otherwise you never shall you never can receive grace and yet notwithstanding what is that which carryeth away men in the world they are naught and wicked reprove them for it they heale all and make up all presently they beleeve in Christ and they repent them of their sinnes and shall not they bee saved They say indeede that they doe beleeve and they doe repent but the text saith they doe not so and the Lord in his word saith it is not talke it is not wishes but it is the willing of Christ and grace that will obtaine grace In the 15 of Mathew Mat. 15.8 9. and the 8 and 9 verses there saith the text In vaine doe these men worshippe mee for they draw nigh unto mee with their mouth and honour mee with their lippes but their heart is farre from me they draw neere Christ with their lippes that is they speake as good words as can bee they say they are sinners and that the Lord came to save sinners and they are humbled for their sinnes and attend their Church diligently and hurt no body But their hearts are from me saith the text why because that hearts are still upon their sinnes they are as proud as ever as ignorant as ever as vaine as ever their hearts still runne after sinfull courses and wicked practises and therefore away with this talke and such vaine pretences as men make in this case unlesse your hearts goe together with your words all is worth nothing what a fond imagination is this that a man should thinke his words should doe him good when his heart goeth against them when their mouthes professe Christ and their hearts oppose Christ Thou sayest thou prizest Christ above all things and yet thou wilt not lose a base sinne for Christ thou wilt not forsake any wicked lust or corruption for Christ you will say you prize Christ above all and yet many of your prophane drunkards will not lose a cup for Christ nay you will not lose any base custome for Christ you were prophane and you will be so still you were proud and you will bee so still thy heart and thy words doe not goe together and therefore never thinke that thy words will save thee Thou sayest thou beleevest but thy heart saith the contrary thou professest thou hast grace but thy heart denieth it and therefore it is a very sottish conceit to thinke thy words will doe thee any good when thy 〈◊〉 denieth what thy tongue professeth goe home therefore and examine your owne hearts and thinke thus with your selves I have talked much and I have said that I had faith and grace but oh wretch that I am my heart saith the contrary What a wretch am I doe I thinke that God will have mercy on mee because I say and professe that I am a sinner and because I say that I pray unto God for the forgivenesse of my sinnes no no those very words will condemne me because my heart goes not with my words it had beene farre better for these men that they never had spoke these things for these very words will rise up in judgement against them nay these words will keep them from the true willing of grace for they thinke they have it already because they say they have it this is a very dangerous conceit and therefore know that words will not carry all away to say we repent and beleeve and have grace these doe us no good at all wee must will grace before wee shall have grace but this is not a willing but onely a talking of grace The second use is a word of terror to shake the hearts of all wretched sinfull creatures under heaven those whom wee may condemne out of their owne mouthes they professe they will not have grace and therefore wee may conclude they never shall have grace their owne words will witnesse against them for when the Ministers list up their voyces like a Trumpet and cry night and day and cal upon them this is the good and ancient way walke in this way in the way of faith and repentance what answer doe men give they openly professe they will not doe this they will not walke in this way The Lord tendereth grace happinesse and salvation unto us and yet many do professe they will not come they will not attend upon God in his ordinances they will not embrace nor they will not entertaine Christ and grace and salvation they will not come to the meanes of grace and therefore they shall never have grace they never shall bee made partakers of it A man must will grace before he can have grace but you will it not you desire it not and therefore as sure as the Lord liveth you cannot have it Another generation there is that come to the house of God and sit as Gods people do and heare as Gods people doe but their hearts runneth after their covetousnesse when in your soules you can say our bodies are here indeed but our hearts are after our lusts and corruptions after our profits and pleasures if it be thus with you then still you resolve that your hearts shall not will the grace of God and therefore it is cleare and evident that you have not yet received grace Men resolve to doe as they did in the 18 of the Prophecy of Ieremie verse Ier. 18.12 12. They said there is no hope but wee will walke every one after our owne devices and doe the imaginations of our evill heart When the Lord called upon them to walke in the good way oh they would none of that but they would