goes down to tread upon the Devils shoulders to exalt it self to tread upon the world to exalt it self to tread upon Gods shoulders to exalt it self any thing that may exalt it self they are so opposite that it is impossible they should both close Thus far indeed a man that hath made Self and self-interest his portion that man may keep a marveilous fair quarter with Religion as a learned man handling this very Doctrine I am preaching of useth this comparison saith he Those men whose interest is to maintain their own greatness they will entertain those that are cal'd the wits of the time the pleasant Companions the Drols they wil entertain them bid them welcom be glad of them though it be some cost to them it is a part of their grandour it maintains their greatness to have such and they are as welcome to them as any body in the world but if any of these wits or pleasant Companions shal come to engage this man and say pray Sir be you bound with me for ten thousand pound Sir you are welcome to my house and your Horse is welcom but Sir you must pardon me he wil throw him off rather than do so So a man may entertain Christ while hearing of Sermons and discoursing of Religion is only an Ornament to a man a man that is of a selvish spirit may cordially entertain him so far but so as to hazzard their own undoing for Religions sake for Christ's sake to bring me to beggary it may be to hang me upon a Gallows to throw me out of my Office to overthrow my Trade wholly to throw these away no man living can entertain Christ so far It was a notable speech of the King of Navarre that afterwards was Henry the fourth of France The King of Navarre was a Protestant and owned the Protestant cause but his eye was upon the Crown of France to which he knew he was Heir and hoped to come to it and when Beza and the other Protestants did press the King of Navarre to appear cordially in the cause of God saith he I am yours I wil go with you but I promise you I will go no further to Sea than I may come to Land if a storm rises his meaning was he would never hazzard the loss of the Crown of France for the Protestant Religion and so he fared accordingly and truly so may it be now Thou maiest tel Christ after a complemental manner Lord thou art mine it is my honor to be thy servant I delight to hear thy word preached and worship thee in my Family I rejoyce in it all this fair quarter maiest thou keep but beleeve it if the Lord have not taught thee to renounce thy self when Christ shal come to try thee throughly thou wilt honor him just as you shal find in the Story and it is worth your observation in 1 Kings 20. you have such a Story as this is Benhadad the King of Syria sendeth to Ahab King of Israel such a Letter as this saith he Thus saith Benhadad All that thou hast is mine thy Wives and thy Children are mine thy Gold and thy Silver is mine and al is mine Ahab very loth to quarrel with him returns him a very fine complement My Lord saith he all that I have is at your service all is thine Well Benhadad sendeth next day Wel saith he whereas I sent to thee that all is mine that thou hast I wil send my Servant for to seize upon it while he only talked of it Ahab would own it my Lord all is thine But when to morrow I wil send my servants and they shal seize upon it then he cals his Counsellors See you how this man picks a quarrel with me what a fair answer I sent to him and now he would seize upon all So if Christ come to thee til thou hast learned self-denial and say here I wil lay thee down here thou shalt lose thy credit or thy Conscience peace with me or peace with men thou canst never close with Christ cordially till thou hast learned this lesson And then Thirdly and Lastly for my Motives 3. Know for certain If the Lord have but once taught thee this Lesson there is nothing in all Christianity wil be difficult to thee all the waies of Christ will be as plain as a Bowling-Alley whatsoever thou art called too I know I speak a great word but I bless God I speak not unpreparedly in it all the waies of Christ wil be as plain as a Bowling-Alley to thee if the Lord have but once taught thee to turn Self out of doors thy work wil be brought only to these two Heads 1. One part of it to learn to know what Gods wil is concerning thee what he would have thee do or what he would have thee suffer And 2. The other wil be but to seek strength of him that thou maiest not in thy own power go about it but be supported by him but otherwise all objections and difficulties are removed if Self be but once turned out of doors Why Because all the difficulties in the waies of Christ ariseth from Arguments taken from Self only either this will be against my honor or here I must part with such a pleasure or here my estate may hap to be crack't or here this may hazzard my life or this may deprive me of my Children or this may cut me off from my Friends or this may expose me to scorn some such thing or other comes in but otherwise when a man hath no such thing to take care for I have no honor nor credit nor wife nor Children nor friends I regard the Lord is my portion I live upon him I drink water out of that Cisterne and I care for no other when the soul hath but once learned that it is but with him as it was with Paul saith he I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem and I profess I know not what I shal meet withal saith one then I will tel you what you shal meet withal the Holy Ghost saith the Jews shall bind you and Scourge you and Whip you and send you to Rome and what then they all fal a Weeping for and about him saith he why break you my Heart What care I to die at Jerusalem when it is the work of the Lord he had no self to regard he had turned self out of doors and all the waies of Christ were easie to him and God knows this passage was one of the motives that made me choose this Theam before this grave Auditory Truly our times are extream Ticklish and dangerous and the wisest man under Heaven knows not what wil betide him whether it fals back or edge no man can tel what will become of him nor what to meet withal and a great many wise men are perplexed to know what to do now I tel you if the Lord do but teach you to deny your selves to lay aside all that may be called self
Riolanus Anatomy 6 Veslinguâ— Anatomy of the Body of Man 7 A Translation of the New Dispensatory made by the Colledg of Physitians of London Wherein is added The Key to Galens Method of Physick 8 The English Physitian Enlarged 9 A Directory for Midwives or a Guide for Women 10 Galens Art of Physick 11 New Method both of studying and practising Physick 12 A Treatise of the Rickets 13 Medicaments for the Poor Or Physick for the Common People 14 Health for the Rich and Poor by Diet without Physick The London Dispensatory in Folio of a large Character in Latin The London Dispensatory in twelves a smal Pocket Book in Latin To the Physical Reader THe greatest Reason that I could ever observe why the Medicines prescribed in these Books above mentioned and in many other Physick Books do not perform the Cures promised is the unskilfulness of those that make up the Medicines I therefore advise all those that have occasion to use any Medicines to go or send to Mr. Ralph Clarke Apothecary at the sign of the three Crowns on Ludgate-Hill in London where they shall be sure to have such as are skilfully and honestly made The Printer to the Reader I Have in my hands divers other works of Mr. Stephen Marshals which for their excellency and variety of matter are highly esteemed by all that heard them preach'd Or have read them in writing I intend to print them in several smal Books that they may not be above the reach of a poor man's purse The Subjects on which they treat are Chiefly these that follow VIZ. 1. Of the Covenant of Grace And the great priviledges the Saints have therby 2. Formal Professors seldom become sincere 3. Reformation and turning to God the only means to prevent Ruine 4. Christ the Prince of Peace 5. The Excellency of Christ's Kingdom 6. How Freedom come by Christ. 7. The Vnion between Christ and Beleevers 8. The Riches of the Saints through the Poverty of Christ 9. How Christ is the Head of the Church 10. Christ and his Seed have sufficient strength to destroy their Enemies 11. Christ the Bridegroom Beleevers are his Bride 12. No Participation of Christ but by Faith 13. Faith so precious a Grace that Christ is glad of any thing that may further it 14. An Humble Spirit Infinitly acceptable to God 15. Great Joy to all that Mourn in Zion 16. The double Recompence the Godly shall have after their affliction 17. The Happiness of the Saints under the Cross 18. The untimely Death of good men a Ground of Great Lamentation 19. The Magistrates Dignity Duty and Vsefulness 20. The Churches Danger Deliverance and Duty 21. The Churches praise unto God for their Deliverance 22. A great Mercy in God to prevent his Peoples ingageing one against another in Blood 23. Gods Chosen Ones are the Preventors of destruction 24. Mens Misery is only from themselves Their Deliverance is only from the Lord. 25. The Pearl of the Gospel 26. How the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation 27. It 's impossible for true Beleevers totally and finally to fall away 28. Parents Duty to their Children 29. Provision for the Poor 30. The Great Judgment of Famine 31. Of the Sacrament The CONTENTS of the first Book of Mr. Stephen Marshals Works VIZ. Of Christs Intercession or Sins of Infirmity SERMON I. On 1 John 2.1 And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous THe scope of the Epistle Opened Page 1 2 3. The words of the Text explained Page 3 4. Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christs Intercession in Heaven is the great dayly Relief that all the Saints diligentest their watchfulest work in the world to keep their hearts in a good frame when once the Lord in mercy hath put them into a good frame Page 132 133 Reasons of the Point Reas. 1. Because the Heart is beyond all comparisons the best part of Man it is the Head Quarter Page 142 Reas. 2. Because the Heart is not only the best part of Man but it is the Treasury wherein better things are laid up than it self Quest. What are the Treasures laid up in the heart of a gracious Man Answer 1. The great God chooses the Heart of every Godly man for his Privy and Presence Chamber 2. Christ Jesus dwels there Emmanuel dwels there in whom are bid all the Treasures of God 3. The Holy Ghost dwels there too the Heart of every Godly man is his Temple 4. All the Graces of the Spirit of God are laid up there 5. The Word that is the the rule of our life is laid up there Reas. 3. Because the Lord whom we profess to serve looks only at the Heart in al the Sacrifices we perform to him Reas. 4. The Devil makes all his Assaults and Batteries against the Heart and counts all his labor lost if he get not into the Heart Reas. 5. Because the Heart is not to be trusted but is deceitfull false cosening even the Heart of the best man in the world 139 Reas. 6. Because out of it are the Issues of Life thy whol Conversation wil be as thy Heart is kept Use 1. Serves to reprove thousands with a bitter reproof who would fain go for Children of God and yet 1 They are exact in keeping their Houses c but neglect their Hearts Page 143 144 2. Others are curious about their Bodies to Feed Physick Adorn them but neglect their Hearts Others are careful also of their manners and Conversation to avoid scandal and yet neglect their Hearts 4 Others keep indeed their Hearts but sleightly they do not keep them above all keepings Page 146 Use 2. This is a Doctrine of wonderful consolation though it carry just rebuke with it to al whose Consciences witness that their greatest care is to purge and keep their Hearts Page 147 Use 3. To exhort all men for the time to come to make this their study to keep their Hearts Before this can be done I. The Lord must break the Heart to pieces and new mold it And then you must 1. Keep it pure from Sin 2. Keep it fit for Duty The Life of Christ or the great Mystery of Spiritual Life SERMON I. THe Text Opened Page 1 2 3 Doctrine 1. Every Soul that hath Interest in Christ while he is in this world it is in Christ that lives in him Doctrine 2. The manner of their living this Life in this world it is by Faith For Explication consider that There is a twofold life 1. A Natural life which we have from Adam 2. A Spiritual Life which flows from the second Adam Quest. What is this spiritual life Answ. It is a Participation of Christs Righteousness upon the Souls union with him Use 1. Shews how necessary it is that we should all try and examin our Souls whether we are partakers of this Life or No. Page 20 Considerations to stir up to this examination 1. That in Truth this alone is
they by virtue of their fellowship should walk in the light And then Secondly Explains this more particularly in the subsequent discourse and shews that by walking in the light he mainly intends walking in holiness that is to abominate and abandon the waies of sin and to live as becomes those that are born of God in holiness and righteousness and this is the plot of the whol Epistle And then he begins with the first branch of it and that is to depart from the waies of sin and sets down this conclusion That if any man do pretend Communion with Jesus Christ and walk in sin he is a meer Dissembler he hath not one dram of Communion with God and Jesus Christ That is a certain rule no man that hath Communion with Jesus Christ can walk in a sinful life but every branch of the great things that Christ bestows upon his people the purport and intent of them all is to make them leave sinning that they wholly overthrow the very tenour of the Gospel who talk of believing in Christ and walk in a Godless life Now this first Branch the Apostle prosecutes at large both in the first Chapter in this second Chapter and begins the second Chapter thus Now all these things do I write to you that you sin not and presently at the 3d verse takes it up again saith he If any man know him he must walk as he walketh and so proves it by many Arguments Now Brethren you shal see the intent of my Text The Apostle knowing what an uncomfortable Doctrine this would be if it were not explained how uncomfortable it would be even to the best of Gods Saints and people he prevents the sad objection that every gracious heart would be ready to make for when he hath set down this for his Conclusion He that is in Christ cannot sin he cannot sin he deceives himself if he talks of Christ and sins Why A poor Soul would presently come out and say Then am I utterly undone I have then no interest in Christ for I sin I sin dayly I cannot live without it I cannot perform one Duty but my corruption is intermingling it self with it wo be to me if that Doctrine go for currant that he hath nothing to do with Christ that sins Now by way of Prolepsis the Apostle anticipates this objection and cleers the mind of God about it and then proceeds further to prosecute his Doctrine and it is laid down in these words But if any man sin let him know that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for all our sins and not only ours that are Jews but throughout all the world if they be Beleevers This he laies down to stay the hearts of Gods people in reference to that sadness that they would be ready to be overwhelmed with Now Brethren because there is but one main Doctrine that I intend to insist upon I wil but briefly explain the words to you and then I wil propound the Doctrine First When the Apostle saith If any man do sin he thereby plainly implies that there are certain sorts of sins that even Gods Children though they dare not commit sin nor walk in sin yet even Gods own Children for them he speaks to my little Children I write this to you I say there are sins that Gods own people are overtaken with even after they have fellowship and Communion with Jesus Christ that is the first thing that he takes for granted Then Secondly To that he adds But saith he if any man sin that is when we do thus sin when Gods people do thus sin What then We have an Advocate that you all know the meaning of one that pleadeth our cause that is the office of an Advocate to appear in behalf of another in his cause We have an Advocate with the Father above in Heaven at his right hand that is Jesus Christ our Lord who died for us and loved us and gave himself for us he appears in Heaven for us yea he is Jesus Christ the righteous that is though he be so righteous that he wil never plead an ill cause yet this is a part of his righteousness to intercede and appear in the behalf of his own people even when they sin against him Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for our sins that is who once upon earth offered himself up a Sacrifice to satisfie for them and now in Heaven pleads the benefit and virtue of it for ever in the behalf of his people And not for ours only that is we that are Jews but for the sins of the whol world supposing stil he speaks of the same matter of those that believe in Christ that have Communion with him throughout the world Rich and Poor Yong and Old Jew and Gentile this is a truth to them all When Gods people sin Jesus Christ the righteous at Gods right hand maketh mediation for them So the words thus briefly paraphrased upon do afford us this Doctrine which is the only Lesson that I intend to handle this day namely Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christs intercession in Heaven is the great dayly relief that al the Saints have upon Earth against their dayly sins A Doctrine which at the very first propounding Promiseth not only comfort to Believers but carnal men they wil be ready to promise themselves liberty though I hope without cause by that time I have done with it but Jesus Christs mediation in Heaven is the great relief to all Gods Saints upon earth against the dayly sins that they are overtaken with Now Beloved that I may handle this Doctrine for your profit there are two questions which God willing I shal endeavor to cleer and that wil be the sum of all my work the discussing of them First Quest. 1. What sins the Lords Children and People are liable to while they are in this world what those sins are that the Children of God may be overtaken with while they live in this world Secondly Quest. 2. I wil shew you how the Intercession of Jesus Christ is the great relief to Gods Children against these sins For the first First What are those sins which the Lords people his own Children are liable to while they live in this world And to make you the more attentive to it be pleased to note that there are two Conclusions about sin laid down so cleerly in the Scripture yea in this very Epistle that they almost seem to contradict one another and therefore it is of great weight to have that cleared First 1. Nothing clearer then this That he that is born of God doth not sin nor cannot sin and if a man say he hath communion with Jesus Christ and walkes in sin he is a Liar and deceives his own Soul Nothing clearer then this in this Epistle So likewise in Romans 6. How can we that are dead to sin Live any longer therein Sin cannot
