to go to the Sacrament unsanctified and unprepared as he tempted the Israelites to long for flesh when it was death to long for it While the flesh was yet between their teeth ere it was chewed Numb 11. 33. the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague 4. Satan tempts from duty by plausable reasonings Thus Satan tempts a soul to leave duty and bid farewel to Prayer and Sacraments and Sermons Why so I am not the better by Prayer nor Hearing nor Reading nay methinks I am far the worse and therefore I 'le never hear more nor attend Sacraments more for my condemnation will be the greater To this I answer and observe arm your self thus Answ 1. It is better to perish in duty than out of duty Whatever comes on thee let God find thee doing his will be the event what it will Let death take thee praying and hearing let death take thee waiting upon God for Faith and Grace It is better for thee it should be so because thou art doing thy Masters will And therefore say I 'le pray and dye praying though I be never heard because praying is my duty and for Gods Glory Let me dye in a duty that glorifieth him 2. Thou canst never perish in duties if thou art found in them in Obedience to God thou mayst be like to perish in thy own sense but thou shalt never perish I say if thou art found in them in Obedience to God Obedience never went without success God will lose himself as soon as he will let obedience lose it self Duty may lose a soul but Obedience to God in duty never yet lost a soul to this day 3. It is but a may be if thou perish in duty and in ordinances It is a shall be unto thee to perish out of duty for duty is thy food thou must live by duty If a man eat food it may be he may perish though he doth eat but if he will not take food at all he shall perish so it may be thou mayst perish in praying and hearing and receiving Sacraments but thou shalt certainly perish in the neglect of these 4. God will at last speak to thee in duty for it is his way wherein he will be found God speaks not at first 1. To shew us the worth of the mercy As when a man is hardly intreated to part with a thing it is because it is a thing of some value a mean gift he will part with at the first word or it may be without asking So God gives mean things as riches and honours in this life to men without asking to them that never call upon his name But spiritual mercies as peace of soul joy and assurance of his love these he doth not give suddenly and casily not because he is hard to be intreated for he doth purpose to give them before we ask him but to shew us the worth of those rare and matchless mercies of what value they are of 2. To strengthen and breathe our faith As wrestling doth add strength to arms and body so praying and praying again doth strengthen faith as use and exercise in running strengthens the lungs and lengthens the breath so by much praying faith is well breathed Jacob by wrestling all night is stronger to wrestle in the morning the Angel said Let me go for the Gen. 32. 26. day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go till thou bless me He grew stronger and stronger I will not let thee go he was stronger at last than at the first 3. To keep us in the exercise of some other graces He doth not at first give us assurance of his love to keep us in the exercise of Prayer and longing after his loving-kindness He doth not presently as soon as we ask him Crown us with victory over a temptation that he might keep us in the exercise of humility and self-loathing he denieth us for a while some one comfort or grace for the exercise of another For this thing saith Paul I be sought the Lord thrice that it might 2 Cor. 12. 8 9. depart from me And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness 4. To let us know that the grace or comfort we ask is his gift of grace of free grace not a debt unto our persons or our prayers that when we have prayed never so long yet he gives freely 5. To discipline us in humble obedience and waiting on him to teach us our place that we may know our selves that it is our duty to wait upon him as long as he pleases and that we may understand his greatness and distance above us God will keep up his place in the hearts of his people and therefore will make them wait long before he gives in the things they pray for Yet I say for all this God will at last speak unto thee in duty for it is his way wherein he will be found He bids thee pray therefore thou shalt speed in Prayer He bids thee hear therefore thou shall meet him one time or other in hearing his word When God seeth a Saint resolves to pray for a mercy promised as soon as ever he begins to pray for it God resolves to bestow it though he doth not manifest it to thee after many a prayer that he will give it See Dan. 9. 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the Commandment came forth that is God hath revealed to us Angels and to me especially the secret of his Counsel concerning the Restauration of Jerusalem Isa 65. 24. and the Duration thereof even to the Messiah 6. Sometimes such is Satans depth a Saint doth sin out of love to Christ You would think this very strange yet it is very true a Saint I say doth commit some sins out of love to Christ Thus Peter sinned fearfully when Christ told them that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Matth. 16. 21 22. elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee Peter took him that is took him by the hand and led him aside as they use to do who would talk familiarly with a friend or took him that is embraced him be it far from thee that is thou hast deserved no such shameful death this shall not be unto thee that is we will not suffer thee to go to Jerusalem to be slain or let not this be Peter did all this out of his love to Jesus Christ yet Christ called him Vers 23. Satan So again when Christ washed his Disciples feet Peter would John 13 8. not let Christ wash his feet Thou shalt never wash my feet This was out of love and respect to Christ Peter thought Christ too good to wash his feet and therefore put
saith What will it avail thee Tho. a Kempis to dispute profoundly of the Trinity if thou be void of grace and displease the Trinity High words surely make a man neither holy nor just but grace makes him dear to God It is vanity to seek after fading riches it is vanity to gape after withering honours vanity it is to wish to live long and to be careless to live well But now many will say grace doth increase in us we do reach after more grace and this many false hearts say they do My Beloved false grace may grow and doth lengthen out in desires and dimensions many that are Hypocrites glory in this that their graces grow I must therefore shew you the difference between the increase of true grace and counterfeit grace 1. The Hypocrite grows out of Emulation The true Saint grows out of love to goodness The Hypocrite is grieved that others go beyond him and over-match him not love to grace but a spirit of envy makes him to advance The true Saint grows out of Duty to God to bring in more glory to his Name The growth of others is matter of his joy not of his repining He is glad that God