Candlesticks for others Churches are set up out of Loyalty to Christ but what is the End but the Growth of one another and the Conversion of Strangers I should say more than would be believ'd by Srangers if I should give account of this Woman's Charity to Souls and as there was a Fulness with respect to the End so to the Principle tho harmless as a Dove yet not like Ephraim a silly Dove without Heart Her Comfort under her Crosses her Constancy under Discouragements her conscientious Subjection to Ordinances in the World's Esteem and bulk of Professors too vile and contemptible her Courage under Persecutions her Contentment under Circumstances that would have fill'd hundreds with anxious Care her Charity never abating upon Temptations from straitning Difficulties at home which at last her Faith may be said to conquer more than her Pains no Hypocrite could ever paint the Fruits of the Spirit to such a Life Heat and Motion never yet were drawn by any Pencil Her Pulse and Zeal Warmth and Works left no may be 's in any Soul that had the Spirit of discerning One of her Christian Sisters had assurance without Clouds tho with a most painful torturing Distemper 40 years together Her own Life of Faith wanted neither Joy nor Peace I wish that some poor Earth-worm some covetous Miser might lay to Heart the Ease and Pleasure that consists in being a faithful Steward that the rampant Prodigal would consider that tho he may rebel the Godly only doth rejoice Theirs is like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot a Noise not very harmonious nor delightful and the end is Ashes but the Joy of the Believer is all his Life is in his Death Death 's Ghostly looks his severe Blows his tormenting Wracks cannot imbitter this Cup of Joy as I am inform'd it was with her my Joy in the end is Joy without end This is another Ingredient of Fulness a Fulness in degree a Fulness of Joy when all our Sorrow flows only from want of more Holiness when with Lot it 's only from the Sins of the Sodomites we live among our Tears with David are either because the Wicked transgress the Law of God or our own Infirmities prevail into Deformities Consider O secure Sinner that every converted one is a Child of Light begotten of the Father of Lights and the Seed of Grace is a Seed of Light Now the meanest Light in the World will dispel Darkness from it self and in some measure communicate it to others the Stars will sparkle in the darkest Night a Candle will conquer a large Room of Darkness nay the faintest Light of a dri'd or scaly Fish or rotten Wood will remain invincible against all the Power of Darkness there is no Faith without some Assurance nor no Grace without some secret Joy If our Joy and our Hopes be in the serene Air of Heaven the Tempests below cannot extinguish it 3ly A following the Lord uniformly and proportionably is a following the Lord fully 1 Tim. 5.21 That thou observe all these things without preferring one before another and that thou do nothing partially The new Creature is neither maim'd nor monstrous there is a comely Symmetry in a Christian's Growth all his Zeal and Devotion is not terminated on one Ordinance according to the Weight and Moment of the Matters of the Law they are of Value with him he is no Pharisee to neglect the weightier Matters he values an Interest in Christ above all next an holy Life he esteems a Profession under all Marks of Christianity and is jealous of every other Mark lest it be the Beast's and Dragon's he prefers a whole Set and Species of Precepts and Ordinances to the Mode of one that may be debatable too The Churches Hedg has many Stakes in it the neglect of that is not the neglect of one Command but of a whole Series and the Means of quickning and giving Life to all 4ly A following the Lord fully is to follow him in all Places and Times whether the Company be for Truth or against it they are for it not imprudently casting Pearls before Swine But Truth is then like a Fire in the Breast and a Flame shut up in the Bones when derided and oppos'd and when Season requires is defended and vindicated Religion rules the Conversation in the Shop or Market Court or Kitchin as well as in Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Aristotle in his Ethics A Caleb is a true Cube throw him where you will he falls on a Square True Gold wastes not in the Fire rusts not in the Water He is not a Pharisee good in open view nought in secret nor of the vain Religion James speaks of that lies all in the Tongue and yet not able to govern or steer that aright He always minds an over-looking and over-hearing God he fears continually and his Faith and Love keep pace with his Fear 5ly A following the Lord fully consists in a