can be no true Calling unless you see God in it as well as Men. And the Lord taketh it to be his Prerogative to bestow Officers upon the Church Dabo Evangelistum I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good Tidings Isa. 41.27 He did not only appoint the Office but doth design the Persons Now what is this Inward Call I Answer God calleth us when he maketh us able and willing the Inclination and the Ability is from God The Inclination He thrusts out Labourers into his Harvest Mat. 9.38 And the Ability He makes us able Ministers of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3.6 and both these are required of us Ability there must be Look as Princes count it a point of Honour when they send out Ambassadors to Foreign Nations to employ those that are fit so it is for the Honour of God that all his Messengers should be gifted and fitted Gifts and Abilities are our Letters of Credence that we bring to the World that we are called of God and authorized to this Work Certainly if the Spirit of God fitted Bezaleel and Aholiab for the material Work of the Tabernacle much more doth Spiritual Work require proportionate Abilities It is true there is a Latitude and Difference in the degree of Abilities but all that can look upon themselves as called of God must be able and apt to teach The Apostle took this for a Call 1 Tim. 1.12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry If ever God put us into the Ministry he first enableth us and bestows suitable Gifts and Graces But that is not all a Man must be willing too 1 Tim. 3.1 If a Man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good Work There must be a strong Inclination that carries us out to such a course of Life if the Lord shall give us a Call Yea in some Cases in the Conscience of the Inward Call a Man may offer himself his Gifts to Trial and his Person to Acceptance so it be done modestly and not in a vain-glorious Confidence As Antisthenes said in the Case of Magistracy that a Man should deal with Magistracy as with Fire a Man would not come too near the Fire lest he burn himself nor stand at too great a distance lest he grow stiff with Cold So of the Ministry a Man must not be too forward nor too backward In some Cases it is good to expect the fair Invitation of Providence an Inclination there must be if the Lord vouchsafe a Call In some Cases we may offer our selves to the Acceptation of the Church if the Lord see fit that we be chosen But to return he hath the inward Call who is able and willing I mean upon Spiritual Grounds having first counted the Charges Difficulties Duties Dangers of this Calling Well then if Men be willing but not fit they are not called of God or if fit yet not willing they have not Warrant enough to undergo the Difficulty much more they that are neither fit nor willing but only thrust themselves upon the Office by the carnal Importunity of Friends or corrupt Aims at Honour and secular Advantage Thus you see what the Inward Call is 2. There is an Outward Call The Inward Call is not enough to preserve Order in the Church an Outward Call is necessary As Peter Acts 10. was called of God to go to Cornelius and then besides that he had a Call from Cornelius himself So must we having an Inward Call from the Spirit expect an Outward Calling from the Church otherwise we cannot lawfully be admitted to the Exercise of such an Office and Function As in the Old Testament the Tribe of Levi and House of Aaron were by God appointed to the Service of the Altar yet none could exercise the Calling of a Levite or serve as an High Priest till he was anointed and purified by the Church Exod. 28.3 And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted whom I have filled with the Spirit of Wisdom that they may make Aaron 's Garments to consecrate him that he may minister to me in the Priest's Office The like is repeated Numb 3.3 So the Ministers of the Gospel tho called by God must have their External Separation and setting apart to that Work by the Church as the Holy Ghost saith Acts 13.2 Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the Work whereunto I have called them Mark the Spirit of God had chosen them and yet calls upon the Church the Elders of Antioch to separate them for the Work of the Ministry But now in what Order this is to be done and by whom this Separation is to be made is the great Controversy Politicians and with them Erastians make it to be the Magistrates Right the Anabaptists with some others make it the Peoples Right Papists and others give it to the Bishops others to Presbyters and Elders of the Church To examine every Claim at large would take up a great deal of time let us compound the Difference as well as we can In short there are three Pretenders to the Power of the External Call the People the Elders the Magistrate and we may divide it among them and give every one their share and then the Call will be compleat I say there are but three Pretenders for we need not to speak of the Bishops Plea for Bishops and Presbyters or Elders in the Scripture are all one The Apostle writes to the Bishops and Deacons at Philippi Phil. 1.1 The Apostle taketh notice of no other Officer in that Church And Chrysostom's Gloss is of weight What is the Reason the Apostle saith to Bishops were there more than one of one City The Reason is saith he because Bishops and Elders or Presbyters are the same So when the Apostle bids Titus Tit. 1.5 6. Ordain Elders in every City if any be blameless c. He adds Vers. 7. For a Bishop must be blameless as the Steward of God To lay aside this then we shall speak to the Claim of the People the Elders and the Magistrate and give every one its due For in the External Call there are three parts Election Ordination and Confirmation Election that belongeth to the People Ordination which standeth in Examination of Life and Doctrine together with Authoritative Mission that is the Right of the Presbytery and Confirmation that belongs to the Magistrate 1. Election is the Peoples Right This appeareth because their Consent and Suffrage is required in all Offices even in the choice of an Apostle Acts 1.15 26. the 120 nominate Matthias in the room of Judas and God decided it by Lot and in the choice of a Deacon Acts 6.3 Look ye out among you seven Men of honest Report full of the Holy Ghost c. and of an Elder Acts 14.23 And when they had ordained them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elders in every Church and had prayed with Fasting they commended them to the
a lawful and necessary Fear which doth quicken us to our Duty Phil. 2.12 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling and is either the fear of Reverence or the fear of Caution The fear of Reverence is nothing but that awe which we as Creatures are to have of the Divine Majesty or an humble sense of the condition place and duty of a Creature towards its Creator The fear of Caution is a due sense of the importance and weight of the business we are ingaged in in order to our salvation Certainly none can consider the danger we are to escape and the blessedness we aim at but will see a need to be serious and therefore this fear is good and holy Secondly There is besides this a slavish fear which doth not further but extreamly hinder our Work For tho we are to fear God yet we are not to be afraid of God This servile fear may be interpreted either with respect to the Precept or the Sanction of the Law First with respect to the Precept and so it sheweth us how men stand naturally affected to the duty of the Law Whatever they do is meerly for fear of being punished Secondly to the Sanction Penalty and Curse The fear of evil is more powerful upon us than the hope of good The greater the evil the greater the fear and the more tormenting Doct. That men under the Law-Covenant are under a Spirit of Bondage Here I shall enquire 1. What is the Spirit of Bondage 2. How is it the fruit of the Law-Covenant 3. Whether it is good or bad 1. What is the Spirit of Bondage To open it we must explain Three Things The Nature of the Object 2. The Work of the Spirit 3. The Disposition of man 1. The Nature of the Object The Law requiring Duty of the fal'n creature and threatning punishment in case of disobedience For the Law hath a Twofold Office to convince of sin Rom. 3.20 Now by the Law only cometh the knowledg of sin and to bind over to punishment Therefore 't is said The law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 In both respects the Old Covenant is called the Law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 The Law as a covenant of Works is called a Law of sin because it only sheweth our sin and a Law of death because it bindeth us over to death 2. The Work of the Spirit Every Truth is quickned by the Spirit and made more powerful upon our hearts The comfort which we have from the Truth of the Gospel is by the Spirit and therefore 't is called Joy in the Holy Ghost So Law-Truths are applied to the conscience by the Spirit Jer. 31.19 After I was instructed I smote upon the thigh and when the commandment came that is in the light and power of the Spirit sin revived and I died Rom. 7.9 That is was made sensible of his sinful and lost condition And indeed the usual Work wherewith the Spirit beginneth with men is to shew them their sin and misery their alienation from God and enmity to him and insufficiency to help themselves 3. The disposition of man which is corrupted under the workings of the Spirit of Bondage And so this Spirit of Bondage or servile Fear worketh several ways according to the Temper of men First in the prophane it giveth occasion of further sinning as conscience being awakened by the Spirit urgeth either the Precept or the Curse the Precept as a Bullock at first yoking groweth more unruly or a River swelleth when it meeteth with a dam and restraint Rom. 7.5 For when we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Sinful practices were more irritated by the prohibition and so our obligation to death increased or else by urging the Curse which produceth the sottish despair Jer. 18.12 And they said there is no hope we will walk after our devices There is a double despair of pleasing or being accepted There is a lazy sottish despair as well as raging and tormenting despair by which men cast off all care of the Souls welfare There is no hope Secondly in a middle sort of men that have a legal conscience it puts them upon some duty and course of service to God But 't is not done comfortably nor upon any noble motives That which is defective in it is this First 't is constrained service This Bondage which is a fruit of the Law doth force and compel men to some unpleasing Task A Christian serveth God out of love but one under the Spirit of Bondage serveth God out of fear A love to God and true holiness prevaileth with the one more than the fear of wrath and punishment for the Spirit of Adoption disposeth and inclineth him to God as a Father but one under the Spirit of Bondage is forced to submit to some kind of religiousness for fear of being damned Indeed both are constrained the one by love the other by fear 2 Cor. 5.14 only the constraint of love is durable and kindly and sweet the other his Task is grievous and wearisome Mal. 1.11 and holdeth most in a fit when danger is nigh they are frighted into some devotion Psal. 78. from 34 to 38. Secondly That service which they are forced and compelled to yield to God is outward service and obedience Isa. 58.7 hanging the head for a day like a Bulrush and as they do Micah 6.7 offer Thousands of Rams and Ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl or the first born of their body for the sin of their souls 'T is a Sin-Offering rather than a Thank-Offering more to appease conscience than to please God consists in Rituals rather than Substantials and those invented by men rather than commanded by God Whereas the true Christian is otherwise described Phil. 3.3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the fiesh But the false Christian is one Matth. 15.8 that draweth nigh to God with the mouth but their heart is far from him their heart is averse from God tho they must have an outward Religion to rest in and so they serve God not as children do a father but as slaves serve an hard and cruel master Thirdly In some the Lord may make use of it to bring on conversion for according to our sense of sin and misery so is a Saviour and Redeemer welcome to us and prized by us There must be a sensible awakening knowledg of our great necessity before we will make use of Christ for our Cure and Remedy None but the sick will care for the Physitian Matth. 9.12 the burdened for ease Matth. 11.28 29. the pursued for a Sanctuary and Refuge Heb. 6.18 None but the condemned to be justified and acquitted Rom. 8.33 34. the lost and miserable to be saved Luke 19.10 2. How is it the fruit of the law covenant The law covenant is double either the
then have we conâ—idence towards God 3. This external and internal calling may be ineffectual or effectual 1. The ineffectual call consists in the bare tender and offer of grace but is not entertained God may knock at the door of the heart that doth not open to him knock by the word knock by the motions of the Spirit and checks of conscience so many are called but few are chosen Matth. 22.14 There is not the fruit of election nor are these the called according to purpose 2. The effectual call is when God changeth the heart and bringeth it home to himself by Jesus Christ we are not only invited to Christ but come to him by the strength and power of his own grace John 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him When we yeild to the call as Paul who was extraordinarily called saith Acts 26.19 I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision we have his consent and resignation recorded Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do He yeildeth up the keys of his heart that Christ may come and take possession In an ordinary call 2 Cor. 8.5 They first gave themselves to the Lord 'T is in other places expressed by our receiving or imbracing Christ John 1.12 both are implyed our thankful accepting of Christ and our giving up our selves to him they both go together and where the one is the other is also In every Covenant there is ratio dati accepti something given and something required Christ and his benefits and what we have are and do both are an answer to Gods call 2. The properties of effectual calling 1. 'T is an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath called us with an holy calling And 't is also an Heavenly calling Heb. 3.1 Partakers of the heavenly calling because we are called to duties and priviledges these must not be severed some are forward to the priviledges of the calling but backward to the duties thereof A good Christian must mind both the priviledges to take him off from the false happiness and the duties that he may return to his obedience to God the one is the way and means to come to the other for 't is said he hath called us to glory and virtue 2 Pet. 1.3 Meaning by glory eternal life and by virtue grace and holiness in the way that God offereth it we embrace it we heartily consent to seek after eternal glory in the way of faith and holiness and so by it the heart is turned by Christ from the creature to God from sin to holiness 3. The ends of effectual calling both on Gods part and the creatures 1. On Gods part That God may shew his wisdom power and goodness 1. His wisdom is seen partly in the way and means that God taketh to convert sinners to himself There is a sweet contemperation and mixture of wisdom and power there is no violence offered to the will of the creatures nor the liberty of second causes taken away and yet the effect is obtained The proposal of good to the understanding and will by the secret power of the Lords grace is made effectual and at the same time we are taught and drawn John 6.44 45. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him as it is written in the Prophets They shall all be taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh to me There is opening blind eyes and turning an hard heart Acts 26.18 He worketh strongly like himself sweetly with respect to us that he may not oppress the liberty of our faculties and the Convert at the same time is made willing by his own choice and effectually cured by Gods grace so that Christ cometh conqueringly into the heart and yet not by force but by consent We are transformed but so as we prove what the good and acceptable will of the Lord is Rom. 12.2 The power of God and the liberty of man do sweetly consist together and we have at the same time a new heart and a free spirit and the powerful efficacy of his grace doth not destroy the consent and good liking of the sinner The will is moved and also changed and renewed In the perswasive and moral way of working God taketh the most likely course to gain the heart of man discovering himself to us as a God of kindness and mercy ready to pardon and forgive Psal. 130.4 But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared For guilty creatures would stand aloof off from a condemning God no God hath laid the foundation of the offer of his grace in the highest demonstration of his love and goodness that ever could come into the ears of man to hear or could enter into the heart of man to conceive viz. in giving his Son to dye for a sinful world 2 Cor. 5.19 20. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God And not only in the offers of pardon but eternal life and blessedness so infinitely beyond the false happiness that our carnal self-love inclineth us unto that 't is a shame and disgrace to our reason to think that these things are worthy to be compared in any serious debate or that all the pleasures and honours and profits we dote upon should come in competition with that blessed immortality and life which is brought to light in the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 And powerful grace goeth along with all this to make it effectual partly in the time of conversion taking us in our month and that season which is fittest for the glory of his grace some are called in the morning some at noon some in the evening of their age as Matth. 20.3 4 5 6. c. some were hired to go into the vineyard at the third some the ninth some the eleventh hour That any believe in Christ at all is mercy that some believe in him sooner some later is the Lords wise ordering He that is called betimes may consider Gods goodness which broke out so early before he longer provoked him and contracted an habit of evil customs and that God instructed him betimes to take heed of sin and spending his fresh and flowry youth in the service of the Devil whereas otherwise lost days and months and years would have been a perpetual grief to him He that is called at the latter end of his days having so many sins upon him may be quickned to glorifie God that he would not refuse him at last nor despise him for all his rebellions nor remember against him the sins of his youth That a long and an old enemy should be taken into favour God knoweth how best to gain upon every heart
into the hands of God A metaphor taken from one that is faln into the hands of 〈◊〉 enemy who lyeth is wait for him to take full revenge upon him if he catch him he is sure to pay for it Now we are let alone but then we fall into his hands and he will be righted for all the wrongs which we have done him Now when God shall have an immediate hand in the punishment of the wicked it will make it terrible indeed When God punisheth by the creatâ—re he can put a great deal of strength into the creature to overwhelm us by hail locusts flyes frogs if they come of Gods errand they are terrible but abuckeâ— cannot contain an Ocean as a Gyant striking with a sâ—raw in his hand he cannot put forth all his strength when God punisheth by creatures it 's like a Gyants striking with a straw in his hand But now by himself we fall into his own hands Again observe 't is the living God God liveth him self and continueth the life of the Creature God liveth for ever to reward his friends and punish his Adversaries A mortal man cannot extend punishment beyond death when they have killed the Body they can do more Matth. 10.28 We are mortal and they that persecute and hate us are mortal But since he liveth to all eternity he can punish to all eternity So long as God is God so long will Hell be Hell 'T is tedious to think of a short fit of pain In a â—eaverish distemper we count not only hours but Minutes when in such a distemper we cannot sleep in the night how tedious and grievous is it to us But what will it be to fall into the hands of the living God Thirdly The Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wrath of God is no vain Scar-crow and if any thing be matter of terrour the terrour of the Lord is so But alas who consider it or mind this Psa. 90.11 Who knoweth the power of his Anger According to his fear so is his wrath Who layeth it to heart so as to be sensible of his own danger while he is permitted to live We divert our thoughts by vain pleasures as Saul cured the evil Spirit by musick The delights of the flesh benum the conscience and exclude all thoughts of eternity Again 't is called wrath to come Matth 3.7 And 1 Thes. 1.10 'T is so called to denote the certainty and the terribleness of it The certainty of it it will most certainly come upon the wicked the day is not foretold but it is coming wrath hovereth over our heads 't is every day nearer as the salvation of the elect is Rom. 13.4 A pari Whether we sleep or wake we are all a step nearer a day nearer a night nearer to eternity They that are in a ship are swiftly carryed on to their Port by the wind though they know it not security sheweth 't is coming on apace Whose Judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not 2. Pet. 2.3 They sleep but their damnation sleepeth not But Secondly 't is called wrath to come in regard of the terribleness of it There is a present wrath that men suffer and there is a wrath to come this is such a wrath as never was before present wrath may be slighted but wrath to come will stick close Jer. 5.3 I have stricken them but they have not grieved There is a sensless stupidness under judgments now but then men cannot have hard or insensible hearts if they would Present wrath may be reversed but men are then in their final estate and God will deal with them upon terms of grace no more Present wrath seiseth not upon the whole man the Body suffereth that the Soul may be saved but there Body and Soul are cast into Hell Present wrath is executed by the creatures but in the other World God is all in all Present wrath is mixed with comforts but there 't is an evil and an only evil Ezek. 7.5 There is no wicked man in the day of Gods patience but hath somewhat left him but there they shall drink of the Wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture Rev. 14.10 'T is not allayed and tempered with any mercies There is a difference in duration present wrath endeth with death The drowning of the World the burning of Sodom was a sad thing if a man had been by and seen the poor miserable creatures running from vallies to hills from hills to mountains from the mountains to the tops of trees and still the floods increasing upon them Or had heard the screechings when God rained Hell out of Heaven and seen the scalded Sodomites wallowing up and down in a deluge of Fire and Brimstone but all ended with death But this fire is never Quenched and the worm never dyeth Now should man know this and not perswade or be perswaded and take warning to flee from wrath to come Surely the thoughts of falling into the hands of God should shake the stoutest heart and awaken the dullest sinner rowse up the most careless to use all possible means to prevent it 2. The nearer it approacheth it should the more affect us 'T is but a short time to the general assizes we live in that Age of the World upon which the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10. â—â— Little Children it is the last hour 1 John 2.18 And let us stir up one anotherâ—punc so much the rather as ye see the day approacheth Heb. 10.25 It cannot be long to the end of time if we compare the remainder with what is past or the whole with eternity But for our particular doom and Judgment every man must die and be brought to his last account now the day of death approacheth apace the more of our life is past the less is yet to come every week day hour minute we approach nearer to death and death to us But alas we little think of these things every Soul of us within less than an hundred years it may be but ten or five or one shall be in Heaven or Hell The Judge is at the door Iâ—â— 5.9 We shall quickly be in another World Now should we hold our peace and let men go on sleepily to their own destruction or to suffer men to wasâ—e away more of their precious time before they get ready 'T is said Amos 6.3 They put far away the evil day And therefore it did not work upon them That is they put off the thoughts of it for as to the day its self they can neither put it on nor off 3. The more certain and unavoidable any evil is the greater matter of terrour Now 't is as certain as if it were begâ—n and there is no way to escape either tryal sentence or execution Solomon saith 〈…〉 4. The wrath of a King is as the messengers of death Because they have long hands and power to reach us The wrinkles of
with the Spirit of Christ assisting but not reforming as an Angel sometimes appears in an assumed Body But 't is dangerous to rest in this it maketh our sin and Judgement the greater if after a taste we rest in a common work Historical Faith if not growing into a saving sound Faith 't is a kind of mocking of God and an Hypocrites portion As for instance We profess to believe him Omniscient yet fear not to sin in his presence Omnipotent yet cannot depend upon his Alsufficiency to believe a day of Judgement yet make no preparation for our Account Tit. 1.16 Mens sins and Judgements are aggravated according to the sense they have had of Religion and so their latter end may be worse than their beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 And sad it will be for those that from hopefull beginnings fall off from God I will tell you a man may live and die with a temporary Faith and Affections to God and Holiness without making any visible Apostasie and yet have no sound Faith of the right Constitution Yea if you regard what little rooting Grace hath in mens hearts how weak their Pulse beateth this way how strong their Affections are to the World and the things thereof how little they can vanquish the cares and fears of this world and the temptations that arise from voluptuous living 't is to be feared the far greatest part of Christians are but Temporaries 3. Oh then be sure to get this truth of Grace into your Hearts let your Hearts be effectually subdued to God let there be a Principle of Life set up in them Religion respects our Principles as well as our Performances 2 Tim. 1.5 The end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned There must be a renewed Heart as the fountain a well informed Conscience as our guide and Faith unfeigned as our great encouragement And so all acts of Charity to God and men are accepted with God as a piece of Obedience done to him If we will not regard the Manner God will not regard the Matter Oh then get this renewed Heart and a lively Faith and an awakened Conscience This is to get Oyl into your Vessels and if once you get this it will never fail but increase exceedingly like the Sareptan's Oyl But how shall we get it I answer 1. You have this Oyl from Christ. The Unction is from the Holy One 2 Joh. 2.20 As the Precious Oyl was first poured on Aaron's Head and then came down to the Skirts of his Garment so Christ is first possessed of the Spirit and then we have it by our Union with him Joh. 1 16. Of his fulness we receive Grace for Grace We must go to the Fountain every day to seek new supplies Christ was anointed with the Oyl of gladness above his fellows Zech 4. Christ is represented by the Bowl and the two Olive Trees that alwayes poured forth Golden Oyl Christ as Mediator is the Store-house of the Church who is intrusted with all Gifts and Graces for our benefit Oh bring your empty Vessels to this golden Olive-tree The Widdow only brought Casks the Oyl failed not till the Vessels failed 2. If you would have it from Christ you must use the Means of Grace the Word Prayer Sacraments Meditation We need continual supplies must use continual Prayers seek the Grace of the Spirit to keep in our Lamps Luk. 11.13 So the Word God droppeth in something to the Soul that waiteth on him Mark 4.24 Take heed how you hear for with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again If we be earnest and diligent in waiting upon God God will abound to us in blessing his Word to us So for Meditation Mat. 13.19 The High-way Ground did not bring the Word to their minds again doth not revolve it mindeth it not heedeth it not So for the Lords Supper 't is a means to root us in the Love of God when we so often renew our Oath of Allegiance to him to excite our Faith in Christ. All these are a price put into our hands to get Oyl in our Lamps and prepare for his Coming 3. Keep your Vessels clean The Spirit dwelleth not but in a clean Heart Doves build not their Habitations on Dung-hills He cometh as an efficient Cause as a Spirit assisting before he comes as a Spirit inhabiting and purifieth our Hearts by Faith 4. After you have gotten this Oyl cherish it that it may not decay Of its own nature it would do so witness that stock of Original Righteousness which Adam had Gods Promise by which it is secured supposeth our endeavours to waste it Luk. 8.18 Whosoever hath to him shall be given but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have 5. Do not only cherish and keep it from decay but see that you encrease it 2 Pet. 1.5 Add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge 1 Thes. 3.10 Perfect what is lacking 1 Thes. 4.1 That as you have received of us how you ought to walk and please God so you should abound therein A little Faith will be as no Faith not honourable to God nor comfortable to you nor useful to others All our doubts perplexities uncertainties come from the smallness of our Graces 'T will not make an Evidence therefore give diligence No endeavour labour pursuit after God but hath its recompense not an earnest thought an earnest Prayer or time spent What shall I say They whose Hearts are upon the wayes thereof go on from strength to strength You are almost at home nearer than when you first believed Then you thought all your pains too much now all too little Let me apply all to the Sacrament 1. There we come to meet the Bridegroom in a way of Grace The Marriage Covenant between God Incarnate and his espoused Ones is here celebrated and solemnized The Sacrament is a Transfiguration of the last Marriage Supper to ascertain us what entertainment we shall have at the Day of Judgment when the Bride the Lamb's Wife shall be made ready and cloathed with fine Linnen Rev. 19.23 and then be received in to the Nuptial Feast Blessed are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All is now prepared in this Duty 2. In some respect there should be a Serious Preparation for the one as for the other as we would prepare to dye or prepare to meet Christ the Judge Christ did not wash his Disciples feet when he took them with him to Tabor to his Transfiguration but when he took them with him at his last Supper Joh. 13.7 Surely to rush upon the presence of the Bridegroom with a perfunctory careless common frame of spirit is a dangerous thing When a People come hand over head prepare themselves slightly pray slightly before they come and live carelesly and negligently they slight the Bridegroom and wrong themselves strengthen themselves in sin rather than
till they fall into greater Small sins harden as well as great sins 't is hard to say which more Indeed at first little sins seem to awaken Compunction The prick of a Pin maketh a man start but a heavy blow stunneth him David when he cut off the Lap of Sauls Garment his heart smote him but when he fell into Adultery and Blood he was like one in a swoon This is true but then on the other side great Sins are more apparent and liable to the notice of Conscience but we neglect small sins and so inveterate Custom groweth upon us and we are insensibly hardened by a carelesness and constant neglect of those kind of sins yea sometimes more than by gross falls A surfeit or violent distemper maketh us run to a Physitian but when a disease groweth upon us by degrees we have death in our bowels e're we know it We take care to mend a great breach but a leak unespyed drowneth the Ship We have need alwayes to stand upon our watch Many great mischiefs would not ensue if we took notice of the beginnings of those distempers which afterwards settle upon us 6. The Omission of holy Duties and the want of a constant serious Exercise induces a secure careless temper of Spirit Solomon telleth us Prov. 19.15 Sloathfulness casteth into a deep sleep and the idle Soul shall suffer hunger Labour dispelleth the vapours and scattereth them but sloath and idleness maketh way for sleep 'T is true in the Soul The renewed part hath need of a great deal of spiritual Exercise to keep it awake much Prayer much hearing much fasting The Apostle saith Rom. 12 11. Not sloathful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord. The way to be fervent in Duties is to be frequent in them Be much in action and in the exercise of Grace that you may be kept fresh and lively Wells are the sweeter for draining so is the Soul the more fresh and ready for every good work In Gifts we see if they be not traded with they rust and decay and fail so in Graces to him that hath shall be given He that uses his gifts well shall find them encreased The right arm is bigger and stronger and fuller of spirits than the left because more in use 7. Grieving the Spirit causeth him to suspend his quickning influence and then the Soul is in a dead and drowsie estate Though the Children of God dare not quench the Spirit yet they may grieve the Spirit Eph. 4.30 The Conscience of a renewed man after 't is wounded by gross sins may be a dead and stupified Conscience for a long time Witness David and Jonah 8. Immoderate Liberty in worldly things as worldly cares and fleshly delights Sobriety is necessary or a sparing medling with those worldly Comforts that do mightily indispose us for the Christian Warfare 1 Pet. 2.7 Luk. 21.34 Take heed your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness Look as the multitude of gross vapours cast us into a sleep so do these delights and cares stupifie the Soul Psal. 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me in thy way You will need quickning if you give way to vanity VSE Oh take heed of this Evil. Mark 13.26 Watch lest the Lord cometh suddenly and he finde you sleeping Would you have Christ come and find you in this case 1. Some are wholly in a state of spiritual Sleep To them the Lord speaketh Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light And of such the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 15.3 4. Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame 'T is all reason and more than time that you should thorowly rouze up your selves from the condition of sin wherein you have gone 'T is a shame such should be among Christians such as snort still upon the bed of Security when the light of the Gospel shineth round about them Oh! when God calleth Awake and rise from the dead if not God may punish you by your own sin One of his heaviest judgments is a Spirit of slumber and deep sleep Rom. 11.8 And then what will the end of it be you may sleep but your damnation sleepeth not 2 Pet. 2.3 Certainly we should commiserate the case of such especially if they be related to us and seek to awaken them from the sleep of sin that they may be brought home to Christ. Oh poor careless Creatures they fear not God nor think of his wrath nor make preparation to stand before the Son of Man at his Coming 2. There are others apt to slumber now and then though for the main they have chosen the better part To these the Apostle speaks 1 Thes. 5.6 Thereâ—ore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober There is great need Our Adversary watcheth The Devil is observing all our motions and Postures if we fall asleep we are exposed as a Prey to him There are many that mind our spiritual harm If we had no Enemy without there is Hostis domesticus a bosom Enemy and we are prone as others to be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Therefore you may not sleep as do others You have another Spirit in you and if you are Gods Children you have other obligations Rom. 13.11 'T is high time to awake out of sleep for your Salvation is nearer than when you first believed When you first gave your names to Christ you thought no labour too much no pains too great How vigilant and diligent then and will you sleep now Your course beginneth to draw to an end and you are almost ready to set sail for the other World that you may meet with Christ. Oh! now you have shaken off the sleep of sin shake off the sleep of sloath too shall we be drowsie and cold at last 1. I shall give you the Signs of this Sin 2. Motives against it 3. Directions to avoid it First The Signs 1. Senslesness in not discerning and weighing the things that befall us good or evil An Instance of the one we have Hos. 7.8 For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oyl The Lord is very liberal to us yet little notice is taken of it An Instance of the other we have Isa. 42.25 Yet he laid it not to heart In Mercies we neither consider their Author nor their End nor their Cause Their Author we are like Swine that eat the Acorns but never look up to the Oak from whence they fall 'T is said of the Church she hath doves eyes they peck and look upward VVe should see God in every Mercy A drowsie unattentive Soul heedeth it not but is swallowed up in present delights and enjoyments and looketh no further 'T is our Priviledge above the Beasts to know the first Cause Other creatures live upon God but are not capable of knowing
be opened therefore when we are about to do any thing unworthy say as he Acts 19.40 We are in danger to be called to an Account for this day uproar there being no Cause whereby we may give an Account of this Concourse so should you We that are to give an Account how careful should we be how we use our Time Health Strength Understanding Authority Wealth and other Blessings of God The commonness of these Notions maketh them to lose their Life and Influence Therefore we should especially act Faith in Believing and urging the Soul with this Account Secondly 'T is particularly described and there 1. Of the Servants Allegation 2. The Masters Approbation 1. The Servants Allegation vers 20 and 22. The two first Servants came chearfully to their Account as having discharged their Duty faithfully and with all diligence improved the Talents received Not that in the day of Judgment good men shall make any Narrations of what they have done they need not for Christ shall do it for them they rather wonder that any thing that they have done is taken notice of as in the 37 th verse of this Chapter but all this is spoken after the manner of men and to keep up the Decorum of the Parable if it signifieth any thing it signifieth the Confidence of a good Conscience and what Comfort and boldness it breedeth in the day of our Accounts Doct. That a faithful Discharge of our Duty will give us Comfort and Boldness when our Lord cometh to reckon with us 1. There is a Confidence and Comfort that ariseth from a good Conscience or from Sanctification as well as Justification In the inward Court Conscience is one of the Witnesses as well as the Spirit of God Rom. 8.16 and much Comfort ariseth from its Testimony 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience A Carnal man is ashamed of the Grounds of his rejoycing and what it is that keepeth his Heart merry but a Godly man can own the Causes of his joy which are in the first place the Blood of Christ Rom. 5.11 We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the Atonement next the Testimony of his Conscience concerning his sincere walking But if a man can live with these Comforts can he dye with them 2. The Review of a well-spent life is a great Comfort in Death Our Lord Jesus at the end of his days when he was to go out of the World John 17.4 saith I have glorified thee upon Earth and finished the Work thou gavest me to do Hezekiah when that sad Message was brought to him that he must die and not live Isa. 38.4 that comforted him upon his Death-bed Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done what is good in thy sight So the Apostle Paul when he drew nigh his end 2 Tim. 4.7 8. saith I have fought a good fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day Oh 't is a blessed thing if we can have this Comfort when Conscience puts off all Disguises and the everlasting Estate is at hand and we are immediately to appear before the Lord to remember then that we have been careful to please and honour God and done his work how sweet is it 3. In the Day of Judgment their works follow them into the other World Rev. 14.13 Their Wealth doth not follow them but the Conscience of having done well abideth with them Conscience is Heaven or Hell to us in Hell it maketh up a part of the Worm that never dyeth so in Heaven it giveth us Confidence 1 John 2.28 and 1 John 4.17 That we may have boldness in the day of Judgment Works are not Meritorious and have no causal influence upon our Salvation yet they have the full place of an Evidence and so may wonderfully Comfort and embolden our Hearts VSE Let us labour to get this Evidence The time of Death is a time that will rifle all our false Hopes You are in your Health and Strength now but how soon you may shoot the Gulph you know not we are hastening into the other World apace When you are immediately to appear before God you will have other thoughts of the World to come and the necessity of Preparation for it than you have now that which will comfort you now will not comfort you then you must look that the Devil will then be most busie to tempt and trouble you and as now he prejudiceth you against the Precepts of the Gospel so then against the Promises of it all your worldly Comfort then will fail and have spent their Allowance and become to you as unsavoury as the white of an Egg. Will this Comfort you that you have sported and gamed away your precious time that you have fared of the best and lived in Pomp and Honour Oh no But this will comfort you I have made it my business to glorifie God I have been Faithful in my place have gotten some Evidence of the Love of God It is not Riches or Greatness or any Earthly Advantage will do you good Oh 't is a Cutting Thought to the Careless and Negligent Now I must give an Account of every day and hour I have spent in this World The Improvement of every Opportunity will be called for Then all your Vanities and carnal Pleasures will be smart upon you and vex your Souls with the grievous Remembrance of them Well then can you in any measure look back upon the Discharge of your Duty There are two Extreams First Some are Presumptuous and Confident because they are not gross Sinners but what have they done for God The sluggish and unprofitable Servant was cast into utter Darkness he did not mispend his Talent but yet he did not improve it The Tree that bringeth forth no Fruit is hewen down though it did not bring forth bad Fruit. 'T is not a Negative Religion will comfort thee but a Positive and a Fruitful one You are no Drunkard no Adulterer no Prophane Person but have you been at work for God Secondly Others are Pusillanimous and Diffident because they do not arrive at the Eminency and Perfection of the highest David had other Worthies besides the first three There were two faithfull Servants one brought five Talents the other two Now the middle is of those that can see in themselves more Zeal than Formality more Grace than Corruption that for the main have made it their business to Honour God though conscious to many Weaknesses and Defects yet throughout Grace gets the upper hand according to the degrees of Grace received they are faithful with God 2. The Masters Approbation Well done thou good and faithful Servant The Faithful Servants are well accepted by Christ. First He entertaineth them
on his head nor the Entertainments made him when he lived upon earth but the feeding and cloathing of his hungry and naked Servants The greatest part of Christians never saw Christ in the Flesh But the Poor they have alwayes with them Kindness to these is Kindness to him Again Among these he doth not mention the most Eminent the Prophets and Apostles or the great Instruments of his Glory in the World but the least of his Brethren even those that are not only little and despicable in the esteem of the World but those that are little and despicable in the Church in respect of others that are of more eminent Use and Service Again The least Kindness shewn unto them Mat. 10.42 Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a Cup of cold water in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward He had spoken before of kindness to Prophets and righteous Men Men of Eminent Gifts and Graces then ordinary Disciples among these the least and most contemptible either as to outward Condition or State of Life or to Use and Service and it may be inward Grace Now all this sheweth what value Christ sets upon the meanest Christians and the smallest and meanest Respect that is shewed them The smallness and meanness of the Benefit shall not diminish his Esteem of your Affection any thing done to his People as his People will be owned and noted When the Saints that newly came from the Neglects and Scorns of an unbelieving World shall see and hear all this what cause will they have to wonder and say Lord who hath owned thee in these Alas in the World all is quite contrary Let a Man profess Christ and resemble Christ in a lively manner and own Christ thoroughly presently he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set up for a Sign of Contradiction and that not only among Pagans but Professing Christians yea by those that would seem to be of great note in the Church as the Corner-stone was refused by the Builders 1 Pet. 2.7 And therefore when Christ taketh himself to be so concerned in their Benefits and Injuries they have cause to wonder Christ was in these and the World knew it not 3. At the Greatness of the Reward That he should not only take notice of these Acts of Kindness but so amply remunerate them In the Rewards of Grace God worketh beyond humane Imagination and Apprehension 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things God hath prepared for them that love him We cannot by all that we see and hear in this World which are the Senses of Learning form a Conception large enough for the Blessedness of this Estate Enjoyers and Beholders will wonder at the Grace and Bounty and power of their Redeemer 'T is transcendent hyperbolical weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Where is any thing that they can do or suffer that is worthy to be mentioned or compared with so great a Recompence When these Bodies of Earth and Bodies of Dust shall shine like the Stars in Brightness these sublime Souls of ours see God face to face these wavering and inconstant Hearts of ours shall be immutably and indeclinably fastned to love him and serve him and praise him as without Defection so without Intermission and Interruption and our Ignominy turned into Honour and our Misery into everlasting Happiness Lord what Work of ours can be produced as to be rewarded with so great a Blessedness VSE That which we learn from this Question of theirs supposed to be conceived upon these Grounds is 1. An humble Sense of all that we do for God The Righteous remember not any thing that they did worthy of Christ's Notice and we should be like-minded Nehem. 13.22 Remember me O my God concerning this also and spare me according to the Greatness of thy Mercy When we have done our best we had need to be spared and forgiven rather than rewarded On the contrary Luk. 18.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself God I thank thee that I am not as other Men are Extorioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican And those Isa. 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not wherefore have have afflicted our Souls and thou takest no Knowledge They challenge God for their Work None more apt to rest in their own Righteousness than they that have the least Cause Formal Duties do not discover Weakness and so Men are apt to be puffed up they search little and so rest in some outward things 'T is no great Charge to maintain painted Fire The Substantial Duties of Christianity such as Faith and Repentance imply Self-humbling but external things produce Self-exalting They put the Soul to no stress Loaden Boughs hang the Head most so are holy Christians most humble None labour so much as they do in working out their Salvation and none so sensible of their Weaknesses and Imperfections Old Wine puts the Bottles in no danger there is no Strength and Spirits left in it So do formal Duties little put the Soul to it On the other side they are conscious to so many Weaknesses as serious Duties will bring into the View of Conscience and have a deep Sense of their Obligations to the Love and Goodness of God and a strong Perswasion of the Blessed Reward None are so humble as they They see so much Infirmity for the present so much Obligation from what is past and such sure Hope of what is to come that they can scarce own a Duty as a Duty None do Duties with more Care and none are less mindful of what they have done They discern little else in it that they contribute any thing to a good Action but the Sin of it This is to do God's Work with an Evangelical Spirit doing our utmost and still ascribing all to our Mediator and blessed Redeemer 2. What Value and Esteem we should have for Christ's Servants and Faithful Worshippers Christ treateth his Mystical Body with greater Indulgence Love and Respect than he did his Natural Body for he doth not dispense his Judgment with respect to that but these He would not have us know him after the Flesh 2 Cor. 5.16 Please our selves with the Conceit of what we would do to him if he were alive and here upon Earth but he will judge us according to the Respect or Disrespect we shew to his Members even to the meanest among them To wrong them is to wrong Christ Zech. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of his Eye The Churches Trouble goes near his Heart which in due time will be manifested upon the Instruments thereof To sleight them is to sleight Christ He that despiseth you despiseth me To grieve and offend them is to grieve and offend Christ. Matth. 18.10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones for I say unto you That in
Grounds practise upon this Truth that Christ came out from God 3. Chuse out to your selves faithful Teachers such as Christ was delivering the Word with Authority and Faithfulness to God and Men such as do not seek their own things fear no Man's Face and come with the powerful Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit And indeed Ministers should be careful to manifest themselves to the Consciences of those with whom they deal that they may have a Testimony of Christ speaking in them 1 Cor. 15.3 that he teacheth in and by them they should be assured of their Doctrine that Christ brought it out of his Father's Heart not speaking by rote like Parrots 1 John 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our Hands have handled of the Word of Life that which our Hearts have felt that which we have not by rote nor by guess but by experience 1 Tim. 6.13 Jesus Christ witnessed before Pontius Pilate a good Confession 3. Observe Christ's gentleness in bearing with their Failings Now they have known It was a long time e're they could be gained to a sence of his Divine Power therefore he chargeth them with hardness of Heart Mark 6.52 They considered not the Miracle of the Loaves for their Hearts were hardned So Mark 8.17 Perceive ye not yet neither understand Have ye your Hearts yet hardned And now in his Intercession to his Father he mentioneth not their Hardness nor the obstinacy of their Prejudices nor their present Weakness but their Knowledg Now they know they have been obstinate but he covereth that at least doth but imply it How willing is Christ to spread a Garment on our Nakedness Past Sins shall not hurt us when they do not please us When a Man turneth from Grace to Sin then all his Righteousness is forgotten Ezek. 18.24 All his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned So he that turneth from Sin to Grace or from Grace to Grace ver 22. All his Transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him it is all undone by Repentance and Reformation How do Men differ from Christ we upbraid Men with past Failings when they are repented of It is hard to put off the reproach of Youth when God maketh them Vessels of Mercy they will not suffer them to be Vessels of Honour Hi homines invideant mihi gratiam divinam As the elder Brother upbraideth the reformed Prodigal Luke 15.30 As soon as this thy Son was come which hath devoured thy Living with Harlots thou hast killed for him the fatted Calf This is an envious Disposition and cross to God you go about to take off the Robes of Honour which God hath put upon them and to dispoil them as the Spouse was of her Ornaments 4. Observe What is the chief Object of Faith to believe the divine Authority and Commission of Christ and that his Power to dispense Salvation to the Creatures was given him from his Father There is a world of Comfort in this The Father being first in order of the Persons is to be look'd upon as the offended Party and as the highest Judg. 1. He is to be look'd upon as the offended Party All Sin is against God Psal. 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this Evil in thy sight He had offended Vriah abused Bathsheba the Injury was against them but the Sin against God against thee thee only This may be referred to all the Persons but it chiefly concerneth the first Person to whom we direct our Prayers and who is the Maker of the Law Christ the second Person satisfied for the breach of it It is against thee thee only Now this is our Comfort that our Guilt and Sin was not cast on Christ's Person without the Father without his privity and consent nay it is his own Plot and Design it was the Father's Counsel rather than the Creatures Desire So that we may quiet our Consciences by that Promise Isa. 43.25 I even I am be that blotteth out thy Transgressions for my own Names-sake God the Father would have you look to him as one that hath only to do in this Matter Sin is a grief to the Spirit it is a crucifying of Christ but in the last result of it it is an Offence to God the Father because it is a breach of his Law God is the Fountain of the Divinity yea all that is done to the other Persons redoundeth to the Father as our Saviour reasoneth He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me 2. The Father is the highest Judg. All the Persons of the Godhead are coessential and coequal in Glory and Honour only in Oeconomy or Dispensation of Salvation the Father is to be look'd upon as Judg and Chief Man is the Debtor Christ the Surety and the Father the Judg before whose Tribunal the Satisfaction is to be made therefore Christ saith My Father is greater than I. And in the whole Work of our Redemption he is to be considered as a Superior therefore all the Addresses not only of the Creatures but of the Son of God himself are to his Father for Pardon as if it were not in his own single Power Luke 23.34 Father forgive them they know not what they do If it passeth with God the Father then the Business is ended So 1 John 2.1 Christ is said to be an Advocate with the Father as Supream in Court as the Advocate is beneath the Judg. So John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you the Comforter Pardon Comfort and Grace cometh from the Father It is true it is said Mat. 9.6 That the Son of Man hath Power on Earth to forgive Sins but it is by Commission from the Father as we shall see anon Well then the Father is the Supream Judg whatever passeth in his Name is valid and authoritative Now it is he that committed the Work of Redemption to Christ He is the Supream Judg Eli saith 1 Sam. 2.25 If one Man sinneth against another the Judg shall judg him but if a Man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him The meaning is if one Man hath trespassed against another the Magistrate may take up the Controversy by executing Justice and causing the Delinquent to make Satisfaction to the Party offended but who shall state the Offence and compose the Difference between God and us The Sin is committed against the Judg himself the highest Judg from whom there is no Appeal no Satisfaction can be made by Mortal Men and no Person is fit to arbitrate the Difference Therefore God himself is pleased to find out a Remedy and in all that the Son did he hath a great hand and stroak in it The Father's Act is Authoritative and above Contradiction If he had not given us a Mediator out of his own Bosom we had for ever lain under the guilt and burden of
