the day Dan. 3. 28 29 30. of their sufferings O the sight of so noble a spirit in the Saints cause others Dan. 6. 25 26 27. to admire God to lift up God to fall in love with God and to glorifie God for owning his people and for being a light to them in darkness a joy to them in sorrow and a pallace to them in a prison God is very sensible of the many praises and prayers that he should lose did he not cause his love and his glory to rest upon his people in suffering times There is Isa 48. 11 nothing that God is so tender of as he is of his glory and that his heart is so much set upon as his glory and therefore he will visit them in a prison Gen. 39. 20. ult and feast them in a dungeon and walk with them in a fiery furnace and shew kindness to them in a Lyons den that every one may shot and cry Dan 6. Grace Grace God loves to act in Zech 4. 7. such ways of Grace towards his suffering ones as may stop the mouths of their enemies and cause the hearts of his friends to rejoyce Fourthly Believing times are times Reas 4 wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to lift up the light of his countenance upon his people when his children are in the Exercise of Faith then the Lord is pleased to make known his goodness and to feal up to them everlasting happiness and blessedness Eph. 1. 13. In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your Salvation In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise or In whom believing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Beza and Calvin ye were sealed that is As you were in the very Excrcise and Actings of Faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ the Spirit of the Lord made sure and sealed up to you your Adoption your Reconciliation your Pardon and everlasting Inheritance Him that honors Christ by believing by fresh and frequent actings of Faith upon him him will Christ certainly honor and secure by setting his seal and mark upon him and by assuring of him of a Kingdom that shakes not of riches that corrupt not and of glory that fades not Ah Christians you wrong two at once Christ and your own souls whilest you thus reason Lord give me first assurance and then I will believe in thee and rest upon thee whereas your great work is to believe and to hold on believing and acting of Faith on the Lord Jesus till you come to be assured and sealed up to the day of Redemption This is the surest and the shortest way to assurance That is a remarkable passage of the Apostle in Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall fill you from signifies to be filled with joy and peace as the sails of a ship are fillâ—d with wind all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost The God of hope saith the Apostle shall fill you with all joy and peace in believing that is whilest you are in the Exercise and Actings of Faith the God of hope shall fill you with that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory and with that peace that passes understanding Faith is the Key that unlocks paradise and lets in a flood of joy into the soul Faith is an appropriating Grace it appropriates all to it self it looks upon God says with the Psalmist This God is my God for ever and Psal 63. 1. 48. 14. ever it looks upon Christ and says My beloved is mine and his desires are towards Can. 7. 10. me it looks upon the precious promises and says these precious promises are 2 Pet. 1. 4. mine it looks upon Heaven and says Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of 2 Tim 4 8. Righteousness and this fills the soul with joy peace Faith hath an influence upon other graces it is like a silver thred Tantum possumus quanium credimus that runs thorow a chain of Pearl it puts strength vivacity in to all other vertues it made Abraham to rejoyce and it made Noah sit still quiet in the midst of a deluge Faith is the first pin that moveth the soul it is the spring in the Watch that sets all the Golden Wheels of Love Joy Comfort and Peace a going Faith is a root of Grace from whence springs all the sweet flowers of joy peace Faith is like the Bee it will suck sweetness out of every flower it will extract light out of darkness comforts out of distresses mercies out of miseries wine out of Judg. 14. 14. water honey out of the rock and meat out of the eater 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Upon the Exercise of Faith their hearts are filled with joy with unspeakable joy with glorious joy Faith sees in Christ Plenitudo abundantiae There is in Christ not onely plenitudo vasis but plenitudo fontis the fulness of a vessel but the fulness of a fountain and this makes the heart of a Saint leap when he sees it by an eye of Faith and plenitudo redundantiae a fulness of abundance and a fulness of redundancy and this fills the heart with glorious joy Ah Christians believing believing is the ready way the safest way the sweetest way the shortest way the onely way to a wel-grounded assurance and to that unspeakable joy and peace that flows from it as the effect from the cause the fruit from the root the stream from the fountain There is such assurance and such joy that springs from the fresh and frequent actings of Faith that cannot be exprest that cannot be painted no man can paint the sweetness of the honey comb the sweetness of a clustre of Canaan the sweetness of paradise the fragrancy of the Rose of Sharon As the being of things cannot be painted and as sweetness of things cannot be painted no more can that assurance and joy that flows from believing be painted or expressed it is too great and too glorious for weak man Rom. 4. 18. to paint or set forth When Abraham believed in hope against hope and when in the face of all dangers and difficulties he put forth such noble and glorious acts of Faith as to conclude That the Lord would provide himself a Gen. 22. 8. Dominus providebit the Lord will provide was Maximilians pious Motto and should be every Saints Motto in straits and troubles Lamb for a burnt-offering and that in the Mount he would be seen God is so taken with the actings of his Faith and the effects of it that he swears by himself That in blessing he would bless him that is I will
appear that Hope doth accompany Salvation it doth boarder upon eternal life The second thing that I am to shew you is What Hope that is that doth accompany Salvation that comprehends Salvation and that I shall do with as much brevity and perspicuity as I can in the following particulars First That Hope that accompanies Salvation is A grace of God whereby Spes est expectatio eorum quae verè à Deo promissa fides credidit Calvin 1 Tim. 6. 17. This very title The God of Hope may serve as a soveraign antidote against the blackest and horridest temptations for why should any despair of his mercy who hath proclaimed himself to be the God of Hope Spes est virtus qua inclinamâ—r ad expectationem eorum quae Deus nobis promisit Perkins we expect good to come patiently waiting till it come First I call it a Grace of God because he is the donor of it and therefore he is called the God of Hope Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing Now God is called the God of Hope because he is objectivè the onely object of our Hope and he is effectivè the onely Author and Worker of Hope in the Soul Hope is no natural affection in men men are not born with hope in their hearts as they are born with tongues in their mouthes Hope is nobly descended it is from above it is a heavenly Babe that is formed in the soul of man by the power of the Holy Ghost And as Hope is no natural affection so Hope is no Moral vertue which men may attain by their frequent actions but Hope is a Theological vertue that none can give but God Secondly I say it is a Grace of God whereby we expect good to come I say good not evil for evil is rather feared then hoped for by any The object of this Hope hath four conditions 1. It must be Bonum good 2. Futurum future 3. Possibile possible 4. Arduum hard or difficult to obtain Thirdly I say Hope is a Grace of God whereby we expect good to come patiently waiting till it come Hope makes the Soul quiet and patient till it comes to possess the good desired and hoped for Rom. 8. 25. But if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it The Hebrew word Kavah that is often translated Hope signifies a very vehement intention both of body and minde a stretching forth of the Spirit or Minde in waiting for a desired good 2 Cor. 4. ult Hope fates well it keeps a Princes Table it lives upon Honey and Milk Oyl and Wine it sives upon the sweet meats the delicates of Heaven as God Christ and Glory Psal 31. 24. 33. 22. 38. 15. 42. 5. 43. 5. 39. 7. 71. 5. 65. 5. Secondly That Hope that accompanies Salvation is alwayes conversant about holy and heavenly objects as about God and Christ 1 Tim. 1. 1. Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ which is our Hope In these words Christ is set forth as the chief object of our Hope because by his merits and mercy we hope to obtain the remission of our sins and the eternal Salvation of our souls Sometimes Hope is exercised about the Righteousness of Christ Gal. 5. 5. For we through the Spirit wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith Sometimes Hope is exercised about God the Father 1 Pet. 1. 21. Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God Jere. 14. 8. O the Hope of Israel the Saviour thereof in time of trouble Chap. 17. 13. O Lord the hope of Israel all that forsake thee shall be ashamed Vers 17. Thou art my hope in the day of evil Sometimes Hope The Jewish Rabbins were wont to say That upon every Letter of the Law there hangs Mountains of profitable matter Ah then what abundance of comfort and sweetness may hope finde yea does hope finde in the Promises is exercised and busied about the Word and Promises Psal 119. 49. Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to Hope Vers 81. My soul fainteth for thy Salvation but I hope in thy Word Verse 114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield I hope in thy Word Psal 130. 5. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait And in his Word do I hope Psal 119. 74. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me Because I have hoped in thy Word Verse 147. I prevented the dawning of the morning and cryed I hoped in thy Word Hope in the Promise will keep the head from aking and the heart from breaking it will keep both head and heart from sinking and drowning Hope exercised upon the promise brings Heaven down to the heart The Promises are the Ladder by which Hope gets up to Heaven Hope in the Promise will not onely keep life and soul together but it will also keep the soul and glory together Hope in Psal 4â— 5. 119. 49 50. compared Hol. 6. 1 2. the Promise will support distressed souls Hope in the Promise will settle perplexed souls Hope in the Promise will comfort dejected souls Hope in the Promise will reduce wandering souls Hope in the Promise will confirm staggering souls Hope in the Promise will save undone souls The Promise is the same to Hope that Rom. 8. 24. The Promises are Hopes rich Magazin Hope is to the Soul the Promise is the Anchor of Hope as Hope is the Anchor of the Soul Look what the Brests are to the Childe and Oyl is to the Lamp that are the Promises to Hope Hope lives and thrives as it feeds upon the Promises as it embraces the Promises The Promises are the sweet-meats of Heaven upon Heb. 11. 13. which Hope lives And every degree of Hope brings a degree of joy into the Soul which makes it cry out Heaven Heaven Again Hope is exercised about the glory and felicity the happiness Psal 16. ult Tit. 3. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Looking for Christs coming as earnestly as men look and long for the coming of some special friends or as Inn-keepers do for special guests and blessedness that is at Gods right hand Tit. 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Hope makes a man stretch out his neck and put forth his hand and look as earnestly for the glorious appearing of Christ as Sisera's Mother did for the happy return of her Son The hoping Soul is often a sighing it out Why are his Charriot Wheels so long a coming Col 1. 5. For the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven Hope in this place So in Rom. 8. 24 25. Col. 1. 27. Rom. 5. 2
certainty bless him and will bless his blessing to him and in multiplying he would multiply his seed as the stars of Heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea shore Now the Angel of the Lord viz. the Lord Jesus as his own words shew Verse 12 15 16. calls unto Abraham out of Heaven not once but twice and now he shews his admirable love in countermanding of Abraham and in providing a Ram even to a miracle for a burnt-offering And thus you see that believing times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to reveal his love and make known his favor to his people and to look from Heaven upon them and to speak again and again in love and sweetness to them Fifthly Hearing and receiving Reas 5 times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to cause his face to shine upon his people when they are a hearing the Word of Life and a Psal 63. 3 4. breaking the Bread of Life then God comes in upon them and declares to them that love that is better then life Acts 10. 44. While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word As Peter was Also by the Holy Ghost is meant the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit Vers 45 46. Acts 11. 15. Therefore says the Apostle do not leave the substance for a shadow the Sun for a Candle and speaking the Holy Ghost that is the graces of the Holy Ghost viz. the joy the comfort the love the peace c. of the Holy Ghost fell upon them So in that Gal. 3. 2. This onely would I learn of you received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith By the Spirit here Calvin and Bullinger and other Expositors do understand the joy the peace the assurance that is wrought in the heart solid Meat for Milk which none would do except they were bewitched Gal. 3. 1. by the hearing of Faith that is by the Doctrine of the Gospel for in these words of the Apostle hearing is put for the thing heard and Faith for the Doctrine of the Gospel because the Gospel is the ordinary means of working Faith Faith comes by hearing saith the Apostle So in that 1 Thes 1. 5 6. By the Holy Ghost in this Text cannot be meant the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and that first because they were no evidences of Election secondly because many vessels of wrath have been partakers of them thirdly many of Gods choice and chosen ones have been destitute of those extraordinary gifts For our Gospel came not unto you in word onely but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost In these words you have a Divine Power attending Pauls Ministry a power convincing enlightning humbling raising delighting reforming renouncing and transforming of them that heard him Also you have the sweet and blessed testimony of the Spirit attending his Ministry and assuring those of their Effectual Calling and Election upon whom the Word came in power and raising up their spirits to joy in the midst of sorrow Ah you precious Sons and Daughters of Sion that have sate waiting and trembling at Wisdoms door tell me tell me Hath not God rained down Manna upon your souls whilest you have been hearing the Word Yes Hath not God come in with power upon you and by his Spirit sealed up to you your Election the Remission of your sins the Justification of your persons and the Salvation of your souls Yes Without controversie many Saints have found Christs lips in this Ordinance to drop honey and sweetness marrow and fatness And as Christ in hearing times when his people are a hearing the Word of Life does lift up the light of his countenance upon them so when they are a receiving the Bread of Life he makes known his love to them and their interest in him in this feast of fat This Ordinance is a Cabineâ— of Jewels in it are abundance of Spiritual Springs and rich Mines heavenly Treasures things the Master of the Feast the Lord Jesus comes in the midst of his guests saying Peace be here Here the beams of his glory do so shine as that they cause the hearts of his Children to burn within them and as scatters all that thick darkness and clouds that are gathered about them When Saints are in this Wine Celler Christs Banner over them is Love When they are in this Canaan then he feeds them with Milk and Honey When they are in this Paradise then they shall taste of Angels Food When they are at this Gate of Heaven then they shall see Christ at the right hand of the Father When they are before this Mercy Seat then they shall see the Bowels of Mercy rowling towards them In this Ordinance they see that and taste that and feel that of Christ that they are not able to declare and manifest to others In this Ordinance Saints shall see the truth of their graces and feel the increase of their graces and rejoyce in the clearness of their evidences In this Ordinance Christ will seal up the Promises and seal up the Covenant and seal up his Love and seal up their pardon sensibly to their souls Many precious souls there be that have found Christ in this Ordinance when they could not finde him in other Ordinances though they have sought him sorrowingly Many a cold soul hath been warmed in this Ordinance and many a hungry soul hath been fed with Every gracious soul may say not onely credo vitam aeternam edo vitam aeternam I believe life eternal but I receive I eat life eternal Manna in this Ordinance and many a thirsty soul hath been refreshed with Wine upon the Lees in this Ordinance and many a dull soul hath been quickned in this Ordinance * Every wicked soul that takes the cup may say Calix vitae calix mortis the Cup of Life is made my death 1 Cor. 11. 27. I do not say That ever a dead soul hath been in livened in this Ordinance this being an Ordinance appointed by Christ not to beget Spiritual Life where there was none but to increase it where the Spirit hath formerly begun it In this Ordinance weak hands and feeble knees have been strengthned and fainting hearts have been comforted and questioning souls have been resolved and staggering souls have been setled and falling souls have been supported Ah Christians if you will but stand up and speak out you must say That in this Ordinance there hath been between Christ and you such mutual smiles such mutual kisses such mutual embraces such mutual opening and shutting of hands such mutual opening and closing of hearts as hath made such a Heaven in your hearts
and feeling so much as upon the Scripture therefore let the Word be always the man of thy counsel No way to assurance and joy to settlement and establishment like this If you are resolved to make Sense and Feeling the Judge of your conditions you must resolve to live in fears and lie down in tears The seventh Impediment to Assurance 7. Impediment is Mens remisness carelesness laziness and overliness in Religious Services and in the Exercise of their graces Ah how active and lively are men The active Christian goes to Heaven Alacri animo ac plena fiducia in pursuing after the world but how liveless and unactive in the ways of Grace and Holiness Ah doubting Christians remember this That the promise of Assurance and Comfort is made over not to lazy but laborious Christians not to idle but to active Labor omnia vincit Christians not to negligent but to diligent Christians John 14. 21 22 23. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me And he that loveth me shall be loved of Non amat qui non zelat Aug. my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Now Judas saith unto him not Iscariot Lord How is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not to the world Jesus answered and said unto him If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him So in that 2 Pet. 1. 10 11. Wherefore the rather Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a significant word it signifies all manner of earnestness scriousness and continuance in doing Also it signifies a speedy and swift putting of things in execution give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure For if you do these things ye shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ A lazy Christian shall always want four things viz. Comfort and Content Confidence and Assurance God hath made a separation between Joy and Idleness between Assurance and Laziness and therefore it is impossible for thee to bring these together that God hath put so far a sunder Assurance and Joy are choice Donatives that Christ gives onely to laborious Christians The lazy Christian hath his mouth full of complaints when the active Christian hath his heart full of comforts God would have the hearts of his children to be hot in Religious Services be fervent or seething hot as it is in the Rom. 12. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies seething hot Original in spirit serving the Lord. That service that hath not heavenly heat that hath not Divine fire in it is no service it is lost service A lazy spirit is always a losing spirit O! Remember lazy Christians that God is a pure act therefore he loves activeness in Religious services Remember the Angels those Princes of Ezek. 1 6. Marth 18. 10. glory are full of life and activity and they always behold the Fathers face in glory Remember he that will finde rich Minerals must dig deep he that Prov. 2. 4 5 6. will be rich must sweat for it he that will taste the Kirnel must crack the shell he that will have the Marrow must break the bone he that will wear the Garland must run the race he that will ride in triumph must get the victory so he that will get Assurance must be active and lively in duty It is onely fervent prayer that is effectual Jam â— 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The working prayer prayer it is onely the working prayer that works wonders in Heaven and that brings down wonderful Assurance into the heart Cold prayers shall never have any warm Answers God will suit his returns to our requests liveless services shall have liveless Answers when men are dull God will be dumb Elias prayed earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He prayed in prayer or as it is in the Greek He prayed in prayer and God answered him Most men have more heat in their brains then in their hearts and services and therefore it is that they walk in darkness that they want assurance Many there be that pray but they do not pray in prayer they are not lively and earnest with God in prayer and therefore Justice shuts out their prayers When one desired to know what kinde of man Basil was there was saith the History presented to him in a dream a Pillar of fire with this Motto Talis est Basilius Basil is such a one all on a light fire for God Ah lazy doubting Christians were you all on a light fire in hearing in praying c. It would not be long before the Windows of Heaven would be open before God would rain down Manna before he would drop down Assurance into your bosoms My advice to you lazy Christians is this Cease complaining of the want of Assurance and be no more formal slight and superficial in Religious God shot Anastasius the Emperor to death with a thunder-bolt for his lukewarmness saith the Historian services but stir up your selves and put out all your might and strength in holy actions and you shall experimentally finde that it will not be long before you shall have such good news from Heaven as will fill you with joy unspeakable and full of glory The eighth Impediment to Assurance 8. Impediment is Mens living in the neglect of some Ordinance or in the omission Omission of Diet breeds diseases and makes the life uncomfortable yea sometimes a burâ—en to a man So the omission of holy duties and services breeds many fears doubts and questions in the soul about its own sincerity about its interest in Christ about its finding audience and acceptance with God and so makes the life of a Christian very uncomfortable yea a burden to him of some Religious duties they seek Christ in some of his ways but not in all they wait upon him in this and that Ordinance but not in every Ordinance Are there not many doubting souls that wait upon God in hearing the Word of Life and yet neglect and make light of waiting upon Christ in breaking the Bread of Life Are there not many that are very careful daily to perform Family duties and yet are very rarely found in Closet services Some there be that are all ear all for hearing and others there be that are all tongue all for speaking and praying and others there be that are all eye all for believing all for searching all for enquiring into this and that and others there be that are all hand all for receiving the Lords Supper c. And seriously when I consider these things I cease wondering that so many want Assurance and do rather wonder that any obtain Assurance considering how few there be that are conscientious and ingenuous in waiting upon God in every way and service wherein he
