Chap. Vers Page 3 7 107 Â 9 34 Â 11 93 Â Â 107 Â 12 8,69 Â 15 34 4 2 70 6 10 103 10 28,29 8 Â 38 91 11 1 11 James 1 23,24 74 Â Â 75 2 20 6 1 Peter 2 1,2,3 51 Â 9 64 2 Peter 1 21 119 1 John 3 16 46 Â 23 46 Â Â 63 5 10 63 Â Â 70 TO THE READER IT will be needless for me to write any thing in the Commendation of the Author of the ensuing Treatise both because in London and Cambridge and elswhere where he was conversant he was for his Godliness Learning and Abilities as wel approved of as known As also because though by Reason of above twenty years knowledg of him and twelve years constant sitting under his Ministry and private intimacy with him I could say much yet whatever I should say of him would avail but little to such as were both strangers to him and are also to my self I assure you that in these Sermons you have nothing but what I took from his own Mouth when he Preached them which I did transcribe in the Authors life time with a desire that he might perfect and fit them for the Press which I found him willing to but hindred from by his constant Ministerial work and great weakness of Body I confess that my love of the Matter in the following Treatise and the Blessing which the Lord of his goodness vouchsafed me by the same Together with the leave which the Author in his life time oft gave me to Print any of his works that I had taken from him in writing have strongly inclined me since his death to publish some of them to the World But did forbear because I knew that Sermons Preached by the most able Minister may yet need and deserve his perusall and some amendments before they be Printed Yet at last am overcome to make them as they are publick by the importunities of many that heard them preached having this Confidence that you will remember that they are but Sermons Preached and not prepared by the Author for the Press And notwithstanding that I do beleeve that if you read them seriously ponderously and with a spiritual heart whether you are Ministers or private Christians you wil find no cause of repenting of your pains but rather wil be constrained to read them again again for I ever found his Sermons wel studied and digested that the oftner I read them the more I perceived in them Give me leave only to inform you that the Author did preach above fourscore Sermons upon that Text Eph. 13. To the Praise and Glory of his Grace and upon Texts relating to and pursuing that matter of Arminianism which he hath elaborately handled both Doctrinally and practically many of the which I have wrote out and am resolved as God gives strength and time to finish the rest yet I shal altogether omit the publishing of any of them unless I understand that these find good acceptance In the mean time A Blessing of those upon your hearts is and shal be the earnest Prayers of MARK COâ— TWO BOOKS OF M R SYDRACH SIMPSON Late Master of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridg And Preacher of the Gospel in London VIZ. I Of Faith Or That beleeving is receiving Christ And receiving Christ is Believing II. Of Covetousness In the First Book is shewed besides many other things 1 That Persons that are beleevers are Receivers 2 That to Receive is the Principal use of Faith 3 That nothing should hinder our Receiving 1 Not our Sins 2 Nor Gods delaies 3 Nor the smalness of our receipts 4 Nor the greatness of our Wants 4 How Faith Receives 5 That Faith Receives Christ 1 In the understanding 2 In the Will 6 The temper of a man that hath faith 7 The necessity of Faith 8 Though Faith be smal yet it makes us the Sons of God 9 The Nature of True Faith 10 There are but few that Receive Christ 11 Three sorts that come not to Christ 1 Such as Receive him not as he is 2 Such as delay their coming to him 3 Such as give not that place to Christ in their hearts that is fitting for him In the Treatise of Covetousness is shewed 1 It is the Duty of all as they would obtaine eternal Life to be ware of covetousness 2 The Reasons of the Doctrine 1 Its a spiritual Sin 2 It over spreads the whole man 3 It s opposite to the Nature of Godliness and Religion 4 It s the Womb and seed of all Sin 5 It s a base Sin 3 The Dangerousness of covetousness 1 It is hardly avoided 2 It s difficultly cured 4 You shal have all things needful for this life if you wil look after Grace 5 Your Life lies in Grace not in Riches 6 There is more to be feared than to be desired in Riches 7 We should Mortifie our desires after Riches London Printed by Peter Cole Printer and Book-Seller at the sign of the Printing-press in Corn-hill neer the Royall Exchange 1658. A TREATISE OF FAITH JOHN 1.12 To them that received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that be leeve on his Name CHAP. I. The Scope of the Text. The Phrase of Receiving Christ opened Receiving denotes 1 Passiveness 2 A meanness of condition in the Receiver 3 A taking that which before he had not 4 A taking a thing with joy and gladness of heart The Doctrine Persons that are Beleevers are Receivers and to believe is to receive This proved by three Arguments 1. Faith is the appetite of the New Creature 2. All other acts of Faith are subordinate to this of Receiving 3. Nothing is done by Faith until such time as it doth receive THese Words are an Argument to prove the Eternal God-head of esus Christ because those that do receive him are made the Sons of God and have such a dignity and preheminence or prerogative thereby as none but God can bestow My intent in this Text is only to open the phrase of receiving Christ as it is Synonimous and made all one with beleeving on him As many as received him As many as believed on his name have this power to become the Sons of God First In generall Receiving notes passiveness or being the subject of a thing As cloth doth receive a color which is put upon it and is not naturall or proper to it And as the Earth receives the seed that is put into it by the hand of the Husbandman There may be an act in receiving yet Receiving doth principally note passiveness because that act is an order of nature either after receiving or else Receiving is the complement or that unto which the same act tends As a graft being put into a stock the Stock closeth with the Graft by vertue from its self So we having the Grace of Faith infused we also do adhere and cleave unto God Or as in receiving mony
apter nor fitter to any good work than the stone is fit for a building which can be laid in no place till the hand of the Workman comes upon it and squares it So the sin of Unbelief is great in this that it is a denying to receive or an hardening of the Soul and making it uncapable as much as in it lies of the things of Jesus Christ What an abominable proud thing is it for a Beggar that he will not take an alms for himself that hath nothing to live upon that he wil not receive a favor Yet such is the sin of Unbelief for Faith is a Receiving Thou dost as much as say in thy own self Thy acts of unbelief have this voyce Lord I will have none of that which thou offerest Keep it to thy self I had rather be without salvation than have it upon such terms by way of an alms or receiving I wil work for it and purchase it and buy it and not take it as a meer gift What Prince is able to endure that the condemned person should reject his pardon and not take it that he should accept the halter and the block rather than the Grace and favor tendred to him We think it modesty and humility not to receive the things of the Gospell that are so glorious No But because that faith is a receiving thou dost throw all these things like dust into the wind and water upon a stone Thou wilt not afford God so much as a Vessell to take in what fals from Heaven into the Souls of men It is not thy modesty but thy pride If thou hast never so much Canst thou not receive a kindness If thou be never so well yet canst thou not be better Hast thou so great an abundance that nothing can be added to thee Say all this if thou darest and own it before the Lord Thou must say it if thou takest the part of unbelief because faith is a receiving and unbelief is a rejecting CHAP. XII Object Faith being a Quality and so an Accident can be but in one Subject and therefore not both in the Vnderstanding and the Will Answ 1. Faith is one by Aggregation 2. That habit which is in one Faculty formally may be in divers by diffusion Application By this try whether you have true Faith or no. An Objection Answered OBJECT BUt it may be objected That Faith cannot be both in the Understanding and in the Wil because Faith is a Grace or Quality and therefore an Accident and an Accident is proper but unto one Subject As sight is only in the Eye and hearing in the Ear So Faith is only either in the Understanding or in the Will but not in both Answ For Answer to this in brief 1. The Habit or Grace of Faith in the first place is one Not simply and absolutely but by Aggregation and Composition of many habits As two may be in one act So two habits doth make one Vertue or Grace Many qualities may subordinately concurre to the making up of one habit or vertue It 's opened thus Beauty in the Body is a Quality but yet it is composed partly of the proportion of parts and partly of the healthiness and soundness of parts So Liberality is a vertue but it is composed of a good disposition in the Will and also of a moderation in desire after earthly things So Prudence is partly in the Understanding and partly in the Will ordering a mans conversation We find it by