but few that Receive Christ 11 Three sorts that come not to Christ 1 Such as Receive him not as he is 2 Such as delay their coming to him 3 Such as give not that place to Christ in their hearts that is fitting for him In the Treatise of Covetousness is shewed 1 It is the Duty of all as they would obtaine eternal Life to beware of covetousness 2 The Reasons of the Doctrine 1 Its a spiritual Sin 2 It over spreads the whole man 3 It s opposite to the Nature of Godliness and Religion 4 It s the Womb and seed of all Sin 5 It s a base Sin 3 The Dangerousness of covetousness· 1 It is hardly avoided 2 It s difficultly cured 4 You shal have all things needful for this life if you wil look after Grace 5 Your Life lies in Grace not in Riches 6 There is more to be feared than to be desired in Riches 7 We should Mortifie our desires after Riches In Book 1 Of Unbelief or the want of Readiness c. is shewed 1 What Vnbelief it is that is here spoken of 2 The best way to deal with Vnbelief 3 That Vnbelief is a sin against al the Attributes of God 4 That Christ will not bear with this Sin of Vnbeleif 5 That we should be quick and reâ—yd to beleeve 6 Motives to indeavor for readiness to beleeve 7 Helps to attain readiness in Beleeving In Book 2 Of Not going to Christ c. is shewed 1 That unbelief is a great Sin and exceeding provoking unto God 2 Several arguments provoking us to beleeve the greatness of the Sin of unbelief 3 Many Objections answered 4 Several sorts of this Sin of unbeliefe 5 Means to convince us that unbelief is so great a Sin 6 Though the Sin of unbelief be very great yet it 's pardonable 7 God hath pardoned unbelief and wil pardon it A Congregational Church is a Catholick Visible Church By Samuel Stone in New-England A Treatise of Politick Powers wherein seven Questions are answered 1 Whereof Power is made and for what ordained 2 Whether Kings and Governors have an Absolute Power over the People 3 Whether Kings and Governors be subject to the Laws of God or the Laws of their Country 4. How far the People are to obey their Governors Dr. Sibbs on the Philippians Vox Pacifica or a Perswasive to Peace Dr. Prestons Saints submission and Satans Overthrow Pious Mans Practice in Parliament time Barriffs Military Discipline The Immortality of Mans Soul The Anatomist Anatomized The Bishop of Canterbury's Speech Woodwards Sacred Ballance Dr. Owen against Mr. Baxter Mr. Hookers New Books in three Volums One in Octavo and two in Quarto These Eleven New Books of Mr. Thomas Hooker made in New-England Are attested in an Epistle by Mr. Thomas Goodwin and Mr. Philip Nye To be written with the Authors Own hand None being written by himself before One Volum being a Comment upon Christ's last Prayer in the Seventeenth of John wherein is opened The Union beleevers have with God and Christ and the glorious Priviledges thereof Besides many other Gospel Truths there you have shewed 1 That the end why the Saints receive al glorious Grace is That they may be one as the Father and Christ are one 2 That God the Father loveth the Faithful as he loveth Jesus Christ 3 That our Savior desireth to have the Faithful in Heaven with himself 4 That the happiness of our being in Heaven is to see Christs Glory 5 That there is much wanting in the knowledg of Gods Love in the most able Saints 6 That the Lord Christ lends dayly direction according to the dayly need of his Servants 7 That it is the desire and endeavor of our Savior that the dearest of Gods Love which was bestowed on himself should be given to his faithful Servants 8 That our Vnion and Communion with God in Christ is the top of our happiness in Heaven The first eight Books of the Application of Redemption By the effectual Work of the Word and Spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost Sinners to God In which besides many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed 1 Christ hath purchased al spiritual good for HIS 2 Christ puts al HIS into possession of al that good that he hath purchased 3 The Soul must be fitted for Christ before it can receive him And a powerful Ministry is the ordinary means to prepare the heart for Christ 4 The work of God is free And the day of Salvation is while this Life lasts and the Gospel continues 5 God cals his Elect at any Age but the most before old Age. 6 The Soul is naturally setled in a sinful security 7 The heart of a Natural man is wholly unwilling to submit to the word that would sever him from his sins 8 God the Father by a holy kind of violence plucks His out of their corruptions and draws them to beleeve in Christ The Ninth and Tenth Books of the Application of Redemption by the Effectual Work of the Word and spirit of Christ for the bringing home of lost sinners to God Besides many other seasonable and Soul-searching Truths there is also largely shewed 1 The heart must be humble and contrite before the Lord wil dwel in it 2 Stubborn and bloody sinners may be made broken-hearted 3 There must be true sight of sin before the heart can be broken for it 4 Application of special sins by the Ministry is a means to bring men to â—ight of and sorrow for them 5 Meditation of sin a special means to break the heart 6 The same word is profitable to some not to another 7 The Lord somtimes makes the word prevaile most when its most opposed 8 Sins unrepented of makes way for piercing Terrors 9 The Truth terrible to a guilty conscience 10 Gross and scandalous sinners God usually exerciseth with heavy breakings of heart before they be brought to Christ 11 Sorrow for sin rightly set on pierceth the hearâ— of the sinner throughly 12 They whose hearts are pierced by the Word are carried with love and respect to the Ministers of it And are busie to enquire and ready to submit to the mind of God 13 Sinners in distress of conscience are ignorant what they should do 14 A contrite sinner sees a necessity of coming out of his sinful condition 15 There is a secret hope wherewith the Lord supports the hearts of contrite sinners 16 They who are truly pierced for their sins do prize and covet deliverance from their sins 17 True contrition is accompanied with confession of sin when God cals thereunto 18 The Soul that is pierced for sin is carried with a restless dislike against it Six Books more of Mr. Hookers in two Volums in Quarto are printing Twenty one several Books of Mr. William Bridge Collected into two Volumns Viz. 1 Scripture Light the most sure Light compared with 1. Revelations Visions 2. Natural Supernatual Dreams 3
what he is it is a mighty argument to work the soul towards Christ But you wil say alas Christ is so glorious how shal we come to him his glory is enough to overwhelme us when the Angels did but appeare in some glorious manner even some of the prophets and holy men were not able to stand before them we cannot come to Christ because of his glory Therefore know in the second place That as he is so glorious in himself the lustre of heaven so he hath taken our nature upon himself he hath clothed himself with our nature and he is so united into an hypostatical union with us to be made the same person yea so to be the same person that the second person in Trinity is to be of the person that he is that the son of man should be the same person that the son of God is this is the greatest mistery in the world and it is the greatest work that ever God did abundantly greater than making heaven and earth for God to unite our natures so neere unto his son this God hath done so that Christ that calls you to come to him is not only God blessed for ever equal with the father and ful of Glory but he is your kinsman he is your neere kinsman that hath taken your flesh upon him Now had you one that were neer a kin to you that were advanced to be the Emperor of al the world and he should cal to you and say come to me would you not make towards him Jesus Christ hath your nature in heaven with him and it is in an hypostatical union united to the divine nature and the fulness of the Godhead dwels bodily in him as in Col. 2.9 Now it is he that cals you to come to him certainly there are great things in him and to be had by him as you shal see more by and by Now consider this one particular viz. who Christ is that calls to come to him and in the consideration of this there are two or three mighty strong arguments to prevail with the soul to come to Christ First in that Christ is the son of God and yet man God man so united hence the terror of the Glory of God comes to be taken away so as poor wretched flesh may be able now to converse with God being vailed with our own nature God being vailed with flesh It is true if God in his own Glory as he is in himself in the highest heavens should cal us to come to him we might be afraid least we should be overwhelmed with his glory we cannot stand before him we cannot look so much as upon the glory of the sin how shal we be able to go to the body of the glory of God Are we able to go to the body of the Sun No it would burn us up how can