separation from the World and a contempt of earthly things before we can have an interest in him The World maketh a sport of these things but what can be more terrible than to be shut out of Christ's Prayers He curseth those for whom he doth not pray And that is the reason why Men that are besotted with the World do always wax worse and worse 4. The Excellency of Christ's Love to the Saints I pray for these I pray not for the World Christ's separate Love to us heightens his Kindness and our Duty It is not every ones Mercy to be remembred in Christ's Prayers Millions are passed by as many as may be called a World John 14.22 Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self unto us and not unto the World So we may say How is it that thou wilt pray for us and not for the World Others that are better accomplished are left out and we taken in Man is taken with nothing so much as with Privileges common Favours seem to be a Right of Nature It was certainly a sweet Consideration to Noah tho he seemed to be buried alive in the Ark that he and his Family were saved when all the World perished in the Waters At the Day of Judgment how many millions of Thanks shall we owe to Christ when all the Reprobates are gathered together to consider God hath chosen me and not all these nay of those Reprobates some are more excellently accomplished and yet God hath chosen me and not Cato Me and not Socrates Me and not Plato not the most excellent among the Heathens When Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the Shore Exod. 14.30 it heightned their Deliverance If God had saved all it had been an infinite Mercy but now many are damned it is the more cause of Thanksgiving to those that are saved The Sun is glorious and beautiful but if every Star had so much brightness it would not be so admired Chrysostom saith It is a great means of Thankfulness now and then to go into the Spittles and to look on the Poor Creatures that are rough-cast with Soars So it commends Christ's Love and should raise in us thankful Acknowledgments to consider Christ prayed for us not for the World 5. By the Example of Christ we should embrace them and shew special Love to them that are chosen out of the World Christ saith I pray for these I pray not for the World we should specially remember them in our Prayers The Apostle saith concerning Alms Gal. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all Men especially unto them who are of the Houshold of Faith Christ saith Psal. 16.3 4. My Goodness extendeth to the Saints that are in the Earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight Their Sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God their Drink-Offerings of Blood will I not offer nor take up their Names into my Lips Christ will not mention them Some think it is to be applied to the Idols rather to the Persons the whole Psalm is applied to Christ. But here ariseth a Doubt Are we not to pray for wicked Men yea the Impenitent the Persecutors of the Church Contemners of the Word I Answer 1. Yea Partly because we know not the secret Purposes of God's Grace Christ in the Light of his Divinity knew the Elect and the Reprobate but we know not therefore we are to pray for them that persecute Mat. 5.44 Paul once breathed out Threatnings against the Church Christ received Gifts for the Rebellious Partly because many Wicked Men are considerable in their Station therefore at least we pray for temporal Blessings for them though we have little hopes that ever they shall be gained to the Knowledg of the Truth Thus we are to pray for Wicked Rulers for the conservation of Humane Society they may serve as a Thorn Hedg about a Garden of Roses Thus it is said Ezra 6.10 That in the Temple they should pray for the Life of the King and of his Sons meaning the King of Babylon Darius at least for Temporal Favours 2. We have not such encouragement to pray for them as for the Saints For the Saints we pray out of the Unity of the Spirit for wicked Men out of common Charity for the Saints we pray out of a delight in their Graces for wicked Men out of a loose possible Hope Heb. 13.18 Pray for us for we trust that we have a good Conscience in all things willing to live honestly These should have the greatest share of our Prayers we have the more encouragements and hopes of them which should be an engagement to us to pray for them 3. Conditionally we may pray against the Obstinate and them that sin of malicious Wickedness There are many Imprecations in Psal. 109. which are not to serve our private Revenge but by us to be conceived conditionally Those Curses are uttered against Judas in a prophetical Spirit and therefore not to be drawn into Example to justify any heats of Revenge and private Passion 1 John 5.16 If any Man see his Brother sin a Sin which is not unto Death he shall ask and he shall give him Life for them that sin not unto Death There is a Sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it It is a tempting of God to intercede for that Sin seeing he hath declared his Will the irremissible Sin is that Sin tho it be hard to be found out Therefore it is good to keep to the conditional Form when a Man after the profession of Religion falleth to an utter revolt and deadly hatred of it it is a shrew'd presumption they have committed that Sin 4. We feel sometimes a restraint upon our Prayers God by Oracle forbad the Prophet to pray for the People Jer. 7.16 Therefore pray not thou for this People neither lift up Cry nor Prayer for them neither make Intercession to me for I will not hear thee When he was resolved to put his Wrath in Execution he would not have his People's Prayers lost and still the same Spirit that stirreth up to Prayer searcheth out the deep Counsels of God So that there is a kind of prophetical Light in Prayers God suspendeth the servency and actual Assistance by which we are carried on at other times I would not justify every private passionate Conceit but yet we must look upon the Spirit of God as the Interpreter of God's Counsel and that he will not stir up Prayers to no purpose Yea sometimes we feel that after much striving we have no Heart to pray for them which is a very great mark of God's displeasure upon any Person when God's People yea even after much strugling with themselves have no heart to pray for him III. The Reasons why he prayed for them 1. Because they were given him by the Father 2. Because he could say to the Father They are thine How they are given unto him of the Father we
Service about himself for bestowing on him the Gift of Miracles for trusting him with the Bag. Christ had lately washed his Feet as well as of the rest of the Apostles yet he obstinately goeth on in ways of Self-Perdition and his purpose of betraying his Lord and Master yea contrary to many Warnings given him Vse Oh take heed of a wilful obstinacy and wresting your selves out of the Arms of Mercy of being of such a disposition that nothing will reclaim you for that is to be a Son of Perdition Wilful Sins have a greater mark upon them than other Sins As when you go 1. Against an express Commandment Prov. 13.13 Whoso despiseth the Word shall be destroyed but he that feareth a Commandment shall be rewarded If a Commandment stand in your way it should be more than if a Band of Armed Men stood to hinder you Many make nothing of a Commandment they fear a Judgment from God or a Punishment from Men but never stand upon the Word of God 2. Against express Warnings of those that wish well to your Souls Deut. 1.43 So I spake unto you and you would not hear but rebelled against the Commandment of the Lord and went presumptuously up into the Hill When Men are wedded to their own Inclinations outfacing all Challenges in God's Name they will do what they are set upon Psal. 12.4 With our Tongues will we prevail our Lips are our own who is Lord over us This is not far from a Judgment 2 Chron. 36.15 16. And the Lord God of their Fathers sent to them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion on his People and on his Dwelling-place But they mocked the Messengers of God and despised his Words and misused his Prophets until the Wrath of the Lord rose against his People till there was no Remedy This Contempt will draw down Wrath no means to appease God 3. Against Checks of Conscience and Motions of God's Spirit in our Hearts Acts 7.51 Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in Heart and Ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost Conscience telleth them ye ought not to yield to this Sin whatever the Profit and Pleasure be yet Men kick against the Pricks and do that which their own Hearts disallow Rom. 14.22 Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing that he alloweth And in spight of these good Motions they will go forward to perfect the Sin which they have in chase then God lets them alone le ts them go on till they perish 4. Against Restraints of Providence when God hath hedged up their Way with Thorns or they have found much inconvenience in that course 2 Chron. 28.22 In the time of his distress he trespassed yet more and more This is that King Ahaz the Scripture sets a Brand upon him As Baalam would go on 2 Pet. 2.16 But was rebuked for his Iniquity the dumb Ass speaking with Man's Voice forbad the madness of the Prophet When Men go on over the Belly of more than ordinary Opposition till they perish A Miracle will not stop a Sinner in the violent pursuit of his Lusts. Providence hath a Language that biddeth us stop but the sway of Lusts is great and breaks through all Restraints Oh! take heed then of being self-willed stout-hearted in a sensual course wedded to our own Inclinations of being a Slave to Sensual Appetite and being led by it more than by Holy Reasons Take heed of love to some unmortified Lust especially to Covetousness this is the cause of extream violence in Sin Jer. 44.16 17. As for the Word that thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own Mouth to burn Incense unto the Queen of Heaven and to pour out Drink-Offerings unto her 2. Observe from his Character The Son of Perdition The same Name is given to Antichrist 2 Thess. 2.3 That Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition Judas was a Type of Antichrist as they said of the blind Man John 9.9 Some said This is he others said He is like him The Pope boasteth that his Seat is Apostolical and that he is the Successor of an Apostle If we grant it and he will needs be a Successor of an Apostle there is an Error in the Person it is not Peter but Judas Let us see the Parallel 1. Judas was not a Stranger but a pretended Friend and an Apostle Acts 1.17 He was numbred with us and obtained part of this Ministry So the Pope obtained part of this Ministry Turks and Infidels are Enemies to Christ Antichrist must be one that seeketh to undermine Christ under a pretence of Friendship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for and against Christ. He maketh War with the Horns of the Lamb Rev. 13.11 If he were a professed Adversary what Mystery were there in it Now it is a Mystery of Iniquity 2 Thess. 2.7 A false Prophet Rev. 16.13 It is wisdom to discern him Rev. 13.18 Here is Wisdom Let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Beast 2. Judas sold Christ for a small Matter So Omnia Romae venalia Pardons Indulgences Freedom from Purgatory all to be bought at Rome The Antichristian State maketh a Market of Religion Truth is made to yield to Interest and Profit 3. Judas betrayed Christ with a Kiss Antichrist is a true Adversary of Christ and yet pretendeth to adore him He pretendeth to be his Servant and Vicar and is his Enemy not an Enemy without the Church but within the Church that betrayeth Christ under a colour of adoration 4. Judas was a Guide to them that came to take Jesus Christ is in Heaven Death hath no more dominion over him his natural Body is above abuse but in his mystical Body he still suffereth Acts 9.4 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me The Pope is the Head of the Persecuting State others are his Emissaries and Agents to persecute Christ in his Members It is a Politick Religion carried on with Cruelty 5. Judas was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of Perdition as destroying himself and involving others in the same Condemnation So is Antichrist called in the Revelations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 9.11 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Destroyer of Souls of himself and others Vse Let all these things open our Eyes that we may behold the Man of Sin One Egg is not more like another than Judas and Antichrist 3. Observe That Carnal Practices will end in Perdition Because Judas is called the Son of Perdition let us see what course he took to undo himself Let us look upon his Sin and Punishment 1. For his Sin In the Story of Judas four Sins are most remarkable his Covetousness his Hypocrisy his Treason and his Despair 1. His Covetousness This was the Root of all as indeed it is the Root of all Evil 1 Tim. 6.10 Christ had made him his Treasurer and
is as Oil to the Wheels It is a Question which is most useful Godly Joy or Godly Sorrow Sorrow maketh us serious Joy active But what should I divide what God hath joined Gaudium ineffabile cum suspiriis enarrabilibus both are wrought by the same Spirit he is a Comforter and he descended in the Form of a Mourning Dove But certainly Joy doth more quicken us in well-doing it rendreth the Functions of Body and Mind free and vigorous that we may walk with alacrity and good Conscience The Joy that we press you to is not a wantonness by which we cast away all Care and Labour and give our selves up to Ease and Lusts as those do that make their Life to be nothing else but a Recreation but such a Joy as maketh us go about our Duties and Callings with comfort This is sweet when a Man out of the Refreshings of the Spirit can go about the Business which God hath given him to do with delight Acts 20.24 Neither count I my Life dear to me so I might finish my Course with Joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God As the Eunuch went his way rejoicing Acts 8.39 not like slow Asses that go by compulsion but like generous Horses that delight in their strength and swiftness to take pleasure in praying in hearing in suffering in doing good in following the Duties of our Calling Most Men count Sorrow to be a Vertue and Joy to be an undecent Presumption When Men are sluggish carnal careless that they may flow in worldly Delights this is naught 2. To mar the Taste of carnal Pleasures The Soul cannot remain without some Oblectation it delighteth either in earthly or in heavenly Things Love will not remain idle in the Soul Now God will give us a taste of spiritual Joy of Pleasantness in Wisdom's Paths that we might disdain carnal Pleasures It is not a wonder for a Clown that hath not been acquainted with Dainties to love Garlick and Onions but for a Prince that hath been acquainted with better Diet to leave the Dainties of his Father's Table for those things that were strange I do not wonder at carnal Men that they are delighted with carnal Objects they never knew better but for a Child of God that hath tasted how gracious and sweet God in Christ is to find sap and savour in courser Fare this is wonderful 3. It is for his Honour Nothing bringeth Reproach upon the Ways of God so much as the Sadness of those that profess them Spiritus Calvinianus est Spiritus Melancholicus was a Lutheran Proverb because the Calvinists were against Wakes and Dancings and Revels You darken the Ways of God by your Melancholy Conversation Religion should be cheerful tho not wanton and dissolute We are to invite others Psal. 34.2 My Soul shall make her Boast in the Lord the Humble shall hear thereof and be glad Otherwise thou art as one of the Spies that discouraged the Children of Israel by bringing up an evil Report upon the Land of Canaan 4. Because he delighteth to see us chearful He delighteth in the Prosperity of his Saints Certainly the Lord doth not delight in a sad Devotion and that the Finger should always be in the Wound As a Man delighteth that his Fields should prosper and laugh with Fatness so doth Christ in the Saints They are his Charge John 15.11 These things have I spoken unto you that my Joy might remain in you and that your Joy might be full Would you make Christ's Heart glad keep your own chearful Fourthly I shall give you some Observations concerning Joy 1. God's Providence to all the Creatures doth aim at their Joy and Welfare In inanimate Creatures there is a Cessation and Rest in the Beasts a sensitive Delectation in a Man Joy All Actions that tend to the preservation of Life have their pleasure mixed with them and therefore certainly he hath provided some Christian Joy for a Christian All Actions of Godliness have a delight mixed with them 2. Spiritual Joy ariseth more from Hope than Possession Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in Hope Heb. 3.6 If we hold fast the Confidence and the rejoycing of the Hope firm unto the end Rom. 5.2 We rejoyce in Hope of the Glory of God It is an Affection proper to the next Life but some Birds sing in Winter Tho we have not an actual Possession of Glory yet there is a certainty of Possession 3. This Joy is more felt in Adversity than Prosperity 1 Pet. 1.6 Wherein ye greatly rejoyce tho now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations Rom. 5.3 We glory in Tribulation Partly from God himself He proportioneth his Comforts to our Sorrows and then sheddeth abroad his Love most plentifully 2 Cor. 1.5 As the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Partly from the Saints They rejoyce most in Afflictions because they taste in them what Evil they are freed from in Christ. If we never had Afflictions we should not know what it is to be freed from eternal Horrors and Pains but when we feel them then we say If I have much ado to bear these temporal Sorrows what should I have done if I had been still liable to eternal O blessed be God for my deliverance in Christ Partly because of sweet Experiences We are kept from perishing with the World a Servant and Stranger is turned out of Doors but a Son is corrected If it serveth for nothing else yet for a Spite to Satan to confound him when he thinketh he hath most advantage against us now to overwhelm us with Grief as when one seeketh to wrest a Staff out of our hands we hold it the faster 4. Those have the highest feeling of Joy that have tasted the bitterness of Sorrow Isa. 57.18 I have seen his Ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore Comforts unto him and to his Mourners Jer. 31.18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised c. Verse 20. Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still c. Unutterable Groans make way for ineffable Joys they feel the most lively Elevation of Joy as a Recompence for the Pangs of the New Birth God permits Sorrows that we may find the fuller Comfort Bernard thinks that the Joy of the Saints is greater than the Joy of Angels because they who have been kept and not restored had never experience of any other Condition however his Reason is notable Placet sanctis securitas sed ei magis qui timâ—it jucunda omnibus lux sed liberato de potestate tenebrarum jucundior transisse de morte ad vitam gratiam duplicat 5. The feelings of this Joy are up and down yet when the Joy is gone the Right remaineth and this
good Work it is not of your selves but of God Every Act every Degree of Holiness is from God III. For whom he prayeth the Apostles I. That were already holy John 13.10 Ye are clean and in the Verse immediately preceding They are not of the World yet now Sanctify them let their Hearts be more heavenly and their Lives more pure every day Observe Those that are sanctified need to be sanctified more and more Rev. 22 1â— He that is righteous let him be righteous still he that is holy let him be holy still 1. Our inward Sanctification must increase because of the weakness of present Grace and the relicts of Corruption 2 Cor. 4.16 Tho our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed day by day It is not a Work to be done at once 1 Thess. 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is perfect in parts at first the New Creature doth not come out maimed but not in degrees there is need of more Sanctification in Spirit in Soul in Body the Kingdom of Heaven increaseth by degrees 2. Our outward Man must be cleansed day by day because of new defilements John 13.10 He that is washed needeth not but to wash his Feet but is clean every whit It is an Allusion to a Man coming from the Bath his Feet contract Soil in the Passage Your Persons are sanctified by the Spirit but when you are never so holy there are new Defilements Vse 1. Be not satisfied with any present degrees of Grace There is an holy Covetousness I count not my self to have attained Phil. 3.14 Christ is so full that we cannot receive all at once 2. It is a strange Conceit in any to think they may be too good When we begin to be unwilling to grow better we begin to wax worse it is a good degree of Grace to know our Defects 3. Therefore let us use Means to persist in Holiness to increase in Holiness especially Prayer which is the Breath which God hath appointed to keep in the Flame II. For the Persons once more They were to preach the Word as a Preparative he prayeth for Sanctification Observe Holiness is a good Preparative to the Ministry and they are inwardly consecrated by the Spirit sanctifying them 1. That they may have experience of the Truth of the Doctrine upon their own Hearts The Apostles were to preach the Truth to others now saith he Sanctify them through thy Truth I believed and therefore have I spoken Psal. 116.10 We speak best when we speak by experience This is the right way of getting Sermons by Heart We are God's Witnesses now we should have sound Experience 1 John 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our Hands have handled of the Word of Life That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Ezekiel was first to eat the Roll Ezek. 3. 1 2 3. not only to see it and to hear it but to eat it Ministers must first eat themselves then feed others We are not to speak by hear-say to deliver God's Message as a meer Narration but out of a deep Impression on the Heart What cometh from the Heart and from Experience is quick and lively 2. For the Honour of God Carnal Ministers bring a Reproach upon the Ordinances 1 Sam. 2.17 The Sin of the young Men was very great before the Lord for Men abhorred the Offering of the Lord. Who will take Meat out of a Leprous Hand 3. To answer the Types of the Law Aaron and his Sons were sanctified for the Levitical Priesthood Exod. 29.4 To be washed with Blood and Oil to be washed in the great Laver sprinkled with Blood anointed with Oil which denotes Remission of Sins Regeneration the Gifts of the Spirit 1 John 5.8 There are three that bear Witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood Every Office should have a solemn Consecration Vse 1. Ministers should look to their inward Call They that are designed to serve God in a special manner must look after special Purity It breedeth Atheism when we do not live up to our Doctrine People will say they must say something for their Living 2. Let People look to their choice of Ministers There is a great deal of difference between an Eloquent and an Experienced Pastor Secondly We now come to the Means or Manner how Christ's Request is to be accomplished by thy Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be rendred in thy Truth or by thy Truth oâ— through thy Truth as Vers. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without an Article that they may be sanctified through the Truth or as in the Margeâ—t truly sanctified but we better render it by the Truth there is an Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in Truth but in the Truth and it is presently added thy Word is Truth So that it noteth not the kind of their Sanctification but the Instrument and Means Now these words by thy Truth may be understood either of God's Faithfulness or his revealed Will both which are called his Truth Of God's Faithfulness as Vers. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as keep them by thy Power so sanctify them by or according to thy Truth and Faithfulness But this Exposition tho plausible yet is not so proper because it is presently added thy Word is Truth By Truth then is meant not his Faithfulness but his revealed Will. Now God hath revealed his Will by the Light of Nature or by the Light of his Word That Will of God which is revealed by the Light of Nature is called Truth so the Gentiles are charged Rom. 1.8 With-holding the Truth in Vnrighteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may be known of God Vers. 19. is called Truth How came the Gentiles by the Truth who are strangers to the Covenant of Promise The Apostle answereth much of God was known to them But this Truth that is here spoken of is the Will of God made known in his Word or the Knowledg of things necessary to Salvation concerning God and his Worship first delivered by the Prophets afterwards explained by Christ himself to the Apostles and by them consigned to the Church Now the Truths delivered in the Word may be referred to two Heads Law and Gospel The distinction in Christ's Time was Law and Prophets In this place Christ chiefly intendeth the Gospel the Truth which they were sent to preach to others Christ would have them to have an experience of it themselves And it is notable that in many places of Scripture the Gospel is called Truth not only in opposition to humane Writings but also with respect to the Law and other parts of Scripture because it is the Truth by way of eminency as we call the Plague
the School of Christ He hath begotten us by the Word of Truth And the Ordinance of preaching the Word is consecrated to this purpose Ephes. 5.26 That he might sanctify them by the washing of Water through the Word There are other Occasional Helps but this is the Instituted Means God will work no other way in his ordinary and revealed course and will accept no other Obedience and Sanctification but by the Word Holiness or that Piety which is proper and genuine is wrought by a Divine Truth otherwise it is Superstition not Godliness Civility not Holiness of Conversation Tho Men have never so good an Inclination yet because they have not a Divine Revelation for their Warrant it is but a Bastard Religion Superstition or framing a strictness of our own accompanied with opposition against the Truth The Word and Spirit are in Conjunction Isa. 59.21 My Spirit that is upon thee and my Words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth c. These act in Conjunction and it is for the honour of the Scriptures that God hath annexed them 1 Thess. 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophesying Preaching of the Word and pouring out of the Spirit go together 4. Every part of the Truth worketh not but only the Gospel which is the Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law sheweth us our Spots and the Gospel cleanseth and washeth them away The Work of the Law is Preparation but that which hath a special and direct influence upon Sanctification is the Gospel John 15.3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you and that was the Gospel Privilege This pulleth in the Heart to God that we may be partakers of his Grace Moses brought them to the Borders but Joshua brought them into the Land of Canaan The Apostle appealeth to the Experience of Believers Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the VVorks of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Tho the Spirit may be received by the preaching of any part of Canonical Scripture yet most usually by the preaching of the Gospel The Lord would give us this sensible and authentick Proof of the Truth and Excellency of the Gospel that we receive the Spirit of Regeneration by it and not by the Law It is the Instrument by which God useth to confer the Spirit So 2 Pet. 1.4 To us are given exceeding great and precious Promises that by these we may be made partakers of the Divine Nature What part of the Word worketh the Heart to a conformity to God likeneth us in Holiness to God the great and precious Promises It is not by moral Strains nor by terrible Threatnings these have their use in their place but by the great and precious Promises as God was in the sâ—â—ll Voice 5. The Gospel worketh not unless it be accompanied with the Spirit There is a great deal of difference between seeing things in the Light of Reason and seeing things in the Light of the Spirit Truth represented in the Light of Reason begets but an humane Faith leaveth a weak impression and hath but a weak operation upon the Soul but things represented in the light of the Spirit â—â—â—keth quite otherwise there is not only a notional Irradiation but an experimental Feeling they see another manner of Beauty and Excellency in Christ a vanity in worldly Delights which they never saw before Running-water and Strong-water differ not in colour but in taste and virtue John 16.13 When he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all 〈◊〉 1 John 2.27 The Anointing which ye have received of him abidet◠〈◊〉 you and ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things Most Men content themselves with a superficial Belief they have but a hâ—â—ane knowledg of Divine Things and therefore their Souls are not carried out to Holiness Love Fear Trust Obedience they have a cold and naked apprehension liteâ—â—â— Knowledg is waâ—hy and weak it worketh not 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit 6. This must not only be represented in the Power and Demonstration of the Spirit but received and applied by Faith Sanctification is sometimes ascribed to the Gospel and sometimes to Faith which receiveth the Gospel Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Our Hearts are purified by the Word of Truth 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing that â—e have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit Here they were purified by Faith The Word worketh not without an Act on our part as well as on God's The Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it Heb. 4.2 As a Plaster worketh not till it be applied to the Sore Nay the Apostle's Word implieth more the Word must not only be applied to the Soul but mingled with the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in a Medicine the Ingredients must be mixed together to do good So if we have the Word we must have the Spirit and we must have Faith mix it altogether and then it worketh Faith receiveth the Word as a divine and infallible Truth and that begets an Awe In short Faith working to Sanctification apprehends the Love of God the Blood of Christ the Promises Precepts of the Word and by all these it is ever purging and working out Corruption By apprehending the Love of God Gal. 5.6 In Christ Jesus neither Circumcisionâ— availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but Faith that worketh by Love Shall I love that which God hateth O do not this abominable Thing that I hate Jer. 44.4 Faith representeth God pleading thus Is this thy Kindness to thy Friend Do I thus requite God for all his Kindness to me in Christ There is an Exasperation against Lusts. It maketh use of the Blood of Christ. 1 John 1.7 The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sins Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God That is an excellent Purger In outward Purging it is the Water and the Soap cleanseth but the Hand of the Laundress applieth it and rubbeth the Cloaths that are washed Faith apprehendeth the Blood of Christ to purge the Conscience it waiteth for the sanctifying Virtue of his Blood and the Grace purchased thereby So Faith maketh use of the Promises this giveth Faith encouragement to expect glorious Rewards Assistance is purchased and Acceptance is promised 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these Promises dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Then Faith constantly maketh use of the Precepts and Counsels of the Word by which Sin is discovered and taxed When the Word is received by Faith there goeth a
he will worship God and report that God is in you of a Truth In converting Sinners to God James 1.18 Of his own Will begat he us with the Word of Truth In building up them that are sanctified Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among them that are sanctified This is no sluggish idle Power that may be hid and obscured but manifests it self by sensible Effects it is lively and operative not only to change Men's Lives but Hearts Psal. 19.7 8. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the Heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes This the Apostle makes to be a sensible proof of Christ speaking in him 2 Cor. 13.3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me which to you-ward is not weak but is mighty in you Object But this is an Argument to those that have felt it How will it perswade others Answ. 1. It is an Argument to others also for this mighty Operation is sensible to others they may see the change wrought in them and wonder at it 1 Pet. 4.4 Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to all excess of Riot 2. There are publick Effects of the Power of the Word besides private Instances Wherever the Word hath been Satan vanished where formerly he tyrannized and his Deceits are of no more force Oracles ceased at Delphos the Devils howled Where the Gospel is preached there are less Witchcrafts and Diabolical Delusions they are not so frequent where the Gospel has had a free passage 3. Those that have felt no experience of this Power have a secret fear of it John 3.20 Every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light left his Deeds should be reproved Conscience is afraid of the Majesty of God shining forth in the Scriptures Men dare not pause upon and consider the Doctrine therein contained Atheism lieth in the Heart the Seat of Desire Psal. 14.1 The Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God Men question the Word because they would not have it true When Men give leave to Lusts they are afraid the Word should prove true and therefore would rather accuse the Word of Falsity than their own Hearts as Ahab was loth to hear Micaiah because he prophesied Evil. Strong Lusts make the Soul incredulous they fear the Scriptures and then question them They know there is Power in them to astonish them and therefore as Malefactors desire to destroy the Records and Evidences that are against them so do wicked Men they are Antiscripturists in Affection rather than Opinion Fifthly By the Spirit 's Testimony That it is so is clear 1 John 5.6 It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth The Doctrine of the Gospel is there called Spirit because he is the Author of it 2 Pet. 1.21 For the Prophecy came not in old Time by the Will of Men but Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost Or because the Spirit is Truth therefore he is the Supreme Witness He is of God's Privy Council 1 Cor. 2.11 For what Man knoweth the Things of a Man save the Spirit of Man that is in him Even so the Things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God Now the Spirit witnesseth from Heaven or on Earth 1 John 5.7 8. For there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One. And there are three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit and the Water and Blood and these three agree in One. From Heaven in Miracles and so Christ as God might be a Witness in his own Cause On Earth so in an Association and Conjunction with Water and Blood when we feel the Effects of it in ease of Conscience or Sanctification of Heart And over and above the Spirit 's Testimony there is an inward Testimony 1 John 5.10 He that believeth in the Son of God hath the Testimony in himself But what is this inward Testimony a Witness to the Truth of Scripture by the certainty of our own Thoughts it is not that which every one's Mind and Fancy suggests to him but the Light of the Holy Ghost leading us into the acknowledgment of the Truth the same Holy Ghost which inspired the Penmen of the Scriptures inclines our Hearts to believe them 1 John 2.27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you all things and is Truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him Faith cannot be wrought by Humane Authority or more rational Inducements it is the Work of the Spirit We may plead and urge but the Heart closeth not with what is represented till the Spirit worketh Isa. 53.1 Who hath believed our Report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed There is an outward Report and an inward Revelation This Testimony of the Spirit may be thus discerned 1. It is affective Truth represented in the Light of Reason leaveth a weak Impression but Truth represented in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit 2. Cor. 2.4 worketh after another manner sees another manner of excellency and beauty in Christ another manner of vanity in the Creatures 2. It draweth to Admiration Psal. 119.18 Open thou mine Eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law A Man never wondreth so at the dreadfulness of God's Wrath at the sweetness of God's Mercy in Christ at the Evil of Sin the strictness of Duty till the Spirit opens his Eyes Acts 13.12 Then the Deputy when he saw what was done believed being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. 3. It begets more certainty Till we have the Spirit 's Light we have but a trembling wavering Opinion but then we have that which the Apostle calleth The Fulness of the Assurance of Vnderstanding Col. 2.2 Tho we have no other Arguments yet we see by another Light As Gerson reporteth of a devout Man that doubted of an Article of Faith and came to be setled not by any new Demonstration but by the humiliation and captivation of the Understanding to see more by former Arguments As Hagar's Eyes were opened to see the Fountain by her Gen. 21.19 The Spirit taketh away the Vail of Ignorance the Pride of Reason and by an over-powering Force maketh the Soul stoop to the simplicity of the Gospel 4. It is a transforming Light 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of our God A Man
precious Ointment upon the Head that ran down upon the Beard even Aaron 's Beard that went down to the Skirts of his Garment So our Head is anointed with the Oil of Gladness for our sakes Christ received the Spirit without measure in our Nature as Holiness Pity and the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg Look as when an Ambassador is sent forth there is not only a designation of his Person but he is furnished for his Emploiment and Work So is Jesus Christ sent forth that is his Person not only designed and chosen in Grace and yet in Wisdom but also furnished with all manner of Endowments in our Nature Grace and Strength for his Work as our Head 3. This Sending implies Authority and noteth a Commission sealed to him so that he was an Authorized Mediator or an Ambassador with Letters Patents from Heaven This is the principal thing intended in this Sending the Call and Authority Christ had to do his Office Heb. 5.4 5. No Man taketh this honour to himself but he that was called of God as was Aaron So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee He was designed in the Council of the Trinity And as every Ambassador hath Letters of Credence under the Hand and Seal of him from whom he is sent that he may be acknowledged as his Deputy to act for him So Christ is sent as God's Deputy into the World to act and deal for him and the Apostles they are thus sent from Christ to act and deal for Christ. Here the Comparison chiefly holds As thou hast sent me into the World that is given me Authority to execute the Office of a Mediator So have I sent them I have given them Authority to preach in my Name and to deliver the Gospel to others This sending of Christ it maketh all that Christ doth in the Father's Name to be valid which is much for the comfort of our Faith Christ is not a Mediator by the right or meerly by the desire of the Creature or by his own Interposition but he is sent and authorized you may plead it with God he hath sent him to save Sinners You know Moses when he interposed on his own accord Exod. 32.32 Forgive their Sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of thy Book which thou hast written Tho it was an high Act of Zeal in Moses yet God refused it Vers. 33. And the Lord said to Moses Whosoever hath sinned against me him will make I blot out of my Book So if Christ had been set up as Mediator by the Right and Desire of the Creature only he might have been refused but he was authorised by God he did not glorify himself by invasion of the Mediatory Office but had a Patent from the Council of the Trinity indited by the Father accepted by himself sealed by the Holy Ghost evidenced to the World by his Personal Endowments and by his Miracles Thus you see what this Sending is it implies the Designation of the Father the Qualification of his Person for the Work and his Authority to execute it in his Name III. To what purpose was he sent into the World I Answer To perform the whole Duty of the Mediator but principally to redeem and instruct the World those two Offices of Prophet and Priest Christ performed upon Earth The Apostle toucheth upon them Heb. 3.1 Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Jesus Christ. Mark the Apostle mentioneth but two Offices but they were the highest in both the Churches the High Priest was the highest Officer in the Jewish Church therefore he saith he was the High Priest of our Profession And an Apostle was the highest Officer in the Christian Church therefore he saith he was the Apostle of our Profession And he mentions but these two because these were the two Offices Christ chiefly performed upon Earth he came to preach the Gospel which we profess so he is the Apostle of our Profession and he came to ratify it with his Blood so he is the High Priest of our Profession In short he came to deal with God and with Men To deal with God and so is an High Priest to pacify God to offer such a Sacrifice as might satisfy God and he came to deal with Men and so be is an Apostle to open the everlasting Gospel to bring it out of the Bosom of God to our Hearts His Kingly Office was but little exercised upon Earth We have a glimpse of his Kingly Office or rather of his Divine Nature in turning the Mony-Changers out of the Temple but it was little exercised upon Earth Why because this was the time of Christ's Humiliation Now the Kingly Office suits more with the Exaltation of Christ when he comes the second time then he comes to exercise his Kingly Office to reign and scatter his Enemies and shew his Kingly Power but now he came to teach and to suffer That is the Reason why his Kingly Office is made the Consequent of his Resurrection Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance to Israel and Forgiveness of Sins Was not Christ King of the Church and King before his Resurrection I Answer As God so he was a King from all Eternity and in the days of his Flesh he was our Mediator therefore certainly King Priest and Prophet but in the World he did not come to possess his Kingdom but only to preach it and divulge it Therefore he saith to Pilate John 18.36 My Kingdom is not of this World if my Kingdom were of this World then would my Servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews but now is my Kingdom not from hence Christ came to bear witness that he was King but did not come to possess his Kingdom and act as a King As soon as ever he was consecrated to be a Mediator he was King Priest and Prophet of the Church Look as David was King before God as soon as he was Anointed long before he possessed the Throne and was crowned at Hebron 1 Sam. 16.13 for he was King when he wandred up and down and was hunted like a Flea or like a Partridg upon the Mountains So Christ in the time of his Humiliation was a King but did not exercise his Kingdom Chiefly then he was sent into the World the first time to redeem and instruct the World To redeem the World 1 John 4.10 God loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins This was Christ's first Errand to make Satisfaction for Sins afterwards he will come to destroy his Enemies at his second coming And to instruct the World that is of special consideration in this place As thou hast sent me into the World so have I sent them into the World Christ sent Disciples as a Prophet and in
Benefits of Redemption but the Sanctified who have Grace and Holiness infused in them and do devote and consecrate themselves to serve God in Holiness and Righteousness all their dayes 2. The Means Manner or End 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be rendered through the Truth in Truth or for the Truth all which Readings admit of a commodious Explication 1. As the Means through the Truth as the Rule and Instrument the Word accompanied with the virtue of Christ's Death is that which sanctifieth 2. The Manner in Truth or truly in opposition to legal Purifications by the use of the Ceremonies of the Law which were but a Shadow of true Holiness Heb. 9.13 14. For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Vnclean sanctifyeth to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God And in opposition to counterfeit Sanctification Ephes. 4.24 And that ye put on the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness such as is sincere true and real 3. The End for the Truth that they may be consecrated set apart and fitted for that Function of Preaching the Truth The Context seemeth to justify this From the whole Observe Doct. That Christ did set himself apart to be a Sacrifice for us that we might be sanctified by the Means appointed thereunto I shall explain this Point by opening the Text. I. I begin with the Meritorious Cause and for their sakes I sanctify my self Where First The Agent I. Secondly The Act Sanctify Thirdly The Object my Self Fourthly The Persons concerned for their Sakes First The Agent I sanctify my self In other Places it is ascribed to the Father and the Spirit To the Father John 10.36 Him hath the Father sanctified and sent into the World To the Spirit Acts 10.38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power He did not only frame the humane Nature of Christ out of the Substance of the Virgin but adorned it with Gifts and Graces fit for his Office and Work And here Christ saith I sanctify my self All the Persons in the Divine Nature concur to this Work The Father sanctifieth and sets him apart by his Decree and Designation The Son sanctifieth himself to shew his willingness and condescension The Spirit sanctifieth him by his Operation furnishing him with meet Graces and Endowments that were necessary for that singular Person who should redeem the World Christ's sanctifying himself falleth under our consideration and doth shew partly his Original Authority as a Person of the Godhead coequal with the Father and the Spirit Whatsoever the Father doth the Son doth also John 5.19 Partly his voluntary submission as the Father did consecrate the Son to the Office of Mediator and the Spirit qualified him with all fulness of Grace so did Christ consecrate himself as being a most willing Agent in this Work and did really offer himself to become Man and to suffer all that Misery Pain and shame that was necessary for our Expiation The Scripture often sets it forth to us Ephes. 5.2 Walk in Love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour He did not do this Work by constraint but of a ready mind When it was first propounded to him in God's Decree Heb. 10.9 Then he said Lo I come to do thy Will O God! And before the Time was come about when he should assume the Humane Nature into the Unity of his Person he feasted himself with the thoughts of that Salvation which he should set afoot in the habitable Parts of the Earth Prov. 8.31 Rejoicing in the habitable parts of the Earth and my Delights were with the Sons of Men. When the Incarnation was passed then he longed for the time of his Passion Luke 12.50 I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished So willing was he to do and suffer that whereunto he was sent Luke 22.15 With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I die that Passover because it was the last the Forerunner of his Agonies his Heart was set upon that Work His behaviour in his Death shewed how willingly he did undergo it John 13.1 Having loved his own that were in the World he loved them unto the End then was his bitter Work but that did not abate his Love The Heathens counted it a lucky Sacrifice that went to the Altar without strugling and roaring certainly Christ did meekly suffer what was imposed on him for the expiation of our Sins Isa. 53.7 He is brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearers is dumb so he opened not his Mouth A Swine whineth and maketh a noise but a Sheep is dumb this was the Emblem chosen to represent Christ's Meekness and Patience Salt cast into the Fire danceth and leapeth with a kind of impatience but Oil riseth up in a gentle Flame So Christ suffered not only with patience but delight He did not lay down his Life by constraint but died by consent John 10.18 No Man taketh my Life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again Now this endeareth our Obligation to him that he would consecrate himself to the Work of the Mediatory Office and to that end assume the Humane Nature into the Unity of his Person and so willingly condescend to all that sorrow and pain that he was to endure for our sakes and offer himself up as a Sacrifice for our Sins being for a while without the actual sense of his Father's Love My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27.46 But more distinctly let us consider the greatness of his Sufferings his willingness to endure them 1. The greatness of his Sufferings His Passions take them in the very Letter were sore but they were heightned by the delicacy of his Temper never any Man suffered as he did because never such a Man A blow on the Head is soon felt because it is a principal Member and so more sensible than other parts of the Body A Slave is not so sensible of Blows and Stripes as a Nobleman of a tender and delicate Constitution Our Saviour Christ was of a more delicate Constitution than any other his Body was immediately framed by the Spirit in the Virgin 's Womb Laurence on the Gridiron Stephen when stoned could not be so sensible as Christ on the Cross. None of the Martyrs suffered what he did Christ had a particular knowledg of all Sins committed in the World past present and to come and a particular sorrow for them which was the greater by how much the more he prized the Honour of God His
himself to justify and sanctify us and we never look after the Benefit we make him to be a Christ in vain II. We come now to the End Effect and Fruit of it that they might be sanctified through the Truth First The Benefit or Blessing intended That they also might be sanctified Where 1. Observe it is Bonum morale not that they might be Rich Happy Great Glorious in the World but that they might be Sanctified When Christ was on the Cross he neither wanted Wisdom to chuse nor Love to intend nor Merit to purchase the highest Benefits and those which were most necessary for us but that which he had in his Eye was our Sanctification Ephes. 5.26 He loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it And Heb. 13.12 Jesus that he might sanctify the People suffered without the Gate All his Aim was to recover us to God and dedicate us to God for he came to repair the Ruins of the Fall and save that which was lost Luke 17.10 The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost And we were first lost to God before we were lost to our selves as appeareth Luke 15. by the Parable of the lost Sheep which was lost to the Owner and the lost Groat which was lost to the Possessor and the lost Son which was lost to the Father Our Misery is included but the principal thing intended was that God hath lost the Honour of the Creation 2. It is Bonum congruum I sanctify my self that they may be sanctified The Scripture delighteth in these Congruities Heb. 5.8 9. He learned Obedience by the things that he suffered And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obey him As there is a suitableness between the Seal and the Impression so between Christ and his People in all things Christ must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must have the preheminence We have the Blessings of the Covenant not only from him but through him Christ was elected Isa. 42.1 Behold my Servant whom I have chosen my Elect in whom my Soul delighteth so are we Christ was justified 1 Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit so are we Christ was sanctified and we in conformity to him are sanctified also as in the Text Christ rose again ascended and was glorified so do we He as the Elder-Brother and first Heir and we in our Order 3. It is bonum specificativum It sheweth the Parties or that sort of Men to whom Christ intended the Benefit Heb. 10.14 For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified them and no other the Godly themselves while unconverted and lying in their Sins have not the actual Benefit of Christ's Redemption But in what manner are we sanctified Christ consecrated and sanctified himself as a Sin-Offering but we are sanctified and consecrated as a Thank-Offering Christ to do the Work of a Redeemer or Mediator we to do the Work of the Redeemed We are set apart for the Lord to glorify him in all Holy Conversation and Godliness Secondly The means of applying and conveying this Benefit through the Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may be rendred through the Truth in the Truth or for the Truth all which Readings admit of a commodious Explication 1. In the Truth or truly in opposition to legal Purifications which were but a shadow of true Holiness Heb. 9.13 14. For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Vnclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God Or in opposition to counterfeit Sanctification Ephes. 4.24 And that ye put on the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Some only are sanctified externally as they are in visible Covenant with God Heb. 10.29 And hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing they live among his peculiar People Others are really renewed and changed by his Spirit and turned from a sinful Life to God making Conscience of every commanded Duty and aiming at his Glory in all things 2. For the Truth that they may be consecrated set apart and fitted for that Function of preaching the Gospel This is agreeable to the Context which limits this part of the Prayer to the Apostles 3. Through the Truth as we render it and fitly considering the 17 th Verse Sanctify them through the Truth thy Word is Truth through the Word by which the virtue of Christ's Death is applied to us There are certain Means and Helps by which Christ bringeth about this Effect Ephes. 5.26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of Water through the Word The Word offereth this Grace the Sacraments seal and confirm it to us So John 15.3 Ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you The Word of Command presseth it Psal. 119.9 Wherewithal shall a young Man cleanse his Way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word The Word of Promise encourageth us 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these Promises dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all the filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God And the Doctrine of Christ's Blood holds out the virtue whereby it may be done 1 John 1.7 The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin And it exciteth Faith by which the Heart is purified Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Vse 1. Information It informeth us of divers important Truths 1. That in our selves we are polluted and unclean or else what needed there so much ado to get us sanctified This is needful to be considered by us Job 15.14 What is Man that he should be clean and he that is born of a Woman that he should be Righteous That is Man by Nature is neither clean nor righteous destitute of Purity by Nature and uprightness of Conversation They are ill acquainted with Man who think otherwise for if we consider his earliness in sinning his easiness in sinning his constancy in sinning and the universality of Sinners we may soon see what his Nature is and the Fountain being so corrupt the Streams or Emanations from it are defiled also 2. That nothing can cleanse us but the Blood of Christ. Can Man cleanse himself Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Can that which is corrupt cleanse it self or that which is enmity to Holiness promote it Or can the Word do it without Christ Good Instructions may shew a Man his Duty but cannot change the bent of his Heart Christ needed not only to be sent as a Prophet Ver. 18. but must sanctify himself as a Priest and Sacrifice before this Benefit could be procured for