is better served though it be by another his only grief is that himself can serve him no better 2. The Hypocrite another sort of them groweth in Parts but not in the Power of godliness in gifts and curiosities but not in vital and Divine quicknings In Knowledg and Speculations but not in strength against sin and temptations Judas by conversing with Christ could not but grow in Knowledg but being not incorporate into Christ never grew in grace But the true Saint grows in his spiritual life in Union to Christ in Communion with God The Hypocrite may grow in quantity but not in quality the real Saint grows as much in quality as in quantity 3. The Hypocrite may grow more and more in hearing the word but the Saint grows in tasting the word and in tasting that most deliciously which is most spiritual The Hypocrite longs more after new truths but the Saint tastes old Promises with new affections and old truths with a new appetite The Knowledg of an Hypocrite may grow bigger but the Knowledg of a Saint grows more savoury and judicious The Hypocrite may know more Objects than he did before but the Saint relishes the things more sweetly which he knew before The Hypocrite may grow in enlargements and pour out longer Prayers but the Saint prays more spiritually The Hypocrites zeal may be a great fire but the Saints zeal is more heavenly and discreet there is more incense in his golden censer his love more solid and active more to God and less to himself and the world The hypocrite is like a tree that bears great Apples but they are sower but the Saint the fruit he bears it may be are not such big Apples but they are sweet Apples the juice is better that gives them a more pleasant relish in Gods palate There is a sweeter juice of love and kindness and godly sorrow and filial delight in God in a Saints duties and here the Saints growth chiefly lyes his fruit groweth more ripe and mellow and so more pleasant and sweet His Prayers are not bigger in quantity but better in quality he grows in choiceness of spirit he comes to the Throne of grace with a more precious esteem of Christ upon his heart He comes to the word with a dearer thirst upon his palate 't is the same Christ that is set still before him but he relisheth Christ more sweetly receiveth and tasteth the same promises more ravishingly trembleth at the same threatnings more tenderly and meltingly Whereas the hypocrite is cloyed with the word if it be not dish'd up to his palate but the Saints palate is spiritualized to the word The hypocrites tast of Sermons is flatted by reading of Books but the Saints taste is quickned by the sense of his wants For this is the true use of reading and the end of Knowledg To make VS more sensible of our wants and make Christ more excellent in our eyes Therefore in taking notes the hypocrite picks out matter here and there according to his nice and licquorish palate but the hungry Saint takes all and feeds upon all that comes before him feeling his need to be stirred up to consider what he knows Vse 9. Here 's a sweet ground to assure the Saints perseverance To him that hath grace he shall not lose it but more shall be given him he shall not lose what he hath but he shall have more than he hath he shall not fall away but stand faster They that fall away are those that have not truth of grace at all Whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath But the poor Saint that hath To him shall be given and he shall have more abundance He shall be so far from losing grace that he shall have more grace Dub. But my grace is but little I cannot stand Sol. God shall make thee stand Rom. 14. 4. Where disputing of him that is weak in the faith Vers 1. saith he Vers 4. HE shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand The more weak thou art the more tender God will be over thee if thou canst not stand he will make thee stand thou shalt stand in his arms In Christ you have not only the graces of Christ but the spirit of Christ I pray you mark it 1. If Adam had stood how long we know not it may be had he stood the first shock of Satans temptation all his Posterity should have had that assistance of the Spirit that they should have never fallen as the Holy Angels that were contented with their first station and abode in the truth when the other Angels fell this was their Obedience that they were loyal in the day of their great Tryal when the others their Fellow angels rebelled and their reward was That they are confirmed in their happy condition and secured in it so if Adam hemself in whom we were all one man had stood I say if he therefore had stood it out to the last both he and all his Posterity should have had the continual and constant assistance of the Spirit and been confirmed so as never to have fallen And the ground is the rule of Justice for if he falling all his Posterity are forsaken of God and put under the Reign of Sin and Death and Satan then he standing all his Posterity should have had the perpetual Presence of Gods Spirit and been under the everlasting Reign of the Spirit of grace and life 2. But now Jesus Christ the second Adam who was the Head of the new seed and family he stood and therefore propagates to all his Posterity the perennious Presence and constant assistance of the Spirit whereby being once begotten of him they live for ever and abide in him As in Adams fall
Saints that they may be more serious in their duties 2. The other evil in a slight and formal Communion with God in Duties is unthankfulness Duties of godliness are not only a debt to God but a reward to us Therefore in slightness there is not only unfaithfulness but unthankfulness Both the Majesty and Mercy of God is despised and can God be well pleased with such things 3. There is a third evil in a slight Communion with God in Duties and that is unfruitfulness we get nothing from God in duties we pray slightly and therefore get nothing by Prayer we hear the word slightly and therefore profit not by it Now that the Lord may cure his people of this slightness of heart and make their graces grow he useth this dispensation to leave them in want of assurance 6. God increaseth his Saints graces by terrors within he not only suspends their comforts but afflicts their souls he writes bitter things against them 1. These rowse them up to seek God They that see themselves lost will find a way to God They that have Hell-fire burning in them will value Heaven and pardon and the least drop of Gods love Oh! now promises are precious and Gods love neglected is now sweeter than the honey and the honey-comb Now they cry Come Lord Jesus come quickly 2. These fright them out of their dreams and carnal slumbers as the cry made at midnight that the Bridegroom cometh awoke the virgins out of their sleep Among the other diseases of the soul Divine desertions cure deadness and dulness of heart Sometimes living men are in a lifeless state their hearts are so benummed that they seem to lye among the dead They can hear the word carelesly and sleep out whole Sermons there is no vigour nor activity in their graces at home and therefore the Lord hangs their souls over the mouth of Hell and makes them drink of that red wine the dregs whereof the wicked of the earth shall Psal 75. 