fellow-members 3 By laying to heart their afflictions Of the Sabbath Exod. 20.19 Prop. 1. There must be some set time for the worship and immediate service of God 70 Reas 1 All actions cannot be done at once 2 Because of our dulness Prop. 2. There must be some set time every day Reas 1. Else we live like beasts 71. 2 Every morning God reneweth mercies 3 God is the beginning and ending of all things Prop. 3. Every day is in some sort a Sabbath Reas 1. Gods covenant with us requires it 2 Not to do so is a brand of hypocrisie 3 Blessednesse consists in it 72 4 This is the sum of the law of righteousnesse Prop. 4. There must be a particular special day Reas 1. That in this life we may have an Emblem of Heaven 2 Gods honour requires it 73 3 God sometimes calls for extraordinary dayes 1 Of rejoycing 2 Of fasting 1 When judgements are feared 74 2 Mercies wanting 3 Souls tempted 4 Some notable work undertaken 4 It is most equitable 75 1 That God should have one day 2 That our souls should have one day Prop. 5. One day in seven is to be set a part for Gods worship Reas 1. Gods positive command 76 2 It is Gods day 3 That servants cattel c. may have rest 4 God hath sanctified it 5 Because we are apt to be worldly c. Prop. 6. That day of seven is to be kept holy on which God rested 76 Prop. 7. All that is in the fourth Commandement is not essential to it Prop. 8. The fourth commandement continually to abide in force 78 Reas 1. Because the Sabbath was instituted before there was room for ceremonies 2 The Sabbath was kept before the Law given 3 It was written by the finger of God 79 4 God often urgeth this Commandement as well as any other 5 Else we have not ten Commandements 6 Christ plainly tells us so 7 The Heathens have ever kept a Sabbath day 80 Prop. 9. The first day of the week is now the Lords day 81 Reas 1. From Psal 118.24 2 From Rev. 1.10 3 Christ calls himself Lord of the Sabbath 82 4 Christ commanded the Apostles to keep this day 5 Christs wisdom would not leave such things uncertain 6 Who should institute this day but he that is the head 7 All Christians have kept this day since the Apostle time 8 Gods judgements on the prophaners of this day do evince it 83 Use 1. Then we are to keep an whole day 84 Reas 1. We have six whole daies for our selves 2 God rested an whole day 3 From Levit. 23.32 4 God never instituted halfe holy daies 85 5 It is the judgement of Divines in all ages Use 2. Then sports are unlawful on this day Reas 1. Because working is otherwise commanded sporting only permitted 2 Working doth less distract the mind The Second Part of CRISTS Alarm to DROUSIE SAINTS REVEL 3.1 Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead I Have spoken of the life of the affections and now I should come to the next thing namely to shew how far a child of God may be said to be dead but before I handle this there is another point that would be spoken to in a word or two and that is this Why a child of God may think himself to be dead when he is not and think he is grown deader then ever he was and there is no such matter and others may think he is grown cold and negligent and yet the truth is he is more affected and more alive towards God then formerly this is a very needful point and there be several causes of false liveliness which a child of God may have and when they go away he may seem to be deader then he was whereas indeed he is not so The first is novelty of Religion and grace when grace is yet new and the word comes fresh to a man and the promises of eternal life look freshly into a mans heart they will affect him much and not only raise his sanctified affections but his unsanctified too for the unsanctified affections will stir at a novelty a man that hath no grace at all nor any life will be stirred at a new thing as when the Apostle preached new doctrine to the Athenians Acts 17.32 we will hear thee again of this matter say they they cared not how often they heard this because it was news to them so when Christ preached up and down O what new doctrine is this say they never man spake as this man Joh. 7.46 it was a new kind of preaching new gifts this stirred them mightily so it may be with a true Christian when the word of God comes first to him and grace comes first to him the novelty of grace may affect him when God first opens his eyes how strangely will he be moved in prayer how strangely will he carry himself at a Sermon his very bowels yearn at a Sermon and he will cry out Oh the infinite mercy of God to my soul what a beast was I before I was an hell-hound a child of the Divel and now the Lord hath made me a child of God I went on in the high way to perdition and now God hath brought me into the right way this is admirable but do you think these are all good affections there is a great deal of corruption in these as new Beer when it is first tunned it hath a great deal of working then but when it is staler it doth not work so much yet then is the Beer more powerfull and hath more life as it is with a mans first entrance into an hot bath it doth so stir him as if it did scald him but after he hath been in a while he is sensible of little or no heat the heat is as much as it was at the first and works upon him as much but he feels it not so much so a good Christian doth not seem to be so much affected afterwards as formerly are his true affections therefore down no but his unsanctified ones are down may be a man hath not lost a jot of his true and sound and sanctified affections but only his unsanctified ones for when grace comes first into the soul of a new convert there is a greater Army raised up for God then is likely to continue there are a company of mercenary Souldiers steping and seem to go out and to fight for God as well as the rest you shall have more fears in that man then are true and more desires after grace then are true carnal desires and joys and delights these will be all up at the first and will go out though they never go to the journeys end it is with a new convert at his setting out towards heaven as it was with the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt there was a mixed multitude went up with them Exod. 12.38 why the plagues of God had wrought upon many
