sincere Christian he looks to the circumstance as well as the substance to the manner as well as to the matter of the command when he prayes he labours to pray fervently earnestly Jam. 5.17 18. he labours to get his heart into his prayers when he hears he will hear with attention and intention of spirit when he walks Mich. 6.8 1 Pet. 2.12 3.1 2 3. 1 Thes 2.10 2 Cor. 1.12 Psal 110.3 he endeavours to walk wisely humbly faithfully fruitfully circumspectly exemplarily winningly convincingly blamelesly when he obeys he desires and endeavours to obey freely willingly cheerfully O Sirs if we pray and pray not fervently if we hear and hear not fruitfully if we obey and obey not willingly if we shew mercy Isa 58.13 and do it not cheerfully if we sanctifie the Sabbath and not with delight all is worth nothing all will come to nothing Mark there are some circumstances accessary some necessary some wherein the being and some wherein the well being of a duty doth consist and if you abstract these from them the duty is worth nothing take away fervency and humility from prayer take away faithfulness and fruitfulness from hearing and take away willingness and delight from obedience and all will be worth nothing God regards not only the matter but the manner Criton the Papist could say That God loved better Adverbs than Nouns not to pray only but to pray well Non bonum sed bene agere Not to do good but to do it well is the great wisdom of a Christian what is the Sun without light or the fountain without water or the body without the soul or wood without fire or a bullet without a gun or a Ship without a rudder no more are words in prayer without the spirit of prayer God looks more at the manner than at the matter of your prayers And let thus much suffice to confirm the first particular But Secondly That obedience that springs from faith is an obedience that is only grounded upon the Word of God the Commands of God Ps 119.4 5. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently O that my wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Mat. 5.18 For verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled John 10.35 If he called them Gods unto whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken Chap. 12.48 He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day 2 Tim. 3.16 17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine fâ—r reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the mâ—n of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works Now the reasons why that obedience that springs from faith is an obedience that is only grounded upon the Word of God the Commands of God are these five And the first is drawn from the supremacy and soveraignty of God who alone is to prescribe to man his duty he is our great Lord and Master he is our Lord and Law-giver Isa 33.22 For the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King James 4.12 There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy who art thou that judgest another Now by the Laws of this Lord and Law-giver we must square all our actions Look as it would be very absurd in a servant to do that work which he thinks meet and not what his Master commands so 't is as absurd for men to think that God will accept of this or that at their hands when they can't plead his superscription and authority for what they do God will one day say to such Who hath required this at your hands Isa 1.12 O Sirs you must lay the command of God as a foundation for what you do or else all your buildings though never so glorious will certainly totter and fall in all you do you must be able to say Thus saith the Lord or else after you have done your best you may be undone for ever But Secondly God's promise and blessing is only annexed to God's command he that will have the sweet of the promise and the blessings of heaven he must look that his obedience be bottomed upon divine commands in holy actions 't is not thy performance nor thy grace nor thy warmth nor thy zeal but the command and the promise that is annexed to it that will bear thee out Gal. 4.28 Heb. 6.17 therefore we are called children of the promise and heirs of the promise The children of God in all their obedience should still keep an eye upon the command of God and the promise of God as ever they would run the race that is set before them Heb. 12.1 But Thirdly Our obedience must be grounded and bottomed upon a divine command because of that great corruption pollution blindness and darkness which is upon our minds and understandings which would carry us to what not if we were not to steer our Christian course by divine commands Col. 2.20 21 22. The Apostle condemns those things which had a shew of humility and great mortification because they were not bottomed upon a divine command and Christ condemned many practises of the Scribes and Pharisees because they were not bottomed upon a divine command As you may see by comparing the 6 15. and 23. Chapters of Matthew together But Fourthly Our obedience must be bottomed upon a divine command because else we can never be able to bear up our hearts comfortably couragiously confidently and resolutely under all the afflictions Psal 44 9 ult Ezek. 28.12 22. oppositions temptations persecutions and discouragements that we meet with in the wayes of the Lord and in doing the work of the Lord. All the Messages that the Prophets delivered were still grounded upon a divine command Acts 4.19 20. 5.29 Thus saith the Lord and this steeled their spirits in the work of the Lord this made them resolute and undaunted in the midst of all the afflictions and oppositions that they met with And so 't was a word of command that raised the spirits and encouraged the hearts of the Apostles in the work of the Lord in the face of all the oppositions threatnings and buffetings that they met with from the civil powers You know Absalom layes his bloudy command upon his servants as their highest encouragement to that bloudy work of killing his brother Amnon 2 Sam. 13.28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants his Assasines saying Mark ye now when Amnons heart is merry with wine and when I say unto you smite Amnon then kill him fear not have not I commanded you be
times of great afflictions temptations desertions fears and doubts a very great aptness and proneness in Christians to expect strange means rather than right means and new means rather than old means and invented means rather than appointed means to build their faith upon somthing beside the Word or that is without the compass of the Word rather than upon the plain and naked Word it self being in this very like to many weak crazy distempered and diseased Patients that are more ready to fancy every new Medicine and new Doctor they hear of and to be tampering with them than to expect a recovery by going through a course of Physick prescribed by the Physician that best understands their diseases and the most proper and effectual means for their recoveries You know when Naaman the Assyrian came to the Prophet Elisha to be cured of his Leprosie he only sent out a Messenger to him who bid him go and wash seven times in Jordan and his flesh should come again unto him and he should be clean 2 Kings 5.10 but Naamans bloud rises and his heart swells and he grows very wrath and all because he did not like the means prescribed by the Prophet and because he thought in his own heart that the Prophet would have used more likely means to have wrought the cure ver 11 12. So many Christians when they lye under great agonies and sore perplexities of soul and are encouraged to act faith upon the promises and to rest their weary souls upon the Word of grace they are ready to think and say that these things these means will never heal them nor comfort them nor be a relief or support unto them unless the Lord does from heaven by extraordinary Revelations Visions Signs and Miracles confirm his promises to them and hereupon they make light of the blessed Scriptures which are the springs of life and the only bottom upon which all our comforts peace and happiness is to be built yea they relinquish that more sure word of prophecy which shines as a light in a dark place 2 Pet. 1.19 Certainly the acting of faith on the precious promises and the cleaving of the soul unto those blessed truths declared in the Gospel of grace is the most sure ready and compendious way of obtaining a blessed assurance Eph. 1.13 and a full establishment of heart Com. on Gen. cap. 38. in all sound solid and abiding joy and peace and therefore Luther though as he confesseth he was often tempted to ask for Signs Apparitions and Revelations from heaven to confirm him in his way yet tells us how strongly he did withstand them Pactum feci cum Domino Deo meo c. I have saith he indented with the Lord my God that he would never send me Dreams Visions Angels for I am well contented with this gift that I have the holy Scripture which doth abundantly teach and supply all necessaries for this life and that also which is to come Certainly Austin hit the mark when he prayed Lord let thy holy Scriptures be my pure delights in which I can neither deceive or ever be deceived Certainly the ballance of the sanctuary should weigh all the Oracles of God decide all and the Rule of Gods Word be the square and judge of all O Sirs dare you venture your souls upon it that the blessed Scriptures are false that they are but a Fable dare you stand forth and say if the Scriptures be not a lye let us be damned for ever and ever dare you stand up and say we are freely contented that the everlasting worm shall gnaw on our hearts for ever and that our bodies and souls shall for ever and ever lye burning in infernal flames if the Scriptures prove not at last a cheat a deceit a meer forgery and imposture Now if you dare not thus to say and thus to venture then peremptorily resolve to be determined by Scripture in the great concernments of your precious souls They that would take their parts in promised comforts they must follow the voice of the Word and subscribe to the sentence of conscience following that Word If the Word approve of thee as sound and sincere with God assuredly thou art so for that rule cannot err If the Word saith that thy heart is right with God thou must maintain that Testimony against all disputes whatever Never enter into dispute with Satan or thine own self about thy estate but by taking and making the Scripture the judge of the controversie when fears rise high you say you shall never have mercy bâ—t dotâ— the Word say so The Lord never gave himself to me but doth the Word say so Never was any as I am but doth the Word say so I cannot see nor conceive nor think that the Lord hath any love for me but doth the Word say so yea doth not the Word say That his thoughts are not as your thoughts nor his wayes as your wayes Isa 55.8 9. But as the heavens are higher than the earth so are his wayes higher than your wayes and his thoughts than your thoughts I have not that peace and joy that others have therefore the Lord intends no good towards me but doth the Word say so Oh but if my inside were but turned outward good men would loath me and wicked men would laugh at me but doth the Word say so Oh but my heart was never right with God but doth the Word say so Oh but that which I have taken all this while for saving grace is but common grace but doth the Word say so Oh but the face of God is hid from me my Sun is set in a cloud and will never rise more but doth the Word say so Oh but Satan is let loose upon me and therefore God hates me but doth the Word say so yea doth not the Word tell you That those who have been most beloved of God have been most tempted by Satan Witness Christ David Job Joshua Peter Paul c. Oh but I am afflicted so as never was any before me but doth the Word say so Oh let the Word have the casting voice and not thine own frail distempered reason Oh don't only hear what sin and Satan and thine own heart can say against thee but hear also what the Word of the Lord Jesus can say for thee Let the Word of the Lord be judge on both sides and then all will be well I know that the impenitent and unbelieving person that lives and dies without grace in his heart and an interest in Christ shall as certainly be damned as if I saw him this very moment under everlasting burnings because God in the Scripture has said it Mark 16.16 John 3.18.36 Rev. 21.8 Rom. 2.4 5. 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Gal. 5.19 20 21. Heb. 12.14 And I know that the holy humble true penitent believing self-denying and sin-mortifying Christian shall be as certainly saved as if at this very time I saw him in an actual
possession of glory because God in the Scripture has said it Mat. 5 3-12 Rom. 8.1.13 Act. 10.43 Joh. 3.15 16 36. Chap. 6.37 38 39 40 c. O Sirs no man in his wits dares dispute against the Authority of Scripture or deny it as false and erronious and therefore if the Scripture say a man has grace he ought in conscience to subscribe to it against all objections or temptations to the contrary For ever remember this Till a man comes to be willing to have his spiritual and eternal estate to be determined by Scripture he will never enjoy any setled rest or quiet in his spirit When once the goodness of a mans estate is cleared up to him by the Word he is never to regard what Satan or carnal reason objects against him Satan is a lyar and a deceiver of neer six thousand years standing he is full of envy and full of malice and full of wiles devices and fetches and therefore give no credit to any of his reports against the report of the Word but stand by the testimony of the Word and the witness of your own consciences against all Satans cavils temptations objections and suggestions and then and not till then will you find rest to your souls He that would hold on cheerfully and resolutely in a Christian course and go merrily to his grave and singing to heaven he must maintain the testimony of the Word against all the gainsayings of sense or carnal reason he must hear nothing nor believe nothing against the Word nor against the goodness and happiness of his own estate or condition which has been evidenced to him from the Word Men will not be easily baffled out of their estates If some great man should come and lay claim to your estates you will not presently give them up though your evidences are not at hand or though they are blotted or though perhaps you cannot clearly make out your title yet you will not tamely and quietly give up your estates and yet how ready are many Christians upon every clamour of Satan against their souls and spiritual estates to give up all and to conclude that they are hypocrites and have no true grace and spiritual life in them c. But The eighth Maxim or Consideration EIghthly consider That a godly man may not only come to a sure knowledge of his gracious estate but it is also more easily attainable than many may I not say than most do apprehend or believe for if a gracious man will but argue rationally from Scripture he shall be forced to conclude that he has grace and that he has an interest in Christ and that he shall be saved unless he be resolved before hand boldly to deny Scripture-truths Sirs Rom. 8.15 look in what way the spirit of bondage doth ordinarily work fear terror and horror in the hearts of unconverted persons in the same way the spirit of Adoption doth ordinarily work hope and assurance in the heart of the Saints Now John 16.8 the spirit of bondage commonly awakens secure sinners and fills the hearts and consciences of poor sinners with fear horror and amazement by setting home upon their souls such practical syllogisms as these Every lyar shall have his portion in the lake Rev. 21.8 that burneth with fire and brimstone But I am a lyar Therefore I shall have my