we be able to go to the glory of God then Now because the Lord knows that his glory is so great he hath been pleased to provide such a way to take off the terror of his greatness though we be frail flesh yet the Lord hath done that which may encourage us to come to him for he hath vailed his glory with Human Nature and therefore we may now through Christ be able to stand before and converse with the infinite glorious God This is a great mistery the greatest that God hath taken our flesh upon him and vailed his glory with our flesh that he might have his terror taken from us and we may be able to come to him here was one special end that Christ was made man that the Lord might deal with us in a more familiar way than otherwise he could Secondly In that Christ that is God-man in one person cals us to come to him hence we have this Meditation That certainly the Lord is infinitly inclined to do good unto the Children of men this is a mighty incouragement for all poor Souls to come to Christ for when thou hearest that Christ the Son of God is made man in one person by that thou may'st gather this for thy encouragement that certainly God is infinitly inclined to do good unto the Children of men God would never have wrought so strange a work as to unite our Natures into one person with his Son if he had not meant to do some infinite good unto mankind the Lord hath given a most evident demonstration of it in uniting mans Nature to his own Son As if the King should be pleased to marry his Son to one that is the nearest Kinswoman you have you would by that gather such an argument as this and all your friends would conclude surely the King doth intend much good to this family that he is strongly inclined to prefer this family So when God is pleased to marry his Son to our flesh Yea to take our Nature into a nearer union with him then the Wife is taken into the Husband we may gather this argument and conclude Surely God doth intend much good unto the Children of men and therefore come Thirdly From this consideration who Christ is God manifested in the flesh we may gather this incouragement to come to him That the Lord in uniting the divine Nature with the Human in Christ hath done already a greater work for the Children of men than the saving of their Souls comes to the saving of thy Soul is a difficult work thou thinkest thus Alas for me to come and think to be saved by Christ this is too great a thing too good to be true it is not possible that ever such a poor sinner as I am should be raised to the glory that I hear of in the word that God will raise his Saints unto thou thinkest that the Salvation of thy Soul is so great and so mighty a thing and therefore that perhaps doth somwhat discourage thee in coming but then when thou hearest what Christ is and how God hath united the divine and human Nature together in one person from thence thou mayest gather this incouragement that God hath done a greater work than to save thy Soul for so it is It is a greater work for God to unite the divine and humane Nature together in one person than to save all the Souls in the world As if Christ should say thus Oh Come to me know what I am I am the Son of the Father of the same Nature and being and I am likwise made man God the Father hath united my divine Nature to your flesh and in this he hath done a greater work than the saving of your Souls in this he hath shewed what intentions he hath for the good of mankind and in this the terror of the almighty is taken away and therefore come to me that is the first Argument come to Christ ARG. II. Secondly Come to Christ Why For Christ hath come to you do you come to him for he hath come to you that Christ might come to you he hath even come
fathers were able to beare and that it is not only meant Ceremonial but moral it appeares at the 11. verse We beleeve that through the grace of our lord Jesus Christ we shal be saved even as they Now the grace of our lord Jesus christ is not only opposite to the ceremonal law but to the moral Law when it is taught in way of Justification to life So that this law that is such a yoke is that that is opposite to the grace of Christ that brings salvation it is that law that reveales Sin it is that law which is the minister of death by which the mouths of al come to be stopped so that it is a heavy yoke those that are under this Law that is such as are under the first covenant the Covenant of works that seek for Justification by that they are under a greivous burden they are the children of the bond woman for the law requires that that is impossible for them to do Now when a soul comes to see and understand it self to bee under the law such a Law as requires things impossible to be done this burdens the soul so by this means it comes to see the need it hath of Christ and Christ cals to such to come to him as if he should Say So long as you continue unbeleivers in your natural condition you are under Such a covenant for life as requires that of you which you cannot possibly do and therefore there is no resting in that condition Come therefore to me take my yoke my easie yoke the other is a heavy yoke But I wil shew you a way for ease and rest to your soules That is the first But though the law may require hard things impossible things yet it may remit in some other things Wherefore 2. In the second place this is the yoke and bondage of the Law that in every thing that it doth command it doth require absolute perfection accepts of nothing but absolute perfection in every thing that it doth Comand it doth not onely comand hard things but whatsoever the law requires it doth require an absolute perfection in it or otherwise casts the Soul if there be but a failing on any particular in any degree of that which the Law requires the Law casts the Soul by it It requires not only that the thing should be done but that it should be done in a right manner that it should be done out of a right principle that it should be done in the perfection of degrees to the uttermost that is required that there should not onely be a direction of our lives according to the rule but that we come up fully to the Rule this the law requires Now what a miserable yoke and burden is this for a poor soul to look upon the Law as requiring first things that I cannot do And secondly absolute perfection admitting of no imperfection at al this is a heavy yoke this neither we nor our fathers could beare and those that come to be sensible of this must needs be under a greivous burden and so se a need of Jesus Christ Christ cals those that do understand this It is true if it were thus and people were left without any help and remedy it were a sad condition truly if christ had not come into the world to put himself under the law we had been left thus and al those that do not understand the Gospel that have not had Christ preached unto them they are al thus they are al in this Condition they are under a law that they cannot performe that law which doth require absolute and perfect obedience in every thing or else casts them Thirdly The Burden of the Law is this you may say though it doth require perfect obedience but wil it accept of no endeavours at al suppose we do endeauor to obey to the uttermost that we can There are many men wil require things that are hard and beyond strength I but when there are endeavours to do that that is required that wil be accepted wherefore we are to know this that the Law accepts of no endeavours though a man or woman should strive their hearts out to obey to come to the height of the perfection of the Law the Law doth not accept of those endeavors It is true when the Soul comes unto Christ in the Gospel when the Soul comes under the covenant of Grace endeavors are accepted therefore do not say that God wil not accept of our endeavors and why should we endeavor Yes if you come unto Christ your endeavors wil be accepted as we shal shew you when we come to discourse the rest that the Soul hath in Christ But now here is an argument to drive poor souls to Christ to consider that while you are out of Christ your endeavors are not accepted you are not in away of life for life and Salvation it is not to be had in the condition you are now in for the Law requires obedience it must have the work done you can be but either under the covenant of works or the covenant of grace so long as you are under the covenant of works there the work is called for and not meerly endeavors that wil not do therefore the Apostle saith in the Rom. 10.5 For Moses describeth the righteousness of the Law that he which doth those things shal live by them You must either be Righteous by the Righteousness of the Law or by the Righteousness of Christ now if you would be Righteous by the Righteousness of the Law hear what it is he that doth these things shal live by them If you do them Moses doth not say he that endeavors to do these things he that strives to do these things No but Moses saith he that doth them he that doth these things shal live by them it must be doing and not endeavoring that the Law accepteth and that is the third thing wherein the bondage of the Law consists Saith Christ come to me and you shal have rest it is by beleeving in Christ that you must have rest There can be no rest but a grievous burden upon the soul til it doth come to Christ if it doth understand things and if it doth not understand these things it is in so much the worse condition though perhaps it be not sensible of such a burden through ignorance as most people spend off al their daies and through ignorance do not come to be sensible of it but when the Soul comes to understand what tearms there are between God and it and how it must stand before God that it must either stand by vertue of a Covenant of Works or a Covenant of Grace and that al naturally are under a Covenant of Works and so long as I am in my natural Condition I am under such a Law that accepts of no endeavors this must needs be a great burden unto the Soul and make it to see an absolute necessity of going to
