there he findes nothing but happinesse and holinesse as in hell there is nothing but sin and misery As no good can goe to hell so he sees no bad no sinfull and uncleane thing can get entrance into heaven Revel 21.27 saving grace tels him and he beleeves it that without holinesse he shall not see Gods face in heaven Heb. 12.14 and therfore he followes it with such earnestnesse of desire and endeavour and prizeth Christ in whom all holinesse is stored up for us above all things whatsoever Fourthly saving grace taketh a mans heart off from his own ends in all things and teacheth him to seek Christ not so much for selfe-ends as Christs ends When the Lord doth convert a soule to him and workes saving grace in his heart as he gives him a new principle to worke by so he gives him new ends to worke for Before conversion Selfe is all in all to a man Selfe sets him at worke and he workes altogether by selfe principles and to selfe ends God is not in all his thoughts Psa 10.4 for indeed selfe is his God But when God comes to take his place againe in the heart and to be God to a soule then he becomes the utmost end of that soule also so that as he will do nothing but by him commanding and strengthning so he does all to him and for him the soule is now lifted up above it selfe it soares aloft at greater matters then belong to selfe Selfematters are but as flies in his Eagle eye he stoops not to them but as the ponderous flesh makes him his alme is altogether at the glory of God magnifying Christ forwarding the Kingdome of the Lord Jesus building up his Church and repairing the breaches thereof c. Like as good and true Statesmen looke not so much at their owne profits as the common good so the true Christian aimes at the publike good of Christ the advancing of his Kingdome here more then at their owne advancement by him He doth not desire Christ so much to be saved by him as that Christ may be served by him The soul that prizeth Christ above al only for justification seeks him for selfe ends that is for happinesse and salvation by him and thus a soule doth before he hath saving grace But to desire him above all for sanctification is to prize and desire Christ for Christ's owne ends that we may be made holy by him and so become zealous of good workes Titus 2.14 and that we may serve him all the dayes of our life in holinesse and righteousnesse Luke 1.7 4 75. And thus to desire Christ for Christ saving grace teacheth the soule and to doe all for him because such a soule makes Christ its Master and self must be his servant so that selfe must now wait till his Master is served Selfe may attend at the doore of the heart but Christ as Master beares all the sway there and as he will so the heart saith he shall be served whosoever goes unserved and as for selfe such a soule as is principled with saving grace looks at selfe as best served when his Master is most served There is a sweet and holy emulation betweet such a soule and Christ that as Christ takes all that is done to that soule as done to himselfe so that soule takes all done to Christ as done to himselfe and therfore is of opinion that he serves himself best when he serves Christ most Yea he leaves selfe to Christ's disposall and good will knowing that he is a good loving and free master indeed that will suffer his servant to want no good thing Psal 84.11 Fifthly saving grace frames the heart to a conjugall affection of Christ to such a love of him as is between husband and wife so that the soule loves the person of Christ as well as his portion yea and desires him more for his persons sake then for his portions sake all the note of such a soule is that with the Spouse in Cant. 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his this heart is enamoured with Christ because of that exceeding beauty of holinesse in him he is to her the fairest of ten thousand This soule loves not Christ so much for that which comes by him as for that shee sees in him when God married us as he saith he hath married us Jer. 3.14 his free grace had respect only to our persons and not for any portion of ours whereby he might be enriched and benefited Hence we find a love of mankind for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies ascribed to him Titus 3.4 Job 14.15 which Job's words doe well interpret to us saying Thou O Lord hast a desire to the worke of thine hands Wherein is hinted the reason of Gods affection to us not any worth in us but his right to us it is his free grace which makes him owne that his right and the same free grace in the heart of a man reflects on God the same work that soule affects more Christ's person then any or all the things that come by him It is but a kind of whorish spirit to love him onely for what he hath and to get by him that Spouse that loves her Husband's person as shee ought will love him when he is poore as well as rich when sick as well will cleave to him in his necessity content to live in prison with him to goe a begging and be banished with him so where saving grace is the heart loves Christs person so impotently as shee will cleave to him in all his necessities when naked and poore shee will love him as well as when rich and bravely attired with outward pompe if he goe to prison shee will goe too rather then part with her best beloved shee will go a begging with