portion in that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Or thus He that believeth not is condemned already John 3.18 I believe not Therefore I am condemned already Or thus He that hateth his brother is a murderer 1 John 3.15 and hath not eternal life abiding in him I hate my brother Therefore I am a murderer and have not eternal life abiding in me Or thus Christ shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire 2 Thes 1.7 8 to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gosspel of his Son I know not God I obey not the Gospel of his Son Therefore Christ shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on me Or thus Psal 9 15. The wicked shall be turned into hell I am wicked Therefore I shall be turned into hell Now in like manner the spirit of adoption brings the heirs of the promise to the assurance of hope Heb. 6.17 by setting home such practical syllogisms as these First Whosoever truly and heartily receives the Lord Jesus Christ are truly and justly reputed to be the sons of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies authority Such as receive the Lord Jesus have authority to be called the sons of God Others may call God father and themselves sons but they have not that right and authority to do it as believers have Mark 16.16 Joh. 3.16 18 36 Mat. 3.2 8. Luke 24 47. Act. 5.31 Chap. 3.19 Luke 13.3 Joh. 1.12 But I have received Christ all the wayes that the Word there can import I am heartily willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in all his offices viz. as a King to rule me a Prophet to teach and instruct me and a Priest to offer and intercede for me I am willing to receive him as a Sanctifier as well as a Saviour and to receive him as my Lord as well as to receive him as my Redeemer and to receive him upon his own terms viz. of taking up his Cross denying my self and following of him therefore I may safely boldly plainly and warrantably conclude that I am a son of God and that I have an interest in God according to the Scripture last cited which Scripture cannot be broken nor cannot fail nor cannot be unbound or loosed as the Greek word in that John 10.35 imports c. Secondly A gracious soul may argue thus All the great and precious promises concerning everlasting happiness and blessedness are made over to faith and repentance as the Scriptures do abundantly evidence Now he that really finds faith and repentance wrought in his soul so that he is able to say I am a repenting and a believing sinner he may truly and safely conclude that he shall be saved for all the promises of eternal happiness and blessedness do run out with a full stream to faith and repentance I readily grant that a strong hope results from the clear evidence it hath of both these We read in Scripture of a threefold assurance As first an assurance of understanding Col. 2.2 Secondly an assurance of faith Heb. 10.22 Thirdly an assurance of hope Heb. 6.11 And 't is a very choice note that acute D. A. hath upon it viz. That these three make up one practical Syllogism wherein knowledge forms the proportion faith makes the assumption and hope draws the conclusion I do saith the Christian assuredly know from the Word that can't deceive me That the believing and repenting sinner shall be saved my conscience also tells me that I do unfeignedly believe and repent therefore I do firmly hope that I shall how ever
mens souls they are blessed He that sees an absolute necessity of the righteousness of Christ to justifie him and to inable him to stand boldly before the throne of God he that sees his own righteousness to be but as filthy rags Isa 64.4 to be but as dross and dung Phil. 3.7 8. He that sees the Lord Jesus Christ with all his riches and righteousness clearly and freely offered to poor sinners in the everlasting Gospel he that in the Gospel-glass sees Christ to be made sin for them that knew no sin that they may be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5 21. He that in the same glass sees Christ to be made wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption to all those that are sincerely willing to make a venter of their immortal souls and eternal estates upon him and his righteousness and he that sees the righteousness of Christ to be a most perfect pure compleat spotless matchless Some take hungering and thirsting here litterally comparing of it with Luke 6.21 Others understand the words morally by hungering and thirsting they understand a moral hunger and thirst which is when men hunger and thirst for justice and judgment to be rightly executed Psal 119.5 10 20 131. Judg. 15.18 1 Chron. 11.18 Psal 42.1 2. infinite righteousness and under these apprehensions and perswasions is carried out in earnest and unsatisfied hungerings and thirstings to be made a partaker of this righteousness and to be assured of this righteousness and to put on this righteousness as a royal robe Isa 61.10 he is the blessed soul and he that hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of Christ imparted as well as after the righteousness of Christ imputed after the righteousness of sanctification as well as after the righteousness of justification he is a blessed soul and shall at last be filled The righteousness of sanctification or inherent righteousness lyes in the spirits infusing into the soul those holy principles divine qualities or supernatural graces that the Apostle mentions in that Gal. 5.22 23. These habits of grace which are severally distinguished by the names of faith love hope meekness c. are nothing else but the new nature or new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 He that hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of sanctification out of a deep serious sense of his own unrighteousness he that hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of sanctification as earnestly as hungery men do for meat or as thirsty men do for drink or as the innocent person that is falsly charged or accused longs to be cleared and righted or as Rachel did for children or as David did after the water of the Well of Bethlehem or as the hunted Hart doth after the water brooks he that hungers and thirsts not after some righteousness only but he that hungers and thirsts after all righteousness he that hungers and thirsts not only after some grace but all grace not only after some holiness but all holiness he that hungers and thirsts after righteousness out of love to righteousness he that hungers and thirsts after righteousness from a sight and sense of the loveliness and excellency that there is in righteousness Phil. 3 10-15 he that hungers and thirsts after the highest degrees and measures of righteousness and holiness Psal 63.1.8 Jer. 15.16 he that primarily chiefly hungers and thirsts after righteousness and holiness he that industriously hungers and thirsts after righteousness and holiness he that ordinarily habitually constanly hungers and thirsts after righteousness and holiness Psal 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times By judgments we are to understand the statutes and commandments of God Mark that word at all times Bad men have their good moods as good men have their bad moods A bad man may under gripes of conscience a smarting rod the approaches of death or the fears of hell or when he is Sermon-sick cry out to the Lord for grace for righteousness for holiness but he is the only blessed man that hungers and thirsts after righteousness at all times and that hungers and thirsts after righteousness according to the other forementioned short hints he is certainly a blessed man heaven is for that man and that man is for heaven that hungers and thirsts in a right manner after the righteousness of justification and after the righteousness of sanctification But I do truly hunger and thirst after righteousness therefore I am blessed and shall be filled c. Twelfthly A godly man may argue thus Such as are truly and graciously merciful are blessed and shall obtain mercy Mat. 5.7 Micha 6.8 Luke 6.36 August de civit Dei 9.13 Mercy is a commiserating of another mans misery in our hearts or a sorrow for another mans distress or a heart-grieving for another mans grief arising out of an unfeigned love unto the party afflicted Or more plainly thus Mercy is a pitying of another mans misery with a desire and endeavour to help him to the uttermost of our ability The Hebrew for godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chasid signifies gracious merciful The more godly any man is the more merciful that man will be Blessed are the merciful that is blessed are they that shew mercy to others out of a deep sense of the mercy of God to them in Christ Blessed are such who shew mercy out of love to mercy out of a delight in mercy blessed are such as shew mercy out of love and obedience to the God of mercy blessed are such as shew mercy to men in misery upon the account of the image of God the glory of God that is stampt upon them blessed are such as extend their piety and mercy not only to mens bodies but also to their precious and immortal souls Soul-mercy is the chief of mercies the soul is the most precious jewel in all the world it is a vessel of honour 't is a spark of glory 't is a bud of eternity 't is the price of bloud 't is beautified with the image of God 't is adorned with the grace of God and 't is cloathed with the righteousness of God such are blessed as shew mercy to others from gracious motives and considerations viz. 'T is free mercy that every day keeps hell and my soul asunder 't is mercy that daily pardons my sins 't is mercy that supplies all my inward and outward wants 't is mercy that preserves and feeds and cloaths my outward man and 't is mercy that renews strengthens and prospers my inward man 't is mercy that has kept me many times from committing such and such sins 't is mercy that has kept me many a time from falling before such and such temptations 't is mercy that has many a time preserved me from being swallowed up by such and such inward and outward afflictions Such as shew mercy out of a design to exalt and glorifie
to do worse than the Dâ—vils â—â—r they believe and tremble Though the word of the Lord desâ—rves the greatest credit that any mortals can give unto it he being truth it self that hath said it though it had no Oaths nor no Asseverations to be its surety yet God in his infinite condescending love to poor sinners that he may sink the truth of what he saith deeper into the hearts and minds of his people and leave the fairer and fuller print in our assents to the same he sets on the word of Promise with the weight of Asseverations and Oaths yea and to all these he hath annexed his Broad Seal the Lords Supper and the Privy Seal of his Spirit O unreasonable unbelief shall not the Oath of God silence all Disputes A man would never desire of any honest man so much as God hath condescended to for the confirmation of our Faith witness his Promises his Covenant his Oath and his Seals and therefore let us give glory to him by believing and quietly rest upon his faithfulness O Sirs that soul that dares not take his sanctification as an evidence yea as a choice and sure evidence of his interest in Christ and of the Lords precious love to him according to the Promises of his favour and Grace several of which hath been but now under consideration that Soul ought to acknowledg it as his sin yea as his great sin for which he deserves to be smartly rebuked as making God a loud Lyar. O my friends it is a spiritual peevishness and sinful crossness that keeps many good men and women long in a sad dark doubting perplexed and disconsolate condition and certainly 't is no small sin to set light by any work of the blessed Spirit and the joy comfort and peace that we might have by it ah how many are there that fear the Lord who quench grieve vex and provoke the holy Spirit by denying his work and by quarrelling against themselves and the blessed work of the Spirit in them Certainly 't is the duty of every Christian to hear as well what can be said for him as what can be said against him Many poor Psal 77.2 Psal 88. Job 15.11 chap. 16.8 9. weak and yet sincere Chr stians are often apt to be too sowre rigid and bitter against their own souls they love to practise a merciless severity against themselves they do not indifferently impartially consider how the case stands between God and their own souls It is in this case as Solomon speaks in another There is that maketh himself rich Prov. 13.7 Ever since man ceased to be what he should be he striveth to seem to be what he is not It is not the outward shew that shews what things are and yet hath nothing And there is that maketh himself poor and yet hath great Riches That is there be those in the world that pretend they are rich and make a shew before men as if they were men of great estates whereas indeed they are exceeding poor and needy There are not a few that stretch their wing beyond their nest that bear a port beyond their Estates that trick up themselves with other mens plumes laying it on above measure in cloaths in high entertainments in stately Buildings in great Attendance c. when not worth one groat in all the World but either they dye in Prison or lay the key under the door or compound for twelve pence in the pound c. And there are others again that are exceeding rich and wealthy and yet feign themselves and look upon themselves to be very poor and needy To apply this spiritually 'T is the damning sin of the self-flattering Hypocrite Rev. 3.17 to make himself rich to make himself significant to make his condition better than 't is And it is the vanity the folly of some sincere Christians to make their condition worse than indeed it is to make themselves more miserable and unhappy than indeed they are Ah Christians 't is sad with you tâ—s night with you when you read over the evidences of Gods love to your souls as a man does a Book which he intends to confute Is it not sad when Christians shall study hard to find evasions to wheel off all those comforts refreshings cheerings and supports that are tendered to them that are due to them and that they may upon Gospel-grounds justly claim as their portion as their inheritance And O that all such Christians would seriously and frequently lay to heart these eight things First that they highly dishonour the blessed God and the work of his Grace by denying that which he hath done for them and wrought in them Secondly they are spiritual Murderers they are self-Murderers they are soul-Murderers for by this means they stab and wound their own precious souls and Consciences through and through with many a deadly dart Now is there any Murder like to spiritual Murder to self-Murder to soul-Murder surely no. But Thirdly They are Thieves for by this means they rob their own precious souls of that joy peace comfort rest content assurance and satisfaction which otherwise they might enjoy Now there is no theft to spiritual theft and of all spiritual theft there is none to that which reaches the precious and immortal soul Mark all prevalent Disputes about our personal integrity they do hold off the Application and tasts of comfort though they do not disanul the title and right Even the good man will walk uncomfortably so long as he concludes and strongely fears that his Estate is sinful for sensible comfort riseth or falleth cometh on or goeth off according to the strength of our judgment and present apprehensions observe it is not what indeed our estate is but what we judg of it which breeds in us sensible comfort or discomfort a false heart may even break with a timpany of foolish joy upon an erring perswasion oâ— his estate and so may a sound sincere heart be very heavy and disconsolate upon an unsound misconstruction and judging of its true condition But Fourthly They bear false witness against Christ his Spirit their own Souls and the work of Grace that is wrought in them O how many dark doubting drooping Christians are there who if you could give them ten thousand worlds yet would never be brought to bear false witness against their poorest Neighbour Brother or Friend and that out of Conscience because of that Command Thou shalt not bear false witness c. who yet make no Conscience no bones of it frequently to bear witness against the Lord Jesus Christ and his gracious works upon their own hearts But Fifthly they joyn with Satan and his work and his suggestions and with that strong party he has in them against the Lord Jesus Christ and his work and his weak party in them See Mr. Dod on the Commandments p. 310 311. and p. 321 322 323 324. Sin is Satans work and Grace is Christs work Now how sad is it