2. Not as though we should set up a conceited distinction of works in the Trinity 2. What is this voice Not distinct from the word preached Consists 1. In the opening a a mans senses 2. In taking away a mans lameness Called a voice 1. Because it is joyned to the word 2. Because it hath a similitude of a voice Quest How may we know whether that soul hath heard this voice Answ 1. There is a power goes along with this Word 2. This voice makes one hear more then any creature can speak 3. It is the irrefragable propounding of the promise 2. Confidence in natural man 1. In the power of God 2. Unrooted in the will 3. Presumptuous 2. Confidence in the godly 1. Special perswasion of Gods love 2. A constant expectation Confidence in Christ for life and salvation is true justifying faith Arg. 1. From the several expressions of faith in Scripture 1. Trusting 2. Relying on God 3. Staying upon God 4. Rolling ones self on God 5. Adhering unto God 6. Beleeving on God Arg. 2. From the offer of Christ Arg. 2. From the offer of Christ Arg. 3. Because faith is a coming to Christ Arg. 4. Because the object of justifying faith is no proposition but Christ himself Arg. 5. Because true faith is a faith of union Use 1. Then no absurdity to say faith is in the heart as well as in the minde Object Use 2. A believer may not be sure in regard of sense Arg. 1. The event is not the object of justifying faith 2. The event is conditional till a man believes Argument 3. Arg. 4. The event is known another way Arg. 5 Not the truth but strength of faith aprehends the event Doct. It is faith that makes a man obey the call of God Reas 1 Because faith seeth Gods purity and mercy to be inseparable attributes 2. Because faith looks on Christ not only as a Saviour but as a Lord. 3. Because faith gleweth the heart to the Commandements as well as to the promises 4. Because faith looks to a fitnesse for heaven as well as a title to heaven 5. Because faith is eminently all that a man is to do John 2. 2. By carrying a man to God 3. By making a man improve all his abilities 4. By making a man relie on Christ Quest How doth faith fetch power from Christ Answ 1. As an instrument 2. In a moral way Use 2. See what little faith is in the world Use 3. For examination Evidences of true obedience 1. Willing and hearty 2. Works resignation to God 3. It puts forth all a mans strength to God The Division of the Text. Obser The latter part of the Text Opened Obser Luke 16. Quest Answ Vse 1 King 21. Acts 5. What it is to watch Literally Ordinary Extraordinary For a civil end For a Spiritual end Spiritually It implies proneness to be drowzy Endeavour to stir up our selves It is an intentive Consideration in all Cases What we must watch Our Selves Our thoughts Heart Words Senses Eyes Ears Whole selves Duties of Religion Before Duty In Duty Time Present time Time of Gods wrath Time of Grace Death Judgment Reasons Our proneness to be drowzy Christians life is a Warfare The world an Eenemy The Divel The certain advantage of Watchfulness We cannot else expect help or â—â—râ—on Object Answ Gods appointment None can Watch for us Object Answ Vse Condemning the general neglect of Watchfulnesse Reproving the godly's too great neglect Directing how to watch Account watchfulness our life Watching in all things Proportioning it to what we are about Avoiding hinderances Vain company Spiritual drunkennesse Setting God before our eyes Vse Exhorting to watchfulnesse Motives Because otherwise it will be ill with us at last Because our souls are sickly We are already awakened Badness of the times and carelessness of the most Regeneration attributed to the spirit Because Christ doth it by the spirit Spirit is the bond of union between us and Christ Because the spirit quickens the word whereby we are born again That the spirit of God doth regenerate all the Saints What Regeneration is A Renewing A Renewing of the whole man By degrees perfected According to Gods Image In Jesus Christ Why called Regeneration To shew the great Corruption of Nature The work well expressed by the Name Father both in Natural and Spiritual Generation A Mother in both First Conception and then Birth Pain accompanies both Births Both come to a Being they had not New Kindred follows both Wherein Regeneration consisteth Passive receiving Christ An active power to become a child of God Reasons why the Spirit worketh Regeneration It is the good pleasure of God No other agent can do it Man is totally against it of himself How the Spirit worketh Regeneration By the Word of Life By a secret and supernatural power Vse 1. Of Confutation of Pelagians c. Information Of our continual need of the Spirit Exhortation 1. Not to grieve the Spirit 2. To do any thing for God 3. To the Unregenerate to pray for the Spirit Of