of these then the other There is hardly a fleshly lust but hath some spiritual sinne analogical to it as they say there is no species of creatures on the land but may be pattern'd in the sea Thus the heart of man can produce spiritual sinnes answering carnal lusts for whoredom and uncleannesse of the flesh there is idolatry call'd in Scripture spiritual adultery from which the seat of Antichrist is call'd spiritual Sodom for sensual drunkennesse there is a drunkennesse of the minde intoxicating the judgement with errour a drunkennesse of the heart in cares and feares for carnal pride in beauty riches honour there is a spiritual pride of gifts graces c. Now Satan in an especial manner assaults the Christian with such as these it would require a larger discourse then I can allow to runne over the several kindes of them I shall of many pick out two or three As first Satan labours to corrupt the mind with erroneous principles he was at work at the very first plantation of the Gospel sowing his darnel assoon almost as Christ his wheate which sprung up in pernicious errours even in the Apostles times which made them take the weeding-hook into their hands and in all their Epistles labour to countermine Satan in this design Now Satan hath a double design in this his endeavour to corrupt the mindes of men especially Professours with errour SECT I. First he doth this in despite to God against whom he cannot vent his malice at a higher rate then by corrupting his truth which God hath so highly honoured Psal 138.2 Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Every creature bears the Name of God but in his Word and truth therein contained 't is writ at length and therefore he is more choice of this then of all his other works he cares not much what becomes of the world and all in it so he keeps his Word and saves his truth Ere long we shall see the world on a light flame the heavens and earth shall passe away but the Word of the Lord endures for ever When God will he can make more such worlds as this is but he cannot make another truth and therefore he will not lose one iota thereof Satan knowing this sets all his wits on work to deface this truth and disfigure it by unsound doctrine The Word is the glasse in which we see God and seeing him are changed into his likenesse by his Spirit If this glasse be crackt then our conceptions we have of God will mis-repesent him unto us whereas the Word in its native clearnesse sets him out in all his glory unto our eye Secondly he endeavours to draw into this spiritual sin of errour as the most subtil and effectual means to weaken if not destroy the power of godlinesse in them The Apostle joynes the Spirit of power and a sound minde together 2 Tim 1.7 Indeed the power of holinesse in practice depends much on the foundnesse of judgement Godlinesse is the childe of truth and it must be nurst if we will have it thrive with no other milk then of its own mother Therefore we are exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow 1 Pet. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if this milk be but a little dash't with errour it is not so nutritive All errour how innocent soever any may seem like the Ivy draws away the strength of the souls love from holinesse Hosea tells us Whoredom and wine take away the heart now errour is spiritual adultery Paul speaks of his espousing them to Christ when a person receives an errour he takes a stranger into Christs bed and it is the nature of adulterous love to take away the wises heart from her true husband that she delights not in his company so much as of her adulterous lover and do we not see it at this day fulfill'd do not many shew more zeal in contending for one errour then for many truths how strangely are the hearts of many taken off from the wayes of God their love cool'd to the Ordinances and Messengers of Christ and all this occasioned by some corrupt principle got into their bosomes which controuls Christ and his truth as Hagar and her son did Sarah and her childe Indeed Christ will never enjoy true conjugal love from the soule till like Abraham he turns these out of doors Errour is not so innocent a thing as many think it it is as unwholesome food to the body that poisons the spirits and surfeits the whole body which seldom passeth away and not break out into sores As the knowledge of Christ carries a soule above the pollutions of the world so errour entangles and betrayes it to those lusts whose hands it had escaped Thirdly Satan in drawing a soule into this spiritual sin hath a designe to disturb the peace of the Church which is rent and shattered when this fire-ship comes among them I hear saith Paul there are divisions among you and I partly beleeve it for there must be heresies 1 Cor. 11.18 19. implying that divisions are the natural issue of heresie Errour cannot well agree with errour except it be against the truth then indeed like Pilate and Herod they are easily made friends but when truth seems to be overcome and the battel is over with that then they fall out among themselves and therefore it is no wonder if it be so troublesom a neighbour to truth O Sirs what a sweet silence and peace was there among Christians a dozen years ago me thinks the looking back to those blessed dayes in this respect though they had also another way their troubles yet not so uncomfortable because that storme united this scatters the Saints spirits is joyous to remember in what unity and love Christians walk't that the Persecutors of those times might have said as their Predecessours did of the Saints in primitive times See how they love one another but now alas they may jeere and say See how they that loved so dearly are ready to pluck one anothers throats out SECT II. The application of this shall be only in a word of exhortation to all especially you who bear the Name of Christ by a more eminent Profession of him O beware of this soul-infection this leprosie of the head I hope you do not think it needlesse for 't is the disease of the times This plague is begun yea spreads apace not a flock a Congregation hardly that hath not this scab among them Paul was a Preacher the best of us all may write after and he presseth this home upon the Saints yea in the constant course of his preaching it made a piece of his Sermon Acts 20.30 31. he sets us Preachers also on this work Take heed to your selves and to all the flock for I know this that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things therefore watch And then he presents his
immediately from heaven which would be lost if the Christian had any strength to help himselfe though this stock of strength came at first from God Which think you speaks more love and condescent for a Prince to give a pension to a Favourite on which he may live by his owne care or for this Prince to take the chief care upon himself and come from day to day to this mans house and look into his Cupboard and see what provision he hath what expence he is at and so constantly to provide for the man from time to time Possibly some proud spirit that likes to be his own man or loves his meanes better then his Prince would prefer the former but one that is ambitious to have the heart and love of his Prince would be ravish't with the latter Thus God doth with his Saints the great God comes and looks into their Cupboard and sees how they are laid in and sends in accordingly as he findes them Your heavenly Father knowes you have need of these things and you shall have them He knows you need strength to pray hear suffer for him and in ipsâ horâ dabitur Secondly this way of Gods dealing with his Saints addes to the fulnesse and stability of their strength Were the stock in our own hands we should soon prove broken Merchants God knows we are but leaking vessels when fullest we could not hold it long and therefore to make all sure he sets us under the streamings forth of his strength and a leaking vessel under a cock gets what it loseth Thus we have our leakage supplied continually This was the provision God made for Israel in the wildernesse He clave the rock and the rock followed them They had not only a draught at present but it ran in a streame after them so that you hear no more of their complaints for water This rock was Christ Every believer hath Christ at his back following him with strength as he goes for every condition and trial One flower with the root is worth many in a posie which though sweet yet do not grow but wither as we wear them in our bosomes Gods strength as the root keeps our grace lively without which though as orient as Adams was it would die The second design God hath in his Saints happinesse is that he may so expresse his mercy and love to them as may rebound back to him in the highest advance of his own glory therein Eph. 1.4 12. which is fully attained in this way of empowering Saints by a strength not of their own but of their God his sending as they are put to expence Had God given his Saints a stock of grace to have set up with and left them to the improvement of it he had been magnified indeed because it was more then God did owe the creature but he had not been omnified as now when not only the Christians first strength to close with Christ is from God but he is beholden still to God for the exercise of that strength in every action of his Christian course As a childe that travels in his fathers company all is paid for but his father carries the purse not himself so the Christians shot is discharged in every condition but he cannot say this I did or that I suffered but God wrought all in me and for me The very combe of pride is cut here no room for any self exalting thoughts The Christian cannot