him into banishment with him into the midst of fire any faggot yea into hell too rather then leave him for shee knowes hell would be no hell to her if he be with her and that a heaven would be a hell if he be not in it or shee find him not therein A sixth Reason why such a heart as hath saving grace doth prize Christ above all in matter of Sanctification is because it knowes and feeles as great a want of Gods free grace therein as in matter of Justification For we are as unable to sanctifie our selves as to justifie our selves yea we can doe more to procure sanctification to our selves then to obtaine justification wherefore as we find the good work of sanctification in us ascribed to the Lord both for the beginning and perfecting of it in Phil. 1.6 so we find it attributed to his good pleasure that is his free grace Phil. 2.13 and indeed if we doe seriously weigh things Gods free grace seems to abound more in the sanctification of a soule then in his justification of it for by justification he doth onely acquit it of the guilt of sinne committed but by sanctification he doth not onely
by the meanes of some common hear-say Nâ—tions of Christ in thesa knowing times yea a soule may so strongly desire Christ as to be willing to part with very much for him and yet not truly desire Christ because he may all this while seek Christ not out of a love to Christ so much as to himselfe A Merchant that heares there is such a rich Commodity such a precious Jewell to be had whereby he may greatly get will part with much of his gold and silver for it yet cannot he be said to love that Commodity and Jewell so much as himselfe because he seeks it onely for his owne gaine and profit by it Mat. 13.45 46. So a man that heares of that precious Pearle of great price Christ Jesus and that there is much to be gotten by him no lesse then salvation which is a sure enjoyment of all good and a freedome from all evill may be willing to bid pretty faire for Christ and lay downe much for him and yet not truly love Christ for Christ's owne sake he desires but to serve himselfe of Christ and not that Christ should be served by him Self-love will perswade men to prize Christ highly for Justification to get happinesse by Christ but onely saving grace teaches a soule to stt up Christ also above all for Saictification to get holinesse whereby he may serve Christ that hath saved him The more cleerly to prove this truth and to help your memories to carry the proofe thereof away with you we will take it asundâ—r into two parts and shew you 1. Why saving grace teacheth a poor soule to prize the Lord Jesus above all things 2. Why saving grace makes the heart to esteem Christ above not onely in Justification but also in Sanctification For the first there are three Reasons Reas 1 The first ariseth from the Operations of the holy Spirit which worketh saving grace in the heart of any man the Operations of the Spirit in this way is two-fold whence the Spirit hath in Scripture a double Epithite and is called a Spirit of Bondage and a Spirit of Adoption these names of Bondage and Adoption imply not a double Spirit but a double and severall Act of the same holy Spirit which is wrought in every soule when it is savingly wrought upon Rom. 8.15 for then 1. The holy Spirit doth discover to the soule its forlorne condition in regard of sinne and the punishment therefore it makes him sensible of the spirituall bondage under sinue and satan it makes him see and feele how he lyes bound and fettered hand and foot with the Cart-ropes of his iniquities and withall the Spirit set before them the terrible countenance of an angry God and so fils the soule with stinging and deep piercing feares that the just Judge of Heaven and Earth will plague it according to its deserts both in the world and that to come thus were Peters Auditors pricked to the heart and as men afrighted with the strange and fearfull sight of their sinne and God's wrath they cried out Men and brethren what shall we doe Acts 2.37 which outcry of such soules is the greater because this Spirit shews them withall the helplesnesse that is in themselves and the creature to remedy their present misery it makes them know the vanity and insufficiency of all that is in them or can come from them to work their deliverance It blasteth all their hopes from their owne righteousnesse which before smelt as sweet as a Rose in their Nostrils but now savours worse to them then the noysome dunghill In briefe the Spirit certifies them that all they have done or whatever they can doe with the help of all the Creatures cannot give them one lift out of their sad condition but here the good Spirit of God leaves not his children for then they would fall into that Gulfe of despaire whereinto Came Judas and such like have fallen to their utter ruine 2. The holy Spirit therefore having wounded the soule so deep as he pleaseth for all are not broken in a like measure he begins the cure thereof by setting Christ before the soule and laying open to it that fulnesse of supplies which is in him that he can yea onely can help that there is no Saviour but he and withall lets him see that there is some hope of his having Christ yea that God hath given him the rich and full Christ that by beleeving in him he might have everlasting life and hereupon the soule begins to long