to live upon Prayer An hungry belly makes a Saint hungry after Ordinances and after Gods Presence When a mans debts and poverty make
him say I know not what to do then his soul saith Mine eyes are up unto thee O Lord. 3. When a man seeth that God blasts all his projects and endeavours and that he shall not be rich in this world then he looks after grace and so a poor estate makes a rich soul A man for a while ascribes his poverty to his great charge and family or to his carelesness and improvidence or to his superfluous expences and therefore brings himself into a narrower room and saith I will try this and that way and he riseth up early and goeth to bed late And now saith he I shall be rich But when he seeth all will not do his good husbandry and pains do not enrich him let him improve his utmost diligence yet all his care cannot add one cubit to his stature then he looks upward and saith Now I see it is God alone that gives wealth riches are only in Gods hands I perceive now that God will not have me rich in this world And therefore Lord Lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me give me grace instead of greatness humbleness of heart instead of Honour God instead of gold 8. God increaseth grace in his Saints by awakening sin in the soul As long as sin lyeth a sleep the Saint thinks it is not there He conceives of himself better than he is A disease lying hid and dormant in the body is supposed to be out of doors we think we have not what we feel not and therefore God awakens sin in the soul For 1. Thereby it is discovered 2. Thereby the War is maintained against corruption till it be rooted out God increaseth grace in the Saints by their continual War and conflict with sin The enemy is destroyed by rising their rising is their ruin had they lain still they had lain safe What made Zedekiah and his people to be carried captive 2 Chron. 36. 13. but because they rebelled and rose up against Nebuchadnezzar When sin riseth the Saint riseth and gathers forces against it and therefore God awakens sin in the Saints that they may raise Armies and get new Victories over it Were there no War there would be no Conquests did not sin rise there would be no War against it and therefore Sirs God awakens pride lusts and sins in his Saints that they may hew them down such a sin assaults them and takes the field against them that in a pitcht Battel they may tread it under foot and make an end of it for ever And therefore I would advise you to two Things 1. Do not think thou art under the Power of thy sin when thou art at War with thy sin and it with thee When the soul many times hath had sweet rest in God then to break his joy again in pieces Satan hath stirred up a sin to assault him and now he cryeth out That all his sweet joys were but delusions were my state right should I be thus assaulted again And he thinks he is under the power of sin because there is a new rising of sin against him To answer thee thou must know that there is difference between time of War and time of Victory between the day of conflict and the day of conquest Now is our day of conflict and that of sin which remains in thee must rise again in thee that it may be subdued When Rebeccah had twins in her she was troubled and marvelled at it and went to the Lord who told her The elder shall serve the younger So there is flesh and spirit in the Saints and these two are contrary so that you cannot do the things that you would and sometimes cannot will yet something opposeth this well know it that the elder and stronger shall serve the younger Lord it shall be so because thou hast said it A man that is at War with another and is able to raise Forces against him hath received power against him but Victory is not gotten presently 'T is so here The bruised reed shall he not break till he bring forth judgment unto victory Though Thou art bruised in the conflict yet there 's no fear of breaking if God will not do it none shall do it Now Christ will not break thee The bruised reed shall he not break and therefore thou shalt get the Victory only know for the present thou hast power Thou goest to all Ordinances to ordinary duties thou prayest daily and strivest daily and when thou meetest no help there thou goest to extraordinary duties thou dost fast and lye in sack-cloth against thy sin and raisest the powers of heaven Oh Lord awake Awake thou arm of the Lord here 's a continual and hot War now against sin And this is the first thing I would have you consider Do not think thou art under the power of thy sin when thou art at war with thy sin and it with thee 2. The thing I would advise you to is this Be sure to improve your utmost strength and rise with all your might against the Lords Enemies I mean your sins do not the work of God negligently which is an accursed thing Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently And for this cause God casteth you into sore straits The Israelites should have done the work perfectly when they were commanded to root out the Canaanites but because they were slack and did it unfaithfully therefore God left them as Briars and Thorns to be always an affliction to them And this is the reason why God leaves such a lust or sin in you to be a perpetual scourge to you in your bosoms when you are pressed to take up Arms for Christ against the sins of your hearts if you fight not with all your strength and pursue not the Victory to the utmost till you find your Enemies dead before you God may give you into their hands to lead you into captivity and to hold you in chains that will eat into your souls and may in this distress stand afar of as one that knows you not 9thly God increaseth his Saints graces by the work of humbling Many within a while forget that they have been humbled Time wears out all those Characters of humiliation that were at first engraven upon them their wounds and bruises they had at their first Conversion are healed up again and upon this they have decayed in grace and at last become Apostates and the greatest enemies to the Saints And therefore God to preserve his Saints graces and to increase them keeps up still the life of humiliation in them As the radical moysture in the body is the pabulum caloris naturalis the nutriment of the natural heat and the Oyl is the food of the Lamb which its light lives upon so humiliation is the humidum radicale the radical moysture the fundamental sap that keeps Faith and Prayer and the other graces alive They that humble themselves will pray and seek the 2 Chr. 7.