al and yet you do not cry out but Paul he was delivered from the guilt of his sin yet the very remainder of sin in his heart was a burden to him there is much sin in many of your hearts and you cry not out of it Paul he was delivered and yet he cryeâ— out of it who shal deliver me from this body of death But now to open this I shal shew First how manâ— waies the remaining part of corruption is a burden to the Saints Secondly What kind of burden it is Thirdly Open the particulars shewing that sinful nature is a burden and the stirring of corruption a burden and the prevailing of corruption a burden Fourthly Why it is that God doth so in his providence order things that his owne saints shal be under the burden of corruption and so make some application of it First Then in what respect the remaining part of sin and corruption in the heart of the saints is a burden The First burden of Corruption First It is a burden of greife unto them you know grief causeth heaviness and sadness now the remainder of corruption that they find in them it is as lead and lies heavy upon their spirits in regard of greif it is the cause of their grief and trouble some wil say perhaps sometimes to others such and such that are professours of religion they go very sadly and heavily and when once you come to be so strict in your way you wil loose al your comfort for such and such are alwaies sad and pensive but do you know what is the reason of their sadness you have as much cause to be sad as they the burden is not because they are religious but because they are no more religious not because now they do more duties then they did before but because they cannot find their hearts come up to their duties as they would do not atribute their greif to their godlyness but rather say to thy self thus if they that do so much for God are yet so much troubled and greived because they do no more for God how much cause of trouble and greife have I then that do nothing at al for God The Second burden of Corruption Secondly The remaining part of corruption in the hearts of the saints it is a burden of shame greif is a burden and shame is a burden many that can beare great burdens that can beare the burden of poverty yet are not able to beare the burden of disgrace especially to those that are most ingenious it is one of the greatest burdens in the world now the saints they are ashamed of the corruption that remains in them they account it a shame before the Lord and before his blessed Angels and in regard of themselves what they know of themselves that the world knowes not of they look upon it as ashame that they do even loath and abhor themselves as the scripture speakes it may be their lives are such as others do honor and have high thoughts of them but they being acquainted with their own hearts and looking into the secret working of their own spirits they see so much evil there as they see much cause to abhor and loath themselves and to lie down in their shame before the Lord whom they know doth see into their hearts a great deale more then they can see themselves I wil appeal to any one that knows his owne heart if God should open your heart and make it known to your friends and acquaintance so much evil as is in your heart in the performing of one duty if al men should know so much evil as is in your heart at one time in praier or hearing a sermon would you not be ashamed now God knowes and sees al the baseness and vildness of your spirits and the godly knowing this they cannot but be ashamed and go under this burden of shame with heavy hearts The Third burden of Corruption Thirdly The remaining part of Corruption in the hearts of the godly it carries with it a burden of feare fear you know is a great burden as wel as greif and shame though the evil be not so great upon them yet if their be an evil apprehended to come upon them it is a great burden to them as those that dare not go out of dores in the night because of feare or dare not be in the dark because of fear when they are delivered from their feares do they not account that it was a great burden now the godly they have a great deal of fear upon their hearts and the truth is those that are godly they fear more what their owne evil hearts should bring upon them then what al the divels in hel and al the creatures in the world can bring upon them and that is a good fear but yet it makes them walk heavily others feare sometimes they fear men fear those that wil come and take away their estates and undo them feare their enemies or feare the divel but one that is godly he feares more his own heart the evil that may come to his soul by that then al the hurt that al the divels in hel can do to him for they cannot afflict more then the body I but this brings an evil upon the soul it breakes their communion between them and God and therefore they are afraid of sin before it comes they have experience of their hearts what evil it hath done to them and so are afraid of miscarrying and afraid of the evil consequences of their sin they do not know what mischief their sin might possibly bring upon them and so they goe under this burden of fear along time together even those that are truly godly The Fourth burden of Corruption Fourthly The remaining part of corruption in the hearts of the saints is a burden of care for men and women to be alwaies careful to be ful of care you know that is a great burden that many of you are acquainted with that when you have a great deal of business upon you and much lies upon you when your thoughts are ful of care is it not a great burden to you many men that have been ful of business and afterwards have got over their business what a freedome do they account it the saints they have a burden of care upon them because they find so much to do with their own hearts that they had need be watchful night and day over them they have had experience what their hearts have done when there hath not been a strict watch over â—hem and therefore there is no Child of God but if he be in a right temper he is a careful man so long as we live in this flesh our condition is ful of feares and so we must neds be ful of care in this world though there be a great deale of difference between the distracting care that wicked men have about their outward estate and the care of the godly about keeping their
Burden to any man or Woman that heretofore had assurance of Gods love and was able to look in Gods Face with joy to have this assurance shaken Yea Many times it makes God withdraw his countenance which made David Cry out Restore to me the Joy of thy Salvation As if he should say Lord I was wont to have joy in thy company in communion with thee but thou hast estranged thy self from my Soul O Lord restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation Now is not this a burden for thee to loose the sweetness of thy Soul in communion with God That now though it may be it is through thy weakness or what it wil be yet thou canst not look upon God with that comfort as thou would'st but the thought of God comes to be a terror upon thy spirit is not this a burden Now then is there any poor Soul that understands what these things mean What a Burden the remaining Corruption of the Heart is either in regard of the sinfulness of Nature or in regard of the stirring of Corruption or in regard of the prevailing of Corruption that now they have no Rest in their souls but are Laden with such a Burden and cry out with the Apostle Oh! Wretched Man and Woman that I am who shal deliver me let such a soul know that this text belongs to them Come unto me saith Christ and I wil give you Rest from this Burden as wel as the other Burdens and our Rest is only in Christ from this as wel as the Burden of the guilt of sin the Burden of the Law and the other burdens that have been spoken unto CHAP. XVI Why the Saints feel these things so burdensome Namely 1. Because the Life of Grace is a tender and delicate