SAVING FAITH AND PRIDE Of LIFE INCONSISTENT Delivered in a SERMON preached before the then Commissioners of the Common-wealth of England for the Affairs of Ireland at Christ-Church in Dublin By John Murcot one of the Preachers in Ordinary to the Lord Deputy and Councel of Ireland HAB. 2.4 Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but the Just shall live by his Faith LONDON Printed by T. R. E. M. for Tho. Underhill at the signe of the Bible in Pauls Church-yard neere the little North-doore 1656. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES FLEETWOOD Esq Lord Deputy General of the Dominion of IRELAND THE LORD HENRY CROMWELL Major General of the Army RICHARD PEPYS Lord chief Justice of the Upper Bench in IRELAND MILES CORBET Lord chief Baron of the EXCHEQVER ROBERT GOODWIN Esq MATTHEW TOMLINSON Esq Counsellours of State for the Affairs of IRELAND May it please your Honours THe Sermon we now present your Honours with as it was preached with the highest evidence and Power upon the Hearts and spirits of those that heard it so accordingly we beleeve it may continue the same effect now published in those whose fraile memories may have lost a great part of the sense of it and by an humble reading and meditation of it may do much more good to those that have altogether been unacquainted with it Of what value the Authour was both for his Conversation and Doctrine that honour and respect that all had to his words both in Publick and Private as to Jobs Job 29.21 22 23. together with that generall expression of sorrow from all persons high and low good and bad upon his death and at his Funerals is the most effectual Testimony We shall not therefore spend your Honours time in giving our commendations of him He being above them we also knowing that his Name and memory is still fresh and will continue precious upon your hearts For the Discourse the sutablenesse of the Argument to the Distempers of the Age and that heighth of spiritual zeale and prudence in managing of it speak it worth the publishing We therefore hearing that it was the earnest desire of many to have the sight of it it being by the consciencious care and labour of his Widow with several others of his Labours prepared for view we thought it our duties to commend it to your Honours as your due and to the Saints and all that make profession of the Name of our Lord Jesus as a most necessary piece of Christian knowledge in this day of pride and formality whereby all may examine themselves that call themselves Believers whether they be in the faith yea or no. We leave your Honours and this Sermon to the blessing of God and with our daily prayers that your Honours may be faithful and prosperous in the great work of your Generation the settlement of this poor Nation upon the sure Bases of Truth and Justice Your Honours Most humble and obedient servants in the Ministery of the Gospel SAM WINTER 〈…〉 OTTON ROBERT CHAMBRE SAVING FAITH AND PRIDE Of LIFE INCONSISTENT JOHN 5.44 How can ye beleeve which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only NEver more cause to complaine Isa 53.1 Brethren then now Who hath beleeved our report and to whom hath the arme of the Lord been revealed It is applied to our Saviours own preaching whom very few received But there the obstruction lay altogether in the hearts of the people they were locked up against the Lord Jesus as by other things so especially by this their ambition and seeking honour one of another Our Saviour himselfe was not guilty No marvel if we have more cause now to complaine Brethren then he then for there is a double bar one in the hearts of the people and the other in the hearts of the Preachers this seeking honour one of another makes our chariot wheels drive so heavily the work of Christ go on so slowly I desire therefore this day to act the part of the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord to endeavour to level one of the mountaines of our hearts and swellings of our spirits which is the great hindrance of beleeving as you have it plainly in the Text. Our Saviour being now come into the world added a new Article to their Creed that they must beleeve in Jesus already come Joh. 8.24 and that he was the Messiah That I am he except ye beleeve it you shall die in your sins The Jews could not receive him would not come unto him that they might have life Our Saviour at once reproveth them for their unbelief and layeth down several grounds wherefore they should beleeve Not only his own witnesse Ver. 35. but the witnesse of John whom they all took to be a Prophet sent of God and he owned him by sending unto him to know if he were the Messias Ver. 36. and they rejoyced in his light for a time As also the works he wrought testified of him Ver. 37. yea the Father himselfe did testifie to him partly by these works partly by the rejoycing of the Angels at his birth and partly at his Baptisme by that voice from heaven This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased This our Saviour spoke that they might be saved though he reproved them yet he tendred their poore soules But alas all would not do Life could not be conveyed to them from the Lord because the pipe was choaked up they could not beleeve they could not receive him ver 43. And he deales faithfully with them tells them what is the reason the root of their unbelief or the hinderance Because they sought honour