with that which is sweet only to the pallat but bitter in the belly and carries a curse with it where ever it goes Now this is the sad condition of Christlesse soules such poore wretches as have given over themselves to worke all uncleannesse with greedinesse these poor soules walke according to the course of the world and the power of the Prince of the Aire the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience fulfilling the lusts and the desires of the flesh Ephes 2.2 3. And if this be not a miserable condition I know not what can make up misery As it is the blessing of Heaven to live in Christ and Christ in us so it is the misery of Hell upon earth to be fulfilling lusts and the desires of the flesh in which the poore soule is ruled by the Prince of the aire led captive by Sathan at his will This is the sad condition of prophane carnall Christ-lesse soules such as are not new creatures For if any man be in Christ he is a new creature Fourthly This informes us of the desperate wickednesse and hypocrisie of those wretches which with their lips lay claime to Christ and free-grace and yet are not new creatures but make a profession of Christ to be a protection covering of the old man in them this is the growing and thriving sinne of these last and evill times which wee are fallen into If the single witnesse of the lip may be taken Christ had never more followers then in these our dayes but this is a truth so pretious and of so great a consequence that it well deserveth two witnesses I meane the life as well as the lip Our Saviour tels us at the time of his being upon earth of many belly and eye-followers that he had such as followed him for the loaves and to see the miracles that he did but for lip followers of Christ I believe our present age out-strips all that went before it and as the Lord Christ did discover the hypocrisie that was in the former so doe I verily believe he will this generall profession of him in our dayes God hath gone a great way in this worke already and I verily believe the earth-quake we are in will not cease till God have perfected this good work he hath begun men deceive themselves when they entitle their wickednesse to Christ he is too bright a glory to be vail'd over and too clear a light to be deceived by any darkenesse profession cannot dazell the eyes of perfection Christ is perfect and can discerne and discover the secret hypocrisie of the heart mans eyes may be deceived with a bare profession but when Christ is intitled to a lye as the God of truth he is engaged to discharge himselfe of those branches which are only in him by profession and so leave them to a withering state as being without the sap of life And that I think is the meaning of our Saviour in Joh. 15.2 Every branch in me meaning Christ that beareth not fruit he meaning God taketh away That is Christ hath many which profess him and bring not forth the fruit of union with him which is the new creature and them God to clear up his owne power and purity takes away as if the Lord had said the evill heart of man thinkes to hide the olde man of sinne under a profession of mee but if you looke into the fruits and lives of such men you will find them only branches in profession which in the fittest time for lifting up the power and purity of God God will take away and Christ will discharge himselfe of them The holy Ghost methinkes is very full to this purpose in 1 Cor. chap. 3. vers 11 12 13. For other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Christ Now if any man build on this foundation gold silver precious stone wood hay stubble Every mans workes shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans worke of what sort it is Every man would be saved and there is no foundation which is or can be laid but Christ this is a generall rule Now upon the foundation some lay gold and precious stones others lay wood hay and stubble the former have Christ in truth the latter only in profession But Christ hee deales with all alike hee is resolved to make all manifest and therefore hee brings all to the fire by which gold appeares to bee gold silver to be silver and precious stones to bee such because they abide the fire And this fire makes wood hay and stubble to appeare to be such because the fire consumeth them If wee understand here by fire the fire of affliction and persecution why under that sence the truth will stand firme for such as have not learned truths as they are in Jesus will deny truths and Jesus too if affliction come Unfound profession is soone burnt up in the fire of persecution it is too hot a fire for wood hay or stubble to contend with Wood may last longer then hay or stubble but all the time it lasts it consumes It is not like gold and silver that is refined and made more pure then it was before it came into the fire Not like that seede which had only the shallow rooting of profession that withered so soone as the scorching beames of the Sunne came upon it The Apostle had more then naked profession Rom. Chapter 8. the latter end when under this fire of persecution Killed all the day long and counted as sheepe for the slaughter Yet hee professed in all his sufferings Hee was more then a Conquerour through Christ that loved him Hee was true gold indeed that was a gaine by this fire and what ever is but bare profession will soon consume when it commeth to this fire And truly God is now shaking not only the Earth but the Heavens also not only carnall wretches but even all professors