faith is working 2 63 Workes without them none iustified Ibid. Doctrine of good workes iustified 2 67 Works why required 2 70 Good workes their different rise in Papists and us 2 72 Workes to iudge aright of them 2 79 Workes how accepted 2 80 Workes of our calling good workes 2 84 Faith must be set on worke 2 138 Motives to set faith on worke 2 139 Faith inableth us to worke 2 141 We shall be iudged by our workes 3 186 A good heart and good workes goe together 3 189 Motives to working 3 203 A beauty in good workes 3 205 World World overcome by faith 2 215 World the love of God and it cannot be together 3 121 World tryalls of love to it 3 122 World how minded by Saints 3 126 Word As great a sinne to neglect the Lords Supper as to neglect the Word 3 59 Wrastling Wrastling with God 1 89 Y. Yoake Yoake of Satan easie to many that weare it 2 31 Z. Zeale is where there is love 3 95 FINIS CHristian Reader the Booke being divided into three parts being upon three severall Texts and each part beginning with Fol. 1. know that alway the first figure in the Table sheweth the part the other the page as will easilie appeare by the beginning of the Table ERRATA Part. 1. Page 31 line 10 for If say reade I say page 55 line 4 for iustification reade testification p 59 l. 12 for the thing r. the next thing p. 75 l. 27 for yeranes r yearnes p. 76 l. 6 for the use r. that use p. 109 l. 25 for hearâ— of in r. heard in p. 113 l. 23 for to serve r to serve him p 113 l 26 for have no hope r they have no hope p 125 l 8 for beleeve this r beleeve for this p 130 l 25 for best bud r least bud p 136 l. 20 for eyther thy soule r either for thy soule Part 2. Page 23 line ult blot out his p. 25 l. 7 blot out for p. 49 l. 9 for worke r. worker p 72 l 28. for 3 use r. 4 use p. 76. in the margine blot out Vse 4. p. 85 l. 22 for was r. was by p â—6 l. 1 for selfe r. selves p. 88 l. 18. for within r. in p. 132 9 for faith r. ioy p. 144 l 8 for so r see p. 158 l 25 for thing r use p 160 l 30 blot out that p 165 l 20 for conclusions r turnings p 197 l 2 3 r God stayes thee for this end p 197 l 9 blot out not p. 198 l 10 for weakneâ— r. weaned p 198 l 31 for induldeâ—s r indulgentâ— p 199 l 14 for except r expect p â—02 l 10 for thy r their p 208 l 19 for certainly r. captivity p 212 l 11 for saith will r saith he will Part 3. Page 74 l 15 for they would r they would not p 99 l 4 blot out any p 99 l 12 for beauty r bent p 140 l 9 for feare r sense p 149 l 12 for nearely r warily A briefe Collection of the principall heads in the ensuing Treatises PART 1. DOCTRINE That righteousnesse by which alone wee are saved is revealed in the Gospell pag. 3 Sixe Questions about this righteousnesse 5 Vse To see the justice of God in condemning men who neglect this righteousnesse 26 Vse 2. Not to deferre the taking of Christ. 31 Doct. 2. Faith is that whereby the righteousnes of God is made ours to salvation 37 Reasons 1. That it might be of grace 43 2. That it might be sure Ibid. 3. That it might be to all the seede 44 4. That no flesh should rejoyce in it selfe 45 Definition of justifying faith 49 The object of faith 52 The subject of it 55 How faith justifieth 59 The acts of faith 62 Vse 1. Not to be discouraged from comming to God 67 Vse 2. To rejoyce in God 76 Vse 3. To labour for faith 81 Vse 4. To apply the promises with boldnesse 86 Foure things in the understanding touching the promises 95 Three meanes to draw the will 104 Seven arguments to perswade us of Christs willingnesse to receive us 110 Doct. 3. Faith admits degrees and wee ought to grow from degree to degree 117 Faith admits degrees in foure respects Ibid. Vse 1. To comfort those that have faith though in a lesse degree 130 Vse 2. An exhortation to grow in faith 134 Sixe motives to grow in faith 135 PART 2. DOCTRINE That faith that saveth us must be effectuall pag. 3 Five causes of ineffectuall faith 6 Three things wherin the efficacy of faith consisteth 20 How effectuall faith is wrought 47 Sixe reasons why God will accept no other faith 58 Vses First To try our faith whether it be sound 60 Secondly To judge our conditions by the efficacy of our faith 64 Thirdly To justifie the doctrine of good workes against the Papists 67 Fourthly To labour to grow in faith and assurance 72 Fifthly To learne to judge aright of our workes 79 Sixthly To try if we have faith 84 Five signes of effectuall faith 92 The concomitants of faith 124 Vse 7. To set faith on worke 138 Three wayes how to use faith 142 Sixe considerations to helpe faith to comfort us 149 Eight instances wherein faith should guide us 158 Concerning using meanes 176 Concerning evills feared 187 Concerning God hearing our prayers 193 Concerning the prosperity of the wicked and affliction of the Saints 201 PART 3. DOCTRINE HEE that loves not is not in Christ. page 5 Five kindes of love 8 How the love of God is wrought in us 12 Reasons First If a man love not there is a curse on him 18 Secondly He breakes the Evangelicall law 19 Thirdly it is adultery 20 Fourthly he slights Gods offer 21 Vses First To examine if we love Christ. 21 Sixe tryalls of our love to Christ. 24 Seven motives to love Christ. 34 Meanes to enable us to love God 49.106.138 Ten properties of love 60 Two impediments of our love to Christ. 106 Five tryalls whether we love God or no. 115 Foure signes of hatred of God 133 Meanes whereby wee may be assured of Gods love to us 146 Five things requisite in our love to God 159 The danger of not loving the Lord. 178 â—oure things in the curse of God 179 Doct. 2. We are to be judged not onely by our faith but by our workes 188 Reasons First Because every Christian hath the Spirit 189 Secondly Inward rectitude is never disjoyned from good workes 191 Thirdly Because every Christian hath a new nature 192 Vses First Not to content our selves with good meanings onely 193 Secondly Christians are better taught than learned men without grace 199 Thirdly An exhortation to doing 205 Three duties suting the season 211 1 Cor. 16.13 1 Thes. 5 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 6.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doct. Eph. 1 1â— 6. Questions about this righteousnes 1. Quest. How it saueth Ans. 1. Rom. 5.14 1 Cor. 15.45 Answ.
wee are and to conceive from thence the kindnesse of the Lord you know how it affected Saul when hee came into the hands of David that he had power to kill him he considered what he had done to Dauid how he had used himselfe to him and he saw Dauids kindnesse againe to him but unexpected and undeserved it was it melted his heart it dissolved him into teares So the love of the Lord when we consider how we have behaved our selves to him and yet he hath offered us peace and yet he saith Returne and I will forgive you I say this would worke on the hardest heart And therefore consider your sinnes it is not enough to say I am a sinner perhaps you are ready to doe so But come to particular sinnes consider wherein you have offended the Lord say you have done thus and thus as Paul reasons with himselfe I was a blasphemer I was a persecuter an oppressour and yet the Lord had mercy on mee so be ready to say I have committed such and such sinnes it may be uncleannesse it may be Sabbath-breaking and swearing c. yet the Lord hath beene mercifull or willing to receive me to mercy as that place Ier. 3.1 If a mans wife play the harlot will hee returne to her No he will put her away and give her a Bill of Divorcement but you have done it and done it oft and with many lovers and yet returne againe to mee saith the Lord So I say when Christ shall come to you when you have committed such and such sinnes and the Lord shall say to you though you have done this though you have done it often yet returne again to me and I will receive you to mercie I say this should melt our hearts and cause us to love the Lord. I should come to the third that is to beseech the Lord to shew his owne selfe to you for indeede wee shall never come to love him till the Lord shew himselfe to us It is one thing when we preach him to you and it is another when the Lord shewes himselfe For as the Sunne is not seene but by his owne light there is no way in the world to see the Sunne all the candles all the torches cannot doe it except the Sunne shew it selfe So I say of the Lord all the Preachers in the world though they should speake with the tongues of Angels they were not able to shew the Lord Christ Iesus what hee is but if the Lord shew his owne selfe to you if he open the cloud and shew you his glory and the light of his countenance then you shall know the Lord after another manner than we can shew him to you with another knowledge more effectually And when you have seene him thus you shall love him without this you shall not love him And therefore pray the Lord to shew himselfe to you as it was Moses prayer Exod. 33 Shew me thy glory What is that That is Lord shew me thy excellency which is exceeding glorious You must thinke Moses asked not this in vaine it was for some purpose hee asked not meerely to satisfie his fancie for the Lord would not then have heard him But what did he aske it for Surely that he might love the Lord the more by knowing him better And when Moses came to aske it at the hands of the Lord he did assent he proclaimed that is hee revealed himselfe more than ever he did before So I say to every one of you if you be earnest with the Lord desire him to shew you his excellencie that you might love him more serve him more and feare him more he could deny you no more than he did Moses for you must thinke that this is no extraordinary thing for the Lord to shew himselfe That which hee did miraculously to Stephen when he opened the heavens and shewed himselfe to the outward view that hee doth ordinarily to the Saints hee shewes himselfe to their mindes and inward affections When wee preach at any time except the Lord shew himselfe to you at that time then our preaching is in vaine for the word that we speake is but a dead letter it will worke no more upon you than a dead thing that hath no efficacy But when the Spirit goes with the word and hee openeth to you the thing that we speake then it is effectuall Therefore Paul to the Ephesians when he had opened those great mysteries hee concludes with this The Lord give you the Spirit of wisedome and revelation to enlighten the eyes of your understanding that you may know what the hope of your calling is and what is the glorious inheritance of the Saints c. As if he should say when I have said all this it is nothing it will not doe it but he beseecheth the Lord to give them the Spirit of revelation and then it is done And so to conclude all when we have said all we can to move you to love the Lord it is all nothing except the Lord give you that Spirit of wisedome and revelation to open your eyes to see what is the exceeding greatnesse and excellency of his power FINIS THE THIRD SERMON GALLAT 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love OVT of these words we have formerly delivered this point to you that Whâ— soever loveth not is not in Christ. The last thing in the prosecution of this point was the meanes whereby this love is wrought in our hearts which we did not then finish notwithstanding we will not proceed in it at this time but rather alâ—â—r the matter and doe that which I did not then intend because there are many this day that are to receive the Sacrament and you know when we come to receive the Sacrament our chiefe businesse is to examine our selves Let every man examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread and drinke of this cup. We have often pressed to you the necessitie of these two things First that you may not omit the Sacrament when it is administred in the Congregation whereof you are members for if they were to be cut off from the people that neglected the Passeover why should not this be accounted a greater sinne and to deserve a greater punishment to neglect the receiving of the Lords Supper which is come in the place of the Passeover and is farre beyond it First because it is more cleare and it is more cleare because the doctrine is more cleare for it doth more lively represent Christ now exhibited in the flesh than that which onely represented Christ which was then to come And secondly because the mercie that you are now to remember is your redemption from sinne and from hell a greater mercie than that which they were to remember in the Passeover which was their deliverance out of Egypt though that was not all therefore the neglecting of this must
