which a created nature joyned to an infinitie and bottomlesse fountaine could receive From hence therefore wee should learne to let the same minde bee in us which was in Christ to humble our selves first that wee may bee exalted in due time to finish our workes of selfe-deniall and service which wee owe to God that so wee may enter into our Masters glory For he himselfe entred not but by a way of bloud Wee learne likewise to have recourse and dependance on him for all supplies of the Spirit for all strength of grace for all influences of life for the measure of every joynt and member He is our treasure our fountaine our head it is his free grace his voluntarie influence which habituateth and fitteth all our faculties which animateth us unto a heavenly being which giveth us both the strength and first act wherby we are qualified to worke and which concurreth with us in actu secundâ— to all those workes which wee set our selves about As an instrument even when it hath an edge cutteth nothing till it be assisted and moved by the hand of the artificer so a Christian when hee hath a will and an habituall fitnesse to worke yet is able to doe nothing without the constant supply assistance and concomitancie of the grace of Christ exciting moving and applying that habituall power unto particular actions He it is that giveth us not onely to will but to doe that goeth through with us and worketh all our works for us by his grace Without him wee can doe nothing all our sufficiencie is from him But it may bee objected if wee can doe nothing without a second grace to what end is a former grace given or what use is there of our exciting that grace and gift of God in us which can doe nothing without a further concourse of Christs Spirit To this I answer first that as light is necessarie and requisite unto seeing and yet there is no seeing without an eye so without the assisting grace of Christs Spirit concurring with us unto every holy Dutie wee can doe nothing and yet that grace doth ever presuppose an implanted seminall and habituall grace fore-disposing the soule unto the said Duties Secondly as in the Course of naturall Effects though God bee a most voluntary Agent yet in the ordinary Concurrence of a first Cause hee worketh ad modum naturae measuring forth his assistance proportionably to the Condition and Preparation of the second Causes so in supernaturall and holy operations albeit not with a like certaine and unaltered constancy though Christ bee a most voluntary head of his Church yet usually he proportioneth his assisting and second grace unto the growth progresse and radication of those Spirituall habits which are in the soule before From whence commeth the difference of holinesse and profitablenesse amongst the Saints that some are more active and unwearied in all holy conversation than others as in the naturall bodie some members are larger and more full of life and motion than others according to the different distribution of Spirits from the heart and influences from the head This then affords matter enough both to humble us and to comfort us To humble us that wee can doe nothing of our selves that wee have nothing in our selves but sinne All the fulnesse of grace is in him and therefore whosoever hath any must have it from him as in the Egyptian famine whosoever had any corn had it from Ioseph to whom the granaries and treasures of Egypt were for that purpose committed And this Lowlinesse of heart and sense of our owne Emptinesse is that which makes us alwayes have recourse to our fountaine and keepe in favor with our head from whom wee must receive fresh supply of strength for doing any good for bearing any evill for resisting any temptation for overcomming any enemie For beginning for continuing and for perfecting any Dutie For though it bee mans heart that doth these things yet it is by a forraigne and impressed strength as it is iron that burnes but not by its owne nature which is cold but by the heate which it hath received from the fire It was not I saith the Apostle but that grace of God which was with mee To comfort us likewise when wee consider that all fulnesse and strength is in him as in an Officer an Adam a treasurer and dispencer of all needfull supplies to his people according to the place they beare in his bodie and to the exigence and measure of their condition in themselves or service in his Church Sure wee are that what measure soever hee gives unto any hee hath still a residue of Spirit nay hee still retaineth his owne fulnesse hath still enough to carry us through any condition and according to the difficulties of the service hee puts us upon hath still wisedome to understand compassion to pitie strength to supply all our needs And that all this hee hath as a mercifull and faithfull depositarie as a Guardian and husband and elder brother to imploy for the good of his Church that he is unto this office appointed by the will of him that sent him to lose nothing of all that which is given him but to keepe and perfect it unto the resurrection at the last day That God hath planted in him a Spirit of faithfulnesse and pittie for the cheerfull discharge of this great Office given him a propriety unto us made us as neere and deare unto him as the members of his sacred body are to one another and therfore whosoever commeth to him with emptines and hunger and faith he will in no wise cast them out it is as possible for him to hew off and to throw away the members of his naturall body to have any of his bones broken as to reject the humble and faithfull desires of those that duly waite upon him Againe from this Exaltation of Christ in his humane nature wee should learne to keepe our vessels in holinesse and in honor as those who expect to bee fashioned at the last like unto him For how can that man truly hope to bee like Christ hereafter that labors to bee as unlike him here as hee can Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot saith the Apostle So may I say shall I take the nature of Christ that nature which he in his person hath so highly glorified and make it in my person the nature of a devill If a Prince should marry a meane woman would he endure to see those of her neerest kindred her brethren and sisters live like scullians or strumpets under his owne eye Now Christ hath taken our nature into a neerer union with himselfe than marriage for man and wife are still two persons but God and man is but one Christ. Death it selfe was not able to dissolve this union for when the soule was separated from the body yet the Deitie was separated from neither it was the Lord that lay
follow thee whithersoever thou leadest mee But these are but emptie velleities the wishings and wouldings of an evill heart Lord to me belongeth the shame of my failings but to thee belongeth the glory of thy mercy and forgivenesse Too true it is that I doe not all I should but doe I allow my selfe in any thing that I should not doe I make use of mine infirmities to justifie my selfe by them or shelter my selfe under them or dispence with my selfe in them though I doe not the things I should yet I love them and delight in them my heart and Spirit and all the desires of my soule are towards them I hate abhorre and fight with my selfe for not doing them I am ashamed of mine infirmities as the blemishes of my profession I am weary of them and groane under them as the burdens of my soule I have no lust but I am willing to know it and when I know to crucifie it I heare of no further measure of grace but I admire it and hunger after it and presse on to it I can take Christ and affliction Christ and persecution together I can take Christ without the world I can take Christ without my selfe I have no unjust gaine but I am ready to restore it No time have I lost by earthly businesse from Gods service but I am ready to redeeme it I have followed no sinfull pleasure but I am ready to abandon it no evill company but I mightily abhorre it I never sware an oath but I can remember it with a bleeding conscience I never neglected a duty but I can recount it with revenge and indignation I doe not in any man see the Image of Christ but I love him the more dearly for it and abhorre my selfe for being so much unlike it I know Satan I shall speed never the worse with God because I have thee for mine enemie I know I shall speed much the better because I have my selfe for mine enemie Certainly hee that can take Christ offer'd that can in all points admit him as well to purifie as to justifie as well to rule as save as well his grace as his mercie neede not feare all the powers of darknesse nor all the armies of the foulest sinnes which Satan can charge his conscience withall The second great vertue and fruit of the Priesthood of Christ was ex redundantia meriti from the redundancy and overflowing of his merit First hee doth merit to have a Church for the very being of the Church is the effect of that great price which he payed therefore the Church is called a purchased people 1 Pet. 2.9 Ask of mee and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance Psal. 2.8 when hee made his soule an offering for sinne hee did by that meanes see his seed and divide a portion with the great Esai 53.10 11 12. The delivering and selecting of the Saints out of this present evill world was the end of Christs Sacrifice Gal. 1.4 Secondly hee did merit all such good things for the Church as the great love of himselfe and his Father towards the Church did resolve to conferre upon it They may I conceive be reduced to two heads First Immunitie from evill whatsoever is left to bee removed after the payment of our debt or taking off from us the guilt and obligation unto punishment Such are the Dominion of Sinne. Sinne shall not have dominion over you Rom. 6.14 The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Iesus hath made mee free from the Law of Sinne and of Death Rom. 8.2 He that committeth sinne is the servant of sinne but if the Sonne shall make you free you shall bee free indeed Ioh. 8 34-36 Hee that is borne of God doth not commit sinne 1 Ioh. 3.9 That is he is not an artificer of sinne one that maketh it his trade and profession and therefore bringeth it to any perfection Hee hath received a Spirit of Iudgement that chaineth up his lusts and a Spirit of burning which worketh out his drosse Esai 4.4 Mal. 3.2 3. Matth. 