and this shaking will shake off all that are not one with Christ This shaking is that those which cannot bee shaken may appeare to remaine But I rather thinke by fire here is meant the fire of the Spirit those bright beames of the glorious presence of GOD. As if the LORD should say You wood hay and stubble that build by profession upon my Christ and deceive the World by your formes empty of the power of Godlinesse you shall know that Christ is the only and proper foundation for gold silver and precious stones to build upon And I am resolved to make a discovery of the difference betweene them and you I will powre out my Spirit and that precious fire will enflame their love and your hatred to Christ Saints and truth That light shall try and discover your darkenesse for till that light appeares your darkenesse will be taken for light but when that light doth appeare it will discover your darkenesse in hating
rather to glorifie his justice then his grace upon thee Admire his goodnesse and admire his patience it was not want of power in God to destroy thee which hath beene thy preservation for had hee but with-held what he hath given thou hadst perished in that thou hast lived all this time upon what thou hast received and hast sinned with nothing but received mercies thy person thy parts thy riches thy honors thy power and thy all are but thy receits thy trusted talents not thy inheritance Thou hast all this while beene proud of that which is not thy owne and hast repined against free-grace for nothing else could have borne with thee all this time and not destroyed thee I hope you can make no other use of all this loving kindnesse but this to looke upon thy selfe as preserved to praise the Lord. O tell forth the fulnesse of his love the greatnesse of his power and the exceeding riches of his grace to thy soule and body Take up Davids resolution all that is within thee and all that comes from thee to praise the Lord because all this thou receivest first from him If ever thou be asked this question who maketh thee to differ from others acknowledge God Nay if thou art not asked it yet declare it by thy humble just and holy conversation and by a sweete contentednesse of spirit with all the dispensations of God let the World know from thy lips that it hangs by the power of God who can as soone make it nothing as hee made it what it is that it is the same power which keepes all that made all and that God is alwayes giving otherwise the whole World would cease being Declare this fulnesse of God and thy receiving all from him by thy full relying on him let thy trusting him declare to the World that thou hast tryed him and by experience found that thou receivest all from him and having so sure a fountain to supply thy wants which can never be drawn dry therefore let thy hopes be always greene and thy faith ever flourishing thou livest not upon thy owne stocke but upon Gods fulnesse This Scripture is as reviving as humbling for though it throwes a man out of himselfe yet it throws him into the kindenesse faithfulnessee goodnesse mercy and grace of his God Wee are no loosers though neither in spirituals nor temporals we cannot live by the works of our own hands so long as all is bound up in the grace of God and from this fountain we receive that wherein we differ not only from others but from being nothing for it is with us as with Paul only by the grace of God that we are what we are and this is the answer that Saints have to make to this Scripture Who maketh thee to differ from another what bast thou that thou didst not receive Truly nothing For by grace are yee saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 And it is only by the grace of our God that we are what we are CHAP. XIII None but God can be a proper subject for a Saint to glory in 1 Cor. 1. last clause of the 30th vers He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. THE great and supreame end of God in all things ought to be the same in all his people now the great end of God in all the works and workings of his eternall love free-grace mercy holinesse power justice and judgment is for to manifest declare and lift up his own glory this should also be the single end of all Gods people in all their workes and workings namely to manifest declare and lift up the Glory of God in his eternall love free grace mercy holinesse power justice and judgement to follow all glory to its originall which is God then to manifest and declare the glory of the Lord by glorying in the Lord. The holy Ghost by the Apostle gives us in the foregoing verses of this chapter some discoveries of the way of Gods workings in the World in the 26 27 28. verse For you see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty nor many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise And God hath chosen the weake things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought things that are Wee see here when God makes use of instruments to doe his will and to declare his glory he doth not choose after the manner of men or according to the course of the World the wile mighty and noble after theflesh but the foolish weake and despised of the World doth God choose to confound the wise and the mighty and things which are not to bring to naught things that are The 29. verse gives the reason of it That no flesh should glory in his presence As if the holy Ghost had said God hath wrapt up all glory in himselfe so that no flesh shall glory neither in what they are nor in what