habit A man may free himself from his acquired Corruptions he may by care and industry of his own mortifie his acquired depravations of Nature As we read of many Socrates and Plato who by their Wisdom and Industry freed themselves from the slavery of many sensual appetites and passions which their corrupt nature and evil company had led them into and yet the natural corruption remained still Thou thinkest thou art converted because thou hast overcome thy drunkenness but drunkenness is but an acquired corruption thou didst get it by custom and mayst break it by custom and yet nature remain still unchanged 5. The change of the heart chiefly appears in the change of the ultimate or utmost end As the Pollution of the whole man and all his Actions Moral Civil and Religious consists chiefly and appears in seeking self or making our selves our utmost end so our sanctification lyeth in this and appears chiefly in making God the ultimate end of all we do A man before he is sanctified desires God and Christ only to keep his sores from aking for so I look upon all men made up of wants if the body ake with diseases and pains the stomack with hunger conscience for sin all their happiness lyeth in the easing thereof here lyeth their bliss They seek after God only as a Physitian to heal or cure them but not as the end of their cure The sick man sends for the Physitian but his health and recovery is his end so do men before their Conversion in their pangs of Conscience their afflictions their wants and necessities they seek to God and make use of God as an instrument but their ease and interests are their ends Jehu sought the Lord but his last end was himself But when the heart is sanctified then God is their end instead of their lusts and sins God is the only end in their eye instead of the riches or comforts of the World God is the Object in their eye Whom have I in heaven but thee and Psal 73. 25. there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee God was instead of all things to him 1. The soul seeth its own vileness and the Lord in his Glory This is the first Principle of seeking the Lord the soul seeth all his good laid up in the Lord more than in himself nay wholly in the Lord not at all in himself All my springs saith the soul are in thee All my treasures of Righteousness and Redemption all my riches of Wisdom and Sanctification they are all in thee and therefore the Saints when they see their own vileness and the Lord in his Glory are so far from seeking that they loath themselves 2. The soul slights the creatures as vessels of meer vanity Oh try your selves then by this touchstone A carnal heart may cross his own Will but not his own utmost end A man may seek the Lord with delight and follow the Zech. 7. 5 6. Isa 58. 4 5. Ordinances and fast and pray but himself is his end still How shall we know we make God our end 1. When you make him your happiness those that are throughly sanctified make the Lord their last end and happiness Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O Deut. 33. 29. Psal 144. 15. people Happy are those people whose God is the Lord. The full rest and peace of the soul is to be found only in the Presence of God in this Being of Beings his perfections are in himself he keeps a perpetual sabbath of rest in himself And in this rest only the gracious soul seeks his rest God is the journeys-end of all his Labours Life and Travels When Solomon had tyred out himself in his Travels through all the things of this World at last he returns empty and crying home and now when he sums up all his Glory he saith The words of the preacher the Son of David King in Jerusalem Eccl. 1. 1. He stiles himself 1. A man gathered to the Church to be as near God as he can 2. The Son of David to whom the promises were made And then thirdly King of Jerusalem the least and last of all Secondly When you do the Lords work purely for the Lord the Hypocrite will do the Lords work but 't is because his own Interests are bound up with it As a man that goes to the City he will do your business but he would not go unless he had affairs of his own to do there But the gracious heart will go for God and ride for God meerly upon the Lords occasions Thirdly When you carry all things down the stream toward God As a River running toward the Sea many springs fall and run into it but it carrieth them down all with it so the upright soul there are many occasions hinderances businesses but he carrieth them all down along with him they must all go with him they shall not divert him but he will over-master them and lead them his way nay the more he is hindred the more violent is his motion It is time for thee O Lord to work for they have made void thy Psal 119. 126. 127. law therefore love I thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold Fourthly Therefore they that are sanctified love the Lord fully that is above all A man is highly endeared to that which he makes his end his end commands his affections to love the Lord and to be beloved of the Lord and behold his Glory is the main end of the upright heart Fifthly They that are sanctified dedicate themselves to the Will of God I mean to the whole Will of God Their will is emptied into his will Teach me to do thy will Psal 143. 10. Psal 40. 8. O God I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart The Hebrew word for an holy man is a consecrated man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man seperated from common to a Divine use The sanctified man is a man separated from his own will and set apart to do Gods Will he is gone out of his own Will and lives at a distance from it he is sorry that he hath served his own will so long and is weary of the service 1. They that are sanctified do Gods Will purely because it is his will because it pleaseth him there is a dear propensity in the Saints to do Gods Will because it pleaseth him Thus saith the Lord unto ths Eunuchs that keep my sabbaths Isa 56. 4. and chuse the things that please me This is their choice it is in their hearts to do it because it pleaseth the Lord I will Psal 69. 30. praise the name of God with a song and magnifie it with thanksgiving This also shall please the Lord better than an Ox or Vers 31. Bullock that hath Horns and Hoofs This is the Motive and loadstone of their Obedience in that it pleaseth him This is the joy
at If you mean to shine as Angels do the Work of God with Angels if you would be where Christ is be at the work that Christ was And let me tell you your time is but short and you have done but little work none at all to purpose and 't is not long till your Crown shall be put upon your head and will you not be ashamed then to wear so rich a Crown for so poor a Service To have God pay you so great wages for so little work done Certainly if ever it come to your share to be saved you will when the Crown is putting upon your head blush for shame to think of your cowardise and your laziness that you should wear a Crown that have done so little work Fifthly The Lord will do thy work do thou but his work and he will do thine The Lord will take the care and charge of thee to bring about thy ends for thee many of you are sparing in Christs work because of so many distractions of your own others of you wave Christs work out of love to your own I mean the World What will become of my Family Wife and Children Oh unbelieving wretches set your hearts to do Gods Work and he 'l take the care of your Families and Children upon himself set thy face to the Sun and these shadows will follow you The Lord is a sun and a shield the Psal 84. 11. Lord will give grace and glory the Lord will give grace i. e. honour and esteem among men the favour of men and glory too in the World No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Set thy face then toward this glorious Sun serve him and these shadows will follow thee Solomon you know askt for Wisdom that he might discern between good and bad and judg the people and God tells him because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked riohes and honours therefore I will give thee riches and honours Solomon his great care and work was to rule a State well and the Lord gave him all the rest he set his face to the Sun and the shadows followed him Oh then Sirs Act for God up and be doing do his work and he 'l do yours There are these three Things attend the man that gives himself to do work for God 1. There shall not any evil hurt thee The three children were in the fire and yet the fire did not could not hurt them In the fire and in the water saith God I will be with thee there shall not any evil hurt thee Whereas if thou dost not thy good things shall they shall hurt thee Thy riches and thine honours they shall lift thee up and there make thy head giddy upon the top of thy glory and then thou comest tumbling down like a drunken fool into shame and hell it self Tolluntur in altum ut lapsa graviore ruant 2. All creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve the man that serves his God The Whale shall serve Jonah to carry him to the shore Indeed the poor man at that time ran from Gods work yet because he was his Servant the fish shall swallow him that it might save him The Ravens shall feed Elijah I will hear the heavens saith God and they shall Hos 2. 21. 22 hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel Thus all creatures in Heaven and Earth shall serve that man that serves his God Whereas else they all groan under thee and above thee The Heavens above groan over the sinner and cry out How long Lord how long shall we bestow our influence upon this Enemy of thine The Earth groans under the unprofitable servant and crys out How long Lord how long shall I bear this useless burden Nay Christ himself is weary of this fruitless Tree how long shall we stand Cut it down why cumbers it the ground 3. Thou that art at thy Lords work the Angels shall come out of Heaven to guard thee thou art a greater man than the greatest General under the Sun thou hast the Angels to be thy Life-guard Are they not all ministring spirits Heb. 1. 14. sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And therefore let 's see who dare touch thee Take heed Matth. 18. 10. saith Christ that ye despise or hurt not one of these little ones For I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Jacob saw a ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven and Angels descending and ascending Vse 10. The last Vse shall shew you how God makes Additions to his Saints graces And herein his Methods are various if not unsearchable yet by fathoming we may sound some of them though not the bottom As grace it self is a Mystery so the increase of grace especially being carried on by such Mysteries And therefore the contrivement whereby God increaseth grace is excellent worth the knowing that we may know what he is doing with us in his Providences and may read the Mind of God in many of his proceedings In a word how shall we help on the work if we know not Gods Method in working 1. The Lord increaseth grace in his People by their Faith Faith is one of the Graces and therefore needs support her self but she is the mouth of all the rest that speaks for them to God in Prayer and sucks nutriment for them out of the Breasts of the Promises Sirs The case is this Faith lives upon Christ and all the Graces live upon Faith When there is a famine in the Land of the soul Faith goeth up to our Brother Joseph in Egypt and brngs home Corn Faith is the Mother-grace and as the old bird the Dam flyeth abroad and fetcheth in food to her young ones and distributes it to them all in the nest So Faith takes Wing when the graces sit hungry and in want at home I say then Faith takes Wing and flyeth to Christ in the promise she comes home with her mouth full and serves all the graces they are fed by her And therefore the Scripture saith That the just lives by faith Which expression the Apostle Paul makes use of in two of his Epistles First in Rom. 1. 17 The just shall live by faith that is in respect of forgiveness of sin and in respect of Righteousness or Justification before God But in Heb. 10. 38 where he useth this same phrase The just shall live by faith The Apostle speaks of the Saints perseverance and standing fast in all their troubles and temptations Now Faith is the prime grace that helps and succours all the rest Hope lives upon Faith for the hope of a Christian is but poor in fruition we can hope no longer than we believe He that hopes and expects the things promised must by Faith live upon the certainty of the promise