3.2 Such is The Vanity of our Minde whereby wee are naturally unable to thinke or to cherish a good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 Eph. 4.17 The Ignorance and hardnesse of our hearts unable to perceive or delight in any spirituall thing Eph. 4.18 Ioh. 1.5 Luk. 24 25.45 The Spirit of disobedience and habituall strangenesse and aversenesse from God Eph. 4.18 Iob 20.14 Such are also all those slavish affrightfull and contumacious effects of the Law in terrifying the conscience irritating the concupiscence and compelling the froward heart to an unwilling and unwelcome conformitie The Law is now made our counseller a delight to the inner man that which was a lion before hath now food and sweetnesse in it Secondly Many Priviledges and dignities in the vertue of that principall and generall one which is our unitie unto Christ from whence by the fellowship of his holy and quickning Spirit wee have an unction which teacheth us his wayes and his voyce which sanctifieth our nature by the participation of the divine nature that is by the renewing of Gods most holy and righteous Image in us Which sanctifieth our Persons that they may bee spirituall Kings and Priests Kings to order our owne thoughts affections desires studies towards him to fight with principalities powers corruptions and spirituall enemies Priests to offer up our bodies soules prayers thanksgivings almes spirituall services upon that Altar which is before his mercy-seate and to slay and mortifie our lusts and earthly members which sanctifieth all our actions that they may bee services to him and his Church acceptable to him and profitable to others Secondly from this unity with him growes our adoption which is another fruit of his Sacrifice Hee was made of a woman made under the Law that wee might receive The Adoption of Sonnes Gal. 4.5 By which wee have free accesse to call upon God in the vertue of his Sacrifice sure supplies in all our wants because our heavenly Father knoweth all our needs a most certaine inheritance and salvation in hope for we are already saved by hope Rom. 8.24 and Christ is to us the Hope of Glory Col. 1.27 Lastly there is from hence our exaltation in our finall victory and resurrection by the fellowship and vertue of his victory over death as the first fruits of ours 1 Cor. 15.20.49 Phil. 3.21 And in our complete salvation being carried in our soules and bodies to be presented to himselfe without spot and blamelesse Eph. 5.26 27. and to bee brought unto God 1 Pet. 3.18 Now to take all in one view what a summe of mercy is here together Remission of all sinnes discharge of all debts deliverance from all curses joy peace triumph security exaltation above all evils enemies or feares a peculiar purchased roiall seed the gift of God the Father to his Sonne deliverance from the dominion and service of all sinne vanity ignorance hardnesse disobedience bondage coaction terror sanctification
of their profession is not any experimentall goodnesse which they have tasted in him for by nature men have no relish of Christ at all but onely selfe-love and private ends wherby Christ is subordinated to their owne commodities Men are herin just like the Samaritans of whom Iosephus reports that when Antiochus persecuted the Iewes they then utterly disavowed any consanguinity with them denied their Temple on mount Gerosim to be dedicated to the great God and declared their linage from the Medes and Persians but when before that Alexander had shewed favour unto the Iewes and remitted the tribute of every seventh yeare they then claim'd kindred with that people and counterfeited a descent from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasse that thereby they might enjoy the priviledges of those people whom otherwise they mortally hated And so we finde that in the Vastation of the Citie of Rome by the Gothes and Barbarians when there was but one onely refuge allowed the Romanes for the safety of their lives namely to fly unto the Christians Churches those very enemies of Christ and his profession who before had persecuted him and after returned to their malice againe were yet then as hasty to fly unto his Temples and to assume the Title of his Servants as they were after ungratefully malitious in reproaching Christian Religion as if that had been the provocation of those calamities And may we not still observe amongst Christians at this day many men who contrary to the evidence of their judgment and peace of their consciences conforme themselves unto the vanities courses companies of this evill world and like cowards are affraid to adventure on a rigorous and universall subjection to the truth of Christ dare not keepe themselves close to those narrow rules of S. Paul to abstaine from jesting which is not seemly to avoid all appearances of evill to reprove the unfruitfull workes of darknesse to speake unto Edification that their words may minister grace unto the hearers to rejoyce alwayes in the Lord to give place unto wrath to recompence evill with good to be circumspect and exact in their walking before God and all this meerly out of suspicion of some disrespect and disadvantages which may hereupon meete them in the world of some remoraes and stoppage in the order of those projects which they have contrived for their private ends Now if such purposes as these doe staâ—tle men from a punctuall and rigorous profession of the Gospell of Christ and his most holy wayes notwithstanding our vow in Baptisme doe as strictly binde us therunto as unto the externall title of Christianity suppose we that the same or greater disadvantages should now as in the primitive times attend at the naked and outward profession of Christ would not such men as these fall into downright apostacy and deny the Lord that bought them certainly our Savior hath so resolv'd that case in the very best sort of unregenerate men noted in the stony ground when times of persecution happen that they are brought to the triall who it was whom in their profession they loved Christ or themselves the excellencie of the knowledge of him or the secure enjoyment of secular contentments they will then certainly fall away and be offended Matt. 13.21 so profound and unsearchable is the deceitfull heart of man that by that very reason for which men contend for the outward face and profession of Religion because they love their pleasures and profits which without such a profession they cannot peaceably enjoy they are deterred from a close spirituall and universall obedience to the power thereof because thereby likewise those pleasures and profits are kept within such rules of moderation as the nature of a boundlesse and unsatisfiable lust will not admit This is a certaine rule in love that the motions and desires thereof are strong and therefore in any thing which the soule loves it therin strives for excellency and perfection and this rule holds most true in religion because when the soâ—â—e loves that it loves it under the apprehension of the greatest good and therefore by consequence sets the strongest and most industrious desires of the soule upon it Therefore the Apostle saith that the Love of Christ namely that love of him which is by the Holy Ghost shed abroad in our hearts constraineth us to live unto him and to aspire after him who died for us and rose againe Love is as strong as death it will take no deniall It is the wing and weight of the soule which fixeth all the thoughts and carrieth all the desires unto an intimate unitie with the thing it loves stirreth up a zeale to remove all obstacles which stand betweene it worketh a languor or failing of nature in the want of it a liquefaction and softnesse of nature to receive the impressions of it an egresse of the Spirits and as it were an hast of the soule to meet and entertaine it Whence those expressions of the Saints in holy Scripture Comfort me with apples stay me with flagons for I am sick of love my soule breaketh for the longing which it hath unto thy judgments at all times The desire of our soule is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee My soule thirsteth for God yea for the living God when shall I come and appeare before God We that have the first fruit of the Spirit groane within our selves waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our Bodies O that my wayes were directed that I might keepe thy commandements with my whole heart have I sought thee I have stuck unto thy testimonies I will delight my selfe in thy commandements thy statutes have been my songs my soule fainteth for thy salvation c. By all which we see that a true love of Christ doth excite strong desires and an earnest aspiring and ambition of the soule to walke in all well-pleasing and to be in all things conformable unto him What the Apostle saith of Spirituall hope we may truly say of love which is the fundamentall affection and root of all the rest He that hath it indeed in him purgeth himselfe even as Christ is pure The Love of the World and the things and lusts of the world may indeed consist with the formall profession but no way with the truth or power of a true love to Christ or his government For love is ever the principle and measure of all our actions such as it is such likewise wil they be too Fourthly something like love there may be in naturall men unto Christ grounded upon the historicall assurance and perswasion of his being now in glory attended by mightie Angels filled with all the treasures of wisdome knowledge grace power and other excellent attributes which can attract love even from an enemie and that he hath and still doth procure such good things for mankinde in their deliverance from the guilt of sin and from the wrath to come as of which might