to see a Christian fall in with Satans work in him against the work of Christ that is in him Satan has a strong party in their souls and Christ has but a weak party now how unjust is it for them to help the strong against the weak when they should upon many accounts be a helping the wâ—ak against the strong a helping the Lord against the mighty a helping weak grace against strong and mighty corruptions An how skilful and careful are many weak Christians to make head against the work of Christ in their own Souls and to plead hard for Satan and his works in them as if they had received a Fee from him to plead against Christ and their own Souls O Christians that you would be wise at last and let Baal plead for Baal let Satan plead for himself but do you plead for Christ and that seed of God that is in you Well remember this John 1.3 9. that as fire is often hid under the embeâ—s so grace is often hid under many soul distempers and as a little fire is fire though it be even smothered under the embers so a little Grace is Grace though it be even smothered under much corruption Now by these short hints you may easily perceive how many Royal Commands these poor Christians transgress who deny and bely the blessed work of the Lord in them But Sixthly They rob the Spirit of all the honour and glory that is due unto him for that blessed work of grace and holyness that he has formed up in their hearts O what a grief and dishonour must it be to the holy Spirit that when he hath put forth a power in mens hearts Rom. 8.11 equivalent to that by which the world was created and by which Christ was raised from the dead to find it overlookt and not at all acknowledged Spiritus sanctus est res delicata the Holy Spirit is a very tender thing but do these poor doubting Souls carry it â—enderly to him surely no. Dear Christians the standing Law of Heaven is Quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 Now if the word Spirit is not here taken essentially for the three persons in Trinity nor yet metonymically for the fruits of the spirit but Hypostatically for the Third person in Trinity as some conceive then you must remember that you may grieve and quench the Spirit 1. Not only by your enormities Isa 63.10 2. Nor only by refusing the Cordials and comforts that he brings to your doors yea that he puts to your mouths Psal 77.2 3. Nor only by slighting and despising his gracious actings in others Acts 2.13 4. Nor only by Fathering those sins and vanities upon him Mark you cannot despise the gifts or graces of any that are sincere but by interpretation you judg the Spirit and despise the Spirit as it is said of the poor in Prov. 17.5 that are only the Bâ—ats and fruits of Satan and your own hearts But also in the fifth place by misjudging and miscalling the precious Grace that he has wrought in your Souls as by judging and calling your Faith fancy your sincerity hypocrisie your W sdom folly your light darkness your zeal wild-fire c. Now O Sâ—rs will you make Conscience yea much Conscience of Quenching the Spirit in the four first respects and will you make no Conscience of Quenching the Spirit in this fifth and last respect O how can this be O why should this be But Seventhly They keep Grace at a very great under for how can Grace spring and thrive and flourish and increase in the soul when the soul is full of daily fears and doubts that the root of the matter is not in it or that the root is still unsound Job 19.28 1 Thes 1.5 or that the work that is past upon it is not a work in power or that t is not a special and peculiar work but some common work of the spirit which a man may have and go to Hell But Eâ—ghthly and lastly They very much discourage dishearten and dâ—sanimate many poor weak Christians who observing of them of whom they have had very high and honourable thoughts for the Grace of God that they have judged to be in them to be still a questioning of their integrity and still a doubâ—ing of the graciousness and goodness of their conditions do begin to question their own Estates and conditions yea and many times peremptorily to conclude that surely they have no grace they have no interâ—st in Christ and that all this while they have but put a cheat upon their own souls Now O that all poor weak dark doubting Christians would never leave praying over these eight things and pondering upon these eight things till they are perfectly cured of that spiritual malady that they have been long labouring under and which has been very prejudicial to the peace and comfort of their own souls Dear hearts a gracious soul may safely boldly constantly and groundedly say that which the Word of the Lord saith Now the Word of the Lord saith Matth. 5.3 4 6 8. That the poor in spirit are blessed and that they that mourn are blessed and that they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness are blessed and that they that are pure in heart are blessed and therefore he is blessed And assuredly he that cannot embrace and seal to these as true and blessed evidences of a safe and happy condition is greatly to lament and mourn over his unbelief and earnestly to seek the Lord to perswade his heart and to satisfy and over-power his Soul in this thing as the poor man in the Gospel did Mark 9.24 And straightway the Father of the Child cryed out with tears Lord I Believe help my unbelief O Sirs the condition of the Promises last cited being fulfilled the Promises themselves must certainly and infallibly be fulfilled else the great and blessed God should lye Josh 21.45 chap. 23.14 15. 1 John 5.10 11 12. be unrighteous unfaithful and deny himself which is as impossible as for God to dye or to send another Saviour or to give his glory to Graven Images Assâ—redly the too hard the too harsh the too severe the too jealous thoughts and conjectures and the too humble if I may so speak censures and surmises that many weak doubting Christians have of themselves or of the goodness or graciousness of their Estates by reason of the weakness of their Graces or depth of melancholy or the present prevalency of some unmortified lusts or the subtilty of Satan shall never make void the faithfulness of God or the Promises of God which in Christ Jesus are all Yea and Amen Doubtless God will never shut any poor weak doubting Christian out of Heaven 2 Cor. 1.20 because through bashfulness or an excess of modesty or the present darkness thaâ— is upon his understanding or through the ungroundedness of some strong fears of an eternal miscarriage he cannot entertain such good thoughts such
and life Psal 119.112 Psal 40.8 Psal 39.1 Psal 101.3 2 Cor. 1.12 Psal 119 4 5 20. 2 Chron. 19.3 2 Chro. 30.18 19 Neh. 1.11 Isa 26.8 9. I have inclined my heart to keep thy Statutes alwayes even to the end Verse 38. Stablish thy Word unto thy Servant who is devoted to thy fear Verse 44. So shall I keep thy Law continually for ever and ever Verse 45. And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy Precepts Acts 24.16 And herein do I exercise my self to have alwayes a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Heb. 13.18 Pray for us for we trust we have a good Conscience in all things willing to live honestly Gracious Souls do strongly affect that which they cannot easily effect Psal 119.57 Thou art my Portion O Lord I have said that I would keep thy words Some read this Verse thus Lord I have said my portion shall be to keep thy words Holy David was fully determined and resolved in himself to keep Gods Royal Law in spite of the World the flesh and the Devil And so Barnabas exhorted the Dâ—sciples that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord Acts 11.23 As if all piety and truth of Grace consisted in Gracious purposes of heart Certainly when the bent of a mans mind and the setled purpose of a mans Soul and the unfeigned desires of his heart are for God for Grace for holiness in heart in life then the estate and condition of that man is safe and happy 'T is very observable that that great Apostle Paul Though the Needle or the Seamans Compass may jog this way and that way yet the bent of the Needle wâ—ll still be Northward So though a Christian may have his particular sinful joggings this way or that way yet the bent of his heart will still be God-wards Una actio non denominat in his spiritual conflict layes a very great stress upon these things witness Rom. 7. ver 16. If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the Law that it is good So Verse 18. For to will is present with me So Verse 19. For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do So Verse 21 22. I find then a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man So Verse 25. So then with the mind I my self serve the Law of God Certainly the truth the lise and power of Grace of Holiness of Regeneration is not so much seen in our actions as in the renewing and sanctifying of our minds and wills according to that Rom. 12.2 Be ye transformed or Metamorphosed as the Greek has it by the renewing of your mind No man is to judg of the soundness or sincerity of his Spirit by some particular acts but by the constant frame and bent of his Spirit and by his general conversation in this world If particular actions might determine whether a man had Grace or no Grace whether he were in Christ or not in Christ whether he were a Saint or not a Saint whether he were sincere or unsound we should many times conclude that those had no Grace who indeed have and that they were not in Christ who indeed are and that they are no Saints who indeed are and that they are not sincere who certainly are true Nathaniels The best Saints have had their extravagant motions and have very foully and sadly miscarried as to particular actions even then when the constant course and bent of their spirits have been God-wards and Christ-wards and Holiness-wards and Heaven-wards c witness Davids Murther and Adultery Noahs Drunkenness Lots Incest Josephs Swearing Jobs Cursing Jonahs Vexing Peters Denying and Thomas his not believing Such twinklings do and will accompany the highest and fairest stars As he who foots it best may be found sometimes all along and the neatest person may sometimes slip into a slow He that cannot endure to see a spot upon his Cloaths may yet sometimes fall into a Quagmire So the holiest and exactest Christians may sometimes be surprised with many infirmities and unevennesses and sad miscarriages Certainly particular sinnings are compatible with a gracious frame though none are with a glorious condition Though no darkness no clouds can be mixt with the Sun in Heaven yet both may be in the Ayre which is enlightned below Our best estate on earth is mixt and not absolute Glory annihilates all sinful practices but Grace only weakens them the most sincere Christian is but an imperfect Christian and hath daily cause to mourn over his infirmities as well as he has cause to bless God for his Graces and mercies Well Sirs Look as every particular stain doth not blemish the universal fineness of the Cloth so neither doth this or that particular fact disprove and deny the general bent of the heart particulars may not decide the estate either way 't is true a man by a particular sinning is denominated Guilty but by no one particular can a mans Estate be challenged either for good or bad He that shall judg of a Christians estate by particular acts though notorious bad will certainly condemn the Generation of the Righteous We must alwayes distinguish betwixt some single good actions and a series of good actions Meer particular actions do not conclude either way the estate of the Soul an hypocrite may do some good act and an upright person may do some sinful act A man must give in Judgment for or against himself according as the habitual purpose and temper of his heart stands c. It is not this or that particular good action but a continued course of holy Actions that denominates us holy Certaâ—nly as there is no man so holy but sometimes he falls into this or that particular sin So there is no man so wicked but sometimes he falls in with this or that particular duty witness Pharaoh who in a fit desires Moses and Aaron to pray for him and witness Balaam who in a good mood desires to dye the death of the Righteous and witness Saul who under a pang condemns himself and justifies David And so witness Ahabs humbling of himself and Nineveh's repenting and Foelix his trembling and Herod's hearing of John Baptist gladly Now look as every sin which a godly man falls into through infirmity doth not presently denominate him ungodly so neither will a few good actions done by a wicked man prove him godly 'T is what the course and tenour of the life is that must be most diligently and wisely observed for every man is as his course is if his course be holy the man is so if his course be wicked the man is wicked There is a Maxim in Logick viz. that no general Rule can be stablished upon a particular instance and there is another Maxim in Logick viz. that no particular instance can overthrow a