they doe but in him So in the 30 verse he strips all flesh from glorying in it self concerning spirituals for sayeshe Christ as the gift of God is wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption to us And then he quotes this place of Scripture out of the Prophet Jeremy He that glories let him glory in the Lord. So that the Apostles premises and the conclusion he drawes from them runnes all into this one generall That as God makes it his great end in all he doth to lift up his own glory so should his people make it their work and end onely to glory in the Lord. This Scripture is a directing exhortation it exhorts to glory and directs to the proper subject centre of glory namely the Lord as if he had said you soules that glory make the Lord the only subject of your glory and then glory on For edifications sake and that the lowest capacity may gather its portion of Gods Manna in the wildernesse of this world I shall from this Scripture draw up two general observations upon which shall depend what followeth The Observations are these First God is and ought to be the subject of all his peoples glory Or thus That the people of God should glory in none but God Secondly That in God there is fulnesse of glory for all his people Or thus That in God is bound up the fulnesse of his peoples glory For proofe to the first of these take notice of the precepts and practices of the people of God declared in Scripture as first the Lord by the Prophet Jeremiah in his 9. chap. verse 23.24 Thus saith the Lord Let not the wise man glory in his wisdome neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches but let him
and Christ is in the Spirit now to enjoy God in his originall love with Christ in all hee is as the fruits of this love this is our life and this can only be in the Spirit Oh then it concerns us to plead our interest as children for the spirit of Adoption as it is in Rom. 8.14 15 16. It is the breathings of the Spirit which makes dead bones to live Ordinances and soules will be both dead without Christ in the Spirit it is expedient to goe sayes Christ to send the comforter and it is as needfull that he give the Spirit without it we can never have fellowship with the Father nor the Sonne in whom only our joy our life and our glory will be full In this Spirit only can wee live upon Christ as hee is the bread of life and our bread of life CHAP. VI. Christs reigne by his Spirit is the Saints liberty from bondage Gal. 4.5 6. To redeeme them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sonnes And because yee are sonnes God hath sent forth the spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba-Father THE Apostle Paul in almost this whole Epistle makes it his businesse and designe to discover to Saints their liberty in Christ and as it appeares by the Apostles writing to them in the foregoing chapter and in this These Saints to which he did more particularly write lay under legall principles and moved with legal spirits now for a remedy of this to them and all Saints after them in these two verses the Apostle holds forth Christ under a double capacity namely Justification and Sanctification to the Believer And in both a perfect freedome from the law so far as it is freedome to be delivered from it The first of these two verses holds out Christ justifying of his people in the redemption of his blood from what ever the law could accuse them of or charge upon them The latter verse holds forth the fruits of this redemption or indeede a part of this redemption it selfe Namely this That because we are sonnes God hath sent forth the spirit of his Sonne into our hearts crying Abba Father Either of these two parts are worthy a Saints study and admiring for ever I shall lay the foundation of what shall follow in this Point Namely that it is part of the Redemption of the bloud of Christ to a believer that no law should command or rule in the conscience or spirit of a believer but the Law of love the spirit of Adoption is here given forth to that very end that in it the soule may keep its communion close with God and Christ and be alwayes able to cry Abba Father In the proofe of this we must consider the first and second Adam as wee were in the first Adam we lay under a law of Creation and a Covenant of workes as creatures to obey our Creator and in obeying to have life doe and live but transgresse and die In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death But in the second Adam the Lord Christ the Covenant we are under is not of workes but of grace the law is not in the letter but in the spirit not written in Tables of stone but in the hearts of his people by his Spirit as appeares clearely where the Covenant of Free-Grace is recorded as in Jer. 31.33 34. and in Heb. 8.10 In both places God doth not only covenant to be our God reconciled to us not imputing sin and iniquity to his people any more but also to put his Law in our inward parts and to write it in our hearts so that this way he will teach and rule in the hearts of his people under that covenant of which Christ is the Mediator God is a Spirit and when he promiseth to write his law in our hearts wee must understand him thus the workings of his spirit in the hearts of his people Letter shall be turned into spirit Christ shall be a King as well as a Saviour and as a spirituall King so his law and his government spirituall that the Lord Christ and his Father may appeare one in this great engagement of teaching and ruling in the hearts