be salted with Fire and every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt Serm. 6 7. pag. 104. On 2 Thess. 3. 5. And the Lord direct your Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Serm. 8. pag. 142. On Ephes. 1. 8. Wherein he hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence Serm. 9. pag. 157. On Mat. 27. 46. And about the ninth hour Iesus cried with a loud voice saying Eli Eli lama sabacthani that is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Serm. 10. pag. 175. On Rom. 1. Part of the 29 30 Verses Whisperers Backbiters Serm. 11. pag. 192. On Gal. 5. 16. This I say then walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the Lusts of the Flesh. Serm. 12. pag. 207. On Job 19. 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth Serm. 13. pag. 231. On 1 Tim. 6. 8. And having Food and Raiment let us be therewith content Serm. 14. pag. 247. On Eccles. 9. 11. I returned and saw under the Sun that the Race is not to the Swift nor the Battel to the Strong neither yet Bread to the Wise nor yet Riches to Men of Understanding nor yet Favour to Men of Skill but Time and Chance happeneth to them all Serm. 15. pag. 269. On Acts 21. 14. And when he would not be perswaded we ceased saying The Will of the Lord be done Serm. 16. pag. 262. On John 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life Serm. 17. pag. 323. On Deut. 30. 15. See I have set before thee this Day Life and Good Death and Evil. Serm. 18. pag. 345. On Mat. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets Serm. 19 20. pag. 371. On Ephes. 2. 10. For we are his Workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that we should walk them SERMON I. PSAL. 32. 1 2. Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no Guile THE Title of this Psalm is A Psalm of Instruction and so called because David was willing to shew them the way to Happiness from his own Experience Surely no Lesson is so needful to be learned as this We all would be happy The Good and Bad that do so seldom agree in any thing yet agree in this A desire to be happy Now happy we cannot be but in God who is the Only Immutable Eternal and Alsufficient Good which satisfies and fills up all the capacities and desires of our Souls And we are debarr'd from access to him by Sin which hath made a breach and separation between him and us and till that be taken away there can be no converse and Sin can only be taken away by God's Pardon upon Christ's Satisfaction God's Pardon is clearly asserted in my Text but Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness must be supplied out of other Scriptures as that 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the World to Himself not imputing their Trespasses to them Where the Apostle clearly shews that not-imputing Transgressions is the effect of God's Grace in Christ. And we do no wrong to this Text to take it in here for the Apostle citing this Scripture Rom. 4. 6 7. tells us that David describeth the blessedness of the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth Righteousness without works when he saith Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven whose Sin is covered blessed is the Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin In the words you have 1. An Emphatical setting forth of a great and blessed Priviledg that is Pardon of Sin 2. A Description of the Persons who shall enjoy it In whose spirit there is no Guile The Priviledg is that I shall confine my thoughts to It is set forth in three Expressions Forgiving Transgression Covering of Sin and not imputing Iniquity The manner of speech is warm and vehement and it is repeated over again Blessed is the Man I shall shew what these three Expressions import and why the Prophet doth use such vehemency and emphatical inculcation in setting forth this Priviledg 1. Whose Transgression is forgiven or who is eased of his Transgression Where Sin is compared to a burden too heavy for us to bear as also it is in other Scriptures Mat. 11. 28. Come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden 2. Whose Sin is covered alluding to the covering of filth or the removing of that which is offensive out of sight As the Israelites were to march with a paddle tied to their arms that when they went to ease themselves they might dig and cover that which came from them Deut. 23. you have the Law there and the reason of it ver 14. For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy Camp therefore shall thy Camp be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee And then the third expression is To whom the Lord imputeth no Sin that is doth not put Sin to their account Where Sin is compared to a Debt as it is also in the Lord's Prayer Mat. 6. 12. Forgive us our Debts as we also forgive our Debtors Thus is the Act set forth The Object of Pardon about which it is conversant is set forth under divers Expressions Iniquity Transgression and Sin As in Law many words of like import and signification are heaped up and put together to make the Deed and Legal Instrument more comprehensive and effectual I observe it the rather because when God proclaims his Name the same words are used Exod 34. 7. Taking away Iniquity Transgression and Sin Well we have seen the meaning of the Expression Why doth the holy Man of God use such vigor and vehemency of inculcation Blessed is the Man and again blessed is the Man partly with respect to his own case David knew how sweet it was to have Sin pardoned he had felt the bitterness of Sin in his own Soul to the drying up of his Blood and therefore he doth express his sense of Pardon in the most lively terms Blessed is the Man whose Iniquity is forgiven c. And then partly too with respect to those for whose use this Instruction was written that they might not look upon it as a light and trivial thing but be throughly apprehensive of the worth of so great a Priviledg Blessed happy thrice happy they who have obtained Pardon of their Sins and Justification by Jesus Christ. The Doctrine then which I shall insist upon is this That it is a great Degree and Step towards yea a considerable Part of our Blessedness to obtain the Pardon of our Sins by Christ Iesus I shall evidence it to you by these three Considerations 1. I
the Conscience and the Conscience against all But where the Heart is framed to the obedience of God's Will there is Peace Pax est tranquillitas ordinis when all things keep their place as in an accurate orderly Life they do Gal. 6. As many as walk according to this Rule Peace and Mercy be upon them and the whole Israel of God There is Peace for there is an harmonious Accord between God and them and between them and themselves Psal. 119. 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law not only Peace but great Peace a Peace that passeth all understanding Whilst we are in our Sins there is ever a fear of the War which is between God and us and there is a War in our selves Conscience disallowing our practices and our practices disliking the conduct of Conscience so that there is no peace to the Wicked But when the Lord Jesus hath taken us in hand and begun to cure us and frame us aright and shew us his wonderful Grace in turning us from our Sins here is matter provided for Serenity and Peace 2. It is the pledg of our eternal Felicity hereafter For Heaven is the perfection of Holiness or the full fruition of God in glory Now when the Mediator begins to take away Sin he blesses you for the Life is then begun which shall be perfected in Heaven Unless it be begun here it will never be perfected there For without Holiness no Man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. But if it be begun it will surely be perfected there for blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The vision and fruition of God is begun here the Spirit of Holiness is the earnest of our Inheritance Eph. 1. 13 14. O what Blessedness is it then to have the new heart planted into us by Christ and to live the new Life It is the Beast about you that delights in the momentany base dreggy Pleasures of Sin But when Christ hath turned you from your Sins you are blessed indeed you are in the way to Blessedness and you shall be blessed for ever he gives Peace as a Pledge of Happiness and Eternal Glory III. I shall prove that this is the Mediator's Blessing 1. Let me lay down this that those Blessings that are most proper to the Mediator are spiritual Blessings We forfeited all by Sin but especially the Grace of the Spirit whereby we might be made serviceable to God Other Mercies run in the Channel of common Providence but spiritual Blessings are the discriminating Graces and Favours that are given us by the Mediator Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings in heavenly Places Christ came not to distribute Honours and Greatness and worldly Riches to his Followers but to turn away every one of us from our Sins to reduce us to God that we may love him and be beloved of him He came as a spiritual Saviour to give us Grace rather than temporal Happiness Most Men have a Carnal Iewish Notion of Christ they would have a temporal Safety and Happiness they would have Deliverance from Affliction rather than Deliverance from Sin To be delivered from every evil Work is more than to be delivered from the Mouth of the Lion This is most proper to the Mediator 2 Tim. 4. 18. A sanctified Use of Troubles is more than an Exemption from them a carnal Man may have Exemption from them but not a sanctified Use of them Poverty Lameness Blindness are not as bad as Ignorance unruly Lusts and Want of Grace Moral Evils are worse than Natural Daniel was cast into a Lion's Den you would think that was a Misery but it was a greater Misery when Nebuchadnezzar was thrust out among the Beasts being given up to a brutish Heart Exemption from Trouble may be hurtful to us but Deliverance from Sin is never hurtful to us Among the spiritual Blessings we have by the Mediator Conversion from Sin to God is the chiefest we have on this side Heaven That it was the main Part of Christ's Undertaking I shall prove by Scripture and Reason For Scripture the Text is clear for it for thus the Apostle interprets the Covenant-Blessing In thy Seed shall all Nations of the Earth be blessed viz. God hath sent him to bless you wherein in turning every one of you from your Sins He shall be called Iesus Mat. 1. 21. for he shall save his People from their sins not only from the Guilt but the Power of Sin not only from the Evil after Sin but the Evil of Sin it self Denominatio est à majori the Name is taken from what is chiefest And so when he is promised to the Iews The Redcemer shall come out of Sion and he shall turn away Ungodliness from Iacob There is his principal Work 1 John 3. 5. Christ came to take away Sin and in him is no Sin He means not only the condemning Power but the Power of it in the Heart for he is pleading Arguments for Holiness why Believers should not run into Sin which is a Transgression of the Law One is from the Undertaking of Christ he came to take away Sin and from the Example of Christ In him is no Sin he plainly means the Power of Sin 2. Now to give you some Reasons why this is the chief Benefit most eyed by Christ and should be most regarded by us 1. Christ's Undertaking was principally for the Glory of God All the Promises are in him Yea and Amen to the Glory of God And it should not be a Question which should have the precedence the Glory of God or our Good Christ came to promote God's Glory and that must have the precedence of our Benefit Now then the abolishing the Guilt of Sin doth more directly respect our Interest and Good but the abolishing the Power of Sin or the turning and cleansing the Heart from it doth more immediately respect the Glory of God and our Subjection to God Therefore Christ would not only pacify the Wrath of God but his chief Work that doth mostly concern the Glory of God was to heal our evil Natures and prevent Sin for the time to come 2. To be turned from Sin is to be freed from the greatest Evil. For Pardon gives us an Exemption from Punishment which is a natural Evil but Conversion gives us freedom from our naughty Hearts which is a moral Evil and certainly Vice is worse than Pain and Sin than Misery Besides Sin is the Cause of all Evil and the taking away the Cause is more than ceasing the Effect 3. This hath nearer Connection with the Life of Glory Pardon only removes the Impediment but the sanctifying and healing of our Natures is the beginning of the Life of Glory and Introduction into it Pardon removes our Guilt which hinders our Happiness therefore Divines say Justification is Gratia removens prohibens that that removes the Impediment but the sanctifying
his personal Subsistence which is by way of Filiation or being eternally begotten in the Divine Essence So great was our Misery that no less Remedy would serve the turn and so great God's Mercy that he with-held him not from us Doct. The greatest Manifestation of God's Love to the Sons of Men is the giving his only begotten Son to be their Redeemer and Saviour There is a twofold giving of Christ. 1. He is given for us 2. He is given to us 1. He was given for us when he was sent into the World to become Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh and to die for our Sins This is spoken of Rom. 8. 32. God spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all 2. He is given to us when we have a special Interest in him and a Participation of his Benefits 1 Cor. 1. 30. Christ Iesus is made of God to us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption He is given for us as he took our Nature he is given to us as he dwelleth in our Hearts by Faith He is given for us as he undertook the Work of our Redemption he is given to us as he accomplisheth and brings about our Conversion to God and applying to us the Benefits of his Purchase I shall speak of both I. As he is given for us it mightily bespeaketh the Love of God and his Care of our Salvation In Creation God made us after his own Image and Likeness In Redemption his Son came in the similitude and likeness of sinful Flesh. In Creation the Angels were dignified above us but not in Redemption Heb. 2. 16. He did not redeem the Apostate Angels In short this was the most convenient Way for God to bring about the Purposes of his Grace towards Man for these Reasons 1. That our Faith might be more certain by the appearing of the Son of God in our Nature by his dying rising again from the Dead and ascending into Heaven and so giving a sensible Proof of our whole Religion 1. By appearing in Human Nature he had opportunity of conversing with Men to convince them of the gracious Will of God and teach them Obedience to him not only by his Doctrine but his Example and securing the Truth of both by the many Miracles which he wrought in the days of his Flesh. Ioh. 6. 27. Him hath the Father sealed that is owned acknowledged demonstrated that whatever he did or said was the Will and good Pleasure of God 2. By his dying he satisfied the Justice of God and so maketh a way for the Course of his Mercy to us that we might obtain Release and Pardon of all our Sins and Transgressions against the Law of God Rom. 3. 25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God c. 3. His rising again from the Dead was a visible Satisfaction to the World that his Sacrifice was accepted Rom 4. 15. Who was delivered for our Offences and raised again for our Iustification The unbelieving World by that supreme Act of Power have no reason to stand out against his Faith and Doctrine 4. By his ascending into Heaven the Truth of Eternal Life was more confirmed for thereby he gave us a real Demonstration of that Glory which he spoke of and promised to his Disciples and Followers 1 Pet. 1. 21. God raised him from the Dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and Hope might be in God He himself is entred into that Happiness and we shall follow him 2. That our Hope might be more strong and lively being built upon the Example of Christ and his Promises to us The Example of Christ is of great Support to us in all our Troubles for if we fare as he fared in this World we shall fare as he fareth in the World to come Therefore we are said to be begotten to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the Dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. That is have a Ground of Hope and chearful Assurance as he by by his Sufferings came to his Reward and Crown so shall we obtain the matter of his Promises 1 Ioh. 2. 25. And this is the Promise which he hath promised even Eternal Life Joh. 12. 26. If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be If any Man serve me him will my Father honour 3. That our Love to God may be more fervent If God had saved us some other way the Salvation had been something less for according to the degrees of the Gift so is our Obligation Now God would oblige us at the highest rate and therefore he gave his only begotten Son to die for us It is said He spared not his own Son Rom. 8. 32. There is a twofold not sparing either in a way of impartial Justice or in a way of transcendent Bounty the last is chiefly intended in that place though the other not altogether excluded He delivered him up to die for our sakes Now surely this should gain much upon us when God thought nothing too good to part with for our Salvation 4. It makes our Obedience more ready for Jesus Christ came to live by the same Law that we were bound to Gal. 4. 4. When the Fulness of Time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law Yea to obey God at the dearest Rates Heb. 5. 8 9. Though he were a Sen yet learned he Obedience by the Things which he suffered And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him He submitted unto and performed the whole Law his Obedience cost him dear since an ignominious and shameful Death was a part of it II. God that gave Christ for us giveth him also to us and with him the Benefits of Pardon Reconciliation Adoption and Right to Eternal Life if we be duly qualified The Offer is made in the Gospel on our part there is required only a thankful acceptance of Christ on his own Terms This also is the greatest Gift for the other is in order to this and this is the compleating of it and applying it for our Comfort I shall prove it by three Reasons 1. Without Christ there is no Recovery of what we lost 2. No Removal of that Misery we incurred 3. No Obtaining of what we should desire and pursue after as our proper Happiness 1. No Recovery of what we lost What did we lose by the Fall The Image and Favour of God and Fellowship with God 1. The Image of God was defaced by Sin Man abode not in the honour of his Creation but became as the Beasts that perish Now the Restitution of this great Gift we only have by Christ who is the Pattern and Author of it The Pattern 2 Cor. 3. 18. We all with open face beholding as
43. And he hath commanded us to preach and testify to the People that it is he that was ordained of God to be the Iudge of the quick and dead To Him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins So Acts 3. 19 20 21. Surely we that are to appear before the Bar of an Impartial Judge being so obnoxious to him for the breach of his holy Law what have we to do but to make supplication to our Judge and prevent Execution by a submissive asking of a Pardon and accepting the Grace God hath provided 5. A Iudge implies a Iudgment-day or some Time when his Justice must have a solemn Trial when he will reckon with the lapsed World He reckons sometimes with Nations now for Ungodliness and Unrighteousness by Wars and Pestilence and Famine He reckons with particular Persons at their Death and when their Work is done he pays them their Wages Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed for all Men once to dye and after that the Iudgment But there is a more general and final Judgment when his Justice must have a solemn Tryal which is in part evident in Nature for the Apostles did slide in the Christian Doctrine mostly by this means into the Hearts of those to whom they preached Acts 24. 25. He reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Iudgment to come The particularity of it belongs to the Gospel-Revelation but Nature hath some kind of Sense of it in it self and they are urged to repent because God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 31. God judgeth the World in Patience now but then in Righteousness when all things shall be reviewed and every thing restored Vertue to its publick Honour and Vice to its due Shame 6. If there be a Solemn Iudgment-day when every one must receive his final Doom this Judgment certainly infers a Condemnation to a fallen Creature unless God set up another Court for his Relief for now Man is utterly disinabled by Sin to fullfil the Law and can by no means avoid the Punishment that is due to his Transgression I shall prove this by three Reasons The Law to fallen Man is Impossible the Penalty is Intolerable and the Punishment for ought yet appears if God do not take another Course is Unavoidable 1. The Duty of the Law is impossible The Apostle tells us what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the weakness of our flesh It could not justify us before God it could not furnish us with any Answer to his Demands when he shall call us to an Account Man is mightily addicted to the Legal Covenant therefore it is one part of a Gospel-Minister's work to represent the Impossibility of ever obtaining Grace or Life by that Covenant Man would stick to the Law as long as he can and will patch up a sorry Righteousness of his own some few superficial things He makes a short Exposition of the Law that he may cherish a large Opinion of his own Righteousness and curtails the Law of God that the Ell may be no longer than the Cloth and brings it down to a poor contemptible thing requiring a few external superficial Duties of Men. We read often of being dead to Sin and to the World it is as certainly true we must be dead to the Law Now how are we dead to the Law the Scripture tells us in one place that through the Law we are dead to the Law and in another place that we are dead to the Law through the Body of Christ The first place is Gal. 2. 19. Through the Law I am dead to the Law Men are apt to stand to the Legal Covenant and have their Confidence in the Flesh to place their Hopes of acceptance with God in some few external things which they make their false Righteousness For the carnal World as it cryes up a false Happiness as its God so Men have a false Righteousness which is their Christ. Now through the Law they are dead to it How The Law supposeth us as innocent and requires us to continue so Cursed is every one that continues not in every thing c. Suppose a Man should exactly fulfill it afterwards yet the paying of new Debts will not quit old Scores And then we are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ Rom. 7. 4. By the crucified Body of Christ by which he hath merited and purchased a better Hope and Grace for us Well the Duty is impossible 2. The Penalty is intolerable for who can stand when God is angry Ezek. 22. 14. Can thine Heart endure or can thine Hands be strong in the Day that I shall deal with thee We that cannot endure the pain of the Gout or Stone how shall we endure the eternal Wrath of God It is surely a very dreadful thing to fall into the Hands of that living God that lives for every to punish the Transgressors of his Law 3. The Punishment is unavoidable unless Sin be pardoned and you submit to God's way for I would ask you what Hope can you have in God whose Nature ingageth him to hate Sin and whose Justice obligeth him to punish it 1. Whose Nature ingageth him to hate Sin and Sinners Hab. 1. 13. He is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity I urge this for a doubleReason partly because I have observed that all the Security of Sinners and their Neglect of seeking after Pardon by Jesus Christ it comes from their lessening thoughts of God's holiness and if their Hearts were sufficiently possessed with an awe of God's unspotted Purity and Holiness they would more look after the Terms of Grace God hath provided Psal 50. 21. Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self Why do Men live securely in their Sins and do not break off their evil Course They think God is not so severe and harsh and so all their Confidence is grounded upon a Mistake of God's Nature and such a dreadful Mistake as amounts to a Blasphemy Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self The other Reason is this partly because I observe the bottom Reason of all the Fear that is in the Hearts of Men is God's Holiness 1 Sam. 6. 20. Who is able to stand before this holy God And Who would not fear thee for thou art holy Rev. 15. 4. We fear his Power why because it is set on work by his Wrath. We fear his Wrath why because it is kindled by his Justice and Righteousness We fear his Righteousness because it is bottom'd and grounded upon his Holiness and upon the Purity of his Nature 2. His Justice obligeth him to punish Sin that the Law might not seem to be made in vain It concerns the Universal Judge to maintain the Reputation of