discovers are no other for substance but those very things which are in Scripture only he gives a clearer light to discern them by To Instance That God is Every man saith he knows this and believes it as well as the godly doth But I must tell him That the godly man seeth a great deal further into it he seeth that God is as truly as he seeth that the Sun is when it shines upon him And therefore God is in all his thoughts The wicked man will tell you he knows that God is present in all places and yet he will be drunk in God Presence swear and lye in Gods Presence cheat and deal unjustly in Gods Presence How can this man say he believes that God is present where he is But now the godly Man seeth that God is present in all places as clearly as if God appeared visibly to him Secondly They know feelingly they feel what they know what they know in the head they feel in the heart And they count themselves to know no more than they feel as Melancthon makes mention of a godly Woman who having strong conflicts upon her Death-bed and was afterwards much comforted brake out into these words Now and not till now I understand the meaning of those words Thy sins are forgiven thee The Knowledg of Divine Mysteries is rather a spiritual sensation than speculation It lyeth more in sense and feeling than in understanding of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul it self hath its sense as well as the body And therefore when David would teach us how to know what the Divine goodness is he calls not for speculation but sensation Taste and see how good the Lord is Know God as thou wouldest have God know thee know Christ as thou wouldest have Christ know thee Thou wouldest have God know thee and take care of thee so must thou know him and take care of his Glory Thou wouldest have God know thee and succour thee in dangers as the Disciples when the Waves covered the ship said to Christ Master carest thou not that we perish So must thou Mark 4. 38. know God and his Cause so as to prop it up in difficult times lest it perish Thou wouldest have Christ know thee so as to dye for thee Lord if thou dye not for me I must be damned so must thou know Christ so as to dye for him and his Truth I am ready Acts 21. 13. not only to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Thou wouldest have Christ know thee so as to love thee and put thee in his bosom Who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. So must thou know Christ so as to love him and put him into thy bosom Lord thou knowest that I love thee John 21. 16. Charity or love is the most eminent of all the Graces inasmuch as Faith shall fail when there shall be nothing to believe nor to have confidence in and Hope shall fail when Christ returning and the resurrection of the just being made there shall be nothing more to hope for Only Love shall never fail for there shall be always what to love and what to taste For in eternal life we shall love God and Christ and we shall find a perpetual relish and savour in the contemplation of God and of Jesus Christ Know the things that are prepared and given thee of God Therefore is the spirit given us that me may know the things 1 Cor. 2. 12. that God hath given us What is it to know Heaven unless thou knowest that Heaven is given thee of God What is it to know Christ unless thou knowest that Christ is given thee of God What is it to know God himself unless thou knowest him to be thy God What is it to know the Scriptures unless Valdesso Consid 70. thou believest and holdest for certain all that is contained in the Scriptures and hast confidence in the Divine promises as if to thee properly and principally they had bin made Forgiveness of sin is a blotting out of iniquity as a cloud Isa 44. 22. A Cloud is by the Power of the Heavens nullified neither form nor matter to be found not any circumstances like it to note that ever such a thing was Forgiveness notes Remission which is the Term in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remission Remittere quasi Remittere to send a thing back again the unravelling and undoing of a thing misdone the nullifying of an unlawful Action As sin makes void the Law and nullifies it so doth forgiveness nullifie and make void sin When we are remitted we are retromissi sent back again to our first Condition as when we were in Paradise no more mentioned and no more thought of than of Adam before his fall Know thy self what need thou hast of them a Damned man and therefore need of eternal life a guilty man and therefore need of Justification a lost man and therefore need of a Saviour A man under Satans power and therefore need of Redemption Thirdly They know powerfully Their Knowledg comes like an Armed man upon them and carrieth them Captive into the Tents of those things they know 2 Cor. 10. 5. And therefore Christ is said To ascend up on high and to lead Psal 68. 18. captivity captive It binds the soul up in chains Lord I am thy Prisoner I yield to thee and will be no more a Rebel It layeth a soul flat at the feet of Christ as it did Paul he fell to the Earth Lord what wilt thou have me to do I 'le swear no more only pardon me Lord and I 'le be drunk no more I 'le persecute the Saints no more pardon me only and I 'le deal unjestly no more I 'le serve thee upon thine own terms and do what ever thou bidst me Fourthly They know delightfully Their Knowledg stamps upon their hearts Impressions of delight in the things they know because true Knowledg presents the Mysteries of Heaven lovely to them and layeth a Net to catch their souls in love with them Spiritual Science is steeped in affection taking delight in the things known not barely apprehending but relishing and savouring what it apprehends with abundance of love and complacency Fifthly They know admiringly Their Knowledg catcheth them up into the third Heaven of admiration They that know aright the Mystery of Redemption know and admire the Wisdom of God in contriving such a curious piece of reconciling Justice and Mercy to save a poor sinner As Paul calls it The manifold wisdom of God For consider Gospel-Mysteries Eph. 3. 10. are the Mysteries of a Kingdom and fit for admiration For 1. Kingdoms have Majesty Solomon had Lyons about his Throne to set forth the Majesty of it to make Transaction between that and all other people with Awe So Christ manageth his way in this World with Majesty Heaven and Earth tremble at his Presence he utters
his voice to the great World and the Rocks rend Thunder is the voice of God to the great World and in what Majesty doth he express himself to all Creatures below in that voice As there be Thundrings without so there be Thundrings within In great Majesty doth Christ speak to the soul sometimes Ask your Consciences else ask Faelix the Jaylour and Cain else yea ask your Father Adam else what a case were all these in when Christ did but reason with them Yea I ask you Hypocrites if any here is not the way of Christ full of Majesty What means those loads that gather about your hearts and that fearfulness which surpriseth you Thou dost but touch the mountains and they smoke saith the Psalmist so God doth but touch your Consciences and they smoke he doth but whisper within and your spirits fly about every where into the fingers into the face and up into the head and the heart within beats for want of them ready to swoon away Ask wounded spirits whether Gods Word be not full of Majesty Twenty years time not enough to heal the wound of a word of Gods mouth Oh the Majesty of that word Look upon the whole Creation upon the Earth upon the Sea upon the Heavens do they not all-speak the Majesty of Christ God is mightier than the noise of many waters yea than the Mighty waves of the Sea The tossings rollings and roarings of the Sea Do they not speak loudly the Majesty of Christ But ah sinner The tossings rollings and roarings of a troubled soul speak the Majesty of Christs word much more Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men 2. Kingdoms have Supremacy This is Basis Majestatis Christ is a great King over all as the Psalmist titles him Psal 29. God hath set Christ over all so should we as God hath set him so do you over all in all things Now self-denyal is an excellent means that Christ may Reign Thou must deny thy Kingdom that Christ may have his you must lay down your Crowns at his feet that he may wear his Crown upon his Head And this is a sweet Testimony of Grace in the heart if the heart can endure Tribulation that Christ may Reign If it can suffer all things that Christ may do all things if it can lye low that Christ may be exalted when we are most annihilated our Lord and his Mysteries are most admired Sixthly They know thankfully The beams of Knowledg that shine into them melt them into pangs of Thankfulness that they should have the Honour and Happiness to know those things that they know They would not be without Christ whom they know not for a thousand Worlds They would not be without the miracles of love and peace and pardon in Christ which they have and know for all the Worth of India They count themselves to have been no better than brutes and beasts all the time they were without the Knowledg of those Divine Rarities which now they lay up so close in their hearts They adore God that they should know and see those saving secrets which are hid from the eyes of so many round about them Seventhly The true Knowledg of spiritual things doth spiritualize True Knowledg of Religion makes a man Religious Religion in Scripture is called Godliness Without controversie great is the Mystcry of godliness that is The principles of 1 Tim. 3. 15. Christian Religion Godliness is great gain i. e. Christianity The Christian Religion is great gain Thus the Truths themselves are called Godliness Why so Because the true Knowledg of them begets an inward godliness As Religion it self is called Faith and the grace in the soul is also called Faith Why so To shew that Faith begets Faith that is the Truth revealed begets Faith and must be received by Faith Therefore one word includes both the Object the thing believed and likewise the Disposition of the soul to that Object So Religion is called Godliness because the true Knowledg of it begets Godliness Oh! See then what makes a true Christian What when a man nakedly believes Divine Truths When he knows the Principles of Faith doth that make him a true Christian No But when Religion makes him Religious when these Tit. 1. 1. Truths work Godliness for Religion is a truth according to godliness Where the Truths of Religion are embraced there is Godliness with them A man cannot embrace Religion in Truth but he must be godly because Religion is Godliness so it is called for that it tends to beget all Piety and Virtue and Godliness in the heart And therefore if the Mysteries of Heaven work not Godliness a man hath but an Humane Knowledg of Divine things When Lucius a bloody Persecutor offered to confess his Faith hoping thereby to gain an opinion that he was Orthodox Russin Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 6. Moses a Religious Monk refused to hear him saying The eye might sometimes judg of one's Faith as well as the Ear and that whosoever lived as Lucius did could not believe as a Christian ought A man knows no more of Christ than he is sanctified he knows no more of Divine things than he esteems and affects he knows no more of the Mysteries of Heaven than he brings the whole inward frame to be like the things He that saith 1 John 2. 4. I know God and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him No doubt but Hophni and Phineas being Priests had a literal Knowledg of God yet being prophane they are said expresly not to have known him They were sons of Belial they knew 1 Sam. 2. 12. not the Lord. Eighthly If we know God aright we know God in us for we come to know God savingly by Regeneration and so by little and little we come to know God in us knowing in our selves those Divine perfections which the Holy Ghost attributes to God We know the Holiness of God by the Beam of Holiness which he hath irradicated into our hearts We know the love of God by the working of love in us towards him and towards his Saints We know hatred of sin in God by knowing in our selves an hatred of sin we know the Mercy of God by finding in our selves an Image of his Mercy towards our Enemies As Christ saith Be ye merciful as your heavenly Fathers is merciful Luk 6. 36. And it is a clear case We could never know in God Truth Justice Goodness were we not in some measure true just and good it being natural for Man to judg of others according to that which he knows in himself The spirit makes me to know Omnipotency in God through the great Power which he shews in me mortifying me and making me alive The spirit makes me know Wisdom in God by the Wisdom which I get through his Holy Spirit he makes me know Justice in God because he justifieth me in Christ he makes me know Truth