the giuing vp of a mans selfe to CHRIST and making a publike testimony of it although there bee somthing more meant generally by baptizing but heere it is meant a iustification to all the world that we haue taken CHRIST Now euery one that will beleeue and be baptized that is euery one that will doe this shall bee saued so that a man must first take CHRIST himselfe and then he may doe as the Wife after she hath her Husband she may thinke of all the benefits she hath by him and may take them and vse them as her owne This is the first thing The second thing that I promised was to shew you the subiect of faith and that is the whole heart of man that is to say to name it distinctly both the minde and the will Now to shew you that both these are the subject of faith you must know that these two things are required First on the part of the vnderstanding it is required that it beleeue that is that it conceiue and apprehend what GOD hath reuealed in the Scriptures and here an act of GOD must come in putting a light into the vnderstanding for my beloued Faith is but an addition of a new light to reason that whereas reason is purblinde faith comes and giues a new light and makes vs see the things reuealed by GOD which reason cannot doe by faith we apprehend these great and glorious Mysteries which otherwise wee could not apprehend as we see it expressed in 2 Cor. 4. The god of this World hath blinded their eyes that the light should not shine into their hearts by which they should beleeue this glorious Gospell So then there must be a light put into the minde that a man may be able by that to eleuate and raise his reason to beleeue this that is to conceiue and to apprehend the things that are offered and tendered in the Gospell But this is not all there is an act also of the will required which is to take and receiue Christ for this taking is an act of the will therefore there must be a consent as well as an assent Now it is the act of the vnderstanding to assent to the truth which is contained in the promises wherein Christ is offered but that is not all there is also an act of will requisite to consent vnto them that is to embrace them to take them and to lay hold vpon them and to apply them to a mans selfe This I will the rather cleere because it is a thing controuerted I say there is a double act an act of the mind and an act of the will to this purpose consider that in Rom. 5 17. For if by the offence of one death raigned by one much more they which receiue abundance of grace and the gift of righteousnesse shall reigne in life by one Iesus Christ. Marke it you may see what faith is in those words Those that receiue the gift of righteousnesse righteousnesse is giuen and offered by God and those that receiue that gift of righteousnesse shall reigne in life so that taking and receiuing being an act of the will it must needs be that the will must come in to this worke as well as the vnderstanding Like vnto this is that 1 Ioh. 12. To as many as receiued him c. That is to as many as beleeued in his Name for so the words afterwards expresse that is when wee are willing to take Christ which is nothing else but the consent of the will when the will is resolued to take him being so apprehended as he hath beene described as a Lord and as a Sauiour this is faith this I say is an act of the will because it is an act of receiuing Ioâ— 5.44 it is euident How can yâ— beleeue which receiue honour one of another c If beleeuing in Christ were only an act of the mind as the Papists affirme and some others besides it beleeuing were nothing else but an assenting to the truth of GOD which is an act of the vnderstanding how could the praise of men be opposite to beleeuing But the meaning is How can you beleeue take me for your Husband and yet seeke praise of men too for that will come in competition with me and then you will forsake me I say this makes it euident that iustiâ—ying faith is not onely an act of the mind but an act of the will also because otherwise the seeking praise with men could be no impediment to the act of beleeuing Now this also aswell as the former must be wrought by God and God puts a new light into the vnderstanding he raiseth it vp to see and beleeue these truths so there is another act which GOD also workes on the will and vnlesse he worke it it is not done for come to any man that is in the state of nature and aske him Will you be content to take Christ that is to say to receiue him in that manner as he hath beene described His answer would bee No. Beloued the liues of men expresse it though they speake it not in so many words Therefore till GOD come and drawe a man and change his will the worke is not done If you take a Bough and offer it to a Swine or a Wolfe they will refuse it and trample it vnder their feete but offer it to a Sheepe and the Sheepe receiues it and followes it so when Christ is offered to men vpon these conditions that we haue named men refuse him they reject him and slight him but when GOD takes away these woluish and swinish hearts of ours and turne our wils another way which is the drawing the Scripture speakes of then we are willing to take Christ. If you take other metall then Iron the Loadstone will not stirre it but turne the metall into Iron and it will follow the Load-stone So let the hearts of men continue in that condition wherein they are by nature and they will neuer take CHRIST they will neuer accept him but when GOD puts into them such a strong and impetuous instigation and disposition as that of the Spouze in the Canticles that had no rest till she had found her Beloued then they will take CHRIST vpon his owne conditions So the we see this Faith is an action both of the minde and the will wrought by GOD enlightning the mind and changing the will which is that which our Sauiour Christ cals drawing none comes to me vnlesse the Father draw him that is except his will be set on worke vnlesse GOD change him and put such a disposition and instigation into him that he can finde no rest till hee come to Christ. Thirdly the thing wee are to speake of is How this Faith iustifieth Now for this know that this faith is considered two wayes eyther As it workes or As it receiues Either as a quality or as an instrument As a quality it workes and in this
point to your comfort that if there be but so much faith as will produce this worke of taking CHRIST though there bee some doubtings mingled with it yet it is properly effectuall faith because it doth the thing though not perfectly That is the first acception of the word effectuall a thing is said to bee effectuall when it doth the proper function of it though it doe it not perfectly and throughly yet if it doe it it is said to bee effectuall so faith if it pitch vpon CHRIST though not so perfectly as afterwards it may it is effectuall Secondly a thing is said to bee effectuall as it is opposed to that which is vaine and empty to that which is but a name a shaddow of it but is not such a thing indeed So faith is said to be effectuall when it is true reall and substantiall you know there bee emptie clowds we see the heauens many times full of clouds but there is no rayne folloues they are driuen away with the windes they are emptie clouds they are not clouds indeed so there is a great shew of faith sometimes that makes a man shew like these clouds and yet it is vaine and empty no raine followes A counterfeit Piece although it shew to be good money yet when we find it counterfeit when we finde it clipt we cast it away so true faith is said to bee effectuall when it is opposed to vaine faith in Iam. 2 the later end of the Chapter the Apostle speakes to that purpose to shew the difference betweene true faith and dead faith which is but the name of faith but is not faith indeede Thirdly a thing is said to bee effectuall when it lyeth not idle and still but is doing something As a Pylot in a Ship hee sitteth not still there if he doe sit still and doe nothing we may say he is an vneffectuall Pylot he were as good not be there so when faith lyes still in the heart and is not stirred and moued nor shewes it selfe in the fruites of it this we say is ineffectuall faith whereas faith should be in the soule as the soule is in the body which is neuer there in vaine but still it is stirring and shewing it selfe by motion by action by doing somewhat or other And in this sence faith is said to be effectuall when it is a stirring faith when it is a liuely and fruitfull faith that is doing somewhat in the soule of a man Last of all a thing is said to bee effectuall when it goes thorow with the worke that it hath in hand this differeth from that which I named first therefore the Greeke word that is rendred effectualnesse signifieth perfectnesse to bring a thing to an end so that faith is said to be effectuall that goes thorow with the worke it vndertakes that is when it sanctifieth the heart throughout in respect of parts and throughout in regard of time when it brings a man to the end of his saluation when it carries a man through all impediments when it leaps ouer all difficulties so that a growing preuailing ouercomming faith that is said to be an effectuall faith such a faith as leaues not the worke halfe done such a faith as leaues not the building in the beginning in the rudiments but sets it vp and puts the roofe vpon it such a faith which though it may sinke as a Corke for a time yet it riseth againe such a faith as ouercomes and perfects the worke of our saluation in this sense faith must be effectuall and this differs from the other three so that in these foure sences faith is said to be effectuall And this is the first thing The second thing which wee vndertooke was to shew you wherein the effectualnesse of faith consists It consists in these foure things That which we said before to you when wee shewed you the causes of the ineffectualnesse of faith will make good way to this The first thing wherein the effectualnesse of it is seene is in being well built that is when the preparation is sound and full that makes way for it The second is when the vnderstanding is cleare and a man beleeueth the promise of GOD vpon sure and infallible grounds when hee seeth them perspicuously and distinctly The third is when the will takes Christ and takes him out of loue not out of feare not out of loue to the aduantage onely by him not out of mistake The fourth is when it turnes not onely the will but all the affections when it turnes the whole man when it shoots it selfe into life and practice First I say faith is effectuall when there is a good way made for it when the rubbish and false earth is taken away where it should be built that is when the humiliation is sound and good when the preparation is perfect when it is such as makes a man fit for the Kingdome of GOD For I finde that phrase vsed He that puts his hand to the Plow and lookes backe is vnfit for the Kingdome of GOD As if hee had said there are certaine men which come to the profession of Christianity as many come to husbandrie which is a hard employment some there are which doe this and goe backe againe Why because they are not fit for the Kingdome of God that is they are not throughly prepared for it that is to say when a man is not throughly humbled to know what sin is and what the wrath of God is he is not fit for the Kingdome of God but if he do come to Christ if he doe begin to beleeue he will goe backe againe So a man is properly said not to bee fit for the Kingdome of GOD till hee bee throughly humbled till hee haue tasted the bitternesse of sin till hee haue felt what the Deuils yoake is As it was with the Israelites put the case they had beene carried out of Egypt before the time that they were indeede they had not been fit for the Land of Canaan because they would haue beene ready to haue turned backe in their hearts into Egypt and though the LORD laid load on them though their yoake were hard though he caused them to wander vp and downe long yet all was little enough still they were lingering after Egypt and if they had been taken out of Egypt before the tale of Brick was required of them without giuing them straw before the taske-masters had dealt hardly with them what would they haue done Might it not truely bee said of them they would not haue beene fit for Canaan So in this case if a man will take CHRIST it is a laborious worke as laborious as husbandrie as laborious as putting the hand to the Plow as taking the yoake Now before a man haue felt how hard the yoake is that he hath already for there bee many that weare the yoake of Satan and see no hardnesse in it but goe