in their place but by their Faith and the Godly are elsewhere called of the Hâ—â—shold of Faith Where ever our Implantation into Christ or Participation of the Privileges of his Death or our Spiritual Communion in the Church is spoken of the Condition is Faith It is a Grace that sendeth us out of our selves to look for all in another It is the Mother of Obedience as all Disobedience is by Unbelief so all Obedience is by Faith First he said Ye shall not die and then Ye shall be as Gods First he seeketh to weaken their Faith in the Word they could not be proud and ambitious till they did disbelieve Therefore above all Things let us labour after Faith Our Hearts are taken up with the World the Honours and Pleasures of it these cannot make us happy but Christian Privileges will all which are conveyed to us by Faith But let us come to the second Point Doct. 2. That in the reckoning and sense of the Gospel they are Believers that are wrought upon to believe in Christ through the Word Here is the Object Christ the Ground Warrant and Instrumental Cause and that is the Word The Warrant must be distinguished from the Object the Warrant is the Word and the proper object of Faith is Christ as considered in his Mediatory Office Sometimes the Act of Faith is terminated on the Person of Christ and sometimes on the Promise to shew there is no closing with Christ without the Promise and no closing with the Promise without Christ. As in a Contract there is not only a receiving of the Leaâ—e or Conveyance but a receiving of Lands by virtue of such a Deed and Conveyance So there is a receiving of the Word and a receiving of Christ through the Word the one maketh way for the other the Promise for our Affiance in Christ. Faith that assents to the Promise doth also accept of Christ there is an Act terminated on his Person Faith is not assensus axiomati a naked Assent to the Propositions of the Word but a Consent to take Christ that we may rely upon him and obey him as an Alsufficient Saviour But now let us speak of these distinctly First Of the Object that is to believe in Christ. There is believing of Christ and believing in Christ. He doth not say those that believe me but those that believe in me through their Word Believing Christ implieth a Credulity and Assent to the Word and believing in Christ Confidence and Reliance Once more Believing in Christ is a Notion distinct from Believing in God Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me Since the Incarnation and since Christ came to exercise the Office of a Mediator there is a distinct Faith required in him because there are distinct grounds of Confidence because in him we see God in our Nature we have a claim by Justice as well as Mercy we have a Mediator who partaketh of God's Nature and Ours and so is fit to go between God and us Briefly to open this believing in Christ it may be opened by the Implicit or Explicit Acts of it 1. There is something Implicite in this Confidence and Reliance upon Christ and that is a lively sense of our own Misery and the Wrath of God due for Sin All God's Acts take date from the Nothingness and Necessity of the Creature and from thence also do begin our own Addresses to God God's Acts begin thence that he may be All in All from the Creation to the Resurrection God keepeth this Course and then the Dispensation ceaseth for then there is no more want but fulness Creation is out of Nothing Providence interposeth when we are as good as Nothing at the Resurrection we are nothing but Dust God worketh on the few Relicts of Death and Time So in all Moral Matters as well as Natural it is one of his Names He comforteth those that are cast down When he came to convert Adam he first terrified him They heard the Voice of God in the Garden and were afraid Gen. 3.10 He delivered Israel out of Egypt when their Souls were full of Anguish We are first exercised with the Ministry of the Condemnation before Light and Immortality are brought to Life in the Gospel and still God keeps his old Course Men are first burdened and sensible of their Load before he giveth them ease and refreshment in Christ. At the first Gospel-Sermon preached after the pouring forth of the Spirit Acts 2.37 They were pricked in their Hearts Christ's Commission was to preach the Gospel to the poor and broken-hearted and bruised Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord was upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted to preach Deliverance to the Captives the recovering of Sight to the Blind to set at liberty them that are bruised This is the Road-way to Christ. And all our Addresses to God begin too thence Man is careless Mat. 22.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they made light of it and proud Rom. 10.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God The Israelites were not weary of Egypt till they were filled with Anguish Adonijah when he found himself guilty of Death he laid hold on the Horns of the Altar The Prodigal never thought of returning till he began to be in want and to be soundly pinched Therefore till there be a due sense and conviction of Conscience it is not Faith but carnal Security In short we can never be truly desirous of Grace we cannot prize it we do not run for refuge Heb. 6.18 We are not earnest for a Deliverance till there be some such Work There are two Things keep the Conscience quiet without Christ Peace and Self Carnal-security and Self-sufficiency 1. It is hard to wean Men from the Pleasures of Sense and to make them serious in the Matters of their Peace before Christ and they be brought together they and themselves must be brought together This God seeketh to do by outward Afflictions that he may take them in their Month as the Ram was caught in the Briars In Afflictions Men bethink themselves 1 Kings 8.47 If they shall bethink themselves in the Land whither they are carried Captives c. It makes them to return upon themselves how it is between God and them If Affliction worketh not he joineth the Word it is a Glass wherein we see our natural Face James 1.21 God sheweth them what loathsome Creatures they are how liable to Wrath. Or if not by the Power of his Spirit upon their Consciences their Reins may chasten them they cannot wake in the Night or be solitary in the Day but their Hearts are upon them so great a Matter is it to bring Men to be serious 2. Self When the Prodigal began to be in want he joined himself to a Man of that Country Luke 15.15 We have slight Promises and Resolutions and
of Arms. I remember in Ecclesiastical History when Valens the Emperor railed against all the Defenders of the Godhead of Christ they did not meddle with Polinus out of Reverence to him for he was a very holy strict Man none durst lay Hands upon him 3. Many times they profess and join to the Church and so we have benefit by their Gifts and Abilities Authority and Power for God doth his Church a great deal of good by carnal Men. Conviction may bring them as far as Profession and the temporary Faith of a Magistrate tho carnal may be a Protection to Christianity as an Hedg of Thorns may be a good Fence about a Garden of Roses If they are Men of Parts they may help to defend the Christian Doctrine as a living Tree may be supported by a dead Post and the Gifts of carnal Men are for the use of the Body as the Gibeonites joined to Israel and were made hewers of Wood and drawers of Water or as the Carpenters who helped to build Noah's Ark perished in the Flood or as Negroes that dig in the Mines of Knowledg God may imploy them to bring up that which may be of great use and profit to the World they may help to build an Ark for others tho they themselves perish in the Water We would not refuse Gold from a dirty Hand neither are we to slight the benefit of carnal Men's parts for the common Profession of Christianity that they are under tho they are Slaves to their Lusts yet it is a real benefit and help to the Saints 4. They serve for a Warning to the Saints When this Conviction is strong upon them and grows to an height by the Stings of Conscience and Horrors of them that die in despair God warneth his People tho we would bear off the Stroke yet God knows how soon this Fire may be kindled in our own Breasts when Men see what Convictions will do being stifled and not complied with and Men live not according to their Light it is a warning to others As a Slave is many times beaten to warn a Son of his Father's Displeasure and Naturalists tell us a Lion will tremble to see a Dog beaten before him so do the Children of God tremble at the Convictions of wicked Men. Oh the Horrors of their Conscience declare what God hath wrought upon them tho few take little notice of it Thirdly In respect to the World it self this Conviction serveth both to lessen and encrease their Judgment The Terms seem to be opposite 1. Sometimes to lessen their Judgment Certainly the degrees of eternal Punishment are not equal there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 23.14 a greater Judgment there is a hotter and a cooler Hell there are few Stripes and many Stripes In the World to come it is more tolerable for some than for others Mat. 12.41 The Condition of the Ninevites was made more tolerable by the Conviction wrought by Jonah's Preaching because there was a temporal Repentance they humbled themselves for a while tho they were frighted to this Religiousness Aristides Cato and other moral Heathens their Condition will be more tolerable than those Men that live in a way of brutish and filthy Excess So there are many convinced that have helped the Church and been friendly to Religion when others have oppressed and opposed the Ways of God they have been a Hiding-Place a Shelter a Countenance a Protection to the People of God these shall not lose their Reward they have many Blessings in this World tho they continue Carnal and live and die in their Sins I suppose the more they comply with these Convictions their Condemnation shall be lessened tho not taken away This Advantage they have ut mitiùs ardeant they shall have a cooler Hell 2. Sometimes to increase their Judgment Those that maliciously oppose this Conviction they hasten their own Condemnation and heighten it Then it will be a Sin to them with a Witness when they knew their Master's Will and did it not James 4.17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is Sin They carry this Conviction to Hell with them and it is a part of their Torment this is the Worm that never dies Oh what a Terror will it be for them to think I had a better Estate discovered to me I knew somewhat of the Ways of God and now I am shut out for ever and ever There is a Worm that never dies as well as a Fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 There may be a Conviction so much as to enable a Man to speak to others yet he may be a worker of Iniquity and cast out of Christ's Presence How will this encrease their Torment their Knowledg serveth but to damn them the more The Characters are indelible and are not extinguished by Death To all other Torments there is added the gnawing of Conscience Look as in the Elect there is such a Spark kindled as shall never be extinguished their Knowledg they get here is not abolished but perfected and the Joys of the Spirit begin their Heaven a witnessing excusing Conscience to the Elect is the beginning of Heaven So in Hell Conscience will be always raging and expostolating with you Oh Fool that I was to neglect so great Salvation which others enjoy If I had lived civilly at least it had been better with me than now it is As they know more of God than others do so their Judgment will accordingly be greater And you know not how soon God may kindle this Fire in your Bosoms who for the present steep on carelesly in your Sins Vse 1. This may serve to perswade us that the Conviction of the World is a great Blessing and conduceth much to the advancement of Christ's Kingdom without any visible force with meer Spiritual Weapons in despight of all opposition which can be made thereunto The corrupt and ill-principled World cannot stand out against the Evidence of the Truth when it is soundly preached and in the Demonstration of the Spirit We have too slight an Opinion of the Weapons of our Spiritual Warfare 2 Cor. 10.4 The Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strong Holds Surely they are more mighty to pull down strong Holds than we are aware of The Spirit of the Lord tho he will not convert yet can so put to silence and bridle the Opposition that carnal Men make that it shall be ineffectual It concerneth God in Honour to go thus far on with the World for the promoting of his Kingdom and that they may not go on with an high Hand to oppose and crush it And this doth also evince the Truth of the Christian Religion such Convictions accompanying the preaching of it And God doth not wholly discontinue this Dispensation now There are ordinary Operations of the Spirit where the Gospel is preached which do convince the World The careless Professor
Image and the Saints more delight in God as being freed from Sin God loveth to look on what he hath made when he hath raised a Worm to such an Excellency It is there continued without Interruption here our Communion with God is sweet but short it cometh by glimpses but there it is for ever and ever not only in regard of Duration but Continuance without ceasing The Spirit of God came on Samson at times in Heaven there is nothing to divert us from the sight of God we are withdrawn from all other Objects that we may study him alone without weariness Vse 3. It directeth us in what order we should seek these Things first Grace then Glory Psal. 84.11 The Lord will give Grace and Glory Psal. 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel and afterwards receive me to Glory Ephes. 5.26 27. That he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of Water by the Word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Here the first Lineaments are drawn by the Spirit of Sanctification whilst the Soul remaineth in the Body as a Pledg of a more perfect State God hath called us to Glory and Vertue 2 Pet. 1.3 As they were to go through the Temple of Vertue to the Temple of Honour 4. Observe There is no Privilege which we have but what Christ enjoyed first Christ had it all and from him we have it he was the Purchaser and the Natural Heir it is in us at the second Hand we are Elected Sanctified Glorified in and through him Whatever is in us that are Members it is in our Head first first God then Christ as Mediator and then We. All Good is first in Christ he receiveth it and conveyeth it We ascend Why Because he ascended first we sit in Heavenly Places because he did first Vse 1. In Times of Desertion when we see nothing in our selves look upon Christ as a Depository the first Receptacle of Grace he is justified sanctified ascended glorified and encourage thy self to take hold of Christ that thou mayest have all these things in him Vse 2. To be thankful to God for Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ Ephes. 1.3 Let us never bless God for what we enjoy but still remember Christ. Vse 3. It presseth us to get an Union with Christ 1 Cor. 3.22 23. All are yours for you are Christ's and Christ is God's That we may not look on Christ as an abstracted Head All that Christ hath he hath it for us 5. Observ. From those words I have given them it may be Objected that we see no such Matter Christ's Members are poor despicable Dust and Ashes more afflicted than others How then can it be said This Glory I have given them Answ. Christ hath acquired a Right Obs. The Glory that is given to us by Christ is as surely ours as if we were in the actual possession of it John 3.36 He that believeth on the Son of God hath Everlasting Life How hath he it 1. He hath it in Capite it is done in regard of Christ with whom we make one Mystical Body the most worthy part of the Body is in Heaven the Head is there Ephes. 2.6 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ. We are already glorified in Christ tho not in our selves Christians take possession in their Head as Christ hath taken possession in their Names 2. They have it in the Promises The Promise is the Root of the Blessing you have a fair Charter to shew for it God standeth bound in point of Promise God is very tender of his Word you will see it in all the other Promises when you put him to Trial. The Promise of God is but the Declaration of his Purpose Heb. 6.17 18. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie ye may have strong Consolation You have a Lease to shew for it A Man doth not carry his Inheritance upon his Back 3. They have the First-Fruits of it which differ only in degree from Glory Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the First-Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body We have the Earnest in Hand That Portion of the Spirit which we have received is given us for security Wherefore this fitting and preparing these Groans are Grounds of Confidence If a Vessel be formed it is for some use All this would else be lost And do you think God will lose his Earnest The Beginnings we have here are a Taste and Pledg Here we sip and have a foretaste of the Cup of Blessing Union with Christ Joys of the Spirit Peace of Conscience are the Beginnings of Heaven They that live in the Provinces next to Arabia have a strong Scent of the Odours and sweet Smells of the Spices that grow there So the Church is the Suburbs of Heaven the Members of it begin to smell the Upper Paradise The Comfortable Influences of the Spirit are the Taste and the Gracious Influences are the Pledg and Earnest of our Future Inheritance Vse 1. Let us bless God afore-hand 1 Pet. 1.3 4 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation The Inheritance is kept for us and we for it We can never want Matter to bless God if we have nothing in Hand yet we have much in Hope 2. Let us wait with more Confidence we have no cause to doubt we have God's Word and Pawn as sure as Christ is in Heaven we shall be there 3. Let us be there in Affection in earnest Groans and Desires in frequent Thoughts Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified 4. Let us not fear Changes all Changes will end in that which is best for us SERMON XXXIX JOHN XVII 23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the World may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me CHRIST's Request for Union is again repeated with the Advantage of another Expression to declare the Nature of it So that in this Verse we have First The Nature of the Mystical Union Secondly
Curiosity In things not revealed a simple Nescience is better than a bold Inquiry there is enough for Service and Adoration Let not Reason prescribe to Faith He were not God if he were not incomprehensible Should Worms make their own Apprehension the measure of Divine Truth It is not so because I cannot understand it by a Candle in the Night I cannot see it therefore it is not Some things are to be received from Divine Testimony tho we cannot fully conceive of them Let us bless God for the Word and take heed unto it as to a Light shining in a dark Place It is God's Mercy that Christ came from Heaven with a Commission to discover so much to us It is a Ray of the Face of God in Christ. Here is God's Heart discovered to us and our Hearts to our selves Vse 2. When you consult with the Gospel make use of Christ. He is to discover his Father's Name he taught the Gospel not only on Earth but in Heaven I have declared thy Name and will declare it Non loquendum de Deo sine lumine There is no Saving-knowledg of God from our selves Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Interpreter of his Father's Mind It is dangerous to set upon the Knowledg of the Mystery of the Gospel in the strength of our own Gifts and Parts to rest meerly on the study of Books and Humane Helps The Gospel is God's Riddle which none but himself can expound beg the Spirit of Revelation you cannot have a knowledg of it without a Revelation from Christ. We do not improve Christ's Prophetical Office so much as we should we think he must pacify our Consciences subdue our Affections but we do not look after Knowledg but think to get it by our own Industry 3. Point Christ doth not convey all Knowledg or the full notice of God's Name at once The Knowledg that is originally in Christ is not communicated to us but by degrees that it may increase more Like the good Housholder that brought out the best at last John 1.50 Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree believest thou thou shalt see greater things than these Partly to keep up our Dependance and Respect lest a Satiety grow upon us When there is no more use of a thing then we contemn it Man is a Creature that is led by Hope rather than by Memory Still God keepeth the best till last there is a perpetual use of Christ's Prophetical Office that he may declare more Partly to conform us to himself and to the Church Christ increased in Wisdom and Stature c. Luke 2.40 52. his Humane Capacity was inlarged by degrees The Church grew by degrees There was a Non-age then it was the Seed of the Woman afterwards In thy Seed c. To Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Then it was told what Tribe The Scepter shall not depart from Judah Gen. 49.10 afterwards of what Family to David that a Virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son and shall call his Name Immanuel Isa. 7.14 At last Behold the Lamb of God John 1.29 Partly that he might suit his Dispensations to our Capacity God will not violate the Course of Nature Our Life is hidden in Christ. You do not teach University-Learning to a Boy Christ dealeth with us as we are capable according to our receptivity We are made meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 Vse 1. Comfort against present Defects Tho you are ignorant of some Mysteries of Religion do not despond Christ doth not give you all at once There is a double Comfort God will accept our weakness and we have an Head in whom is all Fulness As our Life is hidden in Christ so is our Wisdom hidden In the Text you see Christ hath undertaken for our growth we have a Teacher that will carry us on from one degree of knowledg to another Therefore let us not be discouraged tho we know little and our parts be weak and insufficient Vse 2. It presseth us to grow in Knowledg 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There is more to be learned Do not say I know as much as they can tell me we never know so much but we may know more there is no stint in Knowledg If there be a measure of Grace beyond which we cannot pass the Apostle would not say Grow in Grace and Knowledg Therefore be conscionable and careful in the use of Means We must not rest in our low and imperfect Measures nor alwayes keep to our A B C. We must grow till we come to Heaven and then there will be no more growing A formal Man is where he was as a Picture doth not increase in Stature The way to keep what we have is to increase our Store Gifts that lie idle and unactive suffer loss and decay an active Nature such as Man's must either grow worse or better It is an ill sign when we are contented with a little Light groweth to the perfection of Glory our Reward is increased in the other World Col. 3.16 Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all Wisdom It is the worst of Poverty to have a poor Understanding Grace is multiplied through Knowledg 2 Pet. 1.2 Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through the Knowledg of God and of Jesus our Lord. 4. Point Christ maketh one Mercy to be the Pledg of another I have declared and I will declare He is never weary of well-doing his Love is Infinite and cannot be wearied and his Grace is Infinite and cannot be spent Men waste by giving their drop is soon spent but the oftner we come to God the more welcome we are Our Faith is sooner tired than God◠Bounty for he doth not waste by giving I AM is God's Name he is where he was at first he is never at a loss what he hath done he can do and will do God's Providence is new and fresh every Morning God is One Gal. 3.21 he is always like himself The Creatures soon spend their Allowance but he is where he was at first But it chiefly holdeth good in Spiritual Mercies the least drop of Saving-Grace is an Immortal Seed it will grow it will increase it is a Spark that cannot be quenched it is the Pledg of meer Grace Therefore where Christ hath begun to work for thee in some sparks of Saving-Grace and Knowledg he will go on in his Work where he is the Alpha he will be the Omega where he is an Author he will be a Finisher Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith The Apostle would have us confident of this Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good Work in you will perform it until the Day of Christ. God's first Work is an Earnest and God will not lose his Earnest it is the
Love of Christ is there too His Love may be in us in the Sense and Feeling when we have the assurance of it Rom. 5.5 The Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which he hath given to us that they may feel it in their Hearts that God loved them in Christ. There is the Work of the Spirit and the Witness of the Spirit both are intended in that Expression chiefly the latter such a Sense of God's Love as stirreth up Joy and Thankfulness and Hope The precious Ointment gave no savour while it was shut up in a Box till it was poured out So God's Love while it is kept secret it yieldeth no reviving Fragrancy These two differ for many have the Effects of God's Love but not the Sense and the Effects of Love do always abide for it is an Immortal Seed but the Sense of Love is flitting and changeable Nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ yet the Love of God in Christ is often beclouded overcast and interrupted and some have more Effects tho less Sense the most shining Years are not always the most Fruitful a Man may have greater increase of Grace tho less comfort Observe for your Comfort that Christ prayeth for both he hath prayed not only for Grace but for Assurance that we may feel our selves beloved by the Father The Lord delighteth not only to love us but to assure us of his Love It is no comfort to a blind Man to hear of a glorious Sun or brave Shews he cannot see them God would not leave us in the dark but give us an Experience of his Love II. How this ariseth from the Manifestation of God's Name in the Gospel 1. The Knowledg of God is a means to kindle our Respects to God 2. To convey the Influence of his Grace to us 1. It is a means to kindle our Respects to God as Trust Psal. 9.10 They that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee Men are ignorant of God's Goodness Mercy and Truth and therefore they make so little use of him Usually Fears are in the Night Doubts come from Ignorance of the Tenour of the Gospel if we did believe those Things to be true which are revealed concerning his Mercy and Love to Sinners we should trust in him Fire once kindled would burst out of it self into a Flame so did we once savingly know God's Name there would be more Trust and Confidence in God Isa. 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obey the Voice of his Servant that walketh in Darkness and hath no Light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God We are overwhelmed with Difficulties and Straits for want of studying God's Name So also for Love Cant. 1.3 Thy Name is as Ointment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee Ignoti nulla cupido Love springeth from Knowledg In the Beams of the Sun there is a mixture of Warmth and Light We know not the Gift of God and therefore our Bowels are not troubled Did we but see him as he is it would set us all on Fire 2. It is the means to convey all the Influences of Grace to us 2 Pet. 1.2 Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through the Knowledg of God and of Jesus our Lord. God worketh upon us as rational Creatures agreeably to an intelligent Nature and so nothing can be wrought unless Knowledg go before An House the more the Windows stand open the more it is filled with Light so the more Knowledg the more is the capacity of the Soul inlarged to receive Comfort and Grace Guilty Nature is full of Fears more presagious of Evil than of Good and therefore it must have clear grounds of Comfort and Hope But you will say How comes it to pass that Persons of great Knowledg want Comfort and have no sense of God's Love I Answer It is not the Light of Parts but of the Spirit I have declared c. It is God's Prerogative to settle the Conscience I create the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace c. Isa. 57.19 The Gospel is a Sovereign Plaister but God maketh it work Our own Thoughts do nothing unless God put in with them Vse 1. It informeth us of a double Duty 1. To study God's Name It would settle the Conscience to meditate upon those Declarations which Christ hath made of his Will Deep Thoughts fasten things upon the Spirit and musing maketh the Fire to burn How hath God declared himself we may trust him upon his Word Psal. 104.34 My Meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. We should oftner find sweetness if we did oftner meditate of God It is sweet thus to inlarge our Thoughts upon the Promises and Comforts of the Gospel 2. To apply it When God's Name is proclaimed and made known to thee urge thy own Soul with it Rom. 8.31 What shall we say to these things Job 5.27 Lo this we have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy good This is Christ's Aim that Knowledg should beget Love in them Knowledg without Application doth no good We must take out our Share The Riches of God's Goodness are laid open to us for this End and Purpose that we may feel what is expressed We have known and believed the Love that God hath to us 1 John 4.16 It is no presumption it is the great End why the Gospel was written Wicked Men are too forward and presumptuous of God's Love they continue their ungodly Courses do those things which offend him and yet are perswaded that God loveth them God's Children pray against their Sins and fight against their Sins and yet after all cannot be perswaded of it There is a fear of Presumption and a fear of Security 1. A fear of Presumption as some say I am not worthy it is as if you should say I am too poor to ask or receive an Alms too filthy to be washed say not so for this is the way to make you worthy 2. Of Security this is to say If I take the Physick I shall be sick whereas it is not by applying Christ that we are endangered but by an insensibleness of our Misery If thou feelest thy Misery there is no danger of Security it is not every thing will satisfy a sensible Sinner not every slight Comfort Vse 2. Examination Whether you have gotten benefit by the Gospel Is God's Love in you Have you any Fruits or Feeling of his Love Can you say God loveth you All God's Children cannot feel his Love but have you the Fruits of his Love The Feeling of his Love is to be improved immediately to Thankfulness and the Fruits of his Love are to be improved by Spiritual Discourse to Confidence The present Argument will afford us ground of search and enquiry 1. Things without us are excluded they can be no Evidence or Argument of God's Love It
dead to sin and live in sin are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things incompetible the dead are no longer alive Because this is the strength of his Argument it will be good to enquire what it is to be dead to sin In the strict and rigorous notion he is said to be dead who is utterly deprived of all sense and motion that they are altogether without all feeling and motion of sin but this strict sense will not stand here therefore I must tell you the word relateth to the Baptismal Ingagement as the following verses abundantly do declare v. 3. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Baptism referreth to Christ's Death and we are baptized into the likeness and power of his Death the meaning of that Ordinance is to signifie our dying to sin and rising to newness of life this is that which every Christian knoweth if he be but a little instructed in the Principles of his Religion Well then every good Christian is dead to sin by Vow and Obligation therefore cannot should not live any longer therein There is a double undertaking in Baptism one on Gods part the other on ours the undertaking on Gods part is to give us the sanctifying Spirit of Grace to quell the reign of sin the undertaking on our part is by the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the Body Now some make Conscience of this solemn Vow and Promise others do not the Apostle considereth not what is done but what ought to be done he speak-the de jure of the Vow and Obligation we are all bound not de facto of the event not what always cometh to pass All Christians are bound to be dead to sin and every good Christian is actually dead to sin which though it hath some Life and being left yet it retaineth not its Sovereignty and Dominion over him Some conceive this latter sort intended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as many of us as have dyed to sin But rather he considereth the Right than the Fact Christianity doth oblige all at their first entrance into the Profession of it to renounce the Reign and Dominion of sin and break the power of it yet more and more so that it dyeth though a lingering Death as Christ did upon the Cross. Doctrine That to take occasion to live in sin from free Grace or Gods mercy to sinners in Christ is an inference most unjust absurd and blasphemous and that which all Christians hearts should abominate Here in the Text such an inference is mentioned with a denial joyned with a detestation of the thing denied the very thought and first mention of it ought to be entertained with abhorrency I. I will prove that the corrupt heart of man is apt to draw such a consequence II. I will prove the three charges First That it is very unjust and ill grounded Secondly Absurd and contradictory to Christianity Thirdly Wicked and blasphemous I. That the corrupt Heart of man is apt to draw such inferences from the Doctrine of Grace In the general carnal men are ill skilled at reasoning about spiritual matters Solomon telleth us Prov. 26.9 That a parable in a fools mouth is like a thorn in the hand of a drunkard As a drunkard with a sharp thorn grievously hurts himself and others neither his mind nor hand can do their office when the man is distempered with drink so 't is with men intoxicated by sin witness those contrary and different Conclusions which the carnal and spiritual will draw from the same Principles from the stated course of Nature the scoâ—â—ers said 2 Pet. 3.4 Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation David reasoneth the quite contrary way Psal. 119.89 90 91. For ever O Lord thy word is setled in heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations thou hast established the earth and it abideth They continue this day according to thine ordinances for all are thy servants So 1 Cor. 15.32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the dead rise not Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye with 1 Cor. 7.29 30. But this I say Brethren the time is short it remains that both they that have wives be as though they that had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not So 2 Sam. 7.2 The King said unto Nathan the Prophet See now I dwell in an house of Cedar but the Ark of God dwelleth within curtains with Haggai 1.2 This people say The time is not come the time that the Lords house should be built So 2 Kings 6.33 Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer with 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good So Mary Magdalen upon Christs pardoning her sin was more abundant in duty and mourning for sin Luk. 7.47 Her sins which were many are forgiven for she loved much and in the Text the directly contrary conclusion is drawn sin because grace doth abound maketh work for pardoning mercy But particularly it is very natural to us to abuse the Gospel and plead Gods grace to quiet and strengthen our selves in security and sin the thoughts of men do easily incline them to such conclusions That which hath been may be that this hath been appeareth by the Writings of the Apostles who every where seek to obviate this abuse and also by evident Reason 1. We all affect liberty to a degree of licentiousness This is natural to us as appeareth by our distaste of Christs strict Laws Psal. 2.3 Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us and our ready hearkening to Seducers who promise liberty though they bring us into bondage to sin 2 Pet. 2.19 and we be the more enslaved to baseness and filthiness 2. The flesh taketh all occasions to indulge it self and that it may be done in a plausible cleanly manner and with less remorse from Conscience it catcheth at every pretence to countenance it Sometimes it makes use of bodily Austerities as a compensation for their sins and so Hypocrisie Superstition and Prophaneness grow on the same Root The sensual Nature of men is such that it is loth to be crossed which produceth Prophaneness for therefore do men indulge themselves in all manner of sensuality because they are loth to deny their natural appetites and desires and row against the stream of Flesh and Blood but if Nature must be crossed or else they cannot palliate their carnal indulgences then they will not mortifie the lust but afflict the body for a while and in some slight manner which produceth Hypocrisie and we excuse the partiality of our obedience by some outward shews of strictness as
being dead to sin should live unto righteousness Dying to sin is made a step to the life of Righteousness So Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God We are hereby freed from clogs and impediments Fifthly Sin is the better mortified when life is introduced for the Love of God doth most ingage us to hate evil Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Life is sensible of what is contrary to it Vse 1. Information it informeth us of divers Truths 1. Except a man be turned from sin to Holiness he is not made a partaker of Christ and therefore while he lives in sin cannot be justified or have any right to pardon He that continueth to live in his sins shall dye in his sins and miserable shall his portion be for ever Well then be perswaded if we would have the comfort of Christs Death we must be changed into the likeness of it 2. How much it concerneth every Christian to be cautious and watchful For he is to remember this within himself I am to represent Christs Rising and Dying the death of sin must answer the Death of Christ and the new life his Resurrection Now is Christs dying and rising seen in us We were never implanted into him unless it be so Therefore unless we will declare to the World that we have no Union with Christ we must endeavour after Holiness What maketh so many Atheists in the World but because so few Christians discover the fruit of their Baptism they live as if they were wholly alive to sin and the world and dead to righteousness 3. That they have not yet attained to true Christianity that content themselves with abstaining from gross sins but make no conscience of loving serving pleasing and glorifying God or preparation for the World to come They do no man wrong but have no care of Communion with God Paul could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To me to live is Christ Phil. 1.21 meaning that he had no other object and employment for his life but Christ and his Service But these wholly live to themselves a true Christian can say Rom. 14.7 8. None of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords Vse 2. Is Exhortation to press you 1. To dye unto sin All that profess themselves Christians are by obligation dead O do not keep it alive after you have undertaken its Death charge your Consciences with your Baptismal Vow Besides Christ hath purchased Grace enough for the subduing and mortifying of sin and we have engaged our selves to improve this Grace The Ordinances call upon us every day to do it yet more and more the Word and Sacraments with the dispensations of which there go some motions of the Holy Ghost Nehem. 9.20 Thou gavest them also thy good Spirit to instruct and teach them O quench not his motions disobey not the sanctifying Spirit If this Grace hath taken hold of your hearts in any sort and you are affected with the offers of it you are bound to improve it the more Col. 3.3 For ye are dead vers 5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth you are dead by Vow and Covenant dead by Grace offered dead by Grace received Habitual mortification maketh way for actual Habitual mortification is when the heart is turned from sin so that it is turned against it Actual mortification consists in the resisting and suppressing its motions Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Once more none are in such a dangerous condition as those who have begun the work and then give it over 2 Pet. 2.20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning Those that fall from a common work make their condition more uncomfortable For real Believers the reign of sin is broken its strength and power much weakened by Grace but still it is working and stirring Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would do Rom. 7.23 I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin that is in my members Therefore still you must take care of this work Means 1. Be sensible of the evil of sin When once we begin to make light of sin we lye ready for a temptation God doth not make little reckoning of sin Christs Death sheweth it Rom. 8 3. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh Infants death sheweth it Rom. 5.14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression The punishment of the wicked sheweth it Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile The smart of Gods children sheweth it Prov. 11.31 Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner 2. Earnestly resolve against it in the strength of Christ 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffereth for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin The mind is hereby fortified Christs dying ingageth them to it Christ hath suffered for it and we are bound to subdue the flesh and deny the pleasures of it 3. Seriously endeavour against it according to the advantages the Spirit giveth you a conscientious Attender on the Ordinances of God hath many motions and helps 2. To walk in newness of life or to express the likeness of Christs Ressurection The spiritual Resurrection is described 1. By the Cause of it Joh. 5.25 The â—our is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live In the spiritual sense that Power was already executed by him in raising sinners out of the grave of sin for he saith it now is It is the Voice of Christ awakens as Lazarus come forth Do not then delay do not say it is too soon Heb. 3.15 To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts 2. The Nature of it as to the first Grace Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light awake as a man out
have some kind of remorse and trouble but they cannot help or free themselves 2. Observe that the Gospel looketh forward to the time to come It respecteth not what Believers have been before Conversion and turning to God but thenceforward they must forsake their sinful lusts and turn to God So 1 Pet. 4.2 That he no more should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God Time is short work is great since it is not enough for a Christian to cut off one member but the whole body of sin must be destroyed and they have been too long dishonouring God and destroying their own Souls and cherishing divers lusts in themselves Therefore now they should more earnestly set about the mortifying of sin Now as this is an encouragement to those that have long been serving their base lusts and vile affections and been eminent in wickedness so it is an ingagement to them to double their diligence for the future to serve God by virtue of their deliverance by Christ Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life If the Gospel doth not look backward surely it looketh forward it obligeth us to be more assiduous and serious in the study of Holiness after Conversion that if it be possible they may restore the Lord to his honour reclaim those whom they have hardened in sin and get their own hearts more loosened from it since custom hath deeply rooted it in them 3. Observe the Apostle saith That we should not serve sin It is one thing to sin another thing to serve sin Though sin doth remain in the godly it doth not reign in them to serve sin is to yield willing obedience to it This may be done two ways First When men slavishly lye down in any habit and course of sin There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a way of sinning as David Psal. 139.24 See if there be any way of wickedness in me David would not be corrupt in any of his ways And again Psal. 119.29 Remove from me the way of lying Some are given to one sin some to another some covetous others sensual some proud others brutish there is some iniquity they regard in their hearts and make much of and indulge in themselves and so grow slaves to that imperious lust Now whatever good properties we have otherwise we must take heed of any one perverse habit or evil frame of spirit lest it hamper us and make fools of us and make us liable to be caught again after some shew of escape A beast escaped with an halter is easily caught again so this lust indulged will bring us into our old bondage Secondly When we willingly indulge any presumptuous acts For Joh. 8.34 He that committeth sin is the servant of sin If we allow our selves to commit any one gross sin we serve it Other sins steal into the Soul by degrees but these at once therefore we must take heed that we run not wilfully into these inordinacies and yet hope to escape the danger Secondly How all this must be improved by us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowing this The word signifies 1. Knowledge 2. Consideration 3. Assent 1. Knowledge understand this This is of use here for ignorance of Christ and his Gospel is a great cause of sin whereas a sound knowledge produceth mortification Ignorance causeth men to become brutish 1 Pet. 1.14 Not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance 1 Cor. 15.34 Some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame On the other side knowledge is an help to mortification provided it be found and such a knowledge both for matter and manner as it ought to be For matter that it be a thorough knowledge Eph. 4.20 21 22. But ye have not so learned Christ if so be that ye have heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts If men were thorougly instructed in the Christian Doctrine they could not so easily sin against God but a partial knowledge incourages our boldness in sinning For manner it must be lively 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Joh. 8.32 And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make ye free Jer. 31.19 After I was instructed I smote on my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth It is but a form of knowledge not the lively light of the Spirit which doth not break the power of our lusts 2. It may import Consideration and so knowing this is seriously considering this Many Truths lye by neglected unimproved for want of consideration and that is the cause of mens sins they consider not Gods benefits Isa. 1.3 The ox knows his owner and the ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider nor his Judgments Job 34.27 They turned back from him and would not consider his ways that is made the reason of their sin they consider not his ways that is the ways of his Providence towards them and others If men did consider and ponder with themselves how hateful sin is to God with what severity he will punish it what obligations they have to the contrary it would much check the fervour of their lusts and they could not go on so quietly in a course of disobedience against God but they do not seriously consider what they are a doing Above all the Death of Christ should be considered by us as 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot If men would know that is ponder these things in their hearts and discourse with themselves Why was so great a price given for our Reconciliation but that sin might be destroyed and the great Make-bate between God and us removed out of the way 3. Knowing is often put for Assent For Faith is not a Doubting but a certain Knowledge And this enliveneth every Truth If you do believe that Christ came to take away every sin you have no reason to cherish it The Word worketh not till it be believed Heb. 4.2 To us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it But then it worketh
with Christ. What that is we have explained already all that I shall now add is That in Scripture it implieth two things First Conformity with Christ in his Sufferings so we have a Saying like that in the Text 2 Tim. 2.11 It is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him which presently is explained vers 12. If we suffer we shall also reign with him Secondly It implieth mortification of sin so it is understood here if we have communion and fellowship with his Death for the mortification of sin 2. The Term of Proposal conditionally If we The Particle if hath sometimes the notion of a Caution see that ye be dead with Christ sometimes it is a note of Relation when one priviledge is deduced from another as here if we partake of the effect and likeness of his Death in dying to sin we shall partake of the effect and likeness of his Resurrection in being quickened to live in Holiness and Righteousness all our days Dying to sin and newness of life are inseparable if we have the first we shall have the other also they are branches of the same work of Regeneration and both proceed from the same Cause Union with Christ. 2. The Truth hence inferred We shall also live with him This is meant both of the Life of Grace and of the Life of Glory Regeneration and Resurrection the one is to newness of Life the other is to everlasting Bless and Happiness Regeneration is the Spirits begetting us to the Image and Nature of God our heavenly Father and Resurrection is for the perfecting of that Likeness which is 't is true perfect in part here in the Soul 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Hereafter both in Body and Soul Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious body according to the wonderful working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself As to degrees 1 Joh. 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is As to kinds both in Holiness and Happiness 1 Cor. 15.49 As we have born the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Now we are conformed to his Image in afflictions Rom. 8.29 He hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son we look like him in the form of a Servant then we shall be like him as the Lord from Heaven heavenly Therefore the life of Glory in Heaven must not be excluded 3. The Certainty of the Inference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not a matter of Opinion and Conjecture but of Faith we are certainly perswaded of the truth of it We must distinguish of this Truth for it may be considered two ways First As a general Maxim or Proposition so it is absolutely true Those that are dead with Christ shall live with him This is an Article of Faith to be believed fide divinâ Secondly As it is applied to us or as it is a ground of our particular Confidence so it is true Hypothetically or upon Supposition and our Confidence can be no greater than the evidence of our Qualification If we be indeed dead with Christ we in particular shall also live with him It is but a rational Conclusion from two Premisses one of which is of Divine Revelation the other of inward Experience namely that I am dead with Christ therefore I believe that I shall live with him It is an act both of Faith and Reason an act of Faith by participation as it buildeth on a Principle of Faith Doctrine Those that are dead with Christ have no reason to doubt but that they shall also live with him I. I shall speak of the Condition If we be dead with Christ. II. Of the Benefit They shall live spiritually and everlastingly III. Of our certain Apprehension We believe I. Of the presupposed Condition If we be dead with Christ. 1. Who are dead with Christ. 2. How necessary this Order is The one will shew us that it is not an over-strict but a comfortable Condition the other that it is a Condition absolutely necessary to subsequent Grace 1. Who are dead with Christ. 1. Such as owne the Obligation which their Baptism and Profession puts upon them That reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin Rom. 6.11 that make account they are under a Vow and Bond wherewith they have bound their Souls The careless mind it not but the sincere Christians acknowledge that the debt lyeth upon them they being solemnly ingaged to Christ to do it The Apostle saith Rom. 8.12 We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh as the Jew by Circumcision is bound to observe all the Rituals of Moses Gal. 6.3 so Christians by Baptism are bound to crucifie the flesh and obey the Spirit What say you Are you at liberty to do what you lift or under a strict Bond and Obligation to dye unto sin Let your lives answer for you 2. They make Conscience of it and seriously address themselves to perform it Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts they have begun to do it and still go on to do it more and more for this is a continued action not the work of a day but of our whole lives They have not only retrenched the desires of the flesh but seek to mortifie and subdue them and perform their Promise so solemnly made to God 3. They obtain the effect in such a degree that the reign of sin is broken though sin it self be not utterly extinct us They do no longer live in their old slavery and bondage as those do who obey every foolish and hurtful lust that bubleth up in their hearts A mans condition is determined by what is in the Throne habitually and governeth our lives and actions There are two warring Principles in us full of enmity and repugnancy to each other the Flesh and the Spirit but one reigneth which constituteth the difference between the carnal and the renewed in the carnal Flesh reigneth but in the regenerate the Spirit hath the mastery and is superiour and most powerful so that a Christian sheweth himself to be Spirit rather than Flesh otherwise it could not be said That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Joh. 3.6 The acts of sin are disowned acts and he may say with Paul It is not I but sin that dwelleth in me Sin is against the bent and habit of our wills 4. They substract the fuel of their lusts as they wean themselves from earthly things and shew such contempt of the World that the good things which they enjoy by Gods allowance are not a snare to them For the Apostle saith of those that set their affections
know and no sin but what you are truly desirous to get rid of so that the chiefest care of your hearts and endeavour of your lives be to serve and please God and it is your daily desire and endeavour to please God and master its rebellious opposition to the Spirit and you so far prevail that for your drift and course you are not led by the Flesh but the Spirit then you are sincere and upright with God otherwise you must not think every striving will excuse you if it be such a striving as may consist with the dominion and customary practice of sin There are few Wretches so bad but they may have some wishes that they could leave sin especially when they think of the inconveniences that attend it and Conscience may strive a little before they yield but they live in it still A Christian striveth but cannot be perfect there are infirmities but the convinced sinner striveth but cannot live holily there are iniquities This striving hindereth not the dominion of sin because he doth not conquer and master it so far but that it breaketh out in a gross manner his striving cometh not from the renovation of the Spirit but the conviction of his Conscience which is ever condemning his practices 2. Positively when we obey it and follow it and do that to which sin inticeth us For the end of sins Reign and Empire is our Obedience the commands and urgings of it are in vain if you obey them not but rather rebuke and suppress them Now we may obey bodily lusts two ways First By the inward consent of the mind for what sins you would do you have done in Gods account though the outward Act follow not Mat 5.28 He that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart though you be impeded and hindered in the Action The life and reign of sin is in the heart in the love of the heart though it may be it may not appear in outward deeds Restraint is not Sanctification Practices may be restrained by bye-ends but if you like the sin in your hearts you let it reign and do not oppose it by gracious motives Your hearts are false with God if his Empire be not set up there Therefore obey not the lusts of the body that is consent not to them if they arise and bubble up in your hearts let them be disowned and disliked We are to abstain from fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 before they break out into our conversation for the governing of the heart and the regulating of the life are two distinct acts of our obedience to God they are required indeed the one in order to the other but you must be careful of both Your love to God and his Law must be shewed by abominating the motions that would draw you to the contrary Psal. 119.113 I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love The first motions are sins for they proceed from corrupt Nature we had none such in Innocency and the consent is a farther sin because then you begin to give way to its reign The delightful stay of the mind sheweth our love to it these pauses of the mind come from sin are sin and tend to further sin Jam. 1.15 Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Secondly The Execution of these Motions by the Body when sin is brought to her consummate effect Micah 2.1 Wo to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds when the morning is light they practise it because it is in the power of their hands This is a sign of the reign of sin too much room being given to sin in the heart that it obtains a mastery there it violently and effectually commands our practice which if it be a scandalous enormity it makes sin to reign for the present Lesser evils steal into the Throne by degrees and leaven us with a proud worldly or carnal frame of heart but gross sins invade the Throne in an instant at least for the present making fearful havock and waste of the Conscience and the repeated acts shew our state II. That Christians are strictly obliged to take heed that sin get not Dominion over them 1. By the Light of Nature which is in part sensible of this disorder which hath invaded all Mankind namely an inclination to seek the happiness and good of the Body above that of the Soul The very make and constitution of man sheweth his Duty man is composed of a Body and a Soul both which parts are to be regarded according to the dignity of each the Body was subordinated to the Soul and both Soul and Body unto God his Flesh was a servant unto his Spirit and both Flesh and Spirit unto the Lord but sin entring defaced the Beauty and disturbed the Harmony and Order of Gods Creation and Workmanship Man withdrew from subordination to God his Maker seeking his happiness without God and apart from him in earthly and worldly things and also the Body and Flesh is preferred before the Soul and Reason and Conscience enslaved to Sense and Appetite Understanding and Will are made bond-slaves to the lusts of the Flesh which govern and influence all his actions his Wisdom Mind and Spirit as it were sunk into the Flesh and transformed into a brutish Quality and Nature This many of the wiser Heathens saw and sought to rectifie Maximus Tyrius calls our Passions and Appetites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tumultuous Populacy or common People of the Soul which must not be left to their own boisterous violence but be kept under the Law and Empire of the Mind Philo the Jew calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Woman part in Man in opposition to Reason which he maketh to be the Masculine part Simplicius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Child in us which needeth more stayed heads to govern it And some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Foot part of the Soul as it is a monstrous disorder if the feet be there where the head should be so it is for us to serve divers lusts and pleasures when we should be governed by Reason The Stoicks generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bestial part in us which they counted the Man as if the Beast should ride the Man as Socrates expresly calls Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Rider or Chariot-driver as the Body and bodily Inclinations the Horses Now if the Light of Nature taugh the Heathens who knew little of the cause and malignity of this Vitiosity and Disorder to observe this and labour under it surely Christians are more strictly bound to curb the flesh and moderate the lusts and passions of it We know more clearly what an evil it is to love the Creature above God the Body more than the Soul the World above Heaven Riches Honours and Pleasures more than Grace and Holiness as the Light of Christianity befriendeth
