thou the hope of Israel why dost thou depart In Gen. 19.2 when the two Angels came to Lot in Sodome the one was Christ Lot compelled them to go in Christ is not now unwilling but hee knockes and calls and saith Open to me my love my dove my undefiled he entreats the loose person to forsake his base practises and the covetous person to leave his oppression and to receive mercy but you suffer Christ to lye in the street and despise that word of his and will bee at your owne carving This especially falls foule upon two sorts of persons The first sort is all carnal profane opposers of the Lord Iesus The carnall Gospeller is content that Christ should undertake for him and bee his Protectort to defend him from the plague of sin but he is not content that Christ should rule in him He doth as the Inne-keeeper that receives a guest into his house to make an advantage of him for as the Inne-keeper will come to his guest and pretend great matters to him not because he would have his guest to possesse him but because hee would bee possessor of his money so the carnall Gospeller would have Christ for his owne turne hee would dispose of Christ and mercy for his owne purpose and hence come all those speeches God is mercifull and Hath the Lord Christ created men to damne them Oh but mercy is sweet and pardon is good This is thus much you would have Christ to pardon sinne that you might commit it with lesse feare and more freedome If you did see no Saviour but that you must needs be damned for it you would startle at it But you would have Christ to stand by you that you might sinne the more freely Oh be not deceived doe you thinke that Christ will come to be an underling to your lusts and a drudge to your base distempers whose condemnation is iust saith the Apostle No you are deceived you shall not have Christ a servant to carry your lusts and pleasures to heaven with you The truth is the Lord Iesus will never bring comfort nor consolation to thee that wilt not bee possessed of him either haue both or neither chuse whether you will The second sort to be reproved are a company of slie hypocrites that would part stakes with Christ and part houses with him they could bee content that hee should have some roome in the house but they will dispose of all themselues as a man that lets some roomes in his house Simile upon this condition that he may have them when he lists You willl pray against sinne provided that now and then Christ will give you leaue to practise it and you will cry out against it provided that you may have a privy seale or some secret licence for it and you will professe bitterly against base courses so you may haue some backe doore and inward lust still The Lord Iesus doth not share with any man can he have a part and the Divell a part nay hee will have either all or none It was the tricke of an adulterous heart for when there was contention for the children the harlot said 1 King 3.26 Let it be neither thine nor mine but divide it Nay saith the mother let her have all Shee was the harlot that would have the child devided So it is with an adulterous and dissembling heart that saith Let Christ have a part and the world a part let lusts and pompe have a part and Christ a part this is dissimulation with GOD and shall receive condemnation there must bee no sharing If your hearts be guilty of this I charge you in the name of the Lord Iesus consider it the Lord never came into your soules you must resigne all to him and then he will saue all he will pardon all sin and give power against it What a fearfull thing were it if the Lord should deale with you as you deale with him Suppose thou couldst be halfe damned wouldst thou be content to have thy heart go to hell and thine eye to heaven or thy body to hell and thy soule to heaven therefore that thy body and soule may both be saved resigne up up all into the hands of thy Saviour and let him dispose of all here in the kingdome of grace and then he will take all to himselfe in glory for ever Vse 2. If the Lord Iesus be the possessor of all the house then let every one haue his owne Give all to Christ whose it is doe not with draw from Christ that which is his Whose image and superscription hath the soule Christ Iesus hath the protection of it therefore let him have all Let thine eye see his works and wonder and admire at them let thy minde know Iesus Christ whom to know is eternal life but do not withdraw any thing from the true owner therof that hath purchased it full deare 1 Cor. 5.15 Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid Thine eye and thy tongue and thy hand and thy heart they are all Christs members he hath bought all with his blood and thou hast nothing to do with that which Christ hath bought therefore whensoever thy corruptions stirre and Satan tempts and begges for the use of thy mind or heart make answer and say Shall I take that heart that is Christs and thinke basely God forbid Shall I take the hand of Christ and worke wickednesse with it The holy Apostle is marvellous peremptory in this case as 1 Cor. 6.19 Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods and hee hath bought you with a price your bodies and soules are the Lords hee undertakes for both therefore glorifie God in both If a man did come to your house and take the meat and drinke that you have provided and rob you of your money you would take it very hardly and say It is my owne So you are not your owne Therefore if the Divell or the world would prevaile with you and enter into the use of your heart or minde tell him they are not thy owne they are the Lords IESVS CHRIST hath come into thy heart and minde in mercy and therefore say it is the Lords let him doe what hee will with it â‚ SPIRITVALL LOVE AND IOY Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is love ioy goodnes faith c. THE sure mercies of David which faith beleeveth love embraceth And who so getteth this field and treasure must needs go away rejoycing in so good a bargain All this and all other graces and comforts worketh one and the same Spirit directing the heart to God uniting it unto Christ and thereby comforting it abundantly All is his fruit in us At this time of loue and joy The point of Doctrine is this Love and joy by the spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercy as it deserves Doct. The Spirit of the Father kindles in the soule of