constant Desire and Endeavour after a Fulness fully and following after will consist without repugnancy in no other sense We find the Angels following after Knowledg prying and searching into Divine Mysteries and we read of them rejoicing in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 's I have found him I have found him 4000 Years after their Creations at least Eph. 3. And shall the Angels in the triumphing Church above run to and fro for the Increase of Knowledg and the Angels below stand at a stay and say it is enough Did the Prophets in the Old Testament search into Brim and Bottom Time and Place Manner and Matter of their own Prophecies and shall not we A thriving Ministry would make a thriving People and a thriving People would make a diligent Ministry Do not cry to your Ministers Pray preach easy things and smooth things do not satisfy your selves only with old repeated things when it 's the Command of Christ that the Scribe be Learned and able to bring forth New and Old Make your Pastors live without Care in caring for them in worldly things that their Care may be alone spent in providing Food for your Souls It is not to be told in Gath what Grashopers we are in comparison of our Fathers by this very thing Heb. 6.1 how pathetically does Paul exhort the converted Hebrews to leave the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ and go on to Perfection Is there not some Truth in the false Calumnies of the Profane who spend their Sabbaths in the Fields Beds or Taverns who say We can tell all that we shall hear at Church we know more than we can do But new Arguments might make them believe that more firmly and if they believ'd what they pretend to know their Faith would make a new Life Did they believe that the Lord is good to those that wait on him and to the Soul that seeketh him they would not slight such a gainful Trade Let us then through Hearing Reading Praying and Meditating follow on to
Worship of an unknown God and a blind Sacrifice are both alike unacceptable to him What a Nullity does Christ put upon the Samaritan Worship when he told them they worshipt they knew not what And as it cannot do good it cannot receive Good Faith is the Soul's Hand but a Hand without the Conduct of an Eye may lay hold on that which never will support it It 's by Knowledg many are justified it 's by Knowledg eternal Life is begun It is necessary in our Days if we would be able to defend the Truth or withstand the Gainsayers to be not only acquainted with the Fundamentals of Religion and the way of a Sinner's Salvation but to extend our Pains to the uttermost Compass of things contained within Sacred Writ for surely what God thought fit to reveal and record in a peculiar manner for our use it becomes us to study we cannot count it mispent time to learn when Omniscience condescends to be Teacher But besides there is this peculiar Reason for it because the Deists and they who deny the Divinity of the Scriptures derogate so far from them as to leave uncertain what 's Divine what not of this kind are Eben Esra Hobs Spinosa Father Simon the Author of the Five Letters c. for the Grounds of their Unbelief are generally built upon the Circumstances in * F. Simon finds three Authors to the five Books of Moses 1. Himself Author of the Law and Ceremonies 2. The Publick Scribes Authors of the History 3. Of many Additions which he falsly concludes to be since added or altered the later Scribes who compendized the publick Records From whence he concludes we know not what is his what not Or as Du Verse divides the Scripture 1. Some Divine i. e. where it says so 2. Some Humane 3. Some Prophane as David's Curses Scripture least minded by Translators or Interpreters as being of little Moment some apparent Contradictions in Time Place Genealogies or Titles for Instance Gen. 12.6 And the Canaanite was then in the Land hence would they infer that Moses was not the Author of all wrote in these Books that bear his Name and what is superadded by we know not whom is not to be received as infallible But there is no Foundation in the Text for their Conclusion for what Absurdity is it for Moses to tell us the Canaanite was in the Land when Abraham passed through it neither is Reason wanting for it viz. to give account of God's Fidelity to him in protecting of him when he passed even through it to take Seizin of it though the Canaanite was there whom he came to disinherit A 2d Ingredient in this singular Temper of Mind was Faith ver 11. How long will it be ere they believe Heb. 3.18 To whom sware he that they should not enter into his Rest but to them that believed not But Caleb was not of that Spirit V. 9. Their Defence is departed from them and the