the Word shall come whom by the Spirits particular application like that of Nathans to David Thou art the Man then all the powers of the Soul are rouzed and allarmed now it pierces as a two-edged Sword Heb. 4. 12. divides the Soul and Spirit the superiour and inferiour Faculties of it Cuts down by the back-bone lays open the secret guilt and innermost thoughts of a Man's Heart before which the sinner cannot stand The secrets of his Heart are made manifest and falling down on his Face he must acknowledg that God is in the Word of a Truth 1 Cor. 14. 24. O these convictions of the Word are such a rap such a knock at the door of the Conscience as will never be forgotten no not in Heaven to all Eternity 2ly Christ knocks in the Word by its terrible comminations and awful threatnings menacing the Soul that opens not with eternal ruine these are dreadful knocks O sinner saith Christ wilt thou not open Shall all the tenders of my Grace made to thee be in vain Know then that this thy obstinacy shall be thy damnation Thus the Word denounces ruine in the name of the great and terrible God to all wilful impenitents and obstinate unbelievers Iohn 3. 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath ef God abideth on him O dreadful sound like unto which is that Iohn 8. 24. If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins q. d. Thy Mittimuâ— for Hell shall be made and signed will you not come to me that you might have life then I will foretel what death you shall dye you shall even dye in your sins Oh it were better for thee to dye like a Dog in a ditch than to dye in thy sins These are loud knocks of the Word terrible sounds yet no more than needs to startle the drousie Consciences of sinners And then 3ly The Spirit knocks by the gracious invitations of the Word the sweet allurements and gracious insinuations of it and without this no Heart would ever open to Christ. It is not frost and snow storms and thunder but the gentle distilling dews and cherishing Sun-beams that make the flowers open in the Spring The terrors of the Law may be preparative but the grace of the Gospel is that which effectually opens the sinners Heart The obdurate flint will sooner fly when smitten upon the soft pillow than upon the anvil Now the Gospel abounds with alluring invitations to draw the Will and open the Heart of a sinner such is that Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest O what a charming voice is here He that considers it may well wonder what Heart in the World can resist it like unto this is that in Isa. 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money let him come yea let him come and buy Wine and Milk without money and without price q. d. Come sinner come though thou have no qualifications no worthiness nor righteousness of thy own though thou be but a heap of sin and vileness yet come my grace is a gift not a sale and such is that in Iohn 7. 37. In the last day the great day of the feast Iesus stood up and cried If any Man thirst let him come to me and drink q. d. My grace is no sealed Fountain 't is free and open to the greatest of sinners if they thirst they are invited to come and drink This is that Oyl of Gospel grace which makes the Key turn so pleasantly and effectually amongst all the cross wards of Man's Will. And thus you see how the Word preached becomes an instrument in the Spirit 's Hand to open the door of a sinners Heart at which it knocks by its mighty Convictions dreadful Threats and gracious Invitations Secondly We next come to the Second Hammer by which the Spirit knocks at the sinners Heart and that is the providential Works of God. These in subserviency to the Word are of excellent use to awaken sinners and make them open their Hearts to Christ. God hath magnified his Word above all his Name yet there are some of the providential Works of God greatly serviceable in this case the Word sanctifies Providences and Providences assist the Word and make it work Now there are two sorts of Providential Dispensations which the Lord Jesus makes use of to gain entrance for him into the Hearts of Men. Viz. 1. Judgments 2. Mercies 1. Judgments and Afflictions the Word of God many times works not till some stroak of God come to quicken and assist it thus did the Lord open the Heart of that Monster of wickedness Manasseh the Word would not work alone but a smart rod quickned its operation 2 Chron. 33. 10 11 12. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not hearken Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers Thus the Heart of this Man relented under the Word assisted by the Rod. Ah 't is good that God take such a course with some sinners else the Word would do them no good and to this purpose is that in Iob 36. 8 9 10. And if they be bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgression that they have exceeded and openeth their Ears to discipline This is that rough course the obstinacy of Men's Hearts makes necessary for their recovery and therefore it is very observable that some words of God have lain dead in some sinners Hearts for years together and at last have begun to work under some smart and close Rod. Alas while all things are pleasant and prosperous about us the Word hath but little operation and effect Ier. 22. 21 22. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity but thou saidst I will not hear this hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou obeyedst not my voice The wind shall eat up all thy pastures and thy lovers shall go into captivity surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness q. d. Your Eyes are so dazled with the beautiful Flowers and your Ears so charmed with the Syren Songs and Lullabies of earthly delights that my Word can take no place upon you Let an East-wind blow and wither up these Flowers then the Word shall work and Conscience rescent the concernments of Eternity this course God is feign to take with many of you here you sit from Sabbath to Sabbath under the Word and nothing takes place upon your Hearts Will you not hear the voice of my VVord go Death saith God and smite that Man's Child dead I
optimus Theologus evasurus est Nudati donis non possumus veritatem propugnare aut veritatis inimicos oppugnare Non bona indoles nec elocutionis gratia non gestus decor aut conversationis urbanitas pro egestate donorum compensare queat Utcunque Fratres prae omnibus cavete ne germinante indies Arbore scientiae sola sterilescat Arbor vitae ut eximius Theologus satis apposite lâ—quitur ne sint apud vos ultima prima prima vicissim ultima tam pestifera inversio toto conversionis operi exitialis erit caput regulatum est valde desiderandum sed cor sanctum absolute necessarium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. XII 31. Vigeant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed emineat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 altius radices figant cordibus vestris 〈◊〉 magni Apostoli 1 Cor. IX 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid enim prodest peritum esse periturum Aliud est erudiri de veritatibus Christi aliud edoceri de eo sicut veritas est in Jesu Noctes atques dies mentibus vestris insideat grav is ista cautela literatissimi Reynoldi nostri Ne nobis nimium adblandiamur si forsan exquisitissimis naturae dotibus ingenii acumine sermonis elegantia varia lectione longo rerum usu Artium linguarum scientiarum omnium peritia judicii gravitate rationis pene angelica perspicacia nos Deus ornaverit nisi simul accedat Spiritualis gratiae adjutorium quo Coelestis mysterii cognitionemque adaptemur Quamvis enim splendidissima haec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merito nobis in animis affectibus hominum famam gratiamque conciliant quamvis magnum inde Reipub literariae Ecclesiae Christi emolumentum accedat nullum tamen ex sese aut ad Dei favorem aut ad Coelestis beatitudinis mercedem consequendam momentum conferunt Det Deus dona ministrantia sanctificantia ut Christi Propugnatores inimicorum ejus Expugnatores vosmet comprobetis Sed manum de tabula Epistolam hanc levidensem pingui ut aiunt Minerva contextam benevole tamen excipite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debitae observantiae A Conservo vestro in Evangelio Christi Johanne Flavello By reason of the Authors distance from the Press some mistakes have escaped which the Candid Reader is desired to Correct ERRATA in this Epistle PAge 3. l. 4. read omnimode p. 5. l. 9. after ita add neque ib. r. regimen p. 7. l. 6. for r. ut p. 10. l. 12. for iniquitatem r. iniquitatum TO THE READER THE worthy Author of the Discourse emitted herewith is one whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches His other Books have made his Name precious and famous in both Englands Nor can my Testimony add any thing to one every way greater than my self Nevertheless a singular Providence having cast my Lot to be at present in this great City I could not withstand the importunity of them who desiâ—ed a few Prefatory Lines to manifest the Respect I owe to this Renowned and Learned Man. It was a wife Reproof which a grave Divine administred to a young Preacher who entertained his Auditory with an elaborate Discourse After he had commended his parts and pains there was said he one thing wanting in the Sermon I could not perceive that the Spirit of God was in it And though Morality is good and necessary to be taught and practised yet it is much to be lamented that many Preachers in these days have hardly any other Discourses in their Pulpits than what we may find in Seneca Epictetus Plutarch or some such Heathen Moralist Christ the Holy Spirit and in a word the Gospel is not in their Sermons But blessed be God that there are some and great is their Company in this Land of Light who preach the Truth as it is in Jesus And he who has taken the Book out of the Right Hand of him that sits on the Throne and is worthy to open the Seals thereof has been pleased in wonderful ways to set open and keep open a door of Liberty to the Gospel that they unto whom he has given an Heart to Preach Christ may do it This is the Lords doings This is a Spirit of Life from God. When Cyrus proclaimed Liberty for the free Exercise of Religion the Lords Servants who for some years had lain dead were brought out of their Graves Ezek. 37. 