THE SOULES IMPLANTATION INTO THE NATURALL OLIVE By T.H. Carefully corrected and much enlarged with a Table of the Contents prefixed JAMES 1.21 Receive with meeknesse the ingraffed Word which is able to save your soules LONDON Printed by R. Young and are to be sold by Fulke Clifton on New-Fish-street-hill 1640. THE CONTENTS TWo wayes God prepareth the heart for Christ Pag. 1 It is also prepared by contrition and humiliation 2 Doct. None but a broken heart is an house for Christ 3 Two lets of faith removed by brokennesse of heart 6 By faith the soule goeth out to another for all-sufficiencie 11 Use 1. Reproofe to them that would have comfort without brokennesse of heart 15. and them that dislike broken-heartednesse in others 18 Use 2 To get comfort begin in sorrow 22 Use 3 Comfort to the broken-hearted in two respects 25 Doct. The heart must first be prepared for Christ 31 Preparation for Christ standeth in three things 35 Use 1. Those reproved who thinke to have mercie and heaven upon a sudden 40 Use 2 A miserable estate to live in the old sinnes 47 Use 3 Prepare for Christ or thinke not to enjoy him 55 Motives to prepare for Christ 56 Doct. The Ministery a speciall meanes to prepare us for Christ 68 A powerfull ministery consisteth in three things 71 How a powerfull Ministery workes upon the heart to prepare it for Christ 79 Affliction prepares the heart for the Word the Word for God 88 Use 1. Much fault in Ministers that their peoples hearts are not fitted for Christ 84 Use 2 Fearfull is their estate whom a powerfull Ministerie workes not upon 88 Use 3 Let the Word be powerfull to prepare thy heart for Christ 90 Two things keep from Christ 95 What ingraffing into Christ is 99 Doct. Christ delayes not to come into an humbled heart 106 Use 1. Great comfort to each humbled soule 114 Use 2 They are of a naughtie spirit who endure not broken spirits 118 Use 3 Chuse the broken-hearted for companions 120 Use 4 Be thankefull for this great respect of Christ to thy poore soule 122 Use 5 They that would have Christ dwell in them must be willing to be humbled 125 Christ neare the soule yet not discerned for foure reasons in us 133. and for three reasons in Christ 147 Doct. Christ takes possession of every humbled soule 157 Three wayes he disposeth the heart to himselfe 168 Use 1. Reproofe of them that keepe Christ out of possession 171 Use 2 Give all to Christ whose it is 176 Doct. Love and joy by the Spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercie as it deserves 180 The reason of Gods order in working these graces 187 Gods promise the ground of our love and how 195 His love to us begets love in us toward him and how 201 Use 1. Nature breeds no love to Christ 206 Saints love not duly because they rely not on the promise 211 Use 2 Comfort to them that love Christ 213. and blessednesse 216 Notes of true love to Christ 217 Use 3 Reproofe of them that love not Christ in truth 231. sorts of them 238 Enmitie against Christ shewed three wayes 240 Glozing neuters described and shamed 243 Hypocrites enemies to Christ foure sorts of them 246 247 c. Discoveries of not loving Christ 250 Hee thas wrangles against truth never loved Christ 2. arg 254 Expression of sorrow for sin limited 258 Continuall sorrow as needfull as continuall beleeving 261 Use 4 Love the Lord Jesus in sinceritie 272. meanes 273 Three hinderances of loving Christ ibid. 274 Three things in Christ to make us love him 282 Three things done by Christ for a sinner though as yet hee want assurance 286 Two meanes to bring our hearts and the promises together 291 Doct. In greatest wants true Christians have cause enough to rejoyce in God 300 Use 1. Reteine comfort in God whatsoever thou wantest 302 Use 2 Reproof to them that grow uncomfortable for crosses 304 Use 3 Make this sure God is the God of my salvation 305 Six meanes to rejoyce in evill times ibid. Doct. The sorrowful seed-time of true Christians in the exercises of humiliation and mortification yeelds them a rich and joyfull harvest 312. 313 Causes of true joy assured by mourning 314 Use 1. Sharpe Preachers make you gainers ibid. 315 Use 2 Enemies helpe the joy of Christians 315 Use 3 Esteeme none by present grievances 316 Use 4 Sow still though in teares ibid. Use 5 Be patient in suffering for God 317 Use 6 Comfort in death our owne or friends 318 Use 7 Be painfull in thy calling ibid. Use 8 Encouragement to repent of sinne and renew our repentance 319 THE BROKEN HEART ESAY 57.15 For thus saith the high and loftie One that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place that is in heaven which is his throne and I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the heart of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones THere are two maine parts of the preparative worke for Christ First the manner of the worke on Gods part and this discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1. In proposing Christ in the Ministerie of the Gospell as the most beautifull object which the soule can view or affect Psal 2.12 Cant. 5.9 with 6.1 2. That God doth by an holy kind of violence plucke the sinner from sinne to himselfe as in that place Iohn 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him The second is on our part a frame and temper of the heart that God workes upon us by this holy kind of violent drawing This discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1 Contrition 2 Humiliation For the handling of these two wee have chosen this place of Scripture And I intend not to trade with every particular in the Verse but so much in it as fitteth my intendment in hand Expos That which I aime at is in the middle of the Verse I dwell with him that is of a broken heart Give me leave to open the words The great God of heaven that inhabiteth eternity in glory for the comfort of every poore broken-hearted sinner Gods two houses saith hee will dwell with him The Lord hath but two standing houses the one is in heaven in glorie the other is every broken heart and every shivered soule How he dwels in the heart Now how doth God dwell in the heart of a poore sinner The Apostle Ephes 3.17 tells us Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and it implies the constant abode of Christ by his Spirit in the soule being received and entertained by faith So that first there must bee a broken heart before there can bee faith or before Christ will dwell in our hearts to our comfort Consider what a kind of heart it must be wherein God will dwell It must bee an humble and a shivered spirit
will say How doe you gather the doctrine out of the Text what ground have you for the doctrine out of the words of the Text Answ Yes it is one of the maine passages of the Text it was the scope and purpose and sending of Iohn the Baptist for the Text saith He shall goe before him in the spirit and power of Elias Who shall goe before Iesus Christ Iohn the Baptist How shall hee be fitted He shall have the spirit and power of Elias And what shall he doe He shall goe before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turne the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdome of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1.17 The Lord prepares a fit workeman for this worke Iohn was to prepare a people for the Lord and therefore hee comes in the spirit and power of Elias That is hee had a wonderfull abilitie bestowed upon him by God whereby he might deliver the Word of God to mens hearts so powerfully as thereby he might fit and prepare them for the receiving of the Lord Iesus and hee made a company of desperate sinners to quake yea hee made Herod who was a sinfull wretch to stand in feare of him So then we see God fitted Iohn with a powerfull ministerie with the spirit and power of Elias and being so fitted of God hee was sent for the purpose to prepare mens hearts for the receiving of the Lord Iesus And therefore this must be a speciall meanes soundly to prepare mens hearts for the entertaining