of sin Or as the Saints of God are eminent for some special Graces Abraham for Faith Moses for Meekness Job for Patience Joseph for Chastity Timothy for Temperance so these have their notorious and contrary blemishes 2. There is a more secret and close Dominion of Sin that is varnished over with a fair appearance Men have many good qualities no notorious blemishes but yet some sensitive good or other lieth nearest the heart and occupieth the room and place of God that is it is loved respected and served instead of God or more than God that which is our chiefest Good or last End is our God or occupieth the room of God Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and Mammon Joh. 5.44 How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Luke 14.26 If any come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple We must be dead not only to carnal Pleasures but to Relations Estate yea Life and all nothing on this side God must fit nearest the heart nor bring us under its command and power 1 Cor. 6.12 I will not be brought under the power of any thing We are besotted and bewitched with some temporal thing cannot part with it or leave it for Gods sake or notwithstanding all the mischief it doth to his interest in the Soul though a man serve it cunningly closely and by a cleanly conveyance yet all his Religion is to hide and feed this Lust. 6. There is a Predominancy of one Sin over another and the Predominancy of Sin over Grace In the first sense renewed men may be said to have some reigning corruption or predominant sin namely in comparison of other sins That such predominant sins they have appeareth by the great sway and power they bear in commanding other evils to be committed or forborn accordingly as they contribute to the advancement or hinderance of this sin As in the Body a Wen or Strain draweth all the noxious humors to its self and thereby groweth moâ—e great and monstrous It appeareth also by the frequent relapses of the Saints into them and their unwillingness to admit admonition and reproof for them and sometimes their falling into them out of an inward propensity when outward Temptations are none or weak or very few Well then there are some sins which are less mortified than others or unto which they are naturally carried by Constitution or Education natural Inclination or course of Life Thus David had his iniquity Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquity whether it were hastiness or distrust of the Promise or also an inclination to revenge himself some sins that men favour or withstand less or which are most urgent and importunate upon them and steal away their hearts most from God the great Pond into which other rivulets or streams of sin do empty themselves or that bough or limb which taketh away the nourishment from all the under-shrubs that which is loved and delighted in above other sins and when other sins will not prevail the Devil sets this a-work as the Disciples looked on the Disciple whom Jesus loved Joh. 13.23 24. Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of the disciples whom Jesus loved Simon Peter therefore beckened unto him that â—e should ask Who it should be of whom he spake Well then in regard of other sins one may reign and sit in the Throne of the Heart or be loved more than another but not in regard of Predominancy over Grace for that is contrary to the new Nature that sin should have the upper hand constantly and universally in the Soul For any one thing though never so lawful in it self habitually loved more than God will not stand with sincerity Luke 14.33 Whosoever be be that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple if we must not keep our natural Comforts certainly not our carnal Lusts. To love any thing apart from Christ or against Christ or above Christ is a dispossessing of Christ or a casting him out of the Throne 7. There is a twofold Prevalency and Dominion actual or habitual Actual is only for a time habitual for a constancy though a regenerate man be not one that lets sin reign over him habitually yet too often doth sin reign over him actually as to some particular acts of sin First The habitual Reign of Sin may be known by the general frame and state of the heart and life where it is constantly yielded unto and not controuled and opposed but beareth sway with the contentment and delight of the party sinning Men give the bridle to sin and let it lead them whither it will and generally walk after the flesh and not after the Spirit no doubt that is peccatum regnans cui homo nec vult nec potest resistere the sinner hath neither will nor power because usually after many lapses into hainous sin God giveth up men to penal or judicial hardness of heart they first voluntarily take on these bonds and chains upon themselves these are said to walk after their own lusts 2 Pet. 3.3 to continue or live in sin Rom. 6.2 to be dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 to serve divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 to draw on iniquity with cart-ropes Isa. 5.18 to addict and give up themselves to a trade of sin with delight and consent But more closely the reign of sin is never broken till the Flesh be made subject to the Spirit that will be found by examining every day what advantage the Spirit hath gotten against the Flesh or the Flesh against the Spirit how Providences and Ordinances are blessed for that end or for the weakening of sin for every day the one or the other gets ground Dough once soured with Leaven will never lose the taste and smatch but the sweetness of the Corn may prevail above it Sin dwelleth in the heart but doth it decay Gal. 5.16 This I say walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Secondly Actual Sin may now and then get a Victory over the Faithful but not a full quiet Reign Sin actually prevaileth when we do that which is evil against our Consciences or yield pro hic nunc to obey sin in the lusts thereof It gameth our consent for the time but the general frame and bent of the heart is against it In short when sin is perfected into some evil action or lust hath conceived and brought forth sin Jam. 1.15 that is some heinous offence for that time no question it hath the upper hand and carrieth it from Grace and the Flesh doth shew it self in them more than the
Spirit A man may please a lesser friend before a greater in an act or two but every presumptuous act of sin puts the Scepter into his hands Note That the Predominancy spoken of in the former distinction and this do much prejudice a Christian waste his Conscience hinder his Joy or Faith and if not broken in time or we sin often we cannot be excused from the habitual reign of sin Note again Every dislike doth not hinder the reign of sin it doth constantly govern our lives though there may be some resistance SERMON XIII ROM VI. 14 For sin shall not â—ave dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace II. I Now come to handle the second General There is a Necessity incumbent upon them 1. From their own proneness and proclivity to fall into Sin 2. From the mischiefs arising from reigning Sin 3. From the unsuitableness of it to their renewed State 4. They cannot other ways maintain their hopes of Glory 1. Because of their own proneness and proclivity to this evil That appeareth 1. Because there is sin still in us a Bosom-enemy which is born and bred with us and therefore will soon get the advantage of Grace if it be not well watched and resisted As Nettles and Weeds which are kindly to the soil and grow of their own accord will soon choak Flowers and better Herbs which are planted by care and industry when they are neglected and not continually rooted out We cannot get rid of this cursed Inmate till this outward Tabernacle be dissolved and this House of Clay be crumbled into dust like Ivy gotten into a Wall that will not be destroyed till the Wall be pulled down The Israelites could not wholly expel the Canaanites and therefore we are the more obliged to keep them under Our Nature is so inclinable to this slavery that if God substract his Grace and we be altogether negligent we shall soon rue the sad effects of it 2. It is not only in us but it is always working in us and striving for the mastery Sin is not as other things which as they grow in age they grow more quiet and tame no it is every day more active and stirring Jam. 4.5 The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy it is not a sleepy but a working stirring Principle Rom. 7.8 Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence If it were a dull and an unactive habit the danger were not so great but it is always working and putting forth it self and seeking to gain an interest in our Affections and a command over all our Motions and Actions Therefore unless we do our part to keep it under we shall soon revert to our old slavery it is like a living Fountain that poureth out waters though no body cometh to drink of it though there be nothing to irritate it but Gods Law and the motions of his Spirit there is a continual fermentation of the corrupt humors in our Souls 3. It is always warring as well as working Rom. 7.23 I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind â—nd bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Sin seeketh to deface all these impressions of God which are upon the heart which bind the Conscience to Holiness and to stifle all these motions that tend to it that it may alone reign in the heart without controul it sets it self in direct opposition against all those dictates of Conscience and holy motions and inspirations that the Sinner may be fully captivated to do what the flesh requireth to be done by him therefore it must be kept under as a Slave or it will get up as a Tyrant and domineer One sin that we least suspect may bring us under this slavery it doth not only make us flexible and yielding to Temptations but it doth urge and impel us thereunto We think and speak too gently of Corruption when we think and speak of it as a tame thing that worketh not till it be irritated by the suggestions of Satan no it riseth up in Arms against every thing of God in the heart 4. The more it acteth the more it getteth strength as all Habits are increased by multiplied Acts and when we have once yielded we are ready to yield again as a brand that hath been once burned is more apt to take fire a second time Deut. 29.19 And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst After men have once committed a sin they are more vehement to venture on it again at first we cannot get down sin so easily till an Habit and Custom hath smoothed it to our throats Well then this bondage is daily increasing and more hard to be prevented by multiplied Acts a Custom creepeth on us which is as another Nature and that which might be easily remedied at first groweth more difficult to be subdued As Diseases looked to at first are easie to be cured but when once they become inveterate the Cure is more desperate so are sins before we are hardened into a Custom Jer. 13.23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil No means will then prevail to work it out of them or bring them to any good the more we sin the more are we enthralled to sin as a Nail the more it is knocked the more it is fastened into the wood A Sinner is often compared to a Slave or Servant now there were two sorts of Servants or Slaves such as were so by Covenant and by their own consent or such as were so by Conquest or Surprizal in War The first similitude is used Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness The other Servant by Conquest is spoken of 2 Pet. 2.19 For of whom a man is overcome of the same also is he brought into bondage Now these Notions I would rank thus every carnal man at his first entrance into a course of Vanity and Sin is a Servant by consent hire or contract for he doth consecrate his Life and his Love his Time and his Care his Actions and Employments to please his Lusts we first willingly and by our own default give up our selves to this course But the customary Sinner by Conquest that hath so cripled and maimed his Faculties that he cannot be at liberty if he would then they grow compleat slaves to their Lusts as Captives in War are servants to their Conquerors for whilst they do voluntarily and ordinarily give up themselves to serve the Devil and their own Corruptions without resistance or crying to Christ for help they are very Bond-slaves and held in
mercy and find grace to help in time of need 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adam had habitual Grace but he gave out at the first assault When a City is besieged the Prince who would defend it doth not leave it to its ordinary strength and the standing Provisions which it had before but sendeth in fresh Supplies of Soulders Victuals and Ammunition and such things as their present exigence calleth for So doth God deal with his people his Spirit cometh in with a new Supply that they may the better avoid sin and stand out in an hour of Tryal So from the World which is continually obtruding it self upon our embraces and it is hard to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 The new Nature was given us for that end and also the Spirit of God is necessary 1 Joh. 4.4 Ye are of God and have overcome the world for greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world The Spirit is necessary as against the Terrors so the Delights of it 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God that so the World may not corrupt us nor intice us to affect its Riches Honours and Pleasures above God and the Conscience of our Duty to him 2. There is great incouragement to us to set upon the work of Mortification because it is carried on by the help and power of the Spirit if we were to grapple with sin in our own strength then we might sit down and despair and dye but the Spirit is appointed for this end and purchased for us by Jesus Christ for all that come to him with broken hearts and do not by their carelesness negligence or other sin provoke the Lord to withdraw his exciting Grace if you do humbly implore his assistance wait for his approaches attend and obey his motions you shall find what the Spirit is able and willing to do for you He is able surely though you are ready to say I shall never get rid of this naughty heart renounce these bewitching lusts there are none so carnal but he can change them and bend and incline their hearts to God and heavenly things 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God He can turn Swine into Saints a Dunghil into a Bed of Spices none should give way to sottish despair God never made a Creature too hard for himself And when he hath begun an interest for God in our Souls he can maintain it notwithstanding oppositions and temptations Phil. 1.6 He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God is willing to give the Spirit to them that ask it as a Father is to give a Child what is necessary for him Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Be careful you do not grieve the Spirit and make your selves uncapable of his help Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption The Spirit of God will not forsake us unless we forsake him first The Spirit is grieved when Lust is obeyed before him when his Counsels and holy Inspirations are smothered and we yield easily to the requests of sin but are wholly deaf to his motions if so indeed he ceaseth to give us warning and to renew and continue the excitations of his Grace water once heated congealeth the sooner so they are most hardened who have been notably touched with his sacred Inspirations but go a quite contrary way But the Renewed need not doubt of his help for God hath promised the Spirit to them to cause them to walk in his ways Joh. 14.16 17. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforâ—er that he may abide with you for ever Even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Well then do not complain but up and be doing against sin Laziness pretendeth want of power but is any thing too hard for the Spirit of the Lord It is a lamentable thing to see what a cowardly Spirit there is in most Christians how soon they are captivated and discouraged with every slender assault or petty temptation and their resolutions are shaken with the appearance of every difficulty This is affected weakness not so much want of strength as sluggishness and cowardize and want of care men spare their pains and then cry they are impotent like lazy Beggars who personate and act a Disease because they would not work Surely where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Many are not able to stand before the slightest motion of sin because they do not stir up themselves and awaken that strength which they have or improve that which God continually vouchsafeth to them by the motions of his Spirit It would be more for your comfort to try what you can do in the resistance of sin than idlely to complain for want of strength The two Extremes are Pride and Sloth Pride is seen in self confidence or depending upon our endeavours and resolutions and Sloth in a neglect of the Grace given or help afforded to you Christians should improve present strength against sin and still labour to get more Every Conquest will increase your strength against the next assault and one limb of the body of death mortified is a means to cause the rest to languish by consent 4. The next incouragement is the Promises of the Gospel which secure this benefit to us and surely the watching and the striving Person may take comfort in them There are two sorts of Promises some that do assure of necessary assistance some that speak of arbitrary assistance as Ezek. 36.26 27. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flâ—sh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Now such Promises must be improved for the Covenant of God is the ground of our stability Adam had a seed of Grace but it was not secured by Promise and therefore he sinned it away the Victory is assured to us by Promise Rom. 16.20 The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly In ordinary Conflicts it is a good Rule Non aequè glorietur accinctus ac discinctus but a Christian may triumph before the
and so in the high way to destruction they say Tush it is folly to stand so scrupulously and nicely upon our Duty but on the other side they are free from sin that fear a Commandment that dare not venture when God hath hedged up their way the one are prophane they will speak and do as they list say God what he will to the contrary the other godly and have a deep reverence of God and so of his Word upon their hearts My heart standeth in awe of thy word saith David Psal. 119.161 Many fear the punishment of man or a Judgment when to visible appearance it is likely to tread upon the heels of sin and some may fear a Threatning but a gracious heart feareth a Commandment if a Commandment standeth in the way it is reason enough to a gracious heart to forbear more than if there were a Lion in the way or a Band of armed Enemies or an Angel with a drawn Sword such as stood in the way to stop Baalam they have a deep reverence of Gods Authority and it is no more than needeth for this direction is given to us 1 Pet. 1.17 Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear to those that take themselves to be renewed ones 2. Be more resolved against sin We shake off the yoke by a solemn entring into Covenant with God wherein we renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh and heartily dedicate our selves to live unto God now the more resolved we are in either the more sincere is our Covenant A wavering purpose maketh us neither wholly off from sin nor wholly on upon Gods service but hangeth between both the heart is not biassed and ingaged and so there is a considerable and notable inconsistency in the life Jam. 1.8 A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways Therefore till the purpose cometh to be full we are not freed from the power of sin Some kind of willingness and unsound consent there is in the half converted yet for want of this true resolution their hearts are not right with God neither are they stedfast in his Covenant Psal. 78.37 It is long e're men will yield to live to God and when they seem to yield are long wavering e're they fully resolve they see all is not well with them and that they are not in a safe condition to appear before God in the Judgment and they have many perswadings of the Spirit of God and their own Consciences reasoning the case with them and under these perswasions the mind is under some purpose to take a new course but these purposes are either for the time to come hereafter they will be more strict and holy but still adjourn and put it off or else they are but half purposes that reach not to a full resolution and therefore if they make some kind of change it is by halves they are not free from sin which often returneth and recovereth its former Power and Reign in their Hearts But when men are resolved past all contradiction that this shall be their work and scope to please God then they do more fully yield up themselves to the renewing Spirit to be sanctified and prepared for Gods use the Scales are cast Righteousness gets the Power that Sin had before the man is new armed with a resolution to cease from sin and to betake himself to a holy life whatever it cost him 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves also with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin He is resolved to deny the Flesh forsake the World and to cast off the weight that hangeth on him and the sin that doth so easily beset him and to run with patience the race that is set before him Heb. 12.1 2. Good wishes and good purposes will not now serve the turn but active and serious endeavours the man that hath another work to do that he may actually forsake the sin which he hath renounced 3. Do not make a light matter of sin but hate and abhor it The Soul is never truly converted to God till Holiness hath our delight and love and sin our hatred and aversation When it is hated it is mortified While a man is a servant of sin he loveth not God nor spiritual things nor the holy ways of God but rather there is an opposition to them and enmity against them in the heart but when we become the Servants of God the object both of our love and hatred is changed we love God and his People and his Ways but then they hate sin sincerely even the garment spotted with the flesh Jude 13. the very evil actions they do themselves they hate Rom. 7.15 The evil which I hate that do I. Sin may break out sometimes but it is contrary to their liking but generally this hatred prevents sin and is a very great help to the forsaking of it they are so fallen out with sin that they keep it under Psal. 97.11 Ye that love the Lord hate evil their hearts are turned from it and against it whereas formerly they lived in fleshly pleasures their delight is in pleasing God the main bent of their heart and life is against sin and their chief design and endeavour is to destroy it Grace hath taught them that Sin Satan and the Flesh are their deadly Enemies that seek the Damnation of their Soul and therefore they deal with them as Enemies and bid defiance to them Alas what ado have we with many to leave a base Lust because they never truly hated it There is â—ome dislike of their sins for a while but when the fit is over they relapse into them because there is not an irreconcileable enmity and abhorrency Isa. 30.22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornaments of thy molten images of gold thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence Hosea 14.8 Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idols Others stand dallying with sin but cannot leave it 4. If you would be free from sin avoid the temptations that lead to it If Ravens or Crows be driven away from the Carrion they love to abide within the scent Those that will play about the Cokatrices hole will surely be bitten therefore we ought to fly the occasions and appearances of evil 1 Thess. 5.22 Abstain from all appearance of evil If men would not be drowned what do they so near the waters side nor wounded why venture they among Enemies or meddle with the Bait if they would escape the Hook Therefore Caution is your Preservative 5. If you would be free from sin live unto God For Vivification doth promote Mortification and the sensual Life is best cured by the Souls delight in God and care to please him Job 1.1 Job was perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil True
and just value for his Person Ministry Converse and Memory as they were too great to be fully exprest so they are to be wholly conceal'd and buried in silence Those acts of your Beneficence towards him wherein love is wont the sincerer it is alwaies the more to affect privacy it were a rude violence to offer at disclosing But its paths in that so long-continued Friendly commerce with him unto which your Honours were pleased to condescend could not be hid Any eye might observe the frequency of your kind visits the familiar freedom you gladly allow'd him at your House as at his own home and that when the season invited you to your pleasant Countrey-recess it was also the more pleasant to you if his Affairs could allow him there to divert and repose himself with you In the very common and piercing affliction of his Death which enter'd into the Souls of many none that were not of his nearer Relatives had a greater share than your Honours or in the bitter sorrows caused by it Your part may be hoped to be as peculiarly great in the advantages and consolations which he that bringeth light out of darkness is pleased to attend and follow it The decease of any such person besides that 't is otherwise also instructive is a further enforcing repetition and inclucation of a common but very apt and powerful Argument both for the increase of our Faith concerning another World and the diminution of our Love to this To the former purpose the Argument from this Topick cannot but be very convictive unto such whom the forelaid serious apprehension of a Deity hath prepared and made capable of it unto others to whose grosser minds that most important and so easily demonstrable thing is doubful one may despair any thing should be certain that they see not with their eyes But who that believes this World hath a Wife Holy Righteous Merciful Ruler that disposes all things in it can take notice that the best of men die from Age to Age as others do and allow himself to think no difference shall be made hereafter And that God should order the collecting of so great a Treasure in one Man not to say of general Learning and Knowledge but of true Goodness Grace Sanctity Love to himself and to men for his sake his very image and the lively resemblances of his own holy and gracious nature to be for ever buried in the dust Or who would not rather conclude as that blessed Apostle that when the World is passing away and the lusts of it he that doth the Will of God being thus tranformed into it abideth for ever 1 Iohn 2.17 And for that other purpose Who that beholds what was of so great value forsaking our World and caught up into Heaven would not less love an Earthly station and covet to be Consorted with the holy Assembly above Every such assumption ought to diminish with us the retentive Power of this World and sensibly add to the Magnelism and Attractiveness of Heaven Doth not God expresly teach and prompt us to despise a World out of which he plucks such excellent ones plainly judging it not worthy of them The general Argument to both these purposes tho it hath not more strength in it self from the death of this or that particular person when we foreknew that such must die yet hath more Emphasis and efficacy upon us as the instances are repeated especially when we have a present occasion to consider the death of some one of great value thoroughly known to us as this Worthy Person was to your Honours For it is not then a cold faint Idea we have of such a ones worth as that is which is begot by remote and more general report but have a lively remembrance of it as it appeared in numerous vivid instances and thence do with the more spirit and assurance conclude such excellencies too great to be for ever lost or be an eternal prey to Death and the Grave but therefore that he is certainly Ascended and gone into a World more suitable to him Whence also the manifold endearments which were the effects of former very intimate Conversation recur afresh with us and carry up our hearts after him thither making us wish and long to be there too But the Wisdom and Mercy of Providence seem especially to have taken care the Church of God on Earth should be some way recompenc'd for the loss of so considerable a Person out of it by those so generally acceptable and useful Works of his that survive him Your Honours Iudicious and very complacential gust and relish of any thing that was Reverend Dr. Mantons make you the more capable of the larger share and fuller satisfaction in that recompence And were it known how great a part of them hath had a second birth or Resurrection by the diligence of one depending on you that rescued them from the obscurity of a private Closet as from a grave and who tho deservedly favoured by you upon other accounts is undoubtedly much the more upon this also You would be esteemed to have the more special title to them as well as capacity of advantage by them There is however enough to make it decent and just That wheresoever these Writings shall be read your kindness to their Author should be told for a memorial of you and whatsoever your interest was or is in him and his labours it cannot be a lean wish unto you To desire your benefit may be proportionable Which is most earnestly desired for you with the addition of all other valuable Blessings by Your HONOURS Greatly obliged and very humble Servants in Christ our Lord WILLIAM BATES IOHN HOWE SERMONS UPON THE Eighth Chapter OF THE ROMANS SERMON I. ROM VIII 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit IN the former Chapter the Apostle in his own Person represents a Believer groaning under the relicks of sin or bewailing the imperfections of his sanctification now because this Conscience of in-dwelling sin may breed in us fears of Condemnation he sheweth here what remedy and relief is provided for us by Jesus Christ. There is therefore c. So that the words are an Inference from the Complaint and Gratulation expressed in the last Verse of the preceding Chapter Tho in the godly there remain some sin yet no condemnation shall be to them Observe here 1. A priviledg There is no condemnation 2. A description of the persons who have interest in it they are described 1. By their internal estate To them which are in Christ Jesus 2. By their external course of life who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit 1. There is a denial of the prevailing influence of the corrupt principle They walk not after the flesh 2. Their obedience to the better principle is asserted and affirmed but after the Spirit Three points I shall touch upon 1.
them and if others do injuries to us to forgive them as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us The second Operation which the Holy Ghost produceth in us is righteousness or justice in all our dealings giving every one his due honour whom tribute and praise to whom praise belongeth not borrowing without a mind or ability to pay which is but a specious robbery and 't is a shame so many Christians are guilty of it I am sure 't is contrary to the Spirit of God for when God hath done so much to manifest his justice to the world all that have the Spirit of God should be very righteous far from Oppression Fraud or Detention of what is another mans The Third Thing is Truth or Fidelity whereby we carry our selves sincerely and free from Hypocrisie and Dissimulation or lying cozenage and deceit God is a God of Truth and the Holiness be worketh in us is true holiness the Apostle groundeth his Exhortation upon that Wherefore put away lying Eph. 4.24 25. and speak truth every man to his neighbour 'T is a sin inconsistent with sincerity more than any other Well then this is the Gospel-spirit now the Holy Ghost doth not only plant these graces in us at first but doth continually increase them and assist us in the exercise of them he doth plant them in us at first Faith is his gift and 't is he doth change our hearts and kindle an holy love in us to God and raiseth the heart to the hope of Salvation 1 Pet. 1.9 begotten to a lively hope This is his first work for men must be good before their actions can be good then he doth increase Grace making all outward means effectual to this end and purpose this is called the supply of the spirit of Christ Jesus Phil. 1.19 meaning thereby a further addition of grace wrought in us by the spirit whereby we grow and advance in the way to Heaven These Impressions are weak in us at first but they are increased by the same Author or Agent in the use of the same means Lastly he doth assist us in the exercise of the same grace still working in us what is pleasing in the sight of God Heb. 13.21 he concurreth to every action and we do not only live in the spirit but walk in the spirit Gal. 5.25 all along we are quickned by his influence Let us in the next place consider from whom we receive it 't is said here the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus it belongeth to Christ to give the spirit 1. He is the head ef the renewed state Christ was filled with the spirit to this end to be the head or quickning spirit to his Mystical Body 1 Cor. 15.45 The first Adam was made a living soul the second a quickening spirit not only as he giveth us the life of glory but the life of Grace also so Eph. 1.22 23. he is head over all things to the church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all He is an Head not only to govern and defend the Church but to give them spiritual life and motion as the Head doth to the members for he filleth all with grace all believers are supplied from this fountain and continually supplied till they be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.17 18 19. That is with all the Grace he meaneth to impart to us Well then the spirit is given by Christ John 4.14 Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life 'T is a living Conduit John 7.38 39. 2. 'T is his law that is written upon our hearts by the spirit The new Covenant is made with sinners in Christ Heb. 8.8 9 10. Behold the days come saith the Lord I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they continued not in my covenant for this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts Now he that taught us the Christian Faith and Religion doth impress it upon us by his spirit we find a power more than can be from the words alone in the effects on our selves This cometh from Christ whose Law it is but it is immediately wrought by the spirit 3. Christ promised it therefore Christ giveth it John 15.26 The comforter shall come whom I will send you from the father by vertue of his Merit and Intercession Christ from the Father sendeth forth the all-conquering spirit to subdue the world to himself he promised aforehand to send down this sanctifying spirit into mens souls to do this work upon them 4. He giveth it on his own conditions that is to say of Faith John 7.37 38. if any man thirst let him come to me and drink he that believeth in me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this he spake of the spirit which they that believe in him should receive And repentance Acts 2.38 Then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Now these are the conditions of the new covenant which Christ brought out of the Bosom of God 3. By what law By the Gospel this is the law of the spirit of Christ there is some little of the spirit given by the light of nature to help men to read the book of the creatures Rom. 1.19 God shewed it them they might see somewhat of God in the creatures his Wisdom Power and Goodness and God excited their minds to behold it and did dart in some light into their consciences There was more of the spirit given by the legal Covenant they might see much more of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God in his Statutes and Laws than Heathens could in the book of Nature but generally it wrought unto bondage the free spirit was but sparingly dispensed and to some few choice servants of God but these were but as a few drops of grace the great Flood of grace was poured out by the Gospel The Apostle puts the Galatians to the Question by what Doctrine they received the spirit Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith He appealeth to their conscience and experience what kind of Doctrine conveyed the spirit to them the preaching of the Law or the preaching of the Gospel and this is meant not only of the Spirit that wrought Miracles but the sanctifying spirit he speaketh of both ver 5. He therefore that ministreth to you the spirit and worketh miracles among
passed upon us by the law and acquitted and discharged from the guilt of sin and being justified by faith are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3.7 That I will not speak of now because before in the first Verse I now proceed to open unto you the last Thing at first propounded which was 3. The manner of getting our liberty There are three words in the Text Law Spirit and Christ Jesus Let us begin with the last Christ procureth this liberty for us by the merit of his death and intercession The Law or Gospel offereth this liberty to us and the Spirit first applieth it and sealeth it to the Conscience 1. Christ procureth and purchaseth this liberty for us both from the damning power of the Law and the slavery of corruption We were Captives shut up under Sin and Death and he paid our ransom and so obtained for us remission of sins and the sanctification of the spirit remission of Sins Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption by his blood the remission of sins That 's one part of our recovery highly necessary for guilty Creatures how else can we stand before the Tribunal of God or look him in the face with any confidence but his redemption did not only reach this but the sanctification of the spirit also Therefore 't is said 1 Pet. 1.18 Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Thus Christ doth what belongeth to him and none can share with him in this honour 't is his merit that is at the bottom of the Covenant and procured for us both the favour and image of God that we might love him and be beloved by him 2. There is a Law or New Covenant which offereth this grace to us The law of nature concludeth men under Sin and pronounceth Death upon them Christ hath set up a new remedial Law of Grace by which we are called to submit to Christ and thankfully to accept of his merciful preparations even the great benefits of pardon and life The Gospel or New Covenant doth its part First There is Grace published or offered to us Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath anointed me to preach deliverance to the captives 'T is not enough that our ransom be paid but the offer must be made or else how shall it be laid hold upon by faith and received with thankfulness and with a due sense of the benefit Now the Gospel sheweth liberty may be had upon sweet and commodious and easie terms 2. The terms are stated in the Covenant That we give up our selves to the Lord by Christ and be governed and ruled by the conduct of his Word and Spirit Gal. 3.2 Received ye the spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith And 2 Tim. 2.25 26. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will The Covenant is not left to our humours and fancies to model and bring it down to our liking no nor are only the benefits offered but terms stated Isa. 56.4 That chuse the things that please me and take hold of my covenant When he hath stated his terms 't is too late for man to interpose his Vote or to imagine to bring down Christianity to a lower rate for we must not new model it but take hold of it as God hath left it Be in Christ and walk after his Spirit 3. This liberty is assured and established by the Covenant the Conscience of sin and the fears of condemnation are not easily done away and we are so wedded to our lusts that the power of reigning sin is not easily broken therefore we had need of a sure firm Covenant to ratifie these Priviledges to us because our fears are justified by a former Law made by God himself therefore God would not deal with us by naked Promise but put his Grace into a Covenant-form that we may have as good to shew for our Salvation as we had for our Condemnation yea and more And God hath added his Oath That the consolation of the heirs of promise might be more strong Heb. 6.18 And it being a latter grant former transactions cannot disannul it so that the Covenant doth its part also to free beâ—ievers from the power of Sin and the fears of Condemnation 4. The Spirit applieth this grace both as to the effects and the sense as to the effects he applieth it in effectual calling as this quickning spirit doth regenerate us and convert us to God and break the power and tyranny of Sin the wages whereof is Death the Gospel is the means but the blessing is from the Spirit John 8.32 Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free that is ye shall know it savingly so as to feel the power and efficacy of it To be set free to know love serve and delight in God is that liberty that we have by the free Spirit Psal. 51.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit 2. The spirit sealeth it as to the sense when we come to discern our freedom by the effects of it in our own souls Eph. 1.13 After ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise And in the fruit of Christs purchase Gal. 4.4 5 6. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father The Spirits seal is Gods impress upon our Souls left there not to make us known to God for he knoweth who are his from all eternity but for the increase of our joy and comfort not by guess but some kind of certainty 1 John 4.13 Hereby we know that we dwell in God and God dwelleth in us by his spirit that he hath given us by the Spirit dwelling and working in us we know our interest this is not so absolutely necessary as the former to our safety but very comfortable There is a Spirit that attendeth the Law reviving fears in men and a sense of Gods Wrath and there is a Spirit attending the Gospel inclining us to come to God as a Father Rom. 8.15 The one is called the spirit of bondage the other the spirit of Adoption Now because the law is so natural to us we the more need this liberty Vse 1. Since there is a Liberty by Christ and that wrought in us by the Spirit but dispensed by the Gospel let us seek it in this way Therefore consider 1. Your need since every man is under the power of Sin naturally and so under a sentence
of condemnation to Death if you be not sensible of the evil and burden of Sin yet surely you should flee from wrath to come Is that a slight matter to you our first and quickest sense is of wrath when our hearts are made more tender we feel the burden of sin fear worketh before shame and sorrow Therefore surely he that considereth his deep necessity should cry our Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7.24 2. Consider the possibility of your delivery from this bondage by the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Surely the Blood of Jesus can purge your consciences from dead works that you may serve the living God Heb. 9.14 There is a Covenant all the promises of which in Christ are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.23 The Covenant of night and day may sooner be dissolved than this Covenant broken or repealed There is the Spirit also who can subdue your strongest lusts and is ready to help you to mortifie the deeds of the body and to reclaim you from your vain pleasures 3. How comfortable it will be for you when once this work is in progress and you begin to pass from Death to Life every step will be sweet to you and as you grow in grace you do apace advance to Heaven Prov. 3.17 All her ways are pleasantness and all her paths are peace 2 Vse Let us examine whether we have received this regenerating grace to free us from the reign of sin Some are free in shew but others are free indeed John 8.36 Some have the outward badges of Liberty are Christians in name receive Sacraments and enjoy the Ordinances but not the grace in and by the Ordinances You may know the state of your service by the course of your life are you as ready to do any thing for God as before for sin Rom. 6.18 3 d Vse If we be free let us not return to our old slavery again Gal. 5.1 Stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ hath made you free and be not intangled again in the yoke of bondage Especially that chief part of freedom from the dominion of sin Rom. 6.12 Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof And the 14 verse For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace SERMON IV. ROM VIII 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh HERE the Apostle explaineth himself and sheweth how the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus doth make us free from the law of sin and death In the words observe three things 1. The deep necessity of mankind For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh. 2. The means of our deliverance or Gods merciful provision for our relief The means are two First Christs incarnation Secondly His Passion 1. His incarnation in these Words and God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh 2. His Passion and for sin or by a Sacrifice for Sin 3. The end or benefit accruing to us thereby Condemned Sinint he Flesh. Doct. from the whole That when man could by no means be freed from Sin and Death God sent his Son to be a sacrifice for sin that our liberty might be fully accomplished The Apostles method is best I shall therefore follow that 1. The deep necessity of mankind is argued and made out by this reason That it was impossible for the Law to do away Sin and justifie man before God so he saith For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh That is through the corruption of our natures we being Sinners and unable to perform the Duty of the Law To understand the force of this reason take these considerations 1. That it was necessary in respect of Gods purpose and decree that we should be freed from Sin and Death For God would not have mankind utterly to perish having chosen some to Salvation and Repentance and so leaving others without excuse therefore the strict Judgment of the Law is debated upon this Argument Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no man living be justified And again Psal. 130.3 If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquity Lord who shall stand According to the first Covenant none can escape Condemnation now this consisted not with the purposes of the Lords Grace who would not lose the whole Creation of mankind God hath shewed himself placable and merciful to all men and hath forbidden despair and continued many forfeited mercies and did not presently upon Sinning put us in our everlasting estate as he did the fallen Angels but rather is upon a Treaty with us 2. God resolving to restore and recover some of mankind it must be by the old way of the Law or by some other course The old way of the Law claimeth the first respect and precedence of consideration for take away Christ and the Gospel nothing more divine and perfect was given to man than the Law this was first intended by God for that end as the Scriptures every where witness and God will not depart from his own institutions without evident necessity for he doth nothing in vain or without necessary cause and reason Gal. 3.21 If there had been a law given which could have given life verily righteousness had been by the Law God would have gone no further than his first transaction with man Again 't is said Gal. 2.21 If righteousness had been by the Law then Christ is dead in vain If there had been any other way possible in Heaven or in earth than the death of Christ by which the salvation of lost sinners could have been brought about Christ would not have died no our disease was desperate as to any other way of cure before this great Physitian took our case in hand Christ is of no use till our wound be found incurable and all other help in vain 3. The Law coming first into consideration as our remedy its impossibility to justifie and give life needs to be sufficiently demonstrated for till we are dead to the law we shall but carelesly seek after the Grace of God in Jesâ—s Christ therefore doth the Scripture travel so much in this point and sheweth us we must not only be dead to sin and dead to the world but dead to the law before we can live unto God Gal. 2.19 I through the law am dead to the law that I may live unto God and again Rom. 7.4 Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye may be married to another even to him that was raised from the dead that ye may bring forth fruit to God These two places shew the means how we become dead
wicked yet it doth not lye idle he can deal with us cominus and eminus at a distance and near at hand he is whetting his sword and bending his bow if he fall upon us what shall we do if a spark of his wrath light upon the conscience how soon is man made a burden to himself Psal. 2.12 much more when he stirreth up all his wrath against us What shall we do First Accept of the conditions of peace God hath provided 2 Cor. 5.19 20. to wit That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation Now then we are ambassadors of Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God We read of Princes that Luke 14.31 while their enemy is yet a great way off they send an Embassy and desire conditions of peace God sendeth the Embassy to us let us accept of the offer we are no match for God Scondly Get corrupt nature healed and the heart renewed by the spirit for there is no peace as long as the old heart remaineth when renewed we are reconciled we receive the atonement if God sanctifieth he is a God of peace Be once after the spirit and then you will be spiritually minded and to one that is spiritually minded there is life and peace 2. The next thing is our impotency to recover our selves out of this estate for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Hence observe Doct. That while we remain carnally minded there is no breaking off this enmity between God and us The reasons of this repugnancy or why the carnal mind standeth in such direct opposition to the Law are 1. The law is spiritual and we are carnal sold under sin Rom. 7.14 Men in an habitual state of carnality cannot obey a spiritual law 2. The law is pure and holy Psal. 119.140 Thy law is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it but it is otherwise with fleshly creatures impuritas est mixtura vilioris 3. The Law is directly contrary to the fleshly mind and therefore the fleshly mind is directly contrary to it The Law of God forbiddeth many things that are pleasing to carnal nature as all excess of bodily pleasures inordinate seeking after the prosits and honours of the World commandeth many things tedious to flesh and blood as the loving God with all our hearts serving him with all our might and strength loving Enemies doing good to all seeking others welfare as our own Secondly Besides its repugnancy there is an utter incapacity But may it not be brought to obedience by the Law demanding its right and due in the Name of God 1. Not by a bare prohibition for that exasperateth the evil Rom. 7.5 For when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the law did work in my members to bring forth fruit unto death 2. Not by perswasions or instructions for spiritual arguments work little with a carnal heart perswasion alone prevaileth not against inclination 1 Cor. 2.14 For the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God 3. Nor will Resolutions Vows and Covenants make us subject for these are but the Dictates of Conscience till the Will be renewed 'T is our Judgment we should but the bent of our hearts lieth as a weight against it Rom. 2.18 Thou approvest the things that are excellent being instructed out of the law VSE is Information Since the unregenerate are altogether Flesh and the regenerate in part flesh the one can do nothing good the other nothing perfect 1. It giveth us a true account of mans natural incapicity to what is good First there is a natural propensity or inclination to the body before the soul and Earth before Heaven the creature before God John 3.6 That which is born of flesh is flesh 2. This is increased in us by being accustomed to a sinful life Jer. 13.13 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil 3. This custom is more confirmed and rooted by the general practice of all about us Isa. 6.5 Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips 4. 'T is not only practised but countenanced generally in the world 1 Pet. 4.4 Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot 5. The incouragements of another course lye wholly in a World to come Matth. 5.12 Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven 6. The Precepts to renounce this sensuality are given by an Invisible God Who tho he hath given sufficient demonstration of the truth of his being is little cared for Psal. 10.4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts SERMON X. ROM VIII 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God THIS Verse is Consectary from the whole Discourse especially from the former Verse They who are in the flesh are professed Enemies to God and therefore they cannot please him In the Words here are two Things 1. The Persons spoken of 2. What is said of them 1. The Persons spoken of They that are in the flesh that is who are unregenerate in the state of corrupt Nature he saith not if the flesh be in you ye cannot please God but if you be in the flesh that is in a carnal state As to be in the faith 2 Cor. 13.5 implieth being in a Gospel-state and to be in Christ Rom. 8.1 noteth a state of true Christianity so to be in the flesh is to be under the dominion and power of the flesh so as to serve the lusts and passions thereof during this carnal and corrupt estate till men are converted and changed they cannot please God 2. What is said of them They cannot please God Which may be interpreted two Ways quoad conatum vel quoad eventum first with respect to their endeavour they will not frame their doings nor make this their business and scope to please the Lord as 't is said of the Jews that rigorously kept up the ritual Observances of the law 1 Thes. 2.15 They please not God and are contrary to all men They were as far from fulfilling the true meaning of the law as they were from observing the Gospel and all men as long as their lusts are untamed and unbroken they cannot do those things which are pleasing in his sight Secondly With respect to Gods acceptance and favour they are not accepted with him so as to obtain Life and Peace and be exempted from Condemnation Doct. Carnal men do not cannot please God To prove this I shall lay down some Propositions 1. That it is mans duty and happiness to please God For this end