And therfore it is called the fulfilling of the Law True love unto Christ keepes the whole heart together and carries it all one way and so makes it universall uniforme and constant in all its affections unto God for unstedfastnesse of life proceeds from a divided or double heart Iam. 1.8 As in the motions of the heavens there is one common circumvolution which ex aequo carrieth the whole frame daily unto one point from east to west though each severall spheare hath a severall crosse way of its owne wherin some move with a swifter and others with a slower motion So though severall Saints may have their severall corruptions and those likewise in some stronger than in others yet being all animated by one and the same Spirit they all agree in a steddy and uniforme motion unto Christ. If a stone were placed under the concave of the moone though there bee fire and aire and water between yet through them all it would hasten to its owne place so bee the obstacles never so many or the conditions never so various through which a man must passe through evill report and good report through terrors and temptations through a sea and a wildernesse through firy Serpents and sons of Anak yet if the heart love Christ indeed and conclude that heaven is its home nothing shall bee able totally to discourage it from hastning thither whither Christ the forerunner is gone before Secondly the true Love of Christ is grounded upon the evidence of that Proprietie which the soule hath unto him And of that mutuall inhabitation and possession which is between them So that our love unto him in this regard is a kinde of selfe love and therefore very strong because Christ and a Christian are but one And the more perswasion the soule hath of this unity the more must it needs love Christ. For wee love him because hee loved us first 1 Ioh. 4.16.19 And therefore our Saviour from the womans apprehension of Gods more abundant love in the remission of her many and great sinnes concludeth the measure and proportion of her love to him But saith he To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Luke 7.47 Now True Love of Christ and his Kingdome thus grounded will undoubtedly manifest it selfe first in an universall extent unto any thing wherin Christ is present unto his Church First the soule in this case will abundantly love and cherish the Spirit of Christ. Entertaine with dearest embraces as worthy of all acceptation the motions and dictates and secret illapses of him into the soule will bee carefull to heare his voice alwayes behinde him prompting and directing him in the way he should walke will endevour with all readinesse and pliablenesse of heart to receive the impression of his seale and the testimonie which hee giveth in the inner man unto all Gods promises will feare and suspect nothing more than the frowardnesse of his owne nature which daily endevoureth to quench grieve resist rebel against this Holy Spirit and to fling off from his conduct againe Secondly the soule in this case will abundantly love the Ordinances of God in which by his Spirit hee is still walking in the midst of the Churches for the Law is written in it by the finger of God so that there is a suteablenesse and coincidencie betweene the Law of God and the heart of such a man He will receive the word in the puritie thereof and not give way to those humane inventions which adulterate it to that spirituall treason of wit and fancie or of heresie and contradiction which would stampe the private image and superscription of a man upon Gods owne coine and torture the Scriptures to confesse that which was never in them Hee will receive the word in the power majestie and authority thereof suffering it like thunder to discover the forrest and to drive out all those secret corruptions which shelterd themselves in the corners or deceit of his heart He will delight to have his imaginations humbled and his fleshly reasonings non plus'd al his thoughts subdued unto the obedience of Christ. Hee will receive the word as a wholsome potion to that very end that it may search his secret places and purge out those tough and incorporated lusts which hitherto hee had not prevailed against Hee will take heed of hardning his heart that hee may not heare of rejecting the counsell of God against himselfe of thrusting away the word from him of setting up a resolved will of his owne against the call of Christ as of most dangerous down-fals to the soule Lastly he will receive the word in the spiritualnesse thereof subscribing to the closest precepts of the Law suffering it to clense his heart unto the bottome hee will let the consideration of Gods command preponderate and over-rule all respects of feare love profit pleasure credit compliancy or any other charme to disobedience hee will bee contented to bee led in the narrowest way to have his secretest corruption reveal'd and remov'd to expose his conscience with patience under the saving though severest blowes of this spirituall sword In one word hee will deny the pride of his owne wit and if it bee the evident truth of God which is taught him though it come naked and without any dressings or contributions of humane fancie hee will distinguish betweene the author and the instrument betweene the treasure and the vessell in which it comes and from any hand receive it with such awefull submission of heart as becommeth Gods owne word Thirdly the soule in this case will most dearly love every member of Christ. For these two the love of Christ and of his members doe infallibly accompany one another For though there bee a farre higher proportion of love due unto Christ than unto men yet our love to our brethren is quoad nos and à posteriori not onely the evidences but even the measure of our love to Christ. He that loveth not his brother whom hee hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seene saith the Apostle 1 Ioh. 4.20 hee that hath not love enough in him for a man like himselfe how can hee love God whose goodnesse being above our knowledge requireth a transcendency in our love This then is a sure rule He that loveth not a member of Christ loveth not him and hee who groweth in his love to his brethren groweth likewise in his love to Christ. For as there is the same proportion of one to five as there is of twenty to an hundred though the numbers be farre lesse as the motion of the shadow upon the diall answereth exactly to that proportion of motion and distance which the Sunne hath in the firmament though the Sunne goeth many millions of miles when the shadow it may bee moveth not the breadth of a hand so though our love to Christ ought to be a far more abundant love than to any of his members yet certaine it is that the measure
when the day is come wherein he will bee patient towards them no longer The Prophet giveth three excellent reasons hereof in one verse Esai 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King hee will save us Hee is our Judge and therefore certainely when the day of triall is come hee will plead our cause against our adversaries and will condemne them Mich. 7.9 But a Judge cannot doe what pleaseth himselfe but is bound to his rule and proceedeth according to establish'd lawes Therefore he is our Lawgiver likewise and therefore hee may himselfe appoint Lawes according to his owne will but when the Will of the Judge and the Rule of the Law doe both consent in the punishing of offendors yet then still the King hath a liberty of mercy and hee may pardon those whom the Law and the Judge have condemned But Christ who shall judge the enemies of his Church according to the Law which himselfe hath made is himselfe the King and therefore when he revengeth there is none besides nor above him to pardon So at that day there shall bee a full manifestation of the Kingdome of Christ none of his enemies shall moue the wing or open the mouth or peepe against him The second thing formerly proposed in this latter part of the verse was The Author of subduing Christs enemies under his feet I the Lord. Wicked men will never submit themselves to Christs Kingdome but stand out in opposition against him in his Word and wayes When Gods hand is lifted up in the dispensation of his Word and threatnings against sin men will not see Esai 26.11 And therefore he saith My spirit shall not alwayes strive with men to note that men would of themselves alwayes strive with the spirit and never yeeld nor submit to Christ. Though the patience and goodnesse of God should lead them to repentance and forewarne them to flye from the wrath to come yet they after their hardnesse and impenitent heart do hereby treasure up against themselves the more wrath and because judgement is not speedily executed their heart is wholly set in them to doe mischiefe Let favour saith the Prophet be shewed unto a wicked man yet will he not learne righteousnesse in the land of uprightnesse will he deale unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Certainely if a wicked man could bee rescued out of hell it selfe and brought backe into the possibilities of mercie againe yet would he in a second life flie out against God and while he had time take his fill of lusts againe We see Clay will but grow harder by the fire and that metall which melted in the Fornace being taken thence will returne to its wonted solidity When Pharaoh saw that the raine and the haile and the thunders were ceased though in the time of them he was like melted metall and did acknowledge the righteousnesse of God and his owne sinne and make strong promises that Israel should goe yet then he sinned more and hardened his heart he and his servants and would not let the children of Israel goe Doe wee not see men sometimes cast on a bed of sickenesse brought to the very brinke of hell and to the smell of that sulphurie lake when by Gods wonderfull patience they are snatch'd like a brand out of the fire and have recover'd a little strength to provoke the Lord againe when they should now set themselves to make good those hypocriticall resolutions of amendement of life wherewith in their extremity they flattered God and deceived themselves suddenly breake forth into more filthinesse than before as if they meant now to be revenged of God and to fetch backe that time which sickenesse tooke from them by an extremity of sinning as if they had made a Covenant with hell to doe it more service if they might then be spared All the favours and methods which God useth are not enough to bring wicked men home unto him of their owne wils Though I redeemed them saith the Lord yet have they spoken lyes against me they have not cryed unto me with their heart when they howled upon their beds The people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of hosts So many judgements did the Lord send upon Israel in the necke of one another and yet still the burden of the Prophet is Yet have you not returned unto me saith the Lord. Damme up the passage of a river and use all the Art that may be to over-rule it yet you can never carry it backward in its owne channell you may cut it out into other courses and diverticles but no Art can drive it unto a contrary motion and make it retire into its owne fountaine So though wicked men may haply by divers reasons which their lusts will admit be so farre wrought upon as to change their courses yet it is impossible to change themselves or to turne them quite out of their owne way into the way of Christ. There is but a bivium in the world a way of life and a way of death and the Lord in the Ministery of the Word gives us our option I have set before you this day life and death blessing and cursing and hee that beleeveth shall be saved hee that beleeveth not shall be damned To the former he invites beseecheth enticeth us with promises with oathes with engagements with prevention of any just objection which might be made We beseech you saith the Apostle in Christs stead that you be reconciled unto God From the other he deterres us by forewarning us of the wrath to come and of the period which death will put to our lusts with our lives And as Tertullian once spake of the Oath of God so may I of his entreaties and threatnings O blessed men whom the Lord himselfe is pleased to sollicite and entice unto happinesse but O miserable men they who will not beleeve nor accept of Gods owne entreaties And yet thus miserable are we all by nature There is in men so much atheisme infidelity and distrust of Gods Word so close an adherencie of lust unto the soule that it rather chooseth to runne the hazzard and to goe to hell entire than to goe halt and maimed unto heaven yea to make God a liar to blesse themselves in their sinnes when he curseth and to judge of him by themselves as if he tooke no notice of their wayes It is not therefore without just cause that God so often threatneth to remember all the sinnes of wicked men and to doe against them whatsoever he hath spoken Wee see then that men will never submit themselves unto the Scepter of Christ nor prevent the wrath to come by a voluntary subjection It remaines therefore that God take the worke into his owne hands and put them perforce under Christs feete They will not submit to his kingdome of grace and mercy they will not