spoiling of his goods with joy because he beleeues God that hee hath in heauen a more induring substance There is no Christian no good man but he would be content to gaine as well as thou what is the reason hee takes it not He beleues that by forsaking that he shall haue a more enduring substance in Heauen There is no man would forsake any thing but for the better and that is the reason wee beleeue and thou dost not And so come to matter of safety and danger and there you shall see what difference faith makes between men how it turnes their course when they come to such an exigent See it in Saul you know he was commanded not to offer Sacrifice till Samuel came GOD did put him to the tryall The Philistims were vpon him the day of Battell drew neere hee saw the people shrinke away Saul was put to it now whether he would trust GOD for his safety or no If Saul had had faith now and had thought with himselfe If I keepe the Commandement is not GOD able to helpe me what though the people shrinke away cannot GOD doe as much with a few as with many If he had beleeued hee would haue done otherwise But he did not beleeue and therefore you see which way he turned The like we see in Ioram Ier. 42. This was his case hee was the Captaine of tâ—ose that were left behinde in Captiuity If hee had stayed in Ierusalem he had had nothing to defend him there was pouerty and want of all things if hee went downe into Egypt that was a safe Countrey as farre as any one could see it lay farre from all danger of War there was plenty of all things and he was a strong King able to defend him There comes Commandement from GOD that he should keepe himselfe still in Ierusalem and should not goe downe into Egypt It is a place worth the reading Ier. 42 43. Ioram in this case beleeued not that God would keepe him safe where he saw no meanes of â—afety Therefore in that turning you see what choice he made which was his vtter vndoing he went downe into Egypt and there the Sword and the Famine followed him that GOD might make him know that it was not any outward condition that could keepe him safe and that he was able to keepe him safe in another place where there seemed to be more danger On the other side take those that trust in God in any such case when they are brought to any such difficulty they are willing to venter to put themselues vpon GOD to goe any whither as Luther went to Wormes they care not for any danger before them But some will say it is true if I had a Prophet sent to me to tell me in such a case that I should be safe I should trust on him Certainely if thou hast not yet if the cause be good if it be a thing that GOD sets thee aworke on if thou goe by a right rule know that in this case thou hast as true a promise of safety that God will deale well with thee as if thou haddest a Prophet sent immediately from God Therfore I say to thee in such a case as Luther said to Melancton which was a good reason when Melancton began to faint Luther being afarre off wrote a Letter vnto him and tels him saith he if the Cause be not GODS why doe not we giue ouer why doe we not shrinke why doe wee doe any thing And If it be Gods Cause why doe we shrinke why go we not thorow He needed no more but to know that it was Gods Cause and after that see how hee exposed himselfe from time to time and as no man was bolder then hee so no man had more comfort It is with vs in this case as it was with Ieremiah Ier. 26. GOD bids him goe and speake his Word to the people all his words and tels him that the people would be ready to put him to death and so they were they said he should die but yet he obeyed God because the Lord sent him and see what was the issue of it GOD turned the matter and saued him This is faith when a man comes in that case to set his faith aworke that it may set him the right way that he is to goe in which way he is to turne And so put the case that GOD brings thee to such a case that thou art in danger of prison in danger of death in danger of the greatest crosse of the greatest persecution and trouble now one man consults with flesh the other consults with the spirit he sets faith awork to worke his worke for him you see what Stephen did in such a case and the reason of it Acts 6. He was a man full of faith and therfore he feared not what they could doe to him See what Paul did in such a case you see what danger he was exposed vnto but he consulted not with flesh and blood but what did he He set faith on worke that it might guide him in all the way that he went in all the turnings of his life And so on the other side for pleasure there are two men that haue pleasures propounded the holiest man hath the same nature that others haue they would take the same delight that others doe as farre as they are naturall What is the reason then they doe not why doe such men turne from all sinfull delights and runne another course It is nothing but faith that enableth them to doe it By faith Moses left Pharoahs Court and the pleasures of sinne for a season and chose aduersity with the people of GOD that is as if hee should say If you would know why Moses did this it was faith that enabled him that is he beleeued that if hee had enioyed those pleasures of sinne he should haue beene a loser by them hee should haue fared the worse for them Againe he beleeued that by his suffering aduersity with the people of God he should gaine it was onely faith that made him doe this If thou haddest faith thou wouldest forsake thy pleasures and liue a more strict life as the Saints doe So that still you must keepe that conclusion that you must set faith aworke in all the conclusions and passages of your life for that is it that guides you in the right way Againe Take two men that haue both children to prouide for they haue posterity to care for the one man he reasons thus with himselfe If I leaue them not as good a stock as I would yet I shall leaue them Gods blessing which is able to make them prosper and though I should leaue them abundance yet all that without Gods blessing will not be able to doe it Therefore such a man will be indifferent for matter of estate he will leaue a conueniency for them if he can but he takes no
of love And therefore the Lord doth with us as we doe with men when men have false hearts we see they love us not we say they doe but complement So the Lord Iesus doth This should helpe us to discover our selves there is no way to discover hypocrisie none so sure a signe of it as where love is not And therefore learne by this to know your selves and to judge of your condition It may be when we confesse our sinnes wee have not thought of this that we love not Christ or at the least we have not considered what a sinne it is but you may know what a sinne it is by the punishment of it 1 Cor. 16.22 Let him be accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus You may know the greatnesse of the sinne by the greatnesse of the punishment for the punishment is the measure of the sinne and marke it he doth not say if you beleeve not in the Lord Iesus or if you doe nor obey him but if you love not the Lord Iesus That is if there be an omission but of this one thing that you love not let such a man be accursed yea let him be had in execration to the death Therefore consider this how great a sinne it is not to love the Lord. And when you consider your sinnes and make a catalogue of them looke on this as that which discovers to us the vilenesse of our natures as Paul saith of lust I knew not that it was sinne but by the law but when sinne began to live he died So I may say of this it may be men take not this into consideration this sinne that they have not loved the Lord and therefore learne to know it When we consider this that he is accursed who loves not Christ it may open a crevise of light unto us to see what condition wee are in how cursed our nature is how hainous this sinne is when a man sees that there is a cursed man a man whom the Lord sets himselfe against a man whom the Lord is an enemie to whom he puts all the strength and power he hath to confound when hee sees there is a man whom the Gospell curseth which is more terrible than the Law because the curse of the Law may be repealed there is a remedie for that in the Gospell But the Gospell if that curse a man there is no remedie This should humble us for the Gospell should humble us as well as the Law And there are sinnes against the Gospell as well as against the Law and whatsoever is sinne should humble us yea the sinnes against the Gospell are greater than the sinnes against the Law And therefore in this sense the Gospell is fitter to humble us Now when a man comes to consider his sinne it may be possibly he lookes to sinnes especially against the morall Law but you must learne to doe more than that Begin to thinke Have I received the Lord Iesus Have I beleeved in Christ These are great sins against the Gospell and these sinnes should chiefly humble us If you thinke I presse this too hard consider the words of the Apostle I named Let him be accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus Let these words be sounding in your eares compare your hearts to them sometimes cast your eye on the one and sometimes on the other and see if it be not absolutely required to love the Lord. And againe reflect on your hearts and see if you be in the number of those that doe love him And take heede herein that you deceive not your selves for it is the manner when we presse the love of Christ upon them they are ready to say I hope I love the Lord I hope I am not such a miscreant as not to love him yea but consider whether thou doe or no it is true thou maist deceive me or another man when thou professest love to God but in this thou canst not deceive thy selfe for a man knowes what he loves love is a very sensible and quick affection When a man loves any thing when hee loves his wife loves his friend loves his sonne loves his sport his recreation he knowes he loves it he hath the sense of that love in himselfe Therefore consider with thy selfe whether thou hast any such stirring affection towards the Lord Iesus or no doest thou feele thy heart so possessed with him art thou sicke of love as the Spouse saith in the Canticles I am sicke of love That is are you grieved when he is absent are you glad when you have him when you can get into his presence for there is a kinde of painfulnesse in love and all painfulnesse is of a quicke sense When it is said the Church was sicke of love sicknesse is painfull And therefore when you want the Lord when there is a distance betweene him and you when he doth not looke on you as he was wont there will be painfulnesse in it and griefe Againe there will be much joy and gladnesse when you have him Therefore let it be one way to examine your selves if you feele such a love towards him or no. Besides that let mee aske thee if thou walke with the Lord if thou converse with him if thou be perfect in his presence if thou doe as Enoch did walke with the Lord from day to day as it is an argument of an evill man that he walkes not with the Lord that he restraines prayer from the Almighty that is that he doth not converse with him So is it a great argument of love to desire Gods company to desire to be with him to walke with God to use that phrase You will say What is that to walke with him To walke with him is to observe the Lords dealing with you and to observe your carriage and dealing to him againe that there may be continuall commerce and intercourse every day that continually every houre every moment you would consider and thinke what the Lord doth to you what his carriage is to you what passages of his providence concerne you Againe consider what you doe to him what carriage there is betweene you I say this conversing is an argument of love Shâ—ll a wife professe love to her husband and ne-never come where he is never be within dores and never be in his companie So will you say you love Christ and not be frequent in prayer or neglect and slight that duty seldome converse with him and seldome speake of him When you love your friend you are with him as much as you can you love to speake with him and to speake of him So it is with the Lord if you love him certainly you will love his company you will love his presence Besides if you love the Lord you know love is a diligent thing and therefore it is called dâ—ligent love 1 Thess. 1.4 Effectuall faith and diligent love that is when a man loves a thing he is diligent
to Aegypt I am that I am saith hee say I am hath sent me I take this word that it comes from the same roote Iehovah is described by that I am and by that it is best understood when the Lord calls himselfe I am whereas every man may say I was and I shall be this every creature may say but the Lord saith I am that is whatsoever the Lord was from eternity the same he is to eternity there is no change in him And that is a great excellency in him that may moue us exceedingly to loue him You know when we meete with a friend that is constant that hath no alteration in him that is a sure friend haue him once and haue him for ever it sets a higher price on him When we can consider what the Lord is that he hath dealt thus and thus with us that he hath loved us and when we consider he is constant in it that he embraceth them with the sure mercies of David as they are called that is his compassions faile not but when hee hath once begun to loue hee loues for ever it is not so with men if they loue us at one time they forget us againe as the Butler forgot Iosâ—ph when they are in prosperity they forget us but the Lord knowes us in all our conditions thou hast knowne my soule in adversitie When we are in a strait friends oft times are backward to helpe us but the Lord in such an exigent he is the same he appeares in the Mount when there is no helpe in man I say this constancy that God is alway the same to us that his mercies are sure for they are called the sure mercies of David He shewed mercies to Saul too but they were another kinde of mercies Saul was not one that he had chosen to himselfe and therefore his mercies continued not for indeed hee never loved Saul with that unchangeable loue But when he loues any man as he loved David his mercies are sure as they were to David David was ready to step aside often as well as Saul hee let Saul goe but he carried David along they were sure mercies and such hee shewes to all those that he hath begun to loue That is the first I am or Iehovah Secondly he is strong Iehovah strong mercifull and gracious c. that is Almighty What is the meaning of that that he is almighty The meaning of it is this that the Lord hath all the excellencies those which we call graces and vertues and qualities in men all these abound in the Lord for what serues any vertue for or any quality that you haue but to enable you to doe something if a man haue any science or art that is but to enable him to doe that which without it he cannot doe if a man hath the art of Arithmetique he is able to number or if he haue the art of Logicke he is able to dispute come to all morall vertues What is temperance but that which enableth