of the Lord Iesus Christ So the doctrine is cleere and plaine out of the Text. Ier. â—3 29 the Lord there speaking of his Word compares it to fire in the 28. verse the Lord was speaking of dreamers There are a company of dreamers saith he but let him that hath a dreame tell a dreame and hee that hath my Word let him speake my word faithfully Is not my word like fire ver 29. there is the power of the Word Simile Looke as it is with the Gold smith his mettall is full of drosse and hee must trie it and clense it and purifie it in the fire before it bee fit to make a vessell of so it is with the drossie soules of sinners every heart hath abundance of drosse for many sinfull abominations harbour in the poore soule of a man It must be a powerfull ministerie that is able by the power of the Lord to set fire on the hearts of men to melt their soules to pull downe their haughtie spirits thereby to fit and prepare their soules for the receiving of the Lord Iesus Christ that so they might receive comfort and consolation from him In Hosea 6.5 it is a phrase wee shall meet withall for there the Text saith I have hewen them by my Prophets The Church is compared to a Vineyard the godly to the Branches the Word to the pruning and cutting of these Branches As it was with the building of the materiall Temple of Solomon there were many sturdy Oakes and tall Cedars that were to be hewen and fashioned before they would be fit for the building so it must bee here with the trees of righteousnesse our sinfull soules some of us have sturdy hearts like Oakes and some have proud and lofty hearts like the tall Cedars of Lebanon these stout hearts and lofty spirits must bee cut downe by the axe of Gods word and levelled and fitted to lay hold upon and bee settled unto the Lord Iesus Christ Every mans soule especially those soules that belong to the election of grace are ground that must be tilled and plowed by the word of God their fallow grounds must be broken up before any seed of grace can be cast into their soules 1 Cor. 3 9. there the Apostle saith You are Gods husbandrie and therefore God by his word must plow up the weeds of sinne and corruption which are in you before he can sow the graces of his holy Spirit in your hearts And that place Acts 2.37 will make the Doctrine cleere and evident Saint Peter was a man of a stout and courageous spirit and hee spake home unto the Iewes hee tells them that God hath made that Iesus whom they crucified the Lord and Christ And when they heard these things saith the Text that is the word powerfully delivered and brought home to their soules they were pricked in their hearts and said Men and brethren what shall we doe Now they were prepared in some measure to seeke after salvation For the better understanding of this point two things are to be considered first what a powerfull ministerie is and wherein the power and efficacie of it consists secondly how this powerfull ministerie doth worke upon the soule to prepare it for Christ First what is this powerfull ministery 1. A powerfull Ministery consisteth in 3. things wherein doth the power of the ministerie and of Elias consist It is discovered in three particulars First in a particular application of the truth to the soules of men with courage When a faithfull Minister out of undauntednesse of spirit doth in a speciall and particular manner apply the Word vnto the soules of them over whom he is set this is a powerfull minâ—stery 1 Kings 18.21 there the ministery of Elias is mentioned for the Text saith Elias came unto all the people and said How long halt ye betweene two opinions If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal be God follow him It was in a time when people had departed from the Lord. Elias at this time did not come to one man alone in a corner and say You should doe well to consider of the case how it stands it is very desperate I would wish you to returne unto the Lord it will be your best course hee doth not doe thus but he came to all the people and marke how hee speakes If Baal be God follow him if the Lord be God follow him Away with this halting what neither hot nor cold A man cannot tell where to have you intend one thing or other if Baal be God why so if the Lord bee God so make something of it in this case thus hee spake to all the people saith the Text. And we shall observe the same in Iohn Baptist that had the power and spirit of Elias Matth. 3.7 hee did not goe there behind the doore to speake but hee spake to the Pharisees and Sadduces after this manner O yee generation of vipers who hath forewarned you to flee from the wrath to come As if he had said You are they that opposed Christ and set your selues against the Gospell you have hardned your hearts you will not enter into heaven your selues not suffer others to enter in Why who hath forewarned you to flee from the wrath to come Neither is this a strange course or unprofitable for our Saviour Christ himselfe useth it in Mat 23.23 from thence to the
his distempers and wil not looke to a Saviour the Son of righteousnesse is come and shines and hee perceiues it not And as Phillip said Iohn 14.8 Shew us the Father and it sufficeth Then Iesus saith unto him have I beene so long a-time with you and yet hast thou not knowne me he that hath seene me hath seene the Father he desireth to see the Father and yet when hee seeth Christ he seeth the Father So it is with this blessed frame of soule for when a poore soule mourns under the burthen of sin and desires that the word of God may prevaile with it and take all away then he desireth to see Christ this is the Spirit of Christ humbling and breaking and waking it is the Spirit of Christ that makes you willing to part with sinne Hath Christ beene so long with you and do you not know him The third is because we judge Christs presence by our owne sense and by some extraordinary sweetnesse that the soule imagins should be with him if Christ were there This is the nature of every poore creature he sets up a kind of imagination in his owne head and thinkes if Christ were come once there would bee extraordinary sweetnesse and joy Now setting up this imagination in his owne conceit hee will heare no other evidence if he cannot find this and so mis-judgeth the presence of Christ This was the failing of Gideon for the spirit of Christ came to him and said The Lord is with hee thou mighty man of valour And Gideon said Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us and where be all his miracles that our Fathers told us of saying Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites Iudges 6.12.13 The Angell knew what he said but marke what he replies And hee would not be perswaded that the Lord was there because the enemy had the upper hand he thought God was not present with them because the enemies were vexing them and prevayling against them but the argument was naught for the Angell was certaine of that which he spake Iust so it is for all the world with the poore broken-hearted sinner that now is oppressed with many corruptions Sometimes when the faithfull ministers speake to them and say Goe in peace you broken-hearted sinners the Lord is with