experience that when we do believe we do both put forth knowledg and also good affection or an Act of the Will towards Jesus Christ There is a meditation of the Promises and there is also a resignation of a mans self up to him that hath promised This we find by experience when we do believe And we find by the same experience that when we would beleeve we are hindred by the darkness of our minds and when our Understandings are cleared yet we are hindred by the awkwardness and indisposition of our wils Let us love one never so much we cannot trust him except he promise and not then neither except we have an affection to him as to one that is faithful and true 2. One habit is in one faculty formally but may be in divers by way of diffusion and disposition The meaning of it is this There is a communication or intercourse between the Understanding and the Will. One works into and upon the other 〈◊〉 the work of one is required to the work of the other As for example Freedom or liberty is formally in the Wil but it is radically or rooted in the Understanding for the Wil were not free to choose if it had not a light shewing it the difference of things what is good and what evil what does come neer to and wil not bring it the end that it aims at Suppose you therefore for I will not stand disputing that Faith be seated only in the Wil yet it works into the understanding al the acts that I have spoken of and is not without them And so on the contrary so that whether you read or hear faith to be in the Understanding or Will make no great difference in that for both shall be satisfied and there is somthing to be done by both that you may be made partakers of Jesus Christ So I have done with the Doctrinall part of that USE For the Use and Application of it If Faith be a Receiving then by this you may try whether you have faith or not If you look into Scripture you shal find that the Children of God are distinguished from those that are not born of God by this that the one receives and the other receives not the things of God In the verse before my text it 's said that Christ came to his own and his own received him not Not to receive him and to be in darkness is all one as you may see by comparing the verse together He came to his own and they received him not but they that did receive him they became the sons of God By his own is meant the Jews whom God had chosen for his peculiar people and owned before the World All are Gods own by Creation the fulness of the Earth is his but these were Gods by a speciall relation and obligation And they had received from him Laws and Statutes and they had professed peculiar subjection and obedience to him so that they could say We are thine Lord save us yet they who were so different from the World are distinguished from those that are taken out of the World and are the sons of God by Regeneration thus They Received not So you have the Apostle using the self same discrimination in 1 Cor. 2.14 where he tels you that the naturall man does not receive the things of God neither can he because they are spiritually discerned But we have the mind of Christ saies he So that I say Receiving does distinguish
and if you wil have things cleare to you that you are a child of God before you beleeve you wil have the matter put to such an issue as God brings a man never into God never gives his love to a man but by beleeving because beleeving is a receiving OBJECT You wil say unto me This is hard quarter and hard termes that we can have nothing but only upon trust and upon beleeving To this I answer the commandment of faith is nothing so hard as the commandements of sin are They that sow to the flesh shal saith the Apostle in Gal. 6.8 of the flesh reape Corruption They shal never have any thing in hand or to receive after this life but tribulation sorrow and anguish Thy faith assures thee Or thou mayest be assured that faith wil give thee a good title somthing while thou livest and be sure to give thee honor and glory and immortality hereafter Thou art saved by faith saith he It is the gift of God This is true indeed It is a hard matter to beleeve But the hardness doth not arise from it self but from us As it is hard for a sick man to get down either meat or medicine But it is not because there is neither a passage open and free or not because the meat is not good but because he is sick So thou shalt find the reason of all this difficulty to be in thy pride Thou advancest thy reason and sence against the commandment and law of the Gospel And therefore it is hard unto thee It is hard but it is but so in the beginning Like meat when it is first eaten doth bring a kind of duliness heaviness but afterwards breeds spirits and strength It is certain my beloved it is the smallest thing that can be required for the receiving any thing at the hand of God for you are passive in it you are made to receive As a bal that is thrown against the ground is made to rebound upwards There cannot be less required then faith to the receiving of any thing For Take it as it is in the understanding The receiving a testimony doth not so much require the use of reason as a good report and esteem of him that speaks I say the receiving a testimony is an artificial argument and requires not so much the knowledg of the things as of the person speaking And Take it as it is in the Wil and it is a leaning and that rather imports weakness then strength rather debility then ability And lastly Whereas thou complainest it is hard to beleeve yet if faith be a hard thing yet it is a receiving Though it be a toyl and a difficulty It is but in taking of things that are precious and good which wil inrich thee What man ever complained of the hardness of telling Gold and receiving Jewels and things of worth which were given him out of the treasure of him that is rich Men take great toyl and run great hazards into far countrys to receive Thy receiving is better and more certaine Thou shalt receive strength by the receiving of Christ to receive more Faith doth not only give a man the things promised But as walking makes a man able to walk so beleeving makes a man more able to beleeve Having once received somthing from the hand of God thou hast thereby security given to thee that thou hast nothing behind but what shal be accomplished As he that hath received but part of a Sum hath an evidence there by that the rest is due And therefore I beseech thee because that faith is a receiving incourage thy self unto beleeving Incourage your selves unto it And that you may do so 1. Lay open and keep before the eye of your Soul the many and glorious things which are to be received Meditate upon the excellencyes of Christ the portion that he brings His portion Both in regard of relation ye shal be the sons of God And his portion in regard of estate or inheritance for al things are yours The presence you know of an object doth stirr up the faculty and the power in it which lay as it were before dead and stirred not Joshua 7.21 I saw said Achan the Babilonish garment and I lusted after it and took it As Sin prevails by its presence So the way for Jesus Christ to prevaile is to stand continually before thee When thou hast therefore looked unto the promises and looked into the story of what is said concerning Jesus Christ and what he wil do for those that are united to him Then come and aske thy own foul whether it wil have none of these Then come and tel it that al these are to be had and it may take of them freely though it can do nothing for them nor returne suitably to them The Apostle to get men unto faith spreads abroad the Gospel and the things of Jesus Christ Thou must preach unto thy self the self same doctrine if ever thou wilt beleeve Thy sins be before thee and death is before thee and hel is before thee And thou seest by experience that that takes up thy thoughts and thou canst do nothing else but only lament and bemone thy condition If thou set'st Jesus Christ before thee also thou wilt be as much taken with him For certainly there is more Taking in his excellencies then there is cause of terrour in the other 2. And again Since faith is a receiving convince thy soul that it cannot live nor be unless it hath these things which faith helps unto Pardon must be had Justice wil not be satisfyed though thou shouldest fulsil al the commandments of God to the utmost and never breakest them in the least Al that is due for the present and there stil remains an old score for the time past that God wil reckon with thee for Thou art not able to make God amends of thy self Live of thy self thou canst not therefore thou must receive Acts 4.12 There is no other name given under heaven whereby a man can be saved but only the name of Jesus Christ And if a man peradventure wil be loth to take of others as long as he hath wherewith in his own hands or his friends hands But when he sees he must either take of alms or starve and go on begging or die Then he wil go That is thy case Thou must receive from Jesus Christ or Starve And thou canst not receive the things of Jesus Christ but by beleeving As a Parent saith to a Child that is peevish and untoward and that will not eat his meat Fast saith he So there is nothing to be looked for from Jesus Christ if thou beleevest not but fiery Indignation And if thy heart would go to take contentment in the things in the World Say to it Now take Jesus Christ or nothing What good will they do thee unless thou takest Jesus Christ For they will not abide in the latter end but then thou wilt have sorrow