after Christ all the affections of it runne after Christ prizing and seeking Christ above all now doth the soule cry Oh give me Christ and take all like as a man ready to be drowned would give all the world if he had it to save his life and to find some safe footing so a soule that is enlightned with the eye-salve of the holy Spirit to see its sinking condition with a glimpse of hope of getting Christ will gladly part with all it hath for this Pearl of great price any vertue Reas 2 A second Reason why that soule that hath saving grace doth prize Christ above all is drawne from the contrarieties that is between grace and sin these two are no better friends then fire and water light and darknesse hell and heaven yea then God and the Devill and their manner of working is as contrary and crosse to each other they walke opposite to one another undoing if they can the worke the other hath done Sinne works the heart when it beares the sway there to preferre all things yea every thing before Christ but grace when it takes place in the heart brings the heart to prize Christ above all things in generall much more above every thing in particular If we well weigh the matter the first step of our aversion from God is an undervaluing of him when Adam first fell off from God did not he preferre himselfe and his Wife before God doth not the Lord plainly point out the cause of his peoples forsaking him to be an overweening conceit they had in the creature above him though that were indeed but a broken Cistern and he a living Fountaine Jer. 2.11 13. Now the way of our arising must be contrary to that of our falling and therefore the first step of our conversion to our God is an overvaluing of him that is such a high esteem of him as all things with their fulnesse of beauty are not thought comparable with him in a degree that is even lesse then the least This is the work of that saving grace Faith 1 Pet. 2.7 As the former was of that vice infidelity as this carries the heart off from God so this new byasses it and turnes it round about to him againe like as a skilfull School-master when a child is brought to him that hath been ill taught is faine first to unteach him what he hath ill learned and afterwards to set him forth So saving grace when it comes to
himselfe which he cannot doe So dealt the Lord with David in Psal 30.6 7. The Sunne of God's favour was risen to a great hight and shined so hot on him as it warmed him to his very heart so that he grew frolicke againe and dreamt that this his merry world would last ever He thought this Heaven would be alwayes cleere to him without clouds but his Sunne set even at noon-day to him His frolicknesse was but against a storme which was at hand for in the next words he addes But thou didst bids thy face Againe we doe often make great clouds which doe eclipse the Sunne of righteousnesse to us that we neither see him nor feele any heat and warmth from him These clouds are our iniquities which make a seperation between him and us Isa 59.2 Now in this case when Christ hath given us the slip and on the sudden hath conveyed himselfe from us let us consider how our soules behave themselves and by their behaviour now we may know whether they prize Christ as they ought David tels you he was troubled think not Beloved that he was troubled but a little for he was fore troubled as the word is translated in 1 Sam. 28.21 It is a terrible trouble as the Word indeed fully signifies for then it is with the soule as it is with a man that hath lost a Jewell wherein all his wealth consisted O how is the poore man troubled how doth terrour and feare seize on him that he quivers and shakes againe how doth he hunt up and downe and seek every corner for it he turnes all upside downe and cannot be quiet till he hath it for he knowes he is utterly undone if he find it not againe so the soule that hath lost her Christ her Pearle is exceedingly troubled and doth not rest contented with any thing till shee hath found him againe shee must have Christ or else shee is undone for ever See this cleared by the example of the Spouse in Cant. 5.4 5. you may see her rejoycing in Christ O how sweet is he to her but in the sixt Verse you find her at a losse Her wel-beloved hath withdrawn himselfe and is gone from her and mark I pray you how heavily shee takes it Her heart went with him shee faints shee laments shee seeks him shee cals him shee enquires after him shee goes to the Watch-men the Ministers of the Gospell and to her Sisters common Christians to ask after him shee cryes him in the streets Did you see my beloved O when you see him tell him I am sicke of love so strong was her love to him that shee was sicke for him and shee never left seeking him till shee found him in chap. 6. ver 7. where shee embraceth him againe Thus it is with every poore soule that hath once had Christ and Union and Communion with him when he doth hide himselfe therefrom all the rattles and tinkling comforts of this world will not quiet him he must have his Christ or else he cryes Undone Undone As Rachel said give me children or else I dye so he cryes O if you love me give me Christ Christ or else I dye I dye eternally If he meet not Christ in prayer at a Sermon at a Sacrament in an Ordinance how doth he hunt after his Christ He seeks not for Christs but for Christ himselfe and therefore he could be content to goe a begging for Christ if Christ were in the fiery furnace yea in hell this soule that hath once had him will be content to goe thither for him so much is he troubled for Christ as he thinks himselfe in hell already without him Let us now Beloved look home and see whether we have at any time been thus troubled for our Christ alas have we not been much more troubled and terrified with the losse of a kind Husband a loving Wife a good child a neere and deere friend then for the losse of Christ Have we not been more troubled at outward crosses when the world hath frowned on us then when our Christ hath turned away his face from us Have we not been more inquisitive after our Gold and Silver and tooke more paines to regaine the same then ever we did for a lost Christ Thus if it have been with us then Christ is not precious in our eyes for to such a soule as prizeth Christ truly the losse of Christ is more to him then the losse of all Husbands wives children friends gold silver and what else is in the world of any worth and value in the eyes of men and so you have a second marke to try your selves by A third Token of our prizing Christ above all is taken from the affection of such a soule to Christ after shee hath lost him and sought him but he will not be found for this you must know Beloved that when Christ is gone he will stay his owne time like as the Father which hath hid himselfe from his child will stay so long as he sees good though his child cry never so loud and call Father father never so often so Christ when he hath withdrawne himselfe will stay so long as he pleaseth though the poor soule cry for him and to him never so much Now in this sad condition when Christ seems not to love the poor soul in any the lest measure when he will not accept of any of her love tokens but flings back prayers and performances and will none of them that soule which prizeth Christ above all loves Christ still for all this though Christ seem to forsake her yet shee will not forsake Christ shee will not let her hold goe of him shee will owne Christ though Christ will not owne her shee will tell Christ I will love thee Christ though thou wilt not love me I see worth in thee that thou shouldest be beloved though thou seest no worth in me thou art the fairest of ten thousand the most beautiful that ever I laid mine eye on I cannot but love thee though I am so black and deformed in thy sight as thou wilt not love me thou art a good Husband and blessed is that soule that getteth thee for her Husband Ah my Christ make me but as one of thy hired servants if thou wilt not make me thy Spouse or one of thy children Such a soule will say to Christ tell me my Christ why thou hast thus withdrawne thy selfe from me let me know mine offence which I have committed against thee and made thee thus to leave me and if thou wilt have me I will goe to Hell to avenge my selfe on my selfe on my selfe for it I take it as a great favour that thou sufferest me to board with thy children though thou wilt not owne me as one of thine it glads my heart to see the feast of fat things the banquet of thy Ordinances which thou providest for thy people though I taste not the sweetnesse of them I will not raile on thee in
not first but the second then he is none of thy Master Divide the ends of thy action and then see if thou wouldst have done it if there had beene none but Cstrist as thy end many men in these dayes have done much in shew for Christ and his Cause but that they may not delude their owne soules let them examine what was that which first set them on worke whether it were Christ or any by-self-ends as profit crenit c. let them consider whether they could goe an end with the good work they have begun if that profit credit c. faile therefrom Beloved this will tell us the truth concerning our actions which we say are for Christ to whom bring we forth if to Christ then he is our Master but if to our selves all we doe is voyd of goodnesse and worth in his account Hos 10.1 Fiftly he that prizeth Christ above all can and will part with all for him this may seeme a riddle to a carnall heart but the beleeving soule can both read it and doe it That in Mat. 13.45 46. makes it cleere Every may that comes into the world is a Merchant for something or other some trade for profit some for credit others for pleasure and truly these three take up the imploymenss of all men before conversion because they know of no better commodities but when a man is converted his eyes are enlightned to see the vanity and emptinesse of them and the excellency of Christ and thereupon he leaves off his old trade and now trafiques onely for Christ and for him he parts with all that cannot stand with him or his having of him his affections are tooke off from all things here below and set on things above Christ is all in all in his eye and therefore if Christ will have his Husband Wife Isaac he shall if Christ will have his Goods his Liberty yea and life too he shall and he will thank Christ also for accepting of them he will rejoyce with the Apostles in Acts 5.41 that he was accounted worthy to suffer for his Christ so did the beleeving Hebrewes take the spoyling of their goods for Christ joyfully Heb. 10.34 These are spoyling times wherein happily some of you here have