that you may understand I lay down these two Propositions 1. God hath instituted means for the obtaining of supernatural grace 2. Where God gives grace in the use of means he gives it freely to whom God gives not grace he denies it justly 1. God hath instituted means for the obtaining of supernatural grace For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God The Lord hath set the stamp of Institution upon means wherein he will be found as hearing the word And when they heard this they were pricked at the heart Reading the Word Prayer and Meditation 2. Where God gives grace in the use of means he doth it freely and to whom God gives not grace he denieth it justly 1. Where God gives grace in the use of means he gives it freely Whether it be in the outward means or the inward preparatory work for he is not tyed by the means to us Some say Facienti quod in se est Deus dabit Gratiam ulteriorem To him that doth what he can do more shall be given him but though God should sometimes or always answer man in this kind where do we find that he hath bound himself by Promise to do so Now I must shew you That where God gives not grace he doth it justly Under the Gospel where God denieth grace he never doth it but justly God observes a distributive Justice in it For the Saints through grace use the means to gain more grace and Sinners they refuse all grace For 1. In the Church salvation according to Gods Promise is offered to all 2. In the Church the administration of grace is so high as that it is sufficient to convince all 3. Sinners perish and go without grace through their own fault For 1. They neglect the means of the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven 2. They despise the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven And this reason Christ renders of it at the 13th verse Therefore spake I to them in parables because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand As if he had said such Minds as they bring to hear such Sermons do I bring to them cloath'd with parables and obscurities They that will not understand things that are manifest to them I wrap up my Sermons in clouds and darkness They have eyes to see my manifest signs and miracles yet being blinded with envy they will not see what they see They have ears and hear the truth that is irresutable and yet in hearing they will not hear i. e. they will not receive it neither do they understand that is it is so clear that they may but they will not understand To speak more particularly 1. Some will hear the Word but not mind it so as to understand it their punishment is That as they will go no further with God so God will go no further with them but denieth unto them the spirit of Illumination leaves them blind as he found Math 13. 19. them and suffers Satan to take the word from them 2. Some receive the word so far as to understand it but are not willing to do it they cannot digest the holiness of it their lusts and its purity cannot stand together their punishment is That God will not make it further effectual to promote their spiritual happiness though they may receive the spirit of Illumination yet not of Conversion 3. Some receive the word so far into their hearts as to delight in it and to do something commanded and obey it in some degree They proceed to Profession and several measures thereof but advance not to sincerity and perfection their punishment is That the spirit of Sanctification and Adoption is denied unto them and for fear of Adversity or love of the World they deny the truth in a day of tryal Thus when we say The Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some and not given to others to those to whom it is given it is given freely to those to whom it is not given it is denied justly For this denial is a punishment and therefore just sinners deserve it that it should be so The elect can speak of underserved-grace and the reprobate of deserved punishment God is so just that he doth not condemn any but for sin so gracious that he doth not condemn all that do sin Though God will save miserable men without their merits because he is good yet he will not damn any without their demerits because he is just But to give you a clearer Prospect of this Truth that the Divine Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is given to some not to others Observe First Sometimes God makes choice of an Alien an Heathen before his own people in Covenant with him As you may see in Jeremiah 38. 7 8. verses He gives an Ethiopian Jerem. 38. 7 8. grace which he gave not to many a Jew Ebedmelech was an Ethiopian yet a Saint a black Ethiopian but a white Saint V None speaks for the Prophet but he an Ethiopian saves the Prophet whom the Jews did persecute Where observe 1. How God picks one out of a whole Nation God makes choice of Ebedmelech above all the Nation of the Ethiopians The whole Nation of his Countrey-men lay under the black Vail of darkness and ignorance while he knew the Mysteries of Heaven 2. The wonder of Gods Providence how it brings about the Salvation of a person whom he means to save God brings Ebedmelech out of his own Countrey to make him a Saint how he came thither to live in the King of Judah's Court there 's no mention of it but this we know that he was brought thither upon the Wing of Providence to know God and to be saved 3. God gives grace to Ebedmelech and makes choice of him before many of his own people in Covenant with him Secondly He prefers the Servant before the Master All the Phil. 4. 22. saints salute you chiefly they that are of Caesars houshold This Caesar was Nero in whose palace Saint Paul's bonds were made Phil. 1. 13. manifest So that some of his Servants were made Christians who afterwards proved Martyrs namely Evellius and Torpetes if we may believe the Roman Martyrology here the Vassal receives the Gospel which the Emperor doth not The servants are made lambs while their Lord and Master remains a Lyon for so is he stiled in 2 Tim. 4. 17. Thirdly God prefers the poor before the rich a poor Lazarus before a rich Dives he drops his golden showres of grace upon a low shrub and over-looks the tall Cedar The truth of it is Dives was poor Lazarus was rich Lazarus had more gold in his Soul than Dives had in his Purse Hath not God chosen the poor in this world rich in faith Jam. 2. 5. i. e. to be rich in Faith and heirs of the Kingdom As we Jam. 2. 5. read it Hath not God chosen the poor in this world
though he damn'd the whole world and cast off Cain for ever Ninthly God makes some sharers in the same deliverance who share not in the same grace as the ten Lepers he gave them the same cure not the same grace he gave them all a cure only to one grace Were there not ten cleansed where are Luk. 17. 17. the nine There are not found that return'd to give glory to God save this stranger So the Sons of Noah were all saved in the same Ark and yet not all made partakers of the same Faith We shall now give you the Application of this Point And first Vse 1. See by what tenure the Saints hold and receive all their grace By gift 1. The first work of grace in the soul is a gift No man can come to me saith Christ except it were given him from John 6. 65. Rom. 5. 5. above and Romans 5. 5 All is given It is grace that we have grace the grace of God that we have grace from God 2. The addition and increase of grace is a gift every little degree of grace is a gift and when he gives more still it is more gift 3. Heaven it self is a gift The gift of God is eternal life Rom. 6. 27. mark the whole verse The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Eternal death is a wages eternal life is a gift men deserve it when they are damn'd but they deserve it not when they are saved their sins are worthy of Death but their graces are not worthy of Life And the reason is 1. Because mens sins are their own and therefore deserve death As Christ speaking of the Devil saith When he speaketh a John 8. 44. lye he speaketh of his own Our lyes and our sins are our own works but our graces are not our own we are beholden to God in that we have grace when we serve him with our graces we serve him but with his own 2. Because our sins being perfectly sinful are worthy of death but our graces being not perfectly gracious are not worthy of life Vse 2. Is grace a free gift then serve God freely We cannot be too free in serving him from whom every thing is a free-gift I may rightly apply that Text to the Saints Freely ye Math. 10. 8. have received freely give I am sure you have freely received grace serve him freely with your grace And therefore a Servant is in Greek called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 15. 17. a reward because servants serve not their Master freely as his Sons do meerly because he is their Father but for reward What is it to serve God freely 1. To count it a greater good to serve God than to be saved not as if a man should not serve God with an eye to his salvation for 't were a sin if he should not because the recompence of reward is the great Promise and 't were a sin not to prize and eye and look up to any promise of God I say we are bound to serve God with an eye to the recompence of reward because it is the Promise of God now we are to make the best of every promise to improve the promise and to make the best advantage of it for the quickning of our graces and the cheering up of our spirits The promises are helps and we are bound to use all Gods Helps And therefore Heb. 12. 2. we may set our salvation befor us and aim at it But yet still this we should do and if we serve God freely will do it count it a greater good to serve God than to be saved to glorifie God than to be glorified Indeed the Lord saith Them that honour me I will honour This is his goodness yet Gods Honour is a greater good than our honour It is a greater good that God be glorified than that we should be glorified because the Glory of God is the good of the Creator but our glory is but the good of the Creature 2. To serve God freely is to serve him willingly As we say of a man that doth a thing willingly he doth it freely for that is the very essence of the Will that which is not done freely is not done with the Will Oh observe thy self Thou Professor it may be prayest in thy closet but if thou durst omit it thou wouldest not pray thou art not drunk but if thou durst for shame thou wouldest not be so temperate now thou dost not pray nor abstain from sin willingly and freely 3. To serve God freely is to serve him abundantly to be liberal in his service He that is no niggard but is liberal in his gifts we call him free So he that serves God freely is no niggard of his service he is very liberal of his service to God As we say of a man that 's liberal of his Fare and liberal in his House he is free he cares not what he spends upon his friends he provides bountifully for them he calls for his Wines and Sweet-meats about him and thinks nothing too much for them we say this man hath a free and noble spirit so the Saints that serve God freely think they can never do enough for him he makes abundant Provision to entertain Christ and sets a long Table full of Services like so many dishes before him When Christ said to Zachaeus To day I must abide at thy Luk. 19. 5. house How did Zachaeus entertain him Wondrous liberally saith he Behold Lord half of my goods I give to the poor Verse 8. and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him four-fold Zachaeus was wondrous free Christ Jesus might have any thing of him without speaking A Saint cares not what he spends upon Christ wilt thou have me give away one lust yea saith Christ there it is another saith Christ there it is Lord another yet saith Christ there 't is Lord nay all saith Christ take all then Veniat veniat Verbum Domini saith one Et submittemus ei sexcenta si nobis essent Colla Let the Word of the Lord come let it come and wee 'l submit six hundred necks to it if we had them Nay but not thy lusts only but thy life too saith Christ take it then saith St. Paul I am ready not to be bound only Acts 21. 13. but also to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Vse 3. Is grace a gift then count thy work a gift not a burden but a gift not a toyle but a gift look upon every labour and every service and obedience for God as a gift As a Woman though she travel in pain yet counts her Child a gift from God As the Text saith Lo Children are an heritage Psal 127. 3. of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward The mother counts her child a gift for who
making the foolish wise and Jesus Christ saw a great deal of beauty in it when he said I thank thee oh Father that thou hast hid Mar. 11. 25. these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes What Beauty may we read in this work The wondrous skill and power of God appears in it you count him a rare School-master that can make Idiots and Fools Scholars How do you admire his Art in Teaching This sets out the Lords skill and speaks him admirable When the scribes and pharisees saw the boldness of Peter and John and Acts 4. 13. perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marvelled and they took knowledg of them that they had been with Jesus Is it not a rare sight to see a child speak sentences and pose an aged man with Wisdom Thus when Christ was but a child twelve years old and posed the Doctors in the Temple The Text saith They were astonisht at it Vse 10. Oh! awake your selves then feed not your selves with idle dreams of an universal grace as if ye could not miss of Heaven Is it not time to awake when salvation like a Rose grows not in every ones garden When the Beams of grace shine not in at every ones Window when there are so many professors and so few saints When the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven treads not over every mans threshold but only goes into that heart where God sends them There were two Thieves crucified with Christ on the Cross the one is taken the other left Two Sons in Rebeccha's Womb Jacob and Esau the one is taken and the other left There were ten Virgins five of them taken and five left Ah Lord how narrow is thy number Whilst the Minister is Preaching the spirit like an Archer shoots the arrow of Conversion into such an one's heart and hits him and passeth by many an one he shoots his Arrow by so many and hits one or two Oh how should this awake you Lord hit my heart Lord make me thy mark do not miss my soul but hit Lord I am an unclean wretch make my black heart thy white to shoot at Lord I am a drunkard level thine Arrow of grace at my heart shoot stedy Lord take thine aim and shoot thy Darts through my deadly lusts Lord I am an unbeliever I cannot believe the promise take such a word of pardon and dart it into my soul that I may believe Lord I have heard many Sermons and thou hast not hit me yet I have sate under the showres of grace a long time and every drop hath yet fallen besides me thine Arrows have fled about mine ears and not one yet stuck in my sides Content not your selves then in that ye live under the means of grace Object But is not this an hindrance to our conversion a great block in our way in that God gives grace to some not to all In that many are called but few are chosen Answ No none at all nay it is a huge furtherance to grace and conversion in that it is the gift of God I think grace may sooner be had in that it is in Gods hand to give than if it were in our power to get Who would doubt of having grace from such an hand I say from such an hand who hath such a large and bounteous heart And therefore if you ask should we not be more certain if our salvation did depend on none but our selves I answer no For we ought to be much more distrustful of our selves than of God who loves us more than we love our selves And in a doubtful and difficult case 't is better to commit our selves to the mercy and goodness of God than to our own power And therefore I would demand of thee Canst thou ask for grace Who ever went without grace but 't was his own fault he had it not because he would not seek it he went without it because he did not care for it Object But in that grace is the gift of God and not in the dispose of man Is it not enough to take men off from duty and endeavour and make them secure and negligent of their salvation No such matter For seeing on the one side we cannot say Grace shall be denied us and on the other side we are bound to Co-operate with grace and work out our salvation we ought therefore so to act Ac si Gratia semper adesset as if grace were always present and yet so as if the whole business lay in us We should walk between sloth and pride God is to be sought and prayed to as if the whole did depend upon him and we must so act as if the whole did depend upon us We see this in Scripture Work out your salvation with fear and trembling as if the whole lay upon us For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do as if the whole lay upon him God told Joshuah and the Israelites by express Revelation that he would fight for them against the Nations and give them victory and yet they did act themselves and pursue their business as if the whole success were in their power Election is not to be look'd on but in Christ nor Reprobation Mr. Bradford but in Sin seek to be delivered from sin and fear not Reprobation But if thou wilt not thou shalt find no excuse in the last day 2. Thou makes a wrong use of this sort of Doctrine in Scripture Many are called but few are chosen to you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to them it is not given For this is set down in Scripture not to feed thee with infidelity but to terrifie thee from the fame to stir thee up to believe not to hinder but to put thee on to believe to make thee more careful to believe 3. As the command of believing reacheth to you so doth the promise The promise belongs to you all though not the benefit of the promise but only to so many as do believe I say the promise belongs to you all To clear this 1. See Heb. 4. 1 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being Heb. 4. 1. left unto us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it through unbelief Mark the words there is a promise left unto us so doubt not but the promise belongs to thee only beware thou come not short of it through unbelief Thou fearest that the promise belongs not to thee but the Apostle bids thee fear lest a promise being left thee or belonging to thee thou come short of it through unbelief 'T is clear That the promise is to those who come short of it 2. So Acts 2. 39 Repent and believe for the promise is to Acts 2. 39. you and to your seed and to all that are afar of even as many as the Lord our God shall call Mark here the promise
is to you is laid down as an Argument to believe as a Motive to believe and therefore did belong to them before they did believe for the Cause is before the Effect Yes you will say to them to the Jews but not to us mark the next words And to all that are afar of even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Object But God gives not Grace to all and that 's the thing that fears me Answ What is that to thee As Christ said unto Peter Peter asked Christ such a question Lord what shall this man do Joh. 21. 21 22. saith Christ to him What is that to thee follow thou me So God gives not grace to all What is that to thee follow thou me believe thou in me saith Christ Object Oh! but I am a great sinner and will he pardon me and give grace to me Answ 1. The Covenant of grace is a free Covenant from the Lord 's free favour without any respect to any thing in thee it looks at nothing in thee no worth in thee can procure it The Covenant is not only a Covenant to grace but a Covenant of grace not only a Covenant to grace to give more grace where it is but a Covenant of grace to give grace where is none 2. The greatness of thy sinfulness will manifest and set out the greatness of his mercy For his names sake he pardons iniquity Isa 43. Now the greater and the more thy sins have been the greater will be the name of his mercy Quest But how may we attain the Knowledg of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Answ 1. Let not sin stand between you and the glorious light of the Mysteries of Heaven Cease love to sin if you would have an Heaven upon Earth a glorious Presence of God in you Render your spirits free to God let them not be ensnared with any lust such entanglement spoils your Glory pure hearts shall see the face of God Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God You poor souls who are purging your selves will you believe your Saviour then you shall see God Purity makes capacity of Heaven The holyest men ever had the most glorious visions as Daniel and John A man may see Hell in his sin but shall never see Heaven 2. Would you have the Knowledg of these Mysteries Then get upon some hill the air of the lower region is thick and misty I mean live above abstract your selves as much as may be from the world God chuseth his place to make Heaven he makes Heaven above in Jerusalem that is above in souls that are above above the vanities of this World he makes an Heaven and there the Mysteries of the Kingdom like so many stars shine Moses is led up to a mount to see Canaan Christ upon a mount had his glorious Transfiguration he had his Heaven upon a mount Love must mount above all these low things ere the soul can see Heaven enjoy glorious Presence It falls out unhappily still with man when he goes about to make an Heaven here when he sets love at work to take her fortune to make her Glory and Felicity here below as she can This checks the working of a glorious light in any heart it sets a Divine Power a working another way to whip the man with vexation of spirit for seeking Heaven in Earth in glorious vanities No man shall have two Heavens or but very few 3. Let thy heart be Crystal The Mysteries of Heaven shining upon such an heart reflect gloriously I mean an heart that is a pure glass clear from all hypocrisie God descended like a Dove upon a Dove sweetly and gloriously upon him In whose mouth there was no guile It was upon Jesus Christ there came a voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased God never proclaims himself well-pleased in that heart which makes not him his pleasure A heart and a heart hath none of Gods heart Divine Power works not gloriously where the heart works basely An hypocrite hath least of Heaven of any man and most of Hell 4. As men draw near to God so they see him near to him in Quality and near to him in Duty Sirs We see Heaven best upon out knees At the Throne of grace we find grace Heaven at Gods feet When most in his Presence most in Heaven A man must live in Heaven to have Heaven live in him much going to Heaven brings Heaven at last down along with one Vse last Then Oh ye Saints bless the Lord Admire the Lord that hath revealed his Mysteries to you not to others that ye know those things which others do not Oh! fall admiring God and Free-grace The fourth and last Doctrine Doct. 4. That where there are beginnings of true grace though never so weak God makes rich Additions of more grace Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance Now to evince this I will give you the Testimony of Scripture And 1. In Phil. 1. 6 Paul cheers up their hearts by telling them that he was confident i. e. assured That God who Phil. 1. 6. had begun a good work in them would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ The Apostle writing to the Thessalonians praiseth God for them Because saith he your faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth 2 Thes 1. 3. Where God plants he makes to grow and where he sows he watereth into an increase 2dly John 10. 10 I came saith Christ that they might have John 10. 10. life and that they might have it more abundantly or that they might have abundance So Musculus reads it Et abundantiam habeant For it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Abundantius but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Abundantiam copiam affluentiam i. e. Qui vivere dedit dabit reliqua ad vitam hanc caelestem necessaria Nec dabit parce sed liberaliter opulente Musculus in Johan Quid dat formam dat consequentia formam He that gives life will give all things necessary to this Divine life to maintain it richly an abundance and affluence of spiritual and heavenly Additions to the least grace 3dly Isa 42. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break and the Isa 42. 3. smoaking flax shall he not quench The Negative here implieth an Affirmative A bruised reed shall he not break i. e. he shall strengthen it and the smoaking flax shall he not quench i. e. he shall be so far from quenching that he shall make it flame and blow it up into a blaze He shall bring forth judgment unto truth which Matthew following the Septuagint Matth. 12. 20. saith He shall bring forth judgment unto victory And this is the meaning of that Text Of his fulness have John 1. 16. we all received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
we all fell so in Christs standing we all stand the Lord Jesus having stood they cannot fall because by virtue of his standing they have the eternal Presence of the Holy Ghost I say the ground is Christs standing for though there are many reasons why the Saints shall not fall from Christ as the immutable love of God the Covenant of Grace the spirit of Grace and the Intercession of Jesus Christ yet all these are bottomed upon Christs standing and fulfiling the first Covenant For therefore is the Covenant of grace unchangeable and the federal love of God to us in that Covenant immutable and the dwelling of the spirit eternal and the sealing of the spirit indelible because built upon the unchangeable Priesthood of Jesus Christ such a Priest as stood and finished the work so stood as to satisfie Justice and vanquish Satan And the Intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven for us is built upon the standing and perseverance of Jesus Christ had not Christ stood his Intercession had not now been standing had he fell that had fell to the ground also had he fell the Holy Ghost had not been given Hence it is that the Covenant of grace reigns to life Rom. 5. 21. eternal Hence it is that they who receive Christ shall be sure to Vers 27. reign with him Hence it is that our Justification by Christ is not a tottering or fallible Justification that may be lost but a Justification Vers 18. unto life In a word hence it is that the Spirit when he comes he comes to dwell and abide in Believers Rom. 8. 11. He is called the spirit that abides for ever And now I am returned where I began Saints your perseverance is certain in it self though not perhaps to you because in Jesus Christ you have not only the graces of Christ but the spirit of Christ the spirit dwelling and abiding in you 1. The spirit knits the soul to the Lord and never suffers that Love-knot to be untied again This knot the spirit makes is stronger than the Gordian-knot which cannot only not be loosed but cannot be cut asunder The Gordian-knot Alexander the Great when he could not loose it cut it asunder but this knot whereby the Saints are tyed to Christ 't is such a knot as can neither be untied nor cut asunder 2. When the poor soul is careless of himself the spirit keeps him he sleeps and the spirit sits by him The wise virgins took a nap as well as the foolish they fell into a sleep of carnal security but the spirit watcht by them and awaked them 3. When the poor soul is weak the spirit helps him 4. When the froward soul offers to run from the Lord the Spirit follows him Jonah run from God but the Spirit follows him into the Sea and into the Whales belly and there he prayeth and looks again toward the holy Temple Is not this your wonder 5. When the unkind soul grieves the spirit yet the spirit still keeps the house and will not depart from him and so not suffer the soul wholly to depart from the Lord When David sinned and defiled himself he grieved the spirit he polluted the house and yet the spirit would not leave the house the spirit stai'd to keep grace alive in the embers and to blow it again into a new flame at Nathans Sermon Vse 10. You to whom God hath given grace the beginnings of grace here 's a great deal of work for you to do 1. Give the Lord the Honour of his grace And now the Lord knows I know not to whom I speak The Lord knows who are his Some that make the least appearance may have the greatest grace and some that cast the greatest lustre may have no grace a slight Impression upon the soul among men goeth for grace But you that have searched your hearts and found the pearl there give the Lord the Honour of his grace that ever he should plant such a flower in your bosoms For the last end of all the Elect is to admire and honour the riches of Gods grace Eph. 1. 