with carnal Delights but the virtue of that Opium will be soon spent All those Joys are but stollen Waters and Bread eaten in secret a poor sorry Peace that dares not come to the Light and endure the Trial a sorry Peace that is soon disturbed by a few serious and sober thoughts of God and the World to come but when once Sin is pardoned then you have true Joy indeed Be of good Cheer thy Sins be forgiven thee Mat. 9. 2. Then Misery is pluckt up by the Roots Comfort ye comfort ye my People Why Her Iniquity is forgiven Isa. 40. 1 2. And we joy in God Rom. 5. 11. as those that have received the Atonement The Lord Jesus hath made the Atonement but when we have received the Atonement then we joy in God then there is matter for abundant Delight when the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy-Ghost given unto us 3. When we are pardoned then we are capable of Eternal Happiness Pardon of Sin is Gratia removens prohibens that Grace that removes the Impediment that takes the Make-bate out of the way removes that that hinders our Entrance into Heaven Sanctification is the beginning but till we are pardoned there can be no Entrance into Heaven now this removes the Incapacity I observe Remission of Sins is put for all the Priviledge-Part as Repentance for the Duties Acts 5. 31. Him hath God exalted to give Repentance and Remission of Sins There are two Initial Benefits Repentance as the Foundation of the new Life and Remission of Sins as the Foundation of all our future Mercies There are two chief Blessings offered in the New Covenant Pardon and Life Reconciliation with God and the everlasting Fruition of Him in Glory and the one makes way for the other Acts 26. 28. To open their Eyes and to turn them from Satan to God that they may receive Remission of Sins and an Inheritance among the Saints When we are pardoned then we are capable to look for the blessed Inheritance the Impediment is taken out of the way that excludes from it And thus you see the Blessedness of the Man whose Transgression is forgiven whose Filth is covered and unto whom the Lord will not impute his Sin A Word of Application 1. Let us bless God for the Christian Religion Where this Priviledge is discovered to us in all its Glory and that upon very commodious terms fit to gain the Heart of Man and to reduce him to God Mic. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee among all the Gods pardoning the Transgressions of thine Heritage The Business of Religion is to provide sufficiently for two things which have much troubled the considering Part of the World a suitable Happiness for Mankind and suitable means for the expiation of Sin Happiness is our great desire and Sin is our great burden and trouble Now these are fully made known and discovered to us by the Christian Faith The last is that we are upon The Way how the grand Scruple of the World may be satisfied and their guilty Fears appeased And that we may see the Excellency of the Christian Religion above all Religions in the World it offers Pardon upon such terms as are most commodious to the Honour of God and most satisfactory to our Souls that is upon the account of Christ's Satisfaction and our own Repentance without which our Case is not compassionable The first I will chiefly insist on The Heathens were mightily perplexed about the way how God could dispense with the Honour of his Justice in the Pardon of Sin That Man is God's Creature and therefore his Subject that he hath exceedingly failed and faulted in his Duty and Subjection to him and is therefore obnoxious to God's just Wrath and Vengeance are Truths evident in the light of Nature and common Experience And therefore the Heathens had some Convictions of this and saw a need that God should be atoned and propitiated by some Sacrifices of Expiation and the nearer they lived to the Original of this Tradition and Institution the more burdened and pressing were their Conceits and Apprehensions thereof But in all their cruel Superstitions there was no rest of Soul they knew not the true God nor the proper Ransom nor had any sure way to convey Pardon to them but were still left to the Puzzle and Distraction of their own Thoughts and could not make God merciful without some diminution of his Holiness and Justice nor make him just without some diminution of his Mercy Somewhat they conceived of the Goodness of God by his continuing forfeited Benefits so long God left them not without a Witness But yet they could not reconcile it to his Justice or Will to punish Sinners And all their Apprehensions of the Pardon of Sin were but Probabilities and what was wrought to procure Merit was ridiculous or else barbarous and unnatural giving their First-born for the Sin of their Soul Mic. 6. 7. And all those Notions they had about this apprehended Expiation were too weak to change the Heart or Life of Man or to reduce him to God Come we now to the Iews The Iews had many Sacrifices of God's own Institution but such as did not make the Comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 9. 9. And the Ransom that was to be given to provoked Justice was known but to a few They saw much of the Patience and Forbearance of God but little of the Righteousness of God and which was the great Propitiation Till God set forth Iesus Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the Forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the Iustifier of him that believes in Iesus Rom. 3. 25 26. Their Ordinances and Sacrifices were rather a Bond acknowledging the Debt or presignifying the Ransom that was to be paid and their Sacrifices did rather breed Bondage and their Ordinances were called an Hand-writing of Ordinances that were against them The Redemption of Souls was then-spoken of as a great Mystery but sparingly reveal'd Psal. 49. 3 7. My Mouth shall speak of Wisdom and the Meditation of my Heart shall be of Understanding I will incline mine Ear to a Parable I will open my dark Sayings upon the Harp What was that Wisdom What was that dark Saying The Redemption of Souls is precious it ceaseth for ever As it lies upon meer Man's hand none can give a Ransom for his Brother Eternal Redemption by Christ was a dark Saying in those days only they knew no meer Man could do it And in more early times in Iob's time he was an Interpreter One of a Thousand that could bring this Message to a distressed Sinner that God had found out a Ransom This Atonement then that lies at the bottom of Pardon of Sin was a rare thing in those days Let us bless
the Wound that was in a fair way of healing and willingly relapse into the Sickness he was almost recovered from with so much ado Sure this shews our first Consent was not real and sincere And then Christ will be no Advocate for them that continue in their Sins Our God is a God of Salvation we cannot enough speak of his saving Mercy But he will wound the Head of his Enemies and the hairy Scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his Trespasses Psal. 68. 20 21. 2. Daily Prayer This was spoken unto at the Close of the first Sermon Mat. 6. 12. Our Lord hath taught us to pray for we make but too much work for pardoning Mercy every day Every day forgive us our Trespasses To day in one of the Petitions is common to all that follow as we beg daily Bread we must beg daily Pardon daily Grace against Temptations Under the Law they had a Lamb every Morning and every Evening offered to God for a daily Sacrifice Numb 28. 4 5 6. We are all invited to look to the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Surely we have as much need as they more Cause than they because now all is clear and openly made known unto us God came to Adam in the cool of the Day he would not let him sleep in his Sins before Night came he comes and rouseth his Conscience and then gives out the Promise of the Seed of the Woman that should break the Serpent's Head In Reconciliation with God let not the Sun go down upon God's Wrath Eph. 4. 26. A Man should not sleep in his Anger nor out of Charity with Man surely we should make our Peace with God every day If a Man under the Law had contracted any Uncleanness he was to wash his Cloaths before Evening that he might notly a Night in his Uncleanness We should daily earnestly come to God with this Request Lord pardon our Sins But what must those that are already adopted into God's Family and taken into his Grace and Favour daily pray for Pardon of Sin Though upon our first Faith our State be changed and we are indeed made Children of God and Heirs of Eternal Life by Faith in Christ Jesus yet he that is clean need wash his Feet We contract a great deal of sinful defilement and pollution by walking up and down here in a dirty World and we must every day be cleansing our Consciences before God and begging that we may be made Partakers of this Benefit III. The third thing is our Recovery out of greivous Lapses and Falls In them there is required a particular and express Repentance And Repentance and Faith must be carried with respect to those four things are in Sin Culpa the Fault Reatus the Guilt Macula the Stain and Blot and Poena the Punishment You know the Law supposeth a righteous Nature that God gives to Man therefore in Sin there is a Stain or Blot defacing God's Image The Precepts of the Law require Duty so it is Culpa a criminal Act the Sanction of the Law as threatned makes way for Guilt as executed calls for Punishment you see how it ariseth 1. For the Fault in the Transgression of the Law or the criminal Action See that the Fault be not continued Relapses are very dangerous A Bone often broken in the same place is hardly set again God's Children are in danger of this before the Breach be well made up or the Orifice of the Wound be soundly closed as Lot doubled his Incest and Samson goes in again and again to Dalilah But in wicked Men frequently as that King sent Fifty after Fifty and nothing would stop him There is an express forsaking of Sin required of us otherwise it would abolish all the Difference between the Renewed and the Carnal 2. The Guilt continues till serious and solemn Repentance and Humiliation before God and suing out our Pardon in Christ's Name 1 Iohn 1. 9. He speaks of Believers If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness There must be a solemn humbling for the Sin and then God will forgive us Suppose a Man forbear the Act and never commit it more as Iudah forbore the Act after he had comitted Incest with Tamar but it seems he repented not till she shewed him the Bracelets and the Staff yet with serious remorse we must beg our Peace humbly upon the account of our Mediatour Therefore something must be done to take away the Guilt 3. There is the Blot or evil Inclination to sin again The Blot of Sin in general is the defacing of God's Image but in particular Sins it is some weakning of the Reverence of God A Man cannot venture to act a grievous wilful Sin but there is a violent Obstruction of the Love of God A Brand that hath been in the Fire is more apt to take Fire again the evil Influences of the Sin continue Now the Root of Sin must be mortified it is not enough to forbear or confess a Sin but we must pull out the Core of the Distemper before all will be well As Ionah he repented of his Tergiversation and forsaking his Call The fault was not repeated he goes to Nineveh and does his duty yet the core of the Distemper was not taken away for you read of him Ion. 4. 2. Was not this my saying when I was yet in my Country therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I knew thou wert a gracious God and repentest thee of the evil ....... On the contrary Peter fell into a grievous Sin denying his Lord and Master with Oaths and Execrations but afterwards Iohn 21. 15. Christ trys him Jesus saith to Simon Peter Lovest thou me more than these pointing to the rest of his Disciples Peter had been bragging Matth. 26. 33. Though all Men forsake thee yet I will not forsake thee Now when he was foiled tho he had wept bitterly for his Fault Christ tries if the Cause be removed Lord saith he thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee But he doth not say now more than these The Root of the Distemper was gone Peter is grown more modest now than to make Comparisons 4. There is the Punishment Now we must deprecate Eternal Punishment and bless God for Jesus Christ who hath delivered us from Wrath to come But as to temporal Evils God hath reserved a Liberty in the Covenant to his Wisdom and fatherly Justice to inflict temporal Punishments as he shall see good If they break his Statutes and keep not his Commandments then will he visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes Psal. 89. 32 33. Nevertheless my loving-kindness I will not utterly take from them nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail If Iudgment begin at the House of God what shall become of the Sinner and Ungodly The Righteous are recompensed upon Earth partly to increase
of our Desires And partly through Slavish Fear We hate those whom we fear A condemning God can never be loved by a guilty Creature We look upon him as one that will call us to an account for our Sins Now all these Reasons concur to shew us that till Sin be taken away we cannot love nor delight in God neither can God love us and delight in us God will not have Communion with us while we are in our Sins Christ when he came to bring us to God he came not to make any Change in God to make God less holy but to make us holy and amiable in his sight The reasonable Nature cannot digest this Conceit that the holy God should take Sinners into his Bosom without any change Would it become the Governour of the World to be indifferent to good and bad the holy God to be a Friend to Sinners The new Nature in us sheweth the contrary for that causes an abomination and abhorrence both of Impurity and the Impure As Lot's righteous Soul was vexed with the Sodomites And we are told Prov. 29. 27. An unjust Man is an Abomination to the Iust and he that is upright in the Way is Abomination to the Wicked If a Man be sanctified but in part he cannot delight in the wicked freely to converse with them He hath a Hatred not of Enimity so as to seek their Destruction not a Hatred opposite to good Will that is contrary to the Nature of Grace which is made up of Love but an Hatred of Abomination which is contrary to the Love of Complacency he cannot take any delight in him Now then without a manifest reproach to the Holy God we cannot imagine he should admit Sinners into an intimate Communion with him Thou hatest all the Workers of Iniquity Psal. 5. 5. God said to the Prophet Ier. 15. 19. Let them return unto thee but return not thou to them God will not return to us in our Sins but we must come off from our Sins to him 2. We are freed from the great Blemish of our Natures Sin defaced the Image of God in us Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God We lost not only the Favour of God but the Image of God the great Excellency of our Nature was eclipsed and defaced Now the Plaister will not be as broad as the Sore nor our Reparation by Christ correspondent to our Loss by Adam if our Nature be not healed and the Image of God restored in us If Adam had only left us guilty the Pardon of Sin had been enough but he conveyed an evil Nature and therefore we must be turned from our Sins as well as pardoned otherwise Christ would not restore all that Adam took away Psal. 69. 4. Is he a good Physician that takes away the Pain and leaves the great Disease uncured But Christ has procured the Favour of God for us and repaired the Image of God in us and therefore certainly put us into a way of Blessedness again Holiness was our Primitive Excellency and Amiableness 3. We are freed from that that is the great Burden of the Creature as well as his Blemish Whatever it be to the common Sinner that is no matter he hath no right thoughts of things and is besotted with his carnal choice for Sin is an Evil whether it be felt or no but the awakened Sinner is sensible not only of the Guilt of Sin but it is his greatest Burden that he should have a Nature inclines him to grieve and dishonour God Pharaoh could say Take away this Plague But a penitent broken-hearted Sinner cries Take away all Iniquity They desire a Change of this State by Regeneration Therefore the Promises of the Gospel considering a penitent Soul under such a Distress are suted to the Case 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and cleanse us from all Unrighteousness If you know what Sin is and penitently bemoan your selves to God you will be troubled with the Power and Pollution of it as well as the Guilt Mic. 7. 18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He will turn again he will have compassion hewill subdue our Iniquities A Heart truly affected doth not only desire Pardon and Ease but Power against Sin A Man that hath his Leg broken would not only desire Ease of his pain but to have his Leg set right again A Leprous Condemned Malefactor desires not only to be freed from the Sentence of Condemnation but to be cured or his Pardon will do him no good Now surely it is a great Blessing to be turned from our Sins to be freed from that a penitent Soul finds to be so great a Burden and the Mediatour gives us a notable proof of his Love in it 4. Being turned from our Sins we are freed from the great bane of our Persons and all our happiness Sin is a Cursed Inmate it fires the Lodging where it is entertain'd and harboured unless speedily cast out of doors it involves us in the curse of the Law The wages of Sin is Death therefore Christ that he might free us from Misery doth first free us from Sin If pardon of Sin be a blessing certainly to be turned from Sin is a blessing for the one cannot be had without the other till you are turned from Sin you cannot be pardoned not justified till you are sanctified Psal. 32. 1 2. Blessed is the Man whose Sin is forgiven and whose Iniquity is covered and unto whom the Lord will not impute his Sin in whose spirit there is no guile When God hath given us an holy sincere heart and turned us from our Sins then we have the Blessedness of Pardon There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 1. who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit We are freed from the condemning power of the Law when freed from Sin and all that Woe and Wrath that belongs to every Soul that doth evil By all these Considerations it appears how great a Blessing the turning us from Sin is in the privative notion that is the removal of so great an evil 2. Take Blessedness in the Positive Notion that is to enjoy a great Good and it will appear it is a blessed thing to be turned from our Sins 1. Because this is the matter of our Serenity Comfort and Peace here and the pledg and beginning of our eternal Felicity hereafter The Soul can never be setled in an holy Peace till it be turned from its Sins we can never find rest till we get out of Satan's yoke and get into Christ's blessed Liberty The fruit of Righteousness is Peace Isa. 32. 17. We are freed from those unquiet and troublesom thoughts wherewith others are haunted A wicked Man's Soul is in a mutiny one Affection wars against another and all against
no Sacrifice without it Not that he tasted of their Meat-offerings or did eat the Fat or Flesh of Bulls and Goats and drink their Blood and so would have it seasoned for his Pallate and Appetite it is not so to be understood but in Types as well as in Similitudes there is a condescension to our sense and apprehension of things That that is salted is savoury therefore God would note his acceptation of our persons and services this way By nature we are all odious unsavoury and distasteful to God by reason of Sin Psal. 14. 3. They are all become filthy there is none that doth good no not one in the Hebrew it is putrified stinking like corrupt and rotten Flesh. We must be salted and seasoned by the Grace of Christ and so we become amiable and acceptable in the sight of God The more upright we are the more he delighteth in us 2. To Men the more we are thus salted and mortified the more shall we do good to others Our Lord tells his Disciples Mat. 5. 13. Ye are the Salt of the Earth but if the Salt lose its savour wherewith shall it be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of Men. This is spoken to the Disciples as Disciples not as Apostles and publick Persons It is a mistake to think that only Ministers are the Light of the World and the Salt of the World No all Christians must shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation all Christians must be as the Salt of the Earth Christ's whole Sermon contains general Duties and the Disciples were not yet sent abroad as Apostles nor ever heard of such a Commission or that their Master would send them abroad for the proselyting the World to the Kingdome of God that was done afterwards Chap. 10. and therefore here he speaks to Christians as Christians Now they are said to be Salt even as they season all those among whom they live A Christian is never savoury in his Conversation with others till he hath Salt in himself then all his actions are seasoned with Grace and beget a remembrance of God then his words are seasoned with Grace and do good to others The Apostle saith Eph. 4. 29. Let no corrupt Communication come out of your Mouths that rotten and corrupt Communication which vents it self in slandering rayling ribaldry foolish jesting at holy things lyes cursing and the like all these come from a corrupt Heart as a stinking Breath argues rotten Lungs These want the Grace of Mortification so are all sapless Spirits that cannot speak any thing of God seriously but in their most serious discourse are as fresh as Water But go among the mortified and you receive the savour of good things from them you have not only savoury Prayers and savoury Sermons but savoury Conferences and Discourses Col. 4. 6. Let your speech be alway poudered with Salt that is do not speak idely much less profanely but in an edifying manner Now Christians ought to take heed they do not lose their savouriness for then they do not please God nor profit Man and are fit for nothing but the Dunghil Thus I have proved the second thing that the Grace of Mortification is the true Salt that seasons Christians III. There is a Necessity of this Salt in all those that have entered into Covenant with God and have dedicated and devoted themselves to him 1. By our Covenant Vow we are bound to the strictest Duties and that upon the highest Penalties The Duty to which we are bound is very strict We have answered God in all the demands of his Covenant 1 Pet. 3. 21. For Baptism saveth as the answer of a good Conscience towards God The Lord demands and puts in effect this Question Will you die unto Sin and live unto Righteousness this is the tenour of the Baptismal Covenant that is so often so solemnly renewed at the Lord's Supper and you are to reckon your selves Rom. 6. 11. to be dead unto Sin and alive unto Righteousness through Christ Iesus our Lord reckon your selves that is in Vow and Obligation And the Penalty is very high Heb. 10. 26. that we sin wilfully so that our admission into Christ's Family will be in vain yea to our further ruine If you do not stand to the Covenant if you keep Sin still alive and add Fuel to the Flames 2. The Abundance of Sin that yet remains in us and the marvellous activity of it in our Souls we cannot get rid of this cursed Inmate till our Tabernacle be dissolved and this House of Clay tumbled into the Dust. Paul groaned sorely under it Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Rom. 7. 24. And it is called Sin that doth easily beset us Heb. 12. 10. Well then since Sin is not nullified it must be mortified It works it wars there is a marvellovs activity in it it is very active and restless Rom. 7. 8. Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence he means sinful nature And the Apostle Iames tells us Iam. 4. 5. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy there is not a sleepy but a stirring Principle always inclining us to evil and hindring that which is good Sin doth not only make us a little flexible and yeelding to Temptations but doth hurry us and impel us thereunto It is a Law warring in our Members that brings us into Captivity to Sin Rom. 7. 23. Corrupt Nature is not a tame thing that works not till it be irritated by the suggestions of Satan or temptations of the World but is like a living Spring that pours out Water of its own accord it will not let us alone the Heart of Man is evil continually and so it always hinders us from that that is good Rom. 7. 21. When I would do good evil is present with me it blunts the edge of our Affections it seeks to weaken our purposes by unbelieving thoughts or drawing us away from God by the lure of some sensitive delight in stealing our Hearts from him in the very duties and solemn addresses we make to him distracting our minds with thoughts of the World and the Pomp and Glory thereof and so turns our very Duties into Sin and makes us lose the comfort and sweetness of them it blasts and perverts our most sincere endeavours Well then without this Salt of the Covenant if this be so what shall we do have we not need to keep humble and watchful if Sin be stirring we must be stirring against it and improve the grace of the Holy Spirit upon the account of Christ's Death and use all good means that it may be subdued in us 3. Consider the sad consequences of letting Sin alone both either as to further Sin or Punishment 1. As to further Sin For Christ speaks here of Scandals If Lust be not mortified it grows outragious it has foil'd us before God
