Riolanus Anatomy 6 Veslinguâ— Anatomy of the Body of Man 7 A Translation of the New Dispensatory made by the Colledg of Physitians of London Wherein is added The Key to Galens Method of Physick 8 The English Physitian Enlarged 9 A Directory for Midwives or a Guide for Women 10 Galens Art of Physick 11 New Method both of studying and practising Physick 12 A Treatise of the Rickets 13 Medicaments for the Poor Or Physick for the Common People 14 Health for the Rich and Poor by Diet without Physick The London Dispensatory in Folio of a large Character in Latin The London Dispensatory in twelves a smal Pocket Book in Latin To the Physical Reader THe greatest Reason that I could ever observe why the Medicines prescribed in these Books above mentioned and in many other Physick Books do not perform the Cures promised is the unskilfulness of those that make up the Medicines I therefore advise all those that have occasion to use any Medicines to go or send to Mr. Ralph Clarke Apothecary at the sign of the three Crowns on Ludgate-Hill in London where they shall be sure to have such as are skilfully and honestly made The Printer to the Reader I Have in my hands divers other works of Mr. Stephen Marshals which for their excellency and variety of matter are highly esteemed by all that heard them preach'd Or have read them in writing I intend to print them in several smal Books that they may not be above the reach of a poor man's purse The Subjects on which they treat are Chiefly these that follow VIZ. 1. Of the Covenant of Grace And the great priviledges the Saints have therby 2. Formal Professors seldom become sincere 3. Reformation and turning to God the only means to prevent Ruine 4. Christ the Prince of Peace 5. The Excellency of Christ's Kingdom 6. How Freedom come by Christ. 7. The Vnion between Christ and Beleevers 8. The Riches of the Saints through the Poverty of Christ 9. How Christ is the Head of the Church 10. Christ and his Seed have sufficient strength to destroy their Enemies 11. Christ the Bridegroom Beleevers are his Bride 12. No Participation of Christ but by Faith 13. Faith so precious a Grace that Christ is glad of any thing that may further it 14. An Humble Spirit Infinitly acceptable to God 15. Great Joy to all that Mourn in Zion 16. The double Recompence the Godly shall have after their affliction 17. The Happiness of the Saints under the Cross 18. The untimely Death of good men a Ground of Great Lamentation 19. The Magistrates Dignity Duty and Vsefulness 20. The Churches Danger Deliverance and Duty 21. The Churches praise unto God for their Deliverance 22. A great Mercy in God to prevent his Peoples ingageing one against another in Blood 23. Gods Chosen Ones are the Preventors of destruction 24. Mens Misery is only from themselves Their Deliverance is only from the Lord. 25. The Pearl of the Gospel 26. How the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation 27. It 's impossible for true Beleevers totally and finally to fall away 28. Parents Duty to their Children 29. Provision for the Poor 30. The Great Judgment of Famine 31. Of the Sacrament The CONTENTS of the first Book of Mr. Stephen Marshals Works VIZ. Of Christs Intercession or Sins of Infirmity SERMON I. On 1 John 2.1 And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous THe scope of the Epistle Opened Page 1 2 3. The words of the Text explained Page 3 4. Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christs Intercession in Heaven is the great dayly Relief that all the Saints diligentest their watchfulest work in the world to keep their hearts in a good frame when once the Lord in mercy hath put them into a good frame Page 132 133 Reasons of the Point Reas. 1. Because the Heart is beyond all comparisons the best part of Man it is the Head Quarter Page 142 Reas. 2. Because the Heart is not only the best part of Man but it is the Treasury wherein better things are laid up than it self Quest. What are the Treasures laid up in the heart of a gracious Man Answer 1. The great God chooses the Heart of every Godly man for his Privy and Presence Chamber 2. Christ Jesus dwels there Emmanuel dwels there in whom are bid all the Treasures of God 3. The Holy Ghost dwels there too the Heart of every Godly man is his Temple 4. All the Graces of the Spirit of God are laid up there 5. The Word that is the the rule of our life is laid up there Reas. 3. Because the Lord whom we profess to serve looks only at the Heart in al the Sacrifices we perform to him Reas. 4. The Devil makes all his Assaults and Batteries against the Heart and counts all his labor lost if he get not into the Heart Reas. 5. Because the Heart is not to be trusted but is deceitfull false cosening even the Heart of the best man in the world 139 Reas. 6. Because out of it are the Issues of Life thy whol Conversation wil be as thy Heart is kept Use 1. Serves to reprove thousands with a bitter reproof who would fain go for Children of God and yet 1 They are exact in keeping their Houses c but neglect their Hearts Page 143 144 2. Others are curious about their Bodies to Feed Physick Adorn them but neglect their Hearts Others are careful also of their manners and Conversation to avoid scandal and yet neglect their Hearts 4 Others keep indeed their Hearts but sleightly they do not keep them above all keepings Page 146 Use 2. This is a Doctrine of wonderful consolation though it carry just rebuke with it to al whose Consciences witness that their greatest care is to purge and keep their Hearts Page 147 Use 3. To exhort all men for the time to come to make this their study to keep their Hearts Before this can be done I. The Lord must break the Heart to pieces and new mold it And then you must 1. Keep it pure from Sin 2. Keep it fit for Duty The Life of Christ or the great Mystery of Spiritual Life SERMON I. THe Text Opened Page 1 2 3 Doctrine 1. Every Soul that hath Interest in Christ while he is in this world it is in Christ that lives in him Doctrine 2. The manner of their living this Life in this world it is by Faith For Explication consider that There is a twofold life 1. A Natural life which we have from Adam 2. A Spiritual Life which flows from the second Adam Quest. What is this spiritual life Answ. It is a Participation of Christs Righteousness upon the Souls union with him Use 1. Shews how necessary it is that we should all try and examin our Souls whether we are partakers of this Life or No. Page 20 Considerations to stir up to this examination 1. That in Truth this alone is
in the midst of all thy corruptions if thou didst know it it would engage thee to joy and to every thing that is Holy and Good the Lord set it home to the hearts of his people and teach them to apply it to their own Souls in secret And then Secondly USE 2. 2. I say to you all from hence All of you learn what need there is of getting an interest in Jesus Christ for that is the end of my Sermon To perswade you to see the need that you have of getting an interest in Jesus Christ. Would you know why I wil tel you Al the sins that you commit as you wil commit sins every day you live but all the sins that you commit are all writ down in Gods Book he numbers your steps though you number them not your selves he hath your iniquities in a Bag and the day is coming when he wil cal every one of you to an account and now Friends what if you have not a Daies-man or a Mediator to appear for you I remember Ely said Oh my Sons if men sin against men men shal speak for them but who shall speak betwixt the Soul and God So you have committed innumerable sins and your own hearts and Consciences tel you more than any man can charge you with How wil you do to appear before God What if you have not a Mediator the Lord Jesus that is a Propitiation for our sins What a woful case are you in Take heed you do not imbrace a Cloud but study Christ and get found Faith in him and if Christ be yours you are secure but look to it or your case is dangerous I dare not stay you any longer The Lord give us understanding in all things FINIS THE HIGH PRIVILEDG Of all True BELIEVERS To be the SONS of GOD. Opened in a Sermon at Suttons Hospital Novemb. 12. 1654. John 1.12 13. But as many as received Him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that beleeve in his Name Which were Born not of Blood Nor of the will of the Flesh Nor of the will of Man But of God THe dependance of the Words stands thus First You have in the beginning of the Chapter a most glorious Description of Jesus Christ both of his person and of his Natures and of his Office under the Name of the Light that inlighteneth every one that cometh into the World Then Secondly You have a description of his Entertainment in the World when this great Lord submitted to this work and manifested himself What was his entertainment First He came into the world and though the world were made by him Yet the world would not know him he came amongst his own that is his own nation and kinred who had been instructed about a Messiah that was to come and had long prayed for him Oh! that he would bow the Heavens and come down amongst us he came amongst them and they would none of him they would not receive him Truly this is the ordinary lot of Jesus Christ wheresoever he cometh but yet there were a remnant that did receive him and shal receive him even those that belong to the Covenant of Grace And what get they by it That Remnant that handful that do receive Christ make the best bargain that ever was made in the world As many as did receive him to them he gave this priviledg that they should become the Sons of God and so here you have the comprehension of all the happiness that Beleevers do receive by Jesus Christ they are made the Sons of God so that the Text hath two things in it First 1. Here is the Means whereby Souls are made partakers of Christ that is upon receiving of him that is the means and condition or instrument All that receive him which is interpreted in the next words even they who believed in him Believing in Christ and Receiving Christ is al one This though it be a Doctrine of wonderfull comfort I shall speak nothing of it but of the second That is 2. The benefit that they all receive who do partake of Christ what they get by him They all of them have this priviledg or Prerogative That they are made the Sons of God and so without any more preparation to the Text or explication for the Doctrine I will explain in the handling of it I say without any more preface I lay you down this Doctrine Doct. That al who believe in Jesus Christ are made the Sons of God the Children of God And that you may receive this with better attention I will to make you the better understand the Lord's scope answer a Question that is this Quest. You say it is very cleer in the Scriptures that al Beleevers are made the Children of God that is one of their Priviledges but what is the reason that no more is named but that one They are Justified they are Sanctified they have the Promises they are Reconciled they have a thousand excellencies in this world yet here is none named but only this they are made Sons Why is no other named but this Answ. I Answer plainly and it will be of great use to understand it namely that though somtimes in the holy Scriptures our Sonship is but one of our Priviledges yet very frequently in the Scripture all that Beleevers do obtain from Christ in this world and the world to come here and to eternity all is comprehended in this one That they are made the Children of God Really you wil see it as cleer as the Sun presently that God comprehends all other priviledges in this one that he that hath this one he that is made the Son of God he hath all other that can be imagined or that you can find any Speech of in al the Book of God so great is this And I wil give you a little light about it and then you wil receive the Doctrine I hope with the more attention and with the more desire to see your own Interest in it You shal see and observe it as a general that very frequently when the Lord describeth the Covenant of Grace the new Covenant what he wil be to his people in the new Covenant he is very frequent in the setting down of this I wil be their Father saith he and they shall be my Sons and Daughters I know not how often the whol Covenant of Grace is expressed in that word I wil be their Father they shal be my Children but very cleerly you shal see it if you turn to Ephes. 1.5 where the Apostle doth bless the Lord for all the abundant Grace that is manifested to us in Christ there he sets it down in this one expression having predestinated us to the adoption of Children What is al that Al the Graces al the Good that we enjoy from Christ you have it in this one Sentence God predestinated us to the adoption of Children he hath done all when he hath
after him and would but accept of him and tels them more particularly that they must eat and drink his flesh and his blood as the only Food that would do good to their Souls hereupon these carnal People were extreamly offended at him and at his Doctrine for they interpret all this in a carnal manner as if Christ did mean that they must eat his very flesh and drink his very blood as they did eat and drink other food and truly it was ever thus and it wil be ever thus that nothing can act above its own Sphere and they who have carnall minds can never judg right of spiritual things thereupon our blessed Savior in the words that I have read and in many other in this latter end of the Chapter inculcates this Doctrine further Assuredly no man could ever live that did not eat and drink his flesh and blood and he that did eat him and drink him eat his flesh and drink his blood would receive such invaluable nourishment as he would think it the best meal that ever he was at And that is the scope of these words which before I come to handle give me leave very briefly to vindicate them from the gross erronious interpretation that the Papists put upon them for you all know that there is a monster in their Doctrine that is called transubstantiation which in their conceit is the turning of the Bread and the Wine in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper into the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and whosoever doth not beleeve it in their conceit is certainly damned And this Doctrine of theirs hath been the occasion of the murdering and martyrdome of many thousands of Saints and among all the Arguments that they alledg to prove it this Scripture is the prime of all the rest except only that of This is my Body But in the next place to that comes this discourse wherein Christ speaks so Positively and punctually of eating his flesh and drinking his Blood and the necessity of it to salvation that they think every man out of his wits that is not convinced by these Texts to grant their transubstantiation yea one of them and one of the learnedst of them hath left it in Print that if ever the Lord Christ should say to him at the day of judgment Why didst thou beleeve that the Bread and Wine was my very Body and Blood he would make no other Answer than this Thou spakest it so plain in such a place that it could not be denied my sense and reason could not deny it Now I wil a little cleer this Text from them and I hope to such an understanding Auditory as I think I preach to a very few words wil serve the turn There are three things which whosoever doth but weigh will be easily convinced that the eating and drinking that is here spoke of hath no relation in the world to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper The first is 1. This Sermon was preached a whole year before there was any word of the institution of the Sacrament the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was at the Passover immediately before his Death this was a whole year before it Now how can it be imaginable that Christs speech here should be meant of a Sacramental eating when no Sacrament was instituted Who can imagine such a thing Secondly 2. This Text and all this discourse in John 6. if it should be interpreted literally for that is the thing they stand for the literal sense I say interpret it literally and it is quite against their transubstantiation for they say that the Bread and Wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ but if here be any transubstantiation at all it is that the Body and blood of Christ are transubstantiated into bread and drink for he doth not say the bread is my body the drink is my blood but my body my flesh is meat and my blood is drink so that if you will have any transsubstantiation it is quite contrary And Thirdly 3. The eating and drinking of Christ that my Text speaks of it is very plain by our Lords words that whosoever eats him and drinks him as this Text holds out shal certainly live another life for ever and they themselves grant that you may eat that very Body and Blood of Christ as it is in the Sacrament and never partake of his Grace but go to Hell with the Sacrament in their bellies I hope that this is enough to shew you that this Text proves it not I tel you in a word that the eating and drinking that my Text speaks of is the same thing that the people of God enjoy in the Sacrament and out of the Sacrament for there do we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ spiritually by faith whosoever receives it preparedly but the discourse here is nothing at all to that But now I come to the matter and in the words there are two things which the Lord assisting me I wil open to you the first is 1. The duty required of every one that would partake of Jesus Christ and that is to eat his flesh and drink his blood that is the duty pressed over and over and so heavily that the Lord saith expressly that whosoever doth not do it can never live The duty required to eate and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ the second is 2 The benefits which every soul doth receive who doth eate Christs flesh and drink Christs blood and that is set down in many various expressions but all tending to the same thing that is they shall live for ever they shall never hunger nor thirst they shall in no wise be cast out they shall be raised up at the last day they shall live to eternity these are the benefits or rather the benefit for all is one that every soul partakes of who eates the flesh of Christ and who drinks his blood wel now for the meaning of it that I may make it plain for my intent is to preach but a short Sermon I will God willing open both the parts that is the duty required and the benefit received I will open them distinctly and give you the application of them both together for the first 1. What is meant by our Lord when he doth thus positively say that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed this we must eat this we must drink What doth he mean I answer plainly that his meaning is we must beleeve Beleeving is eating and drinking and eating and drinking in this sense is beleeving that is the general meaning and that it is so any of you may prove it your selves if you wil but read the Scriptures over for where he saith My flesh is meat indeed in one place He that beleeveth in me shall never hunger nor thirst by and by He that eateth of this Bread shal live for ever So that I