particulars then he walketh as becomes a Saint in holiness and righteousness but when at any time the Spirit of God for reasons best known to himself doth withold his immediate assistance from that Soul then their habitual inclination is never able to make them do any thing that is good If a temptation to a sin be propounded and a corruption of their nature be a little excited and Satan backing it and the Spirit of God not joyning down they tumble in every temptation and sin against God though never so fouly and if a holy Duty be to be performed pressed with all the moral Arguments in the world if the Lords spirit afford them not assistance and strength immediately they are not able they are unfit unable to do that which they are required and from hence ariseth all the infirmities of Gods people and herein you may see there is a corrupt nature in part remaining There are likwise external objects that would stir up this corrupt nature temptations from the Devil that would inflame it when these stir and Gods spirit doth not assist then are all the Lords people so weak and feeble that infallibly they sin against him and this is the nature of the sins of infirmity that is the first The second thing I would cleer is this Secondly What kinds there are of them because that will further acquaint you for indeed my aim is that all the Saints of God may see the frame of their own spirits as it were in a Glass that so afterwards you may learn how needful the Lord Jesus Christ is to us then the second question is What kinds of infirmities are the people of God subject to To that I answer They may all be brought to these two Heads they are either First Such as are not common to all the Saints No nor to any of Gods Children except upon special desertion or else Secondly They are such as all Gods people while they live in this world are dayly compassed about with For the first of them I. There are Infirmities I say which are not common to all Gods people No nor to any of them unless when very extraordinarily deserted of God and they are such as when the Servants of God do seem to pour their hearts out into wicked waies and commit those sins that are publickly to the dishonor of the Lords Gospel to the wasting of their own Consciences to the defiling of their own holy waies to the scandal of Gods people as suppose to live in Adultery in Uncleanness in wantonness Cursing Swearing Drunkenness false dealing and the like Now two things I would say about this 1. That somtimes Gods own Children for a season are left under such a condition David you know even when he was the Child of God took his neighbors Wife into his bosome and most wickedly plotted to take away her Husbands life and did take it away Peter Cursed and Banned and Swore and counterfeited himselâ— to be a prophane person that he might not be thought to be a follower of Christ So that such things many other instances I might give you that in the greatest the most flagitious way wherein a man may seem to be turned from Christ and betake himself into the Tents of his enemies to fight against him as if he would be a Ranter against him such a thing may befal a Child of God But then I adde 2. But this is not the Lot of all No nor of any but when extraordinarily deserted and that is cleer by this because throughout all the tennor of the Gospel it is sufficiently declared that these are not the spots of Gods Children these are not the waies of the Saints these are the waies in which whosoever walks cannot be saved and therefore what their condition is I shal tel you by and by God willing when I come to cleer it But that is one sort that it is possible the corruption may be so strong the assistance of Gods spirit so wholly withdrawn and the temptation so mighty as that a Child of God for want of strength may fall into the foulest mire and filth in the world That is one sort II. There are other sorts of Infirmities which all the Saints are compassed about with every day that they live and it is rare that any of them spend a day either without al of them or some of those infirmities and if you wil know what they are I answer There are three kinds of them and I think all the infirmities of the Saints wil fal under one of them and I purposely open them that you might have a Glass to see your faces in 1. Some and very many of the infirmities of the Saints of God they are meerly the infirmities of their understandings that is sins of ignorance that they do the things that are contray to God contrary to his will but do not know Gods mind about them and from this sort no man upon earth is free Who knows the errors of his life and I think verily under this head fals those sins of the Patriarchs of the holiest men that walked with God whose hearts were perfect with God they had their many Wives they had their Concubins too not knowing that this was against the Institution of God And so likwise in the sin of omission as you shal see there was from Joshuah's time to Nehemiah's time one of the great solemn Feasts that is the Feast of Tabernacles was never kept according to Gods institution for a thousand years together that they were by Gods institution to keep it not in their own houses but to go to live in Booths in the Fields for that time it is said expresly from Joshua to Nehemiah that that Feast had never been so kept that either they had forgotten it or the generations were unacquainted But now when Gods people do any of them in their speeches or actions do the things that are indeed contrary to Gods wil but especially not knowing it to be so and yet their hearts prepared that if the Lord would but discover his mind to them they would follow him in all things and yet this is one sort that all Gods people are liable to in the world But I tel you by the way that were but this one thing understood it would go a great way to make the Servants of God less harsh than they are one to another The Lord give them so much light to own it he sees such a thing as cleer as the Sun to be the institution of God or the mind of God or the way of God in this or that Duty of the first or second Table and then because he sees it he is ready to condemn all the world as rebelling against God for not being of his practice because the Lord it may be lets not them see it But that is one sort sins in the understanding when Gods wil is not known 2. Another sort of these infirmities when the
thing is known it is known that such a thing is contrary to God and I ought not to do it but yet by a sudden hurry of temptation when the violence of temptation surpriseth the Soul many times before ever it can recollect it self it is carried down with the temptation even against a cleer light yea carried against it as if a Cock-boat should be carried down a strong stream they have not so much time to cal themselves to an account to think whether these things become them or no And thus it was with Aaron that Saint of the Lord he could not but know that to make a Calf it was destructive to the Covenant of Grace that God had made with them it was a kind of implicite renouncing of God but a sudden temptation came all the people came saying make us a resemblance of God Moses is gone we wil have it he was surprised before ever he could recollect himself And so Moses that holy meek man when a sudden temptation came that the madness of the people had vexed him that he could not recollect himself he speaks so unadvisedly with his lips to Gods dishonor and this no man is free from but some in one part some in one kind and some in another all Gods people before they are aware are many times carried away and surprised before they can recollect themselves to know what their duty is But yet there is a third sort and that seems to go deeper and that is 3. When they do not only know it to be a sin but deliberatly commit it I mean that the heart is tempted to such a thing saith the soul it is abominable it is against God I will not do it but betakes it self to prayer prayes the Lord to assist and strengthen him the temptation comes again and gathers upon him that though he do resist it yet he hath not strength enough to overcome it the ground of it was because the holy Spirit who is a free agent communicates so much strength to him as to stir up his graces and to draw them out into the Field in Gods Cause and to oppose the Enemy and gives him some strength to resist it but not strength enough to overcome it but leaves him unfit and without sufficient strength against that temptation and of this I think the Apostle Paul mainly means in all his discourse in Rom. 7. where in the Person of a Regenerate man he saith The thing I would not do I do and when I would do good Evil overcomes me I would not do the Evil yet it is too strong for me then complains Wretched man that I am I am even sold under it Now I think under one of these three fal al the common infirmities of all that love Jesus Christ in sincerity they are either meer Ignorances that they know not Gods mind or they are else sudden surprises hurried away before they can cal their hearts and graces to act and have strength to assist them or else the Lord lets out a greater measure of the power of the Enemy to assault than he is pleased to communicate to the soul to resist and under one of these I say do all the infirmities of Gods people fal in their ordinary course Now the third thing which when I have briefly dispatched then I wil go to the next which is the great question is Thirdly How this may be known and I wil speak to it the rather because I find there is no man in the world that lives within the compasse of the Church I mean but is wonderous desirous to have all his lusts and corruptions to be adopted into the name of an infirmity and when they have brought them under that Burrow then they are wonderful safe in their own eyes the man that Keeps a harlot and nourisheth his wanton vain glory or whatsoever it be convince him of it I saith he God helpe me it is my infirmity no man lives without his infirmities and when they have once got them under that name of an infirmity then all that you say concerning Jesus Christ's relief against their daily sins it is all their own though God knows they are as far from it as the East is from the West And on the other side I find many a real Servant of God that if their corruption have any thing in it that carries horridness to the Conscience any strange distemper that is more than ordinary and assaults them and buffets them and treads them under foot Then they are ready to think that all the world cannot satisfie them that these are but infirmities these cannot be the spots of Gods people And so that neither the Lords own Servants may be discouraged nor wicked men get a Cloak I would a little discover how you may cleerly know what are the infirmities of the Saints and wherein they differ from the rebellions of those that are the Lords Enemies and for that I wil give you 1. One Rule that is Negative and 2. Another that is Positive 1. Negative You must take this That an infirmity must not be judged of by the matter of the sin not one whit judged of by the matter but only from the disposition and qualification of the Person that commits it my meaning plainly is this We are ready to think that those sins that are but petty and trivial they must all have the names of infirmities and those sins the matter whereof are odious those must not go for infirmities Now this is a most false Rule for a sin that is a very trifle if it be but an idle word vain thought petty oath any such thing as it may be committed may be a reigning sin and a path of the way that leads to eternal damnation according as the Person is that commits it and on the other side even a great sin for the matter of it should it be Murder and Adultery I instance in them because they both met in David possible it is that the things may so fal out that these may be but infirmities therefore remember that is a corrupt Rule and all you that please your selves with this that God keeps you from the great abhominations you are no Whoremasters you keep not a Harlot and you are no Cozeners nor Cheaters in your Trade though it may be your Oaths are Faith and Troth and prittle prattle and slighting of holy Duties you wil have these things pass for infirmities No you wil see this is no Rule That is one remember you must not judge of infirmities from the matter but only from another Rule which I wil give you and that is this 2. Whosoever can but rightly judge of an infirmity of the body hath a cleer Rule to direct him to an infirmity of the Soul Now all infirmities of the body they have all of them these three things constantly go with them The first is 1. They never are our choyce That that is our infirmity never
is our Choyce that I think I shal not need much to discourse of I have such an infirmity I want strength in me I strength in my Limbs in so much as if any body say Come pra'y will you walk If I walk I must halt every step I go But would you have it so Do you make choyce of it to be so Now there is a mans infirmity he never makes any choyce of it Though it is possible in spiritual things there may be something of the wil in temptations yet no man ever saith Lord give me leave to be a Deceiver or a proud man and the like No if it be an infirmity we never make choyce of it Secondly 2. If it be an Infirmity it is perpetually a burden and according to the nature of it so the burden is greater or lesser And so a man that hath an infirmity in his body if it be in a noble part his Eye Oh! it is a great burden to him if his infirmity be in a very useful part in his Foot every step he takes goes to the heart of him if it be an infirmity in his breast where the Lungs lie Oh! that is a wonderful burden According as the part or faculty is useful so a weakness there is accordingly a proportionable burden So now wheresoever any Child of God hath any passions any corruptions stirring in him to hinder him in his enjoyment of God or walking with him they are his greatest burdens in the world no affliction goes so neer to a man that hath given up himself to walk in the way to Heaven as that that keeps him from walking in the way to Heaven that interrupts his peace and disturbs him in that way So if it be thy infirmity the Soul chuseth it not Secondly It is a burden unto it And then the third is 3. That in an infirmity alwaies there is a desire of curing it that though beforehand I may know I can never cure it totally yet if I can but cure it so as to be less burdensome if I could cure it wholly whatsoever it cost I would yet if not cure it wholly yet to keep it under So here every Child of God whose end is God whose way is Gods word he finds his flesh that that hinders him he cannot walk in it doth he make nothing of it No it is his dayly practice to crucifie it to put off the Old man with all the lusts of it No Chyrurgion more desirous to mortifie a member that must needs be cut off than a Saint is to draw out the life blood of every corruption he bears about him And truly because I see the time hath so prevented me that I shal be hindred I would else have stopped here and made some Application of this but I wil only beg of you because I am in the next question to open a great deal of comfort to every Child of God I beg of you for the Lords sake deceive not your selves about it think not that all that shal be spoken of Christs being a relief against the corruptions of his people wil reach you you that sel your selves to unrighteousness you that would not be made clean and have no mind that the Lord should rend your Harlot from you but your credit and reputation you must have whether it wil stand with Gods or no Flatter not your selves to think that the Blood of Christ wil be your Propitiation and that he appears for you No you have nothing to do with him you choose your waies of sin and the Text hath told you a little before That if any man talk of Communion with God and with Christ and walk in darkness that man is a Lyar and hath no truth in him But if any of you your Consciences bear witness to what I have delivered that your heart is in Gods way Gods word is your way your aim is at it every day in every thing only you are surprised you want light and strength and ability to stand it out when you are put to it Now for that come we to the second Question and that is Secondly To shew you how the Lord Christs Intercession in Heaven is a sufficient relief to al his Children against all their corruptions they bear about them And I know before I enter about it I may say in so great an Assembly all those that are the Lords they wil much more desire to have a relief about their corruptions than about the greatest afflictions that betide them in all the world For I know no such evil that the people of God lie under as their sins in their own apprehensions Now then the Question is How doth the Lord Jesus Christ's being in Heaven serve as a relief to Gods people under their many infirmities And to that I shal bring my Answer to two Heads according as I laid down two sorts of infirmities I told you there is one sort of infirmities that is not common to all nor to any of Gods people unless when wofully deserted Now the Question to that is Quest. 1. What is the Intercession of Jesus Christ unto the Saints under such abhominable fals What Relief is the Intercession of Christ to David when he lies in Adultery To Peter when he denies his Master and to others when they fal into the like sins What is the interecession of Christ to them Answ. That I shal dispatch very briefly and I will lay you down what I have found to be the Lords mind in these two Conclusions First 1. That during the time that any of the Lords people do rant after that maner against him fal in that way against him the intercession of Christ is so far from affording comfort to them that it is the greatest aggravation of their sins and Christs being related to them and so their being related to him doth make their sin beyond al measure sinful that is the first Now a child of God turning rebell against his Father while he lies under this rebellion the intercession of Jesus Christ indeed our selves know upholds him and grace wil bring him home as I shal speak by and by but during that time he is interdicted al communion with God through Jesus Christ. Many are the evidences I could give you of it in the Scripture what was Ephraim God saith he is his dear Child but if he joyn himself to Idols let him alone saith he let him alone he is joyned to Idols let him alone I wil meet him as a Bear robbed of her whelps I will meet him as a Lion or as a Leopard I wil tear the very Caul of his heart And the Prodigal all the while he had run away from his Father and wasted his goods amongst his harlots his Father lets him alone let him starue and giue up the Ghost he never inquires at al after him and had I time I could shew you abundance of particulars to make this good that the Lords People when they fal