present and things to come all are yours saith the Apostle Death it selfe and persecutions are amongst the legacies of Christ unto the Church and a portion of all that goodnesse with which in the Gospell shee is endowed It containes the glory of Gods power and strength for it is the Power of God unto salvation as hath beene declared It containeth the glory of Gods grace The grace of his favour towards us and the grace of his Spirit in us The Law was given by Moses but grace came by Christ that is favour in stead of Gods fury and strength in stead of mans infirmitie for because man was unable to fulfill the Law therefore the Law came with wrath and curses against man but in the Gospell of Christ there is abundance even a whole kingdome of grace the Apostle saith that by Iesus Christ grace raigned there is grace to remove the curse of the Law by Gods favour towards us so that on all sides the Law is weake unable by reason of mans sinne to save and unable by reason of Gods favour to condemne and there is grace to remove the weaknesse of man by Gods Spirit in us for though our owne spirit lust unto envie or set it selfe proudly against the Law of God yet hee giveth more grace that is strength enough to overcome the counterlustings of the flesh against his will and to enable us in sincerity and evangelicall perfection to fulfill the commands of the Law Lastly it containeth in some sort the glory of Gods heavenly kingdome in that therein are let in the glimpses and first fruits the seales and assurances thereof unto the soule by the promises testimonies and comforts of the Spirit And therefore it is frequently called the Gospell of the kingdome and the mysteries of the kingdome of God namely that kingdome which beginneth here but shall never end As if a man borne in Ireland bee afterwards transplanted into England though he change his countrey he doth not change his King or his Law but is still under the same government so when a Christian is translated from earth to heaven he is still in the same kingdome in heaven it is the kingdome of glory mended much by the different excellencie of the place and preferment of the person in earth it is the same kingdome though in a lesse amene and comfortable climate the kingdome of the Gospell These and many other the like things are the glorious matters which the Gospell containeth Here then wee see how and wherein we are to looke upon God so as that wee may abide his glory and bee comforted by it wee must not looke upon him in his owne immediate brightnesse and essence nor by our sawcie curiosities prie into the secrets of his unrevealed glory for he is a consuming fire an invisible and unapprochable light we may see his back-parts in the proclaiming of his mercy and wee may see the hornes or bright beames of his hands in the publishing of his Law but yet all this was under a cloud or under the biding of his Power His face no man can see and live Wee must not looke upon him onely in our selves Though wee might at first have seene him in our owne nature for we were created after his Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse yet now that Image is utterly obliterated and we have by nature the Image onely of Satan and the old Adam in us we must not looke upon him onely in mount Sinai in his Law lest the fire devoure us and the dart strike us thorow we can finde nothing of him there but rigour inexorablenesse wrath and vengeance But we must acquaint our selves with him in his Sonne wee must know him and whom he hath sent together there is no fellowship with the Father except it be with the Sonne too we may have the knowledge of his Hand that is of his workes and of his punishments without Christ but we cannot have the knowledge of his bosome that is of his counsels and of his compassions nor the knowledge of his Image that is of his holinesse grace and righteousnesse nor the knowledge of his presence that is of his comforts here and his glory hereafter but onely in and by Christ we may know God in the World for in the Creation is manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may bee knowne of him namely his eternall power and God-head But this is a barren and fruitlesse knowledge which will not keepe downe unrighteousnesse for the wise men of the world when they knew God they glorified him not as God but became vaine in their imaginations and held that truth of him which was in the Creation revealed in unrighteousnesse Wee may know him in his Law too and that in exceeding great glory when God came from Teman and the Holy One from mount Paran whereabout the Law was the second time repeated by Moses his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise his brightnesse was as the light c. But this is a killing knowledge a knowledge which makes us flie from God and hide our selves out of his presence and fight against him as our sorest enemies and come short of his glory therefore the Law is called a firy Law or a fire of Law to shew not onely the originall thereof for it was spoken out of the middest of the fire but the nature and operation of it too which of it selfe is to heap fire and curses upon the soule and therefore it is called the ministration of Death 2 Cor. 3.7 But now to know the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ is both a fruitfull and a comfortable knowledge wee know the patterne we must walke by we know the life we must live by we know the treasure wee must be supplied by we know whom wee have beleeved wee know whom wee may be bold with in all straits and distresses wee know God in Christ full of love full of compassion full of eares to heare us full of eyes to watch over us full of hands to fight for us full of tongues to commune with us full of power to preserve us full grace to transforme us full of fidelity to keepe covenant with us full of wisdome to conduct us full of redemption to save us full of glory to reward us Let us therefore put our selves into this Rocke that Gods goodnesse may passe before us that he may communicate the mysteries of his kingdom and of his glory unto us that by him our persons may be accepted our prayers admitted our services regarded our acquaintance and fellowship with the Lord increased by that blessed Spirit which is from them both shed abroad in his Gospell upon us Now lastly the Gospell of Christ is glorious in those ends effects or purposes for which it serveth And in this respect principally doth the Apostle so often magnifie the glory of the Gospell above
and to heale and prevent back-slidings for the time to come Fourthly that he might be fit for so meane and humble a service there was a lessening and emptying of himselfe he was contented to be subject to his owne Law to be the childe of his owne creature to take upon himselfe not the similitude onely but the infirmities of sinfull flesh to descend from his throne and to put on rags in one word to become poore for us that we through his povertie might be made rich Amongst men many will be willing to shew so much mercy as will consist with their state and greatnesse and may tend to beget a further distance and to magnifie their heighth and honour in the mindes of men but when it comes to this exigent that a man must debase himselfe to doe good unto another that his compassion will be to a miserable man no benefit except he suffer ignominie and undergoe a servile condition for him and doe as it were change habits with the man whom he pities what region of the earth will afford a man who will freely make his owne honour to be the price of his brothers redemption yet this is the manner of Christs Care for us who though hee were the Lord of Glory the brightnesse of his Fathers Majestie and the expresse Image of his Person did yet humble himselfe to endure shame and the contradiction of sinners that he might be the Author and finisher of our faith Fifthly There was not onely an humbling or metaphoricall emptying of himselfe in that he made himselfe of no reputation but there was likewise a reall and proper emptying of himselfe he therein testified his wonderfull Care of the businesses of man that for them he put himselfe to the greatest expence and to the exhausting of a richer treasure than any either heaven or earth could afford besides yee were not redeemed saith the Apostle with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe without blemish and without spot That which no man will bestow upon himselfe and that which was in nature and might justly in love have beene neerest to Christ himselfe even the soule in his body and the bloud in his veines he was contented to make a sacrifice for them who powred it out as the bloud of a malefactour Sixthly besides this great price which he paid to his Father for us hee hath opened another treasure of his Grace and Spirit out of which he affordeth us daily supplies and putteth into our hands as it were an heavenly stocke for the better negotiating and improvement of our salvation Hee setteth up his Spirit in our hearts thereby conversing and communing with us teaching us the trade of the citizens of heaven and of laying up treasures there where our finall abode must be of having our conversation and commerce with innumerable companies of Angels and with the spirits of just men made perfect and withall that generall assembly or Church of the first-borne which is inrolled in heaven Lastly to all this he addeth Preparations and provisions for the future for us he doth not onely give but he prepareth things for those that love him and what ever is wanting now he will make it up unto us in the riches of his glory It was for our expediencie that hee left the Church on earth in regard of his carnall presence and went unto his Father againe Hee was not beholden to change oâ— place for his owne glory for his heaven was within him as a fountaine and indeed it is his presence which maketh heaven to be the place of glory therefore Saint Paul desired to depart and to be with Christ noting that it is not heaven but Christs presence which is the glory of the Saints Therefore I say it was for us