our nourishment comes from Ordinances for though the Lord be the Fountain of it yet the Ordinances are the canales the channels wherein the Lord gives out a greater supply of himself we must receive all these by Faith The Word profits no man unless it be mingled with Faith your Prayers they must be Prayers of Faith the Sacraments they are received by Eaith All Ordinances are so far effectual to the soul as the grace of Faith puts them upon you Faith is not only the means of our Food but for Physick the overcoming of our evil al the Spiritual enemies of our spiritual life all that would destroy it it is Faith alone must do it You shall find Satan the great Enemy how do we overcome him By resisting him in Faith The World another Enemy every one that is born of God overcometh that the world cannot prevail upon them and this is that that overcometh the world even your Faith So All our Lusts it is by Faith that we put off the old man the Scripture is cleer in it nay the actings of our lives all the actions of our spiritual life all the excitings and callings out of all our graces in every relation publick and private the Spirit of God laies it al upon Faith until we come to be consumated and put into Heaven the Lord doth leave the mannagement and carrying on of our spiritual life to the grace of Faith himself is the Sum the fountain but so far as the Creature hath a hand in it that is the sanctified creature it is this faith whereby the whol life is acted Thus you see the first thing I hope sufficiently cleered That the Life of al Gods People while they live in this world it is the life of faith But now comes the greatest Question for there are so many cleer Scriptures about that you cannot doubt of it you had as good doubt of your Christianity as to doubt of this Whether a Christians life is the life of faith But now What the holy Ghost signifies by this what is it to live by faith That is a thing that may be more difficult to be understood and if it please God that I can but cleer it to you out of the Word that you may see wherein the true living by faith doth consist when I have opened this I wil not doubt but so many as are Gods People wil say this is my very condition but as for others they wil say every body talks of living by faith one man makes living by faith only to be a fancy in his own head that God wil do this and that for him without any warrant from the Word another it may be fancies that live how he lists if he hope but to go to Heaven when he goes out of the world then he lives by faith But living by faith is substantial I shal now set my self by the Lords help to clear to you what the holy Ghost signifies when he saith that the life of Gods people in this world they live it by faith and to this end I must premise these two things but to make way The first is That our Lord Jesus who is our Head our spiritual mystical Head he hath not only an Al-sufficiency for al his people for every one that beleeveth til they come to glory but he hath a full purpose in his heart never to be wanting of supply unto his called ones a full unchangeable purpose to supply them with whatsoever is needful to bring them to glory That is the first thing I lay down as a foundation to lead you to know what it is to live by faith there is an all sufficiency in Christ our Head yea a ful purpose and resolution unchangeable to supply to all his people whatsoever they can need in any condition til he hath brought them to glory That is the first thing no body wil doubt this the Scripture is so ful to it The Second thing is more immediate and closer to my purpose and it is this That Jesus Christ hath not only this determinate purpose in his heart but he hath in his Word declared and manifested al that he will do for his people and expect from his people til they come into Heaven mark that is In his Word hath he declared Promises which hold out al the good that Christ means to do for his people not only general promises for pardon of sin to bring them to Heaven but promises for every condition that can be he hath declared what he means to do and which way he wil do it He hath there likewise declared what his will is for al the duties that his people are to perform iâ— the way of obedience he wil never expect from them in al their life time any thing but what in his Word he hath set down And thirdly In the same Word he hath not only laid down Promises what he wil do and precepts what they must do but Directions that hold out both arguments to stir them up and waies that they should take al these hath he laid down in his Word al the means either to attain strength to do duties or to accomplish the benefit of any Promise in his Word he hath laid down al his mind and that is called his will concerning us that is the will of God concerning us Now these three things premised the purpose of Christ to do all that he will do and expect the declaration of all this in his Word These two taken for granted now in the third place which is my Doctrine and which wil make you understand what the living by faith is The Grace of Faith wrought in us by the Spirit of God and acted in us by the Spirit of God it immediately hath its whol application to the Word Good Friends hearken I say the grace of faith is the work of the Spirit in us and is excited and stirred up to work by the Spirit the Spirits proper and immediate work is to deal with the will of Christ revealed in his Word it looks not at Heaven immediately it looks not to Christ immediately but it looks at God and Christ and Heaven mediately through the Word In the Word there saith sees all the good things promised that in its life time it shal stand in need of in the Word it seeth the injunction of al those duties that the renewed soul should be conversant about or be exercised in in the Word and in the Word only he seeth the Methods the Counsels the arguments the Directions that are to be attended upon for the enjoyment of all that which is in Christs purpose to do for us Now mark The grace of faith stirred up by the Spirit of God to look to the Word in every thing in the right way and the Lord by his invisible and secret work making the things held out in the Word effectual to the soul by this act of faith in the whol course of our life applying
Christianity there is nothing Christianity but the Life of Christ. 2 Aboundance of things go for this Life which are not this Life Quest. How shall we know this Life Answ. By these two Characters 1 Wheresoever the Lord gives Life to any Creature in a Natural way the life is the Preciousest thing in the world to that Creature and so among al that live the life of Christ there is nothing in this world so dear to them as their Spiritual Life is Which valuation of the said Life appears in these three things Page 22 1 In a Natural propensity and inclination and appetite towards those things that are the nourishment of this Life 2 In a most vehement declining of what they know to be destructive to this life 3 In a willingness to part with any thing to save this spiritual Life Page 24 The second Character of this Spiritual Life 2 Consists in some things that are the proper beatings of the pulse as it were of the Soul Arguments of this spiritual Life Aâ— 1 The Natural motion of this spiritual Life is to enjoy God in Jesus Christ as their chiefest good this is the great thing wherin the souls pulse beates 2 There is a Natural making out of the Heart towards holiness righteousness love kindness mercy pitty Page 27 3 The Soul that is alive unto Christ is guided by the word it is his Card his compass his Square his Meet-wand his Eye Looking to the word as his only Guide Who are strangers to the Life of Christ 1 All that know not Christ 2 All that live to their Lusts. 3 All that live to the World 4 All that live to their Pleasures Use 2. This serves to comfort those that live this life considering that 1 This is the highest noblest most excellent Life that ever any Creature did partake of 2 This is the sweetest of all Lives for in all other lives men tast but the sweetness of the Creature but in this the sweetness of God and Christ. 3 It is the greatest pledge of Gods love he gives to any 4 Christ being the fountain of this life you may be bold to rely upon him for the preservation of it Page 32 Use 3. To perswade all men to study and seek after this life SERMON II. DOCT. 2. That life of Christ which all Gods people live in this world they live it by Faith The DOCTRIN is 1 Demonstrated from scripture that it is so that the whol Life of a Christian is led by Faith 2 It is opened by shewing what the Holy Ghost means by this and what it is for a Soul to live the life of Christ by Faith Page 35 Use 1. Hence we may safely and sadly conclude that amongst the great multitudes of those that challenge the Name of Chrstians there are very few that are really Christians For 1 Many are Ignorent of Christ. 2 Many never trouble themselves at the very Doctrine of Faith 3 Many live to their lusts 4 Multitudes live to the world 5 Many live to their own wills Use 2. Real Christians ought to lament nothing so much as their unbelife Quest. Do you think that the people of God are so much guilty of it Judge by these Signs 1 Our not studying of the Word 2 Our little Valueing of the Word 3 Our unevenness in our whol course 4 Our deviations and use of unlawful means SERMON III. Use 3. This shewes what kind of Christians they must needs be who can live in the Flesh above Word and Ordinances having no use of them and as they think nothing to do with them but live in an immediate communion with God and enjoyment of him Use 4. To make this living by Faith better known to the Lords people and more exactly practised then it hath been hitherto For encouragement to study this art of living by Faith consider 1 If you wil be Christians you have no other Mistery to maintaine your lives but Faith 2 All other waies of life that any man pitches upon wil shortly appear to be but a poor thing 3 This Mystery of living by Faith is the best Life the most desirable Life that any Man or Woman can live til they come to enjoy God immediately The Excellency of this Life opened in Particulars 1 It is the life which the Lord hath chosen out to be the life of those that he loved from all Eternity 2 It is most honorable to us 3 In this world it is the easiest Life To live by Faith is the easiest Life under Heaven 4 It is the best Life because it is the surest Life Page 64 Question How shall we do to live this Life Answer 1 The Grace of Faith is the principal of his Life 2 If you would live the Life of Faith labor to be well acqainted with God especially with God in Christ. 68 3 Study to be acquainted with the word 4 Faithfully and Conscientiously serve the Lord in the use of means Page 73 Two Cautions to be taken in with these directions When it is said we must use means and thus live by Faith the meaning is 1 That when we have done we must not limit God God limits you and limits me but Faith must not limit him as to the way how or time when be shall makeâ— good Page 74 2 When you are directed thus to live the life of Faith you must take heed of some other Principles viz. your own Reason and your own sense The Premises considered it is sad to think 1 How the common People of the world live amongst us being wholly Ignorant of these things and setting their Hearts upon wealth and Pleasure and Honor and such perishing things Page 76 2 It is sad to think how many Souls that are Godly and study the Scriptures and attend upon the word yet had rather study nice controversies and things that engender strife then this great comprehensive Duty of living to Christ and living by Faith Page 77 FINIS CHRIST'S INTERCESSION OR Sins of Infirmity Opened in a Sermon at Pauls Novemb. 19. 1654 1 John 2.1 2. My little Children these things write I unto you that you sin not now follows my Text And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whol world THe whol scope of the blessed Apostle in this Letter of his is as himself teacheth us to confirm the people of God to build them up in that great Article of their Faith and their great priviledge which is the Communion of Saints He tels you in the beginning he writes to them that they might have Communion with himself and the rest of the Apostles whose Communion is with God the Father and is Son Jesus Christ presently he proceeds to shew wherein this Communion stands which he doth express First More generally It is to walk in the light when all the world walks in darkness
they by virtue of their fellowship should walk in the light And then Secondly Explains this more particularly in the subsequent discourse and shews that by walking in the light he mainly intends walking in holiness that is to abominate and abandon the waies of sin and to live as becomes those that are born of God in holiness and righteousness and this is the plot of the whol Epistle And then he begins with the first branch of it and that is to depart from the waies of sin and sets down this conclusion That if any man do pretend Communion with Jesus Christ and walk in sin he is a meer Dissembler he hath not one dram of Communion with God and Jesus Christ That is a certain rule no man that hath Communion with Jesus Christ can walk in a sinful life but every branch of the great things that Christ bestows upon his people the purport and intent of them all is to make them leave sinning that they wholly overthrow the very tenour of the Gospel who talk of believing in Christ and walk in a Godless life Now this first Branch the Apostle prosecutes at large both in the first Chapter in this second Chapter and begins the second Chapter thus Now all these things do I write to you that you sin not and presently at the 3d verse takes it up again saith he If any man know him he must walk as he walketh and so proves it by many Arguments Now Brethren you shal see the intent of my Text The Apostle knowing what an uncomfortable Doctrine this would be if it were not explained how uncomfortable it would be even to the best of Gods Saints and people he prevents the sad objection that every gracious heart would be ready to make for when he hath set down this for his Conclusion He that is in Christ cannot sin he cannot sin he deceives himself if he talks of Christ and sins Why A poor Soul would presently come out and say Then am I utterly undone I have then no interest in Christ for I sin I sin dayly I cannot live without it I cannot perform one Duty but my corruption is intermingling it self with it wo be to me if that Doctrine go for currant that he hath nothing to do with Christ that sins Now by way of Prolepsis the Apostle anticipates this objection and cleers the mind of God about it and then proceeds further to prosecute his Doctrine and it is laid down in these words But if any man sin let him know that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for all our sins and not only ours that are Jews but throughout all the world if they be Beleevers This he laies down to stay the hearts of Gods people in reference to that sadness that they would be ready to be overwhelmed with Now Brethren because there is but one main Doctrine that I intend to insist upon I wil but briefly explain the words to you and then I wil propound the Doctrine