in the midst of all thy corruptions if thou didst know it it would engage thee to joy and to every thing that is Holy and Good the Lord set it home to the hearts of his people and teach them to apply it to their own Souls in secret And then Secondly USE 2. 2. I say to you all from hence All of you learn what need there is of getting an interest in Jesus Christ for that is the end of my Sermon To perswade you to see the need that you have of getting an interest in Jesus Christ. Would you know why I wil tel you Al the sins that you commit as you wil commit sins every day you live but all the sins that you commit are all writ down in Gods Book he numbers your steps though you number them not your selves he hath your iniquities in a Bag and the day is coming when he wil cal every one of you to an account and now Friends what if you have not a Daies-man or a Mediator to appear for you I remember Ely said Oh my Sons if men sin against men men shal speak for them but who shall speak betwixt the Soul and God So you have committed innumerable sins and your own hearts and Consciences tel you more than any man can charge you with How wil you do to appear before God What if you have not a Mediator the Lord Jesus that is a Propitiation for our sins What a woful case are you in Take heed you do not imbrace a Cloud but study Christ and get found Faith in him and if Christ be yours you are secure but look to it or your case is dangerous I dare not stay you any longer The Lord give us understanding in all things FINIS THE HIGH PRIVILEDG Of all True BELIEVERS To be the SONS of GOD. Opened in a Sermon at Suttons Hospital Novemb. 12. 1654. John 1.12 13. But as many as received Him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that beleeve in his Name Which were Born not of Blood Nor of the will of the Flesh Nor of the will of Man But of God THe dependance of the Words stands thus First You have in the beginning of the Chapter a most glorious Description of Jesus Christ both of his person and of his Natures and of his Office under the Name of the Light that inlighteneth every one that cometh into the World Then Secondly You have a description of his Entertainment in the World when this great Lord submitted to this work and manifested himself What was his entertainment First He came into the world and though the world were made by him Yet the world would not know him he came amongst his own that is his own nation and kinred who had been instructed about a Messiah that was to come and had long prayed for him Oh! that he would bow the Heavens and come down amongst us he came amongst them and they would none of him they would not receive him Truly this is the ordinary lot of Jesus Christ wheresoever he cometh but yet there were a remnant that did receive him and shal receive him even those that belong to the Covenant of Grace And what get they by it That Remnant that handful that do receive Christ make the best bargain that ever was made in the world As many as did receive him to them he gave this priviledg that they should become the Sons of God and so here you have the comprehension of all the happiness that Beleevers do receive by Jesus Christ they are made the Sons of God so that the Text hath two things in it First 1. Here is the Means whereby Souls are made partakers of Christ that is upon receiving of him that is the means and condition or instrument All that receive him which is interpreted in the next words even they who believed in him Believing in Christ and Receiving Christ is al one This though it be a Doctrine of wonderfull comfort I shall speak nothing of it but of the second That is 2. The benefit that they all receive who do partake of Christ what they get by him They all of them have this priviledg or Prerogative That they are made the Sons of God and so without any more preparation to the Text or explication for the Doctrine I will explain in the handling of it I say without any more preface I lay you down this Doctrine Doct. That al who believe in Jesus Christ are made the Sons of God the Children of God And that you may receive this with better attention I will to make you the better understand the Lord's scope answer a Question that is this Quest. You say it is very cleer in the Scriptures that al Beleevers are made the Children of God that is one of their Priviledges but what is the reason that no more is named but that one They are Justified they are Sanctified they have the Promises they are Reconciled they have a thousand excellencies in this world yet here is none named but only this they are made Sons Why is no other named but this Answ. I Answer plainly and it will be of great use to understand it namely that though somtimes in the holy Scriptures our Sonship is but one of our Priviledges yet very frequently in the Scripture all that Beleevers do obtain from Christ in this world and the world to come here and to eternity all is comprehended in this one That they are made the Children of God Really you wil see it as cleer as the Sun presently that God comprehends all other priviledges in this one that he that hath this one he that is made the Son of God he hath all other that can be imagined or that you can find any Speech of in al the Book of God so great is this And I wil give you a little light about it and then you wil receive the Doctrine I hope with the more attention and with the more desire to see your own Interest in it You shal see and observe it as a general that very frequently when the Lord describeth the Covenant of Grace the new Covenant what he wil be to his people in the new Covenant he is very frequent in the setting down of this I wil be their Father saith he and they shall be my Sons and Daughters I know not how often the whol Covenant of Grace is expressed in that word I wil be their Father they shal be my Children but very cleerly you shal see it if you turn to Ephes. 1.5 where the Apostle doth bless the Lord for all the abundant Grace that is manifested to us in Christ there he sets it down in this one expression having predestinated us to the adoption of Children What is al that Al the Graces al the Good that we enjoy from Christ you have it in this one Sentence God predestinated us to the adoption of Children he hath done all when he hath
of Application is come the making himself over to them in the consideration or notion of an elder Brother and so they really by their conjunction with him partake of it There is the second work 3. There is the work of the Holy Ghost and til that likewise be past over the Soul never is any man made the Son of God The Holy Ghost and his work is so eminent and apparent that he is called the Spirit of Adoption that when the Lord gives his Spirit unto his Children he cals it by the Spirit of Adoption because it is the great Office of the Spirit to make that great work of Adoption Quest. Now what is the Holy Spirit 's work about it Answ. I Answer It stands in three things and you wil see them all cleer in Scripture and I hope I shal have some time for the Application for I go it over as fast as I can the Holy Ghosts work in making us the Sons of God stands in three things as it is cleer in the Scripture The one is 1. When the acceptable time is come that the Lord means to make a Soul that is by nature a Child of wrath to become the Child of God He sends the Spirit of Jesus Christ into that Soul to be a band of union betwixt Christ and that soul that whereas Christ is to be applied to them as a Brother and they to be mystically united unto him the holy Spirit takes this Office upon himself to come and dwel in the heart as a band of union betwixt Christ and them that Christ and they should never more be separated and this work of the pouring out of the Spirit into the Soul to take possession of him for Christ and to give the possession of Christ unto him the Spirit being the band of it this is the first work of the Spirit as he is the Spirit of Adoption There is one The second work of the Spirit is this 2. That when the holy Spirit comes to make Christ and us one he as the elder Brother and we as his Brethren inseparably united to him whereas he findeth us enemies hateful hating that would rather be united to Harlots to the Creature to any thing the Spirit of God works a Child-like heart in them framing and molding their Spirits that for the time to come they calling God Father as they have warrant to do they likewise shall be made Sons even in the frame and bent of their spirits which is very excellently expressed in the very next words to my Text wherein it is said He gave them this Prerogative that they should become the Sons of God which were born saith he mark not of Blood nor of the wil of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Now no longer shal flesh and blood sway them but being born of God the Spirit of God gives a new birth and a new life now they come to have the hearts of Children that as nature hath planted in the heart of a Child toward the Parent Honor and Love and Reverence and Obedience where sin hath not utterly perverted it this is the natural genius of a Child to his Father So the Spirit of God molds and frames the Soul and this the Scripture signifies when it saith Because you are Sons God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts whereby now we can cry Abba Father now the hearts of them shal stand to God and be carried to him in Faith and Prayer as the hearts of Children are naturally carried to their Parents That is the second thing And then the third and last work of the Spirit and so you have all this indeed as plain before you as I can set it out briefly the Third Work is this 3. This Holy Spirit even as it is the Spirit of Adoption doth not only unite them to Christ and frame a sutable disposition in them towards God and Christ But it abides in them upon all need to witness to their Spirits that this is their condition to give not only the Seal of it by changing their hearts but by giving them the comfort of it as they need it in their necessities which the Apostle expresseth in those words it is in Rom. 8. And the same Spirit witnesseth to our spirits that we are Gods Children it carries our hearts to God and testifies to the Soul that God is their Father There is the second Now I have been larger in that because in truth the world doth not ponder these things nay few of Gods own Children do ever consider what a strange work it is that none but the blessed Trinity can undertake and each of them have their distant work in it of bringing a poor Child of Wrath to become the Child of God That is the second You hear now what Adoption is and how it is wrought Now the third thing in the Doctrinal part and then I hasten to the Application is Wel What are the benefits of it Now what are the benefits of our Adoption That when the Lord hath took this strange course and brought about this strange work Wherein doth the worth of this Priviledg stand I answer You wil receive a great deal of light of it at least it wil help you to remember it and understand it the better if I do illustrate it by the practice that was amongst the Romans So their Adoption and the Roman Adoption had three things in it it carried three things as all learned men that have read their Stories and Laws do know The first is 1. When a man was Adopted into a Family the Family of a Caesar or the great men by his Adoption he was cut off from the Family from which he sprung by his natural birth cut off from it not simply but from whatsoever was base or unworthy in that Family that if his Father were a Slave and himself by his birth a Slave it was hereditary to him or if any blot or infamy stuck upon his family whatsoever it was the Adopting of this Person into another Family wholly cut him off from al the base ignominious slavish bondage and dangers which belonged to the Family from which he sprung by his natural birth That was the first The second was 2. That by his Adoption he was taken as belonging to the Family into which he was Adopted as much as if he had been begotten by him he was to have by the Laws of the Empire the same respect from his adopted Father the same provision the same protection the same immunities whatsoever that his own begotten Son might claim by nature from the Roman Laws the adopted Child was instituted in them all And Thirdly 3 By his Adoption he had the same right to the inheritance that the begotten Child had if there were no other begotten Children the whol Inheritance sel to the Adopted Child if there were another begotten Child though beloved the Adopted shared with him in it Look how
the inheritance was to go amongst the begotten Children by the Laws of the Empire so by the same Laws it was to go amongst them that were adopted Thus it was amongst them but whether any Lawyers can except against it or no I will not much dispute it but I shal make it cleer to you that it is thus absolutely and fully in our adoption Absolutely and fully in the adoption of a Child by Faith all these three things meet First 1. We are hereby cut off from the Family from which we sprung by nature I speak not now of our Civil birth or rights but of our spiritual standing which is to be Children of wrath Children of Belial Children of old Adam Children of Sin and Death we are cut off from that Family no longer to be reckoned of it the Bondage Baseness Obligations Curses whatsoever lay or doth lie upon Adams Family or upon any that spring from it assoon as ever the Lord cals him Son through Christ he is wholly cut off from all that is plainly thus and because I cannot possibly open these in a short discourse I wil commend it to your studies 1. We are for example all of us by nature under the Dominion of sin that is our birthright sin and the curses of it we are al under it assoon as ever the Lord cals a Beleever Child that he hath let his adoption pass upon him the bondage of sin the curse of sin the dominion of sin it is wholly removed from him ye 〈◊〉 not under sin sin cannot have dominion over you because you are now brought under Grace And then likewise 2. The Law whereby sin is irritated and animated the Law that in the Rigor of it and the Curse of it that lies upon all the Sons of Adam we are cut off from it assoon as ever we are Gods Children and therefore the Apostle expresseth it thus to the Galatians that he made his Son born under the Law that he might Redeem us that are under the Law that we might have the Adoption of Children I hope no Body will mistake me for it is most clear in the word that the Law remains as a rule to Gods Children and that is their priviledg but as for the Rigor and curse of it they are wholly cut off from that when they are made the Sons of God by Adoption That is the First That the Lord calling Sons to Jesus Christ and owning them as his Children for the sake of Christ they are delivered from all the Curses and bondage that belongs to Adams Family and which all the Rest of the world lie under But then the Second is greater then this And that is 2. That by our Adoption we are really I speak of Beleevers not nominal Christians but real Christians they are all of them taken into Gods Family as his Sons and Daughters that is he owneth them to be his Children and hath the Bowels of a Father to them really that they are now under his care under his provision under his Protection under his indulgence and whatsoever he hath commanded the most Holy Parents to exercise towards their own Children that fear them he hath ingaged himself perpetually for ever to do all these things unto those whom he is pleased to cal his Sons and Daughters by Adoption There is nothing so ful no pearle so ful of excellency there is nothing so ful of any thing that is good as this is ful of consolation to the saints of God that can but understand it therefore he must needs bear with them therefore he must needs provide for them therefore if he correct them it must needs be in Love with nothing but a Fatherly rod for we are all taken into his Family and may go to him as to a Father in all things wherein we have need of a Father that is the Second A great comprehension of Priviledges not to be uttered And then the Third branch is as clear 3. That when God calls us to be his Children we are thereby made his Heires we are Heires of God indeed in the Civil Law inheritance it is by a succession into the right of the Dead but now as the Lord is pleased to apply it to his Children it signifies a certain inheritance but certainly the inheritance that the Lord of Heaven is to give to any or that he hath given to his Son Jesus Christ all his Brethren the Brethren of Christ and the Sons of God have a share in it If you wil have it a little more fully I will tell you in a few words thus for you have the proof of it in Rom. 8.16 That the Spirit witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ But I mean these two things by it First 1. The Heir while he is a Child is Lord of all he is Lord of al before he comes to the injoyment of it he is the Lord of it so now while Gods Children are in their minority while they are poor ones in this world they are Heirs of the world the Lord hath called his Children to be Heirs of the world that is whatsoever is in this world is for their sakes the Angels the World the Devils in Hel in spite of their Hearts they are al under the Saints and are compelled by the Lord they against their wills and the Angels with their good wils they all of them are subservient to those that are the Sons of God by Adoption and whatsoever is in the wide world and may be enjoyed any waies for the good of his People they are the Heirs of all this is their Portion while they are in this world the Scripture saith it plain All is yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods and therefore Paul and Apollo or Cephas or whatsoever is in the world all is yours the Saints of God have a real right to al by vertue of their Sonship not in the Law of man but in the spirituall sense that the Scripture holds out And then 2. For the other life where the prepared possession which was cast by God from all Eternity all the Glory of Heaven such as Eye never saw nor never entred into the heart of man to conceive of it is all kept to be the everlasting inheritance of all those that are called the Lords Children Thus Brethren I have as briefly as I could and yet I have through Gods goodness plainly opened to you this great priviledg of all priviledges that whosoever doth beleeve in Jesus Christ really accepts him to be their Savior they are upon their beleeving in Christ made the Sons and Daughters of God Now let me make some Application before I dismiss you and one thing that I would fain have you think upon alone is USE 1. 1. To take heed you be not deceived about it this would require a Sermon whensoever I should treat of it and therefore I wil