that he should stand him in stead than any other This is that which the Scripture saith he will accept and take from our hands Go through all the several acts of Faith take them at the lowest observe when as your hearts beat Christ-ward but they beat flowest and feeblest and most uncertainly yet know that though there be much cause of humbling thee and being ashamed that where a man may receive so much good and where he hath so much reason to be good yet then he ought not to cast off his confidence for ever this shall receive this Dignity to be the Son of God And so much shall suffice to have spoken of the Second Reason why Beleeving is called Receiving CHAP. XVIII Receiving denotes a meanness and lowness of Condition in the Receiver And in this sense Faith is a Receiving whether you consider it acting in the Vnderstanding or the Will Thirdly There is a meanness in Receiving Receiving doth imply a meaness and lowness of condition a want or emptiness or being beholden to another God therefore makes it his Glory that he can challenge al the world to say that they have given unto him any thing Who hath given unto him and instructed him and it shall be recompenced It is an honor only belonging unto God not to receive In Acts 20.35 the Apostle doth advise them rather than they would hinder the Course of the Gospel who were Ministers to preach for nothing from the People for saith he Remember the words of our Lord Jesus how he said It is more blessed to give than to receive There is at least-wise a less blessedness in Receiving than there is in giving if I say not that there is an unhappiness in it Let that thing be never so excellent that a man hath yet if he hath received it he hath no cause to be proud or boast the praise must not be given to him that receives but to him that gives 1 Cor. 4.7 If thou hast received it why dost thou boast These several Instances proves that there is a meanness in receiving that receiving supposeth a meanness of condition A Condition that a man is not able to subsist of himself without taking in supplies from others without him And thus Faith is called Receiving because where ever Faith is who ever did or doth or shall receive Jesus Christ he doth receive him with the sence of his own vile condition There is not only such an apprehension in him as this that his state is low That apprehension is true and hath a real foundation and there is no error in such an imagination therefore I am poor and therefore I am unable to do my self good or to do good because there is no way of Salvation to be had but only by receiving is a most certain and good way of Reasoning As he is a poor man that hath no way to live but by taking the charitable Alms and good will of others So he is in a poor condition and in a lost condition that hath no means to save him but what he can get by receiving Neither is a Beleevers condition vile only because of sin and of punishment wherof he is guilty before he doth beleeve but this very act of Faith whereby a man doth receive doth make a mans condition mean though not miserable Through sin and punishment a mans condition is mean and miserable through beleeving a mans condition is not miserable but it is mean It is a mean and low condition you know to live upon another to go on trust for every thing to be beholden and to beg Credit for whatever a man stands in need of Consider the state of Faith with the certain Glory that comes by it for therefore it is of Faith that the Promise may be sure consider Faith as it is a relation Rom. 4.16 and a receiving from so glorious and excellent ones as God and Christ are and so it is the most excellent condition in the World A man lives better that way than if he had all that in Innocency continued to him wherein he was made But now consider this Receiving in and by its self and so it is a mean condition because it is a dependant one he lives at the will of another To eat ones own Bread we use to say is better a great deal and far more honorable than to live upon the Dainties of another mans Table In the verse before my Text it is said John 1.11 That Christ came to his own that is to the Jews and they received him not Now therefore they did not receive him because of tht meaness of the life of Faith He trusted in God said they to deliver him Matth. 27.43 Let him deliver him if he will have him As if they should have said He is not a fit way for a man to trust his Soul in or he is not a fit person for a man to beleeve on for the saving of his Soul who cannot save himself In Rom. 10.3 They went about to establish their own righteousness and submitted not to the righteousness of Faith They submitted not that is they thought the way of beleeving to obtain Salvation by to be too poor and mean a condition Now the Evangelist takes away this offence To as many as received him to them he gave this dignity to become the Sons of God His meaning is Though the life of Faith be mean in it self yet its glorious in its relation for it makes you to be the Sons of God Though the life be such as is beneath and lower than you could or would imagine should make you happy yet there is a greater freedom in it of converse and communion with God than can be imagined You shall live with God as if you were in Glory already That therefore which I would insist upon in this is this Where ever true Faith is there is a sence of meaness The heart is humbled and brought into the accompt of it self as nothing And as Faith grows so doth this accompt of it self grow also Take Faith now as it acts on the Understanding and there it makes a man to lay aside what Reason saith As Paul you know saith He did not consult with flesh and blood but immediately follows the voyce he had received from Jesus Christ Prov. 3.5 Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thy own Vnderstanding 2 Cor. 10.5 Every thought and imagination must be captivated he saith to the obedience of Faith Take Faith as it acts in the Will And so it takes away all Glory in a mans self How can ye beleeve seeing ye receive Honor one of another saith Christ and seek the praise of men more than the prase of God Iohn 5.44 By what Law is boasting taken away saith the Apostle in Rom. 3.27 but by the Law of Faith And therefore you shall find that when ever any of the Saints of Jesus Christ have through Faith attained unto any
I must be put under his feet and it is fit it should be so Yea canst thou receive him thus simply and not upon condition only or principally Rather than the Prodigall would starve he would serve and serve in the meanest condition that could possibly be Rather than he would die he would eat and feed with the Hogs A great change and altogether unlike the Spirit of such a one as he was when he went out from his Father that could not endure to live upon his Fathers curtesie in hopes of his portion but must have it in his own hands Now as he did it out of necessity so may men be ready to receive Jesus Christ But in such a case as that is it is a burden to a man and unto Jesus Christ also For I beseech you consider it If there be no greater cause or reason why a man would have Jesus Christ than that he may be a Plaister to heal him of his sores than that he may be life to recover him from the dead His life is dear to him that is cleer And his salvation is dear to him but Jesus Christ is only as a means to serve his turn and so far he cannot but be desired of a man What man is there as you shall hear by and by that will take delight in Physick for it self or that doth not count it a misery to be alwaies in Physick though it be a means to preserve his health Salvation is to be looked for by Jesus Christ But Jesus Christ especially When Faith gives entertainment unto Jesus Christ it also receives salvation As Christ said unto Zacheus This day salvation is come unto thy house But Jesus Christ is the great and chief Guest Faith I say bids welcome unto Christ and his benefits but most of all unto himself And so much now shall suffice to have spoken of that first sort such as receive not Christ willingly and therefore have no true Faith because they receive him not according to that Glory which he is of CHAP. XXVI Asecond sort of Persons not Receivers of Jesus Christ viz. Such as delay their coming to Christ When delaies argue unwillingness SEcondly such also as do delay and put off their going unto Jesus Christ or closing with him Delay argues unwillingness So the Seller saith A man hath no mind he is not willing to lay out his money by beating up and down he doth not make up his bargain Again Delaies are a kind of denials And so the poor man takes them who cals and asks for an Alms and receives no answer In War If men accept not of conditions by such a time they are counted enemies God counts delaies unwillingness Luke 14.18 The Guests that are invited would not come and yet if you look there you shal see that they do but put off the matter for a while for one saith he had bought a yoak of Oxen and another had other business that he could not come God counts you to be unwilling when you are delaying There is a forbearance which is not a delay As the Apostle Peter saith in 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise though he delaies his coming to judgment because he hath this great reason for it viz. His elect are in the world and must be born into it that so they may be called and saved by him