general Rule So here as no man can safely and groundedly conclude from no better Promises than from some few particular actions though in themselves materially and substantially good that his heart is therefore sincere 'T is not a pang of the Soul nor a mood nor a fit of an Ague nor a flash of Lightning nor a mans being as the morning dew but his habitual purpose resolution and inclination to good that evidences the man to be really good Psal 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy Judgments at all times c. A sheep may slip into a slow as soon as a Swine and an Apple-tree may have a fit of barrenness as well as a Crab-tree But the sheep loves not to wallow in the Mire as the swine does And though the Apple-tree be barren one year yet it brings forth fruit the next so on the contrary no man ought to conclude because of some gross particular sinful actions and extravagant motions that his heart is unfound O Sirs we are not to make a Judgment of our states and conditions by some particular actions whether they are good or evil but we are to make a Judgment of our states and conditions by the general frame bent and disposition of our hearts and by the constant tenour of our lives 'T is certain that God accounts every wicked man guilty of all those sins wickednesses and vanities which the setled purpose desire bent bias and frame of his Soul inclined him to though he doth not actually commit them Matth. 5.28 He that looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery already with her in his heart A man may commit Adultery and yet not touch a Woman There are many thousands that dye of the wound in the eye So 1 John 3.15 Whosoever hateth his Brother is a Murtherer A man may commit Murther and yet not kill a man yea he may commit Murther and yet not touch a man Prov. 23.7 For as he thinketh in his heart so is he The man is as his mind is God esteems of wicked men according to their hearts and not according to their words So 't is as certain that the Lord accounts every godly man to do all that good that the setled purpose frame bent biass and unfeigned desires of his Soul inclines him to 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind 't is accepted So Heb. 11.17 By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that had received the Promises offered up his only Son that is in disposition and full purpose of heart and willingness of mind which God accepted for the deed a true intent is in Gods account as a real act So David had a purpose a mind a will to build God a house and for this God commends him 1 Kings 8.18 And the Lord said unto David my Father whereas it was in thy heart to build a house unto my Name thou didst well that it was in thy heart yea God rewards him for it as if he had actually done it and tells him in his ear that he would build him an house 2 Sam. 7.27 So when that servant that ow'd his Lord ten thousand Talents had shew'd his readiness and willingness and resolvedness to pay all Lord have patience with me and I will pay thee all Matth. 18.26 a thing as impossible for him to do as 't is for us to keep the whole Law and not to fail in one point but his desires his mind his will his purposes was to do it well and what does his Lord do why his Lord had compassion on him and loosed him and forgave him the debt v. 27. his Lord took this for full and current payment he accepted of the will for the deed So when Zacheus had unfeignedly professed his purpose and willingness to make restitution Christ presently replies This day is Salvation come to thy house Luke 19.9 Certainly the Lord accounts that Soul a true Believer and a blessed Soul that unfeignedly desires to believe witness that Matth. 5.6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled And 't is as certain that the Lord accounts that sinner a true penitent that doth unfeignedly desire purpose and resolve to repent to break off his sins and to turn to the Lord as you may see in that great instance of the Prodigal Luke 15.18 19 20. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants And he arose and came to his Father But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him Assoon as ever the Prodigal did but purpose and resolve to repent and return to his Father the compassions of his Father are kindled and turned towards him and he does not go but runs and falls on his neck and in stead of kicking and killing there is nothing but kissing and embracing a returning Prodigal God alwayes sets a higher value upon our dispositions than upon our actions 2 Cor. 8.10 1 Cor. 9.17 1 Pet. 5.2 Exod. 25.2 Philemon 14 and in our best services he esteems more of our wills than he does of our deeds as is evident by the Scriptures in the Margent Every good man is as good in the eye and account of God as the ordinary frame and bent of his Spirit speaks him to be Every man is as holy as humble as heavenly as spiritual as gracious as serious as sincere as fruitful as faithful as watchful c. as the setled purposes desires resolutions and endeavours of his Soul speaks him to be Hence Noah is said to be a just man and perfect or upright in his Generation Gen. 6.9 And hence Job is said to be a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil Job 1.1.8 And hence David is said to be a man after Gods own heart 1 Sam. 13 14. And to fulfill all his wills Acts 13.22 here the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is wills to note the universality and sincerity of his obedience And hence Zacharias and Elizabeth are said to be both righteous before God walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of God blameless Luke 1.5 6. Hence the Church is said to be all fair Cant. 4.7 Thou art all fair my love and there is no spot in thee And hence those hundred forty and four thousand Saints that had their Fathers Name written in their Foreheads Rev. 14.1 are said to be without fault v. 5. And in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God God in the Covenant of Grace and upon the credit of his Sons blood and for the glory of his Free Grace and favour is graciously pleased to accept of his
couragious and be valiant or sons of valour as the Hebrew runs And so a Christian must lay the command of God before him as his highest encouragement to do what God requires of him c. Fifthly and lastly Our obedience must be bottomed and grounded upon the commands of God to difference and distinguish our selves from all hypocrites formalists superstitious and prophane persons whose obedience is sometimes bottomed upon the Traditions of men and sometimes upon the commandments of men 'T was the sin of the Ten Tribes that they complyed with the command of Jeroboam and his Princes Isa 29.13 14. Mat. 15.1 to 10. Mark 7.8 to 10. Hos 5.11 12. to worship the Calves at Dan and Bethel and for this the wrath of the Lord fell heavy upon them Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the commandment And sometimes their obedience is bottomed upon the examples of men sometimes their obedience is bottomed upon the examples of their forefathers and ancestors Jer. 44 17 18 c. Joh. 7.48 49. Jer. 10.3 The customs of the people are vain c. and sometimes upon the examples of great men This was that which the Pharisees objected against believing on Christ Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him but this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed And sometimes they bottom their obedience upon the example of the multitude This was Demetrius his argument against Paul Acts 19.26 27. on the behalf of Diana that all Asia and the world did worship her and therefore the doctrine of Paul that they be no Gods which are made with hands was falfe and not to be suffered This hath alwayes been and is still the common plea of many We do but as the most do and sure a great many eyes can see more than one or two And hereupon they exclaim against others for their singularity because they won't do as the rest of their neighbours do But Thirdly That obedience that springs from faith is a growing obedience 't is an abounding obedience such a man's desires will study and labour is to get up to the highest pitch of obedience to get up to the highest round in Jacob's ladder Rev. 2.19 I know thy work and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more than the first The Angel of the Church of Thyatira 'T is not every believers happiness always to make a progress in grace Solomon and Asa and others run retrograde Saints have their winter seasons they have their decaying times and withering times as well as their thriving times their flourishing times Rev. 2.4 is commended First for his love 2. For his charity 3. For his faith And 4. For his patience And in the general course of his life he daily became more excellent for his latter works were more than the first that is they were more manifest proofs of his constancy and more worthy of praise than the first This faithful Pastor is commended for his holy progress in grace and holiness So Paul Phil. 3.12 Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Ver. 13. Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before Ver. 14. I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth emphatically import a pressing with an eager pursuit after the mark It is the same word that signifies to persecute because the earnestness of his spirit in pressing toward the mark now is the same that it was in the persecution of those that pressed toward the mark before Look as good runners when they come near unto the mark stretch out their heads and hands and whole bodies to take hold of them that run with them or of the mark that is before them so he in his whole race so laboured unto that which was before as if he were still stretching out his arms to take hold of it If such a man might have his choice he would be the most humble the most holy the most heavenly the most mortified the most patient the most contented the most thankful the most fruitful the most active the most zealous and the most self-denying Christian in the world 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Mat. 5. if he might have his choice he would be holy as God is holy and perfect as his heavenly father is perfect he would do the will of God on earth as those Princes of glory the Angels do it now in heaven viz. freely readily cheerfully delightfully universally reverentially and unweariedly c. if he might have his choice Eccl. 9.10 he would exercise every grace and perform every duty with all his might he sees so much excellency and beauty in God and Christ that he can't be at rest till he be swallowed up in the enjoyment of them he sees so much excellency in grace that nothing but perfection of grace will satisfie him he makes perfection not only his utmost end but he also labours after perfection with his utmost strength and endeavours When God is made the one of a mans desires the one of a mans affections the one of a mans life and comfort then will he be the one of a mans endeavours too That obedience that springs from faith when 't is not winter-time with a Christian is a fruitful obedience 't is an abounding obedience 't is a progressive obedience Look as the mercy and favour of God to a believer is not stinted nor limited so the obedience of a believer to God is not stinted or limited but now the obedience of hypocrites is alwayes stinted and limited this command they will obey but not that this duty they will do but not that this work they will attend but not that c. Fourthly That obedience that springs from faith is the obedience of a son not of a slave 't is a free voluntary evangelical obedience and not a legal servil and forced obedience Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness in the Hebrew 't is willingness in the plural number to shew their exceeding great willingnesses Psal 27.8 When thou saidest seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek By face is meant 1. God himself Exod. 20.3 Before my face that is before me 2. His favour Jer. 18.17 I will shew them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity Now no sooner had God given forth a word of command for the Psalmist to seek himself and to seek his favour but presently his heart did eccho to that command Thy face Lord will I seek So Jer.
he takes yet it 's his purpose in his journey to rest there at night or as it is with a man that comes to Church his end is to hear the Word of the Lord yet in every word he hears spoken he hath not the thought of his end upon his spirit but he is there by vertue of his first intention So here though in every particular there be not an intention of spirit to level this or that action to the glory of God yet it is the main drift and habitual scope of a mans spirit that Gods glory may be the end of all his actions Thirdly There is a mediate and there is an immediate eying or looking to the glory of God as when I forbear such or such a sin because God by such a command hath forbidden it or I do such or such a duty because God hath commanded it Now in eying of the command of God I eye the glory of God immediately though not mediately But Fourthly In some particular or special cases I ought actually to eye the glory of God As 1. In some eminent or extraordinary service that I am to do for Christ Or 2. In some special testimony that I am call'd to give for Christ or his Gospel Or 3. In some great thing that I am call'd to suffer for Christ or his Gospel or his interest But Fifthly The more a Christian actually eyes the glory of God in all he does the more 1. He glorifies God 2. The neerer you are the life of heaven and the more you act like the glorious Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect 3. The more will be your joy comfort and peace both in life and death and in the day of your account 4. The more strong will be your confidence and assurance that your spiritual estate is good and that you shall be saved for ever 5. The better you will be able to bear up under all the false hard and sowre censures of this world 6. The more you will be temptation proof 7. The more glorious and weighty will be your crown of glory at last he shall be highest in heaven who has actually aimed most at the glory of God in this lower world And thus you see how you may know whether your obedience is such an obedience as springs from faith or 〈◊〉 Now if upon trial you shall find that your obedience is the obedience of faith then you may safely and groundedly conclude that you have a saving work of God upon your hearts But Fourthly A gracious heart is an uniform heart Ubiquity is a sure evidence of integrity He that is truly good will be good in bad times and in the worst of places Psal 119.112 1 John 3.9 Hosea 6 4. principles of grace and holiness are lasting yea everlasting they are not like the morning cloud nor the early dew A gracious soul will be steddy and fixed in his principles in the worst times in the worst places and under variety of dispensations let times and places be what they will he will not dishonour his God nor blemish his profession nor wound his conscience to preserve his safety or to secure his liberty An upright man is a right man So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jashar is rendred by the Septuagint Judg. 17.6 He is one that will not be bowed or bent by the sinful customs or examples of the times and places where he lives Gen. 6.9 Abraham was righteous in Chaldea and Noah was perfect in his generation though it was the worst in the world and Lot was just in Sodom Job 1. and Job was upright in the Land of Uzz which was a place of much prophaness and superstition and Nehemiah was couragious and zealous in Damasco and Daniel was holy yea eminently and exemplarily holy in Babylon The several generations wherein these holy men lived were wholly devoted to wickedness and superstition and yet these precious gracious souls had wholly devoted themselves to the Lord and his service Psal 119.20 So David My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times Let the times be never so dangerous licentious superstitious idolatrous or erronious yet David's heart was strongly carried forth to Gods judgments that is to his Word for under this title Judgments you are to understand the whole Word of God So there were some in Sardis that were of the same spirit with the worthies last mentioned Rev. 3.4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Psal 119.1 2 3. In polluting times pure hearts will keep themselves pure a holy heart will keep himself undefiled even in defiling times Rev. 14.4 These are they which were not defiled with women when others are besmeared all over Dan. 3.17 18 19 20. he will keep his garments white and clean The three Children or rather the three Champions were so highly resolved to keep themselves pure from the abominations of their day that it was neither Nebuchadnezzars musick that would flatter them nor his fiery furnace that could scare them from their God or from their Duty or from their Religion Let the times never so often turn you shall find that he that is really holy he will be holy under every turn no turns shall turn him out of a way of holiness Job 17.9 The righteous shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger The Lawrel keeps its freshness and greeness in the Winter season a gracious soul is semper idem let the wind Psal 125.1 and the world and the times turn which way they will a gracious soul for the main will still be the same he is like mount Zion which cannot be removed Job 27.5 6. Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live A gracious heart is in some measure like the heart of God without variableness or shadow of changing That Christian that is not for substance Jam. 1.17 the same that once he was was never what he ought to be A gracious heart is firm and fixt for God and godliness both in prosperity and in adversity take him among the good or among the bad take him in storms or calms in Winter nights or in Summer dayes take him among friends or foes take him at bed or board take him in health or sickness take him in an Ordinance or out of an Ordinance take him in his work or take him at his recreations take him in his commerce or in his converse take him living or take him dying and you shall still find that the byass of his soul is still God-wards Christ-wards Holiness-wards and Heaven-wards A gracious man will stand his ground Josh 24.15 Psal 112.7 Mal. 3.6 The poor Heathen could say that