say that I am a Saint is mercy but being a Saint that my faith is strong this is the childe of my own care and watchfulnesse Alas poor Christian who kept thine eye waking and stirr'd up thy care was not this the off-spring of God as well as thy faith at first No Saint shall say of Heaven when he comes there This is Heaven which I have built by the power of my might No Jerusalem above is a City whose builder and maker is God Every grace yea degree of grace is a stone in that building the topstone whereof is laid in glory where Saints shall more plainly see how God was not only Founder to begin but Benefactour also to finish the same The glory of the work shall not be crumbled and piece-meal'd out some to God and some to the creature but all entirely paid in to God and he acknowledged all in all SECTION 2. Vse 1 Is the Christians strength in the Lord not in himself Surely then the Christlesse person must needs be a poor impotent creature void of all strength and ability of doing any thing of it self towards its own salvation If the ship launch't rigg'd and with her sails spread cannot stir till the winde come faire and fills them much lesse can the timber that lies in the Carpenters yard hew and frame it self into a ship If the living tree cannot grow except the root communicate its sap much lesse can a dead rotten stake in the hedge which hath no root live of its own accord In a word if a Christian that hath this spiritual life of grace cannot exercise this life without strength from above then surely one void of this new life dead in sins and trespasses can never be able to beget this in himselfe or concur to the production of it The state of unregeneracy is a state of impotency When we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 And as Christ found the lump of mankinde covered with the ruines of their lapsed estate no more able to raise themselves from under the weight of Gods wrath which lay upon them then one buried under the rubbish of a fallen house is to free himselfe of that weight without help so the Spirit findes sinners in as helpless a condition as unable to repent or believe on Christ for salvation as they were of themselves to purchase it Confounded therefore for ever be the language of those sons of pride who cry up the power of nature as if man with his own brick and slime of natural abilities were able to reare up such a building whose top may reach heaven it selfe It is not of him that willeth or runneth but God that sheweth mercy God himself hath scattered such Babel-builders in the imaginations of their hearts who raiseth this spiritual Temple in the soules of men not by might nor by a power of their own but by his Spirit that so grace grace might be proclaimed before it for ever And therefore if any yet in their natural estate would become wise to salvation let them first become fooles in their own eyes and renounce their carnal wisdom which perceives not the things of God and beg wisdom of God who giveth and upbraideth not If any man would have strength to believe let them become weak and die to their own for by strength shall no man prevaile 1 Sam. 2.9 Vse 2 Secondly doth the Christians strength lie in God not in himselfe this may for ever keep the Christian humble when most
enlarged in duty most assisted in his Christian course Remember Christian when thou hast thy best suit on who made it who paid for it Thy grace thy comfort is neither the work of thy own hands nor the price of thy own desert be not for shame proud of anothers cost That assistance will not long stay which becomes a nurse to thy pride thou art not Lord of that assistance thou hast Thy Father is wise who when he alloweth thee most for thy spiritual maintenance even then keeps the Law in his own hands and can soon curb thee if thou growest wanton with his grace Walk humbly therefore before thy God and husband well that strength thou hast remembring that it is borrowed strength Nemo prodiget quod mendicat Who will waste what he begs or who will give that beggar that spends idly his almes when thou hast most thou canst not be long from thy God his door And how canst thou look him on the face for more who hast imbezell'd what thou hast received CHAP. III. Of acting our faith on the Almighty Power of God THe third Branch followeth which contains an encouraging Amplification annexed to the exhortation in these words And in the Power of his might where a twofold enquiry is requisite for the explication of the phrase First what these words import The Power of his might Secondly what it is to be strong in the Power of his might For the first the Power of his might It is an Hebraism imports nothing but his mighty Power like that phrase Eph. 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his grace that is to the praise of his glorious grace And his mighty Power imports no lesse then his Almighty Power sometimes the Lord is stiled mighty and strong as Ps 24.8 sometimes most mighty sometimes Almighty no lesse is meant in all then Gods infinite Almighty Power For the second to be strong in the mighty Power or Power of the Lords might implies these two acts of faith First a setled firme perswasion that the Lord is Almighty in Power Be strong in the Power of his might that is be strongly rooted in your faith concerning this one foundation-truth that God is Almighty Secondly it implies a further act of faith not only to believe that God is Almighty but also that this Almighty Power of God is engaged for its defence so as to bear up in the midst of all trials and temptations undauntedly leaning on the arme of God Almighty as if it were his own strength for that is the Apostles drift as to beat us off from leaning on our own strength so to encourage the Christian to make use of Gods Almighty Power as freely as if it were his own when ever assaulted by Satan in any kinde As a man set upon by a thief stirs up all the force and strength he hath in his whole body to defend himself and offend his adversary so the Apostle bids the Christian be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might that is Soul away to thy God whose mighty Power is all intended and devoted by God himself for thy succour and defence Go strengthen and entrench thy selfe in it by a stedfast faith as that which shall be laid out to the utmost for thy good From whence these two Notes I conceive will draw out the fatnesse of the words 1. That it should be the Christians great care and endeavour in all temptations and trials to strengthen his faith on the Almighty Power of God 2. The Christians duty and care is not only to believe that God is Almighty but strongly by faith to rest on this Almighty Power of God as engaged for his help and succour in all his trials and temptations First it should be the Christians great care in all temptations and trials to strengthen his faith on the Almighty Power of God When God holds forth himselfe as an object of the souls trust and confidence in any great strait or undertaking commonly this attribute of his Almighty power is presented in the promise as the surest hold fast for faith to lay hold on as a Father in rugged way gives his childe his arme to lay hold by so doth God usually reach forth his Almighty power for his Saints to exercise their faith on Abraham Isaac and Jacob whose faith God tried above most of his Saints before or since for not one of those great things which were promised to them did they live to see performed in their dayes and how doth God make known himself to them for their support but by displaying this Attribute Exod. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the Name of God Almighty This was all they had to keep house with all their dayes with which they lived comfortably and died triumphantly bequeathing the promise to their children not doubting because God Almighty had promised of the performance Thus Isa 26. where great mercies are promised to Judah and a Song penn'd before-hand to be sung on that gaudie day of their salvation yet because there was a sharp Winter of Captivity to come between the Promise and the Spring-time of the promise therefore to keep their faith alive in this space the Prophet calls them up to act their faith on God Almighty v. 4. Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength So when his Saints are going into the furnace of persecution what now doth he direct their faith to carry to prison to stake with them but this Almighty power 1 Pet. 4.19 Let them that suffer commit the keeping of their souls to him as to a faithful Creatour Creatour is a name of Almighty Power we shall now give some Reasons of the Point Reas 1 First because it is no easie work to make use of this truth how plain and clear soever it now appears in great plunges of temptation that God is Almighty To vindicate this Name of God from those evil reports which Satan and carnal Reason raise against it requires a strong faith indeed I confesse this principle is a piece of natural divinity That light which finds out a Deity will evince if followed close this God to be Almighty yet in a carnal heart it is like a rusty sword hardly drawn out of the scabbard and so of little or no use Such truths are so imprisoned in natural conscience that they seldome get a faire hearing in the sinners bosome till God gives them a Goal-delivery and brings them out of their house of bondage where they are shut up in unrighteousnesse with a high hand of his convincing Spirit Then and not till then the soule will believe God is holy merciful Almighty nay some of Gods peculiar people and not the meanest for grace amongst them have had their faith for a time set in this slough much ado to get over those difficulties and improbabilities which sense and Reason have objected so as to relie on the Almighty Power of
