is more sure and the dignity he is advanced to by Christ is greater then he should have had if he had stood still in Adam This is the condition of the soul an excellent creature it is capable of the Image and likenesse of Christ and of God capable of all grace Again if it submit it self to base creatures it becomes even as them and therefore men are called the world they are called flesh they are called after that which leads them the very soul it self as it were is flesh For as the very body of a holy man in some sort is spirit and every thing in him is spirit as it shall be at the day of Judgment as S. Paul saith it shall be raised a spiritual body because it shall be subject to the motions of the Spirit of God in all things and it shall not be supported by bodily meanes Now the very soul is bodily and carnal such a degeneration is wrought in man since the fall he makes his soul that was given to guide him in this world and which is made apprehensive of better things of the things of another world this soul he makes it the bawd to serve his base lusts and pleasures Not in fleshly wisdome Now wisdome is a middle word it may be either spiritual or carnal as the man is in whom it is If a man have moral honesty in him and good things in him that way it makes him a good Politician a wise man usefull in his place Though he be not a sound Christian yet he may be a wise man in his place and God useth such kind of men in the world and they have their reward here they are advanced c. But if it light in a divellish nature in a crooked oblique nature then it is malicious divellish wisdome And note this by the way All men that have flesh in them have not fleshly wisdome for some are carried with the flesh with the rage of fleshly lusts as the swine in the Gospel were carried headlong into the Sea they are carried by their lusts to hell as your common swaggerers and roarers that so they may escape the danger of the Lawes they care not for God nor man irregular wild persons These have flesh they are ruled by the flesh but they have not so much as fleshly wisdome for they take courses to overthrow themselves in the world to overthrow their names and their bodies and all They have not so much as policy in them their lusts so reign in them Such wretches we have oft-times amongst us that think themselves some body but they have not so much as Carnal wisdome in them to carry themselves better then a Devill Now in other men the flesh hath a wisdome that carries them not after this fashion but it whets their wits and they are as bad in another kind As take the same man when he is young he is carried by his brutish lusts without any wisdome at all even as the hurry of his lusts carry him and transport him when he growes old he is carried subtilly with the wisdom of the world He is alway under lusts alway under the flesh when he is young he is carried with base lusts and when he is old he is under the flesh and fleshly wisdome still he is carried with slavish covetousnesse to the world as formerly he was subject to base lusts in his youth all this is naught Where these differ in the subject in the person usually the base lust serves the witty those that are carried with base lusts they are subject and inthralled and over-ruled by those that are carried with the wisdome of the flesh As your subtile men your Usurers and subtile oppressours great witty men they make other men serviceable to their turn other men are slaves to them But to come nearer that that I mean to stand on My Conversation hath not been in fleshly wisdome You may see by the Coherence which I will not dwell on what to judge of fleshly wisdome Fleshly wisdome is where there is no simplicity nor sincerity because he opposeth them here Where fleshly wisdome is there is neither simplicity nor sincerity For take a subtile wise man he is all out-side and there is no simplicity in him He that is not wise to God but to the world he wraps himself in ceremonies in matters of Religion and studies the out-side of things to approve himself to the world and to attain his own ends but there is no simplicity or sincerity he that is wise to the world hath no respect to God Sincerity hath an eye to God and a sincere man as far as he is sincere hath an eye to God and he doth this and that because God seeth him and because God is leased with it but he that works according to fleshly wisdome he hath aimes contrary and distinct to that therefore the Apostle saith We walk in the sincerity of God as it is in the original and not according to fleshly wisdome So you may know from the opposition that fleshly wisdome is where there is no sincerity Where there is no love to God or to men There is no simplicity all is for shew and where there is all for shew there is double carriage not in simplicity aiming at Gods glory there is fleshly wisdome That for the Connexion But the point of Doctrine proper to the place is this That Gods Children have another manner of rule to live by then the world the rule that a godly wise man goeth by is not fleshly wisdom A man that looks for any joy that lookes to be in the blessed estate that Saint Paul here was in he must not be ruled by fleshly wisdome Our Conversation saith he in the World hath not been in fleshly wisdome Saint Paul no question but he had flesh in him and likewise he had fleshly wisdome because flesh is in all parts and it mingles it self with all graces In the understanding there is light and darknesse in the will there is rebellion and pliablenesse to God So Saint Paul had the stirrings of fleshly wisdome in him When he was in danger no doubt but the flesh would stir in him you may avoid it by shifts if you will And when he was before great ones you may flatter and betray the truth if you will No doubt but Saint Paul as he expresseth him himself Rom. 7. as he had a conflict in himself in other regards so there was a conflict between wisdome and wisdome the wisdome of the flesh did stirre against the wisdome of the Spirit I but it is one thing to have fleshly wisdome in us and it is another thing to make it our rule It is one thing to have flesh in us and another thing to be in the flesh as the Scripture-phrase is This conflict wondrously afflicted Saint Paul no doubt but it was one sharp conflict No question but carnal wisdome set S Paul to shift for himself
the foot yet all have communicated by the Spirit from Christ the head So that the third person the Holy Ghost that sanctified the humane nature of Christ that filled and enriched it with all grace and anointed Christ the same Spirit enricheth all his mystical members As there is one Spirit in Christ and that sacred body he took on him so there is in the mysticall body but one Spirit quickening and enlivening and moving the head and the members He is a head of influence as well as a head of eminence Of his fulnesse we have all grace for grace He is first anointed and then we are anointed in him We will first speak of it as it hath reference to an oyntment and then as it hath reference to the persons anointed In the first place then why are graces here called anointing I answer they are called anointing from reference to that composed oyntment in Exod. 30. where you have the composition of the holy oyl laid down But in particular you may observe these five particulars in which the relation standeth First Oyntment is a liquor supereminent it will have the highest place it will have the eminency and be above all other liquors and in that respect it is a royal liquor so the graces of Gods Spirit they are of an eminent nature Spiritual gifts are above the gifts of nature and spiritual blessings are above earthly things the grace of God is a supereminent a royall thing it will be above all even above our parts of nature if a man have by nature a strong wit grace will subdue his wit so that he shall be onely witty to salvation he shall be onely strong to defend the truth and to do nothing against it he will subjugate and subordinate his parts and whatsoever excellency he hath by nature to grace cast all at Christs feet count all as dung in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ. And so again grace is above corrupt nature above all our corruptions it will bring them under it will subdue corruptions temptations afflictions any thing what you will that is either natural or diabolical for grace is spiritual and that which is spiritual is above all that is below Grace is of an invincible nature it will bear sway by little and little it is little in quantity but it is mighty in operation And it is above any outward excellency whatsoever if a man be a King if he have this anointing it makes him better then himself he is better in that he is a Christian that he hath this sacred anointing then for any other created excellency under heaven whatsoever yea though he were an Angel Grace hath its derivance and influence from Christ who is higher then all and will be above all and so will grace That is the first Other liquors the best of them will be beneath but oyl it will be above all It is compared to oyntment in the second place because that oyntment is sweet and delightful so was the oyntment that was poured upon our Saviour by the woman in the Gospel therefore the Spouse in Cant. 1. 3. speaking of Christ Because saith she of the savour of thy good oyntments thy Name is as an oyntment poured forth therefore do the Virgins love thee The graces that are in Christ are so sweet that they draw the Virgins they draw all believers after him So grace in a Christian it makes us sweet it sweetens our persons and our actions It sweetens our persons to God God delights in the smell of his own graces it makes us delectable for Christ and his holy Spirit to lodge in our soules as in a garden of Spices It makes us sweet to the Church to the communion of Saints A gracious man that hath his corruptions subdued is wondrous sweet his heart is as fine silver every thing is sweet that comes from him When the woman poured the box of oyntment upon Christ the whole house was filled with the smell thereof so the whole Church is filled with the savour of the graces of good men that either do live in the present times or have left their graces in writing to posterity A wicked man is an abomination to God and so are all his actions he that is in the flesh cannot please God a civil man that hath not this anointing all that he doth is abominable to God all things are unclean to the unclean even their best actions have a tincture of defilement from their corruption without this oyntment we are not sweet neither to God nor to others therefore the Scripture terms men in the state of nature Swine and Goats stinking creatures and so indeed they that have not this anointing they are stinking Goats and shall be set at Christs left hand except they have grace to sweeten their understandings and affections and to draw them higher then nature can Likewise grace is full of sweetnesse to a mans self it sweetneth our nature and our actions to our selves a good conscience being privy to it self of the work of grace is a continual feast the conscience of a Christian once renewed by grace inlargeth the soul and fills it with sweet peace and joy in believing Thirdly the graces of the Spirit are called anointing because anointing strengthens therefore usually Warriours and Combatants amoug the Heathen that were to encounter were first anointed so there is a Spirit of strength in all those that are true Christians which they have received from God whereby they are able to do that that worldlings cannot do they are able to deny themselves to overcome themselves in matters of revenge c. they are able to want and to abound to beare crosses to resist temptations and as the Apostle saith able to do all things nothing can stand in the way of a gracious man no not the gates of hell he that is in him Grace is stronger then he that is in the world the least measure of grace though it be but as a grain of mustard-seed is stronger then the greatest measure of opposition though strengthened with all the power of hell In the fourth place oyntment makes the joynts of the body nimble so this spiritual anointing it oyles the joynts of the soul as I may say and makes them nimble and ready to serve God in newnesse of Spirit and not in the oldnesse of the letter Gods people are called a willing people and a chearful people ready to every good work And there is good reason for it for they have an inward spiritual anointing that makes them active and nimble in every thing they do that Spirit that sanctifieth them that Spirit telleth them what Christ hath done for them that there is no damnation to them that God is reconciled to them that they are freed from the greatest dangers that all is theirs and so their joy and nimblenesse is from good reason and there is a spirit of love in them unto God and Christ which makes them nimble
the soul as the soul is in the body for as all beauty and motion comes from the soul to the body so to the soul from the Spirit all comes of the Spirit and therefore every saving grace is a sign that the Spirit is in us In a word the Spirit is in us in the nature of fire as in other things so in this in transforming wheresoever the Spirit dwells he transforms the soul he transforms the party like himself holy and gracious Those therefore that find the Spirit transforming and changing them in the use of the Ordinance of the Word they may know that they have the Spirit sealing them and being an Earnest to them They may know likewise that they have it wrought by the Spirit for every one grace you may knowspiritual graces are with conflict for what is true is with a great deal of resistance of that which is counterfeit Comforts and graces that are not the Earnest of the Spirit are with little conflict but where there are true comforts and graces of the Spirit wrought by the Spirit it is with much conflict with Satan and with himself for there is a great deal of Envy in the Divell against the man that walkes in the Spirit Thinks he what such a base creature as this is to have the Earnest of heaven to walk here as if he were in heaven already and to defie all opposite powers Nay I will trouble his peace he shall go mourning to heaven if he go there this is the reasoning of the cursed spirit and hereupon he labours to shake the assurance and perswasion and the grace and Comfort of a Christian it is with much conflict and temptation not onely with Satan but with his own heart Our hearts misgive us when we are guilty of some sins as alwaies there is guilt on the soul so much guilt so much doubt till the soul be free from giult it wil never but be casting of doubts and therefore there is alwaies resistance in us and there must be a higher power then the heart and soul of a man to set the heart down and quiet it It is alwaies in conflict And the gracet and comforts of the Spirit wrought by the Spirit are alwaies in the use of meanes holy means and it carries a man above the strength of nature it carries a man to the practice of that which he could not do by nature to pardon his enemies to pray for them to overcome revenge and to enjoy prosperity without pride in a comfortable measure and it enables him to practise the last Comandement That he shall be content with his estate and not lust after others and the first Comandement the graces of the holy Spirit enables a man to love God and to rejoyce in him above all as his best portion it makes his joy spiritual