First When the Apostle saith If any man do sin he thereby plainly implies that there are certain sorts of sins that even Gods Children though they dare not commit sin nor walk in sin yet even Gods own Children for them he speaks to my little Children I write this to you I say there are sins that Gods own people are overtaken with even after they have fellowship and Communion with Jesus Christ that is the first thing that he takes for granted Then Secondly To that he adds But saith he if any man sin that is when we do thus sin when Gods people do thus sin What then We have an Advocate that you all know the meaning of one that pleadeth our cause that is the office of an Advocate to appear in behalf of another in his cause We have an Advocate with the Father above in Heaven at his right hand that is Jesus Christ our Lord who died for us and loved us and gave himself for us he appears in Heaven for us yea he is Jesus Christ the righteous that is though he be so righteous that he wil never plead an ill cause yet this is a part of his righteousness to intercede and appear in the behalf of his own people even when they sin against him Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for our sins that is who once upon earth offered himself up a Sacrifice to satisfie for them and now in Heaven pleads the benefit and virtue of it for ever in the behalf of his people And not for ours only that is we that are Jews but for the sins of the whol world supposing stil he speaks of the same matter of those that believe in Christ that have Communion with him throughout the world Rich and Poor Yong and Old Jew and Gentile this is a truth to them all When Gods people sin Jesus Christ the righteous at Gods right hand maketh mediation for them So the words thus briefly paraphrased upon do afford us this Doctrine which is the only Lesson that I intend to handle this day namely Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christs intercession in Heaven is the great dayly relief that al the Saints have upon Earth against their dayly sins A Doctrine which at the very first propounding Promiseth not only comfort to Believers but carnal men they wil be ready to promise themselves liberty though I hope without cause by that time I have done with it but Jesus Christs mediation in Heaven is the great relief to all Gods Saints upon earth against the dayly sins that they are overtaken with Now Beloved that I may handle this Doctrine for your profit there are two questions which God willing I shal endeavor to cleer and that wil be the sum of all my work the discussing of them First Quest. 1. What sins the Lords Children and People are liable to while they are in this world what those sins are that the Children of God may be overtaken with while they live in this world Secondly Quest. 2. I wil shew you how the Intercession of Jesus Christ is the great relief to Gods Children against these sins For the first First What are those sins which the Lords people his own Children are liable to while they live in this world And to make you the more attentive to it be pleased to note that there are two Conclusions about sin laid down so cleerly in the Scripture yea in this very Epistle that they almost seem to contradict one another and therefore it is of great weight to have that cleared First 1. Nothing clearer then this That he that is born of God doth not sin nor cannot sin and if a man say he hath communion with Jesus Christ and walkes in sin he is a Liar and deceives his own Soul Nothing clearer then this in this Epistle So likewise in Romans 6. How can we that are dead to sin Live any longer therein Sin cannot
into flagitious scandalous waies they make them so abominable that in regard of Gods glory the good of the Church it had bin better they had never bin born then commit them they do so harden the wicked so dishonor God so deeply defile their own Consciences that here is nothing can be said for any men that they have any part in Christ while they are given up to such waies No saith God Know you not that no Whoremonger nor Adulterer shall come into the Kingdom of Heaven they are as it were interdicted from all right of entring into Heaven while they are in that condition That is the first But then Secondly 2. When the Spirit of God awakens them to repentance that they grow sensible of their unworthy and unchild-like walking then the intercession of Christ so far is for them that there is a free access to come to the Lord to be in his Book and to enjoy Peace with him as if never any such thing had been committed by them at all Though the sins of Gods people when they are thus egregious are beyond al measure sinful and do exceeding mischief to others notwithstanding all this if once the soul be but humbled and that they consider what they have done against God and how they have provoked him and injured him Christ in Heaven prevails that there is no bar in the world against their acceptance but the Lords Arms stand open to receive them as freely as if the things had never been done by them and of this you have a world of Evidences I wil give you but two instances of it and one is that of Ephraim The Lord saith to him he was his dear Child but all the while he walked after that manner the Lord spit in his face and would not own him but you shal read of him in Jer. 31.18 saith the Lord I saw Ephraim bemoaning himself mark there Ephraim was come home by weeping Cross What did he do saith he I saw him bemoaning himself Oh! I have been an untamed Heifer the Lord hath chastised me and I was chastised but I was like a Bullock that would not bear the Lords Yoke Turn thou me and I shal be turned for thou art the Lord my God surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth When this Spirit had seized upon him mark what follows The Lord stands behind the Curtain and hears his Child thus bemoaning and what saith he Ephraim is my dear Child he is a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him stil therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord He breaks out he can bear no longer when once he had a Christ and Mediator in Heaven and when once he was but sensible of it the Lords bowels yerned towards him presently And that other Instance is the example of the Prodigal in Luke 15. that the Lord intended to be the Pattern of those Children that should run away and be brought home again by Grace all the while that Wretch ran away and spent his goods his Father regarded him no more than his elder brother did when he came home but when the man was broken I have a Father saith he And I wil go to my Father and confess I am not worthy to stand before him and when he came tattered and lousie home the Text saith his Father ran to meet him as if he should have said No more of that Son come bring him in kill the fatted Calf and put a Ring upon his Finger and quiets his Elder Brother and it is fit it should be so thy brother is come home again I speak this the rather because if there should be any one here to hear me this day that hath run away from God and the Lord hath touched thy heart and thou beginnest to think how thou hast wronged him the Lord Jesus Christ hath made thy peace the door is open that thou maiest come freely to him as if there had never any such thing been As in Hosea 14. the latter end When Ephraim shal say Come take words and say Father receive us gratiously I wil heal him freely saith he There is the first Question answered I was the shorter in this because I would gladly hope there are none such here so wofully deserted of God as when they have received a new life that they should give up themselves desperately to walk in waies contrary to him Quest. 2. But now for the other question which is the lot of al the Saints of God I know there is no man heares me this day that hath any thing of the life of Christ in him but he carries a body of death about him whereby he is surprised one way or other or for want of sufficient strength he is overcome now such an one must know that when it is thus with him he hath a great reliefe by Christ Jesus his appearing at the right hand of God for him wherein lies that I wil open in four or five particulars with a very short application added Four conclusions I would set you downe about Christs being a reliefe to his Children against their daily corruptions their infirmities The first is 1. That Jesus Christ doth pitty in heauen he pities his Children under their sinful infirmities as much as any Parents pity their Children under their bodily infirmities that is the first That the Lord Christ who is their high Preist their suretie he hath compassion upon them in their infirmities and pitties them under them as Parents use to pittie their Children that lie under bodily infirmities no body I hope wil mistake me when I say pity I mean not such workings of bowels and passions in Heaven which we poor men are subject to upon earth but somewhat that is like to it somewhat that carries the thing in it and that you wil find cleerly in Scripture the Psalmist saith in Psalm 103. when he cals up himselfe to blesse the Lord there for al his goodnesse and tells us the Lord heals his infirmities surely he means his spiritual infirmities and there he blesseth God that pities them even as a Father pities his own Children And we have an high Priest saith the Apostle that cannot but compassionate our infirmities though he was without sin himselfe yet he hath a compassionate heart And there is one passage which if you will but read when you come at home it would give you abundance of satisfaction it is in Ezekiel 34. in the midst of the Chapter the Lord there quarrels with the wretched Shepeard that goared some of his Sheep and trod others under foot and killed some and fleeced some and when he comes to reckon with him he tels him that he would send the Lord Jesus and that he was the good Shepeard and what he
Sense what is Adoption I describe it thus It is a gracious Sentence of God the Father who cals sinners if Beleevers his Sons for Christ's sake I give you this short description That it is a gracious Sentence of God the Father whereby he doth call Beleevers though sinners yet he cals them his Sons for Christs sake the very Scripture language We are called Sons but yet I think a little plainer take this It is a gracious work of God whereby he doth take poor sinners who beleeve in Christ into that Glorious Condition of being his own Children All this will by and by be more plain when I come to shew you what it comprehends in it but the Lord of his free Grace when he hath brought home a Soul to make it accept of Christ to be its Savior then doth he how unworthy soever that Wretch be he takes him into the condition of his own Children That is the first and I am the shorter in it because the next wil explain it more The second Question is this 2. What is this work of Adopting or how is it done and therein I humbly crave your best attention because I know to you that are the Lords I am opening the most glorious Priviledg that Christ Jesus hath bought with his blood for you and it wil be wel worth your understanding how we that are Children of Wrath come to be made the Children of God I Answer you then First 1. In general The Adopting of a Soul to be a Child of God is so high a work that the whol Trinity the Father the Son the Holy Ghost every one of the three Persons have their distinct work in Adopting a poor Sinner to be the Child of God nor is any man upon Earth ever made the Child of God til al those three works of the Trinity have passed upon him so great a matter is it to be made Gods Child And this wil I open to you in the second place 2. What the several works of the blessed Trinity are in making a poor unworthy sinner to become the Child of God First 1. The work of the Father God the Father what is his work in our Adoption It stands in two things you will find them cleerly if you do but study the Scriptures The first is 1. From all Eternity the Lord did choose them to be his Children that when he did first pitch upon them if I may speak of any thing that is first which is eternal but when the Lord pitched upon poor Creatures and chose them to life he chose them to be his Children as you have it in Ephes. 1. verse 5. He hath predestinated us to the Adoption of Children that although he himself had a naturally and only begotten Son every way pleasing and delightful to him yet besides this only begotten Son would he have other Children who with that Son should enjoy him and serve him and under that notion he chose to make them his Children Not only so but 2. When he gave them to Christ which was likewise a work from all Eternity When the Lord gave these to Jesus Christ whom he chose to be Sons he gave them to him under the notion of Brethren These are to be thy Brethren I give them to thee to compleat the work which I have chosen them to which is to be my Sons and therefore it is said in that place of the Hebrews That because the Children were partakers of Flesh and Blood that is those that the Lord had chosen and looked upon as Children he that was their Surety must partake of Flesh and Blood So there is the Fathers work that from all Eternity he taketh a poor Creature and saith This shal be my Son and he gives him to his Son Christ These I give as thy Brethren to thee to bring them to the enjoyment of me There is the work of the Father this I hope is plain Then Secondly 2. There is a work of Jesus Christ What is that The work and Office of Jesus Christ in the point of Adoption that likewise stands in two things The First is 1. He was to purchase their Sonship for them for though the Father would give it them freely it should cost them nothing yet Christ being made their Surety he must purchase it for them so that the Lord although he was the Heir of all things yet he condescends by his own Blood by his own Sufferings by himself being made a Curse He condescends to purchase adoption for those that were given him to bring to life This is plain in Gal. 4. where iâ— is said When the fulness of time was come God sent his own Son born of a Woman made under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons that our Adoption as it flows from Christ is the price of his Blood that is one of the works that Christ doth The second is this 2. That when the acceptable hour is come that the Lord is pleased to bring a Sinner home to Christ Christ is applied to him as a Brother that when they are brought to Christ by Faith Christ cometh to be applied to them as their elder Brother not only as a Redeemer that hath satisfied God and purchased for them but when he is made over to them he is made over to them in his Sonship as wel as in the rest of his works so that as our justification ariseth from Christs righteousness being applied to us so our Sonship arising from Christ as the Son being the only begotten Son of God and our elder Brother is applied to us Yea I tel you this application of Christ in his Sonship to the Saints is so neer and so close that although he be the only begotten Son of God the first born the Heir of all things yet by vertue of his application unto Beleevers they likewise come to be called by God himself his first born These are high things but the Scripture is cleer in them for so you read it in the latter end of Heb. 12.23 where it is said that we are come to the new Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and to the Congregation of the first born whose names are written in Heaven that all they that are called home to Christ by reason of their conjunction to their elder Brother they are the first born of God and the Lord speaks thus of all his Saints in that place of Exod. in that sense I am speaking Go saith he to Pharoah tel him Israel is my Son What Son My first born he is my first born because Israel was comprehended in Christ and Christ looked upon as his Brother Israel is Gods first born So here are two of the works of the Trinity in our Adoption the work of the Father in chusing us to it and giving us to Jesus Christ as his Brethren the work of the Son is in purchasing this great priviledg by his Blood and when the time