faithful Creatour Secondly improve this Almighty power of God and thy interest therein in temptations to sin when thou art over-powered and fliest before the face of thy strong corruption or fearest thou shalt one day fall by it make bold to take hold of this attribute and re-inforce thy self from it again to resist and in resisting to believe a timely victory over it The Almighty God stands in sight of thee while thou art in the valley fighting and stayes but for a call from thee when distressed in battel and then he will come to thy rescue Jehoshaphat cried when in the throng of his enemies and the Lord helped him much more mayest thou promise thy self his succour in thy soul-combates Betake thy self to the throne of grace with that promise Sin shall not have dominion over you and before thou urgest it the more to help thy faith comfort thy self with this that though this word Almighty is not exprest yet it is implied in this and every promise and thou mayest without adding a title to the Word of God read it in thy soul sin shall not have dominion over you saith the Almighty God for this and all his attributes are the constant seale to all his promises Now soule put the bond in suit fear not the recovery 't is debt and so due He is able whom thou suest and so there is no feare of losing the charge of the suit and he that was so gracious to binde himself when he was free will be so faithful being able to perform now he is bound only while thou expectest the performance of the promise and the assistance of this Almighty power against thy corruptions take heed that thou keep under the shadow of this attribute and condition of this promise The shadow will not cool except in it what good to have the shadow though of a mighty rock when we sit in the open Sun To have Almighty power engaged for us and we to throw our selves out of the protection thereof by bold salleys into the mouth of temptation The Saints falls have been when they run out of their trench and hold for like the conies they are a weak people in themselves and their strength lies in the rock of Gods Almightinesse which is their habitation Thirdly Christian improve this when opprest with the weight of any duty and service which in thy place and calling lies upon thee Perhaps thou findest the duty of thy calling too heavy for thy weak shoulders make bold by faith to lay the heaviest end of thy burden on Gods shoulder which is thine if a believer as sure as God can make it by promise When at any time thou art sick of thy work and ready to think with Jonas to run from it encourage thy selfe with that of God to Gideon whom he call'd from the flaile to thresh the mountains Go in this thy might hath not God call'd thee fall to the work God sets thee about and thou engagest his strength for thee The way of the Lord is strength Run from thy work and thou engagest Gods strength against thee he 'll send some storme or other after thee to bring home his runaway servant How oft hath the Coward been kill'd in a ditch or under some hedge when the valiant souldier that stood his ground and kept his place got off with safety and honour Art thou call'd to suffer flinch not because thou art afraid thou shalt never be able to bear the crosse God can lay it so even thou shalt not feel it though thou shouldest finde no succour till thou comest to the prison-door yea till thou hast one foot on the ladder or thy neck on the block despair not In the Mount will the Lord be seen And in that houre he can give thee such a look of his sweet face as shall make the blood come in the gastly face of a cruel death and appear lovely in thy eye for his sake He can give thee so much comfort in hand as thou shalt acknowledge God is aforehand with thee for all thy shame pain thou canst endure for him And if it should not amount to this yet so much as will bear all thy charges thou canst be put to in the way lies ready told in that promise 1 Cor. 10.13 Thou shalt have it at sight and this may satisfie a Christian especially if he considers though he doth not carry so much of heavens joy about him to heaven as others yet he shall meet it as soon as he comes to his Fathers house where it is reserved for him In a word Christian relie upon thy God and make thy daily applications to the throne of grace for continual supplies of strength you little think how kindly he takes it that you will make use of him the oftner the better and the more you come for the more welcome else why would Christ have told his disciples Hitherto ye have ask't nothing but to expresse his large heart in giving loath to put his hand to his purse for a little and therefore by a familiar kind of Rhetorick puts them to rise higher in asking as Naaman when Gehazi asks one talent entreats him to take two such a bountiful heart thy God hath while thou art asking a little peace and joy he bids thee open thy mouth wide and hee 'l fill it Go and ransack thy heart Christian from one end to the other finde out thy wants acquaint thy selfe with all thy weaknesses and set them before the Almighty as the Widow her empty vessels before the Prophet hadst thou more then thou canst bring thou mayest have them all fill'd God hath strength enough to give but he hath no strength to deny here the Almighty himselfe with reverence be it spoken is weak even a childe the weakest in grace of his family that can but say Father is able to overcome him and therefore let not the weaknesse of thy faith encourage thee No greater motive to the bowels of mercy to stir up Almighty power to relieve thee then thy weaknesse when pleaded in the sense of it The pale face and thin cheeks I hope move more with us then the canting language of a stout sturdy beggar Thus that soule that comes laden in the sense of his weak faith love patience the very weaknesse of them carries an argument along with them for succour CHAP. V. Wherein is answered a grand Objection that some disconsolate soules may raise against the former Discourse Object O But saith some disconsolate Christian I have prayed again and again for strength against such a corruption and to this day my hands are weak and these sons of Zerviah are so strong that I am ready to say all the Preachers do but flatter me that do poure their oyle of comfort upon my head and tell me I shall at last get the Conquest of these mine enemies and see that joyful day wherein with David I shall sing to the Lord for delivering me out of the
and worne daily by us whereas the same weight on our shoulder would trouble us thus the grievousnesse of religious duties to carnal ones is taken away in the Saints partly by the fitnesse of them to the Saints principles as also by their daily exercise in them The disciples when newly entered into the wayes of Christ could not pray much or fast long the bottles were new and that wine too strong but by that time they had walk't a few yeares they grew mighty in both doest thou complain that heaven-way is rugged be the oftner walking in it and that will make it smooth But secondly were this constant exercise of grace more troublesome to the flesh which is the only complainer the sweet advantage that accrues by this to the Christian will abundantly recompence all his labour and pains First the exercise of thy grace will encrease thy grace The diligent hand makes rich A provident man counts that lost which might have been got not only when his money is stole out of his chest but when it lies there unimproved Such a commodity saith the Tradesman if I had bought with that money in my bags would have brought me in so much gaine which is now lost so the Christian may say My dawning knowledge had I followed on to know the Lord might have spread to broad day I have more understanding saith David then all my teachers How came he by it he 'll tell you in the next words for thy testimonies are my meditation He was more in the exercise of duty and grace The best wits are not alwayes the greatest Scholars because their study is not suitable to their parts neither alwayes proves he the richest man that sets up with the greatest stock A little grace well-husbanded by daily exercise will encrease when greater neglected shall decay Secondly as exercise encreaseth so it evidenceth grace Would a man know whether he be lame or no let him rise he 'll be sooner satisfied by one turn in a room then by a long dispute and he sit still Wouldest thou know whether thou lovest God be frequent in exerting acts of love the more the fire is blown up the sooner 'tis seen and so of all other graces Sometimes the soule is questioning whether it hath any patience any faith till God comes and puts him into an afflicted estate where he must either exercise this grace or perish and then it appeares like one that thinks he cannot swim yet being thrown into the river then uniting all his strength he makes a shift to swim to land and sees what he can do How oft have we heard Christians say I thought I could never have endured such a pain trusted God in such a strait but now God hath taught me what he can do for me what he hath wrought in me and this thou mightest have known before if thou wouldest have oftner stirred up and exercised thy grace Thirdly exercise of grace doth invite God to communicate himself to such a soul God sets the Christian at work and then meets him in it Vp and be doing and the Lord be with you He sets a soul a reading as the Eunuch and then joynes to his chariot a praying and then comes the messenger from heaven O Daniel greatly beloved The Spouse who lost her Beloved on her bed findes him as she comes from the Sermon