and it makes him delight in all connatural things that are like the Spirit as whatsoever is spiritual is connatural to the Spirit If a man have the graces of the Spirit he joyes in spiritual company he joyes in the presence of God he hates sin as being contrary to the Earnest of the Spirit he hates terrour of conscience and the way unto it he will look on good things as God lookes on them and as the Spirit looks on them and every thing that is spiritual he relisheth he savours the things of the Spirit Now be cause I will not detract your thoughts there are some six or seven properties of the Spirit in one Chapter that you may have them all together in Rom. 8. I will not name all but such as are easie First of all it is said in the 9. ver that the Spirit where it is it dwells as in a house now wheresoeve the Spirit is he is dwelling and ruling for the holy Ghost will not be an underling to lusts and he repaires and makes up the breaches of the soul where the Spirit dwells all the breaches are made up Ignorance to knowledge he begets knowledge and affection and love he prepares all he prepares his own dwelling and it is familiar and constant to the Spirit a dwelling implyes familiarity and constancy he is not in us as he is in wicked men that have the Spirit As Austin saith The Spirit of God knocks at their hearts but he doth not dwell there To go on that is the first The Spirit dwells in us if we have the Spirit And then the Spirit doth subdue the contrary for the Spirit when it comes into a man it pulls down all the strong holds it makes way for it self and therefore it is said to mortifie the deeds of the flesh ver 13. If you mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit you are led by the Spirit Those therefore that by the help of the Spirit by spiritual reasons subdue their corruptions they are led by the Spirit those that cherish corruptions or mortifie them not by spiritual reasons but out of civil respect to carry authority among men and therefore they would be free from aspersions as might disable their reputation they have not the Spirit Thirdly as many as are led by the Spirit are the sons of God the Spirit leads them as the Angel that went before the Israelites from Egypt unto Canaan so the Spirit of God like the Angel goes before us and leads us the way and removes the lets it doth lead us I say sweetly and not violently as the Devil leads his that are possessed with his spirit So that those that have the Spirit working grace and comfort in them sweetly he leads them and yet strongly too for it is strongly because it is against corruption and opposition from without but yet sweetly preserving the liberty and freedom of the soul. We by nature are like children or blind men we cannot lead our selves and therefore the Spirit leads us Those therefore that have the Spirit it leads them they submit themselves to the guidance and leading of the Spirit That is another evidence A fourth is this That it is a Spirit of adoption it assures us that we are the sons of God it gives us assurance of our adoption that we are the sons of God the same Spirit that sanctifieth us it witnesseth to us it makes us holy it witnesseth to us that we are the sons of God And then again the Spirit stirres up sighs and groans that cannot be expressed when we are not of our selves able to pray this is an evidence of the Earnest of the Spirit when we can send our sighes and groans to God I say God will hear the groans the voice of his own Spirits for whence come those sighes and groanes to God why should we not rather sink in despair in troubles but because the Spirit is in us Those therefoore that in extremity having nothing to comfort them and yet are able to send forth sighes and groans to God they may certainly know that they
insinuates as if he should say What can I give you better then the Holy Ghost and yet this will I give you if you ask him that is the good thing that God gives for indeed that is the seed of all graces and of all comfort and therefore a world of promises are included in that promise that he will give the Spirit to them that ask him Labour by these and such like means for the Spirit and then if you have the Spirit the Earnest of the Spirit and the seal of the Spirit then mark what will come of such a temper of soul that will go through all conditions whatsoever come what will for the Spirit is above all and the comforts of the Spirit are above all earthly comforts and the graces of the Spirit are able to encounter with all temptations So that a man that hath the Spirit stands impregnable the work of grace cannot be quenched because it is the effect and the work of the Spirit all the powers of all the Devils in hell cannot stirre it God may hide his comfort for a time to humble us but to quench the work of the Spirit once wrought in the heart all the power of all the Devils in hell cannot quench the least spark of saving grace it will carry us through all opposition whatsoever Let a man never baulk or decline in a good cause for any thing that he shall suffer for the seal and the Earnest of the Spirit is never more strong then when we have no other comfort by us but that when we can draw comfort from the Well-head from the Spring therefore we should labour for the Earnest of the Spirit for it will fit us for all conditions whatsoever What makes a man differ from himself what makes a man differ from another Take a man that hath the Earnest of the Spirit you shall have him defie death the world Satan and all temptations Take a man that is negligent in labouring to encrease his Earnest you shall have him weak and not like himself The Apostle Peter before the Holy Ghost came upon him the voice of a weak damsel astonished him but after how willing was he to suffer any thing Therefore let us not labour much to strengthen our selves with the things of this life or to value our selves by our dependance upon others if thou hast grace thou hast that that will stand by thee when all other things will fail for all other things will be taken away but the Comforter shall never be taken away it goes along with us continually First it works Earnest in us and then it stamps upon us his own mark and then it leads us from grace to grace and in the hour of death then especially it hath the work of a Comforter to present to us the fruits of a good and holy life and likewise the joyes of heaven when we are dead the Spirit watcheth over our bodies because they were the Temples of the Holy Ghost and at the day of judgement the same Spirit shall knit both body and soul together and after the same Spirit that hath done all this shall be all in all to us in heaven for ever and then our very bodies shall be spiritual where as now our souls even the better part of them is carnal Even as the fire when it possesseth a piece of Iron it is all fire So our bodies shall be all spiritual What a blessed thing is this to have the Spirit what are all friends to the Holy Ghost which will speak to God for us The Spirit will make request with sighes and groans and God will hear the voice of his own Spirit What prison can shut up the Spirit of God Above all labour to have more of the Spirit of God this will make us more or lesse fruitfull more or lesse glorious in our profession more or lesse willing to dye Labour to encrease this Earnest that the nearer we come to heaven the more we may be fitted for it Consider but this Reason if you want this alas we can never be thankful to God for any thing if by the Spirit we have not assurance that our state is the state of grace for otherwise we might think that God gives us all in anger as a etrnal man he alwaies fears that God fatts him as an oxe to the slaughter what a fearfull case is this that a man cannot be thankful for that he hath Labour for the Spirit that we may be thankfull to God for every thing that we may see the love of God in every thing in every refreshing we take that that love of God that fits us for heaven and that fits heaven for us it gives us daily bread the Earnest of the Spirit will make us thankfull for every thing Again labour for the Earnest of the Spirit that we may be joyfull in all conditions how can a man suffer willingly that knowes not that he is sealed with the Spirit that knowes not that God hath begun a good work in him Alas he is lumpish and heavy under the Crosse. What makes a man bear the Crosse willingly but this assurance what makes him deny himself in temptations and corruptions Oh saith the child of God the work of the Spirit is begun in me sealing me up to life everlasting shall I grieve and quench this Spirit for this base lust But a man that hath not the Spirit saith I had as good take this pleasure as have none at all for ought I know I shall have none he sees no greater pleasure then the following of his lust So that none can resist temptations but he that hath the Spirit giving him Earnest in a comfortable measure and it is a good sign when we resist temptations for spiritual reasons that the Spirit works it Again unlesse we have this Earnest of the Spirit in our hearts we can never be content to end our dayes with comfort he that hath the Earnest of the Spirit is glad of death when it comes there shall be then an accomplishment of all the bargain then the Marriage shall be consummate then shall be the year of Jubile the Sabbath of rest for ever then is the triumph and then all teares shall be wiped from our eyes But now let a man stagger and doubt whether he be the child of God or no that he cannor find any mark of the child of God in him that he cannot read the evidences of a Christian state in his soul they are so dim he sees nothing but corruption in him he sees no change no resistence of corruption he hath no Earnest Alas what a miserable case is such a man in when he comes to dye death with the eternity of misery after it who can look it in the face without hope of life everlasting without assurance of a happy change after death Therefore we should labour for the Spirit that howsoever we grow or decay in wealth and reputation let
This being a truth that Gods Children when they have tasted of his mercie break forth into his praise it being the end of his favours and nature being inclined thereto this should stirre us up to this duty and that we may the better perform this holy duty let us take notice of all Gods favours and blessings Knowledge stirs up the affections blessing of God springs immediately from an inlarged heart but enlargement of heart is stirred up from apprehension for as things are reported to the knowledge so the understanding reports them to the heart and affections Therefore it is a duty that we ought to take notice of Gods favours and with taking notice of them To mind them to remember them forget not all his benefits Psal. 103. Praise the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benefits insinuating that the cause why we praise not God is the forgetting of his benefits Let us take notice of them let us register them let us mind them let us keep diaries of his mercies and favours every day he renews his mercies and favours every day and we ought to renew our blessing of him every day we should labour to do here as we shall do when we are in heaven where we shall do nothing else but praise and bless him we ought to be in Heaven while we are on the earth as much as we may let us register his favours and mercies But what favours Especially spirituall nay first spirituall favours without which we cannot heartily give thanks for any outward thing for the soule will cast with it self till it feele it selfe in Covenant with God in Christ that a man is the Child of God Indeed I have many mercies and favours God is good to me but perhaps all these are but favours of the Traytor in the prison that hath the libertie of the Tower and all things that his heart can desire but then he looks for an execution he looks for a writt to draw him forth to make him a spectacle to all and so this trembling for fear of a future ill which the soul lookes for it keepes the soul from thankfulnesse It cannot be heartily thankful for any mercy till it can be thankful for spiritual fauors Therefore first let us see that our state be good that we are in Christ that we are in the covenant of Grace that though we are weak Christians yet we are true there is truth in Grace wrought in us And then when we have tasted the best mercies spirituall mercies when we see we are taken out of the state of nature for then all is in love to us when we have the first mercy pardoning mercy that our sins are forgiven in Christ then the other are mercies indeed to us not as favours to a condemned man And that is the reason that a carnall man he hath his heart shut he cannot praise God he cannot trust in God because he staggers in his estate because he is not assured he thinks it may be God fattens me against the day of slaughter Therefore I know not whether I should praise him for this or no. But he is deceived in that for if he had his heart enlarged to blesse God for that God would shew further favour still but the heart will not yield hearty praise to God till it be perswaded of Gods love For all our love is by reflection We love him because he loved us first and we praise and blesse him because he hath blest us first in heavenly blessings in Christ. Let us take notice of his favours let us mind them let us register them especially favours and mercies in Christ. Let us after think how we were pulled out of the cursed estate of nature by what ministery by what acquaintance by what speech and how God hath followed that mercie with new acquaintance with new comfort to our souls with new refreshings that by his spirit he hath repressed our corruptions that he hath sanctified us made us more humble more careful that he hath made us more jealous more watchful these mercies and favours will make others sweet unto us And then learn to prize and value the mercies of God which will not be unlesse we compare them with our own unworthinesse lay his mercies together with our own unworthinesse and it will make us break forth into blessing of God When we consider what we are our selves as Jacob said lesse than the least of Gods mercies We forget Gods mercies every day he strives with our unthankfulnesse the comparing of his mercies with our unworthiness and our desert on the contrary will make us to blesse God for his goodnesse and patience that he will not onely be good to us in not inflicting that which our sins have deserved Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to name no more bút this one above all beg of God his holy spirit for this Blessing of God is nothing else but a vent from the spirit For as Organs and wind Instruments do never sound except they be blown they are dead and make no musick till there be breath put into them so we are dead and dull instruments therefore it is said we are filled with the Holy Ghost All Gods children they are filled with the spirit before they can praise God the spirit stirres them up to praise him and as it gives them matter to praise him for so it gives the Sacrifice of praise it self God gives to his children both the benefits to blesse him for and he gives the blessing of a heart to blesse him And we must beg both of God beg a heart able to discern spiritual favours to tast and relish them and to see our own unworthinesse of them and beg of God his holy spirit to awaken and quicken and enlarge our dead and dull hearts to praise his name Let us stir up our hearts to it stirr up the spirit of God in us every one that hath the spirit of God should labour to stir up the spirit as St. Paul writes to Timothy and as David stirs up himself Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his holy name so we should raise up our selves and stir up our selves to this duty And shame our selves what hath God freed me from so great misery and hath he advanced me to so happie an estate in this world doth he put me in so certain a hope of glorie in the world to come have I a certain promise to be carried to salvation that neither things present nor things to come shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus doth he renew his mercies every day upon me and can I be thus dead can I be thus dull-hearted Let us shame our selves And certainly if a man were to teach a Child of God a ground of humiliation if a Child of God that is in the state of grace should ask how