partly under the vail of the natural life 'T is a life within a life they live in the flesh as others do but they do not live after the flesh they eat drink sleep trade marry and give in marriage as the rest of the world do but all these things are governed by Grace and carried on to high and eternal ends The spirit and life is not seen and felt by others but only discovered in the effects as these things are carried on holily and with a sincere respect to Gods Glory 1 Cor. 10.31 Besides the effects are imperfect and clouded with a mixture of remaining infirmities the best Christians shew forth too much of the flesh and do not act as those that have the spirit of God dwelling in them now this is a great hindrance to the converting of the world and a means of hardning to prying Atheists who think all strictness is but a pretence 1 Cor. 3.3 While there is yet strife envyings and divisions among you are ye not carnal and walk as men Matth. 18.7 Wo to the world because of offences for it must needs be that offences come but wo to the man by whom the offence cometh 'T is dangerous to scandalize the world but the chief cause is their secret enmity to holiness they censure and traduce good men by reproaches and base misprisions and cannot endure that those that take a contrary course should have an excellency owned that might alarm their consciences to reverence 1 Pet. 4.6 Judged according to men in the flesh but live to God in the spirit as deceivers and yet true So reputed in the world as a company of dissemblers the worlds malice will not give them leave to see any good in those whom they dislike 3. It sheweth how much it becometh Christians to give such a demonstration and proof of the spirits dwelling in them that others may be able to say they are not in the flesh but in the spirit So did these Romans to Paul they gave ground for his charity to think them justfied so should all that are sincere do Now these others may be either the godly or the carnal world First for the godly who are best able to judg they have cause to think so when you are companions with them in the Faith Holiness and patience of the Gospel the men in the world are tied to one another like Sampsons Foxes by their tails tho their heads look several ways by their mutual interests and common agreement in mischief and enmity to the godly but the godly themselves should be joined together in the communion of the spirit loving one another with a Christ-like love and seeking each others good as their own and being affected with mutual sympathy towards each others condition as if it were their own case and with one mind and mouth glorifying God and promoting the interests of his kingdom and by their personal holiness bringing his honour in request in the world surely whoever do so we are to judg them heirs with us of the same grace of life and to bless God for them Secondly for the carnal world you must keep up the majesty of your profession that they may see there is a generation of men whose life is not spent in carnal pleasures and delights who are not as other men nor as themselves once were and do things which can be accomplished in them by no other Means or Agent than the Spirit of God Who in their common business act upon reasons and principles of Religion and turn all duties of the Second Table into duties of the first discharging all their respects to men out of the love of God and fear of God and are led by conscience rather than Interest and begin and end with God in all they do and cast their whole lives into an holy and heavenly mould making straight steps to their feet and walk with a temper becoming Religion in all the inequality of conditions they pass through in the World looking for no great matters heâ—e but fetching their main supports and comforts from the World to come 1. Those that do so will in time overcome malice and prejudice and convince the world that God is in them of a truth and they a heavenly and holy people and have a spirit and a presence that others have not Prov. 12.26 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour 2. They will reprove the World Heb. 11.7 Noah condemned the world by his ready obedience to Gods warning 3. They will make the world wonder 1 Pet. 4.4 They think it strange you run not into the same excess of riot with them 'T is no wonder to see men proud covetous revengeful carnal self-seeking corrupt Nature will sufficiently prove this As 't is no wonder to see the Sun move tho 't was a wonder in Iâ—shuah's time when the Sun stood still so 't is no wonder to see men loose and wicked but 't is a wonder to see men holy heavenly mortified self-denying 4. You will justifie the ways of God against the cavils of Atheists and prophane carnal men Matt. 11.19 Wisdom is justified of her children and Israel justified Sodom Ezek. 16. 2. Vse is to exhort us to get this holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts that he may work in us a Divine Nature or that spiritual and Divine Temper which will teach us to live above and against the inclinations of the flesh 1. The means of infusing the Divine Nature into us is the Doctrine and example of Christ First his Doctrine which discovereth higher things than the flesh inclineth us unto and is the only cure of the carnal spirit This word was indited by the holy spirit For holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost 2 Pet. 2.21 He inspired the Holy Apostles first to speak and then to write the Doctrine of Christ he led them into all truth John 6.13 The same Spirit attested this Doctrine by miraculous gifts Heb. 2.4 is conveyed by it Gal. 3 2. Received ye the spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith He prepareth and assisteth the ordinary Ministry that they may be fitted to convey this great gift Acts 20.28 Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy-Ghost hath made you overseers and 2 Cor. 3.6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit He writeth this Doctrine upon the heart Heb. 10.8 and 2 Cor. 3 3. Doth so renew and sanctifie our souls that we may live unto God Secondly The example of Christ for he had the days of his flesh John 1.14 and Heb. 5.7 lived in the world as men do but not after the flesh and God in our nature is the fit pattern for us to imitate that we may be in the world as he was in the world and not please the flesh as he pleased not himself To this example we are to be conformed but
wait for Eternal life Gal. 5.5 But we through the spirit do wait for the hope of righteousness by Faith That is which is built upon it 2. This spirit is the evidence of mens being true Christians the only sure and proper Evidence this will appear 1. By the Metaphors and terms by which the Spirit is set forth he is called a Seal a Witness and an Earnest Who hath sealed us and given us the earnest of his spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 and Eph. 1.13 14. After ye believed ye were seald with the holy spirit of promise Men used to set their mark and stamp upon their wares that they might own them for theirs God sealeth by his spirit his stamp is his Image 2 Cor. 3.18 We are changed into his image from glory to glory So he is also set forth under the notion of a Witness Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it's self beareth witness What is the Witness of the Spirit Not an immediate revelation or oracle in your bosomes to tell you that you are Gods Children but the renovation of the Soul and the constant operation of the holy Spirit dwelling and working in you this testifieth to our consciences or Spirits that God hath adopted us into his Family thus the Spirit is a Witness to the Scriptures So he is set forth as an Earnest 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us to this self same thing is God who hath also given us the earnest of his spirit An Earnest is part of the sum we have somewhat of the Life and peace and joy of the Spirit now which inableth us to wait with the more comfort and assurance for our future Blessedness 2. From the congruity of this Evidence 1. The coming down of the Holy ghost upon him as the evidence of Gods love to Christ and the visible Demonstration of his filiation and Sonship to the world The Evidence of Gods love Joh. 3.34 The Father loved the Son and gave him the spirit without measure Now Christ prayed John 17.26 That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and v. 23. That the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me None will think in degree therefore in kind that God would manifest his love to us as he did to him by the gift of the Holy Spirit or his filiation John knew Christ to be the Son of God by the spirit descending and abiding on him Joh. 1.32 I saw the spirit descend from Heaven like a Dove and it abode on him Yea God himself owned this as a demonstration of his Sonship Matt. 3.17 This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So do we know our selves to be the children of God by the spirits inhabitation and sanctifying work upon our souls 2 The pouring out of the spirit was the visible evidence given to the church of the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction When God was reconciled then he shed forth the spirit Acts 2.33 Therefore being at the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear so Joh. 7.38 39. He that believeth in me as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water this he spake of the spirit which they that believed on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified Now this is true of Gods Love and Reconciliation to us in particular when he is pacified he giveth the spirit because the part followeth the reason of the whole and the atonement made and the atonement received Rom. 5.11 are evidenced the same way even by this fountain of living water which is given to all believers 3. This is the witness of the truth of the Gospel and therefore the best-pledg of the Love of God we can have in our hearts for the believers hopes are confirmed the same way the Gospel is confirmed that which confirmeth Christianity confirmeth the Christian The Extract and original Charter are confirmed by the same stamp and impression the spirit confirmeth the love of God to sinners and therefore the love of God to me Act. 5.32 And we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him The word was confirmed by the great wonders wrought by the Holy Ghost Heb. 3 4. God bearing them witness with signs and wonders and divers gifts of the Holy Ghost The sanctifying spirit John 17.17 Sanctify them through the truth thy word is truth 1 John 5.10 He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself The spirit comforting the conscience by the blood of Christ and sanctifying the heart and cleansing it as with pure water This also is our evidence 3. From the Qualities of this evidence and so it is most apt to satisfie the doubting conscience concerning its interest in Christ and his benefits 1. 'T is a great benefit becoming the love of God to give us his holy spirit 'T is more than if he had given us all the world Persons that have been at variance will not believe one another unless their Reconciliation be verified by some remarkable good turn and visible testimony of love A great Offender reconciled to Augustus yet would not believe it unless he put some notable mark of his favour upon him as David to Amasa making him General of his Army Surely the breach hath been so great between us and God that we shall have no peace and joy in believing till we have some gift that may be a perfect demonstration that he is at peace with us Rom. 5.11 We joy in God as those that have received the atonement The pledg of it is in the gift of the spirit Most mens patience cometh from their stupidness their confidence from their security their quiet from their mindlesness of heavenly things but the soul that is in good earnest must have a witness of Gods love or a sufficient proof that he is reconciled and taken into Gods Family made an heir according to the hope of eternal life which is the spirit of adoption Gal. 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father 2. 'T is most sensible as being within our own hearts The death of Christ was a Demonstration of Gods love but that was done without us on the Cross and before we were born Justification is a blessed Priviledg but either that is Gods act in Heaven accepting us in Christ or else in the sentence of the law by which we are constituted just but this cometh into our hearts Gal. 4.6 God hath sent the spirit of his son into our hearts so 2 Cor. 1.22 He hath given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts so 1 John 5.11 He that believeth hath the witness in himself compare the eighth Verse 3. 'T
is a permanent and abiding testimony By his constant operation we are acquainted with him and know him what moveth and stirreth in us but now and then we understand not but the Holy Ghost is familiar with us resideth and dwelleth in our hearts we feel his pulse and motions John 14.7 I will send you the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth in you and shall be in you Therefore they know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that constantly feel his Operations in comforting quickning instructing them they may see how they are beloved of God and minded by him upon all occasions the effects of the spirit are life holiness faith strength joy comfort and peace he enlightneth our understanding confirmeth our faith and assures us of salvation exciteth us to prayer stirreth up holy desires and motions comforteth us in crosses awakeneth us in groans after heaven Now those that have such constant experience of the illuminating sanctifying quickning work of the spirit on their souls cannot but know what kind of spirit dwelleth and worketh in them 4. The sanctifying spirit is the surest note of our reconciliation with God as that which will not deceive us when he sanctifieth he is pacified towards us Heb. 13.20 21. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight And 1 Thes. 5.23 The very God of peace sanctifie you wholly in body soul and spirit 2 Cor. 5.17 18. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. A man lieth open to delusions by other evidences and may be long enough without true and solid comfort 4. From Gods constant government But there is a twofold way of Providence by which he governeth the world or else conducteth souls to glory There is an external sort of government by prosperities and adversities and afflictions and worldly blessings now these have their use to invite us to obedience and to caution us against sin but these things are not dispencâ—d as sure evidences of Gods love and hatred Eccles. 9.2 Worldly good things may be given in anger lest men should be marked out by their outward condition rather than the disposition of their souls God would not distinguish the good by the blessings of his common providence nor brand and mark out the bad by their afflictions Therefore these mercies that run in the channel of common providence are dispenced promiscuously But God hath another way of internal government carried on within the soul by troubles of conscience for sin and the comforts of a good conscience as the reward of obedience Now in this sort of Government the influence of the spirit is mainly seen God sheweth his anger or his love his pleasure or displeasure by giving and withholding the spirit When he is pleased we have the Testimony of it in our Consciences by the presence and comforts of the spirit when displeased he withdraweth the spirit this is reward and punishment the accesses and recesses of the spirit if we have sinned Psal. 51.10 Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me The retaining and withholding the spirit is one of the greatest calamities in the world v. 11. renew a right spirit in me 12. and uphold me by thy free spirit On the contrary the reward of obedience is the increase of the spirit Rom. 14.17 For the kingdom of God is not in meats and drinks but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy ghost Now this being Gods constant way of internal government whereby he manifesteth his pleasure or displeasure by withholding or withdrawing or giving out his spirit and this a surer way than the effects of his external Providence I cannot say God hateth me because he denieth earthly blessings or blasteth them when bestowed This may be for other reasons than to manifest his anger or hatred I cannot say God loveth me because I enjoy outward prosperity but if I have the spirit that is never given in anger 1. VSE is To perswade us to seek after the presence of the spirit in our hearts 'T is not enough to be baptized to have the common Faith and Profession of Christians no we must also have the spirit of Christ for while we are carnal we are Christians only in the Letter two things I will press you to To receive and retain him to get him and keep him 1. Get him See that he be entred into your hearts to recover your souls to God John 3.5 See that you be born again of water and of the Spirit And not only so but get an increase and supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.17 Through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Seek more of the Spirit and lose him not in part nor in whole quench not the spirit Eph. 4.30 To encourage you consider God is ready to give the holy spirit Luke 11.13 And Christ hath purchased it that it might not be shed on us in a sparing manner Tit. 3.5 6. 'T is applied to us by the Word or Gospel-Dispensation 2 Cor. 3.18 Baptism hath its use Tit. 3.5 It doth not signifie so much the blood of Christ as the sanctifying cleansing spirit purchased thereby The promise of the spirit is sometimes made absolutely as Zech. 12.10 I will pour out a spirit of grace and supplication as implying the first grace you must take your lot if you miss of it 't is long of your selves you resist former warnings motions and strivings of the spirit wait in the use of means Sometimes conditionally to faith John 7.39 This he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive Sometimes to Repentance Acts 2.38 Repent and thou shalt receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Prov. 1.38 Now these must be often renewed if we would get more of the spirit into our hearts for the spirit is continued and encreased to us by the same acts by which it is gotten at first by faith and repentance faith assenting or consenting or denying 1. Assenting with admiration of the infinite goodness and love of God shining forth to us in our redemption by Christ the assent must be strong that it may more effectually lead on other parts of faith and because the actions of the three Persons are a great Mystery 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledg of God the father through the sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Here is the eternal love of the Father the infinite merit of Christ and the all powerful operation
and Goodness of God 2. Since 't is threatned the certainty of its accomplishment 1. It s consistency with the Justice Wisdom and Goodness of God 1. His Justice First Because those that live in the flesh continue in the defection and apostacy of mankind And so the old sentence is in force against them In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Gen. 2.17 To shew you this let me tell you That by the Creation Man was to be subject to God and by his own make and constitution was composed of a body and a soul which two parts were to be regarded according to the worth and dignity of each the body was subordinated to the soul and both body and soul to God The flesh was a servant to the spirit and both flesh and spirit unto the Lord but sin entring defaced the beauty and disturbed the order and harmony of the Creation for man withdrew his Subordination and Obedience unto God his Maker and set up himself instead of God and the flesh is preferred before the soul reason and conscience are inslaved to sense and appetite and the beast doth ride the man the flesh becoming our Principle Rule and End now 't is horrible wickedness if you consider either of these disorders our contempt of God for it is great depreciation and disesteem of his holy and blessed Majesty which is neglected and slighted for a little carnal satisfaction and every perishing vanity is preferred before his favour the hainousness of the sin is to be measured by the greatness of him who is offended by it 1 Sam. 2.25 If one man sin against another the Judg shall judg him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him Now for creatures to seek their happiness without God and apart from God in such base things deserveth the greater punishment The other disorder is we love the happiness of the body above that of the soul man carrieth it as if he had not an Immortal Spirit in him Psal. 49.12 is as the beast that perisheth And is altogether flesh his Wisdom and Spirit is sunk into flesh and sin hath transformed him into a brutish nature Well now if men will continue in this apostacy what then more just than that God should stand to his old sentence and deprive him of that happiness which he despiseth that those who dishonour their own souls should never be acquainted with a blessed Immortality and those that contemn their God and banish him out of their thoughts and do in effect say to the Almighty Job 21.14 Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways That they may spend their days in mirth that God should banish them out of his presence with a curse never to be reversed they do in effect bid God be gone the very thoughts of him are an interruption to that sort of life they have chosen that he should bid them depart ye cursed who bid him depart first In short that the carnal life which is but a spiritual death should be punished with eternal death 1 Tim. 3.6 She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth A kind of carcase or rather a living creature dead estranged from the life of God and then deprived of eternal life 2. They refuse the remedy The great business of the Christian Religion is to dispossess us of the brutish Nature which is gotten into us I say this is the drift and tenure of Christianity to recover us from the flesh to God To turn man into man again that was become a beast to draw him off from the Animal life to life Spiritual and Eternal To drive out the Spirit of the World and introduce a Divine and Heavenly Spirit purchased by Jesus Christ and offered to us in the promises of the Gospel The World is mad and brutish enslaved to lower things but this healing institution of Christ is to make us Wise and Heavenly to recover the immortal Soul that was Imbondaged to earthly things and depressed and tainted by the objects of sence into its former liberty and perfection that the Spirit might command the flesh and man may seek his happiness and blessedness in some higher and transcending good than the beasts are capable of In short as sin was the transforming of a man into a beast so Christianity is the transforming of beasts into man again To restore humanity and elivate it from the state of subjection to the flesh Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given us great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given us of God Now after this is done with such cost and care if men will love their bondage despise their remedy surely they are worthy of the severest punishment Joh. 3.19 And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil If they refuse this Spirit that is offered to change our natures and lift us up from earth to Heaven and we will not be changed and healed but wallow in this filth and puddle still we are doubly culpable for not doing our duty and refusing our remedy But you will say The punishment is Eternal how will that stand with the justice of God to inflict it for temporal offences 1. Answer 'Till the carnal life ceaseth the full punishment doth not begin or take place as when men have done their work they receive their wages 'T is not inflicted till after death and in the other world there is no change of state our tryal is over our sentence is past the gulph is fixed between Hell and Heaven that the inhabitants of the one cannot come into the other place Luke 16.26 2. There was Eternal life in the offer Now if men will part with this for one morsel of meat this is prophaness indeed Heb. 12.15 16. The things propounded to their choice are Eternal happiness and Eternal misery if they refuse the one they in justice deserve the other 3. If they be Christians they do not pay their great debt or fulfil their Covenant-Vow and so make the forfeiture The Apostle here inferreth the great danger out of the debt Ye are debtors that if we live after the flesh we shall die they are entered into the bond of the holy oath So elsewhere Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof How are we Christs as dedicated to him in Baptism they have renounced the Devil the World and the flesh they are Christs not only de jure they ought to do so but de facto they have
delights therefore if you be strangers and Pilgrims you should not lust after worldly things lest you forget or forfeit your great hopes Secondly You are Racers or Wrestlers 1 Cor. 9.24 Know you not that they which run in a race even all but one receiveth the prize so run that you may obtain They that exercised in the Istmaick Games had a prescribed set dyet both for quality and quantity and had their rule chalked out to them they knew their work and their reward so v 27. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-away That is denied himself those liberties which otherwise he might enjoy having prescribed to others the way of striving and getting the victory they for an Oaken or Olive Crown dieted themselves kept themselves from all things which should hurt them or disable them in the Race or Combat and should we cocker every appetite that have an Eternal Crown of Glory in view and pursuit our danger is greater if we should miscarry and miss of it theirs the loss of a little vain glory ours of Eternal Glory therefore we should strive that we be not found unworthy to receive it there the victory is uncertain here all that are runners may be sure of the Crown 5. Consider the malignant influence of the flesh and how pernicious it is to the soul. If it were a small thing we spake to you about you might refuse to give ear but 't is in a case of life and death and that not temporal but eternal we can tell you of many present and temporal inconveniencies that come by the flesh the body the part gratified is in many oppressed by it Prov. 5.11 Thou shalt mourn at last when thy flesh and body is consumed It betrayeth you to such sins as suck your bones and devour your strength and give your years to the cruel to such enormities and scandalous practices as bring infamy and a blot upon thy name Pleasing the flesh maketh one turn a drunkard and the very sin carrieth its own punishment with it a second a wanton a third a glutton a fourth a hard-hearted worldling and all these sins waste the conscience and debase the body and spend our Wit Time Strength and Estates but we have a more powerful Argument to present to you it will be the eternal loss and ruin of your souls There will a day come when you shall be called to an account for all your vain delights and pleasures Eccles. 11.9 Rejoice O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thine own heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgment The young man is cited before the Tribunal of God and we think somewhat must be allowed to that age before man have learned by experience to contemn pleasures and the young man is spoken to in his own dialect let his wanton and wandring eye inflame the lusts of his heart and smother his conscience by all manner of sensual delight yet a length he will know the folly of this to his bitter cost These things which are now so pleasing to the senses shall gnaw and sting his conscience when God whom he now forgetteth shall bring him to the Judgment and he shall have nothing to plead for his brutish folly 6. What vile unthankfulness it is and a great abuse of that liberty which we have by Christ Gal 5.13 Ye are called to liberty only use it not as an occasion to the flesh We have a great liberty to use our worldly comforts with a respect to Gods Glory and as encouragements of Gods Service and for the sweetning of our Pilgrimage but 't is strangely perverted when we use these things to please the flesh you turn it into a bondage and offer a great abuse to Jesus Christ surely he never dyed to promote the power of sin nor gave us these comforts to defeat the ends of his death Was he a man of sorrows that we might live in pleasure Did he suffer in the flesh to purchase us liberty to please the flesh Or die for sin to give sin the mastery Did the Lord vouchsafe these comforts that we might dishonour his name or undo our own souls 2. Means To come out of this estate and course of sin I shall give you a few Directions 1. To those that never pretended to the spiritual and heavenly life and are as yet to be drawn out of the common apostacy and defection of mankind to God All that I shall say to them is to observe Checks of Conscience and Motions of the Spirit and what help is given to weaken the flesh 1. Checks of conscience however occasioned either by a lapse into some sin which is wont to scourage the soul with some remorse Matt. 29.4 saying that I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Conscience working after the fact or by the conviction of the word Acts 24.25 And as he reasoned of righteousness and temperance and judgment to come Felix trembled Do not smother these checks that breedeth Atheism and hardness of heart Suppose one dissolutely bent yet upon some loathsome concomitants which follow his riot and intemperance he beginneth to be troubled Gods Providence is to be observed as well as his own sin This is a kind of softning his heart if it revert to his old frame the man is the worse No Iron so hard as that which hath been often heated Water after it hath been heated by the fire congealeth the sooner after it is taken off If he doth not take notice of Gods warnings his soul is more unapt to be wrought to repentance yea God in justice may deprive him of those common helps Hos. 4.17 Let him alone or give him up to his own hearts counsels 'T is dangerous not to make use of those intervals of Reason and sober thoughts which arise in our minds 2. The motions of the Holy Spirit when he cometh to recover you from the flesh to God and you are troubled not only with remorse for actual and heinous sins but about your eternal estate and are haunted with thoughts of the other world and urged to resolve upon the heavenly life Surely when the waters are stirred we should put in for a cure John 5. when he draweth we should run Cant. 1.4 when he knocketh we should open Rev. 3 20. and not obstruct the work of godliness but seriously imploy our thoughts about it Acts 16.14 Whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things that were spoken by Paul We should not rebel against the motions of the spirit lest we grieve our sanctifier and he forsake us because we forsook him first and so our hearts be hardned in a carnal course Briefly God doth all in our first conversion yet these three things lye
getting into the Pool see Jam. 1.23 If a man be a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass c. If so there is a season lost there is some duty pressed some sin discovered some want laid open mortification is much promoted by observing and improving these seasons 1 Pet. 1.22 seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and Psa. 119.104 Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way By attending on the word we get new degrees of light and hatred against sin sometimes God weakneth this lust sometimes that according as he is pleased to direct it to your consciences 3. After some notable fall or sin against God See the coar of the destemper pulled out to get a pardon is not enough but mortification must be looked after the longer sin defileth the Heart the deeper it is rooted therefore speedily recover your selves at such a time a green Wound is more easily cured than an old rankled Sore and David complaineth his wounds did stink through his foolishness Psa. 38.5 The longer these Wounds be neglected the worse if a Member is sprained or out of joynt if you delay to set it it never groweth strong or straight Peter did not lie in the sin but went out immediately and wept bitterly Matth. 26.75 The longer corruption is spared it acquireth the more strength secureth its interest more firmly and is more deeply rooted in the Soul and bringeth a custom on the body also 2. Why justifyed persons must mortifie the deeds of the body 1. With respect to Christ. 2. With respect to sin 3. With respect to grace received 1. With respect to Christ and there 1. What he did and is to us 2. Our relation to him 1. What he did and is to us For what end he suffered for us and for what end he is offered to us He suffered for us to take away sin or to purchase grace whereby sin may be mortified he paid the price to provoked justice 1 Pet. 2.24 He bore our sins in his body upon the tree that we being dead unto sin should live to righteousness Naturally we are dead to Righteousness and alive to sin but Christ intention in dying for sinners was to remedy this that sin might die and grace live and therefore our old man is said to be Crucified with Christ Rom. 6.6 Then the Price was paid and grace purchased He came not only to free us from punishment but cut also the power of sin The guilt of sin is contrary to our happiness the power of sin to Gods Glory 2. The end for which he is offered to us God propoundeth Christ not only as a foundation of Comfort but as a Fountain of grace and Holiness 1 Cor. 1.30 Who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption to be our Sanctification as well as our Righteousness where he is the one he is the other one principal blessing is to turn us from our sins Acts 3.36 and that is mortification or weakning the power and love of sin in our hearts now that we may receive him as God offereth him and not rend and divide him by a broken and imperfect Faith as we look for Comfort in Christ in the sense of our justification and pardon so an experience of his power in mortifying sin otherwise we have but half of Christ. 2. Our relation to him both by external profession and Real implantation both bind us to mortifie sin 1. External profession obligeth us to die unto sin 't was a part of our baptismal vow and we quite nullifie and frustrate the intent of that Ordinance unless we Mortifie the deeds of the body The Flesh was renounced in our answer to Gods Covenant-Questions 1 Pet. 3.21 Baptism is called the answer of a good conscience towards God 'T is an Answer to the Lords offers propounded in the Gospel when we were first consecrated to this warfare and that dedication must never be forgotten 2 Pet. 1.19 And hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins To neglect is to forget as to distribute and communicate forget not that is neglect not So here hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins while they please the flesh they neglect their Baptismal vow and so make that Ordinance of none effect to them we are said Col. 2.13 To put of the body of the sins of the flesh That is in vow and obligation being buried with him in baptism Now if we do not stand to our vow our solemn admission into Christs family was in vain 2. By real implantation surely they that are united to Christ cannot live in the servitude and slavery of sin for by this union with him they are assimulated and conformed to him Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ and 't was not his priviledg alone but all the justifyed Gal. 5.24 And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof This conformity is called by the Apostle a being planted into the likeness of his death Rom. 6.5 Christ was crucified in his human nature and we in our corrupt nature We crucified him by our sins and we are crucified with him by his spirit Christ dyed for sin and a Christian unto sin 2. With respect to sin which remaineth in us after we are justified Here are three considerations demonstrating why we should mortify sin 1. That sin still abideth in us after we are taken into the justifyed estate while we dwell in flesh this woful and sad companion dwelleth with us we cannot get rid of this cursed inmate till the house its self be pulled down we die struggling with it and when one of our feet is within the borders of eternity yet it departeth not as hair groweth after shaving as long as the roots remain so is corruption sprouting therefore must be always mortifying always cleansing 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit Always purifying 1 John 3.3 He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as Christ is pure Always laying aside the weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us Heb. 12.1 Since sin is not nullified it therefore must be mortified the war must last as long as the enemy liveth and hath any strength and force 2. It still worketh in us is very active and restless not as other things which as they grow in age grow more quiet and tame James 4.5 The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy The flesh is not a sleepy habit but a working stirring principle Rom. 7.8 Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence That is sinning nature 't is always inclining us to evil hindring that which is good 1. Inclining us to that which is evil It doth not only make us flexible and yielding to temptations but doth urge us and impel us
as 't is said of Christ Luke 24.45 That he first opened the Scriptures and then opened their understandings Otherwise our light is only literal and speculative not operative and efficacious 5. The parts and branches of this leading are two First His restraining motions for the mortifying of sin and His inviting motions for the perfecting of Holiness He teacheth us as he leadeth us into all truth what we are to reject what to believe in Religion Again what is to be left undone in the practise of our lives and he backeth both with what we ought to hope and fear after death in the other world 1. His leading consisteth in his restraining motions For the mortifying of sin or the avoiding of sin when we are running into the snare he mindeth us of our danger as when any evil habit or spiritual disease is growing upon our spirits or when we are about to do something unseemly and offensive to God The spirit in effect saith Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate but cast out pride worldliness and sensuality do not give way to such and such lusts The Holy Ghost is in a singular manner familiar with Gods people taking up a place of abode in their hearts and furnishing them with sweet and necessary counsel and advice from time to time therefore he is said to strive with us when he opposeth himself to our corrupt inclinations Gen. 6.3 My spirit shall not always strive with man He striveth by inward motions and checks of conscience by which he seeketh to humble us for sin and to reclaim us from sin if we struggle against these we lose our advantage Neh. 9.29 30. Thou gavest them also thy good spirit to instruct them Thou testifiest against them by the spirit to bring them back to thy law In these and many places we read of the spirits guidance If ye through the spirit mortisie the deeds of the body We must avoid those things he disswadeth us from 2. There are his inviting and quickning motions to bring us on in a way of holiness and to perfect the work of Grace in us and fit us more for Gods use and service he doth not only close us at first with Christ but is the agent and worker of the life of Christ within us to do his work and maintain his interest and sanctiâ—ie us throughout As we have experience of his restraining motions that we may be more and more conformed to Gods Blessed Will and seek our delight and happiness in Communion with his Blessed Self Psal. 27.8 The Lord said seek ye my face and my heart said thy face Lord will I seek God speaketh to us by the injection of holy thoughts and the secret inspirations of his Grace and we speak to God by the inclinations and resolutions of our own souls This Dialogue is carried on in soul language there needs no audible words between God and the soul so in other places how often doth he solicite us by his holy motions and inspirations the spirit inclineth and presseth us to that which is good 2. As the office of the spirit is to guide and lead so it is our duty to submit to his direction to be led by him That maketh the evidence in the passive sense if we suffer our selves to be led and guided by him in all things for otherwise the spirit worketh on many but they will not hear they either neglect or resist his motions there is a double voice within us the flesh and the spirit and mens spiritual estate is determined by submission and compliance with either Rom. 8.1 That walk not after the flesh but after the spirit The flesh is near and dear to us and very imperious and importunate to be pleased now some men live in a perfect obedience to the flesh according to the fancies and appetites of corrupt nature denieth it nothing which it craveth at their hands but there is another voice within us saying This is the way walk in it Thus you must do if you mean to be happy Now let us not hear and pass by as if you heard not no you must suffer your selves to be lead and governed by this voice or this blessed spirit in all you must improve his assistance wait for his approaches obey his sanctifying motions direct all the actions of your lives according to his guidance and counsel that is your evidence 1. I shall urge it in conformity to Christ. There is a perfect likeness between Christians and Christ all the Priviledges which Christ had are conveyed to us by the spirit If Jesus be the natural Son of the Father the Christian is his Adopted Son Joh. 20.17 If Jesus be the heir of all things a Christian is a co-heir with Christ Rom. 8.17 If Jesus be innocent the Christian is justified if Jesus be born of the spirit or framed by the Holy Ghost the Christian is regenerated born also of Water and the Holy Ghost John 3.5 If Jesus be evidenced to be the Son of God by the coming down of the Holy Ghost upon him the spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Sons of God Jesus was led by the spirit continually so we if he retire into the desart if he come back again into Galilee he is still led by the spirit Matth. 4. Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness the Holy Ghost aiding him in that conflict when 't was ended Luke 4.14 Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee that is to preach or to execute his Prophetical Office if he cast out Devils Matth. 12.14 I cast out devils by the spirit of God Thus 't was with Christ certainly therefore whatever design we conceive whatever resolution we take whatever enterprize we would bring to pass we are always bound to depend upon the Holy Ghost the spirit must still lead us and move us in all our operations 2. The great mischief which will ensue if we obey not his sanctifying motions and inspirations you will resist the spirit and vex him Isa. 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy spirit And therefore he turned to be their enemy The other expression Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit He is grieved when the flesh is obeyed before him the spirit sustaineth a double relation our Sanctifier and our Comforter let us not resist our sanctifier nor grieve our comforter surely we should not be ungrateful to this Holy Spirit if we be Holy he Sanctifieth us if free 't is he sets us at liberty if wise he inlightneth us if gatitude cannot prevail yet our interest should He is our Comforter and we blot our evidence darken his seal and so deprive our selves of that joy and peace which we might have in our souls if he were obeyed there is one great mischief above this which God sets up as a dreadful warning for our caution despighting the spirit of grace Heb. 10.29 To resist the spirit is dangerous To resist the
Belief of the threatnings of God from whence ariseth a sense of our sinful and miserable condition so far 't is good and useful Partly from an ill cause the Devil who delighteth to vex us with unreasonable terrors 1 Sam. 16.14 The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord vexed him The Devil both tempteth and troubleth as the Huntsman hideth himself till the poor Beast be gotten into the toile then he appeareth with shouts and cryes Partly from the corruption of mans heart which either turneth this work to an utter aversation from God or some perfunctory and unwilling way of serving him some know the right use of the Covenant others not and therefore we must consider not only how 't is wrought by the spirit but how 't is entertained by man through our corruption our conviction of sin and misery by the spirit turneth into Bondage and servitude 2. The spirit of bondage is better than a profane spirit Some cast off all thoughts of God and the World to come and are not so serious and mindful of religion as to be much troubled with any fears about their eternal condition it were happy for them if they were come so far as a spirit of Bondage they that are under it have a conscience of their duty but such as perplexeth them and lasheth and stingeth them with the dread and horror of that God whom they serve Now this is better than the prophane spirit that wholly forgets God Psa. 10.4 God is not in all their thoughts whether he be pleased or displeased honoured or dishonoured this may tend to good the gradus ad rem gradus in re Yea it may in some degree be consistent with sincerity for though to have no love to God is inconsistent with a state of grace or to have less love to God than sin yet to have more fear than love is consistent with some weak degree of grace especially if the case be so that love is less felt in act than fear and therefore though men are conscious to much backwardness yet keep up a seriousness though to their feeling 't is more fear than love which moveth them yet we dare not pronounce them graceless for there may be a love to God and a complacency in his ways though it be oppressed by fear that the spirit of adoption is not so much discovered for the time 3. That 't is an ill frame of spirit to be cherished or rested in For while men are under the sole and predominant influence of it they are never converted to God fear doth begin the work of conversion but love maketh it sincere the spirit by fear doth awaken men to make them see their condition terrifying them by the belief of Gods threatning and the sense of his indignation that they may flee from wrath to come Matth. 3.7 Or cry out What shall I do to be saved Acts 2.37 But yet tho they have a sensible work they have not a saving work Some by these fears are but troubled and restrained a little and so settle again in their sensual course but to their great loss for God may never give them like advantages again Others betake themselves to a kind of religiousness and forsake the practice of those grosser sins which breed their fears and so resting here continue in a state of hypocrisie and self-deceiving religiousness 1. USE is Information and Instruction to teach us how to carry it as to the spirit of Bondage First 't is not to be slighted partly from the matter which breedeth the fear and bondage which is the law of God the supreme rule and reason of our duty by which all debates of conscience are to be decided partly from the Author this sense of sin and misery is stirred up in us and made more active by the Operation of the Spirit of God partly from the faculty wherein 't is seated the conscience of a reasonable creature the most lively and sensible power of mans soul which cannot be pacified but upon solid grounds and reasons partly from the effect the fear of eternal death the greatest misery that can befall us for surely 't is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 To smother and stifle checks of conscience doth increase our misery not remove it and produceth hardness of heart and contempt of God therefore when our souls are at this pass that we see we are in bondage to sin and know not how to help it in bondage to wrath and know not how to quench these fears which are awakened in us by the spirit surely we should look after solid satisfaction and peace of soul setled on us upon Gospel Terms Run to the blood of sprinkling Heb. 10.20 2. Yet 't is not a thing to be chosen prayed for or rested in Partly because 't is a judiciary Impression a spark of Hell kindled in the conscience a tender conscience we may and must pray for but not a stormy conscience when we ask legal terrors we know not what we ask a belief of the threatnings belong to our duty as well as a belief of the promises but we must not so reflect upon terrors as to exclude the comfort and hope of the Gospel when under a spirit of Bondage we are in a most servile condition far from all solid comfort courage and boldness but is it not an help to conversion Answer Let God take his own way we are not to look after the deepness of the wound but the soundness of the cure not terrible representations of sin and wrath but such an anxiousness as will make us serious and solicitous partly because the Law-Covenant is an antiquated dispensation the law of nature bindeth not as a Covenant for the promise of life ceased upon the incapacity of the subjects when under a natural impossibility of keeping it the threatning and penalty lieth upon us indeed till we flee to another court and covenant The Jewish Covenant was abolished when Christ repealed the Law of Moses that Covenant dealt with us as servants the Gospel dealeth with us as sons in a more ingenuous way and inviting us to God upon nobler motives and partly from the nature of that fear that doth accompany it it driveth us from God not to God Gen. 3.5 Adam hid himself among the bushes and he gives us this reason because he was afraid and still we all fly from a condemning God but to a pardoning God we are incouraged to come nigh Psal. 103.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared In the wicked the fear of Gods Wrath once begun it increaseth daily till it come to the desperate fear of the damned and the fault is not in the law or in the spirit but in man who runneth from his own happiness and maketh an ill use of Gods Warnings 2. USE is to put us upon tryal and self-reflection All that attend upon Ordinances receive some spirit
doth shine resplendently without us in the person of the Mediator and the riches of the Gospel yet the dead and dark heart of man is not affected with it John 1.5 And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not till God shine into our Hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Unless this Doctrine of Gods Fatherly Love and Grace be accompanied with his illuminating Sanctifying Comforting Spirit who sheds abroad this Love in our Hearts which is revealed in the Gospel 3. The disposition thence resulting from the application of this object to us by the spirit such as the object is such are the affections stirred up in us as by Law-truths the spirit worketh conviction terrors of conscience legal contrition Acts 2.37 and thence Bondage ariseth so by the Gospel where God is represented as the Father of Mercies and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him our God and Father the Impression must be suitable this Spirit that worketh by the Gospel must needs be the Spirit of Adoption or such a Spirit as worketh a Child-like disposition in us for the Impression must always be according to the stamp 1. USE To perswade us to look after the spirit of adoption we never do seriously and closely christianize till we get it but either have a literal Christianity a form of knowledg in the Gospel without the Life and Power or a legal Old Testament Spirit To quicken you consider these Motives or Priviledges which you will have by it 1. Peace of conscience Or a rest from those troubled and unquiet thoughts which otherwise would perplex us Rom. 14.17 For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing This calm of mind differeth from the deadness and benummedness of a stupid conscience that 's a thing we never laboured for groweth upon us we know not how 't is maintained by idleness rather than by Watchfulness and Diligence and is inconsistent with serious thoughts of God and our eternal condition but this is the fruit of our reconciliation with God and those Blessed priviledges we injoy in his Family it stirreth up admiration and thankfulness 2. Liberty in Prayer For the great help we have in Prayer is from the Spirit of Adoption Zech. 12.10 I will pour out upon you the spirit of grace and supplication That Spirit which cometh from the Grace and free Favour of God stirring up Child like addresses to God Rom. 8.26 Jude 21. Building up your selves on your most holy faith Praying in the Holy Ghost Without this our Prayers are but a vain babling 3. Readiness in duty 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty They serve God with a free spirit the Holy Life is carried on with more sweetness and success not by compulsion but with ready mind Psal. 51.12 Vphold me with thy free spirit John 8.32 If the truth shall make you free then are you free indeed men are under shackles and Bondage if they have not the Spirit of Adoption they drive on heavily have not largeness of heart and love to God Heaven and holiness Psal. 119.32 I will run the ways of thy commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart When the heart is suited to the work there needs no other urgings but if we force a course of Religion upon our selves contrary to our own inclination all is harsh and ingrate and cannot hold long 4. Comfort in afflictions Their true consolation and support in afflictions is the Spirit of Adoption Heb. 12.5 Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children and therefore he pursueth it all along They that injoy the priviledges of the Family must submit to the discipline of the Family God will take his own course in bringing up his Children he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Heb. 12.6 7 8. while we have flesh in us there is use of the rod if God should suffer us to go on in our sins we were not legitimate but degenerate Children Children take it patiently if beaten by their Parents for their faults Pro. 9.10 Parents may err through want of wisdom their chastisement is arbirtary and irregular there is more of compassion than passion in God Gods rod is regulated with perfect Wisdom ordered by the highest love and tends to the greatest end our Holiness here and Happiness for ever and we have Christs example John 18.11 The cup which my father hath given me shall I not drink it The bitterest Potions came not from God as a Judg but as a Father are tempered by a Fathers hand 5. Hope of the benefits of the new Couenant pardon and life 1. Pardon We often forget the duty of Children but God doth not forget the Bowels of a Father our Adoption giveth us hope that he will not deal severely with us Mal. 3.17 Psal. 103.13 The relation of a Child is more durable not so easily broken off as that of a servant a Child is a Child still and therefore allowed to remain in the family when a servant must be gone Secondly For life everlasting and Glory Rom. 8.17 And if children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him 1 John 3.1 2. The Spirit of Adoption doth both incourage and incline us to wait for it Rom. 8.2 3. But what shall we do to get this Spirit of Adoption 1. 'T is certain that the gift of the spirit is the fruit of our reconciliation with God the general reconciliation with mankind was evidenced by pouring out the Spirit Personal and particular reconciliation with God is the ground of giving the Spirit of Adoption to us Rom. 5.11 We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the Atonement Therefore do what God requireth in order to reconciliation enter into conditions of peace enter into Covenant with God abhor your former disobedience cast away the weapons of defiance and love God and delight in him 2. Steep your minds in frequent thoughts of Gods fatherly goodness 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love is this that we should be called the sons of God! Consider it and admire it 2. USE Reflection Have we the Spirit of Adoption 'T is known 1. By a kind of naturalness to come to God and open our hearts to him in all our wants go and cry Abba Father The spirit of Adoption much worketh and discovereth its self in prayer to cry to our Father is an act becoming the Sons of God the manner is fervent affectionate this cry is not by the tongue but by the heart Exod.