Examination whether regenerated or no. First Signe When doing good is natural The heart 's a good soil for Grace He cannot live in Sin It is pleasant to do the will of God Grace gets the upper hand He loves the people of God He loves Spiritually to profit others VVhat this Body is The invisible Church of God Gathered out of all Nations Predestinated unto life Begotten again by the VVord VVhat putting into this Body is A part of our ingrafting into Christ VVrought by Faith Making us have â—ommon life with other Members It makes of one consent with all the people of God For mutual care and help That this is the Spirits work Reasons why the Spirit of God doth thus unite to the Body of Christ None but the Spirit is able None but the Spirit is fit to do it How the Spirit doth Unite to Christ's Body By being one and the same spirit in all Members By tying a knot between all the Members Vses The want of the Spirit is the cause of difference Let none put asunder what the Spirit joyns To try our acquaintance hereby To stir up a sâ—mpathy amongst the Saints How to work maintain and express this sympathy By informing our selves concerning one another By visiting our fellow-Members By laying to heart their afflictions Proposit 1. A set time for worship Propos 2. Some set time for worship every day Propos 3. Every day in some sort a Sabbath Luk. 1.74 75. Propos 4. A particular special day for Gods worship Propos 5. One day of Seven to be set apart for Gods worship Propos 6. That day of the seven to be kept holy on which God rested Propos 7. All that is in the Fourth Commandment is not essential to it Quest Answ Propos 8. The 4 th Commandment continual alwayes to abide in the Church Gal. 5.2 Exod. 35.3 Propos 9. The first day of the week was the Lords day and so to continue to the end of the world ver 22 23
he should so abuse Bathsheba that good woman and bring her to sin If David himself may thus complain how much more may we complain and loath our selves for the deal of rottenness that is in our hearts O what windings and fetches are there Austin himself saith I can hardly tell when to believe my own heart so I say what a company of windings and turnings and tricks and starting-holes are there in the hearts of Gods people sometimes we are ready to think we have the good we have not and what evasions have we to put off any good duty if we have not a minde to doe it what put offs what tricks to slip our neck out of the collar if we doe not like it what a company of deceits are in the heart So what a company of slights to doe evil such a company of blindings and besottings and carnal reasons and foolish arguments as if we did well in doing it whereas it is but the falseness of our hearts As Mr. Hearn saith It is better for a man to be delivered up to the Devil then to his own heart We read of a man delivered up to Satan as Paul saith and yet we read that that man was brought home again but we never read of any man brought home that was delivered up to the corruptions of his own heart therefore if God hath made us see the falsenesse of our own hearts and made us humble our selves before him for it and made us to endeavour more and more after sincerity what a mercy of God is this but the people of God have cause to complain of the falseness of their hearts Thirdly Is it so that we must be upright then let this serve to exhort us that we would be upright more and more for this is that which the Lord doth look for and especially look for What though we should do things never so good for the matter yet if we do them not with an upright heart all is nothing though the children of Judah fasted and that for 70 years together four times in a year they sought the Lord extraordinarily yet because they did not seek him thoroughly he did not count it sincerely done Zach. 7.4 5. As who should say You did not fast unto me Doubtless they themselves thought they were very religious what not only to doe the duties of religion but to doe extraordinary duties no question they thought this was very much yet every one were cast off because their hearts were not upright before him Amâ—ziah the Text saith did those things that were good in the eyes of the Lord yet the Text makes this exception against him that it was not with an upright heart 2 Chron. 25.2 Consider first That God delights only in an upright heart Prov. 11.20 They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord but those that are upright in their wayes are his delight Upright Prayer and upright hearing of the Word and upright Preaching of it upright walking in a mans Family and upright carriage in a mans conversation when a man carries himself uprightly in all his wayes this man is a delight to God as he saith Isa 66.2 I can look over heaven and earth but at him will I look that trembleth at my Word The prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15.8 When a man can make faithful pleas to the throne of grace for mercy faithful pleas that God would pardon him faithful pleas that God would enable him and accept him and he doth not make these pleas falsly but his own heart can say there is no sin but he sets himselfe against it and there is no commandement but he sets himself to obey it but the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to him he cannot abide it let them pray a thousand prayers God abhors their prayers if they have not upright hearts So 1 Chron. 