Love to Mankind God so loved the World 2. The way which God took to recover our lapsed condition or the Effect and Fruit which flows from this Fountain that he gave his only begotten Son 3. The end of it that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Where take notice of 1. The Qualification or the free and easy condition put upon Men in the Gospel that whosoever believeth in him 2. The benefit that resulteth to us expressed Negatively and Affirmatively should not perish but have everlasting Life First The rise and beginning of all is God's unconceivable Love God so loved the World Where observe 1. The Object the World 2. The Act Loved 3. The Degree So loved 1. The word by which the Object is expressed is the World which noteth Mankind in its corrupt and miserable State 1 Ioh. 5. 19. The whole World lies in Sin The World is an Heap of Men who had broken God's Law forfeited his Love and Favour they neither loved nor feared God but were unthankful and unholy yet this World God loved 2. The Act He loved The Love of God is twofold the Love of Benevolence and the Love of Complacence 1. The Love of Benevolence is the Pity and Compassion of God towards Man lying in Sin and Misery This is understood in this place as also in Tit. 3. 4. The Kindness and Love of God our Saviour towards Man appeared 2. The Love of Complacence 〈◊〉 he loveth us when he hath made us lovely In which Sence it is said Psal. 11. 7. The Righteous God loveth Righteousness Joh. 16. 27. The Father himself loved you because ye loved me This belongeth not to this place 3. The Degree So loved He doth not tell you how much but leaveth it to your most solemn raised Thoughts It is rather to be conceived than spoken of and admired rather than conceived Observe from the Words That the Beginning and first Cause of our Salvation is the meer Love of God The outward Occasion was our Misery the inward moving Cause was God's Love 1. Love is at the Bottom of all We may give a Reason of other Things but we cannot give a Reason of his Love God shewed his Wisdom Power Justice and Holiness in our Redemption by Christ. If you ask why he made so much ado about a worthless Creature raised out of the Dust of the Ground at first and had now disorder'd himself and could be of no use to him We have an Answer at hand Because he loved us If you continue to ask But why did he love us We have no other Answer but because he loved us for beyond the first Rise of things we cannot go And the same Reason is given by Moses Deut. 7. 8. The Lord did not set his Love upon you nor chuse you because you were more in number than any People for ye were the fewest of all People but because the Lord loved you that is in short He loved you because he loved you The same Reason is given by our Lord Jesus Christ Mat. 11. 26. Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy Sight All came from his free and undeserved Mercy higher we cannot go in seeking after the Causes of what is done for our Salvation 2. The most remarkable Thing that is visible in the Progress and Perfection of our Salvation by Christ is Love And it is meet that the Beginning Middle and End should suit Nay if Love be so conspicuous in the whole Design and Carrying on of this blessed Work it is much more in the Rise and Fountain God's great End in our Redemption was the Demonstration of his Love and Mercy to Mankind yea not only the Demonstration but the Commendation of it That is the Apostle's word Rom. 5. 8. God commendeth his Love to us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us A thing may be demonstrated as real that is not commended or set forth as great God's Design was that we should not only believe the Reality but admire the Greatness of his Love Now from first to last Love is so conspicuous that we cannot overlook it Light is not more conspicuous in the Sun than the Love of God in our Redemption by Christ. 3. If there were any other Cause it must be either the Merit of Christ or some Worthiness on our part 1. The Merit of Christ was not the first Cause of God's Love but the Manifestation Fruit and Effect of it The Text telleth he first loved the World and then gave his only begotten Son It is said 1 Ioh. 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us Look as we perceive and find out Causes by their proper Effects so we perceive the Love of God by the Death of Christ. Christ is the principal Means whereby God carrieth on the Purposes of his Grace and therefore is represented in Scripture as the Servant of his Decrees 2. No Worthiness in us For when his Love moved him to give Christ for us he had all Mankind in his prospect and view as lying in the polluted Mass or in a State of Sin and Misery and then provided a Redeemer for them God at first made a perfect Law which forbad all Sin upon pain of Death Man did break this Law and still we break it day by day in every Sin Now when Men lived and went on in Sin and Hostility against God he was pleased then to send his Son to assume our Nature and die for our Transgressions Therefore the giving of a Redeemer was the Work of his free Mercy Man loved not God yea was an Enemy to God when Christ came to make the Atonement 1 Ioh. 4. 10. Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins Col. 1. 21. And you that were sometimes alienated and Enemies in your Minds by wicked Works yet now hath he reconciled We were sensless of our Misery careless of our Remedy so far from deserving that we desired no such matter God's Love was at the beginning not ours USE 1. Is to confute all Misapprehensions of God It is the grand Design of Satan to lessen our Opinion of God's Goodness So he assaulted our first Parents as if God notwithstanding all his Goodness in their Creation was envious of Mans Felicity and Happiness And he hath not left off his old wont He seeketh to hide God's Goodness and to represent him as a God that delighteth in our Destruction and Damnation rather than in our Salvation as if he were inexorable and hardly entreated to do us good And why That we may stand aloof from God and apprehend him as unlovely Or if he cannot prevail so far he tempteth us to poor unworthy mean thoughts of his Goodness and Mercy Now we can notobviate the Temptation better than by due reflections on his Love in giving his Son for the World
think all their business is to get a Victory over their Consciences and though they do not deny their Lusts yet if they can be strongly perswaded that God will be merciful to them in Christ they shall not perish but obtain everlasting Life No we must obey we must deny our selves or else we do not trust Christ to bring us to Heaven in his own ways and methods but trust to some vain conceits of our own II. How this is to be understood That whosoever believeth since many other things are required of us as Repentance Mortification of Sin Self-denial new Obedience or Holiness Luk. 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Mortification Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the Body ye shall live Self-Denial Luke 14. 16. If any Man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple New Obedience or Holiness Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. I answer all Truths are not delivered in one place and therefore a solitary Faith will not bring us to Heaven but that which is seconded with other things But more distinctly I. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are connexed with it by the Ordination of God For every one that believeth Christ believeth the whole Gospel to be true Except against one part and you may except against all the rest Now it is evident in the Gospel that without Regeneration Repentance and Holiness no Man can be saved and see God therefore every one that believeth in Christ must trust him to obtain it in the way that he hath appointed and promised to give it 2. Faith is not required to exclude other things that are included in the nature of it or flow as genuine Effects from such a cause A purpose of Obedience is included in the Nature of Faith and actual Obedience is the fruit of it Every one that believeth Christ receiveth him in all his Offices therefore a purpose of Obedience is included in the nature of it and if Faith be sincere universal Obedience in Self-denial Mortification and our duty to God and Men will naturally be derived from it Therefore as he that is to entertain a King makes reckoning of his Train and that he will not come alone so every one of whom Faith in Jesus Christ is required must reckon that his Faith must be evidenced to be sincere by the Fruits of it III. Why is Faith required that we may receive Benefit by Christ For these Reasons 1. In respect of God 2. In respect of Christ. 3. In respect of the Creature 4. In respect of our Comforts 1. In respect of God that our Hearts may be possessed with a full apprehension of his Grace who in the new Covenant appeareth not as a revenging and condemning God but as a pardoning God This reason is rendred by the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be of Grace The Law brought in the Terror of God by being the Instrument of revealing Sin and the punishment due thereunto ver 15. The Law worketh Wrath for where there is no Law there is no Transgression no such stinging sense of it but the Gospel brought in Grace The Law stated the Breach but the Gospel shewed the way of our Recovery And therefore Faith doth more agree with Grace as it makes God more amiable and lovely to us and beloved by us by the discovery of his Goodness and Grace The saving of Man by Christ that is by his Incarnation Life Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension do all tend to possess our Hearts with his abundant Grace To the same tend also his merciful Covenant gracious Promises and all the Benefits given to us his Spirit Pardon and Communion with God in Glory all is to sill our Hearts with a Sense of the Love of God And all this is no more than necessary for a guilty Conscience is not easily setled and brought to look for all kind of Happiness from one whom we have so much wronged Adam when once a Sinner was shy of God Gen. 3. 10. and Sin still makes us hang off from him Guilt is suspicious and if we have not one to lead us by the Hand and bring us to God we cannot abide his Presence For this End serveth Faith That Sinners being possest of the Goodness and Grace of God may be recovered and return to him by a fit Means In the new Covenant Repentance more distinctly respects God and Faith respecteth Christ Acts 20. 21. Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance respects God because from God we fell and to God we must return We fell from him as we withdrew our Allegiance and sought our Happiness elsewhere to him we return as our rightful and proper Happiness but Faith respects the Mediator who is the only Remedy of our Misery and the Means of our Eternal Blessedness He opened the way to God by his Merit and Satisfaction and actually bringeth us into this way by his renewing and reconciling Grace that we may be in a capacity both to please and enjoy God and that is the reason why Faith in Christ is so much insisted on as our Title and Claim to the Blessedness of the new Covenant It hath a special aptitude and fitness for our recovery from Sin to God because it peculiarly respects the Mediator by whom we come to him 2. With respect to Christ. 1. Because the whole Dispensation of Grace by Christ cannot well be apprehended by any thing but Faith partly because the Way of our Recovery is so supernatural strange and wonderful that unless we believe God's Testimony how can we be perswaded of it That the Carpenter's Son should be the Son of that great Architect and Builder who framed Heaven and Earth that Life should come to us by the Death of another that God should be made Man and the Judge a Party and he that knew no Sin be condemned as a Criminal Person that one crucified should procure the Salvation of the whole World and be Lord of Life and Death and have such Power over all Flesh as to give Eternal Life to whom he will Reason is puzsed at these things Faith can only unravel them Partly because the Comfort of the Promises is so rich and glorious and the Persons upon whom it is bestowed so unworthy that it cannot easily enter into the Heart of a Man that God will be so good and gracious to us 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive the Things God hath prepared for them that love him Therefore Sense and Reason could look for no such thing Faith is necessary and a strong Faith that it may work upon us These are things
upon the string and how soon God may let it fly we cannot tell Therefore we are never safe till we turn to God and enter into his Peace Where-ever there is Sin there is Guilt and where-ever there is Guilt there will be Punishment If we dance about the brink of Hell and go merrily to Execution it argues not our Sin but Stupidity and Folly 2. On our part our sensless Forgetfulness will do us no good Carnal Men mind not the Happiness of an immortal Soul and they are not troubled because they consider not their condition But they are not happy that feel least trouble but those that have least cause A benummed Conscience cannot challenge this Blessedness they only put off that which they cannot put away which God hath neither forgiven nor covered They do but skin the Wound till it fester and rankle into a dangerous Sore God is the wronged Party and Supreme Judge to whose Sentence we must stand or fall If he justifies then who will condemn We may lay our selves asleep and sing peace to our selves but it is not what we say but what God saith There is no Peace saith my God to the Wicked 3. A Pardon is surely a great Blessing if we consider first the Evils we are freed from and secondly the Good depending upon it 1. The Evils we are freed from Guilt is the Obligation to Punishment and Pardon is the dissolving or loosing that Obligation Now the Punishment is exceeding great no less than Hell and Damnation and Hell is no vain Scare-crow nor is Heaven a May-game Eternity makes every thing truly great Look the Loss An Eternal Separation from the comfortable Presence of God Mat. 25. 41. Go ye Cursed c. And Luk. 13. 27. Depart ye Workers of Iniquity When God turned Adam out of Paradise his Case was very sad but God took care of him made him Coats of Skins to cloath him gave him a day of Patience afterwards promised the Seed of the Woman who should recover the lapsed State of Mankind and so intimated Hopes of a better Paradise That Exile therefore is nothing comparable to this for now Man is stript of all his Comfort sent into an endless State of Misery where there shall be no Hope of ever changing his Condition Now to be delivered from this that is so great an Evil what a Blessedness is it For the Paena Sensus the Pain as well as the Loss our Lord sets it forth by two Notions Mark 9. 44. The Worm that never dies and the Fire that shall never be quenched The Scripture speaks of the Soul with allusion to the state of the Body after Death In the Body Worms breed usually and many times they were burnt with Fire Accordingly our State in the World to come is set forth by a Worm and a Fire The Worm implies the Worm of Conscience a Reflection upon our past Folly and Disobedience to God and the Remembrance of all the Affronts we have put upon Christ. Here Men may run from the Rebukes of Conscience by many Shifts Sports distracting their Minds with a Clatter of Business but then there is not a thought free but the damned are always thinking of slighted Means abused Comforts wasted Time the Offences done to a merciful God and the Curse wherein they have involved themselves by their own Folly The Fire that shall never be quenched notes the Wrath of God or those unknown Pains that shall be inflicted upon the Body and Soul which must needs be great because God himself will take the sinful Creature into his own hands to punish him and will shew forth the Glory of his Wrath and Power upon him When God punisheth us by a Creature the Creature is not a Vessel capacious enough to convey the Power of his Wrath as when a Giant strikes with a Straw that cannot convey his Strength But when God falls upon us himself It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God how dreadful is that Is it not a Blessedness to be freed from so great an Evil then a little Mitigation a Drop to cool your Tongue would be accounted a great Mercy 2. If we consider the Good depending on it You are not capable of enjoying God and being happy for evermore till his Wrath be appeased and your Sins forgiven but when that is once done then you may have sure Hope of being admitted into his Presence Rom. 5. 10. If when we were Enemies we were reconciled by his Death much more being now reconciled shall we be saved by his Life That is to say It is far more credible that a reconciled Man should be glorified than that a Sinner and Rebel should be reconciled If you can pass over this Difficulty and once get into God's Peace then what may you not expect from God The first Favour to such as have been Rebels against him facilitates the belief of all Acts of Grace Now what must we do that we may be capable of this blessed Priviledg that our Sins may be pardoned and our Filth covered and our Debt may be forgiven I shall give my Answer in three Branches I. I will shew you what is to be done as to your first Entrance into the Evangelick State II. What is to be done as to your Continuance therein and that you may still enjoy this Priviledge And III. What is to be done as to your Recovery out of grievous Lapses and Falls and Wounds as are more troublesom to the Conscience for which a particular and express Repentance is required I. As to our first Entrance into the Evangelick State that is by Faith and Repentance Both are necessary to Pardon Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins There Remission of Sins is granted to a Believer Now Repentance is full out as necessary Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the Remission of Sins Luk. 24. 47. And that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem What is in another Evangelist to preach the Gospel to every Creature in this is that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name And this is preaching the Gospel for the Gospel is nothing else but a Doctrine of Repentance and Remission of Sins So if we will not hearken to the vain Fancies of Men who have perverted the Scripture but stand to the plain Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ these two Duties are necessary to pardon Christ's Satisfaction is not imputed to us but upon Terms agreed on in the Covenant of Redemption As to the Impetration there is required the intervention of Christ's Merit so to the Application Faith and Repentance without which we are not pardoned These two Graces have a distinct Reference and it is intimated by that Passage of Paul for he gives this
fallen from their pristine or former Purity Observe the Seat of this Corruption is said to be in the World where Lust and all Uncleanness reigneth therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pollutions of the World 2 Pet. 2. 20. The Generality of Men are defiled with corrupted in their Faith Worship and Manners therefore Conversion is called for under these Terms Acts 2. 40. Save your selves from this untoward Generation Conversion to God implies a renouncing or an escaping the evil Fashions and Corruptions of the World or having no fellowship with them with their Sins but reproving them rather So that the Question is whether we will conform our selves to God or the World whether we will have fellowship with the Corruptions of the World or be Partakers of the Divine Nature We must avoid the one to obtain the other Lastly observe that this Corruption is said to reign in the World through Lust. Besides the Bait there is the Appetite it is our naughty Affections that make our Abode in the World unsafe and dangerous If it were not for Lust neither the Baits nor the Examples of the World would pervert or hurt Mortify the Lust and you have pulled up the Temptations by the Roots 2. The Manner of shunning in the word escaping There is a flying away required and that quickly as in the Plague citò longè or from a Fire which hath almost burned us or a Flood that breaketh in upon us We cannot soon enough escape from Sin Mat. 3. 7. Who hath warned you to flee from the Wrath to come Heb. 6. 18. Who have fled for Refuge c. No Motion but Flight becomes us in this Case Doct. That the great End and Effect of the Promises of the Gospel is to make us Partakers of the Divine Nature 1. Let us consider the Effect or End 2. The Means appointed to attain it 3. The Influence of the one on the other 1. For the Effect or End There observe 1. That it is a natural not a transient Effect There may be such a Sence of the Goodness Wisdom and Power of God as may produce a sudden Passion as suppose of Fear or Love it may only affect us for the present but inferreth no Change of Heart and Life There is an Impression we cannot deny and an Impression suitable to those Apprehensions that we have of God but it is not a constant Principle of holy spiritual Operation But the Promises of the Gospel are to breed in us such a temper of Heart as may be a second Nature to us an Habit or Constitution of Soul that may incline us to live to God A Habit serveth for this use ut quis facilè jucundè constanter agat that a Man may act easily pleasantly and constantly 1. To act easily There is an Inclination and Propensity to Holiness God created all things with an Inclination to their proper Operations as Air to ascend and Water to descend So the new Creature hath a tendency to those Actions that are proper to it Their Hearts are bent to please God and serve him and do whatever they do with a kind of Naturalness because of this Bent and Inclination They act not only or barely as injoyn'd but as inclin'd The Law of God is in their Hearts Heb. 8. 10. So act not by Constraint but with a ready Mind 2. To act pleasantly They have not only a new Bent Biass and Tendency but it is a Delight to do what is holy Psal. 40. 8. as being in their Element when they are thus employed What is against Nature is ingrate and harsh but what is with Nature is sweet and pleasant It is hard a kind of Force to bring them to do the contrary 1 Ioh. 3. 9. There needeth some kind of Violence to bring a good Man to sin as also a naughty Man to do good 3. It is a constant Principle of holy Operations so that a Man doth not only obey God easily but evenly and without such frequent Interruptions of the holy Life Many do that which is good or forbear evil uneasily because of the Restraints of Providence or Dictates of Conscience and unevenly by Fits and Starts Psal. 106. 3. Blessed is he that keepeth Iudgment and doth Righteousness at all times They are continually exercising of all Duties of Godliness Righteousness and Mercy for the Operations of Nature are constant however impeded obstructed or diverted at certain times This we are to look after that the sanctifying Grace we have received become a new Nature that the Soul have a tendency and delight as to Spiritual Objects and be constantly and easily carried to them and this should be the whole Frame and Drift of our Lives 2. It is a Divine Nature that is not only such as floweth from God but may carry some Resemblance with him or to him It floweth from God for we are Partakers it is but a Ray from his Excellency and it carrieth a Likeness to him or cometh nearer to the Nature of God Himself than any thing that a Man is capable of Now this is said for two Reasons 1. To shew the Dignity of it Nothing known to Man is so like God as a sanctified Soul The Saints have their Maker's express Image therefore if God be excellent and holy they are so The Image and Picture of God and Christ is in them not made by a Painter or Carver but by the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 3. 18. This is not a forbidden Image which may pollute and stain our Minds or form in us ill Thoughts and Conceptions of God but raise our Hearts to him Natural Conscience doth Homage to the Image of God shining in the Saints Mark 6. 20. Herod feared Iohn knowing that he was a just Man and an holy So of Moses it is said Exod. 11. 3. Moses was a great Man in the Land of Egypt and in the sight of Pharaoh's Servants and in the sight of all People His Person and Presence was awful to them as having something rare in it There is a secret Sentiment of the Excellency of Holiness that draweth Eyes after it and maketh wicked and carnal Men wonder at it stand in awe of those in whom it is eminent and extorteth a Reverence from them But especially when they come to dye they have a sence of this Excellency all then approve a sober righteous and godly Life and disallow that which is dissolute and carnal Then all things appear in their own Colours and the Fumes of Lust being dissipated they begin more clearly to discern the Happiness of those who are made like God Then those that would live with the carnal would fain dye with the righteous Numb 23. 10. Let my last End be like his When entring on the Confines of Eternity they grow wiser 2. To shew the Quality and Condition of it You must have a new Nature and such a Nature as may be a Divine Nature If you have nothing above natural Men or corrupt Nature you
are Strangers to the Promises of the Gospel It is a Thought that possesseth many when they are pressed to Christian Duties they will say We are not Saints or Angels and therefore cannot abstain from such Sins or attain unto an heavenly Life But do you mark what is said here Christians must be Partakers of a Divine Nature And not only they are cut off from any Priviledge by Christ who corrupt themselves as brute Beasts made to be taken and destroyed Jud. 10. that is against the Light of Nature ingulf themselves in all manner of Dissoluteness and Sensuality But also they that walk as Men only according to the Rule of Men who mind nothing beyond the present World 1 Cor. 3. 3. Are not ye Carnal and walk as Men That is they are not raised above the Pitch of meer Men and have nothing of the Spirit of God in them 3. This Divine Nature may be considered three ways Either 1. As begun When we are first renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and regenerated according to the Image of God Ephes. 4. 23 24. There is a wonderful Change wrought in Sinners by reason of the Divine Qualities impressed on them So that the Creature beginneth to look like GOD Himself their Nature is altered their Course of Life is altered and their Designs and Actions have something Divine in them 2. As increased when more like God in a conspicuous degree At first the impression is but weak and this Glory is darkned by remaining Imperfections and we shew forth much of Adam upon all occasions as well as somewhat of Christ. But where any are sincere and diligent the old Nature is more suppressed and curbed and the Divine Nature doth more eminently appear 2 Cor. 3. 18. We are changed from Glory to Glory It is a work capable of Spiritual progress We should grow more like God and come nearer to the Nature of God every day And it is a shame we are not having been so long acquainted with the Word 3. As it is perfected in Heaven for there we have the nearest communion with God and so the highest conformity to him that we are capable of 1 John 3. 2. We shall see God as he is and be like him Perfectly like him for the being of Sin is then utterly abolished there is not the least stain or blemish upon a glorified Soul Besides then we are like him not only in point of Holiness but in point of Happiness and Felicity For God is an holy and happy Being Here we resemble God more in Holiness and Purity for many times the most eminent and exemplary Holiness may be accompanied with remarkable Afflictions at least sanctifying Grace doth not exempt us from them But there as our Holiness is exact our Felicity is compleat also First we are made Holy and then Immortal and in both like God Well then this is the effect Partakers of a Divine Nature So that when you come among the People of God and you be asked What kind of Men do you find them to be as Gideon in another case asked Zeba and Zalmunnah concerning his Brethren who answered Each one resembled the Children of a King Iudg. 8. 18. They were Godly and Majestical Persons So it will be said concerning the Saints who are really and eminently partakers of the Grace of the Gospel they are all Children of the most high God as like God as mortal men can be bear his Image and express Resemblance of the Grace of the Gospel II. Let us now see the Means by which God doth accomplish this effect To us are given great and precious Promises 1. It is an instance of God's Love that he will deal with us in the way of Promises The World is depraved by Sin and sunk into fears and despair of any Good from God whom we have so highly provoked Therefore God invites and allures us to himself by Promises For Promises and Declarations of God's Will in the Gospel whereby he signifies what Good he will freely bestow upon us if we will look after it These Advantages we have by them 1. A Promise is more than a Purpose for the Purpose and intention of a Man is secret and hidden in his own bosom but a Promise is open and manifest Thereby we get the knowledg of the Good intended to us If God had only purposed to bestow all this Grace upon us we could not have known his Intention and Purpose till it were manifested in the effect it would have been as an hidden Treasure or sealed Fountain of no Comfort and encouragement to us till we had found it But now the Word is gone out of his Lips we may know how we shall speed if we will hearken to his Counsel God's Promises are on his part the eruption or overflow of his Love his Heart is so big with thoughts of Good to us that his Love cannot stay till the accomplishment of things but he must tell us aforehand Isa. 42. 9. Before they spring forth I tell you of them He might have done us Good and given us no notice but that would not satisfy him It is an obligation God takes upon himself Promittendo se Debitorem fecit God's Purposes are unchangeable but Promises are a Security put into our hands not only give us notice but Assurance that thus it shall be We have the greater hold-fast upon him and may put his Bond in suit Psal. 119. 49. Remember the Word unto thy Servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope 2. It is more than a Doctrinal Declaration It is one thing to reveal a Doctrine another to promise a Benefit that maketh a thing known this maketh a thing sure and upon certain terms That gives us notice but this gives us interest If Life and Immortality had been only brought to light in the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. which was only obscurely known to the Heathens it were a great mercy that we were not left to blind Guesses and dark Conjectures That Eternal Life is set before us a thing real and excellent is a great matter But God hath put it into a Covenant-form and Promise 1 Ioh. 2. 25. that we may make our Title and Claim Surely that is matter of great Comfort to us Psal. 119. 111. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart 3. It is more than a Prophecy or simple Prediction Scripture-Prophecies will be fulfilled because of God's Veracity but Scripture-Promises will be fulfilled not only because of God's Veracity but also his Fidelity and Justice For by God's Promise Man cometh to have a right to the thing promised it was his Mercy and Goodness to make the Promise but his Justice and Fidelity bindeth him to make it good 1 Ioh. 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8. Divines say Of all Lies a Promissory Lie
weakned by Almighty Grace 2. It may come from Libertinism And these harden their Hearts in sinning by a mistaking the Gospel 1. Some vainly imagine as if God by Jesus Christ were made more reconcilable to Sin that it needs not so much to be stood upon nor need we to be so exact to keep such ado to mortify and subdue the Inclinations that lead to it They altogether run to the Comforts of the Gospel and neglect the Duties thereof Christ died for Sinners therefore we need not to be troubled about it Some actually speak out these things as if all the Mortification required were but to quell the Sense of Sin in the Conscience not to destroy the Power of Sin in their Hearts and if they can but believe strongly they are pardoned all is well If this were true then in the hardest Heart would be the best Faith for they have the least trouble about Sin and least Conscience of Sin This is to cry up the Merit of Christ to exclude the Work and Discipline of this Spirit yea to set the Merit of his Death against the End of it and so to set Christ against Christ. He bore our Sins He bore our Sins in his Body upon the Tree that we might be dead to Sin and alive to Righteousness to promote this Mortification that we speak of 2. Another Sort think such Discourses may be well spared among a Company of Believers and they need not this Watchfulness and holy Care especially against grievous Sins that they have such good Command of themselves that they can keep within Compass well enough 'T is well if you be come to this height of Christian Perfection that Temptations make none or no considerable Impression upon you But we must warn you and that of the most gross Sins Christ thought fit to warn his Disciples Luk. 21. 34. Take heed lest your Hearts be overcharged with Surfetting and Drunkenness and the Cares of this Life And the Apostle every where warns Christians of Malice of Hypocrisy of Envy of Lying of Evil-speaking 1 Thess. 4. 6. Take heed that you do not over-reach and defraud one another for God is the Avenger of all such But these Men would be fed with refined Strains of Contemplative Divinity and have no Sins reproved but such kind of Sins as would seem a Credit rather than a Disgrace like those Diseases that are incident only to the best Complections and Constitutions If you speak against something that may rather argue their Excellency than shame them of their Sin you shall be welcome This over-spiritual Preaching ends in an aery Religion Is Sin grown less dangerous or Men more skilful to avoid it than heretofore Certainly he that considers how many scandalous Professors there are that would be accounted the People of God hath no cause to think so If Paul saw need of Mortification 1 Cor. 9. 27. We are not more strong but more fool-hardy 3. A third Sort are such as think Believers are not to be scared with Threatnings but only oiled with Grace But then consider the words of Christ were to his Disciples And to whom did the Apostle Paul write to Believers questionless If you live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. No part of the Spirit 's Discipline must be omitted If one end of Christ's coming was to verify God's Threatnings and that the Curse of the Law should not fall to the Ground surely there is use of Threatnings still 3. It may arise from another Cause that is the Passionateness of carnal Affections Men are so wedded to their Lusts they cannot leave them and so strangely besotted they are even ready to sit down and say they will venture their Souls rather than live a strict Life Is the pleasing of the Flesh so sweet to you or Hell so slight a Matter And will the Day of Judgment be so slubber'd over There is a raging Despair and there is a sottish Despair The raging Despair of a Cain Gen. 4. 13. My Evil is greater than can be born when we are ready to sink under the Burden of our Sins And a sottish Despair when we are not sound with God and loth to improve the Grace of the Redeemer but say There is no hope we will go on in the Imaginations of our own Heart Jer. 2. 25. There is no Hope it is an Evil and I must bear it If I be damned I cannot help it I must bear it as well as I can What! will you bear the Loss of Heaven the Wrath of the Almighty and Eternal God Surely you know not what Eternity means what Hell and Heaven means You will know when the Eyes that are now blinded by the delusions of the Flesh shall be opened when you shall see others sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and you shall be shut out Canst thou bear this If Rachel could not endure the want of Children and Iacob the supposed Loss of Ioseph when all his Sons and Daughters rose up to comfort him If Ahitophel could not endure the loss of his Credit in Counsel How wilt thou endure the Loss of thy Soul and the Glory of the Blessed to all Eternity When thou hast nothing to beguile thy Mind and thou art devested of all other Comforts and thou must feed upon this for ever So for the Pains of Hell Thou that canst not endure to be scorched a day or two in feaverish Flames or the Pain of the Stone or Gout when God arms the Humours of thine own Body against thee and canst not endure the Torment of an aking Tooth how canst thou endure the Wrath of an Eternal God Can your Hearts endure or your Hands be made strong in the Day that I will deal with you saith the Lord 2d Use is To perswade you not to neglect the Salt of the Covenant It may be fretting but it is healthful as the most salutary Medicines are usually most troublesom To help you to improve this kind of Argument which our Lord here useth 1. Consider There are but two Sorts of Men in the World and you are one of them There is no Neutral no middle State there are but two Principles that Men are influenced by the Flesh and the Spirit and there are but two Ends Men propound to themselves either the pleasing of the Flesh upon Earth or the enjoyment of God in Heaven And two Places they issue into Heaven or Hell The Scripture is peremptory and tells you who shall go to Heaven and who shall go to Hell Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body ye shall live Gal. 6. 8. He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting Or consider that Prov. 14. 14.
prejudices to smother the belief of it they would be glad in their Hearts to hear such news that Christ would never come Now their wishes do easily commence into opinion Christ's coming is the burden and torment they would willingly get rid of And Men readily believe what they earnestly desire 2. The second sort It is dreaded by the Wicked and Impenitent And therefore hated and abhorred by them At the mention of it Felix trembled Acts 24. 2. There is reason for it for Christ comes to them as a terrible Judg. In Scripture his coming is set forth by Light and sometimes by Fire Light is comfortable but Fire dreadful 2 Thess. 1. 8. He shall come in flames of Fire to render vengeance to them that obey not the Gospel But 3. To the Godly it is not matter of Terror but Delight not like the hand-writing on the Wall to Belshazzer but like comfortable tidings to one that expects news from far they long for it and would hasten it if they might have their desire Cant. 8. 14. Make haste my Beloved and be like a young Hart or Row upon the Mountains of Spices Christ is not slack but the Churches Affections are strong therefore she saith Make haste So Rev. 22. 20. Christ saith I come and the Church like a quick eccho takes the words out of his Mouth even so come Lord Iesus come quickly Christ's Voice and the Churches Voice are Unisons You will say this is the desire of the Church in general but doth every particular Believer so desire it I answer the part follows the reason of the whole the same Spirit is in all the Faithful the Spirit in the Bride says come the Holy Ghost in necessary things works uniformly in all the Saints therefore he breeds this desire in them The meanest the weakest even those that tremble at their own unpreparedness have some inclination that way There may be a drowziness and indisposition but no total extinction of the desire of meeting with Christ. 3. There is Waiting and here it is exprest by its adjunct patient waiting for patient waiting is an act of Hope as well as longing expectation 1 Thess. 1. 3. Knowing saith he your work of Faith and labour of Love and patience of Hope Faith or a sound belief of things will break out into practice therefore the work of Faith Love will put us upon Labour and Hope produces Patience There is a threefold Patience spoken of in Scripture all the branches are near a-kin for they are all begotten by Hope 1. The bearing Patience which is a constancy in Adversity or a perseverance in our Duty notwithstanding the difficulties and tryals that we meet with in our passage to Heaven Heb. 6. 12. Be ye Believers of them who through Faith and Patience have inherited the Promises As we cannot inherit the Promises without Faith so not without Patience for our Obedience and Fidelity to Christ requires not only labour and great pains but courage and constancy to suffer as well as to do Heb. 10. 36. Ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the will of God you might inherit the Promise A Child of God cannot be without Patience because he must reckon for troubles and molestations We have indeed our calms as well as our storms many intermissions but at other times God will exercise us and shew us our Fidelity is not sufficiently tried in doing good but before we go to Heaven we must sometimes suffer evil God hath something to do by us and something to do with us We must be prepared for both to endure all things and readily and willingly suffer the greatest evil rather than commit the least Sin that so at length we may be accepted in the Judgment 2. There is a waiting Patience to wait God's leisure The evil is present the good is absent now we long for the good as well as bear the evil Rom. 8. 25. But if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it This is the work of Patience to wait to refer it to the good pleasure of God when our Warfare shall be accomplished and our Troubles at an end and our final Deliverance come about The time cannot belong for what are a few years to Eternity This waiting Patience is delivered to us under the Similitude of an Husbandman Jam. 5. 7. who waiteth for the precious Fruits of the Earth and hath long Patience for it till he receive the early and the latter rain The Husbandman that hath laid out all his Substance in Seed-Corn cannot hope for a present Harvest or that he should receive the Crop as soon as the Seed is cast into the Ground no it must lie a while there it must endure all Weathers before it can spring up in the Blade and Ear and ripen and be fit to be reaped So though we venture all upon our everlasting hopes yet we must expect our Season till we see the fruit and recompence of it This is the waiting Patience 3. There is the working Patience which is a going on with our self-denying Obedience how tedious soever it be to the Flesh. Thus we are told the good Ground bringeth forth fruit with Patience They were hasty to have present satisfaction or else grew weary of Religion and turned aside to worldly things So the Heirs of the promises are described Rom. 2. 7. To be those that continued with Patience in well-doing And to the Church of Ephesus God saith Rev. 2. 2. I know thy works thy labour and thy Patience Religion is not an idle and sluggish profession the work of it is carried on by diligence and faithfulness Lusts are not easily mortified neither do Graces produce their perfect work with a little perfunctory care Much labour and serious diligence is required of us we have many things to conflict withal there is the burden of a wearisom Body the seducing Flesh unruly Passions disordered Thoughts a dark Mind dead Affections and sometimes the misery of a troubled Conscience that we conflict withal and therefore we need much Patience that we may not faint but be accepted of the Lord at his coming Well then to live in this constant and patient expectation of Christ is the perpetual necessary duty of all those that love him II. The Connection and Affinity between it and the Love of God For if a Man love God he will wait for the coming of Christ. The one is inferred out of the other The Lord direct your Hearts to the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ. 1. They that love God level all their thoughts and desires to this that God may be enjoyed that God may be glorified 1. That he may be enjoyed in the fullest manner and measure they are capable of Now this full enjoyment is the fruit of Christ's coming then we shall be ever with the Lord. 1 Thess. 4. 17. When Christ shall appear we shall see him as he is and be