and out of every priviledge that he may give out the more sweetness to others Lâ—â—mod 〈◊〉 aâ—â—â—ed we therefore learn that we may touch is a Proverb among the Rabbins And I do therefore lay in and lay up saith the Socrates c. Heathen that I may draw forth a gain and lay out for the good of many This Heathen will rise in judgement against those that monopolize knowledge to themselves that imprison their light within their own brests least others should out-shine and darken them Synesius speaks of some who having Some such there be in these dayes a treasure of rare-abilities in themselves would as soon part with their hearts as with their conceptions Verily such men are far off from that knowledge that accompanies salvation 2 Cor. 6. 10. Gal 4. 19. for that knowledge will make a man willing to spend and be spent for the edification consolation and salvation of others Prov. 10. 21. The lips of the righteous feed many A third thing that attends and accompanies that knowledge that accompanies salvation is holy zeal courage Prov. 28. 1. and resolution for God Divine knowledge makes a man as bold as a Lyon Dan. 11. 32. And such as do wickedly against the Covenant shall be corrupt by flatteries but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits So Prov. 24. 5. A wise man is strong yea and a man of knowledge increaseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength or he strengthneth might in strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the Hebrew Divine light makes a man full of mettle for God it makes the soul divinely fearless and divinely careless Josh 24. 15. Chuse you whom you will serve I and my houshold will serve the Lord. Come what will on it we will never change our Master nor quit his service Those The heavenly light and knowledge that the Prophets and Apostles had made them very zealous and couragious for their God in the face of all difficulties and deaths as might be shewn in very many Scriptures beams of light that shined in upon Chrysostome did so heat and warm his heart that he stoutly tells Eudoxia the Empress that for her covetousness she would be called a second Jezabel whereupon she sent him a threatning Message To which he returned this Answer go tell her Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but sin A Prophetical man in the Ecclesiastical History went to the Pillars a little before an Earthquake and bad them stand fast for they should shortly be shaken Ah Christians there is an Earthquake a coming and therefore as you would stand fast as you would not have any Earthquakes to make your hearts quake get this zeal and courage that attends Divine knowledge and then you shall in the midst of all Earthquakes Psal 125. 1 2. be as Mount Zion that cannot be removed They that write the story of the Travels of the Apostles report That Simon Zelotes Preached here in England Ah England England Epiphanius saith that Eliah sucked fire our of his Mothers Brests there are very few such Eliahs in these days if ever thou needest some Zelotes it is now O how secure how dull how drowsie how sleepy in the midst of dangers art thou For this and other of thy abominations I desire my soul may weep in secret The fourth and last thing that attends Knowledge and Faith are Twins they live and lodge and act together they are two lovers that may be distinguished one from another but they cannot be separated one from another or accompanies that knowledge that accompanies salvation is Faith and confidence in God Psal 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee 2 Tim. 1. 12. For the which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day I shall not inlarge upon this Branch because I shall speak at large concerning Faith in the next particular And thus I have shewed you from the Scriptures what that Knowledge is that accompanies Salvation Now the second thing I am to shew you is What that Faith is that accompanies Salvation I have formerly shewed you that Faith doth accompany salvation but now I shall shew you what Faith that is that doth accompany Salvation and that I shall do by Divine assistance thus First That Faith that accompanies Fides est interdum id quod credimus interdum id quo credimus Aug. Salvation that comprehends Salvation that will possess a man of Salvation is know first by the objects about which it is exercised and secondly by the properties of it First By the objects about which it is exercised Now the objects of Faith are these First The person of Christ is the Christ as Redeemer is the mediate object of Faith and God is the ultimate for we believe in God through Christ Rom 6. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 21. 2 Cor. 3. 4. object of Faith it is Christ in the Promises that Faith deals with The Promise is but the Shell Christ is the Kernel the Promise is but the Casket Christ is the Jewel in it the Promise is but the field Christ is the Treasure that is hid in that field the promise is a Ring of Gold and Christ is the Pearl in that Ring and upon this sparkling shining Pearl Faith delights Faiths Mâ—rto is Nolo benedictionem tuam sed te most to look Cant. 3. 4. It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and I would not let him go until I had brought him into my Mothers house and into the chamber of her that conceived me So in Cant. 7. 5. The King is held Not but that the Father is also the object of Believers faith Iohn 14. 1. Isa 63. 15 16. with many other Scriptures but Christ is the object held forth by the Father for our faith to close with in respect of our justification and salvation God is objectum ultimum fidei the ultimate or highest object of Faith and Christ objectum mediaeum the mediate object thereof in the Galleries Faith hath two hands and with both she layes earnest and fast hold on King Jesus Christs beauty and glory is very taking and drawing Faith cannot see it but it will lay hold on it Christ is the principal object about which Faith is exercised for the obtaining of Righteousness and Everlasting Happiness Acts 16. 30 31. And the Jailor said Sirs what must I do to be saved And they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Christ is in a world of Scriptures held forth to be the object about which Faith is most conversant and the more Faith is exercised upon the
will shew it self at the Spring and so will the habits of Faith break forth into acts when the Sun of Righteousness shall shine forth and make it a pleasant spring to thy soul And thus much for this second particular The third Property of that Faith that accompanies Salvation is this It makes those things that are great and glorious in the worlds account to be very little and low in the eyes of a Believer Faith makes a Believer to Heb. 11. 9. live in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country it is nothing to live as a stranger in a strange Land but to live as a stranger in the Land of Promise this is the excellency and glory of Faith Faith will make a man set his feet where other men sets their hearts Faith looks with an eye of scorn and disdain upon the things of this world What sayes Faith are earthly treasures to the treasures of Matth 6. 19 20. Heaven what are stones to silver dross to gold darkness to light Hell to Heaven No more sayes Faith are all the treasures pleasures and delights of this world to the light of Psal 4. 6 7. thy countenance to the joy of thy spirit to the influences of thy grace I see nothing sayes David in this wide world onely thy Commandments are exceeding Heb. 11. 24 25 26. broad Faith makes David account his Crown nothing his treasures nothing his victories nothing his attendants nothing c. Faith will make a man write nothing upon the best of worldly things it will make a man trample upon the Pearls of this Phil. 3. 8. world as upon dross and dung Faith deadens a mans heart to the things of this world I am crucified to the world Gal. 6. and the world is crucified to me sayes Paul This world sayes Faith is not my house my habitation my home I 2 Cor 5. 1 2. look for a better Country for a better City for a better home He that is adopted Heir to a Crown a Kingdom looks with an eye of scorn and disdain upon every thing below a Kingdom below a Crown Faith tells the soul that it hath a Crown a Kingdom 2 Tim 4. 8. in reversion and this makes the soul to set light by the things of this world Faith raises and sets the soul high And hath raised us up together Ephes 2. 6. and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus saith the Apostle Faith makes a man live high our conversation Phil. 3. 20. is in Heaven and the higher any man lives the less the lower will the things of this world be in his eye The fancy of Lucian is very pleasant who placeth Charon on the top of an high Hill viewing all the affairs of men and looking on their greatest richest and most glorious Cities as little Birds Nests Faith sets the soul upon the Hill of God the Mountain of God that is A high Mountain and from thence Faith gives the soul a sight a prospect of all things here below And ah how like Birds Nests does all the riches braveries and glories of this world look and appear to them that Faith hath set upon Gods high Hill Faith having set Luther upon this high Hill he protests that God should not put him off with these poor low things Faith set Moses Heb. 11. high it set him among invisibles and that made him look upon all the treasures pleasures riches and glories of Egypt as little Birds-Nests as Mole-hills as dross and dung as things that were too little and too low for him to set his heart upon Verily when once Faith hath given a man a sight a prospect of Heaven all things on Earth will be looked upon as little and low And so much for this third Property of Faith The fourth Property of that Faith that accompanies Salvation is this It purifies the heart it is a heart-purifying Acts 15. 9. faith Purifying their hearts by faith Faith hath two hands one to lay hold on Christ and another to sweep the heart which is Christs house Faith knows that Christ is of a Dove-like nature he loves to lie clean and sweet Faith hath a neat Huswifes hand as well as an Eagles eye Faith is as good at purging out of sin as it is at discovering of sin There is a cleansing quality in Faith as well as a healing quality in Faith Sound faith will purge the soul from the love of sin from a delight in sin and from the Ezek. 16. reign and dominion of sin Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are Rom. 6. 14 21. not under the Law but under Grace Now Faith purges and cleanseth the heart from sin sometimes by pressing and putting God to make good the promises of Sanctification Faith takes that promise in Jere. 33. 8. And I will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will purifie them is an allusion to the purifications prescribed in the Law for the cleansing of polluted persons till which purifications were performed they could not be admitted into the Camp or Congregation c. cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me and that promise in Micah 7. 19. He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the bottom of the sea And that promise in Psal 65. 3. Iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away And that promise in Isai 1. 25. And I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy Tin And spreads them before the Lord and will never leave urging and pressing seeking and suing till God makes them good Faith makes the soul divinely impudent divinely shameless Lord sayes Faith are not these thine own words hast thou said it and shall it not come to pass art thou no◠a faithful God is not thine honor engaged to make good the promises that thou hast made Arise O God and let my sins be scattered turn thy hand upon me and let my sins be purged And thus Faith purifies the heart Again sometimes Faith purifies the heart from sin by engaging against sin in Christs strength as David engaged against Goliah not in 1 Sam. 17. 45. his own strength but in the strength and name of the Lord of Hosts Faith leads the soul directly to God and engages God against sin so as that the combate by the wisdom of Faith is changed and made now rather between God and sin then between sin and the soul and so sin comes to fall before the power and glorious presence of God that is a choice word Psal 61. 2. From the ends of the earth will I cry to thee When my heart is over-whelmed lead me to the Rock that is higher then I. Look as a childe that is set upon by one that is stronger then he cryes
your walkings and actings you are lights upon a Hill you are Sea-marks and therefore every eye will be upon you Those that can finde no ears to hear what you say will finde many eyes to see what you do Scripture and Experience do abundantly evidence that good mens examples have done a world of good in the world and verily the evil examples of great men especially are very dangerous Charls the fift was wont to say That as the Eclipse of the Sun is a token of great commotions so the errors and evils of great men bring with them great perturbations and evils to the places and persons where they live O therefore be exemplary in lip and life in word and work that others seeing your good works may glorifie Matth. 5. 16. Plutarch said of Demosthenes that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of his Ancestors but not so at imitating them You may easily apply it your Father which is in Heaven O look that your lives be as a Commentary upon Christs life Tace lingua loquere vita Talk not of a good life but let thy life speak said the Philosopher Alexander willed that the Grecians and the Barbarians should no longer be distinguished by their Garments but by their Manners so should Christians be distinguished from all others by their lives and by their examples 2 Sam. 23. 3. The God of Israel said The Rock of Israel spake to me he that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of the Lord. An excellent Lord is always better then an excellent Law let your Laws be never so good if the Law makers are bad all will come to nothing The peoples eyes are much John 7. 48. It was a good Law that the Ephesians made That men should propound to themselves the best patterns and ever bear in minde some eminent man upon that Scripture Have any of the Rulers believed on him c. Abraham was an example of Righteousness in Chaldaea Lot was just in Sodom Daniel was an example of Holiness in Babylon Job was an example of Uprightness in the Land of Huss which was a Land of much Prophaneness and Superstition Nehemiah was an example of Zeal in Damasco and Moses was an example of Meekness among the muttering and murmuring Israelites Above all examples Christ was exemplary in all Piety and Sanctity in all Righteousness and Holiness in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation And why then should not you be ex mplary The Arabianâ— if their King be sick or lame they all feign themselves so among those poor Creatures ethose black Angels I had almost said among whom you walk It was the saying of Trajanus a Spaniard the first stranger that reigned among the Italians Qualis Rex taliâ— grex Subjects prove good by a good Kings example so do Souldiers so do Sailers by the good examples of their Superior Commanders Such Commanders as are examples of Righteousness and Holiness to others are certainly high in worth and humble in heart they are the glory of Christ and the honor of Religion Fifthly As you are in publick places I have read of one that had rather beautifie Italy then his own house there is very little of this spirit abroad in the world so lay out your selves impartially for the common good of all that have interest in you or dependence upon you So did Abraham Moses Joshua Nehemiah Ezra Daniel but above all Christ himself You are more for the peoples sake then the people are for yours Magistrates are Rulers over the persons of the people but they are servants to the good of the people As it is the duty of all to serve them so it is their office to serve all It is no Paradox to affirm That Rulers are the greatest Servants The Ancients were wont to place the Statues of their Princes by their Fountains intimating that they were or at least should be Fountains of the Publick good The Counsellor saith That a man in publick place should give his will to God his love to his Master his heart to his Countrey his secrets to his Friends his time to Business It is a base and unworthy spirit for a man to make himself the Centre of all his actions The very Heathen man could say A Mans Countrey and his Friends and others challenge a great part of him The Sun that is the Prince of lights So doth the Sea feed and refresh the smalest fish as wel as the greatest Leviathan the Trees do shade and shelter from heat the least Bird as well as the greatest Beast doth impartially serve all the Peasant as well as the Prince the poor as well as the rich the weak as well as the strong you must be like the Sun The Sun of Righteousness was of a brave Publick Spirit he healed others but was hurt himself he filled others but was hungry himself he laid out himself and he laid down himself for a Publick good That Pilot dies nobly saith Seneca who perisheth in the storm with the Helm in his hand It is really your praise among the Saints that you have ventured killing burning drowning and all to save the Ship of the Commonwealth from sinking Sirs Be not weary of Publick Work it is honor enough that God will make any use of you to carry on his design in the world he is a faithful Pay-master Heaven at last will make amends for all you shall reap if you faint not I do verily believe God will make use of you to do greater things on the Sea then yet have been done The Lord hath now begun to set a foot upon the Sea let his enemies tremble God will not suffer his glory to be buried in the deeps he is a shaking the Nations and will not leave shaking them till he that is the desire of all Nations come The Lord hath said That he will overturn overturn overturn until he comes whose right it is to wear the Crown and the Diadem and he will give it him Ezek. 21. 25 26 27. Till then there will be little else but plucking up and breaking down Jere. 45. 4. Therefore be couragious and follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes You need fear no enemies that have Christ the Conqueror on your sides Sixthly and lastly Make it more O animâ— Dei insigâ—â—ta imagine desponsata fidie donata spiritu c. Bern. O divine Soul invested with the Image of God espoused to him by Faith and more your chiefest work to make plentiful provisions for the eternal welfare of your Souls Your Souls are more worth then ten thousand worlds All is well if the Soul be well if that be safe all is safe if that be lost all is lost God Christ and Glory is lost if the Soul be lost Worthy Sirs Though others play the Courtiers with their Souls yet do not you The Courtier doth all things late he rises late and dines late and sups late and repents late
they were shut out and to the Israelites to know that there was a Brazen-serpent set up whereby others were cured when they died with the stinging of the Fiery serpents So how can it comfort mee to know that there is peace in Christ and pardon in Christ and righteousnesse in Christ and riches in Christ and happinesse in Christ c. for others but not for me Ah this knowledge Psal 15. Ps 24. Ps 119. Ps 1 2 3 will rather be a hell to torment me then a ground of joy and comfort to me But now God hath in the Scripture discovered who they are that shal be eternally happy and how they may reach to an assurance of their felicity and glory which made One to say That he would not take all the world Luther for one leafe of the Bible The Bible is a Christians Magna Charta his chiefe evidence for heaven Men highly prize and carefully keep their Charters Priviledges Conveyances and Assurances of their Lands And shall not the Saints much more highly prize and carefully keep in the closet of their hearts the precious word of God which is to them instead of all assurances for their maintenance Psal 119 11. 12. verses compared deliverance protection confirmation consolation and eternall salvation Thirdly Other beleevers have in an ordinary way attained to a sweet assurance of their everlasting happinesse and blessednesse Wee know saith the Apostle in the name of the 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. Saints that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved wee have a building of God â—n house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Nec Christus nee Câ—lum patitur hyperbolem Neither Christ nor heaven hyperbolized heaven Their assurance sets them in triumph upon the Throne We have a house a house above a house in heaven a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Wee have a house a heavenly house a house made by the greatest wisdom and the highest Love a house that for honour pleasures riches safety stability glory and perpetuity transcends all the royal Pallaces in the world It is a house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens So the Church Can. 2. 16. in that Solomons Song 2. 16. My beloved is mine and I am his I know sayes the Spouse that Jesus Christ is mine I can with the greatest confidence Eph. 1. 22 23. 1 Cor. 1. 30. c. 6. 26. Ps 110. 3. Joh. 10. 29. Joh. 5. 16. Ezek. 16 8. Hos 2. 19 20 and boldnesse affirme it hee is my head my husband my Lord my Redeemer my Justifier my Saviour And I am his I am as sure that I am his as I am sure that I live I am his by purchase and I am his by conquest I am his by donation and I am his by election I am his by covenant and I am his by marriage I am wholly his I am peculiarly his I am universally his I am eternally his This I well know and the knowledge thereof is my joy in life and my strength and crown in death So the Church in that Isa Jsa 63. 16 vide Calvin Psal 73. 25 26. Psal 19. 94. Job 19. 25. Ioh. 20. 28. 63. 16. Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not Thou O Lord art our Father and our Redeemer thy name is from everlasting David could say The Lord is my portion for ever And at another time he could sweetly sing it out I am thine save me Job could looke through the darkest cloud and see that his Redeemer lives Thomas cryes out My Lord and my God And Paul trumpets it out That nothing Rom. 8. 38. 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. should separate him from the love of Christ and that he had fought a good fight and finished his course and that there was Quicquid fieâ—i potuit potest that which hath been done may be done laid up for him a crowne of Righteousnesse By what hath been said it clearly appears that other beleevers have obtained assurance in an ordinary way and therefore beleevers now may attain to a sweet assurance of their everlasting happinesse and blessednesse Certainly God is as loving and his bowels of compassion are as strong towards Heb. 13. 8. Rev. 1. 8. 11. Plato a heathen saith that God is one and the same and always like himself Beleevers now as ever they were to Beleevers of old and it makes as much for the honour of God the lifting up of Christ the stopping of the mouthes of the wicked and the rejoycing of the hearts of the righteous for God to give assurance now as it did for God to give it then Fourthly God hath by promise engaged himselfe to assure his people of their happinesse and blessednesse The Psal 84. 11. Antiochus promised often but seldome gave but God gives as much and as often as he promiseth he hath a kings heart as wel as a kings purse Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walke uprightly If hee will with-hold no good thing then certainly he will not alwayes withhold assurance which is the great good thing the only thing the chiefest thing the peculiar thing that beleevers seek after So in that thirty fourth of Ezek. 30 31. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them and that they even the house of Israel are my people saith the Lord God And yee my flock the flock of my pasture are men and I am your God saith the Lord God So in that John 14. 21. 23. He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my Nil Deo diffiâ—ilo there is nothing hard for God Tully an heathen frequently called God optimum maximum the best and greatest 2 Cor. 1. 20. Plato called God the Horn of plenty and the Ocean of beauty withouâ— the least spot of injustice Isa 64 4. 1 Cor. 2. 9. Psal 21. 3. Isa 65. 24. selfe to him If any man love me saith Christ he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Now hath the Lord spoken it and shall it not come to passe Men say and unsay they eate their words as soon as they have spoken them but will God do so Surely no Hee is faithful that hath promised All the Promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen that is they are stable and firme and shall really be made good The Promises are a precious Book every leaf drops Myrrhe and Mercie Therefore set down and suck at these brests warme thy self at this fire God hath been always as good as his word yea hee hath
The Lord hath in much mercy and love propounded in his Word the wayes and meanes whereby Beleevers may obtain a wel-grounded assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness and therefore it may be obtained take three Scriptures to evidence this The first is in that 2 Pet. 1. chap. 5-13 if you 2 Pet. 1. ch 5. 13. turne to the words you shal finde that the Lord does not only presse them to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure but he shewes them plainly the way and meanes whereby this may be done namely by adding to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge c. The second Scripture is 1 Cor. 11. 28 that in the 1 Cor. 11. 28. But let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cup. By examination the Soule comes to see what right it hath to Christ and all the precious things of his House and beleevingly to eate so of that Bread of Life of that heavenly Manna as that it may live for ever The third Scripture is that 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine 2 Cor. 13. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Goldsmith does the gold in the fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. unapproved or counterfeit not reprobates as it is translated vide Grâ—tius your selves whether yee be in the faith prove your selves know yee not your owne selves how that Christ is in you except yee be reprobates or unapproved or rejected by a serious examination of a mans owne estate he may know whether he hath faith or not whether he be Christs Spouse or the Devils strumpet whether there bee a worke of grace upon his heart or not and certainly it cannot stand with the glorious wisdome unspotted righteousness and transcendent holiness of God to put men upon the use of such Eâ—od 15. 11. and such meanes in order to the obtaining of such an end if that end could not be obtained by the use of the meanes prescribed Man that hath but a sparke of that wisdome righteousnesse Job 38. 5. 5. 18. 21. 33. verses compared and holinesse that is in God wil not put any upon the use of such oâ— such meanes for the obtaining of health wealth or the like unlesse there be a proper tendency in the use of those means prescribed to reach such Abstracts do better expresse God then concretes and adjectives ends and will God who is wisdome righteousnesse and holiness in the abstract Surely no God is one infinite perfection in himselfe which is eminently and virtually all perfections of the creatures and therefore it is impossible that God should act below the creature which he should do if he should put the creature upon the use of those meanes that would not reach the ends for which the means were used Thus you cleerly see by this seventh Argument that beleevers may in this life attain to a Well-grounded Assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness Eightly It was the principal end of Christs institution of the Sacrament of the Supper that he might assure them of his love and that hee might seale up to them the forgivenesse Matth. 26 27 28. of their sinnes the acceptation of their persons and the salvation of their soules The nature of a Seale is to make things sure and firme among Dan. 6 8. Mat. 27. 66. men So the Supper of the Lord is Christs Broad-seal it is Christs Privy-seale whereby he seals and assures his people that they are happy here that they shall be more happy hereafter that they are everlastingly beloved of God that his heart is set upon them that their names are written in the 2 Tim. 4. 8. Book of life That there is laid up for them a crowne of righteousnesse and that nothing shall be able to separate them from him who is their light their life their Col 3. 11. crowne their all in all In this Sacrament Christ comes forth and shews his love his heart his bowels his blood that his children may no longer say Doth the Lord Jesus love us doth he delight in us c but that they may say with the Spouse I am my beloveds Caâ— 7. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his desire is towards me Many precious Christians there are that have laine long under feares His desirous affection is towards me as the wiveâ— is towards her dearest husband So the Hebrew word signifies and doubts sighing and mourning and that have run from Minister to Minister and from one duty to another c. and yet could never be perswaded of the love of Christ to their poor soules but still their fears and doubts have followed them till they have waited upon the Lord in this glorious Ordinance by which the Lord hath assured them of the remission of their sins and the salvation of their soules In this Ordinance God hath given Rev 2. 17. them mannah to eat and a white stone and new name which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it Tell me you precious beleeving souls whether you have not found God in this Ordinance often whispering of you in the ear saying Sons and daughters be of Mat. 9. 2. good cheer your sinnes are forgiven you I know you have Those Scriptures that do expresly require Saints to be abundant and constant in rejoycing and in praising of God to have alwayes harps in their Nulla verior miseria quâ—m falsa laetitia there is no â—â—uer misery then false joyâ— hands and Hallelujahs in their mouths doe clearly evidence that beleevers may attaine to a well-grounded Assurance in this life How can they rejoyce and glory in God that doe not know whether hee will bee an everlasting friend or an everlasting enemy to them whether hee will alwayes breath out love or wrath upon them how can they Psal 13 7. 2. but hang their harps on the Willows that do not know but that they may live in a strange land yea in a land of darknesse all their dayes How can they be cheerful or thankful that doe not know but that they may at last heare that heart-breaking that conscience-wounding that soul-slaying word Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Matth. 25. 4. It would even be an endlesse businesse to cite every Scripture wherein this duty is injoyned It is a duty that is much pressed in both Testaments as little practised by all whimpering Christians fire prepared for the devil and his Angels Now there is no duty in the whole Book of God that is more frequently and abundantly prest upon beleevers then this of joy and rejoycing of praise and thanksgiving as all know that know any thing of the Scripture 1 Thess 5. 16. Rejoyce evermore God would not have his children alwayes a putting finger in the eye Ah Christians remember what Christ hath done for you and what he is still a doing for you in heaven and what