29.17 see what David saith as who should say Lord thou hast pleasure in uprightness and then certainly thou hast some pleasure in me for with an upright heart and in the sincerity of my soule have I sought thee Now on the contrary if a man be not upright before God if a man have a loose conversation and he be not sincere the Lord abhors that man Secondly Consider that this is the totall summe of all that God requires in the Covenant of grace that they should be upright and faithful in his Covenant as when he made his Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.1 he saith Walk before me and be upright This is that God requires and he would be an Almighty God unto him and bless him and do him good to all generations 1 Sam. 12.24 It is the saying of Samuel to the people Only fear the Lord and walk before him with an upright heart As who should say this is the onely thing and God requires no more if God had required more he might lawfully have done it if he had required the fulfilling of the Law to the utmost rigour he might have done it but this is the onely thing that God doth stand upon that we should be upright before him he doth not look that we should be Angels upon earth but that we should be sincere and not goe a whoring from him wittingly and willingly Thirdly Consider The least faith the least grace and goodness if it be with uprightness is better then all the goodly performances of the whole world God liked more of the poor womans two mites then of all the abundance that the Scribes and Pharisees cast into the Treasury And he that gives a cup of cold water to a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall not lose his reward Therefore you shall see many poore beggarly things over those things that other men have done have been accepted whereas the building of Hospitals and Colledges have been rejected though a man have but a little knowledge as many of the Martyrs hardly knew how many Sacraments there were yet having uprightness died at stake so if a man have but a little faith with sincerity it shall pass when a thousand presumptuous fools shall goe to hell Fourthly Consider God will wink at manifold and grievous faults so there be sincerity and uprightness Asa his faults were horrible faults 1 Kings 15.14 yet his heart was perfect What a company of faults had he what an horrible failing was this that he should cast the very Prophet of God into prison that reproved him Now God answers he had his failings and horrible ones yet he was a good man for his heart was upright before me Asa was not himselfe in that businesse Asa was not Asa then his heart was upright with the Lord. So good Jehosaphat a man that was grievously besmeared with corruptions and infirmities and those no small ones how fearfully did he marry his daughters into a most devillish Family as if he had no fear of God before his eyes he married them to the house of Ahab and
objected then how is it that those that are effectually called are very doubtful and have many questions and are uncertaine whether they are called or no if it be so how come these doubts and troubles and perplexities that are in the minds of good people that are effectually called of God and we find by experience that they were effectually called I answer first we must know that though the knowledge of a mans calling may be had yet it is had by degrees it is a gradual knowledge a man cannot know it all at first dash God doth not manifest his favour and love all at once to his people and when he gives it he doth not presently tell a man what he gives him though there be wayes for him to know it and find it out yet the Lord doth not open himself to his people all at the first nay he doth not so to his own Son Christ Jesus in respect of his humanity as he grew in stature and wisdom so he grew in favour with God Luk. 2.52 The divine nature manifested it self more and more to his humane so God doth manifest his favour and love and openeth himself to his people more and more according as they grow in goodness they grow in this knowledge as they are more and more pure in heart the more do they see God and Gods goodness to them and what God hath done for them this knowledge though it be to be had yet it is to be had by degrees and the people of God have it not all in one degree some have it in a higher degree and some in a lower but every man hath some of this knowledge that he is called of God it is impossible that a man should be effectually called and be wholly and totally ignorant of it Secondly As this knowledge is gradual so it is experimental a man knows that he is called by experience chiefly and mainly as when a man knows by experience that he comes to God and draws near to God and that he doth abstract himself from the world and worldly wayes and practises and layes aside more and more the carnal wayes of men and doth approach nearer and nearer unto the things of God in Christ if a man hath experience of these things he comes now to say God hath effectually called me and hath been pleased to do me good when he finds this by experience that these things are wrought in him then he can conclude this at the first he was like a man in a vision he could hardly believe that God had effectually called him as it was with Peter when the Angel delivered him out of prison he was as one that had seen a vision he had not thought it had been a real thing he could not tell what to make of it Act. 12.11 but when he came to himself now saith he I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his Angel and delivered me out of prison At first he could not