thing 2. Because Grace keeps the Soul in continual acting And why God suffers Corruption notwithstanding the burdensomness thereof to remain in the Saints Namely 1. That hereby he may shew forth his own power 2. Hereby their Faith be exercised 3. Hereby they are driven unto Prayer 4. Hereby Stirred up unto Repentance 5. Hereby make known his Wisdome 6. Hereby manifest his justice in laying a stumbling block before the wicked 7. Hereby the Saints may be induced to long more after Heaven With two Consequences issuing from hence 1. The differences between the Sins of the godly and the wicked 2. Why the Saints go on so sadly in their waies NOw it must needs be that a gracious heart must feel these things to be very burdensome First Because the life of Grace wheresoever it is is a very tender and delicate thing nothing is so delicate and tender as the life of Grace and therefore it must needs be sensible of this burden of Corruption according to what degree it doth remain in the Soul As thus you know a man or Woman the more delicate and tender they are in their flesh having had very curious bringing up or it may be their natural Spirits are very delicate more then other men some men their natural spirits are more gross and can bear burdens with less sense but now those that are more finer and delicate if you lay a burden upon them Oh! How burdensome is it unto them now Grace makes the constitution to be delicate fine and pure a pure constitution it puts the Hearts into a most pure constitution and therefore it must needs be sensible of the evil of sin according to the remainers of it Secondly Where Grace is Corruption must needs be very burdensome in this regard also because that Grace keeps the Soul in continual action and stirring now look as a man that hath a Leg that is broken if he could lie stil and never stir it would not be so grievous and burdensome to him the pain and breaking of his Leg would not be so burdensome if he could lie stil but if this man whose Leg is broken must be stirring walking and going up and down Oh! how burdensome is it that his Leg is broke So it is with the Soul it is true if the Soul might be stil a sleep and doing nothing then though there be Corruption in them it would not be so grievous I but Grace whereever it is puts the Soul unto action and therefore it is called the divine Nature because it is active it puts the Soul on to be acting for God and in the waies of life now Grace putting the Soul to be acting and Corruption that being as the breaking of the bones it must needs be very burdensome that which most hinders their activity of Grace must needs be very burdensome You had need therefore take heed what you do when temptation to sin comes take heed you do not break your bones and your Leggs Why Because when you have broken them you must be stil stirring and acting for God A poor man it is a great deal worse for him if he break his Leg then a Rich man a Rich man may sit by the fire or lie in his bed a month together but a poor man if he break his Legg he doth not know what to do he must to work perhaps he cannot have that harbor that a Rich man may have so I say those that are of sluggish spirits though Corruption prevaile it is not so grievous unto them but those that are of active spirits and have Grace and the more Grace that any man or Woman hath the more burdensome their Corruptions are because the more Grace there is in the Soul the more active it wil be for God Quest But you wil say Seeing the remaining of Corruption in the Heurts of the Saints is so burdensom why doth God so order things in his providence as his own dear Saints should be so troubled with their Corruptions while they live in this world God could deliver them from their Corruptions why wil God make them cry out O Wreched man that I am who shal deliver me from this Body of Death God could as wel perfect our Sanctification as our Justification why doth God thus order things in his providence that his own dear Saints should groan under such a burden of Corruption al their daies Answ For that breifly thus Though it is true that God could presently take all our Corruptions as soon as ever we come to Jesus Christ God could deliver us from our Corruptions but the Lord wil not he hath many holy ends why he doth suffer his own people to be under this burden while they live here in the flesh As. First That hereby he may shew forth his own power the power of Jesus Christ is exceeding magnified in this that it can uphold little sparks of Grace in the midst of an Ocean of Corruption that it can uphold poor weak Creatures under such burdens and carry them on notwithstanding and bring them to eternal Life the power and Grace of Jesus Christ and the power of God is as much manifested in this thing as it is in keeping Heaven
acknowledg that it is through grace that he hath but somewhat which God works through him that is the most natural to a rational creature to rest upon somewhat that he doth to make up his peace with God and to be his righteousness before God And it is a mighty work of God to beat off the heart from this especially The heart comes thus far to say it is true I can do nothing of my self but it is by the grace of God that I do al now for the heart not to rest upon this as its own righteousness this is the hardest thing in the world And although men may be convinced in their judgments that they should not rest in any such thing but go out of themselves to another principle yet it is the hardest thing in the world to come off from it and it is that makes the work of faith the most difficult thing in the world because it carries the soul out of it self from its own bottom from its own principles and the mistake of this thing is that that is the undoing of thousands of those that live under the sound of the gospel that when they have somewhat reformed their lives and think they are able to do thus and thus yet here they rest and go not out of themselves to look for rest out of themselves and do not come to Christ Quest You wil say What not rest upon what we do and are inabled to do upon Gods grace Faith it self is a resting upon Christ Ans No but this you must observe in your comming you must not rest upon your comming but upon Christ that you come unto for their may be a deceit in that too There be some that rest upon works of humiliation mourning for sin reforming their lives and they think that is their rest and peace Others go further and think they must beleeve in Christ but they wil rest upon their beleeving so they rest upon their comming and not upon the object that they come unto but we must be taken off from resting upon our comming upon our very beleeving and Christ must be all in all to have true rest in Therefore faith is a Supernatural grace because by that we are taken off from what we are in our selves and carryed on to somewhat else 6. Upon this follows likewise That faith is an humbling grace it is that that must needs humble the soul where it is for indeed it is the greatest self denial in the world for a creature to come to be willing to rely upon free grace for the soul to be so emptied of it self as to acknowledg there is no worthiness no good at al in it self and yet it is content to live eternally upon meere almes and to give God the glory of al. Is there any thing more hard to any of you then to live to be beggers al your daies to be beholding to others so as to live upon meer almes and nothing else al the dayes of your lives Now for the creature to be so emptied of it self as to live upon meere almes to al eternity upon nothing but meer free grace and upon a principle of life without our selves this is a mighty work of emptying of our selves and of self denyal And therefore in Rom. 10.3 It s spoken of the Jewes For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God This plainly shewes that the bringing the heart to rest upon the righteousness that is of God by faith for that is meant here requires a submission of the heart a laying down the heart and a humbling of the heart and indeed this is the very ground why the Lord doth so humble the spirits of men and women when he brings them to Christ because that the Lord knows that the very act the coming to Christ is an act of the greatest self denial in the world because the heart must be emptied of it self in that that is so much against the pride of mans heart to live eternally upon meer free grace and nothing else For there is nothing that man doth more desire then to have somewhat some stock of himself to live upon And indeed herein man comes to be more humble then Adam in innocency could be for Adam had a stock to live upon in his own hand to live upon in himself not but God was the principle of it but then God gave it him to live upon the stock of Grace he had in his owne hand But now in the second Adam the way of God towards us is otherwise the second Adam keepes the stock of life and grace upon which our soules must live eternally in his own