friends seeing he died for us when we were enemies I but the remainders of corruption in this world trouble us that troubles our comfort the combate between the flesh and the spirit would you see comfort for that you shall see it in Romans 7. Oh miserable man who shall deliver me from this body of death Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So he shewes there what way to have comfort in the combate between the flesh and the Spirit to search into our corruptions to lay them open to God by confession And then in the beginning of the eight Chapter saith he there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus though there be sin yet there is no condemnation though there be this conflict between the flesh and the spirit so he comforts them And for the afflictions that follow our corruptions in this life there is a treasure of comfort against them in that Chapter for doth he not say if we suffer with him we shall reign with him And the same spirit helps our infirmities and teacheth us how to pray We can never be uncomfortable if we can pray but there is a promise of the spirit that stirs up sighs and groanes that cannot be expressed and a Christian hath alway a spirit of prayer at the least of sighs and groanes and God hears the sighs of his own spirit And what a grand comfort is that that I named before vers 28. All things work for the best to them that love God And if God be with us who can be against us And he sends us to Christ if Christ be dead or rather risen again who shall lay any thing to our charge Christ is ascended to heaven and makes intercession at the right hand of God Though Satan lay our sins to our charge Christ makes intercession in heaven at the right hand of God he makes continuall intercession for our continuall breaches with God who shall lay any thing to our charge I but all that power of hell and sin and all labour to separate us from God to breed division between God and us In the later end of that Chapter he bids defiance to all what shall separate us from the love of God in Christ it shall separate his love from Christ first Gods love is found in Christ he shall cease to love Christ if he cease to love us I but we may afterward fall into an uncomfortable case For that he saith neither things present nor things to come shall be able to separate us What an excellent spring of comfort is there in that reasoning vers 32. If God spared not his own son but gave him to death for us all how shall he not with him give us all things eââ¦lse How many streames may be drawn from that spring if God spared not his own son but gave him to death for us all how shall he not with him give us all things else in this world necessar grace provision protection till he have brought us to heaven If he have given Christ he will give all whatsoever is written is written for our comfort I mean this epistle because I would name one instance for all All is written for our comfort as he saith after in the same Epistle The written word or the word unfolded the end of preaching is especially to comfort The Chirurgeon opens a wound and the Physitian gives a purge but all is to restore at the last all that the Chirurgeon aimes at is to close up the wound at the last so all our aime is to comfort We must cast you down and shew you your miserie that you are in and shew you that if you continue in that course hell and damnation belongs to you but this is to make you despaire in your selves and to flie to the God of comfort the law is for the Gospel all serve to bring the soul to comfort Therefore go to the word of God any portion the Psalmes or any special part of the scripture and that by the spirit of God will be a meanes to raise the soul the spirit in the word joyning with the spirit in us will make a sweet close together and comfort us in all tribulation And have recourse daily to common principles all the principles of religion serve for comfort especially the Articles of the Creed I believe in God the father Almightie What a spring of comfort is in that what can befall from a father but it shall turn to good and by a father Almightie though he be never so strongly opposed yet he will turn it to good he is a father Almightie and the Articles of Christ every article hath ground of daily comfort of his abasement in Christ I see my self he is my surety the second Adam I see my sins crucified with him This is the way to reape comfort when the conscience is disquieted when I look upon my sins not in my own conscience but take it out there and see it in Christ dying and crucified in the Articles of abasement to see our sin and miserie all in Christ. For he stood there as surety as a publick person for all What a comfort is this When I see how Christ was abased I see my own comfort for he was my surety if my sins being laid on him who was my surety could not condemne him or keep him in the grave but overcame sin that was laid to his charge surely I shall overcome my corruptions nothing that I have shall overcome mee because it could not overcome Christ my surety his victorie is mine And so if the soul be in any desolation and discomfort all the articles of his Glorification and exaltation his rising again acquits the soul therefore my sins are satisfied for because my surety is out of prison And his ascending into heaven shewes my triumph he lead captivity captive and the enemies that are left are for the tryal of my faith and not to conquer me for Christ hath Lead captivity captive and is ascended into heaven he led all in triumph and sits at the right hand of God to rule his Church to the end of the World he sits for me to overcome my enemies as St. Paul saith excellently Rom. 8. who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods people it is Christ that died or rather that is risen again who fits at the right hand of God And if we be troubled for the loss of a particular friend there is comfort in that article of the communion of Saints There are those that have more grace and that is for me If my own prayers be weak I believe the communion of Saints and have the benefit of their prayers every one that saith Our Father brings me in if I be in the Covenant of grace and of the Communion of Saints If I have weaknesses in my self I believe in the holy Ghost the comforter of Gods elect and my comforter If I fear death I believe the
all have interest alike Only the difference is in the vessels they bring if one man bring a large vessel a large faith he caries more and another that brings a less faith caries lesse but it lies open to all alike As St. Cyprian saith we carry as much from God as we bring vessels but all have Interest alike in divine comforts Therefore among Christians there is little envy because in the best things which they value best all may have alike and that which one desires another may have as much as he he knowes he hath never the lesse The point is comfortable to all even to the meanest and to them especially that howsoever there be a difference between others and them in outward things that cease in death for all differences shall cease ere long between us and others yet the best things are common In this life those things that are necessary they are common as the Light and the Elements Fire and Water c. and those are necessarie that are not common but especially in spiritual things the best things are common Let no man be discomforted if he be Gods Child comfort belongs to him as well as to the greatest Apostle The chiefest comforts belong to him as well as to the chiefest Christian. Therefore let us envy none nor despise none in this respect In the next place we may observe here hence that Though these comforts be common yet God derives these comforts commonly by the means of men This is Gods order in deriving these comforts to the soul he comforts one that another may be comforted Not that the comforts themselves that joyn with our spirits come from men but that together with the speech and presence of men whom we love and respect and in whom we discern the appearance of the Spirit of God to dwell together with the speech of persons in whom the spirit is strong and powerful the Spirit of God joyns and the Spirit raiseth the soul with comfort so the Spirit comforteth by comforting others that they may comfort us This is not only true of Ministers but it is true of Christians as Christians for St. Paul must be considered in something as an Apostle in something as a Christian in something as a Minister of Christ. As an Apostle he had the care of all the Churches c. As a Christian he comforted and exhorted others one Christian ought to comfort another therefore he would have done it as a Christian if he had not been an Apostle And in something he is to be considered as a Minister of Christ as a Teacher and Ambassador of Christ a teacher of the Gospel He was somewhat as an Apostle somewhat as a Minister somewhat as a Christian. Therefore it concerns us all to consider how to comfort one another as Christians We are all members of the same body whereof Christ is the Head therefore whatsoever comfort we feel we ought to communicate The Celestial bodies will teach us this whatsoever light or influence the Moon and the Stars receive they bestow it on these inferiour bodies they have their light from the Sun and they reflect it again upon the creatures below In the Fabrick of mans body those official parts as we call them those parts and members of the body the Heart and the Liver which are both members and official parts that do office and service to others parts they convey and derive the spirits and the blood to all other parts they receive strength partly for themselves first and then to convey it to other members The Liver is fed it self with some part of the blood and it conveyes the rest to the veins and so to the whole bodie The heart is nourished it self of the purest nourishment the spirits are increased and those spirits are spread through the Arteries The stomach feeds it self with the meat it digests and with the strength it hath being an official part it serves other parts and strengtheneth other parts and if there be a decay in it there is a decay in all the parts of the body So a Christian ought to strengthen himself and then strengthen others no man is for himself alone And although whatsoever the means be the comfort comes from God yet he will have comfort to be conveyed to us by men this way Partly to try our obedience whether we will respect his Ordinance he will have us go to men like our selves Now if we will have comfort we must look to his Ordinance we must have it of others and not altogether from our selves And that is the reason why many go all their life time with heavy drooping spirits out of pride and neglect they scorn to seek it of others they smother their grief and bleed inwardly because they will not lay open the state of their souls to others Although God be the God of comfort he hath ordained this order that he will comfort us by them that he hath appointed to comfort us he comforteth others that they may comfort us Though God be the God of comfort yet he conveyes it for the most part by the means of others I say for the most part for he ties not himself to means though he tie us to means when we have means Occasion may be when a man is shut from all earthly comforts as in contagious diseases and restraint c. A man may be shut from all entercourse of Worldly comforts but even then a Christian is never in such an estate but he hath one comfort or other then God comforts immediately and then he comforts more sweetly and strongly then the soul cleaves to him close and saith now thou must comfort or none now the honour is all thine Now the nearer the the soul is to the fountain of comfort the more it is comforted but the soul is never so near to God as in extremitie of affliction when all means fail then the soul goes to the fountain of comfort and gives all the glory to him But I say when there is means God hath appointed to derive his comfort by means when we may have the benefit of the Communion of Saints of the word c. God will not comfort us immediatly in the neglect of the means he comforteth us that we might comfort others And as he doth it to try our obedience So partly to knit us in love one to another For is not this a great bond to knit us one to another when we consider that our good is hid in another the good that is derived to us it is hid in others And this makes us to esteem highly of others how sweet are the looks and sight of a friend and more sweet the words of a friend especially of an experienced friend that hath been in the Furnace himself Thus God to knit us one to another in loveâ⦠hath ordained that the comfort that he conveyes it should be conveyed by the means of others