5 6. Beloved This is Heavens work Oh! learn this song before you go thither which none learn but the redeemed and sealed Rev. 14. 3. of the Lord. The Lord in all his dealings with his people seeks lastly to bring about the glory of his grace 1. He leaves them a long time in their graves of sin before he gives them the resurrection of grace that they live like other men wallow in sin as other men which is strange that he that loved them so long should leave them so long to be as bad as any yet this he doth because it makes for the praise of his grace Eph. 2. 2 4 7 8 verses And this doth so confound Gods People that they wish not only Heaven but Earth and Ages to come may record this love 2. Out of men fallen he picks out usually the poorest and the vilest The younger Brother most despised and least respected in a Family and leaves the elder Jacob have I loved Rom. 9. 11 13. 1. Cor. 1. 26. Esau have I hated This is strange that the Lord should chuse thus but this he doth to blur the Glory of all the World 3. The Lord leaves many wants in his People under which they sit sighing and sometime very long Sometimes he takes away those feelings those enlargements they had hides his face from them that if ever he returns in love his grace may be the sweeter and last the longer 4. Sometimes he refuseth to hear their Prayers that when he doth answer them at last his free-grace may be adored and cryed up 5. Sometimes he humbleth them with vexing sins and pricking distempers and it is to advance grace 2. Cor. 12. 7 9. 6. In a word you shall find the Lord so strangely carrying on matters as if he did not love nor care for his people against the hair and grain of their desires and when all comes to winding up 't is to advance grace All a mans good days and bad days all Gods frowns and smiles all the Lords food and physick all God cares for works and plots for 't is to do his people no more hurt than this To advance his grace in them and by them All his hewings and hammerings of you his knocking you a pieces and new melting and new casting of you 't is that you may be vessels of his glorious grace that you may be able to live in the Air of Gods grace to suck in and breathe out grace and let all the powers of Hell seek to blur it yet grace shall conquer Who would not be under grace Oh poor creature Satan is tempting sin vexing yet grace must reign 2. Act for Jesus Christ Do the work of Christ and finish it Christ gives grace because he hath given work for grace to do Christ sets up a work in you that he may do work by you
and the power and goodness of the promiser Love lives upon Faith we can love God no longer than we believe When the imaginary Faith of wicked men like a candle dyeth within them their supposed love to God goeth out with it also They hate him in Hell and can do no other we love God no longer than we have a good opinion of his love to us 't is Faith that seeds this Lamp with Oyl We love him because he first loved us And therefore when the spring of Faith is low the stream of Love is very ebb Prayer lives upon Faith we pray no longer than we believe Prayer shall be heard We knock no longer at Gods door than Faith seeth we are welcom When a man feels guilt of sin yet Faith seeth the Lord will pardon it for his own name-sake Who is a God like unto Mica 7. 18. thee that pardons iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage He will turn again he will have compassion on us he will subdue i. e. pardon our iniquities so the word signifies and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea When a man feels the strength of sin yet Faith seeth that the Lord will waste and subdue it and doth not this bear up grace from sinking With what courage doth grace fight against sin when Faith tells her God is on your side and you shall overcome Faith finds and feels rest in trouble Vnto the upright there Psal 112. 4. ariseth light in the darkness The life of a Christian is a life of Faith which is a life contrary to sense and reason when the Lord kills what Doth he intend then to save me yes that he doth saith Faith and therefore Though he kill me yet will I trust in him and thus is grace inlivened When the Lord binds me in Cords of misery doth he intend me any good Yes saith Faith he intends to teach thee and instruct thee Blessed is he whom thou chastenest O Lord Psal 94. 12. Vers 13. and teachest him out of thy law that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity WHILE the pit is digged for the wicked Faith informs the Soul that God is upon a good work whilst he is binding and breaking his people Oh! he is teaching them some high and holy lesson his corrections are their instructions He is preparing them for a day of prosperity As 't is in the next verse That thou mayst give him rest from the days of adversity while the pit is digged for the wicked Where take notice of these two Things 1. While God is chastising his People he is preparing them for a day of smiles and felicities When he was breaking Job upon the wheel of Affliction he was but preparing him for a greater day of Honour and Prosperity 2. While God by chastisements is preparing his people for some greater happiness at that very time he is preparing a Gallows for the wicked he is digging their pit to bury them in That thou mayst give him rest from the day of adversity while the pit is digged for the wicked While the Jews were under a Cloud and God preparing deliverance for them he was at that very time preparing Hamans Gallows The wicked like condemned men are suffered to live till their Gallows and Grave be made ready Now Faith is well read in Divine Mysteries in Gods proceedings she acquaints the soul that God by chastising and touching the Body is teaching her that his strokes are not huntful Nocumenta sunt Documenta Secondly The Lord increaseth grace in his People by preserving a tenderness upon their Consciences 't is grace that makes the Conscience tender and that tenderness nurseth up grace with exquisite care in the soul The most tender hearted nurse is not more chary of her dear Babe to give it suck keep it clean preserve it from harms and see it come on and prosper than the tender Conscience is of her grace the sweet Babe of the Holy Ghost within her Blessed yea thrice blessed are they to whom God hath given a tender conscience As grace withers and shrinks up by an hardness coming upon the heart so grace improves mightily in a soft and tender soyl 1. The tender Conscience startles at secret sins as well as open sins to sin in the dark as well as in the light his Memento or if you please his Motto is Shall not God search this out Psal 44. 21. He fears Gods Eye more than all the Worlds eye The tender Conscience trembleth at your cunning arts and ways of sinning whereby in your bargains you can bring about your covetous desires under hand and no man discern you You call only those sins secret that are done in a corner but if in your publick dealings you can by your subtilties come over another Are not these secret sins too Tender conscience cannot swallow them And is not grace growing now 2. Tender conscience is quick and sensitive of small sins vain thoughts idle words lesser oaths wanton glances wishes and motions to sin He knows no duty small because there 's no Commandment small he calls no sin little because there 's no poyson little no death little no hell little and doth not this give strength to grace 3. The tender conscience smites the Saint after he hath sinned as oft as he sinneth After sin committed his heart gives him no rest till he hath made his peace with God If corrupt nature cannot but sin yet renewed conscience cannot but repent of sin it cannot but rise again if God be offended it cannot but meet him with humiliation if Man be wronged it cannot but make restitution or satisfaction as Zacheus did When David had sinned in numbring the people his heart smote him I have sinned greatly in that I have done Surely 2 Sam. 24. 10. grace gets ground by this 4. Tender conscience trembles at the appearance of evil as some eyes cannot abide to look on the Picture or Image of a Toad that which looks like sin he abhors it it scares a holy soul from any enterprize if it be but male coloratum an ill aspect Every thing that might any way redound to the wounding of Religion or at which any offence might be taken he entertains it not and doth not this give nutriment to grace 5. Tender conscience is jealous of the appearance of good as it hates the appearance of evil so it dares not always trust every appearance of good The tender conscience as far as it hath light will try all things and hold fast only what is good not what seems so Satan deceives more easily and destroys more dangerously when he assumes the shape of an Angel of light That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination Luk. 16. 15. in the sight of God 6. Tender conscience takes heed of what he knows lawful He doth not only fly what appears evil and try what appears good but
Saints that they may be more serious in their duties 2. The other evil in a slight and formal Communion with God in Duties is unthankfulness Duties of godliness are not only a debt to God but a reward to us Therefore in slightness there is not only unfaithfulness but unthankfulness Both the Majesty and Mercy of God is despised and can God be well pleased with such things 3. There is a third evil in a slight Communion with God in Duties and that is unfruitfulness we get nothing from God in duties we pray slightly and therefore get nothing by Prayer we hear the word slightly and therefore profit not by it Now that the Lord may cure his people of this slightness of heart and make their graces grow he useth this dispensation to leave them in want of assurance 6. God increaseth his Saints graces by terrors within he not only suspends their comforts but afflicts their souls he writes bitter things against them 1. These rowse them up to seek God They that see themselves lost will find a way to God They that have Hell-fire burning in them will value Heaven and pardon and the least drop of Gods love Oh! now promises are precious and Gods love neglected is now sweeter than the honey and the honey-comb Now they cry Come Lord Jesus come quickly 2. These fright them out of their dreams and carnal slumbers as the cry made at midnight that the Bridegroom cometh awoke the virgins out of their sleep Among the other diseases of the soul Divine desertions cure deadness and dulness of heart Sometimes living men are in a lifeless state their hearts are so benummed that they seem to lye among the dead They can hear the word carelesly and sleep out whole Sermons there is no vigour nor activity in their graces at home and therefore the Lord hangs their souls over the mouth of Hell and makes them drink of that red wine the dregs whereof the wicked of the earth shall Psal 75. 8. wring out and drink them that by this strong potion he may rowse them up and quicken their dull and drowsy spirits 3. These terrors work them more closely to Christ And for this cause God gives his People sad visions of sin and wrath he shakes the soul with Earth-quakes that she may stand faster upon her true Basis and Foundation These storms make their hearts gather in to Christ That I may be found in him saith Paul The soul must have some dry land to stand upon and when the flood of Gods terrors overflow the soul then she flyeth to Christ as Noah's Dove to the ark 7thly The Lord increaseth grace in his Saints by afflictions he makes them by marring them Divine Wisdom works by contraries he makes them shine brighter by their Eclipses and clears up their light by darkness Schola crucis Schola lucis And truly It is the property of true-born grace to grow the greater by the cross As the laurel tree is not smitten Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 55. nor blasted with lightning no more is heaven-born grace hurt by any afflictions but much bettered by them 1. God increaseth his Saints graces by sharp sicknesses by diseases unto death i. e. this startles mightily Oh Lord thou didst surprize me unprovided and if thy hand had cut me off with that disease my soul had been cut off from heaven for ever This enters deep upon the soul and strikes terrour upon the heart the Lord I hope shall never find me so again This stirs up thankfulness to the Lord that hath not only in this tryal saved me from the grave but also from Hell 2. Sicknesses deaden the Saints to the world They that in sicknesses are always leaving the world learn to dye unto the world They have death always in their eye They see themselves still upon the borders of the grave They are ever and anon lanching in eternity and this makes grace grow 3. Sicknesses are searchers Thou enquirest after mine iniquity Job 10. 