to Catechize himself about There must be Light in the Head that is of absolute necessity though it be not sufficient for there must be also Grace in the Heart to qualifie a man for the Lords Supper 2. The Communicant should further examine and ask himself this question Do I apprehend the danger of unworthy Receiving Is not the guilt of Blood heavy And what is it then to be guilty of the Blood of God But if I Eat and Drink unworthily I am guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 27. What a fearful thing is it to Crucifie the Son of God afresh To trample him under Foot and to esteem his Blood a common and an unholy thing My Heart rises against the Jews because they Mocked Scourged Buffeted Crucified the Lord of Life and Glory but this they did in his Humiliation here upon Earth And shall I dare to put an affront upon him now he is at the right Hand of the Almighty Majesty on High If I Eat and Drink unworthily I pull the Blood of Christ upon my Head instead of having my sin pardoned and my Heart cleansed and sanctified by it and I Eat and Drink my own damnation 3. Another question the Communicant should propound to himself is this Have I a right conception of Gospel Worthiness The Worthiness spoken of in the Gospel does not imply any Merit or Desert for Christ the Son is given out of the Transcendent Love of God and with him freely all things Rom. 8. 32. The Patriarch Jacob Acknowledged he could not lay claim to the least of all Mercies as a due debt Our daily Bread is a Gift and how much more the Bread of Life Worthiness therefore is as much as being disposed and made meet to Receive what the Lord in the Supper is willing to bestow When we are sensible of our own unworthiness and guilt and vileness then we are made meet to be accepted looking unto the Beloved and to be Justified by his Meritorious Righteousness When we are sensible how weak and empty and distempered our Hearts are then we are Worthy that is to say made meet to be strengthened and filled and healed by the great Physitian of Souls in whom it hath pleased the Father all fulness should dwell 4. The Communicant should ask himself Do I look upon admission to the Table of the Lord as a mighty priviledge He was no less then a King of Israel who thought it a great favour to be a doorkeeper in the House of God and what is it then to be a welcom guest at his Table What is it to be brought into his Banquetting House where the Banner over his People is love Cant. 2. 4. Our Lord in this Ordinance deals forth Light and Grace and Comfort bountifully Here Tears have been dried up fainting Souls have been revived and Faith ready to fail hath been strengthned and languishing Hope hath been made lively The Blood of Jesus Christ being applied has proved a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medicine for every malady and hath sent away the sin distressed Soul both clean and calm both pure and also peaceable Is it not a mighty advantage and an Heart effecting and endearing sight to see the Blood and the Love of Christ streaming forth together Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love that passeth knowledge Eph. 3. 19. Oh with what confidence may humble and hungry souls go to this Jesus who is so full of Love and so full of all besides which they Hunger after he would have none to content themselves with a little but his language is Eat O Friends Drink yea Drink abundantly O Beloved Cant. 5. 1. 5. The Communicant should ask himself Do I know what it is to discern the Lords Body 1 Cor. 11. 29. My bodily Eye beholds the Sacramental Bread and Wine but have I an Eye to behold something further and better If the Israelites in the Wilderness did behold an Healer and a Saviour when Moses lifted up the Brazen Serpent if the Beleivers under the Old Testament did see a Messiah in the legal sacrifices though as yet he was not manifested in the Flesh surely since the Son of God is come and has been actually offered up to bear the sins of many shall I not behold this Jesus in the Bread and Wine broken and poured out where he is so evidently set forth as Crucified What is it to discern the Lords Body Verily 't is to look beyond the outward Elements to the Body and Blood of Christ which thereby are represented and to relye upon that very Jesus who was Crucified without the Gates at Jerusalem for the Pardon and Mortification of our iniquities in particular and that our wants of Grace and Strength and Comfort may be supplyed out of his superabundant fulness Moreover the Beleiver should grow confident and be perswaded that as really as the Bread and Wine are given him so really Christ bestowes himself and his benefits upon him in this Blessed Ordinance Hark to the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 16 The cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we brake is it not the communion of the Body of Christ The Communicant should ask himself Do I see my self lost in my self and do I perceive 't is in vain to hope for Redemption any other way but by the Lord Jesus The Apostle has a notable expression when he speaks of being shut up unto Faith Gal. 3. 23. Intimating that all other doors are shut against the Sinner only the door of Faith in Jesus Christ is open We cannot reasonably hope for the Forgiveness of sin or Justification before God any other way but by him who is sufficient to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole World There were multitudes of sacrifices under the old Law which were appointed by the Lord him self and yet the sins of the Sacrificers could be done away by none of them The Apostle tells us plainly that 't is impossible the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin Heb. 10. 4. And if the sacrifices that were of Divine institution could not do it surely those of humane invention could do it lesse though never so costly though we should give our first Born for our Transgression the Fruit of our Body for the sin of our Soul Mic. 6. 7. No active Obedience that we can yeild can justifie us before God for the Apostle peremptorily asserts that there is no Law given which can give Life unto him that obeys it Gal. 3. 21. Nay further our greatest sufferings for Righteousness sake are insufficient to be our justifying Righteousness Therefore those who come out of great Tribulation are said to have washed their Robes not in their own Blood though that was spilt for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ but in the Blood of the Lamb Rev. 7. 14. 7. The Communicant should examine and ask himself Am I perswaded
if an Emperour should bid me take his Crown and Diadem or then if all the Kingdoms of the World and all the Glory of them were offered me When Christ offered up himself a Sacrifice unto God that he might put sin away how great was the Offering If all the Beasts in Earth the Fowls of the Air had been offered this offering could not have made Atonement for the sinner or for one sin Nay if all the Angels in Heaven had proffered themselves to be annihilated in case fallen man might be pardoned Neither would this have been sufficient satisfaction So that when Christ offered himself to God he offered more then all the World then millions of Worlds would amount unto And when the Lord Jesus bids me take him and feed upon this meat indeed this Bread of Life shall I refuse He that receives Christ how much does he recieve He does indeed receive all For Christ is all in all and filleth all in all MEDITATION XXXI Lift up your Heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye Everlasting Doors that the King of Glory may come in Who is this King of Glory The Lord Jesus is the Prince of Life the King and Lord of Glory Behold he stands at the door and knocks if any man hear his voice and open the door he will come into him and sup with him And when he comes and is admitted what entertainment does he bring Meat that perishes is contemptible in comparison Christ will give that Meat which endures to Everlasting Life His Love is better then Wine Nay his favour is better then life it self The Manna in the Wilderness was excellent food but many that Eat it perished But whoever by Faith do feed upon our Lord Jesus in reference to the second Death they become immortal This is the Bread which commeth down from Heaven that a Man may Eat thereof and not dy I am the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven if any man Eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I wil give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World MEDITATION XXXII When an inheritance is conveyed to me by a sealed Deed the Nature of the wax is not changed but the use of it The Bread and Wine after the Sacramental blessing of them remain Bread and Wine still and so in Scripture they are called but their use is very much altered and they become Christs broad seal to convey to me and to assure me of the Remission of sin of the Renewing of my Nature and of Life and Immortality Let the Papists contend for a gross and carnal presence of the Body of Christ at his Table I am perswaded that as Circumcision is called the Covenant and the Lamb the Lords Passeover So the bread and wine are called the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus And yet I am also fully perswaded that though the Body of Christ is in Heaven yet he is most really present at the Table with them that do believe and such are nourished and strengthened in this Ordinance I learn from Scripture that Spiritual things are most firm most real most substantial most durable and if so then Christs spiritual presence is the most real presence Christ is absent where Transsubstantiation is believed and Romish Devotion and Adoration of the Host is turned into abominable Idolatry MEDITATION XXXIII Lord Thou art my Hope my Help my Saviour my Life my All Thou wouldst have me put thee on to cover my nakedness Thou wouldst have me take sanctuary under thy wings in all my dangers thou wouldst have me use thee as a Physician to cure all my spiritual maladies and when I am hungry and thirsty and my Soul faints within me thou hast enough to satisfie and fill me What one said concerning the Scripture I may apply to my blessed Lord. Adoro Christi plenitudinem I adore the fulness that is in Christ Jesus Draw neerer neerer O thou only Saviour thou deservest the highest the best nay all the room in my Heart thou oughtest to be the most welcom guest Let me have a clearer sight of thy transcendent loveliness a larger taste of thy incomparable sweetness let me clasp about thee and hold thee in more strict embraces Why should I be empty since in thee there is a fulness of the Spirit without stint or measure I would be poor in Spirit but why should I be poor in Grace since in thee there are unsearchable Riches MEDITATION XXXIV Bread is the staff of Life Lord I come to thy Table for support and strength Oh! Let the Bread of God strengthen me with strength in my Soul Let me find and feel the admirable vertue of the Broken Body that I may say from plentiful experience I this is meat indeed Let sin grow weaker and weaker and Mammons interest in me decline and languish but make me strong in Spirit and carry on the work of Faith with Power I have need of strength who have such a way to go and all up Hill who have so much work to do and such mighty Enemies to encounter and overcome My Life lies in believing in thee I stand no longer then Thou upholdest me Without thee I can do nothing or what is worse then nothing I can do nothing but sin and fall but if thou dost strengthen me I shall be able to do all things If thou withdraw from me I shall be weak as a Child unstable as the very Water but if thou dost confirm me by thy Grace I shall be like David nay like unto an Angel I shall fight the good fight of Faith and go on conquering and to conquer till I get the Crown MEDITATION XXXV How great was the breach which sin had made between God and Man that my Lord must be broken to make it up Could not something less have served the turn If Christ must die or sin must not be pardoned judg of the greatness of the fault by the greatness of the Sacrifice and Satisfaction What hath sin done It has filled Earth with troubles it has filled Hell with Souls it has turned Angels into Devils it has provoked the God of Heaven to great and Righteous indignation add unto all this It has killed Christ the Lord of Life He was wounded for our Transgression he was bruised for our iniquities Who would love who would like such an evil If my Father had been stabbed should I embrace the Murtherer or like the Dagger besmeared with his blood Oh hateful sin I 'le be revenged upon thee I will make no provision for thee I will lament because of thee I will detest and abhor thee I will be dead to thee and endeavour to mortifie and kill thee My Lord was not spared for thy sake and thou shalt not be spared Lord Away with these lusts all of them Crucifie them Crucifie them since Christ himself did bear my sins in his own Body on the Tree Oh let me be
they be accomplished 2. Our Faith will be joyned with Godly sorrow and repentance Act. 20. 21. Testifying both to Jews and Greeks Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ The Hypocrites Faith is usually without Repentance he is stranger to godly sorrow and yet he is full of confidence or his repentance is without Faith he lies down like Cain or Judas under the burthen of his guilt and utterly despairs of mercy I grant that weak believers have strong temptations to despair But the God of hope bears up their hearts by an unseen hand so that they neither desperately destroy themselves nor come to this resolution since there is no hope but they must be damn'd they will be damn'd for something and so run out to all excess of riot If our Faith be true Sin will be our grief and detestation and there will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a change in our minds and rendring our hearts unto God 3. If we are in the Faith Christ is no longer a stone of stumbling but exceeding precious in our esteem 1 Pet. 2. 6 7. He is lookt upon as the power of God and the wisdom of God The wisdom of God in contriving such a way of salvation is admired and the power of Christ to save to the uttermost is believed The Apostle counted all things but loss dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord Phil. 3. 8. 'T is impossible a man should be a true Believer and not have an high value for the Lord Jesus His Person is precious He is the Fathers equal his Darling and the Brightness of his Glory He is the Angels wonder and they all are commanded to worship him Heb. 1. 3. 6. He is the Churches Head and supplies the whole Body with his fulness Eph. 1. ult And gave him to be Head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all And as the Person of Christ so the Blood of Christ is said to be precious 1 Pet. 1. 19. Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot His benefits are precious True Faith counts Him altogether lovely and hinders any offence from being taken at him Matth. 11. 6. 4. Our Faith will purifie our hearts Act. 15. 9. And put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith Faith is persuaded of the holiness of God and that he searches the heart and trieth and weigheth the spirits of the children of men 't is also persuaded that only the pare in heart shall see God or are fit to see him Mat. 5. 8. No wonder therefore if the consequent of Faith be a following after holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. Faith moreover takes notice of the End of Christs dying which was that he might sanctifie and cleanse his Church and present it unto himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without blemish Eph. 5. 26 27. and hence we have a plae for holiness which is very effectual to obtain it Finally Faith applies the promises of sanctification the promises of a new heart and of a new spirit Ezek. 36. 25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And by such promises as these Believers who account them exceeding great and precious are made partakers of the Divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the World through lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. 5. If we are in the Faith our faith will work and work by love Ephes 5. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love The Apostle tells us that faith without works is dead as the body is dead without the spirit Jam. 2. ult Faith derives strength from Christ whereby we yield obedience to the will of God as well as relies upon his justifying righteousness But all works will not prove the truth of faith but such works as proceed from love We must pray because we love God we must hear because we love him we must live to him because we love him There is a threefold love to God of Desire of Benevolence and Complacency now though all that have true faith may not arrive so high as to delight in God yet all true believers do desire after God above all and they bear such good will to him as to wish him glorified more by themselves and others and this shews the sincerity of their love 6. Our Faith will be weary of its contrary and we shall cry with earnestness that the Lord would help our unbelief The man in the Gospel was very much troubled at his infidelity and therefore cried out with tears to Christ Lord I believe i. e. I believe in part and desire to believe more strongly help thou my unbelief Mat. 9. 24. Unbelieving injections against God against Christ against the Spirit of grace against the Word of truth are felt as so many buffets and blows upon an heart that truly believes The believer desires to have his Assent to the Word of God more strong that it may have the stronger influence and that his affections and actions may be such as may suit his believing every syllable of the Bible to be true He desires his reliance upon God upon Christ and upon the promises may be more firm and steady And oh what a value does he put a well-grounded assurance of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8. ult 7. If we are in the Faith our faith will give us victory over this present world 1 Joh. 5. 4. 5. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith The believer is so wise as nihil admirari to admire nothing in this world Our Lord Jesus himself had but little of this world and cared not for it when Satan offered him all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them he despised the offer The Apostles were poor in the world and yet the special favourites of heaven certainly the world is not a matter of extraordinary value Most Saints have had but little of it and those who have had much of it have lived above it Moses by Faith despised the pleasures of sin and the treasures of Aegypt and prefer'd even reproaches for Christ and afflictions with the people of God before them Though David was a King and wore a Crown of pure gold on his head yet his faith made him look upon himself as a
small success 6. Assurance of the love of God will lift you up above the fear of evil tidings Psal 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. Why should those be afraid who dwell in the secret place of the most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty Psal 91. 1. The Saint has the Almighty on his side who surely is able to protect him He is under the shadow of the Almighty the Lord with his wings does cover him that violence may not be offered to him nay he abides under this Shadow so that he is safe at all times He dwells in the Most High and who then can reach him Nay he dwells in the secret place of the most High which shews how precious he is in Gods account and how far out of harms way Single David supposes an whole Host encamped against him yet says his heart shall not fear Psal 27. 3. and knowledge of his interest in God is the ground of his confidence vers 1. The Lord is my Light and my Salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my Life of whom shall I be afraid 7. Assurance of the love of God will make you very holy and heavenly The Grace of God is but presumed upon and abused when'tis made an encouragement unto licentiousness Hark to the Apostle Rom. 6. 1 2. What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that grace may abound God forbid how shall we that are dead to Sin live any longer therein Those who know they are under Grace do most abhor the dominion of Sin v. 14. they live most to God and are most forward to be the Servants of Righteousness The Conversation of such will be much in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. The Heir in his minority does often think of the Estate he is to enjoy Those who know they are the Children of God will often think of what they are to partake of hereafter for they are Heirs of God and joint Hiers with Christ they are begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. No contemplation will be so delightful to us as that of Heaven when once we know that our Lord is gone to prepare a place for us and will come again and receive us to himself that where he is we may be for ever also 8. Assurance of the love of God will make you to abound in praises He has made you new creatures to this very end that you should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. How does the Apostle Peter break out into thanksgiving upon this account 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again The Apostle Paul speaks to the same purpose Eph. 1. 3 4 5 6 7. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ He hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we should be Holy and without blame before him in Love He hath predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children He hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of sins according to the Riches of his Grace How much has the Lord wrought both in and for those he has made Believers He has abounded towards them in Wisdom in Grace in Power in Love Praise is a debt Praise is expected and Praise is comely Though all his Works praise the Lord yet Saints look upon themselves as under a more special and peculiar obligation to magnifie and blesse his Name 9. Assurance of the Love of God will make Afflictions tolerable nay Death it self desirable The bitterest Cup will down more easily when you see t is reached forth to you by the hand of a Father The curse of the Cross is gone and it may be the better born and the Sting of Death is taken out and now Death and the Grave may be triumphed over What was Death to old Simeon when his Eyes had seen Gods Salvation it was but a peaceable departure out of a troublesome World Luk. 1. 29. 30. What was Death to the Apostle Paul who knew that assoon as ever he was absent from the Body he should be present with the Lord It was not dreadful but desirable Phil. 1. 23. I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better These are the Arguments and are they not strong ones to perswade you to labour after Assurance The Directions how to prove your selves so as to attain this Assurance follow 1. Set selves as in the presence of the All-Seeing and Heart searching God Who knows you who will judge you and who alone can make you to know your selves You cannot possibly deceive him for every Creature is manifest in his sight all things are naked and open to his veiw Heb. 4. 13. Your Spirits will be apt both to trifle and to juggle unlesse they are awed with a sence of the Lords Omniscience Let Conscience in the searching of you act as Gods Officer and as Gods Officer in Gods presence and then it will deal the more faithfully 2. Pray that your Spirits may give a true Testimony concerning you And that they may do so you must be well acquainted with Scripture-signs and characters of true Grace and then with great intention reflect upon your selves to see whether you have the marks of Christs sheep upon you whether you have the characters of Gods Children A wrong judgment of your selves how extreamly prejudicial would it be to you Adjure your Spirits therefore in the name of the Lord to tell you the very Truth and cry unto the Lord himself that he would not suffer you to fancy or call your selves his Children if you are really but hypocrites and strangers to him that you may not cry peace and safety when God speaks just the contrary 2. Be willing to find out every thing that 's evil in you in order to your more compleat purging David prays see if there be any evil way in me and lead me in the way Everlasting Psal 139. 24. And Psal 19. 12. He desires to be cleansed from secret sins that nothing wicked might borrow the shape of lawful and good and thereby abide in him The more corruption is found our and mortified the more fruitful you will be John 15. 2. Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit And the more fruitful you are the more evident it will be that you are really the living branches of the true Vine which is Christ Jesus 4. Pray hard That if you have any Grace the Lord would increase it and bring it
of the Spirit supposes that we are convinced of Sin and Righteousness it also supposes that we are sanctified in Heart and Life in a degree and long for perfect Holiness The Spirit then heightens the actings of Grace and evidences the Change he has wrought and makes us plainly to perceive and feel that we hate our sin prize our Redeemer and Love and Fear and Desire after our God And this real change in our Heart being evidenced then our relation unto God is also shewn that we are the Children and Heirs of the Lord Almighty that his love to us is Everlasting and his kindness shall never depart from us Satans mouth is now stopt and the Spirit causes the Conscience from the Word to be quieted and satisfied clouds are scattered doubts and fears are removed consolation is strong and joy unspeakable and glorious Thanks millions of Thanks be unto God for the Mighty Comforter Who gives a check to Hell and says Let their be Light and Joy where before there was darkness and doubtting and sorrow Who evidences Electing Love from Everlasting and causes Triumph and Rapture of Spirit in assured expectation of glory to Everlasting 10. Let me add one Word more having attained Assurance of the Love of God Take the right course to keep what you have gotten Here I shall name a few particulars 1. Be low in your own Thoughts if you continue humble God will continue to re vive and comfort you Esa 57. 15. 2. Offer unto your God and Father Thanksgiving If you are thankful for the light of his countenance that 's the way to have his face still to shine upon you 3. Take heed of presumptuous sins David lost his joy when he ventured to be unclean and bloody nay take heed of lesser sins for these will dead the Heart grieve the Holy Ghost and dispose to greater 4. Be very serious in the Ordinances of Christ if the House if the Table of the Lord be neglected you will kill your comfort frequent the Lords Temple if you would see his Beauty that is his glorious holiness and have a continued sense of his Love Ps 27. 4. 5. Study the unchangeableness of Gods Love in Christ and the sureness of his Covenant This will be matter of perpetual gladness to see your selves in the Heart and hands of the Father and of Christ from whose love none can separate you Rom. 8. ult out of whose hands none can pluck you Joh. 10. 28 29. 6. Walk continually in the fear of God This is the way to have the Spirits Consolations Acts 9. 31. Then had the Churches rest throughout Judea and Samaria and Gallilee and were edified and walking in the Fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplyed 7. Use this World as not abusing it 1 Cor. 7. 31. If you are too much taken with worldly comforts your spiritual ones will abate but if in reference to earthly things you rejoice as if you rejoyced not your joy in the Lord will be the greater Look upon your selves as strangers and that this present World is but the House of your Pilgrimage then Gods statutes will be your Songs and fill you with the greater joy Psal 119. 54. 8. Husband your time to the best advantage and have the end of time in your eye Dye daily 1 Cor. 15. 31. If you think much of your dissolution it will make you so wise as to keep your Evidence for Heaven clear and to take heed of blotting them that you may have them to shew when stepping into Eternity In the second place I am to direct you how to prove your selves before you engage in that Ordinance of the Lords Supper To come to the Lords Table is a duty which Christ commanded when he was dying And if the words of a Dying Father or of adying Friend are remarked and remembred how much more the command of a dying Redeemer The circumstance of time is very observable which the Apostle mentions 1 Cor. 11. 23 24. The same night in which he was betrayed the Lord Jesus took the Bread and break it to set forth his own being bruised and wounded killed for the Transgressions of his People He bids his Church Do this that they might remember what He their Head had suffered for them When the Pass-over was instituted and was eaten at Evening and the Children of Israel were brought out of the Land of Aegypt out of the House of Bondage Moses says It was a Night much to be observed unto the Lord Exod. 12. 42. Oh! How much more is that time to be observed when Our Lord Jesus wrought a far greater and more glori-Redemption and Deliverance when being himself delivered for our offences and raised again for our Justification he saved his Church from the Wrath of God the Devils power the Dominion of sin the sting of Death and the vengeance of Eternal Fire Upon the first day of the week Christ ceased from his own works as God did from his upon the seventh day of the week There remaineth therefore the Greek Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sabbath or rest unto the People of God Heb. 4. 9 10. This Ordinance of the Supper is in no wise to be Administred unto all though they be never so ungodly We are indeed to Preach the Gospel to every Creature but there must be at least a professed subjection to the Gospel or else persons are not to be admitted to this Holy and Heavenly Banquet Those who are for Railing in the Communion Table I wish they were for a Spiritual Rail of Scripture Discipline and that in the Administration of these sacred Mysteries there were a separation made between the Precious and the Vile In the more pure and ancient times two sorts of Persons were debarred from the Lords Table the Catechumeni and the Lapsi the ignorant and not well instructed in the Faith and those who had fallen into scandalous sins And why should either of these be admitted now to eat and drink Judgment to themselves To prevent the incurring of the guilt instead of receiving the benefits of the Blood of Christ the Apostle prescribes self-examination Now That he who would be a welcom Guest at the Lords Table may prove himself thorowly and to purpose let him seriously and as in the Presence of God propose unto himself these following Questions 1. Am I acquainted with or a stranger to the great things of the Gospel Do I know the Mystery of God and of the Father and of christ Or is the black vail of ignorance still upon my Heart The Apostle speaks of some who have need to be taught which are the first principles of the Oracles of God Heb. 5. 12. And am not I one of that number How can I pretend to Faith in Christ or Love to God if I have not so much as a notional knowledge of either The Communicant must have some Knowledge of the fundamental Doctrines of the Christian