12 13. This Treatise is a word in season God has made the Author to be a wise Master-builder in his House and acccording to the Wisdom given him of God he has inlarged on a Gospel subject very proper to be insisted on at such a day as this I am inform'd by unquestionable hands that there was a remarkable pouring out of the Spirit when these Sermons were viva voce delivered a great number of Souls having been brought home to Christ thereby The Lord grant that the second preaching of them to far greater Multitudes by this way of the Press may by the same Spirit be made abundantly successful for the Conversion and Salvation of Gods Elect. The Fruit brought forth by the Holy Apostles in respect of the Writings of some as well as the Doctrin preach'd by all of them does still remain The fruitful Labors of this faithful Servant of Christ will promote the Glory of God and the good of Souls when he himself shall cease from his Labors and his Works shall follow him Let the Lords people be thankful to him for that he has sent such a Labourer into the Harvest and pray that he may be continued long therein and that many such for there are but â—ew such may be raised up and be made eminently successful in their holy endeavours to the inlargement of the Kingdom of Christ and of God and let him reign in this Land for ever and ever which is the Hearts Desire and Prayer of one who is Less then the least of all Saints INCREASE MATHER London 18. 1689. Books written by the Author and sold by Matthew Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet FLavell's Fountain of Life opened or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediâ—torial Glory 4 o. The Method of Grace in bringing hoâ—â— the Eternal Redemption 4 o. Discourse of the Immortality of the Soul. 4 o. Husbandry Spiritualized or the Heavenly use of Earthly things 4 o. Two Treatises of Fear and Evil days 8 o. Divine Conduct or the Mystery of Providence 8 o. The Saint Indeed the great Work of a Christian opened and pressed from Provâ—râ— 4. 23. 12 o. The Touch-stone of sincerity or signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrisie Being the second Part of the Saint Indeed The Seaman's Compass 8 o. The Seaman's Companion containing Six Sermons suited to the various conditions of Seamen 12 o. Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow on Death of Friends 12 o. Preparation for Sufferings 12 o. Sacramental Meditations 12 o. Balm of the Covenant
the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. 2. INFER What a spur is here to Ministerial diligence and faithfulness 'T is an awful work that is under our hands the effects of the Gospel which we preach will be the savour of life or Death to them that hear us If the Lord prosper it in our hands we shall be witnesses for you it will be an addition to our glory in Heaven Dan. 12. 3. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever But if we be Ignorant Lazy Men-pleasers our people will come in as swift Witnesses against us and their blood will be required at our hands it will be an intollerable aggravation to our misery in Hell to have any that sat under our Ministry thus upbraiding us O cruel man thou sawest my soul in danger and never dealt faithfully and plainly with me the same time and breath which was spent in idle and worldly discourse might have been instrumental to have sav'd me from this place of torment Let Ministers consider themselves as Witnesses for God and their People as Witnesses for or against them and under that consideration so study preach and pray that they may with Paul take God to record that they are free from the blood of all men no sort of men upon earth have more spurs to diligence and faithfulness than we have 3. INFER What a Pill is this to purge formality out of all that hear us every Sabbath every Sermon is recorded in Heaven for or against your souls at what rate soever you attend to the word all that you hear is set down in the book of your account think not you shall return as you came the word will have its effect and end it shall not return in vain but shall accomplish the end for which it is sent Isaiah 55. 11. The decrees of Heaven are executed by the Gospel some souls shall be quickened and others shall be slain by the words of Gods mouth Ezek. 47. 9 10. The Gospel is a River of the waters of Life which quickens and refreshes every thing that lives but the myre and marish places shall not be healed How weighty therefore is that caution of our blessed Lord Luke 8. 18. Take heed how you hear When you come under an ordinance you are sowing seed for Eternity Gal. 6. 7 8. Which will spring up in the world to come Preaching and hearing may be considered two ways Physically or Morally in the former respect these acts are quickly over and pass away I shall by and by have done preaching and you hearing this Sermon will be ended in a little time but the consequences thereof will abide for ever Therefore for the Lords sake away with formality no more drowsie eyes or wandering thoughts Oh when you come to attend upon the Ministry of the Gospel that such thoughts as these might prepare your minds The word I am going to hear will quicken or kill save or damn my soul if I sit dead under it and return barren from it I shall with one day that I had never seen the face of that Minister nor heard his voice that preached it 4. INFER What a dreadful condition are all those in that are real and professed Enemies to the Gospel and them that preach it That instead of embracing and obeying the message of the Gospel reject and despise it instead of opening their hearts to receive it open their blasphemous mouths against it to deride it and hiss it if it were possible out of the world Ah what a book of remembrance is written for such men I fear there never was an age since Christianity blessed this Nation that was more deeply drench'd in the guilt of this sin than the present age How are the Messengers of the Gospel slighted and rejected What have we done to deserve it Is not our case this day much like that of the Prophet Ier. 18. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good for they have digged a Pit for my Soul remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them What bruitish madness hath possest the souls of these men but alas it is not so much they as Satan acting in them he is a jealous Prince the Gospel allarms him his Subjects are in danger of revolting from him No wonder therefore he makes an out-cry at the liberty of the Gospel as is used to be made when an Enemy invades a Kingdom In this case Christ directs his Ministers to shake off the dust of their feet for a testimony against them Mark 6. 11. The signification and meaning whereof is this that look as you shake off the dust of your feet even so Jesus Christ will shake off those men that despise the Gospel and abuse its Messengers 5. INFER Hence it likewise follows that the case of the Pagan world will be easier in the day of Iudgment than theirs that live and dye unregenerate and disobedient under the Gospel of Christ. There are more Witnesses prepared and Records filed against the day of your account than can possibly be against them they have abused but one talent the light of nature but we thousands even as many thousands as we have had opportunities and calls under the Gospel Upon this account Christ saith Matth. 10. 14 15. Whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words shake off the dust of your feet Verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgment than for that City Ah what a fearful Aggravation doth it put upon our sin and misery that we are not only accountable for all the light we had but for all that we might have had in the Gospel day Capernaum was lifted up to Heaven in the enjoyment of means and precious opportunities and had an answerable downfall into the depth of misery from that height of mercy as the higher any one is lifted up upon a Rack the more terrible is the jerk he receives by the fall Matth. 11. 23. 6. INFER Lastly hence it appears that the day of Iudgment must certainly take up a vast space of time For if God will bring every thing into Judgment Eccles. 12. 14. not only sinful actions but words Matth. 12. 36. not only words but heart secrets Rom. 2. 16. If all the Records and Registers now made shall then be opened and read all the Witnesses for or against every man examined and heard judge then what a vast space of time will that great day take up Some Divines are of opinion it may last as long as the World hath lasted but this is sure things will not be hudled up nor shuffled over in haste you have taken your time for Sinning and God will take his time for Judging Consider the multitudes multitudes without number that are to be Judged in that day even all the posterity of
amidst such Hosts of potent and enraged Enemies If Christ were not among them they had certainly been swallowed up long ago 'T is he that holds the Stars in his right hand Rev. 2. 1. His walks among the seven golden Candlesticks is their best security The burning bush Exod. 3. 3. is a rare emblem to open this Mystery the bush burned with fire but was not consumed The bush was a resemblance of the Church of God in Egypt the flames upon it was their terrible Persecution the wonder that no ashes appeared as the effects of those terrible flames the reason thereof was God was in the bush Jesus Christ was in the midst of his people By vertue of this Presence we are here this day in the enjoyment of Gospel Liberties no Society of Men in the World have such security as the Church hath upon this account The mightiest Monarchies have been over-turned no Policies nor humane Power could preserve them but the Church and Ordinances are still preserved and shall ever be by vertue of that gracious Promise Ier. 30. 11. For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee The Babilonian Persian Grecian Monarchies have destroyed and ruined one another Sic Medus ademit Assyrio Syroque tulit moderamina Perses c. but still the Church of Christ lifts up its Head and beholds their ruins Secondly This Presence of Christ in and with his Ordinances is undeniably evinced from their Supernatural effects upon the Souls of Men 2 Cor. 10. 4. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds 'T is the Spirit of Christ that gives them their success and efficacy The Sword of the Gospel hath its point and edge but it is impossible the Heart of a stupid hardned sinner should ever be prickt or wounded by it if the Spirit of Christ did not manage it When sinners fall down convinced under the authority of the Word they feel and readily acknowledge that God is in it of a truth I Cor. 14. 