the inheritance was to go amongst the begotten Children by the Laws of the Empire so by the same Laws it was to go amongst them that were adopted Thus it was amongst them but whether any Lawyers can except against it or no I will not much dispute it but I shal make it cleer to you that it is thus absolutely and fully in our adoption Absolutely and fully in the adoption of a Child by Faith all these three things meet First 1. We are hereby cut off from the Family from which we sprung by nature I speak not now of our Civil birth or rights but of our spiritual standing which is to be Children of wrath Children of Belial Children of old Adam Children of Sin and Death we are cut off from that Family no longer to be reckoned of it the Bondage Baseness Obligations Curses whatsoever lay or doth lie upon Adams Family or upon any that spring from it assoon as ever the Lord cals him Son through Christ he is wholly cut off from all that is plainly thus and because I cannot possibly open these in a short discourse I wil commend it to your studies 1. We are for example all of us by nature under the Dominion of sin that is our birthright sin and the curses of it we are al under it assoon as ever the Lord cals a Beleever Child that he hath let his adoption pass upon him the bondage of sin the curse of sin the dominion of sin it is wholly removed from him ye 〈◊〉 not under sin sin cannot have dominion over you because you are now brought under Grace And then likewise 2. The Law whereby sin is irritated and animated the Law that in the Rigor of it and the Curse of it that lies upon all the Sons of Adam we are cut off from it assoon as ever we are Gods Children and therefore the Apostle expresseth it thus to the Galatians that he made his Son born under the Law that he might Redeem us that are under the Law that we might have the Adoption of Children I hope no Body will mistake me for it is most clear in the word that the Law remains as a rule to Gods Children and that is their priviledg but as for the Rigor and curse of it they are wholly cut off from that when they are made the Sons of God by Adoption That is the First That the Lord calling Sons to Jesus Christ and owning them as his Children for the sake of Christ they are delivered from all the Curses and bondage that belongs to Adams Family and which all the Rest of the world lie under But then the Second is greater then this And that is 2. That by our Adoption we are really I speak of Beleevers not nominal Christians but real Christians they are all of them taken into Gods Family as his Sons and Daughters that is he owneth them to be his Children and hath the Bowels of a Father to them really that they are now under his care under his provision under his Protection under his indulgence and whatsoever he hath commanded the most Holy Parents to exercise towards their own Children that fear them he hath ingaged himself perpetually for ever to do all these things unto those whom he is pleased to cal his Sons and Daughters by Adoption There is nothing so ful no pearle so ful of excellency there is nothing so ful of any thing that is good as this is ful of consolation to the saints of God that can but understand it therefore he must needs bear with them therefore he must needs provide for them therefore if he correct them it must needs be in Love with nothing but a Fatherly rod for we are all taken into his Family and may go to him as to a Father in all things wherein we have need of a Father that is the Second A great comprehension of Priviledges not to be uttered And then the Third branch is as clear 3. That when God calls us to be his Children we are thereby made his Heires we are Heires of God indeed in the Civil Law inheritance it is by a succession into the right of the Dead but now as the Lord is pleased to apply it to his Children it signifies a certain inheritance but certainly the inheritance that the Lord of Heaven is to give to any or that he hath given to his Son Jesus Christ all his Brethren the Brethren of Christ and the Sons of God have a share in it If you wil have it a little more fully I will tell you in a few words thus for you have the proof of it in Rom. 8.16 That the Spirit witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Coheirs with Christ But I mean these two things by it First 1. The Heir while he is a Child is Lord of all he is Lord of al before he comes to the injoyment of it he is the Lord of it so now while Gods Children are in their minority while they are poor ones in this world they are Heirs of the world the Lord hath called his Children to be Heirs of the world that is whatsoever is in this world is for their sakes the Angels the World the Devils in Hel in spite of their Hearts they are al under the Saints and are compelled by the Lord they against their wills and the Angels with their good wils they all of them are subservient to those that are the Sons of God by Adoption and whatsoever is in the wide world and may be enjoyed any waies for the good of his People they are the Heirs of all this is their Portion while they are in this world the Scripture saith it plain All is yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods and therefore Paul and Apollo or Cephas or whatsoever is in the world all is yours the Saints of God have a real right to al by vertue of their Sonship not in the Law of man but in the spirituall sense that the Scripture holds out And then 2. For the other life where the prepared possession which was cast by God from all Eternity all the Glory of Heaven such as Eye never saw nor never entred into the heart of man to conceive of it is all kept to be the everlasting inheritance of all those that are called the Lords Children Thus Brethren I have as briefly as I could and yet I have through Gods goodness plainly opened to you this great priviledg of all priviledges that whosoever doth beleeve in Jesus Christ really accepts him to be their Savior they are upon their beleeving in Christ made the Sons and Daughters of God Now let me make some Application before I dismiss you and one thing that I would fain have you think upon alone is USE 1. 1. To take heed you be not deceived about it this would require a Sermon whensoever I should treat of it and therefore I wil
should all joyne together to put out their utmost skil they could not make such a conjunction between Christ and the soul as beleeving doth but yet I wil tell you thus far not by any virtue that God hath put in faith but as it is the hand whereby we receive the holy Spirit for by the Spirit we receive faith and this holy Spirit that takes Christ and gives him to us and takes us and gives us to Christ this holy Spirit in a way utterly unknown to us and no waies to be understood in this world makes us one with Christ. There is the fifth And then the sixth and last is this 6. That look as in our food when the food is prepared and we have an appetite to it and the stomach receives it and works upon it and it becomes one with us then by vertue of that by the strength of that food are we enabled to live as men if we have wasted our spirits if our healths are decayed here is strength to be added if we have work to do we are thereby enabled to do it to go through what belongs to us by the power that comes in Gods way of ordering it by the power that comes and is added to us So it is here in our spiritual life that when once the Lord brings the Soul to value Christ as that wherein his life lies to have a desire after him above all goods in the world to come to have Christ incorporated into us by the power of the Spirit then do we come from hence by the Covenant of Grace the operation of â—he Holy Ghost according to Gods dispensation to his People to receive such a supply of his Spirit as we are enabled to walk as those that are alive unto God through Jesus Christ only add this difference for I wil shew you how the preheminence lies in our spiritual eating with this difference that whereas our outward food never gives life to those that want it but by the blessing of God only repairs it in those that have it now this spiritual eating of Christ doth not only maintain life in those that are alive but it raiseth them up from the very dead it gives life and that moment that the Lord enables the soul to hunger after him and rest upon him in that moment is the life of Jesus Christ conveyed to him And this is the first part to let you see that eating and drinking it is nothing but beleeving in Christ and the resemblance of them stands in these things as I have opened to you and now the second which I wil be but brief in because I would not stay you long nor be hindred from the Application of it the second thing I promised is 2. A little to discover what the benefit is that we partake of by eating and drinking the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ What do we get by it For answer We can easily say when men are extolling the good cheer they have been at at any Feast or Banquet where luxury is set out What get you by it a feeding of our Bodies that wil return to clay is al that a man gets by it Now what is gotten by this eating and drinking of Jesus Christ Oh! could I but in a few words open to you what our Lord hath said of it saith he 1. He that eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood he shal have everlasting life There is the first benefit What means he by that life That is not this poor frail momentary life that we live though this be the purchase of Christ to Beleevers but he shall have First 1. The life of pardon that whereas all of us are dead under the guilt of sin dead in Law liable to wrath they are pardoned men if once they beleeve in Christ. 2. Whereas they were dead likewise under the dominion of sin and were strangers to the life of God the Lord Jesus infuseth a principle of a new spirituall life into them and such inward qualities and holiness that enables them to live the life of God that life that is of the same kind that Christ himself lives his life a holy spiritual life that alas if I could open it to you and you understand it it would make you conclude that there is no such life in any creature to be found as the life that every soul lives that laies hold upon Christ I and then he adds 3. This life is an everlasting life that is as our Savior expresses it saith he Your Fathers did eat Manna that is as the Scripture saith Angels Food not that Angels eat any meat but if they did eat any food it would be Manna Your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead but he that eateth upon me lives for ever It is not such a poor momentary life as this is but a life that wil last to all eternity this is the Benefit Nay mark some other expressions that come in here together 2. He shal never hunger nor thirst more That wil explain wel what the Lord means by saying an everlasting life they shal never hunger nor thirst What is that He means not that they shal never desire more of Christ No there is a two fold hunger and thirst 1. There is such a hunger and thirst as riseth out of sweetness that because the honey is good they would have more of it because the Wine is good therefore the Drunkard saith I wil sip again where the content of it makes them desire more of it This hunger all the People of God have because they find contentment in Christ therefore they desire more of him But then 2. There is another hunger and thirst which is deadly which will kill a man unless it be supplied which our Savior explains in his discourse with the Woman of Samaria He that drinketh of that Water shall thirst again that is if he have not a supply he will be in as dead a condition as he was in before if he be not supplied But now he that eateth and drinketh of the meat and drink that he prepares though there wil be a sweet hunger to make him desire more yet there wil be such a life and stock of life within that til eternity have end they shal never be destitute of meat So here is a benefit a life everlasting that they shal never hunger nor thirst Nay he explains it yet a little higher in the words I have read the one is saith he 3. Whosoever doth thus eat and drink and thus cometh to me I wil in no wise cast off What is that though it may be he may think himself the most unworthy and say Lord here is meat indeed Lord ever more give us of this meat But who am I that I should come I am the unworthiest wretchedest vilest of all Nay let him be never so unworthy in himself never so vile I wil in no wise cast him out if he come to me for God my Fathers
wil is and he gave it me in commission when I came from him not to deny food to any one that cometh after me Nay saith he last of all 4. This is the Command I have from the Father That I should raise them up all at the last day Though it is true the bodily life ends and fails and they shal turn to dust as others do yet when I come to make good the life that my People must have in abundance when I come in the last day to make it good to them I must raise al up that ever did partake of me to life you see here is the benefit which is laid down in the Text I have only a little paraphrased upon it thus I have opened the Doctrinal part That whosoever would live happy Eating and Drinking of Jesus Christ is the Duty required of him and they that do it are happy abundantly Let me now a little apply this to you but three Uses I wil briefly make of it or rather the Lord makes them for it is out of mans power to do it three things I would observe First USE 1. If you be but willing you may cleerly discern whether you are partakers of Jesus Christ yea or no Oh! that the Lord that is the Father of spirits would work upon your spirits while I am speaking Friends Shall I speak a little freely and examin this great Assembly where doth your eternal happiness lie tel me in your own hearts what you would answer to it if God did examin it where doth your hope of happiness lie Would not this be your Answer Only in Jesus Christ the Son of God that became a Savior for poor sinners I disclaim all other things and I look for my happiness only in Christ Would not this be the Answer of you all It may be some Pharisaical self justifiers they can pitch presently upon their own honest and innocent life but I pitch upon that which I think every one of you would answer It is Christ you say but what Christ is it that you make account is your life What Christ is it Is it Christ the Son of Mary and the Son of God Christ that died upon the Cross that rose again and ascended into Heaven and sits at Gods right hand in the Glory of his Father and that shal come again in the end of the world to judg the quick and the dead Jesus Christ is preached to you in the several meetings in the ministry of the word Is it this Christ you look for I let me add this If there be no more for thee or me than this this Christ that sits at the right hand of God if thou canst not ad this Christ fed upon by me It is Christ in you the hope of Glory it is not Christ in Heaven the hope of Glory therefore I must needs beg of you that you would be true to your own souls for through mercy I have a little converse amongst men and a little experience of them but the want of the knowledg of this point undoeth many men they have heard so much of Christ that unless they be the arrantest sots and debauched persons they can tell you all the story of Christ but if you come to examin how I pra'y came this Christ into your hearts I know how he was prepared for Bread how the Father hath ground him and baked him pardon the expression I know how the Father hath prepared his flesh and blood to be meat and drink But how came he to be your food and how got you your interest in him if you did eat his flesh and drink his blood in a carnal way it would do you no good for though you go for Church members yet if the Lord have not done these things in thee which I have spoke of thou wilt be utterly lost when thou comest to seek for salvation Doth it not trouble thee to think how thou canst answer these four or five Questions I will but name them First 1. Hath the Lord convinced thy Soul really and cleerly that there is no salvation to such a wretch as thou art further than Christ Jesus wil vouchsafe it unto thee art thou set down under that that is wel for believe it til this work of Christ come upon our hearts we never see the necessity of that work Secondly 2. Hath he raised up in thee that amongst all the contents thou findest in other things though God maketh thy Wife comfortable or thy Husband comfortable and al things sutable yet stil thy heart is unsatisfied if I have not Christ I am undone What will my riches do me good if I have not Christ What wil all the talk of others do me good if I have not Christ Hath he raised up in thee such a desire after him What sayest thou Thirdly 3. If at any time the Lord smile upon thee though no body be by but he smiles upon thee in secret thou hast gotten some cleer Evidence that Christ is thine and he wil own thee before the Father Canst thou turn back and even laugh before the Lord and say Oh Lord is it so Is Christ mine Is this to thee 〈◊〉 the honey and the hony combe 4. Dost thou find likewise in a way that thou know'st not how it is brought about but thou findest somwhat settled upon thy heart that hath changed the frame of thy heart thou that art by nature proud lascivious and naught there is somwhat that is wrought in thee and there comes some strength that though thou canst not walk as thou should'st do yet the Lord is dear and his Children are dear and his waies are dear some strength God affords that thou art not pleased in the world but thy soul finds that God hath enabled thee to make him the end of thy life and his word the rule of thy life Hath he done this for thee then there is eating and drinking of Christs flesh and blood then in the name of God thou doest partake of Christ But good Friends be not deceived I tel you in many places not one of a hundred that hears such a Doctrine as this have any part in Christ or their feeding upon him or relying upon him therefore I pray try your selves That is the first Use I wil make of it Then in the second place USE 2. Oh! what a comfort may this be if the Lord would enable me to speak of it I could pour down even showers of Consolation upon those souls that have gone along with me in the tryal All you that the Lord hath shewed this mercy to you that you feed thus upon Christ I tel thee this Carry it home thou hast eat a meal's meat that will keep thee as a man while God lives he hath given thee one bit Oh! one mouthful of Christ to get into Christ I read of the Widows Oyl truly it was a delicate portion that God laid out for her that for a great while together shee