when his Disciple Peter through an ignorant and carnal Affection would have hindred him from dying for his Church how sharply does he rebuke him Get thee behind me Satan for thou art an offence to me thou savourest not the things that be of God but the things that be of men MEDITATION XXIV Dearest Lord Wert thou thus forward to dye and art thou not forward to reap the fruit of thy Death and to receive and save the Souls that come to thee If a Woman in Travel be willing to be delivered I need not question but thou art willing to see of the Travel of thy Soul since 't is so much for thy own satisfaction so much for thy Fathers Glory Certainly thou will not reject sinners that come to thee since thou hast done and suffered so much for their Salvation If thou hadst been really unwilling to save as sometimes Satan misrepresents thee that unwillingness would have shew'd it self when thou wast in thy terrible Agony when thy Soul was amazed and full of heaviness and exceeding sorrowful unto Death when the Heaven was black over thee and thy Fathers Face hid from thee and thou didst cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But all this thou didst willingly undergo to save lost Man and therefore thy willingness to bestow the Salvation thou hast purchased is not to be questioned For surely thou art not willing that such a Death as thine so sharp so bitter and of so great value should be in vain MEDITATION XXV I do not wonder that the Apostle Paul does magnifie the knowledge of Christ Crucified above all other knowledge compared with this all the Philosophy of the Greeks was but vain legal prerogatives and indeed all the Ceremonies of the Law were but insignificant Christ Crucified Though he be a stumbling block to the Jews and to the Greeks foolishness yet he is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God and the greatest demonstration of his love I do not wonder that the Lords Supper should be instituted on purpose that the Crucifixion of Christ should be remembred for the Death of Christ is the sinners life the Foundation of his hope and his security against Eternal Death The Gospel is styled the Preaching of the Cross and the Apostle is resolved to Glory in nothing else the Truth is we can take comfort in no other knowledge unless we have some respect and relation to Christ and him Crucified The Papists foolishly adore the sign of the Cross but true Beleivers do prize the Doctrine the Blood and the Vertue of Christ Crucified MEDITATION XXVI What sights may I see in my Lord Crucified Peace is made by the Blood of the Cross and all things Reconciled both in Heaven and Earth The Saints who lived and dyed before Christ was born were reconciled to God by the Blood of his Son which was to be shed in time as well as Believers since his being manifested in the Flesh In Christ Crucified the Anger of God is appeased his Justice fully satisfied and though the Christians debt amounts unto millions of Talents yet justice acknowledgeth that Christ his surety has paid it all Look upon God in Christ and you will see that Fury is not in him through the Lord Jesus you may see his very Bowels he does earnestly remember sinners his Bowels are troubled for them and he will surely have mercy upon them Oh certain and comfortable Truths That the Lord is the God of Love and Peace that he waits to be Gracious that he delights in shewing mercy and takes pleasure in them that hope in his mercy if that hope be accompanied with a fear and careful eschewing of what is evil in his sight MEDITATION XXVII In Christ Crucified I may see a New Covenant of Grace and Life and Peace established so that it is most sure and Everlasting Jesus is the Mediatour of this Covenant and every time I come to the Table this Covenant is sealed and confirmed to me that I may with the greater confidence expect the accomplishment of the promises which are contained in it These Promises are exceeding great and precious Temporal blessings in such a measure as the Wise God sees convenient are here made over to me for he that is a Son and Heir of God is the Heir of the World the Heir of all things Spiritual blessings which are of greater value are more absolutely promised and may with greater vehemency be desired and with greater confidence expected And as the Lord has engaged to give me Grace so to give me Glory he has said he will give me himself and be my God and Guide my Shield and my exceeding great Reward And truly the Ordinances of Heaven are not so immutable and unchangeable as the Covenant of Redemption and Reconciliation Heaven and Earth shall passe away but one joy or tittle shall in no wise pass from the Covenant till all be fulfilled MEDITATION XXVIII In Christ Crucified I may see the Curse of the Law removed the sentence of condemnation reversed the sting of Death taken out the Principallities and Powers of darkness triumphed over I may see Hell fast lockt and shut up for ever and Heaven opened a way made plain in to the Holiest of all an abundant entrance administred into the Everlasting Kingdom Who would not study the Cross of Christ Who would not Glory and rejoyce in it Who would not desire conformity to it and to feel the power and vertue of it They that are Enmies to the Cross of Christ are Enemies to their own Souls They that are offended at the Cross 't is a sign they are blind and do no understand the benefits which comes by it MEDITATION XXIX Do this in remembrance of me said my dying Lord and Redeemer Lord Can I put my memory to a better use then to remember Thee Thy Tears thy strong Cryes thy being cruelly Mockt and Scourged thy dreadful Agonies and Desertion the peircing of thy Hands and Feet and Side thy Wounds and Bruises and giving up the Ghost and making thy Soul an Offering for sin and sinners Shall all or any this be forgotten The sufferings of such an One such sufferings so great so beneficial to me should always be kept in most affectionate remembrance Thy Death and Burial should never be buried in oblivion A dying Lord should always live in a Christians memory If the poor Captives in Babylon could not forget Jerusalem shall I ever forget Jesus Or my obligation to him or the Love and service which I owe him I desire to grieve for sin which made thee sorrowful and to be prickt at the Heart for my iniquities whereby thy Heart was pierced And as I wish that sin may be more my grief so I would prefer Jesus before my chief Joy MEDITATION XXX My Lord at the Table says Take and eat this is my Body This is infinitely more and better then if a Rich man should say to me take my estate or then
dead to sin and live to Righteousness MEDITATION XXXVI Is the Cup of blessing at the Table the Communion of the Blood of Christ indeed How should my Soul and all that is within me bless the Lords Name when I take it into my hand My Lord does in effect say to me Here is the New Testament sealed and confirmed there is remission of all thy sins Here is sanctifying Grace here is an assurance of mine and my Fathers love here is a pledge and earnest of Glory and Immortality This Blood of Jesus is deservedly styled precious 't is the Blood of the Lamb without spot nay 't is the Blood of the Lord Jehovah To make light of this Blood as if it were an unholy or common thing is to deny the Lord that bought us and to bring upon our selves certain and swift destruction But whosoever by Faith applyes this Blood of Jesus shall find it sufficient to cleanse them from all unrighteousness MEDITATION XXXVII Dearest Lord How great is the vertue of that blood of thine which was shed upon the Cross without the gates of Jerusalem It can appease thy Fathers anger though provoked unto great fierceness it can remove the greatest guilt it can cure and cleanse the most leprous and defiled Soul it can heal the most wounded and enraged Conscience Oh blessed Laver where I may wash and be clean where I may bath and be eased Effectual medicine which heals every spiritual malady How wonderful was thy love which made thee shed thy blood how happy is thy Church for whom thy blood is shed Lord I love thee I rest upon thee I rejoyce in thee who hast loved thy People and washed them from their sins in thy own Blood and hast made them Kings and Priests unto God and thy Father who gavest thy self for thy Church that thou mightest sanctifie and cleanse it and present it to thy self a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish MEDITATION XXXVIII Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed This is my Answer unto the Accuser of the Brethren when he tells me of my manifold Transgressions All that he can truly lay to my charge I am ready to lay to my own nay I subscribe guilty to all that is down in the book of the Omniscient Gods remembrance but then I add Christ dyed Christ shed his Blood that sin might be pardoned and purged and I am willing to be cleansed as well as pardoned And if the Blood of Christ be enough to satisfie divine justice surely 't is sufficient to satisfie and quiet the most awakened Conscience I have indeed like a Sheep gon astray and turned to my own way but the Lord has laid on Christ all my iniquities he endured the chastisement of my peace he felt the stripes that I might be healed Hereby Satan is silenced my own desponding Spirit revived and encouraged and in the Name and Mediation of Jesus I can go unto God himself though he is so glorious in Righteousness and Holiness as a Child unto a Father MEDITATION XXXIX The Blood of Christ does speak and speaks better things then the Blood of Abel No voice more loud then that of Blood no blood does cry like that of God This blood does speak both to God and Me it speaks to God and what ever I pray for which I really need this blood cryes that I may obtain Blessings of all sorts were purchased by the shedding of it and it is continually pleading that what it purchased may be bestowed Hence is the efficacy of Prayer because what the belieuer prays for the blood of Christ speaks for How loud does it cry in Gods ears Lord pity and pardon the humbled and Believing Soul Heal and Comfort the Contrite and Broken hearted Oh give converting and Renewing Grace to all that do desire it Those that fear thy Wrath let them escape it Those that prize thy love love them freely and for ever Receive all returning sinners and take away all their iniquities Give Grace give Glory and no good thing withhold from them that seek thee in sincerity Thus the blood of Christ does intercede with God And the Lord having contrived the shedding of it on purpose that without any derogation from his Righteousness he might shew mercy to the Children of men certainly its intercession for mercy shall not be in vain MEDITATIONS XL. The blood of Christ does speak also to Me. And how good and comfortable are the words of it Soul be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help and Salvation found God was angry with thee but I have appeased his Wrath. He whom thou wast ready to find a consuming Fire is become a God in Covenant nay a Father to thee That blood which was shed upon the Cross has made thy Peace though heretofore never so much a stranger never so great an Enemy Behold Hell lockt up thou shalt never fall into that place of Wo behold the way into the Holiest of all is open Thou hast liberty to come with boldness to the Throne of Grace and within a little while thou shalt have an abundant entrance into Glory Dear Lord What am I that blood and such blood as thine should be shed for me Why wast thou at such expence and cost for the Redemption and Salvation of such a Wretch such a Rebel Thou hast mercy because thou wilt have mercy thy exceeding rich and glorious Grace must be matter of a delightful transport and sweet astonishment to Eternity MEDITATION XLI My Lords love and kindness should thaw and melt my heart That God whom for so long a time I neither lov'd nor fear'd nor cared to be acquainted with but dishonoured and sinn'd against with so high an hand had he indeed purposes of Grace towards me from Eternity That Jesus whom I shut and barr'd the door of my Heart so fast against whose word I was deaf unto and whose Spirit I resisted for so long a time has He indeed born my sins and carried my sorrows Oh that my head were Waters and my eyes Fountains of Tears Oh stony Heart for shame now become like wax and be melted in the midst of my Bowels I am a prodigy of unkindness wo is me that I have sinned Wo is me that I who have sinn'd so much do grieve no more Surely all my days I will walk softly in the bitterness of my Soul I will be vile in my own eyes and wonder that the Lord should have respect to such an one as I My own sin and my Lords Love shall be my Study I will compare them together that sin may be lamented and loathed according to the desert of it and that my Repentance may be indeed Evangelical and after a godly manner MEDITATION XLII O my Soul if thy
stranger upon the earth Psal 39. 12. I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were 8. If we are indeed in the Faith our faith will make the next world evident and desirable 'T wil prove the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the good and true Spy which searches the heavenly Country which is promised and brings back word That that Celestial Canaan is very glorious that an innumerable company of Angels are there and the Spirits of just men and all made perfect that God the Judge of all is there seen face to face and there is Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant crown'd with and in his Fathers throne that there is no need of the Sun or of the Moon to shine for the glory of God doth enlighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Rev. 21. 23. finally that sin and sorrow are eternal strangers but there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore And Faith giving such a report of the world to come no wonder that 't is judged worth seeking and that with an holy violence Mat. 11. 12. The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force 2. We are to prove our selves whether Christ be in us yea or no Christ and Satan divide the world all that have not Christ in them Satan has possession of he is the Spirit that works in the children of disobedience Now whether Christ be really in us may be thus proved and discerned 1. If Christ be in us he has entred by the door of the understanding we cannot be totally ignorant of him True Faith cannot be without knowledge Rom. 10. 14. How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard We must know who and what he was that undertook the work of our redemption how else can we rely upon him He is near a kin to us as Man and is a merciful and faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people Heb. 2. 17. and surely he was able to finish that work which he undertook for he is over all God blessed for ever Amen Rom. 9. 5. We must also know the benefits of Christ that we may know what to rely upon him for now these benefits are most necessary suitable and excellent as pardon of Sin adoption to be the Sons of God sanctifying grace and endless glory Nay Christ is all in all and Christ being given nothing will be denied Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things 2. If Christ be in us our very hearts have been opened to receive him When Christ has knockt at the door we have given him admission it has been our souls language Come in thou blessed Lord wherefore standest thou without And this receiving of Christ is indeed believing in him Joh. 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name The heart has been convinced that 't is most highly rational to give entertainment to this Lord of life and glory He uses the strongest arguments for admission makes the greatest offers delivers all out of the depths of misery and advances them to be Saints Sons Priests Kings who shall Reign most gloriously and happily to Eternity that do indeed embrace him 3. â—f Christ be in us the dominion of Sin and our Idols have been thrown down When Darius the Persian Emperour offered half his Empire to the Conquering Alexander Alexander gave this Answer That in the Firmament there was but one Sun and there must be but one Emperor in Persia and therefore continued his Wars till Darius had lost both Life and Kingdom In like manner there cannot be two Rulers in one heart If Christ be there no iniquity has the dominion any longer Where Christ is he works a change so that persons are no longer foolish disobedient and deceived they no longer serve divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3. 3. And whatsoever has been idolized be it profit pleasure applause now 't is disesteemed that Christ alone may be exalted 4. If Christ be in us we approve and value his Kingdom as well as his Priesthood We shall like and love the Lord. Jesus as a Prince upon the Throne consenting that that Throne should be our hearts as well as a Priest upon the Cross and shall be very desirous to be more fully subdued to him His Yoak is judged easie and his burthen light Mat. 11. ult Christ is really no hard Master though the World think him to be so They that are in Christ and experience what kind of Ruler he is and that he rules by a Law of Faith and Love and Liberty are very glad of his Kingly Office It was matter of praise and thanksgiving to the Apostle that he and other Believers had been made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light and also that God had delivered them from the power of darkness and had translated them into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1. 12 13. 5. If Christ be in us his Word is entertain'd and abides in us also We cannot slight that Word which discovers Christ and was the great means to bring us to Him Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly says the Apostle Col. 3. 16. And hearken what Christ himself speaks Joh. 15. 7. If ye abide in me and my Words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done to you Oh with what gladness do Believers give entertainment to the Word since they may have what they will if the Word abide in them and this Word will rectifie their judgments and regulate their wills so that they shall will nothing but what is truely for their good and what is really for their good shall most readily be granted Now Christ and his Word abide together But Christ is rejected if his Word be not received Joh. 12. 48. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my Word hath one that judgeth him the Word that I have spoken the same shall judge him at the last day 6. If Christ be in us we have the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8. 9. The Apostle does so plainly intimate this truth that he asserts the want of Christs Spirit undoubtedly shews there is no interest in him If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his As all the Members of the Natural Body are animated and acted by the same Soul which in a special manner shews it self in the Head so the same Spirit which is without measure in Christ the Head does animate and act all the true Members of his Body mystical Now where the Spirit of Christ is he enlightens the mind opens the eyes of the understanding he makes a
new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away and all things become new The old Adam and deceitful lusts are put off and the new man put on which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness This Spirit of Christ mortifies the deeds of the Body Rom. 8. 13. and causes those who are led by him to walk in the Lords Statutes and he fills them with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God 7. If we are in Christ and he in us we shall endeavour to walk as he walked He is the unerring Pattern to be followers of Christ is certainly to go right 'T is in vain to say that we abide in him unless in some measure we resemble him and long to be more and more conformable to the Image of the Son of God The Apostle tells us 1 Joh. 2. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked When we go about doing good when 't is our meat and drink to do the work and business of our heavenly Father when we walk in meekness and humility not rendring evil for evil or railing for railing but overcome evil with good then the same mind that was in Christ our Lord is also in us and 't is evident that Christ is in us of a truth 8. If Christ be in us we shall account it our happiness to be where he is and to behold his glory As long as we are upon Earth we are in a vale of Tears Sin remaining we cannot be free from trouble the remainders of flesh and corruption will make us sigh and cry O wretched Rom. 7. 24. But when we are absent from the Body we shall be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 8. and then we shall be compleatly freed from whatever is matter of complaint and sorrow Believers value Heaven though the hypocritical and carnal are earthly minded The Apostle propounds it as the highest comfort that Believers shall certainly be with the Lord and shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4. ult And Christ himself prays for this as the top of his Disciples happiness Joh. 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory This he promises to his Disciples to bear up their hearts and arm them against all fears and troubles whatsoever Joh. 14. 3. If I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also In the fourth place follows the Manner how we are to prove our selves 1. In Self-proving Self-love and Self-flattery must be banished Wicked men are said to flatter themselves in their own eyes until their iniquity be found to be hateful Psal 36. 2. that is till punishment overtake them and throughly convince them how hateful sin is in the eyes of an holy and Righteous God Self-flattery has undone thousands rather than have bad thoughts of themselves and their own condition they will frame a strange conception of God and think him like themselves and 't is ordinary to cry peace and promise safety to themselves till sudden destruction come upon them Psal 50. 21 22. These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver We must therefore deal plainly with our selves and pass a true judgment 2. A sufficient time must be allotted and allowed for this matter What is our time given us for but that we may make provision and sure work for Eternity Qui cito pronunciat ad pauca respicit He that judgeth hastily commonly judgeth amiss We must sequester our selves from other business that we may have a full conference with our selves Commune with your own heart upon your Bed says David and be still Psal 4. 4. that is when you are retired do this and be at leisure to understand what your hearts have to say for or against themselves If we commune but little but seldom with our hearts we may live and die ignorant of them 3. Self-proving ought to be managed with all possible seriousness and concernedness of spirit Matters which relate to our Estates and Livelihood are minded seriously and especially we do not trifle in matters of Life and Death But how much more serious should we be in a business upon which our eternal welfare does so very much depend A Mistake about our selves and our Spiritual Estate would be an undoing mistake indeed and after Death 't will be perceived and lamented but 't will be too late to rectifie and amend it And how much will it increase our woe to go out of the World with confidence that all 's Well and find our selves in Hell immediately after our dissolution where our condition will be so very ill and never never to be altered Our fear therefore must be the greater of being deceived and our care the more diligent to prevent it 4. We must be willing to Examine and Ransack our selves to the very bottom to know the worst to know the best to know the whole of our selves Travellers have taken a great deal of pains and gone many a weary step to view the greater World Man is a Microcosm little World And as in the greater World there is Terra Incognita much Land unknown so 't is in this lesser World much of it remains undiscovered Curiosity acts the Travellers in the viewing of Cities and Nations but truly Necessity should make us to take a view of our selves because Self-ignorance is so dangerous and damnable We are endued with a great many powers and faculties we have various affections desires and inclinations many imaginations reasonings and designs All these are corrupted by nature and need be renewed by the grace of God We should therefore be the more strict in searching that Sin wherever it lurks may not escape our knowledge and that grace also may be made manifest 5. All along the aid of the Spirit of God is to be called in David says Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whether shall I flee from thy presence Psal 139. 7. The Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. Surely then the Spirit can discover the deepest things in Man 'T is the work of the Spirit to reprove the World of Sin He takes away the Fig leaves of excuses and presents Sin naked and bare He wipes off the paint that is upon Sin and shews the exceeding sinfulness of it that it may be lamented and abhorred He discovers also the truth of Grace and he does both infallibly His light and help therefore is the more to