13.14 The Lord needeth no interpreter between him and the hearts of his children he that heareth without earts can interpret our desires tho not uttered by the tongue desires are strong cries Psal. 10.17 Thou hast heard the desires of the humble Psal. 38.9 Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee This crying is opposite to that careless formality and deadness which is in other mens prayers this crying to God as one that is able and ready to help us is a great fruit of the spirit of Adoption 't is a childlike boldness 2. A childlike ingenuity in the course of obedience to him both in our abstaining from sin as the Rechabites are an Emblem Jer. 35.6 We dare not break the commands of our father And in a ready diligence in our obedience 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of God constraineth us for we thus judg if one dyed for all then were all dead c. The Will of our Father is instead of all Reasons Christ ever urged this This is the will of my Father John 6.26 38. So to Christians 1 Thes. 5.18 This is the will of God in Christ concerning you 1 Thes. 4.3 This is the will of God even your sanctification That 's enough beyond all enforcements 3. As to the inheritance they are very chary of it and will not hazzard the hope and comfort of it upon easie terms Heb. 12.16 Let there not be found a prophane person as Esau who sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage 1 Kings 21.3 And Naboth said to Ahab The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my Father to thee 3. USE is Direction to us in the Lords Supper This is the seal of the new Covenant the Table which God keepeth for the entertainment of his family the feast for souls Gods Children are sure of Welcome 't is childrens bread we eat we come hither both to remember the grounds of our Adoption and to receive the comfort of it we come to meditate on the fatherly love of God and to get a new tast and experience of it in our own souls here we have special communion with him as children with a Father we come for a further participation of the spirit for we all drink into one spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 Here we look up unto God and in our hearts cry Abba Father We bind our selves also to perform the duty of children by new resolution to submit to his fatherly government both in his Laws and Providences to his commanding and disposing will and lift up our hope for the eternal inheritance SERMON XXIV ROM VIII 16 The spirit its self witnesseth to our spirits that we are the children of God IN the Words we have 1. The Priviledg assured That we are the children of God 2. The double Testimony by which it is confirmed The spirit its self beareth witness to our spirits or if you will here are Testes Testimonium the thing witnessed That we are the children of God and the Witnesses they are two the spirit its self and our spirits And in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every thing is established The spirit its self is the Holy Ghost and our spirits are our renewed consciences Doct. That our Adoption into Gods Family is evidenced by the testimony of the spirit to our spirits 1. I shall shew you the Worth and Value of the Priviledg 2. Speak something of this double Testimony by which it is assured to us For the first It is certainly a great Priviledg for we are excited to consider it with wonder and reverence 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God 'T is a blessed Priviledg questionless to have God for our Father and Christ for our Elder Brother and Heaven for our Portion what can we desire more And this will appear to you if you consider 1. The Person adopting The great and glorious God who is so far above us so happy within himself and needeth not us nor our choicest love and service who had a Son of his own Jesus Christ the only Begotten of the Father who thought it no robbery to be equal with him in Power and Glory Phil. 2.6 A son that was the express image of his person Heb. 1.3 The son of his love Col. 1.13 In whom his soul found full complacency Prov. 8.30 I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him If men adopt 't is in orbitatis solatium a remedy found out for the comfort of them that have no children Seldom was it heard that a Father who had a Son should adopt a Son therefore it heightens the Priviledg that God should vouchsafe to poor creatures such a dear and honourable relation to himself 2. The Persons who were adopted Miserable sinners who were once strangers and enemies Col. 1.21 Children of Wrath even as others Eph. 1.3 Who had cast away the Mercies of their Creation and involved themselves in the curse now that strangers should be taken into the family and put in the place of children and dealt with as children that enemies should not only be reconciled but have liberty to own the Blessed God as their Father in Christ that children of wrath should be called to inherit a blessing that those who had so often offended God and were become slaves to Satan should be called into the liberty of the children of God this is that which we may wonder at and say Behold what manner of love is this 3. The Dignity it self compared 1. With the honours of the World David saith 1 Sam. 18.23 Seemeth it a light thing to you to be a Kings Son-in-law We may with better reason say Is it nothing to be taken into Gods Family and to become Sons and Daughters of the Most High God all relations may blush and hide their faces in comparison of this All the splendid Titles which are so Ambitiously affected by the World are but empty Shews and gilded Vanities and do much come short of this priviledge both in honour and profit therefore 't is a greater instance of the love of God than if he had made us Monarchs of the World or if a man could deduce his Pedigree from an uninterrupted Line of Nobles and Princes Alas how much better is it to be born of the Spirit than of the froth of the Blood and to have a Title that will be our Honour and Interest to all Eternity than to be distinguished from others by a Title that will cease at the Graves Mouth 2. Compared with Gods relation to other creatures there is a Relation between God and all his Creatures as he gave being to all so he hath an Interest and Propriety in all Sun and Moon and Stars are called his Servants Psal. 119.91 All Creatures are subject to the Law of his over-ruling Providence But Man is under his proper Government Adam by the Covenant of Works was
all persons and hath the hearts of Men in his own hands and performeth all things according to his own will He knoweth their Persons Necessities and Temptations and if we trust him for our Heavenly Inheritance we may trust him for our daily Maintenance which he vouchsafeth to the Fowls of the Air and Beasts of the Field yea to his Enemies while they are sinning against him dishonouring his Name oppressing his Servants opposing his Interest in the World he that feedeth a Kite will he not feed a Child He that supplieth his Enemies will he not take care of his Friends those of his own Family Indeed he chooseth rather to profit us than please us in his Dispensations but 't is your duty to refer all to his Wisdom and Love 3. Eternal Blessedness is also the fruit of this Adoption Rom. 8.17 If sons then heirs coheirs with Christ as soon as we are taken into Gods Family we have a right to the blessed Inheritance and the right and hope that we have now is enough to counterballance all Temptations Alas what are all the carnal pleasures and delights of Sin which tempt us to disobey our Father to those blessed things which he hath provided for us in Heaven 'T was Esau's Profaneness to sell his Birth-right Heb. 12.16 So all the fears and sorrows of the present Life Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock 't is your fathers good pleasure to give you a kingdom if we have the Kingdom at the last 't is no great matter what we suffer by the way but hereafter we shall fully receive the fruits of our Obedience Rom. 8.23 We our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies In Heaven we have the fullest and largest demonstration of Gods love and favour 'T is Love now and Grace now that he will take us into his Family and Imploy us in his Service But then 't is another manner of Love when taken not onely into his Family but Presence and Palace where we have not onely a Right but Possession not onely some remote service and ministration but everlastingly injoying delighting and praising God Secondâ—y We now come to the proof and testimony of our Interest in this Priviledge The spirit beareth witness with our spirit Here let us 1. Open the double Testimony 2. What the one superaddeth above the other 3. The necessity of their conjunction to our full comfort 1. The Nature of this double Testimony and there first let us begin with that which is more known to us and understood by us and that is the Testimony of a renewed conscience Let us consider it as conscience and as renewed 1. As conscience There is a secret spy within us that observeth all that we think or speak or do Rom. 2.15 Their conscience bearing them witness and their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing Now this conscience must not be slighted partly in respect of our selves because 't is so intimate to us 'T is a spy in our bosoms and can give a better judgment of us and our actions than any thing else can The judgment of the world by way of applause or censure is foreign and grounded upon appearance therefore not so much to be valued 1 Cor. 2.11 The spirit of a man which is in him knoweth the things of a man Who knoweth more of us than we do our selves And this witness cannot be suspected of partiality and ill will for what is dearer to our selves than our selves Therefore if our hearts condemn us what shall be said for us 1 John 3.20 21. For if our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And partly because of its relation to God 't is called the candle of the Lord Pro. 20.27 'T is Gods Deputy Judg and in the place of God to us and therefore if it doth accuse or excuse it is to be regarded for it is before Gods Tribunal that it doth condemn or acquit us 'T is his sentence that we are to stand in fear and dread of to whom doth it accuse us but to God whose Wrath doth it fear but Gods even then when there is no outward cause of dread and fear Conscience is the Vicegerent of the supreme Judg partly because of the rule it goeth by which is the will of God by which good and evil are distinguished which is either revealed by the light of Nature or the light of Scripture the light of nature Rom. 2.14.15 For the gentiles who have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law to themselves which shew the work of the law upon their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another The Apostle proveth the heathens had a law because they had a conscience for conscience ever inferreth some rule and law by which good and evil are distinguished The light of Scripture comprehendeth either the Covenant of Works or the Covenant of Grace Works and so conscience condemneth all the world as guilty before God Rom. 3.19 and there is no escape from this sentence but a regular appeal and passage from Court to Court Psal. 10.3 4. If thou shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified where poor condemned sinners may take sanctuary of the Lords Grace and humbly claim the benefit of the New Covenant Grace wherein the penitent believer and those that sincerely obey the Gospel are accepted The legal conscience condemneth all the world but the evangelical conscience aquitteth us if we sincerely and thankfully accept the new covenant that is if we take the priviledges offered for our happiness and the duties required for our work therefore 't is said 1 Pet. 3.21 Baptism saveth not the puting away of the filthiness of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God Not the bare Ordinance but the Covenant which is sealed by it And what doth the Covenant require Accepting the Lords offers and resolving to obey his commands 2. As renewed By nature conscience is blind partial stupid but by grace it 's made pure tender and pliant and more able to do its office The spirit is not said here to witness to our heart but to our spirit that is to conscience as renewed and sanctified now such a conscience implieth these things 1. Some knowledg of and consent to the new covenant for without knowledg the heart is not good Pro. 19.20 It erreth in point of law and rule and therefoe cannot well witness in the case And 2. Consent there must be for we cannot claim Priviledges by a Charter which we never accepted Therefore Isa. 56.4 And chuse the things
that please me and take hold of my covenant They thankfully accept the offered benefits and resolve by the strength of the Lords grace to perform the required duties 3. That our hearts be set to fulfil our covenant vow For otherwise we double and deal unsincerely with God Heb. 13.18 We trust we have a good conscience willing in all things to live honestly The habit and bent of the heart is for God and obedience to him 4. That there be some answerable endeavours and pursuance of this resolution and care to please God in all things Acts 24.16 And herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men 5. That these endeavours be uniformly carried on that our sincerity may be evidenced to conscience For then 't is matter of Rejoicing and assurance to us 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoicing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversations in the world 1 John 3.19 And hereby we know we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him Grace constantly and self-denyingly exercised hath an evidence in the conscience and conduceth also to give liberty and boldness before God 2. The witness of the spirit Because this is often mistaken I shall the more distinctly lay it before you 1. The spirit layeth down marks in Scripture which may decide this question whether ye are the children of God yea or no. As for instance 1 John 3.10 In this the children of God are manifested and the children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother And again Rom. 8.14 As many â—â— are led by the spirit are the sons of God So every where in the Scripture God expresly telleth us who shall go to Heaven and who shall go to Hell and that there is no neutral and middle estate between the Holy and Carnal all are of one sort or other Now if we should go no further the Text would bear a good sence The spirit beareth witness with our spirit when our conscience can witness our sincerity in a course of obedience unto God The spirits witness in Scripture that this is a sound so a true evidence and the Testimony of conscience confirmed by Scripture for whatever is spoken in Scripture 't is supposed to be the very voice and Testimony of the Spirit as Acts 28.25 Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers so Heb. 3.7 Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice So the spirit speaketh or witnesseth to our spirits namely in the word supposing what is to be supposed this must not be slighted yet this is not all for the context speaketh not of a witness without but motion within whereby we are restrained from sin and inclined to cry Abba Father 2. He worketh such graces in us as are peculiar to Gods children and evidences of our interest in the Favour of God as when he doth Renew and Sanctify the Soul and so many of the choicest Divines take the word witness for evidence or the objective Testimony namely that the presence and dwelling and working of the Sanctifying Spirit in us is the Argument and matter of the proof upon which the whole cause or traverse dependeth That it is so to be taken is clear in that exclusive mark Rom. 8.9 But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be the spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his And in that positive mark 1 John 3.24 And he that keepeth his commanments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us and again 1 John 4.13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he is us because he hath given us his spirit That Holy and Charitable spirit The gracious operations of his presence are the Argument whence we conclude 3. He helpeth us to discern this work in our souls more clearly Conscience dothits part to discover it and the spirit of God doth his part namely as he helpeth us to know and see that Grace which he giveth and actuateth in us for he revealeth the things given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 not only in the Gospel tho chiefly but also in our hearts The workman that made a thing can best warrant it to the buyer First he Sanctifieth and then he certifieth sometimes we overlook our Evidences through the darkness and confusion that is in our hearts Hagar saw not the Fountain that was near her till God opened her eyes Gen. 21.19 There is a misgiving in the conscience we cannot see grace in the midst of weakness and imperfections Mary wept for the absence of Christ when yet he stood by her John 20.14 15. The spirit dwelleth and worketh in their hearts but they know it not 4. He helpeth us not only to see grace but to judg of the sincerity of grace 'T is more easie to prove that we believe than to know that our faith is saving to love Christ than to know that we love him in sincerity because of the deceitfulness of the heart and the mixtures of unbelief self-love and other sins and some degrees may be in hypocrites as temporary faith tasts imperfect love partial obedience and besides Grace where it is weak is hardly perceived the air will shew it self in a windy season the fire when 't is blown up into a flame 't is no more hidden grace strengthned increased acted is more evident to conscience habits are discerned by acts and exercise and God is wont to reward the faithful soul with his assuring seal of light and comfort 1 John 3.18 Love not in word or in tongue only but in deed and in truth The less we are Christians in shew and the more in sincerity the more joy and peace 5. He helpeth us with boldness to conclude from these evidences Many times when the premises are clear the conclusion is suspended we find in case of condemnation 't is suspended out of self-love many know that they that live after the flesh shall die yet they will not judg themselves and the same may be done in case of self-approbation out of legal fear or jealousie for persons of great fancy and large affections are always full of scruples or loathness to apply the comforts due to them the spirit concludeth for them that they are the children of God 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life 1 John 2.3 And hereby we know that we know him 6. He causeth us to feel the comfort of this conclusion Rom. 5.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing 'T is an impression of the comforting spirit and Acts 9.31 They walked in the fear of the Holy ghost The spirit is necessary to
this actual joy for 't is possible a man may be perswaded of his sincerity or have no doubting of it and have too much deadness and dulness of soul not so comforted Well then 't is not an Oracle as to Christ Matth. 3 17 Nor an internal suggestion thou art a child of God we have no warrant for that from Scripture 't is not only to but with conscience Now conscience goeth upon rational evidence and we reason and argue from what we feel or find in our selves and 't is ascending to the covenant where Priviledges are assigned to the believer 1 John 1.2 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God to the penitent Acts 2 38 Repent and you shall receive the Holy ghost To the obedient He is become the author of salvation to all that obey him 2. The one superaddeth to the other Not the priviledg without the qualification that is sufficiently done by the word not the conscience by discourse and the spirit immediately no they concur to produce the same conclusion the spirits testimony superaddeth certainty authority and overpowering light 1 Cor. 4.4 For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that sudgeth me is the Lord and Rom. 9.1 I say the truth in Christ I lye not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy ghost As the influences of the Heavens work strongly but imperceptibly while they mingle themselves with the motions of the creatures so doth the spirit with our spirit it fortifieth and strengthneth the testimony of a mans own heart and so doth with more authority and power perswade us that we are the children of God 3. The necessiry of this to our full comfort 1. We cannot pray without it For the Text is brought to prove that they have a spirit within them which inclineth them to cry Abha Father surely 't is a great advantage in prayer to be able to say Psal. 63.26 Doubtless thou art our father and again Isa. 64.8 But now Lord thou art our father But how will you do unless you be Gods children and how will you know you be Gods children but by the spirit bearing witness to and with your spirits I know all Gods children have not the comfort of the spirit but they have the spirit of comfort and in some measure can come to God as a Father 2. We cannot apply the promises without it For the promises are childrens bread unless we be the children of God what comfort can we take in the promises unless we have an interest in them priviledges have their conditions annexed the right is suspended till the condition be performed that is till we know our selves to be true believers the promises are in vain and of no effect if to all you deceive the most for tho some are of Gods Family the whole world lieth in wickendness the most are the children of the Devil If to some they have their characters which occasioneth the restraint and you are told here this is known by the spirits bearing witness to our spirits But what shall poor creatures do that have not yet this clear testimony 1. Disclaim all other confidence When you cannot apply Hos. 14.3 Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the works of our hands Ye are our gods for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy 2. Own God in the humbling way Creep in at the back door of the promise 1 Tim. 1.15 Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners If Christ came to save sinners I am sinner enough for Christ to save Luke 15.18 19. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants 3. Come to him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 3.14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly God will love and accept all those that come to him by Christ. 4. There is a child-like inclination when there is not a childlike familiarity and boldness The soul cannot keep away from God and that is an implicite owning of him as a Father Jer. 3.19 Thou shalt call me father ond shalt not turn away from me We call him Father optando si non affirmando unspeakable groans discover the spirit of adoption as well as unutterable joys we own him by way of option and choice tho not by actual assurance of our special relation to him and interest in his fatherly love there may be a child like love to God when we have no assurance of his paternal love to us 5. There is a childlike reverence and awe when not a childlike confidence Their heart standeth in awe of as the Rechabites their fathers command dare not displease him for all the world these in time will overcome in short God hath a title to our dearest love when we cannot make out a title to the highest benefit SERMON XXV ROM VIII 17 If children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together THE Apostle had shewed v. 13. That if we through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body we shall live He proveth it by this medium and argument That as many as obey the sanctifying motious of the spirit are children of God and children may look for a childs portion He proveth they are children because the spirit accompanieth the dispensation of the New Covenant whereby we are adopted into Gods family and this spirit acts suitably as is evident by his impression v. 15. By his Testimony and Witness v. 16. Now he goeth on further and proveth That if we be children we are heirs and that we shall live if we mortifie the deeds of the body is more abundantly proved for our inheritanâ—e is eternal life and glory And if children then heirs c. In the Words observe 1. A Dignity inferred from our Adoption 2. The Amplification of it from the excellent nature of this inheritance Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. 3. 'T is applied as a comfort against adversities If so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together 1. The Dignity inferred is that we are Heirs The Inheritance belonging to Children jure nascendi all Children are not necessarily heirs but only males and among them the first born but jure Adoptionis they that are Adopted are adopted to some Inheritance so here if Children then heirs be they Sons or Daughters begotten to God sooner or later Male are Female are all one in Christ Gal. 3.18 they are not debarred from the Inheritacce 2. The amplification of it Or the greatness and excellency of this Inheritance in two expressions Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
together 2 Cor. 4.17 This light affliction which is but for a moment They are light just so they are short in comparison of eternal Glory as of short continuance if compared with eternity so of small weight if compared with the reward eternity maketh them short and the greatness of the reward maketh them easie There are degrees in our troubles some of the Saints get to Heaven at a cheaper rate than others do but yet the afflictions of all are light if we consider the unspeakable Glory of the world to come indeed we do but prattle when we presume fully to describe it for it doth not appear what we shall be and it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive the great things which he hath prepared for them that love him But the Scripture expressions every where shew it shall be exceeding great and also by the beginnings of it the world is ignorant and incredulous of futurity therefore God giveth us the beginnings of Heaven and Hell in this world in a wounded spirit and the comforts of a good Conscience these things we have experience of we know not exactly what our future condition will be but the hopes and fears of that estate are very affective the fears and horrors of eternal torment which are found in a Guilty Conscience do in part shew what hell will be or the nature of that wo and anguish which abideth for the impenitent Prov. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear The Salve for this Sore must come from Heaven only so the joys of a good conscience which are unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.8 shew that the happiness appointed for the Saints will be exceeding great for if the foretast be so sweet the hope and expectation be so ravishing what will the injoyment be Besides God moderateth our sufferings that they may not be overlong or over grievous 1 Cor. 10.13 But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it If the trial be heavy he fortifieth us by the comfort and support of the spirit and so maketh it light and easie to us To a strong Back that Burden is light which would crush the weak and faint and cause them to shrink under it but tho God moderateth our afflictions he doth not abate our Glory that is given without measure A far more exceeding weight of glory 5. The sufferings are in our mortal bodies but the glory is both in soul and body 'T is but the flesh which is troubled and grieved by affliction the flesh which if delicately used soon becometh our enemy the Soul is free and not liable to the power of man now it becometh a man much more a believer to look after the Soul Heb. 1◠39 We are not of them who draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Implying that they that are tender of the flesh are Apostates in heart if not actually and indeed so yet in practice But those which will purchase the saving of the Soul at any rates are the true and sound Believers The World which gratifieth the bodily life may be bought at too dear a rate but not so the Salvation of the Soul they that are so thrifty of the Comforts and Interests of the Bodily Life will certainly be prodigal of their Salvation But a Believer is all for the saving of his Soul That is the end of his Faith and labours and sufferings and his Self-denial The end of his Faith is to save his Soul 1 Pet. 1.9 So much as God is to be preferred before the Creature Heaven before the World Eternity before Time the Soul before the Body so much doth it concern us to have the better part safe But yet this is not all that which is lost for a while is preserved to us for ever if the body be lost temporally 't is secured to all eternity If we lose it by the way we are sure to have it at the end of the journey when the body shall have many priviledges bestowed upon it but this above all the rest that it shall be united to a Soul fully sanctified from which it shall never any more be seaprated but both together shall be the eternal Temple of the Holy Ghost 6. Sufferings do mostly deprive us of those things which are without a man but this is a glory which shall be revealed in us By sufferings we lose estate liberty comfortable abode in the world among our Friends and Relations If life its self which is within us 't is only as to its capacity of outward injoyments for as to the fruition of God and Christ so 't is true he that loseth his life shall save it Matth. 25.16 and shall live tho he die John 11.25 'T is but deposited in Christs hands But this Glory is revealed in us in our Bodies in their Immortality agility clarity and brightness in our Souls by the beatifical vision the ardent love of God the unconceivable joy and everlasting peace and rest which we shall have when we shall attain our end now if we be deprived of things without us for such things within us if we be denyed to live in dependance on the creature that we may immediately enjoy God should we grudg and murmur 7. Our sufferings dishonour us in the sight of the world but this glory maketh us amiable in the sight of God For having such a near relation to God and being made like him we are qualified for a perfect reception of his love to us we love God more in the glorified estate and God loveth us more as appeareth by the effects for he communicateth himself to us in a greater latitude than we are capable of here now is the hatred of the world worthy to be compared with the love of a Father Or should their frowns be a temptation to us to divert us from that estate wherein we shall be presented holy and unblamable and irreprovable in his sight Col. 1.22 When perfectly sanctified we love God more and are more beloved by him 8. The order is to be considered for look as to the wicked God will turn their glory into shame so as to the godly he will turn their shame into glory 'T is good to have the best at last for 't is a miserable thing to have been happy and to have had experience of a better condition and to become miserable Luke 6.20 Wo to you rich for you have received your consolation and Luke 16.25 Son in thy life time thou receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented The beggar had first temporal evils and then eternal good things but the rich man had first temporal good things and then eternal evil
the Apostle is of immutable equity Rom. 6.11 His servants you are to whom ye yield your selves to obey Now man giving up reason to appetite becometh a very slave as a Country is inthralled when the base prevail above the honourable and Beggars get on horseback but the Princes are on foot such a deordination there is when reason is put out of Dominon and lusts prevail our Bondage is described by the Apostle Tit. 3.3 Serving divers lusts and pleasures Our lusts urge us to an eager pursuit of inferior things reason or the leading-part of the Soul reclaimeth but it hath no force besides our dependance upon God which cannot be shaken off if since our Apostacy from him we have a perfect understanding to guide us the danger would not be so great but in this corrupt estate the mind is blinded by our Passions and Appetites and therefore to be left to the dispose of our bruitish affections is the greatest judgment that can be Psal. 81.12 So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels This is the greatest thraldom that can befal such a creature as man is it leaveth us no power to dispose of our selves men often see what they should do but cannot do it being drawn away by their own lusts and tho we have some kind of remorse from the remainders of reason especially being assisted by the Holy Spirit as to some common help yet we foully miscarry still till it hath brought us to misery as it did Sampson the strongest Solomon the wisest of men Then therefore is a man at liberty when reason and conscience are again put into dominion and a man is fitted to please God and seek after his true happiness with the contempt of all worldly things 4. It must be such a liberty as bringeth us nearest to the state of innocency which is mans first estate and the state of glory which is his last and most perfect state Now this doth consist in a freedom from the Power of sin the liberty of Innocency was posse non peccare Adam might not have sinned the liberty of Glory will be non posse peccare they cannot sin as not with a moral cannot 't is absurd that may be obtained here 1 John 3.9 He cannot sin because he is born of God but with a natural cannot 't is impossible the Soul doth indeclinably adhere to God as the chiefest good therefore now the nearer we come to this the will of man is best disposed and the more to be accounted as free Divines usually consider man in a fourfold estate In statu instituto in a state of integrity and so man might not have sinned In statu destituto in a state of corruption so he can do nothing else but sin That every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Gen. 6.5 In statu restituto and so he hath an inclination partly to good by the spirit of grace dwelling in him partly to evil by reason of the relickes of sin and is only so far freed from the bondage of corruption as that it shall not reign in him Rom. 6.14 In statu preestituto in the state to which he is appointed in the state of glory in which he can will nothing but what is good a blessed necessity it is and our highest liberty for liberty is not opposite to necessity but obligation or impulsion we are never more free than when we are passed all possibility of sinning 2. As it relateth to our felicity and so it implyeth two things 1. Our immunities and priviledges 2. Our rights and prerogatives 1. The immunities and priviledges of Gods Children we are delivered from much misery by Christ. First From the slavery of sin Rom. 6.18 Being made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Tho sin still dwelleth in us yet the guilt is remitted the damning power gone Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. The reigning power broken Rom. 6.14 For sin shall not have dominion over you and so 't is more and more mortified in us by the grace of Regeneration till at length it be abolished by death and so the being is gone and our inthralled spirits are in some measure set free to know serve and love God and delight in him as our Lord and life and end and all Secondly From death as the curse of the law And so from those everlasting torments which the wicked must endure The second death hath no power over such and tho we are obnoxious to the first death yet the venom and sting of it is gone 1 Cor. 15.56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory And of an enemy 't is made a friend 1 Cor. 3.22 Death is yours 'T is made the gate and entrance into eternal rest Thirdly From the Bondage that did arise in us from the fear of eternal death Where sin is entertained it bringeth another inmate along with it and that is the fear and terror of death and damnation which ariseth from the consciousness of sin now to be free from the accusations of a guilty conscience and those self-tormentings which in the wicked are the foretasts of Hell is surely a great mercy and this is the priviledge of Gods People Heb. 2.14 15. To deliver them who through fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage And sinners are such Bond-men that they dare not call themselves to an account for the expence of their time and course of their imployments which all wise men should do and think seriously of God and the day of judgment and the World to come therefore it is a great mercy to have a quiet well settled conscience Fourthly From the tyranny and power of Satan as a deceiver and enemy and executioner of the wrath of God who thereby taketh wicked men captive at his will and pleasure He cannot totally prevail against the elect Matth. 16.18 Vpon this rock I build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it tho he vex and tempt them continually He hath a kind of right to apostate Souls Eph. 6.12 Rulers of the darkness of this world but his power is much broken as to the elect they are dayly exercised by him but they overcome and stand stedfast in the faith Fiftly They are freed from the law and covenant of works which requireth that which to us is become impossible and also from the burdensome task of useless ceremonies imposed on the Church in the times of imfancy and darkness And the Apostle biddeth us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Gal. 5.1 The ceremonial law was a Bondage by reason of the great trouble expence and pain to the flesh which did attend the observation of it especially in its use a bond confessing the debt and Christ hath purchased this freedom and liberty to the Church and we should stand to the
our mouths to God 3. When struck dumb by some newly contracted guilt as David kept silence and grew shy of God Psal. 32.3 The Spirit urgeth us to penitent confession and humble suing out our pardon v. 5. with that brokenness of heart which becometh a sinner 4. When straitned by barrenness and leanness of Soul would fain Pray but are dry and barren of matter 't is because we use not meditation and serious recollection Psal. 45.1 My heart is inditing a good matter my tongue is the pen of a ready writer One that is well acquainted with God and himself cannot want matter First The Holy Ghost puts us upon the serious consideration of these things and then when we come to speak to God a man will copiously enough be supplied out of the abundance of his heart Matth. 12.34 Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh If the mind be stocked and furnished with holy thoughts and meditation it will break out in the lips 2. His next office is to quicken you or raise your affections and holy desires which are the life of Prayer The prayer continueth no longer than the desires do Therefore groans are more Prayer than words weeping hath a voice Psal. 6.8 The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping Tears have a tongue and a language which God well enough understandeth look as babes have no other voice but crying for the mothers breast that 's intelligible enough to the tender parent so when there are earnest and serious desires after grace God knoweth our meaning 2. It informeth us that the motions of the spirit are an help in prayer not the rule and reason of prayer many will say they will pray only when the spirit moveth them Now he helpeth in the performance not in the neglect of the duty we are to make conscience of it God giveth out influences of grace according to his will or good pleasure but we must Pray according to his will of precept the influence of grace is not the warrant of duty but the help we are to do all acts in obedience to Gods command whatever cometh of it Luke 5.5 God is soveraign disposed or indisposed you are bound our impotency is our sin now our sin cannot excuse us from our duty for then the creature were not culpable for his sinful defects and omissions the outward act of a duty is commanded as well as the inward tho we cannot come up to the nature of a perfect duty yet we should do as we can tota actio and totum actionis falleth under the command of God Hosea 14.2 Take with you words I and also take with you affections Tho I cannot do all I must do as much as I can bring such desires as I have Gods spirit is more likely to help you in duty than in the neglect of it You quench the Spirit that must assist you by neglecting the means when the door is bolted knocking is the only way to get it open present your selves before God and see what he will do for you By tacking about men get the wind not by lying still there is many times a supply cometh ere we are aware Cant. 6.11 12. Or ever I was aware my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib We begin with much deadness and straitness by striving against it rather than yeilding to it we get inlargement afterwards God assists those that will be doing what he commandeth when we stir up our selves he is the more ready to help us 2. USE is Caution See that your prayers come from the Spirit there are some prayers is a reproach to the Holy Spirit to father them upon him 1. An idle and foolish loquacity when men take a liberty to prattle any thing in Gods hearing and pour out raw tumultuous and indigested â—â—oughts before him Eccles. 5.2 Be not hasty to utter any thing before God 'T is a great irreverence and contempt of his Majesty Surely the Spirit is not the Author of ignorant sensless and dull praying nothing disorderly cometh from him The Heathen are charged with vain babling and heartless repetitions Matth. 6.7 They think to be heard for their much speaking Shortness or length are both culpable according to the causes from whence they come shortness out of barrenness and straitness or length out of affectation or ingeminating the same thing without savour or wisdom or a meer filling up the time with words 2. A frothy eloquence and affected language as if the Prayer were the more grateful to God and he did accept men for their words rather than their graces and were to be worshipped with fine phrases and quaint speeches No 't is the humble exercise of faith hope and love which he regardeth and such art and curiosity is against Gods soverâ—ignty and doth not suit with the gravity and seriousness of worship If we would speak to God we must speak with our hearts to him rather than our words and the more plain and bare they are the better they suit with the nature of duty Moses was bid to put off his shoes in holy ground to teach us to lay aside our ornaments when we humble our selves before God 't is not words but spirit and life not a work of oratory but filial affection Too much care of verbal eloquence sheweth our hearts are more conversant with signs than things words than matter and it hath a smack of the man and smelleth of the man but savoureth not of the Spirit Psal. 119.26 I declared my ways and thou heardest me 3. Outward vehemency and loud speech The heat which ariseth from the agitation of bodily spirits and vehemency of speech differeth from an inward affection which is accompanied with reverence and child-like dependance upon God 't is not the loud noise of words which is best heard in heaven the fervent affectionate crys of the Saints are those of the heart not of the tongue Psal. 10.17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble and Psal. 38.9 O Lord all my ways is before thee and my groanings is not â—id from thee The vehemency of the affection may sometimes cause the extention of the voice but without it we are but as tinkling cymbals 4. Natural Fervency when instant and earnest for some kind of blessings especially when we are oppressed with grievous evils and would fain get rid of them yet they cannot be looked upon as a motion of the spirit partly because 't is the temporal inconvenience they mind more than the removal of sin and cry more to get ease of their troubles than repentance for their sins which procured them and the supply of their necessities which they mind and not the favour of God and therefore the Holy Ghost calleth it howling Hos. 7.14 Like the moans of the Beasts for ease partly because they have no more to do with God when their turns are served and they are delivered from their troubles Jer 2.27 In the time of their trouble
of a deaf ear nonattentiveness to Gods providence made way for the prevalency of Atheism and Idolatry in the world There are two propositions that if well minded and improved would preserve a lively remembrance of God in the hearts of men That all good cometh from God James 1.17 Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights And all evil from God Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it And that any notable effect in either kind is a sign and witness of an invisible power If men would not look upon all things that befall them as meer chances they could not sleep so securely in their sins but God would have a greater testimony in every mans bosom that he hath a care of human affairs and is a rewarder of such as please him and an avenger of such as do offend him The question about this improper calling is What is the use of it or whether it be sufficient to salvation 1. Though the works of Creation and providence reveal a God yet these natural Apostles Sun Moon and Stars say nothing of Christ and there is salvation in no other Acts 4.12 They did teach the world That there is a God and that this God must be served and will be terrible to those that serve him not And possibly that God was placable or willing to be appeased because of the continuance of the Creation and the manifold mercies we lost or forfeited by our Apostacy and defection from him The Apostle saith 't is an invitation to repentance Rom. 2.4 Yet the knowledge of Jesus Christ the Son of God and of Redemption purchased to lost sinners through him is a mystery which the greatest wits in the world could not understand but by Gods revealing it in his word 2. The use of this call to those that have no other but barely it is to leave men without excuse Rom. 1.20 And that it might prevail to work some restraint of sin and to promote some external reformation in the world for the good of mankind Rom. 2.14 3. Those who have a louder call in the word are the more obliged to regard this call and invitation by the works of Gods creation and providence The call by the word is more perfect and more pressing and suited more to work upon our thoughts the object being more clearly and fully propounded to us yet this latter call is not privative but accumulative it doth not nâ—ll the duty of the former call or make it wholly useless to us but helps us to interpret it the better and we need all helps Faith doth not withdraw it self from natural knowledge and make it useless to us though we are to exercise our selves in the law of God day and night yet we must not overlook the works of Creation and Providence and whilest we study his word neglect Gods works for they are a confimation of our faith and a great occasional help to our love as appeareth by the instructions which the holy men of God gather thence witness David his night-meditation Psal. 8. Thy moon and thy stars And his morning-meditation Psal. 19. The Heavens declare the glory of God The glories of God which we read of in the word are visible in the Creation and though David preferreth the book of Scripture yet he doth not lay aside the book of Nature We must use the world as a glass wherein to see the glory of God he hath not the heart of a man in him who is not stricken with admiration at the sight of these things the glory of the heavenly bodies and the wonderful variety of all creatures and besides there is none so good but he needeth the mercy and direction of God to invite him to a more frequent remembrance of him How happy are they that have such a God for their God How miserable they that make him their Judg and Avenger 2. The proper calling is the voice of God in the word of his grace inviting sinners to Christ. This is called his distinctly calling Eph. 1.18 That ye may know what is the hope of his calling And the high calling of God in Jesus Christ Phil. 3.14 And again That our God would count you worthy of his calling 2 Thes. 1.11 And explained 1 Cor. 1.9 Faithful is he which hath called you into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now this is a more close and full discovery of God than is to be found elsewhere God calleth and inviteth some by the creatures only others by his grace in Christ. But this being calling most properly taken Why is it not vouchsafed to all I answer 1. God is not obliged to send the gospel to any 'T is his free dispensation Rom. 11.35 Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompenced to him again God doth not send the Gospel by necessity of nature or any pre-obligation on the creatures part but meerly of his own grace which worketh most freely and sendeth it where it pleaseth him 2. All have more knowledge of God by nature than they make good use of Rom. 1.21 When they knew God they glorified him not as God And till men improve a lower dispensation why should they be trusted with an higher If a vessel will not hold water you will not trust wine or any more precious liquor in it 2. Gods gracious invitation of lost sinners to Christ which properly is his calling them is either external or internal external by the word internal by his Spirit 1. External by the commands and promises of the word requiring such duties from them and assuring them of such blessings upon obedience Thus Wisdoms Maidens are sent forth to invite guests to her palace Prov. 4.2 And the kings servants to call them to the marriage feast Matth. 22.9 And so far they prevail in their message that many present themselves God would not leave us to a book but hath appointed a living Ministry 2 Cor. 6.10 2. Internal not only by the word but by his Spirit and the checks of their own conscience which is a nearer approach of his grace and power to us By the motions of his Spirit How else could it be said Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with man And Acts 7.51 Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost And also by their consciences sollicâ—ting them to the performance of their duty and challenging them for the neglect of it 'T is natural duty Rom. 2.14 15. The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law to themselves which shew the works of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or excusing one another And for acceptance of the Gospel-Covenant 1 John 3.20 21. If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things If our heart condemn us not
Excellencies of this inheritance Page 177 178 Holiness distinct from Godliness Page 16 The better part of our deliverance Page 38 Holiness and Goodness is the very nature of God Page 38 Holiness compleated ere we enter Heaven Page 38 Holiness visible to be charitably judged Page 77 Wherein it now consisteth Page 300 Honesty binds us to obey God Page 104 Hope and fear motives to duty Page 105 Saving Hope Page 230 Twofold of expectation and experience Page 165 Great and glorious Page 202 Saveth Page 222 What 't is Page 223 Its object Page 223 Ground Page 224 Very necessary Page 225 Vanquishes Page 225 Respect between Faith and Hope Page 226 May every one Hope for Salvation Page 227 Distinguisht into its kinds Page 229 May be interrupted Page 232 Mercy object of Hope Page 232 So is the promise Page ib. 233 How we brought to Hope Page 233 234 How increased Page 234 235 Brings Heaven to us on earth Page 235 Proper object Page 237 Built on promises Page 238 These confirmed sufficiently Page 239 How far seen Page 239 Real Page 240 Should over-rule our Hearts Page 241 Its qualifications Page 242 Humiliation what where begins and ends Page 145 I IGnorant we may be of some thing without danger Page 201 Incarnation of Christ with the ends and fruiâ—s of it Page 28 29 30 Immunnities we have by Christ Page 205 Inclination of the flesh what Page 41 Not alike to all sins Page 121 Indulgence to the flesh what Page 43 44 Image of God None so fit to restore as Christ Page 300 301 Image of God Must be restored ere we can have communion with God Page 34 35 It is mans glory Page 300 Immensity of God thence Omniscience Page 257 Immutability of God and eternal merit of Christ foundation of our eternal glory Page 183 Immortality known or guessed at by nature Page 141 Impotency of mind is from unmortified heart Page 130 To prayer without the spirit Page 251 Impeccable no Saint on earth is Page 148 Infirmities in Believers and occasions to the World to misjudge them and the spirit Page 77 They sin but design it not Page 103 Innocent Creatures punisht for mans sin and why and how Page 198 Impossibilities may be imagined not hoped Page 237 Interests of flesh what Page 41 Prevails in some without any controul Page 103 Our true Interest by God made motive to our duty Page 140 Intercession of Christ and of the spirit Page 244 How these differ Page ib. Invisible World to be sought Page 241 Joys of good conscience are foretasts of Heaven Page 148 Judgment to come not so generally known as Immortality and a state of Eternity Page 141 Yet known and own'd by some Page ib. Presag'd by fears of guilty conscience Page 240 Justice of God joins sin and punishment Page 22 60 Justification excludes not Mortification Page 125 What it implyeth Page 333 How many ways this done Page 334 How consistent with Gods Justice c. Page 334 335 336 Sinner Repenting and Believing is justified Page 335 336 Shall not be reversed Page 336 And why Page 336 337 Justified ones are Sanctified Page 335 K KIndness to be shewed to the creature subjected to vanity by our sin Page 199 Kingdom of God some far off Page 47 Knowledge of our selves and our state how to be obtained Page 43 44 That carnal men have of God is cold and lifeless Page 55 Knowledge of sin by the spirit necessary to mortification Page 133 L LEadings of God by which Saints are kept in their way Page 146 147 To be Led what Page 148 Its branches Page 148 149 Great mercy Page 151 It is through all duty Page 152 Legality partial or predominant and what each is Page 158 Law of spirit of Life what Page 8 Of sin what Page 9 Why so called Page 9 Its effects Page ib. Of God constitutes and directs duty Page 11 Given to man in innocence Page 11 And what Page ib. Of nature left in fallen man Page 11 Its effects Page ib. 155 Of man what tends to Page 11 Law what it includes Page 12 The New Covenant or Law of God and man differ and in what Page 13 Law could not put away sin Page 26 Nor justifie us ib. and Page 27 Was next to Christ and the Gospel most Divine Page 26 Cannot sanctifie us Page 28 Nor save Page 154 Irritates sin Page ib. Is not abrogated Page 35 36 37 Hath twofold office Page 154 Continues in force in Heaven Page 37 How fulfilled by a Believer Page 37 Law pretended against persecuted Christians Page 363 Law ceremonial what Page 206 Law-giver God Page 101 Legal spirit what and its operations Page 154 155 158 'T is timerous towards God and for truth Page 158 159 How removed Page ib. Liberty from sin and death by Christs merit and intercession Page 23 On what terms to be had Page 24 These terms cannot by man be changed Page 24 Of Gods children what now Page 201 Liberty mistaken Page ib. 'T is not to live as corrupt nature listeth Page 204 205 Liberty future glorious what Page 206 207 Compar'd with our present Liberty Page 207 Light and Life brought to Light by the Gospel Page 360 Life natural Beast-like Rational Spiritual Page 75 What this is Page ib. Of Grace vigorous as sin languisheth Page 126 Grieved with opposite sins Page 133 Spiritual both beginning and pledge of Life eternal Page 139 What it is Page ib. Natural and eternal compared Page 144 Eternal and Spiritual compared Page ib. Life must be ventured for Christ and why Page 363 Love of God to Believers engaging motive to love him and obey Page 330 To suffer also Page 369 Love of God to what Page 36 Lesser love to God is accounted hatred Page 62 And why Page ib. Love or hatred as we respect Gods Law Page 63 Love to God is principle of mortification Page 128 Surest way to assurance Page 160 Love that you may Live Page 140 And go possess the blessed hopes Page 242 Longings spiritual shall not be frustrated Page 140 For God giveth them that he may satisfie them Page ib. The objects of them Page 219 Lusts contrary to each other Page 48 Love to God what Page 280 281 282 Its properties Character of such as God will benefit by all and why Page 284 285 Best seen in sufferings for God Page 285 Twofold sincerity of Love and what each is Page 286 God Lovely for himself Page 286 For his Love to us Page 286 M MAn subject to God and on what grounds Page 10 11 Owes him a voluntary obedience Page ib. and 71 Men are of two sorts different in original principles c. Page 39 Discover what they are by respect to different objects Page 42 Three sorts of Men in the World Page 46 Mankind fallen under Gods displeasure Page 69 Corrupted wholly Page 106 Of two sides Page 314 315 Man pleasing what c. Page 72 Master sins like great diseases