tell what to make of it but afterwards when he saw he was in the streets and that the iron gate opened to him of its own accord now saith he I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his Angel and delivered me So it is with the people of God at first when they hear something from the Father they know not what to make of this call at the first but afterwards when they come to see this lust and that lust fall off and these and these heavenly works in their souls they now know of a surety that God hath sent his Spirit into their souls and delivered them from sins and Satan and hell and damnation c. At first they were like dreamers they were not able to say whether they were called or no as the children of Israel when they were delivered out of captivity they could hardly believe it at first Psal 126.1 When the Lord turned away the captivity of Zion we were as those that dreamed we could hardly perswade our selves that God had delivered us out of captivity with such a mercy so great a favour so unlikely so improbable it could never enter into their hearts almost we were like those that dreamed but when they saw they were in Jerusalem and were helped and assisted and heard the Gentiles talke of it and all the people runne up and down when they saw it was so and had experience of it then they saw God had done it indeed and did believe it so when a man is first effectually called to come out of his sins the Lord knocks off his bolts and plucks him out of the jaile of hell and sets him as it were in Jerusalem he is at first as a man that dreams he can hardly believe it is so as it was with David when God called him to be King he could hardly believe it it could hardly enter into his heart that he should be King over Israel especially being dayly persecuteed by Saul and calamities heaping up themselves against him he could not conclude it but when the Lord had set him in his Kingdome and given him victory over his enemies now saith he I know that the Lord saveth his anointed now he could speak it and found it by experience that the Lord had made him his anointed and saved and delivered him from all his enemies before he was ready to deny it and say Samuel was a lyar he had anointed him to be King but I said in my hast all men are lyars but when he had experience of it now saith he I know that the Lord hath saved his anointed Thirdly As the knowledge of effectual calling is gradual and experimental so likewise it is very spiritual it is a marvellous spiritual work and therefore no marvel though it be something insensible indeed there be things in it which are very sencible and conspicuous as may be a reprobate may be galled at a Sermon he may have his eyes broad open to see his sins and iniquities and may be wonderfully wrought upon and may have the sencible work of vocation by the very Spirit of God but the very specificalness of it whereby this effectual calling doth differ from all other callings this is a marvelous Spiritual thing and therefore no wonder that it is insencible sometimes and many of the people of God feare they have it not these things may be done in the soul of a man and a man not know it and yet it may seem strange that the eyes of the blind should be opened and the feet of the lame should walk and the dead should be raised and the devils should be cast out it is strange I say that these things should be done in a mans soul and yet the man in whose soul they are done should be ignorant of them it is a strange thing but the works of the Spirit are wonderful secret the actions of the Spirit are very invisible when a man humbles himself and prayes
he doth it to stay the soul that it may not sink under the hand of God I will revive the heart of the contrite ones I will not contend with them for ever Isa 57.16 17. Lest their spirits faile before me as who should say if I should let my wrath into their souls and should not put in this hope and reviving into their hearts their very spirits would faile before me and sink under me they would be at their wits end and be utterly overwhelmed therefore God puts in this that he may help their soules if God should shew a man his sins as they are in his ire and shew him all the corruption of his nature and his filthinesse from the womb till now and reckon with him for this in his soul and conscience and let him see what a cursed creature he is his spirit would faile before Almighty God and the stoutest creature under Heaven were not able to stand under it but would rather take an haltar and hang himself then undergo it now when the Lord deales with a man he puts in this supporting hope to stay him up otherwise the soul were not able to hold Secondly if the Lord should not put in this hope it would utterly disable a man from looking after Heaven when a man conceives no hope this breaks the neck of all his endeavours a man will not toile for nothing and lay out his strength and all that is in him when he conceives he hath no hope at all He that plowes plowes in hope c. 1 Cor. 9.10 therefore when a man can hardly see any hope this doth ever vale a man it makes a man rather despaire it makes a man do as commonly people do when they see they must go to hell they fill their souls with pleasures and delights there is little hope for them to come into the strict way that they will ever be able to beare it that they may have mercy like those wretches Jer. 2.25 There is no hope c. there is no hope we have loved our own lusts and after them we will go When people