of Gods love he wil interpret every thing wel that God doth to him and he will then trust him and then fear him when he is but perswaded of his love and therefore learn this Lesson here is love indeed here is love the like was never heard of that the Lord should rear poor Worms and let such a work pass upon them to make them the Sons of God That is one collection that therefore the love of God is wonderful great unto those that do beleeve in him And Secondly I have but one Collection more that I will give you at this time and that is this 2. Hence it follows That they who beleeve in Jesus Christ are exalted to the highest dignity that any Creature is capable of that as here is a magnifyng of Gods love to them so here is a magnifying of their State That I hence collect that there are no People under the Heavens Nay let me ad not in the Heavens there are no Creatures so highly exalted as Beleevers and why Because they are the Sons and Daughters of God not in a name only not metaphorically as all the Creatures are but really God hath the heart the Bowels of a Father to them and they the hearts of Children Yea the State Adoption of Children the greatest exaltation that is in this world I remember what David said when some of his Courtiers came to him told him of Sauls good opinion of him to give him his Daughter and wished him to be thankful for it Oh! but saith he is it a smal thing in your eyes for a man of so mean a stock as I am to be made the Son in law of a King So if there be any Beleever here that thy heart tels thee that thou acceptest of Christ to be thy Savior that his Spirit hath laid hold upon thee Is it a smal thing in thy eyes that thou art really the Child of God Is there any thing in Heaven and Earth to compare with it I remember David in 1 Chron. 17. when he had Nathan came to him with a message from God and told him to this purpose saith he I wil raise up thy Child after thee and I will set him upon thy Throne and I wil be his Father and he shal be my Son and thus I wil do to thee David could not hold but runs and sits him down reverently before the Lord Oh Lord saith he who am I What comparison is there Wilt thou be my Father and the Father of my Child Is it true Lord Can this be Oh! it so amazed him that God should be his Father Oh! could we think of it I beseech you tel me to which of the Angels said God at any time thou art my Son he saith to the poorest Beleever in the world thou art my Son It is not only a name that expresseth good wil but a state and condition that the Lord hath set him in so that I dare boldly say I will draw to a Conclusion with it but I would have you study it when you are at home I dare boldly affirm that the meanest Beleever though as we say in the Country he go with his Flail or a Rake or as you wil say in the City he carries the Tankard the meanest Beleever that hath Christ for his Lord and Savior he is exalted to a higher condition than Ahasuerus was when he was made the Emperor of a hundred twenty seven Provinces for let them take al the Pomp Wealth State that is in this world let them have it all if they have not Christ God looks upon them as Satans slaves and over a few daies they wil perish among the Dogs I mean among the Devils be base and be miserable for ever wheras the poorest servant of God that believeth in Christ the Lord tenders him as his first born O! I would fain if it were Gods wil that Gods People would lay this to heart it would comfort them against all the Scorns and Reproaches of the world It is with many of Gods People as it was with Christ when he was upon Earth when he was called King How was he jeered for it Art thou a King saith Pilat when he had a seamless Coat on and bound with Halters belike you are a King So they are ready to jeer the Children of God belike you are the Childrdren of God I let them scorn I have read of Princes that when for some ends they could be strangers from their own Countries a while they could bear the Scorns and Jeers of People but when I am at home I am known what I am So a poor Child of God may say I go in a russet Coat and have never a penny of Mony in my purse and undergo many afflictions and troubles Wel but God is my Father and the very thought of the dignity that God hath exalted him to will make him quietly and contentedly undergo all the afflictions of this world These are but general Collections had I time to enter into the Particulars to shew what Gods Children by Adoption are delivered from Sin and the Law and what they are instated into under his Family under his Provision Protection and the like truly I might set that before you that if a man could hold to it by Faith and the Lords spirit help him to apply it to his heart he would live comfortably here al his daies FINIS FAITH THE ONLY MEANS Spiritually to FEED on CHRIST Opened in a Sermon at Mary le Bow November 12. 1654. JOHN 6.53 54 55 56. Then said Jesus unto them Verily verily I say unto you Except ye Eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in Him I Read all these verses because they all hold out one and the same Doctrine though in a little different phrases That you may the better understand the scope of our blessed Savior in these words know that the occasion of it was this Christ having the day before fed the Bodies of many thousands who attended upon his ministry The rumor of this flying abroad the next day great multitudes thronged after him again and Christ knowing what lay at the bottom of the heart told them plainly they sought him for carnal ends because they had eat of the Loaves and were filled but that was not the end of his coming into the world to fil their Bellies No there was better food that he was willing to give all that had an appetite after it and thereupon that I may not stay you fals into a most divine discourse of his own being sent out of the bosome of his Father to be the Bread of life to al who did thirst
wil is and he gave it me in commission when I came from him not to deny food to any one that cometh after me Nay saith he last of all 4. This is the Command I have from the Father That I should raise them up all at the last day Though it is true the bodily life ends and fails and they shal turn to dust as others do yet when I come to make good the life that my People must have in abundance when I come in the last day to make it good to them I must raise al up that ever did partake of me to life you see here is the benefit which is laid down in the Text I have only a little paraphrased upon it thus I have opened the Doctrinal part That whosoever would live happy Eating and Drinking of Jesus Christ is the Duty required of him and they that do it are happy abundantly Let me now a little apply this to you but three Uses I wil briefly make of it or rather the Lord makes them for it is out of mans power to do it three things I would observe First USE 1. If you be but willing you may cleerly discern whether you are partakers of Jesus Christ yea or no Oh! that the Lord that is the Father of spirits would work upon your spirits while I am speaking Friends Shall I speak a little freely and examin this great Assembly where doth your eternal happiness lie tel me in your own hearts what you would answer to it if God did examin it where doth your hope of happiness lie Would not this be your Answer Only in Jesus Christ the Son of God that became a Savior for poor sinners I disclaim all other things and I look for my happiness only in Christ Would not this be the Answer of you all It may be some Pharisaical self justifiers they can pitch presently upon their own honest and innocent life but I pitch upon that which I think every one of you would answer It is Christ you say but what Christ is it that you make account is your life What Christ is it Is it Christ the Son of Mary and the Son of God Christ that died upon the Cross that rose again and ascended into Heaven and sits at Gods right hand in the Glory of his Father and that shal come again in the end of the world to judg the quick and the dead Jesus Christ is preached to you in the several meetings in the ministry of the word Is it this Christ you look for I let me add this If there be no more for thee or me than this this Christ that sits at the right hand of God if thou canst not ad this Christ fed upon by me It is Christ in you the hope of Glory it is not Christ in Heaven the hope of Glory therefore I must needs beg of you that you would be true to your own souls for through mercy I have a little converse amongst men and a little experience of them but the want of the knowledg of this point undoeth many men they have heard so much of Christ that unless they be the arrantest sots and debauched persons they can tell you all the story of Christ but if you come to examin how I pra'y came this Christ into your hearts I know how he was prepared for Bread how the Father hath ground him and baked him pardon the expression I know how the Father hath prepared his flesh and blood to be meat and drink But how came he to be your food and how got you your interest in him if you did eat his flesh and drink his blood in a carnal way it would do you no good for though you go for Church members yet if the Lord have not done these things in thee which I have spoke of thou wilt be utterly lost when thou comest to seek for salvation Doth it not trouble thee to think how thou canst answer these four or five Questions I will but name them First 1. Hath the Lord convinced thy Soul really and cleerly that there is no salvation to such a wretch as thou art further than Christ Jesus wil vouchsafe it unto thee art thou set down under that that is wel for believe it til this work of Christ come upon our hearts we never see the necessity of that work Secondly 2. Hath he raised up in thee that amongst all the contents thou findest in other things though God maketh thy Wife comfortable or thy Husband comfortable and al things sutable yet stil thy heart is unsatisfied if I have not Christ I am undone What will my riches do me good if I have not Christ What wil all the talk of others do me good if I have not Christ Hath he raised up in thee such a desire after him What sayest thou Thirdly 3. If at any time the Lord smile upon thee though no body be by but he smiles upon thee in secret thou hast gotten some cleer Evidence that Christ is thine and he wil own thee before the Father Canst thou turn back and even laugh before the Lord and say Oh Lord is it so Is Christ mine Is this to thee 〈◊〉 the honey and the hony combe 4. Dost thou find likewise in a way that thou know'st not how it is brought about but thou findest somwhat settled upon thy heart that hath changed the frame of thy heart thou that art by nature proud lascivious and naught there is somwhat that is wrought in thee and there comes some strength that though thou canst not walk as thou should'st do yet the Lord is dear and his Children are dear and his waies are dear some strength God affords that thou art not pleased in the world but thy soul finds that God hath enabled thee to make him the end of thy life and his word the rule of thy life Hath he done this for thee then there is eating and drinking of Christs flesh and blood then in the name of God thou doest partake of Christ But good Friends be not deceived I tel you in many places not one of a hundred that hears such a Doctrine as this have any part in Christ or their feeding upon him or relying upon him therefore I pray try your selves That is the first Use I wil make of it Then in the second place USE 2. Oh! what a comfort may this be if the Lord would enable me to speak of it I could pour down even showers of Consolation upon those souls that have gone along with me in the tryal All you that the Lord hath shewed this mercy to you that you feed thus upon Christ I tel thee this Carry it home thou hast eat a meal's meat that will keep thee as a man while God lives he hath given thee one bit Oh! one mouthful of Christ to get into Christ I read of the Widows Oyl truly it was a delicate portion that God laid out for her that for a great while together shee
himself there he reckons up Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Lands and all that he hath This is a third Branch of Self Fourthly 4. There is another that is as much Self as any of these and that is that that we cal religious Self and by that you are to understand our performance of holy Duties our Vertues our Righteousness any thing that seems to be spiritual and good and moral in us this you shal find a notable passage about in Phillip 3. where the Apostle there saith of true Beleevers saith he We are the Circumcision that do worship God in the spirit but we put no confidence in the flesh we regard nothing of the flesh and saith he if there be any man that might have any confidence in the flesh I as much as any mark his words I much more than any What flesh doth he mean mark what follows I was an Hebrew of the Hebrews of the Tribe of Benjamin by my Religion a Pharisee touching the righteousness of the Law I was altogether unblameable here was his self Now this was his flesh so that the Religion the Honesty the Conversation agreeable to the Law that Paul makes a part of himself and cals it his flesh Now concerning these four for yet I have not done explaining this first part what I mean by Self concerning all these four both our Lusts and our natural endowments and our worldly interest and our Religion you must take these three corrollaries to understand them all three things that I would add The first is 1. That al these are but one and the same self pray mark me all these are but one self only As the Sea which is but one yet it is called the Brittish Sea as it toucheth upon England or Scotland It is called the German Sea as it washeth the German shoar and a great way off it is called the Ethiopique Sea as it washeth there but all is but one Sea so all is but one wretched self though we call it a sinful self as self applies it self to Lusts cal it worldly self as self applies it self to wealth or riches or honor and cal it religious self as self applies it self to the Law of God or to God in any such like but all is but one self all is but one and the same man in all these And Secondly Another thing that I would have you know about them all four is this 2. That though all these are in every natural man yet commonly there is but one of them that is predominant and all the other are subordinate unto it As for example Some men make their Lusts their known Lusts their predominant self and unto that Reason and Wil and Father and Mother and Children and Law and Duties and all shal be subordinate because this is the Lord paramount In some others it may be the world is the paramount Oh! and then unto that all their other Lusts and all their Religion likewise shal be subordinate It may be in another his Religion is the predominant his Honesty his righteousness his holy performances that is his great predominant and then unto that all the other shal be subordinate Commonly there is but some one of them that carries the Chair that sits upon the Throne and al the rest are underlings to that Thirdly and that which I most of all would have you mark and weigh concerning them all is this and I beseech you weigh my words 3. That in all these the heart is equally wicked in every one of them the heart is as bad and as far from God in the one as it is in the other I mean plainly thus That man that sets up his Lusts suppose his Whore suppose his Pride suppose any known wickedness sets up that to be the great good that pleaseth him that man is no more wicked his heart is no more wicked in that than another man that maketh Mammon his God the gathering of wealth or the maintaining of his honor and neither of these are more wicked than he that maketh his righteousness his own religious performances his God because for though these may seem strange yet if you wil wait you will find it to be good Divinity though in all these self is the end and all these are used but as means in the one of them I make use of the Devil to serve my self in another I make use of the world to serve my self in another I make use of God to serve my Self but whosoever I make use of it is my self that I set in the Throne my own Ease my own Wil my own Good my own Happiness Now then here is the result whatsoever a poor lost sinner doth make his portion before he come to be reconciled to God in Christ whatsoever it is that he maketh his portion or placeth his happiness in that our Lord means by self and there you have the first thing explained that I intended to handle What is meant by our Self that must be denied all that we make our portion be it our Lusts be they our natural abilities be they our worldly interests be they our religious Vertues Duties Righteousnesses they are all alike when the heart sodders with them or rests in them all these make up that self that must be denied That is the first Secondly The second thing that is to be explained is 2. What it is to deny a mans self he that will follow Christ must deny himself What is that I answer First 1. In general as I hinted before it must be a total denyal it is such a denial of a mans self as must be a total abrenunciation it must not be to put off the skin the Serpents skin and leave the Body or to cut off a Joynt and leave the Trunk but the whole man all the comprehension of this must be abhominated and renounced by that self-denial that the Lord here means But what is it you wil say Wherein stands it That I shal labor to cleer to you as wel as I can 1. Negatively I wil shew what it is not And then 2. Positively I wil shew you what it is 1. What it is not First 1. By denying a mans self the Lord means not that we should counterfeit our selves to be other than we are as Jeroboam's Wife denied her self to be Jeroboam's Wife by faining her self to be another Woman than she was The Lord means not that he that is a proud man should say I am not a proud man or he that is a rich man should say I am not a rich man or he that is a proper man should say I am not a proper man or he whose name is John or Thomas should say I am not that man that is not the meaning that he should counterfeit or feign himself to be another than he is Nor Secondly which it may be you think most probable by denying a mans self is this meant 2. That a man must wholly be