but increase upon them 3. In proving our selves we must take heed of making an ill use of the falls of Saints which are recorded in Scripture Davids uncleanness Lots drunkenness are no arguments to prove that any may allow themselves in filthiness and intemperance and yet go to Heaven Nay the Scripture expresly says the contrary Eph. 5. 5. For this ye know that no Whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ of God and all words that would persuade otherwise are but deceitful and vain v. 6. The falls of Saints are mentioned not to encourage unto sin but to prevent despair and to encourage to repentance and returning unto God when there has been a departing from him And truely they are in a state quite different from the Saints who are only like them in their falls but not like them in their rising again Righteousness and Repentance 4. We must beware of thinking it sufficient to have escaped the more gross pollutions of the World When we compare our selves with the vilest of men and find our selves unlike them this is not enough to prove our selves or our state truely good It was not enough to justifie the Pharisee before God that others were extortioners unjust and adulterers but he was free from such gross and scandalous crimes as these Luk. 18. 11. There are degrees of Sin as well as Grace 'T is but a small commendation Pessimis esse meliorem to be better than the very worst of all we may be bad enough to ruine us for all that The Pharisees were righteous and blameless in the eyes of men but Christ saw how proud and how unsanctified their hearts were therefore he says Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 5. 20. 5. The providences of God must not be our Rule of Trial We must not judge of our spiritual condition by present external dispensations You find a wicked man in purple and fine linnen faring sumptuously every day and a godly man a beggar laid at his gate full of Sores desirous to be fed with the Crumbs that fell from the rich mans Table Luk. 16. The righteous are plagued all the day long and chastened every morning when the wicked prosper in the World and increase in riches and have more than heart could wish Psal 73. 12 14. If thriving in this World be all thou hast to shew as an evidence of the love of God thou hast indeed nothing at all to shew as an argument he loves thee with a special love for Solomon says No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them but all things fall alike to all and there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked Eccles 9. 1 2. 6. We must take heed of a wrong notion of the Grace of God in Christ which may encourage licentiousness and presumption We must not look upon him as all Justice Jealousie Fury neither must we imagine him all Grace and Mercy We must not look upon our Lord Jesus as the Minister of sin Gal. 2. 17. for he was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 8. 't is unreasonable therefore to continue in sin that grace may abound Rom. 6. 1. We must be fully persuaded that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Heb. 12. 14. for if the necessity of holiness be not apprehended we shall entertain a presumptuous confidence in the grace of God and indulge our lusts at the same time 7. We must take heed of putting our selves upon the Tryal farther than the Scripture ever does As whether we can be contented to be damned that God may be glorified Whether we would be so strict and circumspect as the word requires if there were no future reward or punishment 'T is not good to make suppositions which God in his word never makes As whether if we might live here in this world for ever we could be very well contented Whether if God were to be enjoyed but for a time we should prefer that enjoyment before an everlasting fruition of the creature Such suppositions as they have no Scripture warrant so they but perplex them that make them We must take things as they are and not suppose them to be what they are not And if things visible which are but temporal are despised in comparison of invisible things which are eternal it argues the heart is wise to make a right choice Having laid down these cautionary Rules I come now to speak of the Right Touchstone by which this Tryal of our selves is to be made and that is the Written word of God Saints cannot ascend into heaven at present and immediately search the Book of life to know whether their names are there registred Neither must they expect that an Angel should come to them as to Daniel of old to inform them that they are greatly beloved Neither shall the wicked and the hypocritical ones have an hand appearing as once to Belshazzer signifying how bad their state is and how sad their is like to be But to the written word all must repair that they may know what to conclude concerning themselves Now the word of God gives us a description and characters both of a state of nature and of a state of Grace The Prisoner at the bar which is tryed for his life with what trembling does he expect the verdict of the Jury When we are trying our selves in reference to Eternity Oh with what fear and trembling should we attend what sentence the word of God will pass upon us 1. I begin with a description of a State of Nature Now the Scripture pronounces those in a state of nature 1. Who have a vail of grosse and black ignorance upon their hearts As 't is life eternal to know so it must needs be granted to be no less than eternal death to be grosly ignorant of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent How can we obey that great Command of the Law to love the Lord with all our hearts or that great Command of the Gospel to believe in Jesus Christ if concerning both God and Christ there be a very gross ignorance Ignorance is commonly rejoyced in as an excuse for sin but it proves destructive where 't is thus liked Hos 4. 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid 't is hid to them that are lost And Isa 27. 11. It is a people that have no understanding therefore he that made them will not save them and he that formed them will shew them no favor 2. They are in a state of Nature who believe not the report of the Gospel The word speaks terribly against such as esteem the Gospel no more than if it were a cunningly devised Fable who stand no more in awe of
it than if it were not of Divine Original and Authority but meerly of humane invention Joh. 3. ult He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Mar. 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned Joh. 8. 24. If ye believe not that I am He the true Messiah the only Saviour ye shall die in your sins Hell is in a special manner called the portion of the unbelievers If Jesus Christ the only expiatory sacrifice for sins be despised there remaineth no other besides but a certain fearful looking for of vengeance and of fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Heb. 10. 3. They are in a state of Nature that are resolved workers of iniquity Let the Lord be never so angry and threaten what he pleases they dare to sin notwithstanding Children of disobedience must needs be the children of wrath Col. 3. 6. The wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience Those whose hearts speak that language Jer. 44. 16. As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken to thee but are bewitched by the pleasure and gain of sin still to continue the servants of it these are the persons which shall at last receive the wages of sin death eternal 'T is a mad resolution to be proud and filthy and unjust and profane whatever the Gospel commands to the contrary 't is in effect to give consent to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2. Thes 1. 8. 9. 4. They are in a state of Nature who under a profession of Religion practise wickedness secretly or at least regard iniquity in their hearts How many woes does our Lord thunder out against Hypocrites in one Chapter and at last concludes with a terrible vehemency Ye serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell Mat. 23. 33. Hell is especially prepared for the Hypocrites as well as for the unbelievers If our hearts and hands are full of wickedness malice filthiness and secret dishonesty if we can commit sin delightfully and securely as long as 't is done closely what do all our duties signifie The Lord abhors both us and them Hark how he speaks to such Hypocrites Bring no more vain oblations Sabbaths and calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn Meeting they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and though you make many prayers yet I will not hear you Esa 1. 13 14 15. 5. They are in a state of Nature who are lovers of this present World 1 Joh. 2. 15. Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him The love of the Father may be taken actively and passively The lover of this World has no sincere love to the Father nor any interest in the Fathers special love How plainly and severely does the Apostle James speak Jam. 4. 4. Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the World is enmity with God whoever therefore will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God Then we may be said to be friends and lovers of the World when we conform to the sinful customs and manners and fashions of the World living by sence as the World does and when in our hearts and eager pursuits we prefer the VVorld and the gain delights and preferments of it before God before Christ before Grace before Glory Thou that in thy heart despisest a Treasure in Heaven and really esteemest Silver and Gold of far greater value 't is as impossible for thee while of this mind to go to Heaven as for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle The young man in the Gospel was of an unblameable conversation but he wanted one thing and indeed the principal to make him a real Saint a true Disciple because he valued his great possessions above Christ and a treasure in Heaven that was offered to him Mat. 19. 20 24. Of this mind was that worldly-minded Papist who said He would not leave his part in Paris for a part in Paradise 6. They are in a state of Nature who go about to establish their own Righteousness this was the fault and the ruine of the Jews of old they thought their own righteousness sufficient and the establishing of their own righteousness was their own downfal a proud conceit of their own righteousness hindred them from submitting to the righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. Trusting in our righteousness will prove as destructive to us as continuance in our iniquities If we think by our prayers and duties and deeds of righteousness to satisfie for the sins which we have committed against the Lord of Heaven 't is a sign we do not understand the Holiness and Justice of God nor the nature and demerit of Sin nor the imperfection of our very best services 'T is a sign of great pride and that Jesus Christ and our need of him are not rightly understood and thus being whole in our own conceit or thinking we can make our selves whole we shall fall short of the onely Saviour who came to seek and to save that which is lost Luk. 9. 10. Who is a Physician not to the well but to the sick Who came to call not the Righteous but Sinners to repentance Mat. 9. 12 13. 7. They are in a state of Nature who are haters of their Brethern God is love but malice is one great part of the Devils Image 1 Joh. 3. 15. Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murtherer and ye know that no Murtherer hath eternal life abiding in him The malicious man Cain is his Brother Beelzebub is his Father but he is certainly a stranger and enemy to the God of love and peace Let a man speak never so confidently that he is in the light yet if he hate his Brother he is in darkness even until now 1 Joh. 2. 9. so 1 Joh. 3. 10. In this the Children of God are manifested and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother True love will suffer long and be kind it will not envy or be easily provoked it will bear and believe all things it will forgive and cover a multitude of sins But they that will not forgive others 't is expresly said themselves shall not be forgiven Mat. 6. 15. If ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Hatred of the Brethren is a black mark indeed especially if the Brethren are hated because they faithfully reprove and for their holiness sake 8. They are in a state of Nature who embrace damnable Heresies being given up to strong delusions to
believe a lye This the Apostle tells us will end in damnation 2 Thes 2. 11 12. I grant that true Saints may fall into Error but the Elect of God shall not finally be deceived in those doctrines which are fundamental and of absolute necessity to be believed in order to Salvation True Saints do still hold the Head and build upon the Rock Christ though some of their building may be wood and hay and stubble Those therefore who deny the Lord that bought them and make light of the blood of Jesus the price of the Churches redemption are none of the Sheep of Christ and will bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2. 1 2. 9. They never were but in a state of Nature who are total and final Apostates Such are compared to the stony ground and in time of temptation falling away Christ says they had not root in themselves Mat. 13. 21. so 1. Joh. 2. 19. If they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest they were not all of us The utter Apostate shall be fill'd with his own ways and ripen himself apace for ruine Gods Soul shall have no pleasure in him his drawing back will be to perdition Heb. 10. 38 39. and his last state worse than his beginning Thus the Word describes a State of Nature 2. In the second place I am to describe out of the same Word of God and give the signs of a State of Grace and to shew you what are those things which accompany Salvation Now the Scripture pronounces them in a safe and good estate 1. Who come to the light and are willing to be searched True Gold does not fear the Touchstone and true Grace can abide the trial sincere Souls upon this very account like that preaching best which searches most whereas unsound Israel could not bear the words of the Prophet Amos 7. 10. There is a kind of Spiritual instinct in true Believers which inclines them both to a jealousie of themselves and a desire to have their hearts laid open whereas Hypocrites love the dark and are contentedly nay gladly ignorant of themselves Our Lord speaks very plain Joh. 3. 20 21. Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be discovered but every one that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Doest thou like the Word when 't is most quick and powerful When 't is most sharp and piercing Doest thou bring thy heart to the Lord and say Search it O God Even throughout and look into every corner and let no corruption lye concealed let not so much as one lust be hid or spared This willingness to be thus examined and proved and to have the reins and heart tried argues truth of grace 2. They are in a State of Grace who are truely contrite and broken because of Sin Psal 34. 18. The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit He that is indeed contrite has been convinced of Sin by the Spirit of God and has been made to see the evil in it and the evil that will follow upon it His sin and his misery have been perceived He is grieved because he has sinned against the Lord and wishes that his sorrow might be more abundant because his sin has so much abounded and he laments over a corrupted heart and nature which inclines him to nothing else but sin His heart troubles him which is so hard as well as wicked He accuses himself he judges himself before God he loaths himself in his own sight And now all sin is hated he will divorce the Herodias and consent that the Benjamin should go Nay the sin which was like Benjamin the darling is a Benoni matter of the greatest sorrow This hatred of all sin argues spiritual and saving understanding Psal 119. 104. Through thy Precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way Sin ruines none but those that love it Those that hate it generally implacably and to the death shall never dye and be destroyed by it Certainly thou art sincere if thou hatest thy lusts that formerly were thy Lords and if thou canst truely cry with David Psal 119. 133. Order my steps in thy Word and let no iniquity have the dominion over me 3. Those are in a State of Grace who receive Jesus Christ the Son of God To reject Christ binds all our guilt upon us and fixes us under wrath and 't is in effect to refuse Salvation But to as many as receive him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his name Joh. 1. 12. If Christ be rightly and indeed received he is received just as God offers him as a Prince to Rule as well as a Saviour from Wrath to give Repentance as well as remission of Sins Act. 5. 31. Christ must be received as an able Saviour as a willing Saviour as the onely Saviour and the whole of that Salvation whereof he is the Author must be valued When he is received there is a consent to cast all that offends him out of the heart to make room for him and truely all of Christ is welcom His strictest commands his mortifying and sanctifying Spirit his Yoak his Burthen his Reproach his Cross are welcom for his sake as well as his Crown If we do not sit down and count the cost and first of all well understand and then fully agree to the Articles and Terms on which Christ is to be received we may easily deceive our selves 4. Those are in a State of Grace who desire after God above all and yield and give themselves unto the Lord. The Psalmist was a sincere Saint who said Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee i. e. none as my great help as my chief happiness besides thee And notice is taken of the grace of God bestowed upon the Churches of Macedonia because they gave their own selves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8. 5. If thy eyes have been opened to see that God is a far greater good than the Creature and a greater good to thee and thou desirest and chusest the Lord himself who is so gracious and alsufficient as incomparably the best portion and art as willing to be his portion as to have him thine this willingness shews thou art of the number of his people and that his powerful grace has been at work in thee Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power God is called the portion of Jacob and Israel is styled the rod of his inheritance Jer. 10. 16. God and his people chuse each other 5. They are in a State of Grace who hunger and thirst after righteousness Our Lord pronounces such blessed and if he
blesses them they shall be blessed and promises they shall be filled Mat. 5. 6. Righteousness imputed is and that with very good reason prized by Believers and Righteousness inherent is earnestly desired they long to be made more holy more holy in heart more holy in all manner of conversation to have cleaner hands hearts purer they groan earnestly to be sanctified throughout in Body Soul and Spirit and to be established unblameable in holiness to the end Doest thou vehemently desire to be bettered by every mercy To be refined more and more every time thou art cast into the furnace of affliction And to become more holy by every Ordinance thou engagest in This Sacra Fames holy hunger is in thee and thou art blessed 6. Those are in a State of Grace who prize the Word of God at an high rate All that are born again desire as new born Babes the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. 2. Hark to our Lord. Joh. 8. 47. He that is of God heareth Gods words ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God With good reason do gracious Souls value the Word of God for it is the incorruptible seed whereof they are born again 't is the Food whereby they are nourished 't is the Physick whereby they are healed 't is the Cordial whereby they are revived 't is the Weapon wherewith they defend themselves against their spiritual Enemies Finally 't is the main Deed they have to shew for the heavenly inheritance If this Word of God be understood believed and received by thee in the love of it if thou desirest to be cast into the mould of the Word and in all things to conform to it if Davids language be thine Psal 119. 33 34 35. Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes and I shall keep it to the end Give me understanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight This will argue that thou hast a good and honest heart indeed 7. Those are in a state of grace who have the Spirit of Prayer The Apostle Paul assoon as ever translated into this state has this Character Behold he prayeth Act. 9. 11. 't is more than probable he had spoken the words of prayer many a time before while he was a zealous Son of the Jewish Church but now he prayed in Gods account now he prayed in the holy Ghost They that are hypocrites may excell in the gift of Prayer God may be much in their mouths and their expressions may be fluent and seemingly affectionate when yet he is far from their reins But the Spirit of grace and supplication is peculiar to the Saints Now such as have the Spirit of prayer their desires are drawn forth with greatest strength and fervour after Spiritual and eternal blessings They intreat the favour of God and fellowship with him with their whole heart they beg for the increase of Faith Fear and Love and every other grace and that they may be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God and that being delivered from every evil work they may be preserved to his heavenly Kingdom Thus the Spirit makes intercession for them according to the will of God Rom. 8. 26 27. 8. They are in a state of Grace who love the brethren 1 Joh. 3. 14. Hereby we know we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren Now right love to the brethren is love with a pure heart and a good conscience 't is a fervent love 't is love to all the Saints though but poor in the world though of a different persuasion The image of God is loved wherever 't is found and the more of it is found 't is lookt upon as more lovely 'T is one thing to love the Saints because they are good natured because they are beautiful because they are bountiful because they are wise and discreet and 't is another thing to love them because they are holy And truly if the more holy they are the more we love them and the more plainly they deal with us by reprehension and advice in order unto our progress in sanctification and holiness the more and better we like them this is a clear and solid evidence of our being Saints our selves Moreover true Saints are of a publick Spirit they are concerned for the whole Church Militant and cry aloud that she may be preserved in purity unity and love and may more than conquer all enemies and come at last to be Triumphant 9. They are in a state of Grace who endure to the end and are not weary of well-doing He that endures to the end shall be saved says Christ and If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed Joh. 8. 31. The sincerely Righteous ones not withstanding all difficulties oppositions trials tribulations hold on their way and they that have clean hands do wax stronger and stronger Job 17. 9. They fight the good fight of Faith to the last breath and by patient continuance in wel-doing they seek for glory honour and immortality and at last lay hold on eternal life Rom. 2. 7. Thus you have the Touchstone of the Word to prove your selves by And what this Word binds on earth is bound in heaven what this Word looses on earth is loosed in heaven If you continue in a state which this Word pronounces bad you will certainly be condemned but if your state be such as this Word declares good you will as certainly be acquitted rewarded and crown'd at the great approaching Day In the sixth place I am to inform you of the special seasons when this duty of self-proving is to be performed and the seasons are these 1. We ought to prove our selves before we engage in the ordinance of the Lords Supper There must be a Spiritual life or else there cannot be a fitness to be a guest at the Lords Table A dead Corps set at a Feast would be a frightful Spectacle to all there neither could a dead body eat any of the dainties prepared He that is dead in trespasses and sins is not a worthy Communicant for he wants the grace of Faith which is as the eye to discern the hand to receive and the mouth to eat the Lord Jesus who is the bread of life The Lords Supper is not an Ordinance designed to work the first grace for if 't were then none ought to be excluded the greatest Sinners are to be admitted to converting Ordinances and there would be no such thing as Excommunication in the Church of Christ But the design of it is to increase and strengthen and make more and more evident that grace which is already wrought Therefore we must prove what we are before we engage 1 Cor. 11. 28 29. But let a man examine himself and
and Gold that ever was created is but dross in comparison of these riches To go to Ordinances and from them as the Door turns upon the Hinges and to remain just as we were will turn to no account nay to an ill account We are not to rest therefore in opere operato the work done but examine what light what heat what strength what grace what peace we gain by attending upon God or else we may live and dye like lukewarm and mistaken Laodicea who said she was rich and increased with Goods and had need of nothing and knew not that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. 7. 'T is not amiss if there be some Self-proving every day that keeping of the heart with all diligence Prov. 4. 23. implies a daily watching and calling it to an account and that pondering the path of our feet required vers 26. implies both wariness before and a tracing our Steps afterwards to see whether they have been right or wrong step towards God or from him Pythagoras an Heathen advises every night to ask our selves such Questions as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where have I sinn'd What have I done What duty have I let alone Thus bad and good deeds every night Will be thy chiding or delight In the seventh place I come to the Arguments persuading all to this examination and proving of themselves 1. Satan is very subtle he does endeavour to conceal and hide both Sin and Grace Sin in the wicked that they may not perceive the evil nature and tendency of it till it has actually and utterly ruin'd them and Grace in them that do believe that their hearts may be tormented with doubts and fears and straitned in thanksgiving unto God Satan is a lying Spirit and upholds his Kingdom by deceit and falshood His work is to fill Gods Children with false fears and his own with false hopes and he has many wiles and stratagems to do both 'T is good therefore to be aware of him and to be the stricter in searching of our selves that he may not impose upon us nor make us call evil good and good evil Let us take great heed for Satan is the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12. 10. and will accuse them to themselves as well as accuse them before God he will transform a true Saint and make him look in his own apprehension like a meer reprobate And as he is the Accuser of the Brethren so he is the Excuser of the wicked and makes them say they shall have peace till the anger of the Lord and his jealousie smokes against them and eternal Vengeance overtakes them 2. The heart is deceitful above all things Jer. 17. 9. as it is unknown to others so it hides it self from the view of the man himself Need there is then of Self-examination The heart of man will represent Sin as profitable as pleasant as creditable and in fashion and that there is no such danger in the commission of it but that 't is time enough hereafter and easie enough to repent and obtain a pardon The heart will extenuate sin after 't is done and take notice of the mercy of the Lord but shut its eyes against his justice and holiness 't will call any thing almost by the name of saving-grace and from very weak and insufficient premisses conclude the State is safe Such cheats therefore must be more narrowly eyed and we must bring them to the Heart-searcher that they may be discovered 3. There is no Grace but has its counterfeit When abundance of Brass and bad Money is abroad there is the greater care to try before we take There is a world of counterfeit Grace at this day Many take themselves to be something when they are nothing and so deceive themselves every one therefore should prove his own work that he may have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another Gal. 6. 3. 4. that is that he may have not only the good word of others but the joyful approbation of his own Conscience that his work is good and wrought in God There is a precious faith that ends in the salvation of the Soul and there is a counterfeit faith that dures only for a while and in time of temptation fails There is a saving knowledge which is life eternal and there is a notional knowledge which only puffs up him that has it and makes sorrow and stripes at last to be the more There is a sincere love to Christ that has a vehement flame which many Waters cannot quench which no Floods can drown and there is a love which is only a painted Fire a love in word and shew and not in heart and deed and truth There is a Zeal which God is mightily pleased with as that Zeal in Phineas and there is a Zeal not according to knowledge There is a true Humility which makes us like to Christ and gives the Soul rest and there is a shew of Wisdom and Humility to be found even in the Synagogues of Satan and Antichrist All grace therefore whether in pretence or true must be tried by the Word which if rightly applied is infallible in its decision 4. Many do actually go out of the World mistaken in themselves surely then we should be serious in Self-trial The foolish Virgins because their Lamps were burning and neatly trimm'd that is they profess'd and talkt high and made a glistering shew came with full expectation of admission into the Kingdom Therefore with confidence they knock and with confidence they speak Lord Lord open unto us Mat. 25. 11. But the answer is I know you not The Door contrary to their expectation is shut for ever against them and they are sentenc'd to burn too in Hell though their Lamps on Earth did burn and blaze in a glorious profession of Religion Some are brought in pleading with the Lord Jesus when He says He knew them not We have eat and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our Streets Luk. 13. 26. As if they should say Lord 't is very strange thou shouldst not know us None more flocked after thee than we did none were more forward to hear thy Word we were Guests at thy Table many a time and yet dost thou not know us Hear their pleas see their confidence of being let in and yet behold them thrust out unto Eternity 5. Hypocrites may go very far and yet remain but Hypocrites and miscarry Therefore we should examine and see that we go farther An Hypocrite may have a name that he is alive he may bend his Knee and lift up his Eye and speak as it were with the tongue of an Angel he may pray and prophesie so as to gain mans approbation but yet that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God Luk. 16. 15. How far did the Apostle Paul go before his Conversion