you Oh say they if the Lord were with us why doth all this befall us Why are our minds so ignorant and our hearts so vile and sinfull and why are our corruptions so violent Can the Lord be here and so many weaknesses too The Lord hath done great matters for them that he hath done good too and they have rejoyced with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious the Saints of God haue been more then conquerours through him that loved them and have subdued their corruptions but yet we are under the power of our sinfull poysonfull venemous hearts still Can the Lord bee with us and all these abominations not onely presse in upon us but even captive us Yes you mistake the presence of Christ he is as well with you in the opposing of sin as in the over-comming thereof therefore the argument is false The same Apostle that was sometimes more then a conquerour was sometimes led captive as Rom. 7.23 and hee that did walke after the spirit of Christ had the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 This is your imagination that if once the King come to your house and keepe court no Traitour must come there yes Traitours are ever where the court is they follow the court for there they thinke to accomplish their villany And you thinke if the King come to your house he must hug you in his arms and presently promote you to all honors so the soule saith If Christ were with me I should have abilitie to doe my duty and I should have more power against corruption Though wheresoever Christ is there is sight of sin yet this extraordinary sweetnesse doth not follow but because they have not this they thinke they have not Christ It is just with the soule in this case as if some Gentleman should receive the King into his house Simile and yet he would not be perswaded the King was come because he did not presently send for him into the presence chamber and advance him to some great place of honour he is there though he will not presently send for you This was the fault of Thomas Iohn 20.25 hee would haue tied the certainty of Christs resurrection to his owne sense and if hee could not doe this and that he would not beleeue that Christ was risen for so the Text saith the Disciples all saw it and did witnesse it but he confines all to the compasse of his owne sense except he could see in his hands the print of the nailes and thrust his hand into his side he would not beleeue Iust so it is for all the world with the poore humbled broken soule When a man depends upon sense and some stirring apprehension Oh saith he if I could see that evidence of Gods love and had that assurance and if my heart could thus breake for my sin and if I had this ability with all care and cheerefulnesse to all holy duties then I could beleeue that Christ were come this I told you before you will not beleeue that the King is come to your house except he will send for you presently into his privy chamber and make you the favorite of the Kingdome And therefore it befalls the soule of a poore sinner as it did good old Iacob Gen. 45.26 his sonnes told him that his sonne Ioseph was alive but his heart did faint for he could not beleeue it but when hee saw the Chariots that his son had sent for him his spirit revived within him and he said It is enough Ioseph my son is yet alive c. Thus it is with us we have the messengers of God and the testimony of Scripture to confirme the presence of Christ but we will not beleeue except wee be charioted with that power and ability and that feeling and except you have your hearts fully satisfied according to your owne imaginations you will not be perswaded that Christ is come into your hearts The fourth also is on our part Bee it so that either we have abilitie to know a Christ and that we see his comming in and that we doe not mis-judge the presence of Christ and doe not account of his comming by our owne sense yea though wee were in the chamber of presence and have had much experience of Christs presence with us yet there is another hinderance which keeps off the poore soule and that is when our eyes bee hindred that wee cannot see Christ though he were before us when the sting of conscience remaines and the fiercenesse of some temptaion presseth in
hearts the Lord Christs baile will be taken for more debts then you owe nay the Father desires no better surety as hee himselfe saith Mat. 3.13 This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased hee doth not say with whom I am well pleased but in whom that is in him and all that come to God the father in his name Thus the Lord Iesus Christ doth and so a sinner is freed from that wrath of the Almighty Secondly the power of Satan is crushed so that he shall never more bee able to bee Lord and Ruler over the soule truely humbled but wheresoever the Lord Iesus Christ comes Satan gives way to the supreame authority of the Lord Christ and the Lord Iesus makes all to vanish and no more to appeare or have any thing to doe in the heart as hee himselfe saith in Rev. 1.18 I have the keys of Hel and of death You know that he that hath the keyes doth all he opens and shuts he lets in and puts out whom he will so the Lord Christ hath the supreame command over hell and death and he can unlocke hell gates and bring out from the gates of death any poore sinner that is wronged by Satan and therefore when the Lord Iesus Christ arose he led captivity captive as a valiant triumphant Conquerour leades a company of poore captives Now then Christ having conquered hell and death wheresoever he comes Sathan gives way and dares not meddle there any more Therefore Christ saith in Luke 10.11 I saw Sathan fall downe from heaven like lightning that is when the Scepter of Christ was set up in the Gospel then the Devill that cruell tyrant fel down on a sudden and was faine to give way and not to lay claime to the heart Thus sinne is shaken off and comes to bee casheered from that soule for whom Christ hath undertaken Sin as it were challengeth prescription to the soule but Christ having taken possession he satisfieth all quarrels and beares all the charges of whatsoever sinne makes against the soule and when sin saith I have had a possession of his soule from his very birth to this day and why should I goe out now then the Lord Iesus saith the issue is out and thus sin challengeth a right to the heart but Christ saith it is forgiven And therefore though sin be never so violent yet the Lord Iesus saith that soule is mine and was created by mee for my owne glory and howsoever sinne hath crept in yet now depart I am come to take possession of it Rom. 8.3 there the Apostle saith What the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh The phrase that fits our purpose is this the Lord Christ condemned sinne The judgement of Mr Calvin is this To condemne sinne in the flesh is nothing else but thus as it is with a man that is in law when the cause goes against a man and hee is cast in that he laid claime to we use to say hee is condemned Sinne layeth a kind of claime to the soule of a poore sinner and claimeth a kind of right upon these grounds Every sonne of Adam is a child of disobedience and so the child of wrath But