belong to ministers in a more eminent sort yet let every one lay it to heart you ought to have abilities to comfort others and to receive comfort of others And consider it is an angelical work to comfort others we imitate God himself and the most Excellent creatures the Angels whose office it is to comfort Even our very Saviour they came to comfort him in his greatest extremity A man is a God to a man when he comforts when he discomforts and directs and withdrawes he is a divell to a man men are beasts to men Divels to men that way but he that is an instrument to convey comfort he is a God to a man God is the God of comfort Thou art in the place of God to a man when thou comfortest him thou shalt save thy self and others God honours men with his own title when they comfort not onely ministers but others save men thou shalt gain thy brother by thy admonition and reproof what greater honour can yee have then Gods own title to be saviours one of another It is the office I say of Angels they were sent to comfort Christ it is their duty to pitch their tents about Gods Children to suggest holy thoughts as the divel suggests evill and to be about us though we think not of it Nay it is not onely an angelical work but it is the work of Gods spirit the sweetest stile of the Holy Ghost is to be a Comforter What shall we think of cursed spirits that insult over others misery that give them gall to eat and vinegar to drink that add affliction to the afflicted What shall we say to barren spirits that have not a word of comfort to say but come in a prophane and dead manner I am sorry to see you thus and I hope you will be better barren soul as the wildernesse What a member of Christ of the communion of Saint and no way furnished no word of comfort to a distressed soul We may know the comfort we have our selves to be comfort indeed and from the grace and favour of God when we have hearts enlarged to do good to others with it How do gifts and grace differ to add that useful distinction And man may have a great many gifts and be proud and full of envy and have a divellish poysonful spirit to draw all to himself and not be good but be carried with self-love and die a divell notwithstanding his excellent parts Why here are such gifts and parts but there is a bitter roote of self-love to draw all to himself to deifie himself to make an Idol of himself but grace with gifts works otherwise that turnes all by a spirit of love and humility to the good of others There is no envy in a gracious heart so far forth as it is gracious there is no pride nor scorn to do good to others How shall we distinguish men of excellent parts whether they be Christians or not Christians They have both of them wit and memorie they have both courage I but whether of them improve their parts and abilities most to the good of others Whether of them hath the most humble spirit the most loving spirit the most discreete spirit to be wittie to do others to good upon all advantages there is the Christian that hath Gods Grace with his gifts But for the other Knowledge puffeth up saith the Apostle what edifies and builds up Love edifieth knowledge gathers many materials stone and timber c. what builds the house the bodie of Christ It is a loving and humble spirit Therefore let us think that we have nothing in Christianity by any parts we have of memory or witt or reading c. unlesse we have a humble spirit that we can deny our selves and abase our selves to do good to others upon all the best advantages or else we have not the spirit of Christ that sweet spirit of Christ that denied himself to do good to us Where grace is established once and is in the right nature there is a publick mind and it is one of the best signs of a heart that is fashioned to the image of Christ who denied himself and became all in all to us to have a publick mind to have self-love killed to think I have nothing to purpose as I should have except I can make use of it to the good of others therefore let us be willing to do good in this kind And as I said let us make use of comfort from others think that they are reserved to the times and place where thou livest that thou mightest make use of them Therefore those that need comfort should not flatter themselves in their grief but humbly depend upon the meanes that God hath ordained And let every man think what if God have hid my comfort in another man what if he have given him the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season unto me Let no man think to master his trouble and grief by himself we are members of the body and the good that God will convey to us must be from and by others Therefore it is a mutual duty those that have comfort ought to comfort others and those that do need comfort ought to repiare to others it is the ordinance of God As Job saith for one of a thousand to shew a man his righteousnesse Though a man be never so wise yet sometimes he knowes not his owne comfort he knowes not that portion of comfort that belongs to him till some others discover it to him Physitians will have others to heale themselves to judge of their diseases and certainly one reason why persons that are excellent in themselves have passed their daies in darknesse it hath been this that they think to overmaster their heavinesse and distraction of spirit with their own reason c. which will not be God what he will do he will do by his own meanes and ordinance Let us therefore learn hence to see the goodnesse of God that besides the Ministery that he hath ordeyned and the salvation that he keeps for us and the promises that he hath given us and the Angels that attend us c. he doth even ordain others that are men and have bodies with our selves other fellow-Christians to be instruments to convey comfort he trains them up that they may be able to comfort and do good to us and he hides the good he intends to us in them and conveyes it to us by them it is a speciall goodnesse of God that every thing should tend to our good Thus all things are for us the sufferings of others tend to increase our comfort and the comfort of others is for our comfort There is such a sweet prudence in directing us to heaven that God makes every thing help not onely our own troubles that we suffer our selves but he doth sweetly turn the troubles of others and the comforts of others to our good It ministreth an
to their Childrens good I come to bestow a grace on you How this is observed I list not to speak therefore I leave it and come to that which concerns us all I was minded to come to you To bestow a grace on you We see then That The Preaching of the Gospel is a special Grace It is a free and bountiful benefit of God Gracce implies freedome and mercy and bounty It is a free mercy of God to have the Gospel Why Because this is the means to work all that is savingly good in us This is a means to open to us Gods love in Christ and to work in us a disposition answerable to his love therefore it must needs be a grace Heaven is a grace life is a grace reconciliation a grace and such like therefore the Word must needs be a grace by which all these are communicated Therefore the Word hath the name of these things It is the Word of the Kingdome of heaven It is called the Kingdome of heaven the preaching of the Gospel because it puts us into the state of the Kingdome of heaven and the Word of reconciliation because by it we know our reconciliation with God it is offered and wrought in our hearts and faith to apply it by this Word It is the Word of life Act. 20. the life of grace and the life of glory all come by this Word I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace saith the Apostle All grace and spiritual life is wrought in us by the Word therefore the Word preached it is a special grace and favour of God Saint Paul here calls his coming to them to strengthen and confirm them a grace For all means come under the same decree of Gods eternal love with the decree it self When God out of grace resolves and sets down that he will bring such a one to heaven of his free love he doth out of the same grace fit him with opportunities of persons and means he accommodates him with all means for he intends in such a way to bring him to heaven And therefore S. Austin doth well define Predestination it is an ordaining to salvation and a preparing of all means tending thereto Therefore all fall in the compasse of grace both the free favour of God setting a man down to make him happy and likewise by sending men that have an outward calling and inwardly furnishing them with gifts and whatsoever all is of Grace The preaching of the Word is a grace It concerns us therefore so to esteem it Do not many sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death Is it not a grace therefore that we partake of the means of salvation What is in us by nature better then in Turks and Pagans or then many other people under Satan and under Popish Teachers and so rot away in their Ignorance nothing we differ onely by the grace of God therefore let us esteem it as a grace How shall we esteem it as a grace Receive it thankfully as a largesse and bounty and free grace of God receive it as a bounty with thankful hearts Grace begets grace it begets thankfulnesse so to receive it as a grace is to receive it with thankful minds to be more thankfull for the means of salvation then for any outward thing How shall we come to be thankful Never unlesse we find some grace wrought by the Word of Grace Therefore to receive it as a grace is to receive it as a free loving gift of God and to yield to it when by it holy motions are stirred in our hearts not to suppresse and quench holy motions but to yield to them Not to quench and resist the Spirit but to yield our selves pliable to the Word This is to acknowledge it a grace to be thankfull for it because you find your hearts wrought to holy obedience by it Give it way in your soules that it may be an ingraffed Word that all the inward and outward man may be seasoned with it and relish of it that the Word may season your thoughts and speeches and desires and season your course of life that what you think may be in the relish and strength of the Word in the strength of some Divine truth and the guide of your actions may be Divine truth or some motives from it Then you will give thanks for what is wrought on you when it is an ingraffed Word in your soules and all relish of it your speeches and actions and your whole course when a man may know by your carriage that there is something invested and ingraffed in your soules that gives a blessed relish to all the expressions of the outward man Such a one indeed will account the Word a special grace by a sweet experience wrought in his heart I will not presse that Point any further Again whereas S. Paul saith he would come to bestow a second grace on them we see here That Those that are in the state of Grace already they need a second grace Those that have initial grace to be set in a good course they need confirming and strengthening Grace S. Paul had planted them before I but he must come to water them there is alway somewhat left for the Minister to do till he see their soules safe in heaven he hath alway somewhat to do to the Christian soules under him For he must not onely get them out of Satans Kingdome into a good estate but he must labour to build them up he must water them and fence them and strengthen them against all discouragements A man is never safe till he be in heaven therefore he saith I will come to you but I will come to bestow a second Grace on you you have need of it and my love is such to you that you shall have it To enforce this a little because we set termes to our growth and go on plodding in a course and many years after we are no better then we were at the first and some out of a prophane fulnesse out of a Laodicean temper they think they have enough they are rich when indeed they are empty and miserable and wretched and poor and if temptations set upon them they have nothing in them To let you see that we stand in need of a second grace and of a third grace and a fourth grace that we need continual building up First look within what opposition there is to saving goodnesse within what rebellion of lusts what Ignorance and blindnesse and darknesse and indisposition what head the flesh makes in us against the Word of God Let a man a little continue out of the means and he shall see what growth of corruptions there will be a distasting of all means that a man shall be ready to begin anew with them almost having a double principle in them of grace and corruption there needs continually strengthening and stablishing Grace Consider outwardly what discouragements from the ill
gracious means by those gracious speeches God distill into me a spirit to improve them to gracious purposes As indeed God turns all to a gracious end to his children he gives them a principle of grace to work good out of every thing they see grace in every thing in affliction they see the love of God In the worst things Grace will pick out somewhat and make use of it As God by his providence intends all to good so his Spirit by a provident eye to the Word works good out of every thing but those that have not grace they are not grace to them but tend to their further hardening To end this point when you come to the Communion come to it as a grace It is the Grace of God that he hath ordained us to salvation it is the grace of God that he hath sent his Word it is the grace of God that he hath sent his Sacrament to seal that Word and all little enough he knowes us better then we know our selves he knowes we have need of all to confirm and help us the Word and the Sacraments even to the end of our dayes As the Apostle saith Ephes. 4. To build us up The means of grace are not onely necessary for the planting but for the building up of the Church And therefore come with this purpose to have Grace confirmed and receive it as a grace of God with thankfulness that God will condescend to our infirmity to give us helps to support our weak faith It is a true proverb Grace begets grace it begets thankfulnesse where it is apprehended as a grace therefore come with a thankful disposition to the Sacrament imbrace every Ordââ¦ce of God with thankfulnesse Alas do not thousands sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death they do and therefore those that find the benefit of Gods Ordinances they are disposed by the same Spirit that works any good in them to return thankfulnesse to God again That you might have a second Grace Saint Paul's purpose was to come to them to bestow a grace not to take from them to bestow good and gracious speeches on them which he knew the Spirit of God would make effectual to work some good in them A gracious man is a vessel of grace and he should take all occasions to vent that which is good When S. Paul saith he intended to bestow a second grace his meaning is that he would utter things that were gracious that the Spirit of God should seal to the soules of them that heard him and make them effectuall Therefore every Christian should have this disposition Saint Paul did it as a holy man as well as a Minister Do we think our selves vessels of grace as the Scripture calls the Elect Children of God or no Yes God forbid else Now Gods Children God hath appointed some to be vessels of Gold some of Silver as the Apostle saith to Timothy some for this use and some for that all for good use A vessel is to be filled with something and to be used for something therefore set abroach some good thing when you have the advantage of it when you are called to it not unnecessarily to thrust forward your selves Let the desire of your hearts be to do good upon all occasions A vessel of Grace must not be an empty vessel A Christian he is a member of Christ and he hath a part in the communion of Saints and he hath gifts for that end there is no Christian but he can comfort or instruct or disswade from ill when it is moved There is no Christian but he is furnished as a member ought to be in some competent measure There is no man that hath benefit by the communion of Saints but he hath grace to fit him for that blessed communion He is fitted to comfort upon occasion and he hath some grace some knowledge to correct he that hath not is a dead member not fit for that communion Therefore we should bestow Grace where we come and not leave an ill sent behind us to infect others with filthy speeches and blasphemous oaths to open the rottennesse of our own hearts in their presence and so be conscious of that which is ill in them because we strengthen it by our example and by our words S. Paul was a good man I come to bestow a second grace that is to speak that which is gracious that Gods gracious providence shall direct to do you special good For Gods Word is inspired by the Spirit and the same Spirit that breathed the Word of God into the Pen-men of it the same Spirit is with the Word in the uttering of it when it is done by a gracious heart to a gracious man it works graciously it hath a blessed operation with it Therefore we should upon all good occasions speak gracious things Divine truths they will have a wondrous efficacy If men would set on it and be more fruitful in this kind they should have occasion to blesse God But alas the life of a Christian is little known in the world we have but naked shallow conceits of the glory of heaven and of the state of a Christian and how he lives in this world and that makes men live such stained such base lives that will not stand with comfort in his world or glory in the world to come But a Christian should be such a one as frames his disposition to do good wheresoever he comes and he hath ability if he be a sound Christian. How graciously did God blesse Abigails word to David yet she was a mean woman How dost thou know but that by uttering gracious words in company in season as discretion must guide all our actions all our words how doest thou know but that thou mayest divert another man from sin by a word in season I beseech you carry this disposition about you as you desire to be thought vessels of Grace here and of glory hereafter to be thought vessels of gold and silver for the use of God labour to be imployed by the Spirit of God to good purposes that you may leave a good savour where you come that others that are acquainted with you in the time of their visitation they may blesse God that ever they were acquainted with such a friend Blessed be God that I knew him As it will be our joy at that day so it will be one anothers joy here for God blesseth the exhortations and comforts of friends one to another as well as the Ministerial oft-times So I come to the 16. Verse how he meant to come to them to Corinth saith he I was minded to come to you VERSE XVI And to passe by you into Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia unto you and of you to be brought on my way to Judea SEe what a Circuit the blessed Apostle fetched indeed he was industrious after his conversion he made amends for his harsh conversion by his speedy labours For