8. wring out and drink them that by this strong potion he may rowse them up and quicken their dull and drowsy spirits 3. These terrors work them more closely to Christ And for this cause God gives his People sad visions of sin and wrath he shakes the soul with Earth-quakes that she may stand faster upon her true Basis and Foundation These storms make their hearts gather in to Christ That I may be found in him saith Paul The soul must have some dry land to stand upon and when the flood of Gods terrors overflow the soul then she flyeth to Christ as Noah's Dove to the ark 7thly The Lord increaseth grace in his Saints by afflictions he makes them by marring them Divine Wisdom works by contraries he makes them shine brighter by their Eclipses and clears up their light by darkness Schola crucis Schola lucis And truly It is the property of true-born grace to grow the greater by the cross As the laurel tree is not smitten Plin. Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 55. nor blasted with lightning no more is heaven-born grace hurt by any afflictions but much bettered by them 1. God increaseth his Saints graces by sharp sicknesses by diseases unto death i. e. this startles mightily Oh Lord thou didst surprize me unprovided and if thy hand had cut me off with that disease my soul had been cut off from heaven for ever This enters deep upon the soul and strikes terrour upon the heart the Lord I hope shall never find me so again This stirs up thankfulness to the Lord that hath not only in this tryal saved me from the grave but also from Hell 2. Sicknesses deaden the Saints to the world They that in sicknesses are always leaving the world learn to dye unto the world They have death always in their eye They see themselves still upon the borders of the grave They are ever and anon lanching in eternity and this makes grace grow 3. Sicknesses are searchers Thou enquirest after mine iniquity Job 10. 6. saith Job and searchest after my sin When God smites our bodies he searcheth our hearts and makes enquiry in our lives and now saith the soul Let us search and try Lam. 3. 40. our ways When God is searching VS it is high time for VS to search our selves and this also makes grace to grow 4. Sicknesses dig Wells of godly sorrows in the heart They are as it were Gods Mattocks and Spades whereby he delves deep into the center of the heart and digs Wells of repentance which send forth streams of confession of sin which before would not run because they had no vent being covered and stopt with the earth of lust and hardness and worldliness upon them but now they find a passage When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the Psal 32. 3. 4. 5. day long for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me and my moysture is turned into the drought of summer I acknowledged my sin unto thee and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin 2. By poverty and narrowness of estate Many men must Aquilone maxime gaudent densiores ab afflatucjus laetioresque materiae firmioris Plin. Nat. Hist l. 17. c. 2. Jer. 6. 22. be kept short and bare that they may thrive in grace Pliny saith That trees generally like best that stand to the North-wind It causeth them to spread thick and more flourishing and makes the Timber more strong and solid The Lord threatneth the Jews with a people from the North-Countrey the Chaldean Army which should carry them captive into Babylon The North wind winnowed them and fanned all their Idolatry They flourished gallantly in Religion after the North wind had blown upon them 1. The cold blasts of poverty correct pride and moderate high thoughts Make a man poor and you make him humble Pride is an absolute enemy to grace and prosperity is the seminary of pride The North-wind of poverty cools the courage and tames the spirits of men and now they know God and themselves Their Plumes fall and now they will digest a reproof and sit upon even ground with the lower Saints When the world frowns upon them they seek the smiles of God before they were too high for him 2. Poverty teacheth them to pray they can now fall upon their knees those that never called upon God learn now to visit the Throne of grace and cry Lord Give us this day our daily bread Nay they long for the spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father Nay those that have prayed in their fulness now pray feelingly They can go to God in sense of wants before they did not hear nor feel their own Prayers In their prosperity they did not care what Prayers they put off God with Now they set the highest rate upon Prayer for they are fain to live upon Prayer An hungry belly makes a Saint hungry after Ordinances and after Gods Presence When a mans debts and poverty make
be given to them that have grace be it never so small Then Saints see what your work is What 's that to receive How may we receive more grace First Open thy soul to receive grace For to receive a thing is sometimes a motion of the subject or faculty opening it self to receive it As the hand doth open it self to receive a gift and a vessel must be opened to receive oyl or cordial pour'd into it The earht opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah And Numb 16. 32. Gen. 4 11. the earth as God said to Cain opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now the opening of the soul to receive Grace consists in these three Things 1. In believing the Promise when the soul believes its door stands open to receive the golden Treasures of Grace that are brought into it out of the store-house of the Promise And therefore saith the Text They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto Acts 14. 27. the gentiles 2. In love to grace promised for love is an opening grace When a man loves a friend dearly he opens his Arms to embrace and receive him so when a man loves grace he opens his heart to welcom grace into it And therefore ye shall find this passage between Christ and his Spouse saith Christ Open to me my love And saith the Spouse I rose up to open to Cant. 5. 2. Vers 5. my beloved He that loves Christ will open the two-leav'd gates of his soul to let in Christ with all his train 3. In desire after grace promised for the desire of grace is an opening of the soul to receive grace As the Lord saith Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide i. e. ask freely open thy mouth in Prayer as wide as thou wilt And I will fill it 2dly Lye low The valleys that receive all the showres and floods into their bosom lye low under all the high hills and proud mountains so the humble Saints that lye in the bottom of self-abhorrence under all the rest receive the showres of grace the floods stay upon them and they drink them in they are overflown like your low grounds with abundance of grace 3dly Accept of grace to receive grace is to accept of grace As Jacob said to his brother Esau Nay I pray thee if now I Gen 33. 