that man is a child of Adam and therefore the child of disobedience and consequently death and damnation is due to that man and hereupon hee is mine Now Christ answers all these pleas of sinne and makes sin fall off from the cause and saith It is true that those that are charged with the sinne of Adam and are under the power of that corruption which they receive from Adam they are the children of disobedience and so no wonder though they are subject to wrath He grants all this but yet saith hee They for whom the sinne of Adam hath bin satisfied and from whom the guilt of it removed and they for whom Christ hath conquered sinne they ought not to be condemned for they are delivered from this wrath but such is this humble soule for whom I have undertaken Is the sinne of Adam imputed I have satisfied for it doth the sinne of Adam prevaile against him by my death I have overcome sinne and hell and hee shall haue the benefit of my victorie Now sinne falls off from the claime and loseth the day If the first Adam hath sinned against God the second Adam hath suffered if the first Adam hath polluted the sonnes of men the Lord Iesus by the power of quickning hath subdued the power of corruption so that neither the guilt of sinne can be imputed nor the power of sinne prevaile against the poore sinner for whom Christ undertaketh So then it is plaine that the Lord Iesus undertakes for the soule and provides for it as in all the three particulars this is the first particular of the possession Reas 2 Secondly Christ doth dispose of the soule for his best advantage This is one specialty that a man will dispose all his occasions for his owne convenience for his owne behoofe so farre as may be for his owne benenefit and comfort So when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to take possession he will have the rule and command of the heart But when Satan that strong man armed keepes the house and sinne rules in the soule in a mans naturall condition and that the soule is at their managing and at their framing and teaching it either lyes barren and fallow or else brings forth nothing but thornes and thistles as in Ier. 4.3 Breake up the fallow grounds of your hearts and sow not among thornes for the soule naturally being ruled by sinne is overspread with thornes and is altogether corrupt and detestable and Satan and sinne rule in the heart and affections so that now the whole frame of the soule bringeth out fruits of darknesse to Satan And hence it is that the Apostle saith Rom. 6.20 When yee were the servants of sin yee were free from righteousnesse that is when yee were under the power of sinne yee did not worke for God yee did all to satisfie your owne lusts the drunkard is free from the power of sobriety and the thiefe is free from the power of justice and so the graces of Gods Spirit rule not in a man But now when the Lord hath by the power of his grace bound the strong man and cast him out by contrition and humiliation then hee takes the soule and it is in the hands of the Lord Iesus Christ and hee disposeth of it so as may bee for the comfort of the soule and for the furtherance of the glory of his rich grace In Matth. 20.15 when the servants began to quarrell because they had but every man a penny the Master said Is it not lawfull for me to do what I will with mine owne so when the Lord hath cast out corruption and saith This heart and this hand and this tongue
I have taken up armes against Almightie God If I had but gone to the top of Hell it had beene infinite mercy and if I had been in a dungeon all my dayes and had another world to live and lived it all in miserie it had beene infinite mercie for the Lord to send downe Christ to looke upon me a poore wretch in the dungeon and to speake to me out of the gates of hell and to tell me of this mercie oh it had beene an infinite mercie but to send a Sonne to save me it is incomparable I could not conceive to doe so much evill against him as he hath done good to me oh the breadth of that mercy beyond all limits oh the length of that mercie beyond all time oh the depth of that mercie below a mans miserie oh the height of that mercy above the height of mine understanding If mine hands were all of love that I could worke nothing but love and if mine eyes were able to see nothing but love and my mind thinke of nothing but love and if I had a thousand bodies it were all too little to love that God that hath unmeasurably loved mee a poore sinfull hel-hound Psal 18.1 I will love thee dearely O Lord my strength Oh have I gotten the Lord Iesus Christ to bee my comfort my buckler my shield If I have any good he gives it and if any good bee continued it is he that doth it and if I have any comfort in it it is hee that blesseth it to me therefore I will love thee dearely Oh Lord my strength Thus the point is cleare and stands upon his right bottome Now I come to the Application of it that wee may reape some good and comfort to our owne soules And the use of the point is fourefold for Instruction for Consolation Nature breeds no love to Christ for Reprehension for Exhortation Vse 1. First for Instruction which I desire a little to commend to you because it is seasonable Is it so that the Spirit of the Father kindles this love in the heart truly humbled and enlightned c then conclude this undeniably That there is no power in nature or in a naturall heart I say there is no sufficiencie in the power of nature to bee carried to any love towards Christ we have not this before God gives it nay wee cannot move our selves in love to God before the Lord let in the sparkes of love into our soules True it is we find it by wofull experience it is in our power to love the world and to delight in base lusts and being but naturall men it cannot be but that we should love our selves and the things of this world there is enough of these wilde fires and of this base worldly lust in every naturall soule to expresse it selfe but to love the Lord Iesus Christ and to have a heart inlarged towards him it is a worke of grace that growes not in our hearts I say there is not one sparke of holy love and of this holy fire of love in our hearts at any time neither can we buy or borrow it at the hands of any under heaven further than the Spirit of the Lord is pleased to kindle it and to inflame this grace of love to the Lord Iesus and further than the Lord by the power of his merits is pleased to feed this in our soules It is an unconceiveable misery that any man should bee so farre deluded as to thinke that he can do it by his owne strength and power Saint Paul expresseth it in discovering the vilenesse of himselfe by nature and the freenesse of Gods grace 1 Tim. 1.13 14. I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor but I obtained mercy I wronged Iesus Christ and was malicious against him and opposed against his children Paul could doe this of himselfe so thou canst be malicious against the Lord and against the power of his grace and truth this a naturall man can doe but for him to love the Lord Iesus Christ and to beleeve in him how came Saint Paul by that Why the grace of God was exceeding abundant towards mee with faith and