haughty some hasty and the like or as in every mans body there is a seed and principle of death yet some are more prone to die of a Fever than of a Dropsie and others are more prone to die of a Dropsie than of a Fever c. So though original sin hath spread it self over all our noble and ignoble parts yet every man hath his particular inclinations to one kind of sin rather than another and this may properly be called a mans own sin his own evil way Now mark a gracious heart makes most head most opposition against his darling sin against his complexion sin against those sins that were once as dear to him as his right hand or as his right eye or as Dalilah was to Sampson Herodias to Herod Isaac to Abraham and Joseph to Jacob Psal 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquâ—ty That is from my darling sin whereunto I was most inclined and addicted what this bosom sin was that he kept himself from In that 1 Sam. 21.2 8. he tells three or four round lyes and the like he did in that 1 Sam. 27.8 10. is hard to say Some suppose his darling sin was lying dissembling for it is certain he often fell into this sin Psal 119.29 Remove from me the way of lying others suppose it to be some secret iniquity which was only known to God and his own conscience others say it was uncleanness and that therefore he prayed that God would turn away his eyes from beholding vanity Psal 119.37 Others juge it to be that sin of disloyalty which Saul and his Courtiers falsly charged upon him Well be it this or that it is enough for our purpose that his heart did rise against that very sin that either by custom or complexion or some strong inclination he was most naturally apt ready and prone to fall into This is the laying of the ax to the root of the Tree and by this practise David gives a clear proof of the integrity of his heart Jer. 17.1 2. Hos 2. â— Isa 31.6 7. 44.9 c. Idolatry was the darling sin of the people of Israel they called their Idols delectable or desirable things they did dearly affect and greatly delight in their Idols But when the Lord in the day of his power wrought savingly and gloriously upon their hearts Oh! how did their hatred and indignation against their Idols rise as you may see Isa 30.22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy moiten images of gold thou shalt cast them away as a menstrous cloth thou shaâ—t say unto it get thee hence They were so delighted and enamouâ—ed with their Idols that they would lavish gold out of the bag or they waste or spend riotously as the Hebrew runs that they might richly deck them up Isa 46.6 After the return of the Jews out of Babylon they so hated and abhorted Idols that in the times of the Romans they chose rather to die than to suffâ—r the Eagle which was the imperial arms to be set up in their Temple and set them forth in the greatest glory and bravery O but when the Lord should make a glorious turn upon their spirits then they should readily and roundly deface defile and disgrace their Idols then they should hate and abhor them then they should so detest and loath them that in a holy indignation they should cast them away as a menstrous cloth and say unto them get ye hence pack be gone I will never have any more to do with you And so in that Isa 2.20 In that day that is in the day of his people vers 17. A man shall cast his idols of silver and hâ—s idols of gold which they made each one for himself to worship to the Moles and to the Bats In the day when God should exalt himself in the souls of his people and before the eyes of his people they should express such disdain and indignation against their Idols that they should not take only those made of Trees and Stones but even their most precious and costly Idols those that were made of silver and gold and cast them to the Moles and to the Bats that is they should cast them into such blind holes and into such dark filthy nasty and dusty corners as Moles make under ground and as Bats roust in So when Christ and grace and holiness comes to be set up in mens hearts and lives then all their darling sins their bosom lusts which are their Idols of silver and their Idols of gold these are with a holy indignation cast to the Moles and to the Bats they are so loathed abhorred abandoned and cashiered that they desire they may be for ever buried in oblivion and never see the light more Idols were Ephraim's bosom sin Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned or glewed as the word signifies to Idols let him alone But when the dew of grace fell upon Ephraim as it did in Chap. 14.5 6 7. Then saith Ephraim What have I any more to do with Idols ver 8. Now Ephraim loaths his Idols as much or more than before he loved them he now abandons and abominates them though before he was as closly glewed to them as the wanton is glewed to his Dalilah or as the enchanter is glewed to the Devil from whom by no means he is able to stir as the words in the fountain imports When it was the day of the Lords power upon Ephraim then Ephraim cryes out What have I any more to do with Idols O I have had to do with them too long and too much already O how doth my foul now rise against them how do I detest and abhor them Deut. 13.6 7 8 9. Surely I will never have more to do with them The Scripture tells us That if father or mother or brother or sister or kinsman or friend should go about to draw a man from God his hand should be first upon him to put him to death Now bosom sins complexion sins they seek to draw a mans heart from God and therefore a gracious soul can't but rise up against them Gen. 27.41 and do his best to stone them and to be the death of them The dayes of mourning for my father are at hand saith bloudy Esau then will I slay my brother Jacob 't is a bloudy speech of a vindictive spirit whom nothing would satisfie but innocent bloud So saith the gracious soul The dayes of mourning for the death of my dear Saviour are now at hand and therefore I will slay my bosom lusts my constitution sins now will I be revenged on them for all the dishonours that they have done to God and for all the wounds that they have made in my conscience and for all the mercies that they have imbittered and for all the favours that they have prevented and for all the afflictions that they have procured and
the rewards of man with a hundred other things may be very prevalent to reform the life to regulate the outward conversation and to keep that in some due decorum and yet all these things will be found too weak too low to change the heart to reform the heart to mend the heart to purifie the heart Acts 15.9 To this great work there are principles of a higher nature required Purifying their hearts by faith 'T is not a guard of moral vertues but a guard of saving graces that can keep the heart in order to reform the heart to keep the heart in a gracious frame is one of the best and hardest works in the world Prov. 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life The Text is about matter of life and death The words are mandatory for all counsels in Scripture carry in them the force of a command In the words you have two things observable 1. A duty enjoyned Keep thy heart with all diligence 2. The reason or motive inforcing it For out of it are the issues of life In the duty there are two things considerable 1. Here is the subject matter the thing that is to be done and that is Keep thy heart This duty is charged upon all in peremptory and undispensable terms 2. Here is the manner how it must be done and that is With all diligence Keep The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natsar to keep hath various significations but the main is to keep in safe custody we should keep our hearts as under lock and key that they may be alwayes at hand when the Lord shall call for them c. Thy heart By the heart the we are not to understand that particular vital member of the body that in common speech we call the heart Heart is not here taken properly for that noble part of the body which Philosophers call the primum vivens c. ultimum moriens the first that lives and the last that dies But by heart in a metaphor the Scripture sometimes understands some particular noble faculty of the soul sometimes the heart is put for the understanding Rom. 1.21 Their foolish heart was darkned that is their understanding was darkned sometimes 't is put for the will and affections Mat. 22.37 So Prov. 23.26 Deut. 10.12 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind that is with thy will and with all thy affections The will is the chiefest power of the soul as the heart is the principal part of the body Mat. 8. and it commands all the affections as the Centurion did his servants Job 27.6 sometimes 't is put for the conscience 1 Joh. 3.20 If our heart condemn us God is greater â—han our heart and knoweth all things that is if our conscience condemn us justly then our case must be assuredly sad because God knows much more by us than we know by our selves and can charge us with many sins that conscience is not privy to Psal 19 12. sometimes 't is put for the memory Psal 119.11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that is in my memory So Luke 2.19 But here 't is taken comprehensively for the whole soul with all its powers noble faculties and endowments together with their several operations all which are to be watched over With all diligence or as the Hebrew runs With all keeping The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shamar signifies Cato Cicero Seneca Socrates and others have laid down excellent rules for the government of the outward man but n one for the government of the heart to keep with watch and ward A Christian is to keep a perpetual guard about his heart A Lapide notes that the Hebrew word is borrowed from military affairs We should keep our hearts as soldiers keep a Garrison with watch and ward Lavater jumps with him and tells us that the word Shamar is taken from a besieged Garrison begirt by many enemies without and in danger of being betrayed by treacherous Citizens within in which danger the soldiers upon pain of death are commanded to watch Junius reads the word thus Keep thy heart Supra omnem custodiam above all keeping So Hierom reads Prae omni custodia above all keeping keep thy heart that is keep keep watch watch c. So Rhodolphus reads it Prae omni custodia and so we read it in the Margin of our Bibles And the Syriack reads it in the same manner that our English doth Cum omni cautione with all caution and wariness we are to keep our hearts O what guards and double guards O what watches and double watches should men put upon their hearts These words keeping keep import both a universal watchfulness over the heart and a diligent watchfulness over the heart and a constant watchfulness over the heart and thrice happy are those persons who keep such a watch upon their hearts A man is to keep his eye and keep his mouth and keep his feet but above all keeping he is to keep his heart 'T is a duty incumbent upon every Christian to keep his own heart Keep thy heart Thy self thou mayest make another thy Park-keeper or thy House-keeper or thy Shop-keeper or thy Cash-keeper or thy Horse-keeper or thy Nurse-keeper but thou must be thy own Heart-keeper Keep thy heart with all diligence some understand this of all kind of watchfulness The Hebrew word is applyed to several sorts of keeping As First It is applyed to those that are the keepers of a prison Gen. 39.21 22 23 So Job 7.12 where dangerous Fellons or Malefactors are to be looked to that they don't break away 1 King 20.39 Keep this man so Joseph was made the Keeper of the prison The Hebrew word is the same with that in Prov. 4.23 Now O â—ow diligent how vigilant are men in looking after their prisoners even so should we be in looking after our hearts c. Secondly It signifies to keep as men would keep a besieged Garrison Hab. 2.1 or City or Castle in time of war So 't is used in that Hab. 2.1 Now what strong guards what watchful guards do men keep up at such a time A gracious heart is Christ's Fort-royal Now against this Fort Satan will imploy the utmost of his strength art craft and therefore how highly does it concern every Christian to keep a strong guard a constant guard about his heart But Thirdly It signifies to keep as the Priests and Levites kept the Sanctuary of God the Temple of God and all the holy things that were committed to their charge So the word is often used by the Prophet Ezek. 44.8 15 16 c. The Temple and all the vessels of the Temple were to be kept pure and clean and sweet Our hearts are the Temples of God the Temples of the holy Ghost and therefore we should alwayes keep a strong
his pride his hardness his obdurateness his envy his malice his hatred c. but he cryes out take away the judgment take away the judgment take away the frogs take away the lice take away the caterpillars c. But under all these dreadful and amazing judgments that he was under such a word as this never fell from his lips take away my sin O Lord take away my sins thy judgments do terrifie me but my sins will damn me and therefore what ever becomes of my life kingdom and crown take away my sins and save my soul David saw sin to be a greater evil than flying before his enemies or than famine or pestilence was and therefore he desires rather to be rid of his sins than to be rid of the punishment that was due to his sin but Pharaoh saw no such evil in sin and therefore he cryes out take away the plague take away the plague And Job upon the dunghil cryes out I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Job Job 7.20 does not cry out O I have lost all my substance I am bereaved of all my children I am set as naked upon the dunghil as ever I was born my friends reproach me my wife tempts me to curse my God which is ten thousand times worse than to curse my self Satan persecutes me and God has not only forsaken me but is also become a severe enemy to me c. Job cryes out of his sin and not of his sufferings a deep sense of his sins swallows up as it were all sense of his sufferings And so that great Apostle Paul does not cry out O wretched man that I am that bonds attend me in every place and that I have neither house nor home to go to and that I am despised scorned reproached and persecuted and that I am accounted factious seditious rebellious erronious and that I am lookt upon as the off-scouring of the world c. O no but he cryes out of his sin O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7.23 24. So the Prophet Micah I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned Micah 7.9 Though of all burdens the indignation of the Lord be the greatest burden yet divine indignation is but a light burden in comparison of sin A gracious soul can better stand under the burden of God's indignation for sin than it can stand under the burden of sin it self which hath kindled that indignation c. Thirdly Godly sorrow is a great sorrow 't is a superlative sorrow 't is a sad and serious sorrow a sincere mourning is a deep mourning it springs from serious and deep apprehensions of the great anger and deep displeasure of God and of the woful nature demerit burden