Name they are all written there as the High Priest carried their Names in his Breast so doth Christ thy Name is ingraven on his Heart John 10.3 He calleth his own Sheep by Name and leadeth them out Clement also with other my Fellow-Labourers whose Names are in the Book of Life Phil. 4.3 John Anna Thomas Clement they are recorded and Christ takes such special notice of them as if there were none other in the World 2. Their Condition and Necessities How obscure and poor soever they be in the account and reckoning of the World Psal. 34.6 This poor Man cried and the Lord heard him Poor Soul he is liable to such Temptations overwhelmed with such Troubles he crieth to me to help him It was the Theology of the Gentiles Dii magna curant parva negligunt That the Divine Powers did only take care of the great and weighty Concernments of the World but neglected the lesser Isa. 40.27 Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my Way is hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over from my God Vse 2. It perswadeth us wholly and absolutely to resign up our selves into Christ's Hands The Father is wiser than we he knoweth well enough what he did when he commendeth us to his Son Let us give up Bodies and Souls to Christ all that we have Faith is often expressed by committing our selves to Christ it answereth the Trust the Father reposed in him 1 Pet. 4.19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator The Apostle knew what he did when he trusted Christ with his Soul 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Is thy Soul laid a Pledg in Christ's Hands It is no easy Work That we may know what it is let me open it a little 1. You must chiefly commit your Souls to him Most Men lose their Souls to keep the Body That which a Man chiefly looketh after is his Jewels and precious Things in a dangerous Time to commit them to the Custody of a Friend So a Christian whatever becometh of him in the World he is careful to lay up his Soul in Christ's Hands that it may be kept from Sin and the Consequents of Sin Alas while we have it in our own keeping it will soon miscarry Now concerning this committing the Soul to Christ let me observe 1. That this Act is most sensible in time of deep Troubles and Death when we carry our Lives in our Hands trust Christ with your Souls Psal. 31.5 Into thy Hands I commit my Spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth So Christ Luke 23.46 Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Can we trust Christ upon the warrant of the Gospel when Troubles are nigh and Fears of Death Lord take my Spirit as Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit We must do it in our Life especially as often as we renew Covenant but then most sensibly when we come to die Jesus Christ is always the Depository of Souls but when we come to die or are in special Troubles then we are chiefly sollicitous about our Souls as when a House is a burning we are not careful about our Lumber but run to fetch our Jewels to put them in a safe Hand 2. Whenever we do it it must be an advised Act. A Man must be sensible of the Danger he is in of the many Temptations to which he is exposed what a sorry keeper he is of his own Heart Satan could fetch a prey out of Paradise Judas out of Christ's Company What Abilities Christ hath 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day Presumption is a Child of Darkness it cometh from Ignorance and Incogitancy Faith is deliberate and advised a Christian can verture his Soul upon Christ's Grace notwithstanding Infirmities upon Christ's Power notwithstanding Temptations this precious thing is daily in danger yet I can trust it in Christ's Hands he that made it can best keep it and guide us by his Grace and direct us in this dangerous Passage 3. It must still be accompanied with some Confidence We must be quieted I am persuaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him We should not distrust when we have resigned our selves to the care and tuition of his Spirit Christ's charge will be safe from danger It is our weakness to be full of Doubts and Fears We may be assaulted but we are safe in the Father's Purpose and the Son's Protection Too much confidence in Sanctification and too little in Justification will unsettle us 4. There must be a care of Obedience Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Commit your Souls to him in well-doing 1 Pet. 4.19 Sins will weaken Trust an impure Soul cannot be committed to Christ's Custody Would we commit Dung to a Friend to keep There must be a giving up our selves to him in Love as well as committing our selves to him in Faith John 12.26 If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be 5. It must arise from a chief care of your Souls Most Men are negligent herein they watch over their Goods but neglect their Souls and lose their Souls to keep these Trifles What account can they make to God at the last day These live as if they had no Souls and can they be said to commit their Souls to God 2. We must give up our Bodies to him and the conveniencies of the Body to let him dispose of us according to his Pleasure We shall have a Body at the last day and that Body will have Glory enough that falleth under Christ's charge John 6.39 This is the Father's Will that hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day He that cannot do the lesser it is impossible he should do the greater He that will not trust God with his earthly Substance Credit Estate how will he trust God with his Soul for eternal Salvation Which is easier to say thy Sins are forgiven thee or to say Arise and walk Mark 2.9 It is more difficult to believe for Salvation but bodily inconveniencies are more pressing and sensible The Welfare of the Body must not be committed to Wealth or Wit but to Christ A Christian is not troubled what shall become of him he leaveth himself to Christ's Disposal which is the way to allay his Cares and Fears III. The Third Argument is what they had done In the next Clause They have kept thy Word Here is another Reason their Obedience He had mentioned what the Father had done now what they had done His Ministry with them was
you shall not be brought to nought because the Body hath a Principle of Life in it it is a Part of Christ and he will lose nothing John 6.39 And this is the Father's Will which sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last Day As Plants live in the Root though the Leaves fade and in Winter they appear not so doth the Body live in Christ. So that it is a Ground of Hope and a Motive to Strictness that you may not wrong a Member of Christ nor seek to pluck a Joint from his Body 4. The manner of this Union It is secret and mysterious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.22 This is a great Mystery not only a Mystery but a great Mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church It is a part of our Portion in Heaven to understand it John 14.20 At the Day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you When we are more like God we shall know what it is to be united to God through Christ. Here Believers feel it rather than understand it and it is our Duty rather to get an interest in it than subtily to dispute about it 5. Though it be secret and mystical yet it is real because a Thing is spiritual it doth not cease to be real these are not Words or poor empty Notions only that we are united to Christ but they imply a real Truth Why should the Holy Ghost use so many Terms of being planted into Christ Rom. 6.5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection of being joined to Christ 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit of being made Partakers of Christ Hebr. 3.14 For we are made Partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our Confidence stedfast to the end Do these Terms only imply a Relation between us and Christ No then the Emphasis of the Words is lost What great Mystery in all this why is this Mystery so often spoken of Christ is not only ours but he is in us and we in him God is ours and we dwell in God 1 John 4.13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And verse 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and be in God It is represented by Similitudes that imply a real Union as well as a Relative by Head and Members Root and Branches as well as by Marriage where Man and Wife are made one Flesh. It is compared here with the Mystery of the Trinity and the Unity of the Divine Persons though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not a Notion of Scripture but a Thing wrought by the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.13 Which Things also we speak c. It worketh a Presence and conveyeth real Influences 6. It may be explained as far as our present Light will bear by Analogy to the Union between Head and Members The Head is united to the Body primarily and first of all by the Soul Head and Members make but one Body because they are animated by the same Soul and by that means doth the Head communicate Life and Motion to the Body Besides this there is a secondary Union by the Bones Muscles Nerves Veins and other Ligaments of the Body and upon all these by the Skin all which do constitute and make up this natural Union Just so in this spiritual and mystical Union there is a primary Band and Tie and that is the Spirit of Christ 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit that is is acted by the same Spirit by which Christ acted and liveth the same Life of Grace that Christ liveth as if there were but one Soul between them both The Fulness remaineth in Christ but we have our share and he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his But over and above there is a secondary Bond and Tie that knitteth us and Christ together which answereth to the Joints and Arteries by which the Parts of the Body are united to one another and that is Faith and Love and Fear and other Graces of the Spirit by which the Presence is kept in the Soul Thus I have a little opened this Mystery to you 2. There is an Union of the Members one with another A little of that 1. The same Spirit that uniteth the Members to the Head uniteth the Members one to another Therefore the Apostle as an Argument of Union urgeth the Communion of the same Spirit Phil. 2.1 2. If any Fellowship of the Spirit fulfil ye my Joy that ye be like-minded having the same Love being of one Accord of one Mind As Christ is the Head of the Church so the Holy Ghost is the Soul of the Church by which all the Members are acted As in the Primitive Times Acts 4.32 the Multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul And this is that that Christ prayeth for here that they may all be one in the Communion of the same Spirit that they may be of the same Religion and have the same Aim and the same Affection to good things 2. From the Communion of the Spirit there is a secondary Union by Love and seeking one another's good as if they were but one Man where-ever dispersed throughout the World and whatever distinctions of Nations and Interests there are they may love and desire the good of one another and rejoice in the Welfare and grieve for the Evil of one another Ezek. 1.24 When the Beasts went the Wheels went and when the Beasts were lifted up from the Earth the Wheels were lifted up over against them and the reason is given for the Spirit of the living Creature was in the Wheels The same Spirit is in one Christian that is in another and so they wish well to one another even to those whom they never saw in the Flesh. Col. 2.1 For I would that ye knew how great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my Face in the Flesh What Wrestlings had he with God and Fightings for their sakes even for them that had not seen his Face in the Flesh so careful are the Members one of another 3. This Love is manifested by real Effects Look as by virtue of Union with Christ there are real Influences of Grace that pass out to us it is not idle and fruitless so by virtue of this Union that is between the Members there is a real Communication of Gifts and Graces and the good Things of this Life one to another If the Parts of the Body keep what they have to themselves and do not disperse it for the use of the Body it breedeth Diseases as the Liver the
â—ingring Body be dead and numb we rub it and chafe it to bring heat and spirits into it again So do you feel any Grace any Spiritual Love Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me As we know there is Life by the beating of the Pulses So there is Spiritual Life when there is a striving against Corruption complaining of it sighing groaning under it seconded with a constant endeavour to grow better These Sighs and Groans are in the greatest desertion 2. Conformity Where the Spirit of Christ is it fashioneth us into the likeness of Christ 2 Cor. 3.18 We all 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. It maketh us to represent Christ to be such as he was in the World meek holy humble useful as if Christ were come again to converse with Men. If you are acted with an unclean proud carnal wrathful Spirit who is it that dwelleth in you whose Image do you bear There is a changing transforming Power that ariseth from this Union that we delight to do the Will of our Father wherein the Conformity lieth chiefly We shall be humble meek gentle Mat. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of Heart thinking humbly of our selves not aspiring after Greatness This Spirit is a Spirit of Obedience enabling us to look to our Father's Glory and Commandment in all things We shall have compassionate melting Hearts to the miseries of others as he had Bowels yearning to see Sheep without a Shepherd SERMON XXXVI JOHN XVII 21 That they all may be One as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me I Am now to handle the second Branch the Patern of this Unity As thou Father art in me and I in thee It is elsewhere compared three times in this Chapter v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may be One as we are Ver. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may be One as we are One and here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as thou Father art in me and I in thee They are not only One but in one another It is that which Divines call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the intimate Inhabitation or Indwelling of the Persons in one another without any confusion of the several Subsistencies Such is the Unity of the Divine Essence that the Father dwelleth in the Son the Son subsisteth in the Father and the Holy Spirit in both without any confusion of the Personalities Now this is propounded as the Patern and Original Exemplar of the Mystical Union The Arrians conclude out of this place that there is not an Unity of Essence among the Divine Persons but only an Unity of Love and Concord such as is between us and Christ and among Believers one with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As doth not imply as exact Equality but only a Similitude or answerable Likeness In the Mystical Union there is a kind of Shadow and Adumbration of that Unity which is between the Persons of the Godhead So when Man is said to be made after the Similitude and Likeness of God it doth not imply an universal and exact Equality but only some Conformity and Similitude of Men to God So Be ye Holy as I am Holy Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect It is good to note that in the Letter of the Text Christ separateth his own Unity with the Father from that of the Creatures He doth not say Let us be all One but let them be all one Again he doth not say As thou art in us and we in thee but As thou Father art in me and I in thee Hic suam potentiam Patris à nobis secerneret Again in the next Clause he doth not say One with us but in us There is no common Union wherein he and we agree The Note is Doct. That the Mystical Vnion carrieth some resemblance with the Vnion that is between the Father and the Son Here I shall shew I. The Unity between God and Christ. II. Wherein the Resemblance standeth I. The Unity between God and Christ. There is a two-fold Union between God and Christ. God is in him and one with him as the Second Person of the Trinity and one in him as Mediator 1. As he is the Second Person of the Trinity there is an Unity of Essence intimated by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mutual Inhabitation Christ is not the Father but in the Father to confound the Persons is Sabellianism to divide the Natures is Arrianism He doth not only say the Father is in him but he is in the Father to note a Consubstantial Unity that they both communicate in the same Essence At once he sheweth the distinction that is between the Father and the Son and the Unity of Essence that is between them And as they are one in Essence so one in Power John 10.28 29 30. I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my Hand My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no Man is able to pluck them out of my Father's Hand I and my Father are One They work by the same Power They are One in Will and Operation their Actions are undivided what the Father doth the Son doth tho by an Operation proper to each Person John 5.19 What things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise They are one in Love the Son lay in the Bosom of the Father John 1.18 No Man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he hath declared him It is a Phrase that expresseth Intimacy There is a mutual complacency and delight in one another They are equal in Dignity and Power and must not be severed in Worship John 5.23 That all Men should honour the Son as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him Thus God and Christ are One as Christ is the Second Person This is the great Mystery Three and One and One and Three Men and Angels were made for this spectacle we cannot comprehend it and therefore must admire it O luminosissimae Tenebrae Light Darkness God dwelleth in both in Light to shew the Excellency of his Nature and in Darkness to shew the Weakness of our Apprehension The Son is begotten by the Father yet is in the Father and the Father in him the Spirit proceedeth from them both and yet is in both all in each and each in all They were the more Three because One and the more One
2 Tim. 1.12 For I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day It is an advised Act it is fit the Soul should be in safe Hands We are sensible that as long as this Life lasts we are subject to many Trials and Changes therefore we put our Souls into Christ's Hands in a confidence of his Alsufficiency It is a knowing Trust. Vse 1. To press us to mind this great Privilege Christ in us This should be our chief Care We cannot mortify Sin till we be in Christ He is our Sanctification We can have no security against God's Wrath till then Acts 4.12 Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Whatever shifts they made against the Flood it would not serve nothing but the Ark could save them Make this the Business of your Lives wait upon the Word and other Ordinances with this Aim improve Providences to this end to draw you the nearer to God by Christ. Let this be the constant breathing of your Souls Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the Knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but Dung that I may win Christ. Phil. 3.8 Measure all the Business and Employment of your Lives by this A tender Mother that nurseth her Child she hath other Work to do but still she remembreth her Child when she awaketh she thinketh of her Child when she is abroad when employed in the Affairs of her Family her Mind is on her Child God is pleased to resemble his Love to us by this So a true Christian faith My Work is to get into Christ. When he is about Business of the World he still remembreth that this is his great Care and it must be minded every Day When he riseth when he goeth to sleep this should run in his Mind This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Work John 6.29 This is the Work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent All other Business is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his by-work that he may get or lose it Make more room for Christ in the Soul Vse 2. Examination 1. Is Christ in you who liveth there and worketh Christ or Satan These two divide the World between them the strong Man and the stronger than he The Heart of Man is not a waste Christ ruleth in the Church and the Devil in the World And yet all that are in the Church are not in Christ. John 15.2 Every Branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away They that are where Christ is in Honour will make a general Profession The Devil hath a great Party in the Church Therefore who is in you Christ or Satan Satan is in all Carnal Men their Hearts are his Forge or Workhouse Ephes. 2.2 According to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience 2 Cor. 4.4 The God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them which believe not He blindeth them and hardneth them and leadeth them captive by their own Lusts. Consider there is no Neutrality We are under Christ or the Devil The Devil is a Spirit he possesseth Men when they do not feel him He is called the Prince of the Power of the Air and infected Air is drawn in without pain and we get a Disease before we feel it and die of a Pestilent Air. Were you never changed Conversion is a Dispossession The Devil is in all the Children of Disobedience Did you ever consent to chuse Christ for your Mediator and Lord and King When you refuse Christ offered the Devil is most ready to entertain you and to enter into you and possess you the more securely There is a Tradition upon your Refusal God giveth you then up to Satan to be blinded and hardned Therefore consider this observe your Course Some are Satan's Slaves they that walk in the ways of their own Hearts and according to the Lusts of the World John 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do Satan's Mark and Brand is upon them that live in Malice and Envy against God and good Men Satan was a Murderer from the beginning in filthiness and uncleanness he is an unclean Spirit in railing swearing cursing whose Tongues are set on Fire of Hell tempting seducing lying Satan is a Liar and a Tempter enticing to drink and gaming Again Is Christ in you A great deal of Bran will remain if we use too course a Bolter Doth Christ dwell in your Hearts You will know it by the Effects of his Presence 1. Doth Christ fill the Heart So great a Guest is enough the Believer desireth no more to his Peace of Conscience Joy and compleat Blessedness There is a full acquiescency of the Soul in Christ he desireth above all things to enjoy him There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment is great Gain There is nothing in Heaven or Earth that can fill the hungry Soul of Man but Jesus Christ. He that hath his Heart full of Christ all things seem base and vile to him a little portion of the World serveth his turn They are cheap things to Jesus Christ after which the World runs a whoring 1 Sam. 19.30 And Mephibosheth said Nay let him take all forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto his House Mephibosheth is contented to see the King's Face in Peace They have the Pearl of great Price there is little room for other things Christ filleth every corner of the Heart Phil. 4.12 13. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me 2. He ruleth and acteth and swayeth all these He doth not dwell as a Stranger or Guest in another Man's House or as an Inmate but as a Lord in his Possession therefore he still directeth counselleth quickneth destroyeth the Kingdom of Satan reneweth us more and more dwelleth in us as the King of Glory Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty Light Joy Strength Peace 2. What Entertainment do you give him The more Faith is inlarged the more room hath Christ in thy Heart With great chearfulness should you receive him not always frowning he looketh for Reverence not constant Mourning Do not grieve him by Sin by such things by which the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience If an earthly King lie but a Night in a House what care is there taken that nothing be offensive to him but that all things be neat clean and sweet How much more ought
of the spirit An Assent with wonder and astonishment because so much wisdom love and grace was discovered in it Eph. 3.17 18 19. 2. Consent must be often renewed to that covenant by which the spirit is dispensed often enter into a resolution to take God for your God for your Soveraign Lord your Portion and Happiness and Christ for your Redeemer and Saviour and the Holy Ghost for your Guide Sanctifier and Comforter Every solemn consent renewed doth both confirm you in the benefit of the spirit and bind you and excite you to the duties required by God in all these relations Your constant work is to love and seek after God as your happiness and Jesus Christ as your Saviour and the Spirit for your Guide and Direction 3. Dependance upon the love of God and the merits of Christ and the power of the spirit that you may use Christs appointed means with the more confidence That soul that thus sets its self to believe findeth a wonderful encrease of the spirit in this renewed exercise of faith assenting consenting and depending Rom. 15.13 The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy ghost 2. Your Repentance must be renewed by a hearty grief for sin and resolutions and endeavours against it The more sin is made odious the more the spirit hath obtained his effect in you and the more heartily you study to please God in the work of love and obedience the more you are acquainted with the spirit and his quicknings the spirit and his comforts Acts 9.31 They walked in the fear of the Lord and the comforts of the Holy ghost His business is to make you holy the more you obey his motions and follow his directions the more he delighteth to dwell in your hearts 2. VSE is self-reflection Let me put that Question to you Acts 19.3 Have ye received the Holy ghost since ye believed Is the first great change wrought Are you called from darkness to light From sin to holiness Turned from Satan to God Are you made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 The change must be perfected more and more by the spirit 2 Cor. 3.18 Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Do you obey his sanctifying motions Rom. 8.14 For as many as are led by the spirit of God are the Sons of God His motions all tend to quicken us to the heavenly life inclining our hearts to things above 2 Thes. 2.13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth SERMON XIII ROM VIII 10 And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin and the spirit is life because of righteousness THE Text is manifestly a Prolepsis or a Preoccupation of a secret Objection against our Redemption by Christ If believers die as well as others how are they freed from death questionless Christ was sent into the world to abolish the misery brought in by Adams sin now death was the primary punishment of sin Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die And this remaineth on believers The Apostle answereth in the words read 1. By supposition If Christ be in you That he might fix the priviledg on the Persons to whom it properly belongeth 2. By concession The body is dead because of sin 3. By correction And the spirit is life because of righteousness 1. The supposition sheweth that the comfort of the priviledg is drawn from the spiritual union which believers have with Christ if Christ be in you Secondly The concession granteth what must be granted that death befalleth believers their bodies return to the dust as others do But Thirdly the correction is that they are certain to live for ever with Christ both in body and soul and this upon a twofold ground first There is a life begun which shall not be quenched but perfected the spirit is life Secondly The ground and procuring cause is Christs righteousness Sin deprived them of the life of grace and forfeited the life of glory but here the righteousness of Christ hath purchased this life for us and the spirit applieth it to us Doct. That Christ in believers notwithstanding death is a sure pledg and earnest to them of eternal life both in body and soul. This Point will be best discussed with respect to the several clauses in the Text the supposition the concession the correction or contrary assertion 1. The supposition if Christ be in you Here I will prove to you that a true Christian is one that doth not only profess Christ but hath Christ in him 2 Cor. 13.5 Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you except ye are reprobates that is senseless stupid wretches not accepted of God so Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of Glory Now Christ is in us two ways Objectively and Effectively Objectively as the object is in the faculty or the things we think of and love are in our hearts and minds so Christ is in us as he is apperehended and imbraced by faith and love so he is said Eph. 3.17 To dwell in our hearts by faith and again He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4.18 Which is not to be understood of the acts only but the habitual temper and dispositions of our souls for else by the ceasing of the acts the union at least on our hearts would be broken off Secondly Effectively so Christ is in us by his spirit and gracious influence Now the effects of his spirit are first life he is become the principle of a new life in us Gal. 2.20 Christ liveth in me and the life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God Where he is he maketh us to live and we have another principle of our lives than our selves or our own natural or renewed spirit Secondly Likeness or renovation of our natures Gal. 4.19 Vntil Christ be formed in you The image of Christ is impressed on the soul 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 'T is all to the same effect our being in Christ or Christs being in us for both imply Union and the effect of it a near conformity to Christ in holiness Thirdly Strength by the continued influence of his grace to overcome temptations 1 John 4.4 Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world The spirit keepeth a foot Gods interest in the soul against all the assaults of the Devil so for the variety of conditions we pass thorough Phil. 4.12 I know both how to be abased and how to abound
your Lord and happiness to Chrâ—st as your Redemer and Saviour to the Holy-Ghost as your guide comforter and sanctifier We renew this consent in the Lords Supper that we may bind our selves the faster to him to submit to his spiritual Discipline that our cure my be wrought in us 2. You must obey his sanctifying motions for otherwise this resignation was in vain therefore we must faithfully endeavour by the power and help which he giveth us to mortifie sin we must strive against sin and we must strive with them to strive and resist him argueth great prophaness Gen. 6.3 Acts 7.51 Not to strive with him much neglect and laziness you must strive with your hearts when the spirit is striving with you and take the season of his special help 'T is not at our command for the wind bloweth as it listeth take it when you have it 'T is an offence to the spirit when the flesh is obeyed before him men are easily intreated by sin but deaf to his motions 3. Use the appointed means by which the spirit worketh There are means of obtaining the spirit at first by the Word and Prayer The spirit is conveyed by some Doctrine for Gods operative Power is applyed to man as a reasonable creature not for necessity For the Word Gal. 3.2 Received ye the the spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith So for Prayer If not for friendships sake c. Luke 11.8 13. yet because of his importunity If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask it Beg it of God upon the account of Christ Titus 3.5.6 But we speak now of another thing not the gift of the spirit at first but the supply of the spirit 'T is gotten the same way the spirit joyneth his power and efficacy with the proper instituted means the Word which is the sword of the spirit Eph. 6.17 This sword was made by the spirit Holy men spake as moved by the Holy Ghost Used by the spirit to vanquish Satan 1 John 2.14 And the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one â—Tis used for the defence of the better part the sword of the flesh is the excessive love of pleasures some carnal bait And by it the power of the holy ghost came upon us Acts 10.44 While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word A spirit of sobriety godliness meekness and the fear of the Lord. We cannot make use of this sword without the spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit So Sacraments 1 Cor. 12.13 And have been all made to drink into one spirit Prayer looking up to God who helpeth us in our conflicts openeth their ears to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity Job 36. And breaketh the yokeless disposition and opposition in our hearts 4. To forbear those wilful sins which grieve the spirit Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the spirit 1 Thes. 5.19 Quench not the spirit do not provoke him to withdraw his assistance from us as David was sensible of his misery Psa. 51.10 11 12. Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me by thy free spirit SERMON XX. ROM VIII 13 ye shall live WE come now to the Promise ye shall live Doct. That life is promised to those that seriously improve the assistances of the spirit for the mortifying of sin 1. What is the life here promised the life of Grace or the life of Glory I shall give my Answer in Three Considerations 1. The more we die unto sin the more fit we are to live that new life which becometh Christians or new creatures For Mortification and Vivification do mutually help one another So much sin as remaineth in us so far is the spiritual life clogged and obstructed therefore it is called a weight that hangeth upon us and retardeth and hindreth us in all our heavenly flights and motion Heb. 12.1 That weight is there explained to be sin that doth easily befet us 't is the great impediment to the heavenly life and maketh our progress therein slow and troublesom Well then the more these inordinate inclinations are broken and mortifyed the more we are alive unto Righteousness as the Scripture every where witnesseth and the more we tame and subdue the flesh the more doth the spirit or better part thrive and prosper therefore it may be truly said If ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live That is spiritually 2. The spiritual life is the pledg and beginning of the life of glory Here 't is begun by the spirit and there perfected the spirit of holiness is the surest pledg of a Resurrection to eternal life as I proved v. 10 11. The reasonable nature inferreth Immortality and the new nature a blessed Immortality every where the new birth 't is made the seed of Eternity called therefore the immortal seed 1 Pet. 1.23 And he that is born of God is said to have eternal life abiding in him he hath the pledg and earnest and first fruits of it the spiritual life consists in the knowledg love and contemplation of God and perfect love and subjection to him so that if it were meant of the Life of Grace the Life of Glory cannot be excluded 3. As it cannot be excluded so 't is principally intended as is evident partly because 't is put in opposition to death which is the fruit of the carnal life if ye live after the flesh ye shall die Such a life is intended as is directly opposite to that death and partly because 't is propounded by way of motive and motives are seldom taken from things co-ordinate such as are vivification and mortification a dying to sin but from things of a superior rank and order as the glorious reward is to duty and partly because this suiteth with the Apostles scope That justified Persons shall not be condemned but glorified because of the life of the spirit in them 2. To confirm the point First by Scripture The offer of eternal life is every where propounded in Scripture as the great encouragement of all our endeavours either in subduing sin or perfecting holiness as Prov. 12.28 The way of righteousness is life and in the path thereof is no death There is the hope of life asserted and the fear of death removed death elsewhere is propounded as the reward of sin and life as the great motive to keep us in the true love and obedience of God Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting so Ezek. 18.18 Because he considereth and turneth away from all his
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.