and serious and weighty and firm in their resolutions that they may build on them and know where to have them as we say it breeds authority and maintains authority For then what they say is regarded and how their affections stand if it be love it is much sought after if displeasure it is much feared for they are men of a fixed disposition it gains wondrous respect Let men be never so great if they be such as S. Paul here declines from himself that they use lightnesse they lose their authority Authority is the special help that Governours have to rule and that Ministers have to prevail now nothing weakens esteem and authority more then when men are tossed between the waves of contrary affections when men are such as we know not where to have them as we say off and on fast and loose one while fitting another standing no man will build on them or much regard their love or hatred Now you know Authority is a beam of Majesty and God hath put it upon Magistrates above others and imprinted likewise the respect of it in the peoples hearts to maintain the World the pillars of the earth will shake else as the Psalmist saith What would become of the Pillars of Government if it were not for Authority in them that are above and respect of that Authority an impression of it in them that are under Now there are many grounds of Authority as successe when God blesseth them with it wonderfully to admiration and good parts c. but one main Ground of Authority is Constancy and firmnesse this raiseth a high respect in the hearts of the people I will not multiply reasons why those that are in place should avoid the imputation of lightnesse Ministers especially should take heed of it because they are Ministers of Gods truth and if they take not heed of it people will be ready to go from their moral civil carriage to their doctrine and think there is an uncertainty in that they speak because they do not regard what they say But let me adde this by the way Mater erroris similitudo Likenesse is the mother of errour so there is somewhat like Constancy in Governours and others when they are nothing lesse but meerly refractory and obstinate to maintain the reputation of constancy they will run into the fault of wilfulnesse Such as are subject that way had need of strong wits to rule their strong wills to guide them or else wo be to those that have to deal with them that I thought good to adde left we mistake We should all labour to avoid inconstancy and lightnesse in our resolutions in our purposes and affections If we ought to avoid it how shall we come to know it what is the ground of lightnesse The grounds are many Sometimes from the temper of the body some are of a moveable temper of a moveable quick spirit that they cannot out of their constitution fix long except they set weights upon nature I am by disposition thus but my resolution shall be otherwise as where Grace and wisdome is it will fix the temper and fix the resolution and the thoughts This I could not do if I should yield to my own disposition but this I will do and I should do there are many resolutions as in the younger sort and some out of their very temper are more fixed and resolved But now consider it as it is in Religion Lightnesse comes out of the disposition of the mind Inconsideration oft-times is the ground when we do not see the circumstances of a thing that we promise or purpose You know there is nothing comes to action but it is beset with circumstances there are advantages of it and there are stops and hinderances of it somewhat may fall out Every thing that comes to action is besieged with circumstances circumstances you know have their name of standing about a businesse about a thing now when the things that are about the impediments and the hindrances and le ts are not weighed a rash man sees not the things he considers not the things that he enters upon he resolves without considering the circumstances that beset the thing he never considers what oppositions he may meet with or what advantages there be which perhaps he neglects but he thinks of the thing it is good and suitable to his purpose he resolves and never considers the circumstances about a thing but runs on in confidence of his own wit and parts and thinks to rule all by the strength of his wit not foreseeing not casting in his mind to prevent before-hand what may fall out It is just with God to shame such men frustration of their purposes it is a just reward of their folly Therefore we should take heed of Inconsideration and have our eyes in our heads to set the soul to foresee what possibility there is of the businesse and what may fall out this is the right way if we would avoid imputation of lightnesse Again another ground of lightnesse and of that decay in authority and respect that comes from it is the passion of men therefore they are light they are carried with the hurry and wind of their passion And Satan joynes with passion A passionate man is subject to Satan more then a man that is led by reason or with grace For that is a beam of God even reason it self judgment it is an excellent thing and it prevents many temptations Give not way to passion for those are unreasonable things As we see Saul in his passion Satan the evill spirit mingled with his passion of anger So let men be in any passion over-joy or be over-angry let them give the rains to unruly passion and they give advantage to Satan that we cannot settle our soules in any good resolution Again in the things themselves there is cause of lightnesse and inconstancy from the nature of the things and then it is not so great a fault to change then it is not properly inconstancy but it is inconstancy when the things are mutable and variable and we do not think of it as we should Now the things of this life are variable and uncertain the event of things in this life is wondrous variable Grace and glory they are certain things and the way that God directs us to heaven they are certain promises and certain grounds but the things of this life are subject to much change God takes a great deal of liberty in altering things in this world they fall out divers wayes But now therefore we must take heed that we take not inconstancy for that which is not Every change of opinion and purpose is not lightnesse It is not inconstancy for a man to change his mind and purpose when it is from the things Men are men and the things that we deal with in the world are subject to variety and inconstancy and for a man to alter according to the
see our interest in his humiliation and exaltation in glory because he is the second Adam These things should raise up our thoughts wondrously to think of his humiliation and his exaltation and of the love and mercy of God in him And then think of what you will nothing is discouraging think of death of hell of the day of Judgment think of Satan of the curse of the Law they are terrible things I but think of the Son of God of Christ anointed of God the Father to satisfie the Law to satisfie his Justice to overcome Satan to crush his head to be our Saviour as well as our Judge at the day of Judgment these things will make all vanish Things that are most tetrible to the nature of man without the consideration of Jesus Christ the Son of God all are most comfortable when we think of him Now when we think of Satan we think of one crushed and trod under foot as he shall be ere long When we think of Judgment we think of a Saviour that shall be our Judge when we think of God we think of God reconciled in Christ. We have accesse by Christ to the Throne of grace he is now in heaven and makes intercession for us When we think of death we think of a passage to life where we shall be with him I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. So the things that are most uncomfortable yet bring the consideration of them to Christ exalted in heaven having triumphed over all these in our nature and sits at Gods right hand The thoughts of these things are comfortable meditations Nay think of that which is the most terrible of all the Justice of God his anger for sin it is a matter of comfort above all other God is just to punish and revenge sin what then because he is just he will not punish ââ¦hing twice but his justice is fully satisfied aad contented in his Son Christ Jesus whom he hath anointed and predestinate and sent himself and he must needs acknowledge that satisfaction that is done by him that he hath sent himself hereupon we come to think comfortably of Gods Justice God out of Christ is a consuming fire there is nothing more terrible then God without Christ but now in Christ we can think of the most terrible thing in God with comfort Therefore S. Paul makes it the main scope of his preaching and so should we of ours and you should make it your main desire in hearing and the main subject matter of your meditating something concerning Christ. Let us often think of our nature in him now exalted in heaven and that we shall follow him ere long our head is gone before and he will not suffer his body alwayes to rot in the earth let us think of his natures and his offices and all the blessed prerogatives that we have by him and all the enemies that are conquered by him that in him we have God reconciled and the Devil vanquished we have heaven opened and hell shut we have our sins pardoned and our imperfections by little and little cured in him we have all in all There are four things that the Apostle speaks of which includes all 1 Cor. 1. 30. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made to us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption Christ Jesus is all in all if we be ignorant he is our wisdome if we want righteousnesse and holinesse to stand before God he is ouâ⦠righteousnesse we stand righteous being cloathed with his righteousnesse If we want Grace Of his fulnesse we receive Grace for Grace he is sanctification to us If we be miserable as we shall be to our sense our bodies shall be turned to rottennesse he is our redemption not onely of the soul but of the body he shall make our bodies like his glorious body as he makes our soules glorious by his Spirit conforming them to his own Image here he means here redemption of our bodies from corruption as well as of our soules from sin He is all in all in sin he is sanctification in death he is life in ignorance he is wisdome there is nothing ill in us but there is abundant satisfaction and remedy in Christ. I speak this the rather to shew what reason S. Paul had to stand on this That all his preaching was to bring Christ Jesus among them I go on The Son of God Jesus Christ preached among you All the good we have by Christ is conveyed by the Ministery Despise that and despise Christ himself Therefore whatsoever benefits we have by Christ they are attributed to preaching they are attributed to the Gospel as it is preached and unfolded therefore it is called the Gospel of the Kingdome The Word of reconciliation The Word of life The Word of faith all these are by Christ but it is no matter whatsoever we have by Christ we must have it by Jesus Christ unfolded in the Ministery of the Word despise the Ministery that is contemptible to flesh and blood and despise Christ himself despise the Kingdome and life and all for Christ preached is that we must relie on Christ unfolded the bread of life must be broken the sacrifice must be anatomized and laid open Christ Jesus the Son of God must be preached he profits not but as he is preached his riches must be unfolded The unsearchable riches of Christ. Therefore God that hath appointed us to be saved by Christ hath appointed and ordained preaching to lay open Jesus Christ among us But to come to the third Point why doth he bring in consent to help By me and Silvanus and Timotheus would not his own authority serve the turn I answer no it would not sometimes In it self it will but in regard of the weaknesse of men it is necessary to joyn the consent of others S. Paul was an Apostle of Christ but he knew that they were so weak that they would regard his testimony the more for the joynt testimony of Timotheus and Silvanus and the rest God considers not so much what is true in it self as how to stablish our faith in it As in the Sacrament would not God give Christ and his benefits is he not true of his Word Yes but he gives the Sacrament for us his promises are sure enough yet he condescends to our weaknesse to adde Sacrament and oath and all the props that may be So the men of God that are led by the Spirit of God though their own authority were sufficient yet they condescend to the weaknesse of others Therefore S. Paul alledgeth with himself Silvanus and Timotheus to strengthen them the better Then again consent is a lovely thing and proceeds from love how sweet a thing is it for brethren to dwell together in unity therefore we ought to stand much upon consent if it may perswade us But as Cyprian saith well it must be consent in the truth Consent that is not