6. saith Job and searchest after my sin When God smites our bodies he searcheth our hearts and makes enquiry in our lives and now saith the soul Let us search and try Lam. 3. 40. our ways When God is searching VS it is high time for VS to search our selves and this also makes grace to grow 4. Sicknesses dig Wells of godly sorrows in the heart They are as it were Gods Mattocks and Spades whereby he delves deep into the center of the heart and digs Wells of repentance which send forth streams of confession of sin which before would not run because they had no vent being covered and stopt with the earth of lust and hardness and worldliness upon them but now they find a passage When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the Psal 32. 3. 4. 5. day long for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me and my moysture is turned into the drought of summer I acknowledged my sin unto thee and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin 2. By poverty and narrowness of estate Many men must Aquilone maxime gaudent densiores ab afflatucjus laetioresque materiae firmioris Plin. Nat. Hist l. 17. c. 2. Jer. 6. 22. be kept short and bare that they may thrive in grace Pliny saith That trees generally like best that stand to the North-wind It causeth them to spread thick and more flourishing and makes the Timber more strong and solid The Lord threatneth the Jews with a people from the North-Countrey the Chaldean Army which should carry them captive into Babylon The North wind winnowed them and fanned all their Idolatry They flourished gallantly in Religion after the North wind had blown upon them 1. The cold blasts of poverty correct pride and moderate high thoughts Make a man poor and you make him humble Pride is an absolute enemy to grace and prosperity is the seminary of pride The North-wind of poverty cools the courage and tames the spirits of men and now they know God and themselves Their Plumes fall and now they will digest a reproof and sit upon even ground with the lower Saints When the world frowns upon them they seek the smiles of God before they were too high for him 2. Poverty teacheth them to pray they can now fall upon their knees those that never called upon God learn now to visit the Throne of grace and cry Lord Give us this day our daily bread Nay they long for the spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father Nay those that have prayed in their fulness now pray feelingly They can go to God in sense of wants before they did not hear nor feel their own Prayers In their prosperity they did not care what Prayers they put off God with Now they set the highest rate upon Prayer for they are fain to live upon Prayer An hungry belly makes a Saint hungry after Ordinances and after Gods Presence When a mans debts and poverty make
14. Lords face and turn from their wicked ways When they hear the words of the Lords threatnings they will rend their clothes 2 Chr. 34. 27. and weep before the Lord They that are humble they will accept of the punishment of their iniquity they will kiss Lev. 26. 41. the Rod of their correction glorifie his Justice and implore his Mercy The proud man thinks his little much the humble man thinks his much is too little The proud man thinks he hath grace enough the humble man thinks he can never have enough The proud man hath high conceits of himself the humble man hath high conceits of God The proud man seeks himself the humble man seeks Gods Glory and therefore his desires of grace are infinite because no measures are sufficient to serve Gods Glory The proud man reflects upon what he is the humble man reflects upon what he was that he was unprofitable he did serve sin a long time too long Many years were spent before he was called and all that while God lost by him and therefore now he must Row hard and ply his Oars with quickest diligence he did God much wrong and therefore now he must work and labour hard for him As Paul did I am the least of the Apostles that am not meet to 1 Cor. 15. 9 10. be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God I laboured more abundantly than they all The proud man reflects upon his attainments and what he hath done the humble man forgets those things which are behind Phil. 3. 13. Ad humilitatem pertinet ut Homo defectus proprios considerans seipsum non extollat Aquin. 22ae q. 35. ad 3. and reacheth forth unto those things which are before Is it possible that grace should not thrive here Oh! now it goes on amain The proud man casts his eye upon his Beauties the humble man turns his eye upon his Deformities the proud man looks upon his graces the humble man looks upon his sins and then crys out Oh! how much dirt and dross have I yet within me that must be purged out My sins out-weigh my graces so much levity of heart in me yet to be mortified so much self will to be expunged and self ends to be dethroned and carnal wisdom to be dismounted so much want of love to God and his Saints which must be heightned so much slavish fear in me which must be turned into filial fear so much studying mine own preservation more than the Honour and Interest of the Lord studying my safety more than my duty asking how I may be saved oftner than how I may serve God how little I rejoyce at the prosperity of the Gospel if my self be in adversity and how little I grieve in the adversity of the Church if I my self be in prosperity Thus the humble Saint by considering his imperfections advanceth on to perfection by advising with his own wants is still drawing more water out of Christs fulness 10thly God increaseth his Saints graces by making themselves to improve and increase them God increaseth their stock by their own good husbandry When the noble man in the Parable called his Servants Luk. 19. 12. and gave a stock of money among them to traffick with in his absence he charged them to improve it to his best advantage and one of them said Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds and another came and said Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds So when the Lord Christ gives a stock of grace and sets up a soul he looks that your own care should come in and that by your own good husbandry you should add to it You suppose the work of increasing grace lyeth in Christ alone This is and is not true 1. It is true in this sense that the increase flows only from Christ the increase is his blessing As Paul said in another case Paul planteth and Apollo watereth but God giveth the increase 'T is he alone that adds to the first stock wherewith he set you up None can create grace in the soul but Jesus Christ Every addition is a new creation When David after his great fall prayed for increase of grace He saith Create in me a clean heart O God When Paul stirreth them Psal 51. 10. Eph. 4. 23 24. up to be renewed in the spirit of their mind he adds which is created As the first platform of the new man is created so is every degree of it This is the difference between the growth of nature and of grace In natural growth there ariseth out of nature a new addition but in the growth of grace there is a new creation Thus far that all your increase of grace lyeth in Christ alone is true 2. But in another sense it is not true that is without the endeavour For you must act that Christ may give the increase You must work out your salvation with fear and trembling though God must work in you both to will and to do And therefore 't is said to you Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledg and to knowledg temperance The Disciples came to Christ and said Lord increase our faith And Paul prays for the Thessalonians The Lord make you to increase and yet he saith to them We beseech YOV brethren that ye increase more and more 11thly God increaseth grace in his Saints by keeping them awake The sluggard and the sleeper goeth behind-hand it is impossible he should thrive or keep cart on wheels And therefore God to increase their graces keeps his Saints awake Sleep is Ligatio sensuum the binding of the senses and therefore to be awake is when the senses are free and at their liberty 1. Sleep shuts up the eye the man that sleeps seeth no more than the man that 's blind And therefore God keeps his Saints eyes open to see Temptations and spiritual dangers to see the snares that are laid for them at their feet to see things invisible to see Judgment at hand to see the Tribunal set and the Books opened and the Judg sitting with innumerable Angels round about him and now repentance thrives and self-examination is at work and making your calling and election sure goeth on and spinning of fine linnen and washing of our robes white in the blood of the lamb and preparation for the nuptials with the Bridegroom While the eye of Hope is 1 Joh. 3. 3. kept open the man purifieth himself as Christ is pure 2. Sleep locks up the ear As long as a man is drown'd in a dead and deep sleep he hears no noise about him and therefore the Lord to increase his Saints graces keeps their ear open they hear the word of the Lord they hear and believe they believe and tremble they tremble and obey they obey and set upon action they read they run they pray they consult with the Saints they enquire how did the Lord work upon you What signs and evidences of grace
ever doubt of I say Satan tempts before Conversion namely to hinder us from entring the ways of grace and to keep us out of Christ For if we be once in Christ we are gone from him he can hurt us no more than he can Christ and you may see how far his malice can reach The seed of the woman shall break the serpents head that is his power The seed of the serpent shall bruise his heel that is his humanity When thou art once in Christ he can bruise but thy heel he may stir up affliction bring thee to thy grave but shall never bring thy soul to Hell At the best pain can but restrain your lusts it cannot heal them A disease can but abate the acts of sin it can never destroy the life of sin Death it self cannot kill sin the sins of wicked men live when they are dead The grave cannot consume them nor the fire of hell waste their strength the sins of unbelievers shall remain not only in their guilt but in their power to all eternity Quest But how does Satan hinder our conversion Answ By kindling a stronger love in us to sin There is in all men by nature a love to sin and Satan comes and blows that fire into a flame and so our love becomes predominant and afterwards it becomes a great work to un-love that sin 2. Satan tempts the unconverted these two ways 1. By inspiring his false Prophets and Ministers Thus he 1 King 22. 22. 1 King 22. 4 5. devised Ahabs destruction I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets And again Ahab King of Israel asked Jehosaphat King of Judah who came to see him whether he would go with him to Battel to Ramoth Gilead Well the King of Judah promised the King of Israel and told him saying I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses Afterwards Jehosaphat said nnto the King of Israel enquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord to day Then the King of Israel gathered the prophets that is Vers 6. the false prophets inspired by Satan together about four hundred men and said unto them Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battel or shall I forbear and they said go up for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the King Consider it seriously They that admininister the Oracles of God are the greatest mercies or greatest curses When they drop from their lips nothing but Gods mind they are mercies if not they are curses 2. Satan tempts the unconverted by numbering more false prophets than true For when Satan cannot act for Truth on his side he will act by number He will weigh the balance by number when he cannot by truth he will disgrace truth by the greatness and multitude of number against it for he knows what will take among carnal and ignorant men they are carried with quantity more than quality What are you saith Satan that are but one or two wiser than so many Can truth sit upon the lips of so few If it were truth why should not others know it as well as you Why should so many be ignorant of it Thus he carried his device upon the wings of multitude against Ahab to hatch his design against 1 Reg. 22. 6. Ahab he did sit upon the spirits of four hundred prophets against one Micajah so there are many loose lives against one Christ though there be many now a days that teach men by their words and doings that men may live loosely yet Christ saith Broad is the way to destruction and narrow is the way to life So that the fewness of those that carry on the way to life is a Testimony of the truth of it 3. Satan tempts the unconverted by putting men out of conceit with the godly that they are proud and Hypocrites Secondly Satan tempts men in conversion He can play his part here also he is cunning everywhere to destroy if he cannot keep sinners from conversion he will hinder them in conversion Now Satan temps men in conversion 1. By putting hard thoughts of God himself into them and therefore no marvel if they have hard thoughts of godly men When such a soul is coming unto God he is by Satan way-laid with this namely that God will never pardon him he would repent but dares not he takes God for his Enemy Satan would fain make a poor soul that 's coming unto God think that God is his Enemy and will not save him it is one of his Master-pieces to bring the love and good-will of God into suspition Oh! saith he why should I repent I shall not be accepted and this is no small weapon And thus Satan deals with grown Saints and strong Christians and therefore surely the temptation is a strong Engine it hath more than ordinary strength in it He practised thus against Job 1. 