he was of the straitest Sect and touching the righteousness of the Law blameless and yet though his life was without blame his heart was without grace Hypocrites how far soever they go do either allow themselves in sin or place a confidence in their own righteousness If we would therefore go beyond them we must grieve for all sin and hate it We must worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the Flesh Phil. 3. 3. 6. To be unwilling to Try and Prove our selves is a very bad symptom The decay'd Tradesman cares not to be at home for fear of being dunn'd by his Creditors neither does he like to look into his Books because he suspects that he owes more than he is worth So unsound Professors like not to dwell with themselves for fear Conscience should fill their Ears with a dreadful sound and reproach them with their offences and they are loath to study the volume of their own hearts because they suspect they shall find little but what is stark naught there Sin is a work of darkness where the light is fear'd and shun'd 't is a sign that sin bears sway and where it reigns it will ruine Joh. 3. 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the World and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil 7. Though it be very bad with us yet 't is really good to know the very worst of our selves Hardness of heart and unsensibleness of sin is a very great plague the infliction of which argues God to be very angry but conviction of sin is the work of Gods Spirit When the Comforter is come he shall convince the World of Sin Joh. 16. 8. Indeed if a bad condition were unchangeable and there were no difference between an unregenerate Sinner and an Apostate Angel 't were another matter But the truth is though our state and hearts are both bad yet both may be alter'd for the better And if we are sensible that we are under the power of darkness we shall be the more importunate that God would deliver us and translate us into the Kingdom of his dear Son If we perceive that our hearts are old and evil 't will make us to cry with more fervency that the Lord would give us the new heart and the new spirit promised in his new Covenant 8. There may be great disconsolateness where there is truth of grace if it be unknown The children of light may walk in darkness the heirs of salvation may complain as if they were near lost and the friends and favourites of Heaven may think and speak as if God accounted them his Enemies Hark unto Heman Psal 88. 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou bast afflicted me with all thy waves And vers 15. 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me and while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted Believers being made alive are also endued with Spiritual Sence and cannot be indifferent as to Gods love and hatred as others are If they have not some assurance of the one they cannot but have some dread of the other they should therefore prove themselves that they may know the love that God has to them and that they may joy in God through Jesus Christ by whom they have received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. 9. There is a day of Trial and Judgment appointed and very near at hand God has appointed a day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness Act. 17. 31. and truely the Judge standeth before the Door Jam. 5. 9. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh And if we cannot abide the Trial of our own Consciences now how shall we abide the Trial of him who is greater than our Consciences and knoweth all things It concerns us to call our selves to a severe account and believe in Jesus that we may be justified and then at that day we shall not be condemned Let us watch and work that our Lord when he comes may find us so doing Let us store up Scripture evidences that we are his Children and then we shall have boldness in the day of Judgment and not be ashamed before him at his coming Gods Judgment hereafter will be according to truth names and shews how insignificant will they be at the great day Therefore let us look to it that our graces be true that as such they may be found and own'd at last 10. A well grounded assurance is possible to be obtained Let us never give over Trying our selves till we have it We are commanded to give all diligence to make our calling and by our calling our Election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. We must not cast away our confidence when once we have gotten it but hold the beginning of it firm unto the end Assurance of the love of God of what value is it What a relish does it give to every Mercy What sweetness does it put into the bitterest Cup of Affliction How undaunted does it make us at the approach of the last Enemy And with what courage and confidence to commend our departing Souls into the hands of him that has redeemed them Before I come to the Application I am to resolve several Cases of Conscience concerning the Subject I am upon Now the Cases will be of two sorts some relate to Sir and a State of Nature and others relate unto a State of Grace I begin with those Cases relating to Sin and a State of Nature Case 1. And the first is this Is it not better for Sinners to continue ignorant of themselves than by an over-strict search to fill their souls with trouble and horrour Is it not a wiser part to keep themselves quiet while they are so than to raise a storm and tempest that may not be laid in hast Now they receive their good things now they receive their consolations now they can take their ease eat drink and be merry they can feast and laugh and sing and time runs very swift being spent in carnal jollity Why then should they look into the state of their Souls and put an end to all their peace and joy and comfort Ans 1. Sinners ignorance of themselves and the wretched condition they are in does but add to their misery Secure indeed they are in a sence but farther off from safety It was the misery of Ephraim that Strangers had devoured his strength and gray hairs were here and there upon him and yet he knew it not Hos 7. 9. Self-ignorance and carnal security makes the hearts of the Sons of Men fully set in them to do evil and causes their state to be nearer a kin to desperate Such will fearlesly add Sin to Sin and draw iniquity with cords of vanity and treasure up more and more wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath 2. Their peace and joy can be but short at longest Pleasures for evermore can be found alone in Gods Prefence The pleasures of sin and sense
reason they should despair of mercy Ans 1. Despair is one of the greatest sins that can be committed dishonouring the grace of God making light of the blood of Christ and very opposite to the Spitit of Grace It is good says the Prophet that a man should hope Lam. 3. 26. Surely then 't is bad that a man should despair This sin thwarts the very design of the Gospel And Satan being hopeless himself would fain hinder sensible Sinners from hoping though he cherishes vain hopes in such as are presumptuous 2. There is a despair that is a Duty that is a despair of help from self and a despair of help from God if there be a resolution to continue in Sin Thou mayest as well hope to get no harm by the fall in throwing thy self off from the top of Londons Monument Thou may'st as well cast thy self into the Fire and hope not to be burnt as go on still in thy Sins and hope to escape everlasting Flames 3. But yet the door of hope is really open to the greatest Sinners that are willing to return to God and become Saints Blasphemous persecuting Saul was let in at this door And 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. you read of a sad Crew that if Hell were to be raked worse could hardly be found Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers effeminate abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners and yet these were washt and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Such instances of the rich and free grace of God should hinder the worst from despairing when they come to themselves and are minded to come home to the Lord. 4. That conviction of sin and misery which sensible Souls have is the common road to Christ and grace and comfort He gives rest to the weary and heavy laden he gives liberty to the captives and binds up the broken hearted Mat. 11. 28. Luk. 4. 18. When Sinners are brought to the brink of Hell in their own apprehension this is an hopeful sign they shall be delivered from that place of woe and sorrow and that they shall not feel what they fear Case 5. The fifth Case is this What course must Sinners take after they have prov'd themselves and found how bad they are to be brought into a better and safe Estate Ans 1. They must not oppose conviction but be willing nay earnestly desirous that it may be thorow that their humiliation may be the deeper they must not only be sensible that their actions have been bad but that their hearts are a great deal worse that their very nature is corrupted and their state most miserable Slight convictions soon wear off and a little sense of Sin is followed only with such goodness that is as the morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Hos 6. 4. The deeper the humiliation commonly the stricter the holiness afterwards Piscator ictus sapit the burnt Child dreads the Fire And he that hath tasted the Wormwood and the Gall that is in Sin will be the more alienated from it and afraid of contracting new guilt and defilement Let not the pangs of contrition go off too soon for fear there be an abortive instead of the new birth the more you are burthen'd with Sin the more sincere Conversion will be and Christ is the readier to give you rest 2. They must consent to cast away every transgression and cease to be the companions of Transgressors Let not any Sin be kept and rolled as a swee morsel under the Tongue for 't will prove as bitter and deadly as the very gall of Asps at last That promise Iniquity shall not be your ruine is annexed to a command Cast away from you all your transgressions Ezek. 18. 30 31. The wicked man is required to forsake his way which intimates the reformation of his life and also to forsake his thoughts which shews his very heart must be renewed else there cannot be a returning unto God indeed nor mercy and pardon obtained Esa 55. 7. It is reported concerning Agrippina the Mother of Nero Caesar that it was foretold her That her Son should be Emperor of Rome but afterwards kill his own Mother She said Occidat modo imperet Let him kill me so he may but Reign Oh let not any Sinner say so concerning any gainful delightful darling Sin Let it damn me so it may but Reign Let me die by it so I may but live in it And as sinful courses must be abandoned so also sinful company Save your selves from an untoward generation Act. 2. 40. was the advice of Peter to those awakned Souls that askt him what they should do If you would turn to God and go to Heaven you must leave that company that are resolved to go on in Sin and unto Hell 3. They must attend upon prophecy and beg that the Spirit would accompany it The Word of God is the incorruptible seed of which Sinners are born again 1 Pet. 1. 23. and the Word is made effectual by the Spirit 'T is a very encouraging asseveration of Christ Joh. 5. 25. Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live A meer man might have cried long enough and to no purpose at Lazarus his grave But when our Lord says Lazarus come forth there went out a power along with his word that raised him Let Sinners attend upon the Word of Christ Christ himself may speak to them as well as man and then the Spirit of Life will enter into them and the dead in sin shall live 4. They must look unto Jesus for righteousness and strength Esa 45. 24. The righteousness of Christ is necessary unto Sinners reconciliation therefore God does not impute their own sins to them upon their believing in Christ because he does impute the righteousness of his Son That 's a notable place Rom. 4. 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works Here is an imputed righteousness and lest any should think it a putative or imaginary righteousness 't is called a righteousness of the Lords own imputing Further 't is a righteousness that does not consist in any works or obedience of ours Finally this Doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ is asserted by David under the Old Testament as by Paul under the New In Sinners Approach unto God this righteousness is to be relied on for pardon and justification And as his Righteousness is necessary unto Reconciliation so is his strength and the power of his Spirit unto Conversion None will be made free from the power of Sin and Satan none will be delivered from the power of darkness till the Son of God does make them free indeed and translate them into his own Kingdom 5. They must cry unto God to be throughly turned So did Ephraim Jer. 31.
18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Ephraim had the seal of the Covenant administred to him in infancy which was Circumcision and therefore he calls the Lord his God and has the greater encouragement to cry to him to circumcise and turn his heart unto himself And surely under the New Testament the Covenant is not made more narrow nor our arguments and encouragements fewer to plead for converting grace Let Sinners therefore beg that as they have been baptized with Water in the Lords name so they may be justified by the blood of Christ sanctified by his Spirit and effectually turned unto God Till the Lord does turn you you must needs remain unconverted And when once you are made earnest that you may be sincere Converts you are earnest for that which is most agreeable to the will of God and 't is a sign that the work is already begun There could never be strong desires to be turned if the heart were not in some degree turned to desire it Case 6. The sixth Case is this How far may Sinners go and yet fall short of Grace and Heaven This is of great concernment to be fully resolved that we may not be mistaken in our selves therefore I shall be the larger upon it Many with Agrippa are almost persuaded to be Christians that are not Christians altogegether Many with him in the Gospel are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven who yet never come thither the case such is sad for they are miserable after they were near to happiness they are like a Merchant that is Shipwrackt and loses all and himself too within sight of shore they sail as it were by Heaven to Hell and their being once so near Heaven will make Hell the more doleful and intolerable Now how far Sinners may go and yet still remain but in a State of Nature I shall shew in these particulars 1. They that have no true grace may own and acknowledge the Christian Faith to be true 'T is affirmed of Simon Magus that he believed Act. 8. 13. The miracles that were wrought by Philip for the confirmation of the Gospel gained his assent that it was the Gospel of God and of undoubted truth In like manner Nicodemus while a Stranger to Regeneration was convinced and did confess that Christ was a Teacher sent from God Joh. 3. 1 2. Now as I go along I shall shew wherein such as have no grace do fail that the unsound may be convinced of their hypocrisie and the truely gracious may be the better able to discern their sincerity Though the forementioned persons believe the truth of the Gospel they do not apply it to themselves nor heartily embrace the goodness of the Gospel but prefer their lusts their pleasures and their profits before Gods Kingdom their assent is weak and does not influence their Consciences affections and conversations and so proves ineffectual to Salvation Jam. 2. 14. What doth it profit if a man say he hath Faith and have not Works Can Faith save him And v. 26. As the Body without the Spitit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also 2. They that have no grace may solemnly be admitted into the visible Church Simon the Sorcerer was baptized and yet Peter tells him afterwards that he was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Act. 8. 13 23. Multitudes of the Jews of old were circumcised in their flesh whose hearts were never circumcised Jer. 9. 25 26. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised Egypt and Judah and Edom and the Children of Ammon and Moab for all these Nations are uncircumcised and all the House of Israel are uncircumcised in their hearts How many by Baptism are admitted into the Church of Christ and rest herein not caring to partake of the Blood of Christ and least of all to partake of the Spirit of Grace and Holiness which are signified by the Water in that institution What did it profit the Jews that they were circumcised in their flesh if after they did not answer their infant Cirumcision by a circumcised ear and heart and an holy and obedient Conversation And in like manner what will the being baptized with Water avail if the filthiness of Sin be not purged but loved and there be not an answer afterwards of a good Conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3. 21. 3. They that have no true grace may be forward in profession and by talking at an high rate attain unto some reputation for Godliness thus Sardis had a name and fame that she liv'd and yet was dead Rev. 3. 1. But these forward Professors when unsound drive on some carnal design as the ravenous Birds when they soar never so much aloâ—at have their eyes downward and are looking after something that they may prey upon Under all their profession their hearts they neglect and suffer them to be full of pride and passion and love of the World they have no desire after inward purity and besides they wilfully and wofully fail many times in their dealings with men and in regard of those duties which in their capacities and relations are incumbent upon them 4. They that have no true grace may engage in all the publick Ordinances that Christ has instituted they may pray and hear and be admitted unto Communion and Church-fellowship and yet not be the real Members of Christ and be shut out of the Kingdom Those persons had eat and drank in our Lords presence and had heard him teaching many a time unto whom he speaks after this terrible manner There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of Heaven and you your selves thrust out Luk. 13. 26 28. These hypocritical engagers in Ordinances seek not the Lord himself in his Ordinances His favour and the communications of his sanctifying Spirit they prize not they desire not and though Ordinances leave them as proud and wanton and unbelieving and earthly-minded as they found them they are unconcerned for to have better hearts than they had is not any piece of their design 5. They that have no true grace may attain to a great measure of notional knowledge That Servant who was beaten with many stripes did know the will of his Master Luk. 12. 47. We all have knowledge says the Apostle 1 Cor. 8. 1. unsound as well as sincere An Hypocrite may have great light in his understanding but that light makes him high-minded his knowledge is without affection to Spiritual things his head is very clear but his heart is very cold He is acquainted with the truth but he holds it in unrighteousness Is it not a sad sight to see Children that have the Rickets with great Heads but Arms weak and unable to do any thing and Legs small and feeble and unable to go Here is
the Emblem of one that knows the Word of God but neither loves nor obeys it A great head he has but his actions and steps bear no proportion to to the knowledge he has received 6. They that have no true grace may attain unto excellent gifts Judas and Demas were both Preachers of the Gospel and called upon others to turn to God and yet were not real Converts themselves Our Lord tells us that many will say to him in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name And yet they shall be bid to depart from him Mat. 7. 22 23. Many Ministers miscarry Many fall into Hell from under the Pulpit and our of the Pulpit they are able to preach to others and yet themselves are castaways These unsound ones aim at their own applause in the exercise of their gifts they hunt after honour they prefer gifts before grace and many times use their gifts amiss to divide and destroy and not to edfie the Church of Christ 7. They that have no true grace may have their Consciences exceedingly awakened and may be filled with the terrors of the Lord because of Sin Pashur had the name of Magor-missabib because of those terrors where with he was surrounded Oh what an agony was Judas in when he saw that Christ was indeed condemned and under these terrors there may be a confession of Sin I have sinned says Judas in that I have betrayed innocent blood I have sinned against the Lord and against you says Pharaoh to Moses But 't is to be observed concerning them that are unsound that their troubles do either drive them to carnal means to remove them or to desperate courses or if they do seek unto God 't is but for a while and they are glad when their trouble is gone that they may sin with greater freedom When he slew them then they sought him they returned and enquired early after God but yet their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his covenant Psal 78. 34-38 8. They that have no true grace may have some inclination towards and wishes after grace and holiness Agrippa his heart was somewhat inclin'd towards Christianity The young man in the Gospel had done something and was inclined to do more good that he might inherit Eternal Life Mat. 19. 16. But these wishes as they are weak and inconstant so they are inconsiderate When they hear that holiness is necessary to happiness they say Oh that we might be holy But when they understand that holiness is to hate every pleasing and gainful sin to keep unspotted from the World and to yield up their whole man unto God that he may dwell and rule in them and command all and make what use he pleases of them in his service to his glory then their ignorant and lazy wishes to be holy cool and vanish They are not for present and through Sanctification If they could have grace upon a Death-Bed just sufficient to keep them out of Hell they look upon that as the best time of having it which shews they are of Balaams mind and that they desire not to live the life but only to die the death of the Righteous 9. They that have no true grace may resolve upon a reformation nay actually reform in many things The Israelites of old when terrified by the voice of the Lord out of the midst of the Fire they speak thus to Moses Deut. 5. 27. Go thou near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it Here was a good resolutin but when the Lord adds v. 29. Oh that there were an heart in them to fear me and keep all my Commandments always that it might be well with them forever It shews how unlikely 't was to be kept Such resolutions are made in distress and fear to stop the mouth of a clamorous Conscience and in their own strength and when the distress is over they break them as quickly and easily as Sampsons bands were snapt asunder And suppose there be an actual reformation as in Herod who heard John and observed him and did many things Mar. 6. 20. Yet the obedience is but partial there is not a following the Lord and his Word fully Herod forsook several of his iniquities but his incestuous love to Herodias his Brother Philips Wife he could not endure to be told of rather than pluck out this right eye he cuts off the Head of the Baptist who told him 't was unlawful for him to have her 10. They that have no true grace may not only lead an unblameable life but may suffer much upon the account of Religion The lives of the Pharisees were free from scandalous and notorious Crimes and yet their righteousness was insufficient according to our Lords sentence Nay as external active obedience may be yielded by them that are graceless in heart so some passive obedience also Judas was one of those twelve that forsook all and followed Christ but 't is likely 't was in hope of a greater gain for he kept the Bag and bare what was put therein and probably thought he should be a great man in the Kingdom of Messiah which he deemed a Temporal Kingdom Unsound ones are acted by vain glory in their sufferings not influenced by love to Christ and Truth And though they give their Bodies to be burned and have not this love what does it profit them 1 Cor. 13. 3. Some may undergo much but 't is to promote a Party not Christianity and though very stiff and stubborn in their sufferings yet much of the express Word of God they cast behind their backs 11. They that have no true grace may yet be very zealous in defending the Truths of the Gospel I grant Conversion to an Opinion is many times taken and mistaken for Conversion unto God though that Opinion is erroneous and such Zealots for erroneous Opinions care to talk of nothing else hardly the most warm and spiritual discourses are not savoury to them they are apt to judge all that are not of their way though never so holy but connive at Sin in those that side with them and while their heads are busie about their Opinions their spirits hearts and lives are not lookt after But I go farther and affirm that Graceless ones may espouse the quarrel of Truth and stand up for the defence of the Gospel The Apostle tells us of some that did preach Christ not sincerely not of good will but even of envy and strife yet he rejoyced that Christ was preached and the truth of the Gospel published and maintained Phil. 1. 15 16 18. Many may speak for that which is really truth and defend Tenents that are sound and Orthodox but these Opinions are entertained only as Opinions they float in their heads but sink not down into their hearts neither do they care practically to improve
them to the bettering of their actions 12. They who have no true grace may arise so high as to have some kind of joy This joy was in the hearers compared unto the stony ground Mat. 13. 20. Ezekiels hearers flockt to him with rejoycing because of his most pleasant utterance and taking gifts wherewith God had enriched him and 't is very likely that their attendance upon the Prophets Ministery did yield some quiet to their Consciences which else would have been very troublesome if the Ordinances of God had been wholly neglected Besides the great and glorious things of the Gospel may cause some kind of joy at the hearing of them as other glad tidings do affect us especially of some good that is possible to be obtained When the love of God in Christ is set forth his abundant Grace the sureness of his Covenant and the glorious and eternal rest which remains for his People the Hearers that are not savingly wrought on may have some little taste of the good Word of God and of the powers of the World to come as well as be made partakers of the common gifts of the Holy Ghost And all this may cause some kind of joy But their joy is without precedent sorrow for Sin and though the interest of the Flesh and World prevails yet this joy remains the truth is it has no solid foundation no sanctifying effect and will last but for a moment To conclude this since the confines of unregeneracy extend so far since there may be so much where there is not saving grace Oh pray that you may not rest here Be unsatisfied in the proving of your selves till you find that you outstrip all the Hypocrites that ever were 'T is necessary to exceed them 't is not enough to equal them but Oh how sad will it be to fall short of those who fall short of the Heavenly Kingdom In the second place I proceed unto those Cases that relate unto a State of Grace the resolution of which will be very helpful in the examination and proving of your selves Case 1. The first Case is this How shall we know when we are savingly Enlightned Those that are saved are made light in the Lord the eyes of their understandings are enlightned by the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and yet there is an illumination which Hypocrites have How then shall saving illumination be distinguished 1. Where saving illumination is the light is marvellous 1 Pet. 2. 9. That ye should shew forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into marvellous light When God by a word of power says Let there be light in a dark mind that light makes a marvellous discovery and the Soul is fill'd with wonder for what was concealed is now manifested and indeed the Apostle says Whatsoever does make manifest is light Eph. 5. 13. He that is enlightned sees his danger and marvels that before he should be so fearless and secure He sees the vanity and emptiness of the Creature and marvels that he should so idolize and dote upon it He sees the sinfuless of sin and marvels that he should be so eager to serve it and love that which is so abominable and hateful He sees the Lords al-sufficiency and marvels that he could live so long without Christ and without God in the World and for so doing calls himself foolish and ignorant and a beast before him And that the scales should at last be made to fall off from his eyes that he might know the things of his peace this is marvellous kindness and grace indeed 2. Saving illumination humbles Job says Mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Job 42. 5 6. To know and be proud is not to know as we ought to know He that understands God and himself aright will have high thoughts of God but he will be low in his own eyes If we are acquainted with the glorious holiness and spotless purity of the Lord we shall be abased because of our own pollutions the discovery of his perfections will humble us because of our infirmities David upon this discovery crys out he is a worm and Abraham that he is but dust and Job behold I am vile what shall I answer thee 3. Saving illumination determines the heart and prevails with it to come to Jesus Christ Joh. 6. 45. It is written in the Prophets and they shall be all taught of God every one therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me When God does shine into the hearts of any he gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. Christ is the Image of the invisible God and most of God is to be seen in Christ here is the most glorious display of his abundant Wisdom Justice Power and Love hereupon the Lord Jesus cannot but be lookt upon as desirable and all things are accounted dung and loss that he may be gained 4. Saving illumination removes prejudices Assoon as ever the Psalmist came into the Sanctuary and understood the different ends of the righteous and the wicked his envy at the ungodly their prosperity and his prejudices against purity and innocency as if it were in vain ceased Psal 73. The carnal mind disputes as it thinks with strong reasons before against Religion but when the Word makes any truely wise presently presently these imaginations are cast down and the high thoughts against the knowledge of God are brought into captivity 2 Cor. 10. 5. The Lord of Rochester that was a great Disputer against God and Christ and Godliness when once enlightned he made this notable acknowledgment That all the seeming contradictions and absurdities of the Word of God fancied by men of corrupt minds and judgments were now vanished and the excellency and beauty of it appeared to him being come to receive the truth in the love of it Then also he cryed out That that absurd and foolish Philosophy which was so much admired by some and propagated by Hobs had undone him and many more of the best Parts in the Nation 5. Saving illumination does not rest in speculation but effectually urges unto practical godliness They who know the truth as it is in Jesus do put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts They that are renewed in the spitit of their mind do put on that new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4. 21. 24. When the grace of God does bring Salvation it teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Tit. 2. 11 12. And indeed if rightly instructed we shall obey with a willing mind for we shall see plainly that Sin is the worst that God is the best Master that Christs Yoke is easie his ways pleasantness his paths peace and at the