walke after the imaginations of their hearts And did these spirits thinke yee dye in those times are not some such now among us in these times wherein men say wee will not reforme our families nor wee will not pray with them wee will not keepe the Sabbaths nor wee will not leave our swearing and our swaggering our pride and our covetousnesse no all the Ministers under heaven shall not perswade us wee will take up our owne lewd and wicked courses we will bee prophane still and wee will sweare still wee will not amend our lives nor reforme our families in what a miserable accursed damnable estate are those men they will not leave and forsake their lewd practises and therefore they cannot will grace and if they cannot will it then we may certainely conclude they shall never obtaine it But you will say you would leave your wicked courses and reforme your families if you could doe it but you cannot I answer is it nor in your power to plucke your children and your servants into the Lords house on the Sabbath day is it not in your power to use the meanes whereby you may reforme your lives you can doe it but you will not doe it you will take up your owne wayes and your owne practises and therefore the case is plaine you will not take Christ and therefore you shall never have him
thou able to doe this No thou must aske thy sin leave first So take a covetous man art thou able to set open thy house if thou hast wronged any man or griped or coâ—ened any man art thou able to say I will restore him fourefold art thou able to doe this No no thou must aske thy covetousnesse leave first now whether you thinke that the divell will suffer you to goe out of his clutches when hee hath power over you if you thinke sinne will give you leave to forsake your lusts when you are servants to it I appeaâ—e to your owne consciences and therefore whosoever he be that is a naturall man let him not coâ—â—n himselfe he hath no power in himselfe to forsake finne if heaven were layd downe before him and offered him for the leaving of one lust hee could as well make a world as part with one lust for heaven and therefore every man should labour to see this and say Lord heretofore I have beene deluded I thought if I would have grace at any time I might have grace when I would if I would not have grace I might choose and therefore I thought I would have profit now and pleasures now and corruptions and hereafter I will repent hereafter I will have Christ but Lord I was deluded what was it in my power then to entertaine the Lord Iesus then it was in my power to goe to heaven to make a world and to create a soule also I will assure you it is the almighty power of God that must doe this in the first of Ephesians 19. Ephes 1.19 there the Apostle giveth us to understand how God worketh in our conversion What is the exceeding greatnesse of his power saith hee to us ward that beleeve according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when hee raised him from the dead and set him at his owne right hand in the heavenly places When the Lords body had lien in the grave three dayes the selfe same power that raised Christ from the dead this is the very same almighty power that workes in the heart of a man that is converted in this case canst thou raise Christ from the dead if thou canst doe this then thou mayst repent if not then of thy selfe thou canst not repent for the very same power that raised Christ from the dead the same power must worke repentance in the heart of a man be not therefore deceived but now looke to it â—â—â—ny Christians have thought that they might have grace and salvation when they would at commend but when God opened their eyes O then they saw no hope of this they then knew that the same power that raised Christ out of the grave the same power must raise them out of the grave of their sinner I beseech you therefore to be informed to yeelâ— to to be convinced of this truth the Text saithâ— naturall man cannot receive the things of God you say you can who shall we beleeve now What will you be Atheists the Lord saith the word saith a naturall doth not receive the things of God nay he cannot now whether thy word or the word of God will stand thou wilt one day know it to thy everlasting woe and therefore now be perswaded to see your owne follies and abandon this foolish conceit The second use is an use of examination namely from the former doctrine delivered every soule that heareth the word this day if they will deâ—â— plainely with their soules may understand what their condition is you may reade your owne estates whether you bee naturall men or spirituall whether gracious or gracelesse men what wouldst thou know then whether thou art a naturall man 〈◊〉 no and if thou beest so woe be unto thee The triall is easie in this kind observe what disposition thou hast to the things of God observe whether thy soule be affected with them whether thy soule can give entertainement to them the 〈◊〉 man cannot receive the things of God if thou beest a naturall man thou then canst not receive grace nor entertaine Christ and salvation so then canst thou finde that if pleasures come then thy heart giveth way to them if profits