Cant. 3.4 It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soule loved SECT 3. Vse 1 This falls heavy on their heads who are so far from exercising grace that they walk in the exercise of their lusts their hearts are like a glasse-house the fire is never out the shop-windows never shut they are alwayes at work hammering some wicked project or other upon the anvil of their hearts there are some who give full scope to their lusts what their wretched hearts will they shall have they cocker their lusts as some their children deny them nothing who as it is recorded of David to Adonijah do not so much as say to their souls Why doest thou so why art thou so proud so covetous so prophane They spend their dayes in making provision for these guests as at some Innes the house never cooles but as one guest goes out another comes in as one lust is served another is calling for attendance as some exercise grace more then others so there are greater traders in sin that set more a work then others and return more wrath in a day then others in a moneth Happy are such in comparison of these who are chain'd up by Gods restraint upon their outward man or inward that they cannot drive on so furiously as these who by health of body power and greatnesse in place riches and treasures in their coffers numbnesse and dedolency in their consciences are hurried on to fill up the measure of their sins We reade of the Assyrian that he enlarged his heart as hell stretching out his desires as men do their bags that are thrack't full with money to hold more Hab. 2.5 Thus the adulterer as if his body were not quick enough to execute the commands of his lust stirs it up by sending forth his amorous glances which come home laden with adultery blows up this fire with unchaste sonnets and belly-chear proper fuel for the devils kitchin and the malicious man who that he may lose no time from his lust is a tearing his neighbour in pieces as he lies on his bed cannot sleep unlesse some such bloody sacrifice be offered to his ravening lust O how may this shame the Saints how oft is your zeal so hot that you cannot sleep till your hearts have been in heaven as you are on your beds and there pacified with the sight of your dear Saviour and some embraces of love from him Vse 2 It reproves those who flout and mock at the Saints while exercising their graces None jeer'd as the Saint in his calling Men may work in their shops and every one follow his calling as diligently as they please and no wonder made of this by those that passe by in the streets but let the Christian be seen at work for God in the exercise of any duty or grace and he is hooted at despised yea hated Few so bad indeed but seem to like Religion in the notion they can commend a Sermon of holiness like a discourse of God or Christ in the Pulpit but when these are really set before their eyes as they sparkle in a Saints conversation they are very contemptible and hateful to them this living and walking holinesse bites and though they liked the Preachers Art in painting forth the same in his discourse yet now they run from them and spit at them this exercise of grace offends the prophane heart and stirs up the enmity that lies within As Michal she could not but flout David to see him dancing before the Ark. He that commended the Preacher for making a learned discourse of
them or perswade themselves there is no danger from thence the coast then is clear they may be as wicked as they please These make inward sins so hugg'd and embraced If thou therefore canst find thy heart set against these I may venture to call thee a Christian and for thy help against them First be earnest with God in prayer to move and order thy heart in its thoughts and desires If the tongue be such an unruly thing that few can tame O what is the heart where such a multitude of thoughts are flying forth as thick as bees from the hive and sparks from the furnace It is not in man not in the holiest on earth to do this without divine assistance Therefore we finde David so often crying out in this respect to order his steps in his Word to unite his heart to his feare to enâ—â—ine his heart to his testimonies As a servant when the childe he tends is troublesome and will not be ruled by him calls out to the father to come to him who no sooner speaks but all is whist with him No doubt holy David found his heart beyond his skill or power that makes him so oft do its errand to God Indeed God hath promised thus much to his children to order their steps for them Psal 37.22 only he looks they should bring their hearts to him for that end Commit thy work to the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Prov. 16.3 or ordered Art thou setting thy face towards an Ordinance where thou art sure to meet Satan who will be disturbing thee with worldly thoughts and may be worse Let God know from thy mouth whither thou art going and what thy feares are never doth the soule march in so goodly order as when it puts it self under the conduct of God Secondly set a strong guard about thy outward senses these are Satans landing places especially the eye and the eare Take heed what thou importest at these vaine discourse seldome passeth without leaving some tincture upon the heart as unwholesome aire inclines to putrefaction things sweet in themselves so unsavoury discourse to corrupt the minde that is pure look thou breathest therefore in a clear aire And for thy eye let it not wander wanton objects cause wanton thoughts Job knew his eye and his thoughts were like to go together and therefore to secure one he covenants with the other Job 31 1. Thirdly often reflect upon thy self in a day and observe what company is with thy heart A careful Master will ever and anon be looking into his work-house and see what his servants are doing and a wise Christian should do the same We may know by the noise in the school the Master is not there much of the mis-rule in our bosomes ariseth from the neglect of visiting our hearts Now when thou art parlying with thy soule make this threefold enquiry First whether that which thy heart is thinking on be good or evil If evil and wicked such as are proud unclean distrustful thoughts shew thy abhorrency of them and chide thy soul sharply for so much as holding conference with them of which nought can come but dishonour to God and mischief to thy own soul and stirre up thy heart to mourn for the evil neighbour-hood of them and by this thou shalt give a testimony of thy faithfulnesse to God When David mourn'd for Abner all Israel 't is said understood that day that it was not of the King to stay Abner Thy mourning for them will shew these thoughts are not so much of thee as of Satan Secondly if they be not broadly wicked enquire whether they be not empty frothy vaine imaginations that have no subserviency to the glory of God thy own good or others and if so leave not till thou hast made thy selfe apprehensive of Satans designe on thee in them though such are not for thy purpose yet they are for his they serve his turne to keep thee from better All the water is lost that runnes beside the mill and all thy thoughts are waste which help thee not to do Gods work withal in thy general or particular calling The Bee will not sit on a flower where no honey can be suckt neither should the Christian Why sittest thou here idle thou shouldest say to thy soul when thou hast so much to do for God and thy soul and so little time to dispatch it in Thirdly if thou findest they are good for matter thy heart is busied about then enquire whether they be good for time and manner which being wanting they degenerate First for the season that is good fruit which is brought forth in its season Christ liked the work his mother would have put him upon as well as her self John 2. but his time was not come Good thoughts and meditations misplaced are like some interpretations of Scripture good truths but bad expositions they fit not the place they are drawn from nor these the time To pray when we should hear or be musing on the Sermon when we should pray this is to rob God one way to pay him another Secondly tarefully observe the manner Thy heart may meditate a good matter and spoile it in the doing Thou art may be musing of thy sinnes and affecting thy heart into a sense of them but so that while thou art stirring up thy sorrow thou weakenest thy faith on the promise that is thy sinne He is a bad Chirurgion that in opening a veine goes so deep that he cuts an artery and lames the arme if not kills the man Or thou art thinking of thy family and providing for that this thou oughtest to do and wert worse then an infidel if thou neglectest but may be these thoughts are so distracting and distrustfull as if there were no promise no providence to relieve thee God takes this ill because it reflects upon his care of thee O how near doth our duty here stand to our sinne so much care is necessary ballast to the soul a little more sinks it under the waves of unbeliefe like some things very wholesome but one degree more of hot or cold would make them poison CHAP. VIII How Satan labours to corrupt the Christians minde with errour THe second sort of spiritual sinnes are such as are not only acted in the spirit but are conversant about spiritual objects proper to the soules nature that is a spirit and not laid out in carnal passions of fleshly lusts in which the soul acts but as a Pander for the body and partakes of their delights only by way of sympathy for as the soul feels the bodies pains no other way then by sympathy so neither doth it share in the pleasures of the flesh by any proper taste it hath of them but only from its neer neighbourhood with the body doth sympathize with its joy but in spiritual wickednesses that corrupt the minde here the soul moves in its own sphere with a delight proper to it selfe and there are no lesse