26. Those applaud it that do not choose it All are of this Mind at last and dying are sensible of the Excellency of it 3. A dextrous effectual Prosecution of the End This Prosecution imports First Diligence He is a Fool that hath a Price in his Hand and hath not a Heart to lay it out on a good Purchase Prov. 17. 16. But he is a wise Man that improveth his Time and Labour to a good Purpose A wise Man's Heart is at his right Hand Eccles. 10. 2. Secondly This Prosecution lies in Caution and Circumspection to keep himself from Sin Eph. 5. 15. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise. Lastly It consists in Self-denial The wise Merchant sold all that he had for the Pearl of Price Mat. 13. 46 47. A wise Man doth not dally with Religion but throughly sets himself to it USE 1. Be perswaded That serious Christianity is the true Wisdom and the Wisdom of the World which is only conversant about worldly Things from a worldly Principle to a worldly End is Foolishness with God This is Wisdom which acquainteth us more with God and leadeth us into everlasting Happiness 2. Admire the Wisdom of God in dispensing Salvation by Christ who could bring Light out of Darkness and so great a Demonstration of his Glory out of Man's Sin and vanquish Satan by the Way whereby he seemed most to prevail and still attain his End by Means seemingly contrary There is more of Divine Power and Wisdom shewed in Christ crucified than in any thing Men could think of It was a more glorious Act of Power to raise Christ from the Dead than in not permitting him to die He prevaileth more by laying down his Life than by being prosperous in the World and taking the Lives of his Enemies 3. If God hath abounded to us in all Wisdom Let us not disturb the Order of this Grace by asking Priviledges without Duties or minding Duties without the Help of the Spirit or placing all in Duties so as to exclude the Merit and Satisfaction of the Redeemer or to eye the Ransom so as to exclude the Example of Christ. All things are well ordered in God's Covenant the Confusion arises from our Darkness and Misapprehensions 4. There should be Wisdom and Prudence in us for the Impression must be according to the Seal and Stamp Wisdom is a saving Knowledge of Divine Mysteries and Prudence to regulate and order our Actions and Practices to perform our respective Duties to God and Man The Apostle prays for the Colossians Col. 1. 9. That they might be filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisdom and spiritual Understanding All have not the same Measure of Saving-Knowledge and Prudence yet the least Saint hath what is necessary to Salvation You must every Day grow in those Graces for by degrees they are carried on towards Perfection SERMON IX MAT. 27. 46. And about the ninth Hour Iesus cryed with a loud voice saying Eli Eli lama sabacthani that is to say My God my God why hast thou forsaken me IN the History of the Passion you will find that our Lord Jesus was exercised with all kind of Temptations affronted by Men assaulted by the Powers of Darkness deserted by his own Disciples one of them denied him another betrayed him but all fled And thus he was not only rejected of Men but was stricken and smitten and forsaken of God This was as Gall and Vinegar to his Wounds the Passion of his Passion The World's Cruelty and Satan's Rage had been nothing if the Brightness of the Divine Presence had not been eclipsed When the People were set against him his Blood be upon us and our Children he complained not of that When Friend and Lover were afar off he doth not complain of that Iudas why hast thou betrayed me Peter why hast thou denied me Disciples why have ye forsaken me But when God was withdrawn My God my God why hast Thou forsaken me This is his bitter Complaint now The Words then are Christ's Complaint not of God but to God In them observe 1. The Circumstance of Time when this Complaint was made About the ninth Hour 2. The Matter of it God had forsaken him 3. The Manner of it with Vehemency and yet with Faith There was Faith in it for he saith My God The Vehemency is seen in the extention of his Voice He cried with a loud Voice and by the Ingemination of the Name of God My God my God 1. The Circumstance of Time About the ninth Hour We read in the former Verse That from the sixth Hour there was Darkness over all the Earth until the ninth Hour At the Passion of Christ the Earth trembled the Sun seemed to be struck blind with Astonishment and the Frame of Nature to put it self into a Funeral Garb and Habit as if the Creatures durst not shew their Glory while God was manifesting his Anger for Sin and Christ was suffering After three hours darkness he complaineth not of that but of the sad Eclipse that was upon his own Spirit 2. The Matter complained of Why hast thou forsaken me It is not an Expostulation so much as a Representation of the heavy Burden that was upon him Questions among the Hebrews imply earnest Assertions As Psal. 10. 1. Why standest thou afar off Why hidest thou thy self in the time of Trouble That is Lord thou hidest thy self from me So Psal. 43. 2. Why go I mourning because of the Oppression of the Enemy That is I do go mourning The Case is represented in such Forms of Speech 3. The Vehemency 1. In the Extension of his Voice Great Griefs express themselves by strong Cries for burdened Nature would fain have vent and utterance And the Apostle taketh notice of this Circumstance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5. 7. He offered Prayers and Tears with strong Crying 2. In the Ingemination of the Name of God My God my God These possessive Particles are words of Faith striving against the Temptation He had great trouble of Spirit but to that he opposeth his Interest My God my God In the bitterest Agonies Christ despaired not but still had a most firm perswasion of God's Love to him and necessary Support from him But all sheweth the Trouble was not light but heavy and grievous Doct. That Christ as suffering for our Sins was really deserted for a time in regard of all sensible Consolation I. What was Christ's Desertion II. Why it befell him III. What use may we make of it I. What was Christ's Desertion I shall for more distinctness handle it negatively and affirmatively First Negatively 1. It was not a Desertion in Appearance or Conceit only but real We often mistake God's Dispensations God may be out of Sight and yet we not out of Mind When the Dam is abroad for Meat the young Brood in the Nest is not forsaken The Children cry as if the Mother were totally gone when she is employed about
God and the everlasting Fruition of Him By a wonderful Exchange he taketh our evil things upon Himself that he might bestow his good things upon us and took from us Misery that he might convey to us Felicity Application First by way of Information 1. How different are they from the Spirit of Christ that can brook God's Absence without any remorse or complaint Christ cried with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me These go on securely never observe God's Accesses and Recesses when the Comforts of his Spirit and the Communications of his Grace are wholly suspended and with-holden from them they never lay it t Heart Stupid and insensible Creatures It is all one to them whether God go or come whether He manifest Himself propitious to them or his Face be hidden from them They take up with the vain delights of the present World Micah shewed more respect to his Idols than they do to God Iudg. 18. 24. Ye have taken away my Gods and what have I more And do you ask What aileth thee When God is gone they are not troubled The Christians wept when Paul said Ye shall see my Face no more Acts 20. 25. And will ye not mourn and lament your Loss when God hideth his Face and shutteth up Himself in a Vail and Cloud of Displeasure Much of serious Christianity lies in an Observation of God's coming and going and a sutable Carriage Mat. 9. 15. A serious Christian will be affected with the Loss of comfort and quickning and lament after a withdrawn God 2. It informeth us of the Grievousness of Sin It is no easy matter to reconcile Sinners to God It cost Christ a Life of Sorrows and afterwards a painful and an accursed Death and in that Death Loss of actual Comfort and an amazing Sense of the Wrath of God We make a Mock of Sin jest and sport away our Souls but Christ found it hard Work to save them and recover them to God When you make Sin a light matter you slight the Sufferings of Christ. O therefore take heed you do not break with God for every Trifle 3. The Greatness of our Obligation to Christ who omitted no kind of Sufferings which might conduce to the Expiation of Sin He exchanged his Heaven for a kind of Hell to do you good the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily and therefore he had a Heaven upon Earth If one could say Anima iusti Coelum est because Heaven is begun there in Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost How was it with Christ This Heaven he wanted for a while felt no Comfort yea he was amazed at the sence of God's Wrath due to Sinners therefore it was said in the Type of him The pains of Hell got hold upon me Psal. 116. 3. Oh let this excite us to love Christ that you may count nothing too dear for him 4. The Infiniteness of God's Mercy who appointed such a degree of Christ's Sufferings as in it he gives us the greatest ground of Hopes to invite us the more to submit to his Terms There is nothing standeth in the way but our own impenitence and unbelief Now God is so amply satisfied shall we deprive our selves of Eternal Blessedness This is the worst Cruelty and Hatred to our own Souls SERMON X. ROM 1. part of the 29th and 30th Verses Whisperers Backbiters THe Context sheweth how corrupt and miserable Man's Nature is without Christ his Heart was first withdrawn from God and then became a Sink of loathsom Sins and Vices Therefore the Apostle telleth us how after Men were false to God how little they were true to themselves whether considered singly and apart or as to Commerce and Society singly and apart defiling themselves with uncleanness of all sorts as to Commerce and Humane Society full of Malice and Contention which sometimes goeth as far as Blood at other times sheweth it self in falseness and baseness of Disposition generally in Self-Love and Detraction from others Of all Judgments Spiritual Judgments are the sorest When God leaveth Mankind to its own degeneracy and corruption and one great Branch of this corruption is Detraction which venteth it self either by Whispering or Backbiting So it is in the Text Whisperers Backbiters These two words agree that they both wound the Fame of our Neighbour and they both do it behind his Back or in his absence But they differ 1. In that whispering doth it secretly and closely but backbiting openly The one being privy the other open Defamation and are like Theft and Rapine what Theft and Robbing are to our Goods the same are Whispering and Backbiting to our good Names 2. Whispering tendeth to breed strife among our Friends or to disgrace us to some who are well conceited of us but backbiting to our general disgrace before all the World or amongst whomsoever The one seeketh to deprive us of the good will of our Friends the other to destroy our Service But however they agree and differ they are often conjoyned in Scripture 2 Cor. 12. 20. I fear lest when I come among you I shall not find you such as I would and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not lest there be Debates Envyings Wraths Strifes Backbitings Whisperings Swellings Tumults The Apostle foresaw it as too probable that neither of them would be much pleased with their meeting together nor he with the Corinthians when he should find them corrupted with Partialities and Divisions nor the Corinthians with him when he should be forced to inflict censures upon them for their Factions and Emulations too much bewrayed by their backbitings and whisperings against each other So here in the Text they are conjoyned Whisperers Backbiters when the Apostle speaketh of the reigning Sins among the Gentiles Doct. One great Sin wherein the corruption of Humane Nature bewrayeth it self is Detraction or depriving others of a good Repute Here I shall shew I. What is Detraction II. The Hainousness of the Sin I. What it is 1. The Nature of it 2. The Kinds of it First The Nature of it in general It is an unjust violation of an others Fame Reputation or that good Report which is due to him God that hath bidden me to love my Neighbour as my self doth therein bid me to be tender not only of his Person and Goods but of his good Name And indeed one Precept is a Guard and Fence to another I cannot be tender of his Person and Goods unless I be tender of his Fame For every Man liveth by his Credit and therefore certainly this is 1. A Sin against God 2. A wrong to Men. 3. It proceedeth from evil Causes 1. It is a Sin against God who hath forbidden us to bear false Witness against our Neighbour and to speak evil of others without a cause Eph. 4. 31. Let all evil speaking be far from you by evil speaking is meant there disgraceful and contumelious Speeches whereby we seek
to stain the Reputation of others 2. It is a wrong to Man because it robbeth him of his good Name which is so deservedly esteemed by all that would do any thing for God in the World Prov. 22. 1. A good Name is rather to be chosen than great Riches and loving Favour rather than Silver and Gold The meaning is in order to Service and as it more nearly respects both Life and Livelyhood So Eccles. 7. 1. A good Name is better than precious Oyntment Their Oyntments were reckoned by those Oriental People amongst their most precious Riches and Treasures yet a good name is preferred before them which inferreth this Conclusion that the Man himself should prize it so for he that is lavish of his Fame is not usually over-tender of his Conscience Therefore as he himself should not prostitute his good Name so others should not blast it and blemish it for it is a greater Sin than to steal the best Goods which he hath and it is such an evil as scarce admits any sound Restitution for the imputation even of unjust Crimes leaveth a Scar though the Wound be healed 3. The causes it proceedeth from They are these 1. Malice and Ill-will which prompteth us to speak falsly of others so to make them odious or do them wrong or hurt Now to hate our Brother in our Heart is no way consistent with that Goodness and Charity which the impression of the Love of Christ should beget in us The Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4. 8. Above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall cover a multitude of Sins If nothing but Love and servent Love will restrain us surely where hatred is allowed Men care not what they think or speak or do against others Now as there is a Brotherly Love due to our Fellow Saints so there is a Love due to all Men. 2 Pet. 1. 7. I am to hate no Man but to seek their good There is a twofold Hatred the Hatred of Offence and Abomination and the Hatred of Enmity The Hatred of Offence which is opposite to the Love of Complacency may be justified as to the Wicked Prov. 29. 27. An unjust Man is an Abomination to the Iust and he that is upright in the way is an Abomination to the Wicked But then we should first and most abominate our selves for Sin this very hatred and abhorrence should begin at Home and we should be most odious to our selves for Sin for we know more Sin by our selves than we can do by an other But for the other Hatred the Hatred of Enmity which is opposite to the Love of Benevolences that should be quite banished out of the Heart of a Christian. And it is not enough for God's People to keep themselves free from Hatred and Malice against one another but against all Men. Tit. 3. 2. Put them in mind to speak evil of no Man to be no Brawlers but gentle shewing all Meekness to all Men For we our selves were sometimes disobedient c. If this old Hatred were gone a multitude of Offences would be covered 2. It comes from uncharitable Credulity whereby Men easily believe a false report and so propagate and convey it to others Jer. 26. 10. I have heard the defaming of many report say they and we will report it All my Familiars watched for my halting c. The Prophet complaineth Many and those no mean ones have I heard reproaching and taunting me so that he was a Terrour to himself and to all his-Friends Many had combined by false suggestions and malicious informations against him to work his ruine If any will raise a report tending to the discredit of another some will foster it and it loseth nothing in the carriage till by additions and misconstructions it groweth to a downright and dangerous Infamy 3. It comes through rashness and unruliness of Tongue some Men never learned to bridle their Tongues and the Apostle Iames telleth us that therefore their Religion is vain Jam. 1. 26. Till we make Conscience of these evils as well as others we content our selves with a partial Obedience and therefore cannot be Sincere But many never set themselves to learn this part of their Duty and therefore divulge a Report before they try it or receive any just proof of it Possibly it may not come from downright Malice but their Tongues hang too loose without the coercion and just restraint of Grace and so they either report false things or speak Truth to an evil end Prov. 11. 13. A Tale-bearer revealeth secrets but he that is of a faithful Spirit concealeth the matter Whisperers must be talking and be it true or false out it comes Certainly it is a Sin as long as you knew it not to be true or if you do when you have no warrantable call to mention it To reveal Secrets which you may conceal without wrong to God or your own Consciences or the common Good or the Good of your Neighbour is Loquacity or the Sin of Idle and impertitent Talkativeness the Disease of a Whisperer and Tale-Bearer 4. It comes from carnal Zeal which is nothing else but Passion for our different Interests and Opinions The bitter Envying which the Apostle speaketh off Iam. 3. 14. hath made mad work in the World as to Strifes and Confusions and Quarrels and Bloodsheds and Persecutions But usually it venteth it self in evil speaking for the Apostle maketh Backbitings and Whisperings the fruits of Swellings and Tumults 2 Cor. 12. 20. Oh what false and lying Tales are there carried to and fro that a Man knoweth not what or whom to belive So many Lies walk under the disguise of Religion that not to credit them or countenance the Report seemeth a decay of Affection but surely not to Religion but only the Interest of a Faction But a Question ariseth Is all speaking evil of another unlawful Answ. I cannot say so but yet it is hard to keep it from Sin 1. He that doth it without just cause is plainly a Detractor and so a grievous Sinner before God You may impose and impute false Crimes upon others which is properly called Slander and God thereby convinceth the Professor of the true Religion to be an Hypocrite Psal. 50. 20. Thou fittest and speakest against thy Brother and slanderest thy own Mothers Son God doth not only reject the Liars for Hypocrites but also the Backbiters and Slanderers Those that allow themselves in the frequent practice of this Sin what hopes can they have of acceptance with God since he hath entred his plea against them For the Act to be sure is sinful there can be no other end in it but the wronging of our Brothers Fame and Reputation to his loss and hurt The Nature of the thing sheweth it 2. He that doth but speak what he hath heard from others without any Assertion or Asseveration of his own as not knowing the Truth of the report can hardly be excused from Sin For if without just
cause he speaketh those things that may wound the Reputation of others he is in part accessary for he reporteth those things which may induce the Hearers to think ill of an other or at least beget a suspicion in their Minds concerning him and so is a concurring cause to wrong anothers Name and good Report Now we should be so jealous of Sin that we should not countenance it in others without a just and weighty cause 3. He that doth speak that which is true but tendeth to the Infamy of another may be guilty of Sin if he have not a sufficient Call and Warrant As for Instance 1. If it be a matter we have nothing to do with but only speak of their faults for talk sake This is to be Busie-bodies and Tatlers Tim. 1. 5 18. As we all love to speak of other Mens faults when we look little at Home This is a Sin when it is not matter of cognisance Or 2. If we aggravate things beyond their just Size and Proportion for then we do not exercise Christian Lenity and Meekness towards those that are faln Gal. 6. 1. Or 3. If we urge their Crimes and deny their Graces This is like Flies to pitch on the sore place Is there no good amongst all this evil But it may be done when Crimes are publick and Men themselves have forfeited all good repute and God doth as it were hang them up in Chains for a warning to the rest of the World or when their Reputation may injure the Truth and seduce the Souls of others or be an injury to the Just who are slandered by them In short when the Glory of God or love to the Publick Good or the avoiding some great danger that may be befal others by their esteem then a lesser good is to be neglected to procure a greater and a growing evil prevented when Men by dissembling their Wickedness seek a Fame to the manifest hurt of others Souls 2dly The kinds of it are twoin the Text Whispering and Backbiting First Whispering which is privy defamation of our Brother to bring him into disfavour and disrespect with those that formerly had a better opinion of him Herein Whispering differeth from Backbiting because the Whisperer stingeth secretly but the other doth more openly attack our credit Now this Whispering is a great Sin 1. Because it is here reckoned among the Sins which reigned among the Heathen and God hath expresly forbidden to his People Levit. 19. 16. Thou shalt not go up and down as a Tale-bearer among thy People You see Tale-bearing and Crimination is expresly against God's Word and if your Hearts stand in awe of the Word of God how dare you indulge it and allow it in your selves It is observed that the Hebrew Word Rokel properly signifyeth a Merchant or a Traffiquer up and down with Spices and other things whereupon Rakil the word there used is a Tale-Bearer that Accuser that makes Merchandise of Words and like a Pedlar goeth from place to place to open his Pack and utter his Wares to hear and spread abroad Criminations of other Men. This is made the property of very wicked Men. Jer. 9. 4. Every Neighbour will walk with Slanders 2. It is against natural Equity because they do that to others which they would not have done to themselves Mat. 7. 2. And therefore storm and take great Offence when God by a righteous Providence permitteth others to retaliate with them and pay them home in their own Coin as usually he doth for they who are not tender of the Credit and Reputation of others their Names are cast out of God's Protection and permitted to the Strife of Tongues 3. They are a Cause of much Mischief in the World As 1. Grief to the Party wronged Prov. 18. 8. The Words of a Tale-bearer we read in the Margin of a Whisperer are as Wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the Belly that is They equally hurt as a sharp Sword that is thrust into us and causes Pain and Anguish By the Chambers of the Belly is understood the Heart Now whether the Heart of the Hearer or the Heart of the Party injured Why not both The Hearer the words pierce into his Heart and breed Hatred or at least Suspition of his Friend The Party injured when he comes to the knowledg of it they breed his Grief and Vexation 2. They are a Cause of much Debate and Strife Prov. 26. 20. Where no Wood is there the Fire goeth out so where there is no Tale-bearer or Whisperer Strife ceaseth Where Strife is compared to Fire and the Whisperer's Informations or Criminations to the Wood or Matter that feedeth the Fire the Extinction or putting out of the Fire to the ceasing of Strife and Contention which is caused by the absence of the Whisperer that is when he is not admitted by either Party Prov. 16. 28. A froward Man soweth Strife and a Whisperer separateth choice Friends Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants Princes and Subjects intimate Friends Now He that soweth Discord between Friends or Brethren is an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 6. 19. Therefore how can one that feareth God allow himself in speaking evil privily against his Neighbour 3. There is a greater Mischief than this and that is It many times tendeth to the destruction of anothers Life Ezek. 22. 9. In thee are Men that carry Tales to shed Blood Usually the Vapours of Slander descend in the Showers of Persecution and the Devil was first a Liar and then a Murderer By Whispers Men are stirred up to hate others and then pursue them with all manner of Hostility and Displeasures As Doeg the Edomite first accused and then by the Command of Saul slew Abimelech the High-Priest and all his Family destroying the whole City of the Priests called Nob as you may see 1 Sam. 22. 9. David when he professeth the Uprightness of his Government would allow no such in his Court but would severely punish them Psal. 101. 5. Whoso privily slandereth his Neighbour him will I cut off These Ways of Whispering and Detraction by which Men are wont to gain Confidence Favour and Employment from Princes should not only miss of their Aims with him but be severely punished when he met with them But here ariseth a Question Whether all private Complaints and Informations against others come under the Name of Whispering I answer No with these Cautions 1. If the Party be duly admonished for before we go any further the Rule is Mat. 18. 15. First tell him his Fault between him and thee alone Private Admonition must always precede Crimination to others therefore if you forbear privately to admonish the Offender in Love and seek not to reclaim him from his sinful Course you cannot be excused from Sin 2. If it be made to such as have power to redress the Fault by the most discreet and gentle means before it break out any further So it is said