come then thy heart is transported with the love thereof Is thy soule inlarged to these things dost thou love and desire them canst thou swallow downe all entertaine all digest all very willingly in this kind never too much riches never too much honour never too much profit never too much pleasure is thy soule thus disposed But when the word calleth for repentance when the Gospell calleth for selfe deniall at thy hand the Lord Iesus would rule in thy heart when the Lord would take away all thy sinnes and all thy corruptions is it so now that thy heart is weary to heare the seâ— is it so that thou canst not give way to these then the case is cleare thou art in a naturall estate for the Lords sake take notice of it naturall things please thee profits and pleasures sinnes and corruptions please thee but thou canst not away with the things of the Spirit thou art therefore a naturall man there is therefore no roome for Christ in thy soule therefore there is no true grace yet wrought in thy soule In the 8. of the Rom. 5. 〈◊〉 saith the Text They that are after the flesh doe mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the Spirit Now observe therefore what rellish thou findest in the things 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—low canst thou rellish base courses and ill â—â—â—â—pany is any course or advice taken that may adduce thee unto wickednesse canst thou sweare with the blasphemer and swagger with the drunkard canst thou rellish and appove of these courses but when the Gospell comes and when a man checkes thee for drinking and swearing and tells thee that these things stand not with the kingdome of God the kingdome of Christ consists in righteousnesse and joy and peace in the holy Ghost and thou must deny thy selfe before thou canst receive the Lord Iesus if a man shall tell thee that thou must be pure as Christ himselfe is pure that the Lord Christ Iesus did not come into the world to make men loose and carelesse but holy and righteous to live soberly in this present world and deny all ungodly and worldly lusts to renounce and abhorre these when thou hearest that thou must become a foole that thou mayst 〈◊〉 made wise and that the Lord came to refesh those onely that where laden with the burthen of 〈◊〉 firmes when thou hearest these things how 〈◊〉 thou take them most men may give this answer wee thinke not so wee beleeve it not nay we cannot be perswaded of it is it thus with thee why then the case is ended the tryall is doâ—â— whoever doth not nay cannot receive the thingâ— of God the Gospell of God and the things revealed therein why the Text saith and the
so simple will you be such a foole to shake at the word of a teacher alas alas it is not conscience it is but conceit in this case and so at last the poore sinner falls off againe by the inticements of Satan and carnall counsells of wicked men and at last the Lord lets in horror and anguish and vexation into the conscience and sets the very flashes of hell fire upon his face and now scoffes and scornes will not serve the turne for the poore soule saith Now I find that it was not conceit that troubled mee for the flashes of hell have beene in my face and all the opposition against God and his truth all the taunts and scoffes against God and his servants and all my abominations that ever I committed I tell you I saw them all set before me and I saw hell open in conclusion and God executing judgement upon me for my sinnes Now when his companions see him in this humour they think a scoffe will not chase away this horrour for he tells them it is not your scoffes that will do it now no no I am going to hell and you will follow after me as fast as may be you haled me to drunkennesse and adultery and other base courses you drew me to ungodly practises and therefore you shall to hell as well as I do you think that I shall goe to hell and you not make haste after me do you think that I shall bee damned and you not be plagued when his companions see this then they leave scoffing and gibing of him and dare not appeare themselves but the devill hee transformes himselfe into an angell of light a drunkard will not now come unto him in the coate of a drunkard but he takes the coate of some seeming grave man upon him and hee must set upon him and tell him how the case stands and this carnall man doth three things to draw away the heart from God in this kind first he deludes conscience and tels him there is such a thing in feare but nothing in deed thou saith he art sinfull and God is mercifull thou hast beene an adulterer so was David and hee did nothing but say I have sinned and he was forgiven oh but saith the poore soule David was a broken hearted man and this broke his very bones Well when he seeth this will not do then secondly he must get him to cards and to dice to sports and to playes untill his conscience be benumed and seared and then thirdly all goodnesse must be kept from him in these cases especially they will be sure that he doth not look upon a Bible lest by that meanes hee might bee drawne away againe Now the Lord be mercifull unto us the poore man by counsell on one side and allurements on the other whereas before