None other please God Page 70 Spirit of Renovation what Page 162 Precedes Adoption Page 169 Reprieve forfeited by us Page 3 Religion what Page 36 Of carnal men what Page 107 Every man will have some Page 107 What its end Page 109 Reaping as we sow Page 95 Resignation of our selves to God nature knows not Page 65 Resisting is in part conquering Page 370 Resist not the spirit a Sanctifier Page 150 'T is dangerous Page 150 Rewards and punishments necessary Page 21 143 Lawful to look to them Page 142 143 Radication of Grace Page 82 Reason enslaved in flesh-pleasers Page 117 Rejoycing sensually very unsuitable to our state Page 204 Repentance what Page 34 36 Necessary to begin our interest in New-Covenant Page 36 Reverence and filial fear Page 165 Rigors external and Popish not acceptable Page 121 Restraining Grace Page 122 Resurrection whence Page 92 Effected by the Spirit of holiness now dwelling in Believers Page 93 Is work of the whole blessed Trinity Page 94 Of the spirit and Christ Page 95 Blessed Resurrection to holy ones Page 95 Onely of man Page 201 Resurrection of Christ influenceth our Iustification Page 346 How Page 347 Rights and Prerogatives of children of God Page 206 Right we have is limited of trust and accountable Page 101 196 Lest by the fall yet witked men have a civil Right Page 196 Rule of Believers obedience Page 73 S SAcrament of Lords Supper what Page 32 Spirit of Adoption suits it well Page 167 Hope suits it Page 235 Safety is to keep our selves from our selves Page 49 Is in our Iustification Page 237 Sacrifices for sin and their effects Page 31 Sanctification imperfect matter of wailing Page 1 Is obedience to the better principle in a subject is denial of following the worst principle Page 1 6 How wrought and increased Page 6 Effect intended by the death of Christ Page 34 35 Accompanieth Iustification Page 35 Comfort grows with it Page 150 Satans hand in our afflictions to draw us from God Page 365 Satans design against God and man in his tempting us and how defeated Page 29 He burrieth some into sin Page 40 Is executioner Page 97 Rules where spirit of God doth not dwell Page 98 Satisfaction to God Iudge Page 342 Seal of the spirit what and why given Page 42 96 Sanction of a Law what Page 12 Scripture witness is the spirits witness Page 172 Self-love blindeth us Page 253 Senses must be kept under the government of Reason Page 116 Shame of Believers turned into Glory Page 185 Sincerity for a time in particular things Page 260 Yet man hypocrite Page 286 Sin indwelling breeds fear of condemnation Page 1 Every new sin makes our claim doubtful Page 8 205 Ever hurts us Page 103 Lives tho dying in believers Page 119 124 125 All kinds of Sin in Believers Page 126 127 Each Sin hath several ways of acting Page 127 128 Is Mortal if not mortified Page 128 What Sin consistent with life Page 234 Sin condemned what Page 31 It s double power destroyed Page 32 Sin is a disesteem of God Page 144 108 Seen aright onely by the light of the spirit Page 133 Think of it as 't is greatest evil Page 144 All that came in by Sin shall be destroy'd Page 201 Is enemy to all creatures Page 213 State of man fourfold Page 205 Soul propends to its old friend and mate the body Page 97 Slaves are they who cannot peruse true happiness Page 204 Slavish fear what Page 63 153 Service what Page 154 When prevails Page 158 Far from Conversion Page 160 Sons of God Page 150 How we are Page ib. Subsistences three in the Divine Nature Page 64 Subjection to God inseperable to the creature Page 102 108 Spirit what Page 6 In every Christian Page 74 80 82 Prevalent Page 77 82 And how known Page 7 Its object Page 7 Given by Christ Page 9 17 What Page 14 Somewhat of the Spirit given to Heathens Page 17 18 More to Iews Page ib. Most to us in hearing the Gospel Page 18 All Believers have it but not in equal degrees Page 19 Evidence of having it Page 20 Spirit of Bondage and Adoption Page 25 Acteth grace in Believers Page 40 Things of the Spirit Page 47 To be minded more Page 52 53 To be chosen and valued pursued and sought in Gods way Page 54 Above other things and with Prayer Page 53 Spiritual mindedness what Page 59 Spirit Of Adoption what Page 61 Spirit Not to be resisted but obeyed universally constantly Page 78 79 What to have the Spirit Page 81 Without it we can do nothing Page 83 Is such evidence of true Christians Page 83 84 Its qualities Page 84 Effects Page 85 Never given in anger Page 85 Procure the Spirits presence Page 85 Get more of it and how Page 86 What it is Page 93 Is an eternal principle of happiness Page 90 How he dwells in Christians Page 93 94 Cause of our Resurrection Page 95 96 98 139 Mindeth us of our duty Page 100 Co-operates in Mortification Page 152 153 And how Page 132 133 135 136 Guides the godly Page 146 Sweetly and effectually Page 151 Supports Page 245 T TAste of things shews what men are Page 56 118 Temptations suited by Satan to hearts Page 116 Matter of groaning Page 217 Terrors of conscience restrain from sin Page 122 Foretaste of Hell Page 184 Thoughts discover what we are Page 43 45 56 Are of three kinds Page 55 Good of God to be cherished Page 159 Deep and ponderous about eternal things Page 185 Are known seen by God Page 257 Threats sure Page 111 Verified in Christs death Page 112 Lawfully used now against sinners Page 112 Of use to Adam innocent Page 112 Temporal things bewitch such as compare them not with eternal Page 182 How these should be compared Page 182 183 Trinity engaged distinctly in the work of our Salvation Page 14 Glorified in it Page 35 Unfolded Page 94 Temple of holy Spirit eternally shall glorified Bodies and Souls be Page 184 Tenderness of Spirit least we omit good or commit ill Fruit of love and spirit of Adoption Page 165 Tender hearts of Gods children most sensible of afflictions and sorrows Page 218 More burdened by sin Page 218 Testimony of Scripture is Testimony of the Spirit Page 172 Discovers what is done in us by grace Page ib. 173 With conscience which proceeds with reason Page ib. And both concur to the same Testimony Page 173 What to be done to get it Page 174 Titles tho greatest yet less than this Title Children of God Page 169 Torments for the bad after this life Page 22 Tryals in highest degrees to be respected by us Page 359 These discover our graces and what Page 360 361 Tribulations what Page 351 All conquered by our fervent love of Christ Page 370 And its appendages foreseen and felt to differ Page 371 Troubles of Christians many and great Page 372 And why Page 353 Truths tho small must be
short He is Clothed also with the graces of the Spirit which are both ornamentum and munimentum Our Ornament and Armour of defence 'T is our Ornament as leaves are a beautiful vesture to the Apples as Cloaths are to the Body Col. 3.12 Put on therefore as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering c. Munimentum Armour Rom. 13.12 The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast of the works of darkness and let us put on the Armour of light Christ doth aray us non ad pompam sed ad pugnam not to set us off with a vain shew but to furnish and secure us for the Spiritual warfare Well then the words agree There are some peculiar difficulties in the 4th verse But we shall handle them in their own place Doct. That none can groan and long for Heaven but those who are not found naked but Clothed with a Gospel Righteousness The Apostle limiteth it to them In this point I shall handle three things 1. What is a Gospel Righteousness 2. That this carryeth the notion of a Garment to cover our nakedness and shame 3. Why none but they can groan and earnestly desire to be Clothed upon with the House which is from Heaven 1. What is a Gospel Righteousness 'T is Christs reconciling and renewing grace with new obedience resulting from both Or Justification Sanctification and New Obedience 1. Justification is requisite to Eternal Life Therefore called Justification unto Life Rom. 5.18 Tit. 3.7 Being Justifyed by his grace we are made Heirs according to the hope of Eternal Life and this is also represented by Cloathing The taking away of sin is the taking away our filthy Garments or the covering of our nakedness And the applying the Righteousness of Christ 't is as the investing of us with change of Raiment Zech. 3.4 Take away the filthy Garments from him and unto him he said I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will clothe thee with change of Raiment Christ taketh away our sin by pardon and withal adorneth the sinner with his Righteousness and with holiness in the sight of God There is no getting the Blessing but in the Garment of our Elder Brother 2dly Sanctification is requisite in order to Glory For without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 And this is the Ornament wherein the inward man of the Heart is decked and adorned that it may be comely in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3.4 As we cover the nakedness of our Bodies from the sight of men so we must cover the nakedness of our Souls in the sight of God Now thought it be hidden from man yet it is not hidden from the Lord We must see that he find us not in our nakedness neither destitute of grace nor of the Righteousness of Christ. Well then it is not enough to look after the Righteousness of Justification but of Sanctification The one is founded on the Blood of Christ the other is wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 6.11 And the application of Christs Blood and the gift of the Spirit are inseparably conjoined both in the dispensation of God and the desire of a poor anxious Soul 1 Joh. 1.9 The one doth away the guilt of sin as it rendreth us obnoxious to Gods just wrath and the other the filthiness and power of sin as it tainteth our faculties and actions and rendreth us unacceptable and unserviceable to God Christ came to restore us to the favour of God and to restore his Image in our Hearts that the plaister might be as broad as the sore If Christ should free us only from the guilt of Sin he would perform but half our cares he would provide for our impunity but not for our holiness and serviceableness to God Our misery lay in our sinfulnes as well as our liableness to wrath Therefore Christ came to change our natures as well as to reconcile our persons to God 3dly New Obedience or Sanctification acted as well as infused is a part of those Garments of Salvation wherewith we are Clothed For the Gospel saith 1 Joh. 3.7 He that doth Righteousness is Righteous That is declareth that he is Righteous in Christs Righteousness and Sanctified by his Spirit And that this Godly and Righteous Life is necessary to the expectation of Glory and Blessedness appeareth by that 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of persons ought we to be in all Holy conversation and Godliness Let Conscience speak when it reflecteth upon this how meet it is that we should Glorifie God in the duties of holiness if we would be glorified with him and that we should Glorifie him in all the points of obedience and not in one only For he saith in all Holy Conversation and Godliness in the outward carriage and secret practice in Common affairs and duties of immediate worship in Adversity Prosperity grace exercised and discovered in the lives of Gods people is a part of these Garments wherewith our nakedness is covered Psal. 132.9 Let thy Priests be Clothed with Righteousness 2dly This carryeth the notion of a Garment to cover our nakedness and shame 1. Sin and shame came in together and there is no man born Clothed but stark-naked and hath nothing wherewith to cover his shame before God Adams nakedness was an Emblem of it Gen. 3.11 I was afraid because I was naked and I bid my self We must not only look to the outward nakedness but the inward Adam was naked before and knew that he was so But till they had sinned they were not ashamed Gen. 2.25 our Bodies were Gods own handy work and Apparel in Innocency was but as a Cloud to the Sun Therefore while our first parents were apparelled with the Robe of Innocency they felt no shame all things were honest and comely and Glorious enough without a covering both in the sight of God and themselves no cause of shame either before God or betwixt themselves But when divested and stripped of this Spiritual apparel then Adam was ashamed hid himself from God and till they be Cloathed neither he nor his Posterity can come into his presence with any comfort Another Emblem of this we have in Aaron's stripping the Israelites of their Jewels and Ornaments Exod. 32.25 When Moses saw that the peole were naked for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies It is not meant barely of Aarons stripping them of their Jewels and Ornaments that was but a type of their nakedness and deformity which was uncovered before God what should Moses kill the Israelites because Aaron had taken away their Jewels And what great matter of disgrace was it among the enemies That the Sons and Daughters of Israel should want ear-rings But the meaning is Aaron had cast them out of Gods protection who was offended and provoked by their sin Another suitable expression is Hosea 2 3. I will set
thee naked as in the day wherein thou wast born 'T is not meant that God would take away their apparel but deprive them of his Spiritual favours leave them as he found them at their first birth and then how miserable were they Well then in its self 't is shameful and maketh us odious and abominable to God To flye from him to shun his presence as Adam when he sinned found himself naked and ran away from God to the Bushes Gen. 3.7 So all naturally lye before God as deformed sinners have naked and loathsome Souls though the Body should be clad with gorgeous Robes 2dly We being naked our great business is to get a Garment wherewith to cover our nakedness that our shame may not appear Rev. 2.17 18. Thou art poor and blind and miserable and naked I Counsel thee to buy of me white Raiment that thou mayest be Clothed Our business is to be traffiquing with Christ about Garments of Salvation how to get our sins covered with such a covering as will hide them from the sight of God This is our business if we would not have God dreadful but amiable Adam when he found himself naked was looking out for a covering But he could find out nothing but a few fig leaves till the Lord made him Coats of Skins possibly of those beasts which were offered in sacrifice for the news of the seed of the woman or the first tydings of the Messiah who should come to redeem the world was then imediately made known to him and Sacrifice appointed to signify and prefigure it 3dly There are no Garments of Salvation to be had but from Christ alone no way else found out to cover our nakedness Therefore we are said to put on Christ Gal. 3.27 Rom. 13.11 Put on the Lord Jesus So that then we are not found naked but Clothed with Christ who alone can cover our loathsome nakedness and render us acceptable to God As Hester had Garments out of the Kings Ward-robe so the Church hath granted unto her by the Kings gift and allowance fine Linnen which is the Righteousness of the Saints Rev. 19.8 Whatever the Instruments be yet Christ saith I will give thee change of Raiment Zech. 2.4 Alas our own Righteousness is as filthy rags and will never cover our nakedness our best Robes need to be washed in the Lambs Blood or there is no appearing before God with any comfort and confidence 3dly Why none but they can groan and desire earnestly to be Cloathed upon with the House which is from Heaven 1. None but they are in a state or have a right to enjoy it the change of an earthly estate into an Heavenly one requireth first as a necessary foregoing Condition that we should be in this world Clothed with Christs Righteousness and regenerated and sanctified by his Spirit and Glorifie God by new obedience For Corruption cannot inherit incorruption and none but new Creatures shall inherit the new Jerusalem And good works are the way to the Crown c. Well then none but they are got ready and so are in a Conditon desirously to expect this Glory The Soul being Conscious to its self of having this true qualification doth more comfortably expect and desire and groan for immortality 'T is but a small part of lost mankind who shall injoy this Blessedness for the flock to whom the Father will give the Kingdom is but a little flock And these are such as are Justified and Sanctified They that are destitute of Righteousness cannot look God in the Face much less desire his presence Surely a man must be born again before he can enter into the Kingdom of God Joh 3.3 5. 2dly None have a right temper of heart to incline them to it but those that are Cloathed A man is ashamed to be seen in his nakedness especially before his Superiors but being Clothed cometh forth with confidence So here guilt and sin breed a shyness of God but pardon and sanctification give an Holy boldness Joh. 2.28 And now little Children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming So 1 Joh 4.17 That we may have boldness at the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in the world Be justified be Sanctified and walk as Christ walked and why should you be afraid to appear in his presence Whereas others are ashamed to be seen by him Shame is properly a fear of a rebuke a reproof from the Judge of the world is the greatest rebuke of all Now what maketh the Saints so bold and allayeth their fear and shame since they are Conscious to themselves of many infirmities Answ. Their nakedness is covered they have white raiment cast upon them that all their defects and infirmities are hidden More particularly 1. That which is the matter and cause of fear and shame is removed That which makes a man afraid is guilt and sin which sometimes is represented under the notion of filthiness and sometimes of nakedness Now this filthiness is washed away by the Blood of Christ This nakedness is covered by the Righteousness of Christ. They have put on Christ and are invested with his Righteousness Rom. 8.1 2dly The ground of our boldness is laid so that we may have a comfortable expectation of Everlasting Blessedness 1. The Justified and Sanctified are at peace with God Rom. 5.1 Being Justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord-Jesus Christ. And for Sanctification Gal. 6.16 And as man as walk according to this Rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God Our great business is to be found of God at peace in a state of amity at the last day 2 Pet. 3.14 Since ye look for such things be the diligent that may be found of him in peace and without spot and blame The great end of all diligence is to be found of him in peace and there is no way to be so but to be without spot and blame without spot relateth to the Soul without blame to the Conversation The great business then wherein a Christian is to be exercised is in the getting off our â—inful spots and in putting off our filthy Garments that we may be Clothed with change of Raiment Certainly much sweet peace and quietness is found in their Spirits who make it their serious work to have the guilt of sin washed away by the application of the Blood of Jesus and their filthy natures changed by the power of his Spirit On the Contrary others lye under much unquietness and bitter anxiety who are still under the burden of unpardoned guilt and unrenewed nature These are not at peace with God 2dly They have a Conscience witnessing of their sincerity though they have many failings And the Testimony of Conscience giveth great boldness and confidence 2 Cor. 1.12 1 Joh. 3.21 1 Joh. 3.19 Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts
evermore 2. This is that which is highly prized by them to be where Christ is Why is this so much prized by true Christians 1. Out of thankfulness to Christ's delighting in our presence Therefore much more should we delight in his He longed for the society of men before the Creation of the World Pro. 8.31 I rejoiced in the habitable parts of the Earth and my delights were with the Sons of men Christ delighted in all the Creatures as they were the effects of his Wisdom and Goodness and Power but chiefly in men as they were the objects of his grace capable of Gods Image and favour Thus he longed for the company of men before the World was When the World was once made he delighted to appear in humane shape before his incarnation As Gen. 18. A man appeared to Abraham and he is called Jehovah And Zach. 1.10 11. And the man that stood among the Mirtle-trees answered and said these are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the Earth As if he would try how 't would fit him to become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh When the fulness of time was come 1 John 1.4 The word was made flesh and dwelt among us as long as it was necessary when he departed he had a mind of returning before he went away and removed his bodily presence from us his heart was upon meeting and fellowship again and getting his people to him John 14.2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am you may be also Until the time that the meeting cometh he vouchsafeth his powerful presence to us Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you to the end of the World he would never have gone from us if our necessities did not require it 't was necessary that he should die for our sins That nothing might hinder our believing and coming to him 't was necessary that he should go to Heaven if our Happiness had lain here he would have been with us here but it doth not 'T is reserved for us in the Heavens Therefore he must go there to prepare a place for us before he went he desired we might be there where he is As if he could not take content in Heaven till he hath his faithful with him Now he is gone away he will tarry no longer than our affairs require To have our Souls with him that doth not content him till he come and fetch our Bodies also That we may follow him in our whole person and then we and he shall never part when all the elect shall meet in one Common Rendezvous and Congregation Now shall not all this breed a reciprocal affection in us 2. Out of Love to Christ. We would fain get near him who is our great friend Psa. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And the Saints are described to be those that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 If we have heard him if we be Christians indeed if we loved him when we saw him not and delighted in him and tasted his grace in truth and felt his power we shall long to be near him and see him and converse with him intimately 3. Tast. Communion begun maketh us long for Communion perfected Psa. 63.1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is To see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary 4. Their compleat Happiness dependeth upon it 1 John 3.2 We shall see him as he is and be like him John 17.24 That they may be where I am and behold my Glory Christ cannot be fully seen on this side time 1. Use is to condemn and disprove them from being true Christians that cannot abide the presence of Christ. The Gadarens desired him to depart out of their Coasts Matth. 8. Yet carnal men have such a Spirit Job 22.17 Which say unto God depart from us Cannot abide Christ in their neighbourhood that he should come near their Consciences 2. Vse is to press us to two things 1. To prize the Communion and fellowship of Christ for the present 'T is constant and habitual that he may dwell in your hearts by Faith Eph. 3.17 Where Christ taketh up his abode there his Spirit is the Fountain of Life Gal. 2.20 Our defence against Temptations 1 John 4.4 Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World The seed and hope of Glory 1 Col. 27. Solemn and actual in holy duties there is Heaven begun there we behold his Face in Righteousness Psa. 17.15 And a day in his Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere Psa. 84.10 2. Let us long to be with him to get out of the pesthouse of the World and the Prison of corrupt Nature I allude to that Gen. 24.57 58. And they said we will call the damsel and enquire at her mouth and they called Rebekah and said to her wilt thou go with this man and she said I will go Wilt thou go to Jesus Lord I will go with thee Hindrances are these 1. A surfeit on the sinful pleasures and contentments of this World This weakens your desires and taketh off the edge of your affections Lot lingered when he was to go out of Sodom Gen. 19 16. 2. Do not darken your confidence by your sin and folly Then you will as a Malefactor fly from him as a judge rather than rejoice to be with him as a Saviour SERMON X. 2 Cor. 5.7 For we walk by faith and not by sight IN this verse a reason is given why we are said to be absent from the Lord while we are at home in the body because all things are transacted between him and us by faith and not by sight or Immediate vision for we walk c. These words do notably set forth to us both the nature of faith and the condition of believers here in the World 1. They set forth the nature of faith which mainly goeth upon things unseen or not obvious to present sense 2. The Condition of a believer in the World he doth not now see God face to face he hath only the promise of blessedness not the injoyment But that I may draw forth the full Scope and sense of the words I shall give you six observations or propositions 1. That faith and sight are opposed and contradistinguished the one from the other 2. That faith is for earth and sight is for Heaven the one is of use to us in this world the other is reserved for the World to come 3. That till we have sight 't is some advantage that we have faith 4. Those that have faith are not satisfied and contented till they have sight For therefore the Apostle groaneth and desireth 5. That if we have faith we may be sure that
The Godly will be brought in as one evidence to make them manifest parâ—ly as they endeavoured to do them Good Heb. 11.7 Noah condemned the World and the Saints shall Judge the World 1 Cor. 6.2 Now by their conversations hereafter by their vote and suffrage And partly as they might receive good from them As the Godly relieved Luke 16.9 And neglected Mat. 25. As they might have been visited and cloathed the Loins of the Poor Blessed Job Chap. 31.20 10. The circumstances of their evil actions Jam. 5.3 Your Gold and Silver is caâ—kered the â—â—st of them shall be a witness against you The circumstances of your sinful actions shall be brought forth as arguments of conviction Hab. 2.11 The stone shall cry out of the Wall and the beam out of the Timber shall answer it Though none durst complain of oppressors yet the materials of their buildings shall witness against them A kind of Antiphony heard by Gods justice The stones of the Wall shall cry Lord we were built by rapine and violence the beam shall answer true Lord even so it is the stones shall cry vengeance Lord upon our ungodly owner and the beam shall answer woe to him because his house was built with blood though all should be silent yet the stones will not hold their peace Vse 1. If we must appear so as to be made manifest Oh then let us take heed of secret â—in and make Conscience of avoiding it as well as that which is open for in time it will be laid open Achan was found out in his Sacriledge how secretly soever he carryed it Joshua Chap. 7. Ananias and Sapphirahs Sacriledge in keeping back part of what was dedicated to God Acts 5. Gebazi in affecting a bribe 1 Kings 5.26 Went not my spirit with thee Meaning his Prophetick Spirit Doth not God see and will not he require it Alas we many times make conscience of acts but not of thoughts and yet according to Christs Theology malice is heart-murther lustful inclinations are heart Adultery proud Imaginations are heart-Idolatry and there may be a great deal of evil in discontented thoughts and repinings against Providence Psal. 73.22 shall we repent of nothing but what man seeth Eph. 5.12 It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret A serious Christian is ashamed to speak of what secure persons are not ashamed to practice if they can hide it from men the all seeing-eye of God layeth no restraint upon them uncleanness usually affecteth a vail of Secresy but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13.4 'T is said God will Judge them because usually this sin is carryed so closely and craâ—tily that none but God can find them out but certainly God will find them out none can escape Gods discovery all things are naked in his sight Let no man then Imbolden himself to have his hand in any sin in hopes to hide his Counsel deep from the Lord and his works in the dark Isa. 29.15 God knoweth the thoughts of the heart afar off and Psa. 139.2 Whither shall I go from thy presence and whither shall I fly from thy Spirit God knew what the King of Assyria spake in his secret Chamber 2 Kings 6.12 Knew the secret thoughts of Herods heart which it is probable he never uttered to his nearest friends concerning the murthering of Christ Matth. 2.13 But to end this consider the aggravations of these sins that are secret and hidden although to be an open and bold sinner is in some respects more then to be a close private sinner because of the dishonour done to God and Scandal to others and impudency in the sinner himself yet also in other respects secret sins have their Aggravations 1. The man is conscious to himself that he doth evil therefore seeketh a vail and covering would not have the World know it if open sins be of greater infamy yet secret sins are more against knowledge and conviction To sin with a consciousness that we do sin is a dreadful thing Jam. 4.17 You live in secret wickedness envy pride sensuality and would fain keep it close This is to rebel against the light and to stop the mouth of conscience which is awakned within thee 2. This secret sinning puts far more respect and fear upon men than God and is palliated Atheism What unjust in secret unclean in secret Envious in Secret disclaim against Gods Children in secret neglect duties in secret sensual in secret Oh then wicked wretch thou art afraid men should know it and art not afraid God should know it What afraid of the eyes of man and not afraid of the Great God Thou wouldest not have a Child see thee do that which God seeth thee to do A Thief is ashamed when he is found Jer. 2. Can man damn thee Can man fill thy Conscience with terrours Can man bid thee depart into Everlasting Burnings Why then art thou afraid of man and not of God 3. The more secret any wickedness is it argueth the heart is more studious and industrious about it how to contrive it and bring it about as David plotted Vriahs death And Joshua 7.11 They have stolen and dissembled also and even put it among their own stuff And Acts 5.9 How is it that ye have agreed together to Tempt the Spirit of God In Secret sins there is much Premeditation and Craft and Dissimulation used 2. VSE is to shew the folly of them who rather take care to hide their sins then get them pardoned 1. God hath promsed pardon to an open confession of sin Prov. 28.13 He that hideth his sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy He hath promised it in mercy but bound himself to perform it in righteousness 1 John 1.9 If we confess and forsake our sins he is just and faithful to forgive them David pleadeth it Psal. 51.3 Cleanse me from my secret sin for I acknowledge my transgression And God doth certainly perform it to his Children When David said I have sinned 2. Sam. 12.13 against the Lord Nathan said the Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die And this he acknowledged with thankfulness Psa. 32.5 I said I would confess and thou forgavest This is the right course which men should take confess their sin with grief and shame and reformation we have not our quietus est till this be done 2. Notwithstanding all this man naturally loveth to hide and cover his sin Job 31.33 If I have covered my transgression as did Adam by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom More hominum so Junius Hos. 6.7 They like men have transgressed the covenant 'T is in the Hebrew like Adam or Adams name is mentioned because we shew our selves to be right Adams race by hiding and excusing our sin First From men we hide them as Saul dealeth with Samuel 1 Sam. 15.13 15. Gehazi with Elisha Ananias and Sapphira with Peter Acts 5.8 They
their angry brow are as graves and furrows yet some have escaped the wrath of kings and worldly potentates as Elijah escaped the vengeance of Jezâ—â—el 1 Kings 19.2 3. The Gods do so to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them to morrow by this time And when he heard that he arose and fled to Beersheba for his life But there is no escaping Gods wrath Rev. 6.16 No avoiding his sight or escaping the stroke of his Justice Psa. 134.7 4. If it particularly concern every one of us a Clap of Thunder in our own Zenith doth more affright us than when 't is at a distance This did once belong to all and it doth still belong to the Impenitent and therefore we should take the more care that we be not of that number and while we are in the state of tryal we cannot be over confident I am sure 't is a sinful confidence that is joyned with the neglect of the means to shun it The dreadful consequence of that day to the wicked 't is in its self a matter of terror to all and to slight this terrour is to turn the Grace of God into Wantoness And it cometh either from unbelief or from a dull stupid senseless Spirit And if it produceth not caution and watchfulness and serious and diligent preparation 't is not a fruit of the assurance of the Love of God but of the security of the flesh I confess 't is a case of Conscience how to make the day of Judgment matter of joy and confidence and matter of terror and caution sometimes we are bidden to reflect upon it with joy and confidence so as we may love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 To lift up our heads because our Redemption draweth nigh Luke 17.28 To rejoice because we shall be partakers of the Blessedness promised 1 Pet. 4.14 At other times matter of fear and terrour These are not contrary The one is to prevent slight thoughts which are very familiar with us The other future perplexities and dejection of Spirit The strictness of our account the dreadful consequence to those that shall be found faulty should not discourage us in the way of duty eternal wrath should not be feared farther than to stir us up to renew our flight to Christ and to quicken us in his service who hath delivered us from wrath to come 2. The persons fearing Paul and his Colleagues together with all the parties who are to be judged That the unspeakable terrour of the Lord is a rational just and equitable ground of fear we have seen already But the doubt is how this could be so to Paul and his Colleagues especially if we consider it mainly as we ought with respect to the execution of punishment or the Wrath of God that shall abide on the impenitent I answer 1. To be only moved with terrour is slavish The wicked may out of fear of Hell be frighted into a little religiousness But Paul was moved by other principles Hope and Love as well as fear see the 14. verse The Love of Christ constraineth us But this among the rest is allowable 't is one of the Spirits motives to quicken us to fly to Christ and to take sanctuary at his grace Heb. 6.18 To ingage us to thankfulness for our deliverance 1 Thes. 1.10 Yea to stir us up to more holy diligence and sollicitude in pleasing God Heb. 13.28 29. The Eternal Wrath of God among other things doth rowse us up to serve him with Godly fear 2. Though Paul and his Colleagues had the Love of God shed abroad in their hearts and were assured of his favour and their everlasting Salvation yet knowing the terrour of the Lord They had a deeper reverence of his Majesty and so afraid to displease him or to be unfaithful in their charge and trust And could not endure that any others should do so Reverence of God as one able to destroy us and cast Body and Soul into Hell Fire is always necessary The fear of reverence remaineth in Heaven in the glorified Saints and Angels and Christ presseth us to this fear Luke 12.3 4. 3. We must distinguish between a perplexing distrustful fear and an aweful preventive-eschewing fear A distracting tormenting fear of Hell or the Wrath of God would weaken our delight in God and therefore the Love of God casts out this fear 1 Joh. 4.18 But now the aweful fear fleeing from wrath to come this doth not destroy peace of Conscience or joy in the Holy-Ghost but gard it rather This only quickeneth us to use those means by which we may avoid so great an evil Instances we have in Scripture Job that was sure that his Redeemer lived Job 19. Yet destruction from the Lord was a Terrour to him Chap. 31. That is he thought himself obliged to use all those means by which he might shun so great an evil So Paul We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens Yet knowing the Terrour of the Lord. 4. There are great reasons why this Terrour should have an influence upon us while we dwell in flesh 1. Because 't was once our due Eph. 3.2 And though we are delivered from it by Gods grace yet still 't is a fearful state which we cannot sufficiently shun and avoid 2dly We still deserve it after grace hath made a change in our Condition There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8.1 Yet many things are condemnable We now and then do those things for which the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of disobedience we deserve that God should say to us depart ye cursed 3 dly 'T is certainly a great and extream difficulty to get free from so great an evil 1 Pet. 4.18 We cannot get to the harbour but by encountring many a terrible storm and God is fain to discipline us that we may not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 I know I shall be saved but 't is a difficult thing to save me 3. The means how this fear cometh to be raised in us knowing This implyeth three things 1. A clear and explicite apprehension 2. A firm assent 3. Serious consideration 1. A distinct knowledge of this Article of Christs coming to Judgment 1 Thes. 5.2 You your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a Thief in the night 'T is good not only to know things but to know them perfectly for though a man may be saved by an implicite faith as he knoweth things in their common principle yet explicite faith and plenitude of knowledge or seeing round about the compass of any truth conduceth much to the practical improvement of it Instance in the Creation of the World To know the general truth may make me safe but a distinct explication thereof maketh us more admire the Wisdom Goodness and Power of God So for
and being spoken to by him out of Heaven Therefore he saith 1 Cor. 9.1 Am not I an Apostle Have not I seen Jesus Christ the Lord But Paul did not seek his esteem meerly for his vision of Christ and that extasy which befell him at his first conversion but for his faithful discharge of his work on the grounds formentioned for he would not Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as others did but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mortified Christians that have given up themselves to the Lords use should more mind that and esteem themselves and others for true and real worth more than the advantage of external priviledges I am confirmed in this exposition by what is said verse 6 th wherefore henceforth know we no man after the Flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know we him no more That is we should not esteem and judge of persons by their conversing with him in the flesh but by their Loyalty and Obedience to him If they be zealous for his Kingdom and can upon the hopes which he hath offered run all hazards and encounters of Temptations and upon the confidence of his coming to Judgment be faithful to him and out of Love to his person and gratitude for the work of Redemption deny themselves and live to his Glory they have cause to Glory in heart whereas others who boast only of personal acquaintance with him but are not found in Doctrine and the practice of Religion do only Glory in a meer appearance or outward shew before men but can have no true solid confidence in their hearts Well then here lay the case between Paul and his opposites They gloryed in some external thing which could give no solid peace to the Conscience But Paul could Glory in his perseverance diligence patience and self-denyal for the Gospel The sense of which made his heart rejoice and by the way the same glorying may be taken up by all the faithful painful Preachers of the Gospel against their opposites who are the Popish Clergy who Glory in their pomp and their great revenues and that they are the Successours of the Apostles and can pretend an external title to this inheritance and sit in their Chair as Pope Alexander the 6th Haec est bona persuasio quia per hanc nos regnamus Now you are to Judge who are they that Glory in Heart or in Appearance They that Glory in their riches or outward possession or they that Glory in their labours sufferings and converting of Souls to God Doct. That then a man hath the full comfort of his sincerity when he hath the approbation of God and of his own Conscience and hath also a Testimony in the Consciences of others All these had Paul 1. The approbation of God For he saith We are made manifest unto God God knew both his actions and his aims for the Lord considereth both Prov. 16.2 Now the Lord knew his labour his patience his travelling up and down to promote the kingdom of his Son as also that he did this out of hope fear and love Pauls main care was to approve himself to God and to be accepted with God 2. He had the Testimony of a good conscience He telleth them so now and told them so before 2 Cor. 1.12 This is Our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not in fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we had our conversation in the world but more abundantly to you ward Not by violent or fraudulent means did he seek to promote the Gospel not his self opinions not self ends they had more experience than others for whereas he was maintained by the poorer towns yet with them he laboured with his hands and still preached the Gospel As usually it falleth out often that handy-craft people are more liberal for the support of the Ministry than the Gentry or Nobles upon the account of the Gospel nay though he could speak of seeing Christ by extraordinary dispensation yet he would glory rather in the real and general evidences of grace than in any external priviledge and advantage whatsoever if Paul had never seen Christ yet he had wherein to glory 3. And he had a testimony in their consciences as well as his own I trust also we are made manifest in your consciences He was confident that he had a witness in their Bosoms of his sincere and upright dealing the greatest approbation that we can have from men is to have an approbation in their consciences for conscience is the faculty which is most apt to take Gods part We may easily gain their respect and applause by complying with their humours but that is not lasting that will not do Gods work and the Gospels Our greatest advantage if we be Faithful servants to God will be to have a witness in their consciences Thus did Paul he wanted not opposers at Corinth some questioned his Apostleship some slighted his abilities some saw no such evidence and excellency in his Doctrine what should the poor man do He courted not their affections by arts of insinuation but approved himself to their consciences But how did Paul commend himself to the Corinthians By three means 1. By the evidence of his Doctrine which he managed with such power and Authority that it was manifestly seen by all who had not a mind to lose their Souls and were not prejudiced by their worldly interest that it was not calculated for the Lusts and Interests of men but their Salvation 1 Cor. 4.2 By the manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God Paul preached such necessary Truths as if men were not strangely perverted they might see he aimed at their spiritual and eternal benefit 2. By the success of his Doctrine 2 Cor. 3.1 2 3. Do we begin again to commend our selves or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you Ye are our Epistle written in our hearts known and read of all men for as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with Ink but with the Spirit of the Living God Not in tables of stone but in the fleshly Tables of the heart The conversions which he had wrought among them gave a sufficient Testimony to their consciences that he was not a vagrant self-seeker he had been the Instrument of transcribing the Doctrine of Christ upon their hearts Paul prevailed with many at Corinth and had converted many God himself assured him of this success Acts 18.9 10. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision Be not afraid but speak and hold not thy peace For I have much much people in this city 'T was an opulent but a wanton Town but God would be with him and had much People therefore Paul ventured and prevailed 3. By the purity holiness and self-denial which was seen
in his conversation 2 Cor. 6.4 5 6. But in all things approving our selves as ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in Imprisonments in tumults in labours in Watchings in fastings By pureness by knowledge by long-sufferings by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left c. These were the evidences which he had in their consciences The faithful discharge of his Office in all sorts of pressures wants and exigencies as also by the constant study of the mind of God and purity of life and abundance of Spirit and sincere charity and love to Souls by these things should a People Choose a Minister and by these things did Paul approve himself to their consciences 2. All these may others have hating for the publickness of his Office and the extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost all Ministers and all Christians may have an approbation of God and the testimony of their own consciences and a witness in the consciences of others 1. They may have the approbation of God who certainly will not be wanting to the comfort of his faithful Servants Partly Because he hath promised not only to reward their sincerity at last but to give them the comfort of it for the present John 4.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father And I will love him and will manifest my self to him Let a man but love Christ and be â—aithful to him and he is capable of this promise God will love him and Christ will love him and in Testimony thereof he will manifest himself to him Christ knoweth the burden of believers and what it costs them in the World to be faithful to him and what sad hours many times they have who make Conscience of obedience Now to incourage them the more seriously they ingage in it the more evidences and confirmations they shall have of his love to them yea sensible manifestations and comfortable proofs thereof shall still be given out to them in their course of a constant uniform diligent and self-denying obedience Hidden love is as no love Pro. 27.5 Open rebuke is better than secret love As in our Love to God if it be not manifested 't is but a compliment and vain pretence so in Gods Love to us though he hath not absolutely ingaged for our comfort yet he hath his times of allowing special manifestations of himself to his people and lifting up the light of his Countenance upon them Surely God will not be altogether strange reserved and hidden to a loving faithful and obedient Soul They need more Testimonies of his favour than others do and they shall not be without them Partly Because the Spirit of God is given us for this end not only as a Spirit of Sanctification but of Revelation to witness Gods acceptance of our persons and services and the great things which he hath promised for us 1 Cor. 2 11 12. What man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God That we might know the things that are freely given us of God None but the Holy-Ghost can know Gods secrets and revealeth thereof to believers as much as is needful for their Salvation For as mans own understanding can only know mans secrets so none can know Gods secret thoughts but Gods own Spirit Now we have received not the Spirit of the World which only carryeth a proportion with Worldly things but the Spirit of God which is given us to know the mind of God concerning us in Christ He doth not only reveal the mysteries of Salvation in general but our own Interest therein Rom. 8.16 The Spirit its self bearing witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God The infinite mercies of God being bestowed on us God would not have them concealed from us thus we may have the approbation of God 2. We may have the Testimony of conscience concerning our sincerity For conscience is that secret spy which is privy to all our designs and actions and taketh notice of all that we are and do therefore a man should or may know the acts of grace which he puts forth 'T is hard to think that the Soul should be a stranger to its own operations the Spirit in man knoweth the things of a man much more acts of grace Partly Because they are the most serious and Important actions of our lives many acts may escape us for want of advertency they not being of such moment but things that concern our eternal Interests and done with the most advisedness and seriousness surely the man that is thus conversant about them he will mind what he doth and how he doth it 1 John 2.3 Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments 1 Cor. 9.26 I therefore so run not as uncertainly And partly Because acts of grace are put forth with difficulty and with some strife and wrestling a man cannot believe but he feeleth oppositions of unbelief Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help my unbelief A man cannot love God and attend upon holy things but he feeleth drowsiness and deadness in his heart which must be overcome though with difficulty Cant. 5.2 I sleep but my heart waketh A man cannot obey God or do any serious good action but the flesh will be opposing Gal. 5.17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other And Rom. 7.21 I find then a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me Now things difficult and carryed on with opposition must needs leave a notice and Impression of themselves upon the conscience And partly Because there is a special delight which accompanyeth acts of grace by reason of the excellency of the object they are conversant about and by reason of the greatness and excellency of the power they are assisted withal and the excellency and nobleness of the faculties they are acted by Faith can hardly be exercised about the pardon of sin or the hopes of Glory but a man findeth some peace and joy in believing Rom. 15.13 Acts of love and hope are pleasant a prospect of eternity is delightful now any notable pleasure and delight of mind notifieth its self to the Soul and therefore upon the whole we may have glorying if we love and fear God and hope for eternal life from him and thereupon study to approve our selves to him conscience which is privy to these things will witness them to us 3. We may leave a Testimony in the consciences of others If we keep up the majesty
make us to be by your false reports Job saith you shall not take away mine integrity nor will I let my innocency go till I dye Job 27.5 Paul would not pass for mans sentence 1 Cor. 4.3 Yea it will fortify us against accusations Internal arising from defects failings I sleep but my heart waketh Cant. 5.2 A Gospel conscience will acquit us yea it comforts in sickness Isa. 38.3 Remember Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart A sick man when his appetite is gone when he can eat nothing a good conscience is a continual feast 3. The latter Testimony in the consciences of others is to be regarded Here let me shew you 1. That it is to be regarded 2. How far 1. That it is to be regarded 1. Partly because the safety and credit of our service dependeth upon it When we have a Testimony in the Consciences of men 't is a restraint to violence Mark 6.19 20. Herodias would have killed John but she could not for Herod feared John because he was a just man So Paulinus was spared by Valence Wicked men fear the good but hate them When their hatred is greater then their fear then no mercy now 't is grievous when their fear is lessened by our scandals 2. This is not affectation of praise but doing things praise worthy Our care must be to do our duty and trust God with our credit Most men do otherwise they would have honour from men but neglect their duty to God Yet honour me before the people 1 Sam. 15.30 We are careless of service and yet hunt for praise Austins rule is good Laus humana non appeti debet sed sequi 't is not a thing to be desired but it must follow of its own accord if it be the event of the action let it not be the aim So Aquinas Gloria bene contemnitur nihil malè agendo propter ipsam bene appetitur nihil malè agendo contra ipsam A good fame is well contemned by doing nothing evil for it well desired by doing nothing evil against it 3. Complying with the humours of men is dangerous but leaving a witness in their Consciences is safe for Conscience is Gods deputy the most serious faculty in us Let us convince others though we aim not at their applause 1 Pet. 3.16 Having a good Conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good Conversation in Christ. 2. How far it may be regarded 1. Surely so far as that we should not forfeit it by any sin or imprudent action or indiscretion of ours 2 Cor. 6.3 Giving no offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed So that the profession be not blamed that the way of truth be not evil spoken of 2dly So far as to make a just Apology or Vindication of our credit from aspersions As Paul in the Text wherein he doth not intend his own Apology so much as the Apology of the Gospel An Holy Life is the best Apology 1 Pet. 2. â—5 With well doing we put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Muzzle or stop the mouths of gain-sayers yet we may make Apologies that the truth suffer not 3. The utmost end must be the Glory of God and the honour of the Gospel Matth. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your gâ—od works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven 1 Pet. 2.12 That they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitaâ—ion They do not glorify you but God that entertain a good opinion of the Christian Religion 4. That though this threefold approbation must be looked after yet every branch of it in its proper place The order is that we should first look to God and then our own Consciences and afterwards a Testimony in the Consciences of others for thus downward the one succeeding the other then a man hath the full comfort of his sincerity but if upward and singly or apart it will not hold As if a man had the approbation of others but not of his own Conscience Or if of his own Conscience but not of God if of others a man cannot rejoice in the Testimony of another mans Conscience because another man saith I am a good man for another man knoweth not the springs and motives of my actions Or if I had the bare Testimony of mine own Conscience that would not be sufficient for my comfort 1 Cor. 4 4. For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified There is an higher Judge for I am blind partial and unadvised till the Spirit concurreth with the witness of Conscience I cannot have a firm and solid peace Rom. 9.1 I say the truth in Christ I lie not my Conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy-Ghost And Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God There are two witnesses Gods Spirit and our Conscience But now descendendo it holdeth good and many times one inferreth all the rest If I have the approbation of God his Spirit beareth witness with my Conscience and he hath also the hearts and tongues of men in his own hand or if that be not the approbation of God is absolutely necessary for my Salvation the Testimony of Conscience is very comfortable and the third conduceth much to our safety and service in the World My Salvation dependeth upon the approbation of God my inward comfort upon the witness of his Spirit in my Conscience my outward peace and service upon a Testimony in the Consciences of others I observe this to a double end 1. To direct us in point of duty A good man should look more to God than to Conscience and to Conscience more than to fame and report to a good name in the last place First he looketh to God who is above Conscience and who is an infallible Judge and then he looketh to Conscience which is Gods Deputy and then to good report among men Invert this order and great inconvenience will follow Look to men above God and it maketh a breach upon sincerity John 5.44 And John 12.42 Therefore 't is not man or Glory and praise from him but God alone that the sincere heart is fixed upon As those that run in a race as the Scripture often compareth our Christian course did not regard the acclamations of the spectatours but the opinion of the Quaestor Palestrae or the Judge of the sports who was to determine on whose side the victory was So again if the last be set before the Second it will be almost as bad A Christian cannot be safe if he doth not value and prize the witness of a good Conscience before the Opinion of men for then by humouring men a man displeaseth Conscience which is his best friend of all things and above all persons next to God a