25. Ruffinus reports that at the Council of Nice a godly man of no great learning was the instrument of converting a learned Philosopher whom the Bishops with all their Arguments could not perswade of which the Philosopher himself gave this remarkable account Whilst you reasoned with me said he against words I opposed words and what was spoken I overthrew by the art of speaking but when in stead of words power came out of the mouth of the speaker words could no longer withstand truth nor Man resist the power of God. And this indeed is the true and just account of all those marvellous and gracious changes made upon the Souls of Men by the Preaching of the Gospel Can the vanishing breath of a dying Man think you inspire Spiritual and Eternal Life into the Souls of other Men Can he search the Conscience break the Heart and bow the Will at this rate No no this is the Power and Operation of Christ and of that Presence we must say saith a Reverend Author as Martha did to her Saviour concerning the Death of her Brother Lazarus John 11. 21. Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not dyed So say I if that Presence and Power of Christ were felt by all which hath been certainly experienced and felt by many they had not remained in the state of Spiritual Death as they do But though there be thousands under Ordinances that never felt this Power of Christ upon them yet blessed be God there are also multitudes of Witnesses and Evidences of this Truth that there is a Real Spiritual Energetical Presence of Christ in his own appointments which was the first thing to be evinced Secondly The second thing requiring Explication is the Uses and Ends which makes such a Presence of Christ necessary And they are 1. To Preserve and Support his Ministers and Churches amidst such Hosts of potent and enraged Enemies This Presence of Christ is as a wall of Fire round about them It was the Divine Presence with Ieremiah that was as a Life-Guard to him against the rage of the Princes and Nobles of Israel Jer. 15. 20 21. I will make thee unto this People a fenced brazen Wall and they shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee saith the Lord And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible It was easier for the Roman Army to scale the Walls and batter down the Towers of Ierusalem than for all the Enemies in Ierusalem to destroy this Prophet of God thus immur'd by the Divine Presence Athanasius and Luther had the Power of the Empire ingaged against them yet the Presence of Christ was their security The Witnesses could not be slain till they had finished their Testimony Rev. 11. 7. To this Presence alone the faithful Witnesses of Christ owe their marvellous preservation at this day had not Christ said Lo I am with you you had not said at this day behold our Ministers are still with us Secondly The Presence of Christ is necessary to assist and enable his Ministers in their Work for it is a Work quite above their own strength it is well we are Workers-together with God else we should soon faint under our Labours When Moses objected I am not eloquent the Lord told him I will be with thy Mouth Exod. 4. 10. When God guides the Tongue how powerful and persuasive must the Language be When the Apostles illiterate men were sent out to convert the World Christ promised to give them a Mouth and Wisdom Luke 21. 15. a Mouth to speak and Wisdom to guide that Mouth and then their words were demonstrations all their adversaries could not resist that Spirit and Power by which they spake Empires and Kingdoms full of Enemies received the Gospel but the reason of this wonderful success is given us in Mark 16. 20. They went out and Preached every where the Lord working with them 'T is sweet and prosperous working in fellowship with Christ The Spirit of Christ gives a manifold assistance to his Ministers in their Work 't is he that guides and directs their minds in the choice of those Subjects wherein they labour with such success to their Hearers He dictates the Matter influences their Affections guides their Lips follows home their Doctrine with success and this is a special Use and End of Christs Presence with his Ministers and Ordinances Thirdly The Spiritual Presence of Christ is necessary for the preparation and opening of the peoples Hearts to receive and embrace the Gospel to Salvation not an Heart will open to receive Christ till the Spirit of Christ unlock them Paul and Timothy were extraordinarily called to Preach
the Gospel at Macedonia there Lydia was converted but how Not by their Skill or Eloquence but the Spirits influence Acts 16. 14. The Lord opened the Heart of Lydia The Church could not be propagated without Conversion Conversion could never be wrought without Christs Influence and Spiritual Presence So that this Presence is of absolute necessity the Church cannot subsist nor the great ends of Ordinances attained without it The first Inference Is Christ really Present in all Gospel Administrations how awfully Solemn then is every part of Gospel Worship We having to do with Christ himself and not with Men only in Gospel Ordinances Happy were it if under this Consideration all our People did receive the Word we Preach as the Thessalonians did not as the Word of Man but as the Word of God 1 Thes. 2. 13. then it would Work effectually in us as it did in them But alas We have loose and low apprehensions of the Word we come to Judge the Gifts of the Speaker not to have our Minds informed our Consciences searched our Lusts mortified and our Lives regulated But oh that Men would realize the Presence of Christ in Ordinances and seriously consider that Word of his Rev. 2. 23. All the Churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the Reins and Hearts and I will give to every one of you according to your Works How would it compose vain and wandering Hearts unto holy seriousness Oh if Men would but consider that they are before the Lord Jesus Christ as Cornelius and his Family did Acts 10. 33. We are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. If they would consider the Word as the executioner of Gods eternal Decrees which returns not in vain but accomplishes that whereunto God sends it Isa. 55. 11. and eventually proves the savour of Life or Death eternal to them that sit under it 2 Cor. 2. 16. In a word were it but considered as the Rule by which its hearers shall be judged in the great Day Ioh. 12. 48. then how would Men tremble at the Word What mighty effects would it have upon their Hearts How would it run and be glorified But alas as Iob speaks Iob 9. 11. He goeth by me and I see him not he passeth on also but I perceive him not Few realize the Spiritual Presence of Christ in Ordinances Second Inference If Christ be really present with his Churches and Ordinances how vain are all the attempts of Enemies to subvert and destroy them That promise Matth. 28. ult supposes the continuance of a Gospel Church and Ministry to the end of the World else there would be a Promise without a Subject as de Iure there ought to be a Church so de facto there shall be a Church with Ministers and Ordinances let Satan and Antichrist do their worst I do not say this Promise secures this or that particular Church or Nation for the presence of Christ is moveable from one place to another but still the Church is safe And there are three things that secure it against all hazards First The invaluable Treasures God hath lodged in the Church viz. his Truths his Worship and his Elect such a precious Cargo secures the Vessel that carries it what ever Storms or Tempests may befal it Secondly The Covenant and Promise of God with the Church is its abundant security Matth. 16. 18. Vpon this Rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it The faithfulness of God is pawned for his Peoples security If the Church fail God's faithfulness must fail with it Thirdly But above all the Presence of Christ in the midst of it puts it out of all danger of miscarrying In that Promise Lo I am with you alway are found all munitions and fortifications whatsoever Here we have his Eye of Providence his Hand of Power and whatsoever else is needful to support and secure it God accounts his Presence our safety Isa. 41. 10. The Enemies of God and his People account it so too Exod. 14. 25. and shall it not be so in our own account Provoke not the Lord Jesus to withdraw his Presence and fear not the consultations and oppositions of Hell or Earth Third Inference From this Spiritual Presence of Christ all his faithful Ministers should draw incouragement amidst the manifold difficulties and discouragements they dayly encounter in his Work and Service Christ is with them they Work in Fellowship with him let them not be dismaid The difficulties and discouragements the Ministers of Christ meet with are great and many and the more faithful and successful any of them are in their Masters Work the fiercer opposition they must expect Besides all the discouragements rising out of their own Hearts which are not a few they must encounter First The opposition of Enemies from abroad Secondly The obstinacy and stubornness of the Hearts they work upon Satan is a jealous Prince and will raise all manner of outcries and oppositions against those heavenly Heraulds that come to Proclaim a new Prince in his Dominions and withdraw his miserable Subjects from their cursed Allegiance to him What is it to Preach the Gospel said Luther but to derive the fury of the World upon the Head of that Preacher But this would be easily supportable did our Work but prosper upon the hearts of our hearers but this alas is the killing consideration of all we know the worth of Souls and how great a service it is to save them from death Iames 5. 20. We also know the terrors of the Lord which excite our utmost endeavours to perswade men 2 Cor. 5. 11. We feel the compassions of Christ stirring in our own bowels which makes us long after their Salvation Phil. 1. 8. We preach we pray yea we travail again as it were in birth until Christ be formed in them Gal. 4. 19. And when we have done all we find their Hearts as Iron and Brass Ier. 6. 28. We mourn in secret when we cannot prevail and oft times our Hands hang down with discouragement and we are ready to say with the Prophet We will speak no more in his name Jer. 20. 9. But here is our relief under all discouragements from abroad and at home the Work is Christs the Power is his he is with us and we are Workers together with him There was a time when Three thousand Souls were born to Christ at one Sermon it may be now Three thousand Sermons may be preacht and not a Soul Converted Yet let us not be discouraged a time of eminent Conversions is Promised and to be expected in these latter days Ezek. 47. 9. when the living waters of the Gospel shall make every thing to live whither they come And when the Fishers i. e. the Ministers of Christ shall not fish with Angles as now they do taking now one then another single Convert but shall spread forth their Nets but inclose multitudes at