that he went to heaven againe for their sakes saith he I sanctifie my selfe it is expedient for you that I goe away Expâ—dient to seale and secure our full and finall redemption unto us for as the Leviticall Priest entred not into the holiest of all without bloud so neither did Christ into heaven without making satisfaction hee first obtained eternall redemption for us and then he entred into the holy place and expedient to prepare a place for us that the glory which is given to him hee may give unto us that being raised up together we may likewise sit together with him in heavenly places for when the head is crowned the whole body is invested with royall honour Hee by the vertue of his Ascension opened the kingdome of heaven for all beleevers even the Fathers before Christ entred not in without respect unto that consummate redemption which hee was in the fulnesse of time to accomplish for his Church As a man may be admitted into an actuall possession of land onely in the vertue of covenants and under the intuition of a payment to be afterwards performed Thus we see in how many things the abundant Care of Christ doth shew it selfe towards the Church And as there are therein all the particulars of a tender care so by the Gospell likewise doe all the fruits and benefits thereof redound unto the faithfull First in the Gospell he feedeth and strengthneth them even in the presence of their enemies he prepareth them a table and feedeth them with his rod and according to their comming out of Aegypt he sheweth unto them marvellous things And therefore our Saviour calleth his Gospell The childrens bread It is that which quickneth which strengthneth them which maketh them fruitfull in spirituall workes Secondly He upholdeth them from fainting if their strength at any time faile hee leadeth them gently and teacheth them to goe As Iacob led on his cattell and his children softly according as they were able to endure so Christ doth lead out his flocke and hold his children by the hand and teach them to goe and draweth them with the cords of a man that is with meeke and gentle institution such as men use towards their children and not to their beasts and with bands of love As an Eagle sluttereth over her young and spreadeth abroad her wings and taketh them and beareth them on her wings so doth the Lord in his Gospel sweetly lead on and institute the faithfull unto strength and salvation he dealeth with them as a compassionate nurse with a tender infant condescendeth to their strength and capacitie when we stumble he keepeth us when we fall he raiseth us when we faint hee beareth us in his armes when wee grow weary of well-doing the Gospell is full of encouragements to hearten us full of spirit to revive us full of promises to establish us full of beautie to entice us when we seeme to be in a wildernesse a maze where there is no issue nor view of deliverance even there he openeth a doore of hope and allureth and speaketh
Sonnes of men the incorruptible and precious bloud of Christ the exceeding great and pretious promises of the Gospell the word of the Grace of God and of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Now it is required of stewards that a man bee found faithfull that hee defraud not Christ of his purchase which is the soules of men nor men of their price and priviledge which is the bloud of Christ that hee neither favour the sinnes of men nor dissemble the truth of God that hee watch because hee is a seer that hee speake because he is an oracle that hee feed because hee is a shepheard that hee labour because hee is a husband-man that hee bee tender because hee is a mother that hee bee carefull because is a father that hee bee faithfull because he is a servant to God and his Church in one word that he bee instant in season and out of season to exhort rebuke instruct to doe the worke of an Evangelist to accomplish and make full proofe of his ministery because he hath an account to make because hee hath the presence of Christ to assist him the promises of Christ to reward him the example of Christ his Apostles Prophets Evangelists Bishops and Martyrs of the purest time who have now their palmes in their hands to encourage him It was Christs custome to enter into their Synagogues on the Sabbath-dayes and to read and expound the Scriptures to the people It was S. Pauls manner to reason in the Synagogues and to open the Scriptures on the Sabbath dayes Vpon Sunday saith Iustin Martyr All the Christians that are in the cities or countries about meete together and after some Commentaries of the Apostles and writings of the Prophets have been read the Senior or President doth by a Sermon exhort the people and admonish them to the imitation and practice of those divine truths which they had heard read unto them And S. Austen telleth us of Ambrose that hee heard him rightly handling the word of God unto the people every Lords day Yea it should seeme by the Homilies of S. Chrysostome that hee did oftentimes preach daily unto the people and therefore wee frequently meete with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yesterday this and this I taught you And Origen intimateth this frequency of expounding the Scriptures in his time if saith hee you come frequently unto the Church of God and there attend unto the sacred Scriptures and to the explication of those heavenly commandements thy soule will be strengthened as thy body with food And our Church in her Ecclesiasticall Constitutions hath provided for the continuance of so faithfull and pious a custome injoining every allowed Preacher to have a Sermon every Sunday in the yeare and in the afternoone besides to spend halfe an houre in Catechizing the yonger and ruder sort in the Principles of Christian Religion The neglect of which most necessary dutie no man can more bewaile nor more urge the necessity thereof than those who looking abroad into the world have experience of more thick and palpable darknesse in the mindes of men concerning those absolutely necessary Doctrines of the passion merits and redemption of Christ and of faith in them than men who have not with their owne eyes observed it can almost beleeve And that too in such places where Sermons have been very frequently preached I will close this point with the asâ—ertion and profession of Holy Austen Nothing saith he is in this life more pleasant and â—asie than the life of a Bishop or Minister if it be perfunctorily and flatteringly executed but then in Gods sight nihil turpius miserius damnabilius and it was his profession that hee was never absent from his Episcopall service and attendance upon any licentious and assumed liberty but onely upon some other necessary service of the Church Touching the abilitie required in the discharge of this great office there are as I conceive two speciall branches thereunto belonging First Learning for the right information of the consciences of men that men may not pervert the Scripture Secondly Wisedome or spirituall prudence for seasonable application of the truth to particular circumstances which is that which maketh a wise builder For this latter it being so various according to those infinite varieties of particular cases and conditions which are hardly reducible unto generall rules I cannot here speake but referre the Reader to the grave pious counsels of those holy men who have given some directions herein For the other two great workes there are which belong to this high calling Instruction of the Scholer Conviction of the Adversarie Vnto the perfection of which two services when wee duly consider how many different parts of learning are requisite as knowledge of the tongues for the better understanding of the holy Scriptures by their originall idiome and emphasis of the arts to observe the connexion and argumentation and method of them of ancient customes Histories and antiquities of the Babylonians Persians Greeks and Romanes without insight whereinto the full meaning of many passages of holy Scripture cannot bee cleerly apprehended of Schoole learning for discovering repelling the subtilty of the adversaries a thing required in a Rhetorician by Aristotle and Quintilian insomuch that Iulian the Apostate complained of the Christians that they used the weapons of the Gentiles against them and threfore interdicted them the use of Schooles of learning Lastly of Histories and Antiquities of the Church that wee may observe the succession of the Professors and Doctrines hereof the originals and sproutings of heresie therein the better to answere the reproaches of our insolent adversaries who lay innovation to our charge I say when wee duly consider these particulars wee cannot sufficiently admire nor detest the saucinesse of those bold intruders who when they have themselves need to bee taught what are the first Principles of the Oracles of God become teachers of the ignorant before themselves have been Disciples of the learned and before either maturity of years or any severe progresse of studies have prepared them boldly leape some from their manuall trades many from their grammar and logick rudiments into this sacred and dreadfull office unto which heretofore the most learned and pious men have trembled to approach To these men I can give no better advice than that which Tully once gave unto Aristoxenus a musitian who would needs venture upon Philosophicall difficulties and out of the principles of his art determine the nature of a humane soule Haec magistro relinquat Aristoteli canere ipse doceat Let them spend their time in the worke which best befits them and leave great matters unto abler men Thirdly and lastly unto this call is requisite the imposition of hands and the authoritative act of the Church ordaining and setting apart and deriving actuall power upon such men of whose fidelity and ability they have sufficient evidence