and glory one of another and not the honour which is only from the Lord. As if our Saviour had said it is an impossible thing you should beleeve while it is thus with you The interrogation affirmative implies a strong negative as is most familiar in Scripture There is not much difficulty in the words They are in their nature our Saviours assignation of one of the grand causes of their unbelief in that they received honour one of another and not the glory only which is of God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a participle is taken causaliter as I could give you other instances in the new Testament seeing that you receive honour of one another Receiving of honour here Brethren is not simply to be understood of an admitting of honour and praise from others or the suffering of themselves to be well spoken of but it is meant of a catching at it by hunting after it a desire a hunger a thirst after such things as these are Therefore some read it captantes not accipientes and the antithesis cleareth it in this verse and seek not the praise or glory which is only from God Not seeking of the glory which is of God and seeking honour one of another usually go together If
hath it and is great in the eyes of men and they lift him up and he is lifted up in his own heart then he goes on with a full saile in the wayes of God and his calling he is called to but alas let that cease from him and his spirit is down and flags And what 's the reason of this Alas poore creature he was ready to think it was the breathings of the Spirit of God that fill'd his sails and it was nothing but a little popular breath Take it away and the sailes fall flat there is no motion any more When the affections of a people toward a man are the chariot wheels take them but off he drives sadly and heavily as Pharaohs chariots did Ah poor soul This is their penny they will not serve the Lord cannot walk nor work his works except they have their penny except they be so and so thought of have so much and so much the hearts of his people Well such they have their penny Mat. 20.9 But it is their all and a poore reward it is as our Saviour speaks it will not serve at the last day when they cast up their reckonings they will finde it to be a poore thing Saith Luther Haud velim gloriâ aut nomine vehi majus enim gaudium in maledictis blasphemiis Well this is our condition the Lord make us sensible of this deceit of our hearts I doubt if we were well searched many of us would be found guilty before the Lord to be such as seek the honour that is of man and therefore our faith must be of necessity hindred How can ye believe c Tenthly a man that careth not what becometh of him so he have honour from men So Saul 1 Sam. 30 Honour me now before the people Use 3 The third Use shall be of exhortation then to stir us up every one Brethren this day in the fear of God and for the bowels of Jesus Christ as we would ever be saved by believing in the Lord Jesus or live by faith to look to it that we mind not so much the praises which are of men as the praise of God Oh that we were all of us perswaded this day but to study our hearts better to mind with what ends we are carried out to every thing Ask your hearts the question why do I this or that Is it to be seen of men is it to please men is it to have the honour and the praise of men and be humbled for it and not rejoyce in your sincerity uprightness before the Lord. Wherwithal shal I perswade you brethren To use a few arguments Arg. 1 It is the example of the Lord Jesus I receive not glory of men that is to say I do not gape for it I am not earnest for the good opinion of men it neither addeth to me nor diminisheth from me How oft did he silence the people when he had wrought great works as the Leper that was cleansed Mat. 9.30 Mat. 8.4 See thou go and tell no man And two blind men whose eyes he opened Jesus straightly charged them saying let no man know it Alas when our Saviour perceived they would come and take him by force and make him King dreaming of an earthly kingdom the Messiah should have he withdrew himself he had no mind of such things he came not to seek his own glory but the glory of him that sent him Which of us should have kept such Revelations as the Apostle Paul had 1 Cor. 12.2 so long a time together even fourteen years as he did Arg. 2 Heb. 11.24 The examples of other Saints that have gone before us Moses cared not to be accounted the sonne of Pharaohs daughter her adopted son he accounted the reproach of Christ greater gain then the pleasures of sinful delights 1 Thes 2.6 and their honours We sought not glory of men saith the Apostle neither of you neither of others Alas however you account of me whether as a Minister of Christ or no or as not approved as some would exclude us out of your affections It is a small thing for me to be judged of you or of mans judgement 1 Cor 4.3 Arg. 3 It is the Lord who must judge Brethren who knoweth the heart and will not judge as man judgeth according to mens parts and abilities and gifts of grace but according to that which is within Many a poore trembling soule that breatheth after the Lord Jesus is able to say little to make out little Oh how much dearer may he be in the eyes of the Lord then we with our honours with our great titles with our raised parts and learning as that learned man said when he saw the poore shepheard weeping over the toad