10. have found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand i. e. accept of my present at my hand Vse 5. What shall I do that have no grace To him that hath shall be given But what shall I do that have not Consider grace is a gift and therefore 1. God can give grace where it is not he gives grace where is none he doth good to them that are not good A gift is bestowed where it is not See Isa 44. 3 I will pour water upon Isa 44. 3. him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring i. e. as I pour Water and Floods upon the dry and thirsty ground that hath none so will I pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Where observe God gives showres of grace where there 's not a drop before 2. He can give grace to whom he will he can love whom he will and he can give grace to whom he will this is the Prerogative of Gods Love he can love any one Man being a narrow creature cannot love any one one that is fowl and ugly and crooked but God can love any one he can love unhandsom and deformed Creatures and marry them and make them lovely Naaman the Syrian was a Leper and therefore wondrous ugly he was a Leper in Body and Mind too The beauty of the mind presents a crooked person comely to us but Naaman had beauty in neither part he was a Leper in body and an Idolater in mind and yet God loved him and by a poor maid in his house sent him to the Prophet of Israel and healed his outside and healed his inside made his Body comely and made his Soul comely 3. He makes notorious sinners noteable Saints he makes Persecutors Preachers As he did Paul and all the Church admired it But they had heard only that he who persecuted us Gal. 1. 23. in times past now PREACHETH the faith which once he DESTROYED See the Work and Free-grace of God! Would God shew mercy to him that destroyed the Faith Yes he gave Faith to him that destroyed the Faith Paul if he could would have kil'd Christ and yet God gives him Christ The Gentiles were the greatest Sinners in the World and they were at the height of sin when the Gospel began to be Preached to them they were counted unclean the unclean Act 10. 14 15. beasts swine and other Beasts which the Jews under the Law might not eat did signifie the Gentiles and the Jews not eating the unclean beasts did signifie that they should have no communion with the unclean Gentiles yet on the GENTILES Vers 45. Acts 11. 17. also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost And forasmuch as God gave them i. e. the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto us 4. Sometimes God makes his greatest Act of Love to pass upon the greatest sinner Paul you know was a Saul indeed chief of sinners he saith it of himself and yet notwithstanding Acts 9. 3 4. Christ Preached from Heaven to him he sent men to Preach to others as Philip to the Eunuch but Jesus Chrrist doth himself Preach to Paul Jesus Christ when he was on Earth in the form of a servant called the other Apostles as Matthew at the receipt of custom and Peter when he was fishing follow me but when he was on his Throne in Majesty he Preacht from Heaven to Paul Wondrous love to a wondrous sinner 5. He bids thee pray and he 'l give Ask and it shall be Matth. 7. 7. Luk. 11. 13. given you But you 'l say he saith this to Saints Sol. See what our Lord Christ saith to the Woman of Samaria If thou knew'st the gift of God and who it is that saith John 4. 10. to thee Give me to drink thou would'st have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Dub. But I ask and yet 't is not given Resp Questionless he that bids us ask means to give As we bid our Children say I pray you father give me such a thing we do it not but when we mean to give it them Object But I cannot pray I cannot pray for grace Answ 1. He that will give thee grace when thou prayest will give thee grace that thou mayest pray As God first formed Adams body and it lay dead before him on the ground without breath or life or soul in it and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
quicken and stir up their appetite that they may have an edg upon their spirits to the Ordinances And thus though under many fears and much doubting yet grace increaseth in them for as a lively and quick appetite to the Ordinances is a sign of growth so it is a means of the growth of grace 4. The Lord increaseth grace in his people by the communion of Saints It is not good saith God for man to be alone As man is a sociable creature so grace loves company nay grace needs company and society Exhort one another daily saith the Apostle while it is called to day Travellers are sensible how dangerous it is to ride alone Who knows what or whom they may meet with in the way Communion of Saints is a Divine Ordinance Grace cannot thrive well without it and we must not think to grow in grace when we will live without an Ordinance In Communion there is Communication in the Communion of Saints there is a Communication of Graces and Experiences and Influences There cannot be a building unless there be a meeting of stones Saints together In the Communion of Saints there is a bearing up of one another As in a Fabrick one stone holds and bears up another Bear you one anothers burdens and so fulfil the law of Gal. 6. 2. Christ In the Communion of Saints there is a praying for one another Pray one for another And what an help is this to the Jam. 5. 16. growth of grace In the Communion of Saints there is a telling of one another their faults an opening of the wound that it may let out Matth. 18. 15. the corrupt matter a friendly conviction to nip the sin in its bud that it may go on no further and doth not this contribute much to the growth of grace In the Communion of Saints there is a mutual mourning over 2 Cor. 12. 21. one another a shedding of tears for one another which falling like dew cannot but moisten and mollisie the withering herb and repair decaying grace Tell me Doth not this advance the work In the Communion of Saints there is a restoring of one another a setting of bones that are out into joynt again like curious and tender Chyrurgeons with gentle handling of the diseased party not roughly but by putting him to as little pain as may be for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies If any be overtaken Gal. 6. 1. in a fault Restore him with the spirit of meekness And doth not this help to perfect grace wonderfully In the Communion of Saints there is a consolation of repenting sinners a providing of Cordials for lapsed souls that faint under the sense of their sins an Application of comforts to them under their grief and shame Forgive him saith the 2 Cor. 2. 