will try what that will do go Poverty and blast his Estate and see what that will do go Sickness and smite his Body and shake him over the Graves mouth I will see what that will do Thus God sends to sinners as Absolom sent to Ioab who refused to come near him till he set fire to his field of Corn and then away comes Ioab 2 Sam. 14. 29 30 31. And thus the Lord opened the Heart of the Iaylor by putting him into a fright a panick fear of Death Acts 16. 27. And thus doth the Lord devise means to bring back his banished II. As God makes use of the Hammer of Judgments so he makes use also of Mercies to make way for Christ into the Hearts of Men. Every Mercy is a call a knock of God and truly if there be any ingenuity left unextinguished in the Heart one would think Mercy should prevail more than all the Judgments in the World Rom. 2. 4. Knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance q. d. Dost thou not see the Hand of Mercy stretched out to lead thee into a corner there to mourn over thy sins committed against so gracious and merciful a God By every Mercy you receive Christ doth as it were â—ee you to open your Hearts to him they are so many gifts sent from Heaven to make way for Christ into your Hearts It would be an endless task to enumerate all the Mercies bestowed to this end upon the unregenerate but surely this is the errand of them all and the Lord takes it very ill when his end is not answered in them hence is that complaint Ier. 5. 24. Neither say they in their Heart Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth us rain both the former and the latter in his season Some of you have been marvelously preserved in times of common Contagion and Death when thousands have fallen at your right-hand and left then have you been preserved or recovered according to that Exod. 15. 26. I will put none of those Diseases upon thee for I am the Lord that healeth thee I am Iehovah Rophe the Lord the Phisitian many of you have been at the Graves mouth in many Diseases others upon the Deeps yet the Hand of Mercy pulled you back and suffered you not to drop into the Grave and Hell in the same moment O what a knock was here given by the Hand of Mercy at thy hard Heart Certainly if Men would but observe they might see a strange marvellous working and moulding of things by the Hand of providence for the production of thousands of Mercies for them and if Mercy would do the work and win you over to Christ many rods had been spared which your obstinacy hath made necessary O ungrateful sinners Doth your Redeemer thus woo and fee you by so many gifts of Mercy and yet will you shut him out Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise For which of all his benefits do your ungrateful Souls shut the door upon him III. You see what Christ's knocking at the Soul of a sinner implies and by what instruments it is performed In the last place we will consider the manner how this action is performed in the Ten following Particulars wherein much of the mistery of Conversion will be opened the Lord grant your experience may answer them VVe cannot indeed exactly describe and mark all the footsteps of the Spirit in this VVork upon the Souls of Men yet these things seem eminently observable 1. The knocks of Christ at the sinners Heart are silent and secret to all persons in the VVorld except the Soul it self at whose door he knocks here be many hundreds of you this day under the VVord if the Lord shall this day knock by Conviction at any Man's Heart none will hear that knock but that Man only for it is a knock without sound or noise to any but the particular Soul concerned in it It was fore-prophesied of our Redeemer and of this very act of his Isa. 4. 2. 2. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the Street The Kingdom of God cometh not into the Souls of Men with publick observation you read in 1 Cor. 2. 11. No Man knoweth the things of a Man saving the Spirit of a Man that is in him None knows what Convictions another Man's Conscience feels until he himself shall discover them you hear the same sound of the Gospel but you hear not the inward stroaks it gives to another Man's Conscience Christ's approaches to the Soul make no noise little do we know what the Spirit of Christ whispers in the Ear of him that sits next us 'T is said of the inward comforts of the Spirit I will give him the hidden Manna which no Man knows but he that eateth of it This is true also of inward terrors and troubles Christ's knocks by Conviction are but a secret whisper of his Spirit in the Ear of a sinner saying Thou art the Man this is thy case That is the first thing in the manner of Christ's knocking 't is a silent knock without publick sound 2ly These silent inward knocks of the Spirit of Christ though they are heard by none but the Soul it self yet do they greatly differ as to the terror or mildness of them in different subjects Some hear them with more terror and astonishment others in a mild and gentle manner when the Lord knockt at the Iaylors Conscience Acts 16. 29 30. it was a terrible stroak he called for a light and sprang in like a Man distracted and trembling and astonied fell down at the Apostles feet crying Sirs what must I do to be saved Here was a terrible knock indeed which almost affrighted his Soul out of his Body it is as if he had said Tell me for the Lord's sake and tell me quickly whether there be any way of Salvation and where it lies for I am a lost Man an undone Soul. But when the Lord opened the Heart of Lydia there were no such terrors the Lord spake to her in a more mild and gentle voice as you see verse 14. the Spirit of God varies his method according to the temper of the Soul he worketh on Knotty pieces need greater wedges and harder blows to rive them asunder and as he directs his Ministers Iude 22. to make a difference to deal tenderly and compassionately with some but others to save with fear so he himself observeth like different methods 3ly Some knocks of Christ are succesful and obtain the desired effect He knocks and the Soul opens but others are insuccessful he knocks once and again by Convictions which may cause the Conscience for the present to startle a little but there is no opening to Christ by Faith. O friends this is of dreadful consideration Prov. 1. 24. I called and you refused I stretched out my Hand and no Man regarded There 's a call without an answer a
the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live From hence the Eighth Observation will be this VIII DOCT. That no Mans Will savingly and effectually opens to receive Christ till the Spiritual quickning Voice of Christ be first heard by the Soul. Now touching this Almighty Spiritual voice of Christ by which the Hearts of sinners are effectually opened Six things must be opened in order 1. The divers sorts and kinds of Christs voice 2. The general Nature of this internal voice 3. The innate characters and special properties of it 4. The objects to whom it is directed 5. The motives inducing Christ to speak to one and not to another 6. The special effects wrought and sealed by it upon every Soul that hears it First We will speak of the divers sorts and kinds of Christs voices I am here only concerned about two viz. 1. His External 2. His Internal voice 1. There is an External voice of Christ which we may call his Ministerial voice in the Preaching of the Gospel the Scriptures are his Word and Ministers his Mouth Ier. 15. 19. He that heareth them heareth Christ. 2ly There is also an Internal energetical voice of Christ consisting not in sound but power And betwixt these two there are two remarkable differences 1. The External or Ministerial voice of Christ is but the Organ or Instrument of conveying his Internal and Efficacious voice to the Soul in the former he speaks to the Ear and in or by that â—ound conveys his Spiritual voice to the Heart 2ly The External voice is evermore ineffectual and successless when it is not animated by this Internal Spiritual voice it was marvellous to see the walls of Iericho falling to the ground at the sound of Rams-horns there was certainly more than the force of an external blast to produce such an effect but more marvellous it is to see at the sound of the Gospel not only the weapons of iniquity falling out of sinners Hands but the very enmity it self out of their Hearts Here you see is a voice in a voice an Internal efficacy in the External sound without which the Gospel makes no saving impression Secondly This Spiritual voice of Christ must be considered in its general Nature which implies two things in it 1. Almighty Efficacy 2. Great Facilty I. Almighty Efficacy to quicken and open the Heart with a word O what manner of voice is this which carries such a vital power along with it In all the mighty works of Christ his power was still put forth in some voice as at the Resurrection of Lazarus John 11. 43. He cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth So in the curing of the deaf Man Mark 7. 34. He saith unto him Ephphathai and straight way his Ears were opened Thus in the exerting of his Almighty glorious power in quickning a Soul Spiritually dead and opening the Heart that was lockt up by ignorance and unbelief an Internal Almighty Efficacy passeth from Christ along with the voice of the Gospel to effect this glorious work upon the Soul an Emblem where of we have in Ezek. 37. 9 10. Then said he unto me Prophesie unto the wind prophesie Son of Man to the wind saith the Lord God Come from the four winds O breath and breath upon these slain that they may live So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood up upon their Feet an exceeding great Army The animating vital breath which quickned the dead came in or with the four winds of Heaven as this Almighty power of Christ doth with the sound of the Gospel and before it the Heart opens the Will bows Psal. 110. 