this can be done unless we believe him to be present and conscious to all that we do or say for all else is but an empty formality Therefore when we pray we must remember that we converse with him that searcheth the heart and knoweth what and how we ask as 1 Kings 8.39 Hear thou in thy dwelling place and forgive and do to every man according to his ways whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men All the faith the seriousness the comfort of prayer dependeth upon the belief of this for who would call upon him of whom he is not perswaded that he heareth him or be serious in a duty that knoweth not whether God regardeth yea or no or what comfort can be taken in having prayed and made known his desires to God unless he be perswaded those prayers come unto the ears of the Lord of Hosts So for hearing the word that which bindeth us to reverence is that we are in the sight of God Acts 10.33 We are all here present before the Lord to hear all things which are commanded thee of God otherwise men will come to see and be seen rather than to be taught and instructed God is every where but he is especially there where his ordinances are and we are to be so seriously attentive as if God himself did speak to us by oracles when his message is brought to us otherwise it will have no effect upon us 1 Thes. 2.13 Ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe 2 Cor. 5.20 As though God did beseech you by us We lift up our hearts to him and set him before our eyes as having to do with God himself this only begets seriousness in hearing So for the Lord's Supper which is a middle duty between the word and prayer and compounded of both we hear God tendring his Covenant assuring us of his blessings promised and commanding us to fulfil the requisite duties that we may be capable of them We promising and praying by resolving and promising testify our consent to the Covenant thus stated by prayers and groans our dependance Now there is no Covenanting with one that is absent you will say he is present in his institution he is so and that is an help to faith therefore visible signs are appointed to be an instance of Gods presence with us but all his internal work is immediately transacted between our souls and God himself We look on him as present that seeth and heareth all Deut. 10.12 'T is to the soul God speaketh I am thy God Psal. 35.3 Say unto my soul I am thy salvation And the soul spake unto God Thou art my portion saith my soul. Either as to promise of obedience Psal. 119.57 or dependance Lam. 3.24 Two outward witnesses are conscious to what is done between God and our souls So Psal. 16.2 O my soul thou hast said unto God thou art my God upon this inward soul covenanting do all our priviledges depend and if God knoweth not all things nor engageth his heart to draw nigh unto him How can this be 2. From the danger of dissembling with God in acts of worship or putting him off with feigned pretences The Scripture sets forth three phrases a mocking of God a lying to God and a tempting of God A mocking of God Gal. 6.7 Be not deceived God is not mocked That is Impune there is no escaping the accurate search of the all-seeing God Ananias Saphirai's sin was hypocrisie in keeping back part of what was devoted They would seem liberal and pious as others who were joyned to the Church and so by a part of godliness seek to be excused from the whole And whilest they observe externals neglect internals own Religion when profession is not costly put on a garb of devotion at times but lay it aside ordinarily do what is plausible to men but neglect what is acceptable to God now this is called a lying to the Holy Ghost Acts 5.3 Why to the Holy Ghost rather than the Father and the Son Because of his special precedency and inspection over Church-Affairs Acts 20.28 Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Act 15.28 For it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things They pretended to do it by his instinct as all Christians that pray profess or pretend to pray by the Holy Ghost Oh! Observe this many make a false confession of faith or promise of obedience this is called a lying not to men but to God Acts 5.4 Oh then we should be exceedingly fortified against hypocrisie in worship 't is to think to deceive God whom we profess to be Omniscient nay 't is a tempting of the Spirit of the Lord v. 9. How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord A putting it to the proof whether he will discover us or no now rather than run this hazzard it concerneth us greatly and thoroughly to be possessed of this truth That God searcheth the heart 3. There can be no true worship unless we be deeply possessed with a thorough sence of the infinite knowledg of God 1. There can be no faith unless the worship be performed and tendred to God as an all-seeing Spirit Heb. 11.6 Without faith 't is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him If God know me not nor in what manner I serve him 't is all one whether I serve him religiously or with a cold faint formal worship for he seeth not with what heart I go about it if we pray and think to be never the better for praying there can be no life in prayer for a perswasion to be heard and accepted must be at the bottom of all duties therefore all that would serve him diligently must believe that he is Omniscient and knoweth all things 2. There can be no reverence For 't is all one to pray to an Idol and to a God that heareth not and seeth not yea 't is worse for they were perswaded of a Vertue or a Divine Power belonging to their Idols therefore all your worship will be but a conformity to the common custom and fashion Ezek. 31.31 They come before thee as thy people cometh and sit before thee as thy people and they hear thy words but they will not do them for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness 'T is but a shew of Devotion USE Is comfort to sincere worshippers 1. God knoweth their persons that there is such a man in the world the desires of whose soul are to the remembrance of his name 'T is an usual temptation which haunteth the
their bodies but assoon as they are separated from the Body go to their place and state of torment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The place of their everlasting Imprisonment So Luke 16.23 24. And in Hell he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom God is not more prone to punish than to reward if the wicked be in their final Estate assoon as they dye the Saints are in their happiness presently upon their dissolution On the other side Heb. 12.22 The Spirits of just men made perfect The Souls of men unclothed and divested of their bodys too these come How could these things be said if they did lye only in a dull sleep without any life sight joy or any act of love to God Present sleep 't is a burden to the Saints as 't is an Interruption to their Service though a necessary refreshment to their Bodys 4. That Argument also proves it Col. 1.20 That Christ by the bloud of his Cross hath reconciled all things to God both in Heaven and in earth He meaneth the universality of the Elect whether already Glorifyed or yet upon the Earth it cannot be said of the Elect Angels who never sinned and therefore were never reconciled Se nunquam cum matre in gratiam rediisse c. But only confirmed in grace and put beyond all reach and possibility of sinning and so the things in Heaven which are reconciled are the Souls of the Godly who departed in the Faith 5. That place also proveth it Luke 20.37 38. Now that the dead are raised even Moses shewed at the Bush when he called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead but of the living for all live to him The Sadduces denyed the Immortality of the Soul as well as the Resurrection of the body and say that there was no state of life after this Christ disproveth both by a Notable Argument I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For he is not the God of the dead but of the living for they all live to him The words were spoken by Moses after their deceasing not I was but I am the God of Abraham God said after their decease that he was still their God And therefore those that are departed out of the World live another life The Souls of the just are already in the hands of God and their Bodys are sure to be raised up and united to them by the power of God 6. My next place shall be Luke 16.9 And I say unto you make to your selves friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations What is that time of failing 'T is not meant of condemnation in the Judgment for there is no escaping or reversing that sentence therefore 't is meant of the hour of death then are we received into everlasting habitations and our Everlasting habitation is Heaven 7. And lastly from Luke 16.22 And it came to pass that the Beggar dyed and was carryed by the Angels into Abrahams bosom By the â—osom of Abraham is meant Heaven and Hell is opposed to it and 't is explained he is comforted but thou art tormented Lying in the Bosom is a Feast Gesture as Mat. 8.11 A greater expression of love for the most Beloved disciple lay in the bosom of the Principal person at the feast and Mat. 13.43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father Basil telleth us of the forty Martyrs exposed naked in a cold frosty night and to be burnt next day that they comforted one another with this consideration Cold is the night but the Bosom of Abraham is warm and comfortable 't is but a nights enduring and we shall feel no more cold but be happy for evermore Well then here is proof such as is fit in the case in things future we are doubtful and of the state of the Soul we are in a great measure ignorant Therefore God hath discovered these things to us in his word 1. Use. Well then here is great comfort for those that are now hard at work for God the time of your refreshing and ease is at hand 2. To support us against the Terrours of death In Martyrdom if you are slain the sword is but a key to open the door that you may presently be with Christ if strangled the Animal life is put out that the Heavenly may begin if burnt 't is going to Heaven in a Fiery Chariot In the general death cannot separate us from the Love of God in Christ Rom. 8 38 39. Though we dye the Soul is capable of loving God and being beloved by him 3. To support us under the pains of sickness 'T is but enduring pain a little longer and in a moment in the twinckling of an eye you shall be with God Angels will bring you to Christ and Christ present you to God and then you shall enjoy an Eternal rest 4. Here is comfort to the dying Commend your Souls to God as Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my spirit There is a Redeemer ready to receive you heaven will be your residence and God will be your happiness and portion for ever 3. Doct. This presence with the Lord is earnestly desired and chosen by the saints as far more pleasing to them than remaining in the Body 1. The thing its self is true that presence with the Lord is infinitely much better than remaining in the Body and will abundantly recompense the absence from it Gods gracious presence is better than life bodily Psa. 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than life 'T is that which giveth a value to life its self without which it were little worth Alas what should we do with humane nature or a rational Soul if it were not capable of loving knowing and injoying God what Imploy it only to cater for the Body that is to act but as an higher and wiser sort of beast Life is no life without God then we do live when we live to him injoy him and his love Now if his gracious presence is more worth than life what then is his glorious presence Phil. 1.21 To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain A Christian loseth nothing by death but he gaineth abundantly more by his being present with Christ. And the 23th verse I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better There is no proportion between the choicest Contentments which we attain unto here even those which are Spiritual and that Blessed estate which the Saints injoy hereafter Now there being such a disproportion in the things themselves there should be in our desires and our choice for we are to Judge and be affected according to the nature or worth of things otherwise we act not only irrationally
Grace and Authority Mat. 7.29 The People were astonished at his Doctrine for he taught them as one having Authority and not as the Scribes All he did was with Heavenly Majesty and Authority a Soveraign Majesty was to be seen in Christ's teaching proper to himself Besides his Faithfulness as a Minister with such Clearness Evidence and Demonstration there was sufficient Declaration to the World at his Baptism Mat. 3.17 Lo a Voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased agreeing with the Prophecy of him Isa. 42.1 Behold my Servant whom I uphold my Elect in whom my Soul delighteth At his Transfiguration before three Persons that for the Holiness of their Lives were of great Credit Mat. 17.5 Before all his Disciples John 12.28 Father glorify thy Name Then came there a Voice from Heaven saying I have both glorified it and will glorify it again To the World at his Resurrection Acts 17 31. Whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead To which Resurrection the Jews were conscious Those that reported it wrought Miracles these Men sought not themselves had no Advantage but visible Hazards their Witness was agreeable to the Writings of the Prophets the Doctrine built on it very satisfactory there is in it what every Religion pretendeth to tho in a higher way tho Miracles are now ceased yet it is confirmed by the Truth of the Word God continually confirmeth it by the Seal of the Spirit and there is an inward Certioration whereby Believers are satisfied John 18.37 For this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the Truth Every one that is of the Truth heareth my Voice that is enlightned by the Holy-Ghost receiveth and believeth it but those that have a mind to wrangle God will not satisfy And then for his Miracles they were not Miracles of Pomp and Ostentation not destructive Miracles but Actions of Relief When the Pharisees said He casteth out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils Mat. 12.24 He proveth that his main aim was to cast out Satan ver 26. If Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself Would Satan consent that his Kingdom should fall He would not go to dispossess himself All his aim was to promote Holiness and the Kingdom of God I note this 1. That you may know that the Apostles had sufficient Means to convince the World of the certainty of the Christian Doctrine The inward Testimony of the Spirit the Apostles would not alledg it by Miracles and rational Probabilities they were fitted to deal with the World and to appear as Witnesses for him when they were to give an Account Acts 5.32 And we are Witnesses of these things and so is the Holy-Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him This inward Witness is proper to Believers the other may be alledged to Infidels By the Spirit is meant there a Power to work Miracles 2. That you may know the way of God's working with Men Usually all these three concur to the working of Faith there is the Light of the Spirit external Confirmation and the use of fit Instruments 1. The Light of the Spirit without which there can be no Grace nor Faith 1 John 5.6 It is the Spirit that beareth Witness because the Spirit is true That is That Word which the Spirit himself hath revealed is Truth for he is not only the Author and Inditer of the Word but the Witness he worketh in the Hearts of the Faithful so that he persuadeth them of the Truth of the Word 2. There is external Confirmation Tho Miracles cease yet we have the Testimony and Consent of the Church who by undoubted and authentick Rolls hath communicated her Experience to us which is visibly confirmed by the Providence of God not suffering the Truth to be oppressed 3. There is the use of fit Instruments specially gifted for this Purpose Tho the Effect of the Word doth mainly depend on the Spirit yet there is a Ministerial Efficacy in the Messengers Acts 14.1 They so spake that a multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed Not that the Faith of the Hearers doth meerly depend upon the excellency of the Preacher Yet certain it is that one way of preaching may be more fit to convert than another both in regard of Matter and Form Pure Doctrine for the Matter is more apt to convert than that which is mixed with Falshood as pure Water cleanseth better than foul and good Food nourisheth better than that which is in part tainted He that can divide the Word aright and prudently apply it is more powerful to work than he that seeth by an half Light or presseth Truth loosly and not with Judgment and Solidity Not as if they could infallibly convert but they are more likely they do not carry the Grace of Conversion in their Mouths Then for the Form with more plainness clearness strength of Argument God hath given to some Gifts above others not to bind himself to them but in the way of Instruments they are more powerful tho the weakest Gifts are not to be despised And in the quality of the Persons Holy Persons are more polished Shafts in God's Quiver 3. I observe it to press you to regard all these things 1. The Power of the Spirit if you would profit in Christ's School The watering-Pot will do nothing without the Sun nor the Word without his Testimony 1 Cor. 3.7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the Increase The Spirit is to confirm Truth to you by way of Witness and Argument By way of Witness 1 John 5.7 For there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy-Ghost There is a secret Persuasion especially when you are reading and hearing that insinuateth it self with your Thoughts doubtless this is the Word of God Acts 16.14 Whose Heart the Lord opened that she attended to those things that were spoken by Paul By way of Argument working such things from whence you may conclude it is God's Word John 8.32 Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make ye free When ye are freed from the bondage of Sin then ye are enlightned to see the Truth of the Gospel by experience ye shall know the Truth 2. Take in the advantage of external Confirmation By Miracles Christ's Testimony was made valuable to the Apostles You have not only authentick Records wherein these Miracles are recorded which as an History may be believed but the Testimony of the Church which hath experience of the Truth and Power of the Gospel for many Ages The Lives of the Godly who are called God's Witnesses 1 Cor. 14.26 The Providences of God in delivering his Church in their miraculous Preservations Psal. 58.11 Verily there is a God that judgeth in the Earth Answers of Prayers grounded on the Word Upon all these
of the things apprehended True Knowledg is expressed by Tasting 1 Pet. 2.5 If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious Tasting implieth more than Seeing there is not only Apprehension but Experience Phil. 1.9 I pray God that your Love may abound more and more in Knowledg and in all Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all sense To others it is but an empty barren Notion Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection that is Experimentally Carnal Men have no feeling of the force of the Truths they apprehend only now and then some fleeting Joys it is not realizing and affective Strong Water and running Water differ not in Colour but in Taste and Vertue They may know the same Truths but it differeth in relish they know the Things of God only as things in conceit not in being 3. The Light of Faith is wrought by the Spirit this but an hear say Knowledg gathered out of Books and Sermons they shine with a borrowed Light as the Moon that is dark in it self and hath no Light rooted in its own Body These shine with other Mens Light John 4.42 Now we believe not for thy saying but we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World Men talk of Things by rote after others and are rather said to rehearse than understand it is not written in their Hearts but only reported to their Ears Heb. 8.10 I will write my Law in their Hearts Truth is written there by the Finger of the Spirit to others it is but traditional learned as other Arts by Man Now there is a great deal of difference between seeing God in the Light of the Spirit and seeing God and the Things of God by the Reports of Men as between seeing Countries in a Map or Book of Geography and knowing them by Travel and Experience 4. It is a transforming Light 2 Cor. 3.18 We all as in a Glass beholding the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Looking upon the Image of Christ we are changed into the same Image and Likeness from Glory to Glory as Moses his Face shone Conversing with Christ it altereth and changeth the Soul which is hereby renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.10 That is no true Light and Knowledg of God that doth not bridle Lusts and purify the Heart a wicked Man's Knowledg it is Light without Fire directive not perswasive 1 John 2.3 4. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a Liar and the Truth is not in him it is a lie and pretence unactive Light is but Darkness In Paradise there was a Tree of Life and a Tree of Knowledg many taste of the Tree of Knowledg that never taste of the Tree of Life 5. The Light of Faith is an undoubted certain Light but in wicked Men it is always mingled with Doubting Ignorance Error and Unbelief It is not convictive but a loose wavering Opinion not a setled grounded Perswasion they have not the riches of the assurance of Vnderstanding Col. 2.2 that dependeth on Experience and inward sense of the Truth and is wrought by the Holy Ghost And therefore the Apostle speaketh of the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a clear convincing Argument by which the Judgment is setled it cometh in upon the Soul with evident Confirmation II. The next thing in the Nature of Faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have given them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them There is a receiving Christ and a receiving the Word Sometimes the Act of Faith is terminated on the Person of Christ as John 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believe on his Name Sometimes on the Promises to shew that as there is no closing with Christ without the Promise so there is no closing with the Promise without Christ first we receive the Word of Christ and then Christ himself and in Christ Life and Salvation that is the progress of Faith Acts 10.42 Through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins Observe That Faith is a receiving the Word of Christ. The Notion is elsewhere used Acts 2.41 Then they that gladly received the Word were baptized Unbelief it is a rejecting the counsel of the Word and Faith a receiving it Unbelief is thus described Acts 13.46 Since ye put away the Word of God from you So Luke 7.30 But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Counsel of God against themselves that is refused the Counsel of God to their own loss and ruin On the contrary when Cornelius was converted it is said Acts 11.1 The Apostles heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God So that we may describe Faith with reference to this Act A Motion in the Heart of Man stirred up by the Spirit of God to receive the whole Word of God Let me open it a little 1. Receiving is a relative word and presupposeth an Offer God offereth on his part and we receive on ours As in all Contracts and Covenants between Party and Party one Party offereth such an Advantage or Commodity upon such Conditions the other receiveth the Offer confenteth to the Conditions and expecteth that the Covenant should be made good So in the Covenant of Grace Christ offereth Remission of Sins and the whole Blessing of the Gospel under the Condition of Faith and Repentance We are said to receive this Word or this Gospel when we consent to the Conditions and wait for the accomplishment of the Blessing we are willing to come to trust him for the Grace of the Covenant and to come under the Bond of the Duty of it 2. In this Receiving the Soul must be convinced that it is the Word of God and that he will deal with Creatures upon such a Covenant For in this Covenant it is not as it is in other Contracts the Party contracting doth not appear in Person but dealeth with us by Officers and Substitutes God tendreth his Covenant by the Ministry of Man Now whosoever would receive it in God's Name must be undoubtedly perswaded that they are commissioned and authorized by God to tender such a Covenant to us Therefore the Apostle saith 1 Thess. 2.13 When ye received the Word which ye have heard of us ye received it not as the Word of Man but as it is indeed the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe A Man that would profit by the Ministry must settle himself in this Perswasion that the Doctrines delivered in Scripture have God
so in the Body each Member liveth in the Whole and the Whole in all the Members and they all exercise their several Functions for the Common Good 1 Cor. 12.25 The Members should have the same care one of another We are not Friends and Brethren but Members 2. No one thing is so much inculcated in his Sermons John 15.17 These things I command you that ye love one another Will you take a Charge from a dying Man This was the great Charge that Christ left at his Death it was a Legacy as well as a Precept Speeches of dying Men are wont to be received with much Veneration and Reverence especially the Charge of dying Friends The Brethren of Joseph fearing lest he should remember the Injuries done to him in seeking his Life selling him into Egypt they use this Plea Gen. 50.16 17. Thy Father commanded us before he died saying So shall ye say unto Joseph Forgive I pray thee now the Trespass of thy Brethren and their Sin for they did thee Evil And now we pray thee forgive the Trespass of the Servants of the God of thy Father We count it a piece of Natural Honesty to fulfil the Will of the Dead When Christ took his leave of the Disciples this was the Charge that he left upon them Therefore when thy Heart beginneth to be exulcerated consider What Love do I bear Christ since I do not respect his last Commandment Again as it was Christ's last Commandment so it was his new Commandment John 13.34 A new Commandment I give unto you That you love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another It was his solemn Charge A New Commandment How New since it was as old as the Moral Law or Law of Nature New because Excellent as a New Song or new because solemnly and expresly renewed by him and commended to their Care as new Things and new Laws are much esteemed and prized Christ would have this Commandment always new and fresh or new because enforced by a New Argument As I have loved you so should ye love one another When we see how much Christ hath loved us even to the Death of the Cross we may learn to love with a new kind of Love Experti amorem meum tam novum inauditum This was a new kind of Love indeed to enkindle Love in our Souls Christ gave us such a new kind of Love as was never seen nor heard of Christ came from Heaven to propound us a Patern of Charity as to repair and preserve the Notions of the Godhead by the greatness of his Sufferings so to shew us a Patern of Charity and to elevate Duty between Man and Man 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 of a sweet smelling savour In Christ's Example we see the highest Patern of Love John 15.9 As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you His Father loved him with an Infinite Love yet parted with him for the Salvation of Men and Christ parted with himself and all to raise our Love to God and Men the higher But I digress 3. In his Prayers that which he reinforced again and again is Unity and Love When he was about to die he foresaw the Divisions of the Church and that Satan would by all means endeavour to sow Strife corrupt Nature putteth us on Discords He left some Apostles others Believers but all Men wherefore he prays for the Apostles Let them be One for Believers Let them be One. Christ that left Unity as a Charge in his last Sermons he would leave it as a Legacy in his last Prayers But why was Christ so earnest in his Prayers 1. Because it is such an Excellent Blessing Christ would not have been so earnest for it if it had not been so excellent I would not digress into a commendation of Concord and Love Pax ab omnibus landatur à paucis servatur all commend it tho few observe it yet a little will not be unnecessary This is the Strength and Safety of the Church Col. 3.14 And above all things put on Charity which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bond of Perfectness or a perfect Bond the Cement of the Church The Church is but one Temple where Stones squared by Grace are cemented with Love and inhabited by the same Spirit this keepeth them fast in the Building This is the Beauty and Safety of the Church the joining that runneth through all the squared Stones As the Health of the outward Body dependeth on the Symetry and Proportion of the Members and the Harmony and Disposition of all the Parts so doth the Welfare of the Church upon the Bond of Love Next to Truth there is not a greater Blessing and Christ prayeth for the Apostles that they might be kept in the Truth for this End that they might be one in Love And as nothing is more profitable to the Church so nothing is more acceptable to God it pleaseth God exceedingly to see all that call him Father to love as Brethren Certainly there is not a greater Grief to his Spirit than to see us divided in Opinion and Affection in our Prayers and Supplications Certainly there is much in Concord in praying when all God's Children do besiege Heaven with uniform and joint Supplications Things stick in the Birth because we are not agreed what to ask As Reformation sticketh towards Men because we are not agreed what to hold forth to the World so it sticketh as to God because we are not agreed what to ask When the Israelites would have God's Help it is said They came all as one Man to ask his Counsel Judges 20.1 Then all the Children of Israel went out and the Congregation was gathered together as one Man from Dan even to Beersheba with the Land of Gilead unto the Lord in Mizpeh Oh when shall it be so amongst us there is not only Altar set up against Altar but Prayer against Prayer We are first divided in Practices and Opinions and then in Prayers God's dear Children and Servants are divided in Language we cannot in charity but judg them to be acted with the same Spirit inspired with the same Breath yet they yield a different sound It is said of the Primitive Believers that they continued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord in Prayer and Supplication Acts 1.14 And they were with one accord in one place when the holy-Holy-Spirit descended on them Acts 2.1 And yet how seldom doth any publick Congegration meet with one mind in the same place As in an Organ when some Pipes do make a sound others keep silence Mat. 18.19 If two of you shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven God looks for an Agreement and Harmony in our Requests if we would speed with him 2. Because Christ foresaw
have done how to preserve Peace as well as Truth Certainly we that have one Father are born of one Mother acknowledg one Elder Brother even Christ by whom we are adopted hope for one Patrimony we should be more careful to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace We have a great many Contentions now for one holy Contention Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke to Love and to good Works What Arguments shall I use The danger of the Papists on one hand of Sects on the other Of Papists If ever the Beast were likely to recover of his Wounds now it is Our Divisions make us first a Laughing-Stock to the Enemy and then a Prey first we are had in contempt then they use violence And it may be just with God to suffer it when Piety decreaseth Charity is exiled and Bitterness Partialities Strife Suspicions are only left to reign and flourish Certainly if once a Peace were setled in the Reformed Churches the Prophecies concerning Antichrist would soon be accomplished those Relicts of God's Election which do as yet remain in Spiritual Babylon would soon come out from amongst them who are now scandalized at our Divisions As when a Boat is to take in Passengers when all the Passengers are in the Boat they lanch out and hoist up Sail. They are weary of the Idolatry and Superstitions of the Romish Church and would soon break the Cords wherewith they are now held Truth would have a greater Power Acts 4.32 33. And the multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and of one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common And with great Power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus and Grace was upon them all As to Sects on the other side Libertines daily increase by means of the Divisions amongst them that fear God and grow formidable in the variety of their Combinations and Endeavours Jude 11. Wo unto them for they 〈◊〉 gone in the way of Cain and run greedily after the Error of Baalam for Reward and perished in the gain-saying of Core There would be an end of this Itch if all that fear God would join together as one Man in the defence of the Gospel Alas we have striven long enough hindred the common Salvation long enough Scandals enough have been given it is high time to renounce all Fruits of Revenge and Ambition and think of Peace and Unity But you will say What would you have us to do I Answer Something with God something as to Men. Something with God Pray and Mourn lay to Heart the Divisions that are among God's People I speak for Sion's sake we should be very earnest with God for Sion Isa. 62.1 For Sion 's sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem 's sake I will not rest until the Righteousness thereof go forth as Brightness and the Salvation thereof as a Lamp that burneth A great House is smitten with Breaches and a little House with Clefts not only Kingdoms but particular Families are destroyed when the Members of them are divided in Opinions and Affections Psal. 122.6 Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Let this be your constant Request to God be not acted with a private factious Spirit Something is to be done with Men. I do not speak now how to keep Peace it is past that but how to restore it now it is lost What shall we do The Apostle telleth you Phil. 3.15 16. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto ye have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same Thing There is no Remedy now left but brotherly-forbearance towards those that hold the Foundation It were to be wished that we could agree not only in Fundamentals but in all other the Accessaries of Christian Doctrine But this cannot be hoped for What then shall the Rent go further and further without any Remedy No let therefore all Parties that in the judgment of a regular Charity may be presumed to have owned Christ walk together as far as they have attained And how is that I can only propound my Wishes and Desires let them reserving their private Differences to themselves come under some common Rule or solemn Acknowledgment of the Foundations of Religion What if there were a Form drawn up to that purpose to which both should stand I think to state Fundamentals is a Matter of great difficulty God would make us cautious of every Truth therefore the Canon of the Scripture is very large But there are some things propounded in the Scriptures as absolutely necessary without which Salvation cannot be had If we were mutually engaged to the Profession of these patiently bearing with one another in other things undecided mutually abstaining from Magisterial Decisions and Enforcements and obtruding Opinions upon one another by Violence and all rash Condemnations castings out of Christ limiting Religion to our own Party saying Here is Christ and there is Christ as if Christ were divided commending one another's Prosperity to God by mutual Prayers this were a healing Course Let us perform all mutual Offices of Love and Spiritual Counsel to one another strengthning one another in solid Piety holding forth light in the lesser Differences with all modesty and candor and in Civil Matters standing as one Man against the common Enemy and using Endeavours to promote the Kingdom of Christ without any Reflections on our private Honour Profit and Interests If this were once done I doubt not but the Fog would vanish and we should find our selves nearer to one another than we do imagine I am not altogether out of hope that this will be done because of the Promises It is done already in the Kingdom of Poland between the Lutherans and the Calvinists Vse 3. To perswade the Ministers of the Gospel to a greater Concord and Amity in the joint discharge of their Work Christ prayeth here for the Apostles that they may be One How should we agree together in pressing Duty reprehending Sin This would be an effectual and potent Means not only to the Peace of the Church but Success of the Gospel Schism in the Church of Corinth arose from the Emulation of Ministers among themselves one striving to excel the other in Eloquence and Favour among the People and contemning Paul and others that followed the simplicity of the Gospel So the Apostle noteth it elsewhere Phil. 1.15 Some preach Christ out of Envy and Strife and some also of Good-will It is usual that one carpeth at another's Gifts one standing in the way of another's Honour and Profit like Men in a Boat justling at one another till the Boat it self be sunk One faileth and yieldeth to the Promises and Threatnings
moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his Family whereby be condemned the World Your Life is a Reproof that maketh them ashamed John 7.7 The World hateth me because I testify of it that the Works thereof are evil Every wicked Man loveth another velut fautorem adjutatorem excusatorem sui criminis One wicked Man doth not put another to the Blush It is no shame to be black in a Country of Negroes where all are black Their Conversation is a living Reproof Thy Guilt is upbraided by their righteous Works their Conversation upbraideth thy Conscience the sense of thy Guilt and Negligence is revived by their righteous Works and serious Diligence in Heaven's Way We are impatient of a verbal Reproof much more of a real Their holy Lives beget a Fear and Awe Mark 6.20 Herod feared John knowing that he was a just Man and holy and observed him Christ saith here not only I have given them thy Word but They are not of the World They do not only teach things contrary to the World but live contrary to the World Many a strict Preacher may be a carnal Man and the World and he may agree well enough They look upon Sermons as Words spoken of course it is the holy Conversation that enrageth most as Elephants are enraged with gorgeous Apparel They have no Vail and Cloak for their Sins Thieves rob in the Night they would fain extinguish the Light The World cannot endure to be condemned from that Light that shineth from the Godly as the Sun is burdensom to the Owl and other Night-Birds John 3.19 20. This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men loved Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds were Evil. For every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh he to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved 2. Envy at God's Favours bestowed on them John 15.19 If ye were of the World the World would love its own but because ye are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you Cain was not only upbraided by Abel's better Sacrifice but envied God's acceptance of him Gen. 4.4 5. Joseph's party-coloured Coat and his Father's Favour stirred up envy in his Brethren This is the difference between Envy and Emulation Envy is accompanied with Laziness as Emulation with Industry There is between the Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a good contention Heb. 10.24 who shall be most forward Emulation is good if separated from Carnal Aims but Envy which is accompanied with Sloth maketh a Man malign that Good which is in others Envy hath an evil Eye it cannot look upon Goodness without grief When others are at the top of the Hill and they lie lazily at the bottom they fret at those which are at the top they will not put in for the Privileges of Christianity and therefore are troubled with those that do so Divine Grace hath made a distinction and those whom God blesseth to be Objects of his Love the World chuseth to be Objects of Hatred Vse 1. If the Children of God have the World's respect at any time they have need to look to their Consciences Do not you symbolize with them in Carnal Practices Luke 6.26 Cursed are you when all Men speak well of you for so they did to the false Prophets Phocion upon a general applause went home and said Quid mali feci Do not you at least let fall the Majesty of your Conversation A Child of God may find external Favour as the three Children did in Babylon by God's over-ruling Power on Men's Spirits Prov. 16.7 When a Man's ways please the Lord he maketh his Enemies to be at peace with him The World may do it in design as Hannibal abstained from Fabius his Fields to render him suspected or else to oblige by Courtesies and gain them to their Faction and Party However you have cause to look to your selves it is ill to be sollicited as a chast Matron is troubled to be sollicited to Lust. Have not you given them some advantage Do not you share with them in their Wickedness When the World's Respects run out so fairly and smoothly towards you you have cause to suspect your selves At least take the more heed that you do not seek to make your Conversation more pleasing by suiting your self to the Customs and sinful Courses of Carnal Men. Vse 2. To press all to avoid this Sin and Snare of Death especially in these Times of Dissention Oh take heed whatever you do whatever Differences you cherish or whatever Party you stick to that you be not guilty of Hatred against the Power of Godliness Let not the Saints act the Wickeds part The spirit of Enmity seeketh other Pretences Hold not Communion with the wicked World in their malignity and spight against God's Children 1. It is a mark of a Child of the Devil the express Image of Satan Thereby our Saviour convinced the Jews to be of their Father the Devil because they hated him that came from God John 8.40 41. But now ye seek to kill me a Man that have told you the truth which I have heard of God this did not Abraham Ye do the Deeds of your Father And Vers. 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do he was a Murderer from the beginning and abode not in the Truth because there is no Truth in him And St. John 1 Epist. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother This manifests Men to be the Children of Satan because they love not their Brethren as Cain loved not Abel You express the Image of Satan to the Life when this is the ground of your hatred 2. It is very provoking Sin and it is the more provoking because we enjoy so many Benefits by them It is sad to hate Men for their Godliness for Christ's Names sake Look as it is a commendation of Kindness on the one side so it is an aggravation of Injury on the other Mat. 10.42 Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little Ones a Cup of cold Water only in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his Reward The height of this Sin is the Sin against the Holy Ghost the wilful persecuting of the known Truth therefore take heed that you be not guilty of any spice and degree of it 3. It is possible for them that profess Religion to hate one another for their strictness in that Religion Pseudo-Christians may be hot and violent the Beast pusheth with the Lamb's Horns Rev. 13. Isa. 66.5 Your Brethren that hated you that cast you out for my Names sake said Let the Lord be glorified Men that are Brethren that had great pretences of Zeal hate you for my Name 's sake
must we needs go out of the World As the Soul is in the Body but not of the Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just. Mart. So a Christian is in the World but not of the World Use the World we may without offence when a Christian is sanctified he is not glorified and doth not diveâ—â— himself of the innocent Interests and Concernments of Flesh and Blood they have Bodies as others have and must eat drink sleep and put on Apparel as others do 1 Cor. 7.31 And those that use the World as not abusing it The Use is allowed the Abuse only is forbidden We may use the World as a means to sweeten our Pilgrimage but not to weaken our Hopes A Man may use the Comforts of this Life to draw good out of them to imploy them for God as Incouragements to Piety and Instruments of Mercy and Bounty But how then positively are they not to be of this World Not of the World's Gang and Faction nor acted by the same Principles to the same Ends. 1. There is a difference in the inward Principles the Spirit of the World and the Spirit of God Christians are acted by the Spirit of God not by the Spirit of the World 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God There is a particular Genius that suiteth with Worldly Affairs and fits Men to turn and wind in outward Employments as the Ostriches Wings serve her only to run not to fly their Hearts and Affections wholly run out this way It is the Character of some John 3.31 He that is of the Earth is Earthly and speaketh of the Earth They mind nothing affect nothing speak of nothing but the Earth 2. They are under different Rulers Christ is Head of the Church and he professeth that his Kingdom is not of this World John 18.36 But now the Devil is called the God of this World 2 Cor. 4.4 the Head of the Worldly State 3. There is a difference in their Course and Conversation The Children of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 6.16 Walk according to the Rule of the Word The Men of the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 2.2 According to the course of the World as Fishes swim with the Stream A Christian is the World's Nonconformist Rom. 12.2 Be ye not conformed to the World he is estranged from the Pursuits and aspiring Projects of worldly Men and can deny the Interests and Concernments of the Flesh for God's sake 4. There is a difference in their Aims A Christian liveth to glorify God 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatever you do do all to Glory of God And a Child of the World is all for aspiring Projects how to compass the Conveniences of the present Life and advance his secular Interests Phil. 2.19 They mind earthly Things 5. Their Ends are different A Christian is hastning to his Country his way is upward first he gets his Heart in Heaven and then his Soul and then his Body But a Carnal Man is groveling and tending downward first to the Earth and then to Hell So that you see there is a perfect difference and counter-motion they are not of the World nor of that Faction Communion or Fellowship But if you ask me Why 1. Because of Christ's Example We do not worship the God of this World nor Mammon but Christ. Worldly Men had need seek another God Jesus Christ is not for their turn I am not of this World he is not a worldly Christ. We are to imitate our great Master to be unlike the World and like Christ to be led not by the course of the World but by Christ's Example Christ by his own Example hath put a disgrace upon worldly Greatness he chose a mean Estate to teach us to be contented with a little and his Eye was to the Glory set before him Heb. 12.2 Christ's Poverty was not out of necessity but choice his were the Cattel upon a thousand Hills At his Birth he was born in an Inn to shew that he came into the World as a Stranger and Passenger In the course of his Life we find that he had a Bag that was filled with Alms but no annual Rent or constant Possessions Mat. 8.20 Foxes have Holes and the Birds of the Air have Nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his Head Christ was no landed Man he had no Tenement of his own Christ speaketh it when a young Man came to him and professed to follow him he had no certain place of Residence neither House nor Furniture nor Houshold-stuff certainly he was little beholden to the World it would hardly afford him House-room and Lodging The Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness thereof yet Christ his own Son had but little of it He begged a draught of Water of a Stranger when he was weary John 4. and every was lived as a poor Man not out of necessity but choice He refused a Crown when proffered him John 6.15 When Jesus perceived that they would come and take him by force and make him a King he departed again into a Mountain himself alone He had no Heart to these Things no relish in Crowns and worldly Glory When he died he was not Master of a Cup of cold Water to quench his thirst his Coat was all his Legacy and he lodged in a borrowed Grave This was the Captain of our Salvation whose Steps we are to follow You see what a disgrace he put upon Crowns and Honours and Pleasures and the Glory which we doat upon Christ came from Heaven on purpose to cast contempt upon the World by his own choice and course of Life 2. Because of their new Birth Man's Heart naturally is addicted to the World and runneth thither whither the World carrieth it even to forsaking God but by Grace it is turned the quite contrary way We have forsaken all and followed thee Mat. 19.27 And Psal. 45.10 Forget also thine own People and thy Father's House It is the proper Work of Grace to alter the course of Nature to take us off from the World and bring us to God by degrees first in Heart and then in Soul and then in Body It is every where made in Effect of the New Birth 1 John 5.4 He that is born of God overcometh the World The Children of God have somewhat of the Father in them Grace of all things cometh nearest the Nature of God Now God is our Heavenly Father therefore the Children that are born of him cannot be worldly See another place 2 Pet. 1.4 That by these ye might be made partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through Lust. There is something Divine in a Christian therefore he cannot live as other Men. When we press Men to strictness they will say We are Saints and not Angels yea but Saints have a new Nature over and above that Nature which
meet Satisfaction But now God himself is pleased to find out the Remedy Christ saith to the Father Thou hast sent me his Act is Authoritative and above Contradiction If God had not given us a Mediator out of his own Bosom there could have been no Satisfaction and we had for ever lain under the Guilt and Burden of our Sins Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a Woman c. he consecrated him for this great Purpose Therefore he is said to seal him John 6.37 Him hath God the Father sealed a Metaphor taken from them that give Commissions under Hand and Seal Christ is a Mediator confirmed and allowed under the Broad-Seal of Heaven by God the Father as the Supream Judg. God hath awarded Satisfaction to himself and sent his own Son to make it II. What is this Sending It implies three things 1. The Designation of the Person 2. His Qualification for the Work 3. His Authority and Commision 1. The Designation of the Person This was an Act of Divine and Voluntary Dispensation according to which the Second Person in the Trinity the Son of God not the Father nor the Holy Ghost was sent to take our Nature and the Office of a Redeemer upon himself In this chusing of Christ was the Original and first Rise of Elective Love Augustine hath observed in chusing Christ what was the Reason Christ was the Person designed Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him should all Fulness dwell What is the Reason we are Elected and Chosen above others that God reveals himself to Babes and the Things of his Grace are hidden from the Wise and Prudent Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Mat. 11.29 The same Reason is given for the Election and Choice of Jesus Christ to be the Redeemer that is given for our Election It pleased the Father that is all That Christ might be the first Patern of Free-Grace the Father chose the Son that he might be the Redeemer It was congruous and very fit that the Son and Heir of all Things should give us the adoption of Sons Gal. 4.4 5. 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 He sent his Son that we might have the same Relation to God by Grace which Christ had by Nature By Nature he is the only begotten Son of the Father and this is that which is purchased for us that we should become the Sons of God and the middle Person of the Trinity is the fittest to be the Mediator between Us and God 2. This Sending implies his Fitness and Qualification to do the Work for which he was sent 1. He had fit Natures 2. He had fit Endowments 1. Fit Natures He was God-Man God else how could he send Man else how could he be sent into the World This Sending implies he was a Person truly existing before he came into the World as a Man must be before he is sent and therefore he is said to be sent forth from God Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a Woman Sent forth that shews his Being before he took Flesh Christ was somewhere from whence he was sent forth And then made of a Woman that implies his Incarnation This Sending doth suppose his Divine Nature and imply his Incarnation or God's bestowing upon him a Humane Nature God he was in the Bosom of the Father from whence he was sent forth into the World Such an Errand as Christ came about required a God no inferior Mediator would serve the turn Nothing but an Infinite Good can remedy an Infinite Evil Sin had bound us over to an Eternal Judgment and nothing can counterpoise Eternity but the Infiniteness and the Excellency of Christ's Person His Divine Nature was requisite in many Regards Partly to give Efficacy and Virtue and Value to his Sufferings and therefore it is said that we are purchased by the Blood of God Acts 20.28 the meaning is the Blood of that Person to whom the Divine Properties belonged God is a Spirit and hath not Flesh Blood and Bones as we have How then are we said to be redeemed with the Blood of God that is the Blood of him who was God which makes it to be of infinite Value and enough to counterpoise that Eternity of Torment which we should have endured Again the Dignity of his Person conduced to the acceptance of One for All. 2 Cor. 5.15 And that he died for all c. in the room and stead of all the Elect and therefore that there might be such a value in his Sufferings his Person must be thus worthy As they said to David Thou art worth ten thousand of us 2 Sam. 18.3 A General or Commander given in Ransom will redeem thousands of private Souldiers So the worth of Christ's Person made him equivalent in dignity to the Persons of all those whom he sustained yea much more God was more satisfied from Christ than if all the World had suffered and all Angels and Men had been made a Sacrifice Again God he must be because of the exuberancy of his Merit Christ's Suffering was not only a Ransom from Death but the Merit of Eternal Life By his Death he satisfied the Old Covenant and ratified the New The Scriptures do not only set forth the Death of Christ as a Ransom for Souls but as a Price given to purchase Everlasting Glory A Surety to an ordinary Creditor if he pay the Debt he only frees the Creditor from Bonds but doth not bring him into Grace and Favour But now Christ hath merited Happiness for us and not only freed us from Wrath to come and delivered us from Bondage there was a price paid to Divine Justice Again the Dignity of his Person was necessary by way of Compensation for those Circumstances of Punishment which did not beseem Christ. The Civility of Nations remits to Princes and Nobles some disgraceful Circumstances tho the Punishment is inflicted yet the kind of Death is changed because of the Dignity of their Birth and place in the Common-Wealth So here the Sentence which passed upon Men was Eternal Death the Sentence it self is not reversed that would lessen the Authority of the Law and the Glory of God's Justice The truth is there are some Circumstances abated which stood not with the worthiness of Christ's Person as for Instance The Eternity of the Punishment is abated Christ suffered but a few Hours because of the greatness of his Sufferings and the Dignity of his Person A paiment in Gold is as full and valid as a paiment in Silver tho it may take up less room because of the excellency of the Metal So here the Suffering and Death of Christ was of full value tho it was dispatched in a lesser Time the Eternity that is abated because of the Dignity and Worth of his Person Once more the Godhead of Christ was
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
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
the chief Object and Center of our Rest Otherwise we are troubled with divers Cares Fears and Desires Thus Grace worketh upon us But the distance lieth not only on our part but God's Before God and the Creature can be brought together Justice must be satisfied Christ came to restore us to our Primitive Condition 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself The Merit of Christ bringeth God to us and the Spirit of Christ bringeth us to God It is as necessary Christ should be united to us as we to God 5. Our Happiness in God is compleated by degrees In this Life the Foundation is laid we are reconciled to him upon Earth But the compleat fruition we have in Heaven there we are fully made perfect in one Here there is weakness in our Reconciliation we do not cleave to him without distraction there are many goings a whoring and wandring from God after our return to him And here on God's part our Punishment is continued in part God helpeth us by Means at second and third Hand We need many Creatures and cannot be happy without them we need Light Meat Cloaths House Our Life is patched up by Supplies from the Creature But there God is all and in all 1 Cor. 15.28 We find in God whatever is necessary for us without Means and outward Helps There God is all and in all he is our House Cloaths Meat Ordinances We have all immediately from God and in all all are made perfect in one We cannot possess any Thing in the World except we encroach upon one anothers Happiness Worldly Things cannot be divided without lessening and we take that from others which we possess our selves Envy sheweth the narrowness of our Comforts But there the Happiness of one is no hindrance to another all are gratified and none miserable As the Sun is a common Privilege none have less because others have more All possess God as their Happiness without Want and Jealousy Vse If to be drawn into Unity and Oneness with God be our Happiness and Perfection then take heed of two Things 1. Of Sin which divides God from you 2. Of doting upon the Creatures which withdraweth you from God 1. Of Sin which maketh God stand at a distance from you Isa. 59.2 Your Iniquities have separated between you and your God and your Sins have hid his Face from you As long as Sin remaineth in full Power there cannot be any Union at all What Communion hath Light with Darkness And the more it is allowed the more it hindreth the Perfection of the Union What is the Reason we do not fully grow up to be one with God in this Life that our Communion with him is so small Sin is in the way the less Holy you are the less you have of this Happiness such unspeakable Joys lively Influences of Grace and immediate Supplies from Heaven In bitter Afflictions we have most Communion with God many times that is nothing so evil as Sin as Afflictions abound so do our Comforts 2. Of doting upon the Creatures which withdraweth your Heart from God The more the Heart is withdrawn from God the more miserable Let the Object be never so pleasing it is an Act of Spiritual Whoredom Sin is Poyson Creatures are not Bread Isa. 55.2 Why do you spend your Mony upon that which is not Bread and your Labour for that which satisfieth not It cannot yield any solid Contentment to the Soul These things are short uncertain things beneath the Dignity of the Soul there is a Restlesness within our selves and Envy towards others they are not enough for us and them too Not for us if enough for the Heart not for the Conscience If God do but arm our own Thoughts against us as usually he doth when the Affections are satisfied with the World he will shew you that the whole Soul is not satisfied therefore he awakeneth Conscience As Children catch at Butterflies the gawdy Wings melt away in their Fingers and there remaineth nothing but an ugly Worm Desertion is occasioned by nothing so much as Carnal Complacency Many times the Object of our Desires is blasted but if not God awakeneth Conscience and all the World will not allay one Pang You may understand this Oneness with respect to our Fellow-Members and so you may understand it jointly of the compleatness of the whole Mystical Body or singly of the strength of that brotherly Affection each Member hath to another There is a double Imperfection for the present in the Church every Member is not gathered and those that are gathered are not come to their perfect growth So that let them be perfect in one is that the whole Body may attain to the integrity of Parts and Degrees First Let us take it Collectively that they may all be gathered together into a perfect Body and no Joints lacking Observe That all the Saints of all Places and all Ages make but one perfect Body In this sense the glorified Saints are not perfect without us Heb. 11.40 God having promised some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect It is no derogation for Christ is not perfect without us The Church is called the Fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephes. 1.23 They are as to their Persons perfect free from Sin and Misery made perfect in Holiness and Glory but not as to their Church-Relation So Ephes. 4.13 Till we all come to the Vnity of the Faith and of the Knowledg of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ. All the Body must be made up that Christ Mystical may be compleat Now there are some Joints lacking all the Elect are not gathered Vse 1. See the Honour that is put upon the Saints The Saints on Earth and the Saints in Heaven make but one Family Ephes. 3.15 Of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named In a great House there are many Rooms and Lodgings some Above some Below but they make but one House So of Saints some are Militant some Triumphant and yet all make but one Assembly and Congregation Heb. 12.23 We are come to the General Assembly and Church of the First-Born which are written in Heaven we upon Earth are come to them Our Christ is the same we are acted by the same Spirit governed by the same Head and shall be conducted to the same Glory As in the State of Grace some are before us in Christ so some are in Heaven before us their Faces once as black as yours We have the same Ground to expect Heaven only they are already entred Vse 2. It is a ground of Hope we shall all meet together in one Assembly Psal. 1. 5. The Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous Now the Saints are scattered up and down where they may be most useful then all shall be gathered together
mightily and effectually for it cometh not to us in word only but in power 1 Thess. 2.13 Ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe And more particulary in Mortification for it is Faith that purifieth the heart Acts 15.9 Where the Christian Doctrine is really entertained and received by Faith it taketh men off from their old sins 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit The obedience of the Truth is nothing else but Faith wrought in us by the Spirit upon the hearing of the Gospel this produceth in us that purity of heart and life which becometh Christians II. I will give you the reasons The Death of Christ may be considered as it worketh morally or as it worketh meritoriously As it worketh morally it hath a full and a sufficient force to draw us off from sin as it worketh meritoriously it purchaseth the Spirit for us As it worketh morally it layeth a strong ingagement upon us as it worketh meritoriously it giveth great incouragement to oppose and resist sin and set about the mortification of it So that the true way of subduing sin is by serious reflexion on the Death of Christ which we shall consider 1. As it is a strong ingagement 2. As it is a great incouragement 1. As it is a strong ingagement and there 1. It is a pattern to teach us how to deny the pleasures of the senses Pleasure is the great Sorceress that hath bewitched all the World and that which giveth strength to all temptations Jam. 1.14 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed There is some sensitive carnal bait which first inviteth and then draweth us from our duty and all the Charms sin hath upon us are by the treacherous sensual appetite which is impatient to be crossed So when another Apostle speaketh of a revolt to the carnal life after some partial Reformation he giveth this account of it 2 Pet. 2.20 After they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled and overcome Before men be overcome by Temptation they are first inticed by the apprehension of some pleasure or profit which is to be had by their sins by which apprehension the danger of committing the sin is covered and hid as the Fishers hook is by the bait that is the Metaphor there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lapse again into the slavery of the former sins which they seemed to have escaped Therefore till we are dead to the sensitive lure and can be content to suffer in the flesh and to deny the satisfactions of the animal life we shall never avoid the slavery of sin nor know that our old man is crucified Now what is more powerful than the consideration of the Death and Example of Jesus Christ In his whole Life he was a Man of sorrows and so taught us to contemn the world and the pleasures of the flesh but especially at his Death when pain was poured in upon him by the Conduit of every Sense there he pleased not himself Rom. 15. 3. but conquered the love of life and all the natural contentments of life that he might please God and procure our Salvation Now we have not the Spirit of our Religion till we grow dead not only to the pleasures of sin but the natural pleasures of life yea life it self and can submit all to Gods glory 2. As it is an act of Love which should beget love in us to God again which love will make us tender of sinning There are many aggravations of sinning but the greatest of all is because we sin against so much Love as God hath shewed us in our Redemption by Christ. Sin is aggravated by the greatness of the Person against whom it is committed against the infinite Majesty of God as to strike an inferiour person is not so hainous a crime as to strike a Magistrate or Prince but this will not hold in all cases for foul indignities and grievous wrongs offered to meaner persons are a greater offence than the omission of a Ceremony to a Prince as if a man through ignorance of the customs of the Court should not be bare before his Chair of State Therefore take in the other Consideration of the infinite Goodness and Love of God towards us in Christ this doth exceedingly aggravate our sins They are acts of unkindness After such a deliverance as this is shall we again break thy commandments Ezra 9.13 14. after a deliverance out of Babylon out of Hell To sin against the infinite Goodness of a Creator by eating the forbidden Fruit we see what mischief it brought on Mankind conscious of this transgression the first Actors hid themselves from Gods presence But what is it to sin against the infinite Goodness of a Redeemer who came to recover us from this thraldom and bondage and to draw us to himself with the cord of love He chose rather to suffer the punishment due to our sins than to suffer sin still to reign in us whom he loved more dearly than his own life Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me Rev. 1.5 To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Now if after this manifestation of his Love we shall still continue in sin the hainousness of our offence is greatly increased 3. Christs Death is the best Glass wherein to view the deadly nature of sin It was so great and hainous an evil in the sight of God that nothing but the Blood of the Son of God could expiate it Rom. 8.3 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 Jesus Christ must come and suffer a shameful Death this painful shameful accursed Death of the Son of God sheweth Gods displeasure against sin and what it will cost us if we allow it and indulge it in our hearts and lives for if this be done in the green tree what shall be done in the dry 4. It sheweth us also what a great benefit Mortification is This among others was intended by him and moved him to bear our sins in his Body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness To remember a good turn done by a Friend and not to prize and value it as we ought is rather to forget than to remember his friendliness So here if we do not prize Christs benefits we undervalue his Death and a lessening of the benefits is a lessening the price Now one of the chief of them is to take away sin and to break the reign of it in the heart of his
the Light of Nature in this point we may see clearly how great a disorder it is to obey or fulfil these bodily lusts to the wrong of God and the Soul and that the true Honour and Dignity of a Man consists in the Victory which he hath over himself and that to pamper the flesh is not our honour but our disgrace and that these irregular desires should not be gratified but mortified 2. Christian Piety or the Tenor of our Religion requireth it of us The drift of this Religion is to recover men out of their Apostasie and to promote true genuine Holiness in the World to dispossess us of the Beast and that Man being restored to Man might be also brought back again to God or in short to draw us off from the animal life to life spiritual and eternal As appeareth 1. By the Precepts of it which mainly tend to inforce Self-denial Mortification Recess from the World that we may not miscarry in our Obedience to God by our bodily lusts Mat. 16.24 If any will come after me let him deny himself Col. 3.5 Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry The whole drift and business of this Religion is to drive out the Spirit of the World and to introduce a Divine and heavenly Spirit 1 Cor. 2.12 Now 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 part of the World which is mad and brutish is enslaved to lower things but the other part which hath submitted to the healing Institution of Christ should be wise and heavenly The Cure which Christ intended was of the great Disease of Mankind which was that the immortal Soul being deprest and tainted by the Objects of Sense doth wholly crook and writhe it self to carnal things and instead of Likness to God the Image of a Beast was impressed upon mans Nature and the Divine part enslaved and embondaged to the brutish 2. By its Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding 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 2 Cor. 4.18 That man may seek his happiness in some higher and more transcending good than the beasts are capable of something that suits with his immortal Spirit In short to draw us off from things we see and inordinately love to a Glory and Blessedness wholly unseen and future 3. By the Grace provided for us namely the Spirit of Christ whose great design is to free man from a state of subjection to the flesh and by overcoming the lusts thereof to make him ready for all the Graces and Duties of the spiritual Life Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit He is first renewed by this Spirit Joh. 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit and then acted and assisted by him Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gal. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit 4. By being baptized into this Religion we are bound to this strict care for in our Baptism we did solemnly renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh as the Usurpers must be thrust out before the rightful Lord can take Possession Joshua 24.23 Put away the strange Gods which are among you and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel and we are dedicated to Father Son and Holy Ghost as our Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier as before We are to count our selves to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God vers 11. Now it is the greatest Hypocrisie that can be to be under this solemn Obligation to God and let sin reign in us Baptism is a Sign and Seal of Grace on Gods part and on ours a Bond of Duty on Gods part that he will cleanse and wash away sin Acts 22.16 Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins On our part it obligeth us to do what in us lieth to destroy sin a Bond never to be forgotten by us 2 Pet. 1.9 He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Vse 1. To humble us that we have so much forgotten our solemn Covenant so much cared for the Body and so little cared for the Soul that time and heart hath been so much taken up about those things which belong to the present life The mortal Body is minded at every turn and how much may the immortal but neglected Soul complain of hard usage We profess subjection to the Gospel and therefore should seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to us Mat. 6.33 but we walk too much according to the course of the carnal careless World Eph. 2.2 3. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the Spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind 2. Strengthen the Bonds and anew devote your selves to Obedience vers 13. Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God Bind your selves for time to come to make it your work not to indulge the flesh but save your Souls Heb. 10.39 For we are not of them that draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 3. Take great heed that sin reign not by bodily lusts 1. The Necessity of this These Lusts are represented as deceitful Eph. 4.22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts And as violent and imperious Rom. 7.20 Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me both together Jam. 1.14 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed We are by subtilty blinded by the delusions of the Flesh and it is always endeavouring to get the Throne and hurry us to destruction and seeking to divert us from the Love of God the more we indulge them the more imperious they are the more caution and resolution therefore is necessary 2. The danger of not doing it 1. They do not only unfit us for God but for humane Society Jam. 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members They make you disquiet all others
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
Victory for all those who are really and earnestly striving against sin are sure to conquer these Promises may be pleaded to God as his own words by which he hath invited our hope and to our selves in case of fainting and discouragement that we may not coldly set upon the practice of Christianity Let us depend upon Gods Promise as Paul 2 Tim. 4.18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen 5. There are certain Ordinances whereby this Grace is conveyed to us The Spirit joyneth his power and efficacy with the proper instituted means for the subduing of sin The Word is a powerful instrument which the Holy Ghost useth for the cleansing of the Soul from sin Joh. 15.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you yea for the killing of sin therefore it is called The Sword of the Spirit When we come to hear some new consideration is still given out for the further sanctifying of the heart Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth In Prayer we come to act Faith and Repentance looking up to God for help and with brokenness of heart mourning over our corruptions Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplications and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one 〈◊〉 for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born By every Prayer offered in the brokenness of our hearts sin receiveth a new wound So the Sacraments as in the Old Testament Circumcision signified a sanctifying of the heart Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that that thou mayest live and the Paschal Lamb was a Type of Christ Who taketh away the sins of the world Joh. 1.29 So Baptism and the Lord Supper Baptism signifieth the washing away of sin Acts 22.16 Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins and he that liveth in sin forgetteth that is neglecteth his Baptism 2 Pet. 1.9 He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins as forgetting the Law is neglecting the Duty of it Psal. 119.153 I do not forget thy Law he carrieth himself as if he were never baptized for Baptism is a vowed death to sin So for the Lords Supper Every serious remembrance or meditation of Christs Death should quicken us anew to crucifie sin and to make it hateful to our Souls 1. As it representeth the great Act of Christs condescending Love which is a moving forcible Argument to perswade us to deny our inordinate self-love 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again 2. It is a viewing the heinousness and odiousness of sin there represented to us in the Agonies and Sufferings of Christ the more we consider of them the greater apprehensions should we have of the evil of sin the exactness of Gods Justice the terrour of his Wrath Rom. 8.3 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 Christ was made sin for us and then endured these things 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him When we look upon sin through Satans Spectacles or the cloud of our own Passions or carnal Affections we make nothing of it but it is a terrible spectacle to see the fruit of sin in the Agonies and Sufferings of Jesus Christ which are there represented to us as if he were crucified before our eyes Gal. 3.1 O never have slight thoughts of sin more 3. As it implieth a solemn mutual Surrendry between Christ and us Cant. 2.16 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Christ giveth himself and his Grace to us as our Redeemer and Saviour we accept Christ and his Benefits upon his own Terms and surrender our selves to him as his redeemed ones with thankfulness for so great a favour and benefit Rom. 12.1 I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service Now all this must needs be a great weakening of sin both the remembrance of Christs Love the representation of his great Sufferings necessary for the Expiation of it and our solemn renewed Dedication of our selves to God and his service and doing this in an holy Duty instituted by God for this end and purpose for the Spirit of God works by the appointed means and the use of instituted Duties is no fruitless labour for God would not set us a work in a Duty that should yield no profit and benefit to us 6. Providences are sanctified to this use as helps and occasions of subduing sin as Afflictions which do remove the occasions and substract the fuel of sin and awaken seriousness for the future Isa. 27.9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin 2 Cor. 12.7 Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me left I should be exalted above measure The thorn in the flesh was given to mortifie his pride By these kind of Dispensations the Spirit worketh serious Humiliation and brokenness of hear◠maketh sin odious to us These are ordered with exact wisdom and faithfulness Psal. 119.75 O Lord I know that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me and they are accompanied by the Spirit therefore God is said to teach us out of his Law when he chastiseth us Psal. 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law Job 36.10 He openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity the Rod is made effectual by the Spirits motion Object Some have frequently resolved to forsake their sins but their resolutions have come to nothing they have striven against it but as a great stone that is rolled up hill it hath returned upon them with the more violence or as a man rowing against the stream the Tide hath been strong against them and they have been forced the more back yea they have prayed against sin yet found no success and therefore think it is in vain to try any