16. Job The fire of God saith the messenger is fallen from heaven and hath burnt up the sheep Mark ye why did Satan consume Jobs sheep with fire He stirred up the Sabeans Vers 14 15. to take away his Oxen and Asses and why not the sheep why to provoke Job if he could to be passionate against God and for that was his great design to curse and blaspheme God to beget an opinion in Job that God was now his Enemy as well as Man The fire of God is fallen upon the sheep thou canst not put this off as thou mightst do the other and say this is but the malice or covetousness of the Sabeans that rob me of my goods no thou shalt see now that God himself is angry heaven frowns upon thee the fire of God consumes thee Turn over the Records of all antiquity and see whether ever God dealt thus with any but those cursed Sodomites upon whom God rained fire from heaven Was God their enemy in that punishment Behold he sends such an one upon thee though God hates nothing so much as sin yea nothing but sin yet he would fain save the sinner Now then bring your souls to this either I will be a natural man still or else I will get into Jesus Christ Sirs If you live in sin you will lose your souls if you throw away sin you shall be received into the bosom of Christs love 2. In conversion one device by which Satan tempts is when poor creatures are coming home to God to fright them with fearful blasphemies As for example he will first tempt or suggest to thee that there is no God and this temptation springs immediately from Satans hatred of God he would annihilate God But now to oppose Satan in this his device how shall I encounter him Thou must arm thy self against this temptation thus Answ 1. Tell him Satan thou knowest there is a God thou wouldst have me believe there is no God and yet thou knowest that there is a God The Devils also believe
temptation First Look for a day of Temptation For 1. Man is born to temptations Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the Job 5. 6 7. ground Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward Mariners that go in Ships on the Sea look for storms This world is a Sea of troubles Travellers look for thieves and encounters This life is the Field of tryals and therefore you must look for Battels Soldiers in the field stand in Battalia whilst you are in this world you are in your enemies Countrey 3. Temptations must come Jesus was led up of the spirit 1 Cor. 11. 19. into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil for there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you Secondly Prepare for a day of Temptation Remember Prov. 24. 10 If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small 1. Prepare for inward temptations Fears within 2. Prepare for outward temptations frightnings without 1. Prepare for outward temptations from the world If ye were of the world the world would love his own but because ye John 15. 19. are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you and Satan will tempt ye in and by the world 1. It is a dark day Afflictions are called darkness and darkness is terrible the night is doleful and uncomfortable Oh! get light in this dark night First The light of Knowledg and Wisdom to see your way Secondly the light of comfort and peace this will guide you and uphold you 2. It is a strong day We wrestle not with flesh and blood that 's but weak but with principalities and powers Satan is strong and Temptations are strong especially when we are weak and therefore store up strength 1. The strength of God and the strength of Christ I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me 2. Feed upon the present ordinances of Christ Concoct them and turn them into nutriment Christ fed the people lest said he they should faint in the way If you hear the word but feed not on the word you will faint in the way Rebuke your selves that you have not fed so heartily upon the Ordinances of Jesus Christ O repent and whet up your appetites now get good stomachs to the word of life What the Angel of the Lord said to Elijah so say I to yon Arise 1 King 19. 7 8. and eat because the journey is too great for thee And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights 3. Get the spirit within you Ye are of God little children 1 John 4.4 and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than be that is in the world 4. Get humility there is great strength in humility The humbled Christian is the strongest Christian An humble heart will bear a great affliction when a proud heart cannot bear the least Let a man deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Self-denial is humility and the self-denying Christian will be able to take up the Cross and carry it after Jesus Christ 2. Prepare as for outward so for inward Temptations Outward tryals bring inward Temptations along with them 1. Temptations to doubt of Gods love as Gideon said when the Angel told him The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all Judg. 6. 13. this befaln us And where be all his miracles which our Fathers told us of saying Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites 2. Temptations to cast off God Then said his wife unto him Job 2. 9. Dost thou still retain thine integrity Curse God and dye 3. Temptations to unbelief When poverty and want of all things come upon you can God or will God sustain me When I have nothing of mine own shall or can I live upon the air Yea they spake against God they said Can God furnish a Psal 78. 19. 20. table in the wilderness Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed Can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people 4 Temptations to sin to save and shift for your selves by sin As Abraham was tempted to lye and said that Sarah was not his wife but his sister Peter to save himself was tempted to deny Jesus Christ Thirdly In the third place Satan tempts after Conversion 1. He tempts new converts by pride Young Christians that are newly born are subject to this sin For 1. They are come as it were into a new world and therefore know not what ground they stand on And as a child that hath a new garment the first day he wears it or for a little while as long as it is new he is so proud that he doth nothing but show it and will go abroad to show his new cloathes so the Saints at their first Conversion when they have put on the new man as long as it seems new are very proud of it and very fine in their own eye and delight to show abroad their graces and will go in company to show their new gifts and cloathes none so forward to speak or censure as they Thus the Disciples were at first very proud and self-conceited Matth. 19. 27. for their leaving all for Christ as you may read Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore That is we have done that which this young man would not 2. A little grace in a new convert seems great a little grace in a new convert seems great and a great deal of grace in an old convert seems little I say a little grace in a new convert seems great 1. Because being but newly and but smally enlightned he doth not see all the dimensions of grace he doth not yet see what quantity is in grace what an abundance of grace is necessary to such and such duties such and such temptations 2. Again a little seems a great deal to him that had lately none As two-pence or a groat is a great deal in a poor mans purse that had not so much there he knew not when And a man that hath not a foot of land left him by his Father in the world and lives thereafter very poor and needy if an Vnckle or Kinsman should dye and leave him but ten pound lands a year he would count it a great deal indeed it is a great deal to nothing and would count himself as good a man as he that hath his hundred a year So a Saint that hath newly set up in the world and was worth nothing a week a go to him a little sum of grace seems a great deal and
interpretative tempting of God when though we intend not to tempt him yet we do the same thing which he doth who hath a design and desire to tempt God So that this sin may be committed when you do not intend it you may tempt God when you have no express purpose to do it when you do that which is ordinable to nothing else but to make a tryal or experience of God and to prove his Power or Goodness or Knowledg As when a man goes on in a wretched course of life and yet hopes to find mercy at the hour of death he intends not it may be to try Gods mercy yet he doth that which is good for nothing but to make an experience of his mercy 3. You must know that 1. There is a good or lawful tempting of God 2. There is a sinful tempting of God There is a commendable and there is an unwarrantable tempting of God 1. There is a good and commendable temptation of God which is lawful which is so when it springs 1. A bono principio from a good principle or an holy heart and purpose 2. When it is done in a lawful way or by a good action 3. When it is bottomed upon a good ground that is 1. When we have a call from God to it his command and promise to bear us out 2. When we have a just necessity to do it 4. It is a lawful tempting of God when it tends to a good end This is a lawful tempting of God when it proceeds from a good principle and is done by good means and tends Tentatio bons est quae ex principio bono seu animo sancto ac bono medio seu modeâ—â—â— bonum finem tendit to a good end and as you heard also is bottomed upon a good ground a lawful call and a just necessity to tempt and try God 1. To make our tempting and trying of God lawful and good it must spring from a good principle or an holy heart that is a love of knowing the Truth or Power or Justice of God When we make a Tryal of God out of love to God and his glorious Attributes that we may be ravished with the beauty and splendour of them 2. It is a lawful tempting of God when we have a command to try him and then we sin in not tempting God Isa 7. When the Lord had promised what he would do for Judah and the house of David and what he would do against Syria and Ephraim saith he to encourage Abaz faith in ver 11. Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God ask it either in the depth or in the height above As if he had said For the confirmation of thy faith and the assurance of the truth of Gods word ask a sign that is try God by asking somewhat to be done some unusual and extraordinary thing to be done by him thus make a tryal and experience of him whether he means as he saith whether his heart agrees with his word to know this ask a sign make a tryal put him to it No saith Ahaz I will not ask neither will I tempt the Lord. You Vers 12. would think this was Religiously but it was Hypocritically spoken he pretended he would not sin that if he ask't a sign he should go against the Command in Deut. 6. 16. Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God as ye tempted him in Massah As if a man should tempt God by doing that which he is invited by God himself to do Ahaz here had a Command to try God it was Gods gracious indulgence and kind condescent to Ahaz to bid him ask a sign that is if thou art hard to believe me ask a sign and try me I give thee this offer but he would not it was his rebellion not to tempt or try God when he had a Command to tempt and try him And herein was his sin also the greater because God would have given King Ahaz a sign not for himself only but for the edification and instruction of the whole people and therefore he is reproved as an hinderer of the common good and publick salvation in that he would not ask a sign 3. It is a lawful tempting or tryal of God when there is a just necessity when we really stand in need of his extraordinary appearance when ordinary means fail then to trust in him and expect his unusual presence it is not unlawful Thus when Pharaoh pursued Israel and his Army was in the Rear of them and the Red-sea before them Moses said unto them Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which Exod. 14. 13. he will shew to you to day And when the children of Israel were in the wilderness and could have no bread nor could meet with water then they were to try what God could do for them and to expect relief from him out of the ordinary course they were called by God into the wilderness and therefore had a call to try God and seek experiments of his mercy and power for them 4. It is a lawful tempting of God when it is to a good end 1. As for confirmation of our faith thus Gideon tempted or proved God Judg. 6. 36 37 38 39 40 verses And Gideon said unto God If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said Behold I will put a fleece of wool in the floor and if the dew be on the fleece only and it be dry on all the the earth beside then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said And it was so for he rose up early on the morrow and thrust the fleece together and wringed the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water Where faith he at the 39th verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let me tempt or prove I pray thee but this once with the fleece Gideon being conscious of his own infirmity and weakness and out of a desire to obey God and for the confirmation of his faith and his more cheerful obedience in a most dangerous design which God had set him upon asked and obtained a sign I suppose he ask'd this sign by an instinct and impulse from God himself 2. When it is for Gods glory and the publick good for the salvation of souls and the progress of the Gospel and the splendour of Christs name And thus the Apostles prayed that God would be with them in their Ministry by stretching forth his hand to heal and that signs and wonders might Acts 4. 29 30. be done by them 2. There is a sinful tempting of God A sinful tempting of God is which wants those conditions or ingredients spoken of before Briefly thus Quae principio medio aut fine peccat a sinful tempting of God is that which fails in principle means or end You shall see an instance of this sinful tempting of God in Matth. 22. 15. to 22. Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they