is this but to torment the weary soule to dis-spirit the wounded spirit and to make them most sad whom God would have most glad Ah how sad is it for men to affirme that wounded souls may know That the Son of righteousnesse Mal. 4. 2. hath healing in his wings but they cannot be assured that they shall bee healed The hungry soule may Luke 15. 17. know that there is bread enough in his Fathers house but cannot know that he shall taste of that bread The naked soule may know that Christ hath Rev. 3. 18. Robes of righteousnes to cover al the spots sores defects and deformities of it but may not presume to know that Christ will put those royal Robes upon it The impoverished soule may know that there bee unsearchable Eph. 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to b◠traced out riches in Christ but cannot be assured that ever it shall partake of those riches all that these men allow poore foules is guesses and conjectures that it may be well with them they will not allow soules to say with Thomas My Lord and my God nor with Job to say My Redeemer lives nor with Joh. 20 28. Job 19. 25. Can. 7. 10. the Church I am my beloveds and his desire is towards mee And so they leave soules in a cloudy questioning doubting hovering condition hanging like Mahomets Tomb at Mecha between two Load stones or like Erasmus as the Papists paint him hanging betwixt heaven and hell They make the poor soul a magor missabib a terrour to it selfe What more uncomfortable Doctrine then this what more soule-disquieting and soul-unsetling doctrine then this Thou art this moment in a state of life thou mayest the next moment bee in a state of death thou art now gracious thou mayest the next houre be gracelesse Thou art now in the promised Land yet thou mayest dye in the wildernesse Thou art to day a habitation for God thou mayest The heathens used to absolve men by giving them white stones and condemn them by giving them black ones tomorrow be a Synagogue of Satan Thou hast to day received the White-stone of absolution thou mayest tomorrow receive the Black-stone of condemnation Thou art now in thy Saviours Arms thou mayest tomorrow bee in Satans Paws Thou art now Christs free man thou mayest tomorrow bee Satans bond-man Thou art now a vessel of honour thou mayest suddenly become a vessel of wrath Thou art now greatly beloved thou mayest soon be as greatly loathed This day thy name is fairly written in the Book of life tomorrow the Book may be crost and thy name blotted out for ever This is the Arminians doctrine and if this bee not to keep soules in a doubting and trembling and shivering condition what is it Well Christians Remember this is your happinesse and blessednesse That none can plucke you out of your Fathers hand That you are kept as in a Garrison or as with a Guard by the power of God through faith unto salvation That the Mountains shall depart Ioh. 10. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kept safe and fast as in a strong Garrison Isa 54. 10. Heb. 7. 25. and the hils be removed but the kindnesse of the Lord shall not depart from you neither shall the Covenant of peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on you That Christ ever lives to make intercession for you And that men and devils are as able and shall as soon make a world dethrone God pluck the Sun out of the Firmament and Christ out of the bosom of the Father as they shall pluck a beleever out of the everlasting Arms of Christ or rob him of one of his precious Jewels I shall close up this Chapter with an Deut. 33. 26 27 Mal 3. 17. excellent saying of Luther The whole Scripture saith he doth principally aime at this thing that we should not doubt but that we should hope that we should trust that we should beleeve that God is a merciful a bountiful a gracious and a patient God to his people CHAP. II. Containing several weighty Propositions concerning Assurance THE first Proposition that I shall lay downe concerning Assurance is this That God denies Assurance for a time to his dearest and choysest ones and that upon many considerable grounds As first for the exercise of their grace a gracious soule would alwayes be upon Mount Tabor looking into Canaan he would alwayes bee in his Fathers arms and under his Fathers smiles hee would alwayes bee in the Sun-shine of divine favour hee would alwayes have the heavens open that Tam pater nemo tum pius nemo Tertul. he might alwayes see his Christ and his Crowne he would with Peter bee alwayes upon the Mount hee is loath to walke through the valley of darknesse through the valley of Baca. As Gen. 14. 21. If Saints should alwayes have Assurance they would be too apt to say bonum est esse hic it is good for us to be here the King of Sodome said once to Abraham Give me the persons and take the goods to thy selfe So gracious soules are apt to say Give mee joy give me peace give me Assurance and doe you take trials afflictions and temptations to your selves But pray what use would there be of the Starres if the Sunne did alwayes shine why none why no more use would there bee of your graces if Assurance should be alwayes continued therefore the Lord for the exercise of his childrens faith hope patience c. is pleased at least for a time to deny them Assurance though they seek it by earnest prayer and with a flood of penitent tears Secondly The Lord denies Assurance to his dearest ones that he may keep them in the exercise of those Religious duties that are most costly and contrary to flesh and blood as to mourning repenting selfe-judging selfe-loathing selfe-abhorring and selfe-searching As that 1 Sam. 16. For these things I weep mine eye mine eye runneth downe with water because the comforter that should relieve my soule is far from me Chap. 3. verse 2 3. Hee hath led me and brought me into darknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not into light Surely against me hee is Bring back my soule or fetch again my soule i. e. Comfort refresh and rejoyce me as in former times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned he turneth his hand against mee all the day verse 17. And thou hast removed my soule far off from peace I forgat prosperity Now what this sad dealings of God puts the Church upon you may see in verse 40. Let us search and try our wayes and turne again to the Lord And if you look throughout 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the book you shall finde the These two Hebrew words are joyned together to intimate to us that diligent narrow and accurate enquiry that they should make into their wayes to search as men do into the bowels of the
is so fully perswaded of its eternal happinesse and blessednesse that it s carried like 4 There is a divine perswasion that flows from divine principles and causes Noahs Arke above al waves doubts and fears and Noah-like fits still and quiet and can with the Apostle Paul triumph over sinne hell wrath death and devill This is sometimes called Col. 2. 2. Heb. 6 11. 18 19 cha 10. 22. full assurance of understanding sometimes it is called full assurance of hope and sometimes it is called full assurance of faith because these are the choice and pleasant springs from whence assurance flows Now though this full assurance is earnestly desired and highly This full Assurance is the maximum quod sic the highest pinacle of Assurance prized and the want of it much lamented the injoyment of it much endevoured after by al Saints yet t is only obtained by a few Assurance is a mercy too good for most mens hearts it is a Crowne too weighty for most mens heads Assurance is optimum maximum the best and greatest mercy and therefore God will onely give it to his best and dearest friends Augustus in his solemne feasts gave trifles to some but gold to others honours and riches c. are trifles that God gives to the worst of men Rev. 3. 18. But Assurance is that tryed gold that God onely gives to tried friends Among those few that have a share or Most Saints I beleeve can give aloud testimony to this truth I shall rejoyce when their experiences shall confute â—r portion in the special love and favour of God there are but a very few that have an assurance of his love It is one mercy for God to love the soule and another mercy for God to assure the soule of his love God writes many a mans name in the Book of life and yet will not let him know it till his houre of death as the experience of many precious soules doth cleerly evidence Assurance is a flower of Paradise that God sticks but Rom. 8. 16 17. in a few mens bosomes It is one thing to be an heire of heaven and another thing for a man to know or see himselfe an heire of heaven The childe in the arms may be heire to a Crown a Kingdome and yet not understand it so many a Saint may bee heire to a Crowne a Kingdome of glory and yet not know it As the babes that passes the pangs of the first birth do not presently cry Father Father so the new borne Babes in Christ that have 1 Pet. 2. 2. past the pangs of the second birth doe not presently cry Abba Father they doe not presently cry out Heaven Heaven is ours Glory Glory is ours The third Proposition is this That The third Proposition a man may have true grace that hath not Assurance of the love and favour The blinde man in the Gospel called his faith unbeleef of God or of the remission of his sins and salvation of his soule A man may be truly holy and yet not have assurance that he shall be eternally happy A man may be Gods and yet he not know it his estate may be good and yet he not see it he may Mat. 15. 22. 29. be in a safe condition when he is not in a comfortable condition All may be well with him in the Court of glory when hee would give a thousand worlds that all were but well in the court of conscience The Canaanite woman shewed much love wisdome zeale humility and faith yea such strength of faith as makes Christ admire her and yeeld to her grace her and gratifie her and yet shee had no assurance that wee read of So Paul speaking of the beleeving Eph 1. 13. They that honour God by sealing to his truth those God will honour by sealing them with his Spirit Ephesians saith In whom ye also trusted after that yee heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after that yee beleeved yee were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise First They heard the word and then secondly they beleeved and then thirdly they were sealed that is fully assured of a heavenly inheritance of a Saints have eternal life 1 In praetio 2 In promisso 3 In primitiis purchased possession So 1 John 5. 13. These things have I written unto you that beleeve on the name of the Sonne of God that yee may know that yee have eternal life and that yee may beleeve on the name of the Son of God So in that Isa 50. 10. Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voyce of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himselfe upon his God So in that Mich. 7. 8. 9. verses Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light unto me I will bear the indignation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he plead my cause and Zagnaph Signifies vehement anger with a sad and lowring countenance Dan. 1. 10. vide Merâ— execute judgement for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his Righteousnesse Asaph was a very holy man a man eminent in grace and yet without assurance as may bee seen at large in that 77. Ps Heman doubtlesse was a very precious soule and yet from his youth up hee was even distracted with terrours Psalm 88. There are thousand Christians that are in a state of grace and shall bee Isa 8. 17. Chap. 49. 14 15 16. Ch. 54 6 7 8 9 10 11. saved that want assurance and the proper effects of it as high joy pure comfort glorious peace and vehement longings after the coming of Christ Assurance is requisite to the well-being of a Christian but not to the being it is requisite to the consolation of a Christian but not to the salvation of a Christian it is requisite to the well-being of Grace but not to the meer being of Grace Though a man cannot be saved without faith yet he may bee saved without assurance God hath in many places of the Scripture declared that without faith God never said except you be assured I will pardon you I will never pardon you except you are assured I will save you I will never save you this is language God never spoke and why then should men speak it there is no salvation but God hath not in any one place of Scripture declared that without assurance there is no salvation A man must first bee saved before he can be assured of his salvation for he cannot be assured of that which is not and a man must have saving grace before he can bee saved for hee cannot be saved by that which hee hath not Againe a man must be ingrafted into Christ before
souls as makes them bid defiance to the greatest dangers and as Crowns them Conquerors of the greatest difficulties Ah says a soul that hath walked some turns in Paradise what is dross to gold what is darkness to light what is Hell to Heaven no more is all difficulties and oppositions to me who have found As they said once of the Grecians in the Epigramme whom they thought invulnerable we shoot at them but they fâ—ll not down we wound them and yet not kill them c. the sweetness of Divine Grace and have had the happiness to lie in the bosom of God Dioclesian the worst and last Persecutor in all the Ten Persecutions observed That the more he sought to blot out the name of Christ the more it became legible and to block up the way of Christ the more it became passible and whatever of Christ he thought to root out it rooted the deeper and rose the higher in the hearts and lives of the Saints among whom he had scattered the beams of his love and the rich pearls of his grace Such souls as have once been in the arms of God in the midst of all oppositions they are as men made all of fire walking in stubble they consume and overcome all oppositions all difficulties are but as whetstones to their Fortitude The Moon will run her course though the Dogs bark at it so will all those choice souls that have found warmth under Christs wings run their Christian race in spight of all difficulties and dangers The Horse neighs at the Trumpet the Leviathan laughs at the Spear so does a Saint under the power of assurance laugh at all hazards and dangers that he meets with in the Lords service The sense of Gods love and goodness makes him to triumph over the greatest difficulties Fourthly and lastly God gives his Reas 4 people some tastes of his love when he puts them upon hard and difficult services that the mouths of the wicked may be stopt should God lay heavy burdens upon his peoples shoulders and not put under his finger to give some ease should God double their tale of brick and yet deny them straw should God engage them against a potent enemy and then desert them should God send them upon some weighty embassage and not give proportionable encouragements to them what would the world say would Exod. 32. 12. Num. 14. 12 13 14 15 16. they not say That he is a hard Master and that his ways are not equal would they not say Verily they are lyers that say he is glorious in power and wonderful in counsel and infinite in mercy and admirable in goodness and rich in grace and unsearchable in his understanding for surely were he he could not he would not put his children upon such hard and dangerous services but he would own them and stand by them he would assist them and smile upon them he would be as careful to bring them bravely off as he hath been ready to bring them freely on O he could not see them in garments rouled in blood but his bowels would yern towards them and he would arise and have compassion on them Then thirdly Waiting times are times wherein God is pleased to give his people some sweet tastes of his love and to lift up the light of his countenance upon them I waited patiently Psal 40. 1 2 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lord saith David and he inclined unto me and heard my cry Waiting I waited He brought me up also out of an horrible pit or out of a pit of noise out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings And he hath put a new song in my mouth even praise unto our God After God had exercised Davids patience in waiting he sweetly breaks in upon him and knocks off his bolts and opens the prison doors and takes him by the hand and leads him out of the pit of noise and confusion in which he was and causes his love and goodness so to beam forth upon him as causes his heart to rejoyce and his tongue to sing So after devout Simeon had waited for the consolation Luke 2. 25 to 33. of Israel that is for Christs coming the Holy Ghost falls upon him and leads him to a sight of Christ in the Temple and this makes the good old man sing nunc dimittas Now let thy servant depart in peace Ah says Simeon I have lived long enough now I have got Christ in my heart and Christ in my arms who is my light my life my love my joy my crown let me depart according to thy Word Ah Saints I appeal to you have not many of you found by experience the sweet breathings of Christ upon you even whilest you have been waiting at the door of Mercy while you have been weeping and waiting hath not the Lord Jesus come in and said Peace be to you waiting souls be of good cheer it is I be of good cheer your sins are pardoned surely you have Hath not God made that word good unto you Wait Psal 37. 14. on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart Wait I say on the Lord yes And hath he Isa 49. 23. These words Shall not be ashamed in the Hebrew Dialect do not simply import that such shall not be brought to shame or shall not perish but that he shall be advanced to great dignity and glory to everlasting happiness and blessedness Isai 30. 18. Lam 3. 25. not made that good to you They shall not be ashamed that wait for me that is they shall not be deceived or disappointed of their hopes and expectations that wait for me yes And have you not found that word made sweet to your souls Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious blessed are all they that wait for him Yes And hath not the Lord made that word good to you The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him Yes Waiting souls remember this assurance is yours but the time of giving it is the Lords the Jewel is yours but the season in which he will give it is in his own hand the Gold Chain is yours but he onely knows the hour wherein he will put it about your necks Well wait patiently and quietly wait expectingly wait believingly wait affectionately and wait diligently and you shall finde that Scripture made good in power upon your souls Yet a Heb. 10. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hab. 2. 3. Mal 3. 1. little little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry he will certainly come he will seasonably come he will suddenly come as the Prophet Malachi speaks Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he
loathsom Dungeon the pavement whereof was sharp shells and his bed to lie on a bundle of thorns All which this blessed Martyr received without so much as a groan breathing out his spirit in these words Vincentius is my name and by the grace of God I will be still Vincentius inspight of all your torments Persecution brings death in one hand and life in the other for while it kills the body it crowns the soul The most cruel Martyrdom is but a crafty trick to escape death to pass from life to life from the prison to paradise from the cross to the crown Justin Martyr says that when the Romans did immortalize their Emperors as they called it they brought one to swear that he see him go to Heaven out of the fire But we may see by an eye of Faith the blessed Souls of suffering Saints flie to Heaven like Elias in his fiery Judg. 13. 20. chariot like the Angel that appeared to Manoah in the flames John Hus Martyr had such choice discoveries of God and such sweet in-comes of the Spirit as made his patience and constancy A patient man under reproaches is like a man with a Sword in one hand and a Salve in the other he could wound but he will heal invincible When he was brought forth to be burned they put on his head a Triple Crown of Paper painted over with ugly Devils but when he saw it he said My Lord Jesus Christ for my sake did were a Crown of Thorns why should not I then for his sake wear this light crown be it never so ignominious truly I will do it and that willingly And as they tied his neck with a chain to the stake smiling he said That he would willingly receive the The Motto of patient souls is plura pro Christo toleranda we must suffer more then so for Christ same chain for Jesus Christs sake who he knew was bound with a far worse chain for his sake Well remember this their names that by a patient suffering are written in Red Letters of blood in the Churches Calender are written in Golden Letters in Christs Register in the Book of Life A second Reason why the Lord Reas 2 lifts up the light of his countenance upon his people in suffering times and that is for the confirmation of some for the conversion of others and for the greater conviction and confusion of their adversaries who wonder and are like men amazed when they see the comfort and the courage of the Saints in suffering times Pauls choice carriage in his bonds was the Phil. 1. 14. vide Estius confirmation of many And many of the Brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the Word without fear And as the sufferings of the Saints do contribute to the confirmation of some so by the blessing of God they contribute to the conversion of others I beseech thee says Paul for Philem. v. 10. my son Onesimus whom I have begotten in my bonds It was a notable saying of Luther Ecclesia totum mundum convertâ—t sanguine oratione The Church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer Basil affirms That the They knew it could be but a days journey between the cross and paradise between that short storm and an eternal calm Primitive Saints shewed so much comfort and courage so much Heroick zeal and constancy that many of the Heathens turned Christians so that choice spirit that the Saints have shewed in their sufferings when Christ hath overshadowed them with his love and stayed them with flagons and comforted them with apples hath madded grieved vexed and extreamly It would be too tedious to give you an account of all particular persecutors in this case whom the courage faith and patience of the Saints have tyred out tormented and made weaty of their lives and also bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and readers tormented their tormentors Lactantius boasts of the braveness of the Martyrs in his time our children and women not to speak of men do in silence overcome their tormentors and the fire cannot so much as fetch a sigh from them Hegesippus reports an observation of Antoninus the Emperor viz. That the Christians were most couragious and confident always in Earth-quakes whilest his own Heathen Souldiers were at such accidents most fearful and dis-spirited Certainly no Earth-quakes can make any Heart-quakes among the suffering Saints so long as the countenance of God shines upon their face and his love lies warm upon their Hearts The suffering Saint may be assaulted but not vanquished he may be troubled but can never be conquered he may lose his head but he cannot lose his Crown which the 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. righteous Lord hath prepared and laid up for him The suffering Saint shall still be master of the day though they Mori posse vinci non posse kill him they cannot hurt him he may suffer death but never conquest And they overcame him by the blood of Rev. 12. 11. the Lamb and by the word of their testimony O Lord Jesus said one I love thee plusquam mea plusquam meos plusquam me more then all my goods more then all my friends yea more then my very life and they loved not their lives unto the death They love not their lives that love Christ and his truth more then their lives they that slight contemn and despise their lives when they stand in competition with Christ may be truly said not to love their lives In these words you see that the Saints by dying do overcome They may kill me said Socrates of his enemies but they cannot hurt me A Saint may say this and more The Herb Heliotropium doth turn about and open it self according to the motion of the Sun so do the Saints in their sufferings according to the internal motions of the Sun of Righteousness upon them A third Reason Why the Lord Reas 3 causes his goodness to pass before his people and his face to shine upon his people in suffering times and that is for the praise of his own Grace and for the glory of his own Name God would lose much of his own glory if he should not stand by his people and comfort them and strengthen them in the day of their sorrows Ah the dirt the scorn the contempt that Exod. 32. 12. Num. 14. 13. vain men would cast upon God Look as our greatest good comes thorow the sufferings of Christ so Gods greatest glory that he hath from his Saints comes thorow their sufferings If ye be reproached for the name of Christ. 1 Peâ— 4. 14. Vide Bezam happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you On their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified It makes much for the glory of God that his people are cleared and comforted quickned and raised spiritualized and elevated in