of his people by the Spirit let us looke into Christs promise Joh. 14.15 16 17.26 Jo. 16.13 14. Here the Lord Christ promiseth to performe that Office of his intercession to God for us that he would make good his owne covenant and give his spirit to comfort lead and guâ—de the soules of his people Now the making good of Gods covenant and the efficacy of Christs intercession for this spirit to rule in the hearts of his people every soule in its owne particular can best cleare up the faithfulnesse of God and Christ But the Apostle Paul in the power of the spirit sets it out at large in Rom. 8.2 3 4 5.9 10 11.14 15.26 27. Observe the exprestious of the holy Ghost in the second verse For the law of the â—pirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and 〈…〉 is mention of a double law and as distinct each from other as life and death the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death I looke on these two as that which depends on the two Covenants that of Workes and that of Grace or as it is else-where expressed the Law of the first and second husband which is the first and second Adam Now whilst the first Adam is alive in the conscience the conscience is kept under his law which is thus the law of sin and death as it makes known sin and the wages of sin which is death but sin saith the Text is not imputed where there is no law Rom. 5.13 and in Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death And then in Rom. 7. beginning the Apostle saith this law hath dominion over the conscience so long as the first husband lives From these places I judge I am not mistaken in the interpreting the law of sin and death but that the holy Ghost clearly meanes that law of Creation doe and live or the bare Letter of command in the conscience Only let us consider what is meant by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which I understand thus That through that union the soule of a believer hath with Christ it is made spirituall Christ in his Kingly Office in throned in the conscience and the the soule resting in the bosome of Christ as a dutifull Spouse in the bosome of her beloved husband and his law is the law of the spirit of life that law which is life it selfe and turnes letter into spirit One thing more I would explaine my self in that is how I understand the holy Ghost in this freedome that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made to a believer from the law of sin and death by the spirit of life I understand Christ
work in the light of his countenance and the gâ—ory of his love let me goe whether he wil and into what worke he pleaseth my strength to performe all is himselfe therefore my will shall be his his love is my life in his worke therefore I love only to live in doing his worke and whether his worke for mee be to live or dye God shall choose for me not I for my selfe because hee hath given mee the joyes of his love in which I am able not to be bound only but to dye for the name of the Lord Jesus So the same Apostle 2 Cor. 4.7 to the end tels us of the troubles persecutions and afflictions that himselfe and the other Disciples with him suffered daily for owning and preaching Christ yeâ—â—n vers 16. We faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inner man is renewed day by day For these are light afflictions and but for a moment but the Spirit of God through them carries up our spirits to live upon a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory As if he had said in all this hard and suffering worke for God we have more comes in from God then we lay out wee have a full supply of joyes in God so that it is no hard thing to dye day by day in the outward man for the inward man is borne up by a more exceeding and eternall weight of glory So in Rom. 8. latter end What shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword No sayes hee this cannot doe it for we suffer all this for the name of Christ Nayin all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loved us If we consult with flesh and blood this will be found very hard work for to give up our wills to Gods will-ing but when in the spirit we come as the Apostle to understand the love of God and to live in it to understand aright the tribulations of the World we shall finde that in Gods love wee are more then Conquerors we have more strength then worke we have love enough from God to overcome more tribulation then the world hath and not all these tribulations distresses persecutions famines nakednesses perills and swords nor death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So that God by his love gives into the soules of his people greater and fuller joyes then they part with in the World when they give up their wils to this will In Phil. 3. the Apostle tels us what value and esteeme he put upon all his externall endowments and enjoyments after God had made known his love to him in Christ he tels us Hee had as much in the flesh to glory in as any other and shews in what circumciz'd the eight day and so forward but in vers 7. What I counted gaine I now count losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of CHrist Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and doe count them but dung that I may winne Christ and be found in him Observe it and we shall find this clearly in the Text that an enjoyment of Christ makes a low esteeme of all things below Christ all his legall righteousnesse hee counts it dung and desires never to be found in it but for ever to be