that God had not made him such a creature and he had not been sufficiently thankful Oh saith he Surgunt indecti rapiunt coelum Oh! the Lord knoweth where is the circumcision of the heart Brethren where is the beleeving soul the humble soule indeed where is the fruitful soul full of love and of good fruits this is the soul that shall be accepted with him and he knoweth the ambition of the heart that would faine rise higher upon the wings of fame and renown Oh brethren remember this when we are any of us cried up what will this avail us if the Lord cry us down That which is of high esteem with men may be abomination in the eyes of God Oh therefore above all brethren Luk. 6.15 Phil. 4.8 let me beg of you that we may mind the things that are praise-worthy indeed If there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things that is to say such things as will rather approve us unto God then unto men Arg. 4 Minde it Brethren What ever parts or abilities or gifts the Lord hath given any of us they are not our own but for the good of his people only the sincerity of our heart in the managing of them is our own Now while we have hearts lifted up in us Hab. 2.4 because of them where is the sincerity for so saith the Spirit of God whose heart is lifted up is not right within him so that alas poor creatures when we seek our own glory by our parts or gifts or whatsoever setteth us off in the eyes of men and not the glory of the Lord Jesus we boast of that which is not our own are proud of that which we have received and spend it upon our own lusts upon our own pride and ambition This is the reason wherefore the Lord denieth such parts to many that desire them to their own hurt not knowing the basenesse of their own hearts Oh therefore let us study our own hearts Brethren in this particular and what ever men speak of us look to it that it be found within us that it be good built not upon their sayings upon their charitable thoughts but upon what we
finde upon serious searching of our own hearts Be sure to make it your great work to grow inwardly Oh look to the circumcision of the heart that which God onely seeth and which he approveth and commendeth and is praise-worthy indeed For what will it availe us to be never so much celebrated amongst men and when we appear before the Lord Jesus to be cast off as an abominable thing Oh seek the glory which is of God! Arg. 5 It is the master sinne in sanctification as unbelief in justification For al other sins yield obeysance and give way to this Wherefore did the Heathens forbear much other wickednesses as Scipio and others was it not for honour among men and meerly for that Caput omnium peccatorum Primo enim vitio lapsa est anima hoc ultimum vivat saith Aug. upon Psal 7. And therefore the perfect or grown Christian should take heed of this above all others The second Branch of this Exhortation shall be to take heed then of laying snares in one anothers wayes I mean by loading a poore creature with honour and respect It may be that which may undo him away then with this base flattery in swelling and undeserved titles that is amongst us If such as will have honour amongst men seek it let them seek but not finde If there were no flatterers ambition would quickly flatten bring not fuel to the fire but rather cast on water You had more need Brethren stil to be putting on one another in minde of something to humble us then feeding one anothers humour with honours What doest thou know but the applause and honour thou through flattery puttest upon such a one may be the deadly snare to his soul to undo him for ever for if it lift him up and the Lord then know him afar off what is become of him then It is a great folly in us to think it is any advantage to any man or to our selves to flatter them into any high conceit of themselves to puffe them up with great titles and honours for if they be puffed up their hearts are not right within them and what then can you expect from them Ah Brethren you that know how catching corruption is what tinder it is that will take the least spark for Christs sake be more tender one of anothers souls I know indeed in some cases when the soule is indeed dejected and cast down and ready to cast away all comfort seeth nothing good in him it may be an act of charity then yet with sobriety and tendernesse but alas this is not the ground of our speaking highly one of another and to another Therefore take heed of this Use 4 The fourth Use shall be of Caution Notwithstanding that a man may not hence take boldnesse to prostitute his name and be prodigal of his credit not at all to heed what others speak of him For my own part if I see a man that hath no care of his name let people speak well or ill never heedeth it like Gallio careth not for any of these things I should be afraid such a one careth not for his conscience neither to keep a good conscience before God nor before men or towards men as well as towards God Therefore take heed of this 1. Such evil speakings of thee are a chastisement a rod can Shimei curse David and the Lord hath not bidden him curse Can a dog move his tongue against them and the Lords hand is not in it Can a man be outed of the hearts of the people of God and he hath not done it And hath not every rod a voice is it a child-like spirit not to matter what it speaks nor how many rods are laid upon thy back 2. Through thy name Religion