as cannot be exprest as cannot be declared Christ in this Ordinance opens such boxes of precious Oyntments as fill the Saints with a spiritual savor he gives them a cluster of the Grapes of Num. 13. 23 24 25. Canaan that makes them earnestly look and long to be in Canaan The Cypr. l 4. ep 6 Aug. in John Tract 27 c. Christians in the Primitive times upon their receiving the Sacrament were wont to be filled with that zeal and fervor with that joy and comfort with that faith fortitude and assurance that made them to appear before the Tyrants with transcendent boldness and cheerfulness as many Writers do testifie Now there are these Reasons why God is pleased to lift up the light of his countenance upon his people when they are a hearing the Word of Life and a breaking the Bread of Life First That they may highly prize Reas 1 the Ordinances the choice Discoveries that God makes to their souls in them works them to set a very high Psal 63. 2 3. Cant 2 3. Psal 19. 10. This age is full of careless Gallioes Acts â—8 17. that care not for these things price upon them O say such souls we cannot but prize them we cannot but affect them for what of God we have enjoyed in them Many there are that are like old Barzillai that had lost his taste and hearing and so cared not for Davids feasts and musick so many there are that can see nothing of God nor taste nothing of God in Ordinances they care not for Ordinances they slight Ordinances O but souls Psal 84. 10 11. that have seen and heard and tasted of the goodness of the Lord in Ordinances they dearly love them and highly prize them I have esteemed thy Word says Job above my necessary food Job 23. 12. Better that the Sun shine not then that Chrysostom Preach not And David sings it out The Law of thy mouth is better unto me then thousands of gold and silver Luther prized the Word at such a high rate that he saith He would not live in Paradise if he might without the Word At cum verbo etiam in inferno facile est vivere but with the Word he could live in Hell it self Secondly God lifts up the light of Reas 2 his countenance upon his people in Ordinances that he may keep them Psal 27. 4. close to Ordinances and constant in Ordinances the soul shall hear good news from Heaven when it is waiting at Wisdoms door God will acquaint Prov. 8. 34 35. the soul with Spiritual Mysteries and feed it with the droppings of the Honey Comb that the soul may cleave to them as Ruth did to Naomi Ruth 1. 15 16 17. and say of them as she said of her Where these go I will go where these lodge I will lodge and nothing but death shall make a separation between Ordinances and my soul After Joshua Josh 1. 5. had had a choice presence of God with his spirit in the service he was put upon he makes a Proclamation Chuse you whom you will serve I and my Josh 24. 15. houshold will serve the Lord. Let the issue be what it will I will cleave to the service of my God I will set my soul under Gods spout I will wait for him Mal. 3. 1. in his Temple I will look for him in Revel 2. 1. the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks I have found him a good Master I will live and dye in his service I have found his work to be better then wages I have found a reward not onely for keeping but also in keeping his Commandments as the Psal 19. 11 Psalmist speaks The good words the sweet aspects the choice hints the heavenly intercourse that hath been between the Lord Jesus and my soul in his service hath put such great and glorious engagements upon my soul that I cannot but say with the servant in the Law I love my Master Exod. 21. 5. Deut. 15. 16 17. and I will not quit his service because it is well with me my ear is bored and I will be his servant for ever The third Reason Why the Lord Reas 3 causes the beams of his love and the brightness of his glory to shine forth upon his people in Ordinances is To fence and strengthen their souls against all those temptations that they may meet with from Satan and his Ephes 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies cogging with a Dy such slights as cheaters and false-gamesters use at Dâ—ce instruments that lie in wait to deceive and by their cunning craftiness endeavor with all their might to work men first to have low thoughts of Ordinances and then to neglect them and then to despise them Now the Lord Chrysostom saith That by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we are so armed against Satans temptations that he fleeth from us as if we were so many Leones ignem expuentes Lyons that spit fire by the sweet discoveries of himself by the kisses and love tokens that he gives to his people in Ordinances does so indear and engage their hearts to them that they are able not onely to withstand temptations but also to triumph over temptations thorow him that hath loved them and in Ordinances manifested his presence and the riches of his grace and goodness to them the sweet converse the blessed turns and walks that the Saints have with God in Ordinances makes them strong in resisting and happy in conquering of those temptations that tend to lead them from the Ordinances which are Christs bankquetting-house Can 2. 4. Beith Haiin is Domus vini the House of Wine where he sets before his people all the dainties and sweet-meats of Heaven and bids them eat and drink abundantly there being no danger of surfeiting in eating or drinking of Christs delicates Truly many a soul hath surfeited of the worlds dainties and died for ever but there is not a soul that hath had the honor and happiness to be brought into Christs bankquetting-house and to eat and drink of his dainties but they have lived for ever The fourth Reason Why the Lord Reas 4 is pleased to give his people some sense of his love and some tastes of Heaven in Ordinances is That he may fit and ripen them for Heaven and make them look and long more after a perfect compleat and full enjoyment of God Souls at first conversion are but roughcast but God by visiting of them Isa 64. 5. and manifesting of himself to them in his ways doth more and more fit those Vessels of Mercy for Glory Ah Christians tell me do not those Holy Influences those Spiritual Breathings those Divine In-comes that you meet with in Ordinances make your souls cry out with David As the Hart panteth after the water Psal 42. 1 2. The Greeks derive their word for desire from a root that signifieth to burn Now if one should
heap never so much fuel upon a fire it would not quench it but kindle it the more so nothing can satisfie the desires of a Saint but a full celestial enjoyment of God brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God even for the living God When shall I come and appear before the presence of God So in that Psal 63. 1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary In these words you have Davids strong earnest and vehement desires here you have desire upon desire here you have the very flower and vigor of his spirit the strength and sinews of his soul the prime and top of his enflamed affections all strongly working after a fuller enjoyment of God Look as the espoused Maid longs for the marriage day the Apprentice for his freedom the Captive for his ransom the condemned man for his pardon the Traveller for his Inn and the Mariner for his Haven so doth a soul that hath met with God in his Ordinances long to meet with God in Heaven It is It is not drops but swimming in the Ocean that will satisfie a soul that hath looked into paradise not a drop it is not a lap and away a sip and away that will suffice such a soul No. This soul will never be quiet till it sees God face to face till it be quiet in the bosom of God The more a Saint tastes of God in an Ordinance the more are his desires raised and whetted and the more are his teeth set on edge for more and more of God Plutarch faith That Plutarch in vita Camilli when once the Gauls had tasted of the sweet Wine that was made of the Grapes of Italy nothing would satisfie them but Italy Italy So a soul A full enjoyment of God is the most sparkling Diamond in the Ring of Glory that hath tasted of the sweetness and goodness of God in Ordinances nothing will satisfie it but more of that goodness and sweetness a little mercy may save the soul but it must be a great deal of mercy that must satisfie the soul The least glimps of Gods countenance may be a staff to support the soul and a cordial to cherish and comfort the soul and an ark to secure the soul and a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide the soul but it must be much very much of God that must be enough to satisfie the soul The fifth and last Reason Why the Reas 5 Lord is graciously pleased to give his people some sense of his love and some assurance of his favor in Ordinances is That they may have wherewithal to silence and stop the mouths of wicked and ungodly men whose words are Mal. 3. 13 14. stout against the Lord who say it is in vain to serve God and what profit is there in keeping his Statutes and Ordinances and in walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts Now the The Saints by the gracious Experiences that they have of the sweet breathings of God upon them in Ordinances are able to confute muzzle halter or button up the mouths of vain and wicked men who say unto the Lord Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Lord causes his face to shine upon his people in Ordinances that they may stand up and bear him witness before the wicked world that he is no hard Master that he reaps not where he sows not In Ordinances he kisses them and there he gives them his love and makes known his goodness and glory that his Children may from their own experiences be able to confute all the lies and clamors of wicked men against God and his ways And blessed be God that hath not left himself without witness but hath many thousands that can stand up before all the What is the Almighty that we shouâ—d serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21. 14 15. world and declare That they have seen the beauty and glory of God in his Sanctuary that they have met with those joys and comforts in the ways of God that do as far surpass all other joys and comforts as light does darkness as Heaven does Hell That they have met with such heart meltings such heart humblings such heart revivings such heart cheerings as they never met with before in all their days Ah say these Souls One day in his Courts is better then a thousand years elswhere O! we had rather with Moses loose all and be whipped and stripped of all then lose the sweet enjoyments of God in Ordinances O! in them God hath been Light and Life a Joy and a Crown to our Souls God is tender of his own glory and of his Childrens comfort and therefore he gives them such choice aspects and such sweet visits in Ordinances that they may have Arguments at hand to stop the mouths of sinners and to declare from their own experience that all the ways of God are ways of pleasantness Prov 3. 17. Psal 65. 11. and that all his paths drops fatness And thus much for the Reasons Why God lifts up the light of his countenance upon his people in Ordinances before I pass to the next particular it will be necessary that I lay down these Cautions to prevent weak Saints from stumbling and doubting who have not yet found the Lord giving out his favors and making known his Grace and Love in such a sensible way to their souls in breaking the Bread of Life as others have found Now the first Caution I shall lay Caut. 1. down is this That even Believers may sometimes come and go from this Ordinance without that comfort that assurance that joy that refreshment that others have and may meet with And this may arise partly from their 2 Chro. 30. 19 20. 1 Cor. 11. 20. to ult unpreparedness and unfitness to meet with God in the Ordinance and partly from their playing and dallying with some bosom sin or else it may arise from their not stirring up themselves to lay hold on God as the Prophet Isaiah complains There is none Isa 64. 7. that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee or else it may arise from the Spirits standing at Sam. 1. 16. a distance from the Soul it may be O soul that thou hast set the Comforter the Spirit a mourning and therefore it is that he refuses to comfort thee and to be a sealing and witnessing spirit unto thee Thou hast grieved him with thy sins and he will now vex thee by his silence thou hast thrown his Cordials against the Psal 77. 2. wall thou hast trampled his Manna under thy feet and therefore it is that he
that you would willingly do upon a dying day Ah how would you live and love upon a dying day how would you admire God rest upon God delight in God long for God and walk with God upon a dying day how would you hate loath and abhor your bosom sins upon a dying day how would you complain of your bosom sins and pray against your bosom sins and mourn over your bosom sins and watch against your bosom sins and flie from all occasions that should tend to draw you to close with your bosom sins upon a dying day Ah doubting souls would you not for all the world gratifie your bosom sins upon a dying day and will you gratifie them on other days which for any thing you know to the contrary may prove your dying days Thrice happy is that soul that labors with all his might to do that at first that he would fain do at last that doth that on every day that he would give a thousand worlds to do on a dying day No way to Assurance like this no way to joy and comfort like this no way to rest and peace like this no way to the Kingdom to the Crown like this I earnestly beseech you trembling souls when you finde your spirits running out to bosom sins that you would lay your hands upon your hearts and thus expostulate the case O our souls would you thus dally and play with sin upon a dying day would you thus stroke and hug sin upon a dying day would you not rather shew all the dislike and hatred that is imaginable against it would you not tremble at sin more then at Hell and abhor the very occasions of sin more then the most venomous Serpent in all the world would you not rather suffer the worst and greatest punishments then to smile upon a darling sin upon a dying day Yes O would you fain do this upon a dying day why not then every day why not then every day O our souls The sixt and last Motive to provoke Motive 6. One flaw in a Diamond doth not onely take away the beauty glory and price of it but it puts men to question whâ—ther it be a Diamond Psal 40. 12. you to fall with all your might upon bosom sins is Seriously to consider that till this be done fears and doubts will still haunt the soul the soul will still be fearing that surely all is naught and that that work that is wrought upon it is not a real but a counterfeit work that it is not a peculiar and special work but a common work that a man may have and perish Till 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this be done the soul can never be able I am not able to see sin had put out Davids eyes to see grace in its own native beauty and glory the hugging of sin in a corner will raise such a dust in the soul that it cannot be able to see those Pearls of glory sparkling and shining Till this be done doubting souls you will be but Babes and Shrubs and Dwarfs in Christianitie the hankering of the soul after sin is the casting of water upon the Spirit it is the laming of Grace it is the clipping the wings of Faith and Prayer so that the soul can neither be confident nor fervent frequent nor constant in religious services so that it will unavoidably follow such souls will be like Pharaohs Gideon had seventy sons and but one Bastard and yet that one Bastard destroyed all the rest you may easily apply it lean Kine poor and starveling Look as many men are kept low in their outward estates by having a back door to some Herodians so many doubting souls are kept low in spirituals by their hankering after some particular sin Remember Christians sin is the souls sickness the souls weakness if the body be weak and diseased it grows not sin is poyson that turns all nourishment into corruption and so hinders the growth of the soul in grace and holiness Ah Christians as ever you would be rid of your fears and doubts as ever you would see the beautie and glory of grace as ever you would be eminent and excellent in grace and holiness see that effectual justice be done upon that Achan that Jonah that darling sin that hath occasioned storms within and tempests without It was a grievous vexation If there be but one crack in the honey-glass there the Wasp will be buzzing and where there is but some one sin favored there Satan will be rempting and upbraiding to King Lysimachus that his staying to drink one draught of water lost him his Kingdom Ah Christians it will grievously vex you when you come to your selves and when you come to taste of the admirable pleasure that attends the conquest of sin to consider that your hankering after this or that particular sin hath been the loss of that joy and comfort that peace and assurance that is infinitelie more worth then all the Kingdoms of the world But you may say to me O! we would Quest fain have our bosom sins subdued we desire above all that they may be effectually mortified these sons of Zerviah we would have slain to chuse But what course must we take to bring under our darling sins to get off our Golden Fetters to get out of these Silken Snares To this Question I shall give these Answers First If ever thou wouldst have Means 1. masterie over this or that bosom sin then engage all thy power and might against thy bosom sin draw up thy spiritual forces and engage them wholly against the sin that doth so easilie beset thee As the King of Syria said to his Captains Fight neither 2 Chro. 8. 30. with small nor great save onely with the King of Israel So I say your wisdom and your work O doubting souls lieth not in skirmishing with this or that sin but in coming up to a close sharp fight with the King of Israel with that darling sin that hath a Kingly interest in you and a Kingly power over you Constantine the Great his Symbole was Immedicabile vulnus ense rescindendum est when there is no hope of curing men must fall a cutting Believe it souls you must fall a cutting your bosom sins in pieces by the Sword of the Spirit as Samuel cut Agag in 1 Sam. 15. 33. pieces in Gilgal before the Lord or else you will never obtain a perfect cure Slight skirmishes will not do it you must pursue your bosom sins to the death or they will be the death of your souls The second Means to bring under a Means 2. As when one Bucket of a Well goes up the other goes down as when one of the two Lawrels in Rome flourishes the other withers so when grace gets up sin goes down when grace flourishes sin withers bosom sin is To labor to be most eminent and excellent in that particular grace that is most opposite to a mans bosom sin
in blood it made the Martyrs to complement with Lions to dare and tire their persecutors to kiss the stake to sing and clap their hands in the flames to tread upon hot burning coals as upon Beds of Roses The assured Soul knows that Death shall be the Funeral of all his sins and sorrows of all afflictions and temptations of all desertions and oppositions He knows that Death shall be the Resurrection of his joyes he knows that death is both an out-let and an in-let an out-let to sin and an in-let to the souls clear full and constant injoyment of God And this makes the assured soul to sing it sweetly out O 1 Cor. 15. 35 36 37. death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory I desire to be dissolved Phil. 1. 23 Make haste my beloved Come Cant. 8. ult Revel 22. Lord Jesus come quickly Now Death is more desirable then life Now says the Soul Ejus est timere mortem qui ad Christum nolit ire Let him fear Death that is loth to go to Christ So I may be with Christ though I go in a Cloud I care not sayes the assured soul so I may be with Christ I care not though I go in a Fiery Charriot sayes the assured soul The Persians had a certain day in the year in which they used to kill all Serpents and venomous Creatures The assured Christian knows that the day of Death will be such a day to him and that makes Death lovely and desirable he knows that Sin Morimur dum non morimur was the Midwife that brought Death into the World and that Death shall be the Grave to bury Sin Ambrose said to his friends about him when he was dying I have not so lived that I am ashamed to live nor yet fear I death because I have a good Lord c. And therefore Death is not a terror but a delight unto him he fears it not as an enemy but welcomes it as a friend As Crook-back Richard the Third in his distress cried A Kingdom for a Horse a Kingdom for a Horse So souls that want assurance when they come to die will cry out A Kingdom for Assurance a Kingdom for Assurance And as Severus said If I had a thousand worlds I would now give them all for Christ So a Soul that wants Assurance when he comes to enter upon a state of eternity will cry out O had I now a thousand worlds I would give them all for assurance whereas the assured soul would not for a thousand worlds but die When his glass is out and his sun is set he cryes not out as that Lady did A World a World for an inch of time but rather why is it why is it Lord that thy chariots be so long a coming Eightly Assurance will very much sweeten that little oyl that is in the 1 King 17. 12 c. Cruse and that handful of meal that is in the Barrel Assurance will be sauce to all meats it will make all thy mercies to taste like mercies it will make Daniels pulse to be as sweet as Princes Dan. 1. delicates it will make Lazarus Rags Luke 16. as pleasurable as Dives Robes it will make Jacobs bed upon the stones to be Gen. 28. Amos 6. 4. as soft as those Beds of Down and Ivory that sinful great ones stretch themselves upon Look as the want of assurance imbitters all a sinners mercies that he cannot taste the sweetness and the goodness of them so the enjoyment of assurance casts a general beauty and glory upon the Believers meanest mercy And hence it is that assured souls Prov. 15. 16. live so sweetly and walk so chearfully when their little all is upon their backs and in their hands whereas the great men of the world that have the world at will but want this assurance that is more worth then the world live as slaves and servants to their mercies in the midst of all their abundance they are in straits and perplexities Job 20. 22. full of fears and cares and nothing pleases them nor is sweet unto them because they want that A Believer knows 1. That his little mercies are from great love Secondly That they are pledges of greater Thirdly That his blessings are blest unto him Fourthly That they shall not at last be witnesses against him assurance that sweetens to a Believer the ground he stands on the air he breaths in the seat he sits on the bed he lies on the bread he eats the cloaths he wears c. Ah were there more assurance among Christians they would not count great mercies small mercies and small mercies no mercies no no then every mercy on this side hell would be a great mercy then every mercy would be a sugared mercy a perfumed mercy Look as the Tree that Moses cast into the Exod. 15. 23 24 25. waters of Marah made those bitter waters sweet so Assurance is that Tree of Life that makes every bitter sweet and every sweet more sweet Ninthly Assurance will make a man The Rabbins say That the Angels attend in all Judicatories very Angelical it will make him full of motion full of action it will make him imitate the Angels those Princes of glory that are always busie and active to advance the glory of Christ they are still a singing the Song of the Lamb they are still pitching their Tents about them that Psal 34. 7. Heb. 1. ult fear the Lord they are Ministering Spirits sent forth for the good of them that are Heirs of Salvation Assurance will make a man fervent constant and abundant in the Work of the Lord as you may see in Paul The Assurance makes a Saint all fire it makes him like â—he burning Seraphims Isal 6. 2 3 4. assured Christian is more motion then notion more work then word more life then lip more hand then tongue When he hath done one work he is a calling out for another What is next Lord sayes the assured soul what is next His head and his heart is set upon his work and what he doth he doth it with all his might because there is no working in the Grave An assured Christian Bellarmiâ—â— is of opinion that one glimpse of Hell were enough to make a man not onely turn Christian but a Monk to live after the strictest rules to be abounding in wel-doing Surely assurance of Heaven will make a man do more will put his hand to any work he will put his shoulder to any burden he will put his neck in any yoke for Christ he never thinks that he hath done enough he always thinks that he hath done too little and when he hath done all he can he sits down sighing it out I am but an unprofitable servant In a word Assurance will have a powerful influence upon thy heart in all the duties and services of Religion nothing will make a man love like