God proclaims so much and would have the proud man know where-ever he meets him he will oppose him he resists the proud Great gifts are beautiful as Rachel but pride makes them also barren like her Either we must lay self aside or God will lay us aside Secondly pride of gifts hinders the receiving of good from others Pride fills the soule and a full soul will take nothing from God much lesse from man to do it good Such a one is very dainty It is not every Sermon though wholesom food nor every prayer though savoury will go down he must have a choice dish he thinks he hath better then this of his own and is such a one like to get good And truly we may see it that as the plain Plowman that can eate of any homely food if wholesome hath more health and is able to do more work in a day then many enjoy or can do in their whole life that are nice squeamish and courtly in their fare so the humble Christian that can feed on plain truths and Ordinances which have not so much of the Art of man to commend them to their palate enjoy more of God and can do more for God then the nicer sort of Professours who are all to be served in a lordly dish of rare gifts The Church of Corinth was famous for gifts above other Churches 1 Cor. 1. but not in grace none so charged for weaknesse in that 1 Cor. 3.2 he calls them carnal babes in Christ so weak as not able to digest mans meat I havé fed you saith Paul with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to beare it neither yet now are ye able Why what is the matter the reason lies verse 3. Ye are carnal there is among you envie and strife v. 4 One saith I am of Paul another I am of Apollos Pride makes them take parts and make sides one for this Preacher another for that as they fancied one to excel another And this is not the way to thrive Pride destroyes love and love wanting edification is lost The devil hath made foul work in the Church by this engine Zanchy tells of one in Geneva who being desired to go hear Viretus that preach't at the same time with Calvin answered his friend If Paul were to preach relicto Paulo Calvinum audirem I would leave Paul himself to heaâ— Calvin And will pride in the gifts of another so far transport even to the borders of blasphemy what work then will pride make when the gifts are a mans own SECT II. Vse 1 Doth Satan thus stir up Saints to this spiritual pride of gifts first here is a word to you that have mean gifts yet truth of grace be content with thy condition Perhaps when thou hearest others how enlargedly they pray how able to discourse of the truths of God and the like thou art ready to go into a corner and mourn to think how weak thy memory how dull thy apprehension how straitened thy spirit hardly able though in secret to utter and expresse thy minde to God in prayer O thou art ready to think those the happy men and women and almost murmur at thy condition well canst thou not say though I have not words I hope I have faith I cannot dispute for the truth but I am willing to suffer for it I cannot remember a Sermon but I never hear the Word but I hate sin and love Christ more then ever Lord thou knowest I love thee Truly Christian thou hast the better part thou little think'st what a mercy may be wrapt up even in the meannes of thy gifts or what temptations their gifts expose them to which God for ought I know may in mercy deny thee Josephs coat made him finer then his brethren but this caused all his trouble this set the Archers a shooting their arrows into his side thus great gifts lift a Saint up a little higher in the eyes of men but it occasions many temptations which thou meetest not with that art kept low what with envie from their brethren malice from Satan and pride in their own hearts I dare say none finde so hard a work to go to heaven as such much ado to bear up against those waves and windes while thou creepest along the shore under the winde to heaven It is with such as with some great Lord of little estate a meaner man oft hath money in his purse when he hath none and can lâ—nd his Lordship some at a need great gifts and parts are titles of honour among men but many such may come and borrow grace and comfort of a mean gifted brother possibly the Preacher of his poor neighbour O poor Christian do not murmur or envy them but rather pity and pray for them they need it more then others his gifts are thine thy grace is for thy self thou art like a Merchant that hath his Factour goes to sea but he hath his Adventure without hazard brought home Thou joynest with him in prayer hast the help of his gifts but not the temptation of his pride Vse 2 Secondly doth Satan labour thus to draw to pride of gifts this speaks a word to you to whom God hath given more gifts then ordinary beware of pride that is now your snare Satan is at work if possible he will turne your Artillery against your selfe thy safety lies in thy humility if this lock be cut the legions of hell are on thee Remember whom thou wrestlest with spiritual wickednesse and their play is to lift up that they may give the sorer fall Now the more to stir up thy heart against it I shall adde some soul-humbling considerations First consider these spiritual gifts are not thy own and wilt thou be proud of anothers bounty Is not God the Founder and can he not soon be the Confounder of thy gifts thou that art proud of thy gourd what wilt thou be when it is gone surely then thou wilt be peevish and angry and truly thou takest the course to be strip't of them Gifts come on other termes then grace God gives grace as a free-hold it hath the promise of this and another world but gifts come on liking though a father will not cast off his childe yet he may take away his fine coat and ornaments if proud of them Secondly gifts are not meerly for thy self As the light of the Sun is ministeriall it shines not for it self so all thy gifts are for others Gifts for the edifying of the body Suppose a man should leave a chest of money in your hands to be distributed to others what folly is it in this man to put this into his own Inventory and applaud himself that he hath so much money Poor soul thou art but Gods Executour and by that time thou hast paid all the Legacies thou wilt see little left for thee to brag and boast of Thirdly know Christian thou shalt be accountable for these talents now with what face
he had said I knew the time if Paul had been come to town and newes spread abroad in the City that Paul was to preach you would have flock't to hear him and blessed God for the season but then you were poor and empty now ye are full you have got to a higher attainment Paul is a plain fellow now he may carry his cheere to a hungry people if he will we are well apaid And when once the heart is come to this 't is easie to judge what will follow Secondly this trusting to the strength of grace will make the soule bold and venturous The humble Christian is the wary Christian he knows his weaknesse and this makes him afraid I have a weak head saith he I may be soon disputed into an errour and heresie and therefore I dare not come where such stuffe is broach't lest my weak head should be intoxicated the confident man he 'll sip of every cup he fears none no he is stablish't in the truth a whole team of hereticks shall not draw him aside I have a vain light heart saith the humble soule I dare not come among wicked debautch't company left I should at last bring the naughty man home with me but one trusting to the strength of his grace dares venture into the devils quarters Thus Peter into the rout of Christs enemies and how he came off you know there his faith had been slain on the place had not Christ founded a retreat by the seasonable look of love he gave him Indeed I have read of some bragging Philosophers who did not think it enough to be temperate except they had the object for intemperance present and therefore they would go into Taverns and Whore-houses as if they meant to beat the devil on his own ground but the Christian knows an enemy nearer then so which they were ignorant of and that he need not go over his own threshold to challenge the devils He hath lust in his bosome that will be hard enough for him all his dayes without giving it the vantage ground Christian I know no sin but thou mayest be left to commit it except one It was a bold speech of him and yet a good man as I have heard If Clapham die of the plague say Clapham had no faith and this made him boldly go among the infected If a Christian thou shalt not die of spiritual plagues yet such may have the plague-sores of grosse sins running on them for a time and is not this sad enough therefore walk humbly with thy God Thirdly this high conceit of the strength of thy grace will make thee cruel and churlish to thy weak brethren in their infirmities a sin that least becomes a Saint Gal. 6.1 If any one be overtaken you that be spiritual restore such a one with meeknesse but how shall a soul get such a meek spirit It follows considering thy self lest thou also be tempted What makes men hard to the poor they think they shall never be so themselves Why are many so sharp in their censures but because they trust too much to their grace as if they could never fall O you are in the body and the body of sin in you therefore feare Bernard used to say when he heard any scandalous sin of a Professour Hodie illi cras mihi He fell to day I may stumble tomorrow SECT II. The second way a soule may be proud of his grace is by resting on it for his acceptance with God The Scripture calls inherent