7 8. Apostle and comfort him lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow confirm your love toward him And tell me how Doth not this cheer up grace exceedingly This is another means whereby God furthers grace in his People the Communion of Saints And are ye not now ashamed of your selves that you use this Ordinance no more among you Do you not find your graces to wither in you for want of it There are strong Saints and there are weak Saints and the weak ones should receive quicknings from the Benign influence of the stronger As Pliny tells us of a Territory in Africk Nat. Histor l. 18. c. 22. in which a City called Tacape is situate I say in this Territory as he tells us in his time there stood a mighty great Date-tree having under it growing an Olive under which there is a Fig-tree and that over-spreads a Pomgranate-tree under the shade whereof there is a Vine Every one of these saith he live joy and thrive under the shade of each other Such is the Communion of Saints rightly planted a company of precious Trees where the Olive grows under the Date-tree the Fig-tree under the Olive the Pomgranate under the Fig-tree and the Vine under the Pomgranate the weak Saints under the shadow of the stronger 5. By want of assurance I say the Lord quickens his peoples graces by withdrawings of his Presence and interpositions of black darkness They lye out in a night of sad fears and wants of assurance Not that God delights in these Methods but he is fain to do so the necessities of his Saints call for it otherwise they would be stark naught They would forsake God if God did not forsake them for a while For 1. Did they always enjoy Gods smiles they would grow fearless of God Fear of God is a great preservative of grace and antidote against sin Now fearlesness of God is a distemper which the Saints are apt to grow into As children are wont to grow sawcy and irreverent when their Father dandles them too much upon the lap of familiarity and therefore he is fain sometimes by his frowns and distance to take down their spirits So though God be a Father yet he will be feared Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Psal 2. 11. And therefore to correct the sinful boldness of his Children and cause them to stand in awe of him he sometimes shuts in his favour and takes state by concealing himself as the Persian Kings shunned familiarity and were seldom seen that they might be the more honoured The fear of God is one of the main pillars of his Throne and so far as he is not our fear he is not our God And therefore to advance his fear in the hearts of his people he withdraws his face and where fear grows grace grows For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom i. e. the chief or principal part of our wisdom The Saints fear of God keeps them from Apostacy I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall never depart from me and to quicken their fear they shall sometimes feel his absence 2. The Lord leaves his people in wants of assurance to cure them of slightness of heart There is a trifling disposition in the hearts of Saints they are apt to be superficial in their ways and this God visits upon them They dally with duties do them as if they did them not without heart in a lazy and liveless manner you are in an evil frame of heart when you can do the weighty things of God with slightness There are three evils in a slight and formal Commnnion with God 1. Vnfaithfulness A slothful servant is an unfaithful servant He that is faithful doth his masters work with all his might And certainly a slight communion with God speaks a slight love to God Where then there is idleness and indisposedness God comes in a way of anger to whip up the slothful and unfaithful spirit and this stirs up grace Negligence and dallying with duties would kill grace and therefore it is a mighty mercy of God to shadow himself from his
14. Lords face and turn from their wicked ways When they hear the words of the Lords threatnings they will rend their clothes 2 Chr. 34. 27. and weep before the Lord They that are humble they will accept of the punishment of their iniquity they will kiss Lev. 26. 41. the Rod of their correction glorifie his Justice and implore his Mercy The proud man thinks his little much the humble man thinks his much is too little The proud man thinks he hath grace enough the humble man thinks he can never have enough The proud man hath high conceits of himself the humble man hath high conceits of God The proud man seeks himself the humble man seeks Gods Glory and therefore his desires of grace are infinite because no measures are sufficient to serve Gods Glory The proud man reflects upon what he is the humble man reflects upon what he was that he was unprofitable he did serve sin a long time too long Many years were spent before he was called and all that while God lost by him and therefore now he must Row hard and ply his Oars with quickest diligence he did God much wrong and therefore now he must work and labour hard for him As Paul did I am the least of the Apostles that am not meet to 1 Cor. 15. 9 10. be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God I laboured more abundantly than they all The proud man reflects upon his attainments and what he hath done the humble man forgets those things which are behind Phil. 3. 13. Ad humilitatem pertinet ut Homo defectus proprios considerans seipsum non extollat Aquin. 22ae q. 35. ad 3. and reacheth forth unto those things which are before Is it possible that grace should not thrive here Oh! now it goes on amain The proud man casts his eye upon his Beauties the humble man turns his eye upon his Deformities the proud man looks upon his graces the humble man looks upon his sins and then crys out Oh! how much dirt and dross have I yet within me that must be purged out My sins out-weigh my graces so much levity of heart in me yet to be mortified so much self will to be expunged and self ends to be dethroned and carnal wisdom to be dismounted so much want of love to God and his Saints which must be heightned so much slavish fear in me which must be turned into filial fear so much studying mine own preservation more than the Honour and Interest of the Lord studying my safety more than my duty asking how I may be saved oftner than how I may serve God how little I rejoyce at the prosperity of the Gospel if my self be in adversity and how little I grieve in the adversity of the Church if I my self be in prosperity Thus the humble Saint by considering his imperfections advanceth on to perfection by advising with his own wants is still drawing more water out of Christs fulness 10thly God increaseth his Saints graces by making themselves to improve and increase them God increaseth their stock by their own good husbandry When the noble man in the Parable called his Servants Luk. 19. 12. and gave a stock of money among them to traffick with in his absence he charged them to improve it to his best advantage and one of them said Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds and another came and said Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds So when the Lord Christ gives a stock of grace and sets up a soul he looks that your own care should come in and that by your own good husbandry you should add to it You suppose the work of increasing grace lyeth in Christ alone This is and is not true 1. It is true in this sense that the increase flows only from Christ the increase is his blessing As Paul said in another case Paul planteth and Apollo watereth but God giveth the increase 'T is he alone that adds to the first stock wherewith he set you up None can create grace in the soul but Jesus Christ Every addition is a new creation When David after his great fall prayed for increase of grace He saith Create in me a clean heart O God When Paul stirreth them Psal 51. 10. Eph. 4. 