name till you have got the assurance of your pardon in your bosoms I know not what will CHAP. V. Shewing the several Ways and Means of gaining a wel-grounded Assurance FIrst if ever you will attain Means 1. to Assurance then be much in the Exercise and Actings of Grace as the believing Ephesians were Ephes 1 13. A Christian that would have assurance must never leave blowing his little spark till he hath blowed it into a flame in the very Exercise and Actings of Grace the Spirit of the Lord sealed them up to the day of Redemption Assurance flows in upon the actings of Grace assurance is bred and fed it is raised and maintained in the soul by the actings of Grace Grace is most discernable when it is most in action and Grace is made more and more perfect by acting Neglect of your Graces is the ground of their decrease Wells are the sweeter for drawing you get nothing by dead and useless Habits Talents hid in a Napkin gather rust the noblest faculties are imbased when not improved Grace in the habit is no more discernable then fire under the ashes then gold in the Ore then a dead man in the grave but Grace in its lively actings and operations is as a Prince upon his throne sparkling and shining Ah Christians were your grace more active it would be more visible and were your grace more visible your assurance would be more clear and full As Saint Paul once spake to Timothy Stir up the gift 2 Tim. 1. 6. The words are an allusion to the fire in the Temple which was always to be kept burning Vide Calvin upon the Text. of God that is in thee So I say to you if ever you would have assurance stir up the grace of God that is in you blow up that heavenly fire raise up those noble spirits never cease believing nor repenting till it be clearly given into your bosome that you are sure that you do believe and that you do repent as you are sure that you live as you are sure that God rules in Jacob and dwells in Zion Remember Christians all the honor that God hath from you in this life is from the actings and the exercise of your grace and not from the habits of grace Remember Christians that all your consolations flow not from the habits but from the acts of grace Remember Christians that the want of the exercise of grace is the reason why you do not discern your grace and why you have no more assurance of your future happiness He that will be rich must still be turning the peny and he that will attain unto the riches of assurance Col. 2. 2. must still be acting his graces there are none but lively active Christians that knows and feels those joys comforts and contents that attends the exercise of grace If thou wouldst not be always a Babe in Grace and a stranger to Assurance then see that thy Lamp be always burning see that the Golden Wheels of Grace be always going Secondly If you would Christians Means 2. attain unto assurance then you must minde your work more then your wages you must be better at obeying then at disputing at doing at walking then at talking and wrangling Assurance is heavenly wages that Christ gives not to loyterers but to holy laborers though no man merits assurance by his obedience yet God usually crowns obedience with assurance John 14. 21 22 23. He that Non enim passibus ad Deum sed affectibas currimus Ambulas si amas Thou walkest if thou lovest to walk hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Vers 22. Judas saith unto him not Iscariot Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the world Vers 23. Jesus answered and said unto him If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him In these words you see that doing Christians working Christians are the onely Christians that shall have most of the love of the Father and the Son and that shall have the choicest manifestations of grace and favor and that shall have most of their presence and company So in Psal 50. 23 Unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ordereth his conversation aright That disposeth his way as God haâ—h prescribed will I declare the salvation of God That is I will declare my self to be his Saviour I will shew him Salvation and I will shew him his interest iâ— Salvation I will save him and I will make him see that I have saved him he shall see the worth of Salvation and taste the sweetness of Salvation So in Gal. 6. 16. And as many as walk according to this rule that is the rule of the new Creature Peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God The Greek word that is here rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Bezam and Pareus on the Text. walk signifies not simply to walk but to walk by rule in order and measure without treading aside but making straight steps to our feet Now those choice souls that thus walks according to the Law of the new Creature shall have peace and mercy in them and peace and mercy with them and peace and mercy on them As many as walk according to this rule peace and mercy be on them Assurance is a jewel of too high a price to be cast into any of their bosoms that walk contrary to the Laws of the new Creature such may talk of assurance and make a stir and a noise about assurance but it is the close walking Christian that shall be crowned with assurance Assurance is a choice part of a Believers Vis nunquam esse tristis bene vive Wouldst thou never be fact then live well says Bernard happiness and therefore God will never give it out of a way of holiness The Lord hath set apart for himself the man that is godly Psal 4. 3. None are favorites in Gods Court nor none are admitted to be of his Counsel but those who are all glorious within and whose rayment is of imbroidered gold That is such whose principles are full of spiritual glory and whose practises are amiable and answerable in purity and sanctity These are the persons that shall have the honor to have Gods ear and the happiness to know his heart The third Means to gain assurance Means 3. is To be kinde to the Spirit hear his voice follow his counsel live up to his Laws The Spirit is the great Revealer of the Fathers secrets he lies in the bosom of the Father he knows every name that is written in the Book of Life he is best acquainted with the inward workings of the heart of God towards poor sinners
sense and feeling of Divine favor Absolute promises Bilney was much comforted in a great conflict by that promise 1 Tim. 1. 15. And Vrsine by that in John 10. 29. Another by that in Isai 57. 15. Another by that in Isai 26. 3. Mr. Wheatley with that in Heb. 10. 37 c. are waters of life to many precious sons of Zion they are a heavenly fire at which they can sit down and warm themselves when they cannot blow their own spark into a flame and when all Candle-light Torch-light and Star-light fails them when all other comforts can yeeld a perplexed distressed soul no comfort yet then absolute promises will prove full Brests of Consolation to the distressed soul These things being premised see now what gift of God there is in thee that brings thee within the compass of the promise of Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness and to help you a little in this I shall put you in minde of these following particulars First Faith is a gift of God that brings the soul within the promise of Everlasting Blessedness as the Scripture doth every where evidence He Mark 16. 16. John 3. 15 16 c. that believes shall be saved he that believes shall not come into condemnation he shall not perish he shall have eternal life c. Now believing is nothing else but the accepting of Christ John 1. 12. vide for thy Lord and Saviour as he is offered to thee in the Gospel and this accepting is principally if not onely the act of thy will so that if thou art sincerely and cordially willing to have Christ upon his own terms upon Gospel terms that is to save thee and rule thee to redeem thee and to reign over thee then thou art a Believer thy sincere willingness to believe is thy Faith and this gift brings thee within the compass of the promise of Eternal Happiness and Blessedness Christian Reader in the following Discourse thou wilt finde the nature the properties and the excellencies of a found saving Faith clearly and largely laid open before thee and therefore I shall say no more to it in this place but refer thee to what follows Secondly Waiting patiently on God is a gift that brings thee within the promise of Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness And he that hath but a waiting frame of heart hath that that God will eternally own and crown Isa 30. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgement Blessed are all they that wait for him Verily it is no iniquity to pronounce them blessed that God pronounces blessed it is no piety but cruelty and inhumanity for any not to be as merciful to themselves as God is merciful to them not to have as sweet and precious thoughts of their present condition as God hath If God sayes the waiting soul is blessed who dares judge who dares say it is not blessed Let God be true and every man a lyer Isa 64. 4. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Prov. 8. 34. Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my gates waiting at the posts of my doors Isai 49. 23. They shall not be ashamed that wait for me That is I will never fail the waiting soul I will never put him to blushing by frustrating his patient waiting on me The waiting soul shall bear the Bell and carry away the Crown at last Verily glorious love and power is as much seen in keeping up a poor soul in a patient waiting on God as it was in raising Christ from the Grave and as it is in bringing souls to glory Nothing can make the waiting soul miserable Hold out Faith and patience but a little and Revel 22. 11 12. he that shall come will come and bring his reward with him Thirdly Hungering and thirsting after Righteousness is a gift that brings the soul within the compass of the promise of Everlasting Happiness and Blessedness Matth. 5. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it runs in the Greek Blessed are they that are hungring and thirsting Intimating that where ever this is the present disposition of mens souls they are blessed and may expect spiritual repletions Considerable to this purpose is that of Isai 44. 2 3 4 5. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the Womb which will help thee Fear not O Jacob my servant and thou Jesurun whom I have chosen For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty By Water is meant the Spirit say some others understand it of the Spiritual Waters of Grace That God will power out upon those that thirst and long after an abundance of Grace c. and flouds upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my Blessing upon thy Off-spring And they shall spring up as among the grass as Willows by the Water-courses One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himself by the name of Israel Of the like consideration is that of Isa 35. 6 7. Then shall the lame man leap as a Hart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the Wilderness shall waters break forth and streams in the desert And the parched ground shall become a Pool and the thirsty Land springs of Water In the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be Gross with Reeds and Rushes To the like purpose is that in Psal 107. 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness But that none may mistake nor miscarry in this business that is of an eternal concernment to them I shall desire them to premise with me these following things for a better and fuller clearing of this particular truth that is under our present consideration First Premise this with me All real hungerings and thirstings after Righteousness are earnest and vehement thirstings and longings they are like Rachels longing for children and like Samsons longing for water Psal 42. 1 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Philosophers observe That of all Beasts the Hart is most thirsty by nature but most of all thirsty when she is hunted and pursued by Dogs Sayes David As the hunted Hart as the wounded Hart yea as the She-hart in whom the passions of thirst are strongest panteth after the water-brooks so doth my soul pant after thee O God A gracious soul panteth and fainteth
They know that it is not their profession but living up to their principles that will effectually stop the mouths and convince the consciences of vain men 1 Pet. 2. 15. For so is the Will of God that by wel-doing that is by living up to your own principles you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men There is no such way in the world to still and silence wicked men to make them dumb and speechless to muzzle and tie up their mouths as the Greek word notes as by living up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to your own principles The lives of men convince more strongly then their words the tongue perswades but the life commands thirdly They know by living up to their principles they cast a general glory upon Christ and Matth. 5. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. his ways This makes Christ and his ways to be well thought on and well spoke on fourthly They know that the ready way the onely way to get 2 Pet. 1 5. to 13. and keep Assurance Joy Peace c. is to live up to their principles fifthly They know that by their living below their own principles or contrary to their own principles they do but gratifie Satan and provoke wicked men to blaspheme that worthy Name by which they are called They know Jam. 2. 7. The very Heathen as Salvian observes did thus reproach Christians that walked contrary to their principles Where is that good law which they do believe they read and hear the holy Scriptures and yet are drunk and unclean they follow Christ and yet disobey Christ they profess a Holy Law and yet do lead impure lives that by their not living up to their own principles they do but multiply their own fears and doubts and put a sword into the hand of Conscience and make sad work for future Repentance Now these and such like Considerations do exceedingly stir and provoke Believers to labor with all their might to live up to their own principles to get to the very top of Holiness to be more and more a pressing towards the mark and to think that nothing is done till they have attained to the highest perfections that are attainable in this life It is true many Hypocrites may go up some rounds of Jacobs Ladder such as make for their Gen. 28. 12. profit pleasure applause c. and yet tumble down at last to the bottom of Hell as Judas and others have done Hypocrites do not look nor like nor love to come up to the top of Jacobs Ladder to the top of Holiness as you may see in the Scribes and Pharisees and all other Hypocrites that the Scripture speaks of Thirdly It is their greatest desire and endeavor that sin may be cured rather then covered Sin most afflicts a gracious soul David cryes not perii Psal 51. out peccavi not I am undone but I have done foolishly Daniel complains Dan. 9. 5. not we are reproached and oppressed but we have rebelled Paul cryes not Rom. 7 23. If a Snake should sting thy dearly beloved Spâ—use to deaâ—h wouldst thou preserve it alive warm it at the fire hug it in thy bosom and not rather stab it wâ—th a thousand wounds You are wise and know how to apply it out of his Persecutors but of the law in his members rebelling against the law of his minde A gracious soul grieves more that God by his sin is grieved and dishonored then that for it he is afflicted and chastned The heart feeling within her the operation of the Serpents poyson runs from the thorns and thickets and runs over he green and pleasant Pastures that she may drink of the Fountain and be cured So gracious souls being sensible of the poyson and venom of sin runs from the Creatures that are but as thorns and thickets and runs over their own duties and righteousness which are but as pleasant Pastures to come to Christ the Fountain of Life that they may drink of those Waters of Consolation of those Wells of Salvation that be in him and cast up and cast out their spiritual poyson and be cured for ever Believers know that their sins do most pierce and grieve the Lord they lie hardest and heaviest Amos 2. 13. upon his heart and are most obvious to his eye The sin of Judah is written Jere. 17. 1. with a Pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond their sins are When Brutus went to stab Julius Caesar he cried out What thou my sen Brutus c. So may God well cry out what thou my Son what wilt thou stab me wâ—th thy sins is it not enough that others stab my honor but wilâ— thou my Son against beams of strongest light they are against the bowels of tenderest mercy they are against the manifestations of greatest love they are against the nearest and dearest relations they are against the choicest and highest expectations And this makes believing souls cry out O a cure Lord a cure Lord O give me purging grace give me purging grace though I should never taste of pardoning mercy yet give me purging grace It was a notable Speech of Câ—smus Duke oâ— â—lorence I have read saith he that I must forgive my enemies but never that I must forgive my friends The sins of Gods friends of Gods people provoke him most and sad him most and this makes them sigh and groan it out Who shall deliver us from this body of death O but now wicked men labor not that sin may be cured but onely that sin might be covered and that the consequents of sin viz. Afflictions and the stingings Hosea 7. 10. to ult of Conscience may be removed as you may see in Cain Saul Judas and divers others In their affliction they Hosea 5. 14 15. will seek me early saith God they wâ—ll then seek to be rid of their affliction but not to be rid of their sins that hath brought down the affliction upon them Like the patient that would fain be rid of his pain and torment under which he groans but cares not to be rid of those evil habits that hath brought the pain and torment Sin doth ill in the eye worse in the tongue worser in the heart but worst of all in the life upon them Psal 78. 34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God And they remembred that God was their Rock and the High God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant In these words Ah England England as face answers faee so doth thy carriâ—ge towards God answer the carriage of these people whose baseness and falseness God hath put upon record to this very day c. you see plainly that these people are very early and earnest in
is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and eternal life 2 Pet. 1. 3. According as his Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue What this Knowledge is that accompanies Salvation I shall shew you anon Secondly Faith is another of those special things that accompanies Salvation 1 Thes 2. 13. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you Brethren Beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation thorow sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth 1 Pet. 1. 5. You Vide Parcus Esteum Gerhardum on the Text. who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Vers 9. Receiving the end of your Faith even the salvation of your souls Heb. 10. 30. But we are not of them who draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul John 3 14 15 16. Mark 16. 16. Acts 16. 31. Rom. 10. 9. Isa 45. 22. Phil. 2. 8. Joh 11. 25 26. 1 John 5. 10. All â—hese and many more Scriptures speaks out the same truth This dâ—uble asseveration or protestation is used onely in matters of weâ—ght and unhappy are we â—hat we cannot believe without them And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life for God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Vers 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life Chap. 5. 24. Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life Chap. 6. 40. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth he Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Vers 47. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life Thirdly Repentance is another of those choice things that accompanies salvation 2 Cor. 7. 10. For godly sorrow The very word repâ—nt was very displeasing to Luther till his conversion but afterward he took delight in the work Paehitens de peccato dolet de dolore gaudet Luth to sorrow for his sin and then rejoyce in his sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death Jere. 4. 14. O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved Acts 11. 18. When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life Matth. 18. 3. And Jesus said verily I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Fourthly Obedience is another of those precious things that accompanies salvation Heb. 5. 9. And being Vide B. Dewâ—h of Justification 17. c. 7. made perfect speaking of Christ he became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him Psal 50. 23. whoso offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I declare the Salvation of God Fifthly Love is another of those singular things that accompanies salvation Deus nihil corenat nisi dona sui August When God câ—ownâ—th us he doth but crown hâ—s own gifts in us 2 Tim. 4. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto them also that love his appearing James 2. 5. Hearken my beloved brethren haâ—h not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdome which he hath promised to them that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. It is written eie hath not seen nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him James 1. 12. Blessed is the man that indureth temptation for when The word Crown notes to us the perpetuity of that life the Apostle speaks of for a Crown hath neither beginning nor ending 2. It notes plenty the Crown fetches a compasse on every side 3. It notes dignity it notes majesty Eternal life is a coronation day It notes all joys all delights in a word it notes all good it notes all glory he is tryed he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Matth. 19. 28 29. And Jesus said unto them verily I say unto you that yee which have followed me in the regeneration When the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his glory yee shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And every one that hath forsaken houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my name sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life The whole is as if Christ had said whosoever shall shew love to mee this way or that in one thing or another out of respect to my Name to my Honor mercy shall bee his portion here and glory shall bee his portion hereafter Sixthly Prayer is another of those sweet things that accompanies salvation Rom. 10. 10. 13. For with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Act. 2. 21. And it shall come to passe that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved That is saith one hee shall be certainly sealed up to salvation Or as another saith he that hath this grace of Prayer it is an evident sign and assurance to him that he shall be saved Therefore to have grace to pray is a better and a greater mercy then to have gifts to prophesie Matth. 7. 22. Praying souls shall finde the gates of heaven open to them when prophecying souls shall find them shut against them Seventhly and lastly Perseverance is another of those prime things that accompanies salvation Matth. 10. 22. And yee shall be hated of all men for my name sake but he that indureth to the end the same shall be saved Chap. 24. 12 13. And because iniquity shal abound the love The same words you have in Mark 13. 13. of many shal wax cold but he that indureth unto the end the same shal be saved Rev. 2. 10. Fear none of