bitterness vileness and filthiness of sin c. The blessed Scripture seems to make godly sorrow a superlative sorrow calling it a great mourning like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo and a bitterness as one is in for his first-born Zech. 12.10 11. And so the Church My bowels are troubled within me mine heart is turned within me for I have grievously reâ—elled Lamen 1.20 And David watered his couch with his tears Psal 6.6 And Mary Magdalen wept much as Well as she loved much Luke 7. And Peter went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26. ult Clement observes that all the time that Peter lived after this great fall he would every night when he heard the cock crow fall upon his knees and weep bitterly Hosea 7.14 Look as shallow brooks make the greatest noise so hypocrites and formalists may howl and roar and cry and make more noise than the true penitent but yet the sorrow of a true penitent is more inward secret solid still and deep As you know the deepest Rivers run most silently and make least noise so the deepest sorrow makes least noise The mourning of repenting souls Ezek. 7.16 Isa 51.20 Isa 59.11 under the apprehensions of their sins is like the mourning of Doves but the mourning of wicked men under the apprehension of their sins is like the bellowing of Bulls and roaring of Bears Fourthly A sincere mourning is an extensive mourning 't is an universal mourning Godly sorrow and grief extends it self not only to some sins but to all sins great and small Look as a holy heart hates all sin so a holy heart mourns over all sin that it sees and knows to be sin God hates one sin as well as another and he has forbid one sin as well as another and he has revealed his wrath from heaven against one sin as well as another and he is provoked by one sin as well as another and Christ is crucified by one sin as well as another and the Spirit is grieved as well by one sin as by another and the Gospel is reproached by one sin as well as another and the conscience is wounded by one sin as well as another and Satan is gratified by one sin as well as another and wicked mens mouths are opened by one sin as well as another and young comers on in Religion are stumbled grieved and offended by one sin as well as another and the soul is endangered by one sin as well as another An unsound heart may mourn for great sins that make great wounds in his conscience and credit and that leave a great blot upon his name or that waste or rot his body or destroy his estate or that expose him to publick scorn and shame c. Prov. 5 8-14 but for sins of omission for wandring thoughts idle words deadness coldness slightness in religious duties and services unbelief secret pride self-confidence and a thousand more such gnats as these he can swallow without any remorse But now godly sorrow is of a general extent it mourns as well for small sins as for great Davids heart smote him as well for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment as it did for killing of Uriah with the sword A gracious soul weeps over many sins that none can charge upon him but God and his own conscience Psal 19.12 O cleanse thou me from secret faults Yea let me say that godly sorrow and grief extends not only to a man 's own sins but also to the sins of others as well as his own Ezek. 9.4 5. And this you may see also in David Psal 119.53 136 158. And in Jeremiah Jer. 9.1 2 3. And in Paul Phil. 3.18 And in Lot 2 Pet. 2.7 8. And if you please to turn to my Treatise on Holiness you may see seven special arguments for this their practise Page 139 to pag. 145. and therefore a touch in this place may suffice Fifthly Godly sorrow is a lasting sorrow 't is a durable sorrow as long as a Christian continues sinning he can't but continue mourning David's sins were alwayes before him Psal 51.3 though his Absalom nor his Bathsheba were not
to the bottom of the Sea as well as a hundred so one sin lived in and indulged will sink a man to the bottom of hell as well as a hundred I have read of a great Roman Captain who as he was riding in his triumphant Chariot through Rome had his eyes never off of a Curtizan that walkt along the street which made one say Behold hoâ— this great Captain that hath conquered such and such Armies is himself conquered by one silly woman There is never an Hypocrite in the world but lyes under the conquest of one base lust or another but lives under the reign and dominion of one sin or another That soul that can in sincerity of heart appeal to a heart-searching God that 't is otherwise with him viz. That he does not live nor allow himself in any one sinful way or practise that soul I dare assure in the Lord's name is no hypocrite Psal 139 23 24. Thirdly As an Hypocrites heart is never throughly subdued to a willingness to part with every lust so neither is his heart throughly subdued to a willingness to perform all known duties sometimes he is all for publick duties but makes no conscience of closet-duties or of family-duties sometimes he is all for the duties of the first Table but makes no conscience of the duties of the second Table and sometimes he is all for the duties of the second Table but makes no conscience of the duties of the first Table if he obeyes one command he willingly lives in the neglect of another if he does one duty he will be sure to cast off another as he is not willing to fall out with every sin so he is not willing to fall in with every duty An Hypocrites obedience is alwayes partial 't is never universal he still baulks or boggles with those commands that cross his lusts The Pharisees fasted Mat. 23.23 Chap. 6. prayed gave alms and paid tythes O but they omitted the weightier matters of the Law judgment mercy and faith and they were unnatural to parents and under a pâ—etence of praying Mat. 15.4 5 6. they made a prey of widows houses under a pretence of piety they exercised the greatest covetousness unrighteousness and cruelty and that upon widows who are usually the greatest objects of pity and charity they made no bones of robbing the widow under a pretence of honouring of God So Judas under a pretence of laying up for the poor robbed the poor he pretended to lay up for the poor John 12.6 After some men have made a long and high profession some one beloved lust or other which they would never let go parts Christ and them for ever but he intended only to lay up for himself and to provide against a rainy day it is probable that he had no great mind to stay long with his Lord and therefore he was resolved to make the best market he could for himself Judas being willing to set up for himself under a cloak of holiness he practises the greatest unfaithfulness Though the Eagle soars high yet still her eye is upon her prey so though Judas did soar high in profession yet his eye was still upon his prey upon his bags and so he might have it he cared not who went without it so he might be rich he did not care though his Lord and his retinue grew never so poor Judas under all his shews of sanctity had not so much as common honesty in him counterfeit holiness is often made a stalking horse to much unrighteousness but certainly it were better with the Philosopher to have honesty without Religion than to have Religion without honesty An Hypocrite may exercise himself in some outward easie ordinary duties of Religion but when shall you see an Hypocrite laying the ax to the root of the Tree or a searching and trying his own heart or severely judging his bosom sins or humbly mourning and lamenting over secret corruptions or doubling his guards about his own soul or rejoycing in the graces services or excellencies of others or striving or pressing after the highest pitches of grace holiness and communion with God or endeavouring more to cast out the beam out of his own eye than the mote out of his brother's eye or to be more severe against his own sins than against the sins of others Alas an Hypocrite is so far from practising these duties that he thinks them either superfluous or impossible An Hypocrites obedience is alwayes a limited and stinted obedience it is either limited to such commands which are most sutable to his ease safety honour profit pleasure c. or else it is limited to the outward part of the command and never extends it self to the inward and spiritual part of the command as you may see in the Scribes and Pharisees their obedience was all outward they had no regard at all to the inward and spiritual part of any command as is evident in that high charge that Christ gives in against them Mat. 5. They did not murder they did not commit adultery they had an eye to the outward part of the command but Christ charges them with unjust and adulterous thoughts unchast glances contemplative wickedness speculative uncleanness c. they having no regard at all to the inward and spiritual part of any command common grace looks only to some particular duties but saving grace looks to all Renewing grace comes off to positives as well as negatives Isa 1.16 17. Tit. 2.11 12 13. it teacheth us to cease to do evil and it learns us also to do good it teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and also to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world These words contain the sum of a Christians duty to live soberly towards our selves righteously towards our neighbours and godly towards God is true godliness indeed and the whole duty of man There is never an Hypocrite in the world that can sincerely appeal to God and say Lord Psal 119.6 Luke 1.5 6. Acts 13.22 thou knowest that my heart is subdued to a willingness to perform all known duties I would willingly do the best I can to observe all thy royal Laws Lord I unfeignedly desire and really endeavour to have an eye upon every command of thine and to live up to every command of thine and it is the real grief of my heart and the daily burden of my soul when I violate any of thy blessed Laws He that can in uprightness thus appeal to God shall never miscarry in that other world But Fourthly There is never an Hypocrite in the world that makes God or Christ or holiness or his doing or receiving good in his station relation or generation his grand end his highest end his ultimate end of living in the world pleasures profits and honours are the Hypocrites all he aims at in this world they are his Trinity which he adores and serves 1 John 2.16 and sacrificeth himself unto
world the flesh and the devil Well remember this for ever There are three things an hypocrite can never do 1. He can never mourn for sin as sin 2. He can never mourn for the sins of others as well as his own Moses Lot David Jeremiah Paul and those in that Ezek. 9.4 6. mourned for others sins as well as their own but Pharoah Ahab Judas Demas Simon Magus never did 3. He can never hate sin as sin But Eighthly No hypocrite is habitually low or little in his own eyes no hypocrite has ordinarily mean thoughts of himself 1 Cor. 8.1 2. John 7.49 9.34 or a poor esteem of himself no hypocrite loves to lessen himself to greaten Christ to debase himself to exalt Christ no hypocrite loves to be out-shin'd all hypocrites love to write an I not a Christ upon what they do The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself Luke 18.11 12 Munday and Thursday were the Pharisees fasting dayes because Moses went up to the Mount on a Thursday and came down on a Munday saith Drusius God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican I fast twice in the week I give tythes of all that I possess All hypocrites stand not only upon their comparisons but also upon the disparisons I am not as this Publican All hypocrites stand much upon their negative righteousness and their comparative goodness There is no hypocrite in the world but sets down his penny for a pound and alwayes prizes himself above the Market 2 Kings 10.15 16. And when he was departed thence he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him and he saluted him and said to him Is thine heart right as my heart is with thy heart and Jehonadab answered it is if it be give me thine hand and be gave him his hand and he took him up to him into his chariot and he said come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. Comets make a greater blaze than fixed Stars Come see my zeal for the Lord. Jehu his words were for the Lord but his project was for the kingdom The Actor in the Comedy said with his mouth O coelum O heaven but with his finger he pointed to the earth Lapidaries tell us of a stone called the Chelydonian stone that it will retain its vertue no longer than it is enclosed in gold a fit emblem of an hypocrite of a Jehu John 12.43 Jehu made a great blaze but he was but a Comet An hypocrite alwayes loves the praise of men more than the praise of God he loves more to be honoured by men than to be honoured by God John 5.44 How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour which cometh from God only Nothing below that power which raised Christ from the grave can make an hypocrite purely nothing in his own eyes An hypocrite is alwayes a great thing in his own eyes Accius the Poet though he were a Dwarf yet would be pictured tall of stature The application to the hypocrite is easie and when he is nothing a great nothing in others eyes he can't bear it An hypocrite can't endure to be out-shin'd in gifts in graces in experiences in duties in communion with God in spiritual enjoyments An hypocrites heart is full of pride when his deportment is most humble he alwayes thinks best of himself and worst of others he looks upon his own vices as graces and he looks upon other mens graces as vices or at least as no true currant coyn A proud spirit will cast disgrace upon that excellency that himself wants Eusebius Eccl. Hist l. 4. c. 13. as Licinius who was joyned with Galerius in the Empire he was so ignorant that he was not able to write his own name he was a bitter enemy to learning and as Eusebius reports of him he called the liberal Arts a publick poyson and pestilence The emptiest barrels makes the loudest sound the worst metal the greatest noise and the lightest ears of corn hold their heads highest An hypocrite may well lay his hand upon his heart and say is it not so with me is it not just so with me But now sincere Châ—istians they are men of another spirit of another temper of another mettle of another mind their hearts lye low when their gifts and graces and spiritual enjoyments are high Abraham is but dust and ashes in his own eyes Gen. 18.27 The higher any man is in his communion with God the more low that man will be in his own eyes Dust and ashes are poor base vile worthless things and such a thing as these was Abraham in his own eyes So Jacob was a plain man Gen. 32.10 an upright man and lo what a low esteem had he of himself I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy servant c. In the Hebrew it is I am little before thy mercies for the Hebrews have no comparative Gen. 31. from ver 38. to 41. The least mercy saith Jacob is more worth than I more weighty than I and therefore they are wont to express this by a positive and a preposition When Jacob had to do with Laban he pleads his merits but when he has to do with God he pleads nothing but grace setting a very low esteem upon himself he looks upon himself as less than the least of mercies and as worse than the worst of creatures the least of my mercies are greater than I deserve and the greatest of my troubles are less than I deserve saith Jacob. The language of a plain hearted Jacob is this O Lord I might with Job have been stript of all my comforts and enjoyments at a clap and set upon a dunghil I might with Lazarus have been begging my bread from door to door Lam. 5.9 or I might have been getting my bread with the peril of my life because of the sword of the wilderness or I might have been with Dives in hell a crying out for a drop of water to cool my tongue A sincere Christian cannot tell how to speak good enough of God Luk. 16.24 nor ill enough of himself Agur was one of the wisest and holiest men on earth and see how greatly he debases himself Prov. 30.1 2. Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man Agur had seen Ithiel God with me and Ucal God almighty and this made him so vile and base in his own eyes this made him villifie yea nullifie himself to the utmost Job was a non-such in regard of those perfections and â—grees of grace of integrity of sanctity that he had attained to beyond any other Saints in the World in his time and day You know no man ever received a fairer or a more valuable certificate under the hand of God or the broad Seal of