Lord is with us fear them not Heb. 3.16 Howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses did provoke and disbelieve And Heb. 4.3 They which believed did enter into Rest He could not follow the Lord fully without Faith nor was his Courage against so powerful an Enemy founded on any other Bottom by human Eyes they were like a David before Goliah nay in their own Esteem and in the Esteem of the Anakims their Enemies they were like Grashopers Chap. 13.33 But by the Eye of Faith he saw God as a sufficient Confederate and Assistant against all the Strength of Canaan the Anakims were like Grashopers in comparison of God and the meanest Worm he assists Caleb's Knowledg was qualified or specified by Faith It is a common Axiom that Knowledg may be without Faith but not Faith without Knowledg they are related as a living Creature and a rational Creature â—â—e may live without Reason but not exert Reason without Life This was a Grace in my Parallel not only well rooted but well fruited the Service she delighted in could only receive its Reward in the other Life Jesus Christ was at once the Object of her Love and Trust her Lot with the most of Believers had its wildersome Circumstances and through it she travelled leaning on her Beloved The sacred Oracles which are the Directors and Grounds of Faith were the Objects of her daily Study Peace with God as the Mediator's Purchase was the great Expectation of her Hope together with the seeing King Solomon with the Crown upon his Head glorified in his Saints and admired of all that believe through whom her Faith was finally and ultimately terminated on God as a faithful Creator from whom originally all Fulness flowed on the Head and Members of the Church which she longed to see presented without Spot or Wrinkle This is what of necessity we must imitate our Caleb in without Faith there is no pleasing of God they that believe not are condemned already Heb. 12.1 not only this but all the Elders from Abel are proposed as the Cloud in the Wilderness to follow nor is Adam and Eve to be excluded from being Drops of that dewy Cloud for though on Marriage he called his Wife Ishah of Man or Woeman yet after the Promise of the Redeeming Seed of the Woman he calls her Eve the Mother of him that quickens or enlivens all and the like Faith she professes and writes on her eldest Son Cain I have gotten that Seed the Man the Lord I have born Immanuel Gen. 4.1 as the most Critical do interpret the Words The only Exception about this universal Necessity at least among whom I have now to do is Infants it is supposed many of them are saved but questioned if Faith have any Instrumentality in their Salvation since Faith supposes Knowledg nay the Apostle Rom. 10. says it comes by Hearing which supposes not only the Exercise of a Spirit but of bodily Organs I shall say the more to it having just now received a Letter about it and two days ago another beside Visits I do profess it to be my Opinion but not a necessary Foundation no not to any Doctrine I then proposed for Charity for their Salvation through the Righteousness of Christ which the Letter grants is sufficient for all the Intents I mentioned it for however I shall shew my Opinion is neither singular nor wants Probability As to the first it 's the common Opinion of the Papists as we may see from Bellarmine and Gregorius de Valentia on Baptism so Suarez on Thomas and the Conference at Ratisbon they deny that Infants have actual Faith but grant habitual which is sufficient for my Intent but if we go to the Lutheran Churches they universally ascribe an actual Faith to Infants their Arguments are that the Spirit of God which asserts that they that have not Faith are in a State of Condemnation Mark 16.16 John 3.18 does assert that little ones have Faith Mat. 18.6 Whoso shall offend one of those
know more fully to believe more fully Let our Faith grow more stable and fix'd at the Root by clear Evidence and powerful Arguments water'd with the Dew of Heaven until it come to a Demonstration of the Spirit and full Assurance of Faith Let it be like the spreading Vine stretching it self and by its tendrel Fingers laying hold of every Promise Let it flourish in Comforts and fructify like the Clusters of Eshcol that were planted by the upper and nether Springs To have a more full and perfect Patience until we are capable to possess our Souls and our Souls possess us in Want and Weariness in Reproach and Flattery that the things of the World and Persons too may still be an Obiter in Comparison To have a more full Practice do not say like Balaam Let me die the Death of the Righteous come let us live their Life a holy Life a penitential Life a self-deny'd Life a Life not