Christ Pauls great light makes him very little though he was the greatest Apostle yet he looks upon himself a◠less then the least of all Saints Of all the Evangelists John was most sharp-sighted John in the Hebrew signifies The grace of God This Barbarian said the Philosopher hath comprised more in three lines then we have done in all our volumnious discourses Matth. 11. 9 10 11. Christ wonderfully extols John Sayes Christ he is a Prophet yea and more then a Prophet yea a greater is not born of women But the greatest wonder of all is that John is so low in his own eyes most Eagle-eyed he had the clearest sight of Christ he lay most in the bosom of Christ he knew most of the minde of Christ he had the fullest manifestations and revelations of Christ and yet O how little how low is John in his own eyes John 1. 26 27. John answered them saying I baptize with water but there standeth one among you whom ye know not He it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose shooes latchet I am not worthy to unloose In this phrase John alludes to the custom of the Hebrews those among them which were more noble then others had Boyes who carried their shooes and untied them when they laid them by O sayes John I am a poor weak worthless Creature I am not worthy to be admitted to the meanest to the lowest service under Christ I am not worthy to carry his shooes to unloose his shooes After Peter had been in the Mount and instructed and enlightned by Christ he cryes out Depart from me O Lord for I am a sinful man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man a sinner a very mixture and compound of dirt and sin of vileness and baseness as you may see in comparing Matth. 17. 1 2 3 4. with Luke 5. 8. Abraham under Gen. 18. 27. all his light and knowledge acknowledges himself to be but dust and ashes Jacob under all his knowledge Gen. 32. 10. acknowledges himself to be less then the least of all mercies David under Psal 22. 2. 73 22. all his knowledge acknowledges him self to be a worm and no man he acknowledges himself to be foolish and ignorant and as a beast before the Lord. Job under all his knowledge Job 42 1 2 3 4 5. acknowledges that he hath much reason to abhor himself in dust and ashes Agur was very good and his knowledge very great and yet under all his knowledge O how doth he villifie yea nullifie himself Surely saith he I am more bruitish then any man and Prov. 30. 1 2 3 4. have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the holy The Evangelical Prophet Isaiah under all his knowledge Isa 6. 1. to 8 c. and visions which were very great and glorious acknowledges himself to be a man of unclean lips and to dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips Divine and heavenly knowledge brings a man The light that the Moon borrows from the Sun discovers her own spots and makes them the more conspicuous Isa 6. near to God it gives a man the clearest and the fullest fight of God and the nearer any man comes to God and the clearer visions he hath of God the more low and humble will that man lie before God None so humble as they that have nearest communion with God The Angels that are near unto him cover their faces with their wings in token of humility Divine knowledge makes a man look inwards it anatomizes a man to himself it is a glass that shews a man the spots of his own soul and this makes him little and low in his own eies In the beams of this heavenly When a beam of Divine light had shined upon Augustine he cryed out Teneo in memoria scribo in charta sed non habeo i◠vita Gal. 6 3. Many in these days are like the Chineses who use to say That they onely did see with two eyes all others but with one light a Christian comes to see his own pride ignorance impatience unworthiness conceitedness worthlesness frowardness and nothingness That knowledge that swells thee will undo thee that knowledge that puffs thee will sink thee that knowledge that makes thee delightful in thy own eyes will make thee despicable in God and good mens eyes 1 Cor. 8. 1 2. Knowledge puffeth up that is Notional knowledge Speculative knowledge Knowledge that ripens a man for destruction that will leave him short of salvation this knowledge puffs and swells a man and makes him think himself something when he is nothing And if any man thinketh that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know saith the Apostle Will not that Philosopher rise in judgement against many of our high-flown Professors who swell who look big and talk big under their notional knowledge who said under all his knowledge which was very great Hoc tantum scio quod nihil scio This onely do I know that I know nothing Well if that knowledge thou hast be that knowledge that accompanies salvation it is a soul humbling and a soule abasing knowledge if it bee otherwise then will thy knowledge make thee both a Prisoner and a Slave to the Devill at once Seventhly That Knowledge that accompanies salvation is an appropriating knowledge a knowledge that appropriates and applies spiritual and heavenly benefits to a mans own particular soul As you may see in Job my Job 19 25. and 16. 19. Redeemer lives and my witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high So David the Lord is my portion in Psal Psal 16. 5. 18. 2. he useth this word of propriety eight times together The Lord is my rock and my fortresse and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high Tower So the Spouse my Beloved is mine and I am Cant. 2. 16. John 20. 28. his So Thomas My Lord and my God So Paul I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse This is the pith and power of heavenly knowledge to appropriate Christ to a mans selfe I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who hath loved me and gave himself for me Applicatory knowledge is the sweetest knowledge it revives the heart it chears the spirits it rejoyces the soul it makes a man go singing to duties and go singing to his grave and singing to Heaven Whereas others Those that have a blemish in their eie think the Skie to be ever cloudy and nothing is more common to weak spirits then to be criticizing and contending c. though gracious that want this applicatory knowledge have their hearts full of fears and their lives full of sorrows and so go sighing and mourning
compleat and perfect before the Throne of God Faiths putting this righteousness on the soul brings down blessings upon the soul When Jacob had put on his elder Brothers Gen. 27. 15. garment he carried the blessing away The actings of Faith upon this Pearless Righteousness of Christ brings down the blessing of Peace and the Rom 5. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Acts 10. 43. blessing of Joy and the blessing of Remission of sins and in a word all other blessings that contributes to the making us blessed here and happy hereafter c. The third object that Faith is exercised about is the precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. Mark the whole Word of God is the object of Faith but the promises more especially are the prime object about which Faâ—â—h is most conversant which are a Christians Magna Charta As every precious stone hath an â—gregious vertue in it so hath every promise The promises are a precious Book every Leaf drops Myrrhe and Mercy and upon these precious promises precious Faith looks and lives From these Brests Faith sucks comfort and sweetness Psal 119. 49 50. Remember thy word that is thy promise unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickned me So in Psalm 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living Heb. 11. 13. These all died in faith or according to faith not having received the promises but having seen them a far off and were perswaded of them and embraced them or as the Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Persevering in Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some think that it is an allusion to the custom of saluting one another by embracing or laying hold of each other saluted them by Faith they kissed the promises and kissed Christ in the promises and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth It would be an endless thing to shew you how the faith of the Patriarks Prophets Apostles and other Saints have been acted and exercised upon promises of Sanctification upon promises of Justification upon promises of Salvation upon promises of Glorification upon promises of Protection upon promises for Direction upon promises for Supportation c. Look as the Lamp lives upon the Oyl and the Childe upon the Brests so doth Faith upon the promises For the further advantage and comfort of your souls in eyeing the promises let me give you these two sweet hints First In your looking upon the promises minde most eye most spiritual promises absolute promises viz. Those and such-like that you see in Jere. 32. 40 41. Ezek. 11. 19 20. the Margent These spiritual and absolute promises are of nearest and Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. I a 42. 1. Ezek 20. 41 42 43. Psal 91. 15. Isa 65. 24. Jere. 33. 3. Isa 32 15. Ezek 34 30 31. with many others of the like import greatest concernment to you these carry in them most of the heart of Christ the love of Christ the good will of Christ these are of greatest use to satisfie you and to settle you when you are wavering to support you when you are falling to reduce you when you are wandering to comfort you when you are fainting to counsel you when you are staggering c. Therefore make these your choicest and your chiefest companions especially when it is night within your souls when you are sensible of much sin and but a little grace of much corruption but of little consolation of much deadness but of little quickness of much hardness but of little tenderness of many fears and but a little Spiritual and absolute promises are the most precious Mines to inrich you in them you will finde he greatest Pearls of price Faith The Jews under the Law had more temporal promises then spiritual but we under the Gospel have far more spiritual promises then temporal therefore sit down at this fire and be warmed drink of these springs and be satisfied taste of these delicates and be cheered Let the eye of Faith be cast upon all the promises but fixt upon spiritual promises upon absolute promises they will have the greatest influence upon the heart to holiness and to prepare it for Everlasting happiness Look not onely upon some of the Haman took notice yea and would have his friends take notice of all his greatness honors and riches Esth 5. 10 11 12. And will not you stir up your hearts to see all those riches and pleasures that be in precious promises riches the Jewels the Pearls that be rwapped up in the promises but enlarge and expatiate your understandings to an effectual contemplation of all those riches and treasures that God hath laid up in the promises Cast not the eye of your Faith onely upon one beam of the Sun but endeavor to see all the beams of the Sun Look not upon one branch of the Tree of Life but upon every branch of that Tree look not upon one bunch of the Grapes of Canaan but look upon the whole Land As understanding Heirs when they come to read over their Evidences and Writings they will see what they have in Houses what in Goods what in Lands what in Money what in Jewels what at home what abroad They will not sit down and say Well we finde in our Evidences that such and such Land is ours and look no further no no they will look all over and take exact notice of every thing they will say We have so much Land and so much Money c. O beloved there is much Marrow and Fatness there is much Honey and sweetness much Grace and Glory wrapped up in the promises O press them and oppress them till you have got forth all the riches and sweetness that is in them Ah Christians did you this God would be more honored the promises more prized your Graces more strengthned your fears more abated your hearts more warmed and engaged and your lives more regulated and Satan more easily and frequently vanquished And so much for this third object about which Faith is exercised The fourth object and last that I shall mention that Faith is set and fixt upon is That Glory Blessedness and 2 Tim 4. 8. Faith antedates glory Life which God hath laid up for them that love him The things of eternity are the greatest things they are the most excellent things they are most excellent in their natures in their causes in their operations in their effects in their ends and upon these Faith looks and lives Faith Heb. 11. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Subsistance i. e. That which gives a substantial being to the things of eternal life Faith alters the Tensis it puts the Future into the Present Psal 60. 6. Heb. 12. 2. realizeth things it makes absent things present Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence
cleanse the hearts of his people from all and to set their soul◠against all Jere. 33. 8 Ezek. 36. 25 29 33. 1 Iohn 1. 9. Repentance for sin is nothing worth without repentance from sin I love So in Ezek. 18. 30. Therefore I will judge you O house of Israel every one according to his ways saith the Lord God Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine So in Ezek. 33. 11. As Noahs flood drowned his neerest and his dearest friends so the flood of penitent tears drowns mens neerest and their dearest lusts Be they Isaacs or Benjamins be they right eyes or right hands Repentance that accompanies Salvation puts all to the Sword it spares neither Father nor Mother neither Agag nor Achan it casts off all the rags of old Adam it leaves not a Horn nor a Hoof behinde it throws down every stone of the old building it scrapes off all Leviathans skales it washeth away all leprous spots Ezek. 14. 6. Therefore say unto the house of Israel thus saith the Lord God Repent and turn your selves from your Idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations Sin is a turning the back upon God and the face towards Hell but Repentance is a turning the back upon sin and a setting the face towards God He that looks upon Jerusalem and upon Thus did Herod and Judas to their eternal ruine Jam. 2. 10. Babylon with a learing eye at the same time He that looks upon God and at the same time looks upon any sin with a learing eye hath not yet reached unto this Repentance that accompanies Salvation his Repentance and Profession cannot secure him from double damnation He that serves God in somethings and his lusts in other things sayes to God as David 1 Sam. 19. One stab ar the heart kills one hole in the ship sinks her one act of treason makes a Traytor So one sin not forsaken not turned from will undo a soul for ever Sin ever ends tragically and this puts the penitent in battel array against every sin said to Mephibosheth concerning his Lands Thou and Ziba divide the Lands So thou and Satan divide my soul my heart between you Ah doth not such a soul deserve a double Hell Christ takes every sin at a penitent mans hands as Caesar did his wounds from him of whom he merited better usage with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thou my son What thou wound me what thou stob me that shouldst venture thy own blood to save mine There are no wounds that are so grievous and terrible to Christ as those that he receives in the house of his friends And this sets the penitent mans heart and hand against every thing that makes against Christ A true penitent looks upon every sin as poyson as the vomit of a dog as the mire of the Isa 30. 22. Nihil in lege menstruato immundius Hieron street as the menstruous cloath which of all things in the Law was most unclean defiling and polluting Pliny saith that the very Trees with touching of it would become barren And his looking thus upon every sin turns his heart against every sin and makes him not onely to refrain from sin but to forsake it and to loath it more then Hell Thirdly That Repentance that accompanies Salvation is not onely a Isa 1. The Hebrew word for Repentance is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shob which signifies to return implying a going back from what a man had done turning from all sin but it is also a turning unto God it is not onely a ceasing from doing evil but it is also a learning to do well it is not onely a turning from darkness but it is also a turning to light as the Apostle speaks Acts 26. 18. To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and It notes a returning or converting from one thing to another as from sin to God from evil to good from Hell to Heaven from the power of Satan unto God So in Isa 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord c. It is not enough for the man of iniquity to forsake his evil way but he must also return unto the Lord he must subject his heart to the power of Divine Grace and his life to the Will and Word of God As Negative goodness can never satisfie a gracious soul so Negative goodness can never save a sinful soul It is not enough that thou art not thus and thus bad but thou must be thus and thus good or thou art undone for ever Ezek. 18. 21. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die Negative Righteousness and Holiness is no Righteousness no Holiness in the account of God It was not the Pharisees Negative Righteousness nor Luke 18. 5. Matth. 20. 13 14. his Comparative Goodness that could prevent his being rejected of God his being shut out of Heaven his burning in Hell It is not enough that the Tree hears no ill fruit but it must bring forth good fruit else it must be cut down and cast into the fire that Tree that is not for fruit is for the fire Every Matth. 7. 19. He that holds nor wholly with Christ doth very shamefully neglect Christ Aut totum mecum tene aut totum omitte Greg. Nazian And therfore if Christ trample upon them at last it is just tree that brings not forth good fruit sayes Christ is hewn down and cast into the fire Men that content themselves with Negative Righteousness shall finde at last Heaven Gates bolted upon them with a double bolt All that Negative Righteousness and Holiness can do is to help a man to one of the best Chambers and easiest Beds in Hell That Repentance that accompanies Salvation brings the heart and life not onely off from sin but on to God it makes a man not onely cease from walking in the wayes of death but it makes him walk in the wayes of life They do no iniquity they walk in his wayes Psal 119. 3. Fourthly That Repentance that accompanies Salvation strikes most Augustine a great sinner wrote Twelve Books of Repentance and walked most cross to the particular sins he had most lived in effectually and particularly against that sin or sins that the sinner was most apt and prone to before his Conversion The hand of Repentance is most against that sin it is most upon that sin that the soul hath looked most with a learing eye upon The chief and principal sins that Israel was guilty of was idolatry and sinful compliance Now when God works kindly upon them they put the hand of Repentance upon those particular sins as you may see Isa 27. 9. By this therefore shall the This
want of the Hos 7. 14. Creature and sometimes from the example of the Creature and sometimes from vows made to the Creature sometimes the frowns of God Hos 5. ult Psal 78. 34. the displeasure of God the rod of God moves them to obedience sometimes the quieting and stilling of Conscience the stopping of the mouth of Conscience and the disarming of Conscience of all her whipping racking wounding condemning terrifying and torturing power puts them upon some ways of Obedience Their Obedience always flows from some low base carnal corrupt consideration or other O but that Obedience that accompanies Salvation doth always flow as you see from inward and Spiritual causes and from holy and heavenly Motives Fourthly That Obedience that accompanies Salvation is a ready free willing and chearful Obedience First It is ready Obedience Psal 27. 8. When thou saidst Seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek Psal 119. 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments Psal 18. 44. Assoon as they hear of me they shall obey me the strangers shall submit themselves unto me I have read of one who Cassianus lib. 4. c. 24. readily fetched water near two miles every day for a whole year together to pour upon a dry stick upon the bare command of a Superior when no reason could be given for the thing O how ready then doth Grace make the Soul to obey those Divine commands that are backed with the highest strongest and choicest Arguments Secondly As that Obedience that accompanies Salvation is ready Obedience so it is free and willing Obedience Acts 21. 13. Then Paul answered Voluntaes semiplena est voluntas An half will an incompleat will an unwilling will is a will in Divine account What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart For I am willing not to be bound onely but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus The beamings out of Divine love and glory make gracious souls willing in the day of his power Psal 110. 3. Those Divine principles that be in them make them willingly obey without coaction or compulsion So 2 Cor. 8. 3. The Macedonians were willingly obedient or as the Greek hath it They were voluntiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely to their power but beyond their power All the motions and actings of Christ towards his people for his people and in his people are free He loves them freely he pardons them freely he intercedes for them freely he acts them freely and he saves them freely and so they move and act towards Christ freely they heat they pray they wait they weep they work they watch freely and willingly that Spirit of Grace and 1 Chron. 29. 6-18 1 Tim. 6. 18. 1 Thes 2. 8. A Saint at worst is obedient either Holiness that is in them makes them Voluntiers in all Religious duties and services It is reported of Socrates that when the Tyrant threatned death unto him he answered He was willing Voluntate plena or semi-plena with a will or an unwilling will like the Merchant that is unwillingly willing to throw his goods over board into the tempestuous Sea to save his life nay then says the Tyrant You shall live against your will he answered again Nay whatsoever you do with me it shall be my will Yet nature a little raised and refined will inable a man to do this will not Grace will not Union and Communion with Christ inable a man to do as much yea infinitly more Thirdly As that Obedience that accompanies Salvation is free and willing Obedience so it is cheerful and delightful Obedience it is a Believers meat and drink it is his joy and crown it is a pleasure a paradise to his soul to be still obeying his Fathers will to be still found about his Fathers business Psal 40. 8. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is in my heart As the Sun rejoyceth to Psal 19. 5 11. compared Tanto magis delectat opus bonum quanto magis diligitur Deus summum incommutabile bonum Aug. A good work so much the more delighteth by how much the more God the chiefest and unchangable Good is loved In hoc cognoscitur amor Christi si quis servat praecepta Christi Bern. run his race so do the Saints rejoyce to run the race of Obedience Gods work is wages yea it is better then wages therefore they cannot but delight in it not onely for keeping but also in keeping of his commands there is great reward Psal 112. 1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments that is in the studying and obeying of his Commandments Psal 119. 16. I will delight my self in thy Statutes I will not forget thy Word Vers 35. Make me to go in the path of thy Commandments for therein do I delight V. 47. And I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved V. 143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me yet thy Commandments are my delight Divine commands are not grievous to a lover of Christ for nihil difficile amanti nothing is difficult to him that loveth The love of Christ the discoveries of Christ the embraces of Christ make a gracious soul studious and industrious to keep the Commandments of Christ in lip and life in word and work in head and heart in book and brest Thus you see that that Obedience that accompanies Salvation is Ready Free and Chearful Obedience Fifthly That Obedience that accompanies Salvation is Peremptory Obedience Josh 24. 15. I and my Josephus reports of such resolute Christians that in the face of al reproaches and difficulties followed Christ to the Cross houshold will serve the Lord. He is fully resolved upon it come what come can in the face of all dangers difficulties impediments and discouragements he will obey the Lord he will follow the Lord so those Worthies in the eleventh of the Hebrews of whom this world was not worthy obeyed Divine commands peremptorily resolvedly in the face of all manner of deaths and miseries So Paul was obedient to Acts 20. 23. Gal. 1. 15 16. You may as well stop the Sun from running his race as you are able to hinder gracious souls from obeying Divine commands Psal 44. 13. 24. As a wicked natuâ—e makes the wicked peremptory in their disobedience Jer. 44. 15 16 17. So the Divine nature makes gracious souls peremptory in their Obedience the heavenly vision though bonds did attend him in every place he is better at obeying then at disputing I conferred not sayes he with flesh and blood So Peter and John and the rest of the Apostles in despight of all threatnings and beatings they obey the Lord they keep fast and close to their Masters work Whether it be right in the fight of God to hearken more unto you then unto God judge ye for we cannot but
speak the things which we have seen and heard And now Lord behold their threatnings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy Word And when they had called the Apostles and beaten them they commanded that they should not speak in the Name of Jesus and let them go And they departed from the presence of the Council rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name And daily in the Temple and in every House they ceased not to Teach and Preach Jesus Christ Acts 4. 19 20 29. 5. 40 41 42. compared Thus you see no tryals no troubles no terrors no threats no dangers no deaths could deter them from peremptory Obedience to Divine precepts It is not the Fiery Furnace nor the Lyons Den nor the Bloody Sword nor the Torturing Wrack that can fright gracious Souls from their Obedience to their dearest Lord. Psal 119. 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgements Sixtly The end of that Obedience that accompanies Salvation is Divine Propter te domine propter te Is every godly mans Motto Quicquid agas propter Dâ—um agas Was an Eastern Apophthegm Drusius glory the Eye of the obedient Soul in prayer and praises in talking and walking in giving and receiving in living and doing is Divine glory Rom. 14. 7 8. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords In all actions the obedient Soul intends and attends most Divine glory If Satan the World or the Old man do at any time propound other ends to the Finis movet ad agendum The End moves to doing Soul this great end Divine glory works out all those ends for this is most certain That which a man makes his greatest and his highest end will work out all other ends Look as the light of the Sun doth extinguish and put out the light of the fire so when a man makes the glory of God his end that end will extinguish and put out all carnal low base ends That man that makes himself the end of his actions that makes honor riches applause c. the end of his actions he must at last lie down in eternal sorrow he must dwell in everlasting burnings Isai 50. ult 33. 14. the man is as his end is and his work is as his end is if that be naught all is naught if that be good all is good and the man is happy for ever Seventhly That Obedience that accompanies Salvation that borders upon Salvation that comprehends Si dixisti sufficit teriisti Aug. If once thou saidst it is enough thou art undone Salvation is a constant Obedience Psal 119. 112. I have enclined my heart to do thy Statutes alway even unto the end The Causes Springs and Motives of holy Obedience are lasting and permanent and therefore the Obedience of a sound Christian is not like the morning dew or a deceitful bow Psal 44. 17 18 19. All this is come upon us History reports that it hath been the ancient custom of pious Christians under persecuting Emperors to meet and by the Sacrament to binde themselves for ever to flie what was evil and follow what was good what ever it cost them yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy ways Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death The love of Christ the promises of Christ the presence of Christ the discoveries of Christ the example of Christ and the recompence of reward held forth by Christ makes a sound Christian hold on and hold out in ways of Obedience in the face of all dangers and deaths Neither the hope of life nor the fear of death can make a sincere Christian either change his Master or decline his Work Phil. 2. 12. Wherefore my beloved as ye have always obeyed not as in my presence onely but how much more in my absence Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling This was the Philippians glory That they were constant in their Obedience whether Paul was present or absent they constantly minded their work Ah but Hypocrites and Temporaries Such Hypocrites may well cry out as Ecebolius did who was onely constant in inconstaney 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tread upon me that am unsavory Salt are but passionate transient and inconstant in their Obedience they talk of Obedience they commend Obedience and now and then in a fit they step in the way of Obedience but they do not walk in a way of Obedience they are onely constant in inconstancy Job chap. 27. vers 10. Will the Hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty Will he always call upon God Or as the Hebrew hath it Will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he in every time call upon God will he call upon God in time of prosperity and in time of adversity in time of health and in time of sickness in time of strength and in time of weakness in time of honor and in time of disgrace in time of liberty and in time of durance c The answer to be given in is He will not always he will not in every time call upon God As a lame Horse when he is heated will go well enough but when he cools he halts down-right even so an Hypocrite though for a time he may go on fairly in a Religious way yet when he hath attained his ends he will halt down-right and be able to The Monk in the Fable being a poor Fisher-mans son still spread a Net over his Table as a remembrance of his mean original till he had by these shews of humility attained to the highest preferments which when he had attained he laid away the Net because the Fish was caught go no further The Abbot in Melancton lived strictly and walked demurely and looked humbly so long as he was but a Monk but when by his seeming extraordinary sanctity he got to be made Abbot he grew intolerably proud and insolent and being asked the reason of it confest That his former carriage and lowly looks was but to see if he could finde the Keys of the Abbey Ah! many unsound hearts there be that will put on the Cloak of Religion and speak like Angels and look like Saints to finde the Keys of Preferment and when they have found them none prove more proud base and vain then they Ah! but that Obedience that accompanies Salvation is constant and durable A Christian in his course goes strait on Heaven-wards The two milch Kine 1 Sam. 6. 12. took the strait way to the way of Bethshemesh and went along the high-way loughing as they went and turned not aside