us to doe such and such things uppon such and such occasions What is patience but that which enableth us to endure afflictions So all that is excellent in man all those amiable those beautifull qualities wherewith the soule is adorned are but so farre good as they enable a man to doe this or that Now when the Lord is said to be almighty the meaning is hee hath all excellency in him and hee hath it in the highest degree for in this sense God is able to doe more than any man in regard of excellency whatsoever a man is able to doe you know how infinitely the Lord hath it beyond him he is able to doe so much more as he is beyond any man For that power that attribute that quality that is in man it is not a quality in him he hath it beyond any man Againe when a man is able to doe one thing yet he is not able to doe another one creature is able to doe this another that But the Lord is Almightie therefore he is able to doe all things And therefore this is a kind of excellencie that is the second description he is Iehovah and he is Almightie But now when you heare that the Lord is thus constant and thus exceeding in excellencie a man will be ready to say what is this to me I am a sinfull man there is nothing in me but that which may turne away the Lord from me and cause him to abhorre me Well saith he to comfort you know that I am mercifull exceeding pittifull exceeding ready to forgiue though your sinnes bee exceeding many though they bee exceeding great yet the Lord he is mercifull he is ready to passe by all those infirmities And that is another of his excellencies You know we reckon it a very amiable thing in a man when we see him pittifull This doth more abound in the Lord than in any creature there is no man in the world so ready to forgive as God If he were not God if he were as man my brethren could hee beare with us as he doth Let us doe to a man injuries and injuries againe and againe and never give over what man can beare it doth he not in the end withdrawe himselfe and will no more be reconciled But it is not so with the Lord when wee have done all Yet returne to me saith the Lord Ier. 3.2 Well but if we haue such sinnes in us suppose the Lord is mercifull and ready to forgive but yet there is no goodnes in us wee haue nothing in us why he should regard us and why he should looke after us To that it is answered the Lord is gracious that is though there bee no worth found in you yet he is ready to doe you good as grace you know is proper to a Prince or a great man that is sayd to be gracious to his subject or to one that is very inferiour because hee can doe nothing to deserue it it is called grace for grace you knowe is nothing but freenes and to be gracious is to doe things freely when there is no motiue no wages when there is nothing to winne him but of free grace he doth it So the Lord doth what he doth of his free grace he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy that is when all men did stand before him alike though there were nothing when there was no cause why the Lord should regard them more than an other yet He will haue mercy on whome he will haue mercy that is he is gracious though there be nothing in us to winne that love at his hands Well but yet wee may be readie to object it is true the Lord hath been thus to me he hath ben very merciful to forgiue me my sinnes he hath beene very gracious to me to shew me favour when I never deserved it but after I was put into such a condition I provoked him to anger by relapsing into sinne againe and againe after
I have been in a good estate I have broken the covenant with him I continued not in that good estate that out of his mercy he hath put me into To this he answers He is long suffering that is though you provoke him out of measure though you have done it againe and againe he continues patient you cannot wearie him out but his mercy indures for ever you know that if there were an end of his mercy that on your sinning hee should give over to be mercifull his mercy did not indure for ever therefore it is said He is long suffering because though your sinnes be often repeated yet the Lord as often repeates his mercy therefore there is a multitude of mercyes in him as there is a multitude of sinnes in you there is a spring of mercy in him that is renued every day he opens a spring for Iudah Ierusalem to wash in it is not a Cesterne but a Spring that is renewed as much as your sinnes that as you are defiled daily so the Lords mercy is renewed to wash away those sinnes he is long suffering But besides all this he goes yet one step further he is abundant in kindnes and in truth that is if you would know the Lord yet further whereas you may thinke He is a terrible God because of his great Majestie and power and therefore that those disharten you as wheresoever you find terriblenesse that you know puts off it is contrary to love and therefore the Lord to winne us the more tells us that though he be so great a God as he is yet he is abundant in kindnesse that is He is exceeding ready to beare with us that looke what you finde in a kinde Husband in a kinde Father or in a kinde friend that you shall find in the Lord he is exceeding kinde to you he is not harsh he is not stiffe he is not ready to obserue all that you doe amisse if you will aske any thing at his hands if you want it as therein kindnes doth consist he is ready to doe it whatsoever it is he is a God hearing prayer he saith whatsoever you aske at his hands he will doe it can you have a greater kindnesse than this if kindnesse be an attractive to winne love hee is kinde and hee is abundant in it If you will not beleeve this assertion this affirmation this description of himselfe hee tells you he hath promised and he will be as good as his word he is abundant in truth that is as if hee should say I am not onely of such a nature and disposition as I have described my selfe to be but besides this I am engaged to you you have many promises I have made you I have sworne I will doe thus and thus Therefore I will adde this to this disposition I am abundant in truth that is you shall finde me as good as my word and not so onely but I will be better than my word I am abundant in truth that is his performances exceede they runne over whatsoever hee hath said he will surely doe it Consider this consider how many precious promises you have consider what the Lord hath said hee will doe for you how full is the Scripture of promises every where remember this the Lord is abundant in truth he will doe them and overdoe them hee will fulfill every word that hee hath said And that he may give you a proofe of it he addes that he reserves mercy for thousands that shewes hee is abundant in kindnesse and in truth as if hee should say when any of you doe mee service when you are faithfull as Abraham my servant was I am bound no more but to reward your selves but I am abundant in mercy and forgivenesse reserving mercy for thousands The Lord cannot content himselfe to doe good to a mans owne person but to his children to his generation As David when he loved Barzillay and Ionathan it extended to their posterity when his love was abundant so the Lord reserves mercie for thousands Lastly because the objection still comes in when you have such a description of the Lord I but my sinnes are still repeated hee addes in the conclusion he is a God still forgiving iniquitie transgression and sinne Why are those three words put in That you may know that hee forgives sinnes of all sorts for every man is ready to finde some peculiarity in his sinnes hee thinkes such and such sinnes cannot be forgiven sinnes that I have committed thus and thus Nay saith the Lord what sinnes soever they are of what nature soever he forgives iniquity he forgives naturall corruption he forgives lesse infirmities he forgives greater rebellions and he is still doing it for so the word signifieth hee is still and still forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne So we have shewed you what the Lord is that you may learn to know him therfore we wil conclude this first and say to you as the Spouse saith Cant. 5. Such a one is the Lord and such a one is our wellbeloved oh you daughters of Ierusalem that is he is wholly delectable if we were able to shew him to you it must be your labour to consider him that you may learne to know him and to love him Secondly when you know this and consider what the Lord is and what excellency is in him consider in the next place the greatnesse of the Lord and know that this great God is suiter to you for your love that is he that makes towards you If a great King or if your potent neighbour should sue to you for love would not that move you You know the weaker should seeke to the stronger men of meaner condition should seeke to him of higher place when the great God beseecheth us to be reconciled to him when hee desires to be at peace with us and to be friends with us I say the greatnesse of God is a great argument to move us to love him as you have that Deut. 10.17 when the Lord reasons there with the people to perswade them to love him saith hee I am the God of Gods the Lord of Lords mighty and terrible as if he should say this great God hath done all this for you and this he requires at thy hands that thou shouldest love him when he shall desire but this refuse it not If one that we contemne one that is beneath us should seeke our love we are not so ready to returne love againe for we say he is below But when we consider God in his majesty and greatnesse that he should seeke to be reconciled to us that should move us that should win our hearts to him Besides consider what the Lord might have required of you you know you are his creatures you know what a distance there is betweene the Lord and you if he had put you on a harder task you ought to have done it if he had said to us you shall offer your children to me
desire long enough but how shall we be able to doe it I will tell you in a word and so conclude First you must pray for it it is a lovely suite when we come to the Lord and tell him that we desire to love him that we would faine doe it if we could and beseech him not to deny us that request that we know is according to his will doe you thinke that the Lord will refuse you in that case especially if you begge it importunately at his hands For if you object and say we have prayed and have not obtained it know that to love the Lord is a precious thing and therefore the Apostle reckons it so You will say How doth this prayer doe it I say that it doth it partly by obtaining at Gods hands for when you crie earnestly hee cannot denie you But as he did with the lame and the blinde when they were importunate hee never neglected any but healed them When you crie to the Lord and say I would faine love thee but I cannot will hee not be as willing to heale thy soule to give thee legges to runne after him and eyes to see him as he was to heale the lame and the blinde certainly he will not denie thee But besides that prayer doth it because it brings us to converse and to have communion with him by prayer wee are familiar with God by that meanes love growes betweene us as you know when you converse with men it is a means to get love Againe prayer doth it because when wee are much in calling upon God the Lord delights to shew himselfe to such a man yea at such a time for the most part as hee shewed himselfe to Christ when he was praying as he did to Moses and to Cornelius and others And againe prayer it exerciseth this love it blowes up the sparke of this love and makes a flame of it therefore much prayer begets much love If you would be abundant in love be fervent and frequent in this dutie of prayer pray much and you shall finde this effect of it it will beget love in you You will say prayer is a generall meanes for other things Why doe you put it as a peculiar meanes to get love The reason is because love in an especiall manner is a gift of the Spirit a fruite of the holie Ghost and it is true it must be a peculiar worke of the Spirit to beget love It is true faith comes by hearing and hearing begets faith it is done likewise by the Spirit but love is more peculiarly than other graces the gift of the holie Ghost And therefore 2 Thess. 