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A07208
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Hearing and doing the ready way to blessednesse with an appendix containing rules of right hearing Gods word. By Henry Mason, parson of S. Andrews Vnder-shaft London.
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Mason, Henry, 1573?-1647.
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1635
(1635)
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STC 17609; ESTC S102307
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184,084
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830
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one offence once committed doth condemne a man without leaving him any way or meanes of recovery but the Gospell on the contrary side accepteth of a mans repentance and upon his repentance giveth him a pardon This rule of the Gospell is delivered by our Saviour when he saith I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Matt. 9.13 And by the Apostle when speaking of the new Covenant made in Christ hee saith in the person of God who is the Author of this Covenant This is the Covenant that I will make with them I will put my Law into their minde c. Heb. 8.10 And then going on to reckon up the priviledges of this new Covenant ver 12. he addeth I will be mercifull to their unrighteousnesse and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more And to the same purpose the Prophet Ezekiell for it is a sentence of the Gospell though it be written in the olde Testament as many other are If saith he the wicked will turne from all his sinnes that he hath committed and keepe all my statutes and do that which is lawfull and right all the transgressions that hee hath committed they shall not bee mentioned unto him or shall not be named against him Ezek. 18.21 And vers 30. Repent and turne your selves from all your transgressions so iniquitie shall not bee your ruine By all this it appeareth that in the Covenant of grace confirmed by CHRIST our Redeemer there is place left for repentance even after knowen and reigning sinnes committed and upon this repentance joyned with forsaking of sin free pardon is promised to the offender The summe of all is that the Gospell though it require obedience to Gods commandements as the Law also doth yet it qualifieth the exactnesse and rigour of the Law partly because it doth not cast men off for sinnes of infirmitie and partly because it accepteth of repentance for voluntarie and reigning sinnes And let this be said for answere to the second question 3. Quest The third is whence and how is it that men are able to do thus much that is so to keepe the Law as in the favourable construction may bee accepted Ephes 2.1 3. For the Apostle saith that by nature wee are the children of wrath and if of wrath how is our service accepted And againe as the same Apostle saith Wee are dead in sins and trespasses and can the man that is dead in sin doe the workes of spirituall life or such as hee doth who is alive to God Ans In Scriptures we find two principles of obedience or of serving of God aright the one is nature and the other is grace By Nature I meane all the endowments of the reasonable soule which wee have as men by naturall generation from Adam And by Grace those heavenly qualities and endowments which wee receive by spirituall regeneration from CHRIST Both these are mentioned in Scriptures as principles of obedience to Gods word but the former as a false principle by which men may imagin themselves enabled for Gods service and for the performance of his will but indeede are not The later of these that is Grace is the true principle of obedience that wheresoever it is planted doth enable the soule to keepe Gods commandements according to the Evangelicall and favourable construction of the Gospell This is proved in both the parts thereof by that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.15 Where speaking of the abilities of nature hee saith The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned In which passage of the Apostle wee may note 1. the truth delivered by the Apostle The naturall man doth not neither can hee receive the things of Gods spirit He meaneth that though a man should teach and instruct him in the mysteries of salvation yet hee is uncapeable of instruction hee doth not acknowledge their truth neither can he conceive the mystery cōtained in them And if he cannot know and acknowledge them much lesse can hee do and performe what they require at his hands 2. we may note the reason or the proofe hereof and that is because the mysteries of heaven are foolishnesse to the naturall man and the reason againe thereof is because they are spiritually discerned By this it appeareth that the onely principle which enableth a man for the right judging and discerning of heavenly things is the grace of Gods Spirit which the naturall man wanteth And hence it followeth that as a man cannot live without a soule nor see without an eye nor heare without an eare because these are the grounds principles from which life and sight and hearing do flow so no man can know and serve God aright without Gods Spirit enlightening and enabling him by his grace because this is the principle from which all both spiritual actions and abilities do spring The like to this wee have againe in the same Apostle 2 Cor. 3.5 Wee are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiencie is of God Here the Apostle first removeth the false principle Wee are not sufficient of our selves No not to think a good thought much lesse to do the good workes that are commanded in GODS Law 2. Hee laieth downe the true principle of all our abilitie in Gods service Our sufficiencie is of God And hence it is that the Apostle saith of himselfe I can do all things through CHRIST that strengtheneth mee Philippians 4.13 And 1 Corinthians 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace was not in mee in vaine but I laboured more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God that was with mee Where 1. when hee saith His grace was not in me in vaine but I laboured c. he sheweth what he could and did do that is hee served God with great zele in the ministery of the Gospell And 2. when he saith Yet not I but the grace of God c. he sheweth what the ground of this labouring facultie in him was and that both negatively by removing the false ground Yet not I that is not I as I or not I of or by my selfe and affirmatively by setting downe the true ground Not I but the grace of God The conclusion of all is By nature and of our selves we can not do Gods will or keepe his word so as may be accepted of him because by nature we are dead in sinne by nature we are children of wrath but by the grace of God in JESUS CHRIST enabling us thereto we can and do keepe the word of God according to the rule of the Gospell and so as it is accepted of God to eternall life From hence wee may see the great priviledges that a Christian man and woman hath by being in CHRIST more then the rest of the world have for example to give the