love which is in Iesus Christ As if he had said it was abundant grace that over-powred my unfaithfull heart and made me beleeve and it was abundant grace that over-powred my injurious heart and made me love Christ But how was this it was by the grace of Christ from Christ this faith was wrought and in Christ this love was kindled As if hee had said I thought to cast off the Lord and his grace I was a persecuter and a villaine indeed but that I should beleeve the Lord and love him this was from Christ it was in grace and not in Paul The ball must first fall to the ground before it can rebound backe againe so the Lord Iesus must first dart in his love into the soule before the soule can rebound in love and joy to him againe wee must receive from grace before wee can rebound backe any love to God as 1 Tim. 1.7 God hath not given us the spirit of bondage but of power of love and of a sound minde See what the Lord spake in some case of the Iewes Iohn 5.40 42. speaking home to their hearts hee saith I know you that yee have not the love of God in you Verse 40. he saith Yee will not come to mee and in the 42. verse I know you that yee have not the love of God in you As if hee had said I know it you know it not your selves and though you thinke you have this love to mee yet you are deceived you know not what you are nor what you know but I know and it is as true of every corrupt heart under heaven the love of God cannot bee in the heart of any naturall man whatsoever The reason why I presse this point so much is this it is for these two ends you shall see a double benefit by it Carnall men conceive no difficulty to love Christ First this confutes and overthrowes the conceits of a company of carnal Gospellers that say they fast not nor pray not nor professe not so much as such and such but for the truth of their love to Christ they defie all the world they find no difficulty in the matter and they make no doubt therof and therefore if any Christian man or any faithfull Minister of God shall begin to challenge them with the want of love to Christ and grace they will answer What not loue the Lord Iesus it is pitty that euer that man should live they have loved him and will loue him for ever and all the world shall not perswade them to the contrary Oh poore deluded creatures it is an undoubted argument that thou never hadst the loue of God in thee because thou thinkest it such an easie matter to love him Many men make nothing of it they make it but an holy-day taske and say Who cannot
love Christ I say neither thou nor I can doe it by any power or vertue in our selues nay I say thou art as able to save thy owne soule and to redeeme thy selfe without Christ as thou art able to love Christ unlesse he by the power of his spiritenable thee to doe it Nay you that make nothing of it to loue Christ marke what I say If a man might have happinesse in hand and heaven laid downe upon the nayle if he could love the Lord Iesus of himselfe I say if he had no more but nature he would never goe to heaven nor never bee happy Nay it will cost more than so it will cost time and paines and many teares and prayers you must have the Father come downe from heaven to teach you and you must goe to another schoole than ever you were at yet before you can learne it and unlesse the Father make you able to loue Christ you can never doe it It is true if it were nothing but pratling and professing and yet to stand in open opposition to the power of grace and the spirit this cannot bee for to welcome a Saviour to receive Christ answerable to the worth of him a man cannot doe it by the meere power of nature it is the worke of the Lord as the Apostle Saint Iohn saith 1 Ioh. 1.5 God is light and in him is no darknesse and Ephes 5.8 You were darknesse God is nothing but holines and you are nothing but darknesse Now you know darknesse can oppose light and wickednesse can oppose holinesse but never give way to it nor receive it This is thy nature and condition thou hast an ignorant darke heart of thine owne but the Lord is altogether holines and light and thou canst not receive it nor wilt thou receiue him As 2 Thess 2.10 they would not receive the truth of God in the loue of it the truth of God makes love to thy carnall heart and would plucke thee from thy base lusts and corruptions and would woo and winne thy soule that it might take place in thy heart the world will not receive it Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners but the world would not receive him so farre were they from seeking to a Saviour that they would not receiue him though he came to offer himselfe to them thou hast a heart that hatest Iesus Christ and cannot loue him and thou hast a heart that can oppose him and his grace but canst not take contentment in that grace and rich mercy of his if thou hast not grace and mercy thou hast but what thou wouldst haue and therefore it is just thou shouldest never haue it The second cause Saints Iove not as they might and should because they rely not on the promise why I presse this instruction is this To shew the disorderly proceedings of many poore Saints that labour extremely to worke their owne soules and to bring their hearts to love Christ that they even fall out with themselues and curse their base hearts that can loue the world and cannot loue Iesus Christ they labour much and would bring their hearts to loue him but they cannot doe it because they goe to worke the contrary way they would bring loue to the promise and not receive love from the promise as if a man should bring water to the sea or light to the sunne It is as if he would have a sun of his owne and yet there is but one sunne of righteousnesse that can kindle this loue of Iesus Christ to carry it selfe worthy of him Therefore be wise herein and thinke not to bring love to the promise but come to the promise for it and goe to the sea for water and looke up to the sunne of Gods loue and be under the beames of Gods mercy and looke not down into that dead frozen heart of thine own for if thou wouldst never so faine thou canst not receive one sparkle of this love from thy owne abilities See his love therein and bee thereby drawne to love him againe and see the fulnesse of those pleasures at his right hand which endure for ever Ioh. 16.14 the Lord Christ saith He shall send the Spirit the Comforter and he shall take of mine that is take of Christs All spirituall graces are Christs therefore goe thou thy way and tell the Lord thus much saying In truth Lord I have not a heart to love thee it is thine owne worke and thou hast sayd that thy spirit shall take of thine and give it to thy servants that thy servants may also give thee of thine owne againe that love and that delight is thine to give that wee may giue thee of thine owne as David spoke of the building of the Temple Thus much of the use of instruction Vse 2. Comfort to them that love Christ In the second place here is a strong consolation to sustaine and refresh the hearts of those that have received this gracious worke though they haue some small weaknesses it skills not be the worke sound it is enough thy soule may bee comforted that the Lord hath