The Lord having so great a reason for his patience with the world therefore he is not to be counted slack though he lets things go disorderly and without punishment for many years together for what we can think I may say now in the like case also that a man doth not delay to beleeve alwaies because he doth not beleeve For there may be some reason for it There is no reason can exempt a man from the obligation unto Faith It s no reason at all for a man to say that because he is poor and miserable and under Gods displeasure or in his sins therefore he should not beleeve But though there be nothing to exempt a man from the obligation of the Commandment of Faith yet there is somthing to be done before the Act of Faith That is the heart must be humbled and have the sense of sin The sense of sin and of a mans need of Jesus Christ doth in order of nature precede go before this Act of resting on him He that hath no sense of sin ought to say that it is my duty to beleeve But he ought to say as well That I may beleeve I ought to see my sins Because therefore there may be a reason therefore every forbearance of believing is not a deniall Nor doth every forbearance argue unwillingness Every forbearance of a duty is not a sign that a man is unwilling to a duty As for example A man makes his friend to stay at the door or in some out-house for a while before he goes out to him Because the room wherein he would entertain him is not righted and made hansome for him And yet he may be as glad of his coming as of any thing in the world And yet make him stay till things be ready for his entertainment So the Soul may be desierous of Christ and yet not think himself fit to receive him as yet A fault there may be in thee and often times there is Because Jesus Christ provides for his own entertainment As soon as ever the door is open that is that the heart be sensible of sin Jesus Christ doth come in with all his furniture makes it an habitation for himself If a man will stay from Jesus Christ for want of one degree of Grace more than he hath there is the same reason he should stay for all degrees of Grace for all degrees of Grace are little enough to compass him with or to give him entertainment But though that forbearance argues not unwillingness in all cases yet in sundry cases it doth As for example When we are not sensible and take not notice of what is done by God and Christ to egge and draw out the Soul by Faith unto him When no spurring will make us go on Though we be exhorted perswaded commanded intreated threatned yet still we stand where we were Amazed at our misery but give not up our selves unto this Grace of Christ Or if a man be moved and not proportionably unto the means that are used Though he hath lived long and been under the perswasion of the Gospel continually yet still there is little very little progress or looking towards the Lord Jesus Like green wood that though there be much fire and earnest blowing yet retains nothing but only a little warmth and comes not unto fire at all Were it only a dulness and heaviness and slowness of spirit and not unwillingnesr the continuance of the means and being continually spurred would remove that and make us at length to get as much as might testifie and bear witness to our Souls that indeed
reason As Job said unto his friends Job 27.5 He would hold his Integrity till he died Let them say what they would of Gods dealing with good men and bad men yet he would hold his own Thou knowest there is no Iniquity in my hand saith he So when a Godly man knows not what to say yet he saith this is the word of God that remaines Faithfull and this is certainly true concerning Jesus Christ and cannot be questioned Nay take those that have weak Faith As the Needle that is touched with the Load-stone though it may be jogged yet it wil turn again to the North. So though a weak Faith should forget it self yet it will recant and retract and recover it self again to the acknowledgment of the Truth I shall say no more of this but only thus much That as he that hath drunk in an Opinion is so prejudiced against the contrary that he will not hear nor credit whatever is said against it So doth Faith prejudice the Soul against any ill reports or falshoods that can be raised of Jesus Christ or the Promises Thirdly As Faith doth this as it is an act of the Understanding So it doth perswade and lay arguments before the Will that it should go unto Jesus Christ for all these things which are revealed to be had in him As Jacob in Gen. 42.1 2. saith to his Children Why stand you here when there is Corn in Egypt Go down thither So doth this Faith speak unto the Soul of a man Why do you sit weeping and mourning and lamenting your condition What is it you want If it be either Grace or Comfort you may have it in Jesus Christ As the Angel did check Hagar for weeping so as she did because she was athirst in the Wilderness when there was a Well hard by So doth Faith check the Soul when it lies moaning and complaining and doth not put it self upon the Lord Jesus Christ for a supply What would you have saith Faith If what you would have were not to be had not to be had any where or upon a rate that you could not give then you might sit down sadly But when it is but Take and Eat when it is but stretching forth the hand and take of the Word of Life Why do you not beleeve As Jesus Christ said upbraiding his Disciples of their Unbelief Why is it thus with you You are troubled with an heart of Unbelief because it is dull and because it is dead and because you are hurried with temptations and you would fain be quick and beleeving and be at peace and quiet Now go unto Jesus Christ Thus Faith cals upon a man Psal 16.7 saith David I bless the Lord who hath given me Counsell Now God Counsels the Soul thus by the Revelation of his Word unto a man through Faith In John 6.44 45. Faith is called a going unto Jesus Christ And as Joab learned the Woman how to go unto King David in the behalf of Absalom So Faith learns the heart how to go and speak unto God in the behalf of it self And this the light which is in his mind cannot but do For you must know that the Understanding doth naturally work by way of perswasion upon the will As Achan said he saw the Babilonish garment and coveted it with the lust of his soul so the light that is in the soul by faith doth stir up a man much more to get it The seeing of things by the understanding cals upon it and provokes it to apply it to it self We heard the King of Israel is a merciful King and therefore we say to him let thy servants live So the soul upon the report which the understanding makes unto it goes unto Jesus Christ and saith we have heard that with thee is Grace and that thou wilt impute thy righteousness and take my sins upon thy account and that the spirit shal be shed abroad in the heart of them that come to thee And therefore it goes unto him Therefore saith the Text in John 6.45 Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father comes unto me That is there is none but do come There is indeed a perswasion which the word makes which may be resisted but the perswasion of true Faith cannot There is such a Sicada and Rhetorick and such an Emphasis and such an aptness in all that faith doth reveal unto a man that as it is said in Matth. 22.8 it doth compell a man to come in Which compulsion there is not meant of an externall violence but of the constraint of the word of God to whom it comes savingly And because of this perswasion it is that the sin of Unbelief of living out of Jesus Christ is so exceeding great where the Gospell comes because men are wooed and intreated and pressed by the best and strongest arguments And therefore there can be nothing else but a pure hatred and not desirous of the things of Jesus Christ which keeps a man from it And that I may set forth this a little more cleerly unto your understanding You shall find in the Scripture that faith is said to give a kind of reason unto a man and to take from him that folly and unreasonableness whereby he stands in the way of his own good and cannot see what is good for himself 2 Thes 3.1.2 Pray saith he that the word of the Lord may have free course and that we may be freed from unreasonable men for all men have not Faith Unbeleevers are unreasonable And on the contrary Faith brings a man to his reason That when the word comes an Unbeleever stops it and saith this Doctrine shall not be preached and this is not the way of life and counts himself as Paul saith unworthy of eternall life by contradicting it Now a Godly man grows wise and saith speak this word and whatever is hid and concealed yet hide not this word of God He goes and sels all as it is in Matth. 13. that he may buy this pearl And as Faith gives a reason to a man so when a man is careless Faith cals upon him Isa 55.3 Hear and live Will you lose your souls and your eternal good by losing the opportunity What should you mind but the thing you are about Hear what Jesus Christ is and what he hath done and what he hath Is there any thing like unto pardon and like unto Union with himself And when a man saith It is true these things are But not for me Faith answers the things are near unto you in thy mouth and in thy heart Rom. 10.6 7 8. Do not say who shall ascend or who shall descend c. The meaning of it is this That whereas the Law doth require of a man duty and gives him no power to perform it the Gospell gives him as well a power as it doth make known his duty Those things are impossible unto us which are far off either in the Heavens or in the depths