3. Man can no longer oppose the power of God Man and Man stand upon equal ground the power of Man can repel the power of a fellow creature but when the power of Christ comes along with the voice of Man there is no more power to resist This voice of Christ then of which the Text speaks is an Almighty impression made upon the Soul of a sinner from Heaven which is to that Soul in stead of a voice and as fully expressive of Gods mind concerning it as any Articulate voice in the World can be It is a beam of light shining immediately from the Spirit into the Soul of a sinner as plainly and evidently discovering both its danger and duty as if a voice from Heaven had declared them thus it is said Isa. 8. 11. The Lord spake to Isaiah with a strong Hand that is by a mighty impression upon the Prophets Spirit which was as a voice to him thus here the Lord not only directs a suitable word to a sinners condition but also impresses it with such a strong Hand upon his Heart as leaves no doubt behind it but that it was the Lord himself that spake to his Soul this is Christs way of speaking by his Spirit to the inner Spiritual Ear of the Soul not by Oraculous voices which I take to be but the suppositions of an overtroubled fancy but by an efficacious impression upon the Heart As to Oraculous voices we may sooner meet Satanical delusions than Divine illuminations in that way The Learned Gerson speaks of a good Man who being in Prayer seemed to hear such a voice as this I am come in person to visit thee for thou art worthy but he justly suspecting a delusion of Satan shut his Eyes and said Nolo hic videre Christum c. I will not see Christ here it shall suffice me to see him in glory I am sure Christs voice in the written Word is more sure than a voice from Heaven 2 Pet. l. 1. 9. This inward Spiritual impression is Christs effectual call from Heaven and it is a voice sine strepitu Syllabarum without sound or syllable II. As this voice of Christ implies Almighty efficacy so it implies in like manner the facility of conversion unto Christ he can do it easily with a word of his Mouth as in the bodily cures performed by him in the days of his flesh how suddainly and easily did Christ effect them Speak the word only said the Centurion and my servant shall be healed Thus let the Spirit but speak internally to the deadest Soul and it lives Elijah did but cast his mantle upon Elisha as he was plowing in the Field and he presently entreats the Prophet to give him leave to go home and bid his friends farewel and he would follow him thus it is here let a beam of saving light shine from the Spirit into a Mans Heart let an effectual impression be made upon his Soul and he is presently made willing to quit and give up his dearest lusts and interests and to imbrace Christ upon the severest terms of the Gospel Conversion is too difficult a work for Angels or Men to effect in their own strength but Christ can do it with a
now pretend that any earthly excellency commends any man to God or that the favour of Heaven is engaged by the same motives that the respects of this world are For now you see the truth of that Scripture Iob 34. 19. before your eyes He accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more than the poor for they are all the work of his hands Earthly Riches and Honours as empty things as they are yet are too much idoliz'd by men What would they be could they procure our favour and acceptance with the Lord 2ly By such a choice as this the Lord plainly shews us That Religion needs not worldly props to support it As at first it was spread by the power of God in the world by poor contemptible men so it is still upheld without human policy or riches The church is called the Congregation of the poor Psal. 74. 20. The Lord will have us know that he is able to maintain and carry on his counsels in the world without the wealth of rich men the authority of great men or the policies of wise men he needs them not 3ly By this choice he pours contempt upon those things which are most admired among men So he tells us 1 Cor. 1. 27. God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty And certainly shame and confusion of face will cover the great ones of this world in the world to come when they shall see those poor Christians whom they contemned and scorned upon earth as not worthy to come into their presence to be so infinitely preferred before them in the favour of God. In a word this efficacious spiritual voice of Christ is directed but to a few even of the many that sit within the sound and call of the Gospel Matth. 22. 14. Many are called but few are chosen Christ's flock is a little flock There be many Birds of prey to one Bird of Paradice Many common Pebles to one Saphir or Diamond 'T is not for us to dispute the Reason but to adore the Soveraignty of God in this matter And of those few whom he calleth the greatest part are of the lower rank and order of men The glitter and dazel of this world blinds the eyes of the greatest Extremity of pinching wants diverts the mind of the very lowest but betwixt these two extreams there is a third sort of persons whom the Lord most usually calls Fifthly If it be queried why the voice and call of Christ should be directed to this person rather than to that Certainly it is not from any dignity or excellency outward or inward that Christ sees in one above another for all are shut up under the same common sin and misery of the fall and therefore the Apostle told the Ephesians who had heard and answered the voice of Christ That they were by nature children of wrath even as others Eph. 2. 3. If it were not so Man would have something to glory in before God but Christ resolves this whole dispensation into its proper cause the good pleasure of the Divine Will Matth. 11. 26. Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight This good pleasure of the Will of God sometimes orders those to hear the voice of his Son that seem to stand at a far greater distance and improbability to hear it than others do 'T is said of the Ephesians that they were a far off Eph. 2. 13. yet they heard the voice of Christ when that discreet Scribe Mark 12. 34. who was not far from the Kingdom of God and Agrippa Acts 26. 28. who almost or within a very little was perswaded to be a Christian never heard it therefore it is said Matth. 8. 11 12. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness O marvelous dispensation Many a poor Soul under the greatest disadvantages a poor Servant that hath but little time and multitudes of encumbrances yet such a one is often called effectually by this voice of Christ when those that enjoy multitudes of opportunities and have abundance of time lying upon their Hands which they know not what to do with who have the choicest Books at command yet hear nothing feel nothing amidst all these advantages to any purpose all this is wholly to be resolved into the good pleasure of the Will of God. Sixthly In the next place let us view the effects of this voice of Christ upon the Souls of Men and we shall find divers remarkable effects wrought upon the Heart by it I. Effect And the first Effect of the voice of Christ is Conviction upon the Conscience Conviction both of sin and misery Iohn 16. 9. The Spirit when he cometh shall convince the World of sin This is a voice of terror it strikes dead the vain hopes of a sinner Rom. 7. 9. Now the Soul that was before secure and quiet becomes the seat of trouble and anxiety 'T is true there was a general Conviction of sin before they knew that all are sinners that they denied not but alas this general Conviction is quite another thing to what the Soul feels now now it can shift and wave the matter no longer This voice of Christ shews them their iniquities and how they have exceeded as the expression is Iob 36. 8 9. exceeded in number and exceeded in heinousness of aggravation A general Conviction of sin affects a Man no more than the sight of a painted Lion upon a Sign-post but when a particular Conviction is set on upon the Conscience by this special inward voice of Christ sm is now like a living Lion meeting a Man in the way and roaring dreadfully upon him This is the first Effect of Christs voice and is introductive unto the II. Effect Which is humiliation and contrition of Heart for sin those threats of Scripture against sin and sinners which were wont to be sleighted are now trembled at those Iews Acts 2. 37. to whose Hearts Christ spake in Peters Sermon as soon as ever they heard his voice sounding Conviction in their Consciences they were presently pricked at the Heart no Sword or Poyniard can make such a wound and put a poor creature into such pain as a sight of sin will do therefore Zach. 12. 10. they are said to mourn for Christ as for an only Son. Now this is the glorious prerogative of Jesus Christ to be able to reach and wound the Heart with a word The voice of Man cannot do it but the Spirit of a Man lies naked and open both to be wounded and healed by a word from the Mouth of Christ. No sooner hath a poor sinner heard the awful voice of Conviction spoken to his Conscience by the Lord Jesus but he feels himself sick at Heart home he goes