hand I say they are in Christs hand not in our selves and therefore our life is a better and safer life then that was and thereby we cannot fal from God because we live by the principle of life that is in him It is a great mistery and almost impossible to unfould only some glimmering we have in the word that this is so 7. If there be nothing required but to come then another consequence wil follow from hence and that is this Hence then beleevers that come to Christ may learn this lesson to be willing to do and to suffer very much for Christ after they come because there was nothing required of them to the pardon of their sins but only to Come I strengthen the inference thus If God had said thus indeed I have sent a mediator to pacifie my wrath and to pardon your sins and before you come to Rest I require that you should suffer so many hundred yeares of torment in fire and that should be a preparation to come and then after you have suffered so much then you shal come and have rest suppose this had been the condition of the covenant now had it been so we had al had cause to have fallen upon our face and have blest his great name that we can have peace on any termes and we should have been not only willing to accept of these termes but to magnifie Gods grace that we can be thus saved at last But the Lord hath not required that first we should suffer such and such hard things and then Come to Christ but he calls upon us first to come and requires nothing before And therefore before we are able to do the Lord any service the Lord wil first accept of us and pardon us and heale us and interest us in himself and be our God and take us to be his Children and make us heirs of heaven and eternal life this at first before we shal ever be able to do him any service What an infinite grace of God is this how is he beforehand with us for he calleth to the greatest sinner that knowes what his sin is and is Laden saith God I require nothing before the receiving you to mercy but meerly to
come and cast your souls upon me You may say Lord we that have been guilty of so many sins so many years might it not be just that God should require and say I but you shal live so many yeares to my honor live so many yeares to my service and then I wil pardon and accept of you no but saith God I wil receive you and accept of you upon your comming before ever you are able to do me any kind of service no saith God come to me and you shal have first my favour and you shal be first accepted and first pardoned and then indeed I expect service from you then I expect that you should live as the redeemed ones of the Lord and al that you shal do afterwards shal be but in way of thankfulness to me for my grace And indeed thus do beleevers live in the world though they look upon what they do in a way of duty but they do it in a way of thankfulness that is the special thing that carries them on the grace of God in his son and that is a stronger argument to al kind of duties that now God requires of them then what they had before God doth not cal upon you to suffer first and then he wil pardon your sin no but saith God I wil bestow my favour first upon you and try whither you wil suffer afterwards God wil not do as men try them whether they wil suffer and deserve their favours before they bestow them on them but saith God I wil first bestow my favours upon you and then I wil try whether you wil suffer for me and do me service And therefore the less God requires as a condition before we come to Christ the more should we be willing to do for God after we are come to Christ As a man that shall receive a poor child into his family and make him his heir the less that was procured to the favour of the man the more if the child be ingenious wil he do to him in way of thankfulness Indeed if the friends of the Child come and indent with the man and promise him a hundred pound the Child thinks he is not so beholding to his master for their was money given with him I but now if you should ly at the dore and no friend to look after you and not a rag upon you and if then he wil take you in and teach you his trade and make you the heir of al he hath Oh! now how infinitely ingaged are you to him that how my master doth al this for me and there was nothing done before to procure his love Thus Jesus Christ is a forehand with us Come to me only come to me that you might have Rest 8. Hence follows another note of very good use seeing nothing is required first but only coming to Christ here is a strong ground of assurance that those that are once in Christ shall not be cast away but shall have eternal life for there is not so great a distance between eternal life and the members of Christ as there is between one that is in his Natural estate and a member of Christ Now God hath done more for thee in bringing thee unto Christ then he shall do for thee when he brings thee unto Heaven For there is a geater distance between thee and Christ than there is between thee a Member of Christ and a glorified Saint in Heaven and if God bring thee over this great distance meerly out of free Grace and nothing required but coming that now thou art a member of Christ and therefore hast right to Heaven and thou canst challeng Heaven through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and God hath put a principle of life into thee to live unto Jesus Christ a principle of everlasting life into thee when there was no principle at all God brings thee to Jesus Christ meerly out of free Grace Now if thou comest so freely to him surely thou shalt not be shut out of Heaven and therefore it may be a mighty incouragment What if when we were enemies we be Reconciled to Christ much more now shall we be saved by his life If when I was in the Gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity God gave me mercy upon coming to his Son surely he will not cast me out of Heaven 9. Another note that we may learn from hence is this That those that are beleevers if at any time through their negligence sluggishness or fals they loose the assurance of Gods love in Christ loose their Rest in Christ here they have a direction to know what to do Look how thou did'st at first when thou attainedst first Rest in Christ it was not by any Righteousness of thine own nor by thy humiliation though that might make some way towards it So now when thou art a beleever and hast lost the assurance of Christs Love and the comfort of Rest in Christ now thou must go and take the same way again Christ cals those that are beleevers to come to him those that have lost the assurance of Faith that is the way for Rest to renew the act of thy coming to Christ just as thou did'st before Though God did humble thee yet the thing that did bring thee Rest was the coming to Jesus Christ so much more should'st thou do now being a beleever When thou hast not the Rest in Christ thou desirest thy way is to renew thy act of coming of going to Christ and so you may sooner come to have Rest that way than by thinking thus I know not whether my evidences be right or no and I had need look to them and therefore I had need to look whether my humiliation be right and my Sanctification be right or no. I say the renewing the act of thy faith in coming to Christ will bring Rest sooner and safer Rest and therefore thou shalt come to see thy Sanctification better too by renewing the act of thy Faith in coming unto Christ and thou wilt have thy Rest sooner that way it follows from hence because at first conversion there is coming Thus much for the Consequences that follow from the point of Christs requiring only to come CHAP. XXI Nine Rules to be observed in right coming to Christ 1. Rest not in outward means that lead to Christ before Christ himself be enjoyed 2. Pitch rather upon Christ himself than upon the good things of Christ 3. Come with the whole Soul 4. Keep Christ continually in thine Eye 5. Be convinced that whatsoever keeps thee from Christ comes not from God 6. Take heed and beware of al discouragements and hinderances 7. Keep the Heart stil tending to Christ 8. Give up thy self to Gods Spirit 9. Often renew the act of coming come often to Christ NOw there is only two things remaine and that is some Rules to be propounded about our coming to Christ And then some means to draw the Hearts of sinners to come