may suffer if thou be disgraced and profess the Lord Jesus it reacheth further then thy self specially if a publick person Crudelis enim qui famam negligit Therefore the Apostle spent so much paines in vindicating of himself from those aspersions that false Apostles cast upon him as of being burdensome to them being poore and mean and contemptible in his bodily presence He knew that hereby the Gospel suffered much disadvantage and his Ministry was prejudiced and therefore he bestirreth him But it was not because he had an ambition to be thought highly of by men but because he knew his endeavours would not be so effectual for the Lord Jesus in his Kingdom 1 Cor. 9.15 as otherwise they would Therefore it is better for me to die saith he then to lose my glorying to make his glorying void in those former respects And that though born out of due time yet he had the Gospel by immediate revelation from God as well as the rest of the Apostles Use 5 A word of comfort to the poore soule that haply may gather some discomfort from this Doctrine as knowing much of the deceit of the heart in this respect Alas what shall I do might one say I thought something was the matter that I could not believe in the Lord Jesus and now I see what is the matter I have sought the honour which is of man and not the honour which is of God and therefore how can I beleeve I am more an outside Christian then an inside For answer to this 1. The best of Gods people have some of this corruption remaining in them Brethren some more and some less It is not thy case alone There is a desire of vain-glory at the bottom many times we are not aware of it Sometime we feel it sensibly Therefore it is possible thou mayest be a beleever though it be thus with thee It is not the having but the affecting of this or any other sinne that stands not with the Covenant of Grace 2. There is a contrary principle within that strives against it at least where it is known And is it not so with thee Is it not thy burden is it not thy trouble The Disciples had very much of it when they would be striving which should be greatest among them 3. It doth indeed more or lesse hinder faith Therfore pray against it be humbled for it Act faith upon the Lord Jesus and the Covenant of Grace That he should subdue all our iniquities for us Mic. 7.8 But be not discouraged because it is in thee if it reign not if thou love it not delight not in it please not thy self in it for it is that which is the ruine of poor souls in this particular FINIS
the one be followed the other is neglected And so ver 34. I receive not testimony from men but these things I say that ye might be saved Not that he did not admit Johns Testimony he there speaks of but he did not captare he needed it not sought not after it only this he speaks for their sakes because they had a good esteem of John and so his testimony might be of force with them and so ver 41. I receive not honour from men not that he did not admit men to speak well of him though sometimes he did charge them straightly they should not speak yet sometimes he did admit them to speak of him and to His honour but he catched not at it he sought it not and in this sense we take it here The Doctrine shall be this Doct. The seeking honour from men with the neglect of that honour whi h is of God is a great impediment to our faith or a great reason why poor creatures do not beleeve How can you beleeve seeing you receive honour seek honour one of another There are two considerations especially wherein the truth of this will appear First when the way of Christ is persecuted when Religion is a reproach Isa 59.15 and he that departeth from iniquity maketh himselfe a prey as the Prophet speakes then the desire of honour among men keepeth them off from beleeving and closing with him This was the great stumbling block in the Jews way Why did not they beleeve We know the way of truth was disgraced Jesus Christ came in such a meane manner He was born in a stable had a manger for his cradle because there was no roome for Christ in the Inne He had a Carpenter for his supposed father He had not a house to put his head in and is this like to be the Messiah What he whom they afterward crucified is this like to be the Deliverer and Saviour of his people The Jews would have beleeved if their great men or their Rulers had believed in him so that there might have been any credit by it There was a double danger did arise from their seeking honour of men 1. This carnal affection did bribe their understandings that they could not see the Lord Jesus to be the Messias they were all for pomp and glory and therefore could not beleeve nor be convinced that such a disgraced person should be the Messias It is the nature of all corrupt affections to bemist and cloud the understanding so that conviction is hindred by that meanes If any other come in his own name saith our Saviour if it be but the way to honour if a great person and esteemed among you him you will receive What was the reason the people did not see the errour of the false prophets Jer 5.31 alas they did love to have it so 2. If they were convinced that the Lord Jesus were the Messiah and so that they must have salvation in him if ever they were saved yet this desire of honour amongst men it choaked it it smothered it they durst not own it and that either altogether or else in part Altogether so we finde in many of the