bonds and when he pleaseth he can sue his bonds and God is well pleased with it Therefore indeed there is little difference between a Christian in poverty and a rich Christian onely the one hath more for the present but God is the riches of the other As for a worldling he hath but a Cistern when he hath most the other hath the spring he hath God in Covenant and Gods promises Let us therefore consider every day the exigents we are in whether in want of grace or want of assistance and necessaries or want of comfort and according to that let us consider what we are to do are we at our wits end now is there no hope for this in Israel Yes God hath left us rich and precious promises let us look to them In the next place then from our wants look to the Promises and proportion the promises to our wants ranck the promises it were a good work Oh that we should have so many promises and yet have them to seek when the Devil besiegeth us he layeth siege to shake our consciences and we are to seek in the time of temptation Let us remember the promises answerable to our necessities If we be troubled with sin call to mind the promise of forgivenesse If we be troubled with want call to mind the promise of supply If we be troubled with fear for the time to come call to mind the Covenant of grace the marriage for everlasting God whom he loves he loves to the end God loves us in Christ he loves Christ for ever therefore he will love us for ever So as I said before suit the promises to our present estate And from the promises have a higher rise yet go to him in whom they are made they are rich promises indeed good promises but how shall I know they shall be performed in whom are they made In whom God loves thee in Christ. What is he God and man he is God and therefore able to perform them he is man and therefore he loves thee as his own flesh and therefore he will perform them He is the Son of Gods love God for his sake as Mediatour will perform them heaven and earth shall conspire for thy good rather then thou shalt misse of the performance of the least promise Therefore from thy wants go to the promises and from the promises go to Christ and consider him he is anointed of God for thee he is anointed that he might be thy Christ and thy Jesus that he might be thy Saviour Immanuel God with us that he might reconcile God and us that in office he might be so that he might bring God and us together Consider him And then go to God and consider what relation in Jesus Christ God hath put upon him In Christ God is a Father and what can a Father deny to his adopted son in Christ whom he looks on in his natural Son Christ Yea and to settle our minds the more let us consider the relations that God and Christ have put upon them and the relations we stand in and the many promises we have in Christ who is anointed and sealed by God the Father to be our Saviour and to bestow good upon us God is become our Father what a world of promises is in that word Father what will a father deny to his son What if God had not left particular promises in Scripture if he had left but the relation of a Father it had been promise enough what can a father deny his child And then Christ what relation hath he taken on him he is our Husband what a world of promises is there in that what can a loving husband deny his spouse that he hath given himself for He hath taken upon him to be our head what want of influence can there be from such a head that hath taken all upon him for the body the head sees and hears and doth all for the body so Christ heares and sees and doth all for us What a world of promises is in this relation of a head if there were no particular promise Again Christ stiles himself sweetly our brother what a world of promises are in these relations God the Father is ours Christ is ours here is the grand Promise I will be your God and will give you my Son And then in the third place he hath promised his Spirit he will give his Spirit to them that beg him what a world of Promises is in that promise of the Spirit It is a comforting Spirit a sanctifying Spirit a quickening Spirit a strengthening Spirit all is in the Spirit As our soul doth all that the body doth so it is by vertue of the Spirit all the grace and all the comfort we have God hath promised himself and Christ and the Spirit the whole Trinity There is the grand Promise I will be your God Christ shall be your Christ and I will give you my Spirit If we had not other promises what a world of comfort have we in these Now in what relation stand we to these We are children we are heires we are Temples of the Holy Ghost c. put case our memories do not serve to call to mind particular promises in the time of trouble Consider in Christ how God loves thee he is thy God in Christ how Christ loves thee he hath taken thy nature on him to be thy husband he makes love to thee and desires thee to be reconciled And the Spirit is given thee by Christ he hath promised to give him if thou ask him the holy Spirit is the Spirit of Promise Think therefore of the general of the Covenant of grace and these relations that have the force of promises for sometimes particular promises may not come to our mind perhaps and these will stablish a man against the gates of hell and against all particular temptations This course we ought to take then to feed our thoughts with the promises the promises are the food of faith let not our faith languish and famish for want for want of meditations of God and Christ what relations they have put upon them and for want of meditating on particular promises in all kinds How well thriving might our faith be if we would oft think of these things And to make us the more to think of these things consider that all other things alas what are they when we have not a promise of them in Christ They are all vain fading things they will all come to nothing That which we have by promise grace and comfort and glory they are ours for ever God is ours for ever Christ is ours for ever the Spirit is ours for ever the relations we are in are for ever all other things are nothing they will come to nothing ere long This course we ought to take then that we may have comfort by the Promises Again in the next place if we look to the
with reasons discovering an absolute necessity of geting into Christ and of having him to be our Husband except we will lye under the wrath of God and be damned and withal discovering the fulnesse and excellency that is in Christ. Again it is God onely that must stablish the soul all the parts of it both judgment and conscience For I beseech you what can any humane creature what can any thing under God work upon the soul I mean so firmly as to stablish it and therefore our controversie with the Papists is just and good We say The reason and ground of our believing the Word of God to be the Word of God must not be the testimony of the Church and the authority thereof for alas what can the judgment of man what can the judgment of the Church do It may incline and move the will by inducing arguments and so cause a humane consent but to establish the soul and conscience and to assure me that the Word of God which is the ground of my faith is the Word of God it must be God by his Spirit that must do it the testimony of the Church will never do it The same Spirit that inspired holy men to write the Word of God works in us a belief that the Word of God is the Word of God The stablishing argument must be by the power of Gods Spirit God joyning with the soul and spirit of a man whom he intends to convert besides that inbred light that is in the soul causeth him to see a Divine Majestie shining forth in the Scriptures so that there must be an infused establishing by the Spirit to settle the heart in this first principle and indeed in all other Divine principles that the Scriptures are the Word of God And to go on a little further this is a fundamental errour in our practice For what is the reason we have so many Apostates what is the reason so many are so fruitlesse in their lives what is the reason that men despair in death but even this because men are not built and stablished aright Gods Spirit never stablished their soules in Divine truths For first concerning Apostasie ask them what is the reason they are of this or that Religion They will say they have been taught so they have been brought up to it the company with whom they have conversed have been devout men and have been alwayes led with this opinion and they see no reason to thwart it Is that all Hath not the Spirit wrought these things in thy heart hath he not given thee a taste of them hath he not convinced thee in thy judgment that it is so hast thou not found the power of the Spirit working upon thy soul changing of thee raising of thee drawing of thee out of the world nearer to God hast thou not I say felt the power of the Spirit this way No but thus I was catechized and thus I have been bred and thus I have heard in the Ministery And no otherwise Alas it will never hold out there will be a falling away for when a man believes not that which he believes from the Spirit of God he will be ready when dangerous times come when there is an onset made by the adversaries to fall and to fall clean away as we see it was in the time of Popery for whatsoever is not spiritual whatsoever knowledge is not Divine and from the Spirit of God never holds out Therefore I beseech you what 's the reason that you have many illiterate men that set upon the truth and hold out to the end and on the contrary many great seeming Scholars that are skilful in school-learning and in other Authours do not The reason is the one hath the truth from the Spirit discovering all the objections that the heart of man can make against it and the strength that is in the truth to answer and silence all those objections The other man hath onely a discoursing knowledge an ability to gather one thing from another and to prove one thing by another by strength of parts But the Spirit of God never discover'd the sleights and the corruptions of his heart never fastned and settled his heart upon the truth he never had experience of the truth For indeed nothing doth stablish so much as the experience of the truth on which we are stablished Again what is the reason of that unfruitfulnesse that is amongst men but because truths were never settled in the soul by the Spirit of God That which men know out of the Word of God concerning Christ and the priviledges by him they were never perswaded of it in their hearts therefore they come not to a fruitful conversation It is impossible but that men should be abundantly fruitful that have spiritual apprehensions of Divine things of Evangelical truths Hence comes all our unthankfulnesse and undervaluing of the Gospel The Gospel of it self is an unprized thing however we esteem of it God values it highly we value it not because our apprehensions of it are customary and formal gotten by breeding and education and discourse and not by the Spirit we feel not the spiritual and heavenly comforts of those truths we think we know How comes likewise Despair in time of temptation and in death but onely because men want this stablishing by the Spirit of God Men go on in evil courses trusting to a formal dead humane knowledge gotten by humane meanes and not settled in them by the Spirit of God that hath not sealed the truth in their hearts and hereupon when sharp tryals come they despair because they have no feeling of the truths of the Gospel and so when conscience is awakened and smarts it clamours and cryes out upon all their formall and humane knowledge For they having not a spiritual sense of the mercies of God in Christ and the perswasions of comfort are not so near to support the soul as the tentations and vexations and torments are how can they but despair Now who can still the conscience but the Spirit of God Why now if the knowledge that men had were spiritual and heavenly in all accusations of conscience it would set conscience down and still it I am a sinner indeed I am this and this but I have felt the sweet mercies of God in Christ God hath said to my soul I am thy salvation he hath intimated to my spirit by a sweet voyce Son thy sinnes are forgiven thee Where there is I say a knowledge and an apprehension of these Evangelical truths wrought by the Spirit it sets down Conscience and stills it though the heart rage at the same time There are thousands in the very bosome of the Church that miscarry because of this resting in a literall outward formall knowledge gotten onely by discourse and by reading and commerce with others and never labour to have their hearts stablished in Christ by Gods Spirit You see here then a
witnesse to the soul that we are the sonnes of God Secondly a voyce or speech in us again to God causing us to have accesse to the Throne of grace with boldnesse Thirdly a work of Sanctification Fourthly Peace of Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost By these four wayes we may know the sealing of the Spirit after we believe and that our faith is a sound belief and that we are in the state of grace indeed First I say the Spirit speaks to us by a secret kind of whispering and intimation that the soul feeles better then I can expresse Be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee saith he to the soul I am thy salvation there is I say a sweet joyning a sweet kisse given to the soul I am thine and thou art mine God by his Spirit speaks so much there is a voyce of Gods Spirit speaking peace to his people upon their believing And then secondly the Spirit of adoption stirres up the speech of the soul to God that as he sayes to the soul Because thou believest now thou art honoured to be my child so the Spirit stirres up in the soul a Spirit of prayer to cry Abba Father it can go boldly to God as to a Father for that Abba Father it is a bold and familiar speech There are two things in a prayer of a Christian that are incompatible to any carnal man there is an inward kind of familiar boldnesse in the soul whereby a Christian goes to God as a child when he wants any thing goes to his father a child considers not his own worthinesse or meannesse but goeth to his father familiarly and boldly so I say when the Spirit of God speaks to us from God and tells the soul I am thine I am thy salvation thy sins are forgiven thee be of good comfort and when the soul again speaks to God when it can pour forth it self with a kind of familiar boldnesse and earnestnesse especially in extremity and in time of trouble and can wait in prayer and depend upon God this spiritual speech of God to the soul and of the soul to God it is a seal of the Spirit that indeed we are true believers because we can doe that that none can do but Christians God speaks to our souls he raiseth our souls and by his Spirit he puts a spirit of supplication into us and helps our infirmities for we know not what to ask but he helps our weaknesse and enables us to lay out the wants of our soules to God these are evidences of the presence and of the seal of the Spirit In the third place this sealing of the Spirit after we beleeve is known by the sanctifying work of the Spirit for as I told you before in the unfolding of the Point the Spirit seals our spirits by stamping the likenesse of the Spirit of Christ on us so that when a man finds in his soul some lineaments of that heavenly Image of Christ Jesus when he finds some love he may know by that love that he is translated from death to life when he finds his spirit subdued to be humble to be obedient when he finds his spirit to be heavenly and holy as Christ was when he finds this stamp upon the soul surely he may reason I have not this by nature naturally I am proud now I can abase my self natureally I am full of malice now I can love I can pray heartily for mine enemies as Christ did naturally I am lumpish and heavy now in afflictions I can joy in the Holy Ghost I have somewhat in me contrary to nature surely God hath vouchsafed his Spirit upon my believing in Christ to mark me to seal ãâã to stamp me for his I carry now the Image of the second Adam I know the Holy Ghost