like others The World's Custom and Course is the high way to Hell If we do his Will then shall we know the Doctrine But let us look to the Earth's excellent Ones its few Names who forget all that is past and counted the Victories over Temptations already attain'd nothing the Knowledg nothing Diligence nothing and therefore they pressed on to what was before never with Laodicea crying I am rich and full and need nothing no the Blessing is to them that hunger and thirst This is to follow the Lord fully to grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ to pierce the Sun with Eagles Eyes and soar towards him with Eagles Wings Lastly A feeling Sense of our Defectiveness this necessarily flows from the former Who will ever follow hard after what he feels no want of Will ever the Man that thinks he knows all the Scriptures cry out at a new Discovery I rejoice at thy Word as one that findeth great Spoil Psal 119. or under Darkness and Difficulties Lord teach thou me thy Statutes make me understand thy Law No he flattereth himself in his own Eyes and refuseth to understand He that sees not his own Sin as odious and troublesome as the Burden of a Twin-Carcase already dead will never cry out Who will deliver me from this Body of Death It is a true Saying of a Blush that it is malae Causae bonum Signum or as Homer phrases it an honest Heart has a weak Forehead He that is acquainted with the Deceitfulness of his own Heart is jealous he may be guilty he is conscious of so much Guilt Is it I Lord is it I says every honest Disciple O let my Heart be upright in thy Statutes says an upright David and elsewhere When thou takest away the wicked like Dross my Flesh trembles for fear of thee and I am horribly afraid of thy Judgments When Men can look back on their Sins as Lombard's Mother on her three Bastards with Pleasure she could not repent of the Act which had such brave Effects and Fruits it is very sad and forward on their Duties like Dreamers who find flying as easy as walking it is very dangerous Heal me for I have sinned my Bones are broken with it help me for I am weak is the Language of him who follows the Lord fully I come now to the second Part of the Text the Reward and 5th Member in the Subdivision proposed for a General Head Him will I bring into the Land whereinto he went Here is a poor indigent Jacob travelling with his Staff in his Hand and a Stone for his Pillow made two nay twenty Troops Here is a mean Caleb not all Heart as Fuller says for then it would be Calleb mean in Name mean in Birth the youngest of three mean in Possession mean in Place a Spy he has first gotten his Portion carved out to him and a large one too several Cities several Kingdoms Hebron one Debir one Bethlehem one the very Possessions of old Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Oaks of Mamre and the Wells of the South viz. Isaac's are all his and the Title the best in the World he holds of none but God but in Gratitude or by way of quit-rent he gives the Priests a large Share with him Here is a great Lesson for Men advanced from Poverty to Riches a low Estate to Honour a private Caleb to be the greatest Prince of Judah nay the greatest Part of Judah * I find the Body of the Tribe of Judah came of him by this Calculation Judah had but two Sons Pharez and Zerah who had any Posterity 2ly Pharez had but two Sons Hezron and Hamul and Hamul had no Posterity 3ly Hezron had but three Sons the third was Caleb in short by Birth he was the tenth Part or at least the twelfth Part as Judah was of Israel But then half of these were cut off when all above twenty Years of Age were cut off 2ly A 10th part were cut off when Achor the Troubler of Israel was destroyed and this may be further confirmed from the Genealogies of his Offspring containing more Families than all the Tribe of Judah beside for it was his Inheritance 1 Sam. 30.14 We made an Invasion upon the South of the Cherethites i. e. Philistins upon that of it which belonged to Judah or which is the South of Caleb Indeed his elder Brother Ram or Aram got the Honour of the Crown David's Line came from that Root yet Caleb wanted not the Honour to have Judges of Israel of his Posterity even in his own Day Othniel his Son-in-law It was not the first time the younger Brother became the better Man for Time and Eternity too but the Lesson we are taught is not to forget our Original and to remember it came through the gracious Promises not meritorious Purchase or Birth-right to remember Psal 113.7 that he raiseth up the Poor out of the Dust and lifteth the Needy out of the Dunghil that he may set him with Princes To remember the Pit out of which we were digged and the Rock from whence hewen This might