his soule was a little inlightned and his conscience awakened now he begins to turne a devill he flies about as though hell were broken loose he cares not what he doth for the dishonouring of God and damning of his owne soule so that by this time you see the subtilty of men in this kind Will you now know the condition of these men I tell you if there bee any wretched miserable wofull accursed damned people in the world I cannot tell who they be unlesse these be they and therefore observe the wofulnesse of their condition in three respects first they are most like the devill secondly they are most opposite to God thirdly they are the greatest enemies to mens salvation first they that oppose this worke oâ— conversion and salvation are as like the divell as can be Acts 13.8 the Text saith when Paul was to deale with Sergius Paulus the Deputy Lievetenant of the countrey the Deputy called for Paul and Barnabas and desired to heare the word of God now Elymas the sorcerer who was with the Deputy seeing the wind in that doore Paul hee would have drawne the Deputy to the faith but Elymas he withstood him seeking to turne him away from the faith now marke what Paul saies unto him I would not say so may I durst not speak it but that the Scripture is plaine then saith the Text Paul being full of the holy Ghost set his eyes on him and said oh full of all subtilty and mischiefe thou child of the divell thou enemy to all righteousnesse wilt thou not cease to pervert the way of God as if he had said here is the very claw and paw of the devill he is not only naught himselfe but hinders others from doing good Gen. 3.17 when the Lord had committed that threatning unto Adam and Eve that in that day that they eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill they should surely perish so long as the woman could beleeve that threatning she was well enough now Satan perceiving this comes and takes away the life of the threatning and the power of the command and gainsayd the word of God what saith hee hath God said that yee shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evill and in that day yee eat thereof yee shall die no no saith he you shall not surely die at all for God doth know that in that day yee eat thereof your eyes shall be opened and yee shall be as Gods knowing good and evill first he takes away the edge of the command and causes the woman to slight the threatning what did God say you should die you shall not die at all but be as Gods knowing good and evill as who should say God doth this for his own ends for he knowes when you do this you shall be like unto Gods thus the devill did in the beginning and looke what hee did that his children do now They that oppose this worke of God they have the tricks of their father up and downe they are as like the devill as if he had spued them out of his mouth the Lord saith he that killeth shall surely die the death this the truth saith and Ministers say but they say there is no such matter God is gracious and mercifull God did this to feare men not to vexe men and they slight that commandement of God also thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe as thy life and as thy soule but they say though the word say so yet it is no matter whether men obey that commandement or no the divell did so from the beginning and they doe so now what saith the divell did God say that you should not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill and in the day yee eat thereof yee should die why you shall not die at all what say they did the Minister say that your consciences must bee awakened and your hearts must be humbled or else you should perish you shall not die your conversation is holy enough and you need not take so strict a course in this kind thus the divell did
sinnes lies heavie upon his heart and the soule complaines as David did my sinnes are gone over my head they are to heavie for me I am not able to beare them these mightie corruptions I shall never bee able to master them these sinnes that hang upon me and these distempers that cleave unto me oh I cannot bee rid of them I see my sinnes more than ever I did and yet they follow me and still they pursue after me I shall never be freed from them I shall never get dominion over them why there is admirable comfor from the former point for such a poore soule that is thus oppressed by and overwhelmed with corruptions the doctrine is this God by a holy kind of violence doth pluck men from sinne and draw them to himselfe though thy sinnes will not part from thee yet the Lord will pluck those corruptions from thy soule hee will awaken thy conscience and humble thy heart he will bring downe thy sturdie heart be thy sinnes therefore never so great and thy corruptions never so mightie yet take consolation hereby the maine trouble of a poore soule lieth in three respects partly in regard of the temptations of Satan partly in regard of corruptions partly in regard of the opposition a man finds in a good course these are marvellous hinderances to a Christian and here is marvellous comfort from the former truth against all those first for temptations when the Lord letteth Satan loose upon a poore