of the worke but onely the willingnesse the loving and obedient disposition of the heart and therefore I passe over those failings and weaknesses which discover themselves for want of skill or strength and not of love praising the endevours and pardoning the miscarriages Thus doth the Lord deale with his children Fourthly if we be Christs he will pray for us I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine and all mine are thine and thine are mine c. so that wee shall be sure to have helpe in all times of need because we know that tho Father heareth his Sonne alwayes and those things which in much feare weaknesse and ignorance we aske for our selves if it bee according to Gods will and by the dictate and mouth of the Spirit in our heart Christ himselfe in his intercession demandeth for us the same things And this is the ground of that confidence which we have in him that if wee aske any thing according to his will hee heareth us and we have the petitions that we desire of him For as the world hateth us because it hateth him first so the Father loveth and heareth us because he loveth and heareth him first Fifthly if wee be Christs then hee will teach us and commune with us and reveale himselfe unto us and lead us with his voice He calleth his owne sheepe by name and leadeth them and putteth them forth and goeth before them Because Israel was his owne people therefore he shewed them his words The Law was theirs and the Oracles theirs when hee entreth into covenant with a people that they become his then he writeth his Law in their hearts and teacheth them This is the Prophet Davids argument I am thy servant give me understanding Because I am thine in a speciall relation therefore acquaint me with thee in an especiall manner The earth is full of thy mercy there is much of thy goodnesse revealed to all the nations of the world even to those that are not called by thy name but as for mee whom thou hast made thine owne by a neerer relation let mee have experience of a greater mercy Teach mee thy Statutes Sixthly if we be his he will chastise us in mercy and not in fury though he leave us not altogether unpunished yet he will punish us lesse than our iniquities deserve he will not deale with us as with others Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have driven thee yet I will not make a full end of thee but I will correct thee in measure I will correct thee to cure but not to ruine thee The second thing considered in the words was the Present condition of the people of Christ which was to be military men to joyne with the armies of Christ against all his enemies As he was so must we be in this world no sooner was Christ consecrated by his solemne Baptisme unto the worke of a Mediatour but presently hee was assaulted by the Tempter And no sooner doth any man give up his name to Christ and breake loose from that hellish power under which hee was held but presently Pharaoh and his hoasts Satan and his confederates pursue him with deadly fury and powre out flouds of malice and rage against him Hell and death are at truce with wicked men there is a covenant and agreement betwixt them Satan holdeth his possession in peace but when a stronger than he commeth upon and overcommeth him there is from that time implacable venomâ— and hostility against such a soule the malice power policie stratagems and machianations of Satan the lusts and vanities the pleasures honours profits persecutions frownes flatteries snares of the wicked world the affections desires inclinations deceits of our owne fleshly hearts will ever plie the soule of a Christian and force it to perpetuall combates There is in Satan an everlasting enmitie against the glory mercy and truth of God against the power and mystery of the Gospel of Christ. This malice of his exerciseth it selfe against all those that have given themselves to Christ whose Kingdome he mightily laboureth to demolish by his power persecuting it by his craftinesse and wily insinuations undermining it by his vast knowledge and experience in palliating altering mixing proportioning and measuring his temptations and spirituall wickednesse in such manner as that he may subvert the Church of Christ either in the purity thereof by corrupting the doctrine of Christ with heresie and his worship with idolatrie and superstition or in the unity thereof by pestering it with schisme and distraction or in the liberty thereof by bondage of conscience or in the progresse and inlargement thereof endevouring to blast and make fruitlesse the ministery of the Gospell And this malice of Satan is wonderfully set on and encouraged both by the corruption of our nature those armies of lusts and affections which swarme within us entertaining joyning force and co-operating with all his suggestions disheartning reclaiming and pulling backe the soule when it offers to make any opposition and also by the men and materials of this evill world By the examples the threats the interests the power the intimacie the wit the tongues the hands the exprobrations the persecutions the insinuations and seductions of wicked men By the profits the pleasures the preferments the acceptation credit and applause of the world By all which meanes Satan most importunately pursueth one of these two ends either to subvert the godly by drawing them away from Christ to apostacie formalitie hypocrisie spirituall pride and the like or else to Discomfort them with diffidence doubts sight of sinne opposition of the times vexation of spirit and the like afflictions And these oppositions of Satan meet with a Christian in every respect or consideration under which he may be conceiv'd consider him in his spirituall estate in his severall parts in his temporall relations in his Actions or imployments and in all these Satan is busie to overturne the Kingdome of Christ in him In his spirituall estate if he be a weake Christian he assaulteth him with perpetuall doubts and feares touching his election conversion adoption perseverance christian liberty strength against corruptions companies temptations persecutions c. if he be a strong Christian he laboureth to draw him unto selfe-confidence spirituall pride contempt of the weake neglect of further proficiencie and the like There is no naturall part or facultie which is not aimed at likewise by the malice of Satan for Christ when hee comes takes possession of the whole man and therefore Satan sets himselfe against the whole man Corporeall and sensitive faculties tempted either to sinfull representations letting in and transmitting the provisions of lust unto the heart by gazing and glutting themselves on the objects of the world or to sinfull executions finishing and letting out those lusts which have beene conceived in the heart The phantasie tempted
and shame of sinne and the first fruits of that eternall vengeance which is thereunto due not onely set forth Christ before them as a rock of redemption reaching out a hand to save and offering great and pretious promises of an exceeding eternall abundant weight of glory but besides all this doth inwardly touch the heart by the finger of his Spirit framing it to a spirituall and divine conformity unto Christ. How can the soule of such a man in these present extremities of horror which yet are but the pledges of infinite more which must ensue and in the evidence of so wonderfull and sweete promises the seales of the eternall favor and fellowship of God choose but with much importunity of affection to lay hold on so great a hope which is set before it and with all readinesse and ambition of so high a service yeild up it selfe into the hands of so gracious a Lord to bee by him ordered and over-ruled unto any obedience Secondly this willingnesse of Christs People is wrought by a spirituall illumination of minde And therefore the Conversion of sinners is called a Conviction because it is ever wrought in us Secundum modum judicii as wee are reasonable and intelligent creatures I take it under favor and submission to better judgements for a firme truth that if the minde of a man were once throughly and in a spirituall manner as it becommeth such objects as are altogether spirituall possessed of the adequate goodnesse and truth which is in grace and glory the heart could not utterly reject them for humane liberty is not a brutish but a reasonable thing it consisteth not in contumacie or headstrongnesse but in such a manner of working as is apt to bee regulated varied or suspended by the dictates of right reason The onely cause why men are not willing to submit unto Christ is because they are not throughly and in a manner suteable to the spirituall excellency of the things illightned in their minde The Apostle often maketh mention of fulfilling and making full proofe of our ministery and of preaching the Gospell fully namely with the evidence of the Spirit and of power and with such a manifestation of the truth as doth commend it selfe unto the conscience of a man The Word of God saith the Apostle is not yea and nay that is a thing which may bee admitted or denied at pleasure but such a word as hath no inevidence in it selfe nor leaveth any uncertainty or hesitancie in a minde sitted to receive it And as wee may thus distinguish of preaching that there is an imperfect and a full preaching so may wee distinguish of understanding the things preached in some it is full and in others but superficiall for there is a Twofold illumination of the minde the one Theoreticall and meerly Notionall consisting in knowledge the other Practicall Experimentall and spirituall consisting in the irradiation of the soule by the light of Gods countenance in such an apprehension of the truth as maketh the heart to burne therby when we know things as wee ought to know them that is when the manner and life of our knowledge is answerable to the nature and excellencie of the things knowne when the eye is spiritually opened to beleeve and seriously conclude that the things spoken are of most pretious and everlasting consequence to the soule as things that concerne our peace with God This is the Learning of Christ the teaching of the Father the knowing of things which passe knowledge the setting to the seale of our owne hearts that God is true the evidence of spirituall things not to the braine but to the conscience In one word this is that which the Apostle calleth a spirituall Demonstration And surely in this case the heart is never over-ruled contrary to the full spirituall and infallible evidence of divine truths unto a practicall judgement Therefore the Apostle saith that Eve being Deceived was in the transgression and there is frequent mention made of the deceitfulnesse of sinne to note that sinne got into the world by error â—nd seduction For certainly the will is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Rationall Appetite and therefore as I conceive doth not stirre from such a good as is fully and spiritually represented thereunto as the most universall adequate and unquestionable object of the desires and capacities of a humane soule for the freedome and willing consent of the heart is not lawlesse or without rules to moderate it but it is therefore said to bee free because whether out of a true judgement it move one way or out of a false another yet in both it moveth naturally secundum modum sibi competentem in a manner suteable to its owne condition If it bee objected that the heart being unregenerate is utterly averse unto any good and therefore is not likely to bee made willing by the illumination of the minde To this I answere that it is true the will must not onely bee movâ—d but also renewed and changed before it can yeeld to Christ. But withall that God doth never so fully and spiritually convince the judgement in that manner of which I have spoken without a speciall worke of grace thereupon opening the eye and removing all naturall ignorance prejudice hesitancie inadvertency misperswasion or any other distemper of the minde which might hinder the evidence of spirituall truth By which meanes hee also frameth and fashioneth the will to accept embrace and love those good things of which the minde is thus prepossessed Thirdly this willingnesse of Christs people is wrought by the Communion and adspiration of the spirit of Grace which is a free spirit a spirit of love and a spirit of liberty a spirit which is in every faculty of man as the soule and principle of its Christianity or heavenly being and working And therefore it makes every faculty secundum modum sibi proprium to worke unto spirituall ends and objects As the soule in the eye causeth that to see and in the eare to heare and in the tongue to speake so the spirit of Grace in the minde causeth it rightly to understand and in the will causeth it freely to desire heavenly things and in every facultie causeth it to move towards Christ in such a way and maner of working as is suteable to its nature Fourthly this willingnesse of Christs people ariseth from the apprehension of Gods deare love bowels of mercy and riches of most unsearchable grace revealed in the face of Iesus Christ to every broken and penitent spirit Love is naturally when it is once apprehended an Attractive of love And therefore it is that the Apostle saith Faith worketh by love that is By faith first the heart is perswaded and affected with Gods Love unto us in Christ. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me Gal. 2.20 Eph. 3.17 18. Being thus perswaded of his love to us the heart is framed
be a Free agent or mover to have ex se and within it selfe an indifferencie and undeterminatnesse unto severall things so that when it moves or not moves when it moves one way or other in none of these it suffers violence but workes according to the condition of its owne nature Secondly we may note that this indifferencie is twofold either habituall belonging to the constitution of the will which is nothing else but an originall aptitude or intrinsecall non-repugnancie in the will to move unto contrary extremes to worke or to suspend its owne working or else actuall which is in the exercise of the former as objects present themselves and this is twofold either a freedome to good or evill or a freedome to will or not to will Thirdly notwithstanding the will be in this manner free yet it may have its freedome in both regards so determin'd as that in such or such a condition it cannot doe what it should or forbeare what it should or cannot doe what it should not nor forbeare what it should not Man fallen without the grace of God is free only unto evill and Christ in the time of his obedience was free wholly unto good Man free to evill but yet so as that he onely doth it voluntarily he cannot voluntarily leave it undone Christ free onely to good yet so as that he doth it most freely but could not freely omit the doing of it Fourthly the will worketh not in this condition of things unto morall objects without some other concurrent principles which sway and determine it severall wayes so that the will is principium quod the facultie which moves and the other principium quo the qualitie or vertue by which it moves And these qualities are in naturall men the flesh or the originall concupiscence of our nature which maketh the motions of the will to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the will of the flesh and in the regenerate the Grace and Spirit of Christ so farre forth as they are regenerate Fifthly as the will is ever carried either by the flesh or the spirit to its objects so neither to the one or the other without the preceding conduct and direction of the practicall judgement whether by grace illightned to judge aright or by corrupt affections bribed and blinded to misguide the will for the will being a rationall appetite never moveth bu◠per modum judicii upon apprehension of some goodnesse and convenience in the thing whereunto it moves Sixthly the judgement is never throughly illightned to understand spiritual things in that immediate and ample beautie and goodnesse which is in them but only by the Spirit of Christ which maketh a man to have the selfe-same minde judgement opinion and apprehension of heavenly things which he had so that Christ and a Christian doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinke the same thing as the Apostle speakes Phil. 2.5 By the which Spirit of grace working first upon the judgement to rectifie that and to convince it of the evidence and necessitie of that most universall and adequate good which it presenteth the whole nature is proportionably renewed and Christ formed aswell in the will and affections as in the understanding as the body in the wombe is not shaped by peece-meale one part after another but all together by proportionable degrees and progresses of perfection So that at the same time when the Spirit of grace by an act of heavenly illumination is present with the judgement of reason to evidence not the truth onely but the excellencie of the knowledge of Christ thereunto it is likewise present by an act of heavenly perswasion and most intimate allurement unto the will and affections sweetly accommodating its working unto the exigence and condition of the faculties that they likewise may with such libertie and complacencie as becomes both their owne nature and the qualitie of the obedience required apply themselves to the desire and prosecution of those excellent things which are with so spirituall an evidence set forth unto them in the ministery of the Word As by the same soule the eye seeth and the eare heareth and the hand worketh so when Christ by his Spirit is formed in us for the Spirit of Christ is the Actus primus or soule of a Christian man that which animateth him unto an heavenly being and working Rom. 8.9 10 11. 1 Cor. 6.17 every power of the soule and body is in some proportionable measure enabled to worke suo modo in such manner as is convenient and proper to the quality of its nature to the right apprehension and voluntary prosecution of spirituall things The same Spirit which by the word of grace doth fully convince the judgement and let the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shine upon the minde doth by the same word of grace proportionably excite and assist the will to affect it that as the understanding is elevated to the spirituall perception so the will likewise is enabled to the spirituall love of heavenly things By all which wee may observe that this working of the Spirit of grace whereby we become voluntaries in Christs service and whereby he worketh in us both to will and to doe those things which of ourselves we were not obedient unto neither indeed could be is both a sweet and powerfull worke as in the raising of a man from the dead to which in the Scriptures the renewing of a sinner is frequently compared there is a worke of great power which yet being admirably sutable to the integrity of the creature must needs bring an exact complacencie and delight with it we may frequently in holy Scriptures observe that of the same effect severall things may be affirmed by reason of its connexion unto severall causes and of the severall causalities or manners of concurrence with which those severall causes have contributed any influence unto it As the obedience of Christ was of all other the most free and voluntary service of his Father if we consider it with respect unto his most holy and therefore most undistracted and unhindered will for if it were not voluntary it were no obedience and yet notwithstanding it was most certaine and infallible if we consider it with respect to the sanctitie of his nature to the unmeasurablenesse of his unction to the plenitude of his unseducible and unerring Spirit to the mystery of his hypostaticall union and the communication of properties between his natures wherby what-ever action was done by him might justly be called the action of God in which regard it was impossible for him to sinne In like manner the passive obedience of Christ was most free and voluntary as it respected his owne will for he troubled himselfe hee humbled and emptied himselfe he laid downe his owne life he became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse and yet thus it was written and thus it behoved or was necessary for Christ to suffer if we respect the predeterminate counsell and
Nature of Holinesse it must needs be very Beautifull In generall it consists in a Relation of conformitie as all Goodnesse save that of God doth for no Creature is so absolute as to have its being from it selfe and therefore its Goodnesse cannot consist in any thing which hath its originall in it selfe It is the Rule and End which denominateth the Goodnesse of any created thing that therefore which ought not to worke for its owne end ought not to worke by its owne Rule for he who is Lord of an end must needs be Lord of the meanes and directions which lead unto that end And this is indeed the ground of all sinne when men make themselves their owne will wit reason or resolutions to bee the spring and fountaine of all their actions Therefore sinne is called our owne wayes and the lusts of our owne hearts and our owne counsels because it is absolutely from our selves and hath no constituted rule to moderate or direct it Impossible it is for any Creature as it comes out of Gods hands to bee without a Law or to be an originall law unto it selfe for as hee who hath none over him cannot possibly be subject unto any Law in as much as a Law is but the declaration of a Superiours will what he requires to bee done and what he threatneth on default thereof to inflict so hee that is under the wisedome and ends of another must needs likewise bee subject to the Lawes which his will prescribes for advancing and compassing his owne ends who if he bee in his owne nature and ends most holy must needs be holy in the Lawes which he enacts By all which we may observe that Holinesse consisteth in conformity so that according to the excellencie of the patterne whereunto it referres so is the measure of its beautie to be conjectured And the patterne of our Holinesse is God himselfe Be you holy as your father which is in heaven is Holy Other Creatures have some prints and paths of God in them and so are all beautifull in their time but man had the image of God created in him his will was set up in our heart as a Law of nature most pure right holy good wise and perfect and that Law did beare the same relation to mans life as his soule doth unto his members to animate forme and organize every motion of the heart every word of the mouth every action of the soule and bodie according unto the will of God When after this man threw away this Image