it not the word of the Lord hast thou not now a gracious offer Is it not a mercy that thou art out of hel this day and is it not a mercy that thou art not drowned in the sea that thou art brought to land to heare one more offer to come to Christ Wilt thou yet go on in thy sins Wilt thou yet prize thy lusts before al that infinite good that is in Jesus Christ dost thou think this wil be peace in the end How wilt thou be able to look God in the face another day It s mercy thou needest and Mercy thou must have or else thou art for ever miserable and wilt thou reject this mercy Oh! that the Lord would cal in your consciences to help on this work There hath been I hope by al that hath been said some Illumination about Christ yea and some cords of Mercy have been fastened upon your hearts Now if God would but stir up conscience give a command to conscience and say never suffer this man or this woman to be at quiet til they come to my son til their hearts be taken off from al things that hinder them from coming to my son let them never be at quiet til then it were a happy thing if God would give this command to conscience that so many might answer to this invitation of Christ that when Christ saith come to me ye that are laden the soul answers Lord I come Quest I but you wil say Suppose God hath been calling me and I have rejected him I have been in some forwardness to come to Christ and my lusts have drawn my heart back again for you tel us that the Lord useth to be quick with sinners when they have rejected his grace now have you any word of comfort for such if these shal come that have abused Gods grace and mercy and turned back upon him have you any comfort for such Ans I wil onely give you one scripture for those and that is in Jeremiah 3. and the 22. verse and Oh! that the Lord would fasten this scripture upon your hearts Returne ye back-sliding children and I wil heale your back-slidings Mark here is the answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God This scripture in the name of God do I present to you that have drawn back from the grace of God that once were in a good frame and now are back-sliders once more in the name of God do I cal to you Oh! returne thou back-slider the Lord Jesus Christ is ready now to healthy back-slidings now then secretly say Lord I come and when thou comest into thy closet in a more solemn manner and art al alone resigne up thy soul to Jesus Christ and say Lord thou hast invited me this day to come to Christ now Lord I give up my self and all that I have and am to thee my estate my Body my honor and all that I have to come to thee and then not only those good things shall be made good but the promise likewise then Christ shall give you Rest These times are times of distress and therefore seasonable to hear of Rest whatever troubles fal out yet if thou come to Christ thou shalt be safe thy self Christ doth ingage himself to give Rest unto thy Soul And so much for the Invitation it self CHAP. XXIII The Doctrine arising from the dependance of the promise upon the Invitation That God will have us when we are coming to Christ to have respect to our selves NOw the next thing that follows is the promise that Christ makes to poor Laden sinners that do come unto him He will give them Rest And I will give you Rest It is too much for any creature to say thus Yea it were too much boldness and presumption for all the Angels in Heaven to make these words as their own for them all to say thus Come unto us all ye that Labor and are heavy Laden and we will give you Rest Yet here in this text there is not only one that is greater than Solomon but one that is greater than all the Angels in Heaven and men that ever lived upon the Earth that saith Come unto me all ye that Labor and are heavy Laden and I will give you Rest They are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father that is equal with the Father God blessed for ever He saith Come unto me ye that Labor and are heavy Laden and I will give you Rest This is that that now we are come unto The gracious promise that Christ makes to draw Souls unto himself he will give them Rest And I will give you Rest And what more fit Argument and seasonable can there be at this time this time we know is a time of trouble a time of disturbance there is much perplexity and distress in our Nation and what will be more acceptable unto us than this to hear of Rest this is that that Christ doth promise to al them that come to him that beleeve in him he saith he will give them Rest Before I come to open this gracious promise which is exceeding ful of marrow and fatness as we shall find when we come to the opening of it I shall first give you one note briefly from the connexion of these words with the former Come to me ye that Labor and I will give you Rest You see Christ that he might draw sinners to himself makes a gracious promise of that that he knows will do good to sinners at the Heart he will give them Rest From hence the note is this in the general That God would have us even when we are coming to Christ have some respect to our selves and Christ encourageth us in coming to him even to have some aime at our own good That is the note cleerly from the Connexion of the words Before we open the promise I will give you Rest saith he if you come to me in that Christ doth propound that which he knows will take the Hearts of sinners as a great good unto them to draw them to himself hence I say the note it cleer That in our coming to Jesus Christ it is lawful for us to have some aime at our own good Yea not only lawful for us but we ought so to do for we are to look upon Christ so as Christ propounds himself unto us not only lawful I say to look upon Christ so as he propounds himself to us but it is our duty so to look upon him Now when Christ propounds himself unto us as an object to draw our Hearts to him he doth propound himself as one wherein our souls shal gaine abundance of good one that we shall get much by Now though it is true we should Labor to be above our selves as much as may be we should Labor to deny our selves in some sence yet not so but that we are to look at our own good even in our coming unto Jesus Christ
Now this I might shew you in abundance of Scriptures in the very first commission that Jesus Christ gave unto his Apostles after his Resurrection to go and Preach throughout the world he saith unto them in Mark 16.15 verse Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature he that beleeveth and is Baptized shal be saved This is cleer that Christ would have us in our first beleeving to have an aime at our own good And so we find such a kind of promise as this is in the Text In Jer. 6.16 verse Thus saith the Lord stand in the waies and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk therein and ye shall find Rest for your Souls Inquire after the good waies and you shall find Rest for your Souls So that you see God propounds duties together with promises the Lord knows what is best for us and what wil work most upon us and therefore for us to think that we must have no aime at all of any good to our selves in coming to Christ and that it is no grace but self-love to come to Christ for our own good this is a temptation I speak the rather this point because I know how useful it is unto many poor Souls whom the Lord is drawing unto Jesus Christ the Lord hath taken off their Hearts from sinful self they would not enjoy themselves in the lusts of the flesh as formerly the Lord hath made them willing to deny their own opinion their own wills their own affections their former waies to deny themselves in the comforts of the things of this world so as to prize him and Christ and his waies the way of Christ more than they prize their very lives here in this world and yet for all this there comes a temptation upon them I but you seek Christ only to free you from Hell and to save you and therefore it is but self-Love it is no true Grace because that you ayme at your selves rather than Christ the Devil cannot prevaile with a Heart that is drawing to Christ thus telling of it Oh! but you prize your lusts more than Christ or you prize your ease more than Christ or you prize your estate and your liberty more than Christ or your life more than Christ if so be that the Devil shal come thus and tempt such a soul could in some measure be able to answer and to appeal unto God and say Lord thou that knowest all things knowest it is otherwise that howsoever my Heart heretofore went after my lusts after the world after my ease and liberty and I followed the common course of the world and made those things to be my greatest good and comfort yet Lord thou knowest it is otherwise with me now my Heart is set for Christ and I can say from the bottom of my Soul with that blessed martyr Lambert None but Christ none but Christ Now when the Heart is got thus farr one would think thou mightest be above the Devil and come to get assurance I saith the Devil though you be taken off thus far that you dare not commit any known sin and you seek after Christ more than your estate and your liberty yet there is one thing more that your hearts is not taken off from you do not prize Christ most of all you seek Christ to save you from Hell and bring you to Heaven that is it that you seek Christ for and therefore I know your Heart is not right all this while this is a temptation that seizeth upon many men Now I confess it is a temptation that is beyond many men they do not know what this temptation is that I prize Christ only to deliver me from Hell and bring me to Heaven this temptation is above the highest form of the course of the world