23 24. up to be renewed in the spirit of their mind he adds which is created As the first platform of the new man is created so is every degree of it This is the difference between the growth of nature and of grace In natural growth there ariseth out of nature a new addition but in the growth of grace there is a new creation Thus far that all your increase of grace lyeth in Christ alone is true 2. But in another sense it is not true that is without the endeavour For you must act that Christ may give the increase You must work out your salvation with fear and trembling though God must work in you both to will and to do And therefore 't is said to you Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledg and to knowledg temperance The Disciples came to Christ and said Lord increase our faith And Paul prays for the Thessalonians The Lord make you to increase and yet he saith to them We beseech YOV brethren that ye increase more and more 11thly God increaseth grace in his Saints by keeping them awake The sluggard and the sleeper goeth behind-hand it is impossible he should thrive or keep cart on wheels And therefore God to increase their graces keeps his Saints awake Sleep is Ligatio sensuum the binding of the senses and therefore to be awake is when the senses are free and at their liberty 1. Sleep shuts up the eye the man that sleeps seeth no more than the man that 's blind And therefore God keeps his Saints eyes open to see Temptations and spiritual dangers to see the snares that are laid for them at their feet to see things invisible to see Judgment at hand to see the Tribunal set and the Books opened and the Judg sitting with innumerable Angels round about him and now repentance thrives and self-examination is at work and making your calling and election sure goeth on and spinning of fine linnen and washing of our robes white in the blood of the lamb and preparation for the nuptials with the Bridegroom While the eye of Hope is 1 Joh. 3. 3. kept open the man purifieth himself as Christ is pure 2. Sleep locks up the ear As long as a man is drown'd in a dead and deep sleep he hears no noise about him and therefore the Lord to increase his Saints graces keeps their ear open they hear the word of the Lord they hear and believe they believe and tremble they tremble and obey they obey and set upon action they read they run they pray they consult with the Saints they enquire how did the Lord work upon you What signs and evidences of grace
can you produce as fruits of your Election and first fruits of your Salvation When you passed through the new birth what were your pangs How were your throws 3. Sleep takes away sense and feeling The man that is lockt up in sleep as he hears not when you call him not seeth you though you stand before him so he feels not though you jog him by the elbow And therefore God to increase his Saints graces keeps their feeling awake and lively their sense of sin is still fresh in them upon their Consciences God keeps open their wounds of godly sorrow that they bleed afresh upon every good occasion they feel their wants and spiritual defects their spiritual poverty they feel how little they grow in grace they feel how weak their spiritual life is how feeble their strength how faint their faith how languid their Communion with God how cold their affections are to Christ and are therefore very sedulous to supply what is lacking to their graces and to be found in an acceptable state at their Lords coming 1. They feel the knocks of the spirit and are ready to open unto and receive him 2. They feel Gods retreat and absence from their souls 3. They feel when they work by the spirit or by their own strength When they pray in the spirit or by their own gifts and parts 12thly God increaseth his Saints graces by their exercise of their graces Herein do I exercise my self saith Paul to Act. 24. 16. have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man Paul by exercising a pure Conscience kept a pure Conscience so must every Saint that would be skilful at his weapons be training and exercising himself in his postures 1. There 's no grace the Christian hath but the Lord calls for its daily exercise Pray but how continually Continue in Col. 4. 2. prayer Rejoyce But when Alway Rejoyce in the Lord alway Phil. 4. 4. Give thanks for what In every thing 2. What makes garments breed moths but lying in the 1 Thes 5. 18. Chest or Coffer And Iron to rust and the stone to gather Moss but to lye still What makes water in a pond to gather Mud but because 't is standing water 3. This makes God to exercise our graces It may be YOV will not exercise grace your selves and therefore God steps in and doth it for you he provides service and work for your graces And truly though when God comes to exercise your graces it is sharp for the time and tedious yet it is gainful to you and very advantageous Graces do never increase and thrive so much as when God himself doth exercise them and find employment for them Oh ye Saints God seeth your graces would decline and go behind-hand in you did he not cut out work for them He brings thee into a Labyrinth of straits to exercise thy Faith In thy prosperity and fulness Faith in God is laid aside as useless and thou relyest upon thine own props and therefore God plungeth thee into straits that thou mayst exercise thy Faith on him He loads thee with reproaches to exercise thy humility he encounters thee with the other affliction to exercise thy patience Poor occurrences and trifles not worth the naming that meet thee every day in thy way these distemper thee and make thee peevish and then God sends some weighty load of affliction on thee to exercise thy humility and patience to purpose saith he I will make thee cry out for something Oh ye secure Saints that have laid down your Watch and are grown remiss in your walkings I do assure you God hath some sharp scourges and severities to exercise you with There are some of you whom I know God hath a sharp scourge for 4. Exercise of grace keeps Satan out of us at a distance from us from being able to close in with us What keeps an Enemy from coming in to a man but by acting his weapon and holding him still at the swords point What is it that keeps an Army at distance but the playing of the Ordinance else they would come up to the City and scale the walls So my Beloved 'T is the exercise of your graces that stand between Satan and your graces The exercise of Divine Meditation keeps Satan out of your Thoughts and Meditations 5. Either exercise thy grace or Satan will act thy corruption As one Bucket goeth down the other riseth There is a principle of sin within which like a malignant party watcheth for such a time to step into the saddle and it is easier to keep it down than to pull it down 13. God keeps up and improves the graces of his people by giving them discontents in the creature he affords them no ease nor rest in any condition The Lord crosseth them of what they look for in this world They desire such and such a comfort and if they might have it oh they promise themselves much happiness and rest in it Will ye see now how the Lord deals with them if they belong to him Either he