be a great Remedy to some Peoples haughty Spirits their insolent Looks towards their own Flesh and Blood their imperious scornful Carriage towards others not long ago their Fellows if not Superiours or Supporters lest they hear of God as Saul When thou wast mean I advanced thee he had better have kept Asses all his Days than to have been a King his End was lower than before so will be thine pitiful not pitied the Subject of Misery and Object of Mockery miserable without Commiseration envied now and odious then if Humility of Mind attend not the Advancement of thy Condition and a faithful Improvement of thy Stewardship If I had Room for Inlargement there are here two Rivulets like the Brook Bezors that encompass the most fertil Land of Caleb or Subjects that meet in my Text one is the Pregnancy of the Promise the Bountifulness of the Blessing The 2d is the Proportion or
little ones that believe on me the like in Mark 9.42 Ver. 36. we find that it was such a Child that Christ took in his Arms such an one that has Angels for its Guardians such an one as the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18.15 such as were brought to Christ in the Arms of others not on their own Feet the Bringers whereof the Disciples rebuk'd not themselves being uncapable of Converse Jesus says the Kingdom of God consists of such And if there were no actual Sin in them I should be apt to have Charity for all of them for the much more on the second Adam's Side will scarce suffer any to be condemned where that is alone without the least Fruit or Effect The greatest Objection lying against these Texts is that the Infants spoken of seem to be capable of Offence to which if we take the Interpretation of Chrysostom with other Fathers for an answer to offend here is not barely to give an evil Example but to reject which was a Fault Christ reproves his Disciples for the Interpretation is the more receptible because Offending and Receiving are put in opposition to one another The common Opinion of Calvinists is that they have the Seeds of Faith or some Gift like Faith or a certain Inclination to Faith so that there is scarce any Party left but Socinians to join with in denying Infants to have any Faith * Indeed Mr. Lock denies Ideas innate but determines not how early they may be conveyed by Senses neither does he ever pretend to bar Heaven's Influence from creating Ideas in a Soul where its Case is not a span long nor its bodily Tools fit for Work Indeed Socinus says about the State of Adam that it 's ridiculous to attribute Faith in God to Infants and is like to the Dream of a feverish Man but I cannot dream of any particular Persons interested in the Righteousness of Christ without an Union to Christ and how one can be in Christ without Faith or the Spirit which works Faith is more than I can conceive of or than the Scripture informs me of which as generally attributes the Applicatory Work of Grace to the Spirit as the Redemptory to the Son 2 I find some sanctified from the Womb and even that sanctifying Grace in such Exercise as to move the very Organs of an Embryo in the Womb. Luke 1.44 The Babe leaped in my Womb for Joy Jer. 1.5 Before thou camest out of the Womb I sanctified thee How Sanctification can be without Faith is inconceivable that being it the Heart is purified by that the Soul lives by that we are clothed with Righteousness by there can no Assertion be more without Exception than that John 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Flesh and Blood cannot enter there and whatsoever is born of the Flesh is Flesh so that one must be born of the Spirit before he can enter thither But 't is observable that the Spirit blows where he listeth neither the Indisposition of the Body nor the Corruption of the Soul can impede his Creative Influence and it seems to me very unreasonable to deny a Spirit 's Converse with the Father of Spirits without a Capacity of conversing with Man in order to the one the Soul must learn how the Glass of the Senses represents such Objects to it nay there is need of Learning and Observation to know the right Hand from the Left it 's a Relation few of 40 Years understand a Hand is a necessary Organ to the Body but a very foreign extrinsical thing to the Soul If we come from Scripture to Experience and Observation we find it essential and necessary to the Soul to think it 's as natural for a Spirit to think as for a Body to be long broad and thick 2ly Wherever Thoughts are they are good or bad Gen. 6. The Imagination of the Thoughts of their Heart are evil continually All that proceeds from a Spirit is moral Christ says that defiles not a Man which goes in at his Mouth but what comes out of his Heart 1 Cor. 