is this that it is given by such a means and hand as Jesus Christ is We rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh As by approving sin a man doth make sin his own and contracts the guilt of it which was done by another So by the Wils approving of the assent which the Understanding hath given unto the truths of the Gospell the Will becomes a partaker together with it Or thus As a man that doth approve evill will soon be full of all unrighteousness So the will approving what the understanding beleevs concerning the truth of the promises will bring the Soul to be filled with the blessings of it Thirdly Faith doth make the Will to give up it self unto Jesus Christ And therefore Faith is called a coming unto him And in 2 Cor. 8.5 They gave themselves unto God and then unto us You shall understand the meaning of it if we first consider the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they gave He that gives a thing alters the property of it he makes him to be the Lord and master of it to whom he gives it This is yours do with it what you please I call it my own no more So now they gave themselves unto Jesus Christ and resigned themselves unto him and would no more meddle as before they had done in working out meritoriously their own salvation I am not my own saith the Soul I am thine Lord I have no more to do with my self to save my self than I have to do with that which is another mans to use at my pleasure I have given my self to thee And as you may discern the meaning of it by the word Give So you may by that which the Apostle joynes to it They gave themselves first to God and then to us How did they give themselves to the Apostles They did give themselves to them as their Teachers as those by whom God would reveal the things of him and the way of practising of the Will of Jesus Christ Upon this account you shal find that faith is compared to Marriage where parties give over the right of themselves unto another Only let me tel you this by the way That there is an implicite giving As a man is said to give himself to sleep and to idleness who doth indulge his own ease and laies himself softly That is an implicite giving There is an explicite giving and that is by way of express resignation As a man that comes and delivers a possession of goods or a commodity which is bought into the hands of another Here take what is thy own Now in al Faith there is an implicite giving but not an explicite I say there is an implicite giving there is an indulgence of it self and liking what may make it self vile and what may draw it unto Jesus Christ though it cannot say as it is true to say before all things I had rather or do desire to favor and wil no more seek after the love of any other creature The explicite resignation is that which the Saints do come unto But a man may have faith though he cannot say so of himself This explicite Resignation and giving a mans self is necessary but not as this implicite giving a mans self is unto salvation Fourthly Faith as it is in the Will doth make a man to rest and stay himself upon Jesus Christ and to look to no other means besides him for salvation To rest upon him This you have the Scripture oft times speaking Esay 50.10 Let him trust in the Lord and stay upon his God Somtimes therfore it 's called in the Scripture as in Psal 37.1 a not fretting but being quiet This resting brings in abundance from Jesus Christ I say it brings in For if a touch of him be followed with vertue to heal If one touch upon dead bones will make life come into the spirit then what will the continued acts of Faith do This is that indeed which the Scripture cals a life In Gal. 2.20 Because though there be many intermissions and interruptions that a man doth so rest as that he is beaten off yet still he comes unto Jesus Christ again That is his general course and that wherin alone he takes conentment In this case the Soul saith to Jesus Christ in its carriage I say in its carriage just as a man useth to say to one he depends upon I wil look no where else If you disappoint me look to it I have no other friends to supply me I have none to go unto for relief but you So faith the Soul And if it find its self at any time carried to other things and to rest in them then it is displeased with it self and troubled at it self and never hath quiet untill it makes that void and nothing which it hath done before Then Fifthly As Faith is in the Will it takes in what is in Christ it applies it to its self according as its need and necessities are I say it takes in what is in Christ Al the rest of the acts of faith were but as it were carrying the soul to him This now doth make it inriched by him As the Cloath lying in the Fat doth receive the color and dye Or as a man lying in sin is thereby hardened and habituated to do evill So the Soul by its rest and continuance in Jesus Christ comes to be made partaker of all that is in Jesus Christ It makes use of him to pardon and to sanctification When as it is afraid of wrath Joh. 15.1 it looks up to him When it 's besieged with lusts it sends for help to him Without me saith Christ you can do nothing That is Not only without their being in him but without their making use of him Therefore in John 3.21 it 's said that he that comes to Christ hath al his works wrought in God Wrought in God How is that As he goes to God for direction so he goes to God for strength through Jesus Christ Let me add but this Caution That though these five severall acts be done by Faith as it is in the Will yet you are not to think that they are done in that order that I have propounded them or that they must be done to so high and notable pitch and degree before a man can receive But there is somthing of all these wherever faith is and some thing done of all these though it be very weak There is some love though it be but a preferring of him to others And some approving and yielding of its self unto Jesus Christ and some resting on him I shall only say this one word of Application at this time and that is this USE If Faith be a Receiving as you have heard Then the sin of Unbelief is exceeding great and very provoking As our misery is great that we have not only no active power to do good but we want a passive power to receive good We are no
he does close with that which he hath rejected A Godly man doth eat up that which he hath formerly refused Thou shalt not wash my feet saies Peter to Christ As if he should have said It is not fit that the Lord of Heaven and Earth should do any such thing for so poor and vile a Creature as I am But when Christ tels him Peter It is not the sign but the thing signified that I speak to and if I wash thee not thou hast no part in me then he cries Not only my Feet but my hands c. He is now content that Christ should do that in a great degree which before he could not abide to hear of in the least degree CHAP. XIII The temper of a man that hath Faith as considered under the notion of Receiving doth discover it self in these particulars 1. He is daily purging out corruptions that there may be room to receive Jesus Christ Particularly 1. Confidence in the Flesh 2. Living by sense II. He is much in prayer III. He is not satisfied till he obtain all which the Promise is engaged for IIII. He laies hold on every intimation that may give hope and thereby is raised to great expectation THerefore to discover to you a little whether you have Faith or no I shall in a few particulars set forth to you the temper of a man that hath Faith and I shal keep to this notion of it as it is a Receiving First of all He that hath this Faith is daily purging and emptying of himself of every corruption of flesh and spirit that there may be room to entertain and receive Jesus Christ The ground of it is this Naturally we are ful of al unrighteousness as a Vessel is ful of water that can hold no more there is no place for Grace So far as corruption is in us so far it naturally works to take off the heart from seeking after Christ Even as a Disease takes off the Stomach from meat that is wholsom That therefore Jesus Christ may be received it is necessary that the heart be daily emptied that there may be room made for him But besides that Faith doth breed a hope and expectation in the Soul of great things and therefore Faith sets the Soul on purging that so it may be capacious of those things Faith is called a Holy Faith And we are said to be sanctified through Faith In Acts 26.8 As the things that were sanctified were separated from common use to a holy one So now the Soul that before was common Common for the thoughts of the World and for the lusts of the flesh Now is dedicated if I may so express it to God It is like a room that is lock'd up and kept only to lay the things of Jesus Christ in Grace does come into us not as into a Subject for that is free and fit the receiving of it but it comes into us as life comes into a dead body Or as light comes into the dark Air. There must be first of all a putting out of the strong man and of sin before there can be a putting in of Jesus Christ It 's one thing to purge sin out of us and to mortifie it because it does keep good things from us and another thing to purge it out that we may receive Christ in the room of it A Hypocrite may purge out sin because it keeps out good from him but not to this end that he may receive Jesus