of or never did but we are all guilty 2. Partly that he would not prosecute his right against us as a revenging and just Judge calling us to a strict account and punishing us according to our demerits which would have been our utter undoing Psa. 130.3 If thou shouldest mark iniquity O Lord who could stand Psa. 143.2 Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no flesh be justified There is not a man found which hath not faults and failings enough and if God should proceed with him in his just severity he would be utterly uncapable of any favour 3. Partly because he found out the way how to recompense the wrong done by sin unto his Majesty and sent his Son to make this recompense for us who was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Our iniquities were laid on him Isa. 53.4 And his Righteousness imputed to us Rom. 4.11 4. And partly that he did this out of his meer Love which set a work all the causes which concurred in the business of our Redemption John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Everlasting Life The external moving cause was only our misery the internal moving cause was his own grace and mercy And this love was not excited by any love on our parts Rom. 3.24 Justified freely by his grace that is by his grace working of its own accord 5. And partly that this negative or non-imputation is heightned by the positive imputation There is a non-imputing of sin and an acceptance of us as righteous in Christ his merits are reckoned and adjudged to us that is we have the effect of his sufferings as if we had suffered in person Christ is become to us the end of the Law for Righteousness Rom. 10.4 2. 'T is matter of great priviledge and Blessedness to the Creature if so be the Lord will not impute our sins to us and account them to our score This will appear 1. If we consider the evil we are freed from guilt is an obligation to punishment and pardon is the dissolving and loosening this obligation Now the punishment of sin is exceeding great what maketh Hell and Damnation but Not-forgiveness Hell is not a meer Scar-crow nor Heaven a May-game 't is eternity maketh every thing truly great an everlasting exile and separation from the comfortable presence of the Lord which is the poena damni Matth. 25.41 Go ye cursed and Luke 13.27 Depart from me ye workers of iniquity They are shut out and thrust out from the presence of the Lord. When God turned Adam out of Paradise his case was very sad but nothing comparable to this God took care of him in his exile and made coats of skins for him God gave him a day of patience afterwards promised the seed of the woman intimated hopes of a better paradise But instead of all comforts how sad is it to be sent into an endless state of misery which is the poena sensus Mark 9 44. The worm that never dyeth and the fire that shall never be quenched The worm of Conscience when we think of our folly imprudence disobedience to God A man may run away from his Conscience now by sleeping running riding walking working drinking distract his mind by a clutter of business but then not a thought free the Soul will be always thinking of slighted means abused comforts wasted time and of the course wherein we have involved our selves then our repentance will be fruitless our sorrows now are curing then tormenting when under the Wrath of God You coldly now entertain the offer of a pardon then Oh for a little mitigation a drop to cool your tongue 2. Because of the good depending upon it in this life and the next First In this life Partly because we are not fitted to serve God till sin be pardoned Heb 9 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God God pardoneth that he may further sanctify us and fit us for his own use The end of forgiveness is that God may have his own again which was lost and we might be ingaged to love him and live to him Forgiveness tends to holiness as the means to the end and so there is way made for our thankfulness and love to our Redeemer which is the predominant ruling affection in the Kingdom of grace and the main motive of obedience Partly because we cannot please God till sin be pardoned for God will not accept our actual services till our guilt be removed till pardoning grace cover our defects Whence should we hope for acceptance From the worth of our persons That is none at all From the integrity of the work Alas after grace received we are maimed in our principles and operations much more before Heb. 11.6 Without faith no man can please God Rom. 8.8 They that are in the flesh cannot please God Till we are adopted reconciled absolved neither our persons nor our actions can find acceptance with him And partly because we have no found comfort and rejoycing in our selves till we obtain the pardon of our sins and be in such an estate that God will not impute our trespasses to us For while sin remaineth unpardoned and the sentence of the Law not reversed the Soul is still in doubt or fear if not it proceedeth from our security and forgetfulness which will do us no good for we do but put off the evil rather than put it away and deal as a Malefactor that keepeth himself drunk till he cometh to execution In Scripture a pardon is made the solid ground of comfort Isa. 4.1 2. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned When Gods Wrath is pacified and appeased then there is ground of comfort indeed when God for Christ's sake hath forgiven and forgotten all our transgressions and accepted a ransom for us So Matth. 9.2 Son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee Ay then misery is stopped at the fountain head our great trouble is over but till then all our comforts are soured by our fears When the Sun by its bright beams appeareth it dispelleth mists and clouds 2. In the next life we are not capable of injoying God and being made happy for evermore in his love till we be in such an estate that God will not impute our trespasses to us For till we escape wrath we cannot injoy happiness nor till his anger be pacified can we have any interest in his love Rom. 5.18 The free gift came upon all men unto justification of life Now our right beginneth when sin is taken out of the way and hereafter our impunity in Heaven is a
must be heartily bewailed to God While a ship is leaking water we must use the pump and the room that is continually gathering soil must be daily swept the stomach that is still breeding ill humours must have new physick We still make work for pardoning mercy and therefore for repentance and faith 2. From the several things which we ask in asking a pardon 1. For the grant that God would accept of the satisfaction of Christ for our sins and of us for his sake Christ was to ask and sue out the fruits of his mediation Psal. 2.8 And we are humbly to sue out our right For notwithstanding the condescensions of his grace God dealeth with us as a Sovereign and doth require submission on our part Jer. 3.13 Only acknowledge thine iniquities that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God The debt is humbly to be acknowledged by the Creature though God hath found out a means to pardon it 2. We beg the continuance of a pardon as in daily bread though we have it by us we beg the continuance and use of it so in sanctification we beg the continuance of sanctification as well as the increase because of the relicks of corruption God may for our exercise make us feel the smart of old sins as an old bruise though it be healed yet ever and anon we feel it upon change of weather accusations of Conscience may return for sins already pardoned Job 13.26 Thou writest bitter things againt me and makest me possess the sins of my youth Sins of youth may trouble a man that is reconciled to God and hath obtained pardon of them Gods Children may have their guilt raked out of its grave and the appearance of it may be as frightful as a Ghost or one risen from the dead the wounds of an healed Conscience may bleed afresh Therefore we need beg as David Psa. 25.6 7. Remember thy mercies which have been of old remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions When we are unthankful unwatchful or negligent God may permit it for our humiliation 3. The sense and manifestation Few believers have assurance of their own sincerity God may blot sins out of his book when he doth not blot them but of our Consciences God blotteth them out of the book of his remembrance assoon as we repent and believe but he bloteth them out of our Consciences when the worm of Conscience is killed by the application of the blood of Christ through the Spirit Heb. 10.22 Sprinkled from an evil Conscience David beggeth the sense when Nathan had told him of the grant Psa. 51.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation Forgive it in our sense and feeling 4. The increase of our sense For it is not given out in such a degree as to shut out all fear and doubt 1 John 4.18 There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath Torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love 5. The effects of pardon or freedom from those evils which are the fruits of sin We would have God to pardon us as we pardon others fully and intirely forgive and forget that he would not execute upon us the temporal punishment farther than is necessary for our good Compare 2 Kings 23.26 with Ezek. 33.12 13 14. Either he will not chastise us or if he doth he will sanctify our afflictions when God remits the eternal punishment yet he inflicteth temporal evil not to compleat our justification but to further our sanctification If we knew only the sweetness of sin and not the bitterness we would not be so shy of it Jer. 2.19 Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee faith the Lord God of Hosts Chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned 1 Cor. 11 32. 6. A renewed pardon for every renewed sin which we commit 1 John 2.1 My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Assoon as we repent and believe there is a general pardon the state of the person is changed he is made a child of God 1 John 12. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believe in his name John 13.10 He that is washed needeth not to wash save his feet Because by going up and down in the World we contract new defilement He is translated from a state of wrath to a state of grace all sins past are remitted God doth not pardon some and leave others Though Gods pardon be not antedated Rom. 3.25 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 And such an one hath free leave to sue out pardon for future sins and so have a greater hold-fast upon God they have a present certain effectual remedy at hand for their pardon that is the merit of Christs blood the Covenant of grace in which they have an interest Christs Intercession and the Spirit to excite them to Faith and Repentance Well then let us fly to Christ for daily pardon as under the Law there were daily sacrifices to be offered up Numbers 28.3 God came to Adam in the cool of the day Gen. 3.8 Reconciliation with man is to be sought speedily Eph. 4.26 Let not the Sun go down on your wrath The unclean person was to wash his clothes before the Evening Our hearts should be humbled within us to think that God is displeased 7. We pray for our pardon and acceptance with Christ at the last day of general Judgment Luke 21.36 Watch and pray that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of man Some effect of sin remaineth till then as death on the Body So that whil'st any penal evil introduced by sin remaineth we pray that God will not repent of his mercy VSE 2. It sheweth how much we should prize pardon as a special fruit of the Love of God and Christ Rev 1.5 To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood 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 If we be serious we will do so Those that have felt any thing of the burden of sin will entertain the offer of pardon with great thankfulness It is a priviledge welcome to distressed Consciences What man in chains would not be glad
quick and the dead to him gave all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins And Acts 17.3 He Commandeth all men to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained And Acts 3.19 20 21. Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the Heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things Why doth the Scripture suggest this Meditation Partly because our pardon is not compleat till that day now we have it under his hand in the Word under his seal by the Spirit then from his Mouth And Partly because of the strictness of that day Now to consider that our case must be reviewed that by our works and words we must be justified or condemned Matth. 12.36 37. Surely we should make our peace and be more watchful and serious for the future And partly considering who is Judge 't is a strong Motive to press us to receive his Person embrace his Doctrine and to put our selves under the Conduct of his Spirit and depending upon the merit of his Sacrifice to use the Appointed Means in order to our full recovery and return to God The Third working Consideration is Conscience which anticipateth the Judgment and taketh God's part within us rebuking us for sin A secret Spy that is in our bosoms which handleth us as we handle it Rom. 2.14 15. Before the Action Conscience sheweth us what is to be done in the Act it correcteth after alloweth or disalloweth As a man acts so he is a Party as he censureth the Action so a Judge After the Act the force of Conscience is most usually seen more than before the Fact or in the Fact because before or in the Action the Judgment of Reason is not so clear and strong the Affections raising Mists and Clouds to darken the Mind and trouble iâ— and draw it on their side by their pleasing violence but after the Action the violence of these things ceaseth and is by little and it â—e allayed Guilt flusheth in the face of Conscience Judas Mat 27.4 said I have siâ—ned in bâ—traying Innocent blood Reason hath the greater force doth more affect thâ— mind with grief and fear When a man hath sinned against his Conscience when the act is over and the affection satisfied and giveth place to reason that was before conâ—temned when it recovereth the Throne it striketh through the heart of man with a sharp reproof for obeying appetite before its self bringeth in rerrour and contest unto the mind and the soul â—its uneasie Now then because of this Conscience of sin let us sue out our pardon and discharge Conscience may be choaked and smothered but the flame will break forth again it is not quietly settled but by Reconciliation with Jesus Christ they shun it all that they can but cannot get rid of it John 3.20 For if our hearts condemn us c. There is an hidden fear in the heart of man not always felt but soon awakened usually it speaketh out mens condition to them when their hearts are unfound with God Job 27.6 My heart shall not reproach me all my days The heart hath a reproaching condemning power against a man when he goeth wrong None of us but feel these heart-smitings and checks therefore we should consider of them Now these should be noted partly because to smother and stifle checks of Conscience produceth hardness of heart if not downright Atheism And partly because Conscience if it speaketh not it writeth and where 't is not a Witness 't is a Register And partly because 't is God's Deputy 1 John 3.20 21. And partly because Heaven and Hell is often begun in Conscience Heaven in our Peace and Joy which is unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.8 and 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience Sometimes Hell in our grief and fears as appeareth in Judas Matth. 27.4 5. I have sinned in betraying Innocent Blood and he went forth and hanged himself A good Conscience is sweet company as a bad is a great wound and burden Well then be settled upon sound terms if you will not have your Consciences upbraid you Thus to the sleepy sinner 2. To the broken hearted I shall speak of God's readiness to pardon and to forgive 'T is his Name Neh. 9.17 But thou art a God ready to pardon 'T is his Glory Exod. 33.18 compared with Exod. 34.7 'T is his Delight Micah 7.18 The case of any sinner is not desperate a Pardon may be had Isa. 55.7 8. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For my thoughts are not as your thoughts nor my ways as your ways saith the Lord. A sensible sinner his condition is hopeful Matth. 9.13 with 28. Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance And Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest To a repenting sinner it is conditionally certain 1 John 1.9 If we confess and forsake our sins he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins To those who seriously address themselves to this work God sometimes vouchsafeth notable Experiences Psal. 32.5 To those who have verified the sincerity of their Faith and Repentance 't is actually certain evident and comfortable Prov. 28.13 He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy If they fulfil their Covenant Consent confess sin so as to hate it and leave it 't is certain to them in Foro Caeli and in Foro Conscientiae and the more they come to God by Christ and acquaint themselves with him it groweth more firm Job 22.1 For I know that my Redeemer liveth And Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God Then their Reconciliation is secured to them by renewed Evidences and Assurances habitual and familiar converse with him as one friend doth with another maketh it grow up into an holy security and peace For the good and advantage of waiting upon God is better discerned when men have persevered in it than when they first begun 3. The excellency of the priviledge let me speak to the actually pardoned to admire the priviledge and get their hearts more affected with it 1. In the general This way of reconciling us by Christ that our trespasses may not be imputed to us was the product of Gods Eternal Wisdom and Goodness As when there was a search for wisdom the depth saith 't is not in me the sea saith it is not with me Job 28.14 So when there is an enquiry for a satisfactory way of reconciling the Creatures to God so
as may suit with Gods honour and appease our guilty fears go to the light of nature it saith it is not in me to the Law 't is not in me only the Gospel revealeth it and there it is learned and discovered The light of nature apprehendeth God placable for he doth continue many forfeited mercies to us and doth not presently put us into our final estate as the faln Angels are in termino presently upon the fall It apprehendeth that God is to be appeased by some satisfaction hence those many inventions of lancing and cutting themselves and offering their Children solo Sanguine Humano iram Deorum Immortalium placari posse The Law that discovered our misery but not our remedy It sheweth us our sin but no way of deliverance from sin and acceptance with God The Law can do nothing for sinners but only for the Innocent It doth only discover sin but exact obedience and drive and compel men to seek after some other thing that may save them from sin and afford them a Righteousness unto Salvation when man was once a sinner the Law became insufficient for those ends Rom. 8.3 It became weak through our flesh 'T was able to continue our acceptance with God in that Condition in which we were first created but after that man by sin became flesh and had a principle of enmity in him against God the Law stood aside as weakened and insufficient to help and save such an one But then the Gospel yieldeth full relief propounding such a way wherein God is glorified and the creature humbled and due provision made for our comfort without infringing our duty that we might be in a capacity comfortably to serve and injoy God who otherwise had neither had a mind to serve him nor an heart to love him Thus Mercy and Justice shine with an equal glory So do also his wisdom and holiness Our necessity is thoroughly remedied and Gods love fully expressed When we were lost Children of wrath under the curse and no hand that could help us then he set his hand to that work which none could touch and put his shoulders under that burden which none else could bear If John mourned when none was found worthy in Heaven or Earth to open the book of visions and unloose the seals thereof How justly might the whole creation mourn because none was found worthy in Heaven or in Earth to repair this disorder till the Son of God undertook it and made himself an offering for sin Oh! Let us give due acceptance and intertainment to this wonderful love and blessed priviledge 2. The happiness of being actually pardoned is exceeding great This is notably set forth by the Psalmist Psa. 32.1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity in whose Spirit there is no guile The priviledge of the pardoned sinner is here set forth by three expressions Forgiving iniquity covering sin and not imputing transgression and the manner of delivery is vehement and full of vigour Oh the Blessednesses of the man And 't is repeated over and over again Let us a little view the phrase The Hebrew is who is eased of his transgression Junius qui levatur à defectione It compareth sin to a burden too heavy for us to bear The same Metaphor is used Matth. 11.28 Come to me all you that are weary and heavy laden The second expression relateth to the covering of filth or the removing that which is offensive out of sight as the Israelites were to march with a paddle tyed to their arms that when they went to ease themselves they might dig and cover that that came from them Deut. 23.14 You have the Law and the reason of it For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the camp therefore shall thy camp be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee The third expression is To whom the Lord imputeth not sin That is doth not put sin to their account Where sin is compared to a debt as it is also Matth. 6.12 Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors So that sin is a burden of which we should seek to be eased filthiness which we should get to be covered debts which we should get to be discharged Oh blessed we when it is so when God lifts off from our shoulders the burden of the guilt of sin covereth this noysom filthiness which maketh us so loathsom to him and quits the debt and plea which he had in Law against us This forgiving or lifting of the burden is with respect to Christs merit on whom God laid the iniquities of us all Isa. 53.6 This covering is with respect too the adjudication of Christs Righteousness to us which is a covering which is not too short This not imputing is with respect to Christs mediation or intercession which in effect speaketh thus what they owe I have paid Oh the Blessedness of the man You will apprehend it to be so what a burden sin is when it is not pardoned Carnal men feel it not for the present but they shall hereafter feel it Now two sorts of Conscience feel the burden of sin A tender Conscience And a wounded Conscience 'T is grievous to a tender heart that valueth the love of God to lie under the guilt of sin Psa 38.4 Mine iniquities are â—one over my head as a burden too heavy for me Broken bones are sensible of the least weight So Psal. 40.12 Innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold of me What kind of hearts have they who can sin freely and without remorse Is it nothing to have grieved the Spirit of God and violated his Law and rendred our selves obnoxious to his wrath A wounded Conscience feeleth it also There is a domestick tribunal which we carry about with us where ever we go as the Devils carry their own Hell about with them though not now in the place of torments Pro. 18.14 The Spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear Natural courage will bear up under common distresses which lie more without us but when the Spirit its self is wounded what support under so great a burden Ask Cain and Judas what it is to feel the burden of sin all sinners are subject to this and this bondage may be easily revived in them a close touch of the word will do it a sad thought a pressing misery a scandalous sin a grievous sickness a disappointment in the World there needs not much a do to put a sinner in the stocks of Conscience As Belshazzar that saw but a few words written on the wall and his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him So that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Again 't is filthiness which rendereth you odious in the sight of God we our selves cannot endure our selves when serious John 3.20
of the Rock so that miracles will not convert nor beget saving faith in them with whom ordinary means do not prevail An Oracle Samuel thought Eli called him when it was the Lord 2 Pet. 1.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have a more sure word of prophesy Or one from the dead Christianity is the Testimony of one that came from the dead Jesus Christ. There can be no better Doctrine no more powerful perswasion nor stronger confirmation or greater cooperation God tryeth us now but we would have all things subjected to the view of sense 2. He magnifieth his own power and useth a weaker instrument that we might not look to the next hand and gaze upon them as if they by their own power and holiness did make the dead live or the deaf hear or convert the sinner to God 2 Cor 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us That the efficacy of the Gospel may be known to be from God alone and not of men He can blow down the Walls of Jericho by a Rams-horn By weak men bring mighty things to pass Treasure in an Earthen Vessel is supposed to allude to Gideons stratagem of a Lamp in a pitcher Judges 7.16 What was that to fight against the numerous Host of Median They brake their pitchers and cryed The Sword of the Lord and Gideon So we have this light in an earthen vessel the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.14 God chose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 1.28 Foolish things to confound the wise and weak things to confound the mighty and things which are not to bring to nought things that are Gods Ordinances are simple in appearance but full of power 3. God dealeth more familiarly with us in this way Conveying his mind to us by our Brethren who are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone such with whom we have ordinary and visible Commerce We read Exod. 20.18 19. that the people when they heard the thundrings they stood afar off and said unto Moses Speak thou unto us and we will hear but let not God speak to us lest we die It is a great mercy to man that seeing he cannot endure that God should in glorious Majesty speak to him that he will depute men in his stead Deut. 18.15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb saying let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God neither let me see this great fire any more that I die not That is Christ principally and all those sent in his name and come in his stead Nay we are not able to bear the Glorious Ministry of the Angels they would affright us rather then draw to God As Elâ—hu saith to Job Chap. 33.6 7. I that am formed out of the clay am come to thee in Gods stead my terrour shall not make thee afraid so may the Ministers of the Gospel say we that are of the same mould and making we are embassadours in Gods stead come to pray you to be reconciled to God You need not be afraid of us nor shy of us 4. There is more certainty this way because by those whose fidelity in other things is approved to us who cannot deceive us but they must deceive their own Souls they know the desert of sin and the danger by reason of it Those who have had experience of the grace they preach as Paul was an instance of the Gospel as well as a preacher of it 1 Tim. 1.17 And he saith he did comfort others with the comforts wherewith he himself was comforted of God 2 Cor. 1.4 spake from a sense and tast commended his Apostleship from his own knowledge who come not with a report of a report who confirm their Doctrines by their practice for they are to be examples to the flock and sometimes by their blood and sufferings if need be 't is their duty at least would these deceive us There are more rational inducing grounds of probability in this way than any extraordinary course that can be taken VSE 1. Let us respect Gods institution the more We see the reason of it and the love and wisdom which God hath shewed in it And especially regard the way of reconciliation Peace and Life are tendred in his name to self condemning and penitent sinners through the Mediation of Jesus Christ. This circumstance of the means teacheth us several things 1. That 't is not enough to look to the purchase price and ransom that was given for our peace but also the application of it For the Apostle doth not only insist upon the giving of Christ but also on the word of reconciliation by which it is offered to us In the 18 th verse this Text and the 20 th verse God may be in Christ reconciling the World to himself and yet we perish for ever unless we be reconciled to God And therefore the means of application must be regarded as well as the means of impetration and as we bless God for Christ so also for the Ministry and Ordinances 2. It sheweth that God hath not only a good will to us but this good will is carryed on with great care and solicitude that it may not miscarry at last Here is wisdom mixed with love As God was careful in laying a Foundation of it by Christ so you see with what wisdom the means are appointed that this peace may be dispensed to us in the most taking way Now God hath travelled so much in this matter shall the Gosple be cast away upon you He hath set up an ordinance on purpose to treat with sinners 3. That those things which God â—ath joined must not be separated nor any part dispersed Christ Spirit Ministry Christ purchaseth all the Spirit applyeth all the Ministry offereth all bâ— the Word If we go to God for grace if it were not for Christ he would not look towards us he sendeth us therefore to Christ who is the golden pipe through which all the fatherly goodness of God passeth out unto us If we go to Christ he accomplisheth all by his Spirit 't is the Spirit that by his powerful illumination must inlighten our minds and open our hearts and effectually renew and change the Soul Tit. 3.5 6. If we look to the Spirit he sendeth us to the Ordinances there we shall hear of him in the Word written and preached Despise that course and all stoppeth Therefore you must be meditating on his Word which is the seed of life be swift to hear Make more Conscience to attend seriously to the dispensation of it This last is most likely to be despised men will pretend a love to Christ and the Spirit a reverence to the Word written but despise the
Christ hath suffered those punishments which are due to us That which is equivalent to what we should have suffered He hath suffered all kinds of punishment In his body 1. Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to sins should live unto Righteouâ—â—â—â—â— whose stripes ye were healed In his Soul in his agonies His Soul was heavy to 〈◊〉 Matth. 26.38 As a little before the shower falls there is a gloominess and blackness so in Christs spirit he suffered privative evils or poena damni in his desertion positive evils or poena sensus when he sent forth tears and strong cryes unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5.7 8. He hath suffered from all by whom evil could be inflicted Men Jews and Gentiles strangers and his own disciples The powers of darkness who were the Authors of all those evils which Christ suffered from their Instruments Luke 22.53 He suffered from God himself the full cup of whose wrath he drunk off Such a broad foundation hath God laid for our peace He suffered in every part sorrows being poured in upon him by the conduit of every sense hunger thirst nakedness spittings stripes they pierced his hands and feet 2. Propound it to your Love 1. How much we are bound to acknowledge the unspeakable mercy of God who knowing our sad condition pitied us and resolved to save us and to reconcile us to himself by such a Priest and Sacrifice as was convenient for us But we unworthy wretches being ignorant and sensless of our sin guilt and misery do not understand what need we have of Christ nor praise God for his great love in providing him for us Our condition was sinful and so miserable We are guilty polluted with sin and liable to death can have no access to God nor Eternal Life And which is worst of all are sensless of this sad condition and if we once know it we are hopeless helpless and so should have perished utterly if the Lord had not found out a Remedy and a Ransom for us Rom. 8.32 2. How miserable would it have been if every man should bear his own burden how light soever any sins seem when they are committed yet they will not be found light when they come to reckon with God for them Sin to a waking Conscience is one of the heaviest burdens that ever was felt If God had laid sins upon us as he laid them all upon Christ they would have sunk us all to hell The little finger of sin is heavier than the loins of any other sorrow if God give but a touch of it Psal. 39.11 When thou with Rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth The Rod if it be dipt in guilt smarts sorely If a spark of his wrath light into your Consciences what a combustion doth it make there Psal. 38.4 My iniquities are gone over my head they are a burden too heavy for me Assoon as we do but taft of this Cup we cry out presently my heart faileth You may know what it is Partly by what Christ felt He lost his wonted comforts he was put into strange agonies and a bloody sweat Now if this be done in the Green Tree what shall be done in the dry If his Soul were exceeding sad how soon shall we be dismayed Partly In the Saints when they feel the weight of Gods little Finger all life and power is gone if God set home but one sin upon the conscience Psa. 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me therefore my heart faileth Job saith The arrows of the Lord like porson did drink up his Spirits Job 6.4 Partly by your own experience When the conscience of sin is a little revived in you what horrours and disquiets do you feel in your selves Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can â—ear Then thousands of Rams and Rivers of Oil any thing for the sin of the Soul Partly By the state of the Reprobate in the World to come and what the threatnings of the word say concerning those who dye in their sins Heb. 10.31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God And Mark 9.44 Where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched This is the portion of them that bear their own burden and their own transgression 3. The happiness which redoundeth to us by Christs bearing it for us It is not a thing inconsiderable or a matter of lesser moment to be made the Righteousness of God in him Our whole welfare and happiness dependeth upon it our freedom from the curse our Title to Glory 1. Freedom from the curse For this is such a Righteousness as giveth us exemption from the penalty threatned in the Law We have the comfort of it for the present a freedom from the sentence of condemnation Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. So that we may go chearfully about our Service But much more shall we have the comfort of it when the great God of recompenses cometh to execute the Threatning In the general Judgment there is no appearing before God in that great day with safety and comfort without some Righteousness of one sort or another our own or our Sureties Now no Righteousness of ours can secure us from the dint of Gods anger and the just stroaks ' of the Law-covenant Blessed they that are found in Christ not having their own Righteouness 2dly Our title to glory As it qualifieth us for the reward There is no getting the Blessing but in the garments of our elder Brother We have holiness given us upon the account of this Righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 We are sanctified made personally holy and Righteous We have faith given us by virtue of this Righteousness 2 Pet. 1.1 All progress in grace is given us by virtue of the everlasting covenant Heb. 13.20 21. And at length glory Eph. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish 3dly Let us prize it and desire it Phil. 3.8 9. Every man is prone to set up a Righteousness of his own Luke 18.9 Partly Because naturally the Law is written upon our hearts And therefore Moral strains are more welcom then Evangelical Doctrine Every manis born under a covenant of works Partly out of Pride Every man would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all for personal Merit A Russet Coat of our own is valued more then a silken one that is borrowed Rom. 10.3 For they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God But
these do not consider the strictness of the Law Covenant nor the purity of God nor themselves or their own defects A Broken hearted sense of sin would make us prize Christ 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing by my self yet am I not thereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. FINIS ERRATA Page 3. line 8. read shed p. 7. l. 2. r. speaketh of it as already past p. 15. l. 14. r. He hath p. 16. l. 53 54. r. Is it not strange Things that are afar off and about which they have no present exercise They strongly believe p. 18. l. 2. r. Surety p. 19. dele 1. p. 23. l. 23. after long r. In the Lord's Supper we have a foretast of that New Wint that is in our Fathers Kingdom p. 26. l. ult p. 27. l. 1. r. T is our Ornament a beautiful Vesture to the Soul p. 43. l. 14. after comfort add is p. 47. l. 24. r. Therefore p. 53. l. 1. r. go p. 58. l. 41. r. Here is neither all evil p. 59. l. 39. r. worketh upon p. 60. l. 26 27. r. and be like him p. 61. l. 38. r. on our part l. 44. for of our way r. of Faith p. 62. l. 16. after self-denying r. r. or having and p. 65. l. 14. dele and report dele This p. 67. l. 7. r. when the body is weakest p. 73. l. 27 28. r. The being reconciled to him is his great care the pleasing of him his most industrious Imployment His life is nothing else c. p. 74. l. 215. a Carnalist p. 76. l. 39. dele is p. 107. l. 1. dele cheap p. 118. l. ult r. hating p. 121. l. 18. r. the difficulties of Obedience p. 151. l. 40. dele our p. 154. l. 43. r. intensivè l. 44. r. appretiativè l. 54. for secure r. severe p. 156. l. 25. for air r. awe l. 30. for alter r. of p. 159. l. 51. r. degree p. 163. l. 27. r. partialities p. 175. l. 9. r. increase of grace p. 177. l. 29. after nakedly add sin p. 181. l. 12. r. for sincers p. 187. l. 32. r. But according p. 188. l. 54. for men r. way for seek r. check l. 55. for his r. our for he r. we p. 203. l. 3. r. his Soul p. 207.l 40. for neither r. will then p. 211. l. 16. r. unregenerate p. 223. l. 57. for profess r. propose p. 232. l. 12. after with add God by p. 241. l. 20. for Abner r. Hanan A TABLE OF THE Principal Matters contained in the SERMONS On 2 CORINTH 5. A. ABsent how ae Believer is absent from the Lord in this World Page 54 Acceptation with God must be our great scope Page 72 And our great work Page 74 It will be our advantage and comfort Page 72 73 To be laboured after not only when we die but in this life Page 75 Why we should labour after it Page 76 v. Pleasing of God Afflictions why a burden Page 32 Approbation of God how Believers come to have it and why Page 119 Why it should be lookt after Page 120 Approbation of God to be lookt after before the Approbation of Conscience and the Approbation of Conscience before the Approbation of Men. Page 122 Assurance may be had Page 6 Why we should look after it Page 12 How it is wrought Page 7 v. Confidence Certainty Authority of Christ. Page 85 B. BOasting what the false Apostles boasted in Page 116 Body of Man compared to a House Page 2 Why called an Earthly House Page 3 Boldness holy wherein it appears Page 46 Boldness in Expectation of Heaven the grounds of it Page 29 Burden of Believers in this World for Sin and Misery v. Affliction and Sin Page 21 32 Burden of Sin felt by a tender and by a wounded Conscience Page 233 v. Sin C. CErtainty of Heaven the grounds of it Page 17 25 The degrees of it Page 11 How it is confirmed to us Page 37 Change there is a great Change wrought at Conversion Page 201 The Change that Grace makes in a Man Page 130 Moral Change what it is Page 201 This doth not amount to the New Creature Page ib. Sudden Changes may be soon worn off Page ib. Outward Change may be without change of heart Page 202 Partial Change not sufficient to denominate the New Creature Page ib. Christ delights to be with Men. Page 54 Christ Spirit Ministry must not be separated Page 239 Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us Page 171 Though he was made Sin yet not a Sinner Page 252 What in the punishment due to Sin Christ was freed from Page 172 Commendation how Paul commends himself to the Corinthians Page 118 Communion with Christ difference between it here and in Heaven Page 54 64 Confession of Sin hath a promise of pardon Page 96 Confidence of Heaven both of the Thing and of the Person Page 8 44 Of Faith and of Assurance Page 63 The Nature of it Page 45 The Kinds of it Page ib. The Opposites of it Page 46 The Properties of it Page 47 The Effects of it Page 46 The Force and Vertue of it Page 12 How it ariseth from the Earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Page 48 Conscience its Work and Office with respect to Sin Page 231 Checks of Conscience to be regarded and why Page 232 Believers have a Testimony in their own Consciences of their Sincerity Page 119 This must be regarded and why Page 121 They have a Testimony in the Consciences of others Page 120 This is to be regarded and how far Page 121 Consideration sets home Spiritual Truths on the Soul Page 175 Conversion Power of Man to convert himself the Absurdities that follow it Page 210 God's working all in Conversion is no ground for looseness or laziness to the Regenerate or to the Vnregenerate Page 211 212 Yet Exhortations to press us to become New Creatures are not in vain Page 212 The true Vse of this Doctrine of Man's Insufficiency to convert himself Page ib. Why the actings of Love are more vigorous at our first Conversion Page 157 Conviction How a good Life convinceth wicked men Page 120 How the Creature shall be convinced at the day of Iudgment Page 99 Covenant why we should often renew Covenant with God Page 250 Curse Christ was made a Curse for us Page 171 Objections answered Page 171 What there was in the Curse or Punishment due to Sin that Christ was freed from Page 172 D. DEath no Extinction Page 36 Desire of Death v. Desire Death of Christ. Christ died as a common Head or publick Person Page 179 Christ died as a Surety Page ib. Christ died not only for our good but in our stead Page 170 How the Love of Christ appeared in his dying for us Page 173 The End of Christ's Death Page 174 The Consequent Benefits of it Page 148 Death of Christ discovers the heinousness of Sin Page 174 181 What use the Death of Christ hath to make us die to
living And Acts 2.36 Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ and Psal. 2.7 8 9 10 11. So that he is Lord of the new Creation and man doth owe Obedience not only to God as Creator but to Christ as Redeemer and Ruler 2. Christ being possessed of this Lordship and Dominion hath made a new law of Grace which is propounded as a remedy for the relieving and restoring the lapsed World of mankind to the grace and favour of God granting pardon and life to all that sincerely repent and believe in him and live in new Obedience and peremptorily concluding and damning those to everlasting Death that shall refuse these terms 3. This new constitution and Gospel Covenant hath all the formalities of a Law and here I shall shew you first wherein it agreeth and secondly wherein it differeth from the laws of men 1. Wherein it agreeth First in the promulgation of it with full Authority 't is not only enacted pleno jure by an absolute and uncontrollable right but proclaimed by authorized Messengers sent by the Lord Christ who in his name were to require the Obedience of the World to his new Law Matth. 28.19 20. All power is given to me in heaven and earth go ye forth therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you he sendeth abroad his Heralds summoning the World to Obedience Act 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins And Acts 17.30 The times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent He commandeth all men to repent because he will judg the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained Acts 17.31 And Acts 10.36 We preach peace by Jesus Christ who is Lord of all In these places Christs Right and Authority is asserted and the Gospel is preached in his Name and the World invited and commanded to obey 2. In the obligation and force There is not only direction given to us to obey the Gospel but a Charge and Obligation is laid upon us The Gospel is sometimes called the counsel of God Luke 7.30 they rejected the counsel of God against themselves Sometime the law of God is called his Counsel as 't is the result of his wisdom and his Law as 't is the effect of his legislative Will he would not only direct and instruct the Creature by his counsel but oblige him by his Authority Decretum necessitatem facit exhortatio liberum voluntatem excitat saith the Canonist Exhortation or Advice serveth to direct or excite one that is free but a Decree and Law implyeth a necessity to obey So Hierom Vbi consilium datur offerentis arbitrium est ubi praeceptum necessitus servitatis Counsel and Precept differ Precept saith not only we shall do well to do so but we must do so Counsel respects friends a Preeept subjects There is a coactive power in Laws God hath not left the Creatures to comply with his directions if they please no there is a strict charge laid upon them they must do it at their peril Laws have a binding force from the authority of their Law-giver God giveth us counsel as a friend but commandeth us as a Sovereign Therefore we read much of the Obedience of Faith Rom. 16.26 The Gospel was manifested to all nations for the obedience of faith And Rom. 1.5 We have received Apostleship for the obedience of faith among all Nations So Acts 6.7 and a great company of priests were obedient to the faith And 2 Cor. 10.5 bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And 1 Pet. 1.22 having purified your hearts in obeying the truth through the spirit And Acts 5.32 The holy Ghost which is given to them that obey All this is said to shew 't is not Arbitrary or Indifferent but we are bound by the authority of this new Law 3. This Law hath a sanction otherwise it were but an arbitrary Direction though delivered in a preceptive form the sanction is by promises of reward or by threatnings of punishment the precept establisheth mans duty and is the rule of our obedience which if it be neglected infers culpam fault or blame the sanction is the rule of Gods proceeding and so it inferreth poenam punishment Mark 16.16 The law of grace threatneth us with the highest penalties John 3.19 This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light and Heb. 20.9 of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy c. though in the loss all are equal yet Conscience in Hell hath a kind of Accusation or self-tormenting in reflecting upon the refusal of the remedy or losing the special advantages we had by the Gospel As the breach of the Law is vindicated on the Jew first Rom. 2.9 so the Gospel when known to be the only way of Peace and Life 't is the worse for us in the Judgment if we neglect it Secondly The promises are given to sweeten the precepts to us that we may obey in love not as slaves for fear of punishment only Forced motives change not the heart endure not long therefore in Christs Law there are promises of pardon of Sin Adoption into Gods Family and finally eternal life We make the precept to be the way to the promise and God maketh the promises to be the motive to the precept we keep the precept to obtain the promise but God propoundeth the promise that we may keep the precept more comfortably We aim at happiness but God aimeth at obedience and maketh that the end of all his promises so that we must obey the command that we may obtain the blessing of the promise and be assured of it and we believe the promise that we may obey the precept 4. This sanction supposeth an exercise of government according to law and so that there is a just Governor and Administrator who will take account how this new law of grace is kept or broken So there is here now in part both in the way of internal or external Government First internal government as the kingdom of God is within us Luke 17.20 Soul-government is carried on according to this rule of commerce between us and God as there is a sense of our Duty written upon our hearts a remaining inward principle inclining us to it Heb. 8.10 so there is a fear of our Judg who will call us to an account for the violation of his Law an inward sentence of life or death upon us as we do good or evil the bitter afflictive sense of Gods displeasure in case of evil and the rewards of love and obedience as tasts of Gods acceptance given us by his Spirit upon
our fidelity to Christ a real lively Joy and peace of Conscience 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoicing the testimony of our conscience Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 14.17 For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Secondly Gods external government is according to the Law of the Gospel God interposeth now and then punishing the contempt of the Gospel with remarkable Judgments Heb. 2.1 2 3. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard left at any time we should let them slip for if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord himself and was confirmed by them that heard it And eminently dispensing his blessing where the Gospel is favoured and obeyed and prospereth as he blessed the house of Obed Edom for the Arks sake but more fully at the day of Judgment the wicked have their full punishment 2 Thes. 1.8 Coming in flaming fire rendring vengeance to all those that know not God and obey not the Gospel Secondly I shall shew you wherein the Gospel as a law differeth from ordinary laws among men First Men in their Laws do not debate matters but barely injoin them and interpose their Authority but God condescendeth to the infirmity of man and seemeth to come down from the Throne of his Sovereignty and reasoneth and perswadeth and beseecheth men that they will not forsake their own mercies Isa. 46.8 Remember this shew your selves men bring this to mind again O ye transgressors and Isa. 1.18 Come let us reason together God is pleased to stoop to sorry Creatures and to plead and argue with them So 2 Cor. 5.20 We as Ambassadors in Gods stead do beseech you to be reconciled Men count it a lessening to their Authority to proceed to intreaties but the Clemency of the Redeemers Government is otherwise Secondly The Law of God bindeth the conscience and the immortal Souls of men condemneth not only acts but thoughts and lusts Mat. 5.28 The law is spiritual Rom. 7.14 With man Thoughts and Desires are free till they break out into act Thirdly Mans laws do more incline to punishment than reward For Robbers and Murtherers Death is appointed but the innocent Subject hath only this reward that he doth his Duty and escapeth those punishments in very few cases doth mans Law promise Rewards the inflicting of punishment is the proper work of mans Law and the great Engine of Government because its use is to restrain evil but Gods Law propoundeth rewards equal to the Punishments Eternal Life on one hand as well as Eternal Death on the other Deut. 30.15 See I have set before you life and good death and evil because the use of Gods Law is to guide men to their happiness 'T is legis candor the equity and favour of mans Law to speak of a reward it commands many things and forbids many things but still under a penalty it 's natural work is punishment and it doth not invite men to a duty by a reward Ex malis moribus Humanae leges to restrain evil is their work Fourthly Humane Laws threaten temporal punishment but Gods Law threatneth eternal punishments and rewards Mark 9.44 Where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched He is a living God Heb. 10.31 into whose hands we fall when we Die 1 st Use Is to humble us that we bear so little respect to the precepts of the Gospel and do so boldly break them and so coldly perform the Duties thereof we fear Temporal power more than Eternal a Prison more than Hell and therefore can dispence with Gods Law to comply with our own Lusts a little profit or a little danger will draw men into the Snare when Eternal Death will not keep them from it Oh rouse up your selves are you not Christs Subjects is not he a more powerful Sovereign than all the Potentates in the World doth he not in his Gospel give Judgment upon the everlasting state of men and will this Judgment be in vain hath he not appointed a day when all matters shall be taken into consideration will not Sin when it comes to be reviewed have another countenance awaken then your sleepy and sluggish Souls if you can deny these Truths go on in the neglect of Christ and breach of his Laws and spare not but if Conscience be sensible of his Authority break off your Sins by repentance sue out your Pardon in his name devote your selves to God walk more cautiously for time to come God will not wink always at your disloyalty 2 d Use is Direction to us If you would not be slighty in the Duties of the Gospel look upon it as a law and let me commend these Rules to you 1. Never set Christs mercy against his government he is a Saviour but he is also our Lord and must be obeyed and Faith implieth a consent of subjection as well as dependance 2. Cry not up his merits against his spirit his merit is your ransom but his Spirit is your Sanctifier and this Law is the law of his Spirit the one implyeth the other his Spirit implyeth the merit of Christ by bringing you under the Law of Grace 3. Set not the ends of Christs Death one against the other He that died that he might reconcile you to God died also to bring you into Obedience 't is a mercy to be redeemed from wrath but 't is a great if not a greater mercy to be redeemed from Sin Titus 2.14 4. Do not so put all upon Christ as to exempt your selves from the jurisdiction of God No Christ redeemed us to God Revel 1.9 To him we were first lost to him we must be recovered that he may not lose the glory of his Creation in Christ we are not without Law 1 Cor. 9.21 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not without the law to God but under the law to Christ we are not to be irregular but to rule all our actions by the law of Christ to carry our selves as without Law if we challenge it de jure is to affect to be Gods de facto 't is to be as Devils the greatest Rebels in nature I come now to the second Doctrine observed 2 dly That the Gospel is the law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Here I shall enquire 1. What is the Spirit 2. From whom we receive it 3. By what Law 1. What is the spirit here spoken off I answer Both the person of the Holy Ghost and the new nature First The person of the Holy Ghost cannot be excluded partly because he is Christs Witness and Agent in the World who is powerfully able to apply whatever he hath procured for us and to give us the effect of all