Disciple of Christ that will not submit to it What Reason for it I answer first 1. Because wheresoever the Lord Christ is received by any soul he wil be received as the All of that Soul mark my words Christ wil be all or he wil be nothing what the Father hath sent him to do he wil be all to do it he wil never undertake a piece of it and the Lord hath sent him to be all that a poor lost sinner can need Now I pray conceive my meaning thus Take a Maid that a Man wil be a Husband to her when she marries to this man he wil be all in the place of a Husband and she must renounce all the men in the world in matters that belong to conjugal Relations the marriage state wil admit no rivalty I but for al that though the Husband must be all in the relation of a Husband yet he is not al that the Wife needs and she may lawfully have application to other Creatures and to other men for some things wherein her Husband cannot be all to her if she be sick she must have a Physitian if she be wounded she must have a Chyrurgeon if she be sad it may be she must have another to comfort her neither can her Husband be her Bread and her Cloaths she must have another must make them and prepare them But now Christ Jesus is All that the soul needs he is their Father their Husband their Brother their Friend their Companion their Bread their Drink their Cloth their Gold their Silver their Honor he is All in All Christ Jesus is so and he wil be so or he wil be nothing and there is this natural reason for it Because every mans heart shares out both its prayers and its confidence and its love and its praises I say it shares it out according as it needs or findeth supply any where If one man be my Patron and give me a great deal of my maintenance I share out my expectations my prayers my love my service most to that man but another helps me with some of these and he hath part of my good wishes and part of my prayers and part of my praises according to the proportion of good I receive from him so is my heart shared out to him in dependance or thankfulness or love But Christ Jesus wil have no sharing he wil have all thy heart all thy prayers all thy love all thy affections all thy obedience Christ Jesus expects all which he cannot have until he be all and he never can be all til al other be renounced til I have no God but Christ til I have no Father but Christ til I have no Wisdom but Christ til I have no Righteousness but Christ I shal never share out al my prayers and confidence and love and the like to Christ for al and therefore wil Christ have al renounced that he may be all That is one Ground and the great Ground There is another which I wil briefly touch and that is this 2. Because al these things that we are to renounce even the best of them al in those notions wherein we are to renounce them they are al of them and wil be adversaries and hindrances to us in the way that Christ Jesus expects we should walk before him and therefore until our souls do totally renounce them we are in perpetual danger of being undone by them as I pray conceive my meaning thus in a familiar comparison Suppose in a Civil War wherein a Nation is divided and one Faction engaged against the other if a man that hath been engaged on the one Party do leave that Party and come over to serve that side against which he did oppose before this man must renounce all the other Party though his Brethren were there though his Estate lay in those Quarters he must renounce them all or otherwise he wil never be trusted by them to whom now he pretends to joyn or be sure which is the thing I alledg it for if he hold correspondence with them they wil ever be dropping destructive principles into him against the way that he now engageth for So al these things not only our Drunkenness and Whoredom and Lust and Lying and stealing and slandering but our Reason our Wills our Affections our Wealth our Honor our Children our Friends our Duties our Performances wil lie as blocks in the way to hinder us from some of the things that the religion of Christ wil put upon us there is nothing cleerer Saint John hath an excellent speech in 1 John 2.16 saith he All that is in the world mark his words All that is in the world the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of life it is not of the Father It is not of the Father al that is in the world What means he by all that is in the world that that he had said before Little Children love not the world nor any thing in the world his meaning is love not Life love not Wife love not Children Estate Honor Wealth love them not Why They all serve but to nourish the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye or the pride of Life and that is not of the Father they wil draw you away from God therefore take heed of them and look what John saith of the things of the world the same may be carried to al the other Love not your Duties love not your Righteousness love not your Performances love not your Honesty love none of these as you in your natural estate cleave to them they al of them tend but only to advance your self and to pul down Christ and wil be hinderances to you in the way wherein Christ wil have you walk And thus I have endeavored Beloved to make plain unto you this great Doctrine of Christianity that is the very first door that we pass through when we come into Christs School to deny our selves Now it remains that I make some Application of it and that I shal do as briefly and as cleerly as the Lord shal please to enable me and among many other things there are but two or three that I intend to insist upon The one is USE 1. Hence from all this discourse it cleerly follows that among the great multitude of those that are called Christians there are but very few who are Christians indeed for Gods sake marke this that I say to you I say If this discourse of mine be true as I hope I have made it cleer out of Gods word to you that a man cannot be Christs Disciple that hath not learned this lesson of self-denial certainly there are very few Christians to be found in Christendome and truly I have often thought and am perswaded it is true that the not understanding of this lesson or the not coming to Christ upon the tearms of this Lesson is the great cause of all the formalities and hypocrisies and the unbelief
and apostacy that is sound amongst Christians I observe and it is an observation that many have made that in the primitive times of the Church when death and ruine was visibly to be expected by any one that would imbrace Christ then it would be hard for any man to enter upon Christianity until he had resolved upon this lesson because they took it for granted I go to poverty I go to hanging I go to stoning I go to beggery if I go to Christ and therefore they had need see so much in Christ that they might be willing to part with all for him and yet even then our Savior Christ noted that a great many came in upon false grounds but now after the name of Christian Religion hath obtained in the world and men are made Christians from their mothers womb I mean in an outward form that assoon as we have a Child born we say it is born a Christian and then we go and Baptize it as a Christian and then when it cometh to Church it hears Sermons as a Christian and then as it grows up and gets a little more knowledg it comes to the Lords Table as a Christian and so men are made Christians by piece-meals and they know not how but the Lord knows mavelous few amongst them ever understood any thing at all of this Point of self-denial that if amongst such a great Assembly as here is if a man in Gods name should come but to enquire and say Are you a Christian Yes Do you follow Christ I And are you his Disciples in truth I hope so Pray have you denied your self Have you learned the Lesson of self-denial God he knows they know nothing of the meaning of it as they say it is heathen Greek to them they are unacquainted with it Wel Friends know you for certain that you may be bred Christians bear the name of Christ make a profession of Christ hear Sermons of Christ partake of the Sacraments of Christ and do a thousand things that may outwardly speak you to be the Servants of Christ and in the mid'st of all these you may be as far from being his Disciples in truth as they were that crucified him and if ever the Lord come but to dispose of you and come to cal for that same beloved Self of thine whatsoever it be that thou must turn it out of door the world shal quickly know that thou never didst receive Jesus Christ in sincerity I am perswaded that so many of you as have but ordinary understandings in the Book of God wil be able to Judg if you compare my Doctrine with the lives of most men You wil say Either this that you have preached is not Gospel or we are not Christians there are very few of us that ever learned this Lesson therefore I desire you before I go any further every one a little to try his own soul what evidence he hath of this Lesson wrought in him you cal your selves the servants of Christ I beseech you examin Have you ever denied your selves I do not ask now whether you have learned a particular Lesson to deny your Credit or your Wil at this time or the other time but this same putting off this old Self this renouncing of thy self hast thou ever learned that and among a great many trials I wil pray you at the present but to weigh these two Considerations First 1. In the presence of God tel me what doest thou weigh in the Ballance This is somwhat a blunt question but it is that that wil mightily determine the case Tel me in the sight of God what doest thou weigh in the ballance my meaning is this I know thou knowest what thou art and what thou hast thou knowest thy self it may be to be a Scholler a wel bred man it may be a great Magistrate it may be of a great estate it may be a great name it may be an honest man it may be an unblameable conversation it may be cried up as one of the eminentest men in the City where thou livest looked upon by all the City and neighborhood as a rare man and it may be al this is true But tel me what doest thou weigh in Gods sight That God that knows how thou esteemest thy self can determine this question Wel thus plainly Art thou one that carriest such thoughts as these there is such and such and such they are great Professors I thank God I am as good a man as any of them all I am sure I have a better estate than they I am sure I have more honesty and as good a wit as they and I can set out my foot by any man let any man detect me I thank God I am not as a great many others are and thus thou judgest of thy self Alas poor soul thou art very far from Christ Jesus But now if God wil bear witness with thy soul that in the mid'st of al these thou sayest I am indeed I am it may be a learned man or a great man or a rich man or a Schollar and the like and I have lived honestly and God hath kept me from many notorious wicked waies that others have walked in but alas what am I for al this a poor undone Creature a worthless Craature not only my lusts but my Prayers my Sermons that I preach or hear my duties that I perform God help me I am a base Creature if God look not upon me in Christ Jesus I have no one thing to commend me to God nothing that ever I had nothing that ever I did is of any worth I loath it all Oh! if God would give me Christ I am wel but for other things I have nothing there is the man the soul that weighs nothing in the ballance is nothing hath denied himself he hath sold himself he saith indeed I am worth nothing Why Is not this house yours It was but I have sold it and spent the mony too God help me so I had these things but alas they are not worth a Groat they are wotrh nothing my worth is this if I have hope in Christ I am wel if not I am lost Ask but thy soul that Secondly 2. Tel me for that fourth branch that I named because I know if thou hast but any face of Christianity thou darest not own those that are known Lusts known Corruptions thou endeavorest to mortifie them but I wil insist only upon that fourth branch Dost thou with all that thou hast look upon thy self as one that is Christs Baylif and Steward he hath laid up thy portion for thee he measures out thy wealth for thee and for him thou livest and for him thou givest that that thou hast and that that thou art and that that thou doest thy honor thy estate thy life thy wealth if Christ may have any service from them by them through them here they are thou tenderest them to him with all thy soul if the Lord have
subdued thy heart to that I tel thee for thy comfort and so I pass from this first use if the Lord have subdued thy heart to that he hath taught thee that lesson which though it be the first in order to Christianity yet it is the hardest Nut thou hast to crack it is a lesson that nothing but Gods Spirit dwelling in thee ever subdued thy heart too and it is assure a token that the Lord is thine as any thing that ever can be found in thee when thou hast renounced all that Christ may be all to thee but if this be a stranger to thee and thou to it do not flatter thy self with thy carnal confidence thou maiest be very religious and honest in outward shew but thou servest thy Self and not the Lord and that self of thine wil ruine thee and never save thee and therfore in the next place which is the use which I most of all intend and which when I have done with I have done my Sermon USE 2. I would labor to teach this Lesson this great Lesson of self-denial I would be a help to those that are willing to learn this hard Lesson how it may be attained that we may follow the Lord and truly Honorable and Beloved if I should look upon my self only in this work my weakness to think that I should perswade you to deny your selves I profess I would as soon expect that I might perswade you to go out of this Assembly and lay violent hands upon your selves and cut your own Throats as soon as by any Rhetorick or Arguments of mine I should ever look to perswade you to this great lesson of self-denial but when I consider that in this work I am the Minister of Christ and that his Spirit goes along with his word I may hope through his Grace that I may teach that and leave that upon many of your souls that may make you contented to forsake all and follow Christ all the rest of your daies I say again looking upon humane perswasions it is nothing I remember the Story that is told of Luther When Luther first came out to preach against the Popes indulgences and to reform the corruptions of the Church of Rome went about that vast Task there was one Albertus that liked Luthers projects very wel but despaired that ever he would make any thing of it he wrote to him Frater abi in cellam die miserere mei Deus Fryar saith he go to thy bed go into thy Cel thou wilt never do any good at this work So to come to perswade men to forsake themselves to renounce themselves to come and deal with Lord Majors and Aldermen and Sheriffs and Ladies and great Citizens and learned men to come and turn them out of al that ever they have that they should renounce al and deny al and not be worth one Groat but the favor of God in Christ Abi in Cellam Go to thy Bed there is no hope of it but if God strike in there wil be hopes of it and therfore to perswade you to it be pleased to take these three motives· 1. Three Considerations I would give you to make you willing to learn this lesson of self-denial and then 2. I will shew you the means that you must use to attain it 1. To provoke you to it Consider in the first place 1. That this self this cursed self that I am preaching against it is absolutely the greatest Idol in the world the greatest Idol and false God that is to be found in al the world Since man left the true God from being his portion there have been found out a hundred thousand other Gods but all those hundred thousand and hundred thousand demy-gods they are all of them but underlings to this same God that is called Self Self invented them Self set them up Self changeth them Self produced them and they all bow before it as Dagon did before the Ark so all the other Idols in the world bow before Self I know I speak Gods truth my meaning is All false religions all policies all injustice all oppressions all underminings all villanies that are acted in the world and from one end of the world to the other they all are but the fruit of self-love self-preservation self-interest self-content self-respect somewhat about Self hath set them up and were they all banished out of the world while we have a Self in us an unmortified Self that self in mankind would invent all those again that ever were or as bad as they This is the Abaddon the Apollion the abomination that was all desolation and certainly this ruines Kingdoms ruines Common-wealths overthrows Churches it is the great waster that destroies all and you set against all other things without any purpose til you go against this I hope I speak to wise men but I am sure if you wil search you wil find this to be true that it is only self is the ruine of al men and til you turn that off you do but crop the bud and as if a man should say that I have almost undone my self by a Whore but I wil give her over I wil follow her no more and another say I have undone my self by a pack of Cards but I will use them no more but if self remains Covetousness wil undo thee with Religion and with Honesty it wil carry thee to Hell by thy Prayers by thy Tears by thy reformations til the Lord turn self out you do nothing That is one Secondly Consider this 2. There is an absolute impossibility the Lord help you to weigh what I am now saying to you I say there is an absolute impossibility that ever the soul should cordially close with Christ until it do totally renounce it self never can Christ be cordially closed with til then There are a thousand things may make a man make an external profession of Christ or keep a fair quarter with him but cordially to close with him it is impossible til the Lord teach us to renounce our selves I wil give you the reason because Christs interest and self-interest are diametrically opposite one to the other directly opposite one to another and therefore it is not possible that ever we should close with Christ until we renounce that other that is that our Savior means in Math. 6. No man can serve two Masters he doth not mean that a poor man cannot serve two or three or ten Masters he may serve twenty Masters so as all those Masters have but one interest if they have all one common and joynt stock he may serve them al but if their interests be opposite one to another the man can never serve them both Now Christs interest what is that it is only to lay the Creature low to make man and all that is of man vile and nothing and to exalt free Grace only that is Christs interest but now self-interst is nothing in the world but to exalt it self whosoever
you will have no great difficulty not in these difficult times but only to know what God would have you do that you may not go out of the right way for want of light that you may not ingage in sinful actions for want of councel you wil pray to God to make your way plain but as for other difficulties whether you shal stand or fal Live or Die it would be no great trouble to you if God had but once taught you to deny your selves Nay you will not only be prepared for the worst times to come but for all services you shal be called to It is a good observation of a learned man That all the men that ever have been eminently serviceable either in matters of the Gospel I mean in Duties of Religion or eminent if it have been in a Christian way in matters of Charity or Justice or in being faithful Patriots they have been men that have little regarded themselves that have not greatly regarded what they were talked of how they were valued or esteemed or what was like to betide them but only men that were willing to be publick sacrifices if need were and those men have done the best service if any other So in the greatest Services you may be possibly called to suffer turn but Sarah aside now when Abraham must go to Sacrifice his Son Sarah shal not know of it and then Abraham can do it well enough for he had learned to follow Gods will but Sarah would have Rung him another Peal So turn but self out of the way and you will be fit for any thing God shal cal you to But you will say Quest. How shall a man attain this Lesson What Arguments or what Rethorick can you use that you can expect ever to prevail with men to turn them off thus from themselves I wil tell you Answ. Not by any Humane Oratory in the world is this to be effected but it is the Lord it is the spirit of the Lord that doth it no man can come to me saith Christ except my Father draw him now in every coming there is a Terminus a quo and a Terminus ad quem the term that you must go from that is Self the term that you must come to that is Christ Now no man cometh from himself or cometh unto Christ til God Almighty draw him But what think you is Gods drawing It is nothing but the spirits perswading Gods spirit perswades them And what do you think the Spirit of God perswades them too that I now come to and afford me but one quarter of an hour for that and then God willing I shal have done The Spirit of God when it doth enable a soul thus to deny it self it doth perswade them of these two things which two things I would commend to you as your study The one is 1. The Spirit of God maketh him see what Self is and no man under Heaven longer cleaves to himself than he is deceived in himself for let him but once have but a true information of himself and he abominates himself presently That is one And then the second is 2. To make him see the excellency that is to be found in Christ the All-sufficiency that the soul may find in Christ and when they see their present portion worth nothing and that that is offered to them to be every way satisfrctory then doth the soul readily renounce the one and close with the other so that then if you would get out of your self and renounce your self 1. Study to know thy self study but to know who thou art in any of all these things that I have spoke of know but thy self I confess it wil not be a short study but I commend it to you and the Lord help you that you may study it I say know who thou art First 1. What thy Lusts are for I tel you while a man is in his natural estate his Lusts are very excellent Ornaments to him it is a brave thing to many a man to think what a proud spirit he hath how he can rant it and tread all his Neighbors under foot and that he can go from one filthy pleasure to another that pleases him Study to know what thy sins are and who thou art that art a sinner 2. Study to know what the World is thy Wife Honor Estate Friends Liberties Study to know them 3. Study to know thy Righteousness thy Honesty thy Prayers thy Duties that thou art so prone to magnifie thy self for and to make a bottom to stand upon labor to know them and thou wilt have enough of them as I beseech you conceive me thus Suppose a deluded young man were in love with some beautiful Woman as he takes her to be he takes her to be the paragon of beauty of all the Country and of good behavior and therefore he sacrificeth his State his Life his Parts his Wit and all to be her Servant imagine now that this Woman were some ugly deformed abominable strumpet that hath only painted her self and take her paint off she hath the horridest visage that a man can look upon and is all eaten up with loathsom Diseases shew this Man but this Woman in her own colors let him see her deformity he hath quickly enough then he loatheth himself for loving her Would the Lord therefore teach you but to take any of al these things and but to weigh them and study them and see what shadows what baubles what dreans what fancies the best of them all are I speak not now of your Swearing and Drunkenness and Whoring but I speak of your Pomp your Honor your Wealth your great Estates your Revenues your good Cloaths Nay I wil go higher your Prayers your Mercies your hearing of Sermons your Righteousness your Honesty if God would shew you what guilt what filth cleaves to them what venom is in them how little they wil stand your soul in stead in the day of tryal if God would teach you but to study these things aright certainly you would say Lord draw me from my self deliver me from my self that am the veriest monster that lives But especially 4. Study to know Christ Christ saith Let him forsake himself and follow me said his Disciples to him Lord we wil follow thee but what shal we have I wil tel you saith he you shal have a hundred fold more in this world besides in the world to come you shal have life everlasting that is in a word Thou shalt find in Christ all that that wil abundantly satisfie thy soul there is righteousness enough there is wisdom enough there is mercy enough there is goodness enough there is counsel enough there is honor enough thou canst not need so much as thou shalt find in Christ Rivers Seas Oceans of happiness in Christ study to know Christ and thou wilt follow him These things I thought good to press and purposed indeed to have pressed them larger but I know not