grace our own righteousnesse though God indeed be the efficient of it and opposeth it to the righteousnesse of Christ which alone is called the Righteousnesse of God Rom. 10.1 Now to rest on any grace inherent is to exalt our own righteousnesse above the righteousnesse of God and what pride will this amount to If this ware so then a Saint when he comes to heaven might say This is Heaven which I have built my grace hath purchased and thus the God of Heaven should become tenant to his creature in Heaven No God hath cast the order of our salvation into another method of grace but not of grace in us but grace to us Inherent grace hath its place and office to accompany salvation Heb. 6.9 but not procure it This is Christs work not graces When Israel waited on the Lord at Mount Sinai they had their bounds not a man must come up besides Moses to treat with God no not touch the Mount lest they die thus all the graces of the Spirit wait on God but none come up to challenge any acceptance of God besides faith which is a grace that presents the soul not in its own garments But you will say what needs all this where is the man that trusts in his grace Alas where is the Christian that doth fully stand clear and freely come his off his own righteousnesse he is a rare Pilot indeed that can steere his faith in so direct a course as not now and then to knock upon this duty and run on ground upon that grace Abraham went in to Hagar and the children of Abrahams faith are not perfectly dead to the Law and may be found sometimes in Hagars armes witnesse the fluxe and refluxe of our faith according to the various aspect of our obedience when this seems full then our faith is at a spring-tide and covers all the mountains of our fears but let it seem to wain in any service or duty then the Jordan of our faith flies back and leaves the soule naked The devils spight is at Christ and therefore since he could not hinder his landing which he endeavoured all he could nor work his will on his person when he was come he goes now in a more refined way to darken the glory of his sufferings and the sufficiency of his righteousnesse by blending ours with his this doctrine of Justification by faith hath had more works and batteries made against it then any other in the Scripture Indeed many other errours were but his slie approaches to get nearer to undermine this and lastly when he connot hide this truth which now shines in the Church like the Sun in its strength then he labours to hinder the practical improvement of it that we if he can help it shall not live up to our own principles making us at the same time that in our judgement we professe acceptance only through Christ in our practice confute our selves Now there is a double pride in the soule he makes use of for this end the one I may call a mannerly pride the other a self-applauding pride First a mannerly pride which comes forth in the habit and guise of humility and that discovers it self either at the soules first coming to Christ and keeps him from closing with the promise or afterward in the daily course of a Christians walking with God which keeps him from comfortable living on Christ First when a poor soul is staved off the promise by the sense
me again and shew me both it and his habitation Mark not shew me my Crown my Palace but the Ark the House of God Secondly a gracious heart pursues earthly things with a holy indifferency saving the violence and zeal of his spirit for the things of heaven he useth the former as if he used them not with a kinde of non-attendency his head and heart is taken up with higher matters how he may please God thrive in his grace enjoy more intimate communion with Christ in his Ordinances in these he spreads all his sailes plyes all his oares strains every part and power thus we finde David upon his full speed My soul presseth hard after thee Psal 63. And before the Ark we finde him dancing with all his might Now a carnal heart is clean contrary his zeal is for the world and his indifferency in the things of God he prays as if he did not pray c. he sweats in his shop but chills and growes cold in his closet O how hard to pully him up to a duty of Gods worship or to get him out to an Ordinance No weather shall keep him from the market raine blow or snow he goes thither but if the Church-path be a little wet or the aire somewhat cold 't is apology enough for him if his pue be empty when he is about any worldly businesse he is as earnest at it as the idolatrous Smith in hammering of his image who the Prophet saith worketh it with the strength of his armes yea he is hungry and his strength faileth he drinketh not and is faint Isa 44.12 so zealous is the muck-worme in his worldly employments that he will pinch his carcase and deny himself his repast in due season to pursue that The Kitchin there shall wait on the shop But in the worship of God 't is enough to make him sick of the Sermon and angry with the Preacher if he be kept beyond his houre here the Sermon must give place to the Kitchin so the man for his pleasures and carnal pastime he tells no clock at his sports and knows not how the day goes when night comes he is angry that it takes him off but at any heavenly work O how is the man punish't time now hath got leaden heels he thinks all he does at a Sermon is to tell the clock and see how the glasse runs if men were not willing to deceive themselves surely they might know which way their heart goes by the swift motion or the hard tugging and slow pace it stirs as well as they know in a boat whether they row against the tyde or with it Thirdly the Christian useth these things with a holy feare lest earth should rob heaven and his outward enjoyments prejudice his heavenly interest he eats in feare works in feare rejoyceth in his abundance with feare as Iob sanctified his children by offering a sacrifice out of a feare lest they had sinned so the Christian is continually sanctifying his earthly enjoyments by prayer that so he may be delivered from the snare of them Thirdly the Christian is heavenly in his keeping of earthly things The same heavenly Law which he went by in getting he observes in holding them As he dares not say he will be rich and honourable in the world but if God will so neither that he will hold what he hath he only keeps them while his heavenly Father calls for them that at first gave them If God will continue them to him and entaile them on his posterity too he blesseth God and so he desires to do also when he takes them away Indeed Gods meaning in the great things of this world which sometimes he throwes in upon the Saints is chiefly to give them the greater advantage of expressing their love to him in denying them for his sake God never intended by that strange Providence in bringing Moses to Pharaho's Court to settle him there in worldly pomp and grandure a carnal heart indeed would have expounded Providence and imported it as a faire occasion put into his hands by God to have advanced himself into the throne which some say he might in time have done but as an opportunity to make his faith and self-denial more eminently conspicuous in throwing all these at his heels for which he hath so honourable a remembrance among the Lords Worthies Heb. 11.24 25. And truly a gracious soule reckons he cannot make so much of his worldly interests any other way as by offering them up for Christs sake however that Traitour thought Maries ointment might have been carried to a better market yet no doubt that good woman her self was only troubled that she had not one more precious to poure on her dear Saviours head This makes the Christian ever to hold the sacrificing knife at the throat of his worldly enjoyments ready to offer them up when God calls over-board they shall go rather then hazard a wrack to faith or a good conscience he sought them in the last place and therefore he will part with them in the first Naboth will hazard the Kings anger which at last cost him his life rather then sell an acre or two of land which was his birth-right The Christian will expose all he hath in this wotld to preserve his hopes for another Iacob in his march towards Esau sent his servants with his flocks before and came himself with his wives behinde if he can save any thing from his brothers rage it shall be what he loves best If the Christian can save any thing it shall be his soule his interest in Christ and Heaven and then no matter if the rest go even then he can say not as Esau to Iacob I have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great deal but as Iacob to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have all all I want all I desire as David expresseth it This is all my salvation all and my desire 2 Sam. 23.5 Now try whether thy heart be tuned to this note does heaven give law to thy earthly enjoyments wouldest thou not keep thy honour estate no not life it selfe to prejudice thy heavenly nature and hopes which wouldest thou choose if thou couldest not keep both a whole skin or a sound conscience It was a strange answer if true which the Historian saith Henry the fifth gave to his Father who had usurped the crown and now dying sent for this his son to whom he said Fair Son take the crown which stood on his pillow by his head but God knowes how I came by it to whom he answered I care not how you came by it now I have it I will keep it as long as my sword can defend it He that keeps earth by wrong cannot expect heaven by right CHAP. XIII An Exhortation to the pursuit of heaven and heavenly things Vse 3 THirdly Is it heaven and all that is heavenly that Satan seeks to hinder us of let this provoke us the more earnestly to contend for them