have not hope to get through this makes them desperate they care not what they do and they grow carelesse and negligent many a man hath said so I was of the minde once to be precise but the further I pried into it the worse I was and these Preachers will make a man mad when people finde humiliation so hard a thing they think they are not able to wade through and so leave it when they have no hope to go on they grow remiss and loose and carelesse in this kinde it makes a man desperate when this hope is gone therefore when the Lord hath a minde to do good to a man and encourage him to go on in the wayes of holinesse he puts some hope into the soul and when a man sees some hope then he will pray and fast and humble himself the Lord lets in this hope and so prepares a man for himself Thirdly because he will not do all at once but work upon a man by degrees the Lord could put faith into the soul at first but the Lord will first make a man a probationer of faith the Lord will first have the seed sowen and then quicken in the ground and then have a blade and then an eare and then harvest Again the Lord will so do it that he may be sought to for every mercy and therefore first the Lord gives a man natural parts that he may come to Church and hear the Word and then the Lord knocks him down that he may be abased and then he shatters him all to pieces that he may look out for hope and then when he hath gotten hope the Lord makes him seek out for faith and when he hath gotten faith to seek out for other graces and when he hath them to seek for the accomplishment of them the Lord will be sought to for every thing and it is fit we should seek to him though the parent doth not engender the reasonable soul in the babe but God doth create it immediately yet none of us do count marriage superfluous so though God doth give this grace of faith only yet we are not to account the using of means in vain the Lord doth not power in humane wit into stocks and stones but into a body fitted and ordered for a reasonable soul so it is in respect of faith and grace the creature shall be first ordered and fitted for grace there must be preparation and a foregoing work it is his manner of working he will so work as he will still be sought unto of all his people though they have not faith if they have hope they shall seek to him for faith as it is with a Scholar if he will be a Scholar or Fellow of a Colledge he must sit for it so the Lord will have a man sit for it he will have a man sit at the pool of grace and seek to him for it before he shall have it This shews us the graciousness of our good God that when he takes us to do for our sins He remembers us when we are in our low estate for his mercy endures for ever Psal 136.53 when we are at the brink of hell at the very bottome of destruction and in the belly of damnation when we know not which way to turne our selves then he remember us for his mercy endures for ever thus the Lord deals with his people for their good as he opens the casement that his justice may look out upon us so he sets his mercy in the window that we may see it through the glasse that we may not be overwhelmed this is the goodness of God and were it not for this no man should be able to abide his look nor bear his displeasure when he breakes out upon a man this is the infinite goodness of our gracious God to deal thus favourably with his people therefore you that have gotten this hope know that the Lord might have held you down to this day and he had justly served you if he had done so therefore whosoever of you are in the briars do not repine and grumble because you are not refreshed as others are if you have but the least cranny of hope to hang upon make much of it it is more then God owes you how easily might the Lord teare the soul all in pieces when he comes to deal with a man when he shews a man his sins and abominations he might make them as heavy as rocks and mountaines unto him and break him all to powder it were just if he did so now when the Lord puts in this hope what a wonderful mercy is this When God told Hezekiah Behold thou shalt die he presently bade him take a lump of Figgs and healed the disease so what a mercy is this that God saith Thou shalt die thou art a damned creature and bids him
that it dares not but obey God as it doth discerne his grace and mercy to make him perfectly to trust in God so it seeth another thing in God that God is of that nature that he must be served and worshipped and obeyed Therefore you shall see Noah though the building of the Ark were an endlesse work and a costly and chargeable work in the eyes of men it would cost him many yeares to build and he could not look after his calling and after the world but it would take him up for an hundred and twenty yeares and set all the world a talking of him and mocking at him for it yet when God commanded him to do it faith made him do it and how did faith make him do it Heb. 11.7 By faith Noah being forewarned of God of things not seen as yet moved by feare prepared an Ark fear moved him faith made him do it but how did faith make him do it It moved him with feare and so made him do it it made him see God was an holy and righteous God that would not be dallied withal and this moved him with feare and he durst not but do it whatsoever it put him to he durst not omit it faith makes a man that he dares not be bold with God it takes away the impudency of the heart and the venterousnesse of the soul as long as a man doth not believe