great favour to be received as a Servaat who deserve to be punished and excluded as an Enemy Humbled Sinners do very much consider their ill deserts and how are they filled with admiration at the free grace of God in his Son Jesus which is the ground of their hope and encouragement By the grace of God they are what they are they have what they have they hope what they hope for Case 3. The third Case follows How may we be sure that our desires after God and grace are sincere 'T is a Maxim in practical Divinity That the desires after Grace are Grace but they must be true desires Now these may thus be known 1. Sincere desires spring from knowledge and serious consideration The Lord is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unknown God to them that indeed desire after him he has caused his goodness which is his glory to pass before them and the desirableness of that goodness has been perceived Jer. 24. 7. I will give them an heart to know me and then it follows they shall return to me with their whole heart The eyes must be anointed with eye-salve the judgment must be inlightned and informed concerning the Lords perfections and fulness and riches of grace and mercy and willingness to communicate of these riches then desires after him will be real and well-grounded 2. Sincere desires are prevailing my meaning is that God and Grace are desired more than any thing the World than all the World besides An Author tells us that Tepidit as est parvus amor boni Lukewarmness implies some little love to that which is good but there is a greater love to that which is evil and vain And what does the little love then signifie If God be not desired above all he is not truely at all desired That was a sincere desire Psal 73. 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee That is All things comparatively to thee are undesirable in my esteem In the Roman State 't was said Nec ferre potest Caesarve priorem Pompeiusve parem Caesar could not endure a superior and Pompey could not brook an equal God will have neither superior nor equal in our hearts they that love him truely give him the highest room of all 3. Sincere desires bear up against opposition Though the Flesh does lust and Mammon and Satan joyn with it yet the Spirit does lust against it Gal. 5. 17. There is a longing to be deliver'd from the body of Sin to be rid of that evil which is present when good is about to be done Rom. 7. Where there are desires after Grace indeed the remainders of Sin are irkfom and we shall sigh and wish that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus may make us free from the law of Sin and Death 4. Sincere desires are great enemies to delays Davids Soul made haste to God and to do his duty Psal 119. 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments and he desires that God would make haste to him Psal 101. 2. I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way Oh when wilt thou come to me So Psal 70. 1. Make haste O God to deliver make haste to help me O Lord. And when God did withdraw from him he cryes out How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me Ps 13. 1. Every day does seem a year and every year does seem an age to longing Souls when the Lord with-holds his quickening and comforting presence from them 5. Sincere desires are extended to every thing which God propounds in his Word as desirable Not some onely but all the benefits of Christ are longed after all his Offices are prized Sincere ones see a necessity of Christ a Priest upon the Cross they love to hear him as a Prophet in the Pulpit and are very desirous to submit to him as a Prince upon the Throne Nay they yield their hearts to be his Throne The Laws of God are dear to them they desire to keep them all to be filled with all the fulness of God to stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God Nay they aspire so high as to beg that they may do his will on Earth as 't is done in Heaven Mat. 6. 10. 6. Sincere desires are industrious Solomon speaks of a desire of the slothful which kills him because his hands refuse to labour Prov. 21. 25. He perishes for want of the good desired because he will not take pains to obtain it True desires are accompanied with a fear of missing what is desired not so as to make unbelieving conclusions but to quicken unto diligence Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after Then we desire really when we seek diligently And where is diligence and pains better employed than when seeking the Lord who has told us as certainly as he is so certainly he will be a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. 7. Sincere desires are never quite satisfied here in this World What is said concerning earthly riches Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit may be applied to the true riches Crescit amor quantum divitiae love to them and covetousness after more increases as they increase He that has most grace is most desirous to have more 'T is true indeed our Lord tells us Joh. 6. 35. He that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst But if this be referr'd to Spiritual things the meaning is he shall not so hunger and thirst as to despair and be tormented with despair of satisfaction or else the passage may be referr'd to the things of this World that impia fames that sinful and eager hunger and thirst after them shall cease Sincere Souls never can in this World and they think they never can prize their Lord Jesus love and fear and serve their God sufficiently and therefore desire still to do all this more and better they forget the things behind and are still reaching forward and if you ask when they will be satisfied David shall answer Psal 17. ult and what he speaks of himself is applicable to others As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness and be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Case 4. A fourth Case may be this How may we be able to discern whether in Religion we are acted meerly by slavish fear yea or no Though carnal security is that which ruines the most of men yet a slavish fear yea or no Though carnal security is that which ruines the most of men yet a slavish fear is to be found also in the ungodly Such a fear there was in those we read of Psal 78. 34. When the hand of the Lord was stretched out and slew many of them the rest feared and sought him and yet
upon things above Slavish fear does not act us but the Sanctifying Spirit Slavish fear cannot make us desire to be acted not by Slavish fear but it must needs be some other Principle that is put within us Augustine compares Childlike and Slavish fear unto two Women that are married the one is Chaste the other desires to be an Harlot but is not one through fear of her Husbands anger The chaste one fears her Husbands displeasure but loves his company the wanton one fears her Husbands displeasure but wishes his absence Now suppose this wanton Wife should begin to grudge her heart to others and should desire to love and delight in her Husband she would then be no longer acted by a Slavish fear but it would argue her mind changed and that there were some beginning of conjugal affection and sense of her duty A desire to love the Lord above all can never be the product of meer fear but manifests a sense that he is indeed most desirable 6. They that are acted meerly by Slavish fear though they are affrighted at the thoughts of Hell yet Spiritual things are not suitable to them they do not mind and savour the things of the Spirit but only the things of the Flesh which shews an unchanged heart though there be an awakened Conscience The heart of such is all for the earth and carthly things and these things are really preferr'd before grace and glory The World unto such unrenewed ones is lookt upon as a better and more proper portion than God himself If therefore the World is become low in our esteem and the vanity of it evident and we had rather have the Lord to be our God and Father and portion than to have the greatest abundance of earthly enjoyments without him this speaks a real love and not a servile fear only 't is a good sign when the greatest outward felicity and prosperity is judged inferior to that happiness of having the Lord to be our God Psal 144. ult 7. They that are acted meerly by Slavish fear are not jealous of themselves and afraid lest they should be acted by nothing else This very concernedness and godly jealousie argues gracious desires and principles In a word Slavish fear will never carry us so far as to make us consent unto a true and lasting Conversion unto God False motives can never make us desire to be truly sincere and upright Christians and to be acted only by motives that are right If therefore in Religion we are willing that our Principles should be pure and good our ends right and our actions and the manner of doing them according to the will of God it may serve to satisfie us that we are of Davids mind who prayed and such a prayer never meets with a deaf ear Psal 119. 80. Let my heart be sound in thy Statutes that I be not ashamed Case 5. The fifth Case is this How may we know that we have indeed accepted Christ He is offered unto all received by few He stands at the door and knocks but few hear his voice and open the door to him We may call our selves by his Name and profess to be his and receive his Ordinances and engage in them and yet not receive himself and yet this Reception must be else there can be no Reconciliation no Adoption no Salvation Thus therefore we may prove our selves and know whether we have indeed received Christ 1. If we have accepted Christ we have seen so as to be affected with our need of him The prodigal was ready to perish in the far Country necessity drove him home to his Fathers house The Israelites in the Wilderness were stung and ready to die by the fiery Serpents and then they lookt up unto the Brazen Serpent for cure We shall never upon right terms receive our Lord and Saviour till we perceive we are lost and ruin'd and must needs be everlastingly miserable without him Oh then we shall subscribe to any Articles of agreement that Jesus may be ours who can justifie us by his blood and deliver us from the wrath to come 1 Thes 1. ult 2. If we have accepted Christ we have been made dead to the Law Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore my Brethren ye are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him that is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God So Gal. 2. 19. I am dead to the Law that I might live unto God You must not imagine by deadness to the Law is meant such a disobligation from it that we have no tie upon us to obey it for the Apostle hear speaks of living unto God and bringing forth fruit to him Now living unto God and bringing forth the fruits of righteousness is what the law requires Then therefore we are dead to the Law when we are not irritated and provoked to transgress because the Law forbids transgression and when we expect no justification before God by our obedience to the Law By the deeds of the Law shall no Flesh be justified in his sight Rom. 3. 20. There is not any Law given which can give life to the Sinner for then righteousness and justification should have been by the Law Gal. 3. 21. Those therefore that receive Christ receive him as The Lord their Righteousness and dare not expect justification before God upon the account of any obedience or righteousness of their own 3. If we have accepted Christ we are reconciled to the Cross we shall rely upon Christ crucified being persuaded that the blood shed upon the Cross for Sin was the blood of him that was truely God as well as man and consequently sufficient to make an atonement for us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 Joh. 1. 7. We shall also conform to the crucifixion of Christ by crucifying the Flesh with the affections and lusts of it Gal. 5. 24. The World also will be crucified to us Gal. 6. 14. Sin has laid it under a Curse and we shall look upon the World as the Jews did on Christ when they crucified him as having no form nor comliness no such beauty in it that we should so eagerly desire it Finally we shall be willing to take up the Cross and deny our selves and suffer persecution and go through any tribulation which lies in our way to the Kingdom of Heaven They that are offended at persecution and in such times of temptation fall away never received Christ or his Word into their hearts indeed 4. If we have accepted Christ we submit unto his Scepter entertain his Word and are willing to obey him God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour and Believers must gladly consent that this Saviour should be exalted into the throne of their hearts and rule as Prince there They who will not have this Lord to reign over them are Enemies and shall be dealt with and destroyed as Enemies at last
But he is the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Whom he saves he makes by his power willing and obedient 'T was said unto the Lord Messiah Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal 110. 3. 5. If we have accepted Christ we are born again and made new Creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature And Joh. 1. 12 13. They that receive and believe in Christ are said to be born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Grace does not come by natural descent the flesh has no will or desire after it man though never so eminent is not able to work it but 't is alone from God And all true Believers are born of God they have a new heart a new nature new desires and affections new designs are carried on and they walk in newness of life The old man indeed remains in part but they are burthen'd with it and desire more fully to put on the new which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness 6. If we have accepted Christ we do and we see cause to admire the Fathers love in sending him we look upon him as the greatest gift that ever was given or could be given to the sons of men He is all in all Col. 3. 11. He fills all in all Eph. 1. ult If Christ be ours God is ours Heaven is ours all is ours Here 's a height that none can reach a depth that none can fathom a length that none can measure a bredth that none can comprehend How do Believers admire Jesus and the love of the Father that gave him They know that gift of God and wonder at the Donors kindness 1 Joh. 4. 9 10. In this i. e. in this above all was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him If ye talk of love herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins 7. If we have accepted Christ we live upon him by faith we are strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus I live says the Apostle yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. And thus relying upon the sufficient grace and strength of our Lord Jesus which is made perfect in our weakness we shall resolve to follow the Lamb without standing still without turning aside without drawing back from him we shall not cowardly fly nor treacherously revolt from him but follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Case 6. The sixth Case is this When may Conversion be judged to be sincere and true Man is departed from the Lord and he is brought to this strait either he must turn to God or he must burn in Hell and every turning will not serve our turn The Scripture speaks of a feigned Conversion such a Convert was treacherous Judah Jer. 3. 10. It concerns us to prove our selves whether we are Converts in reality which may be thus known 1. Sincere Converts have been made to consider their own ways and the evil and destructiveness of them David tells us he thought on his ways and turned Psal 119. 59. They have lookt to the end of the broad road in which they once went and seen that burning Lake at the end of it destruction and misery is in that way and so they dare not proceed He never turns from Sin indeed that sees no harm or danger in it Those Scriptures The Soul that sins shall die and The wages of Sin is death are deeply engraven upon the Converts heart 2. Sincere Converts are really grieved that they turn'd no sooner they reflect with sorrow and shame upon that time wherein they were foolish and disobedient and deceived and served diverse lusts and pleasures Tit. 3. 3. and wish they had been so wise as to have served another a better Master How are they afflicted that Sin and Satan and Mammon have stolen away so many of their few days and that their lusts should devour the cream and prime of all their time They think with themselves how much Sin might have been prevented how much Grace might have been gotten how much might have been done for God if they had turned sooner and this makes them to live the remainder of their time in the flesh not to the lusts of men but to the will of God 1 Pet. 4. 2. 3. Sincere Converts turn unto God himself they own him as a Lord and eye him as their happiness in their Conversion to him Jer. 4. 1. If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto Me. They seek the Lord himself and his strength and his face evermore the mercies of God indeed they do and may desire but principally the Father of them they see that God has all is all and can be infinitely more than all things unto them they come to him that they may enjoy him here and for ever Lord be my God my Father my Inheritance give thy self to me and then thou wilt deal most bountifully with me That 's the Converts language 4. Sincere Converts turn with their whole heart This is called for Joel 2. 12. Turn ye even unto me with all your heart And the want of this is complain'd of Jer. 3. 10. Her treacherous Sister Judah hath not turned to me with her whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. When the whole heart is turned no iniquity is regarded there but all is disliked no creature is suffered to have the highest room the whole heart is resigned and given unto God As the Besieged render up the Castle to the Conquerer that he may dispose of it as he pleases so the Convert renders himself all the powers and faculties of his Soul he yields and consents to have all renewed all sanctified which is a perfection of parts and a perfection of degrees is desired and aspired unto he longs to be turned more and more and to be kept from returning again to folly 5. Sincere Converts turn their feet unto Gods testimonies Psal 119. 59. I turned my feet unto thy testimonies They conform to the Word which God has spoken as their Rule This declares best of all Quid pulchrum quid turpe quid utile quid non what is fair and what is filthy what is profitable and what 's destructive By this Word they order their hearts and conversations He that despises the Word of God and the Commands of it is not sincerely converted but damnably deluded True Converts keep close to Scriptures and Ordinances and never fancy themselves above them but with David desire to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of their lives
sorrow when the heart is grieved it is so hard and can sorrow no more for Sin Such an heart will carefully shun whatever has an hardning effect and oh how is that promise prized and the accomplishment of it longed for Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And when once Sinners are sensible so as to inquire and seek unto the God of Israel to do this for them here is a good work begun in them I grant such may fear sometimes they are judicially hardned but that very fear plainly shews the contrary if they were under such a judgment they would cease to be afraid of it 2. It argues a beginning of a work of Grace when a Sinner is troubled to see such an opposition in his corrupted nature against God and desires to be turned indeed Thus Ephraim bemoans himself that he was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke and he cryes to be instructed and that God would shew his power and grace in the turning of him Jer. 31. 18. and vers 20. we find the Lord owns Ephraim as his dear Son as a pleasant Child and says he does earnestly remember him and will surely have mercy upon him It argues a new nature when we are weary of the old and that the bent and inclination of the heart is really changed when backwardness unto what is good begins to be burthensom 3. There is a work of Grace where there is a resolution to go unto God and confess all Sin unto him without hiding any through a desire to keep it When David thus without guile does resolve upon Confession God resolves upon Remission and forgives him presently Psal 32. 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Selah Hark what Solomon says He that covereth his Sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy And the Apostle speaks a great word 1 Joh. 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness O thou sensible and drooping and trembling Soul who comest unto God with black Bills of Indictment against thy self Is all thy wickedness down there that thou knowest Hast thou not left out one or other that is a darling Oh no here are all down and the darling sins in a special manner acknowledged and aggravated and I am willing to forsake all as well as to have the pardon of all If it be so chear up for Confess and be saved is the Gospel language When David said I have sinned against the Lord Nathan answers The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die 2 Sam. 12. 13. 4. There is a work of grace where there is a desire to believe He that searcheth the heart takes notice of the desires which are there and as a desire to kill is Murther as a lusting after a Woman is Adultery so a desire after that which is good is accepted A desire to repent is repenting and a desire to believe is believing Abraham is said again and again to have offered up Isaac because he had a will to do it at Gods Command though actually he never did it Heb. 11. 17. which shews the truth of that passage of Augustine Coronat Deus intus bonam voluntatem ubi non invenit facultatem Where there is a defect of ability God does own and crown a real willingness Such desires must needs be very pleasing unto God who willeth that his grace should be earnestly desired and therefore says the same Father Desiderare auxilium gratiae est initium gratiae Grace is begun when Grace is desired When once a Sinner desires with his heart to believe and cries out with the man in the Gospel Lord help my unbelief Mar. 9. 24. When he desires that his heart may be set wide open that Christ who knocks there may enter in when he desires to receive Christ just so as Christ is willing to be received and to rely upon him as the onely Mediatour and Saviour renouncing all other Confidences Here is saving faith most certainly 5. There is a work of Grace where there is a weariness of other Lords and a willingness to submit unto Christ the Lord of Glory 'T is a good sign when there is a consent to cast off the yoke of Sin and to take on us the easie yoke of Christ for none but they that are truely gracious are willing to be delivered from the power of darkness and to be translated into the Kingdom of the Son of God Col. 1. 13. If we dislike the bondage of corruption and are unwilling to be led captive by Satan at his will if we look upon our selves as foolish and deceived while we were disobedient and served diverse lusts and pleasures Tit. 3. 3. If we count the Service of our Lord Jesus freedom and freedom indeed and lust against the Flesh which counts his Commands grievous certainly the Spirit of the Lord has begun to set us at liberty our eyes have been opened our hearts changed Voluntas non esset libera nisi liberata The will would not be thus free to be subject unto Christ unless it had been made free by Him 6. There is a work of Grace where there is a desire to fear the name of God Neh. 1. 11. Let thine ear be attentive and so it was unto the prayer of thy Servants who desire to fear thy Name That Soul is renewed that would fain stand in awe of God and of his Word and has a will to do good though evil is present and the Flesh is weak The weakness of the Flesh Christ excuses as long as he saw the Spirit of the Disciples was willing to have done their duty Mat. 26. 41. That which was Gods wish concerning Israel of old is it thy wish concerning thy self Oh that there were an heart in me to fear the Lord and to keep all his Commandments always that it may be well with me for ever Deut. 5. 29. This is certainly the breathing of the new creature In such there is a consent to be the Lords and to serve him and a trouble when they are overpowr'd by sin and temptation and a jealousie lest they should be deceived which shews that their desire to fear and obey the Lord is the more honest and sincere 7. There is a work of Grace where there is an uncontentedness without God before the Sinner was without Christ and liv'd without God in the World as he thought well enough Eph. 2. 12. but the heart being savingly changed cannot be put off with the World or any thing therein for its portion as the Needle being toucht by the Loadstone