an Argument to perswade to the learning of this lesson the Argument is taken from the necessity of it it is so necessary that that man that wil not deny himself even to the denying of his life for Christs sake wil undo himselff by his good husbandry by his providence if he think to save himself by following more wary Counsel he wil ruine himself but if he wil resign up himself to the counsel that Christ gives him Christs counsel shal save him and Salvation any other way he shal never find Now lest some-body might object against this and say But in probability the following of thee and taking up our Cross wil be so far from saving of us that it wil ruine us and the looking a little better to our selves may save our state save our credit save our liberty save our life Wel to that saith Christ do but cast up the gain that wil be got by this way I deny not but a man may by that providence that you speak of save his estate and save his credit he may possibly gain the world a great state in it but he wil lose his soul by it and that man that should purchase al the world that should be able to say this Kingdom is mine the other Kindom is mine all the Kingdomes of the earth are mine But what did they cost you nothing but my soul I gave my soul for them that man hath made a miserable bargain of it he will gain nothing that will venture the loss of his soul for the purchasing of the whol world The worth of a soul is invaluable and besides when a soul is once lost the loss of a soul is irrecoverable what shal a man ever give in exchange for his soul Therfore set this down for your Conclusion The man that wil not follow my counsel upon the best account that can be made is certainly an undone man This is the scope of Christ in these words Now I come to the Doctrinal part which I shal only insist upon at this time and in it there are these two things First 1. Here is the Lesson that Christ teacheth and imposeth on his Disciples in these words Let him that wil be my Disciple Deny himself Take up his Cross and follow me Those are the three things that Christ imposeth upon all his Disciples Deny themselves Take up their Cross Follow him Secondly 2. Here is the Condition upon which this Duty is imposed If any man wil be my Disciple Christ wil compel no body to be his Disciple and if they have not a mind to be his Disciples he wil not impose upon them denial of themselves and taking up of their Cross and following him if they like other waies better let them take them and see what will come of them in the end but if any man wil pretend to be a follower of Christ if he be resolved to be listed amongst Christs Souldiers or admitted into Christs School or into Christs Family then this is the ABC this is the first Lesson that he must learn He must deny himself Take up his Cross and follow him and that is all that I will say to the Condition of it that it may be as a watch word to all you that hear me this day I shal by and by by the Lords assistance handle a Doctrine that I know is very hard to flesh and blood that which possibly many of you never yet learned nor have any purpose to learn but only now remember this You shal not be compelled to learn it if you have not a mind to the Doctrine that shal be opened you are at freedome to take another way provided you wil not lay claim to be the followers of Christ Run your hazards and enjoy your good things in this world and see what wil come of it but if you have a purpose as I know you have and would be glad to be thought followers of Christ then be you high or low Lords or Ladies Gentle or Simple Learned or Ignorant know you that this is injoyned to every one whom Christ will own that they must deny themselves take up their Cross and follow him It is only the first of them that I purpose to treat upon at this time Deny himself and the Doctrine which by the Lords assistance I shall handle is this the very words of the Text. DOCT. That whosoever wil be a Disciple or Follower of Christ he must deny himself And for the explication of the words there is nothing hard but this The word He shal deny himself doth signifie a total abrenunciation he must wholly deny himself as I shal make good out of the Scripture it must be a total work Now for the proof of it that it must be so it were easie to turn you to a great many Scriptures where the very same words are used and upon the like occasion you shal find it in Mark 8. and also in Luke 9. but for fear I be prevented I wil content my self with a Text that I wil turn you to and that is in Luke 14. from verse 28. to the end of the Chapter it wil abundantly demonstrate the necessity of this Doctrine If Christ may be beleeved you shal find there that there were a great many came in to Christ to be his Disciples great multitudes they were taken with his Miracles his Sermons and the Conversation of the whol world began to run after him and gave in their names as fast as they could be admitted but mark what Christ saith to them about verse 26. saith he If any man come after me and do not hate Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Lands and his own Life he cannot be my Disciple mark what he saith he cannot he doth not say I wil not own him but positively because there is an impossibility of being Christ's Disciple unless that a man do so far deny himself as to renounce and and forsake whatsoever may be called himself And lest he should not be beleeved he doth prosecute this by three parables that follow there in order and they are to this purpose in the two first parables he doth plainly tel them 1. That if any man pretend to be Christ's Disciple and do not learn this lesson of self-denial that man if ever he be put to it wil prove an Apostate if ever times of tryall come that man that enters into Christs School not having learned the Lesson of self-denial wil prove an Apostate or Secondly 2. If he be never put to it in a way of persecution then he wil live all his daies but in a meer form of Godliness and an unsavory general profession he may make he wil never have any power in it and this I say the Lord shews in three Parables the two first of them you wil find they are taken one from a man that goes about a building to errect a House before he have throughly cast whether he have mony
Disciple of Christ that will not submit to it What Reason for it I answer first 1. Because wheresoever the Lord Christ is received by any soul he wil be received as the All of that Soul mark my words Christ wil be all or he wil be nothing what the Father hath sent him to do he wil be all to do it he wil never undertake a piece of it and the Lord hath sent him to be all that a poor lost sinner can need Now I pray conceive my meaning thus Take a Maid that a Man wil be a Husband to her when she marries to this man he wil be all in the place of a Husband and she must renounce all the men in the world in matters that belong to conjugal Relations the marriage state wil admit no rivalty I but for al that though the Husband must be all in the relation of a Husband yet he is not al that the Wife needs and she may lawfully have application to other Creatures and to other men for some things wherein her Husband cannot be all to her if she be sick she must have a Physitian if she be wounded she must have a Chyrurgeon if she be sad it may be she must have another to comfort her neither can her Husband be her Bread and her Cloaths she must have another must make them and prepare them But now Christ Jesus is All that the soul needs he is their Father their Husband their Brother their Friend their Companion their Bread their Drink their Cloth their Gold their Silver their Honor he is All in All Christ Jesus is so and he wil be so or he wil be nothing and there is this natural reason for it Because every mans heart shares out both its prayers and its confidence and its love and its praises I say it shares it out according as it needs or findeth supply any where If one man be my Patron and give me a great deal of my maintenance I share out my expectations my prayers my love my service most to that man but another helps me with some of these and he hath part of my good wishes and part of my prayers and part of my praises according to the proportion of good I receive from him so is my heart shared out to him in dependance or thankfulness or love But Christ Jesus wil have no sharing he wil have all thy heart all thy prayers all thy love all thy affections all thy obedience Christ Jesus expects all which he cannot have until he be all and he never can be all til al other be renounced til I have no God but Christ til I have no Father but Christ til I have no Wisdom but Christ til I have no Righteousness but Christ I shal never share out al my prayers and confidence and love and the like to Christ for al and therefore wil Christ have al renounced that he may be all That is one Ground and the great Ground There is another which I wil briefly touch and that is this 2. Because al these things that we are to renounce even the best of them al in those notions wherein we are to renounce them they are al of them and wil be adversaries and hindrances to us in the way that Christ Jesus expects we should walk before him and therefore until our souls do totally renounce them we are in perpetual danger of being undone by them as I pray conceive my meaning thus in a familiar comparison Suppose in a Civil War wherein a Nation is divided and one Faction engaged against the other if a man that hath been engaged on the one Party do leave that Party and come over to serve that side against which he did oppose before this man must renounce all the other Party though his Brethren were there though his Estate lay in those Quarters he must renounce them all or otherwise he wil never be trusted by them to whom now he pretends to joyn or be sure which is the thing I alledg it for if he hold correspondence with them they wil ever be dropping destructive principles into him against the way that he now engageth for So al these things not only our Drunkenness and Whoredom and Lust and Lying and stealing and slandering but our Reason our Wills our Affections our Wealth our Honor our Children our Friends our Duties our Performances wil lie as blocks in the way to hinder us from some of the things that the religion of Christ wil put upon us there is nothing cleerer Saint John hath an excellent speech in 1 John 2.16 saith he All that is in the world mark his words All that is in the world the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of life it is not of the Father It is not of the Father al that is in the world What means he by all that is in the world that that he had said before Little Children love not the world nor any thing in the world his meaning is love not Life love not Wife love not Children Estate Honor Wealth love them not Why They all serve but to nourish the Lusts of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye or the pride of Life and that is not of the Father they wil draw you away from God therefore take heed of them and look what John saith of the things of the world the same may be carried to al the other Love not your Duties love not your Righteousness love not your Performances love not your Honesty love none of these as you in your natural estate cleave to them they al of them tend but only to advance your self and to pul down Christ and wil be hinderances to you in the way wherein Christ wil have you walk And thus I have endeavored Beloved to make plain unto you this great Doctrine of Christianity that is the very first door that we pass through when we come into Christs School to deny our selves Now it remains that I make some Application of it and that I shal do as briefly and as cleerly as the Lord shal please to enable me and among many other things there are but two or three that I intend to insist upon The one is USE 1. Hence from all this discourse it cleerly follows that among the great multitude of those that are called Christians there are but very few who are Christians indeed for Gods sake marke this that I say to you I say If this discourse of mine be true as I hope I have made it cleer out of Gods word to you that a man cannot be Christs Disciple that hath not learned this lesson of self-denial certainly there are very few Christians to be found in Christendome and truly I have often thought and am perswaded it is true that the not understanding of this lesson or the not coming to Christ upon the tearms of this Lesson is the great cause of all the formalities and hypocrisies and the unbelief
goes down to tread upon the Devils shoulders to exalt it self to tread upon the world to exalt it self to tread upon Gods shoulders to exalt it self any thing that may exalt it self they are so opposite that it is impossible they should both close Thus far indeed a man that hath made Self and self-interest his portion that man may keep a marveilous fair quarter with Religion as a learned man handling this very Doctrine I am preaching of useth this comparison saith he Those men whose interest is to maintain their own greatness they will entertain those that are cal'd the wits of the time the pleasant Companions the Drols they wil entertain them bid them welcom be glad of them though it be some cost to them it is a part of their grandour it maintains their greatness to have such and they are as welcome to them as any body in the world but if any of these wits or pleasant Companions shal come to engage this man and say pray Sir be you bound with me for ten thousand pound Sir you are welcome to my house and your Horse is welcom but Sir you must pardon me he wil throw him off rather than do so So a man may entertain Christ while hearing of Sermons and discoursing of Religion is only an Ornament to a man a man that is of a selvish spirit may cordially entertain him so far but so as to hazzard their own undoing for Religions sake for Christ's sake to bring me to beggary it may be to hang me upon a Gallows to throw me out of my Office to overthrow my Trade wholly to throw these away no man living can entertain Christ so far It was a notable speech of the King of Navarre that afterwards was Henry the fourth of France The King of Navarre was a Protestant and owned the Protestant cause but his eye was upon the Crown of France to which he knew he was Heir and hoped to come to it and when Beza and the other Protestants did press the King of Navarre to appear cordially in the cause of God saith he I am yours I wil go with you but I promise you I will go no further to Sea than I may come to Land if a storm rises his meaning was he would never hazzard the loss of the Crown of France for the Protestant Religion and so he fared accordingly and truly so may it be now Thou maiest tel Christ after a complemental manner Lord thou art mine it is my honor to be thy servant I delight to hear thy word preached and worship thee in my Family I rejoyce in it all this fair quarter maiest thou keep but beleeve it if the Lord have not taught thee to renounce thy self when Christ shal come to try thee throughly thou wilt honor him just as you shal find in the Story and it is worth your observation in 1 Kings 20. you have such a Story as this is Benhadad the King of Syria sendeth to Ahab King of Israel such a Letter as this saith he Thus saith Benhadad All that thou hast is mine thy Wives and thy Children are mine thy Gold and thy Silver is mine and al is mine Ahab very loth to quarrel with him returns him a very fine complement My Lord saith he all that I have is at your service all is thine Well Benhadad sendeth next day Wel saith he whereas I sent to thee that all is mine that thou hast I wil send my Servant for to seize upon it while he only talked of it Ahab would own it my Lord all is thine But when to morrow I wil send my servants and they shal seize upon it then he cals his Counsellors See you how this man picks a quarrel with me what a fair answer I sent to him and now he would seize upon all So if Christ come to thee til thou hast learned self-denial and say here I wil lay thee down here thou shalt lose thy credit or thy Conscience peace with me or peace with men thou canst never close with Christ cordially till thou hast learned this lesson And then Thirdly and Lastly for my Motives 3. Know for certain If the Lord have but once taught thee this Lesson there is nothing in all Christianity wil be difficult to thee all the waies of Christ will be as plain as a Bowling-Alley whatsoever thou art called too I know I speak a great word but I bless God I speak not unpreparedly in it all the waies of Christ wil be as plain as a Bowling-Alley to thee if the Lord have but once taught thee to turn Self out of doors thy work wil be brought only to these two Heads 1. One part of it to learn to know what Gods wil is concerning thee what he would have thee do or what he would have thee suffer And 2. The other wil be but to seek strength of him that thou maiest not in thy own power go about it but be supported by him but otherwise all objections and difficulties are removed if Self be but once turned out of doors Why Because all the difficulties in the waies of Christ ariseth from Arguments taken from Self only either this will be against my honor or here I must part with such a pleasure or here my estate may hap to be crack't or here this may hazzard my life or this may deprive me of my Children or this may cut me off from my Friends or this may expose me to scorn some such thing or other comes in but otherwise when a man hath no such thing to take care for I have no honor nor credit nor wife nor Children nor friends I regard the Lord is my portion I live upon him I drink water out of that Cisterne and I care for no other when the soul hath but once learned that it is but with him as it was with Paul saith he I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem and I profess I know not what I shal meet withal saith one then I will tel you what you shal meet withal the Holy Ghost saith the Jews shall bind you and Scourge you and Whip you and send you to Rome and what then they all fal a Weeping for and about him saith he why break you my Heart What care I to die at Jerusalem when it is the work of the Lord he had no self to regard he had turned self out of doors and all the waies of Christ were easie to him and God knows this passage was one of the motives that made me choose this Theam before this grave Auditory Truly our times are extream Ticklish and dangerous and the wisest man under Heaven knows not what wil betide him whether it fals back or edge no man can tel what will become of him nor what to meet withal and a great many wise men are perplexed to know what to do now I tel you if the Lord do but teach you to deny your selves to lay aside all that may be called self