4. saith the Apostle You are taught of God to love one another That is it is such a thing as God teacheth or else our teaching will never doe it that which he saith of love to the brethren we may say of the love of God the Lord hath put love into man man loves many times and knowes not why many times he hath reason that he should love and yet he cannot because it is a peculiar gift of God That naturall affection for a man to love his children all the world cannot doe it all the arguments in the world cannot perswade a man for if arguments could doe it we might perswade others to doe so but none can love so as the father doth his childe and why but because the Lord workes that in men So the love of God is a peculiar worke of the holy Ghost none are able to love Iesus but hee in whom the Lord hath wrought it in whom the holy Ghost hath planted this affection Therefore the way to get it is earnestly to pray to acknowledge the power of the holy Ghost to goe to him and say Lord I am not able to doe it this acknowledgement of the power of the holy Ghost is the way to prevaile Besides you know the power of God is so transcendent beyond the pitch of our nature that except the holy Ghost worke more than nature we shall never be brought together in agreeablenesse and sutablenesse wee are no more able to love the Lord than colde water is able to heate it selfe there must be somewhat to breede heate in that water so the holy Ghost must breed that fire of love in us it must be kindled from heaven or else we shall never have it Secondly another speciall meanes to enable you to love the Lord is to consider your owne condition to consider your sinnes what you are what hearts you have and what lives you have lead You will say how doth this beget love Yes this is a great meanes Mary loved much because much was forgiven her that is Mary Magdalen had great sense of her sinnes the Lord had opened her eyes to see what a one shee had beene what sinnes she had committed And because she had that sense of her sinnes her eyes were open to see her owne vilenesse thence it is saith he she loved much For when we are humble and poore in spirit when we are little in our owne eyes then the Lord will come and shew mercy on us when a man shall see his sinne and shall thinke with himselfe I am worthy to be destroyed I can expect nothing but death then the Lord shall come sodainly as it were and shall tell us you shall live and shall reconcile himselfe to us this will command love We shall never receive the Gospell as to love Christ till we come to poverty of spirit till we be thus humbled as in the first of Luke it is the speech of Mary My soule doth magnifie the Lord and why because he had respect to the poore estate of his handmaiden When she was little in her owne eyes and made no account of her selfe and thought not her selfe worthy to be looked after the Lord comes and takes her and vouchsafes her such an honour as to cause his owne Sonne to be borne of her now she could not holde but that was it that enflamed her heart with love to the Lord my soule doth magnifie the Lord because he had respect to the poore estate of his handmaid So wee see in David you never finde a greater expression of love in David than at that time when hee was most humbled when the Prophet came to him and tolde him what the Lord would doe for him that he would build him and house David begins to consider what he was what is David saith he What am I or what is my fathers house That is I am but a poore miserable man I am but thus borne what have I done that the Lord should respect me so farre If David had not beene so little and so vile in his owne eyes those great mercies had never so wrought on his heart And therefore I say the way to make us abundant in love is to consider our sinnes to be humbled to consider what
learne to know the Lord for the more you know him the more you will love him What is the reason that the Angels in heaven so love him Because they know him What is the reason that we shall love him more in heaven than wee doe now but because we shall know him more Therefore when you reade the Scriptures and observe the works of Gods providence in every particular learne by this to know God as you know a man by his actions and carriage learne to have such an Idea of God as he hath described himselfe in his word that hee is true of his word that hee is full of goodnesse that he is abundant in long-suffering and patience that hee is exceeding mercifull beyond measure c. labour to see his wisdome his goodnesse and his mercie labour to know God for when you come to know him aright by that we come to love him Why doe wee love one man more than another but because wee conceive him under such a notion wee conceive his heart to be of such and such a frame wee thinke him to be a man of such and such a condition when we thus conceive the Lord it will teach us to love him more Therefore this you must know that for you onely to looke upon things that are beneficiall to you as forgivenesse of sins and adoption and an inheritance in heaven that is not love to the Lord. It is true you should doe all this but that which you are principally to doe is to looke to the essence of God to see such excellencies in him that thereby you may be led home to him and therefore that you may know him the better you must be taught of him Againe you must not onely know him but you must likewise have assurance of his love to you for when you know the excellencies of the Lord unlesse you have assurance of his love to you it is not sufficient Take a man of the highest place and of the most excellent quality if thou conceive that he hath a hollow heart towards thee thou canst not possibly love him thou must be perswaded of the love of the Lord to thee Therefore in the Text it is said to be faith which worketh by love The increase of the assurance of Gods love therefore is the meanes to increase thy love to him So much for this time FINIS THE FIFTH SERMON GALAT. 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love THE last thing wee did was to give you the properties of love to the Lord Iesus Now that which remaines to doe at this time is to apply that which hath beene said that is to bring your hearts and the rule together and to exhort you that what you have heard in this it may not passe like airy notions and never be brought home to your particular practise For my beloved the word that we deliuer to you should be like nailes driven home to the head fastened by the masters of the assemblie as the Wiseman speakes that they may sticke and abide in the soule as forked arrowes doe in the bodie that they may not easily fall out againe Therefore the maine businesse that wee have to doe in preaching the word is to fasten these words thus upon your hearts That which we will doe therefore at this time shall be to exhort you to question your owne hearts and to examine them upon your beds whether these characters and properties of love which have beene delivered doe agree to you or no. For as the Apostle saith Vnlesse you be in Christ that is unlesse you be knit to Christ in love you are reprobates it concernes every man therefore that heares me at this time to examine this strictly with himselfe We will expostulate the matter a while with you at this time and you must expostulate the matter betweene God and your owne consciences whether this love be in you or no. And although indeede this needeth not any distinct dividing into branches yet that wee may helpe your memories wee will put it into a number And first we will make this expostulation you that professe you love the Lord as who will not be ready to doe that to say he loveth Christ but yet as the Apostle Iohn speaketh of love to the brethren that men love them in shew and not in truth so it is with most men they love the Lord in word and in profession but they love him not in deed and in truth therefore first let me aske you this You that professe you love the Lord doe you not grieve him and vexe him from day to day and provoke him by your words and by your workes If this be your case it is certaine you love him not indeede Some there are that professe much love to the Lord Iesus but yet spend their time idly are diligent in no calling but waste their precious opportunities in sports in idle visitations in gaming in doing nothing that is profitable either to themselves or others but eate and drinke and rise up to play It is the case of many of our young Gentlemen a shamefull thing before men and abominable in the sight of God that men should live like beasts make their soules like the soules of swine serving for nothing but to keepe their bodies from putrifaction doing so much the lesse worke because they have the more wages burying so many precious talents whereof their time is the chiefe because it helpeth to improove all the rest of which they shall give an exact account at that day When God shall judge the secrets of mens hearts according to our Gospell Doe you professe that you love the Lord Iesus and doe you neglect him thus Besides this mocking of the Lord and dissembling with him you deale most foolishly with your selves for all the comfort that you shall ever finde in this life it will be from working from being serviceable to God and profitable to men empty lives cause but empty joy Therefore if any man shall finde this to be his case examine it it is but a false profession of love And as I speake to those that are young that spend their time Nihil agendo so I may say the same to those that are of more yeares that waste their lives in doing something indeede but it is not that which they should doe or in doing it in another manner than they ought those that are so drowned in businesse so overwhelmed with imployment so occupied with outward things abroad that they have no vacancie to feede their soules within to cloathe them with graces For you must know my brethren that your soules have neede to be trimmed every morning as well as the body they have neede of breakfast and dinner and exercise as well as the body and as you faile in giving this due respect to the soule daily so you shall finde that proportionably in that degree the
inward man will languish and grow faint But to speake a word unto you likewise Doe you thinke that you love the Lord Iesus in good earnest and yet have scarse leisure to thinke of him from morning to night that you cannot take time to speake to him to seeke him nor to prepare your hearts for him Besides this generall come to particular sinnes sabbath-breaking neglecting of private prayer vaine speeches concupiscence and sinfull lusts secret courses of uncleannesse swearing if not by greater yet by lesser oathes which indeede in this exceede the greater because in the other you sweare by the Creatour in these by the creature You that doe these things will you say you love the Lord You must know that it is a contradiction it is impossible For if you love me keepe my commandements if you keep not the commandements of God certainly you love him not But it may be you will say that your meaning is good that you are well affected to Christ and therefore surely you doe not hate him My brethren you are deceived in this thy meaning is not good for while you cast the commandements of God behinde you you cast him away and let me say to you in this case as you have it in Ier. 3.4 You professe well in saying Thou art my Father and the guide of my youth but you doe evill more and more So I say when you professe you love the Lord and that you reckon him your Father and your Husband thus you say indeede but you doe evill more and more and that is a certaine argument you love not the Lord. Therefore examine your selves by this rule For if you love the Lord you will reverence him You know whom we love we reverence and whom we reverence we dare not doe any thing unmeete in their sight Take any one whom we love whose good opinion wee seeke for wee had rather that all the world should see us doe an unseemely thing than that he should and certainly if you love the Lord you would not dare to provoke him to anger Therefore this carelesnesse in serving of him is a certaine signe of want of love to the Lord Iesus this fearefulnesse and carelesnesse when you dare not shew your courage for him when you account it a small matter to commit a sinne against God this ariseth from the defect of your love In the second place as you may try your love by your taking care not to offend God so likewise you may try it by your sorrow and griefe after you have offended him For you must know this that love as it hath the greatest joy of any thing else when it obtaines that which it would have so it is attended with the most exquisite griefe when it is disappointed As when one loveth another earnestly if any breach fall out that shall make a separation betweene them if any strangenesse grow betweene them if they love they will never be at rest it will trouble and disquiet them but as the Scripture speakes they are sicke of love that is they cannot be quiet while there is such a condition while there is any alienation while there are breaches and offences betweene them for you know that nothing is so sweete as love as you have it in Cant. 1. Love is better than wine and as David expresseth it Psal. 63.3 Thy loving kindnesse is better than life So sweete I say is love as sweete as wine and better than life Now by the rule of contraries then to have a breach made to have a barre and an interruption in this loving kindnesse of the Lord towards us or in our love towards him it is bitter as wormewood and sharpe as death Therfore you may examine your selves by the offences you offer to God when they are past if you love him it is certaine they will trouble you exceedingly for so much sorrow for sinne so much love And you may take it for a sure rule in what measure any man desires to please the Lord in that measure hee will be grieved that he hath displeased him Therefore examine thy selfe Hast thou sinned against him many times and doest thou looke backe upon those sinnes in a carelesse manner be sure that thou lovest him not Examine this by that which passeth betweene man and man When a father or a husband hath any thing committed against them by a childe or a wife if they shall withdraw themselves and professe themselves displeased and yet the childe or the wife in the meane time be never troubled at this but be at rest well enough content it should be so and are not disquieted for it will not the parent or husband take this exceeding ill at their hands when hee seeth his displeasure slighted For this is much greater than the offence it selfe So I may say whatsoever the sinne be that you have committed this hardnesse of heart this negligence after the sinne is committed when you are not disquieted for it when your hearts are not troubled for it it is a greater signe of want of love to the Lord it is a greater signe of an evill and untoward disposition than the sinne it selfe Therefore this want of sorrow for sinne is a sure argument that you love not the Lord. You may take that for one signe of want of love that we commit sinnes against God from day to day For doe but goe to your neighbours and professe your love to them and yet you injure them againe and againe you care not what wrong you doe them will they thinke that such a profession as you make is true and will the Lord regard when you say that you love him if you provoke him to anger and renew your sinnes and relapse into them againe and againe and when you have sinned take it not to heart No my brethren if you doe love him you will doe as it is said Zach. 12. when you have sinned you will mourne as he that mourneth for his onely sonne your hearts will melt as Iosiahs did your hearts will smite you as Davids did him thus it is with all that love him in deede and in truth Therefore in Levit. 16.29 and likewise Levit. 23.27 they are both one and the same the Lord appoints a feast and a meeting together for cleansing of sinnes it was the feast of atonement saith hee In that day when you come together to offer sacrifice unto me and to make an attonement you shall humble your soules and whosoever doth not afflict his soule on that day he shall be cut off from his people As if he should say At that day you come to reconcile your selves to the Lord you make profession of your love to him and of the desire you have to bee friends with him Now if you come and make this profession and doe not humble your selves nor afflict your soules on that day for those breaches that have beene betweene God and you all your