enlarged himselfe to thee in this gracious worke I say it is a ground of admirable sweet refreshing of soule to any that finde this gracious love unto Christ A man by nature cannot have this therefore hast thou this by grace Goe thy way as he that hath found a treasury and make much of it and say and know thou hast something more than all carnall wretches can have and thou hast more than all the cunning close-hearted hypocrites under heaven can have let them pretend and fain and flatter what they will Me thinks this should wonderfully refresh the hope of you poore ones for though many times other things goe not well with you yet this is enough to cheare up your hearts for ever You know a childe will loue his father though hee can doe little for him he is a child and therefore though he can doe little for his father yet if he love his father hee is contented so they that haue little meanes and small sufficiencies towards any servants of God and it may be their understandings are not so deepe as others be and their tongues runne not so glib as such and such and they cannot talke so freely of the things of grace and salvation and thou hast meaner parts and canst not enlarge thy self in holy duties and holy services though this is commendable where it is and thou canst not dispute for a Saviour and perform such duties as others can doe yet thou canst loue Iesus Christ and reioyce in him Methinkes there is many a poore soule would say I blesse the name of the Lord that 's all that I haue the Lord knowes that all the friends I have and parts and meanes and abilities in the world they are but as dung and drosse in comparison of Christ Oh it were the comfort of my soule if I might be euer with him Goe thy
When a man entertaines the King he is content though the King put him out of his owne house to bee his servant for the while and if his Majesty may be contented he cares not so it is with a gracious humble heart if the Lord will blast a mans parts and comforts and take all from him and give him Christ naked and onely that honour that is in him hee is contented This heart is right and hee will say It is Gods will to take away these parts honours credit c. and if the Lord Jesus say I will not assist nor comfort thy soule he lyes downe and saith not a word but this Let the Lord be honoured though I be as the dung in the streets whatsoever become of me though I be damned so the Lords glory may be advanced I am content Suppose this should be which indeed cannot be that a man were left destitute of al comfort friends and meanes and all that he hath loved heretofore and in stead of honour were to have shame and imprisonment for liberty and want and dishonour in stead of friends the soule saith It is Gods will to doe so and to take away honour and parts who must order the businesse but he onely Doth it please the Lord Jesus to doe so blessed bee his name for it I shall now be contented let me lye at his feet though I goe downe to hell let me wait on him and let him doe what he will Now all you that are of any of these sorts to you is the Word of the Lord spoken this day and I beseech you in the name of Christ take it in love and as spoken out of indignation to your sinnes to you I say the Minister and the Word saith The Lord bee mercifull to you you are haters of the Lord Jesus there is none of the love of God in the hearts of any of this generation to this day Now do not goe away and say Let the Minister say what he will for hee must say something to hold out the houre What wilt thou shew thy selfe to bee a most notorious wrangling hypocrite Conscience speake is not thy heart met withall as in all the former particulars Conscience saith so and the Lord saith so Oh be perswaded therefore and yeeld the bucklers and say Now I see it is not in truth all that I have done is wrong and false Oh that I could once at last fall upon the right way The Lord perswade your hearts to conceive of it and to say I am still a hater of Christ I am yet an enemy Do I yet live to be saved by Christ and do I hate him think of thy sin and consider thy sorrow 1. Thinke thus much with thy selfe This sinne of all other is most unconceivable and not to bee named much lesse to bee practised and retained Oh that ever any wretch that hath received so much from Christ should still hate him Good Lord that ever there should bee such a wretch upon the earth and yet Lord I am the man I am hee that have approved of the practises of the wicked thou art an open enemy to the Lord Jesus and therefore thinke what thou hast done all this while Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in the creatures But in the meane time thinke but what thy sinne is that thou hast not onely the creatures to preach to thee but the Lord Jesus who came downe from heaven It is a wonder that ever he came for such wretches as we are hee hath torne his bowels in pieces for thee and entreated thee to bathe thy soule in his death and bee saved for ever Luke 19.42 yea hee hath wept over thee and said Oh that thou hadst knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace yet thou regardest not Oh thou poore ignorant profane carnall wretch nay the blood of Christ and his teares and the offer of his mercies and his spirit speake to thee and intreat thee to beleeve in him and live for ever and yet thou continuest an infidell You know the spirit of love hath met you in your Churches and in your houses and walked with you in your journeies and said Now open the Lord Jesus calls tenders mercy and you have snubbed it Good Lord is it possible that the blood of Jesus Christ should speake to us and that a company of wretched creatures should trample upon that blood and grieve that spirit rather then forsake their lusts and corruptions You children tell your fathers of this and you wives your husbands and say Is it possible that we have done this and yet live still it is a wonder Therefore reason thus with your selves and say If a heathen shall be condemned that had but trees preaching to him and his conscience open then what shall become of me that have had Christ and his blood to preach to me what will become of me what sin is mine it is a scarlet sin it hath in it all abominations 2. Secondly thinke of thy sorrow how will the Lord Jesus be revenged on thee Doest thou say Oh he is mercifull and will forgive all What wil the Lord suffer his sonne to be trampled upon will God the Father suffer this thinke what will be the end of it Oh thy judgement is intolerable and unrecoverable continuing as thou art Consider the heavinesse of thy plagues 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be had in execration or bee accursed or bee made Maranatha that is All the curses of heaven and earth and all the curses of the world to the highest straine of cursing as if he should say All you Churches on earth and all you Angels in heaven curse ye that man and all ye Divels in hell torment that man nay let him be accursed for ever and then blessed Redeemer take this man into thy owne hands and let him be accursed for ever As in Jude 14. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prohecied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with tenne thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him You thinke it is nothing to speake against the Lord Jesus thousands of Angels shall minister to him and ten thousands shall goe before him and say The Lord is comming to execute judgement upon all that work wickednesse and upon those that have spoken against him So that when the Church of Christ and the Angels in heaven and the Divels in hell have conspired to torment a man then also the Lord Jesus will come to torment him Oh that my heart could bleed and if it were possible breake in sunder for the misery in which you are in that day the Lord Jesus will say to such as hee