Christ though the World seemed to be turned Arrian when persecutions cannot affright us from our Duty nor others Apostasies make us dislike Religion but we are the more stedfast and walk more closely with the Lord this shews that grace is much increased 9. Then we grow in Grace when our fruit is really better than formerly for quality and more for quantity If we bring forth more fruit than in times past it argues us more fruit than in times past it argues us more purged Joh. 15. 2. Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit When we are filled with the fruits of righteousness as this is to the praise and glory of God so it declares that he has made all grace to abound towards us that we might abound unto every good work 2 Cor. 9. 8. Case 13. The last Case is this How may we understand when our joy is true and well grounded There is a joy of the Hypocrite the Hearers compared unto the stony ground received the Word with joy the Jews rejoyced in John that burning and shining light for a season so that there is a great deal of false joy which whoever entertain they will lie down in sorrow Esa 50. 11. How then shall true joy be known To this I answer 1. True joy follows after true sorrow they who reap in joy do first sow in tears Ps 126. 5. Our Lord tells us that the mourners are blessed for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. Rest is given to the weary and the heavy laden That joy is sinful and utterly unseasonable where Sin is made light of and never was lookt upon as a burthen But if we are humble and broken and weary of all Sin and of all that is in Sin desiring to be delivered from the force and filth as well as from the guilt of it and then are revived we may conclude our peace is from the God of peace and comfort for though he be the high and the lofty one who inhabits Eternity yet he dwells with him that is of an humble and contrite Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Eze. 57. 15. 2. True joy has ever the Lord Jesus for the foundation of it Phil. 3. 3. We rejoyce in Christ Jesus says the Apostle And Rom. 5. 11. If we joy in God 't is through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the atonement The Comforter does ever glorifie Christ so as to make us understand that all grace mercy and peace is given to us through a Mediatour His sorrows have purchased pardon and salvation and the joy of that Salvation The Churches joy is built upon the same Rock on which the Church her self is built and that Rock is Christ therefore her consolation is the stronger 3. True joy is never without true holiness The Spirits sanctification always goes before and ever accompanies his consolations Peace and righteousness do kiss each other where peace is of the right kind Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost A true Saint if he makes bold with Sin his joy will be lessen'd perhaps lost his peace which has been spoken to him will be broken if he return to folly 4. True joy is Spiritually rational not an Enthusiastical business my meaning is there can be good Scripture-reason produced for it The Spirit of God works sanctifying grace in the heart increases that grace and acts that grace so that there is a powerful exercise of it and then he does bear witness to the truth of it The Spirit discovers unto the Soul that he has made it willing to receive Christ and to hunger after holiness and willing to be the Lords and to serve him in sincerity and to escape the corruption that is in the World through lust and now his testimony of adoption is rational and may be received as indeed the witness of the Spirit Whereas when joys are but the fruits of stubborn and irrational impulses and the comforts of the Gospel are applied without any Scripture ground comfortable Scriptures are not brought by the True and Good but by the Bad and lying Spirit 5. True joy is not a seal unto error and delusion Some have fallen away from the truths of Christ and got above his Ordinances and cast his Word behind their backs and despised his Blood and yet have bragg'd of Joy Oh the subtlety of the Evil One As he makes use of false Teachers false Opinions and false Hopes so of false joys to ruine Souls 6. True joy is strength to them that have it Nehem. 8. 10. The joy of the Lord is your strength Spiritual joy affords great ability to do the work of God to bear Afflictions and Tribulations and to resist and overcome the Tempter and the World and the lusts thereof The joyful Christian is a man of might he wrestles with the principalities and powers of darkness and is too hard for them he is discouraged at no difficulty in Religion he mounts up with wings as an Eagle he runs and is not weary he walks without fainting Esa 40. ult he is faithful unto death and at last is rewarded with a Crown of life Rev. 2. 10. Thus have I resolved all the Cases I propounded I come now to the Application I begin with some inferences that may be drawn from this Doctrine If this be true that it highly concerns all to Examine and Prove themselves then 1. Hence I infer the misery of Man by nature who is in darkness so that till he is enlightned from above he is not capable of understanding himself his condition or his interest Man by nature is under the power of darkness of this power you read Col. 1. 13. and how deliverance from it is to be valued Darkness has a great power to keep men under Sin to make them careless stupid and utterly unconcerned what becomes of them to Eternity therefore evil Angels are stayled the Rulers of the Darkness of this World Nay the Natural Man is in the abstract called darkness it self Eph. 5. 8. For ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord. Now how can he that is in darkness look into himself or look into the Lord Oh the misery of dark Souls What unspeakable danger are they in and their not seeing their own peril does but the more increase it We pitty a man that has sustained a breaking loss and does not know it a Begger that being blind is near a precipice and does not perceive it but much more compassionable is the case of the Natural Man who neither knows himself nor the things which concern his peace 2. Hence we may infer the folly of the Natural Man who is so prone to cry peace unto and to deceive himself He loves to go upon sure grounds in other matters and is very serious about trifles but wofully trifles
in the weighty concerns of another World Any thing satisfies him and makes him securely to say all is well If Satan tell him as he did our first Parents that he shall not surely dye Satan is believed the God of Truth and the Word of Truth being disregarded How many when they hear the Words Curse do bless themselves in their hearts and say they shall have peace though they walk on after the imagination of their evil heart therefore the Lord threatens that his anger and jealousie shall smoke against such and he will blot out their names from under Heaven Deut. 29. 19 20. Are they reproved for Sin They say All are Sinners whereas Penitents forsake presumptuous Sins and are willing to forsake all but these Self-deluders are hardly willing to forsake any They bear up upon this that God is merciful and yet they slight and abuse his mercy preferring their vanities and lusts before it and go on to injure his Justice and provoke him to Jealousie They are full of hope because Christ died and yet they thwart one great end of his Death and will not be the better for it for they refuse to dye to Sin and live to Righteousness 3. If it highly concerns all to prove themselves hence we may infer what an advantage it is to enjoy the light of the Word of God This is a Glass that flatters none It discovers what Sin is and where it is It calls Grace Grace and will speak peace to them that are the Sons of peace but on the contrary it will tell the Sinner though he be never so high in the World never so high in his vain hopes Thou art the man that lovest and livest in thy iniquity therefore thou art under wrath a Son of Death and in danger of eternal damnation This word convinces of Sin shews the necessity of turning unto God and is a great means of Conversion and afterwards by discovering of Grace it proves the joy and rejoycing of the heart The Unbelievers and Ungodly need this Word and ought to prize it for it shews them their guilt and a Mediatour their sore and also a Physician and faith is wrought by the hearing of it Rom. 10. 17. The Saints have loved this Word exceedingly Hark how the Psalmist cries out Psal 89. 15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance 4. Hence we may also infer the benefit of a searching Ministery Seers that will see vain visions are not worth hearing and Prophets that prophesy only smooth things had better prophesy nothing at all for they prophesy nothing but deceit Such Prophets are guilty of the blood of Souls and utterly ruine them while they heal them slightly crying peace peace when there is no peace Jer. 6. 14. Such Pastors destroy the Lords Vineyard such Dawbers are not Builders of the House of God How sad is it when the blind lead the blind both they that are led and they that are the leaders fall into the bottomless pit of perdition But a plain dealing Minister that rebukes Sin sharply that gives warning in time to flee from eternal wrath that commends himself to every mans conscience in the sight of God that speaks as if he knew mens hearts and discovers their secret thoughts to them that is a Son of thunder to the wicked and a Son of consolation to the broken hearted and has the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the weary and heavy laden Such a Shepherd is a great blessing to the Flock ought highly to be esteemed in love for his work sake and may be an happy instrument to save himself and them that hear him 5. Hence we may further infer the great necessity of the Spirits aid Unless he enlighten the eyes of our understandings we shall pass a wrong judgment upon our selves and every thing else also A subtle Serpent and a deceitful heart will be too hard for the most powerful Preacher breathing if the Spirit of the Lord does not second and set home the word preached The Spirit as I said before takes the Glass of the Law and holds it before the Sinner that he may see therein both his heart and life and then and truely not till then he will cry out Alass alass What have I been What have I done Where am I And whither will my Sins at last bring me The Spirit can charge Sin so home that there is no denial no excuse made The Sinner trembles confesses laments begs pardon consents to forsake his wickedness Thus Ephraim after he was instructed is ashamed and confounded because of his abominations The Publican being made sensible he was a Sinner cries out God be merciful And as the Spirit convinces the Sinner so he discovers to the Saint what God has given him not only the things themselves which are great and glorious but also the Saints interest in those things 1 Cor. 2. 12. Now we have received not the Spirit of this World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know those things which are freely given to us of God 6. If it highly concerns all to prove themselves learn hence the hatred and subtlety of Satan in Staving men off from this duty All his subjects are a company of inconsiderate fools if they would but bethink themselves they would become wiser than to serve such a Master This Enemy cannot endure that wicked men should look downward to Hell for fear they should be awakened and affrighted nor that they should look inward into themselves for fear they should see themselves lost and look out for a Saviour nor that they should look upwards unto God for fear they should be converted and healed The Devil hates Souls therefore is unwilling that any care should be taken about them he cannot abide that any should inquire into their Spiritual state therefore he endeavours to divert them he allures some with wealth bewitches others with pleasures intoxicates others with applause and honour he represents Self-examination to be Self-tormenting and holiness a meer Hell upon Earth But in all this he shews his falshood as well as enmity What madness is it to listen to him as a Leader and Counseller who is both a Liar and a Murtherer 7. Hence we may learn the great Error of the Church of Rome in crying down Assurance and consequently discouraging Self-examination The Council of Trent Sess 6. has impiously determin'd and declared Certitudo remissionis peccatorum est vana omni pietate remota fiducia The Saints assurance of the pardon of Sin is a vain and ungodly confidence How have they here blasphemed against the Comforter in making all his joys and consolations which suppose Sin to be pardon'd altogether vain The Scripture speaks after another manner Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father 1 Joh. 4. 16.
remedy Thus the rich man in the Gospel thought of nothing but taking his ease eating drinking and making merry till his Soul was required and lost and he was made to feel the torment and vengeance of eternal Fire 6. These careless Sinners who will not prove themselves their destruction will be sudden unexpected nay contrary to expectation and so will be the more terrible At present they mind not what they do but God remembers all their wickedness Hos 7. 2. And when he shall call them to an account for all what horrour and confusion will seize upon them They thought the Lord as little regarded their Sins as they did themselves and never expected after reckonings What all their good things shall be taken away which can last but for a short time and eternal evils shall come in their room when they shall find and feel themselves most miserable in the hottest lowest Hell and that'tis utterly impossible that ever their wretched condition should be alter'd Oh then they will curse their folly and madness who before did bless themselves and their foregoing presumption and security will make their pain and anguish and despair to be the more intolerable Vse 3. Of Direction And there are three great things which I shall give you directions concerning First How to prove your selves so as to attain unto an assurance of the love of God Secondly How to prove your selves before you engage in that Ordinance of the Lords Supper Thirdly How to prove and call your selves to an account every day that you may walk with the greater circumspection In the first place I am to direct you how to prove your selves so as to attain unto an assurance of the love of God Before I come to the directions themselves I shall lay down some Arguments to persuade all Saints to labour after this Assurance 't is pitty and Saint should be without it 't is pitty any of Gods Children should be ignorant of that most near and blessed and everlasting Relation in which they stand to him Now to make you prize assurance at an high rate and to give all diligence to get it Consider 1. Assurance of the love of God will inflame your hearts with greater love to him What the Apostle says in remarkable 1 Joh. 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us When you know that all your Debts are remitted freely and that very much is forgiven you you cannot chuse but have much love unto him that forgave you Cos amoris amor Love is the whetstone of love Pray therefore for the manifestation of Gods love to you that the light of his countenance may warm your hearts and your Souls may love him with the greater strength and ardency Unbelieving doubts and fears have a natural tendency to chill and damp affection whereas when you know that you are the Children of God you cannot but love him as incomparably the best of all Fathers 2. Assurance of the love of God will fill you with joy and wonder The Apostle tells us that having received the atonement there followed joy in God Rom. 5. 11. And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Well may the assured Believer rejoyce for his name is written in Heaven And there are no Errata in the Book of Life no blots there made no name ever razed out which is down there And how may such an one wonder that the free grace of God should make such a difference between him and others between him and his former self When he was first loved he was worthy to be loathed he was loved freely for he was found lying polluted in his blood 3. Assurance of the love of God will take away the difficulty of Religion When once you know that God is yours Christ yours the Promises yours things present and to come yours you will not think much of any thing you are required to do or part with Apprehension that you are dear Children will make you follow God indeed Eph. 5. 1. and follow hard after him Apprehension that you are pleasant to him will cause you to take the more pleasure in him and in his service An assurance that God is ready to assist you in every piece of work he enjoyns you ready to meet you in his Ordinances and to be found of you when you seek him and that he will not forget your labour of love Heb. 6. 10. This will make you to love your labour for your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. 4. Assurance of the love of God will make earthly things contemptible in your eyes When you know your interest in the Fountain of living Waters how little will you value the broken Cisterns When the Psalmist had been assured that God was his portion for ever things on Earth became undesirable Psal 73. 25 26. The Apostle being persuaded of his title to things invisible and eternal he counts the things that are seen which are temporal not worth a look from him 2 Cor. 4. 18. And David is so far from fancying them that he prays he may never cast an eye or hanker after them any more Psal 119. 37. Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me in thy way They that know and believe the love which God hath to them are satisfied that his love hath provided far better things than the World can boast of or the men of the World know of Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. Those believing Souls that were in assured expectation of a better Country than any in this World to wit an Heavenly Country they confessed they were Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth Heb. 11. 13. Earth and the things of the Earth were very mean and inconsiderable in their eyes 5. Assurance of the love of God will be a mighty antidote and preservative against temptation with what confidence will it make you to look unto your Lord and Father for help against the Tempter and his grace will be sufficient for you 2 Cor. 12. 9. so that you shall be strong enough to resist the Devil and make him flee from you The Assured Believer can more easily silence Satan than others can because he has tasted and seen how good and gracious the Lord is he has experienced that peace in the God of love and peace which the World can neither give nor take away therefore he does the more contemn all the offers which Satan can make to him in the hour of temptation The assured Believer may cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now I have found real contentment now I have tasted true joy Earth cannot yield it Sin is the sure hindrance of it in God alone 't is to be found Temptation upon such an one is likely to have but
that Jesus who dyed upon the Cross is able to save to the uttermost and willing to save all that come to him Jesus is the man who is Gods Fellow he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God Psal 2. 6. He is indeed the true God and Eternal Life 1 John 5. 20. Certainly then Help is laid upon One that is mighty and that has sufficient power to save Jesus is he who was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World 1 Pet. 1. 20. And pitcht upon in Gods purpose and decree to be the Redeemer of lost Man and at last he was made manifest having been Typified and Beleived in long before He undertook to be Mans Surety and to pay the price for his Redemption And just when he was dying he cryes out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is finished and then gave up the Ghost John 19. 30. As if he had said I undertook to satisfie Divine Justice that had been wronged and to appease the Anger of God which had been provoked by the sin of man I undertook to remove the Curse of the Law to conquer and Redeem from Death and Hell and quite to spoil the Principalities and Powers of Darkness I undertook to Ransom precious Souls that were lost and Purchase a Church that may come at last to live with me and my Father and shout forth Hallelujahs unto Him that sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb forever And this great work which I undertook I have now finished Doubtlesse the Lord Jesus is able to save and his willingness he declares abundantly The Communicant should thus argue with himself O! My soul Is not Jesus a Merciful High Preist as well as a Mighty Saviour Behold him Weeping over Jerusalem the Inhabitants whereof were Enemies to him and would not be gathered And wishing they had known the things of their Peace and will he not with Joy receive those that come to him and put their Trust under the shaddow of his Wings Hark does he not say I will give rest to the weary and heavy laden Does he not assure thee that those that come to him he will in no wise cast out What though thou art utterly unworthy Christ saves none but such for 't is his design that they may cry Grace Grace forevermore 8. The Communicant should ask himself Do I look upon the New Testament and Covenant whereof Jesus is the Mediator as sure and Everlasting David speaks excellently concerning this 2 sam 23. 5. God hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure this is all my Salvation and all my desire This Covenant is ordered in all things because the Promises of it are so admirably suited unto the necessities of poor sinners The Lord here Promises Mercy to the Miserable Pardon to the Guilty Cleansing to the Defiled Healing to the Distempered Soul Liberty to the Captives Light to the Blind Rest to the Weary Satisfaction to Empty Strength to the Weak Establishment to the Wavering and Salvation to the Lost And because all things else are insufficient to make them happy the Lord Promises that he himself will be their God their Father their Portion and that forever and ever And what more can be desired Now this Covenant is as sure as the Word the Oath the Seal the Truth the Power the Love the Blood of God can make it This Covenant is sometimes styled a Testament and in this Testament Christ has bequeathed the greatest things unto Beleivers here we find the richest Legacies that ever were left The favour of God the Sanctifying Spirit a New Heart Peace of Conscience Joy unspeakable the good things of this present World Grace to persevere to the end and a farr more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory hereafter are the things bequeathed by our dying Lord. And the Testatour having dyed the Testament is of force and stands firm and fast forever Heb. 9. 15 16 17. O my Soul should the Communicant then say Set thy self to Study the Covenant of thy Lord. Consider how great things are made over and how firm the settlement is Be pacified O! My conscience with the promises of Pordon Embrace O my very Heart the Promises of purity that by these I may be made a partaker of the Divine Nature and escape the Corruption that is in the World through lust Rejoice O! My Soul in this highest Happiness that God in Christ is Thine And Triumph O! My Spirit in hope of that Glory that most certainly and very shortly is to be Revealed 9. The Communicant should examine and ask himself Am I willing to break the League Eternally between my Heart and my Lusts Do I consent to have all the deeds of the Body mortified without exception Under the Law the Inticerto Idolatry was to be destroyed how neer soever If thy Brother or thy Son or Daughter or the Wife of thy Bosom or thy Friend which is as thy own Soul intice thee secretly saying Let us go after other Gods and serve them thou shalt not consent nor hearken to him but thou shalt surely kill him thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to Death and after the Hand of all his People Deut. 13. 6. 8 9. And the reason is assigned v. 10. Because he sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God There is never a sin or lust which thou canst indulge but the tendency of it is to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God No sin therefore upon any account is to be spared Search thy self therefore for corruption is a lurking thing Unfeignedly desire to have all this old Leaven purged out that thou mayst be fit to feed on Christ the Passeover Speak thus O! My Heart At last lay aside thy deceitful dealing and tell me truly as thou wilt answer it another day whether love to sin is turned into hatred Dost thou give consent that thy pride thy passion thy unclean affections thy love of the World and all other sins should be Crucified Dost thou slight sinful delights that thou mayest taste the pleasantness and peace which is in Wisdoms wayes Dost thou esteem Godliness to be greater gain then any wickedness can yeild Oh! cherish none of thy iniquities for one sin allowed will make the Supper and all other Ordinances ineffectual to Salvation and prove thy utter and Eternal Ruine Just as one Dagger thrust into the Heart will dispatch a man as certainly as if he had as many wounds given him as Caesar in the Senate or Attilius Regulus in the nailed Barrel 10. The Communicant should ask himself Have I a Spiritual Appetite do I hunger and thirst after Righteousness Mat. 5. 6. Do I count Holiness the Glory of God and the truest Glory of Man Do I see a deformity in wickedness and an excellency in being Righteous Do I desire to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and that New man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 24. Are
my prejudice against Holiness removed as if ' iwere unwise uneasie needless and a thraldom to be Holy O my Soul what doest thou long for when thou comest unto thy Lords Banquet Is it not that thy Faith may be strengthened that thy love to God may be more hot and flaming Is it not that thy fear may be greater and more filial and that thou mayest be inabled to follow thy heavenly Father more fully as a dear Child Is not sanctifying Grace preferred before Gold that perishes dost thou not long that the new Creature may be more lively in all the actings of it and that thou mayest become stronger in Spirit If it be thus it is a sign thy Spiritual Appetite is sharp and keen and as the Supper is an ordinance proper and suitable to thee so there is enough and enough to fill thee and thou shalt not be sent away empty for the promise is open thy Mouth wide and I will All it Psal 82. 10. 11. The Communicant should examine and ask himself Do I count the World but loss that I may gain Christ Has he the preeminence in my affections above all things visible above all persons breathing Where Faith is true Christ is precious 1 Pet. 2. 7. And Christ is not truly prized at all unless he be prized above all The young man in the Gospel lacked one thing and that was the main Love to Christ above his possessions Those were not fit to taste of the Marriage Supper who preferred their Oxen and their Farms and their Merchandize before it Mat. 22. Our Lord expresly requires us to undervalue what is dearest in this World in comparison of him Luk. 14. 26. If any man come to me and hate not i. e. less Love his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also and what can be named dearer he cannot be my Disciple Speak therefore thus to thy self O my Soul has thy Saviour and Lord indeed the highest room in thee Corruptible things as Silver and Gold are unsuitable to thy nature which is spiritual and were insufficient to be the price for thy Redemption The world has often proved a snare to thee but Christ is a Saviour the World is vanity and less then nothing but Christ is all in all the World has often disappointed and vexed thee but Christ can ease and satiate and replenish thee The World after thou hadst ruined thy self was ready to help forward thy destruction But Christ has the key of Hell and can keep thee out of it and the key of Heaven and can give thee an abundant entrance into that everlasting Kingdom If Christ can do more then the World can nay if Christ can do all for a Soul and the world can do just nothing at all 't is but reason that Christ should infinitely be preferr'd before it 12. The Communicant should ask himself Am I reconciled to the Commands of God Am I willing that my Heart should be Tables for the Spirit to write his Laws upon that I may delight to do the will of God Do I esteem not only some but all the Lords precepts concerning not only somethings but concerning all things to be right and do I hate every false way Ps 119. 128. O my Soul speak Art thou irritated by the Law of God as formerly are the motions to sin stronger and more vehement because the law forbids Sin Or is the Law of God dear to thee and art thou ready to say at the hearing of every Command Oh that my wayes were directed that I might keep this Statute The stronger Grace is the commands of God are farther off from being grievous You may perceive how David was affected towards them when he said Psal 19. 10. More are they to be desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold sweeter also then Honey and the droppings of the Honeycomb And where Grace is weak though there be an untoward backwardness remaining to yield obedience to the Law that backwardness is lamented and a Burthen and the heart longs to be enlarged that it may run the wayes of Gods Commandments Psal 119. 32. 13. The Communicant should examine himself Am I willing to receive whatever Christ has purchased and is willing to give in this ordinance of the Supper Is every benefit of Christ lookt upon as worthy of all acceptation All the benefits of Christ are dear surely all of them are of great value And there is not one of them that we can be well without for these benefits are excellently suited unto our necessities O my Soul should the Communicant say thou likest the Lord Jesus as he is made unto thee Righteousness as he skreens thee from the Wrath of God and interposes between thee and everlasting vengeance But dost thou see thy need of his Wisdom to direct thee in the way of Truth and to make all the wiles of the subtle Serpent of none effect And to make thee wise to Salvation and for Eternity Dost thou value Chrict as made Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. Dost thou count deliverance from all Iniquity a great and desirable part of Redemption and Sanctification a great and desirable part of Salvation because hereby thou art saved from thy pollutions and defilements Certainly as there is no sin which should be loved so there is nothing in sin to be liked and there is no thing in Christ but what is highly worthy to be esteemed 14. The Communicant should examine and ask himself Am I grieved when I remember what I have done against God and the Lord Jesus Is it indeed the trouble and Affliction of my Soul that I have so naturally and forwardly and so long rebelled against the best Lord and been disobedient to the best Father Do I mourn and would I mourn a great deal more because I have dared the power of God slighted his presence contemned his favour and fellowship hated his holiness abused the riches of his Grace and Mercy O my Soul how foolish and unwise hast thou been thus to requite the Lord that made and bought thee How great an evil has it been in it self and how evil has it been for thee that thou hast forsaken the Fountain of Living waters Mourn that thou hast left such a God and mourn the more kindly because still he is willing to receive thee See O My Soul how thy sin has peirced the only Saviour Behold him in an Agony behold him sweating drops of Blood first and after shedding all upon the Cross See a sorrowful Life ending in a Death more lamentable Harken to thy Redeemer crying out My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me Behold the son of Righteousness setting in a Cloud and sin thy sin the cause of all this Break break hard Heart Let his Blood and Love together melt thee into Godly sorrow 15. The Communicant should Examine himself Am I willing to give to Christ whatever he is willing to