by any fears or dangers on the other Sincere Christians have not taken up Religion on such slight grounds as to be either flattered or frighted out of it sincere Christians reckon upon afflictions Joh. 16. ult Acts 14.22 2 Tim. 4.8 temptations crosses losses reproaches on the one hand and they reckon upon a crown of life a crown of righteousness a crown of glory on the other hand Jer. 6.16 and hereupon they set up their staff fully resolving never to depart from the good old way wherein they have found rest to their souls Sincere Christians take Christ and his wayes for better for worse for richer for poorer in prosperity and adversity they resolve to stand or fall to suffer and reign to live and die with him When all outward incouragements from God shall fail yet a sincere Christian will keep closs to his God and closs to his duty Heb. 3.17 18. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herds in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvaâ—ion When all necessary and delightful mercies fail yet he will not fail in his duty though God with-hold his blessings yet he will not with-hold his service in the want of a livelihood he will be lively in his duty when he hath nothing to subsist by yet then he will live upon his God and joy in his God and keep closs to this God Though war and want come yet he will not be wanting in his duty Mark there are three things in a sincere Christian that will strongly encline him to keep closs to the Lord and closs to his wayes in the want of all outward incouragements 2 Cor. 5.14 Phil. 4.12 13. Rom. 14.7 8. and in the face of all outward discouragements And the first is a forcible principle Divine Love the second is a mighty aid the Spirit of God and the third is a high aim the Glory of God Look as Ruth kept closs to her mother in the want of all outward incouragements and in the face of all outward discouragements And Ruth Ruth 1.16 17. said whither thou goest I will go and where thou lodgest I will lodge and nothing but death shall part thee and 〈◊〉 So saith a sincere Christian I will take my lot with Christ were ever it falls I will keep closs to the Lord and closs to my duty in the want of all outward incouragements and in the face of all outward discouragements Though outward incouragements be sometimes as a side wind or as oyl or as chariot wheels means to move a Christian to go on more sweetly easily and comfortably in the wayes of God yet when this wind shall fail and these chariot wheels shall be knockt off a sincere Christian will keep closs to the Lord and his wayes All this is come upon us Psal 44.17 18 yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy covenant our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy wayes But what do they mean by saying All this is come upon us Why that you may see in the foregoing part of the Psalm Thou hast cast us off and put us to shame Vers 9 10 11 12 13 14. The Jews sold Christ for thirty peace and the Romans sold thirty of them for a penny as Josephus relates and goest not forth with our armies thou makest us turn back from the enemy and they which hate us spoyl for themselves thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat and hast scattered us among the heathen thou sellest thy people for nought and dost not increase thy wealth by their price thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us thou makest us a by-word among the heathen a shaking of the head among the people Antiochus Epiphanes lookt upon the Jews Religion as superstition his wrath and rage was exceeding great both against the Jews and against their Religion he practised all manner of cruelty upon the miserable Jews but yet there was a remnant among them who were faithful to the Lord and to his Covenant and to his Laws and to his wayes even to the death though in the time of the Maccabees many revolted to Paganism yet some maintained their constancy and integrity to the last That is a great word of the Prophet Micah Mich. 4.5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever This absolute and peremptory resolution to be really the Lord's and for ever the Lord's is of the essence of true conversion 'T is not the world's flatteries that can bribe off a sincere Christian from the wayes of God nor 't is not the worlds frowns that can beat off a sincere Christian from the wayes of God But an hypocrite will never an hypocrite can never hold it out to the end his ground-tackle will never hold when the storm beats strong upon him An hypocrite is hot at hand but soon tires and gives in But Tenthly No hypocrite ever makes it his business his work to bring his heart into religious duties and services he never makes conscience of bringing his heart into his work Mat. 15 8. â— Mark 7.6 An hypocrite is heartless in all he does Psal 78.34 When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God The Fox when caught in a gin looks pitifully but it is only to get out They worshipped the Lord as the Indians do the devil that he may do them no hurt Ver. 36. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongues Ver. 37. For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfâ—st in his Covenant All lip-labour is but lost labour When mens hearts are not in their devotion their devotion is meer dissimulation These hypocrites sought God and enquired early after God but it was still with old hearts which are no hearts in the account of God They made lip work of it and head-work of it but their hearts not being in their work all was lost their seeking lost their enquiring lost their God lost their souls lost and eternity lost Hos 7.14 And they have not cried unto mâ— with their hearts when they howled upon their beds When mens hearts are not in their prayers all their praying is but as an hideous howling in the account of God As dogs bruit beasts and Indians do when they are hunger-bit The cry of the heart is the only cry that God likes loves and looks for he accepts of no cry he delights in no cry he rewards no cry but the cry
Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Fox Acts and Monum It was a great saying of blessed Bradford That he could not leave a duty till he had found communion with Christ in the duty till he had brought his heart into a duty-frame he could not leave confession till he had found his heart touched broken and humbled for sin nor petition till he had found his heart taken with the beauties of the things desired and carried out after them nor could he leave thanksgiving till he had found his spirit enlarged and his soul quickned in the return of praises And it was a great saying of another that he could never be quiet till he found God in every duty Nunquam abs te absque te â—ecedo Bern. Meditat and enjoyed communion with God in every prayer O Lord said he I never come to thee but by thee I never go from thee without thee A sincere Christian that is taken with Christ above all can't be satisfied nor contented with duties or ordinances without he enjoyes Christ in them who is the life soul and substance of them But now hypocrites they do duties but all they do is from common principles from natural principles and from an unsanctified heart and that marrs all Remigius a Judge of Lorraigne tells this story That the Devil in those parts did use to give money to Witches Preston's four Treatises which did appear to be good coyn it seemed to be currant at first but being laid up a while it then appeared to be nothing but leaves Hypocrites they make a great profession and are much in the outward actions of Religion they make a very fair shew they hear they read they pray they fast they sing Psalms and they give alms But these duties being not managed from a principle of divine love nor from a principle of spiritual life nor from a sanctified frame of heart turn all into leaves they are all lost and the Authors of them cast and undone for ever and ever But Twelfthly No hypocrite in the world loves the Word or delights in the Word or prizes the Word as 't is a holy Word a spiritual Word a beautiful Word a pure Word Luther said he would not live in Paradise if he might without the Word but with the Word he could live in hell it self a clean Word Psal 119.140 Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it There are no hearts but men after God's own heart that can love the Word and delight in the Word and embrace the Word for its holiness purity and spirituality witness Paul Rom. 7.12 Wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandement holy and just and good Well and what then why saith he Ver. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man But is this all No saith he Ver. 25. With the mind I my self serve the Law of God Holy Paul delights in the Law as holy and serves the Law as holy just and good A sincere heart is the only heart that is taken with the Word for its spirituality purity and heavenly beauty None can joy in the Word as it is a holy Word nor none can taste any sweetness in the Word as 't is a pure Word but sincere Christians Psal 19.8 9 10. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart These several Titles Law Statutes Testimony Commandements Judgments are used promiscuously for the whole Word of God commonly distinguished into Law and Gospel The commandements of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes The fear of the Lord is clean that is the doctrine of the Word that teacheth the true fear of God enduring for ever The judgments of the Lâ—rd are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honey comb or as the Hebrew hath it Sweeter than the droppings of honey combs The Word of God as it is a pure Word a spiritual Word a clean Word a holy Word so it rejoyces a sincere heart and so it is sweeter than the very droppings of honey combs The Word as it is a pure Word a holy Word is more sweet to a sincere Christian than those drops which drop immediately and naturally without any force or art which is counted the purest and sweetest honey There is no profit nor pleasure nor joy to that which the purity of the World yields to a sincere heart Psal 119.48 My hands will I lift up to thy commandements which I have loved Sometimes the lifting up of hands betokens admiration when men are astonished and ravished they lift up their hands I will lift up my hands to thy commandements that is I will admire the goodness spiritualness holiness righteousness purity and excellency of thy commandements Luther would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible he took such sweet pleasure and excellent delight in it Rabbi Chiia in the Jerusalem Talmud sayes That in his account all the world is not of equal value with one word out of the Law Mr. Fox The Martyrs would have given a load of Hay for a few Chapters of the Bible in English Some of them gave five marks for a Bible they were so delighted and taken with the Word as it was a holy Word a pure Word a spiritual Word Dolphins they say love musick and so do sincere Christians love the musick of the Word It 's upon record that Mary spent the third part of her time in reading the Word she was so affected and delighted with the holiness and purity of it King Edward the sixth being about to lay hold on something that was above the reach of his short arm one that stood by espying a boss'd Bible lying on the Table offered to lay that under his feet to heighten him Sir John Hayward in vita but the good young King disliked the motion and instead of treading it under his feet he laid it to his heart to express the joy and delight that he took in the holy Word But now neâ—er did any hypocrite since there was one in the world ever love God as a holy God or love his people as a holy people or love his wayes as holy wayes or love his word as a holy word There is no hypocrite in the world that can truly say with David Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it Saul could never say so nor Ahab could never say so nor Herod could never say so nor Judas could never say so nor Demas could never say so nor Simon Magus could never say so nor the Scribes and Pharisees could never say so nor the Stony ground could never say so nor Isaiah's hypocrites could never say so 'T is true Isa 58. some of these did rejoyce in the Word and
delight in the Word but not as it was a holy Word a pure Word for then they would have rejoyced and delighted themselves in the whole Word of God every part of God's Word being pure and holy Hypocrites are sometimes affected and delighted with the Word as it is drest up with fine high notions which are but mysterious nothings they are taken with the Word as it is cloathed with arts parts and elegancy of phrase they are pleased with the Word as it is apparelled with a spruce wit or with silken expressions or with some delicate elocution Ezek. 33.32 So thou art to them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument or as the Hebrew may be read Thou art as one that breaks jests These hypocrites lookt upon the solemnity and Majesty of the Word but as a dry jest the Prophet being eloquent and having a pleasing delivery they were much taken with it and it was as sweet and delightful to them as a fit of musick but they were not at all taken or delighted with the spirituality purity and holiness of the Word as is evident in ver 31. And they come unto thee as the people cometh and they sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness It was a very smart reproof of Chrysostom Chrysost to his Hearers This is that saith he which is like to undo your souls you hear your Ministers as so many minstrels to please the ear not to pierce the conscience Augustin confesseth that the delight which he took before his conversion in Saint Ambroses Sermons was more for the eloquence of the words than the substance of the matter Hypocrites are taken more with the wit eloquence of speech action quickness of fancy smoothness of stile neatness of expression and rareness of notion than they are with the spirituality purity and holiness of the Word which they either hear or read These hypocrites are like those children who are more taken with the fine flowers that are strewed about the dish than they are with the meat that is in the dish and that are more taken with the red weeds and blew bottles that grow in the field than they are with the good corn that grows there But now look as the prudent Farmer is taken more with a few handfuls of sound corn than he is with all the gay weeds that be in the field so a sincere Christian is more taken with a few sound truths in a Sermon than he is taken with all the strong lines and high strains and flourishes of wit or than he is taken with some new coyned phrases or some quaint expressions or some seraphical notions with which a Sermon may be deckt or drest up Some are taken with the Word as the profession of it brings in customers into their Shops and keeps up their credits in the world others are taken with the Word as it seems to tickle their ears and please their fancies Some are affected with Sermons because of the