world to hear of it The very same power that wrought that must also be put sorth to work this or else it would never be wrought So again Eph. 2. 8. By Grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of your selves You are no more able to believe in Christ than you were to raise him from the dead No more able to come one step towards him by Faith in your own power than Lazarus was able to unbind himself in the Grave and come forth Yea in Eph. 1. 18 19 20. the work of believing is ascribed unto the exceeding greatness of the power of God Nothing but power can do it no other power but the Almighty power of God can do it It exceeds the power of Ministers yea of Angels Three things will evince the difficulty of this work Viz. 1. The Nature of it 2. The Subject of it 3. The Enemies of it First The Nature of the work of Faith which is wholly supernatural it is no less than the gaining over the hearty and full consent of the Will to take Jesus Christ with his yoke of Obedience Matth. 11. 29. and with his Cross of Sufferings Matth. 16. 24. And how far these will carry a man into outward dangers losses torments and sufferings who can tell and all this upon the account of an unseen happiness and glory dearest Lusts and Corruptions must be mortified sweetest Pleasures and Profits in the World abandoned and forsaken all Reproaches Losses Pains and Penalties the Devil and the World can lay upon us for Christs sake must be embraced and wellcomed and can it be supposed that any power beneath the Almighty Power of the Lord any voice except the efficacious voice of Christ can prevail with the Will to give its firm explicite consent to such difficult and self-denying terms as these Secondly Consider the Subject wrought upon viz. the dead hard obstinate heart of a blind perverse sinner an heart harder by Nature than the nether Millstone It is as easie to melt the most obdurate Rock into a sweet Syrup as it is to melt the heart of a Sinner into penitential forrows for sin What! to bring a dead heart to life To make that man bitterly bewail the sins that were his pleasure and delight more than ever he bewailed the death of the nearest and dearest Relation in the world To make a proud heart renounce its own self-righteousness which it so dotes upon and take all shame and reproach to it self upon the account of sin This is wonderful You would think it a strange thing to see the course of the Tyde stopt with the breath of a man but O what a marvellous thing is here that at the preaching of the Gospel by a poor worm the Lord should turn the Tyde of the Will and thus work about the Soul to a ready compliance with his most self-denying terms and proposals Thirdly And that which farther encreaseth the difficulty of believing is the fierce and obstinate opposition made by the Enemies of Faith All the powers of Hell and Earth Devils and Men without us are confederate and in league with the Corruptions within us to resâ—â—t and hinder this work of believing Never is the Devil more busie than when Christ and the Soul are treating about Union Oh the Discouragements Objections and Difficulties that are rowled into the way of Faith One while it is the highest Presumption another while it is impossible and utterly too late Sometimes blasphemous injections like fiery Darts are shot reeking hot out of Hell into the Soul Otherwhile the invincible difficulties of Religion are objected all Losses Torments c. opposed unto this work The Tempter casts himself into a thousand shapes to hinder the Souls passage out of Nature unto Christ. Sometimes objecting the greatness of sin and sometimes the lapse and loss of the proper season and opportunity of mercy together with the want of due qualifications to come to Christ. Thus and many other ways he endeavours to rap off the fingers of Faith from taking hold of Christ. And as every Devil in Hell opposes this work so every Carnal interest we have in the world is an Enemy to Faith. We have Enemies enough within us as well as without us both conspiring together to obstruct this work All things increase the difficulty of believing Thirdly We are next to speak of the instruments imployed in this great design and these are 1. Principal or 2. Subordinate 1. The Principal instrument in whose efficacy the Heart is opened is the Spirit of God without whom it is impossible the design should ever prosper neither Ordinances Providences or Ministers can successfully manage it without him If the Lord will make use of any Man for the Conversion and Salvation of anothers Soul he may rejoyce in it but withal must say as Peter to the Jews Acts 3. 12. Why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk So may the ablest Minister in the World say when God blesses his labours to the conversion of any Soul look not upon me as though by the strength of my reason or power of my gifts I had opened thy Soul to Christ this is the work of Gods Spirit in whose hand I am an instrument 1 Cor. 3. 7. He that plants is nothing and he that waters is nothing Nothing in himself the very first stroak of conviction which is introductive to the whole work of conversion is justly ascribed to the Spirit Iob. 16. 9. The Spirit when be cometh shall convince the world of sin He is the Lord of all sanctifying and gracious influences Ordinances are but as the sayls of a Ship Ministers as the Seamen that manage those sayls the Anchor may be weighed the sayls spread but when all is done there is no sayling till a gale come We preach and pray and you hear but there is no motion Christward until the Spirit of God comparded to the wind Iohn 3. 8. blow upon them till he illuminate the understanding with divine light and bow the Will by an Almighty power there can be no Spiritual motion Heaven-ward Now the Spirit of the Lord is a free agent tyed to means time or instruments but as at a certain time an Angel came down upon the waters of Bethesda and put a healing virtue into them so it is here Therefore never come to any Gospel Ordinance without an Eye to the Spirit on whom all their blessing and efficacy depends Oh lift up your Hearts for his blessing upon the means as ever you expect saving benefits from them 2ly The Subordinate instrumental means by which this blessed design is effectually managed in the World is the Gospel-ministry 1 Cor. 3. 5. Who then is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed This is the ordinary stated method of begetting Faith and though God hath not tyed himself to this
made and yet no breach not one stone moved out of its place you will say that 's a strong Wall indeed Beloved God hath as I may say raised a Mount in the Gospel planted the great Ordinance of Heaven upon it discharged many dreadful vollies of threatnings nay he hath as it were come under the walls of the unbelieving Soul with terms of grace and mercy and yet no opening O prodigious obstinacy We have piped unto you but ye have not danced we have mourned unto you but ye have not lamented Matth. 11. 17. Neither the sweet Airs of Gospel Grace nor the dreadful thunders of the Law make any impression upon you O what an obdurate Rock is the Heart by nature Certainly every Christian may see enough in others and find enough in himself without the help of other Books to confute the Arminian Doctrian which so extolls and flatters the nature of man. It is as possible to make an impression with your finger upon a wall of brass as for the best Sermon in the world in its own strength to make an effectual saving impression upon a sinners Will. III. Inference Is it the great design of the Gospel to open the hearts of men to Christ then wonder not that it meets with such strong and fierce opposition from Satan wherever it is sincerely and powerfully preached As for general and formal preaching which comes not to the quick the Devil is not so much concerned about it he knows it will do him no great damage nay it fastens and secures his interest in the Souls of men But wherever the Gospel comes with spirit and power laying the Ax to the Root shewing men the vanity of their ungrounded hopes pressing the necessity of Regeneration and Faith this preaching quickly gives an alarm to Hell and raises all manner of opposition against it What is it to preach the Gospel said Luther but to derive the rage and fury of the whole world upon us Satan is the God of this world all men by Nature are his born Subjects No Prince on earth is more jealous of the revolt of his Subjects than he and its time for him to bestir himself when the Gospel comes to dethrone him as it doth in the faithful preaching of it Iohn 12. 31. Now is the Judgment of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Now he falls as Lightning from Heaven Luke 10. 18. Now Sinners are made sensible of the cruel tyranny and bondage of Satan's Government and of the glorious liberty offered to them by Jesus Christ. Satan suspecting the Issue of these things bestirs himself to purpose O what showers of Calumnies and storms of Persecution doth he pour upon the Names and Persons of Christ's faithful Ambassadours certainly he owes Christ's Ministers a spight and they shall know and feel it if ever he get them within the compass of his Chain But let this discourage none imployed in this glorious design the Lord is with them to protect their persons and reward their diligence IV. Inference If the opening of the heart be the main design of the Gospel then Christ and Faith ought to be the principal Subjects that Ministers should insist on among their people There are many other useful Doctrins which may and ought to be opened and prest in their time and place Moral duties c. have their excellencies but Christ and Faith are the great things we are to preach Let men be once brought to Christ and the rest will follow but to begin and end with Morality will never make men Gospel Christians Grace teaches Morality Titus 2. 11. but Morality without Grace saves no man. I doubt not but it hath been a grand Artifice of the Devil to confound Grace with Morality and make men believe that nothing more is requir'd unto mens salvation but a civil sober conversation in the world and so lay by the principal part of the Gospel which opens and presses the necessity of Regeneration Repentance and Faith in the Blood of Christ Such preaching as this answers not the end and design of Christ in the conversion of Souls such toothless preaching disturbs not the Consciences of men the Lord help all his Ambassadours to mind the Example and Charge of their Redeemer and laying aside all carnal interest to apply themselves faithfully unto the Souls and Consciences of their hearers not as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ. II. Vse of Conviction In the next place This Doctrin is of excellent Use to convince men of the dreadful damning nature of the sin of Unbelief A sin which defeats and frustrates the main design of the blessed Gospel of Christ on the Unbelievers Soul. This is the sin that keeps the heart fast shut against him As Faith is the radical Grace so Unbelief is the radical Sin. What shall I say of it it is the Traytors Gate through which those Souls pass that are to perish for ever The Gospel can do you no good the Blood of Christ can yield you no saving benefit whilst your Souls remain under the dominion and power of this sin When we consider the mighty Arguments of the Gospel we may wonder that all that hear them are not immediately perswaded to Christ by them And on the other side when we consider the mighty power of Unbelief how strongly it holds the Soul in bondage to sin we may admire that any Soul is brought over to Christ by the Gospel It was not without cause that the Apostle puts faith in Christ among the great Mysteries and Wonders of the Gospel 1 Tim. 3. 16. Now the intrinsick evil and fearful consequences of this sin of Unbelief will appear in these following particulars 1. Unbelief fixes the guilt of all other sins on the person of the Unbeliever it binds them all fast upon his Soul Iohn 8. 24. For if ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Dye in thy sins man it were better for thee to dye in a Ditch What more terrible can God threaten or man feel This is the sin that makes the death of Christ of none effect to us Gal. 5. 4. There is indeed a soveraign virtue in the Blood of Christ to pardon sin but thy Soul cannot have the benefit of it while it remains under the dominion of this sin As it was said of the miraculous works of Christ He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief Matth. 13. 58. so none of his spiritual works no ordinances can do thy Soul good till the Lord break the power of this sin Hebr. 4. 2. The word preached did not profit them not being mixed in faith in them that heard it If a man were dangerously sick or wounded the richest Cordial or most soveraign Plaister in the world can never recover him unless received and applyed Unbelief spills the most soveraign Cordials of the Gospel as Water upon the ground The greatest sins that ever thou committedst