set you down any one of them may be sufficient to convince but al of them together may and I hope wil abundantly satisfie you that we have no such Duty lies upon us as to our selves in this world as the looking to our hearts The first is 1. Because the heart that heart which I have interpreted it is beyond all comparisons the best part of man it is the head quarter You know in an Army they have their Sentinel in every corner they would be loth to have the out quarters beat up but the head quarter where the General or chief Officers lie there is the strongest and watchfullest guard of all Now the heart of man the wil and the affections and the intellectual faculty that is beyond all degrees of comparison better than every thing else that is in man so much better than all the rest that our Lord saith that the man makes a very ill bargain of it that gaines all the world if he lose his soul Loose thy Heart and thy Soul is lost Now then if our Souls if the heart be ten times more worth than all things else that we have surely it should be kept more diligently than any things else we have This I think no man can question the strength of the reason of it it is the best Remember our Saviors word in a lower case when he did chide men that did take care of meat and drink and clothing and the like saith he Is not your life more than your food Is not your body more worth than your raiment I do but allude to that comparison Now I may say then Is not thy Heart better than thy Head Is not thy heart thy inward man better than thy outward man What is the body but meerly the shel It is the Heart that is the Jewel That is one I hope to have a little more time afterwards to shew what this includes in it this keeping at least to point at it but that is one ground Because the heart it is the best part of man it is the Queen it is the Prince it is the head quarter and al others are nothing when compared with it Secondly A second ground that is for the demonstration of it is this 2. Because the heart it is not only the best part of the man but it is the treasury wherein better things are laid up than it self The heart is a very rich Cabinet yea but it is a Treasury or Cabinet of the rarest the invaluablest wealth that is in Heaven or Earth Understand me aright I speak not of the heart of a wicked man of an unconverted man for Solomon tels us expresly the heart of a wicked man is nothing worth it self is a base thing and there is nothing in it but that that is worse than it self nothing in the world but the rubhish and the filth of the Devil and the World and Hell lies in the heart of a wicked man but a man that is a Child of wisdom that is Gods Child Oh! there is a rich treasury laid up in his heart You shal read our Savior speaks of a good man who out of the good treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things he hath a good treasury Now would you know what are the treasures that are laid up by God not of our own getting but of the Lords depositing Quest. What are the treasures that are in the heart of a Gratious man Answ. I Answer the Tongues of men and Angels cannot tel you what I wil name you a few The one is 1. The great God himself hath chosen to make the heart of every Godly man his own privy and Presence-Chamber himself saith it that though the Heaven be his Throne and the Earth his foot-stool yet he dwels in in an humble broken heart in the heart of one that trembleth at his word and fears his name there doth he himself dwel And then 2. Christ Jesus dwels there Emmanuel the Son of God the Savior of poor sinners the Scripture is plain That Christ may dwel in your hearts by Faith Christ dwels in our hearts Is not there a Jewel I tel you the Apostle saith of Christ In him there are hid all the treasures of God The God of Heaven is worth no more than is laid up in Christ and Christ al he is worth comes to dwel in the heart and in him saith the Apostle they are both of them in Collos. 2. the one in verse 13. and the other in verse 9. where he tels you that the fulness of the Godhead dwels in Jesus Christ essentially or bodily Now Jesus Christ dwels in the hearts of Gods people And then 3. The Holy Ghost dwels there too For the Heart of every Godly man is a Temple of the Holy Ghost and if you wil I might go on to Multiply more 4. That all the graces of Gods spirit are laid up in our Heart It is Faith in the Heart and love unfained in the Heart and all those excellent things And 5. The word that is the Rule of Life saith David I have laid up thy word in my Heart I have hid thy word in my Heart Now Brethren where there is such a treasury that God is laid up in it and Jesus Christ is laid up in it and the Holy Spirit pardon the expression is pleased to dwell in it and all Gods Graces all they that are Gods ordinances are there laid up his word and the like do not you think this should be wel watched and well barred and wel kept and wel looked to There is a second ground that thy Heart it is not only the best piece that is but it is the treasury of that that is a great deal better than it self the richest treasury and therefore Heaven hath not a richer treasury in it than the Heart of every Saint hath and therefore it should be kept above al keepings Thirdly A third ground of demonstration is 3. Because that the Lord whom we serve or pretend to serve and profess to serve and do serve if we be his The Lord looks only at the Heart in all the services that we perform to him All things that we are to do to the Lord as an homage and tribute and honor to him he regardeth nothing but the heart in them all nothing else is of any esteem with the Lord but the Heart My meaning is this plainly that in any services God liketh a thing never a whit the better for the brave accomplishment or adornment of it with any of our parts or faculties Wits Fancies Memory expression Decorum fair carriage and deportment of the Body the Lord values not this one button in any service whatsoever but so much as the heart is in it so much as the wil affections are in it so much doth the Lord value it insomuch that this one thing wil satisfie you about the truth of it read all the Scriptures over that speak of the servants of God
Text holdeth out and therefore I wil speak a little to it Keep thy heart with all diligence Why 6. Because out of it are the issues of life That is plainly because Thy whol Conversation wil be as thy Heart is kept that is the plain meaning of it Thy heart is the fountain and if thy heart be wel kept clean sweet and pure thy Conversation wil be such Now you know that the Conversation of the Lords People it must be pure it must be holy Oh! there is a wonderful deal lies upon it that the Servants of the Lord should glorifie him in a holy unblameable Conversation Jesus Christ redeemed them that they should in their Conversation shew forth the graces of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light made them Inheritors of better things that they should be to the praise and glory of his Grace and to have the servants of God walk unworthily walk in a deformed disordered conversation this makes the Lords name stink amongst his enemies this is the greatest reproach of God that can be in the world to see those that are his redeemed people walk otherwise than as becometh Saints Now our Conversation wil be as we look to our hearts look wel to thy heart keep that above all keeping and then thy Conversation is secure then thy words and thy actions may all be trusted then the Lord will be secure of his Glory if I may speak it with reverence in thy words and Conversation if thy heart be but looked to but if thy heart be disorderly and defiled and polluted then unclean issues of life wil appear A proud Heart will bring a proud Conversation a wanton Heart wil bubble out a wanton Conversation a worldly Heart that drinks in the love of the Creature wil dishonor God in a worldly Conversation be sure of that I thought to have named you the Text but I confess I had not time to look it but you well know it an excellent speech of Solomons to my purpose let me tell you before hand that it is usual in the Proverbs of Solomon that one part of the sentence concerns the wicked and the other part concerns the godly and commonly they are one of them ever set contrary one to another Now he hath this speech towards the latter end of the Proverbs The Tongue of the Just it is like refined Silver mark that expression the Tongue of the just it is like refined Silver what is that the language the savory discourse of Godly men of gracious men it is pure and it is gain to a whol City where they dwel they even scatter refined Silver where they come Oh! it is delightful to sit and partake of the language of gracious men the Tongue of the just is so now you will expect the other sentence should be now the Tongue of the wicked is rotten their speech is rotten No but he saith The Tongue of the wicked is nothing worth as if he should have said never look for any good in the Tongue of a wicked man Why For his Heart is worth nothing and therefore never expect his language should be worth any thing and though it is true some wicked men have so much Hypocrisie that they can express otherwise to men yet God that looks at the Heart he looks upon it as rotten and unsavory but let thy Heart be Silver and thy Tongue will be like refined silver let thy Heart be rotten and nothing worth and thy discourse will be as nothing Now lay these six things together let me endeavor to make some use of it but this is the sum therefore should all the Servants of God all Gods Children look to their Hearts above all things in the world because First It is the best part of them Secondly It is a treasury of that that is better than it self Heaven hath not a better treasury than is laid up in the Heart of a godly man and the Lord looks at it above all other things and Satan assaults it above all other things and even the best men have abundance of corruption and deceit in their Hearts and according as their Hearts are kept so will their life be therefore above all keepings look to thy Heart Now the Application of it I fear I shal not speak so much as I would have done but I would willingly if God help me a little warm your Hearts about it three Uses I would wilingly make of this Doctrine that the greatest the busiest work that the Servants of God have to do in this world is to keep their inward Heart in a good frame to God-ward USE 1. Is this so How lamentably and bitterly doth this speak to the reproof of thousands who yet fain would go for the children of God I might say of it as Ezekiel saith in another case it is a Lamentation and shal be for a Lamentation to a world of People truly almost the whol world many bitter reproofs may be gathered out of this Doctrine two three or four sorts of people I will give you a touch of it and they are found in every place where you come First 1. How many are there that are wonderfully exact in keeping the outward things that belong to them come into the House which is your Housewives care those that are neatly civilly brought up that would go for Housewives how delilcatly are their things kept How are their Roomes rubbed How is every utensil kept tite and clean Come into the Shops of your Trades men How do they keep al their wares and if any thing lie out of its place and pile How impatient are they with their Servants if they have received any mony how wonderfully careful are they to have a Treasury where it may be barred and kept safe for them and come into our Country How do People keep their Cattel their very Swine they will keep them as they ought to be that they may thrive and be for their gain and credit and the like this you shall find common but go amongst these People and how are their hearts kept al this while As if I should come into one of your houses and find it very neat and clean Truly I con you thanks surely this cost somebody hot water to keep all this so neatly but how do you keep your heart Pray how do you keep your heart Friends I fear your Houses your Shops your Chests your Garments I fear they wil all rise up in judgment against you every one of you Have you a Jewel have you a heart wherein you think such a treasury is laid up Do you let it lie open to let every Rogue and Raskal come in and every thing to defile it and can you find time to keep these outward things so methinks I hear a Mother say to her Child that she gives a row of Pins to See you keep them carefully I wil call you to an account for them But saith God to
are of the Lords own teaching ever study that Lesson for as for others they love and like their hearts wel that when they are convinced of every thing else in the world they will boast of their heart that that is right but when a man can say as Hezekiah said to God Oh Lord remember I pray thee that I have with an upright heart sought thee as if he should have said If I could have done thee more service I would I would have prayed better and beleeved better and been more active but thou hast had my heart the Soul that can say so the Lord would answer it even as David said to the Lord in 1 Chron. 29. Oh! Lord saith he I know that thou lovest the heart when he had offered up an Oblation he and his People Oh Lord saith he I know thou regardest the heart and hast pleasuere in uprightness as for me in the uprightness of my heart I have sought thee So when thou shalt say Father my memory is weak my utterance bad my temptations strong and my corruptions great I can deny none of these but the Lord knows he hath my heart could I get it in a better frame I had rather see it in a better frame than have the estate of an Emperor Where there is a willing mind it is an excellent Speech of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 8. in the point of Alms and I wil give you an instance in that that you may make of it in a hundred other things when he would stir them up to contribute he saith where there is a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not as if he should have said The Lord hath given me a heart I like this cause so wel I would willingly give twenty shillings to this cause but I am not able to give above a penny Hast thou a willing mind to give more thou art accepted according to what thou hast The liberal gift is but the work of Gods Providence the willing mind is the work of Gods Grace The same wil run throughout all duties go to prayer one man hath such an utterance conception working fancy can speak admirably to the affecting of all but these are but gifts and parts and if he hath an humble broken heart goes with it there is Spirit too but it may be another poor Soul that joyneth in the Duty that can hardly speak a few words of sense together but God knows if they could pray if they could pour out their souls if they could wrastle with God they had rather do it than any thing else in the world that is the work of prayer the other is but the work of common gifts that is for the edification of others therefore know this all of you we poor creatures deal with men and it is almost impossible but we value men according to their parts a man whom God enableth with parts and gifts to edifie others especially if there be Grace in his Heart too he is measured by the value of his parts by all men God goes not by that value No that Soul that takes most care about his Heart give me a Woman a handmaid that wrestles more in secret that she may bring her wil to Gods wil and may love and hate nothing but what God loves and hates find such an one out they are Gods choice ones and his Jewels therfore be not discouraged for the want of any thing while you can say The great God that knows al knows my great study is about my Heart I will conclude this use with a speech I have often heard of one Mr. Banes a man that was indeed an excellent emminent Man for any thing that was good and not long before he died some friends were with him in his Library it was an excellent one and they fel a commending of it I saith he There they stand but the Lord knows that for many years last past I have studied my Heart more then my Books Oh! There was a study give me a Scholler that can say I study my Heart more then my Book I study my Heart more then my Shop-book I study my Heart more then my Counting-House I study my Heart more then a Bargain that it may be pure and Holy this Man is a blessed Man and Woman that hath but attained this and then Lastly the last Use that I would make and I wil but even name it is this USE 3. I beseech you therefore for the time to come will you all make this your study You have heard it is a dangerous Heart you bear about you whatsoever you are that think you may be most secure of your heart you are but Fools to trust it and your Conversation wil be as your heart is remember all the Arguments I gave you and let it prevail with you for the time to come to enter into this serious study how you may keep it in a good frame continually and this now would have been an Introduction to the second Question for this is sufficient to prove that it ought to be so But now the next is Quest. Wherein stands the keeping of the heart in a good frame It is true I confess it is comfortable to hear of the general endeavor of it but what are the rules and directions the Servants of God should attend to when they would keep their hearts in so good a frame that it may be such a Temple of the Holy Ghost for the Lord to delight in Answ. That is too great a Question in truth to handle in a little time only these two or three things I would say in general before I dismiss you As First 1. There is no talking it is not for any man living ever to talk of keeping his heart in a good frame until first the Lord have broken it to pieces and new molded it that is for certain while the heart is as we come into the world as we are in a state of nature the wildest Beast under Heaven will be easilier tamed than the heart of a man wil ever be ordered It is just as a Bel that hath a crack throughout al the Bel-founders in the Town Country they may hew it and chip it and scurfe it and I know not what they wil never make it sound right til it be choped a pieces and new cast So I say the heart of man is by nature so forlorn so ful of wickedness so utterly destitute of all good that if all the Teachers and Tutors under Heaven had it to work to bring a man up and make him right til God take away the heart of stone and regenerate him and give him a new heart there is no talking of ever keeping it in a good frame Therefore if you be not throughly grounded in it get your heart knocked in pieces the first thing you do pray God Almighty to break it through break it down break it up