Christ for naturally he hath no knowledg of him 1 Cor. 2.14 The naturall man perceives not the things of God neither does he ' count them so good for they are not so suitable to him as the waies of sin As a man to be eased of a bad and toublesom neighbor wil turn him out of doors and let the house stand empty So rather than perish an unregenerate man will turn sin out of doors but he will not let Christ dwell there for he will trouble more a great deal A Beleever mortifies corruption that there may be a place and room for Jesus Christ and all that he brings with him Therefore as both the Understanding and the Will as you hear are active in beleeving So a Beleever purges both the prejudices and false reasonings that are in his mind and the distast and carnalness of affection that is in his Will An unregenerate man he hath a combate within him but the combate is not between Grace Sin but it is one faculty combating against another The whol Soul does not strive against sin but the Understanding would hate but the Will for reasons will not let him hate So in like manner in mortification An unregenerate man does not purge all the parts and faculties of his Soul but some and therefore his affections are bad though he have light and if his affections be hot yet he hath not light in his Understanding Therefore Do you endeavor to cleanse your selves from all corruptions Does the hope you have of receiving Christ purifie your hearts or put you upon the endeavor of purging your hearts daily There are two particular sins upon which the Grace of Faith as it is receiving does work to the ejecting of them and the one is Confidence in the Flesh and the other is Living by sense 1. Confidence in the flesh or in any thing a man can do Therefore somtimes the Saints of God are afraid to lok back upon the actions that hath been brought forth by them in any beautifull manner least their hearts should be ensnared by them and they are abhorring themselves even when their waies are pure he abhors himself as to justification when he does the best duties in the best manner he can We have no Confidence in the flesh that is we would have none we cannot endure that Other sins we fain would have mortified but this above all other 2. And again They live not by sense 1 Cor. 5.7 We walk saies the Apostle by Faith and not by fence And we look not upon the things that are seen but the things that are not seen c. 2 Cor. 4. and the last Of Abraham it 's said Rom. 4.19 That he believed and did not so much as consider the barrenness of Sarahs Womb c. The reason is this my Beloved Because there is nothing can judg worse of the things of God than fence and nothing hinders more When a man looks a little upon fence and reason he is like a man that hath been in a dark room that when he comes out the light of noon day is a trouble to him and he can not discern the things that are before him Secondly He that hath this Receiving Faith he is a man that is much in prayer Prayer demands and sues for what the Promise obliges and makes due to a manâ— In Psal 109.4 David saies thus I Pray or I give my self unto Prayer As we use to say a man is of this or that Trade which he
we are in love with the Lord Jesus Christ Where I say continuall means and Ordinances do but very little it is a sign that there is not only slothfulness but unwillingness that the Soul is not wrought upon effectually But then especially doth delay argue unwillingness when a man stifles and hinders the working of the means He pincheth in the pains that would deliver him of all his trouble He weakens and enervates the Arguments that are brought to perswade him to go to Jesus Christ He grows witty and wise and cunning to evade the Arguments and Reasons of the Gospel And then again is a mans delay a sign of his unwillingness when he hath it in his power to beleeve and yet doth not beleeve I say when he hath it in his power As it is a sign a man is not willing to pay his debt or to give unto the poor when he hath it by him and yet bids the poor or the debt or to come another time In all that are regenerate there is a Spirit of Faith And when they are under the means and the means do affect them it is then in their power to heleeve Naturally no man can beleeve But it is given unto them that are regenerate and they can bring that power into act when the means do work upon them As now in the hearing of a Sermon for a man to with-hold his Soul from Jesus Christ when the Ordinance presseth him yet for him to keep his heart back from going unto him that is a sign of unwillingness I wil mention but one delay more And that is when a man keeps from Jesus Christ without a Reason And let me tell you this that if once a man see his sin and his own helplessness there can be no Reason why he should keep from Jesus Christ If there be any reason It must be either in himself or in Christ If it be in himself it must be one of these two things Either the want of Grace Or the abundance of corruption and guilt that lies upon him If it be want of Grace It must be Either the totall want Or the want of some degrees The whole want of Grace that is no ground why you should not beleeve for by beleeving you receive Grace for Grace Grace is an effect of Faith It is the blessing of that seed and the Tree that grows upon that Plant. Nor can it be for want of some degree For as I told you just now There will be as much reason for a man when he hath attained to twenty degrees of Grace to stay stil til he hath attained to the last degree of Grace as there will be for him when he hath one degree to stay til he hath twenty degrees for al degrees of Grace are little enough to give Jesus Christ that respect which belongs unto him If it be not therefore the want of Grace in whole or in part that should keep a man from believing Is it the greatness of thy sins But Know that thy sins are the greater by delaies As the debt grows more by non-payment Use and Use upon Use And the wound grows the worse by not laying on the thing that may heal Is not the reason then in thee Nor in thy sins nor in thy Guilt But in Jesus Christ That it cannot be For the Bride saith come and take of the waters of life freely Revel 22.17 And what can be more said or be more desired Jesus Christ is glad when sinners come to him more glad than a godly man is of the conversion of another As in Luke 16.22.28 The Father was exceedingly rejoyced when the Prodigall came home when the elder Brother was troubled at it Rom. 10.8 The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth It is nigh unto thee that is It is throughly known As we throughly know the things that are spoken in our Ears the sound that is not far off but near Now the word is nigh unto thee even in thy mouth As a thing that is confessed by al we phrase it thus viz. that it is in every mans mouth Now it is in every mans mouth and Jesus Christ hath made it evident in his word that whosoever believs shall be saved The word is nigh thee and in thy mouth that if thou beleevest thou shalt be saved If there be any reason therefore that thou goest not unto Jesus Christ it must be thy own apprehension and thoughts For there is none in the Object Jesus Christ nor any such reason in thy self I say all the reason must be in thy own apprehension And therefore thy apprehension is such because indeed thy heart is unwilling to receive Jesus Christ Unwillingness formes and shapes and frames strange apprehensions in the Understanding As where a man doth not love he wil find occasions to be angry and Arguments as often as he thinks good to ingage and separate his affections from that thing or Person Especially Beloved where there is a feigned reason Mark what I say Where there is a feigned reason there is unwillingness to receive Jesus Christ A Lyon A Lyon saith the Sluggard is in the street Men say that they shall be refused if they go unto God by Jesus Christ for Faith You do but imagine this It 's but a feigned reason for your unwillingness for none ever went to him that received a neglectful Answer In John 6.37 Those that come unto me I will in no wise cast out Men think if they should lay hold upon Iesus Christ they should but flatter themselves presumptuously and their hearts would be hardned more It is but a feigned reason For as fire softens wax so would the love of God soften thee The apprehension of the wrath of God hardens and the apprehension of the love of God softens As men go up and down Markets and Faires and and think to do better til they have lost their opportunity So do men put off and put off to beleeve till the day of Grace be past There is as great a hazard in delay as in opposition or refusal and though it seems not unto the Conscience to be so great a sin but it is colored with modesty humility and fear yet not withstanding it is as dangerous The Lord he reads the principle from whence it comes and he judgeth of the Act acccording unto it The means continuing and the heart being stirred yet men find out some rub or other in the way somthing or other to stop and delay their course of going unto and closing with Jesus Christ It may be their ruine It is as much as if they should say They would have none of Jesus Christ nor of his salvation There are some men so foolish that they wil not send for the Physitian nor take advice til the Disease hath gotten them down and they are overcome by it and weakned and brought unto the Grave So it is a folly of Spirit that til we see all means perishing we wil