elegancy of the stile delicacy of the words smoothness of the language and gracefulness of the delivery And these deal by Sermons as many do by their Nosegays that are made up of many pickt sweet flowers who after they have smelt to them a while cast them into a corner and never mind them more so these after they have commended a Sermon after they have highly applauded a Sermon they cast away the Sermon they smell to the Sermon if I may so speak and say it is sweet it is sweet and presently they throw it by as a Nosegay that is withered and of no further use But now a sincere heart savours the Word and relishes the Word and is affected and taken with the Word as it is a holy Word a spiritual Word a pure Word which the most refined hypocrite under heaven never was affected or taken with nor can be whilst hypocrisie keeps the throne in his soul But Thirteenthly and lastly An hypocrite can't endure to be tryed and searcht and laid open an hypocrite hates the light and had rather go to hell in the dark than come to be weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary John 3.20 A soul-searching Ministry is to an hypocrite a tormenting Ministry that 's no man for his money that will never let his conscience alone he knows he is like a velvet saddle velvet without and straw within he knows he is like a whited supulcher Mat. 23.27 28. glorious without and dead bones within and therefore his heart rises and swells against such a man and such a Ministry that is all for the anatomizing and laying of him open to himself and to the world But now look as pure gold fears neither fire nor furnace neither test nor touchstone neither one ballance nor another so a sincere heart dares venture it self upon tryal yea upon the very tryal of God himself Psal 139.23 Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts A sincere Christian prayes his friends to search him and he prayes soul-searching Ministers to search him but above all he begs hard of God to search him See Job 31.5 6 Search me O God The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Imperat Kal he commands God to search him The original word signifies a strict curious diligent search A sincere Christian is very willing and desirous that God should throughly search him that God should search into every corner and cranny of his heart Psal 26.2 Examine me O Lord and prove me try my reins and my heart Every word here has its weight Examine me O Lord. The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifiâ—s to melt and so to try which makes the most intrinsecal and eâ—act discovery O Lord let my heart and reins be melted that it may be known what metal they are made of whether gold or tin Prove me The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to view as when a man gets upon some high Tower or Hill to see all from thence Mount aloft O Lord take the high Tower take the Hill that thou mayest see what is in me try me and know my thoughts The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nasah which properly signifies to take away and is applied to Abrahams taking away of his son Gen. 22.1 Lord saith the Prophet if upon searching and examining of me thou shalt find any sin any creature any comfort any enjoyment that lyes in thy room take it away that thou mayest be all in all to me A sincere Christian knows that God never brings a pair of scales to weigh his graces but only a touch-stone to try the truth of his graces he knows if his gold his grace be true Mat. 12.20 though it be never so
consolation doth as it were put his hand and seal to our receits Eph. 4.30 whence he is said to seal us up unto the day of redemption The graces of the Spirit are a real earnest of the Spirit yet they are not alwayes an evidential earnest therefore an earnest is often superadded to our graces For ever remember these few hints 1. That it is the work of the Spirit to plant grace in the soul 2. That it is the work of the Spirit to act and exercise the graces that he has planted there 3. That it is the work of the Spirit to shine upon those graces that he has planted in the soul and to cause the soul to see and feel what he has wrote 4. That it is the work of the Spirit to raise springs of comfort and joy in the soul upon the discovery of that grace which he has wrote in the soul O Christians till the Spirit of the Lord shine upon your graces Job 33. you will still be in the dark 'T is only God's own Interpreter that must shew a man his righteousness When the holy Ghost shines upon a Christians graces then a Christian finds the springs of comfort to rise in his soul and then he finds the greatest serenity and calmness in his spirit O Sirs no man can by any natural light or evidence in him come to be assured of the grace wrought in his soul Look as no man can see the Sun but in the light of the Sun so no man can see the graces of the Spirit but in the light of the Spirit 1 Joh. 5.13 A man may have grace and not see it he may be in a state of grace and not know it as the child lives in the womb but don't perceive it is heir to a crown but don't know it Isa 50.10 Rom. 8.13 O! till the Spirit shines upon his own work a child of light may walk in darkness and see no light Look as no man can subdue his sins but by the power of the Spirit so no man can see his graces but in the light of the Spirit The confidence that a believer hath of the truth of grace wrought in him springs more from the Spirits removing his slavish fears and answering his doubts and shining upon his graces and supporting his soul than it does from that excellency and beauty of grace which shines in him A man may read the promises over and over a thousand times and yet never be affected delighted or taken with them till the Spirit of the Lord set them home upon his soul And a man may read the threatnings over and over a thousand times and yet never startle nor tremble though he knows himself guilty of those very sins against which the threatnings are denounced till the Spirit of the Lord sets home the threatnings in power upon his conscience and then every threatning will be like the hand-hand-writing upon the wall which will cause his countenance to be changed and his thoughts to be troubled Dan. 5.6 7. and his joynts to be loosed and his knees to be dashed one against another It is just so in the matter of our graces and gracious evidences till the holy Spirit shine upon them till in the light of the Spirit we come to see them they won't be witnessing comforting and refreshing to us and therefore let not the pious Reader think that by the strength of his natural light he shall ever attain to know the certainty of that grace which is in his soul but let him rather beg hard of God for his holy Spirit and that his Spirit may shine upon that good work which he hath begun in him that so he may be perswaded assured and comforted Without the light of the Spirit the work of the Spirit can't be seen no more than a book written in the fairest hand or print can be seen without light to see it or read it by But The ninth Proposition is this Sincere Christians may safely and groundedly rejoyce Most Christians by experience find that their assurance and joy rises and falls as grace and holiness and as the evidences of grace and holiness rise and fall in their souls delight and take comfort in those graces or in those divine qualities which in the light of the Spirit they see and know are wrote in their souls I don't say that a Christian should build the comfort of his justification upon his graces or that he should rest on his graces or trust to his graces or make a Saviour of his graces for this would be such a piece of Pharisaical Popery as is justly to be detested and abhorred by all that love Christ or are looking towards heaven But this I say a Christian may make several uses of his graces he may safly look upon his graces as so many evidences of Christ's dwelling in him and he may look upon his graces as so many heavenly bracelets or as so many love tokens from God in which he may safely rejoyce The gracious evidences that I have laid down in this Treatise are blessed symptoms of salvation and therefore to rejoyce in them can be no transgression of any royal Law of heaven He that can experimentally subscribe to any of the gracious evidences that are laid down in this Book has such a fair certificate to shew for heaven that no wicked man or hypocrite under heaven has the like to shew and why such a man should not rejoyce in such a certificate I can't at present see I may and ought to rejoyce in the works of Creation O! how much more then ought I to rejoyce in the work of Renovation in the work of sanctification which does so infinitely transcend the work of Creation I may and ought to rejoyce in my natural life health strength beauty and why then should I not rejoyce in grace and holiness which is the life health strength and beauty of my soul Cant. 4.9 Christ delights in the graces of his people Thou hast ravished my heart or thou hast behearted me as the Hebrew runs my sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes or with one glance of thine eyes as some read it with one chain of thy neck The eye of faith say some the eye of love say others The chain of obedience say some the chain of spiritual graces say others ravished Christ's heart the one eye of faith the one chain of obedience unhearted Christ wounded Christ this one eye this one chain robbed Christ of his heart and laid the Spouse in the room of it Now shall Christ's heart be ravished with his childrens graces and shall not their hearts be ravished and delighted with those very graces that ravish Christ's own heart I may yea I ought to rejoyce in the graces of others 1 Thes 1 â— 3 4 5. 2 Thes 1.3 4. and why then not in my own I may yea I ought to rejoyce in others outward
that Jesus Christ may still set up his Laws in my heart and exercise his dominion over me Now doubtless there is not the weakest Christian in the world but can venture himself upon such an appeal to God as this is and without all peradventure where such a frame and temper of spirit is there the dominion of Jesus Christ is set up and where the dominion of Christ is set up there sin has no dominion Mat. 6.24 but where the dominion of Christ is not set up there sin is in full dominion Christ's dominion cannot consist with sins dominion nor sins dominion cannot consist with Christ's dominion Now by these eight things if men are not resolved before hand to put a cheat upon their own souls they may know whether their sins have dominion over them or no and so accordingly conclude for or against themselves But Fifteenthly and lastly A godly man may argue thus There is no condemnation to them who walk not after the flesh Walking in Scripture signifies to hold on a course of life Gen. 5.22 17.1 but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 But I walk not after the flesh but after the spirit therefore there is no condemnation to me Walking after the flesh notes a course of sin and walking after the spirit notes a course of godliness Now to such as keep off from a course of sin and that keep on in a course of godliness there is no condemnation there is not one condemnation for God the father won't condemn such a person nor Jesus Christ won't condemn such a person nor the holy spirit won't condemn such a person nor the word of grace won't condemn such a person nor no commandment or threatnings will condemn such a person no nor such a mans own heart nor conscience if it be rightly informed won't condemn him and therefore well may the holy Ghost say to such a one there is no condemnation to such a one there is not one condemnation c. ☞ Now thus you see by comparing spiritual things with spiritual things and by a rational arguing from Scripture a man may attain unto a comfortable certainty of his gracious state and safely and groundedly conclude his interest in Christ Now this assurance of Gods favour by the witnessing of our own spirits which assurance is deduced by way of argument syllogistically is more easily attained than many may I not say than most Christians imagine for let a gracious man but clear himself of heart-condemning sins 1 Joh. 3.20 21. and rationally argue as before has been hinted and he will speedâ—ly reach to some comfortable supporting soul-satisfying and soul-quieting assurance there being an infallible connexion between the forementioned graces and future glory These fifteen arguments may well be lookt upon as fifteen sure and infallible evidences of the goodness and happiness of a Christians estate O that you would often every day think on this viz. That the undoubted verity of Gods promises proveth an inseparable connexion between true faith and eternal glory John 3.14 15 16. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life John 5.24 Verily verily these serious asseverations or protestations amount almost to an oath I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life He hath it in the promise he hath it in the first Fruits Rom. 8.23 he hath it in the earnest Ephes 1.13 14. and he hath it in Christ his Head Ephes 2.6 Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is Baptised shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned 1 Pet. 2.6 Behold I lay in Sion a chief Corner stone Elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded John 6.40 And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Verse 47. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting Life John 2.25 Jesus said unto her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Verse 26. And whosoever liveth and believeâ—h in me shall never dye John 20.31 But these are written that ye may believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Look as certainly as the unbeliever shall be cast into outer darkness so certainly shall the Believer be partaker of the glorious inheritance of the Saints in light for certainly the Promises are as true as the threatnings Acts 16.30 31. Believe on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Josh 23.14 chap. 21.45 The Apostle speaks not doubtingly perhaps thou shalt be saved nor they do not say Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and it may be thou mayest go to Heaven but they speak boldly confidently peremptorily believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved O my Soul what greater certainty and security can any man have than the infallible promise of that God that is truth it self who will not who cannot deny his word but the same love and free Grace that moved him to infuse grace into his childrens souls will move him also to keep the word that is gone out of his mouth and to make good whatever he hath promised thus you evidently see that the Promises prove an inseparable connexion between Grace and glory between Faith and everlasting Life so that let me but prove that I have a saving Faith and the Scriptures last cited prove infallibly that I shall be saved O labour as for life daily to give a firm and fixed assent to the truth of those blessed Promises last cited and hold it as an indisputable and inviolable Principle That whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ or whosoever hath received Christ as his Lord and Saviour shall be certainly saved 1 Tim. 1.15 1 John 1.9 Heb. 6.17 18. â—zek 32.11 and chap. 18.32 1 John 5.10.14 Jam. 2 19. This is the person that hath the Word the Promise the Covenant the Oath of that God that cannot possibly lye or dye for the pardon of his sin and for the Salvation of his Soul Now O my Soul what security couldest thou ask more of a deceitful man than that which the great Iehovah â—he faithful God of his own accord hath given to thee viz. his word and his Oath Now not to believe God upon his Promise and Oath is to make him a Lyar yea the worst of Lyars yea 't is