hath been in my heart I see the stamp of Christ there Know you not that Christ is in you except you be cast awayes saith the Apostle so upon search the Christian soul finds somewhat of Christ alwayes in the soul to give a sweet evidence that he is sealed to the day of redemtpion The fourth evidence that the Spirit of God hath been in a mans heart is the joy of the Holy Ghost and peace of conscience sanctification is the ordinary seal that is alwaies in the soul this is an extraordinary seal peace and joy when the soul needs incouragement then God is graciously pleased to superadd this to give such spiritual ravishings which are as the very beginnings of heaven so that a man may say of a Christian at such times that he is in heaven before his time he is in heaven upon earth but especially God doth this when he will have his children to suffer or after suffering after some special conflict after we have combated with some special corruption with some sinfull disposition with some strong temptation and have got the victory To him that overcometh will I give of the hidden Manna and a white stone and a new name that none can read it but he that hath it that is he shall have assurance that he is in the state of grace and the sweet sense of the love of God and that sweet heavenly Manna that none else can have thus God dealt with Job after he had exercised that Champion a long time at the last he discovered himself in a glorious manner to him so it is usually after some great crosse or in the middest of some great crosse when God sees that we must be supported with some spiritual comfort we sink else then there is place and time for spiritual comfort when earth cannot comfort thus St. Paul in the middest of the dungeon when he was in the stocks being sealed with the Spirit he sang at midnight Alas what would have become of blessed Paul his spirit would have sunk if God had not stamped it with Joy in the Holy Ghost and so David and the three young men in the fiery furnace and Daniel in the den God doth then even as parents smile upon their children when they are sick and need comfort so above all other times God reserves this hidden sealing of his children with a spirit of joy when they need it most sometimes in the middest of afflictions sometimes as a reward when they come out of their afflictions sometimes before so our Saviour Christ had James and John with him upon the mountain to strengthen them against the scandal of suffering after so God when he hath a great work for his children to do some suffering for them to go through as an encouragement before-hand he enlargeth their spirits with the joy of the Holy Ghost and some times also after a holy and gracious disposition in the Ordinances of God God doth adde an excellent portion of his Spirit a seal extraordinary for indeed God thinks nothing enough for his children till he have brought them to heaven seal upon seal and comfort upon comfort and the more we depend upon him
because they grieve the Spirit and quench the Spirit by doing that which is contrary to the Spirit Let us therefore that we may have the more comfort preserve the stamp of the Spirit fresh by the exercise of all grace and communion with God and by obedience and by faith honour God by believing and he will honour thee by stamping his Spirit on thee more and more And let this be our work every day to have the stamp of the Spirit clear Oh what a comfort it is to have this in us at all times if a man have nothing in him better then nature if he have nothing in him in regard of grace if he have not Christs Image upon his soul though he be a King or an Emperour yet he shall be stript of all ere long and be set on the left hand of Christ and be adjudged to eternal torments It is the folly of the times come up of late there is much labouring for Statues and for curious workmanship of that kind and some pride themselves much in it and account it great riches to have an old Statue Alas alas what a poor delight is this in comparison of the joy that a Christian hath by the seal of the Spirit and what is this to the ambition of a Christian to see the Image and representation of Christ stamped in his soul that he may be like the second Adam that he may be transformed more and more by looking on him and seeing himself in him to love him considering that he hath loved us so much for we cannot see the love of Christ to us but we must love him the more and be transformed into him Now this transforming our selves into the Image of Christ is the best picture in the world therefore labour for that every day more and more There is besides the common broad seal of God his Privy Seal as I may call it It is not sufficient that we have the one that we have admittance into the Church by Baptisme but we must have this privy seal which Christ sets and stamps upon the soul of the true Christian Alas for a man to build onely on the outward seals and outward prerogatives which in themselves are excellent yet the standing upon them betrayes many soules to the Devil in times of distresse It is another manner of seal then the outward seal in the Sacrament that will satisfie and comfort the conscience in the apprehensions of wrath at the hour of death or otherwayes It must be this privy seal and then comes the use of those publick open known seales the broad seales then a man with comfort may think upon his Baptisme and upon his receiving the Communion when he hath the beginnings of faith wrought in him by the Spirit of God when a man finds the beginnings of faith in him then he may make use of the broad seal to be a help to his faith We must not be so prophane as to think slightly and irreverently of Gods Ordinances they are of great and high consequence for when Satan comes to the soul and shakes the confidence of it and saith Thou art not a Christian and God doth not love thee Why saith the soul God hath loved me and pardoned my sins he hath given me promises and particularly sealed them in the Sacrament here is the excellency of the Sacrament it comes more home then the Word it seales the general promise of God particularly to my self I am sealed in the Sacrament and withall I find the stamp of the Spirit in my heart and therefore having the inward work of the Spirit and God having fortified the inward work and strengthened my faith by the outward seal I can therefore stand against any temptation whatsoever They are excellent both together but the speciall thing that must comfort must be the hidden seal of the Spirit Let us labour therefore to be sealed inwardly and observe Gods sealing-dayes as we use to speak which though it may be every day if we be in spiritual exercises yet especially on the Lords Day for then his Ordinance and his Spirit go together Now as there is a sealing of our estates that we are the children of God so there is of truths and both are in the children of God as for instance this is a truth Whosoever believes in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life now the same Spirit that stirred up the soul to believe this seales it in the soul even to death and in all times of temptation and likewise there is no promise but upon the believing of it it is sealed by the Spirit upon the soul for those truths onely abide firm in the soul which the Spirit of God sets on What is the reason that many forget the comforts and consolations that they hear because the Spirit sets them not on the Spirit seales them not What is the reason that illiterate men stand out in their profession to blood whereas those that have a discoursive kind of learning they yield the reason is this the knowledge of the one is sealed by the Spirit it is set fast upon the soul the Spirit brings the knowledge and the soul close together whereas the knowledge of the other is onely a notional swimming knowledge it is not spiritual Those therefore that will hold out in the end and not apostatize those that will stand out in the hour of death against temptation and those that will hold out in the time of life against solicitations to sin they must have a knowledge suitable to the things they know that is they must see and know heavenly things by a heavenly light spiritual things by the Spirit of God And therefore when we come to hear the Ministers of God we should not come with strong conceits in the strength of our wit but with reverend dispositions with dependance upon God for his Spirit that he would teach us together with the Ministers and close with our soules and set those truths we hear upon our soules we shall never hold out else And it must be the Holy Ghost that must do this for that which must settle and seal comfort to the soul must be greater then the soul especially in the time of temptation when the terrours of the Almighty are upon us and when the hell within a man is open when God layes open our consciences and writes bitter things against us and our consciences tell us our sins wondrous near they are written as it were with a pen of Iron and the point of a Diamond upon our soules now I say those truths that must satisfie conscience that is thus turmoiled must be set on by that which is above conscience the Spirit of God who is above our spirits can onely set down our spirits and keep them from quarrelling and contending against the truth and quiet the conscience and this the Spirit doth when it sets the truth upon the soul. And therefore when our soules are disquieted
and troubled and we hear many comfortable truths let us lift up our prayers to God let there be ejaculations of spirit to God Now Lord by thy holy Spirit set and seal this truth to my soul that as it is true in it self so it may be true to me likewise This is a necessary Observation for us all Oh we desire all of us in the hour of death to find such comforts as may be standing comforts that may uphold us against the gates of Hell and against the temptations of Satan and terrours of Conscience why nothing will do this but spiritual truths spiritually known nothing but holy truths set on by the hoy Spirit of God But what course shall we take when we want comfort when we want joy and peace In the third of John there are three witnesses in heaven and three in earth to secure us of our state in grace and the certainty of our salvation The three witnesses upon earth are the Spirit the water and the blood and these three agree in one and the three that bear witnesse in heaven are the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and the three on earth and these three in heaven agree in one Now the Spirit is the feelings and the sweet motions of the Spirit The water may well be that washing of the Spirit sanctification The blood is the shedding of the blood of Christ and justification by it When therefore we find that part of the seal that extraordinary seal that I spake of before the joy of the Spirit of God that it is not in us what shall we do shall we despair No go to the water when we find not spiritual joy and comfort when the witnesse of the Spirit is silent go to the work of the Spirit in sanctification I but what shall we do if the waters be troubled in the soul as sometimes there is such a confusion in the soul that we cannot see the Image of God upon it in sanctification we cannot see the stamp of Gods Spirit there there is such a Chaos in the soul God can see somewhat of his own Spirit in that confusion but the Spirit it self cannot Then go to the blood of Christ there is alwayes comfort the fountain that is opened for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in is never dry go therefore to the blood of Christ that is if we find sin upon our consciences if we find not peace in our consciences nor sanctification in our hearts go to the blood of Christ which is shed for all those that confesse their sinnes and rely on him for pardon though we find no grace For howsoever as an evidence that we are in Christ we must find the work of the Spirit yet before we go to Christ it is sufficient that we see nothing in our selves no qualification for the graces of the Spirit they are not the condition of coming to Christ but the promise of those that receive Christ after Therefore go to Christ when thou feelest neither joy of the Spirit nor sanctification of the Spirit go to the blood of Christ and that will purge thee and wash thee from all thy sins This I onely touch for a direction what to do when our soules want comfort when perhaps we cannot see the seal of the Spirit in sanctification so clearly To go on now to the next And given us the Earnest of the Spirit Here is the third word borrowed from humane affaires to set out the work of the Spirit in our soules Anointing we had before and Sealing now here is Earnest The variety of the words shewes that there is a great remainder of unbelief in the soul of man that the Spirit of God is fain to use so many words to expresse Gods dealing to the soul to bring it to believe to be assured of salvation And indeed so it is howsoever we in the time of prosperity when all things go well with us we are prone wondrously to presume yet in the hour of death when conscience is awakened we are prone to nothing so much as to call all in question and to believe the doubts and fears of our own hearts more then the undoubted truth and promise of God therefore God takes all courses to stablish us he gives us rich and precious promises he gives us the holy Spirit to stablish us on the Promises he seales us with his Spirit and gives us the earnest of the Spirit and all to settle this wretched and unbelieving heart of ours So desirous is God that we should be well conceited of him he loves us better then we love our selves He so much prizeth our love that he labours by all means to secure us of his love to us because except we know his love to us we cannot love him again and we cannot joy in him c. But that onely in the general Here is earnest and the Earnest of the Spirit that is in plain termes he gives us the Spirit with the graces and comforts of it which doth in our hearts that which an earnest doth amongst men But what is this Spirit an earnest of It is an Earnest of our inheritance in heaven of our blessed estate there We are sons now but we are not heires invested into the blessed estate we have title to God leaves us not off in the mean time while we are in our Pilgrimage he keeps not all for heaven but he gives us somewhat to comfort us in our absence from our Husband from our Lord and King Christ he gives us the Earnest of the Spirit that is he gives the holy Ghost into our hearts which is the Earnest of that blessed everlasting glorious condition which we shall have in heaven hereafter that is the meaning of the words In what regard is the Spirit called an Earnest First of all an Earnest is for security of bargains and contracts so the Holy Ghost assures the soul of salvation being present with his graces and comforts the Holy Ghost is given for security Secondly an Earnest is part of the whole bargain though it be a very little part yet it is a part and so the Spirit of God here and the work of the Spirit and the graces and joy of the Spirit it is a part of that full joy and happinesse that shall be revealed The Spirit dwells not fully in any one he dwelleth no further then he sanctifieth and reviveth but that is an Earnest for the time to come that the Spirit shall be all in all wherein we shall have no reluctancy nor nothing to exalt it self against the sure regiment of the Spirit Thirdly an Earnest is little in comparison of the whole bargain so the work of the Spirit the comforts the joy the peace of the Spirit it is little in comparison of that which shall be in heaven in regard of the fulnesse of the Spirit which we shall have there An Earnest though it be little in quantity yet it