Jews in that place of John the twelfth in the chief Rulers many beleeved in him they were convinced and perswaded that he was the Messiah but they did not confess him saith the Text for feare of the Pharisees lest they should be shut out of the Synagogues John 12.42 43. For they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God They esteemed it more to be one visible in the Church of the Jewes then one of the invisible Church of Jesus Christ Rom. 10.10 With the heart man beleeves unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is an open free ingenuous profession of Jesus Christ amongst men before men now for shame for feare of reproach they durst not do it And as altogether so in part Nicodemus beleeved in Jesus Christ Joh. 3.1 2. but at first he durst not openly acknowledge him but came to him by night for feare of the Jewes that was because he was not rid of this desire of seeking honour among men And thus now while the way of God is in reproach as you know it is not long since it was when it may be many wel-wishers to the people of God and wayes of God in their hearts yet durst not confesse for feare of idolaters who would have excommunicated them made them a reproach and scorne to the people And thus you see in this case how it hindreth beleeving Then secondly when the Lord maketh Magistrates nursing fathers or nursing mothers to his Church and people the wayes of God are countenanced Religion is a credit and not a disgrace it is the way to be esteemed if not to be preferred then alas On the other hand doubtlesse there is as great a danger that profession should eat up faith When there is such a desire after honour among men every man then will put on a vizard and will at least seem to be that which they are not If they can appeare to men to be so and make but profession a net to catch a little respect a little honour a little favour among men they are well enough If the Lord Jesus had come as the Jews had expected him to come as a great and glorious Prince with power to raise them advance them as the Disciples themselves did dreame of such honours he had not so few followers in his low estate as he would have had many if he had been otherwise but amongst those many I doubt there would have been few sound ones for their desire of honour and respect among men would have made them close with him to professe him though their hearts were altogether strangers to him Joh 6.26 as those that followed for the loaves in another case And this rather representeth our condition at present because now the reproach of Christ is rolled away in great part and it is rather a reproach to be a prophane wretch and to have no profession of Christ Every one will now professe but in the meane time while they are acted by such a desire and seeking honour of men that being the great inducement and matter not the glory which is of God only they cannot beleeve How can you beleeve indeed whatever profession you make for as a man may beleeve and not professe so may a man and doubtlesse many do professe that never beleeved and upon this very reason in these dayes Some were guilty in the very dayes of persecution of this many beleeved in him Joh. 2.23 24. but he committed not himselfe unto them for he knew their hearts then as much as now in these dayes To give you an Argument or two for the Doctrine Reas 1 Reas 1. The first I shall take from the very nature of faith which is to empty the
thousands of soules perish upon this account They will be accounted the Lords people and all holy and have no difference made between the precious and the vile And others do account them so and receive them as such though never so vile And doth not this strengthen the hands of the wicked while they thus receive honour one of another one thinketh well of another and he as well of him and so both are kept off from beleeving from coming to Jesus Christ from closing with him Look we among Professours Brethren and is there not an abundance of this seeking of honour one of another Do they not many times claw one another to an high conceit one of another Do they not affect great swelling titles of honour that never were duly put upon them Was not this one of the great sinnes of the Pharisees they loved to be called Rabbi Rabbi Master Master Was not this a seeking of honour from men and did not this keep them off from Christ did not this seale them up and then the Lord knew them afarre off Brethren I envy no mans titles of honour that are due and justly his but I cannot but take notice what affectation there is of titles of honor amongst us Except men be raised in their titles many steps higher then ever their desarts carried them they are not honoured Look to it Brethren I thought and I am sure it hath been professed by some they have done much to pull down these things But for ought I see the spleene was more at the Persons who had them then the titles themselves Why we desire them not you 'l say we cannot help it if they will put it upon us Say you so Brethren but take notice of your hearts are not they more acceptable to us and do we not take them more to favour us who scratch our itching distemper then such as are more sparing in them Minde it do not your hearts sometimes rise against such within you that give you not all the respect you expect though it is more then is due happily and do you stomack this and will you say you cannot help