nor from the failings of a single Person conclude the whole Party 3. By imposing false Crimes Prov. 10. 18. He that uttereth a Slander is a Fool that is a wicked Person As Mephibosheth saith of Ziba 2 Sam. 19. 27. He hath slandered thy Servant unto my Lord the King The most godly and innocent Persons cannot escape the Scourge of the Tongue and unjust Calumnies II. The Hainousness of the Sin 1. In General that is evident from what is said already I shall urge two Arguments more 1. That Men shall be called to an account for these Sins as well as others they are not passed by in the Judgment Jud. 15. God will execute Iudgment upon all ungodly Sinners not only for their ungodly Deeds but for all their hard Speeches Now if injurious and contumelious Language come into the Judgment how should all beware of the least accession to this Guilt So 1 Pet. 4. 4 5. They speak evil of you who shall give an account to him that is ready to judg the Quick and the Dead The Mockers as well as Persecutors were to give a strict and sad Account It is no slight and light Sin to divulge and spread false Calumnies to hurt the Credit of our Brethren God takes notice of a Thought in our Heart against them a Word in our Mouths and will exact a strict Account thereof 2. It is the Property of a Citizen of Zion one that shall be not only accepted with God now but dwell with God for ever not to be given to Backbiting Psal. 15. 3. He that backbiteth not with his Tongue nor doth evil to his Neighbour That is that makes strict Conscience of Backbiting or Calumniating and abstaineth from doing any kind of Wrong or Reproach to his Neighbour 2. More particularly It is the more hainous 1. Partly from the Person against whom it is committed As suppose the Godly and Irreprovable for the main who by their Life and Conversation have the best right to Honour and Esteem to do it against them is most unjust Psal. 64. 3. They whet their Tongues as a Sword they shoot their Arrows even bitter Words that they may shoot in secret at the perfect suddenly do they shoot at him and fear not That is their Slanders and Calumnies are shot like poysoned Darts and Arrows secretly or clancularly without any desert or notice of the Party against whom they are intended Or else against Persons publickly employed and in the special Service of God as Magistrates Numb 12. 8. Were ye not afraid to speak against my Servant against Moses So in the Ministry 1 Tim. 3. 1. He must have a good Report from them without lest he fall into Reproach and the Snare of the Devil Against these it is not only unjust but noxious and hurtful to God's Service 2. From the Persons before whom the Slander is brought as suppose Kings and Princes so that they are deprived not only of private Friendships but the Favour and Countenance of these under whose Protection they have their Life and Service Thus Haman whispered against the Iews Esth. 3. 8. It is not for the King's profit to suffer them to live Doeg against the Priests Psal. 52. 1. Why boastest thou in Mischief O mighty Man The Goodness of God continueth for ever It is a strange matter of Pleasure and Joy to some Persons in Power to be able to mischief those that deserve it least God is eminently great and good This Sort of Pride is diametrically opposite to his Nature Alas To trouble a few Persons how irrational is it But such are our depraved Natures Some are never pleased with those things that alone veeld durable Pleasure but to be able with their Counsel as with one poysonous Vapour to blast a Multitude of innocent Persons 3. From the End of it If it be done with a direct Intention of hurting anothers Fame it is worse than if out of a rash Levity and Loquacity Some Men have no direct Intention of Mischief but are given to Tatling It is a great Sin in them and an unprofitable Mispence of Time but it is a greater in those that make it their Business to disgrace others or sow Discord These are the Bane of Human Society 4. From the Effect or great Hurt that followeth be it it Loss of Estate as in the Case of Mephibosheth or a general Trouble and Persecution on the People of God When their good Names are buried their Persons cannot long subsist afterward with any degree of Service And all this may be the Fruit of a deceitful Tongue The Use is To shew how good-natured Christianity is and befriendeth human Societies it condemneth not only Sins against God but Sins against our Neighbour It bindeth its Professors to the Practice of the Apostle Acts 24. 16. Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men. Phil. 4. 8. Whatsoever things are honest just good and true if there be any Vertue or any Praise think of these things The World hath taken up this Prejudice that Religion makes us ill-natur'd Of it self there is nothing more benign it only condemneth those that are good-natur'd to others but not to God Use 2d Let us not speak Evil of others behind their Backs but tell them their Faults plainly in Love and Wisdom nor encourage others in this Sin Prov. 25. 23. As the North Wind drives away the Rain so doth an angry Countenance a backbiting Tongue They that receive Tales and delight to hear other Mens faults encourage others in their Sin and are accessary to or Partakers of the Guilt It brings an evil Habit and Custom in our own Souls In short Let us keep up an humble Sense of our own Faults and looking at home it will not only divert us from slandering of others but make us compassionate towards them and breed Comfort in our own Souls SERMON XI GAL. 5. 16. This I say then Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the Lust of the Flesh. IN these Words Observe 1. A Duty enforced 2. The Consequent and Fruit of it 1. The Duty is to walk in the Spirit which is the sum of all Christian Piety 2. The Motive is taken from the consequent and fruit of it and ye shall not fulfil the Lust of the Flesh. Let us fix the Sense 1. For the Duty to walk in the Spirit Walking implyeth the tenour and course of our Actions in all which we should follow the direction and inclination of the Spirit But what is meant by the Spirit That it may be known both the contrary Principles must be explained together 1. Flesh is sometimes taken for the Body as Eph. 4. 29. For no Man yet ever hated his own Flesh it is brought as a reason why Husbands ought to love their Wives as their own Bodies ver 28. and Spirit is taken for the Soul Eccl. 12. 7. But this is not the Sense here for every Man hath Soul
and Body not the regenerate only and a Man is not only to look after the welfare of the Soul But his Body also it being the Instrument which it useth in its operations 2. The Spirit is sometimes put for Reason and the Flesh for sensual Appetite as Eph. 4. 23. And be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind And 1 Joh. 2. 16. The Lusts of the Flesh But this will not take in the whole Sense of this place for other faculties are corrupted besides the sensual Appetite and other Faculties must be renewed as well as the Understanding 3. There is another acceptation of Flesh and Spirit that is that Spirit signifieth the uncreated Spirit who is the Author of Grace As Joh. 3. 5. Except a Man be born again of Water and the Spirit Where Spirit is put for the Holy Ghost who immediately worketh Grace in us called therefore the Spirit of Sanctification as that Saving Grace which is the effect of his work is called the Sanctification of the Spirit And the opposite Principle Flesh signifieth the corrupt Nature of Man as Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh Corrupt Sinful inclined to earthly things Now though this would bear a good sense to interpret Flesh and Spirit of the Holy Ghost and Concupisence or natural Corruption for no question he concurreth to the mortifying of the old Man till Sin be wholly expelled Rom. 8. 23. and still doth quicken and excite the new Man to Action Gal. 4. 25. yet here the Apostle speaks of two inherent Principles 4. Therefore by Flesh and Spirit is meant the old Man and the new and so by Spirit is meant the renewed part or the new Man of Grace in the Heart Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That is there is a work of Saving Grace wrought in our Hearts by the Spirit of God which new Nature hath its Motions and Inclinations which must be obeyed and followed by us And by Flesh is meant inbred Corruption or the old Man which is corrupt with his deceivable Lusts Eph. 4. 22. Now then you see what it is to walk after the Spirit to direct and order our Actions according to the Inclinations of the new Nature 2. For the consequent and fruit of it and ye shall not fulfil the Lust of the Flesh. Here two things must be explained 1. The Lust of the Flesh. 2. Fulfil 1. For the Lust of the Flesh. By it is meant the inordinate Motions of corrupt Nature The Flesh doth not consider what is right and good but what is pleasing to the Senses and craveth their satisfaction with much importunity and earnestness to the wrong of God and our own Souls especially in Youth when the Senses are in Vigour and Lust and Appetite in their Strength and Fury And generally all carnal Men are govern'd by the Lusts of the Flesh called by the Apostle The Wills of the Flesh and the Mind Eph. 2. 3. By which the Heart is drawn from God to things Earthly and Carnal Well then by the Lusts of the Flesh are meant the Motions of inbred Corruptions 2. Ye shall not fulfil that is accomplish and bring into compleat act especially with deliberation and consent Mark he doth not say that the lusting of corrupt Nature shall be totally suppressed but it shall not be fulfilled The best of God's Children feel the Motions of the Flesh but they do not cherish and obey them The Lusts of the Flesh may be said to be fulfilled two ways 1. When the outward act is accomplished or when Lust hath conceiued and brought forth actual Sin Iam. 1. 15. Which may sometimes come to pass in the Children of God when they walk not in the Spirit or obey not the Motions and Directions of the renewed part This again may be done two ways either upon Surprize or Deliberation By way of Surprize Gal. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon deliberation when Men plot and make provision to fulfil their Lusts contrary to the Apostles advice Rom. 13. 14. Make not provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Thus it was with David in his great Sin and this doth mightily aggravate the offence and provoke the Lord against us 2. When for a continuance we obey the Flesh usually accomplish its Motions without Let and Restraint and with Love Pleasure and full consent of Will this is proper to the Unregenerate The Flesh doth reign over them as its Slaves this is spoken of Rom. 6. 12. Let not Sin reign in your mortal Body that ye should obey it in the Lusts thereof Let is not have a Power over you as Slaves Well then the meaning is you will not abuse your Christian Liberty as an occasion to the Flesh or give up your selves to do that or seek that which the Flesh lusteth after Doct. The more Christians set themselves to obey the new Nature the more is the power of inbred Corruption mortified and kept under To understand this Point let me lay down these Propositions I. That there is a diversity of Principles in a Christian Flesh and Spirit 1. There is a good Principle called Spirit because the Spirit is the Author of it Ezek. 36. 26. A new Heart and a new Spirit will I put into you It is called also the Divine Nature 2. Pet. 1. 4. because it is made up of those gracious Qualities wherein we resemble God The Seed remaining 1 Joh. 3. 9. because it is not a transient operation but a permanent habit disposing and inclining the Soul to God and Heaven The new Man Eph. 4. 24. because we have it not by Nature but by Grace we are new formed to the Image of God Now the use of this Principle may be known partly by the manner how it is wrought in us and partly by the uses and ends for which it serveth 1. For the manner how it is wrought in us by the Spirit that is set forth Heb. 8. 10. I will put my Laws in their Mind and write them in their Hearts The directive and imperial Power of the Soul is sanctified and seasoned by Grace the Mind enlightned the Heart inclined The Mind is enlightned by the Knowledg of God's Will and the Heart inclined that we may delight to do his Will it is suited thereunto Therefore the New Creature doth both serve to direct us and so performeth the Office of a Guide and Leader to the Godly in all their Actions so far in Religion as God's Glory is concerned and also to move and excite us to that which is Good For the Spirit is willing though the Flesh is Weak Mat. 26. 41. 2. By its Uses and Ends. None of God's Gifts are given in vain The new Nature is the choicest Talent that the Sons of Men are intrusted withal Therefore it hath its Use and End which is to fit us for God and Heaven 1. It disposeth the Soul to a sincere Obedience to God as an inherent
Principle Eph. 4. 24. It is created after God in Righteousness and true Holiness as suiting us to these things So the Spirit is promised to enable us to walk in God's ways Ezek. 36. 27. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them It helps us to avoid Sin 1 Joh. 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God They that give back cannot yeild to those Sins with which others are surprized and captivated 2. It prepares us for Heaven Thither is the tendency of the new Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. 1 Joh. 5. 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World it moveth us to mind love and seek after Heavenly things This Grace came from Heaven and there it is perfected 2. There is an other Principle of corrupted Nature remaining in us which is sometimes called Flesh as before sometimes the old Man Eph. 4. 22. Sin that dwelleth in us Rom. 8. 17. The Body of Sin Rom. 6. 6. The Law of the Members warring against the Law of the Mind Rom. 7. 23. By this Principle they are inclined to that which is evil This Principle also may be known 1. By the manner how it was derived to us 2. By its Tendency and Operations 1. The manner how it was derived to us from Adam in his Apostacy and as faln from his chief Good and last End Ioh. 3. 6. When Man fell from God he fell to himself The Temptation was Ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3. 5. He would set up Self as a God And what was that Self which Man sought to idolize but himself rather considered as a Body than as a Soul And therefore when God sought to reduce Man where lay the difficulty that Text will inform you Gen. 6. 3. My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he is also Flesh that is sunk or lost in Flesh altogether wedded to the Interests of the bodily Life 2. By its Tendency and Influence it prompts us to do those things which are most acceptable to Sense or agreeable to our worldly and carnal Ends. The Flesh operateth several ways according to Mens callings occasions or constitutions Isa. 53. 6. 1 Ioh. 2. 16. As every Soil beareth such Weeds as are most suitable to the Nature and Quality of the Ground so some are enslaved by this some by that particular Sin yet all of them alike opposite to God Differences there are as to the choice of their way wherein they please the Flesh some in a more gross some in a more cleanly manner yet they all walk in the Lust of the Flesh following inbred Corruption as their Guide or obey it either in a way of Worldliness Ambition or Sensuality Some ways are more blameless before the World because they less deserve a Worldly Interest some are so prodigiously wicked that they cause a Horror even in Mankind though degenerated Now after Conversion some of our former Sins cripple us and we halt of the old Maim still and it is not enough to stop one gap while corruption runneth out at many more but we must make Conscience of not fulfilling the Lusts of the Flesh in any kind Well now I have shewed you the two Principles which are in a Christian That we may have a Sence of our imbecillity and that we are but regenerated in part II. I will prove to you that there is a Liberty in a Christian of walking according to each Principle either the Spirit or Flesh. 1. That the Christian hath Liberty of walking according to the Spirit is out of question for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. Surely the Spirit of Christ can free us and doth free us from the bondage of Corruption Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ hath freed me from the Law of Sin and Death otherwise there would be no distinction between Nature and Grace If we should be still shackled and manacled by our Lusts and be as unable to pursue our last End as we were before if there were no inclination to God and Heavenly things what have they gotten by Grace and therefore though we are still weak yet we have the gift of the Spirit to free us from Sin The Force and Efficacy of the new Nature appeareth in three things Scire Velle Posse in knowing our Duty and willing and purposing and doing our Duty suitable to the three Faculties of Man his Understanding Will and vital Power So the Spirit received from Christ 2 Tim. 1. 7. is a Spirit of Power Love and a sound Mind 1. For Scire The new Nature partly consists in the internal Light of the Mind by which we understand the things of God revealed in the Scriptures concerning our Duties and Priviledges and so the Unction is said to teach us all things 1 Joh. 2. 20. That is all things which belong to our necessary Duty and Happiness God's Children in necessary things have a good Understanding or as it is said Isa. 11. 3. They are quick of Understanding in the fear of the Lord. By this it doth warn us of our danger mind us of ourduty upon all occasions 2. For Velle To be willing The force of the new Creature lieth in the love of God for we are never converted to God till he hath our Hearts till we love him with all our Soul with all our Might and Strength and hate what is contrary to him Psal. 17. 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil Now surely they that love God and hate evil are at liberty more than others to serve and please God and avoid Sin Hate Sin once and it hath little Power over you 3. For Posse or the active Power The wonder is rather how he can sin deliberately voluntarily than how he cannot sin 1 Ioh. 3. 9. and for doing good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2. 13. I can do all things Eph. 2. 10. A Spiritual Man is prepared for every good work 2. The Assistant Power which accompanieth the new Creature in all his Actions doth certainly give him a great advantage of Liberty to know will and do things pleasing unto God As he doth first convert us unto God and quicken us when we are dead in Trespasses and Sins so after Conversion when the Principles of a new Life are put into us he still helpeth us and as all Creatures depend upon God in esse conservari operari Acts 17. 28. So doth the new Creature depend on the Spirit he leadeth and guideth all the Children of God to their Everlasting Estate Rom. 8. 14. He assists the Will and the vital Power Phil. 2. 13. Otherwise we may complain with Paul Rom. 7. 18. For to Will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not There may be a Will or an
is an Act of Reason as we are reasonable Creatures The natural Inclination of all Creatures is to preserve themselves but the Deliberate Will chuseth what the Understanding judgeth to be good all Circumstances considered The Inclination of Nature flees Death and Torments but Reason submitteth to it As for Instance A bitter Potion is against the Inclination of Nature for as we are living Creatures we would be put to no pain but the reasonable Creature by an elective Will takes that bitter Potion for Health Cutting off a gangreen'd Member is against the first Inclination of Man as a living Creature we submit to it as a reasonable Creature lest it corrupt the whole Body So in the Martyrs the Flesh could not but be against Sufferings being contrary to their well-being as living Creatures but the Spirit that is their Reason guided by Grace submitted to the greatest Torments for the Glory of God Thus the Lord Christ saith Let this Cup pass There was the inclination of an Innocent Nature declining so dreadful an Evil but yet it was his Meat and Drink to do his Fathers Will therefore not my Will but thine be done Others to the same purpose There were two things willed by Christ one was Bonum Naturae the good of Nature the other was the Glory of God with our Salvation And the first was desir'd but subordinately to the second So that the Lord Christ is a notable Pattern that our Appetites and Desires are not to be according to the Interests of the Flesh but for the Glory and Honour of God and the good of others The next Pattern we have is David a Man after God's own Heart in 2 Sam. 15. 25 26. Behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him What a meek submission was here to God's Pleasure resigning up his Person Crown and Estate to the wise and gracious disposal of God to receive a Benefit or Punishment as the Lord should determine David sets his Name to a Blanck and bids God write what he pleaseth It is hard for us to consent to known Articles but David wholly referreth himself unto God Let him do what seemeth good unto him So Abraham the Father of the Faithful how contentedly doth he speak and he thought no other but that Isaac the Son of the Promise should be sacrificed Gen. 22. 8. When his Son asked him Where 's the Burnt-Offering for Sacrifice and he answered My Son the Lord will provide an Offering and so they went on their way together When God declareth his Will not only contrary to our natural Affection but our gracious hopes when he taketh away Instruments upon whose Life his Glory seems to depend we have the same Answer God will provide The next shall be of Eli 1 Sam 1. 18. It is the Lord let him do whatsoever he pleaseth When the Sentence was past he humbly submitteth He doth not murmuringly say must I bear the punishment of my Sons Iniquity their Will is not in my power if they be wicked let them answer for it No It is the Lord and his Will must stand It is the Lord who is too just to do us wrong too good to do us hurt The next shall be the great Doctor of the Gentiles St. Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7 8 9. And for this I besought the Lord thrice He knocked thrice at the Throne of Grace as Christ praied thrice and Elijah praied thrice for Rain Well but the Lord made him no answer But my Grace is sufficient for thee The Thorn in the Flesh some painful Disease or Affliction must continue And what saith Paul Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me therefore I take pleasure in Infirmities in Reproaches in Necessities in Persecutions for Christ's sake He doth entertain it with some kind of chearfulness and Thanksgiving if he may have Experience that the Grace and Power of Christ may rest upon him it is enough that God's Will is fulfilled though it be with our pain and loss Now let us Consider I. Wherein this submission consists II. Upon what Grounds we ought to submit I. Wherein this submission consists Negatively It is not to be insensible Godliness doth not teach Men Stoicism to harden themselves under the Rod of God The Lord complains of that Jer. 5. 3. I have stricken them but they have not grieved c. We must lay his Hand to Heart as well as his Word We are not to be like the Corner-Stone which bears the whole weight of the Building and feels nothing There are two extreams slighting the Hand of God or fainting under it Heb. 12. 5. and slighting is worse than the other There is no Patience where there is no sense and feeling Certainly there can be no improvement where there is not a feeling the Rod of God the strokes of his correcting Hand upon us But Affirmatively There is in it 1. A work of the Iudgment which subscribes to the Justice and Goodness of the Dispensation that it is just Dan. 9. 7. O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of Face It is a smart and dreadful Correction but the Lord is Righteous And to the Goodness of it Isa. 39. 8. Good is the Word of the Lord. Though it was a terrible Word yet the submission of a sanctified Judgment calls it good 2. The act of the Will is accepting of it Lev. 26. 41. If they shall accept of the punishment of their Sin There 's a consent and choice of the Will such a perfect correspondence between the Temper of a Gracious Heart and the Will of God they take it well and kindly from God that it is no worse as a Patient takes bitter Pills for his Good There are some kind of Reluctancies of Nature but their over-powering Judgment and Will doth approve and accept Afflictions are to be taken as a Potion not as a Drench not forced upon us whether we will or no we must accept of them take them down our selves it is a bitter Cup but it is of our Heavenly Physicians tempering Seneca a Heathen could say Deo non pareo sed assentio ex Animo I do not meerly submit to Divine Providence but consent to it A strange thing that a Heathen should say so It is good and so we accept it not barely out of Necessity and by a Patience per force but there is a willing submission to what the Lord ordereth concerning us 3. There 's a Command reached out over the Affections of Anger and Sorrow 1. Anger that we may not fret against the Lord Psal. 37. 1. Fret not thy self against evil doers Many times when words are kept in there 's a secret rising and swelling of Heart against God's Providence As an Oven stopped up is the hotter within So though it may be words do not break out yet the Heart boils riseth and dislikes God's dealing Psal. 62. 1. My Soul keep silence