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
his Offices John 15.26 But when the comforter is come whom I will send to you from the father even the spirit of truth that proceedeth from the father he shall testifie of me And John 16.14 He shall take of mine and glorify me He revealeth the tenor of Christs Doctrine and attests the truth of it by his gifts and graces bestowed upon the Church and to every one of us in particular by his powerful effects in our hearts Therefore 't is said We are witnesses of these things and so is the holy ghost which he hath given to them that obey Acts 5.32 Christ that taught us the Christian Religion doth work it in us by his Spirit and so doth confirm it to us and partly Because by this means all the Divine persons have their distinct work and share in our recovery to God 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledg of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. The Father concurs by Electing the Son as Purchasing the Spirit as Sanctifying and inclining us to God As the Father must not be without the Glory of his free grace nor the Son of his infinite merit so neither the Holy Ghost of his powerful and effectual application and partly also because this is agreeable to the Oeconomy or Dispensation that is observed among the Divine persons The Spirit is the effective power of God therefore he it is that causeth our life or by regeneration infuseth a new Life into us Ezek. 36.27 I will put my spirit into you and cause you to walk in my ways I prove it by three Arguments The first is taken from the nature of the thing it self certainly we cannot live independently without the influence of God for all Life is originally in him and from him conveyed to us and that by his Spirit In life natural 't is clear all that God did in Creation was done by his Spirit Job 26.13 By his spirit he hath garnished the Heavens his hands hath formed the crooked serpent The Spirit is the immediate worker in the Creation of the World by his concurrent operation with the Father and the Son all things were produced he speaketh there of the Heavenly Bodies and Constellations And again in Psal. 114.30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit and they were created And when the Creation of man is spoken of Mal. 2.15 Did he not make one yet had he the residue of the Spirit 'T is true also of Spiritual life which is called a new Birth and no man can enter into the kingdom of God but he that is born of water and the spirit John 3.5 and 't is called a new Creature All Creation is of God 2 Cor. 5.17 18. A resurrection to life or a quickning dead Souls Eph. 2.1 5. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Even when we were dead in sins hath he quickened uâ— together with Christ. And therefore the Spirit of Life is from God Now if God effecteth all these things by his Spirit to whom but him alone is our Salvation to be ascribed as the Scripture doth frequently mention My second Argument is taken from our incapacity to help our selves and recover our selves from the Devil the World and the Flesh to God so blind are our minds so depraved are our hearts so strong are our Lusts and so many are our Temptations and so inveterate are our evil Customs that nothing will serve the turn but the Spirit of God who doth open the eyes of our mind Eph. 1.18 Change our hearts Titus 3.5 reconcile our alienated and estranged affections to God that we may return to his Love and live in Obedience to him and finally be presented before him as fit to live for ever in his Presence 1 Cor. 21.22 And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight All this doth the powerful and All conquering Spirit of God by vertue of the meritorious purchase of Christ. In short he findeth in us such addictedness to Sin such a love to the present World such indulgence to the Flesh as beareth down both reason and the authority of God that no less Agent can do the work My third reason is taken from the subsequent effects If this life be strengthned by the spirit 't is much more wrought and infused by the spirit at first when all is against it Now the Scripture is copious in asserting the supply of the Spirit of Christ as necessary to do and suffer the Will of God Eph. 3.16 Strengthned with all might in the inner man from the spirit 1 Pet. 4.14 The spirit of God and of glory resteth upon you Surely he that must help us when we are living musâ— quicken us when we are dead and he that is necessary to break the force of our carnal affections still after they have received their Deaths Wound was absolutely necessary to overcome them at first when in full strength the necessity of strengthning grace doth much more shew the necessity of renewing grace for there needs much more power to overcome the corruptions of nature than to heal or prevent the infirmities of the Saints 2. The new nature is the product of the Holy Ghost John 3.6 That which is born of the spirit is spirit Men become spiritual in their dispositions inclinations actions and aims from the effects of the spirit of Regeneration which may be considered with respect to God or to man First How the converted Person or new Creature standeth affected to God seemeth to be set forth by the Apostle in that place 2 Tim. 1.7 For we have not received the spirit of fear but of love and power and a sound mind I shall explain it Observe in the negative description but one part only of Mortification is mentioned deadness to the fears of the World but that defect may be supplied from another Scripture The spirit lusteth against the flesh Gal. 5.17 he deadneth us to the delights and hopes of the world as well as the fears and sorrows but the one is understood in the other for this spirit causeth us to prepare for sufferings in the world and to look for no great matters here but to expect crosses losses wants persecutions injuries painful sicknesses and death and doth fortifie us against all bodily distresses that we are not greatly moved by them considering our relation to God and Interest in blessedness to come which doth weigh down all so 't is not a spirit of fear But then you must enlarge it by considering the main work of the spirit which is to subdue the lusts of the flesh that the government of God may be set up in our Hearts for the flesh is the great rebel against God and sanctified reason Therefore we must obey the spirit and take
the nations of the earth be blessed That is in Christ But how blessed That is expounded Acts 3.25 26. Ye are children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers saying to Abraham And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus Christ hath sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Observe there what is the Mediator's Blessing To turn away his people from sin Man fal'n was both unholy and guilty liable to the wrath of God and dead in trespasses and sins and Christ came to free us from both We cannot be sufficiently thankful for our freedom from wrath but we must first mind our freedom from sin So when Christ is promised to the Jews Rom. 11.26 There shall come out of Sion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob There is his principal work So from the end why he actually came and was exhibited to the World Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted to give repentance and remission of sins Repentance is nothing but a serious purpose of returning to God and to that obedience we owe to God 1 John 3.5 And we know he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin To conform us to the Law of God by his own blessed pattern and example Again Titus 2.14 who hath redeemed us from all iniquity And this was the intent of his Death Eph. 5.26 It were endless to bring all that might be said upon this Argument 2. I prove it by Reasons taken from the Scripture It must needs be so 1. Because the Plaister else would not be as broad as the Sore nor our reparation by Christ be correspondent to our loss by Adam We lost not only the Favour of God but the Image of God and therefore till the Image of God be restored in us we do not return to our first estate nor are we fully recovered The evil Nature propagated from him is the cause of the misery and disorder of Mankind Guilt is but the Consequent of sin Now is he a good Physitian that only taketh away the Pain and leaveth the great Disease uncured Certainly we cannot recover God's favour till we recover his Image A sinful Creature till he be changed cannot be acceptable to God neither live in communion with him for the present nor enjoy him hereafter We cannot enjoy communion with him now 1 John 1.5 6 7. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another Will the Lord take us into his bosome while we are in our sins The New Nature giveth us some knowledg of the Nature of God Can a New Creature delight in the wicked 2 Pet. 2.8 Lot's righteous soul was vexed from day to day You cannot imagine so without a reproach to the Divine Nature nor can we be admitted into his blessed presence hereafter Heb. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The ungodly and the unsanctified are banished out of his presence Christ came not to make a change in God to make him less holy or represent him as less hating of sin Otherwise 2. Christ s undertaking would not answer the trouble of a true penitent nor remove our sorest burthen A sensible and compunctionate sinner is troubled not only with the guilt of sin but the power of sin There is the root and bottom of his trouble His language is Hosea 14.2 Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously Pharoah could say Take away this Plague but an awakened penitent broken-hearted sinner will say Take away this naughty heart Therefore the Promises are suited to this double distress 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Micah 7.18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He will return again and have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea They do not only desire pardon and release from punishment but Grace to break the power of sin as a man that hath his Leg broken desireth not only ease of the pain but to have it well set again Therefore to them that are pricked at heart there is offered the promise of the Spirit Acts 2.37 38. A Malefactor condemned to die and sick of a mortal disease needeth and desireth not only the pardon of the Judg but the cure of the Physitian 3. To make way for the work of the Spirit For the Divine Persons work into each others hands as the Election of the Father maketh way for the Redemption of Christ so the Redemption of Christ maketh way for the Sanctification of the Spirit All the Divine Persons are glorified in the reduction of a sinner and they take their turn The application of the merit of Christ and the grace of the Spirit are inseparable Titus 3.5 and 1 Cor. 6.11 These individual Companions Sanctification and Justification must not be dis-joyned under the Law the Ablutions and Oblations still went together the Leaven and the Altar the Washings and the Sacrifiâ—es 4. Christ's undertaking was not only for the benefit of man but for the glory of God to redeem us to God Rev. 5.9 and therefore in the work of Redemption our Happiness is not only to be considered but God's Honour and Interest Impunity and taking away the guilt of sin doth more directly respect our good but sanctifying and fitting us for obedience and subjection to God doth more immediately respect his glory and honour That he may be glorified again in mankind who are fall'n from him it was for that man was made at first and for that are we restored and made again I proceed to the Second Consideration propounded 2. That our Natures being renewed and healed we are to walk in newness of life according to the directions of the Law of God for Principles are given for Operation and Habits for Acts and a new heart for newness of life and therefore Regeneration first maketh us good that afterwards we may do good But that which I am to prove is That this righteousness is to be carried on according to the Law for God having made a Law is very tender of it I shall prove it by Four Reasons 1. Christ came not to dissolve our obligation to God but to promote it rather Certainly not to dissolve it to free us from obedience to the Law for that is impossible that a Creature should be sui juris or without Law for that were to make it supreme and independent and so to establish our Rebellion rather than to suppress it No he came upon no such design to leave us to our own will to live
themselvs exactly to keep it they can from experience speak much of the gracious reward of obedience Psal. 119.56 This I had because I kept thy precepts Yea in the state of Heavenly Glory the law as purely moral is still in force for we are everlastingly bound to love God and one another 3. That the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us I prove it by this Argument One of these Three Things we must say Either first that no obedience is now necessary to Salvation or that the perfect obedience is still necessary or some measure of obedience to the law by the ordinary aids of Grace vouchsafed to us in the new Covenant is possible and sufficient The first we cannot say for then there would be no necessity of new obedience or holiness But the Scripture condemneth that every where shewing us that we are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works Eph. 2.10 and purified to be a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 The second we cannot say that a whole perpetual perfect personal obedience to the law is still necessary for then there would be no hope for them that cannot perfectly fulfil the law which no man living can do Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Therefore the Third Thing we must say That there is such a Measure of obedience necessary as is sufficient to salvation and possible by grace and they that attain to it the Scripture pronounceth them blessed Luke 11.28 Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it and John 13.17 If ye know these things happy are you if you do them 4. That the righteousness of the law not only can but must be fulfilled in us or else we are yet in our sins and have no portion and interest in Christ 2 Cor. 5.17 Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature And a new creature must have a new conversation for all old things are passed away and all things are become new They are inabled in some measure to fulfil the law of God Christ being the Lawgiver of the Church or renewed state of mankind hath set down the terms of life and death to his terms we must stand or fall now he is the author of eternal salvation to them that obey him Heb. 5.9 Therefore every one that would be delivered from wrath to come must look after holiness and obey God according to his will declared in his law Certainly Christ died not to purchase an indulgence for us to live in sin the law hath not its right it looketh like a law given in vain if it be not obeyed 5. This fulfilling of the righteousness of the law is wrought in us by the spirit as the fruit of Christs purchase this real solid Righteousness is wrought in our hearts by the operation of the Spirit For those that have it are described to be Those that walk after the spirit and not after the flesh Therefore do not resist his work nor grieve the spirit of Christ nor quench his motions when he cometh to work it in you but submit to all his healing methods And this spirit we have from Christ as the fruit of his sin-offering Titus 3.5 6. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy-Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour He obtained that Grace whereby we may keep the law having satisfied for us as a Mediator he becometh an Author and Fountain of Life Upon him must you depend and to him must you look for it 2. VSE â—s Reproof to two sorts of People 1. To the carnal World who think that the Children of God are too strict and precise and make more a-do about Salvation than needs Certainly if we consider the tenor of God's Law and the exactness of Divine Justice what Rule and Law we must live by and to whom we must give an account the best of God's Children do no more than needeth as the wise Virgins could not spare one jot of their Oyl Mat. 25.9 Not so lest there be not enough for us and you David admireth the brightness of the Sun first and then the purity of the Law and how doth he close up that Meditation See Psal. 19.12 Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret sins 2. Professing Christians are also to be reproved for that lazy and cowardly spirit that is in them and because they are so impotent and feeble and backward to their duty By their backwardness they wrong the Law for they do not give it its due Christ hath indeed freed us from the curse of the Law but not from the obedience of it And by this feeble and dastardly Spirit they wrong the Grace of the Redeemer and the New Covenant Obedience to the Law is most strongly enforced out of the Grace of the Gospel for thereby we are enabled to perform it Christ did not only fulfil the Law for us but doth also fulfil it in us by his Spirit and shall we after such provision sit down lazily and be discouraged with every difficulty and have our resolutions broken with every assault of temptation Men spare their pains and do not improve the Grace offered and then cry out they are weak and unable This is like lazy Beggars that personate and act Diseases because they would not work Set your hearts thoroughly to obey God and see what he will do for you VSE 3. If this were the end of Christ's coming and dying then let us be exhorted to seek after sanctifications by the Spirit of Christ. 1. This is one part of our salvation as well as remission of sins We often consider Christ as dying for our pardon we should as much consider him as dying to renew and heal our Natures that we may be recovered to our obedience to God to crucifie the Old Man to give us the Spirit of Holiness Surely he is made sanctification to us as well as righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption If Christ should abolish wrath and let alone sin it were to take away the lesser evil that the greater may remain 2. It is not only part of our deliverance but the better part Pardon giveth us an exemption from punishment but sanctification giveth us freedom from a corrupt heart Surely sin is worse than pain a moral evil is worse than a natural evil vice than misery Once more By holiness we more resemble God for holiness and goodness is his very Nature 1 Pet. 1.4 He hath given us precious promises whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature 3. Holiness is a means to the rest Pardon and life are the great blessings of the Covenant Now there is no
obtaining pardon till regeneration and conversion for God doth not pardon while we are in our sins and Life and Heaven we cannot have till sin be quite done away for we are not introduced into the presence of God till we be compleat in holiness 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 Col. 1.22 to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight Jude 24. and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory During life obedience is but imperfectly begun but when 't is compleated and finished we do not stay out of Heaven one moment then are we fully made free from sin VSE 4. Is to put us upon tryal and self-reflection Is the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us 1. We begin to fulfil it when we set our selves to obey the will of God taking his Law for our Rule and his promises for our encouragement This resolution is the fruit of regenerating Grace if it be sincere and it argueth a renewed heart and conscience Heb. 13.18 Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience and hath in it perfection of parts tho not of degrees 2. This must be seconded with answerable endeavours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth a continued act to have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us is not the work of one day but implieth a constant walk and obedience to motions after the Spirit 3. We must endeavour to be more compleat every day Luke 1.6 They were righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless And Col. 4.12 Labouring for you that you may stand compleat in all the will of God So we read of some that were full of all goodness Rom. 15.14 and full of good works Acts 9.36 as we find in Dorcas It is the fault of most Christians that they beat down the price of Religion as low as they can and so make an hard shift to go to Heaven 4. Our begun-sanctification shall be perfected before Christ hath done with us Col. 1.28 that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus Here we are very imperfect but it shall be perfectly fulfilled SERMON VI. ROM VIII 5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit THIS Scripture containeth a notable character of those that are interested in the Priviledges of the Gospel and will help you in your assuring-work or making out your claim and title In the words you have 1. An intimation of two sorts of persons they that are after the flesh and they that are after the spirit 2. Their different Disposition and Practice is compared and set forth 1. By the Act They both mind their several Affairs 2. By the Object things of the flesh and things of the spirit Different Persons different Objects and different Affections Thus you may in one View and Prospect discern the scope and intent of the place I shall lay it before you in several Propositions and then apply all together 1. There are two sorts of men in the World some after the flesh and some after the spirit 2. That these two sorts of men have two different objects the things of the spirit and the things of the flesh 3. That men discover their temper and constitution of soul by their savour or affection to either of these objects I. Doct. There are two sorts of men in the world some after the flesh and some after the spirit So it must be There is a twofold Original which produceth a twofold Principle which is acted by a twofold assisting power and this bringeth them under a twofold covenant which maketh way for a twofold final estate into which all the World issueth it self 1. There is a twofold Original some are only born others new born the renewed and the unrenewed John 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit Some remain under the power of corrupt Nature others are regenerate and renewed by the spirit 2. This twofold Original produceth a twofold Principle that men are led by flesh and spirit which are always contrary one to another Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh and these two are contrary one to the other Men if they be merely such as Nature hath left them are governed by the flesh or their own carnal inclinations Others are led by the spirit walk after it as ver 1. They that are born again have a new Principle set up in their Natures to incline them to God 3. These Two Principles are supported and assisted with contrary powers They that are governed by the flesh are also acted by Satan he rules and works in them Eph. 2.23 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now ruleth in the children of disobedience among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind There are all the enemies of our salvation They that follow inbred corruption as their guide fall to the Devil's share who hurrieth them on in a way of sin more vehemently than otherways they would do But now those that are led by Grace or a new Principle or the new Nature as their guide they are assisted and acted by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.14 as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God The Spirit is their Guardian and Keeper he exciteth and worketh up the Habit of Grace into greater power and activity Now being under such contrary powers no wonder that they are so different in their courses and so contrary one to another It is said Prov. 29.27 The wicked is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in his way is an abomination to the wicked Their Birth is different the inward Principle by which they are guided is different Nature and Grace and they are under different assisting powers either under the power of Satan or under the power and conduct of God's holy Spirit and therefore no wonder that their course is different and that there is enmity between both the Seeds A godly man cannot delight in a wicked man and a wicked man cannot abide the godly The ground of Friendship is eadem velle nolle Similitude and likeness of mind and disposition only the enmity and contrariety is carried on with some difference The godly pity the wicked but the wicked hate the godly because they are against that course of life that they chuse They think strange they do not run with them to the same neglect of God and carelesness of heavenly things and therefore
The word is either causal or conditional and signifieth either for so much or if so be our Translation preferreth the latter rendring and the sence is if it were not so I would not judg you to belong to Christ. As to the latter observe two Things 1. To be in the spirit or to have the spirit dwelling in us is the same for the inhabitation is mutual we are in the spirit and the spirit in us 2. That the Spirit of God and of Christ are all one witness the proof here subjoined for he that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his Doct. That they in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth tho they live in the flesh they do not live after the flesh 1. The Terms must be explained 2. The Connection proved 1. The Terms must be explained two Terms there are 1. What is the indwelling of the Spirit 2. What it is to live in the flesh 1. What the spirits dwelling in us meaneth Three Things are implied Intimacy Constancy Soveraingty Intimacy with us Constancy of Operation in us and Soveraingty over us 1. Intimacy or familiar presence as the Inhabitant in his own house he is more there than elsewhere God is every where essentially his essence and being is no where included and no where excluded Psal. 139.7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence He is said more especially to be there where he most manifests his power and presence So his dwelling is known by his Operation he is in us virtute insignis alicujus effectus by some notable and eminent effect which he produceth in us as to the effects of common Providence 't is said Eph. 4.6 That God is above all and through all and in all But he dwelleth in Believers not by the effects of common providence but by the special influence of his grace as Christs Agent begetting and maintaining a new spiritual life in their souls so he is in them as he is no where else by his gracious Operations performed there Acts 26.18 Opening their hearts Acts 16.14 Comforting and guiding them upon all occasions this is his gracious and familiar presence which the world is not capable of John 14.17 I will send unto 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 with you and shall be in you The world of natural men are great strangers to the Spirit of Christ they were never acquainted with his gracious and saving Operations but he intimately discovereth his presence to those that enjoy him in the exercise of Grace they feel and discern his motions and have that comfort and peace which others are strangers to This then is the intimate and familiar presence of the spirit in the hearts of believers Some have raised Questions Whether the Person of the Holy Ghost be in believers or only his gifts and Graces The Person questionless We have not only the Fruit but the Tree the Stream but the Fountain but he doth not dwell in us personally The Spirit was in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodily or personally for his soul dwelt with God in a personal Union in all creatures he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the common effects of his power and Providence but in Believers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritually by gracious effects which is all the conception we can have of it 2. Constancy Dwelling noteth his residence or a permanent and constant abode he doth not act upon them or affect them by a transient motion only or come upon them as he came upon Sampson at times or as he came upon the Phrophets or holy men of God when in some particular services they were specially inspired and carried beyond the line of their ordinary abilities but he dwelleth in us by working such effects as carry the nature of a permanent habit on the carnal he worketh per modum actions transeuntis but on the sanctified there are effects wrought not transient but permanent per modum habitus permanentis as Faith Love and Hope There is difference between his acting upon us and dwelling in us the holy Spirit cometh to us not as a guest but as an Inhabitant not for a visit and away but to take up his abode in us Therefore when the spirit is promised Christ saith He will give us a well of water always springing unto eternal life John 4.14 Not a draught nor a plash of water nor a pond but a living spring so John 14.23 We will come to him and make our abode with him He liveth in the heart that by constant and continual influence he may maintain the life of grace in us Gal. 5.25 by degrees he deadneth and mortifieth our dearest and strongest sin Rom. 8.13 And continually stirreth us up to the love and obedience of God in Christ 1 Pet. 1.22 Exciteth us to prayer and quickneneth our spiritual desires Rom. 8.26 Giveth us consolation in crosses 1 Pet. 4.14 Counsel in all our ways Rom. 8.14 And sets us a longing for Heaven Rom. 8.23 In short the spirit is said to dwell there where his ordinary and constant work is and where he doth by his constant and continual influence form and frame mens bearts and lives to holiness 3. Soveraingty This is implied also in the notion of dwelling take the Metaphor either from a common house or from a Temple from an house where the spirit dwelleth he dwelleth there as the owner of an house not as an underling The Apostle inferreth from the spirits dwelling in us that we are not our own 1 Cor. 6.19 We were possessed by another owner before we were recovered into his hands our hearts are Satans shop aad workhouse the evil spirit saith Matth. 12.44 45. I will return to mine own house But he is disposessed by the spirit and then it becomes his house where he commandeth and doth dispose and govern our hearts after his own will but it more clearly floweth from the other notion of a sacred house or Temple 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you and 1 Cor. 6.19 What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy-Ghost which is in you A Temple is a sacred house and must be imployed for the honour of the God whose Temple it is The heart of Man naturally is a Temple full of Idols every dunghil-God is worshipped there Mammon the Belly Satan but when this Temple is cleansed and becometh a mansion for the holy Spirit he must be chief there and all things must be done to his honour that he may be obeyed reverenced and worshipped in his own Temple Thus much we get from either notion of a common house that the Spirit is Owner or Lord of that house or from a sacred house or Temple that he is the God of that Temple and so where ever he
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
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
but be raised up from the grave and their vile bodies be changed like unto the Glorious Body of their Redeemer SERMON XIV ROM VIII 11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you THE Apostle is answering a doubt How there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ since death which is the fruit of sin yet remaineth on the Godly Answer 1. By concession that sin is indeed the seed and original of mortality the body is dead because of sin Not only the carnal undergo it but the justified tho the guilt of sin be taken away by a pardon and the dominion and power of it be broken by the Spirit of Christ yet the being of it is not quite abolished and as long as sin remaineth in us in the least degree it maketh us subject to the power of death 2. By way of correction He opposeth a double comfort against it Destruction by sin is neither total nor final First Not total 't is but an half death v. 10. The spirit is life because of righteousness Secondly Nor final it hath a limit of time set which when it is expired the body shall have an happy Resurrection and that by vertue of the same spirit by which the soul is now quickned so that mark both parts receive their happiness by the spirit the soul and the body the soul tho it be immortal in its self yet the blessed immortality it hath from the spirit the spirit is life because of righteousness and the dead body shall not finally perish but be sure to be raised again by the same spirit If the spirit of him c. In the Words we have 1. The condition upon which the Resurrection is promised if the Spirit 2. The certainty of performance set forth 1. By the Author or efficient cause he that raised up Jesus from the dead 2. By his spirit that dwelleth in you the way and manner of working 1. The condition A Resurrection is necessary but an happy Resurrection is limited by a condition Phil. 3.11 If by any means 2. The certainty of performance 1. From the Author of God described by his eminent and powerful work he that raised up Jesus from the dead This is mentioned partly as an instance of his power and partly as an assurance of his will first an instance of his power Eph. 1.18 19. According to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Our Resurrection is a work of the same Omnipotency with that which he first evidenced in raising Christ from the dead the same power is still imployed to bring us to a glorious Eternity Secondly 'T is an assurance of his will for Christs Resurrection is a pattern of ours 1 Cor. 6.14 God hath both raised the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 2 Cor. 4.14 Knowing that he that raised up Jesus shall also raise us up by Jesus 2. For the way and manner of bringing it about by his spirit that dwelleth in us Where take notice 1. Of the Relation of the Holy Spirit to God Secondly His interest in and nearness to us 1. His relation to God He is called his Spirit and the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead That is of God the Father The Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Fathers Spirit and sometimes Christs Spirit because he proceedeth both from the Father and the Son the Fathers Spirit John 15.26 When the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the spirit of truth he is also called Acts 11.4 The promise of the Father and Christs Spirit Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts Now the Spirit being one in essence and undivided in Will and Essence with the Father and the Son surely the Father will by or because of the Spirit dwelling in us raise us again for Father Son and Holy Spirit are one and the same God 2. His interest in and nearness to us he dwelleth in us All dependeth upon that mark he doth not say he worketh in us per modum actionis transeuntis so he worketh in those that resist his work and shall perish for ever but per modum habitus permanentis as we are regenerated and sanctified and the effects of his powerful Resurrection remain in those habits which constitute the new nature so the Spirit is said to dwell in us and in the former verse Christ to be in us if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin verse 10. Doct. That the bodies of Believers shall be raised at the last day by the spirit of holiness which now dwelleth in them 1. I shall a little open this inhabitation of the spirit 2. Shew you why 't is the ground and cause of our happy Resurrection 1. For the first the inhabitation of the Spirit Dwelling may relate to a double Metaphor either to the dwelling of a man in his house or of God in his Temple of a man in his house 1 John 3.24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and be in him so it noteth his constant familiar presence or of God in his Temple 1 Cor. 6.16 Know ye not that you are the Temple of God and the spirit of God dwelleth in you Which noteth a sacred presence that presence as a God to bless and sanctifie the spirit buildeth us up for so holy an use and then dwelleth in us as our Sanctifier Guide and Comforter the one maketh way for the other first a Sanctifier and then a guide as a ship is first well-rigg'd and then a Pilot and by both he comforts us he hath regenerated and guided us in the way of holiness first he sanctifieth and reneweth us Tit. 3.5 But according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy ghost and John 3.6 That which is born of spirit is spirit First he buildeth his House or Temple and then cometh and dwelleth in it Secondly He guideth and leadeth us in the ways of holiness Rom. 15.14 And my self also am perswaded of you my brethren that you also are full of godliness filled with all knowledg If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit Gal. 5.25 Before we were influenced by Satan Eph. 2.2 Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air that now worketh in the children of disobedience He put us upon anger malice envy unclean lusts and noisome and filthy ways and we readily obeyed 2 Tim. 2.28 And that they may recover themselves out of the snares of the devil who are taken captive