found in Christ It proves the thing in hand that when God makes known himselfe to a soule in Christ and by that brings over its will to his owne will in that God doth not bereave the soule of joyes and contentments but gives in more in giving himselfe then he takes the soule from in taking it out of the world and it selfe and this wee see the Saints acknowledge As Paul here after hee had knowne Christ all but Christ was drosse and dung with him When God gives to his people he gives to them as he requires of them hee gives in the Spirit Gal. 5.22 The fruits of the Spirit is love joy The spirit reveales the love of God to his people and seales them up to that love and this makes joy in God so that all his ways are pleasant and his paths sweet to such soules it is not kâ—lling work to the soule when God comes to winne over the will to himselfe Doubtlesse Abraham had more joyes in God then in his Fathers house otherwise hee would never have left his Fathers house to haue followed God nor have given up his will to the will of God that hee might lead him where hee pleased nor would he have slaine his sonne Isaac the sonne of his love at Gods command if he had not lived in a higher region the bosome of Gods love and if Gods love had not been in his bosome if he had not found more joy and love in God then in Isaac he would never have slaine Isaac to have pleased God No man will crucifie his highest joy therefore it is till Christ come into a soule the World is never crucified because till then the world is the chiefe and highest joy the soule hath so that if Abraham had not had a higher joy then Isaac he could never have beene willing to offer up his will in his sonne Isaac to the will of God It is the union of better and higher joyes that makes a soule forsake its lower joyes and give up it selfe and its will to God The three Childrens choise in chusing Nebuchadnezars fiery furnace rather then to worship his golden Image speaks the truth of this thing for if they had not had a better life in God then in the world they would not have chosen God rather then the world Nay they had so much joy and life in God that they believed the flames of fire could not destroy it therefore they were not carefull to answer the King all their care was to keepe close to God in whom doubtlesse they had a more exceeding and eternall weight of joy and glory otherwise they could never have given up their wills to the will of God in the flames of a fiery furnace So likewise Paul and Silas after they had endured many stripes and were cast into prison and their feete fast in the stockes Acts 16.23 24 25. yet for all this Paul and Silas prayed and sang prayses unto God What doth this speake but that the joyes of God in the soules of his people doe exceede all their sufferings and that though God in conforming the will of his people to his owne will doth bring them into sufferings yet hee giveth greater incomes of his love by his spirit then the affliction needeth that they are not only able to beare them all but to joy in God
being on earth for it is God in the Creature now this is the wil of man swallowed up in the will of God put forth in the soule and life of man And this is the soule that speakes to God truly in the spirit Not my will but thy will bee done O Father Fifthly and lastly When our wils are melted into the wil of God it puts the soule and spirit into a quiet peaceable restfull and serene condition and it must needs be so upon this consideration For what can make it otherwise when all things worke according to the desires of that soule every thing distinct and all things together perfects the end that this soule drives at and the soule knowes it therefore must needs be at rest the property of this soule is it hath its will in God and desires the fulfilling and accomplishment of no others wil but the wil of God Now tell me what can disturb the peace of this soule Nothing but what is able to frustrate God of his wil and that can be no created being because God that made it can when he pleases make it return to its first nothing that soule hath its peace above disturbance which hath in it the fulfilling of the will of God For all the working in Heaven and Earth doe but fulfill the wil of God and make up the peace and rest of that soule which is bound up in the wil of God And upon this consideration our Saviour tels his people That their joy shall no man take from them because their joy and rest is in God above the reach of man or men and this is the main reason of that vaste difference that is in the spirits that live in him and the men of the World that live in the World in regard of the rest and peace that is in the bosomes of the one and the perplexing distractions that are in the hearts of the other Sayes the Soule that hath given up his wil to God I am at rest for I know in all the workings in the world he is perfecting his own will and setting up his owne glory and his wil it my wil if Gods will be done I have all done that my soule desires therefore nothing can disturb my rest But now ask the worldling how is it with him in point of rest O sayes he never worse the world is so unquiet so full of trouble hazards and change that a man cannot tell where he is safe nor when hee is wel nor doe we know when it will be better when some hopes of rest appeare then new troubles nip that in the bud so that I am hopelesse of any rest in the world That is very true sayes the the gracious soule for the earth that must be shaken and is