the Text which is the end of this Love That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Life everlasting Where I observe 1. The connection of our Duty and Priviledg Christ dyed to procure a Covenant wherein Pardon and Life is offered to us upon gracious Terms In the Gospel we must observe what God hath promised and what we must do both must be alike acceptable us the Duty as well as the Benefit or else we consent not to the whole Tenour of the Covenant 2. The Universality of the Proposal That whosoever believeth on him no sorts of Men are excluded from the Remedy but those that exclude themselves by their Impenitency and Unbelief 3. The Nature of this Act and Duty which giveth a Right and Title to the Benefits offered and that is believing no more is mentioned here But none truly believe but those that carry themselves accordingly or perform the Duties which that Belief calleth for If it be such a lively operative Faith it will secure our Title to these Benefits 4. The Benefits are Negatively and Positively expressed Negatively they shall not perish Positively but have everlasting Life 1. The Negative Expression is mentioned partly because of our former Deserts we incurred the Sentence of Eternal Death which is taken off from penitent Believers they shall not be condemned with the unbelieving World partly because of our present Fears Guilt presents Destruction before our Eyes but the cause of that is taken away as Sin is remitted and weakned And partly to support us in our troubles they may be Afflicted but not perish for ever Chastned but not destroyed not for Perdition but amendment 2. The Positive part is expressed partly to shew our Heavenly Fathers Love who cannot be satisfi'd til he hath brought us into his immediate Presence And partly to answer the desire of the Faithful who long for everlasting Communion with him we cannot be satisfied till we befor ever with the Lord in a perfect state of Subjection to him and Fruition of him Doct. That Faith is the Way which God hath appointed whereby to receive Benefits by Christ. I. What Faith is II. How this is to be understood III. Why the Gospel Covenant layeth so much weight on it What is Faith surely it concerns us to know it since the Scriptures speak so much of it every-where There are in it three things 1. Assent 2. Consent 3. Trust. 1. A firm and cordial Assent to this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour of Mankind who came down from heaven and suffered for our Sins and became the Foundation of that new Covenant which offereth Pardon and Hopes of Bliss to all those who feeling the Burden of their Sins will trust their Souls upon Christ's Redemption and Ransom and forsake the World the Flesh and the Devil and take him for their only Lord and Saviour that by him they may return to God This Assent is a part of Faith but this is not all The reasonable Soul in Man hath Life Sense Appetite and Motion as the Souls of the Beasts have but this is not the difference between us and them besides Sense Life and Appetite we have Reason and Discourse So here Knowledg and Assent are implied in Faith but more is required to make it justifying and saying Assent is good as it is inductive of other things or leadeth on other things to wit Choice and Trust and it is not only good but necessary lest we build without a Foundation It was of great weight heretofore when Christ's Person and Doctrine was more questioned and contradicted Ioh. 8. 24. Unless ye believe that I am he ye shall die in your Sins lose all the Benefit of his Coming 'T is said 1 Ioh. 5. 1. Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God It was a mighty thing then to believe and profess Christ to be the Messiah and to cleave to that Profession whatever Temptations they had to the contrary But I dare not leave the Decision of Mens Spiritual Estate upon that Trial only The bleak Winds that blew then in their Faces blow now on our backs and it as dangerous now to deny Christ to be the Messiah as it was for them to profess it However Assent is still necessary to put the greater Life and Power into our Faith for if the Fire were well kindled it would of it self break out into a Flame The stronger our Assent is the more powerful to beget Love and Dependance on God's Promises Obedience to his Commands and Perseverance notwithstanding Temptations This Assent to do its Work must be firm and cordial 1. Firm. You must believe unfeignedly that Christ is the Messiah and Redeemer of the World Acts 2. 36. Let the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. The word signifies safely they may venture their All upon it Ioh. 17. 8. They have known There is a common customary superficial Belief that Men take up upon the Credit of their Forefathers and the Consent of the Country where they live And there is a sound Perswasion of the Truth of the Gospel wrought in us by the Spirit of God And though Human Credulity doth little yet this last serveth to renew the Soul Mat. 16. 17. Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it to thee but my Father which is in Heaven when Peter had said Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God This makes us victorious over the Devil the World and the Flesh. 1 Ioh. 5. 5. Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God If this important supreme Truth were well believed it would doubtless prevail against the Allurements of the World and the Flesh and make Men see that they have something else than this deceitful World to look after Truths go to the quick when soundly believed 2. Cordial Many seem verily to be perswaded that Jesus is the Son of God but are no way affected with this Mystery of Grace nor changed The Devils may give a bare Assent to this great Gospel Truth Compare Mark 5. 7. with Matth. 16. 16. The Confession of the Devil with the Profession of Peter The Devil owned Jesus to be the Son of the most High God as well as Peter the Son of the Living God Austms Observation is very good Hoc dicebat Petrus hoc dicebant Daemones Petrus ut Christum amplecteretur Daemones ut Christus ab iis recederet Peter said the same thing and the Devil the same thing Peter said it that he might embrace Christ the Devils that he might depart from them It is one thing to be of this Opinion that Christ is the Saviour of the World another to accept and receive him into our Hearts 2. The next thing which I shall observe in Faith is a Consent to receive Christ as God offereth him to us in the Gospel Joh. 1. 12. To as
Death as a curse not to eat of the one as he enjoyned him to eat of the other as a Pledg of Life and Blessing This same course did Christ take in his Sermons by telling them of the wide Gate and the strait Gate the broad and narrow Way much Company and little the one tending to Destruction the other to Life Mat. 7. 13 14. So Wisdom speaks by Solomon Prov. 8. 35 36. Whose findeth me findeth Life and shall obtain Favour of the Lord but he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul all they that hate me love Death So that you see this is an excellent way to gain Men to the Holy Life I. Let us consider our Work II. The Reasons why we must do so I. Our Work the Matter of it and the Manner in which we are to propound it to you 1. The Matter We must set before the People 1. Life and Good 2. Death and Evil. This I shall open in these Propositions First That there is a distinction between Good and Evil Vice and Vertue He that doth not acknowledg it is unworthy the name not only of a Christian but of a Man Certainly he is unworthy the name of a Christian for the whole Word of God doth mete out the Bounds between both these and shew what is forbidden and what is commanded and therefore it is a defiance of Christianity to doubt of it But he is also unworthy the name of a Man Nature apprehendeth that somethings are worthy of Praise and others worthy of Blame and Reproof else why should wicked Men be offended to be taken for such as they are and desire as much as possibly they can to seem better and to cover their dishonest Actions with a plausible Appearance Secondly The matching these two Death and Evil Life and Good And here I shall speak 1. Of the Suitableness of the Connection between them 2. The greatness of both Thirdly The certainty of both these Life and Death as the Fruit of Good and Evil. 1. The Suitableness or Correspondency there is between Holiness and Beatitude Sin and Misery It must needs be so if we consider the Wisdom Justice Holiness of God 1. The Wisdom of God which doth all things according to Weight Measure and Number cannot permit the Disjunction of these two things so closely united together as Sin and Punishment Grace and Happiness but there will be an appearance of Deformity and Irregularity For if there be such a thing as Good and Evil as Bonum and Malum morale as Reason will tell us there is And again if there be such a thing as Pleasure and Pain as Joy and Sorrow or that which we call Bonum and Malum naturale as Sense will tell us there is then it is very agreeable to the Wisdom of God that these things should be rightly placed and sorted that moral Evil which is Sin should be punished with natural Evil which is Pain and Misery that the inordinate Love of Pleasure which is the Root of Sin should be checked by a fore-thought of Pain And that Moral Good which is Vertue and Grace should end in Joy and Pleasure For God is naturally inclined as the Creator of Mankind to make his Creatures good and happy if nothing hinder him from it Well then we see how incongruous it is to the Wisdom of God who permits no dissonancy or disproportion in any of his Administrations to admit a Separation of these natural Relatives If there were no other Testimony of this yet the Dispositions of our own Hearts would know it for they are some obscure Shadows of the Properties which are in God We have Compassion on a miserable Man whom we esteem not deserving his Misery we are also moved with indignation and displeasure against one that is fortunate and successful but unworthy the Happiness that he enjoys Which is an apparent Testimony and Proof that we are sensible of an excellent Harmony and natural Order between these two things Vertue and Felicity Sin and Misery and to see them so suited doth exceedingly please us 2. The Justice of God as he is Judge of the World and so must and will do right doth require Ut 〈…〉 malis malè That it should be well with them that do well and ill with them that do evil God is naturally inclined to provide for the Happiness of Man as he is his Creator and if there were no Sin to stop the Course of God's Bounty there would be nothing but Happiness in the World But since the Entrance of Sin into the World Men are of different sorts some recover out of their estate of Sin and live holily others wallow in their filthiness still Now it is agreeable to God's general Justice as he is the Judge of the World to execute Vengeance on the one and reward the other that Happiness should accompany Vertue by a natural and inseparable Dependance and Misery incessantly attend Vice Rom. 2. 6 7 8. It is true the Bond which joyneth Happiness and Vertue together is not so strong and so every way naturally evident as that which joyneth Vice and Punishment If a Person in Sovereignty and Honour does not will that Moral Evils be punish'd 't is in some sort to consent to them but the Condition of the Creature is such that he ought to be holy and vertuous though God had not positively commanded him and God having so commanded we are bound to obey his Command though he had not proposed the Hope of a Reward in as much as we owe all to God both because of the infinite Eminence of his Majesty as because we hold our Beings and all from him And therefore there is a Distinction Rom. 6. 23. The Wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Iesus Christ our Lord. The one is Wages the other a Gift The Promise which God maketh of Remuneration and the actual Retribution which he performeth of the same ought to be imputed only to his Goodness and gratuitous Liberality Men cannot pretend any other Right before him from whom we hold all things yea our very Being Now that which proceedeth of Goodness seemeth not to be of so strait an Obligation but that he is at liberty to do or not to do especially when the transaction is between two Persons the Dignity and Authority of one of which is infinitely above the Condition of the other as the Majesty of God is above his Creature Therefore as to such a Reward God is free and therefore might have enjoyn'd Holiness without the Promise of such a Recompence But the general Relation that is between Punishment and Sin Holiness and Happiness as to the consequence of one upon another is agreable to the general Justice of God which is a Perfection necessary to him as he is the Supreme Governor and Ruler of the World 3. The Holiness and Purity of God which inclineth him to hate Evil and love that which is good God
excelling in Holiness himself loveth the Vertue and Holiness of his Creature Prov. 11. 20. For how can he be imagined but to love his own Image And as Goodness and Holiness are loved by him so he hateth the Workers of Iniquity Psal. 5. 5. and abhorreth those that despise that which is most glorious in Himself his Holiness And then if God loveth the Good and hateth the Evil he will express this in answerable Effects Good with Life and Evil with Death In short The Difference between Good and Evil is not more naturally known than it is naturally known that the one is to be punished the other rewarded Whether we consider the Wisdom of God which sorteth and joyns all things according to their natural Order and therefore Sin which is a Moral Evil is joyned with Sufferings a Natural Evil that is a feeling of something painful to Nature and afflictive to it Or the Justice of God which dealeth differently with Men that differ in themselves Or the Holiness of God who therefore will express his Love to the Good in making them happy and his Detestation of the Wicked in the Misery of their Punishment 2. The Greatness of both these Life and Death they are both Eternal Punishment in one Scale holdeth Conformity with the Reward in the other The full Reward is an Eternal and far more exceeding Weight of Glory called everlasting Life so is the full Punishment the Eternal Abode of Body and Soul under Torments expressed by everlasting Fire If we did only deal with you upon slight and cheap Motives you might refuse to hearken but when we tell you of Life and Death Eternal you ought most seriously to consider Whatever can be hoped or feared from Man is comparatively of little moment because his Power of doing Good or Evil is limited But on the one side it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 10. 31. On the other side Rom. 5. 2. We rejoyce in the Hope of the Glory of God God will act like himself infinitely gloriously especially when he is All in All when he doth not act by the mediation of the Creatures but immediately punishing the Wicked and rewarding the Good The Vessel can convey no more than it receiveth When the Creature is an Instrument of Vengeance God acteth according to the proportion and rate of that Creature as if a Giant should strike one with a Straw If God doth us good by an Ordinance the Water runneth but as the Pipe will contain he cannot manifest himself in that Latitude but then God is All himself immediatly Consider 1. The Greatness of the Death that accompanieth Evil. The Afflictions and Sorrows of this Life are a part of this Death When Moses here had insisted on many temporal Plagues which should befall his People he saith I have set Life and Death before you There are many Miseries in this Life which are the Fruit of Sin which would make your Hearts ake and your Ears tingle to hear of And then Death which consists in the separation of the Soul from the Body is the King of Terrors But we speak of the second Death which is far more terrible which consists in an Eternal Separation from the blessed and glorious Presence of the Lord no Death like this In all Creatures that have Sense Death is accompanied with Pain but this is a perpetual living to deadly Pain and Torment from whence there can be no Release In the first Death the Pain may lie in one place but in the second it extends all over The first Death the more it prevaileth the more we are past feeling but in this Death the Sufferer has a greater vivacity than ever the Capacity of every Sense is enlarged and made more receptive of Pain While we are in the Body Vehemens sensibile corrumpit Sensum the more vehemently and violently any thing strikes upon the Senses the more doth it dead the Sense as the Inhabitants about the Fall of Nilus are deaf with the continual noise Too much Light puts out the Eyes Taste is dulled by Custom But here the Capacity is improved by feeling The Power of God sustains the Sinner whilst his Wrath torments him As the Saints are prepared for the Blessedness of Heaven we cannot bear the least Glimpse of that Happiness which they enjoy above so the wicked are fitted to endure those inconceivable Pains When the first Death approaches there is strugling for Life Men would not dy but in the second Death they desire a final Destruction they would not live 2 The Greatness and Excellency of that Life that ensueth Good All manner of Blessings in this Life is the lowest step of it At Death when the Spirit returneth to God that gave it then it beginneth to be discovered but it is consummated when Body and Soul shall be translated to Heaven This is Life indeed Nescio an ista Vita mortalis Vita an vitalis Mors dicenda sit the present Life is a kind of Death always in fluxu like a Stream it runneth from us as fast as it cometh to us Iob 14. 1. He fleeth away as a Shadow and continueth not We die as fast as we live like the Shadow of a Star in a flowing Stream This Life is annoyed with a thousand Sorrows and Calamities but there is a freedom from all Sin and Misery and a full fruition of Pleasures for evermore Psal. 16. 11. And our Capacities are strong to bear them This Life is patched up with Supplies from the Creatures there is a full Fruition of God himself 1 Cor. 13. 12. And in this Life such Days may come wherein we have no pleasure Eccl. 12. 1. Life it self becomes a Burthen but that Life as it lasteth for ever so we are never weary of it The Enjoyment of God is new and fresh to us every moment As the Angels for thousands of years are beholding the Face of God but never weary of so doing so shall we always delight our selves in seeing God as he is 3. The Certainty of both these Life and Death Hell and Heaven as the Fruits of Good and Evil. 1. Reason sheweth it certainly that there is Eternal Life and Death or a State of Torment and Bliss after this Life All Men are perswaded that there is a God and very few have doubted but that he is a Rewarder of Vertue and and a Punisher of Vice Now neither the one nor the other is fully accomplished in this World even in the Judgment of those that have no great knowledg of the Nature of Sin nor what Punishment is competent thereto Therefore there must be after the sojourning in the Body a time in which retributive Justice shall be executed and Punishments and Rewards that here are dispensed so disproportionably even to what natural Reason would expect from the Hand of God shall most equally be dispens'd to Persons If any say Vertue is a Reward to it self as in some sence
nearer we draw to the one the more we avoid the other so that we have a double reason not to go back and much to engage us to go forward Application Use of Exhortation 1. Suffer us to discharge our Duty in this kind Heb. 13. 22. I beseech you Brethren suffer the Word of Exhortation It is but a small request we have to you that you will but suffer us to take pains to save your Souls it is irksome to carnal Men to have their sluggishness stirred up But what is there that should make it grievous and distastful Many can endure us when we treat of the Joys of Heaven but when we come to flash Hell Terrors in the Face of obstinate Sinners and tell them of Damnation and Wrath to come they think us harsh and severe and say as Ahab of Micaiah He prophesieth nothing but evil to me I but we must set both before you both Life and Death and it is better to hear of Hell than to feel it That is a cowardly Confidence that cannot endure the mention of our Danger There are others that like the offer of Heaven but would sever those things that are so aptly joined Life and Good Death and Evil that cannot indure this Doctrine in this Sense they say with those carnal Hearers Evermore give us the Bread of Life Joh. 6. 35. But they mistake the Terms upon which it may be had Oh! but we are not in the place of God and cannot make the way to Heaven easier than it is but we propound God's Covenant as we find it Life and Good the Conditions as well as the Offer Would you have us compound with you and deceive your Souls with a false hope which will leave you ashamed when you most need the comfort of it Men would live with the Carnal die with the Sincere therefore suffer us to be earnest with you 2. The next thing that we exhort you to is to believe the certainty consider the weight and importance of these Truths that there is a difference beetween Good and Evil that the fruit of the one is Death of the other Life and consider how irrational it is for a Man to love Death and refuse Life No Man in his right Wits can make a doubt which to choose In vain is the Snare laid in the sight of any Bird. Prov. 1. 17. You cannot drive a dull Ass into the Fire that is kindled before his Eyes It is true you hate Death and yet it is proper to say you choose it Prov. 8. 36. All they that hate me love Death Why refusing the Good do you so eagerly pursue the Evil How can ye hate the Wages and yet love the Work by which the Wages is to be earned and in requital of which it will be certainly paid If you detest Hell why not Sin if you love Heaven why do not you do good There is an inseparable Connection between these Who can pitty the Torment of that Man that thrusts his Hand into the Fire What should be the cause of this but Incredulity and Inconsideration 1. Unbelief and Atheism they do not think God will recompence Men according to their Works Now till Men believe it tell them of Hell or Heaven never so much it will not work upon them Who would lose that which is certain and present for the hope or fear of that which is to come and doubtful when they suspect or believe it not fully No wonder they go on still in the Paths that lead down to the Chambers of Death and are prejudiced against the Ways of Life But why are Men such Infidels as to future things 1. You cannot disprove what is declared in Scripture or by any sound Argument evince that there is no Heaven or Hell for all you say or know there are both really existing and if there were no more but that it were good to take the surer side especially when you part with nothing but a few base Pleasures and carnal Satisfactions Reason should make us very careful In a Lottery where there is but a possibility of gaining Men will venture a Shilling or a small matter for a Prize If there be either no Hell or Heaven you part with no more than the vain Pleasures of a fading perishing Life but if this Doctrine prove true you run the hazard of Eternal Torments and lose the Comfort of Eternal Joys therefore it is better to trust this Doctrine than try it it is Prudence to make provision for the worst 2. But doth not natural Reason and Conscience and the Presages of our Hearts shrewdly evidence that there is a World to come as before was proved an Heaven for the Good and an Hell for the wicked At present the Wicked flourish and the Good many times suffer what shall we conclude thence Mol. 2. 17. Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in him or where is the God of Iudgment 3. If Nature be not so clear Scripture is full and positive If we do indeed believe the Scripture as we profess to do certainly we cannot so grosly go against the whole Current and Drift of it That Scripture which you profess to be the Book of God and take for the Rule of your Lives and Expectations that Scripture which your Consciences dread as owning the Voice of God therein that Scripture which is confirmed by God's Providence and frequent Experiments that Scripture which hath such a rational Evidence in it self 't is that assureth us of a World to come and bringeth it to light in the Word The very thoughts of such an Hell and Heaven as was invented by the ancient Heathens was enough to make them vertuous though as to the Manner and Circumstances of it the more understanding knew it to be a very Fable and Supposition yet the Thing it self being bottom'd and founded upon those natural apprehensions of the Immortality of the Soul and the Attributes of the Deity had powerful Effects upon them Now shall we talk of Christianity pretend a Reverence to the Scriptures and shall we tremble no more at the Certainty of an Hell than Gentiles at the possibility of it Shall their Suspicion work more than our Faith If they were so pliable to Poets discipline how should we be moulded and framed by the Doctrine of Christ what awe and holy trembling should it breed in our Hearts 2. Inconsideration We are so taken up with the Cares and Pleasures of the present Life that we are not at leisure to think of Death and Life Hell and Heaven or upon what Terms we stand with God Jer. 8. 6. Eccles. 11. 9. Remember that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment The young Man in the heat of his Lusts forgetteth that a time of reckoning will come Oh think of your ways and whither you are a going It is foolish to busy our selves about many things and neglect the main Luk. 10. 41 42. You