The Lord shew me favour in the sight of this man for I have been the kings cupbearer 3. Pray God to bless you and ever keep in remembrance the former debt 1 Cor. 6.15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid SERMON XVI ROM VIII 13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die HERE is another Reason rendred why Christians should not live after the flesh before a debito now a damno or if you will take the whole Verse you have the danger of the carnal life and the benefit of the spiritual both Propositions are hypothetical or conditional both include perseverance in either course The Apostle saith not If you have lived after the flesh ye shall die All have lived after the flesh before they lived after the spirit and in the other part if ye go on to mortifie in the one branch the doom is heavy death not only temporal but eternal in the other the boon or benefit is as much as we can desire and far more than we can ever deserve or requite both have their use for man is apt to be moved by hope or fear if honesty and duty will not perswade us yet danger and benefit may have an influence upon us Let us now consider the first clause where death is propounded as the necessary consequent of carnal living we need not only milk but salt as milk to nourish the new creature so salt to fret out the corruption of the old man A sore penalty is threatned to them that fulfil the desires and inclinations of the flesh we buy carnal delights at too dear a rate when we must die eternally to enjoy them Doct. That God threatneth those that live after the flesh with eternal death and destructiion I shall speak to this Point 1. By way of Explication 2. By way of Confirmation In the Explication I shall shew you 1. What is meant by flesh 2. What by living after the flesh 3. What is the death threatned 2. By way of Confirmation 1. That this threatning is every way consistent with the Wisdom and Goodness of God Secondly The certainty of its being accomplished and fulfilled First by way of Explication 1. What is meant by flesh 1. The flesh is sometimes taken for the natural bodily substance that corporeal mass we carry about us so 't is said No man ever hated his own flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it Eph. 5.29 The body is a part of us and deserveth due care that it might be an holy Temple for the Spirit to dwell in and sanctifie and make use of it for God 2. For corruption of nature which inclineth us wholly to things grateful to the body and bodily life with the neglect of God and our precious immortal souls John 3.6 That which is born of flesh is flesh Now flesh in this latter sense is taken 1. Largely 2. Strictly First Largely For the whole dunghil of Corruption in whatever faculty it is seated in the Understanding Will or rational Appetite so Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit that is corrupt nature 2. Strictly Or in a limited sense for the corruption of the sensual Appetite 1 John 2.16 All that is in the world is either the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye or pride of life Sensuality is expressed by the lust of the flesh and Eph. 2.3 Fulfilling the wills of the flesh and of the mind As 't is taken more generally for natural corruption both in Will Mind and Affections so more particularly for the disorder of the sensual Appetite which carrieth us to Meats Drinks Riches Pleasures Honours therefore there are two Branches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flesh must not be confined to this latter sense but taken in the latitude of the former we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wisdom of the flesh Rom. 8.7 and of a fleshly mind Col. 2.18 Man is a corrupt carnal creature in all his faculties of the soul even those which are more noble the Understanding and Will and when the Apostle reckoneth up the works of the flesh Gal. 5.19 He doth not only reckon up Fornication and Adultery Uncleanness Wantonness which belong to the sensual Appetite but Idolatry and Heresie which are the fruits of blind and corrupt Reason and Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Sedition Envyings Murther which belong to the depraved Will we must take flesh then in the largest sense Secondly What it is to live after the flesh Living doth not note one single action but the trade course and strain of our conversations they are said to live after the flesh where the flesh is their principle their work and their scope 1. Where it is the governing principle or that spring which sets all the Wheels a going Once it was thus with us all we were wholly acted by the inclinations and desires of the flesh and did nothing but what the flesh moved us unto and therefore natural men are said to be in the esh Rom. 8.8 and after the flesh v. 5. and to serve divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 But when our cure is wrought we are acted by another principle the spirit or new nature Rom. 8.1 and Gal. 5.16 Not that the old principle is quite abolished 't is in us still Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh And 't is in us not as dead but as working and operative and there is a mixture of the respective influence and efficacy of these two principles in every action yea in some actions a prevalency of the one above the other The worser part in a particular conflict may get the upper hand yet there is a sensible difference between the people of God and others the better principle is habitual and constant and in predominancy and doth not only check and thwart the other but overcome it and the interest of the flesh decreaseth and that of the spirit prevaileth and keepeth the carnal part in subjection but when the flesh is the chiefest principle that beareth rule in our hearts and we are acted and guided by it in our course of life we live after the flesh 2. Their work and trade or the business of their lives men are said to live after the flesh that wholly mind the things of the flesh Rom. 8.5 That take no other care but to spend their time wit and estate upon the service of their own fleshly lusts their whole life study and labour is to please the flesh and satisfie the flesh If God gets any thing from them 't is but for fashion sake and 't is only the flesh's leavings so Gal. 5.8 To sow to the flesh there is their business To make provision for the flesh Rom. 13.14 Neglecting God and the eternal welfare of their precious and immortal souls be it in the way of sensuality or be it
upon us first to observe the touches of Gods punishing and chastising hand reclaiming us from our wanderings Psal. 119.59 Before I was afflicted I went astray Secondly To reflect upon the motions of his spirit to draw us out of this estate that we may not resist the Holy Ghost Acts 5.31 Thirdly To examine every day what advantage the spirit hath gotten against the flesh how the interests of it is weakned its lusts checked its acts restrained Gal. 5.16 Every one that doth seriously mind the business of his salvation cannot but see these things of great advantage to his spiritual estate and there is no great difficulty in them to the serious soul that hath a mind to be saved 2. To those that seem to be recovered and to have a care of the spiritual life that they may not revert to this bondage and that the work may be more thoroughly wrought in them 1. Look to the mind take heed there be not flesh there for the fleshly mind is a great enemy to godliness Ro. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity to God and 't is a low poor mind blinded with the love of present things Jam. 3.15 The wisdom that descendeth not from above is earthly sensual devillish it hindereth us from discerning the reallity of our hopes and from having a true sense of our duty impressed upon our hearts 1 Cor. 2. 14. but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And also from applying our Rule to particular cases either in judging of our estate or in guiding of our actions 't is strange to see how the world or the delusion of the flesh do blind very knowing men and how unacquainted they are with their own hearts or unable to discern their duty in plain cases when the performance of it is likely to be displeasing to the Flesh. What strange disguises it puts upon a Temptation and how they wriggle and distinguish themselves out of their duty when either God must be disobeyed or the Flesh displeased the Flesh is always partial for its self therefore get a sound mind and this spiritual discerning 2. Look to the heart that there be no Flesh there Sinful inclinations must be observed and mortified Satan doth observe them and shall not we He seeth which way the Tree leaneth and what kind of diet their soul-distempers crave and suiteth his temptations accordingly As the skilful Angler suiteth his Bait as the fishes will take it every month 1 Cor. 7.5 lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency He hath a bait of Preferment for Absolom for he is ambitious a bait of Pleasure for Sampson for he is voluptuous a bait of Money for Judas for he is covetous Thus will he furnish them with Temptations answerable to their inclinations A man by Temper Voluptuous esteems not Profit much nor an Earth-worm Pleasure nor an Ambitious man much either of them but Honour and Reputation and great Place Now 't is sad that our Enemy should know our Temper better than our selves Your uprightness and faithfulness to God is seen in weakning your particular inclinations to sin Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and kept my self from mine iniquity Observe the decay of your Master-sin and other things will come on the more easily fight not against small or great but the King-lust the domineering sin Satan is the more discouraged when we can deny our domineering lusts As Sampson's strength lay in his locks so doth the strength of sin in one lust more than another Every man knoweth his darling commonly but that which is our great care is to wean our hearts from it Herod raged when John Baptist touched his Herodias Felix trembled when Paul touched his bribâ—ry and intemperance and the young man goeth away sad when Christ discovereth his worldliness Mark 10.22 We have all our tender parts which we cannot endure should be touched But now when you are willing to part with this sin pray strive and watch against it grow in the contrary grace it sheweth your self-denial and sincerity you will not spare your Isaac Well then see that no worldly thing be too near and dear to you and that God hath a greater interest in your heart than the flesh or any thing that belongeth to it 3. Let not the senses cast off the government of reason and be the ruling power in your souls They were not made to govern but to be governed and to be subjected to God and Reason Man by the fall is inverted Tit. 3.3 hateful and hating one another Man in his right constitution should be thus govern'd The Understanding and Conscience prescribe to the Will the Will according to right Reason and Conscience moveth the Affections the Affections move the bodily spirits and the members of the body but by corruption all is inverted and changed Pleasure affects the Senses the Senses corrupt the Phantasy the Phantasy the Bodily spirits they the Affections and the Affections by their violence and impetuous inclination to forbidden things move the Will and the Will yeilding blindeth the Mind and so man is carried headlong to his own destruction the feet are where the head should be e contra Well then you must guide the senses as Job made a covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 and David prayeth Psal. 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity They let in Objects and Objects stir up Thoughts and Thoughts Affections Mat. 5.28 Now take heed they do not grow masterly if they transmit Temptations and stir up evil motions crush the Scorpion on the wound 4. Keep up a readiness for your work which is to obey the will of God It argueth some prevalency of the Flesh when our duty beginneth to grow troublesome and uneasie Therefore the Spirit or the better part cannot so readily produce its operation the soul in the right Temper doth willingly and cheerfully obey God 1 Joh. 5.3 this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous Psal. 40.8 I delight to do thy will O my God thy law is in my heart And Psal. 112.1 Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments Therefore 't is time for you to check the Flesh and overcome it lest farther mischief increase upon you 5. Refer all things to your ultimate End And consider whether what you do doth hinder or further you therein for all things are to be regarded and valued as they conduce to Gods service and your salvation Eccles. 2.2 What doth it 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do let all be done to the glory of God Be true to your scope 6. Take heed of the servitude and bondage which the flesh is wont to bring upon the soul where it reigneth It maketh men very flaves the heart groweth weak and lust strong Ezek. 16.30 They are
thereunto Rom. 7.23 But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind We think and speak too gentle of sin when we think it a tame thing that worketh not till it be irritated by the suggestions of Satan No 't is like a living fountain that poureth out its waters tho no body come to drink of them 't is irritated by the law of God many times and the motions of the spirit these corrupt humors within us are in a continual fermentation Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Temptations only make them more violent 2. Hindring us from that which is good either it draweth away the heart from duty or distracteth the heart in duty it draweth away the heart from duty Rom. 7.21 I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me It abateth the edg of our affections discourageth us by many unbelieving carnal thoughts and so the heart is drawn away from God that sin may the more domineer or distracting our minds in duty Ezek. 33.31 Their hearts go after their coveteousness filling our minds with thoughts of the world vain pleasures revenge turneth our duties into sins 3. The sad consequence of letting sin alone When sin is not mortified it groweth outragious and never ceaseth acting till it hath exposed us to shame before God Men and Angels or hardneth us in a carnal careless course Lusts let alone end in gross sins and gross sins in a casting off all Religion Love of pleasures let alone will end in drunkenness and uncleanness Envy in murther and violence Judas allowed his Covetousness that brought him to betray his Master Gehazi first blasted with Covetousness then with asking a Bribe to Gods dishonour then with Leprosie so became a shame and burden to himself Annanias and Sapphira taken off by a sudden Judgment The Devil loveth by lust to draw us into sin and by sin to shame and by shame to horror and despair sin is no tame thing But do the people of God run into such notable excesses and disorders Yes when they let sin alone and discontinue the exercise of mortification witness David that run into lust and blood and Peter into curses and execrations Solomon into sensuality and idolatry old sins long laid asleep may awaken again and hurry us strangely into mischief and inconvenience 3. In regard of grace received 1. The grace of justification Relyance upon the Righteousness of Christ for Justification doth not shut out the work of Mortification but conduceth much towards it it doth not exclude it for the justified must be mortified it pleadeth for it Grace teacheth us to deny ungodliness Tit. 2.11 That sin may be mortified and put to death for Christs sake Christ was crucified and put to death for our sakes God doth not require it in point of Soveraignty but pleadeth with us upon terms of Grace Grace hath denied us nothing it hath given us Christ and all things with him and shall we stick at our lusts Grace thought nothing too good for us not the Blood of Christ nor the Favour of God not the Joys of Heaven and shall we count anything too dear to part with for Graces sake Mortification is an unpleasing task but Grace commands and calls for it and that with such powerful Oratory as cannot be withstood 2. In regard of the Grace of Sanctification To exercise it preserve it and increase it 1. That we may exercise it to that end for which it was given to us It was given to us to avoid sin 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God dtoh not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God and 1 John 5.18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and the wicked one toucheth him not There is a seed and principle within us to curb and restrain sin too and keep us from falling into the power of the Devil or being brought back into our old bondage this other principle was set up in us on purpose as to excite unto what is good so also to abate the power of sin as the way to destroy weeds is to plant the ground with good seed and 't is given us as a bridle actually to restrain the exorbitances and hold it in when it flyeth out now this grace of God will be in vain unless it be used to such a purpose and one of Gods most precious gifts would lie idle therefore we should act it or walk in the spirit that we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh 2. Preserve it in power and vigour For the life of grace dependeth very much upon the dying of sin as health and strength in the body cometh on as the disease abateth 1 Pet. 2.24 That we being dead unto sin might be alive unto righteousness But as the life of sin increaseth Grace languisheth and withereth and is ready to die Rev. 3.2 The flesh and the spirit are contrary and always are incroaching upon one another and there is this advantage on the flesh's side that it is a native not a foreigner home-bred plants which the soil-yieldeth naturally without any tillage as Nettles will sooner preserve themselves and get ground upon better plants because the earth bringeth them forth of its own accord or as water heated the cold is natural to it and will prevail against the heat unless it be driven out by a constant fire whether the prevalency of sin doth weaken Grace effective or meritorie by its malignant influence or as deserving such a punishment from God I will not now dispute but weaken it it doth that is clear by experience for tho Grace be planted in us by God 't is not settled in such an indivisible point as that it cannot be more or less there is a remission of degrees Matth. 24.12 The love of many shall wax cold Faith may grow sick and weak there are soul-distempers as well as bodily and then a man is altogether unfit for action and performeth duties in a very heartless and uncomfortable fashion therefore still we must be mortifying sin 3. That we may increase it Grace is not only Donum a Gift to be preserved but Talentum a Talent to be improved and increased upon our hands that we may be the more fit to glorifie God that appeareth by the many excitations in Scripture to growth 2 Pet. 3.18 But grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 'T is not enough to maintain that measure of Grace which we have already received but we must get more always look after the growth of it in our selves and indeed the one cannot be done without the other there is no possibility to keep what we have unless it be improved he that roweth against the
7.25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 9. Diligence in Gods work standing-pools are apt to putrifie when men are not taken up for God they are at leasure for evil 2 Sam. 11.2 And it came to pass in the evening tide that David arose from his bed and walked upon the roof of the Kings house and from the roof he saw a woman washing her self and the woman was very beautiful to look upon and the king sent for her c. 10. The remembrance of the other world whither you are hastening 1 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. You need not long for the flesh pots of Egypt when you are going to a land that floweth with Milk and Honey SERMON XXI ROM VIII 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God THESE Words are given as a Reason of what went before that which immediately went before is a Promise of Eternal Life to those who by the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body The Reason may be supposed to relate to the Promise or the Qualification First to the reward promised Thus they shall live in eternal happiness and glory for they are the Sons of God if we be children God will deal with us as Children bestow the inheritance upon us and therefore live Secondly the Qualification They do by the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body the Spirit of God sustaineth a double Relation as our Sanctifier and our Comforter the former is proper to this place he is our Sanctifier either with respect to the first infusion of Grace or the continual direction and ordering of Grace so infused Now this must be interpreted with respect to the twofold work of a Christian the mortifying of sin or the perfecting of holiness his restraining or inviting Motions The first belongeth to the one the second to the other if we obey the Spirits motions in the curbing and restraining evil and subduing our proneness thereunto then we shall live For as many as are led c. He proveth it a signo notificativo this being led and guided by the Holy Ghost is an infallible proof of our Adoption or being taken into Gods Family For as many as are led by the Spirit of God c. Observe here 1. A sure Note and Qualification as many as are led by the Spirit 2. A blessed Priviledg are the Sons of God In the former 1. The Note its self or the Duty which evidenceth our claim being led 2. The Vniversallity of it as many 'T is to be understood inclusive and exclusive they and none but they There is in the Proposition that which they call simplex conversio all that are led are the Sons of God and backward all that are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God Doct. That all that are led by the Spirit of God may know and conclude themselves to be Children of God I shall first explain 1. The Qualification 2. The Priviledg 1. The Qualification We are said to be led by the Spirit It must be understood actively with respect to his direction and passively on our parts as we submit to that Direction The Spirit is our Guide and we must obey his Motions 1. The Spirit performeth the Office oâ— a Guide and Leader to the Godly The Spirit giveth us Life Motion and Direction these three things are inseparable in Nature and Grace Life Motion and Conduct The same causes wich make us live make us act The Creature dependeth upon God in his Motion as well as his being Act. 17.28 And the Regulation of our Motions belongeth to the same Power 't is so in Nature and 't is much more so in Grace and they succeed in this order 't is a work that followeth Regeneration first we are born of the Spirit before we are moved and guided by the Spirit The Spirit first infuseth the gracious habits Ezek. 36.26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put into you Secondly He exciteth the soul to act and assisteth the new creature in acting according to these habits and principles Phil. 2.13 He worketh in us both to will and to do according to his own pleasure Gal. 5.25 If we live in the spirit let us walk in the spirit Thirdly He directeth our actions by inlightning our understandings and governing and guiding our inclinations to do that which is pleasing to God this is that which I am to speak of and here I shall shew you that this Direction is promised Isa. 30.21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying This is the way walk in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left God guideth his people in all their ways to Heaven and happiness not only by general Directions but particular Motions and Excitations Psal. 25.9 The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way This is the priviledg of poor meek and humble souls that they shall not want a guide to direct them in the way to Heaven so v. 12. What man is he that feareth God him will he teach in the way that he shall choose An humble believer that would not displease God for all the world and counts the least sin a greater evil than the greatest temporal loss may be encouraged to expect light and direction from God to order all his actions so as he may best please God Isa. 48.17 Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit that leadeth thee by the way thou shouldest go So 't is begged by the Saints as a great and necessary blessing Psal. 25.4 5. Shew me thy ways O God teach me thy paths lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day long Mark how earnest he is shew me teach me lead me as if he could never enough express his desire and value of this benefit Mark his Argument Thou art the God of my salvation in Covenant with us and the God of our Salvation so he hath undertaken in the Covenant to save us as God is our God so he hath undertaken to be our Guide to teach and lead us and doth not lay aside this relation till our Salvation be accomplished and mark his continual necessity on thee do I wait all the day long As if he would not be left for a moment in the hand of his own counsel so Psal. 119.33 Teach me O God the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end The way to Heaven is a narrow way hard to be found hardly to be kept and easily mistaken except God teach us daily by his Spirit There are innumerable by-paths from terrors and allurements without and we of our selves are weak and subject to errors within
covenant of nature which concerned both Jew and Gentile or the first administration of the covenant of Grace made with the Jews only First the covenant of nature which we are all under naturally breedeth Bondage and shyness of God we are sensible that we are his creatures and so owe him duty and subjection that we have fail'd in our duty to him and therefore lye obnoxious to his wrath and punishment Heathens that had but some obscure notions of God felt somewhat of this Bondage Rom. 1.32 They knew the judgment of God and that they which commit such things are worthy of death They stood in dread of angry justice and not only they but all mankind are under it Rom. 2.15 according to that natural sense which men have of religion so is their Bondage more or less still under fear of death and the consequents thereof This sense or conscience of sin and wrath which the breach of Gods law hath made our due is so ingrained in the nature of man that he cannot disposess himself of it The Apostle compareth it to the bond of marriage which is indissoluble till one of the parties die Rom. 7.1 2 3. The conscience of man is either married to the law as its husband or Christ as its husband not to the latter till it be dead to the former v. 4. Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye might be marrid to another even to him that was raised from the dead Well then this Bondage is the effect of the law or covenant of Nature impressed upon the heart of man and ariseth from a consciousness of guilt and obnoxiousness to Gods wrath and displeasure because of Gods broken covenant Secondly The first administration of the covenant of grace That bred a spirit of Bondage witness that allegory Gal. 4.22 to 26. Abrahams two Wives did represent the two Covenants the first and second administration of the Covenant of grace The first gendred to Bondage men of a servile spirit doing what they did not out of love but slavish fear 2 Cor. 3.9 But if the ministration of death written and ingraven in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which glory was to be done away for if the ministration of condemnation be glory much more doth the ministration of righteousness excel in glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Gospel was dark and had little efficacy to change the heart of man it did little allay and vanquish this shyness of God rather increased it as it conduced to revive the knowledg of God in their minds and held forth the ransom and way of appeasing Gods angry justice obscurely and darkly rather shewed our distance from God Israel was Gods first-born and so his heir but an heir in non-age Gal. 4.1 2. Their ordinances was a Bond ours an Aquittance but what is this to us Answer Much every way 1. That we may bless God for the greater advantages that we have to breed a Child-like spirit in us by the new Covenant where the Lord who is offended by sin is propitiated by the death of Christ and willing to admit man into his presence and bless him that God as a Judge driveth us by the spirit of Bondage to Christ as Mediator that Christ as Mediator by the spirit of adoption may bring us back again to God as a Father and then having God for our Father we may have Christ for our Advocate and the Spirit for our Comforter and Sanctifier to inable us to observe the Gospel precepts of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and so be made capable of the promises of pardon and life one covenant maketh us sensible of the grace of the other Christ dealeth with us as children of the family requiring duty from us upon reasonable and comfortable terms 2. Because those that live under the Gospel-dispensation and have not received the power of it may be yet under a spirit of bondage and cherish a legal way of religion In every one that entertaineth thoughts of Religion Law and Gospel are at conflict in his heart as well as flesh and corruption this is clear by Gal. 5.17 18. For 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 but if ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the law as spirit and flesh do lust against and constantly oppose one another and labour to suppress and diminish each other so do Law and Grace those that are slaves to their sinful lusts and are not inabled by the spirit of the new Testament to do in some measure what the rule injoyneth have their comforts obstructed and while sin reigneth the law reigneth Rom. 6.14 For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but grace Partly by its iritating power and Partly by its condemning power leaving them under a fear of condemnation and urging them to do what they cannot do 3. The Children of God by regeneration and adoption while sin remaineth may have somewhat of bondage remaining in them Look as under the Old Testment when the ingenuous and noble motives of the Gospel were in a great measure unknown there was somewhat of a free spirit in the Eminent Saints Psal. 51.12 though but sparingly dispenced so under the Gospel dispensation there are many sad and drooping Christians who do not improve the comforts provided for them and when they are called upon to rejoyce in the Lord always Phil. 4.4 rather go mourning all the day long but 't is their fault The people under the law dispensation were either the Godly or the wicked or the middle sort the eminently Godly then had a free spirit the wicked were either terrified or stupified the middle sort who were touching the righteousness of the law blameless Phil. 3.6 had a zeal for outward observances but not according to knowledg Rom. 10.2 were meerly acted by a legal spirit so under the Gospel there are the eminently Godly who evermore rejoyce 1 Thes. 5.16 or at least are swayed more with love than fear the weak Godly who have much of their ancient fears and the love of God in them is yet too weak to produce its effect though this love to God do prevail over sin yet not ordinarily over fear of punishment but much of that influences their duties more than their love to God There is too great aversness in their hearts from God and Holiness and they seek to break it by the terrors of the Lord. Not sin but fear is predominant Thirdly Is this spirit of Bondage good or bad I answer 1. We must distinguish of the three Agents in it This Bondage cometh partly from a good cause the spirit of God breeding in us a knowledg of our Duty and a
or other a spirit of bondage or a spirit of adoption now with what kind of spirit are we acted withall Gods children who are adopted into his family may have some degree of the spirit of bondage great mixtures of fears and discouragements for only perfect love casteth out fear 1 John 4.18 but these fears are over-ballanced by the spirit of adoption they have some filial boldness a better spirit than a slave do not wholly sin away the love of a father tho the delight and comfort be much obstructed 't was a sad word for a child of God to speak Psal. 77.3 I thought of God and I was troubled The remembrance of God may augment our grief when conscience representeth his abused favours as the cause of his present wrath and displeasure with us but this is not their constant temper but only in great dissertions for a constancy while sin remaineth somewhat of bondage remaineth but there is a partial predominant legality the partial may be found in the regenerate who do by degrees overcome the servile fear of condemnation and grow up more and more into a Gospel Spirit certainly where that prevaileth there will be liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Tho for a while the heir differeth nothing or nothing to speak of from a servant yet in time he behaveth himself as a son and is treated as a son and they get more comfort and joy in the service of God but the predominant legality is in the carnal it may be known by the governing principle fear or love the inseparable companion of the spirit of bondage is fear and love and sonship or the spirit of Adoption go together and where slavish fear prevaileth and influenceth our Religion it may be known by these two things First By their unwillingness and reluctancy to what they do for God The good they do they would not and the evil they do not they would do that is they would fain live in a sinful life if they durst and be excused from religious duties except that little outward part which their custom and credit engages them to perform like Birds that in a sunshine day sing in the Cage tho they had rather be in the Woods They live not an holy life tho some of the duties which belong to it they observe out of a fear to be damned if they had their freest choice they had rather live in the love of the creature than in the love of God and the pleasures of the flesh than the heavenly life But now they that have the spirit of Adoption are inclined to the love of God and Holiness have hearts suited to their work Psal. 40.8 Thy law is in my heart and Heb. 8.10 I will put my laws into their minds and write them upon their hearts They obey not from the urgings of the law from without but from the poise and inclination of the new nature not barely as enjoined but as inclined They do not say O that this were no duty or this sinful course lawful but O how I love thy law Psal. 119.97 O that my ways were directed Psal. 119.5 They do not groan and complain of the strictness of the law but of the remainders of corruption Rom. 7.24 Not who will free me from the law but who will free me from this body of death Their will is to serve God more and better not to be excused from the duties of holiness or serving him at all 2. By the cause of their trouble about what they have done or left undone They are not troubled for the offence done to God but their own danger not for sin but merely the punishment as Esau sought the blessing with tears when he had lost it Heb. 12.17 He was troubled but why Non quia vendiderat sed quia perdiderat Not because he sold it which was his sin but lost the priviledges of the birthright which was his misery so many carnal men whose hearts are in a secret love and league with their lusts yet are troubled about their condition not because they are affraid to sin but affraid to be damned 't is not Gods displeasure they care for but their own safety the Young-man went away sad and grieved Mark 10.22 because he had great possessions because he could not reconcile his covetous mind with Christs counsel and direction Felix trembled being convinced of sins which he was loath to discontinue and break off slavish fear tho it doth not divorce the heart from its lusts yet it raiseth trouble about them 3. USE is to press you to get rid of this spirit of bondage and to prevail upon it more and more For Motives 1. 'T is dishonourable to God and supposeth strange prejudices and misrepresentations of God as if his government were a kind of Tyranny grievous and hurtful to man and we think him an hard Master whom it is impossible to please as the evil and sloathful servant Matt. 25.24 25. I knew that thou wert an hard man reaping where thou hast not sowed and gathered where thou hast not strawed and I was affraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth His fear was the cause of his negligence and unfaithfulness which fear is begotten in us by a false opinion of God which rendreth him dreadful rigorous and terrible to the Soul while we look upon God through the Glass of our guilty fears we draw a strange Picture of him in our minds as if he were a ridgid Lawgiver and a severe Avenger harsh and hard to be pleased and therefore unwilling to submit to him 2. 'T is prejudicial to us in many regards 1. It hindereth our free and delightful converse with God The legal spirit hath no boldness in his presence but is filled with tormenting fear and horror at the thoughts of him The Spirit of adoption giveth us confidence and boldness in prayer Heb. 4.16 and Eph. 3.12 but on the contrary the spirit of bondage maketh us hang off from God As Adam was affraid and run to the bushes Gen. 3.12 and David had a dark and uncomfortable spirit and grew shy of God after his sin Psal. 32.3 4. fain to issue forth an injuction or practical decree in the Soul to bring his backward heart into his presence v. 5. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord of Hosts Gen. 4.16 as unable to abide there where the frequent Ordinances of God might put him in remembrance of him And Jam. 2.29 The Devils believe and tremble They abhor their own thoughts of God as reviving terror in them The Papists think it boldness to go to God without the mediation and intercession of the Saints The original of that practice was slavish fear when God had opened a door of access to himself 2. It breaketh our courage in owning the ways of God and truths of God The Apostle when he presseth Timothy not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord nor his servants and to be partakers of the afflictions
cannot rationally expect the best and richest Fruits of this gift and to be inabled and inlarged by the spirit who do not give such ready entertainment and obedience to his motions as the more serious and fruitful Christian doth 4. But do all that have it know that they have it I Answer 1. The spirit of adoption is in some weak and therefore not so perceptible as it is in others for small and weak things are hardly discerned All Gods Children have the spirit of adoption in the effects though not in the sense and feeling of it They have the spirit of comfort though not the comfort of it for if any have not the spirit of Christ they are none of his Rom. 8.9 The Witness of his spirit is spoken of as distinct from receiving the spirit v. 16. There is a Child-like inclination and impression left upon them tho they know it not own it not There is a difference between the thing its self and the degree we cannot say we have not the spirit of adoption because we have not so much of this spirit calming our hearts rebuking our fears and filling us with joy and peace in believing The spirit was given to Christ without measure but to Christians in a different measure and proportion as they yield up themselves more or less to the conduct of his grace and overcome the enemies of their peace the Devil the World and the Flesh the impression is left upon some in a smaller upon some in a larger character all are not of a growth and size some are more real Christians others only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminent grace will more discover its self than a little grace under an heap of imperfections a fervent love will be felt and a lively hope of Heaven demonstrate its self and an exact obedience less liable to dispute as we increase in Love and Heavenly mindness so the spirit discovereth his presence in us 2. Where the spirit of adoption acteth at the lowest rate there is something to difference it from the spirit of bondage 1. They are carried on to wait upon God upon Gospel grounds though they cannot apply the comforts and enter themselves heirs to the priviledges thereof some know they are of the truth and can make out their title with clearness and satisfaction 1 John 3.14 And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him others depend on Gods general offer while their claim and sincerity is as yet questionable God offereth to be a Father in Christ to all penitent believers and so we are incouraged to come to him by Christ the Apostle telleth us Heb. 7.19 That the gospel brought in a better hope by vertue of which we draw nigh to God There is a Child-like inclination when there is not a Child-like familiarity and boldness the soul cannot keep away from God but will come to him that he may pardon our sins and heal our souls and save our persons now this is the spirit of adoption in the lower or more obscure way of addressing our selves to God as a Father 2. There are child-like groans as well as child-like comforts compare Rom. 8.26 The spirit it self maketh intercession for us with sights and groans which cannot be uttered with 1 Pet. 1.8 In whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory In some the spirit only discovereth himself by hungring and thirsting after righteousness in others he worketh peace which passeth all understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory 3. There is a child-like reverence when there is not a child like confidence They are affraid to offend their Heavenly Father though they cannot challenge all the fruits and effects of his Fatherly love as belonging to them when they cannot own him as a Father with delightful confidence yet they dare not offend him for all Gods Children have a Child-like love to him when they have not a full sense and assurance of his paternal love to them for he hath a title to our dearest love before we can make out a title to his benefits now they that love God hate evil Psal. 97.10 are tender of omitting any duty or committing any offence where there is this Holy awe there is a spirit of adoption 't is an owning of God as a Father 1 Pet 1.17 If ye call on the Father c. And therefore this reverence we call filial fear 4. The heart is carryed out to heavenly things though we cannot call them ours All that are children do look after a childs Portion there is a twofold hope First an hope which is the effect of regeneration 1 Pet. 1.3 And an hope which is the effect of experience Rom. 5.4 Now this puts a difference between the spirit of Bondage and the servile mercenary spirit when the currant of thine affections is carried out after the eternal inheritance servants and mercenaries must have pay in hand they covenant with you from day to day or from quarter to quarter or from year to year a child in the Family tarryeth for a Childs Portion Math. 6.4 When thou dost thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as 〈◊〉 hypocrites do in the synogogue and in the street they have their reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present wages they look for discharge God from other things if he wiâ—l give them the honour and pleasure of the world they are satisfied and look for no more 5. Why this is the fruit of the new covenant dispensation There are three things which must not be severed 1. The object 2. A powerful agent 3. The disposition of the subject thence resulting 1. There is an object and that is the Gospel offering pardon and life reconciliation with God and the everlasting fruition of him in Glory In the Gospel or new covenant we have the highest discovery of Gods Fatherly goodness that he might be more amiable and lovely to us and be loved by us the great end of reconciling and saving lost man by Christ his wonderful condescention in his incarnation life sufferings and death was to commend his love to us Rom. 5.8 Herein God commended his love to us in that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us To this end also tend his merciful covenant and promises that we might not look upon God as a condemning Judg but as a gracious and reconciled Father offering to be so to all that will accept Christ and submit to him God would not immediately beget this perswasion in our minds by his own secret power but use this objective means work upon our love by love because he will work on man agreeably to the nature of man his covenant shall speak him a Father that we may apprehend him as a Father 2. There is an internal powerful agent and that is the spirit Besides the external objective means there must be an internal effective cause for though Gods Fatherly love