Gods countenance Psal. 4. 6 7. the heavenly 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen we love c. The Soul is transported with joy ravished with the glory and excellency of Christ. Didst thou ever see this Christ whom thy Soul is so ravished with No I have not seen him yet my Soul is transported with so much love to him Whom having not seen we love But if thou never sawest him how comes thy Soul to be so delighted and ravished with him why though I never saw him by the Eye of sense yet I do see him by the Eye of faith and by that sight my Soul is flooded with spiritual joy Believing we rejoyce But what manner of joy is that which you taste why no Tongue can express that for it is joy unspeakable But how are Christ and Heaven turned into such ravishing joys to the Soul why the Spirit of the Lord gives the believing Soul not only a light to discern the transcendent excellency of these spiritual objects but a sight of his interest in them also This is my Christ and this the glory prepared for me without interest Heaven it self cannot be turned into joy My Soul rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1. 47. We read Luke 13. 28. of some that shall have a sight of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and yet a sight without joy a dreadful sight to them for want of a joint interest with them in that glory They shall see and yet wail and weep and gnash their teeth But an interest sealed gives joy unspeakable Now as to the excellency of this joy it will be found to be the pleasant light of the Soul light and joy are Synonimous terms in Scripture Psal. 97. 11. 'T is as the cheerful light of the Morning after a sad and dismal Night You that have sat in darkness and the shadow of death you that have sat mourning in the dark without one glimpse of a promise you that have convers'd with nothing but dismal thoughts of Hell and Wrath O I shall be cast away for ever What will you say when after all this darkness the Day-star shall arise in your hearts the joy of Heaven shall beam upon your Souls Will not this be a glorious reward for all your self-denyal for Christ and fully recompense for the frowns of carnal relations for giving entertainment to Christ This joy of the Lord if there were no other Heaven is an abundant recompense This joy of the Lord shall be your strength Neh. 8. 10. Let God but give a man or woman a little of this Joy into his heart and he shall presently feel himself strengthened by it either to do or to suffer the will of God. Now he can pray with enlargement hear with comfort meditate with delight and if God call him to suffer this Joy shall strengthen him to bear it This was it that made the Martyrs go singing to the stake This therefore transcends all the joys of this lower world There are sinful pleasures men find in the fulfilling their lusts There are sensitive joys that men find in the good creatures of God filling their hearts with food and gladness There are also delusive joys false comforts that Hypocrites find in their ungrounded hopes of Heaven The joys of the Sensualist are bruitish the joys of the Hypocrite are ensnaring and vanishing but the joys of the Holy Ghost are solid sweet and leading to the fulness of everlasting joy This is the third heavenly dainty you may expect to feed on if you open your hearts to receive Christ by Faith else you have all the consolation that ever you must expect IV. We read in Scripture of the Sealings of the Spirit a choice and blessed Priviledg of Believers consequent upon believing Eph. 1. 13. In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed c. This then may be expected by every Soul that opens to Christ how rich soever the comforts of it be The Spirit indeed seals not before Faith for then he should set his Seal to a Blank but he usually seals after believing and that as the Spirit of promise Note here the Agent or Person sealing the Spirit he knows the counsels thoughts and purposes of God 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. He also is authorized to this work and being the Spirit of truth he cannot deceive us There is a twofold Seal spoken of in Scripture one referring to God's eternal foreknowledge and choice of men 2 Tim. 2. 19. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his i. e. the Lord perfectly knows every Soul that belongs to him through the world But now what comfort is this to a poor Believer that God knows who are his Therefore there is another sealing referring to the Spirit as his act upon Believers to make them know that they are his The first is general The Lord knoweth who are is But this is particular The Lord knoweth thee to be his This is joyful news indeed the former makes it sure in it self the latter makes it sure to us Now this is a most glorious priviledge a work of the Spirit which hath a most ravishing delicious sweetness in it and that which makes it so is 1 The weightiness of the matter sealed to which is no less than Christ and the eternal Inheritance purchased by his Blood. This Seal secures our Title to Christ and to the eternal glory We are sealed to the day of redemption The sealed Believer can say Christ how great how glorious soever he be is my Christ the Covenant of Grace and all the invaluable promises contained in it are mine 2. The rest and quietness which follows it makes it an invaluable mercy this brings the anxious solicitous Mind and Conscience to rest and peace O what a mercy is it to have all those knots untied those objections answer'd those fears banished under which the doubting Soul so long laboured and which kept it so many nights waking and restless God only knows at what rate some poor Creatures live under the scarings of their own Consciences and frequent fears of Hell And what an inconceivable mercy it would be to them to be delivered at once from their dangers and fears which hold them under a Spirit of Bondage Open to Christ and thou art in the way to such a deliverance Come unto me and I will give you rest saith Christ Matth. 11. 28 29. 3. This sealing of the Spirit which follows upon believing will establish the Soul in Christ confirm it and settle it in the ways of God which is an unspeakable priviledge 2 Cor. 1. 22. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ is God who also hath sealed us Mark how establishment follows sealing New temptations may come great persecutions and sore afflictions may come but how well is that Soul provided for them all that hath the sealings of the Spirit unto the day of redemption Yea
the exercises of our grace in Religious duties 3. In his various Providences In all these the Saints have communion with them First There is a sweet and sensible communion betwixt God and his people in the contemplation of the divine Attributes and the impressions God makes by them upon our Souls whilst we mediâ—ate on them As for instance 1. Sometimes the Lord discovers and manifests to the Souls of his people his immense greatness the manifestation of which Attribute makes an awful humbling impression upon the Soul makes them seem as nothing to themselves Thus when Abraham that great believer considered the greatness of that God with whom he had to do that sight of God seemed to reduce him to his first principles to crumble him as it were into dust and ashes again Gen. 18. 27. I that am but dust and ashes have taken upon me to speak unto God. He now looks upon himself as an heap of vileness and unworthiness so David Psal. 8. 12. When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy hands the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made from whence he inferr'd the greatness of the Creator Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him q. d. When I consider what a great God the Creator of the World is I am justly astonished that ever he should set his Heart upon so vile a thing as Man. When men compare themselves among themselves and measure themselves by themselves their Spirits are apt to swell with pride but would they look up to God as these holy men did they would admire his condescension And this is communion with God in the meditation of his immense greatness Secondly The representations and meditations of the purity and holyness of God working shame and deep abasement in the Soul for the pollutions and sinful filthiness that is in it This is communion with God and an excellent way of fellowship with him Thus when a representation of God in his holyness was made unto the Prophet Isa. 6. 3 4 5. There were the Seraphims covering their faces with their wings and crying one to another saying Holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty the Earth is full of his glory The effect this produced or the return made by the Prophet to this manifestation of God in his holiness was deep abasement of soul for his unsuitableness to so holy a God vers 5. Then said I wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips c. And this is real communion with God in his holiness Thus Iob who had stifly defended his own integrity against men yet when God enters the lists with him and he saw what a great and holy God he had to do with cryed out Iob 40. 