ever shaking was never made for a place of rest but did you enjoy God and live in the fulnesse of that love which soules live in that have given themselves up to God your mournings would be turned into joyes and your sad complainings into high admirings of the power and wisdome of God that makes all things perfects his ends and lifts up his glory Truly sayes this soule I remember the time when it was with me as with David my heart repined to see the wicked fat and flourish but since my wil hath been moulded into the will of God I can repine at nothing because now I know all things shall fulfill the wil of God I have knowne the time when my spirit hath been disturbed if God should seeme to set me aside and use others in my place to doe his work but truly no such thing disturbs me now my wil is in Gods wil for it is the wil and work of God to be done that I mind not the instrument that doth it nay Gods wil in altering of his instruments satisfies me as much as any other part of his will for it is the doing of his will that I rest in and this makes me alwayes at rest because God is alwayes accomplishing his own will therefore sayes the Psalmist in the 45 Psalme I will not feare nor be disquieted though the earth be removed and the mountaines carried into the midst of the Sea though the waters thereof roare and bee troubled though the mountaines shake with the swelling thereof No why not What is the reason of it Why The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge This is the reason He lived in the power love and faithfulnesse of God and so could not be moved that which could move the earth and carry away the mountaines the great men powers of it could not disquiet him because not remove him from his God Our Saviour intimates thus much unto his Disciples John 14. Let not your hearts be troubled you beleeve in God beleeve also in me i. Beleeve in God live in God and rest on God through me and your hearts will be at rest When the wil of Man centres in the wil of God the peace of God centres in the bosome of that man When God makes any soule to sit down in his wil he doth also make that soule to be at rest in his wil and his love till he take it up for ever into the fulnesse of his glory This is an unparallel'd benefit which that soule enjoyes that hath given up his will to the will of God Wee have an example of this in David 2 Sam. 12.16 whilst the child was sicke he besought the Lord for it but when he knew the childe was dead He arose from the earth washed and anointed himself worshipped God and went to his own house are bread and refreshed himselfe 19 20. And in the 22 23. verses he tels us the reason of it While the child was living he besought God for it he could not tel but it might be his will that the child should live but when God had declared his will in the death of his child that satisfied David so that we see clearly it was the will of God hee looked after and that being revealed the heart is at rest and it s only a heart that is thus bound up in God and his will that can be at rest Gods will is either the rest or the trouble of every soule where it is the rest that soule must needs be at rest because his wil shal alwayes be done but where it is the trouble that soule must ever bee in trouble because his will is ever fulfilling Now it cannot but bee the rest of that soule which hath its will in God and disquietments of such wils as are out of and contrary to God that soul must needs be at rest which hath his wil in Gods because let God strip it of what he pleaseth yet it finds more in God then it can lose for God more love more life more joy more riches more honours and more pleasures then it must needs follow more peace and quiet in such spirits The onely
is now tell me how thou wilt answer God in going beyond thy received power especially when the same hand that gave the power gave thee also a rule to bound that power by That thou shouldst not be a terror to good workes but to evill Therefore hee that doth good should not be afraid of the power For the end of power is from God to protect and defend those that doe good and walke praise-worthy Now that proud heart which puts forth the power that is in its hands beyond these bounds will have a sad appearance before God at the day of account His pride that over-acted his power will not then excuse him but condemne him and it will then be his chains of misery to consider how his pride hath in his power out-run the bounds that God hath set him and exceeded the latitude of that commission which he had received But this is the effect of power when it is in the hands of a proud heart Fifthly and lastly A proud heare is proud of it selfe of what it is amd what it hath of its gifts ornaments and qualifications you shall finde some proud of beauty that at most is but skinne deep and some so wicked as to paint their skinnes to make a subject for their pride Such as have their beauty by nature without art must know this that they have received it if in that they differ from others and that one storme of sicknesse can blast it which their flesh is capable of and as subject to as any others and that there is a certaintie of time for pale and grim death to take up its habitations in those faces so that they have little reason to be puffed up with perishing beauty that which must as certainly fade as the flower in the field You shall see another proud of his honorable Titles as he calls them and truly this is the emptiest of all bubbles it is but a breath