in the world than he who hath God for his God Christ for his Saviour and the Spirit for his Comforter and Heaven for his portion Partly because there is so much help from God either he hath already obtained strength from God which he doth not improve or may obtain strength from God which he doth not seek after God prayed unto giveth deliverance or support Psal. 138.3 In the day when I cryed thou answerest me and strengthnedst me with strength in my soul And partly because of the mischiefs which follow this fainting There is a two-fold fainting first there is a fainting which causeth great trouble perplexity and dejection of spirit Heb. 12.3 Lest ye wax wears and faint in your minds Weariness is a lesser fainting an â—â—gher degree of deficiency in weariness the body requireth some rest or refreshment when the active power is weakned and the vital spirits and principles of motion dulled But in fainting the vital power is contracted and retireth and leaveth the outward parts lifeless and sensless When a man is wearied his strength is abated but when he fainteth he is quite spent These things by a metaphor are applyed to the soul or mind A man is wearied when the fortitude of his mind or his spiritual strength is broken or beginneth to abate or his soul sets uneasie under sufferings but when he sinketh under the burden of grievous tedious and long afflictions then he is said to faint The reasons or grounds of his comfort are quite spent Now this is a great evil in a child of God for the spirit of a man or that natural courage that is in a reasonable Creature will go far as to the sustaining of foreign evils Prov. 18.14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity And 't is supposed of a Christian that his spirit is â—ound and whole being possessed of the love of God and therefore though his natural courage be spent which goeth on probabilities yet his faith and hope should not be spent which goeth on certainties nor be overmuch perplexed about worldly troubles as if his mercy were clean gone or his promise would fail therefore a Christian should strive against this Psal. 77.7 8 9 10. Will the Lord cast off for ever Will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever Doth his promise fail for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gracious Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies And I said this is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High 2. There is a fainting which causeth dejâ—ction and falling off from God Surely this worse becometh the children of God Revel 2.3 Thou hast born and hast patience and hast laboured and hast not fainted This maketh us cast off our profession and practice of godliness and so cuts us off from all hope of reward Gal. 6.9 Ye shall reap in due time if ye faint not 'T is not taken there for some weariness or remisness or perplexity which may befall Gods children but a total defection When troubles discourage us in our duty 't is a step towards it and tendeth to Apostacy which Christians should prevent in time Heb. 12.12 13. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet less that which is lame â—e turned out of the way We often begin to faint and lag in Heavens way being wearied and vexed with the oppositions of the carnal world reproaching threatning and persecuting us but when we begin to waver we should look to it betimes and rouze up our selves that we may resolve to go and finish our race and not lose the benefit of our former labours and sufferings 2. Consideration That in his weakness if be we left to our selves we cannot support our selves This appeareth partly because they that have but a light Tincture of the spirit give up at the first assault Matt. 13.21 When tribulation ariseth because of the word by and by he is offended Offers of pardon of sins and eternal life affect them for a while and ingage them in the profession of godliness but when once it cometh to prove a costly business they give it over presently and partly because the most resolved if not duly possessed with a sense of their own weakness soon miscarry if not in whole yet in part witness Peter Matth. 26.33 34 35. Christ had warned them that such afflictions should come as the stoutest should stumble at them and fall for a time but Peter being conscious to himself of his own sincerity could not believe such weakness to be in him but God will soon confute confidence in our own strength as the event of his fearful fall did evidently declare partly because they that seem to be most fortified not only by Resolution but strong Reasons may yet overlook them in a time of Temptation As Eliphaz told Job Chap. 4.3 4 5. Behold thou hast instructed many and hast strengthened the weak hands thy words have upholden him that was falling and thou hast strengthened the seeble knees But now it is come upon thee and thou faintest it toucheth thee and thou art troubled 'T is one thing to give counsel and another to practice it and there is a great deal of difference between tryal apprehended by our Judgement and felt by our sense John 12.27 Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour When well we easily give counsel to the sick They that stand on shore may direct others when strugling with a Tempest And besides we know many things habitually which we cannot actually bring to remembrance being overcome with the sense of present evils and grace that seemeth strong out of tryal is found weak in tryal and faileth when we should most act it and partly because those that do not wholly despond but are yet wrestling are plainly convinced that they cannot conquer by their own strength Jer. 8.18 When I would comfort my self against my sorrow my heart fainteth within me The tediousness of present pressures doth so invade their spirits that they find themselves much too weak to grapple with their troubles They assay to do it but find it too hard for them Now after all these experiences of the Saints Where is the man that will venture in his own strength to compose his spirit and overcome his own infirmities 3. That when we cannot support our selves through our weakness the spirit helpeth us We speak not of the necessity of the holy spirit to our regeneration but confirmation After grace received worldly things set near and close to us and the love of them is not so quite extinct in us but that they have too great a command over our inclinations and affections that we cannot overcome our infirmities without the assistance of grace which Christ dispenseth by his spirit And 't is not enough for us
the Saints partly by shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts Rom. 5.3 4 5. Gods smiles are infinitely able to counterballance the worlds frowns and partly by a clearer sight of their blessedness to come remember your eternal blessings and how far your afflictions prepare you for them 2 Cor. 4.16 17. For this cause we faint not but though our outward man perâ—sh yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light afflictions which are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory The greatest trouble cannot make void this hope yea it doth prepare you for it your Spiritual estate is bettered by them 2. Doct. That prayer is one special means by which the Holy Spirit helpeth Gods children in their troubles and afflictions 1. Troubles are sent for this end not to drive us from God but to draw us to him Psal. 50.15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Trouble in its self is a part of the curse introduced by sin when God seemeth angry we have a liberty to apply our selves to him In trouble we are apt to think God an enemy and that he putteth the Old Covenant in suit against us but then God expects most to hear from us 2. Prayer is a special means to ease the heart of our burdensome cares and fears Phil. 4 6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God When the wind is got into the Caverns of the earth it causeth Earthquakes and terrible Convulsions till it get a vent we give vent to our troublesome and unquiet thoughts by prayer when we lay our burden at Gods feet 3. 'T is a special means of acknowledging God as the fountain of our strength and the Author of our blessings First As the fountain of our strength and support we have it not in our selves and therefore we seek it from God he is able to keep us from falling Therefore we pray to him 1 Pet. 5.10 But the God of all grace who hath called us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you Secondly As the Authour of our deliverance 2 Tim. 4.18 He shall deliver me from every evil work 1. USE Is to exhort us to prayer First He delights to give out blessings this way Jer. 29.11 12 For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end Then shall you call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And Ezek. 36.37 Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do them good And our Lord Christ as Mediator was to ask of the Father Psal. 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession Secondly All mercies come the sweeter to us as they increase our love to God and trust in him Psal. 116.1 2. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 2. USE Is Information If we would have the spirits help let us pray there we have most sensible feeling of his assistance our strength lyeth most in asking and when we are at a loss what to do your hearts are more eased in prayer than in any other work every condition is sanctified when it bringeth you nearer to God if crosses bring us to the throne of Grace they have done their work your trouble is eased 3. Doct. That the prayers of the godly come from Gods Spirit That the Spirit hath a great stroke in the prayers of the saints is evident by many other Scriptures besides the text as Jude 20. praying in the Holy Ghost that is by his motion and inspiration Look as we breathe out that air which we first suck in so the prayer is first breathed into us before breathed out by us first inspired before uttered so Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon them a Spirit of grace and supplications A Spirit of grace will become a Spirit of supplications Where he dwelleth in the heart he discovereth himself mostly in prayer so Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father The Spirits gracious operations are manifested especially in fitting us for and assisting us in the duty of prayer affectionate and believing prayers are ascribed unto him God hath put forth the Spirit of his Son crying c. Here I shall enquire 1. In what manner the spirit concurreth to the prayers of the faithful 2. What necessity there is of this help and assistance 3. Caution against some abuses and mistakes of this doctrine For the first 1. These three things concur in Prayer as different causes of the same effect The spirit of a man the new nature and the Spirit of God First there is the Spirit of a man For the Holy Ghost makes use of our understandings for the actuating of our will and affections the Spirit bloweth up the fire tho it be our hearts that burn within us Secondly the new nature in a Christian is more immediately and vigorously operative in Prayer than in most other duties and the exrcise of Faith Love and Hope in Prayer doth flow from the Renewed Soul as the proper inward and vital principle of these actions so that we and not the Spirit of God are said to repent believe and pray Well then there is the heart of man and the heart Renewed and Sanctifyed for the Spirit as to his actual motions doth not blow upon a dead coal But then there is the Spirit of God who createth and preserveth these gracious habits in the Soul and doth excite the Soul to act and doth assist it in acting according to them as for instance the natural spirit of man out of selâ— love willeth and desireth its own good and its own felicity in general and is unwilling of destruction and apparent misery or whatever may â—ccsion it But then as we are renewed this will to good is sanctified that God is chosen as our portion and felicity or as the principal good to be desired by us Faith seeth that the favour and fruition of God in a blessed immortality is our true happiness and love desireth it above all things And on the contrary shunneth damnation and the wrath of God and sin as sin and all the apparent dangers of the Soul Hope waiteth and expecteth the fruition of God and the good things which leadeth to him accordingly we address our selves to God and put forth and act this Faith Love and Hope in Prayer this our renewed Spirit doth but
will without which it would lie sluggish and idle or like a Chariot without wheels and horses or a Bird when her wings are clipped therefore the Holy Ghost stirreth up these affections and our heart within us makes us willing and this bringeth the Soul to God for no other can give us satisfaction but he alone And the difficulties of Salvation are so many that we cannot overcome them but in his power and strength Now sense of wants and an earnest desire of a supply will ordinarily put words into a mans mouth and affections beget expressions Yet because many accidental reasons may hinder it the weight of Prayer is not to be layed so much upon the expression as the affection if there be a strong and an earnest desire after grace it will make us express our selves to God in the best manner that we can As long as you Pray for necessary graces and other things in subordination thereunto and can heartily groan and sigh to God for what you want with respect to your great end the Prayer is well performed there may be a great petulancy and extravagance of words where there is not a good and an honest heart vain bablings without faith or feeling or spiritual affection 4. 'T is not to be understood as if all that pray graciously had the spirit in a like measure or the same persons always in the same measure No the wind bloweth where it liâ—â—eth John 3.7 And he giveth us to will and to do We cannot find the assistance at our own pleasure some have it in a more plentiful others in a scanty measure tho all have iâ— Jesus Christ himself tho he had not the spirit by measure yet he exercised and acted the spirit of Prayer more at one time Luke 22.44 And being in an agony he prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more earnestly His love to God was always the same but the expression of it different So Gods Children seek Heavenly things with a weaker degree of desire and sometimes with a stronger at sometimes we have the directing work of the Spirit and are not sensible of those earnest and unexpressible groans That is to say we put up our requests for things lawful and useful and most necessary for us at the time but not with that ardour and fervency that we do desire we cannot say that the Holy Ghost doth not assist these Prayers as sometimes the assistance is given us more largely as to the groaning part and men are all in a flame strong and passionate affections do most bewray themselves Sometimes as a spirit of confidence and Holy liberty with our Father and faith is clearly predominant in Prayer at other times repentance and Child-like reverence and fear are altogether in action in the Prayer and there is a great seriousness tho not such life and vigour or strength of faith as grief for sin bemoaning our failings 5. Gifts are more necessary when we joyn with others and are their mouth to God But the Spirit of Prayer is of most use when we are alone and we have nothing to do but to set our selves before the searcher of hearts and draw forth our desires after him when without taking in the necessities of others we present our personal requests to God and lament the defects of our own Hearts and the plague of our own Souls When we pray alone 't is good to observe the workings of our own hearts surely whatever Prayer we make to God we should find it in our hearts 2 Sam. 7.27 Therefore hath thy servâ—nt found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee Having a deep sense of our wants a real desire of the blessing we ask exercising grace rather than memory and invention pouring out our very Souls to God with sighs and groans rather than words we are liberty there to use or not use the voice to continue speech and break it off and lift up the heart by strong desires to God VSE It informeth us 1. What kind of help we have from the spirit of God in prayer his work is to guide and quicken you First to guide you in Prayer that you may Pray to God in an Holy manner we know not what to pray for as we ought on a fourfold reason 1. As blinded with self-lâ—ve 2. As discomposed by trouble 3. As struck dumb by guilt 4. As straitned by barreness and leanness of soul. 1. As blinded by self-love Oh what strange prayers will men put up to God if they take counsel of their lusts and interests as the Disciples that called for fire from Heaven Christ told them ye know not of what manner of spirit ye are of Luke 9.55 Self love so blindeth us that if we be lead by it we shall rather beg our ruin than our salvation for we know not what is either profitable or prejudical to us so that it would be an argument of Gods anger to grant our requests The Ambitious if he should pray from the passion that possesseth him would only ask honour and worldly greatness The Covetous only that God would double his worldly portion and inlarge his estate according to his vast desires the Sensual the ability and opportunity of glutting his bruitish inclinations the Vindictive that he may interess God in his quarrels All sinners would serve him only to serve their carnal turns whatever words we use to God in Prayer if we serve him to these ends and hope that by praying they shall be the better gratified our Prayer is turned into sin but he that is guided by the Spirit intreateth nothing of God but what is pleasing to him and suiteth with his Glory we come to our Father which is in Heaven when we Pray and our welfare in the World must be subordinated to our Eternal and Heavenly estate And we come in the name of Christ now to ask honours in his name who was born in a Stable and Dyed on a Cross pleasures in his name who was a man of sorrows is utterly incongruous no! Gods Glory Kingdom Will must be preferred before our inclinations other things asked with reservation and submission 2. Our minds are discomposed by trouble that we scarce know what to do or say 2 Chron 20.12 Lord we know not what to do but our eyes are unto thee Our Lord Christ John 12.27 My soul is troubled what shall I say in great grief Christ himself was at a loss The great Teacher of the Church who hath so much to say for our comfort and counsel in such cases yet was amazed and at a nonplus and David Psal. 77.4 I am sore troubled I cannot speak Our words stoppeth the mouth Now when our thoughts are thus confounded we scarce know what to pray for the Spirit teacheth us what to say Look as in the case of the fear of men Luke 12.12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you shall say So in our perplexities when we are scarce able to open
come to Christ For the power of God disposeth us to accept of his offer and not only encourageth but inclineth us to come to him for his calling is sanctifying and changing the heart Rom. 9.25 I will call them my people which were not my people That is make them to be so 1. VSE Hearken to this calling 1. From the benefit Doth God call thee to thy loss or do thee any wrong when he disturbeth thy sleep in sin and invites thee to partake of the riches of his Grace in Christ No he calls thee to the greatest happiness thou art capable of 2 Thes. 2.14 He hath called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God seeketh to advance you to the greatest honour can be put upon mankind 'T is a blessed estate 1 Pet. 5.10 He hath called you to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ. That glorious happiness for ever 2. The great misery if we refuse this call None of those that were bidden shall tast of my Supper Luke 14.24 They are not only excluded from happiness but are under extream wrath and misery Prov. 24 25 26. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh 2. USE is To press you to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 It cannot be more sure than it is in its self but it may be more sure to us This may be known by these signs â—â— cation can be imagined either in God or out of God not in God nothing can fall out but what God foresaw at first nor can be frustrated for any defect of power for he is Almighty Angels Devils and Men being subject to him as the supreme and universal Lord. 4. This grace is brought about in a way most convenient for the honour of God and the good of the creature in a way of Faith and Holiness Faith John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Holiness Eph. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Now faith is his gift Eph. 2.8 We are saved by grace through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God And Holiness is wrought in us by the spirit of Sanctification and that with a respect to his election 2 Thes. 2.13 He hath chosen you to salvation through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth God did not chuse us because he did foresee that we should be believers or would be holy but that we might believe and might be holy he could not foresee any faith or holiness in us but what was the fruit of his own grace and elective love to us all is still according to his purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began Faith and holiness is the way and means of bringing about his purpose not the foreseen cause and reason or the end the fruit of it not the motive to induce God to shew us mercy 5. To promote this faith and holiness and to preserve them 'till their glorified estate Gods Providence about them is very remarkable 1. He contriveth means to bring them into the world Many of their Parent may be wicked and deserve to be cut off for their sins but because there is a blessing in some of the Clusters they are not destroyed Many times a slip may be taken from an ill stock and grafted into the Tree of Life tho the Grace of the Covenant runneth most kindly in the channel of the Covenant How much more shall these which be the natural branches be grafted into their own Olive-tree Rom. 11.24 But yet God will shew the liberty of his counsels and chuse some out of families very opposite to his wayes and therefore many wicked men are spared that they may be a means to bring into the world those that afterwards shall believe Ahaz is let alone to beget Hezekiah and a wicked Ammon Josiah and there was one in the house of Jeroboam who made Israel to sin one child only in whom was found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel 1 Kings 14.13 a godly young man that had in his heart the true seeds of Religion 2. When they are born God hath a special care of them that they may not dye in their unregenerate condition from the womb the decree beginneth to take place and be put in act Gal. 1.15 It pleased God who separated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace Jer. 1 5. When thou camest out of the womb I knew thee He took special notice that that child was a vessel of mercy and to be employed for his glory and used for such and such purposes as he had designed them unto to fit them with such a constitution of body and mind as might best serve for that use if a man would trace the progress of Providence he would plainly see that God still hath been pursuing his choice and that that antecedent love which is the fountain of all our mercies is it which rocked you in your cradles suckled you at your Mothers breast trained you up and took care of your non-age visited you with his early mercies disposed of several Providences for your safety and preservation 't is said in Heaven we shall know as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 compare Gal. 4.9 But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God Then we shall understand how many several circumstances concurred to bring us home to God and how the goodness of God hath gone along with you from time to time to preserve you till the time of Grace was come rescued you in eminent dangers when the thred of your life was likely to be fretted asunder 3. The dispensation of means and the directing of means to such a place and people where and among whom the course of your life fell Not only the Doctrine but the journeys of the Apostles were ordered by the Spirit Acts 16.7 They assayed to go into Bythinia but the spirit suffered them not Acts 13.26 To you is this word of salvation sent Not brought by us but sent by God not only in regard of his institution but providential direction certainly there is a special Providence goeth along with ordinances and they are ordered and directed with respect to Gods elective love he sendeth furnisâ—eth continueth able instruments Acts 18.10 I am with thee and no man shall let on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in this city Wherever God lighteth a candle he hath some lost groat to seek He had much people belonging to his election in
convey life to others All weakness is removed from him his humane nature is glorified and seated in Heaven and his Divine Majesty and glory is restored to him so that we may reflect upon him with comfort as a King on the Throne in his royal Palace and place of residence David was King as soon as anointed by Samuel but when crowned in Hebron then did he actually administer the Kingdom and reward his servants and followers in the desert Christ when lifted up filleth all things Eph. 4.10 Lastly His Victory over his enemies death and sin as is fully seen Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my lord sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool And Heb. 10.13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies he made his footstool But there is somewhat peculiar 1. By entring into Heaven he hath opened Heaven for us he hath carryed our nature thither our flesh into Heaven and advanced it at the Fathers right hand in glory and so hath taken possession of Heaven for and in the name of all believers that in time they may ascend and be partakers of the same glory John 14.2 I go to prepare a place for you 'T was prepared before the world began by the decree of God Matth. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world 'T was prepared in time by the purchase of Christ Heb. 9.15 For the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament that they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Now he is gone to Heaven to pursue and apply that right gone thither as our harbinger Heb. 6.20 Whither the forerunner is for us entred opened Paradise again to us which was formerly shut and closed by our sins 2. By this means we have a friend in Heaven who is always at the right hand of God to prevent breaches between him and us 1 John 2.1 And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous As David had Jonathan in Sauls Court to give notice of danger and to interpose to take off all displeasure conceived against him 'T is a great priviledge questionless to have a friend in the Court of Heaven to take up all differences between God and us as a merciful and faithful High Priest to answer all accusations of Satan and hinder wrath from breaking out upon us as it would do every moment if we had the desert of our sins 3. His being exalted at the right hand of God noteth that honour and power which is put upon the Redeemer He hath received all power in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28.18 And Eph. 1.20 21. God set him at his right hand far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come So 1 Pet. 3.22 He is gone into Heaven Angels authorities and powers being made subject to him This height of honour to which Christ was exalted shews how much his friends may trust him and venture their all in his hands Psal. 2.12 Blessed are all they that put their trust in him how much his enemies may fear him every knee must bow to him they must either bend or break Phil. 2.10 We have not thoughts high enough of the glory and excellency of Jesus Christ and therefore the glory and splendor of Created things doth soon dazzle our eyes and our hearts are hardly held up and fortified against these discouragements that we must meet with in his service Surely since Christ is in the highest dignity and power with God and hath all the Heavenly hosts and Creatures at his command we should more incourage our selves in the Lord for all this power is managed for the comfort and defence of the godly and the terror and punishment of his and their enemies This power was given him as God man when he entred into Heaven and sat down on the right hand of Majesty 4. Fulness of grace given him to dispence the spirit to his redeemed ones Acts 2.33 Therefore being by 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 As soon as he was warm in the Throne he poureth out the spirit that is the first news that we hear from him and presently the virtue of it appeared three thousand souls were added to the Church that day Now that is a pledge of what is continually dispensed in the Church There is still a spirit sent forth to convince the unbelieving world and to conquer the opposing wisdom and power of the flesh as also to beget and continue life in his people that they may actually be put in possession of what he hath purchased for them for he hath promised to be with the Ministry and dispensation of the word to the end of the world Matth. 28.20 meaning by that presence not only his powerful providence but his covincing and quickning Spirit 5. The actual Administration of his Kingdom He ruleth his Church preserveth his people and subdueth their enemies The enemies of Christ are of two sorts Temporal and Spiritual his Temporal enemies are such as oppose his cause and servants and seek to suppress his interest in the world The Jews despightfully used him and his messengers and they had their doom wrath came upon them to the uttermost 'T is supposed they are intended Matth. 16.28 There are some standing here which shall not tast of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom In a few years the City Temple and whole Polity of the Jews were destroyed for the erection of the Gospel kingdom The Romans were the next enemy who endeavoured the extirpation of Christianity by several persecutions these were next made the footstool of the King of Kings and after some years that vast Empire was destroyed by the Inundation of barbarous Nations and the residue marched under the banner of Christ. Within a little time all these Nations which oppose Christs interest and persecute his servants are subdued under him and either broken in pieces by sundry plagues and judgments or else brought to submit their necks to Christs blessed yoke There is no standing out against the King whom God hath exalted at his right hand Secondly the Spiritual enemies of Christs kingdom are sin Satan and death each of which hath a kingdom of its own opposite to the kingdom of Christ. The Apostle telleth us Rom. 5.21 That sin reigned unto death but he exhorteth Rom. 6.12 Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies And he promiseth Rom. 6.14 That sin shall not have dominion over you Satan hath a kingdom opposite to Christ he is called the Prince of this world by usurpation John 12.31 And the Devils are called Eph. 6.12 Rulers of the darkness of this world The ignorant
this Evidence Page 84 Ground of hope Page 231 232 Evil in sin evil after sin Page 128 No good man dares sin Page 362 Evils in the World consistent with a Deity and Providence Page 273 F FAinting what Page 245 The degrees of it Page 245 Faint not why Page 247 Faith is consent of subjection Page 14 To be in the Faith what Page 68 It propounds greater motives than the flesh can Page 77 Full grown prove our hope Page 232 Previous to our Christian hope Page 238 Faith gives eye to see our hope Page 238 Favour of God seen in internal Government Page 85 Fear may begin love perfects Conversion Page 157 Fear twofold and what each is Page 153 Fear and Hope motives to obedience Page 105 Fears of wicked men grow till they are Condemned Page 157 Flesh what Page 41 42 106 6 Its tendency Page 6 Contrary to the spirit and in what Page 7 Who walk after the Flesh Page 7 Things of it Page 41 When minded how diverted Page 44 45 46 Wholly and without controul rules some Page 46 47 117 Continueth to the last in the best Page 47 Would be pleased Page 49 Gets ground by our yielding Page 49 Not to be indulged and why Page 49 Our greatest enemy Page 113 49 50 The worse enemy by being indulged Page 50 Indulged undoes Body and Soul Page ib. Such indulging contrary to our hopes is unthankfulness to Christ Page 51 We must watch and weaken it Page 51 52 'T will act Religion in a design Page 57 Its wholly emnity to God Page 62 63 64 65 And to us Page 114 To be in the Flesh what Page 68 75 To live after the Flesh what Page 106 107 The more indulged the more dangerous enemy Page 113 Flesh in the mind how Page 115 116 Signs of its prevailing Page 117 Is ever active Page 125 First Fruits of spirit what Page 215 218 219 〈◊〉 in this World and in the next differ 〈…〉 Page 190 〈…〉 venture on Death by chusing sinful 〈◊〉 Page 112 Forâ—â—kâ—ng of sin needful to our reconciliation Page 36 Foreknowledge and Predistination Page 298 What each to what we are Predestinated How these two differ Page 298 The Predestinated in time called c. Page 304 Force nor Fraud cannot untwist the cords of our love to Christ Page 378 Foyls of Believers possible too often but not final Page 370 Fulfilling the Law what and how Believers do fulfil it Page 34 When they begin this Page 38 Not finisht in sudden Page 38 Must be increased Page 39 Future state of perfection to which all tend Page 188 To Saints what Page 206 207 G GAin of sinners by their sins now woful and what 't is Page 112 Gifts common and Grace special Page 81 Greater to common Christians than to the Heathen World Page 81 164 And what of God peculiar to his children Page 170 All are free Page 326 May be comprehended but this Gift Christ given for us is incomprehensible Page 327 Grieve not the spirit a Comforter Page 153 Glory future incomparably above present things and in what Page 183 'T is revealed at last Page 188 189 When revealed shall better the whole Creation Page 201 Goodness and holiness the very nature of God Page 38 280 281 He hath done Good to us Page 281 And how What hath most of God is most lovely Page 282 What our love to God is Page 282 Its properties Page ib. 283 Gospel offers an exemption from condemnation Page 3 To this we must appeal Page ib. Is Rule and Law Page 11 Threatneth forest penalties Page 12 What kind of Doctrine it is Page 18 Is Gods act of Oblivion Sanctuary c. Page 159 gospel-Gospel-spirit most sociable Page 16 Its fruits Page ib. Full of love to God and free in conversing with God Page 160 Gospel presents God most lovely to us Page 165 Gods love to us Page 379 Twofold and what each they blessed on whom 't is pitcht Page 379 380 And why how we perswaded of this unchangeable love Page 381 Who these are Page 381 God is Page 313 He will review and Iudge all Page 314 Over-rule all Page 316 How with his Page 314 How to be Gotten on our side Page 321 Gods Soveraignty Page 10 11 His Government internal and external Page 12 And what Page 12 Tho not bound by promise yet in his Goodness he doth reward the Good which natural men do Page 71 His right may repel all temptations and how Page 103 104 He and Flesh irreconcilable Page 112 God worketh with new Creature suitably to its nature Page 136 First loved for his benefits to us next for his own Goodness and excellency Page 142 Is with his Page 314 And how God a Father and in what respects Page 161 Great priviledge Page 168 Assisteth his children Page 246 247 Grace all planted in us by the spirit Page 17 Purchased for us Page 36 37 Increased how Page 44 Common acted sometime rewarded with more Page 71 Great which preserveth a Good man admist the temptations and sufferings in the flesh Page 76 It maintains the Combat and Conquers Page 76 Weak yet hath strength in it Page 77 Increaseth by decrease of sin Page 126 Special Grace what and its difference from Gifts Page 82 Coworks with God and must the reason why Page 136 In Grace as in nature Life Motion and Conduct from the very same principle Page 146 Groaning of the Creature Page 208 What how Page 209 We concerned in them Page 210 And how Groans of children of God Page 215 And what Page ib. 250 H HAtred to God not onely in Heathens but in nominal Christians Page 62 Lyeth in three things Page ib. All sin Hatred of God Page 63 Twofold Hatred Page 63 And what each is both in Carnal man against God Page 65 First Hatred of sin is from its Hurtfulness then from its sinfulness and contrariety to God Page 143 Happiness but one whatever men chuse to be it Page 112 True is knowledge and enjoyment of God Page 142 250 272 318 319 In Heaven inconceiveable and unspeakable Page 184 191 Future and certain Page 220 Consummate after the Resurrection Page 220 Happiest of men are Gods children Page 273 Hasty ones weary of Religion Page 242 Misjudge God Page 269 Lower Heavens shall be purified by fire Page 202 And why Page 201 Heaven and Hell divided between flesh and spirit Page 41 Begun in this World and how Page 184 Heavenliness whence and what Page 16 Heart is withdrawn from God if set on any thing else Page 62 290 278 322 Prepared by and then fill'd with the spirit Page 76 Heart makes that it 's God which lyeth next to it Page 107 Hath flesh in it and what 't is Page 116 Grows weak as lust grows strong Page 117 Carnal cannot make it self Spiritual Page 135 Heart searcher God Page 156 Heirs of God are all Believers Page 176 Title by Grace right is present possession future supply sure Page ib.