suffered for Christ and in the defence of his cause how doe you take the plundering of your goods by sea or by land for Christ's sake doe you rejoyce at it or doe you murmure and repine is it a griefe and a vexation to you then thou prizest thy goods above Christ and hast indeed no saving grace in thee Sixtly he that prizeth Christ aright highly esteemes all that doth but smell of Christ if any thing look but toward Christ as having the least relation to him such a soule will make exceeding much thereof If any of you have a noble friend that you highly reverence and esteeme you will bid welcome and give free entertainment to the meanest of his followers so if you prize Christ as you ought you wil not shut out of doors and that belongs to him but in it shall come and be bid heartily welcome for his Masters sake as well yea more then for its owne yet for its owne sake too because such a soule sees an excellency in every thing that is Christs and hath a dependency on him for as when a servant is bound Apprentice his Master then discovers to him the mystery of his trade the worth and price of every commodity he deales in so when a soule hath given up it selfe to Christ he teacheth him the mystery of godlinesse his trade and the worth of every spirituall commodity so that such a soule knowes what a Sabbath is worth what a Sacrament is worth what a good Sermon is worth what a poore Saint is worth c. I. As for the Sabbath that will be a delight to such a soule as prizeth Christ and it will be honourable in his sight because it is Christ's day and he loves it for Christ's sakes because it is a day of Christ's appearing to his holy ones like as you see amongst earthly Kings and Princes they have their set festivall times wherein they shew themselves to their people bestowing upon them great largesses throwing among them plenty of gold and silver so the King of Kings and Lord of Lord hath his owne appointed day which is now the first of the seven which he hath set apart therein to manifest himselfe to his chosen ones and bestow his grace on them in a more abundant measure then at other times as is evident from Exod. 31.13 such a soule therefore as prizeth Christ prizeth the Sabbath highly because he shall meet Christ then according to his promise in his Ordinances Truly Beloved if any of you prize not the day of the Lord you doe not prize the Lord of the day neither have you any saving grace in you II. The Word of Christ is very precious to such a soule for it is to him the lively picture of his Beloved he is much in hearing and reading of it because of his love to Christ who lies wrapt up therein that he may conferre with his Christ and behold the beauty of his Christ when friends are parted they love to hear of one another and their Letters are much set by for that purpose so the soule that accounteth Christ his best friend loves to heare of Christ now in his absence and therefore he reads his Love-letter to him peruseth it often for so Christ hath bid him to search the Scriptures because they testifie of him and as he loves to read Christ in his Word so to heare Christ preached out of his Word and truly he prizeth Christ preached more then Christ read because there is usually more in the former then in the latter more of the life and light and quickning power of Christ and what hath most of Christ hath most of this soules love because he loves and prizeth Christ most of all is there any here that slights the reading or hearing of the Word of Christ that soule prizeth not Christ Col. 3.16 for such a soule as prizeth Christ will delight therein yea and to have it dwell richly in him he looks at it as a rich Word because his Pearle is treasured up therein III. The Sacraments are precious to him each Sacrament is to him a rich Cabinet because his Jewell Christ crucified is in it A Diamond is rich in it selfe but when cut most precious and so Christ most precious to a soule that hath saving grace because cut and indeed cut with the sense of his Fathers wrath for his sake truly he had beene of little price to us if not so cut and therefore Paul saith 1 Cor. 2.2 he was determined not to know any thing but Jesus Christ and him crucified marke and him crucified as if therein lay the excellency of Christ to a poore soule Now his crucifying is lively represented in both Sacraments and therefore the soule
all for our Sanctification for if holinesse whereby we might serve God better then we doe were our aime when we fast and pray and humble our selves our sinnes and corruptions not our afflictions move us first thereto Indeed judgements and corrections are instructions they open our eyes to see our errours and then a love of holinesse brings us on our knees for our sinnes to beg a pardon for them and a cleansing of them saving grace teacheth a soul to begin at the right end of his work he that thinks to take judgement away before his sinne and therefore fasteth and prayeth he begins at the wrong end of the businesse he must take away the cause and then the effect will follow of it selfe dig up sinne by the root and that bitter fruit of judgement which growes on its branches will wither and come to nothing to humble fast and pray and doe such like duties for no other end but out of a desire of peace which we want and to escape the plagues we have deserved is onely