it Will you think thus to mock God and deceive your own soules This is but a fig-leafe not broad enough nor thick enough to cover the nakednesse If thou wert not willing nor glad of such clawing how easily mightest thou drive away such a flattering tongue with an angry look Be not deceived God will not be mocked if there were no receiver there would be no thief if there were no ambition of those honours among men there would be no sycophants who to please them would say any thing And now while it is thus can we think this is a time of so much faith as we pretend to Surely no Brethren you cannot beleeve while you seek honour thus one of another Use 2 Use 2. In the next place Brethren it shall be a Word of tryal to every one of us how the case stands with us whether or no we be such as seek honour one of another It is of very great moment brethren you see it keepeth off a soule from beleeving and closing with the Lord Jesus This is most clear and if we beleeve not we must perish And if it hinder our beleeving but in part so that we cannot serve him so much as otherwise we might how much glory doth it rob him of and how much comfort and peace and strength and sweet communion with God doth it rob us of Therefore I beseech you let us minde it a little and see if we be not many of us guilty First then he that seeks not the glory which is onely from God he seeks honour from men for there is such a principle in man Brethren that there must be some approving of him some to think well of him or else he cannot be quiet See how our Saviour opposeth them here Ye seek honour one of another and not that which is of God If they had sought that honour that glory which is only from God they had not sought that which is of men Rom. 2.29 I suppose the meaning will very well be opened by that parallel Scripture He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew that is one inwardly whose praise is not of man but of God The Jew outwardly his praise was of men but the Jew inwardly his praise was only of God and not of men So that he which never careth for the inward circumcision the circumcision of the heart not that of the flesh The meaning is He that seeks not after the mortification and sanctification of the Spirit by the power of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus but liveth after the flesh only he hath the name of a Jew the name of a Christian and the outward signe of the Covenant of God and resteth in this and maketh his boast in this this is to seek honour of men What is the reason else Brethren that so many follow and adhere to them who will not nor do make any separation of the precious from the vile among us because alas they seek honour from men If those that teach them will account them for Christians so look on them and accordingly receive them to all manner of communion to all Ordinances they never look further never look whether they have Christ within them whether they be born of God Ah deare friends I wish none of us that have come under a narrower search and have been more strictly sifted deceive not our selves in this point If we deceive men minde it God is not deceived O how will some take on if the people of God look not upon them as such as godly as fear him But though they live much without God enjoying him not in his Ordinances nor without them though they live in much close and secret hypocrisie and iniquity they never take on for this Is not this to seek the honour of men and not that glory which is only of God that inward glory that inward approving of the soul and conscience to him Secondly if there be any among us Brethren that teach the peopl that we would reign in mens consciences and be accounted as Gods take upon us his priviledges when all we say must be Gospel though happily not a word in the Gospel to prove it when we expect that our own dictates uttered from us should be believed without any authority from the Gospel of Jesus Christ Is not this seeking of honour from men with a witnesse If we are ready to take it ill if our bare affirmations be not more beleeved then all the Scripture and reason produced by another to never so good purpose Are we guilty any of us herein we seek the honour which is of men Thirdly he that speaks of himself our Saviour saith seeks his own glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 7. â—â— Let men
creature There is nothing in the world more self-emptying then Faith is Gal. 2.20 I live saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ liveth in me Who had a greater Faith then the Apostle and who was lesse in his own eyes A man never comes to know himself to purpose until he believes Before he thought himselfe to be something and sought honour of men as well as the rest of the Pharisees but when he came to believe all this vanished then nothing you have from him but the greatest of sinners and the least of Saints 1 Tim. 1.15 And though he laboured more abundantly then the rest yet not he but the grace of God in him and he is nothing 1 Cor. 15.10 when all is done Oh when a poore soul cometh to be acquainted with the height and depth and breadth and length of the love of Christ towards him then he comes to see the dimensions of his sinnes to purpose then he abhors himselfe in dust and ashes Faith is one of the wonders of the world indeed For as the Lord hangs the world upon nothing only his word of command bidding it stand