4 5. Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further q. d. I have done Lord I have done I could answer men but I cannot answer thee thou art holy but I am vile Thirdly There are sometimes representations of the goodness and mercy of God made unto the Souls of his people When these produce an ingenuous thaw and melting of the Heart into an humble thankful admiration of it and an answerable care of pleasing him in the ways of obedience then have men communion with God in his goodness The goodness of God runs down to men in a double channel his goodness to their bodies in external providences his goodness to their Souls in spiritual mercies When the goodness of God either way draws forth the love and gratitude of the Soul to the God of our mercies then have we real communion with him Thus Iacob Gen. 32. 9 10. And Jacob said O God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isaac which saidst unto me Return unto thy Country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two â—ands Ah Lord I see a multitude of mercies round about me and the least of them is greater than I So David 1 Chron. I7 I6 I7 And David the King came and sat before the Lord and said Who am I O Lord God and what is mine house that thou hast brought me hitherto And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes O God c. what can David speak more to thee You see in these instances what effects the goodness of God even in inferiour outward mercies useth to produce in sanctified hearts But then if you come to spiritual mercies and ponder the goodness of God to your Souls in pardoning accepting and saving such vile sinful creatures as you have been this much more affects the heart and overwhelms it with an holy astonishment as you see in Paul 1 Tim. 1. 16. The grace of our Lord was abundant I was a persecutor a blasphemer yet I obtained mercy So Mary that notorious sinner when pardoning grace appeared to her into what a flood of tears into what transports of love did the sight of mercy cast her Soul She wept and washt her Saviours feet with tears of joy and thankfulness Luke 7. 44. No terrors of the Law no frights of Hell thaw the heart like the apprehensions of pardoning mercy Fourthly Sometimes there are special representations of the veracity and faithfulness of God made unto his people begetting trust and holy confidence in their Souls and when they do so then have men communion with God in his faithfulness Thus Heb. 13. 5 6. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee There is a discovery of the faithfulness of God and what follows upon this See vers 6. So that we may boldly say The Lord is our God we will not fear what man can do unto us Here 's faithfulness in God producing trust and confidence in the believer This is that reciprocation that sweet fellowship and communion betwixt God and a believer with respect to his fidelity Behold God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid Isa. I2 2. And truly friend this is what the Lord justly expects from thee even thy trust and confidence in him thy steady dependance on him in return to all the discoveries of his faithfulness to thee both in his Word and Providences Fifthly There are manifestations of the anger and displeasure of God by the hiding of his face from them and the frowns of his providence when these produce repentance and deep humiliation for sin an unquietness a restlesness of Spirit till he restore his favour and manifest his reconciliation to the Soul even here also is real communion betwixt God and the Soul Psal. 30. 7. Thou hidest thy face and I was troubled Nor will a gracious Soul rest there but will take pains to sue out a fresh pardon
will clear up the mistakes of both VII Motive Obedience to Convictions will not only produce peace at Death but it will give you present ease present relief and refreshment in hand No sooner did David resolve to obey the voice of his Conscience in confessing his sin but he had sensible ease in his own Spirit Psal. 32. 5. So Isa. 32. 17. the fruit of Righteousness is peace quietness and assurance for ever On the contrary you find in Iob 20. 20. Wicked Men have no quietness in their Bellies that is in their Consciences For Guilt lies boking there as a Thorn doth in the Flesh And what is Life worth without ease To live ever in pain to live upon the Rack is not worth while to live If then you love ease and quietness obey your Consciences Pull out that Thorn I mean that Sin that sticks fast in thy Soul and akes in thy Conscience Who would endure so much anguish for all the flattering pleasures of sin VIII Motive Convictions followed home and obeyed are the inlets to Christ and Eternal Salvation by him they are the first leading work of the Spirit in order to union with Christ Iohn 16. 8. till you obey and yield up your selves to them Christ is shut out of your Souls he knocks but finds no entrance at your peril therefore be obedient to their calls All the while you parly with your Convictions and demur to their demands Christ stands without offering himself graciously to you but not admitted so that no less than your Eternal Happiness or Misery depend on your Obedience or disobedience to the Voices and Calls of your Convictions IX Motive Obey your Convictions Honour their Voices and restrain them not then shall your Consciences give a fair testimony for you at the Judgment seat of Christ You read 1 Pet. 3. 2I Of the answer of a good Conscience towards God than which nothing can be more comfortable This gives a Man boldness in the day of Judgment 1 Iohn 4. 17. Believe it firs 't is not your Baptism your Church-priviledges the Opinion Men have of you but the testimony of your Consciences that must be your comfort I know Men are not justified at Gods Bar by you own Obedience nor any exactness of Life 't is only Christ's Righteousness that is the Sinners plea but yet your Obedience to the Calls and Voices of God and Conscience are your evidence that you are in Christ. X. Motive Lastly Consider what a choice Mercy it is to be under such Calls and Convictions of Conscience as are yet capable of being obeyed 'T is not so with Mens Convictions after this Life Conscience convinceth in Hell as well as here but all its Convictions there are for torment not recovery Oh 't is a choice Mercy your Convictions are yet Medicinal not purely Poenal that you are not malo obfirmati so fixed in the state of Sin and Misery as the damned are but may yet enjoy the saving benefit of your Convictions but this you will not enjoy long therefore I beseech you by all that is dear and valuable in your Eyes Reverence your Consciences and let go the Lords Prisoners that lye bound within you III. USE I next come to expotulate the matter with your Consciences and propound a few Convictive Queries to your Souls this day I cannot but look upon this Assembly with Fear Jealousie and Compassion I am afraid there be many of you in this wretched case Men and Women that hold the Truths of God in Unrighteousness though the Wrath of God be revealed from Heaven against all them that do so Let me Demand I. Demand Do not some of you stand convinced by your own Consciences this day that your Hearts and Lives your Principles and Practises are vastly different from the People of God among whom you live and whose Characters you read in Scripture Do not your own Consciences tell you that you never took that pains for your Salvation you see them dayly to take that there be some it may be in your Families nay possibly in your Bosoms that are serious and heavenly whilst you are vain and earthly that are in their Chambers upon their knees wrestling with God whilst you are in your Beds or about the things of the World And doth not Conscience sometimes whisper thus into thine Ear Soul thou art not right something is wanting to make thee a Christian Thou wantest that which others have and except something further be done upon thee thou wilt be undone for ever If it be so let me advise thee to hearken diligently to this voice of Conscience Don't dare to adventure to the Judgment-seat of God in such a case Ponder that Text Matth. 21. 32. and let the disparity your Conscience shews you betwixt your own course and others awaken you to more diligence and seriousness about your own Salvation How canâ—t thou come from the Alehouse or thy vain Recreations and find a Wife or Child in Prayer and thy Conscience not smite thee It may be they have been mourning for thy ' in s whilst thou haft been committing them It may be there lives not far from thee a Godly poor Man who out of his hard and pressing Labours redeems more time for his Soul in a week than ever thou didst in thy Life O hearken to the voice of thy Conscience Else thou art he that holdest Truth in Unrighteousness II. Demand Did thy Conscience never meet thee in the way of Sin as the Angel of the Lord met Balaam with a drawn Sword brandishing the threatnings of God against thee Did it not say to thee as a Captain once said to his Soldiers about to retreate he cast himself down in their way saying if you go this way you shall go over your Captain You shall trample him first under your feet Stop Soul stop said thy Conscience this and that Word of God is against thee If thou proceed thou must trample upon the Soveraign Authority of God in this or that Command yet thy impetuous Lusts have hurried thee forward Thou wouldst not fairly debate the case with thy Conscience and then did not thy Conscience say to thee as Ruben spake to his Brethren Gen. 42. 22. Spake I not unto you saying do not sin against the child but you would not hear therefore also his blood is required of you If this have been your course of sinning verily you are the persons that have held the Truths of God in Unrighteousness and against you the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven III. Demand Have you not seen the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against other Sinners that have gone before you in the very same tract and course of sin in which you now go and yet you persist in it notwithstanding such dreadful Warnings Thus did Belteshazzar though he saw all that the God of Heaven had done to his Father Dan. 5. 20 21 22. You have seen great Estates scattered and their Owners that got