Text holdeth out and therefore I wil speak a little to it Keep thy heart with all diligence Why 6. Because out of it are the issues of life That is plainly because Thy whol Conversation wil be as thy Heart is kept that is the plain meaning of it Thy heart is the fountain and if thy heart be wel kept clean sweet and pure thy Conversation wil be such Now you know that the Conversation of the Lords People it must be pure it must be holy Oh! there is a wonderful deal lies upon it that the Servants of the Lord should glorifie him in a holy unblameable Conversation Jesus Christ redeemed them that they should in their Conversation shew forth the graces of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light made them Inheritors of better things that they should be to the praise and glory of his Grace and to have the servants of God walk unworthily walk in a deformed disordered conversation this makes the Lords name stink amongst his enemies this is the greatest reproach of God that can be in the world to see those that are his redeemed people walk otherwise than as becometh Saints Now our Conversation wil be as we look to our hearts look wel to thy heart keep that above all keeping and then thy Conversation is secure then thy words and thy actions may all be trusted then the Lord will be secure of his Glory if I may speak it with reverence in thy words and Conversation if thy heart be but looked to but if thy heart be disorderly and defiled and polluted then unclean issues of life wil appear A proud Heart will bring a proud Conversation a wanton Heart wil bubble out a wanton Conversation a worldly Heart that drinks in the love of the Creature wil dishonor God in a worldly Conversation be sure of that I thought to have named you the Text but I confess I had not time to look it but you well know it an excellent speech of Solomons to my purpose let me tell you before hand that it is usual in the Proverbs of Solomon that one part of the sentence concerns the wicked and the other part concerns the godly and commonly they are one of them ever set contrary one to another Now he hath this speech towards the latter end of the Proverbs The Tongue of the Just it is like refined Silver mark that expression the Tongue of the just it is like refined Silver what is that the language the savory discourse of Godly men of gracious men it is pure and it is gain to a whol City where they dwel they even scatter refined Silver where they come Oh! it is delightful to sit and partake of the language of gracious men the Tongue of the just is so now you will expect the other sentence should be now the Tongue of the wicked is rotten their speech is rotten No but he saith The Tongue of the wicked is nothing worth as if he should have said never look for any good in the Tongue of a wicked man Why For his Heart is worth nothing and therefore never expect his language should be worth any thing and though it is true some wicked men have so much Hypocrisie that they can express otherwise to men yet God that looks at the Heart he looks upon it as rotten and unsavory but let thy Heart be Silver and thy Tongue will be like refined silver let thy Heart be rotten and nothing worth and thy discourse will be as nothing Now lay these six things together let me endeavor to make some use of it but this is the sum therefore should all the Servants of God all Gods Children look to their Hearts above all things in the world because First It is the best part of them Secondly It is a treasury of that that is better than it self Heaven hath not a better treasury than is laid up in the Heart of a godly man and the Lord looks at it above all other things and Satan assaults it above all other things and even the best men have abundance of corruption and deceit in their Hearts and according as their Hearts are kept so will their life be therefore above all keepings look to thy Heart Now the Application of it I fear I shal not speak so much as I would have done but I would willingly if God help me a little warm your Hearts about it three Uses I would wilingly make of this Doctrine that the greatest the busiest work that the Servants of God have to do in this world is to keep their inward Heart in a good frame to God-ward USE 1. Is this so How lamentably and bitterly doth this speak to the reproof of thousands who yet fain would go for the children of God I might say of it as Ezekiel saith in another case it is a Lamentation and shal be for a Lamentation to a world of People truly almost the whol world many bitter reproofs may be gathered out of this Doctrine two three or four sorts of people I will give you a touch of it and they are found in every place where you come First 1. How many are there that are wonderfully exact in keeping the outward things that belong to them come into the House which is your Housewives care those that are neatly civilly brought up that would go for Housewives how delilcatly are their things kept How are their Roomes rubbed How is every utensil kept tite and clean Come into the Shops of your Trades men How do they keep al their wares and if any thing lie out of its place and pile How impatient are they with their Servants if they have received any mony how wonderfully careful are they to have a Treasury where it may be barred and kept safe for them and come into our Country How do People keep their Cattel their very Swine they will keep them as they ought to be that they may thrive and be for their gain and credit and the like this you shall find common but go amongst these People and how are their hearts kept al this while As if I should come into one of your houses and find it very neat and clean Truly I con you thanks surely this cost somebody hot water to keep all this so neatly but how do you keep your heart Pray how do you keep your heart Friends I fear your Houses your Shops your Chests your Garments I fear they wil all rise up in judgment against you every one of you Have you a Jewel have you a heart wherein you think such a treasury is laid up Do you let it lie open to let every Rogue and Raskal come in and every thing to defile it and can you find time to keep these outward things so methinks I hear a Mother say to her Child that she gives a row of Pins to See you keep them carefully I wil call you to an account for them But saith God to
in our stead and made over to us in the Covenant of Grace That is one Righteousness Secondly There is another Righteousness of Christ which is not only inherent in himself but is communicated to us so that it is wrought in us which is the righteousness of our Sanctification and it is that branch of our spiritual Life that this Text aims at for he did assert the other our quickning from the guilt of sin in al the former part of his discourse Now that no wretch may abuse it and say that then we may continue vassals to sin he proves it that Christs righteousness is communicated to us that is Christs Grace is infused into our souls and that is made up of these three things and I conceive there is nothing else in it but these three things The one is The Spirit of Jesus Christ that holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is communicated to Beleevers to dwel in them to be in them a principle of a new Life Secondly This holy spirit poured into the soul works in them in al the faculties of the soul those gracious dispositions wherein the Image of God stands which is light in the understanding freedom in the will love and fear and joy that is the turning of al these affections or passions to their right object habitually disposing them turning the bent of the heart from sin to God And then the third is This self same spirit that plants in them these Graces abides in them to excite them and stir them up and draw them out in their whol course to think and speak and do the things which in a kind of natural way flow from these inward principles and are a conformity to the Will of God and thereupon al the love of the Saints to God and one to another all their mourning for sin their striving against it all their endeavors after God they are motions of this new life that is wrought in us and this is the life now that all the Lords people do live while they are in this world The Spirit of Jesus Christ bestowed upon them working in them a new frame of heart turning the bent of their hearts to God and remaining as an exciting principle to draw out their graces and strengthening them in their working whereby their endeavor is in al things to live unto God according to his Will and this is that Life which my Text and other Scriptures call the Life of Christ and the Life of God which although it be perfect in none in this world but there are reliques of our old death in us and of our sinful distempers in us yet really and truly these things are found in every soul that is brought home to Jesus Christ. And let this I pray suffice for the Doctrinal part that without being burdensom to you I may make some application of it Thus then you see though I have not turned you to many particular Scriptures yet I know that if you do but read the Scriptures you wil find that this Doctrine it lies written upon the foreheads of abundance of Texts that thus it is with al Gods people Now then for the use of it I intend but three Uses it may be I shal but even name the last First You see by all this how necessary it is that you should al try and examine your souls Whether you be partakers of this Life or no And good friends be serious about it and to make you the more serious give me leave to stir you up by these few Considerations to be willing to have your hearts tried about it The one is That in truth this alone is Christianity mark my words and if you understand them not now study them There is nothing Christianity but the Life of Christ nothing else that is truly Christianity Opinions they may be Christian Opinions they may be Christian Truths but there is no life As we say not of any dead Carkass of any Picture though it be drawn to the life we say not in proper language this is a man though it be as like him as one thing can be like another if it have not a mans soul we say not of a dead man though it be the body of your Father or Mother you cannot properly say this is my Father or Mother it is but the Carkass of them So I say be baptized be in any Church Form or Order wait upon never so many external Duties hear Sermons never so constantly give as good words as you will to those that preach the Truth and hold it out to you this is not Christianity Christianity is to live Christs Life and at that day you shall find the Lord will never own a soul to be a Christian that had not the Life of Christ communicated to him And Secondly I tel you to provoke you to it Abundance of things go for this Life which are not this life because it is the thing that discriminates Gods people from others Satan hath shewed infinite stratagems and discovered all his abilities laid them out that he might make counterfeits of these things that might go currant with people that he could delude Civil Righteousness in some it is not Christianity a form of Godliness in others it is not Christianity and abundance of things that I have not time so much as to reckon up but these are not Christianity though they look like it and therefore I beseech you but think how you could answer this great Question Doth Christ live in you have you the life of God in you The Life you live in this life is it the Life of the Son of God Think what you could answer to it Now if you wil say How shall we know it I wil briefly discover it to you for I will give you but two Characters of it many others might be had but two I would bestow a little time to cleer to you The one is Wheresoever the Lord gives Life to any Creature in a natural way the life is the preciousest thing in the world to that Creature howsoever it may mind other things delight in them be taken with them there is nothing so precious to it as life Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life and if you would suppose as the life of a man it is made up of several lives that that continues the being of his life it is prized above al the others if he wil be impaired in any of them it shal not be in that as neer as he can that concerns the being of his life Now accordingly say I you shal find it cleer that among al those that live the life of Christ there is nothing in this world so dear to them as their spiritual Life is it may be they are dayly mourning for the weaknesses of it but that that they have of it is dearer to them than any thing they have in this world besides and the high
valuing of this spiritual Life wil appear in these three things just as it is in the other life The one is A natural propensity and inclination and appetite towards those things that are the nourishment of their Life Look what God in Nature hath made the means to preserve life those things living man so far as he is living hath the greatest inclination and disposition to and therefore of al desires that man is subject to none so vehement as those of hunger and thirst a man may love Gold or Silver or Lands but there is nothing so vehemently carries him out of himself as the satisfying hunger and thirst So it is with all those that have this spiritual Life Look whatsoever God hath placed their life in as David had learned God had placed it in his Word O Lord saith he give me thy Word my life lies in it and new born Christians if ever you tast how sweet the Lord is desire the sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow by it be longing after a high and reverent esteem and an appetite after those things wherein the Lord hath placed thy nourishment though they be but the channels the vessels whereby his spirit is administred to you the supplies of the spirit comes in them to you of al things in the world these are the most desired Others that are painted Christians may for their reputation and that others may think well of them and to get knowledg c. and for such carnal ends but with an inward savor no man is mightily and eagerly carried out after the means of spiritual Life but he that lives it That is one A Second thing that manifests the high value of that spiritual Life is A most vehement declining of what they know to be destructive to life Let a man that is thirsty come in and give you all his money in his purse for a cup of Beer but let one come and tel him Sir that Beer in that cup is poyson that man wil drink his own Piss rather than that shal go down Oh! it wil destroy Life God hath put it into the bruit beasts as put a Sheep into a pasture he carries that discerning tast he wil not eat the poysonous Weeds that are there the Tree it will shoot no Root that way it will decline it So those that are the Lords People that live the life of Christ what their souls are convinced of to be destructive to their spiritual life that they decline shun and hate and turn from and of all things under Heaven nothing so hateful to them as the waies of sin And thirdly it wil appear in this That look as it is in the natural life every Creature as it longs after that which would nourish it and declines that which would destroy it so if they must come to the parting they wil part with al other good things in this world actually part with them to save their lives It was a speech of Esau and had his Birthright been nothing but a Civil Priviledg it would have been