think it will bring a dâ—mp on your Hearts But if you cannot endure to think of Hell how much less will you endure one day to suffer it Is it such a trouble to consider it what is it to feel it Timely Consideration is the way to prevent and escape these Torments it will help to preserve you from comming thither and cause it to work upon you Oh then Deut. 32. 46. Set your Hearts unto all these Words which I testify among you this day Consideration will awaken the Soul that was formerly laid asleep Will Heaven or Hell intice or deter the Man that thinketh not of it Shall we not therefore have a little Patience while we deeply ponder and weigh these things in our Minds See Life and Death is set before you and will you not allow a few serious Thoughts about them nor ask your Souls what shall become of you to all Eternity God's great complaint of Israel is Isa. 1. 3. My People will not consider and the same complaint may be made of us Things are evident and clear to Faith Reason and Conscience but we will not consider and so wander out of the way 3. The next thing we exhort you to do is to make choice for your own Souls That is the use Moses makes of it ver 19. Therefore choose Life that both thou and thy Seed may live Hearing Believing Considering are all in order to choice and without choice and a determined fixed bent of Heart you will never walk evenly in Heavens ways Determine not only that you must but you will walk in the way which God hath set forth for you God's Ways must be chosen Psal. 119. 30. I have chosen the way of Truth And ver 173. I have chosen thy Precepts Jos. 15. 22. If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve Not as if it were indifferent but to set an edg upon their Appetite There is much strength in the Bond when a Man bindeth himself freely and makes him the more inexcusible if he doth not observe it All will choose Life before Death but they are out in the Means they do not choose Good before Evil the Good of Holiness before the Evil of Sin Every Man desireth some Good it is as natural for the reasonable Creature to desire to be happy as it is for the Fire to burn but we do not make a right choice of the Means that may bring us to that Happiness that we desire They would be happy but they choose Means quite contrary to Happiness Oh then choose the Ways of God let Life be your Motive and Holiness your Choice this is the way to live for ever to avoid Hell beneath As soon as we come to years of Discretion we should make our choice to go on in the ways of Life To this we are obliged by the most weighty Reasons urged by the enforcements of the Word and by the sad and numerous examples of young People who make an ill choice in the beginning and go on and are hardned therein and perish for ever SERMON XVIII MAT. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets IT is a general Complaint of the World that Christians are defective in the Duties of the second Table Some Hypocrites may be so to mask over a dishonest Life with a pretence of Worship and Godliness But we are not to judge of the rest of the People of God by these no more than we would judge of the Glory of a Street by the filthiness of the Sink or Canal or of the sound Grapes in the Cluster by the rotten ones For certainly all that have truly submitted to Christianity do find that Religion doth influence their Relations and run out and issue it self in all the Duties which they owe to Man as well as unto God And it was not a Boast which Austin said to the Heathens Let all the Religions of the World produce such Princes such Subjects such Husbands Wives Parents Children as the Christian Religion produceth This was the Glory of Religion then and it should not fall in our hands Or possibly this may be the Cause of it Unrenewed Men which allow one another in their Excesses and glory in some kind of mutual Civilities may equal or over-pass the Godly therein Look as Dogs excell Men in the acuteness of Smell and the Eagle in sharpness of Sight and many other Beasts in other Senses because it is their Excellency so there are certain lower Respects which the Men of the World mutually pay one towards another and they may excell in these as their peculiar Worth But however be that Complaint true or false it concerns us to take notice of it and to prevent all Suspicion of this kind And therefore we need to press Moralities upon Christians and that from the true Root the Love of God for that is the great Mistake of this Age to set up a sort of false Morality and forget the true one that is built on Faith in Christ and Love to God Now to set down each particular Duty would be tedious The Life of Man is short and the Law in all its necessary Explications long and voluminous and therefore to have a sure Rule and a short one would be a very great Advantage to us in this Matter And this one Direction which I have read to you out of the Word of God will serve instead of all It is a sure Rule for Christ gives it us who is Truth it self and though it be short it is full enough for our purpose for here is the Substance and Quintessence of the Law and Prophets all drawn into one compendious Rule and Abridgment of our Duty the best Epitome that ever was A Sentence this is of such weight that the Emperor Severus as Lactantius reporteth out of Lampridius was so taken with it that having heard it from some Iew or Christian he wrote it in his Palace and caused it to be engraven in Golden Letters in the Courts of Justice and to be proclaimed at the punishment of Offenders And therefore I shall briefly discourse of this Rule and present it to your serious Consideration In the Words there is I. A Rule of Life Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them II. The Commendation of it For this is the Law and the Prophets III. The Illative Particle Therefore My Business shall be to open these Circumstances I. Here is the Rule of Life This general Precept may be considered in the Affirmative or in the Negative for Negatives are included in their Affirmatives The Affirmative is in the Text. All those things that you would Men should do unto you the Negative is in that noted Saying Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris that which you would not have done to you
saved 4. Necessitate Signi as Evidences of our Right to Salvation both to others and our selves Works or external Acts are more sensible and visible and also liable to the notice of our own Consciences and it is more hard to judg of the internal Grace than the external Fruits 1. As to others God seeth what is in our Hearts but Men see it not till the Effects manifest it When Iohn suspected the Pharisees he said to them Mat. 3. 8. Bring ye forth therefore Fruits meet for Repentance The Fear of God is more known by the external Act than by the internal Habit therefore that Description is given Prov. 8. 13. The Fear of the Lord is to hate Evil Pride and Arrogancy and the evil Way and the froward Mouth do I hate And Iob 28. 28. The Fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from Evil is Understanding The Current of a Mans Life and Actions doth best expound and interpret his Heart Thus the Psalmist discovered the wicked Psal. 36. 1. The Transgression of the Wicked saith within my Heart that there is no Fear of God before his Eyes 2. To our selves holy Conversation and Godliness is the surest note of our Regeneration We judg others by external Works alone For the Tree is known by its Fruit Mat. 7. 16. Charity forbids us to pry any further but we judg our selves by internal and external Works together If within we have Faith in Christ a love to God and hatred of Evil a delight in Holiness a deep sense of the World to come all which Graces make up the new Nature then these things issue out into an holy Conversation this breedeth Joy and Peace of Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation in the World 1 John 3. 18 19. Let us not love in Word neither in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth and hereby we know that we are of the Truth and shall assure our Hearts before him 3. That good Works must not be opposed to God's Mercy and free Grace or Christ's Satisfaction Merit and Righteousness either in the matter of Justification or Salvation but kept in a due subordination to God's Grace and Christ's Merits This is the business of this Context to reconcile the Grace of God with the necessity of good Works è contrà and very well it may be for they are part of the Grace obtained He is most beholden to God and indebted to Grace who is enabled to do most good for all is from him Phil. 2. 13. He worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure So that our very doing is receiving But because there are a sort of Men that may be called Justiciaries who trust and teach others to trust to their own Vertues and Works without a Saviour or ascribe the part of a Saviour to them and on the other side the Libertines who teach Men not to look at any thing in themselves at all not as an Evidence Condition or Means but to trust to Christ's Blood to be instead of Faith Repentance and Obedience which is their Duty to be performed by them therefore it will be necessary to be well acquainted with what is truly the Part and Office of Christ what is truly the Office of Faith and Repentance what of Works that you may be sure to give every thing its due and may wholly trust Christ for his part and not joyn Faith or any of your Works and Duties in the least degree of that Trust and Honour which belongeth to our Saviour but regard them according to that use for which they are commanded in the Gospel 1. Our Works whatever they are either Duties to God or Man are not the first moving cause or inducement to incline God to shew us Favour or to bring about our Salvation No this Honour must be reserved for the Grace of God which moveth and stirreth all in the business of our Salvation It was his Grace to provide us a Saviour John 3. 16. God so loveth the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life And the giving of Faith or converting Grace to some before others is the meer Effect of his Mercy and good Pleasure Eph. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he hath loved us when we were dead in Trespasses and Sins hath quickned us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved Then the Benefits consequent upon Conversion are from God's Love and Mercy As Justification Rom. 3. 24. Iustified freely by his Grace Not only by his Grace but freely that is not excited by our Works but acting freely of its own accord Then for Eternal Life we have it from the Grace of God and the Mercy of our Redeemer Jude 21. Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto Eternal Life So that Grace is the first Mover and Principle in the whole Business of our Salvation it is originally from Grace and all along by Grace 2. Our Works before or after Conversion are not that Righteousness not any part of that meritorious Righteousness by virtue of which Sins are expiated the Wrath of God appeased all Blessings of Heaven purchased and we reconciled to God For this is only to be ascribed to the Merit and Satisfaction of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we were Enemies we were reconciled by his Death and are saved by his Life Rom. 5. 10. He is our Propitiation we live by him 1 John 4. 9 10. In this was manifested the Love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World that we might live through him Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins It is Christ's Office and Honour to be a Sacrifice for Sin and a Propitiation for us and a perfect Saviour and Intercessor to obtain the Spirit to fit us for our present Duty and future Happiness We are his Workmanship in Christ. 3. Our Works or Duties which we perform in Obedience to God are not the first means to apply the Grace of the Redeemer or the Condition of our first entrance into the Evangelical Estate No that is proper to Repentance and Faith Rom. 3. 22. The Righteousness of God is by Faith unto all and upon all them that believe And Repentance is frequently required also to receive Pardon and the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 3. 19. Repent ye therefore and be Converted that your Sins may be blotted out It is the penitent believing Sinner that is
qualified for these Priviledges or he that thankfully and humbly accepts of the offered Saviour and consents to the Covenant made with God the Father Son and Holy Spirit he is washed from his Sins in the Blood of Christ reconciled adopted into God's Family and made an Heir according to the hope of Eternal Life Tit. 3. 7. This first Faith by which we believe and consent to the Covenant implieth both a dependance on God's Mercy and Christ's Merits and also a consent of Obedience or hearty Subjection to God 4. When we have consented to accept Christ and his Benefits and do give our selves to him then Works or new Obedience follow as necessary to continue our right to Pardon and Life For none have benefit by God's Covenant but those that keep his Covenant as well as make it and without this we cannot have Communion with God 1 John 1. 7. If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another Nor evidence the reality of our Faith and Repentance St. Paul was sent to Preach to the Gentiles That they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for Repentance Acts 26. 20. Besides we cannot preserve our claim and right if we do not still go on to do good 1 Tim. 6. 18. Ezek. 18. 24. When the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity shall he live all his Righteousness shall not be mentioned in his Trespasses that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die It is true of the Hypocrite without Scruple and of the real righteous Man if you suppose the one you may suppose the other Well these things must not be confounded nor opposed not confounded but we must distinctly consider what is proper to the Grace of God proper to the Merit of Christ proper to Faith proper to Works not opposed so as to make the one exclude the other As the Grace of God to exclude the Merit of Christ or serve instead of it nor the Merit of Christ his Blood and Righteousness to exclude Faith and Repentance nor be instead of them nor Faith to exclude good Works 5. All the applying Grace is from first to last wrought in us by the Spirit He doth renew and heal our Natures as coming to us from the Grace of God and Merits of Christ. Tit. 3. 5 6. According to his Mercy he saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour By the Holy Spirit working in us habitual Grace and exciting it we believe repent obey do whatever is necessary to be done to obtain Eternal Life Therefore this must not be omitted but acknowledged as a great part of this Grace III. Use. To exhort us if we would shew our selves to be new Creatures indeed to be full of good Works The Arguments to move us are 1. It is a necessary fruit of inward Grace and so doth plainly shew that you are partakers of Heavenly Wisdom Iames 3. 17. The Wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated full of Mercy and good fruits The carnal Worldling all his Wisdom is to grow rich to himself which indeed is but Folly Luke 12. 21. His business is to live to the Flesh Gal. 6. 8. He layeth out all his Strength Time and Care and Wealth for the feeding his own carnal Desires but the other soweth to the Spirit layeth out himself in works of Piety and Charity 2. External Acts which flow from an Internal Principle increase the Habit the more you do good the more you are inabled to do good as bodily Strength is increased by Exercise Why is the right Hand more agil stronger and bigger than the left it is oftner exercised and so fuller of Blood and Spirits So in Grace the more you act Faith the more is Faith increased Love groweth more fervent being kept in a constant Exercise and Hope more lively and affective Always Actions increase the Principles which did produce them partly of their own Nature 1 Iohn 2. 5. Whoso keepeth his Word in him verily is the Love of God perfected The more acts of Love he puts forth towards God the more doth his Love increase in him partly by Divine Reward Heb. 6. 10. He is not unrighteous to forget your labour of Love which ye have shewed towards his Name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister God rewards them temporally 2 Cor. 9. 12. God is able to make all Grace abound towards you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may aboud to every good Work That is to give you to be liberal at all times And when he saith God is able it not only implieth that God is the Fountain of all Plenty and Sovereign Disposer of it and so hath power to make you the richer rather than the poorer by your Liberality to make every Alms you give like the Oil in the Cruse to multiply as you pour it out that there shall be enough for every Object and every Occasion but also he is sure to make it good for he quotes it again in the next Verse as it is written He hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the Poor his Righteousness remaineth for ever It is taken out of Psalm 112. where there are signal Promises of Wealth and Riches in the House of the liberal Alms-giver God rewards them eternally 2 Cor. 9. 6. He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully Now is the Seed-time hereafter is our Harvest and Crop we shall have a liberal reward from God in the general Resurrection God also rewards his obedient Servants Spiritually Internally and that not only with more Comfort and Peace but by increasing the Grace it self for God that punishes Sin with Sin doth reward Grace with Grace Wells are sweeter for draining on the other side a Key that is seldom turned rusts in the Lock An intermission of good Works makes us more unable and unready for them 3. It is a greater Honour to God John 15. 8. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much Fruit. Phil. 1. 11. Being filled with the Fruits of Righteousness which are by Iesus Christ unto the Glory and praise of God 2 Thess. 1. 11 12. Wherefore we pray for you that our God would count you worthy of this Calling and fulfil all the good Pleasure of his Goodness and the work of Faith with Power that the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him Christ's Religion is not a barren Religion but full of good Works It is a mighty credit to Religion in you that profess it when Goodness is the Constitution of your Hearts to do good the business of your Lives 4. It edifieth others and provoketh an holy Emulation Heb. 10. 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto Love and to good Works We provoke them most by our Example when they are cold negligent and backward to Works of Piety and Mercy In all things we should be an Instance of Divine Vertues 5. This is the fruit which God expecteth from us that the Trees of Righteousness should bear the Fruits of Righteousness If we frustrate his expectation he will hew us down and cast us into the Fire Mat. 3. 10. Therefore good Works are not needless things The means to enable us are 1. Be sure that you are renewed The Dead cannot do the works of the Living Neither do Men gather Grapes of Thorns nor Figgs of Thistles Mat. 7. 16. Our first business is to look to our Conversion to God All outward Duties begin in the Heart they are valued no further than they come from it sanctified 2. Keep your Hearts under a Sence of God's Authority that you may feel something in your own Bosoms that may tell you you are bound to obey him and may plead God's right with you This is done by a frequent Meditation upon your Creation and Redemption Your Creation giveth God a full right to you and Redemption maketh it comfortable by both you see you are his Acts 27. 23. There stood by me this Night the Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve 3. You are intrusted with his Talents and of their improvement you must give an account Mat. 25. 14. A Lord called his Servants and delivered to them his Goods in order to Improvement 4. What encouragement we have from a gracious God and Covenant which takes not advantage of involuntary Weaknesses but accepteth their endeavours who sincerely do their best Mal. 3. 17. I will spare him as a Man spareth his Son that serveth him 5. Remember often your great obligation to God you can never do so much for him as he deserveth of you Psal. 116. 12. What shall I render to the Lord for all his Benefits towards me 6. Do all as in God's Eye and with a constant dependance upon him Psal. 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before me Make him your Pay-master Governour and Judg and it will not only keep you sincere but diligent in good Works The work is not sincerely done when you look to Man nor throughly done Such have their reward only here Mat. 6. 7. Love your Work A little thing will stop him that doth it unwillingly Psal. 119. 47 48. I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved And I will lift up my Hands to thy Commandments which I have loved 8. Account your selves much beholden to God that he will employ you in any Service for his Glory FINIS ERRATA PAge 5. line 3. for Condemned read Contemned P. 41. l. 18. f. Love r. Fear P. 79. l. 31. f. it r. the Promises P. 92. l. 24. f. that r. if P. 104. l. 8. f. Hearty r. Heart P. 125. l. 3. f. External r. Eternal P. 128. l. 26. after they were r. not P. 150. l. 17. after Obedience dele partly P. 168. l. 17. f. Conversations r. Consolations P. 181. l. 23. f. of Cognisance r. of our Cognisance P. 212. l. 33. after ever-blessed add Life P. 113. l. 17. f. overaweth r. outlaweth P. 252. l. 20. f. them r. him P. 167. l. 11. dele partly P. 289. l. 9. f. to evince r. towards its ruine Gal. 5. 24. Gen. 3. 7 10.