of men when therefore the Lord saith that al are dead til Christ cometh certainly there is another Life besides that life that natural men enjoy Fourthly and lastly Abundantly in the Scripture wil you find this proved that upon the souls accepting of Christ they are said to be quickned They who were dead in sins and trespasses he hath quickned Read but the ten first verses of the 2d of the Ephesians and I know not how many other places there are Ye were dead ye were such but he hath quickned you and he that beleeveth in me saith Christ to Martha in John 11.25 though he were dead he shall live and living once he shal never die Doest thou beleeve this Then Christ being the Root of a Life it being the end of his undertaking that his people might have life and all men being dead before they come to him and quickned to life upon the receiving of him certainly then there is a life that they who have any interest in Christ do live which others are strangers from And let this suffice for the first And beloved though I shal not apply this alone yet I would count it a great fruit of this daies meeting if the very notion of it might but stick upon your hearts it would be of admirable consequence that if al of you would go home and say Certainly whatsoever I may think of my self if I be in Christ there is another life than that which I live yet and as you will hear if it please God a better life another manner of life than this is But that for the first The Second which it may be you wil more long for for I suspect not that you wil doubt the truth of the first is What is this Life what is it Now remember I taught you in one of my Preparatory Conclusions That it is not to be understood of this world and therefore pray expect not any cleer opening of it what it is but only so far as the Lord hath taught me out of his Word I shal communicate to you I wil give you this Description of it and then I will open it more expresly as I go along The Life that al Beleevers have from Christ it is a participation of Christs righteousness upon their union with him Pray mark it I shall make this plainer by and by I say That the Life of Christ that al the Saints partake of it is a participation of Christs righteousness upon the souls union with him Where there are these two things a little to be cleered First That all who do receive Christ are united to him and that is the foundation of their Life The Second is That upon their union they partake of his Righteousness and the participation of this righteousness is their life That is that I mainly intend to cleer That they are al united to him the Scripture is abundant in the proof of it It is Christ in us that is the hope of glory and we are one with him and he with us and he dwells in us by his spirit c. therefore it is cleer that we are united to him made one and this union it is nothing but the Lord Jesus sending his spirit into the soul as a band to knit him and them together that he be made their Root and Stock Now that I will not treat of because the very handling of it it is not only a great Mystery but it would take up more time than is to be allowed for the Sermon But Secondly Upon their Union with Christ they partake of his Righteousness and the participation of his Righteousness is our Life Mark I pray this because I hope it will give you some Light into this great Work for if you be Gods People I am only making you to see what your spirits are what your blood is what your pulse is and I shal speak of nothing but the things that are in you if you be the Lords I say The participation of Christs Righteousness that is our Life To this purpose be pleased to observe this one rule and mark it in your reading of the Scriptures of the new Testament especially How that Righteousness and Death are the two things that are opposed one to another Death and Righteousness That look as soon as ever man was a sinner he was a dead man presently he was dead under the sentence of Death In the day thou eatest thou shalt die and not dead only under the Sentence but dead as his sin deprived him of Gods Image Now as it is sin that is our Death so it is Righteousness that is our Life not our own which the Scripture disclaims but the Righteousness of Christ and you shal find several times in Rom. 5. where the Apostle compares the Death by Adam and the Life by Christ ordinarily he useth this expression That As sin reigned unto Death so righteousness by Christ unto Life stil opposing them our Death is sin our Life is righteousness I know the time will prevent me if I should stay upon that But therefore I wil proceed to that that I aim at the Righteousness of Christ the participation of Christs Righteousness You wil say What mean you by that I mean plainly this That our spiritual Death it hath two Branches that Tree of Death that deadly Stock hath two Branches and we are said to be spiritually dead in a two-fold respect The one is We are dead as we are under the sentence of Condemnation and that is our death of guilt being bound over by the righteous Judgment of God to make him amends for the injury we have done him and that sentence of condemnation is our death that is one branch in regard of our guilt The other branch of our spiritual death is Our state of death we are in as being deprived of the image of God wherein we were made and not only deprived of it but have contrary principles in al the faculties of the soul carrying us constantly to the things that are opposite to him In these two respects are all men and women in the world dead til Christ finds them Now Jesus Christ answerable to this hath a two-fold righteousness the participation whereof is our life First He hath a Righteousness of his Obedience which is inherent only in himself but is bestowed upon us imputed to us reckoned to us and by that righteousness performed by Christ and inherent in him and reckoned to us by the righteous sentence of God he delivereth us from the death that we are under the death of our condemnation under the sentence of death and so the Apostle expresseth it cleerly in Col. 2.12 13. Ye saith he who were dead in sins and trespasses hath he quickened How forgiving you your trespasses In that place the pardoning and removing of our trespasses is the chief thing that is the quickning there intended So there is one a righteousness of Christ performed in our name accepted by God
our nourishment comes from Ordinances for though the Lord be the Fountain of it yet the Ordinances are the canales the channels wherein the Lord gives out a greater supply of himself we must receive all these by Faith The Word profits no man unless it be mingled with Faith your Prayers they must be Prayers of Faith the Sacraments they are received by Eaith All Ordinances are so far effectual to the soul as the grace of Faith puts them upon you Faith is not only the means of our Food but for Physick the overcoming of our evil al the Spiritual enemies of our spiritual life all that would destroy it it is Faith alone must do it You shall find Satan the great Enemy how do we overcome him By resisting him in Faith The World another Enemy every one that is born of God overcometh that the world cannot prevail upon them and this is that that overcometh the world even your Faith So All our Lusts it is by Faith that we put off the old man the Scripture is cleer in it nay the actings of our lives all the actions of our spiritual life all the excitings and callings out of all our graces in every relation publick and private the Spirit of God laies it al upon Faith until we come to be consumated and put into Heaven the Lord doth leave the mannagement and carrying on of our spiritual life to the grace of Faith himself is the Sum the fountain but so far as the Creature hath a hand in it that is the sanctified creature it is this faith whereby the whol life is acted Thus you see the first thing I hope sufficiently cleered That the Life of al Gods People while they live in this world it is the life of faith But now comes the greatest Question for there are so many cleer Scriptures about that you cannot doubt of it you had as good doubt of your Christianity as to doubt of this Whether a Christians life is the life of faith But now What the holy Ghost signifies by this what is it to live by faith That is a thing that may be more difficult to be understood and if it please God that I can but cleer it to you out of the Word that you may see wherein the true living by faith doth consist when I have opened this I wil not doubt but so many as are Gods People wil say this is my very condition but as for others they wil say every body talks of living by faith one man makes living by faith only to be a fancy in his own head that God wil do this and that for him without any warrant from the Word another it may be fancies that live how he lists if he hope but to go to Heaven when he goes out of the world then he lives by faith But living by faith is substantial I shal now set my self by the Lords help to clear to you what the holy Ghost signifies when he saith that the life of Gods people in this world they live it by faith and to this end I must premise these two things but to make way The first is That our Lord Jesus who is our Head our spiritual mystical Head he hath not only an Al-sufficiency for al his people for every one that beleeveth til they come to glory but he hath a full purpose in his heart never to be wanting of supply unto his called ones a full unchangeable purpose to supply them with whatsoever is needful to bring them to glory That is the first thing I lay down as a foundation to lead you to know what it is to live by faith there is an all sufficiency in Christ our Head yea a ful purpose and resolution unchangeable to supply to all his people whatsoever they can need in any condition til he hath brought them to glory That is the first thing no body wil doubt this the Scripture is so ful to it The Second thing is more immediate and closer to my purpose and it is this That Jesus Christ hath not only this determinate purpose in his heart but he hath in his Word declared and manifested al that he will do for his people and expect from his people til they come into Heaven mark that is In his Word hath he declared Promises which hold out al the good that Christ means to do for his people not only general promises for pardon of sin to bring them to Heaven but promises for every condition that can be he hath declared what he means to do and which way he wil do it He hath there likewise declared what his will is for al the duties that his people are to perform iâ— the way of obedience he wil never expect from them in al their life time any thing but what in his Word he hath set down And thirdly In the same Word he hath not only laid down Promises what he wil do and precepts what they must do but Directions that hold out both arguments to stir them up and waies that they should take al these hath he laid down in his Word al the means either to attain strength to do duties or to accomplish the benefit of any Promise in his Word he hath laid down al his mind and that is called his will concerning us that is the will of God concerning us Now these three things premised the purpose of Christ to do all that he will do and expect the declaration of all this in his Word These two taken for granted now in the third place which is my Doctrine and which wil make you understand what the living by faith is The Grace of Faith wrought in us by the Spirit of God and acted in us by the Spirit of God it immediately hath its whol application to the Word Good Friends hearken I say the grace of faith is the work of the Spirit in us and is excited and stirred up to work by the Spirit the Spirits proper and immediate work is to deal with the will of Christ revealed in his Word it looks not at Heaven immediately it looks not to Christ immediately but it looks at God and Christ and Heaven mediately through the Word In the Word there saith sees all the good things promised that in its life time it shal stand in need of in the Word it seeth the injunction of al those duties that the renewed soul should be conversant about or be exercised in in the Word and in the Word only he seeth the Methods the Counsels the arguments the Directions that are to be attended upon for the enjoyment of all that which is in Christs purpose to do for us Now mark The grace of faith stirred up by the Spirit of God to look to the Word in every thing in the right way and the Lord by his invisible and secret work making the things held out in the Word effectual to the soul by this act of faith in the whol course of our life applying
make all good to him according to his wisdom and faithfulness Thus you have heard a Christian ought to live by faith and I hope now you see what it is Now one Question more I must needs briefly speak to and that is this But may some say Do all that live the life of Christ live thus that this is excellent I will not dispute and that this is held out in the Word I doubt it not but will you make true Christianity fall within the compass of this and no further dare you affirm it that none live the life of Christ in this world but those that you have spoken of Now the Answer to this you shall have cleerly in these three things First It is true that even the Lords own people do somtimes too much live to the flesh there is flesh in the best somtimes they are under great temptations somtimes it may be under the sweetness of the Creature and flesh prevails and they walk by other rules so far as they are unregenerate so far as the true Genius of Christianity works not in them for we all know that as we live but in part so we live by faith but in part and too much Gods people fail in this But Secondly I answer That so far as we are Christians so far every man in the world be he strong or be he weak he lives according to these things I fear not to speak it positively that not one man living upon the Earth ought to own himself or any other to own him to live the life of Christ further than he lives according to this that I have set you down though they talk of them preach of them write of them if they practice them not and actually live according to these Rules they live not as Christians But thirdly I answer That many souls do live thus really live thus in their course who cannot speak thus who do not know that they live thus As take my meaning thus It is certain that our life in nature it is lived thus Food is taken into the mouth when it is taken into the stomach it digests it and by a concoction it is so and so separated and al Schollers and those that know the course of Nature know not only that they live by food but can tel you the Methods of it but many thousands that live the natural life cannot tel how they live it And as there is in Logick an Art of Logick which is nothing else but Reason digested into the right Methods to shew you what is the cause and subject and adjunct c. that we cal the Art of Logick doth but cast al these things into their 〈◊〉 place but many thousands do argue and speak from causes and effects and subjects and adjuncts and comparisons and things that are opposite use arguments from them who know not that they play the Logicians in al these So in the great acts of Faith there is no man it is certain partakes of Christ but beleeves in him but doubtless there are many thousands that beleeve in Christ that know not what that act of faith is that gives them an interest in Christ but the Spirit of God carries them on to it So the Saints of God though they cannot speak of these Rules I have shewed you til they be opened to them and then they can close with them so that I am far from saying that no man lives the life of faith but he that understands that he acts al these things but he may understand them really Well this laid as the foundation you will pardon me though I take a little time to give you a tast of the Application before I dismiss you But thus I have endeavored to cleer this Doctrine That all the Lords people while they are in this world while they do partake of the Righteousness of Christ one part of it for their Justification the other for Sanctification the acting of this while they are in this world it is the life of faith Now the use of it is very large and sweet I will give you but a tast of two things before I dismiss you The one is for Instruction Hence therefore you may safely and sadly conclude That among the great multitudes of those that challenge the name of Christians there are God knows and we may know a very few that are really Christians if this that I have opened to you be the Lords truth which I hope through his mercy I have demonstrated but if this be true you shal see that amongst those great multitudes of them that are called Christians there are but a very smal number who really are Christians Oh! Beloved should I as justly I might if the time would give leave but come to separate the chaff from the wheat and to cul out the several sorts of men in this world who live by clean different Rules from this I have spoken to you in what a smal number might the names of real Christians be comprehended what a little Book would hold them all As for Example Do all the Saints of Christ live the life of Christ by faith Then certainly they that are ignorant of Christ and know him not are destitute of all real knowledg of him it is not to be thought that they should live this life of faith They that never troubled themselves at the very Doctrine of faith it is to them but a meer whimsie they are the most ignorant of him surely no man can be careless about that which is the principle of his Life now a careless man about his faith you may be confident that man never lived the life of faith Again All they who live to their lusts as God knows multitudes do what is their life and comfort but to drink to whore to swear to cozen to cheat Multitudes of others live to the world Mammon is the God of their life the end of their life that that takes them up from the beginning of the morning til the evening comes when they are awake the world is in their hearts And They that live to their own wills as look whatsoever their own fancies and wills suggest to them to be advantagious this is that that satisfies them and serves their turn to attain such a corrupt end or such a way as they are in Oh friends there are a smal number that live the life of Christ the Lord help you that you may not be deceived about this I can but name this And then Secondly The other thing I wil name is this and pray carry this home Those that are Christians it hath plainly appeared that of al things in the world Gods people have most cause to lament and bewail their unbelief You hear that faith is your life and livelyhood therefore there is nothing to be so much lamented by real Christians concerning themselves as their unbelief I speak not but there should be somthing more lamented than our own