sinner and the divell begins to domineere over a sinner and trample upon a sinner and tells a sinner that to hell he must go and away hee must with him it is in vaine to strive for his sinnes are so strong that they shall never bee removed his corruptions will never part from him and therefore he wisheth a sinner to put an end to his daies and so to his sinning for he shall never be recovered he shall never be freed from the guilt of his sinnes and the dominion of them this is Satans power and this is like the wind that blew downe Iobs house that great and mightie tempest which came from the wildernesse and smote the foure corners of his house and made it fall upon his sonnes so I conceive the violent whurries of temptation and the fierce assaults of Satan come East and West North and South upon the heart of a sinner insomuch that the heart beginnes to sinke and conceives it selfe almost in hell it thinks it shall never overcome those assaults it thinks it shall never get out of these temptations you that finde these now or may find these hereafter let it please God to speake peace unto you you may observe marvellous comfort from the former doctrine the Text saith if Satan will not come out the Lord Iesus will bind the strong man and overcome him and take his weapons away from him and free the house of him and then he himselfe will go in and take possession Rom. 16.20 there saith the Text The Lord of heaven shall shortly beate downe Satan and trample hith under â—â—eet however haply Satan will not downe but be proud and malicious towards you though you cannot conquer him and quiet him though you cannot command the churlish curre yet the master can if there bee a bandogge or a mastiffe in the way the passenger must seeke by all faire meanes to appease him and yet haply hee will not be quiet but if tho muster comes he can command him and still him presently so it is with this curre divell he is nothing else but Gods bandogge Gods mastiffe whereby hee whurrieth poore sinners to make them runne to heaven for comfort though you cannot quiet him yet God can command him and make him fall under your feet and though he will not go out yet God will by strong hand cast him out whether hee will or no nay though there were a legion of devills in thee yet the Lord will force them out Luke 8.30 Christ met with a man which had divells a long time and when bee saw Iesus hee fell downe before him and cryed with a loud vayce what have wee to do with thee Iesus than sonne of the living God and Iesus asked him what is thy name and they said legion because many divells were entred into him I command thee thou uncleane spirit to come out of him saith Christ and so Satan was forced out whether hee would or no and therefore cheare thou thy soule and comfort thou thy heart which findest troubles in this kind and the temptations of Satan if hee be violent in tempting God will be as strong in conquering and binding of him and hee will cast him out and this is the first thing which hinders a man in a christian course namely the temptations of Satan and if thy heart bee still manuring and perplexed and saith the temptations of Satan are fierce But secondly these corruptions of mine oh they are extreme so that my sinnes are like a mayne flood which passeth over my head one wave commeth after another wickednesse after wickednesse and iniquity after iniquity now proud now sturdy now covetous now loose now prophane now unfaithfull oh these secret sinnes of mine and these bosome abominations of mine by which my heart hath so long beene swayed in which my soule hath so long continued I shall never bee freed from these I shall never get the mastery over these especially these beloved darlings lusts of mine God must breake my bones before they will out for my soule is still pursuing these distempers so that the poore sinner concludes as he did 2 King 7.2 when there was a great famine in Samaria the Prophet Elisha came and prophecied saying to morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flowre be sold for a shekell and two measures of barley for a shekell in the gates of Samaria then a ruler or a noble man upon whom the King leaned sayth the text answered the man of God and sayd behold if the Lord would make windowes in heaven might this thing be as who should say is it possible there should be such plenty on the suddaine no though God make windowes in heaven it cannot be So the soule sayth is it possible these sweet lusts these darling abominations so long committed so long continued so long practised can they ever bee pardoned if the Lord should make windowes of comfort and consolation is it possible that my soule should ever be refreshed why yet for all this behold a great deale of comfort from the former point though thy sinnes bee never so violent to pursue thee though thy corruptions bee never so strong to set upon thee yet God is more strong to conquer those sinnes and more strong to subdue those corruptions bee the union between sinne and thy soule never so neere God will breake that bond and snap those cords in sunder bee the dominion that sinne hath over thy soule never so great yet the power which Christ