his Promises Exod. 7. 17. Is the Lord among us or not In the wilderness of the Children of Israels tempting of God was a doubting of Gods Care and Providence and Power and Wisdom of which they had so many arguments assurances and promises from him In Numb 14. 22. Their tempting of God ten times sprang from their not believing him in all his signs which he had shewed Vers 11. among them and what that unbelief was appears by their words at the 2d verse Would God that we had died in the Vers 13. land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey Thinking that God could not preserve them or else would not go along with but leave them to be devoured by the people of the land as you may see at the 9th verse Now if you ask why sinful men tempt God it is from unbelief sometimes it springs from presumption believing more than God has promised they hope to be saved although they live in sin they are too confident and have too much faith they are over-believing 4. What is it sinfully to tempt and try God You must know as you have heard already that man may tempt God Et in excessu in defectu both in the excess and in defect 1. They tempt God who neglect second causes and use Neglectu licitorum not means which God hath prescribed when thou expectest God alone to help thee or give thee a mercy which thou oughtest to come to by thy own labour and co-operation this is to tempt and try both the Power and the Will of God They that will not labour with their hands but put it upon God to provide for them these tempt the Lord they that will not manage their estates but put it upon God to help them they sin most grievously It is true Gods Providence doth all things yet thy Providence must work with his Providence as a servant under it In Prov. 10. 22. It is said The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and yet at the 14th verse it is said The hand of the diligent maketh rich How stand these two together they are not opposita but subordinata not opposites but subordinate the one to the other Gods blessing makes rich as the principal cause and the diligent hand makes rich as the instrumental cause under Gods blessing there must be a wheel in the middle of a wheel the wheel of diligence in the wheel of Gods blessing there must be a hand in a hand the hand of diligence in the hand of blessing the diligent hand cannot make rich without Gods blessing and Gods blessing will not make rich without a diligent hand So they tempt God that divide the spirit from the Ordinance that look for Revelations and discoveries without Gospel-ordinances that look for grace without the Word that look for light without the candle of the Ministry that neglect Sabbaths neglect Ordinances and sit at home and say God will give them faith Ah ye true Phanaticks for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God the word cannot work grace without the spirit the spirit ordinarily will not work grace without the word So they tempt God that look for God to subdue their sins and they do nothing God must master their lusts and unruly desires but themselves will not strive nor fast nor pray nor deny themselves nor wound their flesh As if an Army should stand in Battalia against the Enemy and not strike one stroke were not this a mad tempting of God and horrid self-murder Up sirs then and your selves fight the good fight of faith against your lusts Victory over sin is a mercy which thou must come to by thy own labour and co-operation 't is God indeed that hews down the strong oaks of our lusts but the Ax wherewith he doth it must be in our hands If ye through the spirit mortifie Rom. 8. 13. the deeds of the body ye shall live So they tempt God that will go in the way of means but not far enough many will pray against sin but not practise against sin as if a sick man should pray for his health but will take no physick for his health or he that hath a dangerous wound should pray to be healed but will apply no plaister they that pray for their children but do not educate them instruct reprove correct them they tempt God in that they do not use all the means for as Solomon saith Foolishness is bound in the heart Prov. 22. 15. of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him They that argue if we are elected we shall be saved though we live as we list and if we are not elected we shall be damned though we live never so holy and endeavour never so carefully these tempt God egregiously for God electing to the end elects also to the means hence that saying Praedestinatio est praeparatio gratiae in praesenti gloriae in futuro Predestination is a preparation of grace for the present and of glory for the future And therefore whereas thou sayst If I am elected I shall be saved though I live as I list the inference is most false for then 1. Conversion and Grace should be commanded in vain and because predestination alone should bring men to heaven which is a foolish conceit I say predestination alone brings no man to Heaven it is but the first link of the chain 2. Election or Predestination carrieth the means to salvation in the Womb of it so that this conditional proposition though Paul continues a blasphemer yet by vertue of his Election he shall be saved is so far from being true that the contrary ought to be inferred if Paul be not converted 't is impossible he should be saved though elected because God who elected Paul to be saved elected him to be saved by conversion not by rebellion by faith not by unbelief And whereas thou sayst if I am not elected do what I can live I never so holy though I should believe and repent I shall be damned by reason of the infallible decree I answer There was never any such decree at all in the Divine Will of damning any man though he believed and changed his life and returned to God I tell thee there was never any such Decree at all in the Divine Will but the contrary which God would have establisht for ever as most sure and certain and promulged abroad to all men That whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life and he that will have the son shall have life Oh comfort unspeakable comfort and therefore come in souls come in and take Christ ye sinners and fear not Reprobation ye shall be saved Sirs let me in short give ye a blessed word fear sin and fear not reprobation if
doing When Ananias and Saphira sold their Acts 5. 9. possession and kept back part of the price saith Peter How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord Whether these did purposely go about to tempt the Spirit or no is questioned if so then it was an intentional and direct tempting of the Spirit However though they did not intend it yet 't was an interpretative tempting of the Spirit that is it is called a tempting of the Spirit and taken to be such because it was such a fact as they could do no more who had intended to tempt the Spirit But how was the Spirit of God tempted in this Act of theirs The act did tend though it may be they did not intend it I say the act did tend to this to make a tryal whether the Spirit knew their fraud or not and knowing of it whether he would punish it Their act spake in this language as if themselves had said Can it be that the Spirit should know or find out our deceit And so the meaning of Peters words How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord is this How is it that ye have Deodat in loc agreed together to make a prophane tryal whether he knew your fraud or no As if by this secret and fraudulent conveyance you would try or make an experience whether the spirit were privy to your deceit or no. Thus Sirs when men sin in secret they tempt Gods Knowledg it may be not of set-purpose but their actions tend to it Is Gods eye upon us can we not sin but God must know it can we be no-where out of his Presence Their actions behind the curtain put God to the tryal whether he seeth them or no. Hypoorites tempt Gods Knowledg they do as it were make a tryal whether the beams of his Knowledg reach the dark center of their hearts and his eyes read their cunning ends and self-designs to play the Hypocrites and carry on private Interests under the veil of profession what is it but to try whether they cannot hide their plots from God But oh fools for doth the influence of the Sun and Stars pierce down into the deep bosom of the earth and there beget mettals and minerals and shall not Gods Knowledg much more reach the heart of man The Lord knows the thoughts Psal 94. 11. of man that they are vanity 5. They tempt God who without a call cast themselves into danger to make tryal whether God can or will deliver them Scripture teacheth us that when danger is upon us we may hope well relying on God for help but we must not cast our selves rashly into danger that God may help we may trust God in difficulties that he will help but we must not throw our selves into difficulties expecting God to help This was Satans method of tempting Christ he would have had Mat. 4. 5 6. Christ to cast himself down from the Pinacle of the Temple that is throw himself into danger and try whether God would not preserve him For it is written saith he he shall Psal 91. 11 12. give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone But saith Christ Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God that is by casting thy self without a call into danger for Satan though he alledged Scripture yet hides some words which shew the meaning of it The Psalmist says He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways and what are thy ways but actions agreeable to thy calling and thy duty And thus he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways that is in those courses that are appointed thee of God But these words To keep thee in all thy ways the Devil leaves them out and clips the sentence and therefore Christ tells him It is written again thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God that is by going out of our way and casting our selves into danger without a call and then say the Lord will deliver us It had been contrary to Christs way and his duty to have thrown himself down from the Pinnacle of the Temple he had gone out of his way had he done so Sirs when we go out of Gods precincts we go out of Gods protection a King undertakes the safety of his Subjects whilst they travel within due hours and keep the Kings high-way else not so hath God promised to preserve us and his Angels to take charge over us while we hold his way If a man should throw himself into a deep River where in an ordinary way he could not but be drowned and say God is able to preserve me and make me swim out you will say he is a mad-man his faith is frenzy and 't is a most horrid and prodigious tempting of God So they tempt God that engage themselves to afflictions to poverty loss of estate without a call and therefore they that suffer must be sure they have a good ground and a good cause and truth of their side else they sinfully tempt God to provide for them Hitherto I refer wilful and indiscreet marriages when persons neither of whom have any competent subsistence shall marry together they know not how to live and maintain themselves and yet say God will provide this is to tempt God they cast themselves into the disaster of irremediable poverty and into the deep gulph of a thousand sorrows and temptations and yet say God will provide what is this but a sottish and sinful tempting of the Lord God So they that expose themselves to the occasions and temptations of sin saying God will keep them from sin these tempt God As servants that will venture to live in Papists houses and say God will preserve us from contagion or when servants cast themselves into a prophane family and say God I hope will not suffer me to be the worse for it or when serious christians shall make choice to tye themselves in marriage to prophane and carnal persons or when a man shall engage himself to sinful company and say Though they be naught God will keep me and take care of me all these tempt God as if a man should throw himself into the fire and say I shall not burn God will keep me or as if a man should run himself into an house where the plague is and say God will keep me from infection 6. God is tempted when we are not satisfied with his revealed will sufficiently made known to us but require further arguments and so put him to the tryal And thus we may tempt God in point of Doctrine when we will not sit down content I say with the revealed will of God when we refuse to believe that which is testified to be his Will but require more arguments thereof as of a matter still