damnation but for our selves of al the evils we lie under in this world there is none to be lamented so much as our unbelief Take my meaning thus Suppose a poor child under the care of loving and careful Parents that would neglect nothing that may do the child good but the child cannot eat his meat it hath no appetite or the meat is cast up alass if he have no stomach the child wil languish and for this and other distempers let the Parents weep over it never so much or dandle it never so much the child hath an inward root that wil destroy it I tel you what is true from the Lord there is nothing can undo you but unbelief there is no cross under Heaven can betide you but faith will carry you through it no duty can be preached but faith will carry you through it no Promise so hard in the Word of God but faith wil fetch out the sweetness of it Oh! this unbelief of ours undoeth us But you wil say Do you think the people of God are so much guilty of it I wil give you a little tast and by that you shall judg First All our not studying the Word that we are no more acquainted with the Word for were a servant of God assured that his livelihood in comfort in duty and every thing were to be fetched from the word there is no Merchant that would endeavor to be skilful in the mystery of his Calling more than every Christian would be in the understanding of the word And When the word is held out to us that we do no more value it and that we no more rely and venture our souls upon it it is nothing but our unbelief As if so be a man that I dare put my trust in if he make me a promise to furnish me with so much money at such a time I dare rely upon it But that I do not thus rely upon God in all my temptations and fully perswade my self that the Lord will deliver me it is nothing but my unbelief If a mortal man tel me if I walk thus and thus I will fall into many a danger and thus it wil fall upon me by Law this makes me careful That we deal not so with our gracious God is through our unbelief Nay in a word All our unevenness in our whol course that we somtimes rely so much upon the Creature that when things flow in according to our minds then my Line is cast in a fair ground then God hath made my Mountain stand strong while the things of the world are with me at another time if I see a visibility of ruine then I cannot say that the great God wil stand by me in these difficulties this is nothing in the world but unbelief Nay All your deviations If you find David using unlawful means going over to the King of Gath to gain relief it is nothing but unbelief If you find a man venturing out to take any unlawful comfort in the Creatures it is nothing but unbelief it is a thrid runs through the whol course of Gods people to make them live low lives and hinders them from the obtaining of that that would be consolation to their own souls therefore I beseech you you that have made Christ your portion and make account that faith must be your livelihood lay it to heart mourn under it pray the Lord to root out this bitter weed and make you masters over it for certainly it is a great evil we stand by faith we fal by unbelief it is that that occasions all the disquiets of our lives The Lord set it to our hearts and deliver us from it SERMON III. Gal. 2. part of verse 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me now follows that which I shal more insist upon and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me NOW I proceed and there is but one great Use that I intend though I would a little mention another and speak a little of it in the first place Good Christian Friends weigh what I have said and regard it not because I say it but because of the evidence I hope goes along with it But the thing I collect is That you may all hence learn what kind of Christians they must needs be who can live in the flesh above the Word and Ordinances having no use of them and as they think nothing to do with them but live in an immediate Communion with God and enjoyment of him This is one of the wildnesses and infatuations that the Lord hath let out amongst us in this sinful Nation that many that have gone for sober humble gracious men and women they look upon al those that have to do with Ordinances that study Scriptures and tend upon Sermons they look upon them but in the A B C Form they are of a low pitch and rank themselves are above these things they have attained to a higher Form But this Doctrine that I have opened will cleerly direct al Gods people what to judg of them for if they live the Life of Christ for that they pretend to it is either the life of spiritual sence immediate enjoyment or the life of Faith if they pretend to an immediate enjoyment of God without the intervention of faith beleeve it they are beyond the Apostle Paul that professed in his own name and in the name of al the Saints that then lived That the life that they lived in this life it was by faith and not by sence yet these have learned that they are beyond his Form I will not say much good may do their hearts with it but poor Creatures their delusion will one day afflict them But if they say No we grant you it is the life of faith we live in this world Then say I Unquestionably and without all dispute it will appear faith hath its subordinate work it is the declaration of the Lords mind in his Word that faith meddles with and all the Ordinances and all tending upon the Word and Sacraments c. are the administrations of Christs will that is carried on in Ordinances and no other way I know sure I am the Scripture is silent in it Therfore Friends for such as are concerned in it they wil not be here to hear it nor any where else they count it a folly but to your sober Christians that desire to go to Heaven and to walk with the Lord in his own way give me leave to say this Therefore I confess our divisions and subdivisions in other matters of Religion are very sad the cutting of the people of God a pieces in the several molds and forms of Government and therby alienating their spirits one from another it is very sad and the Lord in his mercy remove those things But
yet this I must say That while these lower conditions are and as long as each form carries people to the Word holds out Christ in his Word Christ in preaching Christ in the Sacrament there is food for souls and if we could look aright it may be we would not be so angry with one another about it as we are for there is but one Truth and we pray the Lord to reveal it but stil here is carrying on the life of Comfort Duty Direction and all that faith meddles with that the Lords people may enjoy but for Gods sake and as you love the life of your souls watch against temptations that would take you off from the Word that the Scripture should be nothing this takes you off from that that your faith wholly meddles with for if you can say I beleeve God for such a thing and Christ for such a thing unless you find it promised in the Word it is presumption Therefore Pity such poor souls your own experience may tel you do but mark them generally they that live above Ordinances see whether the Spirit of God do not withdraw see whether the Lord hath any other way to convey himself to them than what he hath held out in his Word their loosness folly pride and joyning in any thing else that is naught almost plainly shews that the Lord hath withdrawn from them And secondly You wil find that such of them as have grace in them for I am far from thinking any that have grace cannot be under such a temptation but I fear not but the Lord will awaken them again though they be asleep because faith must be the navel and the string that must maintain them here But this I did not intend to be large in The great Use that I intend is To all the Lords people whose Life is Christ and in whom Christ doth live I would endeavor in the rest of this hour to give them some help out of the Word that this living by faith might be better known to the Lords People and more exactly practised than it hath been hitherto and if the Lord help me to divide it and you to receive it I will not fear but your life will be more honorable to the Lord and sweeter to your selves than it hath been and there are but two things that I intend to treat upon The one is Some serious Considerations or Motives to provoke all who have any thing of Christ in them that they would study this art of living by faith more than in time past And secondly and principally To lay out of the Word the true Directoins the easiest and the readiest way that a willing soul may take to be built up in it For encouragement to provoke you to it I pray think of these things First If you will be Christians it is our Trade and the way of our livelihood we have no other mystery for the maintainance of our lives but faith that is cleer Schollers may live by their Wits Trades-men upon their Mysteries and Gentlemen upon their Wealth But as a Christian we have no other living or way of living to God but only our faith Now because it is our Life and our Trade and our Profession it would be a horrible shame to be found Bunglers in that that is properly our own Mystery If a man should come and examine me a Minister of the Gospel and put into my hands a Merchants Book and bid me cast up such an Account and I could not this were no shame to me but if he should come and give me a Bible and bid me open a Text if I could not do it it were a shame to me So friend have you the right skil of living by faith No It is thy Trade As thou art a Member of the Common-wealth or one of the Army thou mayest have a Calling but as thou art a Christian which is thy best Life thou hast no Trade but to live by faith no other way to honor the Lord nor to manifest the Life of Christ nor to turn all things for thy good and the Lords glory it is thy living by faith must do it what a horrible disgrace will it be for thee to be found ignorant of it Secondly I tell you there is no other way of Life that any man pitches upon but it will very shortly appear to be but a poor thing If you should think that the living upon God this holy life it is a thing that is a mystery that you do not study but for the present life that you mind and you mean to follow the things that will help you to live in the world I tell you all those after a little while will prove meer delusions If any of you have the way as some of you have found it to raise up your selves to great estates of a poor servant in few yeers to become a great man in the place where you live and now you are wealthy Before our eyes God hath overturned all these things hath not God let us see how he hath pulled down great Princes and Kings hath he not let us see a thousand ten thousand a yeer a man may have and yet live to see them al buried and himself come to beggery doth not God tell us they are not al worth our study The Lord my meaning is dayly before our eyes stains the glory of all other waies of living never to the worlds end did he or wil he stain the glory of living by faith because you can no where else close with him Thirdly that which I most aim at in my Considerations is to acquaint you with this That this same Art this excellent Christian Mystery of living our life by faith it is absolutely the best life the most desirable life that any man or woman can live til they come to enjoy God immediately This I wil demonstrate and I hope I shal make it plain that if a man had the comfort of al other waies of living in any kind never would the learning or wit of man find out any life to be compared with the life of faith for the excellency of it and the excellency of the life of faith I would open to you in four or five Particulars the Lord perswade you but to study them when you are alone One is more general It is the Life which the Lord hath chosen out to be the life of those that he loved from all eternity The Lord you grant him al of you to be infinite in wisdom and therefore before his eyes al waies of living happy were apparent and out of them all he chose this same life of faith to be the life of those he loved from al eternity It is the Prophet Malachi's argument it is the best Conjugal condition for a man to have one wife and a woman to have one husband because else God could have made ten women if he would but he made but one that is Gods choyce
therfore that is the best matrimonial life Therefore the Lord say I who knew what learning what wisdom what friends what Phylosophy what Policy what any thing might advance men to he out of them al shews the living by faith to be the way how they should live in this world who are as dear to him as the apple of his own eye and to a sober heart more needs not be said to make him think it an excellent thing Secondly as it is excellent because of Gods choyce so It is the honorablest life that can be there is no life in this world so honorable as the life of faith First It is wonderfully honorable to God when his redeemed ones have their whol livelihood from him without hanging upon every hedg but to acknowledg the Lord I to tel every body where they come I have not one comfort in a child nor in a wife nor in a penny nor in a garment nor in a dish of meat but I receive it from the hand of God by vertue of my faith here God is lifted up in al his administrations And as it is honorable to God so It is most honorable to us for in truth if we were independent that is if we needed no dependance upon any we must be Gods our selves and no man would put his foot under another mans table as we use to say that hath one of his own To live dependantly upon another man that can live independantly of himself takes off from his nobleness but if we must live dependantly then surely it is more honorable and noble to depend upon the head than the foot He that hath not learned to live by faith upon God he lives in part upon skins of beasts upon the world upon the excrements of the world he lives I mean upon poor ragged beggerly creatures one man saith to Gold thou art my hope another man loads himself with thick clay wel this is a poor low thing in comparison of depending upon him more immediately that hath incomprehensible glory it is ignoble Thirdly In this world it is the easiest life I will speak it I humbly bless the Lord that I have any experience of it in my own soul but I dare speak it as Divine Truth to live by faith is the easiest life under Heaven Do not mistake me I mean not it is easiest learned that a man may learn it with a wet finger Oh! it is a hard trade to learn and this may be one motive it is not easily gotten but my meaning is that when once the soul hath learned it that it be but a Master of this Trade that it can say I have learned to live by faith no man under Heaven lives or can live so easie a life as a Beleever may Why Because the life of faith wil never leave any thing upon my care but to walk humbly and thankfully with my God it leaves the providing for my body and soul and posterity and for the disposing of them al and for al my affairs it leaves it at Gods doors laies it to him and to me leaves nothing but to take the Book find my duty bend the knee and for all the successes faith leaves it quietly to the Lord and is not this a sweet life We that are Parents know by reason of our carnality what a hard thing it is when we have a company of poor children to provide for in a confused World when all we have may be swept away and others to have great trading and yet our Ships miscarry how we shal pay all our engagements we know not but if once the soul have faith it directs him to leave al to the wise and gracious God and my self to acquiess in his will I repeat it again and I pray if you be not satisfied in it now study it and I wil be bound to recant it as the saying is at Pauls Cross whensoever you wil if ever man can come out and say the life of faith is an uncomfortable life no it is the sweetest life of all Oh! that God would perswade you to study it it is the easiest life Come into a family and tell me who lives the easiest life the Father or the Child the Child hath food the Father provides it the Maid cooks it he hath cloaths his Father buys him them the Taylor makes them and the child goes to school and never thinks what will become of him when his cloaths are worn out and his linnen spent he leaves all to his Father And then again I tel you It is the best life because in truth it is the surest life for that man or woman that will trust God and wil study to live according to the rule of faith I speak it with reverence they have a statute upon al that God is worth that they shal be provided for they have a statute upon his All-sufficiency I am a God all-sufficient walk before me I will be a horn of strength I will never leave thee nor forsake thee a statute upon his Wisdom Power Goodness Faithfulness what God is and hath he hath engaged to the soul that wil trust in him It is an old saying of a Poet That it is an uncertain Estate though it may be great if it cannot be built upon It is an uncertain estate to depend upon Cables and Anchors if it come home it is well but it cannot be built upon and somtimes they stand in need of an Insuring Office but how justly I dispute not But lastly This Art when once the soul hath learned it it will deliver a man from all base and unworthy means it wil deliver the soul from all base and unworthy means in any kind whatsoever because if he have God in his Word what need he shirk and shift or do any thing that is base when he hath such a rock such a livelihood for his soul as faith As now I wil give you but an instance The Apostle Paul when he was in prison at Rome he conceived he might have gone out by giving the Captain of the Guard some money but Paul scorned to give a penny when he was at Philippi put in prison in the stocks the Magistrates came and bid him come out he scorned to go out some might have said you may provoke them I care not he had God on his side Never did any one so much study to get an Office or Lordship or an encrease of his Estate that they may say there is that boy or girl provided for let them go where they wil their portion lies by me this is not so comfortable as to study this Doctrine That that life that you live in the flesh you live by the Son of God that this life of faith may be on your part your principal delight Now then the Last part of my Sermon which I come to is But how should we do this Attainable it is and in some degree all Gods people have it but what course