well a prayer in actions as in desires or any other way A man may be said to have a desire after much or abundance two waies Either whenas he desires to have that which he hath not and in that respect it may be a poor mans sin as well as the rich Or else when a man is content with that which he hath but is not willing to lay it forth as God assigns him when he would have that whereof he is possessed and not part with it or lay it out to such uses which God assigns him Mark it Though a man counts he hath enough and desires no more yet if he be not willing to part with that which he hath when God commands him he is Covetous In Eccles 6.2 saith he I have seen this evill under the Sun that God hath given to a man riches that he wants nothing and yet God gives him not power to eat thereof This is an evil Disease You may be covetous because you wil not give forth of that which you have In 1 Tim. 6.17 18. The Apostle opposeth unto Covetousness Distribution unto those that are in necessity He exhorts rich men that they would as a fruit of their trusting in the Lord Be ready to distribute When men are not ready they are then the Servants of the World because they have not a heart to dispose of the world but are disposed and ordered by it And let me take in that which I said in the general explication of it and that is this That it is a desire arising from uncontent or discontent though that a man may by Lawful means get more That a man may be covetous in the use of lawful means to increase his Estate or though he do but desire by lawful means to have his Estate increased A man may be covetous in the use of a lawfull Calling It is true indeed that Covetousness is in the Scripture set forth by the unlawfull waies that men take to get riches So the Apostle saith concerning the Ministers in 1 Tit. 1.11 that did preach strange things for filthy lucre's sake And as it 's said they do make hast to be rich and they do oppress their Brethren and defraud But preaching strange things and oppression and defrauding are rather effects than formal Acts of Covetousness Covetousness may bring some men to those Acts but a man may be covetous that useth none of them And the Reason is apparent because Covetousness lies in a discontentedness dis-satisfaction or uncontentedness of mind with Gods portion or taking care for a man I wil not hold you longer here because I shall speak in the use of tryal and Examination of the nature of Covetousness CHAP. II. Two Reasons of the Doctrine I. The Greatness II. The Dangerousness of this sin The Greatness in five things 1. A spirituall sin 2. Overspreading the whol man 3. Directly opposite to the common nature of Godliness and Religion 4. The Womb and Seed of all sin the Root and Cause A Sin may be the Cause of Sin four waies As it is the Cause of Gods withdrawing As one sin inclines the heart to another As it administers matter to another As it is a Parent and Ruler over other sins 5. The sinfulness of this sin appears in the baseness of it SEcondly And therefore in the second place Consider the Reasons why you ought to take heed and beware of Covetousness In Ephes 5.3 saith the Apostle Let not Covetousness be once named among you as becometh Saints Let it not be once named That is Let it be unknown unpractised as those things we are most ignorant of which we know not the name of Let it be abominable to you for you know they would not have the name of those things in their mouths which were an abomination in Psal 16. ver 4. And unless it be thus saith he you carry not your selves as becomes Religion In Heb. 13.5 saith he Let your Conversation be without Covetousness Covetousness your whol course of life in every turning and winding of it whether you be young or old whether you be single or married persons In whatever case you be saith he yet be not covetous They were in troubles yet it was a great deal worse for them to be in Covetousness than to be in wants They wanted all things for they were scattered up and down like Chaff before the Wind but yet then God would not allow them to be discontented with their Estate and Condition but to count that best wherein they were The word is well translated Be without Covetousness But it signifies be without the love of Money or Silver And I say it 's well translated be without Covetousness because as money doth answer unto all things so in the forbidding of a man to desire Money he forbids him to desire any thing which God hath not yet given him But be content with that which you have They might say that that which they have is less than nothing it 's worse than nothing yet be contented We live among a People whose Language we know not we have lost the Estate to which we are born yet be contented We know not when it wil be otherwise yet be contented That which is your present state you must make the best of but be not unsatisfied And there is a great deal of reason for this if you consider these Reasons I. The greatness of the sin II. Or the danger of the sin or the hardness to avoid it and to be cured of it I. If you consider the greatness of the sin of Covetousness I shal instance in five things REASON I. First It is a spirituall sin A spirituall sin as the Schools expresse it is such as may be committed though there be no external or outward Act done It 's such a sin as a man may commit though he breaks not forth into any externall Act or Act of injustice It 's a heart sin that is bred and born there In Math. 15.19 From the heart comes Covetousness It 's a sin that is purely spirituall as Unbelief is for it lies in an inordinateness of affection or Lust As the sins of the Devils are Spirituall Wickedness They are set forth by this in Eph. 6.12 That they are spirituall wickedness because they do not only arise from Malice against God from an inward opposition to his Holiness and Glory but because they are so done by themselves as the Acts only of the understanding and the Wil are in us There may be an Act of the Understanding and an Act of the Will suppose it be an abhorrence or hatred of God and yet there not be an ill word spoken or a gross outward sin committed So such a sin 〈◊〉 Covetousness This sets forth the sinfulness of Covetousness that it 's a spirituall wickedness It 's bred in the Heart it comes from thence and it lives there The more there is of the heart in a sin the greater the sin is I say
Now that word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will do with us as one that is Covetous The meaning is this Look as a Covetous man doth desire to be possessed of that which he hath not so doth the Devil lie at the Catch that he may seiz upon any spirit That which I bring it for is this That the Holy Ghost sets out al the devices and evill waies of Satan by this name of Coveting Because a man is as pat to sin as the Devill is to tempt And a man is made as covetous by sinning as the Devil is in his unsatisfied spirit So the greatness of the sin appears in this that it is the root of all sin and because of that it is the Cause of all sin It 's a sin that never goes alone but ingenders many others In whatever person it is it doth so If Covetousness fals upon Soldiers then in Luke 3.14 When they are not content with their wages they do violence and accuse falsly If Covetousness fals upon a Magistrate it makes him that he is partiall by Covetousness And therefore the mark of a good Magistrate is That he must fear God and have Covetousness Because Bribes blind the Eyes the Judgment If Covetousness fals upon Ministers it will in 1 Tim. 6.5 make them fall into perverse disputings for they suppose that Gain is Godliness If it fals upon an ordinary Christian there you shal find that it goes not alone neither for in Matth. 13.22 together with the deceitfulness of riches there goes the Cares as the Text saith of this life He that received seed among the thornes is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choak the word and he becometh unfruitfull In Luke 8.14 there is another sin ariseth from it besides unfruitfulness and that is that men take pleasure in the things of this life That which fel among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choaked with Cares and Riches and pleasures of this life And that you may see how strong a vertue there is in Covetousness to bring forth these sins mark the Text. When they have heard the word they go forth that is all the reason why the word of God and all the allurements of the word of God are not able to stay the heart from these Courses A Sin may be said to bring forth or to be the cause of sin divers waies 1. As it is the Cause of Gods withdrawing Grace from a man which should keep him from future sins And Covetousness doth this In Isaiah 57.17 For the Iniquity of his Covetousness I was wroth with him and he went on in the way of his own heart He went on A speech in the Hebrew which is taken from the speech of Cain in Gen. 4.14 I shall go wandring up and down saith he and have none to protect me and therefore shall be exposed to the wrath of al men and Creatures So saith God from their Covetousness it came to pass that they went and did what they would And how came this for the Iniquity of his Covetousness I hid my self from him Gods hiding did go before their doing what they would And Gods hiding was caused by their Covetousness 2. One sin may be the cause of another because it inclines the heart to another sin And in this respect Covetousness is the root of al sin because