The betrothed Virgin cannot shew more strong and vehement love to her beloved then by being sick and surprised with love-qualms when she meets him when she enjoyes him it was so here with the Spouse of Christ The love of Christ to Believers is a vehement love an ardent love witness his leaving his Fathers bosom his putting upon us his Royal Robes his bleeding his dying c. And it doth naturally beget Amor non nisi donum amantis Gul. Par. vehement and ardent Love in all the beloved of God Where Christ loves he always begets somewhat like himself Amor semper habet quid sui simile That love that is flat luke-warm or cold will leave a man to freeze a this side Heaven it will fit him for the warmest place in Hell Dives love was very cold and he found the flames of Hell to be very hot That love that accompanies Salvation is full of heat and fire Fifthly That Love that accompanies Salvation is lasting Love it is permanent Love the objects of it are lasting the springs and causes of it are lasting the nature of it is lasting The Primitive Christians loved not Revel 12. 11. their lives unto the death Persecutors have taken away the Martyrs lives for Christ but could never destroy their love to Christ Ephes 6. 24. Grace be 1 Cor. 13. 8. Love never faileth or as it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never falleth away but shall last for ever in Heaven in which respect the Apostle lifts it up above Faith Hope and all the common gifts of the Spirit in the same Chapter with all that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity or in incorruption as the Greek word signifies whereby the Apostle gives us to understand That true love to Christ is not liable to corruption putrifaction or decay but is constant and permanent lasting yea everlasting That Love that accompanies Salvation is like to the Oyl in the Cruse and the Meal in the Barrel that wasted not it is like the Apple-Tree of Persia that buddeth blossometh and beareth fruit every moneth it is like the Lamp in the story that never went out it is like the Stone in Thracia that neither burneth in the fire nor sinketh in the water Cant. 8. 6 7. Love is stronger then death many waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contemning it would be contemned Omnia vincit amor Love rides in her chariot of triumph over all calamities and miseries and cryes Victory victory cannot quench it nor thâ— floods cannot drown it If a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be contemned Love will out-live all enemies temptations oppositions afflictions persecutions dangers and deaths Loves Motto is Nulli cedo I yeeld to none Love is like the Sun the Sun beginning to ascend in his circle never goes back until he comes to the highest degree thereof True love abhors Apostacie it ascends to more perfection and ceases not until like Eliahs Fiery-Chariot it hath carried the Soul to Heaven Many mens love to Christ is like the Morning Dew it is like Jonahs Goard that came up in a night and vanished in a night But that love that accompanies Salvation is like Ruthes love a lasting and an abiding Ruth 1. love it is Love that will bed and board with the Soul that will lye down and rise up with the Soul that will to the fire to the prison to the grave to Heaven with the Soul Sixthly That love that accompanies Salvation is an abounding This is clear throughout the whole Book of Cantiâ—les as all may ruâ— and read love an increasing love Love in a Saint is like the Waters in Noahs time that rose higher and higher The very nature of true Love is to abound and rise higher and higher Phil. 1. 9. This I pray that your love may abound yet more and more The longer a Believer lives the more eminent and excellent Causes of Love he sees in Christ Christ discovers himself gradually to the Soul Now a Believers love to Christ rises answerable to the causes of love that he sees in Christ The more light the more love Knowledge and Love like the Water and the Ice beget each other Man loves Christ by knowing and knows Christ by loving Mans love is always answerable to his light he cannot love much that knows but little he cannot love little that knows much As a man rises higher and higher in his apprehensions of Amat Deus non aliunde hoc habet sed ipse est unde amat Aug. Christ so he cannot but rise higher and higher in his affections to Christ Again the daily Mercies and Experiences that they have of the love of Christ of the care of Christ of the bowels and compassions of Christ working more and more towards them cannot but raise their affections more and more to him As fire is encreased by adding of fuel unto it so is our love to Christ upon fresh and new manifestations of his great love towards us As the Husband abounds in his love to his Wife so the Wife rises in her love to her Husband the more love the Father manifests to the Childe the more the ingenuous Childe rises in his affections to him so the more love the Lord Jesus shews to us the more he is beloved by us Christ shewed much love to Mary Luke 7. 47 48 Magdalen and this raises in her much love to Christ She loved much for much was forgiven her As the Israelites in the three and thirtieth of Numbers removed their Tents from Mithkah to Chasmonah from sweetness to swiftness as the words import so the sweetness of Divine love manifested to the soul makes the soul more sweet swift and high in the exercise and actings of love towards Christ A Soul under special manifestations of Love weeps that it can love Christ no more Mr. Welch a Suffolk Minister weeping at Table and being asked the reason of it answered It was because he could love Christ no more The true lovers of Christ can never rise high enough in their love to Christ they count a little love to be no love great love to be but little strong love to be but weak and the highest love to be infinitely below the worth of Christ the beauty and glory of Christ the fulness sweetness and goodness of Christ The top of their misery in this life is That they love so little though they are so much beloved Seventhly and lastly That Love that accompanies Salvation is open love it is manifest love it is love that cannot be hid that cannot be covered and buried it is like the Sun it will shine forth and shew it self to all the world A man cannot love Christ but he will shew it in these and such-like things as follow First Divine Love makes the Soul even ready to break in longing after a further clearer and fuller enjoyment of Christ The voice of Divine love is
our daily Prayer saith one is Flagellum Diaboli fears our daily dangers our daily temptations c. be speak our daily Prayers Rom. 12. 12. Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in Prayer It is a Metaphor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken from dogs that hunt that will not give over the game till they have got it A dog of all Creatures is best Augustines usual wish was That when Christ came he might finde him Aut precantem aut praedicantem either praying or preaching able to endure hunger he will run from place to place and never leave till he hath got his prey So a childe of God in his hunting after God Christ Grace Peace Mercy Glory never gives over till he hath found his heavenly prey Cant. 3. 4. At length I found him whom my soul loved I held him and would not let him go The Spouse never left hunting after her beloved till she had found him Gracious souls reckon As a hungry man eats as if he had never eat before that they have nothing till they speed in the things they sue for they pray as if they had never prayed and think that they have done nothing till they have done the deed It is observed by some of Proteus that he was wont to give certain Oracles but it was hard to make him speak and deliver them but he would turn himself into several shapes and forms yet if they would hold out and press him hard without fear into whatsoever form or shape he appeared they were sure to have satisfactory Oracles So if we will continue Hypocrites are inconstant in their prayers Job 27. 10. they are onely at it by sits and starts they are onely constant in inconstancy constant in our wrestling with God for blessings though God should appear to us in the form or shape of a Judge an Enemy a Stranger c. yet still to press him hard for mercy verily mercy will come at the long run and we shall say That it is not in vain for men to hold on praying though God for a time delayes giving the particular favors they sue for As that Emperor said Oportet Imperatorem stantem mori It behoves an Emperor to die standing So may I say Oportet Christianum mori precantem It behoves a Christian to die praying Fifthly To pray in a right manner is To pray sincerely Psal 17. 1. Give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very Heathen gods woâ—ld be served in white the very emblem of purity feigned lips or as it is in the Hebrew without lips of deceipt Psal 145. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him To all that call upon him in truth Your heart and tongue must go together word and work lip and life prayer and practise must eccho one to another or else all will be lost God lost Christ lost Heaven lost and the Soul lost for ever It is not the greatness of the voice nor the multitude of words nor the sweetness of the tone nor studied notions nor eloquent expressions that takes Jehovah Psal 51. 6. but truth in the inward parts When the Athenians would know of the Oracle the cause of their often unprosperous successes in battel against the Lacedemonians seeing they offered the choicest things they could get in sacrifice to the gods which their enemies did not The Oracle gave them this answer That the gods were better pleased with their inward supplication without ambition then with all their outward pomp in costly sacrifices Ah Souls the reason why you are so unsuccessful in your religious duties and services is Because you are no more sincere and upright in them were A Gentlewoman being in her Parlor in Meditation and Prayer cryed out O that I might ever enjoy this sweet communion with God and never change it The first part of her wish is precious in the latter part of the wish like Peter she said she knew not what there more singleness and sincerity of heart in your duties you would have surer and sweeter returns from Heaven One reports of Joachim the Father of the Virgin Mary that he would often say Cibus potus mihi erit oratio Prayer is my meat and drink Ah Christians the more sincere you are the more will Prayer be your meat and drink and the more prayer is a delight and pleasure to you the more will you be the pleasure and delight of God who delights in those that delight in his service and that count his work better then wages It was more troublesom to Severus the Emperor to be asked nothing then to give much when any of his Courtiers had not made bold with him he would call him and say Quid est cur nihil petis c. What meanest thou to ask me nothing So sayes Christ to upright souls Hitherto have ye asked nothing Aske and ye shall receive that your joy may be full John 16. 24. Christ hath a full purse a noble heart and a liberal hand The fourth requisit in Prayer is this viz. Your Prayer must be ad bonum Maxâ—milians Motto was Tene mensuram respice finem Keep thy self within compass and have alwayes an eye to the end of thy life and actions to a good end it must be to the glory of God and to the internal and eternal advantage of your own and others souls The chiefest end the white the mark at which the soul must aim in Prayer is Gods glory Whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God When God crowns us he doth but crown his own gifts in us and when we give God the glory of all we do we do but give him the glory that is due unto his Name For he works all our works in us and for us God measures all mens actions by their ends if the end be good all is good if the end be naught all is naught The end determineth the action All actions of worship are good or bad as the mark is at which the soul aims He that makes God the object of Prayer but not the end of Prayer doth but lose his Prayer and take pains to undo himself God will Lord saith Austin whatever thou hast given take all away onely give me thy self Isai 1. 11. Zach. 7. 5 Amos 5 22. Hos 7. 14. Many Heathens as Aristides Cato Themistecles with divers others did unfeignedly many great services for the common good and not for their own gain but yet they could not hit the mark the white Divine glory and so their most glorious actions were but glorious sins and would never turn to their souls accounts be all in all or he will be nothing at all he will be Alexander or Nemo he will be both the object and the end of Prayer or else he will abhor your Prayer Those Prayers never reach his ear they are never lodged in his
and so it makes a Christian to stand and triumph over all afflictions oppositions and temptations A third property of that Hope that accompanies Salvation is this It makes the Soul lively and active Psal 119. 166. Lord I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments Hope puts the Soul upon doing upon obeying 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant or much mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much. hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead It is called a lively hope A mans duties and services usually are as his hopes are if his hopes are weak and low so will his services be but if his hopes are spiritual noble and high so will his motions and actions be Divine hope makes Saints as far excel all other men in their actings as the Angels do excel them Some say hope and fasting are the two wings of Prayer fasting is but as the wing of a bird but hope is as the wing of an Angel bearing our prayers to the throne of Grace because it brings life and comfort into the Soul and it is called a lively hope in opposition to the withering and dying hopes of Hypocrites and wicked men and it is called a lively hope because it flows from lively causes viz. The Spirit of Christ and the Souls union and communion with Christ but mainly it is called a lively hope because it puts the Soul upon lively endeavors Hope will make a man pray as for life hear as for life and mourn as for life and obey as for life and work and walk as for life Hope will not say this work is too hard and that work is too hot this work is too high and the other work is too low Hope will make a man put his hand to every work Hope makes a man more motion then notion it makes a man better at doing then at saying c. Hope gives life and strength to all religious duties and services 1 Cor. 9. 10. He that plougheth should plough in hope and he that thresheth in hope shall be partaker of his hope Hope will put a Christian upon ploughing and threshing that is upon the hardest and difficultest services for God and his glory If fleshly Fleshly hopes put the Romans upon doing very strange and wonderful exploits as you may see in Plutarch and other Historians hopes of gaining the honors riches and favors of this world made Absolom Ahitophel Jehu Haman and many Heathens full of life and activity full of motion and action Verily holy and heavenly hopes will make men much more lively and active by how much heavenly hopes are more excellent then earthly A man full of hope will be full of action a lively hope and a diligently hand are inseparable companions Hope will make a man do though he dies for doing A fourth property of that Hope that accompanies Salvation is this It will make a man sit Noah like quiet and still in the midst of all storms and tempests in the midst of all combustions concussions and mutations when others are at their wits end then hope will house the Soul and lodge it safe and quiet in the bosom of God Job 11. 18. And thou shalt be secure because there is hope yea thou shalt dig about thee and thou shalt take thy rest in safety The Hebrew word that is here rendred rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To rest as men rest in their beds or as the body rests in the grave is from a root that signifies to rest and sleep quietly as in ones bed Hope will bring the Soul to bed safely and sweetly in the darkest night in the longest storm and in the greatest tempest Heb. 6. 19. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the veil Hope is that Anchor of the Soul that keeps it quiet and still in all storms and tempests it keeps the soul from dashing Chrysostome saith that hope is not onely the Anchor but the Ship to that good Anchor upon the Rocks and from being swallowed up in the Sands Hope is an Anchor that is fastned above not below in Heaven not in Earth within the veil not without therefore the ship the Soul of a Believer must needs be safe and secure That ship will never be split upon the Rocks Hypoerites in stormy times are like ships without Anchors â—ost up and down with every wave and in danger of being split upon every Rock Job 27. 9 10. whose Anchor is in Heaven Hope enters within the veil and takes fast Anchor-hold on God himself and therefore blow high blow low rain or shine the soul of a Saint is safe Divine hope settles the heart he that cannot look for more then he hath can never be settled nor satisfied our best and greatest estate lies in invisibles our perfect and compleat estate here lies not in re but in spe it lies not in what we have in possession but in what we have in expectation in reversion A fift property of that Hope that accompanies Salvation is this It will work the Soul to a quiet and patient Patience is nothing else but Hope spun out If you would lengthen Patience be sure to strenthen Hope waiting upon God for mercy though God should delay the giving in of mercy Rom. 8. 25. But if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Psal 130. 5 6. I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they that watch for the morning I say more then they that watch for the morning Hope will make a man wait yea wait long for a mercy as it did Abraham Rom. 4. 18 19 20 21. Though the vision stay yet hope will Hab. 2. 1 2 3. Heb. 10. 36 37. Hopes Motto is Quod defertur non aufertur For bearâ—nce is no acquittance wait for it yet a little little while sayes hope and he that shall come will come and will not tarry The longer I wait for a mercy the greater better and sweeter at last the mercy will prove sayes Hope It is not mercy if it be not worth a waiting for sayes Hope and if it be mercy thou canst not wait too long for it sayes Hope The men of Bethulia resolved to wait upon God but five dayes longer but Deliverance stayed seven dayes and yet came at last So sayes Hope Pittacus one of the seven Sages used to say A wise man must recover that by patience which force cannot command though Deliverance stay though this and that mercy stayes as it were in the birth yet it will come at last therefore wait Hope is not hasty in prefixing the time when God shall shew mercy neither will it
so unhappy as to lose it will put thee to more pains and charge Of the two it is easier to keep Assurance now thou hast it then to recover it when thou hast lost it It is easier to keep the house in reparations then when it is fallen to build it up Ninethly and lastly consider solemnly the sad and wofull evils and inconveniencies that will certainly follow How can the bird flye without wings and the wheeles go without oyle and the workman worke without hands and the painter paint without eies c. upon the loss of your Assurance I will only touch upon a few 1 None of the precious things of Christ will be so sweet to thee as formerly they have been 2 You will neither be so fervent in duty nor so frequent in duty nor so abundant in duty nor so spirituall in duty nor so lively in duty nor so cheerful in duty as formerly you have been 3. Afflictions will sooner sink you temptations will sooner overcome you oppositions will sooner discourage you 4. Your mercies will be bitter your life a burden and death a terror to you you will be weary of living and yet afraid of dying c. Now the second Question is this Suppose Quest 2 Souls have not been so careful to keep and maintain their Assurance as they should have been but upon one account or another have lost that blessed Assurance that once they had how may such sad Souls be supported and kept from fainting sinking and languishing under the loss of Assurance To this Question I shall give these following Answers First Souls that have lost that sweet Support 1 Assurance that once they had may be supported and kept from fainting and sinking by considering that though they have lost their Assurance yet they have not not lost their Son-ship Rom. 8. 15 16 17. for once sons and always sons You are sons though dejected sons you are sons though comfortless sons you are sons though mourning sons Psal 89. 30 31 32 33 34. John 13. 3. Jere. 31. 3. Once children and always children once heirs and always heirs once beloved and always beloved once happy and always happy 2 Sam. 23. 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure For this is all my Salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow Well sayes David though neither my self nor my house have been so exact and perfect in our walkings before God as we should but we have broken our Covenants with him and dealt unworthily by him and turned our backs upon him yet he hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant he hath engaged himself in an Everlasting Covenant that he will be my Father and that I shall be his Son And this is my Salvation and an Everlasting Ground of Consolation and Supportation to my Soul The second Support is this Consider Support 2 that though your Comfort Joy and Peace doth depend much upon your Assurance yet your Eternal Happiness and Blessedness doth not depend upon your Assurance if it did you might be happy and miserable in a day I in an hour Your Happiness lies in your Union with God in your Communion with God in your Interest in God and not in your seeing and knowing Your Interest your Joy and Comfort lies in your seeing and knowing your Interest in God but your Everlasting Happiness lies in your being interested in God The welfare and happiness of the childe lies in the interest that he hath in his Father but the joy and comfort of the childe lies in his seeing in his knowing of his interest in his Father It is so between the Lord and Believers Psal 144. 15. Happy be the people that be in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Nemo aliorum sensu miser est sed suo Sal. de Gub. Dei â— 1. A godly mans happiness or misery is not to be judged by the worlds sense or feeling but his own Lord. Among the Philosophers there were Two hundred and eighty Opinions concerning Happiness some affirming Happiness to lie in one thing some in another Ah but by the Spirit and Word we are taught that Happiness lies in our oneness with God in our nearness and dearness to God and in our conformity to God c. Mark the To make up happiness these things must concur First it must be a convenient good a suitable good to our natures Secondly it must be an excellent good a good that hath worth and excellency in it Thirdly it must be a sufficient good a few scrapings of gold will not make a man rich c. Fourthly it must be a permanent good it is permanency that sâ—ts the greatest price and hath the greatest influence into our happiness and felicity Scripture pronounces him happy whose hope is in God though he want Assurance Psal 146. 5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God Again he is happy that trusteth in the Lord though for the present he want Assurance Prov. 16. 20. And who so trusteth in the Lord happy is he Again he is happy that feareth the Lord that hath set up God as the object of his fear though he want Assurance of the love of God Prov. 28. 14. Happy is the man that feareth always That fears to offend that fears to disobey that fears to rebel c. Again he is happy that believes in Christ that rests and stayes upon Christ as the Scriptures every where testifie though he may want Assurance Happiness lies not in any transient act of the Spirit as Assurance is but in the more permanent and lasting acts of the Spirit The Philosopher could say That he was never a happy man that might afterwards become miserable If a mans Eternal Happiness did lie in the Assurance of his Happiness then might a man be crowned with Xerxes's Steersman in the Morning and be beheaded with him in the Evening of the same day But this is the Believers Blessedness That his condition is always good though he doth not alwayes see it to be good that his state is always safe though it be not alwayes comfortable The third Support to keep those Support 3 precious Souls from fainting and sinking that have lost that sweet Assurance that once they had is to consider that though their loss be the greatest and saddest loss that could befal them yet it is a recoverable loss it is a loss that may be recovered as the Scriptures in the Margent do clearly Psal 71 20 21. 42. 5 7 8 Isa 54 7 8. Micah 7. 18 19 Cant. 3. 4. Psal 84. 11 c. Glover and many others yea a cloud of witnesses might be found to testifie this truth evidence And doth not this age as well as former furnish us with many instances of this kinde Doubtless many there