flatly denieth them the comfort they desire they shall not have it or else he gives it them but with an hundred crosses and discontents with it He imbitters the happiness and sweetness they promised themselves in it and then they cry out Now we see that all is vanity and vexation See ye it not by experience That what outward comfort a Saint delights in most in that God crosseth him most When they sit down to feed upon and enjoy it the Lord mingleth some tart sauce or other with it that their expectation is broken and find it not what they promised it would be to them like Beer it hath a tang with it something that doth displease them with it Thus I say doth the Lord deal with his Saints that belong to him their dearest comfort he pours some or other unpleasing ingredient into it they shall not have their full pleasure in it that he may wean them from it to himself Saints if God hath a mind to save you he 'l let nothing go away with your love from him and therefore he will put into every worldly comfort some correctives to abate your delight in it and that you may not take up your rest in it If such an outward comfort be sweet it shall be a sweet-bryar to thee and scratch thee If another comfort be a Rose to thee which thou delightest to smell at it shall be a Rose with prickles to thee God will make it so that thy heart may be indifferent to it I say thou shalt have discontent in every thing in every comfort thou enjoyest in every kind of life thou livest the single state and the married state shall have their thorns and burdens If thou hast an Husband or a Wife thou shalt have them with prickles thou shalt have riches and wealth with adhering crosses and vexations thou shalt have credit with envy and biting emulations thou
uncertain Acts 15. 7. When some Teachers would have imposed Circumcision upon the believing Gentiles Peter argued against it 1. Because God sent him to Preach the Gospel to Cornelius and his Family and others his Kinsmen and Friends whom he had called together all of them uncircumcised Gentiles God would have the Gospel Preached to them and they accordingly had and received the faith and yet were not circumcised this was one argument why they should not be circumcised 2. God also saith Peter gave them the Holy Ghost even Vers 8. as he did unto us and by this God which knoweth the hearts bare them witness that is by giving them the Holy Ghost testified from heaven that they were accepted of him though they were not circumcised and therefore saith he Why tempt Vers 10. ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples Ye tempt God by urging Circumcision upon them that is your laying that yoke on the Gentile-Christians after such evidences of Gods will to the contrary is a tempting of God Sinners you thus tempt God you tempt God who believe not his clear dictates but call into question his certain commands God commands ye to be holy and to walk strictly and exactly yet you doubt of it whether it be so or no you think you need not be so holy though the Command revealed is clear as the Sun yet you doubt whether God himself be so strict or whether his will is that you should walk by so strict a rule now you tempt God and try him whether he made such Commands seriously or in jest whether he be in earnest or in sport when he saith Be ye holy for I am holy 7. They tempt God that lay unnecessary yokes upon the necks of the disciples As Peter saith Why tempt ye God to Act. 15. 10. put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples c. Deodate gives this gloss upon it Why do ye make a rash tryal without any necessity or command even with danger of sinister success whether God will give them the will to submit themselves to a burthen so odious to them and the power of bearing it without being moved to impatience and revolt arguing that such a course was to make the poor Gentile-Christians to revolt from the Gospel of Christ 8. Doubting hearts tempt the Lord Can the Lord forgive or will the Lord forgive such a sinner as I am This comes to that pass in the 78th Psalm v. 18 19. They tempted God in their heart they said Can God furnish a table in the wilderness Poor souls let us pity one another our doubting is a tempting of God let us then throw our selves upon his free promise and fear nothing 9. Men may tempt God in holy duties 1. When we perform holy duties in our sins and here we tempt God in excessu in the excess with too much confidence men will pray to God in their sins they will approach his Presence face him in duties call him father be bold with him in their addresses come every day before him and yet keep their sins Call him father and yet hate the Saints what an impudent tempting of God is this they challenge him to be their God and yet hate holiness they will perform religious duties and yet scorn at Religion 2. We tempt God in holy duties by cold and indifferent performance Sirs consider oh consider seriously you pray it may be but you pray with slightness of heart there is a certain wantonness and trifling disposition in the heart that you are wont to be superficial and imperfect in your ways perhaps you will not leave off duties but you do them as if you did them not without heart in a loose lazy formal lifeless manner now ye tempt God both the majesty and the mercy of God is despised and can God be well-pleased with such things If ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil Mal. 1. 8. and if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy governour that is try him with such a gift and will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person No he will not shewing that when you offer such gifts to God you do but tempt him and try his patience It is an high presumption and temptation of God to offer that to God which we durst not do to a superiour mortal man to perform duties to God with a slight heart it is a slighting of God 3. A man tempts God in holy duties when we do them to try God what he will do for us in things of which we have no promise as when men have tryed all ways and means of their own to be rich and all will not do now they will become religious and set up duties in their families to try this way also if God will prosper them in the world and give them of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine and here is a double sin 1. In that they make Religion to serve the world and subordinate Divine duties to carnal and earthly ends here Religion is the means and the world set up as the end the end is always in the intention of the agent nobler than the means they that worship God for the world have an higher esteem of the world than they have of God or his worship They tempt God to give them outward things which it may be he will not thus Balaam tempted God 10. They tempt God who dare God and try his patience 1 Cor. 10. 9. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents Neither let us tempt Christ that is let us not by our provoking sins dare Christ and try his patience whether he will make good upon us his threats against sin when we go on in sin we make as it were undue tryals of his mercy and patience to tempt God Grotius in locum is to make an experiment how far his patience will go and how long it will endure and hold out 11. They tempt God who try him whether he will not be better than his word Sinners cannot deny but the Word of God saith Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers 1 Cor. 6. 8 9. nor thieves nor drunkards nor covetous nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God They see this they that are guilty of these sins see this and cannot deny it yet they hope that though this be Gods word yet he will be better than his word We hope God will not be so strict and so severe as he saith we trust he will give a relaxation and will not do all he saith in his word if God will be as precise as his word we are undone if God will be no better than his word wo to us O ye tempters of God! how can ye be saved I say this is to tempt God whether he be firm to