never go alone Page 130 Mediation of Christ is our triumph c. how Page 345 346 Effects of it tender'd to our Faith Page 346 This brings all good to us Page 350 Merit cannot be where the work is due Page 103 Merit of Christ to be eyed in prayer Page 266 Mercies spiritual worth our thanks Page 8 Of every kind should lead us to God Page 64 Common to be received as Mercies Page 71 And why Page ib. Minding things what Page 43 46 Whether we mind things of flesh or spirit in four particulars Page 45 Misery and sin are natural relatives Page 110 Of this life made tolerable by hope of a blessed Eternity Page 186 Miseries awaken many graces Page 273 Morals far more important than Rituals Page 69 Modesty in asserting or opposing becomes all Page 362 Moral obedience temporally rewarded and why Page 70 Moral Philosophy hid rather than killed vice Page 120 Mortifie the flesh and why Page 49 Better becomes us than to gratifie the flesh Page 71 What 't is Page 119 The flower in it the more painful 't will be Page 120 'T is Believers duty and what 't is its kinds Page 121 122 Means and order of it its seasons it must ever be carried on Page 124 126 Mortified sins retain some strength and are active Page 127 Begin this at heart Page 128 Hard but sweet in the fruits Page 131 How to be carried on Page 145 Motions to sin first striving to be prevented suppressed Page 52 Of the spirit to be cherisht and obey'd Page 149 And how Page ib. Mourning of the Earth c. what Page 209 Mungrel Christians Page 47 Musings of the mind Page 55 N NAture desires life gropeth after eternal life Page 140 Natural desires unfetter'd grow unruly Page 50 Natural life Page 74 A state of much weakness Page 76 Natural man judgeth his way wisdom Page 49 Would be vile if never tempted Page 49 Ignorant of the things of Gods spirit Page 74 New Creature is work of the spirit of God needs assistance from the spirit is child of God Page 169 O OBedience necessary to obtain the reward Page 12 Ours cannot satisfie the Law for any sins past Page 23 Obedience and faith benefited by Christ our sin-offering Page 36 Ever to be conformed to the Law of God Page 37 Partial is a humouring of our selves Page 79 Universal due to God therefore no merit Page 103 Enforced by many arguments Page 104 Sweetned by Redemption Page 104 Enricheth all that pay it Page 104 Oblations legal could not take away sin Page 27 Old man our first and last enemy Page 114 Omnipresence of God Page 73 And peculiar presence with Believers Page ib. Omniscience of God imployed for his children Page 170 Proved by Creation Page 257 Distinguisheth next approveth Page 262 Order of mans temper right Page 20 108 In self government Page 116 Opinion turned into religion is faint and weak Page 367 Original sin deserves condemnation Page 3 How irritated by the Law Page 9 Sprouts out in Passions Affections Page 129 Overcome God ere hurt his people Page 316 Overminding World is sinful Page 43 Owner of all God is by Creation Page 100 And Ruler Page ib. P PArdon needful as we are condemned and healing needful as we are sick Page 35 Passions what Page 129 Whence and to be mortified Page ib. Partiality in all to our selves Page 116 Partial view of Providence sees not its beauty and goodness Page 269 Paternal care of God over his children Page 169 Patience Bearing Waiting Working Page 242 Peace solid whence Page 7 8 342 Penance Popish like Baalitical severities Page 121 Persecutors hazard the wrath of God the Persecuted hazard mans wrath Page 363 Perseverance effect of Grace Page 28 Pleasing of God mans end Page 68 Should be our work Page 69 Is difficult and how Page ib. Pleasing the flesh what Page 43 44 More secret or open Page ib. and 48 49 50 55 56 Will sting the conscience Page 114 Pleasures proper for the Soul Page 79 Prayer great help Page 248 How 't is from the spirit Page 248 And how Page 249 250 251 The necessity of it Page 250 Cautions herein Page 251 What is the spirit of Prayer how it acteth us Page 252 Variously Page ib. We know not to Pray and why Page 253 Life of Prayer what Page 254 Some Prayers unfit to be ascribed to the Spirit Page 254 255 What Prayers from the spirit Page 255 Get this spirit and how Page 255 How Pray Page 260 All defects in it are seen of God Page 260 Different spirits working in Prayer Page 261 262 What these are Page ib. God distinguisheth in our Prayers c. Page 262 263 Prayers of Saints heard Page 264 Conditions of it Page 264 265 Preciseness in Believers needful Page 38 Present things little future great Page 240 Precept what how differs from Counsel Page 12 Prejudices against Religion whence Page 47 Principles of men either flesh or spirit Page 48 And men are what the prevailing Principles are Page 107 Internal put into us to keep us from sin Page 126 Priests spiritual Page 161 Priviledges infer duty Page 99 Are linkt together Page 179 Protection draws allegiance Page 104 Providence its Government Page 85 Rules over all Page 169 197 198 258 Special over some Page 274 Internal and what Page 314 Probabilities must support weak Believers Page 228 Propriery absolute in God onely Page 100 Not alienated Page 101 102 106 Promise binds God when nothing else can Page 103 Purpose of God what Page 292 293 Effects of it on us Page 293 Rise of all things Page 304 Decrees of God eternal Page 304 Fulfilled in his governing the World Page 305 Cannot be frustrated Page 306 Are fulfilled with admirable order Page 306 This order God maketh Page 306 What the effects of this Purpose Page 306 And the order and contatenation of its parts Page 306 307 Beautiful and inviolable Page 308 Exclude not means endeavours or duties but includes them Page 308 Punishment of the Damned in sense in loss Page 2 How equal 't is suited to sin Page 21 'T is Eternal Page 23 Corresponds to sin both are departure from God Page 108 109 Purity of God engageth him to punish sin Page 22 Q QUench not the spirit Page 37 Who do Quench it are in worse condition than before Page 78 Quit-rent God reserved to himself Page 196 R REconciliation needful to pleasing God Page 70 Priviledg'd with gift of holy Spirit Page 84 Recovery of fallen man its difficulty Page 19 Necessary because of Gods decree Page 26 Receiving Christ what Page 168 Redemption makes not the nature of sin less evil Page 3 Binds more to duty Page 102 Necessarily preceded Adoption Page 169 Redemption of our bodies what Page 216 Remission of sin how obtained Page 24 Renovation whence Page 135 9 14 15 In order to new life Page 35 It s great care Page 42 Renewed ones do nothing perfect Page 67
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
earthly Clay House is dissolved there were a building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens we would groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with that House For a Christian while out of Heaven is out of his proper place Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God are joyned together 2. Pet. 3.12 The one word implyeth Faith and the other desire surely men do not believe eternal Blessedness who are coldly affected towards it For an estate so Blessed if it were soundly believed it would be earnestly desired 2. Love They that love Christ will long to be with him Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be vvith Christ c. That Christ is there is the great motive to draw our hearts thither Col. 3.1 If ye then be risen vvith Christ seek those things vvhich are above vvhere Christ sitteth on the right hand of God love desireth the nearest union with the party loved Is Jesus Christ the beloved of our Souls Are we espoused to him as to one Husband 2 Cor. 11.2 do we desire to meet him and delight in his Presence in his Ordinances here Surely then we would desire to be with him hereafter for love doth always desire the nearest conjunction the fullest fruition and the closest communion The absence of our best Friend would be troublesome to us therefore we would groan and desire earnestly to be there where he is to behold his Glory How can we love him when we are so contentedly pleased to be long from him 3dly Hope That is a desirous expectation made up of looking and longing and shewing its self in Hearty groans after as well as delightful foretasts of the Blessedness expected what you hope for will be all your desire This estate is a good absent possible but difficult to be obtained as 't is good it is the object of Love as absent and future of desire as possible we look for it as desirable we groan after it well therefore hope hath a great influence upon these affectionate breathings after Heaven and happiness when joined with earnest expectation Phil. 1.20 5thly The Holy Ghost stirreth up in us these groans or a fervent desire partly by revealing the object in such a lively manner as it cannot otherwise be seen Eph. 1.17 18. 1 Cor. 2.22 Partly by his secret influences as he stirreth up holy Ardors in Prayer Rom. 8.25 26. Inutterable groans after happiness He that imprinteth the firm perswasion doth also imprint the desires of these things in our Hearts 6thly All the Ordinances of the Gospel serve to awaken these desires and longings in us and to raise up our affections towards Heavenly things The word is our Charter for Heaven or Gods Testament wherein such rich Legacies are bequeathed to us that every time read it or hear it or meditate upon it we may get a step higher and advance nearer Heaven The promises of the Word tend to this 2 Pet. 5.4 So do the Precepts to put us in the way everlasting Psal. 119.96 All Gods Commandments have an Eternal influence So for Prayer in company or alone 't is but to raise and act those Heavenly desires There we groan and long in the Lords Supper for New wine in our Fathers Kingdom To put an Heavenly relish upon our Hearts All is done in formality and with Hypocrise if it doth not promote these ends 7thly These desires are necessary because of their effect If we do not desire we will not labour and suffer trouble and reproach and persecution What maketh the Christian so Industrious So patient so self denying so watchful Only because he breatheth after Heaven with so much earnestness Desires are the vigorous bent of the Soul that bear us out in all difficulties The Soul leaneth that way its desires carry it If they be weak and feeble they are controlled with every lust abated upon every difficulty the desire of the other world beareth us out in the midst of the Temptations of this world otherwise a man is soon put out of the humour brought under the power of present things Whatever it is that gets your heart that will command you Foolish and hurtful lusts drown and sink you into a base Spirit 1 Tim 6.9 that all the Counsel that can be used will not reclaim you But if you be groaning and longing for and desiring the happiness of another world you have a victory over Temptations you have overcome the world for you regard it then only as your passage you cannot settle here 8thly The state of the present world doth set the Saints groaning and longing for this House from Heaven For this world is vexatious the pleasures of it are meer dreams and shadows and the miseries of it are real and many and grievous Gal. 1.4 To deliver us from this present evil world The present world is certainly an evil world take the best part of the world the state of the Church here it is quite different from what it will be hereafter Now Gods Children are pilgrims and can hardly get leave to pass thorow as Israel could not get leave to go thorow Edom at other times enemies come forth to stop them in the very wilderness Sometimes the Church is like a Ship in the hands of foolish guides that know not the right art of steerage at other times spotted with the Calumnies of adversaries or the stains and scandals of its own Children sometimes rent and torn by sad Divisions every party impaling and enclosing the Common Salvation within their own bounds unchristianing and unchurching all the rest and the name of Christians challenged to themselves and denyed to others and like a ball of contention carryed away by that party that can rustle down others who stand in their way Though with all this disadvantage 't is better to dwell in the Courts of the Lord than in the Tenâ—s of wickedness Yet surely a tender Spirit that mindeth Sions welfare will groan under these disorders and long to come at that great Council of Souls who with perfect Harmony are lauding and praising of God for evermore That innumerable company of Spirits made perfect Heb. 12.23 That general Assembly gathered together out of several Countries into one Body and one place who live together sweetly and serve God without weakness weariness and imperfection obj But how can Christians groan and long for their Heavenly state since there is no passage to it but by Death and 't is unnatural to desire our own Death Answ. 1. They do not simply desire Death for its self but as a means to injoy these better things So Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. 'T is not our duty to Love Death as Death No so 't is an evil that we must patiently bear because of the good which is beyond it But it is our Duty to Love God and to long after Communion with him and to be perfected in holiness Had it not been an evil
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
the Earth and Psalm 50.6 God is Judge himself It was enough to understand it so without any distinction of the Persons But when once this mystery was most certainly manifested by God manifest in our flesh now we must Enquire a little further 2. I Answer there is an Order in the Persons of the Blessed Trinity as in the manner of subsisting so also there 's a certain Order and Oeconomy according to which all their operations are produced and brought forth to the Creature according to which Order the power of Judging doth belong partly to the Father and partly to the Son 1. In the business of Redemption there the act of judging was exercised upon our surety he was substituted into our room and place and offered himself not only for our good but in our room and stead to bear our punishment and to Procure the favour of God to us there the act of judging belonged to the Father to whom the satisfaction was tendred and before whom our Advocate and Surety must plead and present himself therefore it is said in 1 John 2.1 We have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous Thus our advocate pleads before the Father as before the Judge 2. As to the Judgment to be exercised upon us whoever partakes of that Salvation which was purchased by the Surety or have lost it by their negligence impenitency and unbelief there the Second Person is to be judge In the former the Son could not be our judge for then he would be our Judge and Party too and then the plea of those Hereticks would have more Countenance of Reason In the business of Redemption the Son could not Judge because he made himself a Party for our good and stood in our room and place and the same Party cannot give and take the Satisfacion that cannot be therefore this order is constituted in this glorious mystery of the God-head that the satisfaction is tendred to the Father he pleads and represents himself to the Father in our behalf And the Holy-Ghost cannot be the Judge for in this mystery he hath another part and function and office he being the Third Person in Order of subsisting 3. In the Son there 's a double Relation or Consideration One as he is God and the other as he is Mediatour the one Natural and Eternal which shall endure for ever the other which he took upon himself in time and which in the Consummation of time he shall at length lay aside In the former respect as God so Christ is Judge with the Father and Spirit as by Original Authority but in this later respect as Christ is Mediatour he is Judge by Deputation The primitive Soveraignty belongs to God as Supream King and the Judge by derivation and deputation is the Lord Jesus Christ as Mediatour in his man-hood united to the Second Person of the God-head So the Judgment of the World is put upon him In regard of the creature as to us his Authority is Absolute and Supream But in regard of God it is deputed so he is ordained and appointed to be Judg. The Scripture delights much in this Notion John 5.27 He hath power of life and death to condemn and absolve the Father hath given him Authority as he is the Son of man Acts 10.42 The Apostles when they were to preach thought it not enough for them to say God is Judge no but he is ordained of God to be Judge of quick and dead So Acts 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he will Judge the World in Righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained In all which Christs acts as the Fathers vicegerent And after he hath thus judged the World as the Fathers Deputy then he shall give up the Kingdom to God even the Father 1 Cor. 15.25 So that the right Christ hath as Mediatour it is not meerly by Creation nor his Essential Kingdom common to the Father But a derivative subordinate right as Mediatour by vertue of his purchase as he dyed rose again and revived 4. This power which belongs to Christ as Mediatour it is given to him upon these accounts 1. Partly as a recompence of his humiliation But chiefly because it belongs to the fulness of his Mediatory Office 't is the last act The Kingdom of the Mediator is subordinate to the Kingdom of God now he being appointed by the Father the last act of his Kingly Office was to Judge the World This Mediatour was not only to pay a price to Divine Justice Not only to separate the redeemed from the World by converting them to God But he is also to Judge Devils and those Enemies of his that would not submit to his Mediatory Kingdom to Judge those Enemies out of whose hands he is to free the Church While the World lasts he is to fight against our Enemies but then to judge them and cast them into Eternal torments and so to deliver up the Kingdom to the Father 1. Cor. 15.24 His Office is not full till he hath executed and judged all his Enemies 2dly In what nature doth he act and exercise the Judgment either as God or man or both I answer in both Christ is the Person not the Father nor the Spirit and Christ acts it as God-man the Judgment is acted visibly by him in the Humane Nature seated upon a visible Throne that he may be seen of all and heard of all therefore Christ is so often with respect to the Judgment called the Son of man Mat. 16.27 Acts 17.31 Mat. 26.64 Joh. 5.27 The Judgment must be visible therefore the Judge must be so and that the World may see him with these eyes that we may see our Redeemer come in the last day and see him to our comfort he that is withdrawn into the Curtain of the Heavens he that is gone about his Ministration before God must come out and bless the People And therefore that he may be seen and heard of all though the divine Power be mightily seen yet he is to act it in the Humane Nature USE of all 1. This speaks terrour to the wicked 2dly Comfort to the Godly 1. Terrour to the wicked Here let us see 1. Who are those wicked ones to whom this terrour belongeth 2dly What is it that maketh it so terrible to them And will breed horrour and trembling in their hearts if they repent not First All those that have opposed his Kingdom in the World Luk. 19.27 Those mine Enemies that would not that I should Reign over them bring them forth and slay them before me These oppose the great design of the Gospel which is to set up the Lord Jesus as King 2dly All that set light by his Person in the day of his grace And though they do not oppose his Government yet refuse it Psal. 81.11 My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me 3dly All that despise his benefits and neglect to seek after them Heb.