have Can I lay all that I have and my self too at his feet And not complement or dissemble with him when I say I and all is at his service Do I yeild my whole Heart my whole Man unto my Lord without any reserve As Christ gave himself for me and gave himself to me so am I perswaded that I cannot dispose of my self better or so well as to give up my self to Him O My Soul is any thing too much too good or good enough for Jesus Behold God in the Flesh in the Manger upon the Cross and in the Grave and if he condescendded obeyed and suffered and purchased so much for thee O Be perfect and intire in the resignation of thy self to him Thou readest of a Nonsuch Convert 2 King 23. 25. And that was Josiah Like unto him there was no King before him that turned unto the Lord with all his heart and with all his Soul and with all his might neither after him arose there any like him Surely 't is thy duty and Interest to write after this excellent pattern 16. The Communicant should ask himself Am I desirous to be faithful in Gods Covenant to the last Breath Do I count I obtain great mercy when I am made thus faithful Have I counted the cost of being a Disciple And is my love of the Lord and of Godliness greater then my fear of persecution Do I distrust my corrupt and timerous Nature and beg that my Lords Grace may be sufficient Look O My Soul as thy Head did unto the Joy that is set before thee and start not at the Cross which is the way to the Crown Persecution will sit thee for Heaven may speed thee thither Fear not men since the worst is the best they can do that is set thee by Death out of their reach and send thee to thy Fathers house and bosom Faint not at Troubles for these light afflictions which are but for a moment do work for persevering Saints a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. 17. The Communicant should Examine himself Am I taught of God to love my Brethren 1 Thess 4. 9. Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and all kinde of Malice is leaven that is to be purged out All that come to the Table should put on as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved Bowels of Mercies Kindness Humbleness of mind Meekness Long-Suffering Forbearing one another and Forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any as Christ forgave them so also should they do And above all these things they should put on Charity which is the Bond of Perfectness and the Peace of God should rule in their Hearts whereunto they are also called in one Body Col. 3. 12 13 14. 15. As there is a representation of the Body of Christ in this Ordinance of the Supper so there is some signification of the Love and Unity that ought to be in the Body Mystical that is to say the Church of Christ the Apostles Words are plain 1 Cor. 10. 17. For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread You see how you are to prove your selves and what questions to propound to your own souls before you come to the Lords Table And if your Consciences can answer for you before God in the affirmative unto such questions as these You may without presumption conclude that you are the Children of God that you have a right to come to your Fathers Table and that the Bread of Life belongs to you In the Third place I am to direct you how you may prove and call your selves to an account every day that you may walk with the greater circumspection The God of Heaven is the Lord of Time he observes how our Time is husbanded whether well or ill and he can put a period to it when he pleases And if we did seriously observe what fills up our time so many days would not be spent and lost in sin and vanity It was an Heathen who said he had lost a day when a day passed without doing of good which shews he used to reflect upon the actions of every day whether they were Good or Evil. I would advise you much to observe your selves Never any more spend a day as if you were never to account for that day but remember what the Apostle Paul says Eph. 5. 16. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the Time And the Apostle Peter gives the like charge 1 Pet. 1. 17. Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear Towards the Evening of the day it will not be amiss to retire and laying aside other business to converse with thy self and ask thy self these or such like questions 1. Did I wake with God in the Morning and in his strength resolve to walk with God all this day long Every one of us should resemble David who said How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God! When I awake I am still with thee Psal 139. 17 18. The first Fruits of our Thoughts should be offered up unto God and if the first Fruit be Holy all the rest of our Thoughts are the more likely to be free from wickedness and vanity And as the soul should be lifted up to the Lord at the very first unlocking of the senses so there should be a resolving and forecasting how to please and glorifie him Every day we live the main end of our living should be minded and that is to honour that God who is our Maker Benefactour Saviour for off him and through him and to him are all things and to him belongs the Glory for ever Rom. 11. ult 2. Ask thy self Did I willingly leave my Bed that I might go to Prayer and search the Word of God And did I long for and enjoy Communion with God in these duties Many will leave their Beds most readily when they are to go a pleasant Journey or when they hope to drive on an advantagious bargain or when they are to put on their finest Clothes But how few do shake off sleep in a morning that they may go to the Throne of Grace where the truest both pleasure and profit is to be found David lookt up to Heaven assoon as his Eyes were open Psal 5. 3. My Voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee and will look up Nay he says Psal 119. 147. I prevented the dawning of the Morning and cryed I hoped in thy Word Early Prayer and Searching of the Scripture is the way to obtain a blessing at the beginning of the day the influence of which may be perceived all the day after Communion with God in the morning may knit the Heart so fast to him as that no Temptation may be able to draw it away from him afterwards It was a pretty passage of Herbert Who read a Chapter when
they rise Shall ne're be troubled with ill Eyes Indeed Prayer and looking seriously into the Word of God at first is the way to keep Eyes and Heart and Hands and Tongue and feet and all in order 3. Ask thy self Have I walked within my House with a perfect Heart Praying with them Edifying of them and giving no occasion of offence and stumbling to them There will be the practise of Godliness in the House where there is really the power of Godliness in the Heart Every Christian Family should be like Philemons a Church Philem. 2. 3. To the Church in thy House Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ A Church implies a joyning together in that Worship and Service which God has commanded Christian Families being Churches there ought to be an assembling of the Family together to pour out joynt Prayers unto God I and my House we will serve the Lord says good old Joshua Josh 24. 15. I know Abraham says God that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18. 19. Family Prayer is enjoyned in the Lords Prayer Give us this day our daily Bread shews plainly that those who ordinarily and daily eat together ought ordinarily and daily to pray together The Master of a Family has a great trust committed to him even all the Souls under his roof and therefore by Praying with them and for them by reading of the Holy Scripture by Counsel and Instruction and by an Holy and excellent example he should endeavour to be beneficial to them and all the members of the Family should do the duties of their place and relation 4. Ask thy self Have I kept my Heart this day with all diligence The wise man gives that precept Prov. 4. 23. Keep thy Heart with all diligence And every one that is wise will follow it The Heart is to be kept for God and Christ there should be a most joyful consent that the Father and the Son should make their abode there That the Word of God should be hid there And the Heart should be kept from Sin and Satan and this present evil World Keep thy Heart for without diligent keeping it will be like the sluggards Field nothing but what is stinking and noysom will grow in it Examine Have the Thoughts of thy Heart been Holy Has God been frequently awfully and delightfully thought on Have thy Affections been Spiritual and most strongly inclined and carried forth after Heavenly and Spiritual things Has Pride Envy Anger and Evil Concupiscence and every other Heart Sin been hated Upon the first appearance of such Corruption hast thou presently cryed to Heaven for help and never ceased till they were gotten under The difficulty and also the excellency of the Christian Religion lies in keeping the Heart pure the Heart then is in no wise at any time to be neglected 5. Ask thy self Have I walked and prayed that I might not enter into Temptation And especially have I been vigilant against my Bosom sin 'T is easier by far to keep out of Temptation then being once entangled to recover out of Temptation 'T is easier to continue standing then after a fall to rise again and the reason is because a fall weakens us and disposes unto further falling Therefore the temper is to be resisted at first there should be no parlying with him but he should meet with an obstinate deafness an Holy inflexibility and stiffness and an utter detestation and abhorrency of all his motions When we are thus like iron pillars and like brazen Walls Hell is confounded the Devil flies He fights indeed but he does not prevail against us for the Lord is with us to deliver us to allude to that Jer. 1. 18 19. Especially we should place the strongest guard where we are weakest And take heed lest the sins of our complexions and constitutions and the sins of our Callings and the sins of the Times prevail and bring us under guilt and defilement 6. Ask thy self Have I done Justly and acted as if I loved Mercy The false Balance divers measures and the bag with deceitful weights are an Abomination to God And every good man will hate them That we ought to be exactly Just and Righteous in our dealings is deeply engraven on the Heart of man by Nature Excellent is that passage of an Heathen Poet. Persius Satyr 2. Compositum ius fasque animo sanctosque recessus Mentis et incoctum generoso pectus honesto Haec cedo ut admoveam templis farre litabo The meaning of which verses is That the meanest Sacrifices are acceptable unto God when the Sacrificer is Just and Righteous But the Word of Grace does abound in precepts of this kind The Gospel teaches that men should live Soberly and Righteously as well as Godly in this present World Tit. 2. 11 12. And 1 Thes 4. 6. That no man go beyond and desraud his Brother in any matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such If thou wrongest another thou dost thy self a farr greater injury Dishonest gain will be thy own Eternal loss without Repentance and Restitution according to thy ability And as thou shouldst be a practiser of Justice so a lover of Mercy The Lord delights in shewing mercy and so shouldst thou Thou oughtest to be merciful to thy Beast and how much more to thy Brother And if thou must Feed and Clothe the Hungry and naked Bodies of others according to thy power Certainly their precious souls should share in thy compassions and by wise reproofs faithful advice and frequent Prayer thou shouldst endeavour to prevent their perishing Everlastingly 7. Ask thy self Have I bridled my tongue If there be not a care to do this all Religion is but vain Jam. 1. 26. The Apostle uses two excellent similitudes relating to the Tongue Jam. 3. 3. 4. We put bits in the Horses Mouthes that they may obey us And Certainly we should set a Watch before the door of our Lips that we may not offend in the words we speak Behold also the Ships which though they are so great and are driven of fierce Winds yet are they turned about with a very small Helm whither soever the Governour listeth The Helm of a Ship had need have a skilful hand and the Tongue of a man had need be wisely managed How few make Conscience of Tongue sins who pretend highly to conscienciousness in other matters If by our Words we are to be Justified and Condemned Good Lord How few will be Justified how many will be Condemned at the great day Oh Watch over this little member thy Tongue which boasteth great things If thy Communication be good to the use of Edifying and which administers Grace to the Hearers as it ought to be Eph. 4. 29. Then thy Tongue will be thy Glory and 't will be as a Tree of Life to Feed others But if thy discourse be wicked and vain thy Glory is
Torment but never quite consume and make an end of those that are burning in it We read that sinners must dwell with Everlasting Burnings Our Lord tells you that in Hell the Worm dies not and the Fire is not quenched and he says this thrice nay six times together that man may believe and fear Mar. 9. 43. 48. And into this Hell the wicked shall be turned and all the Nations that forget God Psal 9. 17. This is as certain as 't is certain God is true and Powerful and Just and Holy 5. Look the very worst of you into the Gospel and behold the Lord Jesus stretching forth his hand all the day long even to them that are Disobedient and Gain-saying Rom. 10. 21. Stretching forth the hand is as much as inviting sinners to come to him and offering Salvation to them He has Justified and washed and sanctified and saved as bad as you And if you will at length consent to be sanctified as well as saved and come to him he will do both for the most guilty and defiled among you Oh! Look to Jesus whom you have slighted and cry to be drawn to him Secondly Let meerly Moral men prove themselves These have very great need to search themselves that they may not be undon for ever by self-confidence When I speak of Morality I do not mean an universal respect unto the precepts of the Moral Law for such a kind of respect only those who are truly Regenerate and Religious yeild unto the Lords Commands But by Morality I understand an external Righteousness and freedom from more gross and notorious iniquities such a Moralist was the Pharisee who said God I thank thee I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers Luke 18. 11. And such Morality was to be found in the Apostle Paul while he was Graceless before his Conversion Touching the Righteousness of the Law I was blamelesse says he Phil. 3. 6. Now Persons upon Examination may know themselves to be but meerly moral by these following signs 1. Meerly moral men are great strangers to the Corruption of their own Natures Hereupon they think themselves to be whole and do not apprehend any necessity of a new Birth of having a New Heart given to them When Nicodemus the Pharisee came to Christ Christ told him of the Corruption of Nature That which is Born of the Flesh is Flesh and except a man be Born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Joh. 3. 3. 6. The Apostle Paul while a Pharisee was alive in his own Thoughts though really dead in Trespasses and sins Moral men not knowing what they are by Nature continue securely in a state of Nature and suppose they have no need of the Blood and Spirit of Christ whereby alone they might be Justified and Renewed in order to Salvation 2. Meerly moral men though blameless in their Lives yet their Hearts are allowed to be wicked The Pharisees of old were against actual Murther but allowed of Malice Envy and Revenge they were free from gross Adultery but made nothing of Evil Concupiscence Therefore our Lord. Matt. 5. does at large shew the spirituality and extent of the Law of God and how it lays an obligation upon the very Heart unto Purity and Meekness and Love as well as requires external Conformity to the Letter of it in the Life and Conversation What kind of Hearts have these Moral men What Pride and high Thoughts of themselves what hatred is allowed to lodge in them What Ignorance and Contempt of Communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ How exceeding suitable and desirable are the Wealth Preferments and Delights of this World but their Hearts are meer strangers unto the Love of God and delight in him and rejoycing in Christ Jesus And which is worst of all they think this is needless and that their Hearts are so good they need not be changed and made better 3. Meerly Moral men do rest in their own External Righteousness and rest upon it They are confident that good living and giving every man his due is enough though the mean while the World and the God of this World fill their Hearts They act as if that Precept were not in the Bible My Son give me thy Heart Prov. 23. 26. As if they had never read of Davids practise Psal 25. 1. Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my Soul And as they rest in their own external Righteousness as if inward Holiness were not required so they rest and rely upon it as if this were enough to justifie them before God and to purchase their acceptance and Salvation But this ruines them and cuts them short of the Righteousness of the Son of God Rom. 10. 3 4. For they being Ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that Beleiveth Thus you meerly moral men may know your selves And oh That you would be advised 1. To Consider that Morality can neither justifie it self nor you It cannot justifie it self because 't is meerly external a piece of Pageantry and Hypocrisie for want of inward purity and how then can it justifie you before that God who is so glorious in Righteousness and Holiness You certainly stand in need of Christ as well as the greatest sinners in the World and must needs to Hell without Him The Apostle Paul was a great Moralist before he was a Christian but when his Eyes were open Christ was valued as the onely Justifier and Saviour of sinful and lost man and says he I desire to be found in Him not having my own Righteousness Phil. 3. 9. 2. Pray that the Commandment may come with Power and shew your sins even those that lye hid in your very Hearts and make you sensible of your damned and lost Estate Rom. 7. 9. I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sin revived and I died Notwithstanding all my confidence of my Goodness and good Estate before I saw my self by Law a condemned and dead man and no hope of life without Jesus a Mediatour 3. Be sensible of the necessity of the New-Birth and cry for the Spirit Those that are born again are born of the Spirit of God Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit This Spirit God is willing to give to all that ask him seeing indeed their need of him Begg hard for the Spirit that by him you may be enlightned convinced of sin and set at Liberty from it that you may be drawn to Christ and changed into the glorious image of God which does consist not in Righteousness meerly external but in Righteousness and true Holiness Thirdly Let unsound Professors prove themselves Why should such entertain a confidence which the Lord will reject Why should they joyn with a subtle Serpent to deceive themselves Oh! that they
would bring their base mettal to the Touchstone that they may perceive how vastly it differs from pure and tried Gold And that they would weigh themselves in the balance of the Sanctuary that their Consciences may perceive what reason there is that Tekel should be written upon them they are weighed in the balance and are found utterly wanting Now unsound Professors may come this way to a Conviction of their own unsoundness 1. They cannot endure plain dealing Our Lord tells us that this is the Worlds fault and Condemnation that they love darkness rather then light because their Deeds are Evil. Joh. 3. 19. And unsound Professors being not really come out of the World no wonder if the Word be disgusted that discovers and reproves them Sharp reproof makes us sound in the Faith Tit. 1. 13. But such rebukes the unsound cannot bear Deal gently said David with the Young Man Absalont And this is the Hypocrites Language Deal gently with my Pride and selfishness and darling lusts and sinful compliance for safety and profit and preferment sake It shews they are bruitish and void of true understanding because reproof is hated Prov. 12. 1. He that hateth reproof is bruitish 2. Unsound Professours regard iniquity in their Hearts Shame and Fear and hope of repute among men may curb and restrain them from running into the act of sin but the inward Love to it is not indeed mortified It may truly be said concerning the Hypocrite he abhorreth not evil Psal 36. 4. He may upon some accounts be afraid and ashamed to commit sin but he does not hate and abhor to Commit sin He secretly loves some sin or other though he hides both his sin and his love to it he does not long for the Death of all 3. Unsound Professours carry on Carnal designs in their profession of Religion Religion by such is made sometime a cloak to Covetousness or to Concupiscence or to Maliciousness they do not design the pleasing and glorifying of God this end sways not with the Heart till Grace is wrought there But they profess Godliness that they may sin the more plausibly and unsuspectedly and that they may bring about their selfish projects the more cleverly 4. Unsound Professours do relish only the things of the Flesh which shews that they are after the Flesh Rom. 8. 5. They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit They savour not Spiritual things neither are they troubled at the Carnality of their minds and affections nor do they desire to be made spiritually minded Now you who are thus convicted to be Hypocritical and unsound Professours I beseech you remember 1. God looks into you He that hates sin most perfectly and will punish it most severely knows how sinful you are If all things are open and naked to his view surely he looks into the painted and whited sepulchre and beholds all the filthiness and rottenness that is within it 2. Hypocrisie is very hateful to God His Eye and Knowledge is disregarded by the Hypocrite his hand is not feared his Grace and Goodness horribly contemned and abused And all this the Hypocrite does to Gods very face in his very House while he is bowing the knee before him and giving a great many good words to him and seems very devout in his service 3. Hypocrisie will be at last detected When thou art distracted by a Disease or wounded in thy Conscience thou mayst be forced to confess thy Injustice Impurity and other Abominations But if this be not at the last day all will come out to thy Everlasting Contempt and Confusion For God will bring every work into Judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Eccles 12. 14. Be wise therefore O unsound Professors Dissemble not with God deceive not your selves consent at last to be searched and sanctified and being humbled and ashamed because of your deceitful dealing with the Lord and Religion pray to be made Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile Fourthly Let sincere Saints prove themselves I have at large given you before the Characters of them who are Saints in sincerity They may know themselves by their coming out from the World by their preferring the living true and Everlasting God in their choice before all Lying and Dying Vanities by their thankful acceptance of the Lord Jesus as a Saviour and Redeemer from all iniquity as well as from the wrath that is to come Finally they may be known by their desires after the Grace of God in Truth and to be cleansed from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect Holiness in the Fear of God Now you who are thus really sanctified I would counsel in three particulars 1. Acknowledge that the Grace of God has made you what you are that you are Called Justified Adopted changed into the Image of your heavenly Father is owing to the rich and glorious Grace of God This makes the difference between the Children of God and the Children of Disobedience What have you that you have not received 1 Cor. 4. 7. And what have you received but what you were in your selves utterly unworthy to receive 2. Be sensible that that Grace which has begun must perfect that which does concern you That picture which was begun by Apelles could not be perfected by the hand of any other Look therefore unto the Author to be the finisher of your Faith Heb. 12. 2. And truly you are encouraged to a more firm relyance by what the Apostle speaks Phil. 1. 6. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ 3. Do nothing unbecoming your present State and Relation and future hopes You are highly favoured the Lord is with you You are advanced to be the Children of the Lord Almighty to be the Heirs of Life and Glory and Joint-heirs with Christ himself to be Kings and Priests unto God Let there be an Holy Majesty in your Conversations rejoice and work Righteousness Count it below you to be proud and high-minded below you to mind Earthly things or to do any thing that looks like serving Sin and Satan 4. Having attained unto peace take heed of breaking it Assurance may much more easily be lost then gained There must be all diligence to get it but negligence may lose it After the Prince of Peace has spoken to thy Heart and said Peace be still Oh! do nothing to raise a new storm and tempest in thy Conscience But walk very humbly and closely with God That you may live in the truest sense pleasant lives And may come at last to Heaven which is indeed the fair Haven in a blessed Calm and that of the Psalmist may be verified in you Psal 37. 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace
and amazing kindness and love of God The Father himself looks here and is delighted in the Obedience and Sufferings of his Son through whom without any prejudice to his Justice and Holiness his Grace and Mercy have a full vent and a free course to be glorified among the Sons of men The Beleivers under the Old Testament looked unto Jesus though he was more darkly represented to them Moses and the Prophets spake of him and Abraham himself rejoyced to see his day And under the New Testament he is more fully revealed Here therefore I will fix my eye and living and dying Behold this Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World MEDITATION XII I am in my self a lost Creature My sins my sins have ruin'd me the sins which I have lov'd and pleaded for and taken so much pleasure in have done me the greatest harm Wo wo is me that I have sinned I have broken the best Law and rebelled against the best Lord. I have sided with the Enemies of my Salvation to destroy my self 'T is an endless task to number the Stars in the Firmament or the Sand upon the Sea shore or the days of Eternity and I may as well do all this as number my iniquities Innumerable Evils have compassed me about my iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more then the hairs of my Head therefore my heart faileth me And if the wages of the least sin be Death and Hell what large wages and what a low place in Hell have I deserved Gods anger is just his power is terrible his patience is wonderful his mercy is utterly undeserved I should be all despair were it not for the Grace of God and the Blood of God but these are sufficient grounds of hope and Everlasting Consolation MEDITATION XIII I plainly perceive that all mankind have suffered shipwrack The first man Adam had the steering of the Vessel and he run it upon the Rocks and lost himself and his whole progeny All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God The calamity is general the whole World is become guilty before God there is none that understandeth or seeketh after God there is none that doeth good no not one 'T is truly lamentable that the humane nature should be so infected so corrupted as that every mind should be carnal and enmity against God that every Heart should be like an adamant stone that every neck should be like an iron sinew All are born the Children of wrath and with strong inclinations to be the Children of Disobedience So that when the Son of God came into the World to dye and save it He found the World lying in wickedness secure in sin and hastning towards Everlasting misery MEDITATION XIV Whence is this to Man that a Saviour should be provided for him Were there no Creatures fell besides Yes an innumerable Host of Angels kept not their first estate but left their own Habitation The Angels that sinned were excellent and glorious in their first Creation but they grew proud and Enemies to Truth and voluntarily departed and were justly banished from the Lord that made them And when these Angels sinned no mercy that we read of was extended to them The Scripture expressely says that God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell That was a dreadful fall indeed from the highest Heaven to the lowest Hell those mighty Spirits are fettered in Chains of darkness and are reserved unto the judgement of the great day they never that we find had a Redeemer provided nor a pardon offered nor after they had made themselves miserable were they ever brought within the reach and possibility of Mercy The Son of God took not on him the nature of Angels or he took not hold of the Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham MEDITATION XV. Lord What was man that thou wert thus mindful of him Or the Son of man that the Son of God should come and visit him Admirable condescension That thou whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain shouldst rejoyce in the habitable parts of the Earth and that thy delights should be with the Sons of men Can man be profitable unto God Is it any gain to the Almighty that any make their ways perfect Lord Man has the benefit of Salvation 't is but reason that thou shouldst have intirely all the Glory Man is therefore subservient to thine honour because his meanness makes thy condescension and his guilt and vileness does render thy Grace the more wonderful When 〈◊〉 Creature so undeserving nay that deserves so ill is so highly advanced as to be saved the power and grace which does advance and save him is matter of the greater admiration MEDITATION XVI Who is this Lord Jesus that undertakes the work of mans Redemption He is the express Image of his Fathers Person the Brightness of his Glory He is to be Worshipped with the same Worship and has the same Eternal Power and Godhead with the Father and the Spirit He it is who created all things in Heaven and Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones Dominions Principalities and Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist The Elect Angels adore him the Reprobate ones he has spoyled and triumphed over he has all power in Heaven and Earth and Commands the Keys of Hell and Death He is Wonderful in Counsel the Mighty God the Prince of Peace How safe is it then to trust in this Lord Jesus 't is the highest reason to believe in him that is so mighty that is Almighty for the must needs be able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him Whosoever Believeth in him shall not be confounded MEDITATION XVII O my Soul let thy Faith be fixed and settled on the Godhead of thy Lord and Saviour were he not God 't were both sin and folly to rely upon him Faith in him would be altogether vain but since he is the true God and Eternal Life They shall not perish but have Everlasting Life that do indeed beleive in him Christ thy Righteousness is the Lord Jehovah in him therefore thou mayst confidently expect to be justified and thou mayst Glory and rejoyce for ever The Blood of Christ is called Gods own Blood because 't is the Blood of him that is truly God and over all God blessed forever as well as truly man And surely the sufferings of him that was God can make satisfaction for the sins that thou hast been guilty of against God Thou art amazed to see thy iniquities increased and thy Trespasse grown up to the Heavens Thou art astonished and desolate and horribly afraid to see how high thy sin strikes even at God himself But withal take notice how Christ who is God does stoop and humble himself He that thought it no Robbery to be equal
with God the Father takes upon him the form of a Servant and becomes obedient to death even the Death of the Crosse and he is sufficient to make peace MEDITATION XVIII Christ as he was God could not die but he took mans nature upon him that he might be in a capacity to dye for sinful and lost Man He suffered in the same Nature that had sinned that he might make Atonement Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings could never take away the guilt of sin nor quiet the Conscience of the sinner nor cleanse and sanctifie a defiled soul therefore Christ had a Body prepared for him that by one Offering he might perfect his Church for ever Wonderful mystery of Godliness That God should be manifested in the Flesh and suffer upon the Cross to make peace Here is a wonderful contrivance Christ is the Sacrifice Christ is the Altar and Christ is the Priest Through the Eternal Spirit he offered up himself without spot to God to purge our Consciences from dead works that we might serve the Living God MEDITATION XXI Christ is God and has so effectually don the work of a Mediator that God is forward to be at Peace and entreats sinners to be reconciled Christ is Man and therefore Man may go with boldness to him O my Soul Thy Lord is near a kin to thee he bears good will to thy whole kind He is the Saviour of all men especially of them that Believe Being so nearly related to thee he has a right to Redeem thee nay he has actually paid the price of thy Redemption already so that nothing remains but that thou come to him and be made free indeed His Arms were not folded or hanging down but stretched out upon the Cross And oh How forward is this Saviour who died to embrace all that come to him When he says he will in No wise cast them out methinks it speaks the greatest readiness and gladness imaginable to entertain them Venture O venture to look to Jesus to come to Jesus and venture thy all with him Never any miscarried in this bottom and all must needs miscarry in any other He knows thy Sins thy Wants thy Foes thy Fears he knows how to Pity Protect and Succour thee He was in all things made like unto his Brethren that he might be a Merciful and Faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make Reconciliation for the sins of the People for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he knows how to succour them that are tempted MEDITATION XX. How excellent is the Knowledge of Christ Crucified Look O my Soul upon thy Lord who loved thee at such a rate as to dye for thee Behold him Arrested Arraigned and Condemned Thou wast guilty of the crime and thy Lord did bear the punishment Behold him going to execution going unto Golgotha and if he had not gone thither whither Oh! Whither must thou needs have gone for ever The Law had condemned Thee not only the first but also the second Death was the just desert of thy Transgressions But here thy Surety stept in and Redeemed thee from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for thee Look upon the Wrath of God revealed against thee because of thy ungodliness and unrighteousness look upon the glittering Sword of Justice drawn look upon devouring Fire and Everlasting Burnings prepared for thee and thy self just ready to be thrown into those unquenchable Flames And then behold and wonder at the kindness and love of Jesus who was willing to be made sin for thee and to bear the Wrath of God himself that he might appease it which was too heavy for thee to bear and which would have sunk thee into the lowest Hell and have kept thee there unto Eternity In what a deplorable and desperate case had the Sheep been if this good Shepherd had not stood in their room and layed down his Life for them MEDITATION XXI History tells us of Codrus the last Athenian King who was a great Lover of his People as appears by the manner of his Dying When the Grecians of Doris sought Counsel from the Oracle concerning the success of their Wars which they waged with the Athenians It was answered that undoubtedly they should prevail and become Lords of that State when they could obtain any victory against the Nation and yet preserve the Athenian King himself alive Codrus the King by some intelligence being informed of this answer withdrew himself from his own Forces and putting on the habit of a common Souldier he entred alone the Camp of the Dorians his Enemies and killing the first he met with was himself forthwith cut in pieces Thus he was willing to lose his own life rather then his Country should be ruined The Lord Jesus the Prince of Life and Glory did vail his Majesty appeared in the form of a Servant was contented to be counted a deceiver and to be numbred among Transgressours that his Life might be taken away and hereby Eternal Redemption be procured Codrus was deservedly honoured among the Athenians and certainly the Lord Jesus should be the higher in our esteem and love the lower he humbled and abased himself for our sakes The offence of the Crosse should cease since his Crucifixion was so necessary to our Eternal Salvation MEDITATION XXII Greater Love hath no man then this that a man lay down his Life for his Friends But Lord Thou didst dye for Rebels and for Enemies thou didst dye unsought to undesired therefore thy love is greater then the greatest love besides Thy love was stronger then Death no Water could quench it no Floods could drown it Hell it self could not discourage it 'T was a bitter Cup the Father put into thy hand but thou didst drink it and drink it off too the very dreggs of the Cup are gone Oh what a load did lye upon thee All the sins of all that ever were or shall be saved did meet on thee together How many stings had thy Death and yet thy Godhead and thy love did carry thee through all thy sufferings Oh! That I could comprehend with all Saints what is the heighth and length and depth and breadth and know the Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge that I may be filled with all the fulness of God! MEDITATION XXIII My Lord did know what was to come upon him Mans sin had been shamefull Christs Death was most Reproachful and Accursed Man had taken Pleasure in sin Christs Death was painful Man had been wilful in Transgression and Christs Death was voluntary though 't was violent Man had sinned against knowledge and with great contrivance and deliberation and Christ perfectly understood all that he was to endure He was well aware what he was to feel from Earth from Hell and from his heavenly Father and yet he makes no demur but endures the Cross and despises the shame and gives his Life a Ransom for many How was he straitned till his bloody Baptism was accomplished And
sin deserves thy hatred does not thy Lord deserve thy love What and where hadst thou been if he had not loved thee and given himself for thee Thy Lord is every way excellent the chiefest among ten thousand altogether lovely the most admired among the visible Creatures the finest Gold the richest Jewels nay the shining Sun in the Firmament are but poor similitudes and faint shaddows to set forth his incomparable perfections The Heavens are not clean Angels themselves are black when compared with Jesus who is the image of the invisible God! This high this glorious and beautiful One became flesh and sin and a Curse for thee so that his love is incomparable as well as his loveliness O my soul set open all the flood-gates let thy love even all of it run in a strong and undivided stream towards him Love this Lord Jesus in sincerity love him with greater ardency love him with the greatest constancy Here is no danger of excess no danger of defilement or a snare in thy loving Christ as there is in loving of the Creatures Study him better and thou wilt see new beauties in him daily grow in knowledge that thou mayst grow in grace and love Let thy desires grow stronger and stronger his fulness can easily satisfie them Rejoyce in Him with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory and cry out with an affectionate and holy impatiency Come Lord Jesus come quickly Appear the second time without sin unto Salvation MEDITATION XLIII How much is mine if Christ my beloved is mine What unsearchable riches have I an interest in No match comparable to that with Christ either for the excellencies of the person or the largeness of the estate What poor offers doth the World and the God of the World make me They talk much of honour and wealth and mirth and pleasure but these afford no true contentment for that short time they are enjoy'd and they perish in the very using Death does quickly come with a convincing demonstration and proves the richest man a meer beggar the greatest Prince a contemptible clod of the Earth the fairest and most admired beauty a skinful of dirt Can Satan offer any thing that is Everlasting No good thing I am sure that is so Indeed Everlasting pains Eververlasting burnings Everlasting wrath he will bring all unto that are led Captive by him at his pleasure but these Eternal evils he does most studiously conceal and hide But this is the commendation of My Lords Benefits that they are permanent and durable The Treasures wax not old the one thing needful cannot be taken away the inheritance is incorruptible and the Kingdom he will give his followers cannot be moved MEDITATION XLIV If Christ is mine the Father is mine How sweet were those words which come out of my Lords mouth quickly after he came out of the Grave Go tell my Brethren I ascend to my Father and your Father unto my God and your God All the Attributes of God are engaged on my side His wisdom will be my guide his power and truth my guard and shield His presence will be with me wherever I am and his Grace sufficient for me in all my troubles and Temptations All my desire will be before him and my groaning will not be hid from him and he can easily furnish me with the good things I desire and deliver me from those evils which make me groan before him I shall not want while the All-sufficient God is my Shepherd my state is secure and safe for my God is unchangeable He will never turn away from me to do me good and his Grace will establish me and hinder my departing he will uphold me with the right hand of his Righteousness and guide me with his Counsel and afterwards receive me to his Glory Be not thou cast down or discouraged O my Soul be not disquieted within me Hope thou in God and continually praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God MEDITATION XLV If Christ is mine the Spirit is mine The same soul does animate and Act the Head and the Body the same Spirit is in Christ and in all his true and living Members The Spirit of Wisdom and Illumination will enlighten me and make me able to judge all things after a right manner The Spirit of truth will lead me into all necessary truth so that I shall be ignorant or mistaken in nothing which is needful to be understood and known in order unto Salvation This Spirit will make me hold the Head and from him I shall derive not only a directing light but a vital influx which will quicken me and make me alive more and more abundantly Glorious Spirit Thou art the Lord and Giver of Life without thee the Word of Life is dead and proves a savour of Death unto Death Without thee Ordinances are without efficacy without thee my Heart is cold and comfortless I grieve that I have grieved thee Oh let me be thy Habitation and thy Temple let me see thy blessed light let me feel thy glorious power and know by more abundant experience what thy peace and joy means The lusts of the flesh which defile thy Temple let them be destroyed mortifie the deeds of the Body fill me with Grace and make me fit for Glory Let the least check of thine restrain me every motion of thine let it be obeyed Let me perpetually have an ear to Hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches MEDITATION XLVI If Christ is mine the Creatures are also mine The Sun was created to give me light and to make me admire the God that made it The Stars observe their courses for my good The Ordinances of the Heavens which alter not at mans pleasure may serve as an instruction to me that Gods Covenant when Earth and Hell have done their worst shall be kept and stand fast for ever the Earth is Fruitful the Sea does Ebb and Flow the Rain descends the Beasts and Fish and Fowl do multiply to do me a kindness The Ground was made for me to tread on the Air for me to breath in and though such mercies as these are vouchsafed to wicked men yet they are given to me in another way My Lord has bought them for me with his blood for with him they are given to me they are not a trap a snare to me as they are to others but they are truly blessed to me as well as given The higher Creatures are also mine Paul and Apollo and Cephas nay the very Angels are said to be ministring Spirits and are ready to Minister to me and to guard me Those loving humble Spirits have a charge given them concerning the Members of Christ and willingly look after them that are the Heirs of Salvation MEDITATION XLVII If Christ be mine Death is also mine as well as Life Death is terrible indeed to Nature and causes the frame thereof to be dissolved but my Lord has reconciled this last Enemy 'T is really mine
to serve me too much mine to do me any real harm Christ by dying has taken out the sting of Death so that I need not any longer be under bondage through the Fear of Death O Death Thou hast left thy sting in the side of Christ and there hast lost it O Grave My Lord has broke thy gates open and because he is risen I may joyfully conclude my own Resurrection My body must lye in darkness for a while but it shall not always be Death's Prisoner This corruptible shall put on incorruption this mortal shall put on immortality and as the Corn cast into the ground does rise with advantage every single grain yeilding sometimes an hundred fold so my flesh shall come up out of the Earth with an hundred fold better qualities then now it has 'T is sown in weakness 't is raised in power 't is sown in dishonour 't is raised in glory But O my Soul Death will not be able at all to seize on thee Thou wilt be delivered out of a dungeon when thou leavest thine Earthly Tabernacle and go unto a glorious Palace assoon as ever thou art absent from the Body thou wilt be present with the Lord assoon as thou art departed thou will be with Christ and how much better that is thou wilt find to thy full and Everlasting joy MEDITATION XLVIII If my Beloved is mine and all things mine is there not reason I should be His His I am and His I will be to eternity Lord I am Thine for thou hast made me and not I my self I am thine by the right of purchase as well as Creation for thou hast bought me with a price Nay thou hast new made me on purpose for thine own use and that I should shew forth thy praises And I do willingly resign and yeild my self to thee if I am thy Servant make use of me if I am thy Treasure keep me if I am a child let me be imployed in my Fathers business if I am Betrothed to thee let thy love and jealousie secure me from other Lovers Oh let me be wholly only always Thine Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity Let my tongue be like an Angels continually sounding forth thy Name Let my hands be holy the path of my feet pondered let all my members be yeilded as instruments of Righteousness and let my soul with all its powers love and serve thee Lord sanctifie and satisfie and save me and honour me by employing me for I lift up my soul and give my very heart to thee MEDITATION XLIX Ten thousand times ten thousand praises to the God of love and peace Who would not worship thee and give thee glory O thou King of Saints Let thy Church on Earth as well as Heaven ring aloud with Hallelujah's Who is God save the Lord who is a Rock save our God! Who in Heaven above or in Earth beneath is to be compared to Thee a God glorious in holiness terrible in Majesty rich in mercy abounding in Grace wonderful in working and keeping truth for ever Who can by searching find out God! who can find out the Almighty to perfection It is high as Heaven what can we do Deeper then Hell what can we know Who is a God like unto thee abundant in loving kindness goodness and truth Delighting in mercy Forgiving iniquity Transgression and sin and reconciling the world to himself in Christ Glory be to God in the highest for such good will towards men Let the Heavens rejoyce and let the Earth be glad let the Sea roar and the fulness thereof Let the floods clap their hands and the hills be joyful together Let all the creatures joyn in magnifying that God which made them And let all Saints shout aloud for joy unto Him who has visited and redeemed them MEDITATION L. Lord How much art thou above thy Creatures reach Who besides thy self can conceive thy excellency Who can shew forth all thy praise Thou art exalted above the blessing and the thoughts of Angels above the songs of Seraphims Everlasting thanksgivings are thy due Oh let me live with thee to Eternity that I may ever be paying this debt of praises Bless the Lord ye innumerable company of Angels which excell in strength who see the Glory of your Maker and Lord Praise him O ye Thrones Dominions Principallities and Powers Exalt that mighty and gracious God who elected and confirmed you when so many other Angels sinn'd and are eternally left and miserable in their Apostacy O all ye Triumphant Saints that are with the Lamb upon the heavenly Mount Sion Strike up with your Harps and if it be possible let your strains be still higher and higher Ascribe blessing and honour and glory and power unto Him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever O thou Militant Church Begin this heavenly work of praising here on Earth Thy Redemption and deliverance is begun and will most certainly be compleated The Captain of thy Salvation will stand by thee in thy spiritual warfare and having made thee more then victorious over all thy Enemies will bestow upon thee the promised Crown of life and glory MEDITATION LI. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name What hast thou breath for but that it should be spent in his praises Wherefore hast thou a tongue at command but that it should be employed in glorifying thy Lord and hereby become thy glory Should not a slave that has been in very hard and cruel bondage be thankful to him that redeemed him Should not a Malefactor condemned to dye be thankful unto Him that pardoned him Should not the patient that has laboured under a Death threatning distemper be thankful to the Physician that has cured him And how much greater reason is there O my Soul that thou shouldst abound in thanksgivings unto thy God and Saviour Thou wast in the worst sense enslaved and he has made thee free indeed Thou wast condemned to the second Death to be separated for ever from the Lord and to be thrown into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone and he by dying himself has purchased a pardon for thee Thou wast sick of spiritual which are the worst kind of plagues and He is the Lord that heals thee Awake Awake Oh my soul Awake Awake And utter a song of praise Rejoyce in Christ Jesus Glory in the Father of mercies Who forgiveth all thy iniquities who healeth all thy Diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies MEDITATION LII Shall I not magnifie and advance my Lord who am so highly advanced my self I was once in darkness and securely went on towards the blackness of darkness forever but I am called out of darkness into marvellous light â— I was once a stranger and a forreiner but now I am a fellow Citizen with the Saints and of the houshold of God I am become a child of God who
was once a Child of Wrath and Disobedience I am become an Heir of God and a Joint-Heir with Christ unto that inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled and which fadeth not away Nay my Lord who has loved me and washed me from my sins in his own blood hath made me a King and a Priest unto God and his Father and I must reign for ever for of this Kingdom which I have now a Title to and a sure promise of there shall be no end Oh rich Oh free Oh glorious Grace I am at a loss for an expression high enough to set forth the thousandth part 〈◊〉 my Lords incomparable kindness my shallow Conceptions cannot reach what is incomprehensible Therefore I must be silent in a joyful admiration MEDITATION LIII What shall I render unto the Lord My All is due my All is too little and by rendring my All I secure my All and so am still more benefited and I become more my Lords debter I find my self most happily puzzled with my Lords goodness He gives himself to me and requires that I should give my self to him but in so doing not He but I receive the benefit All the retributions thou requirest O my God and Father are but to do my self more kindnesses Duties are my priviledges All thy precepts are for my profit and my peace and pleasure to obey them Thou art beyond all compare the very best Master Oh let my ear be boared for I will serve thee for ever let my Heart be circumcised that I may love thee Eternally There is a sweetness in the acting of every Grace There is great peace in keeping of thy law there is an amiableness in thy Tabernacles thy power and thy glory are seen in thy sanctuary and though that word Suffering may sound harsh yet upon experience suffering will be found the most delightful paâ—â— of Christian obedience MEDITATION LIV. My Lord did not stick at suffering and why should I Why should the Cross daunt me If I will be indeed Godly Persecution is to be expected The old Serpent is full of hatred and so are his seed and their hatred is implacable But when I consider my Lords love and power and presence Hells Malice and the Worlds Rage become contemptible times of suffering are times of the sweetest solace Those are not unreasonable injunctions Count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations and Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven The Spirit of glory and of God does rest upon his suffering Saints so that they glory in tribulation they rejoyce in it as a dignity when they suffer shame for the name of Jesus they are gainers by their losses they gain an hundred fold in this World besides the Kingdom in the other World MEDITATION LV. O my soul follow thy Lord though he lead thee in rough ways and paths of great affliction If sufferings abound consolation shall abound and grace shall be sufficient The Cross of Christ though the outside of it be affrighting yet it is lined with love and easily born And if it should come to pass that Life must be taken away What better use can Life be put to then to lay it down for the Testimony of Jesus The painfullest deaths have proved many times most pleasant What raptures of joy have the Martyrs had at the stake and in the flames Prudentius of old observed Mors Christianis ludus est That Death was but a sport unto the Christians Remarkable is that passage of Bainham the Martyr when his arms and legs were half consumed by the fire he spake these words O ye Papists you look for miracles and here now you may see a miracle for in this fire I feel no more pain then if I were in a bed of Down it is to me a bed of Roses Resolve therefore O my soul undauntedly to undergo whatever tribulaon thou meetest for the sake of Righteousness Rely upon thy faithful God who will not suffer thee to be tempted above what his Grace shall enable thee to bear with joy as well as patience MEDITATION LVI Thy death O Lord is to be shewn forth till thou comest 't is proper for me to think of thy coming and to rejoyce at the thoughts of it My Lord and Redeemer will certainly appear the second time without sin to Salvation And when he shall appear I shall be like him and appear with him in glory Time and days do fly away apace and the comming of my Lord draweth nigh That will be the day of my open absolution of my full and compleat Redemption of my joyful and triumphant Coronation How full of glory and of love will be the face of Jesus then Ah! where shall the ungodly and sinners then appear How will the greatest and the stoutest of them even the Kings and Cheif Captains and mighty men tremble and call to the Rocks and Mountains to fall on them and cover them from the face of him that sits upon the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb But though most of mankind be full of horror I if I am a true Believer shall be full of joy and after I have been openly acquitted own'd and crown'd before Men and Angels Whither Oh whither will my Lord carry me Into those Mansions he is gone to prepare into the presence Chamber of the King of Glory Where God himself will be All in All. MEDITATION LVII I find some sweetness in the way and means of grace what shall I find in the end if in vale of Tears such joy be found what will be enjoyed in a paradise of delight if in the midst of labours and fightings and temptations I find so much satisfaction what contentment will an Everlasting rest afford me Augustine speaks excellently Soliloq cap. 35. Intra in gaudium sine tristitia ubi erit omne bonum et non erit aliquod malum ubi erit quicquid voles et non erit quicquid noles O gaudium vincens omne gaudium laetitia sine dolore lux sine tenebris vita sine morte ubi juventus nunquam senescit ubi decor nunquam pallescit ubi amor nunquam tepescit gaudium nunquam decrescit ubi dolor nunquam sentitur gemitus nunquam auditur ubi triste nihil videtur ubi malum nullum timetur quia summum bonum possidetur Enter O my soul into joy without sadness Where there shall be a presence of all good an absence of all evil where there shall be every thing which thou desirest nothing at all that thou dislikest O joy surpassing all other joys Gladness without Grief Light without Darkness Life without Death There Youth shall never grow old Beauty shall never fade Love shall never wax cold and Joy shall never be diminished there sorrow shall never be felt one sigh shall never be heard