us his mercies and blessings And that thus the blessed man doth enjoy God I take it to be plain when it is said in the Gospel Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Mat. 5.8 For to see God includeth two things to enjoy him and to live in his presence in his glory That it signifieth to enjoy him appeareth by the custome of Scripture phrase In which to see good is to enjoy it Psal 34.12 and to see good dayes is to enjoy good dayes 1 Pet. 3.10 and to see corruption is to partake of it Psal 16.10 and to see death is to suffer death Iohn 8.51 and Heb. 11.5 and not to see good or evill when it commeth is as much as not to partake of it Ier. 17.6 8. And if in the Scripture phrase to see good and to see evill and to see death and to see corruption bee to partake of them and when the speech is of that which is good to enjoy them then I doe but speak according to the phrase of Scripture if I say that to see God in that place of the Gospell is to enjoy him and so to see and enjoy him is the Blessed mans portion And therefore I say in the first place that Blessednesse doth consist in the fruition of God B. Secondly I say that this fruition belonging to the blessed man is the immediate fruition of God For understanding hereof wee must note that there is a two-fold enjoying of God the one mediate and the other immediate Mediately we are said to enjoy God when hee communicateth himselfe unto us by secondary meanes and by interposition of the creature between him and us as namely when he feedeth us by meate and drink lightneth us by the sun instructeth us by his word strengtheneth us in grace by the Sacrament When thus God communicateth his blessings unto us as he still doth in this life then we are said to enjoy him mediately Secondly we are said to enjoy God immediately when he communicateth himselfe unto us without any other thing between And thus wee are said to enjoy God immediately two wayes 1. In respect of presence and 2. In respect of influence In respect of presence our enjoying of God is said to be immediate when wee live with him in the place of his residence and where his honour dwelleth and that is in heaven above as Solomon saith to God Heare thou in heaven thy dwelling place 1 Kings 8.30 39 43 49. For while wee live here in this world wee are said to be absent from the Lord because we are out of the place of his dwelling 2 Cor. 5.6 But when once we have left this world and are gone to heaven then we are said to be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 And then saith the Apostle Wee shall ever be with the Lord. 1 Thes 4.17 And from hence it is that the wicked are said to bee punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1.9 and that of the godly it is said Thou wilt shew me the path of life for in thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 and that where Christ is there shall his disciples be also Ioh. 14.2 3. and that they follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth Apoc. 14.4 Which speeches doe prove that the Saints in heaven do enjoy God in another manner then they here did while they lived in the flesh namely that in heaven they enjoy him in his palace in the place of his proper dwelling without separation or distance of place which is found in all them which enjoy God most nearely in this world And this also as before I said is implyed in that saying of the Gospell Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God For this to be meant or intimated by the seeing of God in this place may clearly be gathered from other places of Scripture in which it is said that now we see in a glasse but then wee shall see face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 and in which we are said in this life to walk by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 He meaneth that here wee are led by an inevident and obscure kinde of knowledge for so the Learned define faith to be agreeably to that of the Apostle Faith is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 but in heaven we shall walk or live by sight having there the immediate and open view of Gods face in Glory In heaven then where all they that are the blessed of God shall bee there men enjoy God immediately in respect of presence Secondly they enjoy him immediately in respect of influence For there God communicateth himself unto them by immediate vertue received from himselfe without the use of any meanes This is signified by that in the Revelation where S. Iohn speaking of the Great City the holy Ierusalem he saith of it And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it And the City had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Apoc. 21.22 23. Where 1. when he saith I saw no Temple in it he giveth us to understand that in heaven there will bee no use of the outward meanes of salvation For if there be no Temple then there are no priests nor no preaching nor no Sacraments nor no solemn assemblies for where there is need of these there there is use of a Temple also In this world where we are absent from the Lord these things are necessary and by them God communicates himselfe to his servants But in the life to come prophecying shall faile and the use of tongues shall cease and the meanes of knowledge and instruction shall vanish away as the Apostle speaketh 1 Cor. 13.8 2. When hee saith that this City had no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine in it he implyeth that the outward meanes of our naturall life should cease Here in this world the sun giveth us light by day and the moon by night and here meate and drink do nourish us and clothes keep us warm but in heaven there will be no neede nor no use of such things The children of this world marry and are given in mariage but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain the world to come and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in mariage neither die they any more Luke 20.34 By all which wee learn that all natural meanes now used for preservation of mans life shall then be at an end 3. When S. Iohn saith There shall be no Temple in it for the Lord God and the Lamb are the Temple of it and againe There is no neede of the sun c. for the glory of God doth shine in it and