there therefore it is immovable and beares all that weight we can possibly adde unto it if we could adde any more then is of it selfe and from it self so it is in faith it is founded upon nothing in the creature and yet beares up all though never so many temptations corruptions assaults fightings without terrours within yet faith though founded upon nothing beares up all Now ambition or desire of honour and seeking of it among men is directly contrary to the very nature of faith for it being an act of the will and affections it would be something in it self and faith would be nothing in it self therefore I say as contraries destroy one another so do these Make a white wall black the whitenesse is gone so vice versâ Faith destroyeth ambition where it cometh it emptieth the creature of all its fulnesse in the will in the desires and ambition keepeth out faith as that which will empty a man will take down every high thought will captivate every desire to the Lord Jesus Reas 2 The second Argument is this because it is no small part of the enmity to God that love of the world which is enmity to Him For the pride of life is one of the worldlings idols he worships And is not this a great part of the pride of life mens ambitious humours They would be esteemed thus and thus or else they will not care for Christ Is not this horrible pride to set up a little applause a little esteeme of men above the esteem of God not to matter what God thinks of a man so men think well of him Why now the love of the world is enmity against God It is true God is an enemy to resist every sinne every lust But above all others Ps 138. ◠this of pride He resists the proud and resists him afar off as the Psalmist hath it Jam. 4 6. And minde you that of the Apostle he resisteth him with such a resistance as is opposed to giving of Grace He resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the lowly And how shall a man have faith except it be given him from on high It is not of your selves saith the Apostle it is the gift of God Phil. 1.29 To you it is given not only to beleeve but to suffer Can any beleeve except it be given in a way of Grace except the Lord open their hearts as he did the heart of Lydia and will the Lord do it while he resisteth the proud and resisteth afar off cannot endure the sight of them Men if they will put away from them a thing that is filthy and what they abhor they will not touch it scarce with a long fork so God resists the proud afar off Though it may be embalmed with some name of honour and though covered with excuses all will not hide it from him Therefore no marvel Brethren if it be a great impediment In so much as this lust prevailes in any heart even of his own people so far is the work of their faith hindred Reas 3 Reas 3. Thirdly it is a great impediment to believing because poore sinners through this corruption are most unwilling to own their condition to be so vile creatures as they are They seek honour one of another and if so be they carry it faire give every one their due and go for such among their neighbours all the Preachers in the world shall not perswade them they are in such a filthy loathsome condition They are loath to have their faire skin ript up lest their lusts do appeare their garbage Phil. 3.8 their dogs meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh if they should acknowledge their sinnes either to God or men whom they have offended against they shall be ashamed for ever they will never have good esteme of them againe Was not this the reason that kept the Jewes off from beleeving in Jesus Christ If they receive the Doctrine of repentance they must acknowledge themselves sinners they must forgo their own righteousnesse and this they were very loath to come unto What they sinners the Pharisees that walked so exactly after the Law of God fasted twice in the week Luke 18.10 11. made long prayers were not as the Publicans and sinners were what shall they own it that they were so filthy that they did lie in their blood no they would not This were to lose their esteem among men and therefore they did with both hands earnestly build their own righteousnesse whereupon their estimation with men was founded And so would not submit to the righteousnesse of Christ Rom. 10.3 the righteousnesse of God by Jesus Christ and so would not receive Jesus Christ And these are some of the Arguments whereby this truth may be confirmed Now for the Application of the Point Use 1 Use 1. Then Brethren see what cause we have to fear that there is little faith among us If it be impossible that a man should beleeve while he seeks honour of others was ever the world fuller of it then now it is look into whatever condition of people you will Brethren and you will finde how much seeking of honour there is one of another The poore carnal Gospeller that takes himself to be a Christian to be of the Church of Christ he enjoyeth the Ordinances c. and for any man to tell him of being in a loathsome undone estate notwithstanding all this he can no more receive it then the Pharisees could What is the reason Alas his seeking of honour among men What they accept of freedome from the Lord Jesus who are Abrahams seed Joh. 8.33 and never were in bondage to this day Shall they acknowledge themselves to be in bondage They will not staine their own glory so as to look upon themselves as such I tell you Brethren I doubt