it coste him but little that gives it hee wil spend as much breath upon the lowest subject that affords him matter of discourse these Titles are indeed the pleasing dreams of deluded fancies if put in one equall ballance and held by a steady hand Sir will weigh as heavy as your Honour But if honour be given where honour it due according to Gods rule in his word their honour is more then a title I but there it will be no subject of pride but humility for such as are honorable in spending and being spent for God and other true honour I know none such I say doe well know they have received all from his fulnesse which maketh them to differ from others and therefore their businesse is to lift up God and not themselves and if to glory to glory in the originall of their honour which is God himselfe Another it may be is proud of his wealth which he hath as he thinkes in his own hands more glittering clay then his poor neighbours have and therefore he thinkes himselfe great Lord of all and to be served and observed by all he forgets that it is uncertain riches which make themselves wings and flye away he remembers not the case of Job that was stript of all his great possessions in a few moments Sure I am such as are proud upon this account did never spiritually understand and consider the Apostles questions in this Scripture Who maketh thee to differ And what hast thou that thou hast not received Another man he is proud of his wit good language learning and good education I confesse these are very good when sanctified to such as attain them but exceedingly abused when they are made the subjects of pride thou canst not deny but these are received gifts and qualifications where then is the ground for pride why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received them Thy wit thus abused may justly be called home again and thou left a foole for thy paines Hee that is proud of his wit forfeits his wisdom is no better then a witty Foole in the eye of a humble wise man who justly counts him a Foole that is proud of his wit and parts because he that is truly wise is humbled by what he receives and not made proud by it This root of pride hath a numberlesse number of branches but this one Scripture cuts them all off and tells the proud man plainly You have nothing to be proud of whatever you have you have received and if you differ from others it is because you have received more then they It is reported of the Popish Religion that they hold ignorance to be the mother of Devotion I may truly say because I can make it good that ignorance is the mother of pride For whosoever is proud must needs be ignorant That what they have it is received Were this truth spiritually understood it would pluck the wings of pride and make the peacockes plume to fall to consider that he stands upon anothers legges sees with anothers eyes acts by anothers strength and is nothing but what he receives from a fountain which he cannot command and that is God who makes of all clay what he pleaseth and gives to all according to his own good pleasure The proud man is proud of his sinne for he hath nothing else of his own that which he pretends to he is debter for Having thus farre looked into the principles and summe of the practises of pride it will become wise Christians to improve what God discovers to us And first Me thinkes this should put an odious visage upon pride in the eyes of every understanding Christian and make the sinne to be abhorred where ever it is found and most of all in our own bosomes and practices For pride makes a man a foole what ever he thinkes himselfe in it he boasts of that which is not his own as though it were his owne and so no truly wise man will doe The folly of a proud man is to set up and advance himselfe when himselfe is nothing but an empty vessell to be full or empty as it pleaseth God I know no greater folly under Heaven then this The confused Chaos at the creation might have pretended to as good a title of glory in it selfe as proud man can doe if God withdraw himselfe and his gifts from man I know not what title to give that which is left but a scrap or peecemeale of the first Chaos and hath no more right to glory then the lump or heap of Confusion which it came from Pride in the heart doth not onely make a man to be a foolish man but it also makes him a wicked man if hee can but get power to shew himselfe in his owne colours this man will not stick to crucifie the lives liberties consciences and all that is indeed deare to others to make a Sacrifice for his lust of pride though he hath no power but what he hath received yet he hath so much cruelty as to make use
calling grace and that it goeth hand in hand with his choosing he chooses to call and cals whom he chooseth and is free in his grace in all for nothing moves God in all this but his own free-grace Thirdly God justifies his elect and called by his free-grace See this in that plain Text Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by is grace In three or foure of the next foregoing verses the Apostle shewes us how that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh he justified in the sight of God and that it is only Gods righteousnesse which is Christ that will be found righteous in the pure eyes of God for sayes he in vers 23. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God therefore our justification is meerly of his free-grace not by any deed or duty under the law vers 20. For by the law is the knowledge of sinne The law condemns it doth not justifie any it is only free-grace justifies So Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the workes of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ And Gal. 3.11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident for the just shall live by faith By the law and the workes of the law in these Scriptures is comprehended all the best holyest and most exact performance of any soule though according to the commands of God that in none of these nor all these together is any soule justified in the sight of God for that is only the worke of free-grace but lest any should stumble at this that faith is so much mentioned in the matter of Justification the holy Ghost in Ephes 2.8 takes off all occasion of offence in that For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Hee binds up the whole matter of salvation of which justification is a part in the grace of God for by grace are yee saved Now God hath made faith as the hand to lay hold upon this salvation of his free-grace and that it might appeare to be all grace this is also the gift of God the workings of free-grace it is so much the more free that God gives both the hand and the gift too so the Apostle Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth I of his owne free-grace God doth so fully acquit that nothing can be laid to the charge of those whom God doth justifie thus freely doth God acquit such as cannot justifie themselves by any deedes of the law though there be sin in the best duty yet there is justification in the free-grace of God though not of the sinne yet of the person There might be very much writ of this subject but I onely touch it here because it is more fully done in another place Fourthly God is free in his sanctifying grace his holy Spirit as the winde bloweth where it listeth Sanctification must needs be a free worke because it is the worke of a holy God in unholy soules there is no more in us to move God to cleanse us from our blood and pollution then there is to move him to love us when wee lay in our blood so that no eye but the eye of his grace could pitty us that power that overcame self must needs be freely without selfe now this is the sanctifying grace of God in the soules of his people and the Apostle Paul speaking of the worke of regeneration in his soule confesseth it is meerely of grace that I am what I am our state in the kingdome of glory to be ever with the Lord that is also the workings of orinall love and free-grace in God to be heire of God to possesse God and as joynt-heirs with Christ to be filled with his glory to all eternity this is free-grace it is too bigge to stand upon any other foundation but as two undeniable testimonies in the free-grace of God in all these particulars take Gods covenant of free-grace and Jesus Christ the gift of his free-grace into consideration First his Covenant in Jer. 31.33 34. What out of God could oblige God to make such a covenant as this is God engaging himselfe to put his law in our inward parts and to write it in our hearts and that he will be our God and we shall be his people that all shall know his way and that he will forgive our iniquity and remember our sinnes no more This may well be called the covenant of free-grace for it is the grace of God freely engaging himselfe to doe all this for us and in us it is too large to open where it is only brought as a proofe but this I can truly say of it it is in every part and in the whole the free-grace of God hee forgives all iniquity blots out all sinnes writes his holy law in the hearts and inward parts of his people teacheth them all to know his way and all this of his free-grace and to all this freenesse of grace he bindeth up himself by covenant not to make himselfe more faithfull for he is eternally and infinitely faithful but to make us more believing because by nature we believe in works not in free-grace But consider the Lord Jesus Christ who is the great gift of Gods free-grace in whom God filleth his people with grace and glory to all eternity whom God predestinates to the adoption of children hee doth it by Jesus Christ Ephes 1.5 Whom he cals and quickens hee doth it together with Christ Ephes 2.5 Whom he justifieth freely of his grace hee doth it through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3.24 When God in his free-grace gives wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption hee gives it in Christ and makes Jesus Christ to be all this to his people 1 Cor. 1.30 When God glorifies his people with himselfe for ever he doth it as joynt-heirs with Christ After he had suffered in the flesh for us he goeth to heaven and glory to prepare mansions for us comes again to receive us to himselfe Now upon all these considerations tel me whether all the salvation in part or whole of the people of God be not the only workings designe of the eternal love and free-grace of God I hope none wil be so gracelesse as to deny it and to such as acknowledge it to them I say this is a generall full of particulers for such as glory to glory in the Lord. A believing soule wil tel you this he can glory in his election through the free-grace of God in Jesus Christ that none is or shall ever be able to plucke him out of Gods hands and hee will tell you that he is called into union with Christ by that eternall free-grace of God which will surely keepe him that he can never fall totally away Christ must have his whole body compleat in heaven not lose one member hee