applying precious promises and suitable remedies to all your maladies Have you not found God a bringing in unexpected mercy in the day of your adversity suitable to that promise Hosea 2. 14. I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her or I will earnestly speak to her heart as the Hebrew reads it yes Have you not found that God hath so sweetned and sanctified afflictions to you as to make them a means to discover many sins that lay hid and to purge you from many sins that cleaved close unto you and to prevent you from falling into many sins that would have been the breaking of your bones and the loss of your comfort yes Have you not found that you have Musk saith one when it hath lost its sweetness if it be put into the sink amongst filth it recovers it so doth afflictions recover and revive decayed graces been like the Walnut tree the better for beating and like the Vine the better for bleeding and like the ingenious childe the better for whiping yes Have you not found afflictions to revive quicken and recover your decayed graces have they not inflamed that love that hath been cold and put life into that Faith that hath been dying and quickned those hopes that have been withering and put spirits into those joyes and comforts that have been languishing yes O then stand up and declare to all the world That times of affliction have been the times wherein you have seen the face of God and heard the voice of God and sucked sweetness from the brests of God and fed upon the delicates of God and drunk deep of the consolations of God and have been most satisfied and delighted with the presence and in-comes of God When Hezekiah in his great affliction lamentingly said I shall go mourning Isai 38. 9. to 21. to my grave I shall not see the Lord in the Land of the living he will cut me off with pining sickness he will break all my bones Like a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove mine eyes fail with looking upward O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me So now God comes in a way of mercy to him and prints his love upon his heart Vers 17. Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption or rather as the Hebrew reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it Thou hast loved my soul from the grave for thou hast cast all my sins behinde thy back Ah says Hezekiah I have now found that in my afflictions thy affections have been most strongly carried towards me as towards one whom thou art exceedingly taken with O now thou hast warmed me with thy love and visited me with thy grace thou hast made my darkness to be light and turned my sighing into singing and my mourning into rejoycing So when Habakkuks belly trembled Hab 3. 16 17 18. and his lips quivered and rottenness entered into his bones and all Creature comforts failed yet then had he such a sweet presence of God with his Spirit as makes him to rejoyce in the midst of sorrows Yet says he I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation And thus you see it clear That in times of affliction God makes sweet manifestations of his love and favor to his Childrens souls Eighthly Praying times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to give his people some sweet and comfortable assurance of his love and favor towards them Prayer crowns Nunquam abs te absque te recedo Bern. ep 116. O Lord saith he I never go away from thee without thee He was a man very much in prayer as some Writers observe God with the honor and glory that is due to his Name and God crowns prayer with assurance and comfort usually the most praying souls are the most assured souls There is no service wherein souls have such a neer familiar and friendly entercourse with God as in this of prayer neither is there any service wherein God doth more delight to make known his grace and goodness his mercy and bounty his beauty and glory to poor souls then this of prayer The best and sweetest flowers of paradise God gives to his people when they are upon their knees Prayer is Porta coeli clavis padisi the Gate of Heaven a Key to let us into paradise when John was weeping in prayer doubtless the Sealed Book was open to him Many Christians have found by experience praying times to be sealing times times wherein God hath sealed up to them the remission of their sins and the salvation of their souls They have found prayer to be a shelter to their souls a sacrifice to God a sweet savor to Christ a scourge to Satan and an in-let to assurance God loves to lade the wings of prayer with the choicest and chiefest blessings Ah! how often Christians hath God kist you at the beginning of prayer and spoke peace to you in the midst of prayer and filled you with joy and assurance upon the close of prayer That nineth of Daniel from the seventeenth to the four and twentieth verse is full to the point in hand I shall onely cite the words of the four last Verses And whilest I was speaking and praying Dan. 9. 20. and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the Holy Mountain of my God Yea whilest I was speaking in prayer even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the begining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With weariness or flight tired as it were with his making speed being caused to flie swiftly touched me about the time of the Evening Oblation And he informed me and talked with me and said O Daniel I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth and I am come to shew thee for thou art greatly beloved therefore understand the Matter and consider the Vision In these words you see whilest Daniel was in prayer the Lord appears to him and gives him a Divine touch and tells him That he is a man greatly beloved or as the Hebrew hath it a man of desires So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chamudoth a man of desires that is one singularly beloved of God one that is very pleasing and delightful to God Act 10. 1 2 3 4. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius a Centurion of the Band called the Italian Band a devout man and one that feared God with all his house which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God alway He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an Angel of God coming in to him and saying unto him Cornelius And when he looked on him he was afraid and said What is it Lord And he said unto him Thy
prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God Praying Vide Calvin and Oecumeâ—ius on these words Cornelius you see is remembred by God and visited sensibly and evidently by an Angel and assured that his prayers and good deeds are not onely anodor a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God but also that they shall be gloriously rewarded by God So when Peter was Vers 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 of Acts 1. praying he fell into a trance and saw Heaven opened and had his minde elevated and all the faculties of his soul filled with a Divine Revelation so when Paul was a praying he sees a Acts 9 11 12 13 14 15 19. vision Ananias a coming and laying his hands on him that he might receive his sight Paul had not been long at prayer before it was revealed to him that he was a chosen Vessel before he was filled with the voice and comforts of the Holy Ghost so our Saviour Luke 17. was transfigured as he was praying Thus you see that praying times are times wherein the Lord is graciously pleased to lift up the light of his countenance upon his people and to cause his grace and favor his goodness and kindness to rest on them as the spirit of Elijah did rest on Elisha 2 Kings 2. 15. But some may object and say We have Object been at the door of mercy early and late for assurance and yet we have not obtained it we have prayed and waited and we have waited and prayed we have prayed and mourned and we have 〈…〉 ed and prayed and yet we cannot get a good word from God a smile from God he hath covered himself with a cloud and after all that we have done it is still night with our souls God seems not to â—e at home he seems not to value our prayers we call and cry and shout out for assurance and Lam. 3. 8. yet he shutteth out our prayer We are sure That we have not found praying times to be times of assurance to our souls c. Now to this Objection I shall give Answ I It is better to ask and not receive then to receive and noâ— ask Clâ—m these answers first that it may be you have been more earnest and vehement for assurance and the effects of it viz. Joy comfort and peâ—ce then you have been for grace and holiness for communion with God and conformity to God it may be your requests for assurance have been full of life and spirits when your request for grace and holiness for communion with God and conformity to God have been liveness and spiritless If so no wonder that assurance is denied you Assurance makes most for your comfort but holiness makes most for Gods honor mans holiness is now his greatest happiness and in Heaven mans greatest happiness will be his perfect holiness Assurance is the daughter of Holiness and he that shall more highly prize and more earnestly press after the enjoyment of the daughter then the mother it is not a wonder if God shuts the door upon him and crosses him in the thing he most desires The surest and the shortest way to assurance is to wrastle and contend with God for holiness as the Angel contended Judg. 2. 9. with the Devil about the body of Moses When the stream and cream of a mans spirit runs after holiness it will not be long night with that man the Sun of Righteousness will shine Mal. 4. 2. forth upon that man and turn his winter into summer and crown him with the Diadem of Assurance The more holy any person is the more excellent The Jews have a saying That those seventy souls that went down to Egypt were more worth then the seventy Nations of the world he is all corruptions are diminutions of excellency the more mixt any thing is the more it is abased as if Gold and Tin be mixed and the more pure it is as meer Gold the more glorious it is Now the more divinely excellent any man is the more fit he is to enjoy the choicest and the highest favors Assurance is a Jewel of that value that he will bestow Psal 16 3. Revel 3. 18. it upon none but his excellent ones Assurance is that tried gold that none can wear but those that win it in a way of grace and holiness It may be if thou hadst minded and endeavored more after communion with God and conformity to God thou mightest before this time have looked upward and seen God in Christ smiling upon thee and have looked inward into thy own soul and seen the Spirit of Grace witnessing to thy spirit Rom 8. 15 16 17. that thou wert a Son an Heir an Heir of God and a joynt heir with Christ But thou hast minded more thy own comfort then Christs honor thou hast minded the blossoms and the fruit Assurance and Peace more then Christ the Root thou hast minded the Springs of comfort more then Christ the Fountain of life thou hast minded the beams of the Sun more then the Sun of Righteousness and therefore it is but a righteous thing with God to leave thee to walk in a valley of darkness to hide his face from thee and to seem to be as an enemy to thee But secondly I answer It may be Answ 2 thou art not yet fit for so choice a mercy thou art not able to bear so great a favor many heads are not able to bear strong-waters why the very quintessence of all the strong consolations Job 15. 11. Divine comfort is a delicate thing and it is not given to him that admits of any other of God are wrung out into this golden cup of assurance and can you drink of this cup and not stammer nor stagger Believe it assurance is meat for strong men few babes if any are able to bear it and digest it The Apostle saith That strong meat belongeth Heb. 5. 12 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them that are of full age or that are comparatively perfect or full grown even those who by reason of use Greek by reason of habit which is got by continual custom and long practice have their senses exercised to discorn both good and evil The Greek word properly signifies such an exercise as wrestlers or such as contend for victory do use which is with all their might and strength being trained up unto it by long exercise It may be O complaining 1 Cor. 3. 1 2 3. Christian that thou art but a scrub a babe in grace happily thou art not yet got beyond the brest or if thou art yet thou art not past the Spoon Ah Christian if it be thus Invalidum omne natura querulum Seneca Weak spirits are ever quarrelling and contending with thee cease complaining of the want of assurance and be up and growing be more aged in gracâ— and holiness and thou shalt finde assurance growing
doth a Wife that hath been false and unfaithful to him and yet Gods heart and love is so set upon Jonah that he will save him by a miracle rather then he shall not be saved Jonah was much in the heart of God and God made his faith at last victorious To these I shall adde some other famous instances In King James his time there was one Mistress Honiwood of Kent an ancient and religious Gentlewoman who lived many years in much horror and terror of Conscience for want of assurance of the favor of God and of her eternal wel-being She would very often cry out She was damned she was damned Several men of eminent piety and parts left no means unattempted whereby her doubts might be answered her conscience pacified and her soul satisfied and cheared yet she being strongly under the power of despair persisted in crying out O she was damned she was damned When these Gentlemen The truth of this whole story is notoriously known were about to depart she called for a Cup of Wine for them which being brought she drank to one of them a glass of the Wine and as soon as she had done in an extream passion she threw the Venice-glass against the ground saying As sure as this glass will break so surely am I damned The glass rebounded from the ground without any harm which one of the Ministers suddenly caught in his hand and said Behold a miracle from Heaven to confute your unbelief O tempt God no more tempt God no more Both the Gentlewoman and all the company were mightily amazed at this strange accident and all glorified God for what was done and the Gentlewoman by the grace and mercy of God was delivered out of her Hell of despair and was filled with much comfort and joy and lived and died full of peace and assurance Take another instance There lived lately at Tilbury in Essex a Gentleman who was a long time under such an eminent degree of despair that he rejected all comfort that was tendered to him by any hand and would not suffer any to pray with him nay he sent to the Ministers and Christians that lived near him and did desire them that as they would not increase his torments in Hell they would cease praying for him he would not suffer any religious service to be performed in his family though formerly himself was much in the use of them yet God gave him at last such inward refreshings and by degrees filled him with such abundance of heavenly comsorts as he told all that came to him that it was impossible for any tongue to utter or heart to imagine that did not feel them at last God gave him the new name and the white stone that none knows but he that hath it He lived about three quarters of a year enjoying Heaven upon Earth and then breathed out his last in the bosom of Christ Poor I that am but of yesterday have known some that have been so deeply plunged in the gulf of despair that they would throw all the Spiritual Cordials that have been tendered to them against the walls they were strong in reasoning against their own souls and resolved against every thing that might be a comfort and support unto them they have been much set against all Ordinances and Religious Services they have cast off holy Duties themselves and peremptorily refused to joyn with others in them yea they have out of a sense of sin and wrath which hath lain hard upon them refused the necessary comforts of this life even to the overthrow of natural life And yet out of this horrible Pit this Hell upon Earth hath God delivered their souls and given them such manifestations of his grace and favor that they would not exchange them for a thousand worlds O despairing souls despairing souls you see that others whose conditions have been as bad if not worse then yours have obtained mercy God hath turned their Hell into a Heaven he hath remembred them in their low estate he hath pacified their raging consciences and quieted their distracted souls he hath wiped all tears from their eyes and he hath been a well-spring of life unto their hearts Therefore be not discouraged O despairing souls but look up to the Mercy-seat remember who is your Rest and kick no more by despair against the bowels of Divine love Now the second Impediment to 2. Impediment 2 Sam. 14. 19. Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this You know how to apply it assurance is Mens entring into the lists of dispute with Satan about those things that are above their reach as about the Decrees and Counsel of God O by this Satan keeps many precious souls off from assurance since God hath cast him out of paradise and bound him in chains of darkness he will make use of all his skill power and experience to draw men into the same misery with himself and if he cannot prevent their entring at last into paradise above he will labor might and main to make their life a wilderness here below And to this purpose Eorum qua scire nec datur nec fas est docta est ignorantia scientiae appetentis insaniae species Aug. he will busie their thoughts and hearts about the Decrees of God and about their particular elections as whether God hath decreed them to Eternal Happiness or chosen them to Everlasting Blessedness c. That so by this means he may keep them from that desirable assurance that may yeeld beleevers two Heavens a Heaven of joy and comfort here and a Heaven of felicity and glory hereafter It is said of Marcellus the Roman General that he could not be quiet nec victor nec victus neither conquered nor conqueror Such a one is Satan if he be conquered by Faith yet he will be assaying if he conquers he will be roaring and triumphing Satans great design is eternally to ruine souls and where he cannot do that there he will endeavor to discomfit souls by busying them about the secret Decrees and Counsels of God if the soul break thorow his temptations as Davids â— Sam. 24. Worthies did break thorow the Hosts of the Philistims and snap his snares Judg. 15. 13 14. in sunder as Samson did his Cords then his next shift is to engage them in such debates and disputes that neither men nor Angels can certainly and infallibly determine that so he may spoil their comforts when he cannot take away their Crown Now thy wisdom and thy work O doubting soul lieth not in disputing but in believing praying and waiting on God No way to Heaven no way to assurance like this Adam disputes with Satan and falls and loses Paradise Job believes and resists Satan and stands and conquers upon the Dunghil When Satan O trembling soul would engage thee in disputes about this or that say to him Satan Deut. 29. 29. Revealed things belong to me but secret things belong to the
Lord. It is dangerous to be curious in prying into hidden matters and careless and negligent in observing known Laws say to him Satan thou hast been a lyer and a murderer John 8. from the beginning thou art a profest enemy to the Saints confidence and assurance to their consolation and salvation If thou hast any thing to say say it to my Christ he is my comfort and crown my joy and strength my redeemer and intercessor and he shall plead for me Ah Christians if you would but leave disputing and be much in believing and in obeying assurance would attend you and you should Lye down in peace and take Job 11. 13. to 20. your rest and none should make you afraid The third Impediment that keeps 3. Impediment poor souls from Assurance is the want of a thorow search and examination of their own souls and of what God hath done and is a doing in them Some there be that can read better in Conradus Motto was a notable rule Omnium mores tues imprimis observato observe all mens carriages but especially thy own other mens Books then in their own and some there be that are more critical and curious in observing and studying other mens tempers hearts words works and ways then their own This is a sad evil and causes many souls to sit down in darkness even days without number He that will not seriously and frequently observe the internal motions and actings of God in and upon his noble part his immortal soul may talk of assurance and complain of the want of assurance but it will be long before he shall obtain assurance O you staggering wavering souls you tossed and disquieted souls know for a certain that you will never come to experience the sweetness of assurance till your eyes be turned inward till you live more at home then abroad till you dig and search for the Mines that be in your own hearts till you come to discern between a work of Nature and a work of Grace till you come to put a difference between the precious and the vile between Gods work and Satans work When this is done you will finde the clouds to scatter and the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon you and the Day-star of assurance to rise in you Doubting trembling souls do not deceive your selves it is not a careless slight slender searching into your own hearts that will enable you to see the deep the secret the curious the mysterious work of God upon you If you do not seek as for silver and search for Prov. 2. 3 4 5. Christ and grace as for hid treasures you will not finde them Your richest So saith Pliny Seneca and others mettals lie lowest your choicest gems are in the bowels of the Earth and they that will have them must search diligently and dig deep or else they must go without them Doubting souls you must search and search again and dig and dig again you must work and sweat and sweat and work if ever you will finde those Spiritual Treasures those Pearls of price that are hid under the ashes of corruption that lie low in the very bowels of your souls Tell me O doubting souls hath that sweet word of the Apostle been ever made to stick in power upon you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pierce tâ—orow c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prove and try as Gold-smiths trie their mettal by the fire and the touchstone God brings not a pair of scales to weigh our graces but a touchstone to try our graces if our gold be true though it be never so little it will pass currant with him He will not quench the smoaking flax c. 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith or Whether Faith be in you prove your selves c. The precept is here doubted to shew the necessity excellency and difficulty of the work to shew that it is not a superficial but a thorow serious substantial Examination that must inable a man to know whether he hath precious Faith or no whether he be Christs Spouse or the Devils strumpet All is not gold that glisters all is not Faith that men call Faith therefore he that would not prove a cheater to his own soul must take some pains to search and examine how all is within Climacus reports that the Ancients used to keep in a little Book a memorial of what they did in the day against their night reckoning But ah how few be there in these days that keeps a Diary of Gods mercies and their own infirmities of Spiritual Experiences and the inward operations of Heavenly Graces Seneca reports of a Heathen man that would every night ask himself these three Questions First What evil hast thou healed this day secondly What vice hast thou stood against this day thirdly In what part art thou bettered this day And shall not Christians take pains with their own hearts and search day and night to finde out what God hath done and is a doing there God hath his doing hand his working hand in every mans heart either he is a working there in ways of mercy or in ways of wrath either he is a building up or a plucking down either he is a making all glorious within or else he is a turning all into a Hell Well doubting souls remember this That the soundest joy the strongest consolations flow from a thorow examination of things within This is the way to know how it is with you for the present and how it is like to go with you for the future This is the way to put an end to all the wranglings of your hearts and to put you into a possession of Heaven on this side Heaven The fourth Impediment that keeps 4. Impediment many precious souls from Assurance is their mistakes about the work of grace Look as many Hypocrites do take a good nature for grace and those common gifts and graces that may be in a Saul a Jehu a Judas for a special distinguishing grace c. So the dear Saints of God are very apt to take grace for a good nature to take Pearls of price for stones of no value Mark 9. 24. to take special grace for common grace Many trembling souls are apt to call their Faith unbelief with the man in the Gospel and their Confidence presumption and their Zeal passion c. And by this means many are kept off from Assurance Now the way to remove this Impediment is wisely and seriously to distinguish between renewing grace and restraining grace betwixt common grace and special grace betwixt temporary grace and sanctifying grace Now the difference betwixt the one and the other I have shewed in Ten particulars in my * The same man sells that that sells this Treatise called Precious remedies against Satans devices from page 217. to page 230. And to that I refer thee for full and