Christ Jesus Christ doth all in us acting and referring all our actions to the glory of his Father as Christ did so must the Christian his center must be the bosom of God all his actions and sufferings must be pure and referred to the glory of God his intentions must look only upon God his desires must be only to please God his care only to follow God his contentment wholly in God Thus I say his thoughts his designs his works must bear the Image of Jesus Christ he must do all of God all to God and all for God 3. We must imitate Jesus Christ in self-denial 4. We must imitate Jesus Christ in accepting humiliations and sufferings If any man will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me The Apostle also who is but the eccho of Christ resounds the same lesson when he saith That Jesus Christ suffered for us and that 1 Pet. 2. 21. we must imitate him leaving us an example that we should follow his steps After this surely we cannot in reason find any thing hard for if Christ from his birth to his death hath espoused sufferings and embraced the cross Wherefore should we refuse being his Children to live and dye as he did For as the Christian must be the Image of Christ so he must bear with Jesus Christ all sorts of commotions and pains humiliations and sufferings that our life may be an express Image of his life which appeared always in desertions lowness and sufferings so ours must be but the same state of sufferings when he calls us thereunto 5. Imitate Jesus Christ in love the love of a Christian must be the same with that of Jesus Herein appears the great difference between Christian vertues and Moral or Humane For instance The love that God requires of a Christian must not be 1. That of a Pagan who loves them that love him 2. Nor that of a Politician who loves according to his humour or interest 3. Nor that of a Jew who loves not but out of an hope of reward promised or a fear of judgments The love of a Christian must be the same with that of Jesus Christ that is he must love with the same love wherewith Jesus loves he must love with the love of Jesus as he must live the life of Jesus Walk in love as Jesus Christ hath John 13. 34. loved you I give you saith Christ a new Commandment that ye love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOV To love is no new Commandment this law was imprinted in our hearts from the beginning of the world but the manner of loving is new that is to love by the same love wherewith Jesus loved us Now thus must we love we must love with a new love the new love of Jesus hath made it a new Commandment Oh! how great is this love how pure how free from all self-interest how strong and powerful since it is the same love that made Jesus to be born and dye for us even then when we were his enemies and sin reigning in us And therefore we must love our enemies with the love of Jesus Christ we must love our enemies with the same love wherewith Christ loved us when we were his enemies And therefore we must pray for enemies for so did Christ for his Father forgive them so did Steven Lord lay not this sin to their charge 3. Christians are in Christ Jesus as in the conserving and supporting cause of their graces The Saint is in Christ much like as the accident is in its subject for as Accidentis esse est inesse the Being of an accident consists in its being in the Subject so the very being of a Christian lyeth in his being in Christ he lives and his graces live while he is in Christ he is lost and all his graces are lost if he be once separated from Christ Abide in me and I in you as the branch John 15. 4. cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me Sirs Are ye in Christ be sure you keep in him then for out of him ye dye and give up the ghost as the fish dyes out of the water and the coal dyes out of the fire so grace dyes and expires out of Jesus Christ 4. This expression In Christ Jesus All that will live godly in Christ Jesus speaks subjection to Christ We cannot be in Christ but we must be in him as our Head and Sovereign we are in him as Regnum in Rege as the Commonwealth is in a King that is in the Power of a King and as the members are in the head under its Regency to be ruled by its Influence and Authority so are we in Christ we are in him that we may be under him to be ruled and guided by him The Son of God hath infinite rights to VS and we have infinite obligations to him which the shortness of our days will not give us leave sufficiently to admire nor the weakness of our spirits to comprehend The law of subjection to Christ is fundamental and belongs to the constitution of Gods spiritual Kingdom for government in the very essence of it is an order of superiority and subjection the constitution of government lyes in determining the person that shall govern and the parties that shall be governed so the constitution of this Divine and Spiritual Kingdom of God is in his appointment of the Soveraignty of Christ and the Subjection of Man to him Soveraign and Subjects are the essential or integral parts which give essence to government and constitute its being and existence to obey is the essence of Subjects this subjection is the very essence of the Church and so of the Christian Our subjection to Christ consists 1. In an act of Honour and Adoration 2. In an act of Oblation 1. In an act of honour and adoration The Lord Christ the Son of God is infinitely adorable and we are obliged to honour and adore him with so much necessity that the very Devils and Damned are forced in some way to do it To form this Act we must acknowledg Jesus Christ the Son of God both God and Man we must regard him as our Soveraign and Redeemer as the cause and principle of all our happiness we must annihilate our selves before him and humble our selves even to the bottom of our souls we must accept him as our God King and All. 2. Another act of subjection to Jesus Christ is an act of Oblation whereby the soul offers her self wholly to Jesus Christ and renouncing her self resigns into his hand all that she is all the power that she hath over her self over all her actions over all things and to make her self more the servant to Jesus in a perfect condition she renounceth her own liberty and all the use she can make thereof giving it up into the hands of the Son of God of whom she