and God was pleased in mercy again to renue Holinesse in him he did it againe by another patterne or rather the same exhibited in another maner He made him then conformable to the Image of his Son the heavenly Adam who is himselfe the Image of the invisible God the expresse Character of his Fathers brightnesse a Sunne of righteousnesse a morning starre the light of the world the fairest of ten thousand so that compare Holinesse with the first originall draught thereof in Paradise the nature of Adam as it came new out of Gods fashioning or that with the Law of God written in his heart or that with the Holinesse of God of which it was a ray shining into the soule or that Image of God with it selfe in Christ the second Adam and every way Holinesse in its nature consists in a Conformity and Commensuration to the most beautifull things Thirdly if we consider some of the chiefe Properties of Holinesse wee shall finde it in that regard likewise very Beautifull First Rectitude and Vprightnesse sinceritie and simplicitie of heart God made man upright but they have found out many inventions that is have sought up and downe through many turnings and by-wayes to satisfie crooked affections It was Davids Prayer Make thy way strait before my face and it is the Apostles instruction Make strait paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way True Holinesse is a plaine and an even thing without falsehood guile perversenesse of Spirit deceitfulnesse of heart or starting aside It hath one end one rule one way one heart whereas hypocrites are in the Scripture called Double minded men because they pretend to God and follow the world And crooked men like the swelling of a wall whose parts are not perpendicular nor levell to their foundation Now rectitude sincerity and singlenesse of heart is ever both in the eyes of God and man a beautifull thing Secondly Harmonie and Vniformity within it selfe The Philosopher saith of a Iust man that he is like a Dye which is every way even and like it selfe turne it how you will it fals upon an equall bottome And so Holilinesse keepes the heart like its selfe in all conditions as a watch though all together it may bee tossed up and downe with the agitation of him that carrieth it about him yet that motion doth no way perturbe the frame or disorder the workings of the spring and wheeles within so though the man may bee many wayes tempted and disquieted yet the frame of his heart the order of his affections the governement of the spirit within him is not thereby stopped but holdeth on in the same tenour We know in the body if any part doe exceed the due proportion it destroies the beautie and acceptablenesse of the rest Symmetrie and fitnesse of the parts unto one another is that which commends a body Now Holinesse consisteth in this proportion there is in it an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exactnesse of obedience an equall respect unto all Gods Commandements an hatred of every false way an universall worke upon the whole spirit soule and body a supply made unto every joynt a measure dispenced unto every part not a grace due unto Christian integritie which is not in some proportion fashioned in a man Christ hath no Monsters begotten by his spirituall seed for Monsters are ever caused either by an excesse or by a defect of seed in the one case nature being overcharged is forc'd to labour that which remaines and will not be laid aside into some superfluous members and in the other for want of materials to leave her worke unfinished and destitute of some necessary parts But now first wee are to note that a man can have no superfluitie of Grace we can never have too much of that the fulnesse whereof we should labour to get and for the other danger wee know Christ hath a Residue of spirit to supply any defect and to make up whatsoever is away for the fashioning of Christ in us so then Holinesse fashioneth the whole man Hee that leaves any one faculty of his soule neglected or any one part of the Service or Law of God disobeyed I speake of a totall and constant neglect is undoubtedly an Hypocrite and disobeyes all Iam. 2.10 11. As David with a little stone slew Goliah because his forehead was open so can our enemie easily deale with us
〈◊〉 and more reveale himselfe and the righteousnesse of Christ unto the soule so man maketh further progresses from faith to faith And therefore wee should learne everlasting thankfulnesse unto this our King that is pleased to bee unto us a Melchisedek a Priest to satisfie his Fathers justice and a Prince to bestow his owne Note thirdly Melchisedek was King of Salem that is of Peace Here are two things to be noted the Place a Citie of the Canaanites and the signification thereof which is Peace First then we must observe that Christ is a King of Canaanites of Gentiles of those that lived in abominable lusts Such were some of you but you are washed but you are sanctified but you are justified in the name of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. 6.11 Be a man never so sinfull or uncleane he hath not enough to pose or non-plus the mercy and righteousnesse of Christ hee can bring reconciliation and peace amongst Jebusites themselves though our father were an Amorite our mother an Hittite though wee were Gentiles estranged from God in our thoughts lives hopes ends though we had justified Sodome and Samaria by our abominations yet he can make us nigh by his bloud he can make our crimsin sins as white as snow he can for all that establish an everlasting covenant unto us Ephes. 2.11 14. Esay 1.18 Ezek 16.60 63. I was a blasphemer a persecutour very injurious to the Spirit of Grace in his Saints I wasted I worried I haled into prison I breathed out threatnings I was mad made havocke of the Church I was within one step of the unpardonable sinne nothing but ignorance betweene that and my soule Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in mee first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a patterne to them who should hereafter beleeve on him to life everlasting saith Saint Paul 1 Tim. 1.13 16. Let us make Saint Pauls use of it First To love and to beleeve in Christ to accept as a most faithfull and worthy saying that Christ came to save sinners indefinitely without restriction without limitation and me though the chiefest of all others Though I had more sinnes than earth or hell can lay upon me yet if I feele them as heavie weights and if I am willing to forsake them all let me not dishonour the power and unsearchable riches of Christs bloud even for such a sinner there is mercy Secondly To breake forth into Saint Pauls acknowledgement Now unto the King eternall immortall invisible and onely wise God to him that is a King of righteousnesse and therefore hath abundance for me that is eternall and yet was borne in time for me immortall yet died for me invisible yet was manifested in the flesh for me the onely wise God and who made use of that wisdome to reconcile himselfe to mee and by the foolishnesse of preaching doth save the world bee honour and glory for ever and ever Amen Secondly from the signification of the word we may note Where Christ is a King of righteousnesse hee is a King of Peace too So the Prophet calleth him the Prince of Peace Esay 6.9 a Creator and dispencer of peace It is his owne by proprietie and purchace and he leaves it unto us Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you Ioh. 14.27 The world is either fallax or inops either it deceives or it is deficient but Peace is mine and I can give it Therefore as the Prophet Ieremie calleth him by the name of Righteousnesse Ier. 33.16 So the Prophet Micah calleth him by the name of Peace This man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our Land Mic. 5.5 To which Saint Paul alleaging calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our peace Ephes. 2.14 By him we have peace with God being reconciled and recti in curia againe being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ Rom. 5.1 so that the heart can chalenge all the world to lay any thing to its charge By him wee have peace with our owne consciences for being sprinkled with his bloud they are cleansed from dead workes and so we have the witnesse in our selves as the Apostle speaketh Heb. 9.14 1 Ioh. 5.10 Rom. 8.16 By him wee have peace with men No more malice envie or hatred of one another after once the kindnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared Tit. 3.3 4. All partition wals are taken downe and they which were two before are both made one in him Ephes. 2.14 and then there is towards the brethren a love of communion towards the weake a love of pitie towards the poore a love of bounty either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.7 either brotherly love or generall love towards those without mercy charity compassion forgivenes towards al good works By him we have peace with the creatures we use them with comfort with liberty with delight with piety with charity with mercy as glasses in the which we see and as steps by the which we draw neerer to God No rust in our gold or silver no moth nor pride in our garment no lewdnes in our liberty no hand against the wall no flying roll against the stone or beame of the house no gravell in our bread no gall in our drinke no snare on our table no feares in our bed no destruction in our prosperitie in all estates we can rejoyce we can doe and suffer all through Christ that strengtheneth us We are under the custodie of peace it keepes our hearts and mindes from feares of enemies and maketh us serve the Lord with confidence boldnesse and securitie Phil. 4.7 The workes of righteousnesse are in peace and the effect of righteousnesse is quietnesse and assurance for ever Note fourthly from both these that is from a peace grounded in righteousnesse needs must Blessednesse result for it is the blessednesse of a creature to be reunited and one with his Maker to have all controversies ended all distances swallowed up all partitions taken downe and therefore the Apostle useth Righteousnesse and Blessednes as terms promiscuous All men seek for blessednes it is the summe and collection of all desires a man loveth nothing but in order subordination unto that And by nature wee are all children of wrath and held under by the curse so many sinnes as we have committed so many deaths curses have we heaped upon our soules so many wals of separation have we set up between us God who is the fountaine of blessednesse Till all they be covered removed forgiven and forgotten the creature cannot be blessed Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sinnes are covered Rom. 4.7 All the benedictions which wee have from the most high God come unto us from the intercession and mediation of Christ. His sacrifice and prayers give us interest in the all-sufficiencie