justified If I die for hunger what good would my Birthright do me he sels his Birthright for to preserve his life Skin for skin and al that a man hath he wil part with rather than his life Take me a man that is alive to Christ if he must part with his Christ or with his wealth with his Christ or with his outward life though it be the best thing that is to be enjoyed under the name of all worldly things yet to a man that lives the life of Christ that is a poor thing to him in comparison of his spiritual life you shal rather strip him of al. I know when we come to practice our weaknesses ignorances temptations reliques of corruption often over power us which may cause matter of self abhorrence but no man that hath this life of Christ but in the bent of his soul doth these things nothing so lovely as that that preserves his life nothing so abominable as that that wil destroy it and if he must part with any they must go before Christ. Pray lay up these things The Second and other Note whereby this Spiritual Life of Christ may be judged of is this That look as it is in al other Lives there are some vital operations some kind of motions or operations that are properly vital that where they are found you may say and swear it too that there is life and where these are not found there is no life or that life is in a swound As now take the Life of a Tree we know the natural operations of it are al those of vegetation to draw nourishment to expel superfluous moisture to put out their seed in the sap and bark and seed and the fruit according to its kind where you see these things if the sap run if the buds be if there be vegetation the Tree is alive if it appear there be none of these in their season though they may be dead in Winter it is a dead Tree So likewise in the life of man the sensual life of a Beast if there want the pulse that there be not those beatings that there are not such motions of the heart we conclude there is no life there if there be a beating of the pulse though never so weak life is there Now in this Spiritual Life there are some things that you shal find in the Scripture that are the proper beatings of the pulse some operations that though the things the acting of them abroad may be counterfeit as to others yet to a mans own soul that studies his own heart and the motions and operations of his own inward man he cannot be cozened in it and therefore you may by them be able to discern whether the pulse of this spiritual life beateth Now they are many but I thought but of these three and I think most of the rest wil fall under them The one is The proper genuine and as I may so say the natural motion of this Spiritual Life is to enjoy God in Jesus Christ as their chiefest good that I say is the great thing wherein their pulse beats because Jesus Christ is not only the fountain of it and so it must flow back to him but he is the supream good of the soul God in Christ is the supream good and to be carried to that that we fancy to be our supream good it is not in our choyce we do it necessarily Nature compels every man to follow that that he looks upon as his chief good therefore we use to say that of the chief end there is no deliberation a man is not of choyce but is carried to it Now God in Christ being the chief good of the soul the aiming after him the braying breathing after him the mourning for the want of him the joying in the presence of him and all those things that would argue Christ to be the souls chief good are never
inward man where Christ dwels and the things you look at in buying selling and purchasing and sporting and in al the things you may do that are Lawful to you observing Gods Rules you take Gods Word to be your Rule then I tel you for your comfort these two things First The Lord hath communicated to thy soul the excellentest life that ever he gave to any creature Three things I wil speak briefly that you account of First To be thus minded to be thus molded thus framed it is absolutely the highest the noblest the excellentest life that any creature ever partaked of I might shew it you in a world of Particulars out of the Word that there is no life like it We use to say in Phylosophy That the life of a Pismire it is a more noble life than the life of a Cedar though one Cedar be worth many thousand Pismires yet the life of the Pismire is better because it cometh from a nobler spirit Now the Life God hath given thee comes from the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is the noblest the operations of this Life are above what poor creatures can do as we say the Life of Reason it is such a brave flying thing to be a top above the poor sensual things of bruit Beasts and to deal with God And It is the sweetest too that is another for in al other lives men tast but the sweetness of the Creature but here the sweetness of thy Life is God and Jesus Christ himself there is no life so excellent as this is Secondly I say for thy comfort The Life God hath given thee is the greatest pledg of his love he ever giveth to any he hath given thee life it was the end of Christs undertaking to give life to his beloved ones he never giveth this to any man he means hurt to He can give a Kingdom to a man he means to destroy he gave it to Saul and cast him away in his wrath he can give an Apostleship to one that shall be damned he gave Judas an Apostleship and yet he perished but to have this Life to close with Christ to live to him according to his Word had you this Church ful of Diamonds given you to do what you would with and to raise your posterity to be the greatest men in this part of the world it were not such an expression of his love as to give Christ to you And thirdly I tel you This Life that the Lord hath given thee of which Jesus Christ is the Fountain thou mayest be bold to rely upon him for the preservation of it because it flows from him he is the Well-head of it he is the Well spring of it and therefore when thou thinkest how many evils thy Life may be incident unto what temptations thou mayest meet withal how weak thou art to resist them remember man or woman whose Life this is it is not thy life but Christs Life and he ever lives to make us live and therefore thou in an humble walking and dependance upon him in the use of Gospel Ordinances mayest comfortably expect that God wil nourish this Life and cherish it till thou come to be a perfect man till thou come to be transplanted into another Life where Faith and al these things shal cease and God be All in All this the comfort of it Then I thought to have spoken a little to the third Use. That because all the people of Christ live this Life to perswade you all to study it and to seek after it and often compare it with that other life that we so often weary our selves about with a vain shadow hazarding every thing for it to have our accommodation with as much refreshing as can be SERMON II. Gal. 2. part of verse 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me now follows that which I shal more insist upon and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me THe Second Lesson which is the manner how all the Saints of God live this Life of Christ while they are in this world The Life which I now live in the flesh By Flesh there he means not his fleshly part as they are said to live to the flesh who live sensually and wickedly but by the Flesh there is meant our mortal condition while we are here upon Earth while we live our natural life the Life of Christ in us it is lived by the faith of the Son of God that is the faith wrought in us by the Son of God which we place upon the Son of God but that grace of faith it is the manner or the instrument or the means of our holy Life while we are in this world And this Doctrine which beloved is the mystery of Christianity is the very life and soul and kernel of true Christianity I shal endeavor according as the Lord shal enable me this day to open to you This is the Doctrine That that Life of Christ which all Gods people live in this world they live it by faith Understand but the scope aright and I hope the discourse may prove useful to those that have this Life My meaning therefore is That the grace of faith it is not only the instrument or condition required to make us partakers of Christ and his Life it is not only one chief grace or one branch of this Life but while the Saints are in this world the mannagement of their whol Spiritual Life is the work of faith Christ indeed is the fountain of it and the Spirit of God is the great administration of it but that which we do while we live in this world our whol spiritual Life is through the assistance of God acted by the grace of faith and I intend the Lord willing to handle it in this Method First I will cleerly demonstrate to you from the Scripture that it is so that the whol Life of a Christian it is led by faith Secondly which I more aim at I shall endeavor to clear to you what the holy Ghost means by this and what it is for a soul to live the Life of Christ by faith that shall be my chiefest work in the Doctrinal part and then I wil come to the application of it For the proof of it that it is so First Mark how cleerly the Scripture holds it out that while we are in this world the life of the Saints it is led by faith There is one place in Habbakkuk 2.4 I wil mention that you shall see the reason by and by the Spirit of God there speaks of the several waies that men had to live in troublesom times for Habakkuk lived in very difficult times of the Church and there in his discourse he shews how proud men lived by maintaining a good opinion of themselves and lifting up their hearts and how worldly men
it self unto the Word the Word of Promise for matters of Comfort the Word of Precept for matters of Duty the Word of Direction in matters of means and Ordinances the applying of the soul to the Word in all these things the Lord according to his goodness making these things good to the soul that thus applies it self to the Word this is to live by faith So that now to come a little neerer to the business for I have not yet explained it so far as I hope by and by I shall but I say now to live by faith First It is not only for a soul to beleeve in Jesus Christ for salvation or to beleeve all our life time that we shal be saved by Jesus Christ when we go out of the world it is not only that that is but a piece of it But To live by Faith it is in our course to enjoy the whol revealed will of Christ to us as our life thereby fetching all our consolations that are fit for our life from promises thereby fetching all our practices from the declaration of what he makes our duty and applying our selves in the use of those means which the Lord hath appointed us to attend upon for the accomplishment of these this conversation of the soul is the living by faith To live by faith it is this I am not only made partaker of the Righteousness of Christ which is imputed for my justification and is inherent for my new quickening I have not only these principles in me but by the grace of faith al the comfort of my life is fetched from a promise al the rule of my conversation is from the Precepts and all the means I use for the accomplishment of one or other they are those that are prescribed there so that be it to undergo affliction to conflict with a temptation to go through my Calling be it to comfort my heart against temptations when the soul looks to the Word of Christ and there takes the Word for its guide both for comfort and duty until the Lord of his meer grace have accomplished in us all the good that he intendeth to us which wil never be til he takes us out of this world when faith ceaseth but in the mean time this and this only is that which the Scripture cals living by faith But now because I would yet make it a little plainer to you be pleased to know That although there are acts of faith applicable to every particular condition we are in which would require a Volumn to mention yet for the present purpose you must know that there are five things faith doth in this general living by faith that every one that is said to live by faith his faith doth five things in his ordinary course which are applicable to every thing that you can think upon which I shall not need to stand to prove though I will give a touch as I go along because I would spare a little time for the Application before I break off But there are five things applicable First The grace of faith looks at the Word as that which is most sure that is it yields a firm assent to the truth of all that Jesus Christ hath revealed concerning him in his Word The Promises that are made faith assures the soul they are al true they are not whimsies nor fancies The Duties and Directions there prescribed faith assures the soul they are things the Lord looks for so that the Apostle saith in Acts 20. when he lived as a Christian he did exercise himself to beleeve al that was spoken by the Lord in his Law and David saith Thy Word Lord is from everlasting It makes not any scruple or doubt but gives a firm assent to what the Lord hath set down in his Word That is one and that indeed is the Basis and Foundation of the rest The Second It not only assents that all these are true but faith acquiesses that these are the magazine the store house the comprehension of al excellencies that the soul shall ever be made partaker of he desires to be satisfied in the goodness of them he desires no other course of Life to order him but what is set down in the Word he thinks not there are any Councels nor Directions to be regarded nor compared to those set down in the Word he rests in them there his Treasure lies in that great iron Chest and the Word is not only true but his livelihood he knows God hath declared this in his Word and there his soul is satisfied That is the Second And then the third is this The Lord laies al our happiness up in his Word the happiness of our comfort the happiness of our holy conversation therefore faith directs the soul to attend to the Word as to its only guide and comfort that look as a man that is satisfied I am to travel in a dark night and to go through a dangerous place but I am sure I have a mighty guide not a Will of the Wisp as they cal it and an Ignis fatuus to miss-lead me and therefore as I love my life and happiness I will look to the Word by the Word I am guided by the Word I am directed as the Apostle expresseth it It is a thing you do wel to take heed to as to a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn until the day of Heaven come and you be brought to glory The soul looks to the Word as its only card and compass as the Marriner at Sea looks at his Card and Compass they are his guide so the Beleever he only looks at the Word as his guide There is the third And then the fourth thing that faith doth in al that live the life of faith is this That they make the things revealed in the Word the matters of their prayers they dare not beg a thing of God until they know it is Gods wil that they find a warrant to beg it either absolutely or conditionally they make the Word the matter of their prayers and endeavors and if they go about any thing or be under distress and affliction they labor to get rid of it by making the word their direction in that And Fiftly and lastly Doing al these things as well as it can it staies it self upon the truth and faithfulness and power and wisdom and goodness of God and the Lord Jesus who hath revealed these things to him he staies himself upon him for the accomplishment of these things in his own time and in his own way And he now that doth these five things he truly lives by faith The Lord hath turned the bent of his heart to it and he is assured his Word is true and that there lies his happiness he looks at it as his only guide he makes this the matter of his prayer and endeavors and when he hath done knows all his poor endeavors are nothing but waits upon the Lord to