preach and heare to the end of the world you may as well quarrel with God because he hath made but one heaven and one way to it as with the Preacher for preaching these over and over if thy heart were humble and thy palate spiritual old truths would be new to thee every time thou hearest them In heaven the Saints draw all their wine of joy as I may so say at one tap and shall to all eternity and yet it never tastes flat God is that one object their soules are filled with and never weary of and can any thing of God and his love be wearisome to thee in the hearing here I am not all this while an Advocate for any Loyterer in our Lords vineyard for any slothful servant in the work of the Gospel who wraps up his talent in idlenesse or buries it in the earth where may be he is digging and playing the worldling all the week and then hath nothing to set before his people on the Lords day but one or two old mouldy loaves which were kneaded many yeares before This is not the good Steward here is the old but where are the new things which he should bring out of his treasure If the Minister labours not to increase by stock he is the worst thief in the Parish It is wicked for a man trusted with the improving of Orphans estates to let them lie dead by him much more for a Minister not to improve his gifts which I may call the town-stock given for the good of the soules of both rich and poor if that Preacher was wise Eccl. 12.9 who still taught the people knowledge that is was ever going on endeavouring to build them higher in knowledge and that he might did give good heed and sought out and set in order many Proverbs then surely he will be proved a foolish Preacher at last that wastes his time in sloth or spends more of it in studying how to adde to his estate out of his peoples then how to adde to their gifts and graces by a conscionable endeavour to increase his own CHAP. II. The best of Saints subject to decline in their graces and why we are to endeavour a recovery of decayes in grace THe second observable in the exhortation is taken from the verbe which the Apostle useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies not only to take but to take again or recover a thing which we have lost or re-assume a thing which for the present we have left Now the Apostle writing to the Saints at Ephesus who at least many of them were not now to put on this Armour by a Conversion or the first work of faith which no doubt had already past upon many among them he in regard of them and believers to the end of the world hath a further meaning i. e. that they would put on more close where this armour hangs loose and they would recover where they have let fall any duty or decayed in any grace So that the Note is That the Christian should have an especial care to repaire his broken Armour to recover his decaying graces This Armour may be battered I might shew sad examples in the several pieces Was not Jacobs girdle of truth and sincerity unbuckled when he used that sinful policy to get the blessing he was not the plain man then but the subplantour but he had as good have stayed Gods time he was paid home in his own kinde He puts a cheat on his father and did not Laban put a cheat on him giving Leah for Rachel What say you to Davids breast-plate of righteousnesse in the matter of Vriah was it not shot through and that holy man fearfully wounded who lay almost a yeare for ought we reade of him before he came to himself so far as to be thoroughly sensible of his sin till Nathan a faithful Chirurgion was sent to search the wound and clear it of that dead flesh which had growne over it And Jonah otherwise a holy Prophet when God wou'd send him on an errand to Ni neveh he hath his shoes to seek I mean that preparation and readinesse with which his minde should have been shod to have gone at the first call Good Hezikiah we finde how near his helmet of hope was of being beaten off his head who tells us himself what his thoughts were in the day of his distresse that he should not see the Lord in the land of the living expecting that God would never let go his hold till like a Lion he had broke his bones and at last made an end of him Even Abraham himselfe famous for faith yet had his fits of unbelief and distrustful qualms coming over his valiant heart now in this case the Christians care should be to get his armour speedily repaired A battered helmet is next to no helmet in point of present use grace in a decay is like a man pull'd off his legs by sicknesse if some meanes be not used to recover it little service will be done by it or comfort received from it Therefore Christ gives this Church of Ephesus to whom Paul wrote this Epistle this counsel To remember from whence she was fallen to repent and do her first works How many does a declining Christian wrong at once First he wrongs God and that in a high degree because God reckons upon more honour to be paid him in by his Saints grace then by all other talents which his creatures have to trade with in the world He can in some sense better bear the open sins of the world then the decayes of his Saints graces they by abusing their talents rob him but of his oyle flaxe and wool But the Christian by the other bereaves him of the glory which should be paid him from his faith zeal patience self-denial sincerity and the rest Suppose a Master should trust one servant with his mony and another with his child to be look't to would he not be more displeased to see his dear childe hurt or almost kill'd by the negligence of the one then his money stollen by the carelesnesse of the other Grace is the new creature the birth of the Spirit when this comes to any harme by the Christians carelesse walking it must needs go nearer the heart of God then the wrong he hath from the world who are trusted with nothing like this Secondly he that declines in grace and labours not to repair it he wrongs his brethren who have a share in one anothers grace he wrongs his whole body that seeks not cure for a wound in any member We are bid to love one another 2 epist of John 5. v. but how shall we shew our love to one another the very next words will direct us And this is love that we walk after his Commandments Indeed we shew little love to our brethren by sinning whereby we are sure either to ensnare them or grieve them and how to let grace go down and sin not go
that thou canst not as thou usest lift up thy heart from earthly to spiritual duties They were intended as helps against temptation and therefore when they prove snares to us there is a distemper on us If we waxe worse after sleep the body is not right because the nature of sleep is to refresh if exercise indisposeth for work the reason is in our bodies So here Secondly when thy diligence in thy particular calling is more selfish possibly thou hast wrought in thy shop and set close at thy study in obedience to the command chiefly thy carnal interests have swayed but little with thee but now thou tradest more for thy self and lesse for God O have a care of this Thirdly when thou canst not bear the disappointment of thy carnal ends in thy particular calling as thou hast done thou workest and gettest little of the world thou preachest and art not much esteemed and thou knowest not well how to brook these The time was thou couldest retire thy self into God and make up all thou didst want elsewhere in him but now thou art not so well satisfied with thy estate rank and condition thy heart is fingering for more of these then God allowes thee this shews declining children are harder to be pleased and old men whose decay of nature makes them more froward and in a manner children the second time then others labour therefore to recover thy decaying grace and as this lock grows so thy strength with it will to acquiesce in the disposure of Gods Providence CHAP. IV. A word of counsel for the recovery of declining grace WE come now to give a few directions to the Christian how to recover decaying grace Enquire faithfully into the cause of thy declining The Christians armour decays two wayes either by violent bartery when the Christian is overcome by temptations to sin or else by neglecting to forbish and scoure it with the use of those means which are as oile to keep it clean and bright Now enquire which of these have been the cause of thy decay It is like both concurre First if thy grace be weakened by any blow given it by any sin committed by thee there then lies a threefold duty upon thee towards the recovery of it First thou art to renew thy repentance It is Christs counsel Rev. 2.5 to Ephesus Repent and do thy first works where it is not only commanded as a duty but prescribed as a means for her recovery as if he had said Repent that thou mayest do thy first works So Hosea 14.2 The Lord sets back-sliding Israel about this work bidding her take words and turn to the Lord and v. 4. he then tells her he 'll take her in hand to recover her of her sins I will heale their back-slidings a repenting soule is under promise of healing and therefore Christian go and search thy heart as thou wouldest do thy house if some thief or murderer lay hid in it to cut thy throat in the night and when thou hast found the sin that has done thee the mischief then labour to fill thy heart with shame for it and indignation against it and so go big with sorrow and cast it forth before the Lord in a heart-breaking confession better thou do this then Satan do thy errand to God for thee Secondly when thou hast renewed thy repentance forget not delay not then to renew thy faith on the promise for pardon Repentance that is like purging physick to evacuate the peccant humour but if faith come not presently with its restorative