to prize Christ above all for Justification whereby we are discharged and acquitted from the guilt of our offences and consequently from the punishment due to us for the same but to humble our selves out of sense of our sinnes the filthinesse of them their magnitude multitude and power and we begge Christ that he may come and reigne in the midst of his and our enemies that are in us that he would wash and cleanse us wash our feet hands head and all over that we might doe his service more decently and in order as becomes his servants then we prize Christ for Sanctification And truly it is to be feared that we have not humbled fasted and prayed in this kind because the Lord hath not heard and answered all this while it seems more probable we have sought the Lord onely in the former way for benefit by him out of meere self-love and therefore we have been despised as self-seekers the Lord hath seen we have brought forth all unto our selves and therefore he hath made all returne empty and vaine to us we shall never find Christ justifying us till we desire him sanctifying us the Lord gives his Christ not onely to save a soule but also that the soule may by Christ serve him indeed the Lord may give peace plenty and such like outward things he may heap on wicked men but there is no Christ in them and therefore they more hurt then do good to them yea and the Word doe with them more evill then good but to a soule that hath saving grace and prizeth Christ above all for holinesse the Lord give him Christ in all his gifts and tokens of what kind soever they be whether of his left or of his right hand and therefore they all doe him good he is the better and not the worse for them yea and he makes a good use of them to the glory of God and benefit of others wherefore to turne this signe into a motive as we would obtaine our desire and see peace and truth setled amongst us and as we would have good and no hurt by them when they come let us learne in all our Humiliations Fastings Prayers and all duty to prize and seek Christ above all for sanctification that is that we may not onely lead a quiet and a peaceable life 1 Tim. 2.2 3. but also that we live in all godlinesse and honesty for this indeed is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour Let me conclude with a word of reproofe of all such as doe not prize Christ above all for sanctification so well as for justification these persons have no saving grace in them and no true love to Christ they love happinesse but care not for holinesse so they could be saved by Christ let who will serve Christ for them they have all their desire and so no more need of Christ Ah let such poore soules take heed of their King there is more need of Christ in justification then sanctification Truly Beloved it is one of the devil's master-pieces in these times to take men off from sanctification to cry up free grace onely in justification when as there is as great if not greater free grace and therefore a greater need of it in sanctification then in justification as hath been shewne such therefore as seek not Christ above all for holinesse as well as happinesse are justly to be blamed What blame then are they worthy of who desire Christ to be a cloke of their unholinesse beleeve me a Church-Protestant is worse then a Church-Papist doe you not see what bribers they are see how they bribe their owne consciences and their brethrens eyes with an out-side of Christ mark you not how they be at a see with prayer hearing of Sermons repetitions c. that they may keep a bosome-sinne Are there not many Protestants I could wish there were none here that weare a glistering garment of profession uppermost as if they had put on that glorious Diadem the Lord Jesus Put alas that soule which hath put on Christ indeed is all glorious within the fairest part of its beauty is in the heart this soul hath a better in-side then out-side there is no true judgement can be given of him by his outward appearance and the truth is such a man is most carefull about his heart to adorn that to approve that to God But such as have not truly put on Christ all their care is to trick and trim up their outward man their visible outside they put the best side outmost How many under their brave coversluts wear next to their hearts garments nasty both for coursnesse foulnesse doth not this man put on covetousnesse that man envy another malice a fourth hypocrisie c. doe these serve Christ in any of their performances nothing lesse they serve oâ—ly themselves by him they doe but make him their shooing-horne to pull on their self-ends so long as Christ goes their way he shall have their company yea so long as the chariot of self-love lasteth they will march as furiously for Christ as Jehn did for Jehovah Baal shall downe and all his Priests too but if selfe and Christ come in competition and so must part then farewell Christ these mens way now lyes quite contrary to Christ's and let them goe they are not worthy the society of a christian that thus slight and abuse Christ whom Paul and every poore soule that hath saving grace doth prize Christ above all both for Justification and Sanctification FINIS I have perused this Sermon on Phil. 3.7 8 c. and finding it to be very godly judicious and profitable I doe allow it to be printed and published John Downame