15. As the Father of Spirits is a quickning Spirit the Soul is a living Spirit the Image of him who is a pure Act. How can it live without Thought our Body cannot without Motion or be sanctified without good Thoughts If that sleep what can awake it 3ly We find it was a common Opinion in Christ's Time that an Infant was capable of sinning before it was born which he never thought worthy Refutation or Denial Did this Man sin or his Parents that he was born blind If being born blind was the Punishment of foregoing Sin then the Infant could act Sin why not Faith too 4ly Can they inform us of the Difference between a Soul newly formed by the Hand of God and after ten or twenty Years of Age that a Creative Operation of God should be needful to work Faith in the one but not able enough to create it in the other One should not make Exceptions to the Scriptures general Assertions without some clear and solid Reason this the Socinians grant His common way of saving is by Faith and common way of working Faith is by Creation and what Impediment can resist or render the Subject uncapable of that Influence Original Sin is more powerful by Habits radicated in the Adult than in Infants the part of this now under Consideration is the Want of that most like Image of God the Sense of Likeness and Image an Hebraism God cures that Privation by planting it in the Soul the Scripture informs us it consists in Knowledg Righteousness and Holiness Are the Infants sanctified without being transformed into the Likeness of God that is a Contradiction and it is as great a one to imagine the Image of God without Knowledg Psal 8.3 Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained Praise This is not objectively only as the Heavens declare God's Glory but actively with their Mouths which Mat. 21.15 was fulfilled by the little Children that went with their Mothers to the Temple though Luke 18. the Disciples began it 's like the Hosannas yet even Sucklings of two or three Years old filled up the Chorus And could their Tongues praise him and not their Souls think of him I cannot imagine that the Difference between a Suckling's Soul and a new-born or unborn Babe's is much 5ly Can all the Pains of an unregenerate Man study himself into a Spiritual discerning 1 Cor. 2.12 The natural Man knoweth not c. And can the want of that Pains hinder the Holy Ghost from induing the Soul with that holy Unction Suppose the Child die and be carried in the Arms of its Angels to Glory will it want Knowledg there or do the unprepared Organs while in the Body prevent the Holy Spirit 's Influence 6ly Take the Experiment of a pregnant longing Woman and we may find
is so weak it appears at a great Distance and therefore little In short my Use is this We are more obliged to be full in our following God than Caleb was from his temporal Portion Estate Church-State Politick State 1st It 's the Substance that is in our Expectation the Shadow and Type was immediately in his 2ly Forty Years was he to wander in the Wilderness before he set one Foot upon the Land I could never see from the true Canons of Chronology Scripture or Providence any Ground to countenance the Prophecy of 1697 indeed this is truly 1699 but yet I cannot think we shall continue 40 Years in the Wilderness 3ly Our present Circumstances are full of Straits Want of Trade Money full of Fears assaulted with a powerful Enemy no Appearance of Victory Distress in our Naon abounding Sin and Judgments but I. R. was it worse than theirs in the Wilderness All second Causes against them and their Pilgrimage under the Commination of God to destroy them all before these Years were at an End or they see the Land of Promise 4ly Compare their Means of Salvation with ours their Light and Hope of Salvation with ours and our Condition is not only better than their Wilderness-Condition but better than their State under a triumphant David or a peaceful Solomon for 1. We have the Exhibition and the History of that Perfect Righteousness that Everlasting Righteousness that Eternal and Plentiful Redemption that they could only look at in a Prophecy and it may be understand as little as we do of his glorious Reign when he shall appear the second Time without Sin 2. We have a full Remission of Sin their Remission was a kind of Pretermission or Preterition of Sin which Rom. 3.25 is called the Forbearance of God The Difference seems to lie in these things 1st The Price was not yet paid 2ly The same Sins for which they had offered Sacrifice were brought to their Remembrance again by new Sacrifices implying their not being in a constant State of Favour with God hence their Consciences did perpetually accuse them Heb. 10.2 and their Fears torment them 3ly