and you lose but that it might goe well with you and your children for ever So if you love the Lord when you thinke with your selves I shall be a loser by it I shall lose much libertie and much contentment and delight I shall lose the giving satisfaction to many of my desires and lusts No thou shalt lose none of this though a man seeme to lose this when he gives his heart to the Lord but thou gainest all this that is the Lord gives thee thy heart againe and gives thee leave to dispose of it he gives thee leave to love thy friends to love thy wife and thy children and even to love thy recreations he gives thee leave to dispense and to distribute thy heart to this or to that as long as thou doest it lawfully onely thou must doe it at his command Yea when we give our hearts to the Lord hee giues us not them againe onely but hee giues them much better than hee receiued them new painted new beautified and new furnished hee giues them in a farre better condition there is no man that loseth by giuing his heart to the Lord but he giues it him againe much better As we say of vapours that arise out of the earth the heavens returne them againe in pure water much better than they receiued them so will the Lord if thy heart ascend to him thy impure thy sinfull heart the Lord will give it thee better As we say of earth when the earth receives the sea water and puddle water it giues it better than it received it in the springs and fountaines for it straines the water and purifies it that whereas when it came into the bowells of the earth it was muddy salt and brinish it returnes pure and cleane and fresh as you know the waters of the springs and fountaines are so the Lord doth with us if thou wouldest give thy hearts desire thy affections to him thou shouldest have all againe onely with this difference thy affections should be more pure thy thoughts all the faculties of thy soule should be renewed and cleansed and beautified he would restore them better to thee but yet thou shouldest have them let it be thy comfort So that here is all the difference take a man now that loves himselfe and that thinkes with himselfe Well say what you will I will goe mine owne wayes I will provide for mine owne contentment in this life I know not what I shall have after I will looke to mine owne profit I say compare this man with another that resolves this with himselfe Well from hence I will deny my selfe and crosse my selfe and will seeke no more my owne contentment nor to satisfie my owne desires and lusts but I will give my heart wholly to the Lord. The question now is which of these are gainers I say the latter hath as much liberty and as much power of his owne heart he shall have as much use of all that is within him as the other hath that â—akes it to himseâ—fe all the difference is the one â—s an unjust owner the second the Lord hath made the steward of his owne heart so that the Lord hath thy heart and yet it is thy owne heart â—hou maist dispose of it as a steward under thy Master thou hast it as before onely now thou doest it by his appointment before it was at thine owne Let all this therefore stirre you up to love the Lord. You will say indeede this is enough to perswade us to come in to love the Lord and wee are contented to doe so that is the answer which wee shall have from most men But now what kinde of love is it that wee shall have at their hands My brethren we must add this for a conclusion that it is not every kind of love that the Lord accepts but your love must have these two conditions in it I will breefely name them and so conclude First you must love him with all your hearts and with all your soule you know that is every where requyred in the Scriptures That is the Lord will have the whole streame of your affections and desires and intentions and your endeavours to runne to him there must not any riveret runne out of it it must not be drained away but the whole streame must all be bestowed upon him there must be no division there you must not say here as he saith My Countrie and my father and my children and my friends have a part in my love but the Lord must have all and there is good reason for it because he bestowed all on you It is in this love as it is in marriage in that there is no corrivall admitted but there must be all in all for the husband must bestowe himselfe wholly on his wife and the wife on the husband so if you love the Lord if the match be made betweene you there is all in that equalitie if the Lord bestowe all on you and you should bestowe but halfe on him there would be no equalitie there would be an unennesse But when you bestowe all on him when you loue him with all your heart and with all your soule that makes the match betweene you You will say the Lord doth not bestowe himselfe wholly on me he bestowes himselfe on many others on many thousands besides me and why should not I bestow my selfe on an other I answer it is not so the Lord bestowes himselfe wholly on thee Hos. 3 3. it is a borrowed speech I will be to thee alone I will have thee to be so to me so the Lord saith to every man I will be alone to thee and thou shalt be alone to me I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine This is the match that must bee betweene you And when you say the Lord is not wholly yours I say he is though he bestowe himselfe on many thousands besides You will aske how can that be I say that may be by reason of his infinitenesse for that which is infinite hath not parts and therfore he bestowes not himselfe partly on one and partly on an other but he bestowes all upon every one for he is infinite and hath no parts To expresse my selfe by a similitude a point hath no parts it is one indivisible let a thousand lines come to one point every one hath the whole and yet there is but one that answers all because it is indivisible and every one hath all So it is with the Lord though there be many thousands that God loves yet every one hath the Lord wholly he is to them alone and he lookes for and expects this at thy hands that thou shouldest be to him alone that thou bestowe thy selfe wholly on him thereupon all those words are put in Thou shalt love thy Lord with all thy minde with all thy heart with all thy soule The meaning is this when all that is in a man is
the conditions that God requires in our love to him we went through two of them the last time wee come now to that which remaines Thirdly you shall finde this to be another condition in our love to the Lord to love him above all that is incomparably above all For my brethren wee may love many things in the world wee may love our selves wee are commanded to loue our brethen as our selves but this is peculiarly required to the love of God if it be right in us and such as the Lord expects at our hands that we loue him aboue all for otherwise we doe not loue him as God wee loue him as a creature for to say we loue him as God and yet not to loue him aboue all is a contradiction Besides if wee should not reckon him as the chiefe good and so prise him aboue all some thing would offer it selfe one time or another to us and draw our affections to it and then wee should leaue the Lord and take that Therefore I say it is required that we loue the Lord aboue all For every kinde of loue is not sufficient as we see it in other things that loue that will serue a servant or a common friend will not serue for a wife it is another kinde of loue that loue that will serue for one will not serue for another A Parent a King and a Master as they haue different relations so they must be love with different kindes of loue Now then consider what loue it is that belongs to the Lord he must haue all he must haue a loue that answers him otherwise if thou come with a little pittance of loue and say Lord I am willing to bestow this upon thee the Lord will refuse it hee will answer I will take none of these things at your hands Even as landlords doe with their tenants when they bring not all their rent they refuse it and reject it because it is not that which they require and which is due Even so the Lord deales with us as he did with the young man in the Gospell saith hee Goe and sell all that thou hast My brethren it was not the act of selling but it was the affection that was required Therefore Christ did but try his affection by it and it was performed by the wise Merchant that solde all this the Lord requires that we loue him aboue all And there is good reason for it for hee is most excellent and most amiable of all Besides I am sure hee hath done for us more than all as Paul speakes Was Paul crucified for you hath not Christ bought you hath not hee redeemed you hath not he deserved more than all and should he not therfore be loved aboue all Againe is he not the uttermost end are not all natures else subordinate God as hee is aboue all so should wee haue a loue answerable unto him But you will object What to loue God aboue my selfe how can I doe that Yes my brethren and there is good reason for that too beeause in so doing we provide best for our selues it is not so with the creature if you set your loue upon it if you loue any creature aboue your selves it may be the destruction of your selves But the Lord can provide for you and repaire you againe when the creature is destroyed for the Lords sake when a man is a loser for any thing that he doth for the Lord he is a great gainer by it for it is the rule that God hath appointed the creature and the perfection of every creature is in comming neere to the rule Now when the Lord hath appointed this to loue him aboue our selues in so doing we cannot chuse but provide best for our selues because therein lies our excellencie and perfection This is therefore another property of this loue we must loue God aboue all aboue all riches aboue all profits aboue all honour and credit aboue all learning and delight aboue our selues and our lusts Therefore you shall finde it in the phrase of Scripture how it runnes those that loue pleasures more than God those that love the praise of men more than God those that loue wealth more than God you see how they are excluded You shall see what it is not to loue the praise of men more than God it is this when they come together at some times in competition as they will ever and anon still to preferre God before them As for example the Lord hath commanded you to sanctifie the Sabboth to pray continually the least thou canst doe is to doe it evening and morning and to doe it diligently Now when thy profits and thy businesse or thy ease shall come and thrust thee off from such a duty now they come together and here they meete upon a narrow bridge as it were if thou shalt now preferre thy profits and thy businesse before the service of the Lord thou art a lover of thy wealth more than of him You may bring it to many such examples So againe the Lord hath commanded to be diligent in your callings to improue the time to the best advantage for you shall giue an account for it is one of the most precious talents you have Now if pleasures and sports and recreations shall come in and allure you and call you to draw you away to spend time amisse now they come in competition if ye doe this ordinarily you are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God So againe God hath commanded thee that thou shouldest not commit adultery that thou shalt not kill that thou shalt forbeare to revenge and the like Now if any lust shall come and stand in opposition to such a command if thou preferre this before it thou art a lover of thy selfe and of thy lusts before God In a word goe through any such thing wherein God and thy lusts thy pleasure or thy profits come in competition when thou shalt in thy ordinary course be ready to preferre that before him thou lovest that before him thou lovest that before the Lord and though thou thinke that thou lovest God yet notwithstanding know this that that is not sufficient thou must loue him aboue all And if you say who is able to performe this who is it that doth not at some times preferre his pleasures and profits before the obedience to a command I answer it is a thing that hath beene done and is done by all the Saints Therefore if you looke into Deut. 30.6 saith the Lord I will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seede and thou shalt love me with all thy heart He speakes it there of a thing that is acted indeede of a thing that is to be done by those that are regenerate I will circumcise you and then you shall doe it And my brethren a man that hath the least measure of grace if he be once in Christ hee loves