he dares make bold with such Commandements of God as he likes not he will omit them for all him but when faith comes it reveales God to the soul and shewes who he is and what nature he is of and that he is such a one as will not be dallied with but his Commandements must be done and his will must be obeyed or else woe to that man it shewes to a man the infinite Majestie of God and sets it before a mans face that he dares not go on in any thing contrary to Gods will but obey God in whatsoever he commands him and abstaine from whatsoever God forbids as Paul saith We dare not make our selves of the number or compare our selves with some that commend themselves 2 Cor. 10.12 He knew God had forbidden it and he durst not but obey So 1 Cor. 6.1 Dare any of you having a matter go to Law before unbeleevers As who should say you are not beleevers if you do it faith would shew you what God is and what an inglorious and what a bitter thing it is for you to do it how dare you do it Secondly Faith doth not onely look upon Christ as a Saviour and a Redeemer but also as a Lord and King when Christ comes to a man when faith comes into the soul Christ is called our Lord Jesus Christ as he is a Jesus so he is a Lord and faith doth not only receive him as a Jesus but submits to him as to a Sovereigne Faith takes them both together faith will not let a man live Lordlesse it knowes he must take Christ as a Lord as well as a Redeemer as faith takes off the guilt of sinne so it puts the yoake of Christ on Is Christ divided saith the Apostle 1 Corinthians 1.13 So I may say is Christ divided Can he be disjoynted himselfe from himselfe Can people mangle Christ in pieces and divide him asunder May be thou wilt have him as a Jesus but thou wilt not have him as a Lord then thou canst not have him at all as Peter saith Acts 2.36 Be it known to all that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ As he hath made him a Christ by anointing him to be a Saviour to bring men from sinne and to bring them to Gods Kingdome and save them from wrath so he hath made him a Lord he hath set him up as a King upon his Holy Hill of Zion look as it was with Jephtah when the Gileadites would have him to save them from the Ammonites shall I be your head then saith he and he made them to sweare before the Lord that they would make him their Head or else he would not deliver them so if thou wilt have Christ to deliver thee out of the hands of thine enemies sinne is an enemy and the Law is an enemy and the Devill is an enemy and the world and thine own flesh is an enemy if thou wilt have Christ to deliver thee from these enemies shall he be thy Head He hath sworne an Oath That we being delivered from the hands of our enemies should serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our lives Luke 1.73 He hath sworne with an Oath that that man whom he delivers from his enemies shall serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse and shall not live as he lift he shall not live Lawlesse he shall take Christs Lawes as well as his Merits as well Christs Government as the imputation of his truth and righteousnesse he shall take the one as well as the other Now it is an easie thing for a man to believe by a presumptuous faith that Christ is a Jesus but here is the difficulty to take him as a Lord No man can call Christ a Lord but by the Holy Ghost saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 12.3 He doth not say no man can say Christ is a Jesus the Devill and presumption can make a man say so and every man hopes and beares himself upon this that Christ is a Jesus but no man can truly confesse him to be a Lord but by the Holy Ghost unlesse the Holy Ghost enable him as our Saviour saith David by the Spirit called him Lord he speakes of himselfe Matth. 22.43 It is a great matter to submit to Christ as a Sovereigne as well as to take Christ for a Saviour now faith seeth both must be done it must take Christ under both relations as he must take him under the relation of a Redeemer so under the relation of a Lord as to be saved by him so to be guided and swayed by him in all his wayes and to be at his disposing in all his courses thus faith seeth Christ is propounded in the Gospell and thus Christ embraceth him it cannot have him in one respect but it must also have him in the other and so faith brings in obedience Thirdly Faith seeth another couple that cannot be disjoynted and severed one from another and that is this as faith tyeth the heart to the promises so it glueth the heart to the Commandements these go together and when faith reacheth forth the hand to the one it reacheth forth the hand to the other they are tyed with bonds of adamant that cannot be severed Psalme 119.56 When faith will go to God in vertue of a promise to do this or that for him he reacheth forth the hand to the Commandements too I am the Lord thy God thou shalt have no other Gods but me As who should say if you will look upon me as your God by