the poor creature will never get heart or recover his strength A soule may die of a fluxe of sorrow as well as of sin faith hath an incarnating vertue as they say of some strengthening meats it feeds upon the promise and that is perfect converting or rather restoring the soule Psal 19.7 Though thou wert pined to skin and bones all thy strength wasted yet faith would soon recruit thee and enable every grace to perform its office chearfully Faith sucks peace from the promise call'd peace in beleeving from peace flowes joyes Being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 5.1 and v. 2. We rejoyce in the hope of glory and joy affords strength The joy of the Lord is our strength Thirdly back both these with a daily endeavour to mortifie those lusts which most pevail over thy grace Weeds cannot thrive and the flowers also when grace doth not act vigorously and freely conclude it is opprest with some contrary lust which weighs down its spirits and makes them lumpish even as superfluous humours do load the natural spirits in our bodies that we have little joy to stir or go about any businesse till they be evacuated and therefore ply this work close it is not a dayes work or two in the yeare like Physick at spring and fall nothing more vain then to make a busle as the Papists do at their Lent or as some unsound Professours among our selves who seem to bestir themselves before a Sacrament or day of Fasting with a great noise of zeal and then let those very lusts live peaceably in them all the yeare after No this is child-play to do and undo thou must mortifie daily thy lusts by the Spirit Rom. 8.13 Follow but this work conscionably in thy Christian course making it thy endeavour as constantly as the labouring man goes out every day to work in the field where his calling lies to watch thy heart and use all means for the discovery of sin and as it breaks forth to be humbled for it and be chopping at the root of it with this axe of mortification and thou shalt see by the blessing of God what a change for the better there will be in the constitution of thy grace thou who art now so poor so pale that thou art afraid to see thy own face long in the glasse of thy own conscience shall then reflect with joy upon thy owne conscience and dare to converse with thy self without those surprizals of horrour and feare which before did appale thee thy grace though it shall not be thy rejoycing yet it will be thy evidence for Christ in whom it is and lead thee in with boldnesse to lay claim to him while the loose Christian whose grace is over-grown with lusts for want of this weeding hook shall stand trembling at the door questioning whether his grace be true or no and from that doubt of his welcome Secondly if upon enquiry thou findest that thy Armour decays rather for want of scouring then by any blow from sin presumptuously committed as that is most common and ordinary rust will soon spoil the best armour and negligence give grace its bane as well as grosse sins then apply thy self to the use of those means which God hath appointed for the strengthening grace if the fire goes out by taking off the wood what way to preserve it but by laying it on again First I shall send thee to the Word of
not crying out upon the devil and declaiming against sin in prayer or discourse but fighting and mortifying it that God looks chiefly upon such a one else doth but beat the aire there are no marks to be seen on his flesh and unmortified lusts that he hath fought Paul was in earnest he left a witnesse upon his body made black and blew with stroaks of mortification It was not a little vapouring in sight of the Philistines that got David his wife but shedding their blood And is it so small a matter to be son to the King of Heaven that thou thinkest to obtain it without giving a real proof of thy zeal for God and hatred to sin Not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man saith the Apostle shall be blessed in his deed James 1.25 Mark not by his deed but in his deed he shall meet blessednesse in that way of obedience he walks in The empty Professour disappoints others who seeing his leaves expect fruit but finde none and at last he disappoints himself he thinks to reach heaven but shall misse of it Tertullian speaks of some that think Satìs Deum habere si corde animo suspiciatur licèt actu minus fiat God hath enough they think if he be feared and reverenced in their hearts though in their actions they shew it not so much and therefore they can sin and believe in God and feare him never the worse This saith he is to play the Adulteresse and yet be chaste to prepare poison for ones father and yet be dutiful but let such know saith the same father that if they can sin and believe God will pardon them with a contradiction also he 'll forgive them but they shall be turn'd into hell for all that As ever you would stand at last look you be found doing the work your Lord hath left you to make up and trust not to lying words as the Prophet speaks Jer. 7. SECT II. Secondly Observe that such is the mercy of God in Christ to his children that he accepts their weak endeavours joyn'd with sincerity and perseverance in his service as if they were full obedience and therefore they are here said to have done all O who would not serve such a Lord you hear servants sometimes complain of their Masters to be so rigid and strict that they can never please them no not when they do their utmost But this cannot be charged upon God Be but so faithful as to do thy best and God is so gracious that he will pardon thy worst David knew this Gospel-indulgence when he said Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Psal 119.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when my eye is to all thy Commandments The Traveller hath his eye on or towards the place he is going though he be yet short of it there he would be and is putting on all he can to reach it So stands the Saints heart to all the Commands of God he presseth on to come nearer and nearer to full obedience such a soul shall never be put to shame But wo to those that cover their sloth with the name of infirmity yea that spend their zeal and strength in the pursuit of the world or their lusts and then think to make all up when charg'd therwith That it is their infirmity and they can serve God no better These do by God as those two did by their Prince Francis the first of France who cut off their right hand one for another and then made it an excuse they were lame and so could not serve in his Galleys for which they were sent to the Gallowes Thus many will be found at last to have disabled themselves by refusing that help the Spirit hath offered to them yea wasted what they had given them and so shall be rewarded for hypocrites as they are God knows how to distinguish between the sincerity of a Saint in the midst of his infirmities and the shifts of a false heart But we will wave these and briefly speak to foure points which lie clear in the words First here is the necessity of perseverance Having done all 2ly here is the necessity of divine Armour to persevere til we have done al. Wherfore else bids he them take this armour for this end if they could do it without Thirdly here is the certainty of persevering and overcoming at last if clad with this Armour else it were small encouragement to bid them take that Armour which would not surely defend them Fourthly here is the blessed result of the Saints perseverance propounded as that which will abundantly recompence all their pain and patience in the war having done all to stand From these follow foure distinct Points First he that will be Christs souldier must persevere Secondly there can be no perseverance without true grace in the heart Thirdly where true grace is that soul shall persevere Fourthly to stand at the end of this war will abundantly recompence all our hazard and hardship endured in the warre SECT III. He that will be Christs souldier must persevere to the end of his life in this war against Satan This Having done all comes in after our conflict with death That ye may be able to withst and in the evil day then follows And having done all We have not done all till that pitch't battel be fought The last enemy is death The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports as much as to finish a businesse and bring a matter to a full issue so Phil. 2.12 where we translate it well Work out your salvation that is perfect it be not Christians by halves but go through with it the through Christian is the true Christian Not he that takes the field but he that keeps the field not he that sets out but he that holds out in this holy war deserves the name of a Saint There is not such a thing in this sense belonging to Christianity as an honourable retreat not such a word of command in all Christs military Discipline as fall back and lay down your armes No you must fall on and stand to your armes till call'd off by death First we are under a Covenant and Oath to do this Formerly souldiers used to take an oath not to flinch from their colours but faithfully to cleave to their Leaders this they called Sacramentum militare a military oath Such an oath lies upon every Christian It is so essential to the being of a Saint that they are described by this Psal 50.5 Gather my Saints together those that have made a Covenant with me We are nor Christians till we have subscribed this Covenant and that without any reservation When we take upon us the Profession of Christs Name we list our selves in his muster-roll and by it do promise that we will live and die with him in opposition to all his enemies Every Nation will walk in the name of his God and we will