then ordinary professors Now the Spirit in the Text thus answers this temptation the Soul thus answers It is true I do seek Christ to save me from Hell and bring me to Heaven the fear of the wrath of the great God under which I saw my self to be and the displeasure of God was mighty upon my Spirit the Lord hath made my Soul to be sensible of the dreadful breach that sin hath made between him and my Soul and the Lord hath caused the fear of eternity to fall upon my soul and I come to be convinced of this that such is the breach between God and my soul that there is none but Jesus Christ the Mediator of the second Covenant that is able to make up the breach and my soul makes after him as the Mediator as he is propounded in the word in the Gospel to be a Mediator between God and mankind so my soul makes after him and closeth with him and what can the Devil say to this For my heart doth close with Christ in the way that Christ is tendred unto me in the Gospel for so he is tendered God himself saith thus God so loved the world that he sent forth his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Thus God sets forth his Son as if God should say thus Be it known unto you O poor wretched sinful creatures that are in danger of eternal perishing that I have sent forth my only begotten son into the world and tender him unto your souls to the end that your souls may not perish but have everlasting Life Thus God tenders his Son Now then when a soul shal be made sensible of the danger of eternal perishing and the Lord shall make it apeare to the soul what the excellency and the glory of eternal life is and the soul shal come to see that the being delivered from perishing and the obtaining of eternal Life is only to be had in Christ and upon this doth close with Jesus Christ and cast it self upon him and adventure it self to lay the weight of its eternal estate upon Christ the soul that doth thus receive Christ according as he is tendred in the word whatever objection may be to the contrary this is to receive Christ according as he is tendred in the word Yet further for the helping against this temptation it fals ful in this Text Come unto me and I wil give you rest Now many poor souls do come to Christ that they might have rest but then the devil puts this in Oh! but you come to Christ for your owne good Now for the helping against this temptation know 1. That the Lord at the first conversion doth ordinarily make use of the creatures self-love but it is of self-love for eternity and that is a higher degree of self-love than the most people in the world do attaine unto Some people in the world they love themselves only for this present life but when God makes a man or woman to love himself for eternity it is a good signe that the hand of God is upon the heart and
of the covenant this may seem difficult to some and that is this that al the mercy of God in heaven cannot be sufficient for the rest of any soul but through a Mediator in Christ the soul must be brought to this mercy by the hand of Christ the mediator thou must first come to Christ the mediator before thou canst have any rest even in the mercy of God it self You must know and if you know any thing of the mistery of the Gospel you must know this that though God be an infinite current of mercy yet al the current of Gods mercy is stopt by mans sin so as it can only be opened by the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore thou must know God in Christ and you must know how you come unto God in and through Christ before you can rest upon the mercy of God this is that which doth undo many soules those that are of the better sort they think to rely upon Gods mercy think to rest in that and that is a sure rest to their soules but they little understand how al the current of the mercy of God is stopt and there is no coming to it but by the hand of a mediator between God and man Others they wil say they do many good things they do many good actions they serve God and they rest in this they do not commit the gross sins of the world and they do performe duties they pray in their families and in their closets this is that they rest in but the rest of an immortal soul must have a better foundation than this than al the duties than al the sorrows for their sins than al that God himself works in them it must be somewhat without them that must be rest to their souls and nothing wrought in us no not the grace of God in us can be rest to our souls it must be the perfect righteousness of a mediator though it be wrought in us by faith can be rest to our souls yet nothing in us So that you may mistake and performe duties in a formal manner but suppose you performed them in a gracious manner yet you must not rest in them you must go higher than al the best duties that ever you performed Wo to Abraham Isaac and Jacob if they had no other rest but what their duties brought them you must look higher than whatever you are or can be inabled to do for your rest You wil say what is there that can be higher than what we are inabled to do by God There is a righteousness in Jesus Christ by which you must come there is an insufficiency in al the creatures in the world to give rest and yet the truth is the greatest part of the world make al their rest in these things much might be spoken concerning the danger of this and much of the signes when our soules have true rest in Christ but we shal meet with that in the other point in handling the Rest that we have in Christ I wil therefore pass over this about the insufficiency of the Rest in al other things only with this one thing Know this That that Heart that is touched with Jesus Christ as the Iron is with the Load-stone can never be quiet either in creature comforts or in hope of mercy or in any Duty or performance it can never be quiet til it gets union with Jesus Christ Just as it is with a Needle that is touched with a Load-Stone shake it which way you wil it wil never be at Rest til it come to the North and when it gets North then it stands there so it is with a heart that is touched with Jesus Christ there is the touch of the spirit of Jesus Christ upon the Heart of a beleever and when the Heart is but touched with Jesus Christ it shakes is ful of fears and doubts and offer it this creature comfort and the other creature comfort it wil not do it the Heart is not at rest But now when there is the manifestation of Christ unto the Soul let them come to a Sermon where some blessed promise to the Gospel is opened to them and Jesus Christ presented to them and they find this to be the Rest of their Souls their Hearts come presently and close with this and they are able to lay the weight of their eternities upon the promise of the Gospel upon the free Grace of God in Christ they are able to lay the weight of their eternal estates here however others think that the promise of the Gospel is but a notion yet here they are able to lay the weight of their eternal estates and they can say with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Here I see Rest for my Soul my Heart was ful of Terrors fears and doubts and I sought for Rest and ease in this and the other creature comfort and could not find it But now Christ is made known to me and here is the Rest of my Soul It is true Godly people may be troubled for a while but it is as the trouble of the shaking of a Needle in the compass and other men they are troubled too there are some people troubled in conscience for their sins they come to a Sermon and hear the evil of sin opened and God meets with their Particular sin some secret sin that they live in they are troubled and they shake too I but they are like a fals Needle not rightly touched that shakes as the other doth but it wil stand at any point do but put it this way or that way and it wil stand here and there would marriners give any thing for such a Needle that would stand at this point and the other point So it is with wicked men when they are troubled the Devil the world and their corruptions come and quiet their consciences out of Christ and so indeed this hinders them from coming to Jesus Christ because they find quiet some where else The Saints they are troubled but their trouble and shaking in the world is like the trouble of a ship that is in the Haven at shore that lies at Anchor a ship that lies at Anchor though the waves toss it up and down yet it is tost up and down at Anchor So here is the difference for al the world between al the troubles of the Saints and the trouble of ungodly men Now when you have a ship at Sea and have no Anchor and the storm drives it any way when there comes a mighty Tempest and hurries it up and down and you do not know but you may light upon a Rock and be split you are troubled But the Saints they are at Anchor and you count your selves at Rest though you are tost by the Waves when you are at Anchor CHAP. XXVIII Of the Rest that a Beleever hath by Christ from the Guilt of Sin laid out in ten Particulars 1.