of the next ditch must containe and content them till their dying day Yet to such as these the proposition of Habakkuk extendeth it selfe If the persons and causes be alike the joy also shall bee alike I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation If Christ be come into the house and by him salvation who shall forbid them to bee comfortable as Zacheus and the Jaylor I will rejoyce in the Lord or because of the Lord Bajehova and so in the next clause Baelohi God is left unto me when all else is taken away still I I have a God to take comfort in And First he is greater matter of comfort than any of those things can be of sorrow and dejection for those are finite evils but God an infinite good Secondly he is higher than they all my comfort lies out of the reach of all enemies and all adversities Psal 46.1 Thirdly he is nearer than any of them a very present refuge in the time of trouble Losses and crosses goe neere to the heart and to the quick but God is nearer Fourthly he is Jehova in whom I rejoyce hath his being of himselfe and gives being to all the creatures and preserves it so long as him pleaseth Therefore by his benefit I shall subsist when all the secundary meanes of maintenance are intercepted Matth. 4.4 Man lives not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Fifthly he is the God of my salvation that is he saves my body and naturall life whether I have meanes or no meanes it is he that strikes the maine stroke in my preservation by an Hebraisme oft called The God of salvation and this not only temporally for the body but spiritually and eternally for the soule And then the argument is easie He that doth the greater will doe the lesse too God that saves us from hell the Divell will save us from starving and the like miseries Jehova that became the Lord Jesus to us when we had no strength will never sticke with us for trifles in comparison This sweet and blessed name meets him that reads the Text in the Originall Baelohi jishgni which Saint Jerome translates in God my Jesus or Saviour just as the Virgin sang Luke 1 47. De civit Dei l. 18. c. 32. My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour and Saint Austine preferres the using of this nomen amicius dulcius before the Septuagints Deo salutari meo Certaine it is that by Christ only we have interest in God and can rejoyce in him There is no salvation in any other Act. 4.12 nor any other name given under heaven by wich wee can be saved And in him doe all true Christians triumph Phil. 3.3 not in the righteousnesse of the Law nor in any legall and carnall priviledges And wee have ample cause to rejoyce in him even in the greatest failing of naturall comforts and greatest desolations that can come upon us Although the fig-tree blossome not c. Although there be another drought another and ten years one after another and a greater mortality of pestilence and the sword too with all the mischiefes that accompany it Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation In greatest wants true Christians have cause enough to rejoyce in God Doctr. However the world goes for comforts of nature yet in Christ wee have full cause to rejoyce and so should stirre up our selves to doe See Psal 42.5 7 8 9 10 11. and 73.25 26 27 28. Dying Jacob lifted up himselfe by thinking on the salvation which God had wrought for him Gen. 49.18 Job stript of all praised God as when hee had all about him Moses seeing him that is invisible feared not the wrath of the King Micaiah having seene God in a vision was nothing daunted at the presence of two glorious Kings The three children beleeving in God regarded neither NebuchadneZZars anger nor the furnace extraordinarily heated So the Apostles Acts 4. and 5. and the Martyrs in severall histories of the Church Reason 1 Eccles 1.2 One reason whereof may be taken from the vanity of the creature Vanity of vanities vanity of vanities saith the Preacher all is vanity and vexation of spirit They are good comforts of nature where they may be had and a good man will make them so many encouragements in the way of grace But God never appointed them to be part of the Saints portion Gen. 15.1 No I am thy portion thy buckler and great reward and so the Christian makes account Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my portion saith my soule therefore will I hope in him And he sets no such high price upon wine oyle or other comforts as that without them he should not rejoyce in his God So he either parts with them the more easily or wants them the more joyfully Reason 2 The other is taken from the superabundant excellencie of the Creator Both in respect of his Attributes on which whiles a Christian meditates hee shall ever finde something to set against his particular maladie with a large over-plus of comfort And in respect of his Workes both of Creation and Providence and this both for preservation and gubernation Psal 92.4 5. Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy worke I will triumph in the workes of thy hands O Lord how great are thy workes and thy thoughts are very deepe And these very evils drought dearth warre c. are they not by Gods permission and limited how long they shall continue and ordered to a good end Rom. 8.28 And in respect of his Ordinances The Word is our song in the house of our pilgrimage and the joyfull tidings of our salvation The Sacrament is a marriage supper of the great King for his onely Sonne Eate O friends drink yea drink abundantly Cant. 5.1 Psal 84.1 O beloved And the Tabernacles of God are amiable the onely joy of David And in respect of his unspeakable benefits in and by Christ that one word Salvation is an epitome of all blessings it comprehends the causes means effects and perpetuitie of our blessednesse and absolute overthrow of the enemies and specially the immediate authour of salvation which is Christ It would aske an houres discourse and more to tell in particular what ample cause we have to rejoyce in Christ that if we had nothing left us but naked Christ in naked Christ we should have Peace and Joy enough John 16.33 Christ at the worst and poorest is a rich treasure Quod cunque Deo indignum est mihi expedit Tert. Whatsoever became him not as God is expedient and profitable unto us even his shamefull accursed death And if his death be so joyous and blissfull what shall his resurrection be his ascension session at the right hand of his Father and intercession for us with all the gracious execution of his Kingly and Propheticall