They were under a Typical Curse for non-observance of some Ceremonial Law which was almost impossible to observe but under the New Testament there is no kind of Condemnation to them that are in Christ there is no more Sacrifice for Sin which imports Divine Justice to be fully satisfied Divine Wrath fully appeased all things are ready and we are invited to the Marriage-Feast Remission in this full Emphatick Sense is promised as the Due of the New Testament Jer. 31.34 and historised as its Privilege Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.22 Christ to us is a full Surety an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fidejussor Expromissor hence Believers under the New Testament who grow in Grace and Knowledg enjoy a more perfected tranquil secure and peaceable Conscience though thro Backslidings they sometimes doubt if they be the Men but doubt not about the Validity and Acceptableness of the Sacrifice 4ly Our Light is much more clear our Vail is thinner and our Stile more familiar the Contrivance of Divine Wisdom in the Salvation of Man is more perspicuously declared since he who was from Eternity in the Bosom of the Father is become a Preacher of it I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren I have made known thy Name unto them A 5th Advantage is the Manner of teaching by Effusion of the Holy Spirit on the Hearts of Men to convince of Sin Righteousness and Judgment this is the Gospel's Glory this makes Believers Christ's Epistles this makes our Subjection to all his Ordinances a willing Obedience We see a Reason for it as well as Authority for it which renders all our Service a reasonable Service even the severest bearing of the Cross The Difference is so great that our State eminently is called the State of Faith Gal. 3.23 After that Faith is come and before that Faith was Their State is a State of Hope By Hope we are saved for Christ who was the Hope of Israel and whom they looked at as future and to come is present to our Faith we hope for eternal Life through him but we believe in him as already having given Satisfaction and now sitting at the right Hand of God our Intercessor It may be on this account we are called perfect they Children in Christ A 6th Advantage is the Difference between their Church-State and ours I do humbly conceive that in many places where two Covenants are mentioned the difference is not between the Covenant of Works under the first Adam and the Covenant of Grace but between the Church-Covenant under the Law and under the Gospel by the former all that were of Israel were of the Church they came in by Generation and Birth the second Covenant-Constitution requires Regeneration the former filled the Church with profane Persons and therefore required a rigid Yoak severe Discipline frequent Ejections the other is more holy and Heaven-like Church-Members are more like Sons having a Spirit and Air of Liberty they had Fathers of their Flesh who chastised them at pleasure we own no Pastour to have paternal Authority that is to chastise at Pleasure Call no Man your Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven and one your Master even Christ hence frequently Christ forbids to imitate the Gentile Lordship in his Kingdom and the Apostles to exercise Lordship over God's Inheritance How powerful should these Motives be to undertake his light Burden and easy Yoak to follow him fully in every Ordinance of his Institution to follow the Lamb whithersoever he leads us to bear whatever Cross his Providence imposes But yet the 2d thing is the more native Subject of this part of the Text the Correspondency Proportion or Identity between the Work and Reward what he ventured for he shall enjoy Solomon makes the true Moral of it The Backslider in Heart shall be filled with his own ways and a good Man shall be satisfied from himself If there be not a heavenliness in a Man's Temper before he die his Hope may deceive him in expecting it then They that plough Iniquity and sow Wickedness reap the same but the Righteous shall eat the Fruit of his Doings Sin and Hell Holiness and Heaven agree like Conception and Birth When Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when 't is finished brings forth Death as hatred to God unfits for obedience to God so it incapacitates to enjoy God Can he that has Enmity of God in his Heart take pleasure in the Fruition of his Company Is not the Place of Darkness most sutable to them that love Darkness rather than Light Is it a cruel Sentence for God to say Depart from me to them whose Souls say to God Depart from us When Christ has long importuned us to use him as our Advocate and Reconciler is it harsh to say I will not speak a word for you If the