damnation but for our selves of al the evils we lie under in this world there is none to be lamented so much as our unbelief Take my meaning thus Suppose a poor child under the care of loving and careful Parents that would neglect nothing that may do the child good but the child cannot eat his meat it hath no appetite or the meat is cast up alass if he have no stomach the child wil languish and for this and other distempers let the Parents weep over it never so much or dandle it never so much the child hath an inward root that wil destroy it I tel you what is true from the Lord there is nothing can undo you but unbelief there is no cross under Heaven can betide you but faith will carry you through it no duty can be preached but faith will carry you through it no Promise so hard in the Word of God but faith wil fetch out the sweetness of it Oh! this unbelief of ours undoeth us But you wil say Do you think the people of God are so much guilty of it I wil give you a little tast and by that you shall judg First All our not studying the Word that we are no more acquainted with the Word for were a servant of God assured that his livelihood in comfort in duty and every thing were to be fetched from the word there is no Merchant that would endeavor to be skilful in the mystery of his Calling more than every Christian would be in the understanding of the word And When the word is held out to us that we do no more value it and that we no more rely and venture our souls upon it it is nothing but our unbelief As if so be a man that I dare put my trust in if he make me a promise to furnish me with so much money at such a time I dare rely upon it But that I do not thus rely upon God in all my temptations and fully perswade my self that the Lord will deliver me it is nothing but my unbelief If a mortal man tel me if I walk thus and thus I will fall into many a danger and thus it wil fall upon me by Law this makes me careful That we deal not so with our gracious God is through our unbelief Nay in a word All our unevenness in our whol course that we somtimes rely so much upon the Creature that when things flow in according to our minds then my Line is cast in a fair ground then God hath made my Mountain stand strong while the things of the world are with me at another time if I see a visibility of ruine then I cannot say that the great God wil stand by me in these difficulties this is nothing in the world but unbelief Nay All your deviations If you find David using unlawful means going over to the King of Gath to gain relief it is nothing but unbelief If you find a man venturing out to take any unlawful comfort in the Creatures it is nothing but unbelief it is a thrid runs through the whol course of Gods people to make them live low lives and hinders them from the obtaining of that that would be consolation to their own souls therefore I beseech you you that have made Christ your portion and make account that faith must be your livelihood lay it to heart mourn under it pray the Lord to root out this bitter weed and make you masters over it for certainly it is a great evil we stand by faith we fal by unbelief it is that that occasions all the disquiets of our lives The Lord set it to our hearts and deliver us from it SERMON III. Gal. 2. part of verse 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me now follows that which I shal more insist upon and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me NOW I proceed and there is but one great Use that I intend though I would a little mention another and speak a little of it in the first place Good Christian Friends weigh what I have said and regard it not because I say it but because of the evidence I hope goes along with it But the thing I collect is That you may all hence learn what kind of Christians they must needs be who can live in the flesh above the Word and Ordinances having no use of them and as they think nothing to do with them but live in an immediate Communion with God and enjoyment of him This is one of the wildnesses and infatuations that the Lord hath let out amongst us in this sinful Nation that many that have gone for sober humble gracious men and women they look upon al those that have to do with Ordinances that study Scriptures and tend upon Sermons they look upon them but in the A B C Form they are of a low pitch and rank themselves are above these things they have attained to a higher Form But this Doctrine that I have opened will cleerly direct al Gods people what to judg of them for if they live the Life of Christ for that they pretend to it is either the life of spiritual sence immediate enjoyment or the life of Faith if they pretend to an immediate enjoyment of God without the intervention of faith beleeve it they are beyond the Apostle Paul that professed in his own name and in the name of al the Saints that then lived That the life that they lived in this life it was by faith and not by sence yet these have learned that they are beyond his Form I will not say much good may do their hearts with it but poor Creatures their delusion will one day afflict them But if they say No we grant you it is the life of faith we live in this world Then say I Unquestionably and without all dispute it will appear faith hath its subordinate work it is the declaration of the Lords mind in his Word that faith meddles with and all the Ordinances and all tending upon the Word and Sacraments c. are the administrations of Christs will that is carried on in Ordinances and no other way I know sure I am the Scripture is silent in it Therfore Friends for such as are concerned in it they wil not be here to hear it nor any where else they count it a folly but to your sober Christians that desire to go to Heaven and to walk with the Lord in his own way give me leave to say this Therefore I confess our divisions and subdivisions in other matters of Religion are very sad the cutting of the people of God a pieces in the several molds and forms of Government and therby alienating their spirits one from another it is very sad and the Lord in his mercy remove those things But
yet this I must say That while these lower conditions are and as long as each form carries people to the Word holds out Christ in his Word Christ in preaching Christ in the Sacrament there is food for souls and if we could look aright it may be we would not be so angry with one another about it as we are for there is but one Truth and we pray the Lord to reveal it but stil here is carrying on the life of Comfort Duty Direction and all that faith meddles with that the Lords people may enjoy but for Gods sake and as you love the life of your souls watch against temptations that would take you off from the Word that the Scripture should be nothing this takes you off from that that your faith wholly meddles with for if you can say I beleeve God for such a thing and Christ for such a thing unless you find it promised in the Word it is presumption Therefore Pity such poor souls your own experience may tel you do but mark them generally they that live above Ordinances see whether the Spirit of God do not withdraw see whether the Lord hath any other way to convey himself to them than what he hath held out in his Word their loosness folly pride and joyning in any thing else that is naught almost plainly shews that the Lord hath withdrawn from them And secondly You wil find that such of them as have grace in them for I am far from thinking any that have grace cannot be under such a temptation but I fear not but the Lord will awaken them again though they be asleep because faith must be the navel and the string that must maintain them here But this I did not intend to be large in The great Use that I intend is To all the Lords people whose Life is Christ and in whom Christ doth live I would endeavor in the rest of this hour to give them some help out of the Word that this living by faith might be better known to the Lords People and more exactly practised than it hath been hitherto and if the Lord help me to divide it and you to receive it I will not fear but your life will be more honorable to the Lord and sweeter to your selves than it hath been and there are but two things that I intend to treat upon The one is Some serious Considerations or Motives to provoke all who have any thing of Christ in them that they would study this art of living by faith more than in time past And secondly and principally To lay out of the Word the true Directoins the easiest and the readiest way that a willing soul may take to be built up in it For encouragement to provoke you to it I pray think of these things First If you will be Christians it is our Trade and the way of our livelihood we have no other mystery for the maintainance of our lives but faith that is cleer Schollers may live by their Wits Trades-men upon their Mysteries and Gentlemen upon their Wealth But as a Christian we have no other living or way of living to God but only our faith Now because it is our Life and our Trade and our Profession it would be a horrible shame to be found Bunglers in that that is properly our own Mystery If a man should come and examine me a Minister of the Gospel and put into my hands a Merchants Book and bid me cast up such an Account and I could not this were no shame to me but if he should come and give me a Bible and bid me open a Text if I could not do it it were a shame to me So friend have you the right skil of living by faith No It is thy Trade As thou art a Member of the Common-wealth or one of the Army thou mayest have a Calling but as thou art a Christian which is thy best Life thou hast no Trade but to live by faith no other way to honor the Lord nor to manifest the Life of Christ nor to turn all things for thy good and the Lords glory it is thy living by faith must do it what a horrible disgrace will it be for thee to be found ignorant of it Secondly I tell you there is no other way of Life that any man pitches upon but it will very shortly appear to be but a poor thing If you should think that the living upon God this holy life it is a thing that is a mystery that you do not study but for the present life that you mind and you mean to follow the things that will help you to live in the world I tell you all those after a little while will prove meer delusions If any of you have the way as some of you have found it to raise up your selves to great estates of a poor servant in few yeers to become a great man in the place where you live and now you are wealthy Before our eyes God hath overturned all these things hath not God let us see how he hath pulled down great Princes and Kings hath he not let us see a thousand ten thousand a yeer a man may have and yet live to see them al buried and himself come to beggery doth not God tell us they are not al worth our study The Lord my meaning is dayly before our eyes stains the glory of all other waies of living never to the worlds end did he or wil he stain the glory of living by faith because you can no where else close with him Thirdly that which I most aim at in my Considerations is to acquaint you with this That this same Art this excellent Christian Mystery of living our life by faith it is absolutely the best life the most desirable life that any man or woman can live til they come to enjoy God immediately This I wil demonstrate and I hope I shal make it plain that if a man had the comfort of al other waies of living in any kind never would the learning or wit of man find out any life to be compared with the life of faith for the excellency of it and the excellency of the life of faith I would open to you in four or five Particulars the Lord perswade you but to study them when you are alone One is more general It is the Life which the Lord hath chosen out to be the life of those that he loved from all eternity The Lord you grant him al of you to be infinite in wisdom and therefore before his eyes al waies of living happy were apparent and out of them all he chose this same life of faith to be the life of those he loved from al eternity It is the Prophet Malachi's argument it is the best Conjugal condition for a man to have one wife and a woman to have one husband because else God could have made ten women if he would but he made but one that is Gods choyce
but what they signifie what doth a Promise signifie that God in his Gospel maketh to souls for a man may have Promises and truly from a great many able and great men good Promises signifie very little from many great men and mighty men but to know what Gods Promises are and what they signifie it would be a great comfort and I wil tel you briefly what they signifie and it may be a key to unlock all the Locks in the House that is al the Promises in the Bible First of all The Promises of God they do for the present at the instant of their making signifie That God loves us for all the Promises come from his heart his Providences come from his hands the Promises come from his heart and when the Lord makes a Gospel Promise to a soul he doth as if he should say to that soul I love thee dearly at the present before the thing be accomplished thou mayest say it signifies thus to me If the Lord make such a Promise to me he loves me And Secondly A Promise signifies thus much at present That God wil never hurt me God gives in a way of Providence those things to many men whom he wil hurt and destroy nay he will destroy them even by the things that he gives them but to the souls to whom his Promises belong they signifie not only Gods good will but nothing in the world that can betide them shal ever hurt them because they are all Branches of that Covenant of grace in which Covenant of grace there is no evil shal light upon the soul that is under it therefore God wil one day make thee to know that he intendeth thy good in it this is signified for the present And For the future A Promise is a certain infallible pledg of a seasonable performance His Covenant he wil never break he will not alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth All the Promises of the new Covenant are all backed with an Oath of him that is unchangeable Here is a Promise for my poverty for my temptation it comes from the God that first loves me and will do me no hurt and wil accomplish it Brethren Do you beleeve this As Jesus Christ said to Martha He that beleeveth in me though he were dead he shall live and if he live he shall never die Doest thou beleeve this I Lord I beleeve it So say I Do you beleeve this Do you not think you shall live comfortably And Secondly when I said in this third Direction about being acquainted with the Word I mean Be acquainted with the Duties held out in the Word as wel as the Promises for it cals to holiness as well as to comfortableness therefore in the Word learn your Duty and I the rather tell it you because many a poor soul takes a great deal of care and pains in some things that God never required and they afflict themselves and make their lives uncomfortable in things that God hath not appointed as not to tel you of many poor creatures in Popery that would thrust themselves into Monasteries God never required it but my meaning is study the Word you can never study any thing that so much concerns you therefore there learn your Duties the Duties that belong to your relations and particular places where God hath set you for to know the will of God concerning me argues an honest heart more than to know the will of God concerning others but study to know the Word in the Promises and in the Duties That is the Third Fourthly which must not be neglected When you have done all this faithfully and conscienciously serve the Lord in the use of means serve the Promises and Commandements serve them faithfully in the use of the means without distraction but out of conscience resigning up your selves For for me to go to labor for an enlarged faith and to know the all sufficiency of God and to have the Promises as familiarly as my Pater noster as they use to say for me when I have done this to neglect the means the Lord hath appointed this is not good But look as an Husband-man What rational Husband-man is there especially if he know God but he knows that the Corn upon the ground cannot yield him a Crop unless rain from Heaven water it and it cannot fall from Heaven unless God send it and notwithstanding all this unless God give the Corn a new body but because he hath likewise learned that ploughing sowing and harrowing and dungcarting c. are all duties belonging to Husbandry he serveth the Providence of God and God blesseth him accordingly Do thus with your souls God hath given you Promises for some things Commandements for other things serve him diligently in the use of the means but remember what I taught you before that by the use of the means I mean means only of his own appointment for faith dare not go out of his own line Lawful means that are agreeable to a particular calling to reason c. I have often thought and I speak it to you from the Lord that when a people walk with a Word in one hand and the use of the means in the other hand we fairly leave the business at Gods feet whatsoever the success shall be we will be his Servants when such a thing hath betided me I find this is my duty by the best Counsel I can get and so we leave it at his door and whatsoever will come fall back fall edg we may have peace and comfort These are the great Directions only with these I must put in two Cautions and when I have done them I think I may have said that which may be helpful to them that would walk by Faith The one is When I say we must use means and thus live by faith my meaning is First That when you have done you must never limit God God limits you and limits me but for himself Faith must not limit him My meaning is Do not limit him to the way how he shal make it good for he often works by contraries do not limit him for time when he shal make it good for it is good to wait patiently the Lords leisure though it be al the daies of our appointed season and we injure God and our faith doth not work up to its true height when we will come and say do it to day Lord or else I will question it to morrow no limit him not chalk him not out his way I may Lawfully expect from God that such a thing shall do me good but I may not Lawfully tell God which way it shall do me good I may Lawfully say from such a temptation God wil deliver me but I may not Lawfully say he wil deliver me from it within this week or fortnight but quietly wait upon the Lord as one that infallibly wil do what he hath spoken and is not here enough It may be some will add now