heart I am not able to do it but now mark how the Gospel runs in the Deu. 30.6 And the Lord thy God wil circumcise thy heart the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with al thy heart and with al thy soul that thou maist live· The Lord wil do it the Lord commands me to do it and yet withal the Lord saith that he wil do it I might instance in a great many other particulars that the Lord requires first what we should do and if we be left here now it is hard indeed but then if we can find a promise where God promises that he wil do it for us this wil be easier to us And indeed this is the diffierence between the Law and the Gospel the Law commands us what to do and gives no strength but the Gospel never commands us to do any duty but there is a promise that engageth the Lord to help the soul in the performance of that duty And now is not here rest for the soul when the soul shal look upon the large extent of the duty that the Law of God requires of it The Law requires of me to love the Lord with al my heart and with al my soul and with al my might and to keep his commandements and statutes and to circumcise my heart Lord what shal I do in this Now then when the soul can look upon Christ the covenant of grace consider that that runs thus that the Lord wil circumcise my heart that I may love the lord with al my heart with al my soul that I may keep his commandements his statutes that God doth as wel ingage himself to inable me to do the duty as he doth require me to do the duty now here is rest unto the soule I wil conclude this particular with this one similitude as it is with the body Physitians observe that together with every veine where the blood runs there runs likewise an artery together with the veine now the artery is the vehiculum of the spirits that are in the body of a man that puts liveliness and quickness into the body So for al the world thus it is in regard of the commandements of the Law and the Promises of the Gospel I compare the Commandements of the Law unto the veines they are these duties required of thee in the whol course of thy life but if thou hast veines of blood and hast no arteries no spirit thou wilt be but dul though the blood be ful in the veins yet there wil be little strength But now there is the spirit that goes along in the arteries that gives life to the veines So now they that are under the Law they know many duties that they ought to do I but except they have the promises of the Gospel to goe along with them they have little life little activity to do the duty Therefore Christians when you heare any duty out of Gods word that you ought to performe consider here is the duty here is the veine I but where is the artery there is a promise in the word that goes along with the duty to inable me to performe the duty Now if I take both together I may go on in the way of Godliness with a great deal of ease and quiet and no duty needs to be troublesom to me The want of the knowledg of this one thing makes the lives of many people to be very disconsolate and makes them go on deadly and dully in the performance of duty whereas if they would make use of this one thing when they are put upon any duty to search and find out in the word the promise wherein God inables us to do the duty and plead the promise and say Lord thou requirest the performance of this duty but thou hast promised to inable me to do it I say if thou wouldst do thus thou wouldest find that thy duties would not be burdensom to thee but thou wouldest say wel I see my soul hath rest in Christ in the performance of al those services that heretofore have been very greivous and burdensom to me Object I But you wil say We have many promises in the Gospel to inable us but the promises are conditional and I may forfeit the promise by not performing the condition Answ To that I answer We have in the Gospel absolute promises as wel as conditional promises there is some promises that depend upon no condition at al but only beleeving as that promise where the Lord saith I wil take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh what condition is there does God say that if you first repent and performe such and such duties that I require of you then I wil take away your heart of stone No that is an absolute promise And so likewise that promise I wil put my feare into your heart that you shal not depart from me God doth not make this promise with condition You wil say Why then hath not al their stony hearts been taken from them because the promise is absolute I answer it is absolute from any precedent condition but yet God would have us come to the promise and close with the promises and cast our souls upon it he does not promise to do such and such things upon condition that if you wil do such and such things before then I wil do this and that for you no but only this do you cast your soul upon the promise and depend upon it and when thy soul is at a loss in regard of conditional promises when thy heart misgives thee and tells thee that thou hast not performed the condition of such such promises that therfore they do not belong to thee and thou canst not for the present have comfort in the conditional promises then make use of absolute promises and cast thy soul upon them and they wil bring in the conditional promises and know this that al conditional promises depend upon absolute promises in the Gospel and as when thou canst not make use of conditional promises thou maist go to absolute promises so when thou makest use of absolute promises thou shalt be inabled to do what is required of thee in conditional promises And here is the difference between the Law and the Gospel the Law requires and doth not give strength to inable to do what it requires but the Gospel requires and gives strength to performe what it requires Sixtly There is rest unto those that come to Christ in this because when they performe duties in Christ they do not performe them that they might have life or that they might have pardon that they might get life by them or that they might obtain pardon by their duties but they performe them now as the fruit of their life and as a fruit of their pardon and this is a great deale of rest and ease to the heart in the performance of duties There are many
then look what Christ hath rest in that is thy rest too as now what is the rest of Christ Christ hath rest especially in three things there are three things that are the rest of Christ Gods rest in his Saints His rest in his Ordinances And his rest in his Sabbaths Now those that are partakers of true rest for their Soules in Christ look what Gods rest is thy rest is As now for the Saints the soul hath rest in them that is thy soul hath content and rest in them in their company Marke what is said of them in Zepha 3.17 Saith the Holy Ghost The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he wil save he wil rejoyce over thee with joy he wil rest in his Love he wil joy over thee with singing Is the society and company of the saints a rest to the or rather a trouble to thee Oh to many the company of the saints it is a trouble to them but when they get into their own company amonst their own Companions then they have some Rest And then for the ordinances for that you have a text in the 132. Psalm and 14. Speaking of Zion For the Lord hath Chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation this is my rest for ever here wil I dwel for I have desired it Oh in Zion in ordinances in duties in the worship that is tendered up to thee here is my rest for ever and here is my delight Lord let me have rest this way my spirit is never so much at rest as when I am in the duties of Gods worship when I am exercised in Gods ordinances here my soul is at rest what ever I have else If I should have peace again and enjoy estate quietly yet except I have Gods ordinances I cannot have rest Now doth thy soul enjoy more rest in the ordinances then in any other way then thy rest is Christs rest And then for the sabboth you know what the scripture saith what a sabboth is it is nothing but rest and is the saboth a day of Rest unto thy soul do not many people think the sabboth day most troublesome to them especially if they be kept to holy duties prayer hearing the word the like Suppose you be put to pray in your closet then to pray in your family and to aske some questions to your servants children and then come to the publick and there to sanctifie the name of God and then when you come home again to examin your family over what they have learned and so prepare your selves again to the ordinance and so to spend your self in prayer and hearing and excercising al the day would not this be a weariness to many of you And would not many of you say as those in Malachy When wil the sabboth be over Men indeed count the sabboth a rest Why because they cease from working and they put on fine cloths and go abroad and walk in the feilds and upon this they count the sabboth a rest surely such are not acquainted with the rest that is in Christ but if thy soul be acquainted with this rest then the sabboth is but a tipe of that rest that thou shalt keep in the highest heavens it is but a tipe unto thee and a forerunner of that Glorious Rest that thou shalt enjoy hereafter Fifthly If thy soul have true rest it is such rest as wil abide examination of the word of God though it doth touch to the quick and the more the word doth touch to the quick the more it comes to thy soul the more rest thy soul hath In Heb. after the Holy Ghost had spoken of the rest that is to the people of God in 12. saith he The word is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged sword peircing to the dividing a sunder of Soul and spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the Heart As if he should say if you enter into the Rest of Gods people you shal have such a rest as wil abide the most narrow and quickening searchings of the word of God the word of God will search you through and through and your rest shal be such a rest as wil abide the search A rest that comes by the word the more the word searcheth the more it increaseth quickning it searcheth between the marrow and the bones and the more rest a true gracious Heart finds CHAP. LI. Eight means to get and keep Rest in Christ 1. Beware of secret sins 2. Be thankful for what good God hath given thee 3. Judg not thy self in time of temptation 4. In trouble wait upon God in the use of means 5. Meditate much upon the promises 6. Proportion humiliation to thy comfort 7. Be throughly grounded that thou art in Christ 8. Improve the Rest thou hast to God by doing much work to him OBJECT BUt you wil say notwithstanding al this you have spoken yet many of the Saints of God though they have been careful to do what you have said yet they do not find this Rest you speak of in Christ Answ It is true it is not enough for you to be a beleever for one may be a beleever and yet not have the evidence of the Graces in Christ so as to have Rest unto his Soul You will say what should we do then First Take heed that there be no secret sin abide in your spirits you had need examine and look to that for that wil be a thorne in the flesh that wil trouble you if there be any secret sin thou livest in it wil be as a thorne in the flesh that thou canst not be quiet Secondly Another thing that will hinder the rest of beleevers is That because they have not so much as they desire they wil not take notice of what good God hath granted to them because they have not al they would have they think they have nothing at al. Now take heed of that though thou hast not all yet take notice of what God hath done for thee and be thankful for that We read of the Women in the Gospel that went â—o seek Christ they found the Angels and heard news of him though they found him not at first So though thy soul find not Christ for the present and the rest thou desirest yet if thou hast any news of him any beginning of Gods work in thy Soul take notice of that Should the Women have said what is that to us that we find the Angels and that we hear news of him it is Christ that we seek No they said not so And therefore I say bless God for what ever thou hast it is more then others have bless God for it and that is the way to have more Thirdly Never judg of thy self as thou feelest thy self in a time of temptation it may be thou art under a temptation or spiritual desertion now do not judg of thy self as