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
man may receive the things done in the Body according to what he hath done good or bad THis receiving relateth either to the Sentence or the Execution principally the latter Doct. The end of the last judgment is that every man according to what he hath done may receive reward and punishment Without this the whole process of that day would be but a solemn and useless pageantry and therefore the end bindeth all upon us And as we have considered the other circumstances we must consider this also This receiving the things done in the Body relateth either to the doom and sentence Or else to the Execution For the sentence see Serm. Mat. 25. verse 34. 41. I shall here speak of the execution 't is set forth emphatically Matth. 25.46 These shall go away into everlasting punishment and the Righteous into life eternal In which Scripture 1. There is A Distribution of the Persons These and the Righteous the Goats and the sheep the workers of iniquity and the Godly the Righteous and the wicked This is the most material distinction and an everlasting distinction 'T is the most material and important distinction There is a distinction of Nations some lye nearer to the Sun others more remote or farther off some in a southerly some in a northerly climate but they are all alike near to the Sun of righteousness Jew or Greek or Barbarian are all one in Christ Gal. 3.28 There is a distinction of endowments some are learned and some unlearned Yet the Gospel looketh equally upon both and Christs disciples owe the equal debt of love to both Rom. 1.14 There is a distinction of ranks and degrees in the World some are noble and others ignoble but before God omnis sanguis concolor All blood is of a-colour and the true Spiritual nobility is to be born of God John 1.13 The Gospel puts the rich and poor on the same level Jam. 1.9 10. They differ in worldly estate but all have the same Redeemer as under the Law the rich and the Poor paid the same Ransom Exod. 30.15 There is a distinction between bond and free but the bond are Christs freemen 1 Cor. 7.22 And the free is Christs Servant Eph. 6.7 All these are not material to our acceptance with God There is a distinction between opinions and petty sects and parties in the Church but this is not the grand distinction which will hold weight at the day of doom There were different parties at Corinth and they were apt to band one against another but yet they had but one common Christ 1 Cor. 1 2. Jesus Christ theirs and ours We inclose and impale the common salvation unchristian and unminister one another cast one another out of Gods favour but Gods approbation doth not go by our vote and suffrage there lyeth an appeal from mans censure lingua Petilliani non est ventilabrum Christi 'T is well that every angry Brothers tongue is not Christ's fan wherewith he will purge his Floor God in his Judgment taketh notice of another distinction whether we be righteous or wicked holy or unholy The Eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his face is against them that do evil 1 Pet. 3.12 That is the distinction which doth bear weight before Christs Tribunal And this is the everlasting distinction Other distinctions do not outlive time they cease at the graves mouth within a while it will not be a pin to choose what part we have acted in the World whether we have been high or low rich or poor but much will lye upon it whether we have been godly or ungodly whether we have sowed to the flesh or to the Spirit This distinction will last for ever and the one of them will fill Heaven and the other Hell The whole World is comprized in one of these two ranks there is no neutral or middle estate 2. As there are different persons so there are different recompenses and a different doom and sentence which is executed upon either the conclusion is dreadful to the wicked but comfortable to the godly for everlasting life shall be the portion of the godly and everlasting punishment the portion of the ungodly This one Scripture well improved should be enough to make us shun all sin and imbrace and pursue after all good Wisdom lyeth in considering the end of things not what profit and pleasure it bringeth me now and flattereth me with now but what it will bring me in the end Rom. 6.21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death but being made free from sin and become the Servants of God ye have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life Alas sin bringeth little pleasure or satisfaction in the time of injoying it and in the remembrance of it it bringeth shame and in the Conclusion where it is not repented of it bringeth death Whereas on the other side the service of Christ will be matter of joy and pleasure at the present matter of comfort and confidence afterward and in the end salvation and eternal life there is a curiosity in man he would fain know his own destiny what shall become of him or what lyeth hid in the womb of futurity concerning his estate As the king of Babylon stood upon the parting of the ways to make divination No destiny deserveth to be known so much as this shall I be saved or shall I be damned live everlastingly in Heaven or Hell If the Question were shall I be rich or shall I be poor happy or miserable in the present World Shall I have a long life or shall I have a short That is not of such great moment we cannot meet with such troubles and difficulties here but they will have a speedy end so will persecutions and disgraces and sorrows but this is a matter of greater moment than so Whether I shall be eternally miserable 'T is foolish curiosity to enquire into other things they are not of such Importance that we should know them aforehand and it may do us more hurt than good to know our worldly estate the misery of which cannot be prevented by any prudence and foresight of ours And 't is better to trust our selves with the Providence of God than to anticipate future cares but it concerneth us much to know whether we are in a damnable or a saveable condition whether we are of the number of those that shall go into everlasting punishment or of the righteous who shall go into everlasting life if we be in the way to everlasting punishment 't is good to know it whilst we have time to remedy it If heirs of Salvation the assurance of our Interest is a preoccupation of everlasting blessedness This is that about which we should busie our thoughts and spend our time 3. Observe the notions by which this different estate is expressed life and punishment 1 The happy condition of the godly is
of this estate 2. When you make a business of it to seek Gods favour by Christ This must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your main work John 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent not a matter by the by but your chief work your first care Matth. 6.33 when our chiefest care is about our Souls and setling our Eternal Interests then we begin to act like men again Otherwise when we only cleave to Earthly things we live like Beasts and Mad men All his care is to maintain his Animal life so do the Beasts But when we begin to seek after Spiritual and Eternal things immortal Food Garments that shall never wax old laying up Treasure in Heaven then we act as those that have an immortal Soul Solomon putteth the Question Eccl. 3.21 Who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth upward or the Spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the Earth The words may bear a double sense who knoweth That is who can collect and gather from the courses and practices of Men that they have a Soul distinct from the Beasts they are as greedy upon bodily things and the sustentation of the present life only as the Beasts are Now who knoweth it Who doth acknowledge it and consider it so as to look out for food for the immortal Soul to get it adorned with saving Grace sanctified by the Spirit of God Who till he be inlightned by the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and is soundly convinced of Heavenly things Eph. 1.17 18. But now when a man maketh it his first and main care then he doth know or practically acknowledge he hath a Soul which doth go upward distinct from the Beasts which doth go downward The man is come to himself again when he maketh it his business to obtain pardon and eternal life by Christ. 3. When they stand in Awe of God and are afraid to disobey his Laws Job 20.28 Behold the fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding and Pro. 9.10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom 'T is the first point and the chiefest point First both in time and dignity Now what is the fear of God but to be sensible of Gods Majesty and presence that we dare not sin against him and affront him to his Face Wicked men that can break thorough a Commandment when it standeth full in their way are simple and witless for they enter into a plain contest with God which none but a mad-man would do Pro. 13.13 Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed But he that feareth the Commandment shall be rewarded And Psa. 119.161 My heart standeth in awe of thy word A choice frame of heart More then if a thousand dangers stood in the way He dareth not what ever profit or pleasure might ensue upon the breach or danger for not breaking thorough 4. When they delight to do his will and promote his Glory For they have intirely devoted themselves to God Rom. 14.7 8. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords And 1 Cor. 6.19 20. What! know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy-Ghost which is in you which ye have of God And ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price Therefore glorify God in your body and in your Spirit which are Gods He owneth Gods interests in him Carnal Policy and Spiritual Wisdom differ mainly in the end and scope the one hath a care to please and glorify God the other to advance himself and his own natural interests 5. When he is ever getting more fitness for Heaven and clearer evidences for Heaven providing for the time to come is wisdom Luke 16. When he would die wisely his heart is more taken up about his everlasting estate what he shall do when his Soul is turned out of doors Thus have I shewed you how carnal men may know when they are in their wits again SERMON XXI 2 Cor. 5.13 For whether we be besides our selves it is to God Or whether we be sober it is for your cause THe Text containeth the answer to the Second imputation Thou art besides thy self Paul answers 1. By way of concession he may be as to Appearance and to their Judgment sometimes mad and sometimes sober 2. By way of exception and vindication 1. From his end if mad 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If sober 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. From his principle the Love of God and so bringeth in his third motive verse 14th Paul whether besides himself as they thought or sober he still sought the Glory of God and the good of the Church Doct. A Christian in all his speeches and actions and all postures of Spirit should still aim at the Glory of God 1. We shall consider this truth with some observations as it lyeth in this place 2. Some reasons of the point in general 1. The observations are these 1. Observe what a change and difference the power of the Lords grace worketh in a man Paul confesseth of himself Acts 26.11 That he was when a Pharisee mad against God I was exceeding mad against this way And now the Text representeth him as one in the Judgment of the Corinthians at least besides himself but he telleth you it was for God As formerly he was an instance of the cursed vigour of nature so now of the sacred power of grace 'T is but reason that we should do as much for God as we did before for Satan Rom. 6.19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh that as you have yielded your members Servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity Even so now yield your members Servants to Righteousness unto Holyness That is this is a moderate proposal and in condescension to their infirmity requireing the least that in any reason could be required of them That they should have the same care of Holiness now and be as diligent to obey the precepts of Christ as before they were industrious and earnest to serve their lusts and vile affections In strist Justice he might require a greater care to secure their Life and Salvation than ever they had expressed in ruining and damning themselves But he would deal with them in the modest and most easie and equitable manner because the flesh cannot bear too much severity or too high expressions of duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth that which hath nothing extraordinary in it or which is common among men A modest humane proposal that they should serve God as earnestly as they had served the Devil That at least they should do as much for him now they had better work better wages and the best Master as before they had done for sin
to live to him daily mercies bind us to sweeten our service God being so good a Master 4. The new nature is requisite that we may in all things mind Gods Glory 'T is more easie to convince us of our obligations to live unto God than to get an heart and a disposition to live to God The new creature which is created after God ever bendeth and tendeth towards him As the flower of the Sun doth follow the Sun and openeth and shutteth according to the absence of the Sun so doth the heart of a Christian move after God We say aqua in tantum ascendit c. Nature riseth no higher than its spring head and center self is our principle and end Hosea 10.1 Israel is an empty vine He bringeth forth fruit to himself We live to our selves and seek after our own interests till God give us another heart when the heart is changed a mans felicity and last end is changed And therein the new nature doth most bewray its self 5. The more our lusts are mortified the more sincerely shall we aim at the Glory of God That which is lame is easily turned out of the way And if we have not a Command over our affections they will be interposing and perverting all our actions and when God should be at the end of all our actions the idol that our lust hath set up will be at the end of them We will subordinate them to our pleasure honour and profit any lust is a great ingrosser The belly will be God and honour command us as a God and Mammon will be God our hearts are corrupted and some created thing is set up in stead of God Therefore mortification is the guard of sincerity Otherwise we shall love the Creature for its self alone or for our selves alone and so be turned from God whom alone we should honour please and obey USE 2. Is this the temper and disposition of our Souls Do we make the glory of God our great end and scope If it be so then 1. We will prefer Gods honour above our own Interests though never so dear to us A notable Instance we have in our Lord Jesus Christ who came as Gods Servant in the work of Redemption and we read of him in the general Rom 51.3 That he pleased not himself That is he did not gratify his own natural and humane will More particularly Phil. 2.6 7 8. That he emptied himself and made himself of no reputation and humbled himself to the death of the Cross. To promote his Fathers glory he willingly submitted to all manner of indignities for this end purpose more expressly we have the workings of his heart set forth John 12.27 28. Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour Father glorify thy name and there came a voice from Heaven saying I have glorified it and will glorify it again His desires of his own safety were moderated and submitted to the conscience of his duty and he preferreth the honour of God and seeks to advance it above his own ease for Christ endeth all debates with this Father glorify thy name Now certainly all that have the Spirit of Christ will be tender of Gods glory and account that dearer to them than any thing else and submit to the bitter cup so God may have honour thereby You will think Christs example too high who submitted the sensible consolations of the Godhead to the respects of Gods glory and this is not possibly practicable by any creature 'T is true every ordinary Christian doth not come to this height but the thing is imitable witness Paul who valued the glory of God above that personal contentment and happiness that should come to him by his own Salvation Rom. 9.3 For I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh 'T is not an hasty speech he calleth God to witness that this was the real disposition of his heart he speaketh advisedly and with good deliberation But how then can it be made good There is an holy part and an happy part in religion he did not wish less love to Christ nor to be less beloved of him But you will say a regular love beginneth at home true but 't is not his Salvation and their Salvation that cometh in competition but his Salvation and the glory of God and he was much more affected with Gods glory then his own good This should shame us that stand upon our petty Interests We are not called to such self-denyal Surely we should be contented to do any thing and be any thing so God may be glorified poor or rich so God may be glorified by our poverty or riches As travellers take the way as they find it so it will lead to their journeys end Decline no service nor suffering for Gods sake when he calleth us to it Phil. 1.20 So also now Christ shall be magnified in my Body Whether it be by life or by death So Christ be glorified in his Body That is a lower and more moderate Interest the suspension and delay of Salvation laying it at Gods feet the glorifying of God in his calling was more welcome than his present entrance into glory So Acts 20.24 I count not my life dear to me so I may finish my course with joy When they told him of dangers he went bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem Well then an heart that is truely affected with Gods glory standeth upon no temporal Interests and concernments and preferreth Gods honour before its own ease honour pleasure esteem yea life its self 2. If tender of receiving honour from men to Gods wrong The Apostles did not set up a trade for themselves Acts 14.15 They rent their Clothes and said what do ye do we are but men of like passions So Acts 3.12 Why gaze ye upon us as if by our power and holiness we had made this man to walk Herod received Applauses and was therefore blasted Act. 12. The concealer is as bad as the stealer to affect or admit Divine honour or too much attributing to our selves any good effected by us as Instruments as we must not assume so we must not reâ—eive honour when 't is ascribed to us by others The Apostles would not suffer the admiration and praise in the people to rest upon themselves Thy pound hath gained ten pounds Matth. 25. And 1 Cor. 15.10 Not I but the grace of God that was with me And I live but not I Gal. 2.20 3. If affected deeply with Gods dishonour though done by others Psa. 69.9 The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and the reproaches of them that have reproached thee have faln upon me Vehement passions waste the Body affected more with Gods dishonour than our own personal injuries On the other side when we rejoyce in his glory though we our selves be lessened Phil. 1.18 Whether in pretence or in truth Christ is preached and I therein
do rejoyce yea and will rejoyce John 3.30 He must increase but I must decrease 4. If it be the principal design that your Souls travel with And you are still contriving how you may Improve your relations capacities and particular advantages for Gods honour and glory Neh. 1.11 What a man loveth he will strive to promote it if a man love the flesh he will strive to please it Rom. 8 th If a man love the Lord he will contrive how he may honour him If a Minister study to shew thy self a workman that needs not be ashamed if a Master of a Family he will endeavour to glorify God in his family and will consider what he hath there to do for God 5. If not sollicitous about the opinions and censures of men 1 Cor. 4.3 Not to stand much upon mans day or what men think of us 't is no great matter my business is to approve my self to God the Christians in the Spirit were differenced from the Christians in the Letter Rom. 2.29 Whose praise is not of men but God Sincerity is much known by considering whom we make our Witness Judge Approver and Pay-master and the truest magnanimity is a living above opinions and slighting what men think and say of us so we be found in the way of righteousness and in the discharge of our duty 't is more easy to deny wealth and pleasure then it is to deny esteem and reputation 6 When this is the great motive to all honest walking For our end is known by our motives and the only way and means to glorify God is by an uniform and constant holiness Matth. 5.16 Let your Light so shine c. 1 Pet. 1.2 2 Thes. 1.12 Not seeking any Glory to our selves from men but honestly aiming at the glory of God will bring sufficient incouragement so John 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified if ye bring forth much fruit When we seek our Fathers glory in all that we do it is argument enough 7. If we rejoyce that God be glorified by others And to the utmost of our power endeavour that it may be so True grace is cumulative Luke 22.32 When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren As Fire turneth all into fire about it so grace will diffuse it self 'T is observed of mules and creatures of a mungrel race that they never procreate bring forth after their kind There is an enmity goeth along with a carnal profession they would fain impale the common Salvation appropriate Christ to themselves shine alone in the reputation of holiness but hearts zealously affected with the glory of God can delight in the gifts and graces of others in their acting for God as they could do in their own Would to God all the Lords people were Prophets Numb 11.29 T is a sign we mind the end more then the Instruments Self-love and self-seeking is much bewrayed by envy if at work for God we should be glad of company 'T is a sign Gods glory is our aim when we can rejoyce that others are equal or superiour to us When a man would fain have a work dispatched he would be glad of fellow-labourers SERMON XXIII 2 Cor. 5.14 For the Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus Iudge that if one dyed for all then were all dead IN the Context the Apostle is rendering the reason of his fidelity in the Ministry which exposed him to hard labour and sundry Calamities His three grand Inducements were First The hope of a blessed Immortality Secondly The terrour of the Judgment Thirdly The love of Christ. This threefold cord is not easily broken His hopes are professed in the beginning of the Chapter His sense of the Terrour of the Lord and the weightiness of his account verse 10 11. With an answer to objections thou art proud mad or transported verse 13 th Now the last from his end and principle which bringeth in the third inducement the Love of God All together is enough to set the most rusty Wheels a going Motives strong enough to move the hardest heart Here are the strongest Arguments to perswade the greatest Terrours to affright yet all will not work without the force of love Rewards allure and incourage Terrours keep aweful and serious but 't is love that must inwardly incline men and constrain the heart For the love of Christ constraineth us c. In the words 1. We have the force and operation of love 2. The reason why and how it cometh to have such a force and operation Because we thus Judge that if one died for all then are all dead The reason of our love to Christ is Christs love to us which is described 1. By the special act of his love he died for us one for all 2. The end and aim of it then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that died for them verse 15. Christs end was 1. Our dying to â—â—n and Worldly Interests 2. Our living in a dedicated and consecrated way wholly to the Service and Glory of Christ. 1. I begin with the force and operation of love the love of Christ constraineth us 'T was love which put bands upon him and made him forget himself and only speak and do those things which concern the glory of Christ and the good of the Church Let us a little explain the words The love of Christ. It may be taken passively or actively passively for that love with which Christ loveth us Actively for that love which we bear to Christ I take it for this latter our love to Christ founded on his to us constraineth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compresseth the Spirit with a mighty force as Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was pressed in Spirit Acts 18.5 When the Spirit within him constrained him to speak The same word expresseth that passionateness of desire which Christ had to dye for us Luke 12.50 I have a Baptism to be Baptised with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and how am I straitned till it be As a Woman in travail striveth to be Delivered of her burden The word is emphatical and noteth the sweet violence and force of love by which the heart is over-swayed and over-powered that it cannot say nay Beza glosseth totos nos possidet regit It doth wholly possess us and ruleth us and hath us in its power to make us do what it would have us Paul was wholly guided and ruled by love that he forgot himself for Christs sake Doct. That the love of Christ hath such a great force and efficacy upon the Soul that it inclineth us to a willing performance of duties of the greatest difficulty and danger To evidence this to you this Scripture sufficeth for this is the account which Paul giveth of his zeal and diligence in his Apostleship To preach the Gospel was a work of much labour and hazard they went abroad to bait the Devil and hunt him out
calumnies the people of God are represented as strange sort of people unto the World 2 Cor. 6.8 As deceivers and yet true They are reputed as a company of hypocrites and dissemblers all their experiences questioned and scoffed at prophane and wanton wits will be spitting out their venom in every age and Gods people will be Judged according to men in the flesh though they live to God in the Spirit 1 Pet. 4.6 God permitteth it reproach is the soil and dung whereby he maketh his heritage fruitful but yet this is an hiding and disguising the Spiritual life Lastly 'T is hidden under manifold weaknesses and infirmities the best have their blemishes and the most of Christians shew forth too much of Adam and too little of Jesus and so the Spiritual life is carryed on darkly and in a riddle Though the old man of corruption doth not bear sway in their hearts to command direct and order all their actions as formerly it did yet sin is not wholly gone they feel a Law warring in their members Rom. 7.33 And 't is not only warring but sometimes prevailing that they themselves can feel little of the holy life There are some question and life of grace others scorn and scoff at it yet believe it for 't is the great truth revealed in the Scriptures and 't is in some measure felt by sense yea the rays of this hidden and rejected life are often discovered to the World For there are some who by their practices condemn the World live in counter-motion to the corrupt sort of men walk as those that have another Spirit than the Spirit of the World 1 Cor. 2.12 and as those that look for an happiness else where Therefore believe that there is such a life 2. Value and esteem it according to its worth and excellency I mean with a practical esteem as Paul doth counting all things but dung and dross in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. What would he know in him Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection Or the vertue of raising him out of sin to the life of grace Oh that is an excellent thing indeed 'T is more to be advanced to this life than to the highest honour in the World This is to live in God to God to have miracles of grace wrought in us every day 'T is the divine power that giveth us all things that pertain to life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 Not begun nor carryed on without a daily miracle or a work exceeding the power of nature or the force of the creature life ennobleth all things a living dog is better then a dead Lion to be alive to God when others are dead in sin what a great priviledge is that 3. Deal with Christ about it Come to him he purchased it by his death John 6.51 This is my flesh which I have given for the life of the World To God in sacrifice to us for food Look upon him as one that is possessed of the fulness of the Spirit to work it in all those that come to God by him Heb. 7.25 He is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him for he liveth for ever to make intercession for them That is penitent believers for by faith and repentance we come to God by Christ. He is angry that we will not come to him for this benefit John 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye may have life If you have a pressing need why should you keep away from him That 's his Quarrel against us that we will not make use of him for this benefit He is best pleased when we have most of it John 10.10 I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly He would have us not only living Christians but lively He hath appointed Ordinances to convey it to us The word Isa. 55.3 Hear and your Souls shall shall live The Sacraments Psa. 22.26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever Prayer that we cry earnestly and express our desires of this benefit Psa. 36.9 For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light David often calleth upon God as the God of his life Well when we go to God he remitteth us to Christ Christ to the Spirit and the Spirit to the Ordinances there we should observe his drawings and obey his sanctifying motions when he saith Arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Eph. 5.14 When more awakned than at another time 4 When we have this life let us Improve it and act grace in all holy obedience unto God Eph. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us walk in the Spirit If partakers of the new life of grace we must shew it in our conversations for newness of heart is seen in newness of life USE 3. is to put us upon self reflection and self examination Have we a new life communicated to us 1. If it be so then there is a great change wrought in us 'T is said of Christ he was dead and is alive Rev. 1.18 To him we are conformed Luke 15.24 This my Son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found So Eph. 2.1 You that were sometimes dead in trespasses and sins yet now hath he quickned Surely when a man is translated from death to life that should be a sensible change as if another Soul dwelt in the same body he is another man to God hath holy breathings after him delights frequently to converse with him in prayer Acts 9.11 Arise and go into the street called straight and enquire in the house of Judas for one Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth And Zach. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication He hath a child-like love to God as a Father Gal. 4 6. And because ye are Sons he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart crying Abba Father Have a Child-like reverence to him Eph. 5.1 Be ye followers of God as dear Children Illustrate it by that Jer. 35.6 When they set pots of Wine before them to drink we dare not Jonadab our Father commanded us saying ye shall drink no Wine And a Child-like dependance upon him Matth. 6.32 Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things A Child-like hope from him 1 Pet. 1.3 Who hath begotten us to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead Zeal for him 2 Cor. 5.10 Knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men He is another man to his neighbour he carrieth it justly and righteously to all both as to person name and estate and this not by compulsion of conscience but inclination of heart which the Scripture expresseth by loving our neighbour as our selves seeking their good as our own
above him or equal with him is to hate him Now because men love the World and the things of the World as well yea more then God they hate him and are enemies to him Now all carnal men are guilty of this 2 Tim. 3.4 Lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore 't is positively said Jam. 4.4 That the friendship of the World is enmity with God And whosoever is a friend of the World is an enemy to God Oh! That men would look upon things as the Scripture expresseth them That the love of the World is the highest contempt and affront which can be offered to God In comparison of our love to him all the pleasures and contentments of the World should be hated rather then loved So far as we set our Hearts upon these things so far they are deadned and estranged from God and God is easily parted with for the Worlds sake If a Father should come to a Child and say if you love such a young man or woman you cannot love me and I shall take you for my utter enemy Would not any Ingenuous Child rather then be an enemy to his Father part with his vain and inticing company 3dly By Interpretation still we are said to hate God and to be enemies to him if we Rebel against his Laws and love what God hateth So The carnal mind is said to be enmity to God because it is not subject to the Law of God Rom. 8.7 Love is determined by obedience 1 Joh. 5.3 And hatred by disobedience That hate me and keep not my Commandments We apprehend God sâ—andeth in the way of our desires because we cannot injoy our lusts with that freedom and security as we might otherwise were it not for his Law We hate God because he Commandeth that which we cannot and will not do Therefore an impenitent person and an enemy to God are equivalent expressions 4thly There is a twofold hatred Odium abominationis and odium inimicitiae The hatred of Abomination and the hatred of Enmity The one is opposite to the love of good-will the other to the love of Complacency Pro. 29.27 The wicked is an abomination to the Righteous He hateth not his Neighbour with the hatred of Enmity so as to seek his destruction but with the hatred of offence so as not to delight in him as wicked In opposition to the love of complacency we may hate ouâ— sinful neighbour as we must our selves much more but in opposition to the love of benevolence we must neither hate our Neighbour nor our Enemy nor our selves Apply this now to the case between God and us 't will be hard to excuse any carnal men from either hatred certainly not from the hatred of Offence or Abomination there being such an unsuitableness and dissimilitude between God and them In pure nature we were created after his Image and then we delighted in him but when we lost our first nature we lost our first love for love is grounded upon likeness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we love those that have like affections especially in a good thing Now there being such a dissimilitude between God and us we love what he hateth and hate what he loveth therefore how can there choose but be hatred between us How can we delight in a Holy God and a God of pure Eyes delight in filthy Creatures What can carnal man see lovely in God Zech. 11.8 My Soul loathed them and their Soul abhorred me and therefore from this hatred of Loathing Offence and Abomination none can excuse them till they come to hate what God hateth and love what God loveth there is still the hatred of Offence Pro. 8.13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil c. And for the hatred of enmity which is an endeavour to do mischief and seeketh the destruction of the thing hated we cannot excuse the wicked from that neither for there is a secret positive enmity as you have heard before 5thly Gods enemies carry on a twofold war against God Offensive and defensive 1. The offensive war is when men Rebel against Gods Laws and seek to beat down his interest in the World and employ their faculties mercies and comforts as weapons of unrighteousness against God Rom. 6.13 Yield not your members as Instruments of unrighteousness unto sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or weapons but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as weapons of Righteousness unto God Our Faculties Talents Interests are employed either as armour of light for God or as weapons of unrighteousness against God And warring Satans warfare I call the offensive war against God The defensive war is when we slight his Word and resist the motions of his Spirit Acts 7.51 When God bringeth his Spiritual Artillery to batter down all that lifteth up it self against the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. He layeth seige to their Hearts and battereth them daily by the rebukes and the motions of his Spirit yet men will not yield the fortress but stand it out to the last and delight to go on in their natural corruption and will not have Christ to Reign over them and so they increase their enmity and double their misery by a resistance of grace So that they are Rebels not only against the Law but the Gospel and stand out against their own mercies As they are enemies to an earthly Prince that not only molest him with continual Inroads and Incursions but those also that keep his Towns against him Well then all this that is said sheweth that though men do not break out into open acts of hostility against God yet they may hate him be enemies to him Though they may not be profest Infidels yet secret enemies under a shew of respect to his Religion Enemies by Interpretation as they love him not or love him less or impenitently continue in a course of disobedience If they seek not the destruction of Gods interest in the world yet their Soul loatheth God the thoughts of his being are a trouble to them And they do not walk in his ways nor will not be reclaimed from their folly by any of his intreaties 2dly Now let me prove that God is an enemy to a carnal man or man defiled with sin He is so though he doth not stir up all his wrath though he bestoweth many favours upon us in the blessings of this life he is so though he useth much patience towards us He is so though he vouchsafeth us many tenders of grace to reclaim us All these things may consist with the Wrath of God He is so whatever purposes of grace or secret good will he may bear to any of us from everlasting for our Condition is to be determined by the sentence of his Law and there we are Children of wrath even as others Eph. 6.3 Liable to the stroak of his Eternal Vengeance Psa. 5.5 Thou hatest all the workers of
Wo unto us if now after God hath been at such a great deal of cost we should slight the motion Angels wonder at what you slight 1 Pet. 1.12 Shall the Blood of Christ run a wasting Mind the business I pray you God hath laid out all his wisdom upon it and will not you take it into your thoughts Gods Heart was much set upon it or else he would never have given his Son to bring it about 'T is the folly of man to part with things of worth for trifles As Esau sold his Birth-Right for a mess of Pottage Lysimachus his Kingdom for a Draught of Water Surely we cannot imagine this of the wise God when he hath been at such expense 't is not for a matter of nothing Therefore we should the more regard it 3dly In that he hath appointed a Ministry of Reconciliation and authorized some as solemn Messengers to tender this grace to us in his name Therefore we as Embassadors for Christ we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God God might have contented himself with putting his thoughts into Scripture and given us the word and doctrine of Reconciliation only and truly that 's a great mercy Heathens are left to the puzzle and distraction of their own thoughts and know not how God shall be appeased But because that Blessed Book may possibly lye by as a neglected thing he will have some that shall put us in mind daily of his design of saving the World by Christ. If he would send Messengers he might have sent Heraulds to proclaim War but he hath sent Embassadors of peace Surely upon this account we should be welcome to you Isa. 52.7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace that bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth Salvation that saith unto Zion Thy God Reigneth How dirty soever their feet be with the Journey Our Message is not to require satisfaction for the wrongs done to the Crown of Heaven or to denounce War but a matter of peace Not only to beg a correspondency of Traffick but a treaty about Marriage and so to enter into the strictest-amity with God Even that you may be married unto Christ to bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 Yet farther 4thly These messengers are under a charge to manage Gods message with all wisdom and faithfulness and diligence Mark 16.15 16. To preach the Gospel to every creature to Rich and Poor Learned and Unlearned And woe be to them if they be not diligent warning every Man and teaching every Man that they may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus Col. 1.28 Christ hath conjured them by all their love to his person to do it Joh. 21.15 16 Feed my sheep Feed my Lambs If we have any respect to our Lord we must be diligent in offering peace to all that are willing to repent and believe This work is seriously commended to us yet profess to be my Servants and therefore by all the love you have to me I conjure you I shall not take it that you love me if you have not a care of my sheep and my Lambs You know the temptations prejudices and hatred of those you have to do with Therefore pray them to be reconciled And 5thly Consider the terms which God requireth Which are only that we should render our selves capable of his favour by entring into covenant with him On Gods part all things are ready Now we pray you to be reconciled That is do you enter into covenant with him God in the covenant is our Friend Abraham is called the Friend of God James 2.23 2. Chro 20.7 Thou gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy Friend for ever Isa. 41.8 The seed of Abraham my Friend Abraham was Gods Confederate and they loved intirely as one Friend doth another In the covenant you take God for your God and God taketh you for his people you enter into a League Offensive and Defensive to hate what God hateth and to love what God loveth God promiseth and ingageth to bless and you to obey 3dly The value of this priviledge 't is worth the having What do we plead with you about but the favour of God and reconciliation with him by Christ God found out the way Christ purchased it The Angels first published it Luk. 2.14 I here are many priviledges depend upon it As 1. Sanctifying Grace God being propitiated in Christ giveth us the first grace and causeth us to repent and believe in Christ. For on the behalf of Christ 't is given us to believe Phil. 1.29 And the regenerating Spirit is Shed upon us by Christ. Now when we repent and believe we are made capable of more of the sanctifying Spirit Acts. 2.38 The holy Ghost is given to them that obey Acts 3.32 And we are witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy-Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him And a farther measure of grace upon our actual reconciliation Gal. 4.6 And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father 2dly The pardon of sins When we are Regenerated our sins are actually pardoned Acts 26.18 To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and Inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me Heb. 8.10 11 12. We are released from the eternal punishment and God quits his controversy against us 3dly Communion with God Favour Image and Fellowship go still together They were lost together Before we could not look God in the face or lift up the Head to him or think of him without Trembling There is a God but he is my enemy Every Prayer revived our guilt But now we have access with boldness and confidence of welcom and audience when ever we have occasion to make use of God Heb. 4.16 When David heard that Saul was pacified towards him he was in his presence as in times past 1 Sam. 19.7 The flaming Sword which kept the way to the Tree of life is removed In our falls in our distresses in our dangers in our wants in death its self we have a God to go to to move for relief to whom to commit our Souls 4thly We have solid Consolation Rest and Peace in our selves For the chief cause of our fear and sorrow is done away Our sin is pardoned and subdued and the eternal punishment released 'Till this be you can never have any rest for your Souls 'till you are at peace with God and submit to the course prescribed by him for your reconciliation Matth. 11.28 29. One great fault of man is that he doth not take a right course to quiet his Soul God complaineth of his people by the Prophet That they had forgotten their resting place Jer. 50.6 That is they had forgotten God their only trust Men seek peace