day saith the Apostle it shall be the day of the manifestation of the just wrath of God in that day when the Lord shall open the treasures of his wrath those which have beene so long time a gathering While wee live here the clouds of Gods indignation are but gathering then they shall grow thicke and blacke and fasten upon you to the uttermost then all the great deepes shall be broken up then the flood-gates of Gods judgements shall prevaile and overflow you that case shall be yours at that time and this is a time which is to be considered by you now in Eccles. 1.7 Remember the dayes of darknesse for they are many My brethren eternity is an other thing than wee consider it to be while wee live in this world In Psal. 78.38 The Lord called backe his wrath and stirred not up all his indignation but at that time the Lord shall stirre up all his wrath yee doe here but sippe of this cup but then yee shall drinke up the dreggs of it for ever This shall be the case of those that love not the Lord. But you will say this is afarre off and therefore the lesse terrible it is not neere at hand Well though this curse in which wee have shewed these foure branches be not presently executed yet remember this that when we preach the Gospell to you as we doe from day to day and are still offering you Christ beseeching you to come in and take him and love him but yet you will not know that there is a thunderbolt alwayes following this lightening when Iohn Baptist came and preached the Gospell hee tells them presently of the curse that ws to follow You doe not know the time when the Lord will execute this curse Cain was cursed many yeares before he died and so Saul when the Lord had rejected him and had made a separation between God and him for a curse is but a separation when a man is cast aside and set apart for such a purpose so Saul was set apart for evill yet hee reigned many yeares after notwithstanding hee was under the curse So those that the Lord sware in his wrath they should not enter into his rest there was a curse upon them yet they lived many yeares in the wildernesse Therefore though the execution be not presently and though thou be in prosperity for the present yet it is but Cains prosperity though he had his life continued yet the curse lay upon him notwithstanding therefore I say take heede of refusing and deferring lest he sweare in his wrath that ye shall not enter into his rest it is a dangerous thing to refuse the Lord Iesus when hee is offered the first second third and fourth time and still you will not come in take heede and remember that speech of the Apostle that we named to you Whosoever loveth not the Lord Iesus let him be accursed When the Apostle looked upon the men to whom hee had preached and written you Corinthians to whom the Gospell hath beene plentifully preached and made knowne those among you that have heard me and have beene made acquainted with this doctrine of the freenesse of Gods offering grace to you if you will not take Christ in good earnest if you will not love him let such a man be accursed and brethren S. Paul was stirred up by the Spirit of God to pronounce this curse So I say let these words continue in your mindes that whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus let him be Anathema Maranatha and he that hath eares to heare let him heare what the Spirit saith for happy and blessed are those that love the Lord Iesus but miserable and cursed are those that doe not love him FINIS THE EIGHTH SERMON GALAT. 5.6 For in Iesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love HAVING spoken of faith and love it remaines that we adde to them good workes for which wee will goe no further than this Text wee cannot have a fitter for saith the Apostle when you come to have to doe with Christ Iesus to be ingrafted into him to make your selves first acceptable to God through him all the workes you can doe are nothing they are no more than the omission of them circumcision is the same with uncircumcision But what is of moment then Faith saith hee But what faith must that be Such a faith as begets love And what love must that be Such a love as sets you on worke so that you have a chaine here consisting of these three linkes faith which when it is right will beget love and love when it is right will set you on worke faith which workes by love So the point we will deliver to you out of these words shall be this That we are to be judged not onely by our faith and love but also by our workes that no man hath faith and love that none are new creatures that none have sincerity but workes will follow this is a point which I doe not meane to handle at large as we have done the other but will endeavour to finish it at this time and it is a very necessary point because men are ready to applaud themselves in their knowledge in their good meaning in their honest desires and in the meane time they faile in their lives and actions therefore as those are the radicall verâ—ues which indeede make up the new creature Faith and Love so you must know that good workes are never disjoyned from them wheresoever there is sinceritie and a new creature good workes will follow The Scripture you know is evident in this A good tree bringeth forth good fruite Matth. 7. that is it cannot be that a mâ—n shall have a new heart it cannot be that a man should be regenerate but that his workes will be also new looke how farre the heart of any man is holy looke how farre his heart is put into a new frame of grace in that measure his workes will be good and his life sanctified In Acts 14.22 speaking of David I have found a man after mâ—ne owne heart who will doe whatsoever I will and in Mat. 23.26 Make the inside cleane that the outside may be cleane also As if he should say if the inside be right if the heart be set right within if that be well moulded the outside will bee cleane they cannot bee disjoyned If a man have a treasure within there will be silver in his speeches and actions but if his heart be nothing worth his words and actions will be but meere drosse It is the scope of that Prov. 10.20 The words of the righteous are as fined silver but the heart of the wicked is nothing worth That is when his heart is nothing worth his speeches and actions are nothing worth too but the good man that hath his treasure in his heart there is silver and golde in his speeches and
in their places to every man to contend for the common Faith and know this my brethren that their are certaine opportunities which the Lord giues you and you must take heed of neglecting them it may be to let a thing goe some times it will never be recovered againe Therefore looke that you be diligent in it stirr up your selves to doe it while there is occasion offered In other things men are apt to be men of action they would have imployment and worke that they may bee some body in the world and it is very well there is something in that it is a noblenesse of disposition so to doe but alas what poore and weake reward haue you for that it may be a little vaineglory it may be some applause from Princes or people it may be some emptie airie preferment To doe the will of the Lord the worke he hath given you to doe it is no matter what it is for a servant must not chuse his worke I say whatsoever it is though in never so meane a thing the greatest excellencie is to do his will that makes us Kings and Princes to him that makes us partakers of the Royall bloud as Christ saith These are my brothers and Sister and Mother that doe the will of my Father It is this doing of his will this action that puts you into a high condition I see not that Paule was ambitious of any thing but of this that he might be doing that he might liue a usefull a profitable life in the 15. Rom. 20. I was ambitious saith Paule to Preach the Gospell even where it had never been preached this is all my ambition to put my selfe upon the hardest taskes so it should be your ambition to doe some thing for the Church When you reade the storie of Moses that He was mightie in word and deede of David of the Iudges and the Worthies of the Church they should be so many incentives to you to stirre you up to be doing in your place But this is not all that we would commend to you at this time to be men of action and to observe the opportunities but there is an other thing and that is this that likewise the season cōmends to you that is to fast and pray as in husbandry so in the Church there are certaine seasons of actions and those seasons must not be omitted Marke what the course of the Scripture was in every calamitie in Ioel when there was a famine begune Sanctifie a fast saith the Lord call a solemne Assemblie when their is a plague comming when there are great enterprises in hand when there is any thing plotting for the advancement of the good of the Church doe you not think now that the omission of opportunities are sinnes for you to neglect this dutie doe you not thinke the Lord will require it It is true indeed it is a businesse that is not ordinary it is extraordinary but doe not extraordinary times and occasions call for it Againe is it not evill in such extraordinary cases to omit such an extraordinary duty As wee finde in Scripture when the Lord would call for fasting and they did it not Indeed to turne it to jollity and feasting is another thing a sinne of a greater nature but now the very standing still and omitting of this duty is disobedience to the Lord and to be guilty of the judgements that are upon a people I say the standing still and not hastening to the gappe What shall we say then of those that resist this course and thrust men out of the gappe Consider it therefore seriously this is a speciall duty required the season lookes for it that we should humble our selves before God Againe there is one thing more that wee will speake of but in a word that is that every man for his owne particular renew his speciall Covenant with God concerning the amendment of his life in particular for I finde that in all times when the Lord hath stretched forth his hand against a Church and Nation that this hath beene required that they should come and enter into a Covenant with God You shall finde that Asa did it 2 Chron. 16. that Nehemiah did it that it was done in Ieremiahs time when they had warres in hand Wee have many examples of it in Scripture every man did it and because every man could not come to doe it personally the head did it for the rest I say the Lord lookes for this from every man in private that he should doe this in a particular manner to consider what have I done amisse in my life what have I done to provoke the Lord What sinnes of commission and what of omission Have I beene colde and lukewarme Have I beene too much conformable to the times For this is it that brings judgement upon a people the Saints when they are not zealous when they fall from their first love may helpe forward a judgement as well as grosse sinners yea and more too let every man therefore stirre up himselfe to doe his dutie In a word wee should strive and contend for the advancing of Christs kingdome for the furtherance of the Gospell for the good of mankinde for the flourishing of the Church wherein our owne good consisteth and we should doe it earnestly wee should contend for it contend with God in prayer contend with our Superiours by intreaty with our adversaries by resistance with colde and lukewarme men by stirring them up by provoking one another to good workes These are the workes that we exhort you to and thus you shall be assured you have faith that workes by love Learne this to joyne these together And so much shall serve for this time and this Text. FINIS THE TABLE A. Part. Page Absolute COvenant absolute Part. 1. Pag. 38 Acquaintance How to draw neere in acquaintance with God Part. 3. Pag. 105. Act Active Action Act of faith double Part 2. Pag. 64 Habit serveth for act p. 2. p. 140 Love active 3.85 Pleasure in action 3.206 See Faith ADAM A parallell betweene the two ADAMS 1.5 Adoption Spirit of Adoption what 2.104 Adulterer Adulterous Hee that loves not God is an Adulterer 1.20 Love to the creature when it is adulterous 3.107 Affections Affections follow the understanding 2.98 Affections all hang upon love and hatred 3.8 Affections how our love is tried by them 3.24 Affliction Afflictions how made easie 2.146 Christians happy in afflictions 2.192 We neede afflictions 2.206 Afflictions good to the godly 2.207 Difference betweene Saints and others in afflictions 2.208 All. Christ offered to all in 4 respects 1.10 All must be parted with for Christ. 1.23 Christ all in all 1 78 Tryall of love by loving all Saints 3.101 Love God with all the heart 3.157 Why God is to be loved above all 3.164 166 Love is that may be given by all 3.175 Alexander Alexander an example of trust 2.168 Almighty God is Almighty 3.38 Almighty