the Divel doth graft upon such a heart what temptations he pleaseth He observed Cain was covetous and that he had a mind to be building He therefore makes him neglect the means of reconciling himself unto God for his sin against his Brother Judas was covetous and he suggests to him to betray his master Demas was an Apostate and he fel away by the meanes of covetousness as appeares by the third Ground where the seed was sowen among thornes that is the covetous heart As wood that is dry is on fire as soon as a sparkle is put to it In such a temper is the soul when it is ful of the love of earthly things I shal speak more to that afterward 3. One sin may be the cause of another because it administers matter unto another And so covetousness breeds envying and strife or dissention with others But it is said to be the root of al sin in another and higher sense and that is 4. Because it is both a Parent and a ruler of other sins It s a Parent to them Out of the bowels of Covetousness comes pride 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded And unbeleife But trust in the living God And neglect of religion for Covetousness is Idolatry And fraud and deceit and unquietness and hardness of heart Take heed least your hearts be hardned through the deceitfulness of riches Pharoah you know was made by nothing so stout and stubborn against the commandement of God to let the people of Israel go as by this That his profit should go he should loose the labor of so many men and so many vassals And as Covetousness is a Parent to sin So it s a Prince and Ruler over them Those sins that do respect the self same and are ruled by one another Now because that the end of Covetousness is to get to a mans self abundance Therefore Covetousness sets on work the tongue to lie the hand to defraud the understanding to plot the Judgment to suspect and doubt of God The wil to make much of al advantages of Gain Do but reckon up the children and the childrens children do but reckon up the subjects that are under this Prince Covetousness and you shal find that al the whole Catalogue of sins that can be named are one way or other either descended from or allyed unto it In 2 Cor. 2.7 Saith the Apostle Comfort them least they be swallowed up by Satan of sorrow for if you do not comfort them saith he Satan wil take advantage of us as it is translated but the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we be not Covetous or used by Satan or Satan do with us as with Covetous men What is that saith he he leads them into al kind of sin and so he would us To deny ordinances and meanes of Grace and so we should fil up our iniquity To lay down but one thing more wherein the sinfulness of it may appear And that is 5. In the baseness of it There is not a lust that doth more debase a man then Covetousness doth Therefore it s said that a man is a servant to Mammon You cannot serve God and Mammon It debaseth the soul in its nature for God Made it to look after things not seen It debaseth a mans body in its posture for God hath made it tread upon the earth out of whose bowels it came Look how unnatural it is for fowles to live in the earth So it s for the soul
the deceitful lusts Look what Paul saith there concerning al sin that the scripture saith concerning this one sin of Covetousness In Math. 13.22 The deceitfulness of riches Covetousness wil plead Conscience of a mans calling Care of Gods command to provide for a mans family Yea the Glory of God I would have more saith a man that so I may do more service and good Saul did save the Cattel but it s said It was for sacrifice Covetousness wil put a man upon al duties of morality and civility The covetous man whom God abhors saith the Psalmist In Psal 10.10 He doth crouch and humble himself that is he is as sweet and loving and affable and courteous and as seemingly ready to do any office and service for one as any can be Nay it wil put upon any spiritual duties Artaxerxes was a great friend to the reformation of the Church of the Jews But it was out of Covetousness In 2. Kings 6.10 And Ezra 7.23 That so they may pray for the life of the King and of his children and that no wrath may come upon him nor his Realme Hewould give a toleration to those poore banished ones that they might go to their own Country and set up the religion of their Fathers It wil make a man keep a good Minister in his house In Judges 17.13 I have a good Levite saith Micaiah and now I know that God wil bless me saith he It wil make a man not fail to heare the best sermons In John 6.26 Ye follow me not for the Miracles that is not for the discovery of God by me in working of Miracles and that you may see in me more then a bare man as my Miracles do discover me to be but ye follow me for the Loaves That people did go after Christ the best of Preachers a great many miles and did run the reproach of the people of those times What made them to be the first at Church but because they thought God would the better provide for them in 2 Tim. 3.2.5 Those that are covetous at the second verse have a form of Godliness A form of Godliness is nothing but the picture of a thing to the life when a thing is so like another by Art as that it can scarce be known then it is said to be a form Jesus Christ is said to be in the form of God because he was as like God as could be And in the form of a Servant because you would rather have thought him to be born to misery than to be Lord of life Covetousness wil have a form of Godliness He will do the same duties that any Godly man in the world doth Fasting and praier is an extraordinary duty a great affliction of the flesh it 's a duty of the greatest seeming holiness that can be yet in Isaiah 57.17 the Reason why they fasted so often was but for Covetousness that they might put a greater face and a fairer shew upon their persecuting the Brethren who did differ from them When they had a mind to fall upon their Brethren for that which they should have born with them in then they call for a fast like the Crocodiles cry that is only to get a prey So like as a man may be to a Godly man so like will Covetousness make a man be to him If a Godly man praies so will he And if a Godly man forbears outward acts of gross sins so will he If a Godly man suffers so will he When God commends Job that there was not a man like him saith the Devill it is nothing for a man to do as he when he hath so good wages for his work Have you not given him much Riches and Honor and many Children in the world And as it doth thus deceitfully cheat a man and is hardly to be avoided because it seizeth upon all if they look not to it So that you may see Secondly That it is hard to be Cured And therefore in the Scripture you shal find if you observe it as many Arguments nay more Arguments against Covetousness than against any sin except it be Unbelief In Matth. 6. Jesus Christ spends a whol Sermon almost against it He doth so in Matth. 15. He doth so when he comes to speak to his Disciples of the ruine of Jerusalem He doth so when he speaks of the Hearers Look through the Gospel and the Epistles and you shall find that there are more Arguments against Covetousness than any thing but Unbelief And wherefore but because it 's a hard thing to cure it And that you may further see that it 's hard to be cured confider how it deals with a man The Scripture useth divers words to this purpose somtimes it saith it doth divide a man So the word usually is which in the Scripture is translated Care The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Care signifies division of spirit It separates a mans heart from God It makes a man a Beast To have a heart and a heart and not to walk perfectly with him It makes a man take Religion by the very throat in Matth. 13.22 for it did choak the word And in Luke 12.29 saith the Text Be not of a doubtfull mind The word in the Greek is Be not like unto Meteors As Meteors and exhalations that are drawn from the Earth that hangs between the Earth and the stars so wil Covetousness make a man that he shall not be totally profane nor throughly holy neither in the upper region nor in the lower region upon the dust He hath a spirit that is mingled and therefore is on all sides but hearty for nothing that is good or for salvation Nay it goes further in Luke 21.34 Take heed least your heart be overcharged with Gluttony and Drunkenness and the Cares of this life Christ doth joyn Covetousness with Gluttony and Drunkenness because it hath the like effects upon the Soul of a man that they have upon the body of a man When a man hath drunk extraordinarily his understanding is sensless and so is a man made by the Cares of this world Be not overcharged The word signifies Made heavy His spirit is like lead he hath no spirit in any thing that he doth for God further than he is acted by the world Of a meer spirituall duty he hath no more feeling than a stone hath If there be not Rhetorick in praier and Invention in Sermons it 's not food to him Nothing that is spirituall affects him but his heart is like a stone It 's a strange speech in Luke 18.27 to this purpose when Christ said It was as hard for a rich man to be saved as for a Camell to go through the eye of a needle And they said then none of them can be saved saith Christ The things which are impossible with men are possible with God Are possible with God That word I would insist upon a little There are some things that the Scripture saith are easie unto God Do