change but a real change to a man If you would know the meaning of the phrase A relative change is this when there is a change in a man from that he was before but the change doth not lye in a man as the change of Justification before he was not Justified now he is Justified the man is changed but he is not changed in himself but it stands only in Gods imputation he is not just in himself but by imputation just Now the real change is When God doth purifie and make up the defects in a man more and more that is a real change so that I say Regeneration is not only a relative change whereby God accounts a man as a child but it breeds a real change in a man it gives a man a spiritual Being for the Spirit of God when it comes to work this work is a fruitful principle of all good in that man more and more Therefore the Apostle saith The fruits of the Spirit are joy peace long-suffering c. Gal. 5.22 'T is true the Spirit doth not bring forth these Graces till after a man is regenerate but by working that Regeneration which makes the soul to bring forth these fruits and making the heart an honest heart and so a good ground to bring forth these seeds the Spirit is a fruitful principle of all good in that man Thus you see the Third Thing viz. Wherein Regeneration consists Now the Fourth Thing is the Reasons of this Point Why the Spirit of God doth work this work of Regeneration The First Reason is Because it is meerly according to the Will of God Man hath no power at all man hath no activity it is meerly at the pleasure of God whether he will do it or no Jam. 1.18 Of his own Will begat he us he only had an hand in it he only did it and it was meerly at his good Will and Pleasure he might have chosen whether he would have done it or no it is no fruit of our liberty it is no brood of our breeding it is meerly the free act of God in a man Joh. â— 44 No man cometh to me except the Father draweth him There Christ sheweth it this bringing of a man to be in Christ it cannot be from any man except the Father draw him except he send forth his heavenly Spirit he can never come to Christ all our sufficiency is from God we cannot so much as think a good thought we cannot renew our thoughts we cannot renew our inclinations or our wills or our affections we can do nothing of our selves it is only his work therefore seeing it is such a special work it must be only the Spirit of God that must work it it is a glorious work a supernatural work this new Birth is such a Birth as comes from above Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power c. saith the text that is all that are born of God they are brought forth in the day of Gods power in the day wherein God is pleased to put forth his power in them therefore they are called the seed of Christ Isa 53.10 They are his seed but unless he begets them by his Spirit they can never be so Therefore if we consider the greatness of the work it sheweth plainly it must needs be the effect of the Will of God and his good Pleasure towards man and therefore must be wrought by the Spirit Secondly Another Reason is Because it is not a work of this world It is a work of another world it is none of the creatures of this life it is beyond the sphere of the activity of any natural agent they cannot reach it Joh. 1.13 Which were born not of the will of the flesh nor of bloud c. It is not of mans Will he cannot so much as Will it or Desire it effectually he cannot wish it truly nay his heart had rather have the world nay saith he It is not of the Will of the Flesh that is a man may go and beget another Child in the world because it is of the Will of the Flesh it is in the power of the Will of the Flesh Gods power going along with him but this is not so whatsoever a man be though he hath never so many excellent parts it is not in the Will of the Flesh to do it Then again it is not of Bloud it is no terrene or earthly thing this new creature is otherwise made than any new creature in the world besides therefore he concludes it is only born of God it is God only that is the great Author of this great work it descends down meerly from above Thirdly Because it is so far from being wrought by any power in man or any counsel in man or any endeavours in man it is so far from that as that a man is totally against it A man is an enemy unto it a man hath reluctancy and repugnancy against it he would not be regenerate when a man doth think he desires heaven and to be regenerated of God he doth apprehend Regeneration in a wrong way and heaven in a wrong way so as he apprehends it he doth Will it he thinks of heaven as of a fine place and a place full of pleasure and therefore desires it but that he should alwayes be with God that he should alwayes be praysing and thinking of God and minding of God and have his heart weaned from all other things and set it on God this is heaven but he hates these things and so hates heaven so he Wills that which he apprehends to be Regeneration but Regeneration is when a man hath a new heart and when he is a new man he was wordly before but he is now brought to be spiritual he was proud before but he is now come to be humble but the heart cannot abide this therefore let the Lord fling in abundance of throws into a natural mans heart to begin some preparatory work this way to make a man begin to look out towards heaven he flings all away he is weary of them quickly as a man at a Sermon perhaps may have throws concerning the new Birth but the corruption of his heart will throw all way he cannot endure them they are contrary to the corruption of a mans nature nay when God comes to work upon his own people what a deal of pleading is there with the world the flesh and the Divel that they may not be cast out Therefore when Peter saw that through the grace and power of God this work was wrought in those he wrote unto 1 Pet. 1.3 Mark how he speaks Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead He lifts up his hands to heaven and blesseth God that ever this work was wrought he saw so much