wilt look upon other things as things that thou regardest not much thou wilt grieve for them as if thou grievedst not and rejoyce as if thou rejoycedst not thou wilt use the world as if thou usedst it not thy heart will be taken up about Christ and about the things that belong to the kingdome of God thy intentions will be set upon the things that belong to the service of God and thy owne salvation This is a thing by which you may plainly discerne the truth of your love examine therefore what it is upon which you bestow the maine and the top of your intentions Indeed my brethren the greatest things that the world hath are not worthy of the toppe and strength of our affections for they are but trifles Therefore if you love the Lord Iesus if you prize him aright and be righâ—ly affected towards him you will esteeme nothing great but the enjoying of his favour and nothing of worse consequent than the losse of it nothing will be of any great moment to you but onely sinne and grace sinne that displeaseth him and grace that brings you into favour with him as for other things you will looke upon them as trifles you will not put the strength of your mindes to any thing else this is the nature of love it is vehement toward the thing that it loveth Moreover it hath also this property of fire that it is still aspiring it is still enlarging it selfe still growing on assimulating and turning every thing into its owne nature it is overcomming and is not ready to be overcome Which propertie of fire is noted in that place I spake of in the morning Much water cannot quench it it is as strong as death Now death you know overcomes all so will love it will breake through all impediments Consider whether you finde this disposition in your selves that your hearts are still drawing nearer and nearer the Lord that they are still aspiring up towards heaven that you are still going onward and thriving in the worke of grace But that which of all other things will manifest most to us this affection of love it is those affections which depend on it you shall know it I say by the affections that hang upon it It is true that all the affections depend upon love but for this time I will instance but in two namely Anger and Feare Looke whatsoever it is that a man loveth where he findes any impediment in the prosecution of it hee is angry hee desires with as much earnestnesse to remoove that impediment as hee loves the thing Take any man even of the mildest disposition if in any thing that hee loveth much and intendeth much there be an intercurrent impediment that shall interrupt him he is angry though otherwise he be of a most meeke disposition For anger is but earnestnesse to remove the thing out of the way that hinders us whatsoever a man loveth hee is angry with the impediments that hinder him in it Come now and examine your love to the Lord by your anger that anger that proceedes from love to the Lord we call zeale will you professe that you love the Lord and yet your hearts are not moved when he is dishonoured Thinke with thy selfe when thou art wronged in thy name or some body miscalleth thee misreports of thee and prosecutes thee with evill speeches and revilings is not thy wrath kindled in thee against such a one Well if thou love the Lord Iesus as thy selfe as thou oughtest to love him above thy selfe why are not thy affections stirred in thee when thou hearest him dishonoured when thou knowest that his Name is ill spoken of If a man should take from thee thy wealth or any thing that is deare to thee if a man should come and violate thee with ill tearmes thou wouldest be angry with him and be ready to flie in the face of such an one If you be thus affected to the Lord and to his glory why doe you not doe the like for him You know David did the same Mine eyes gush out saith he with rivers of water because men keepe not thy Law Therefore know that if you finde not your hearts affected with the things that belong to God that there is no anger stirred up it is a sure argument that you love him not It is observable that is said of olde Ely 1 Sam. 4.3 when newes was brought him that the Israelites were fled that moved him not so much when it was tolde him morever that there was a great slaughter among the people that stirred him not neither when it was tolde him yet that his two sonnes Hophni and Phineas were slaine yet this did not so much affect him but when it was tolde him that the Arke of the Lord was taken the text noteth something more than ordinary that hee was so stirred with it that he fell from his seate it cost him his life Can you find this affection in your selves that you are not moved with the death of childreÌ„ so much or for the losse of your goods or for your owne particular discontents as when you shall heare that the glory is departed from Israel that religion suffers any eclipse in any place that the Gospell of Iesus Christ is hindred This is a thing that will try your love to the Lord. If you finde that you can heare of the desolation of the Churches and of the increase and growing of Poperie and yet you doe not take it to heart to be affected with it you doe not grieve for it it is a signe that you want love to the Lord. You know what is noted of them in Ierem. 36.24 when the King had done an abominable action that hee had cut the roll insunder that Ieremiah gave him and cast it into the fire that was upon the hearth before him it is sayd that those that were about him did not rent their clothes nor petition to him c. As if hee should say in this they discovered a wonderfull want of love to the Lord and to his cause that they were not moved with this dishonour that was offered to God and to his servant and to the cause of Religion at that time You know what disposition Paul had in this case Act. 17. He observed that the place where he was was given to Idolatry the text saith His spirit was stirred in him his zeale and his anger was kindled in his breast Therefore consider what your affections to the Lord are by this holy anger that is in you Moses you know was the meekest man vpon the earth and yet you know how he was mooved how his zeale was kindled in his breast when he saw the idolatry of the people In the next place consider your feare For if you love the Lord it will cause you to feare and tremble at his word and at his judgements for whom a man loves much he regards much and when a man regards
another much he is much affected with what he doth Now when the Lord shall shew some tokens of his wrath those that love him and esteeme of him those that prize him cannot but be affected Shall the Lyon roare and shall not the beasts of the field tremble Consider how you are affected therefore when the Lord shall discover any expression of his wrath and what doth hee else in this stroake which is now vpon this place is there not wrath gone out from the Lord You know the plague is more particularly Gods hand then any other affliction Therefore David saith when he chose the plague that he would choose to fall into the hands of God intimating that in that buysinesse God was in a more peculiar manner the doer of it As the thunder is sayd to be the voyce of the Lord so the plague may properly be sayd to be the stroake of the Lord more peculiarly than any other affliction Consider therfore what your affections are in this case for my beloved let it not be in vayne to you that the Lord stretcheth forth his hand as hee doth now at this time among vs. It is but yet in the beginning and what is the Lords meaning in it Is it not as a messenger sent vpon an errand If it had its answer if that were done for which the Lord had sent it would he not remoue it againe Would he not bid the destroying Angell to put up his sword into his sheath Doubtlesse he would if you would doe that at the beginning of this sicknesse that must be done before the Lord will remoove it from you You will say what shall we doe then I beseech you consider what commonly is the cause of a plague among vs. Consider what hath ben the cause of the plague in former times You shal finde in Numb 25. two causes of the plague One was the superstition and Idolatrie of the people they begann to be yokt with Idolatrie They joyned themselues to Baal Peor I confesse that sinne was not yet growne to any great height it was but yet in the beginning in the seedes and yet you know how the Lord was offended with them And the second was fornication the sinne of vncleanes that was coÌ„mitted It is not likely that all the people fell into that sinne of Idolatry or into the sinne of Fornication but yet the Lord was offended with the whole Congregation for those that did it as the manner is to be So here you see two causes of a plague Idolatry which was but beginning and the very admitting it into the Campe and the Fornication of the people Another cause of the plague you shall find in Davids numbring the people it was their securitie and pride and trusting to themselves and the creatures for surely it was not Davids sinne only who had somewhat forgotten God and trusted to his mountaine thought that that was strong enough but it was the sinne of the people It is good my beloved to be secure out of confidence vpon God and therein the more securitie the better but to be secure for any outward help either in the number of men or ships or strength or policie or because we are compassed about with the walls of the Sea or whatsoeever it is wherein wee thinke our safetie consisteth the more confidence in this the worse The Lord smott the people for this security in Dauids time Another cause is the unworthy receiving of the Sacrament Many are sicke among you saith the Apostle and many are dead because you receive the Sacrament unworthily The Lord is pleased to punish that particular sinne of receiving the Sacrament unworthily with some sicknesse or other whether the plague or no we cannot say but this we may be sure of that this was the cause why so many were sicke and dead You know that passage in the booke of Chronicles concerning Ezekias when the people had not prepared themselves aright as they ought hee prayed to the Lord and it is said The Lord healed the people we cannot say what the Lord healed them of but yet it makes it evident that the Lord had some way smitten theÌ„ Moses for the omission of the Sacrament the Lord would have slaine him that is he would have sent something upon him whether some disease as is most probable or some other thing which should have taken away his life in the end The omission and negligent receiving of the Sacrament I put together which mooveth God to anger and to inflict plagues upon a people I will name yet one more besides these and that is the coldnesse and deadnesse of their hearts who belong to the Lord from whom he expects better things and more zeale which I gather hence What was the reason that the zeale of Phineas stayed the plague Numb 25. Because his love was hot and his anger was kindled in a holy manner against that Israelitish man and the Midâ—anitish woman that had committed fornication among the people If the zeale of Phineas was the cause of staying that plague and of withholding the Lords hands then surely the coldnes of those from whom the Lord lookes for much heate for much fervency of spirit whom God expects should stand in the gappe I say that is the cause that the Lord goes on in punishing But what should we doe now to remove it Amend the things that are amisse repent and amend and he will turne from his fierce wrath which he not onely intendeth against us but is also already upon us Labour to cleanse your hands from idolatry and superstition and cleanse the land from the crying sinne of uncleannesse and fornication and every man labour to cleanse his owne heart And againe to turne to the Lord to take heede of security which is a forerunner of a ruine as a great calme is a forerunner of an earthquake Againe take heed of receiving the Sacrament unworthily many of you this day have received therefore I should speake something particularly to them but in truth this concernes all among us but chiefly let me speake to those a little that are able to pray that have some fire in them that have had the worke of grace in their hearts wrought by the Spirit of God that have some sparkes if they were blowne up that are men fit to stand in the gap It belongs to you my brethren to doe something that the Lord may stay his hand and remember that when the Lord begins to send forth tokens of his wrath and displeasure against a Nation it is a time wherein he expects and lookes for humiliation and repentance Therefore take heede of neglecting that in Isay 22. In that day saith the Lord when I called for humiliation beholde killing of fatlings and oxen c. Therefore know what your dutie is and learne now to see what belongs to you to doe shew your love to the Lord in trembling at his judgements