were not troubled that is we may believe and yet want assurance because that is another distinct act that followeth upon our casting of our selves upon God And so many of the dear children of God sometimes they can hardly say that they have any assurance but yet notwithstanding they can say if they do not belye themselves and bear false witnesse against themselves that they have cast themselves upon Gods mercy they have performed the first act of faith and this faith is not fruitlesse altogether Now there be many things that may hinder this other act viz. that act of faith whereby I am assured of my state in grace sometimes God together with my believing will present such things to the soul as wholly take it up so that a man cannot have definitive thoughts upon that that God would have him think of As when God will humble a man for his boldnesse in adventuring upon sin he takes not away the Spirit of faith but God to humble him throughly he sets before him his anger sets before him terrour even hellish terrours that will make him in a state little different from a reprobate for the time so that he is farre from saying that he hath any assurance at that time yet notwithstanding he doth not leave off he casts himself upon Gods mercy still though God kill him yet he will trust in him and yet he feels nothing but terrour and this I say God doth to school him and to humble him and to prepare him for the feeling of assurance after These things we must observe that we give not a false evidence of our selves that though we have not such assurance as we have had and as others have yet I say alway there is some ground in us where upon we may be assured that we are Gods if we could search it Such ought to labour for assurance and such will in time come to assurance And therefore we should be farre from alowing that Doctrine which is as if a man should light a candle before the Divel as we use to say to help him against our hearts by a Doctrine of doubting as if our naughty hearts were not ready enough of themselves to doubt It is the prophanenesse of the world they will not use the means that God hath appointed to this end nay they had rather stagger and take contentment assurance in their own waies if God will love me in a loose course so it is but to give diligence to make my calling and election sure I had rather believe the Popish Doctrine that I ought to doubt and only to be of a good hope Whereas we ought constantly to labour to be assured of our state in grace that God may have more honour and that we may have more comfort from him again and walk more chearfully through the troubles and temptations that are in the world A Carnal proud person he swells against this Doctrine because he feels no such thing and he thinks what is above his measure is hypocrisie he makes himself the measure of other Christians and therefore he values and esteems others by his dark state for a carnal mans heart it is like a dungeon a man in a dungeon can see nothing because he hath no light but he that hath the light he can see the dungeon the heart of a Christian hath a light in it there is the Spirit in him and therefore he can see his own estate and he can tell what is in him upon due search now in a carnal man all is dark he sees nothing because his heart is in a dungeon his eye is dark his heart is full of darknesse all is alike to him he sees no difference between flesh and Spirit and therefore he holds on in a doubting hope and confused disposition and temper of soul But a Christian that labours to walk in the comforts of the Holy Ghost he is not content with such a confused state and therefore we ought to abhor that Doctrine by all means and to justifie this Doctrine that we ought and that we may have assurance of salvation in this world The second thing which I observe and which I joyn to the former is the Doctrine of Perseverance An Earnest you know I told you is made up with the Bargain but it is never taken away so that the Point is this That Gods Children as they may be assured of their salvation So They may be assured that they shall hold out to the end I think many of you think these two Points to be so clear that it is unnecessary to divide them for if we be assured of our salvation there must needs be perseverance to the end for what kind of assurance is it to be in the state of grace to day and not to be to morrow But if you ask some degenerated followers of Luther that leave him in his sweet and comfortable Doctrines and take up some errours of his and some others that would divide these hot they are against the Papists for denying the Doctrine of assurance of salvation but when they come to perseverance they hold that a Christian may fall away altogether these things cannot stand together for undoubtedly it is most sure and just and right that these truths follow one the other assurance of salvation and perseverance and therefore if they maintain that we ought to be assured of salvation and not doubt of Gods love surely then they cannot with the same Spirit and the same ground doubt that God that hath begun a work will finish it to the day of the Lord there is no question but that the one followes the other because an earnest as it assures us of salvation so it assures us of perseverance Herein an Earnest differs from a pawn or pledge a pledge it is given but it is taken away again but an Earnest when it is once given is never taken away again but as it is a part of the bargain so it is filled and made up with the bargain so grace is a part of glory and is never taken away but made up with perfect on of glory From this we see then that he that is in the state of grace is undefeasable he perseveres to the end because he hath the earnest of the Spirit if God should take away his Spirit from him he should take away his earnest and if he take away his earnest he takes away that for which he gives it assurance of salvation and so should overthrough all But God never repents of his earnest man oft-times repents of his earnest and wisheth he had not made such a fruitlesse bargain but God never doth but where he gives the first fruits he makes up the harvest where he laies the foundation he makes up the building where he gives Earnest he makes up the bargain where he begins a good work he finisheth it to the day of the Lord once his for ever his We cannot be so sure of
any thing as we may be of Gods love for the time to come We have a common speech amongst us I know what I have but what I shall have I know not It is an ill speech thou knowest not what thou hast for these worldly things a man hath them so to day as they may take to themselves wings and be gone to morrow for they are but vanity A may be as rich as Job in the morning and as poor as Job at night so that a man knowes not what he hath but for the time to come for grace and glory he may say Though I know not what I have or how long I shall have it I know what I shall have I know that neither things present nor things to come shal be able to separate me from the love of God in Jesus Christ. So that you see here a foundation of the sweet and comfortable Doctrine of perseverance Grace is the Earnest of glory and it doth but differ in degrees the beginning of glory is here in grace the consummation of it hereafter We are anointed Kings here we shall be Kings in heaven we are sons here in this world we shall be heires in heaven we shall be adopted there in soul and body here we are adopted in soul for in this life Christs first coming was for the soul his second coming is for body and soul therefore the resurrection is called the day of regeneration because then it shall be perfected here regeneration is onely begun So that in respect that the work of the Spirit the graces of the Spirit are called an Earnest we may know and be assured of perseverance in grace and that that which we have now in the beginning shall be accomplished Oh how should this set us upon desires to have the blessed work of the Spirit upon us to have the Spirit to set his seal upon us to be Christs to have this Earnest and to get more and more Earnest till we have the full bargain accomplished in heaven Thirdly I told you that an Earnest is part of the whole they therefore that have not the Earnest cannot look for the bargain The Observation hence is That Those that look to be happy must first look to be holy This Point I mean to touch very briefly I am loath to passe it by though it be not the principal thing I aim at because it may serve for a kind of tryal whether a man have any right to heaven or no. It is the ordinary presumptuous errour of common Christians to think to go to heaven out of unclean courses with Lord have mercy upon us but miserable wretches are they that have not this Earnest of the Spirit in them an Earnest of heaven beforehand in grace and peace and joy We must all read our happinesse in our holinesse and therefore it is that happinesse in heaven and holinesse here which is happinesse inchoate have both one title to shew that we cannot have the one without the other we must enter into heaven here in this life The stones you know they were hewed before they were brought to the building of the Temple they were all made and fitted before-hand and so all that shall be stones in heaven they must be hewed and prepared and fitted here there must be no knocking and fitting of them there So then you see these three things touched that the holy Spirit together with the graces and comforts of it are called an Earnest and therefore that it is a part of the whole an assurance of the whole and that it shall never be taken away Now for the fourth that an Earnest is little in regard of the whole and indeed the holy Apostle aimes at this partly as well as at any other thing else an Earnest is little perhaps we have but a shilling to secure us of many pounds So then the point is this That Howsoever we may be assured of our estate in grace and likewise that we shall hold out yet the ground of this assurance is not from any great measure of grace but though it be little in quantity it may be great in assurance and security As we value an Earnest not for the worth that is in it self but because it assures us of a great bargain we have an Eye more to the consummation of the bargain then to the quantity of the Earnest so it is here Grace is but an Earnest yet notwithstanding though it be little as an Earnest is yet it is great in assurance and validity answerable to the relation of that it hath to assure us There is nothing lesse then a grain of mustard-seed but there is nothing in the world so little in proportion in a manner that comes at length to be so great as the graces of God and the work of the Spirit is The Crocodile a huge creature comes of an egg and the Oak it riseth to that greatnesse from an Acorn but what are these to the wondrous work of the new creature to be the heir of heaven rising from so little despised beginings from a little light in the understanding from a little heat in the affections from a little strength in the will compared for the littlenesse thereof to a grain of mustard-seed Indeed grace growes a man knowes not how As Christ saith of the seed sowen in the earth it growes up first to a blade and then to a stalk and then to an ear and then to be corn but a man cannot tell how so it is with the work of grace and the comforts of the Spirit when the Spirit together with the Word works upon the soul there is a blade a little and then a stalk and then Corn. First a babe in Christ little at the first and as it is little so it is much opposed As we see the Sun when it is weak in the rising in the morning there gather a great many vapours to besiege the Sun as it were as if they would put out the light of it till it comes to fuller strength and then it spends them all and gloriously shines in heaven so it is with the work of the Spirit of grace when it first ariseth in the soul there gather about it a great many doubts and discomforts the flesh riseth and casteth up all the dirt and mud it can to trouble the blessed waters of grace till it have gotten fuller and fuller strength to spend them all as it is when a man comes to be a strong Christian. But yet as little as it is seeing it is an Earnest and the first-fruits as the Apostle saith which were but little in regard of the whole harvest yet it is of the nature of the whole and thereupon it comes to secure A spark of fire is but little yet it is fire as well as the whole element of fire And a drop of water it is water as well as the whole Ocean When a man is in a dark place put the
this hope saith the Apostle purgeth himself he that finds some little beginnings of grace and comfort the beginings of heaven upon Earth he frames himself to the perfect state in heaven for it is the nature of faith and hope wheresoever they are to frame the disposition of the person in whom those graces are planted by the Spirit to the condition of that that soul believes and hopes for it is in the nature of the thing it should be so For doth not hope in any man that hopes to appear before some great person make him alter his attire and fashion his carriage and deportment as may be plausible before the person whom he goes to and doth not faith and hope of better things where they are in truth fashion and dispose every man to be such as may be fit for heaven The title to heaven we have indeed by Christ but the soul knowes there must be a qualification No unclean thing shall enter into heaven and therefore where the Earnest is there is a continual desire to be better a continual relinquishing of corruptions more and more a perfecting of the work of mortification and the work of grace more and more for the same Spirit that is an Earnest and gives us any beginning of a better life it likewise stirres us up it fits and prepares us for that state that is kept for us it is impossible it should be otherwise In what strength the Earnest is in that strength sanctification and mortification are and therefore persons that live in sins against Conscience that defile their tongues and defile their bodies let them talk what they will it is but a presumptuous conceit it is not the voyce of Gods Spirit but of carnal presumption for wheresoever the Spirit is an Earnest of heaven it is alwayes preparing and fitting the soul for that glorious happy estate And wheresoever likewise this Earnest of the Spirit is wheresoever this grace is begun in truth there is a desire of accomplishment an earnest desire of the coming of Christ to finish all to finish the bargain Rev. 22. The Spirit and the Spouse say Come that is the Spouse by direction of the Spirit where the Spouse is guided by the Spirit and so far as the Spouse is guided by the Spirit she saith Come Come Lord Jesus come quickly Except in two Cases Except the Christian hath grieved and wounded his conscience grieved the Spirit and then it is loath to go hence Unlesse likewise the spirit of a Christian be careless and would settle things in better order before he go to Christ for this is the fruit of presumption and carelesnesse that it grieves the Spirit of God and the Spirit being grieved grieves them he makes that which should be their comfort their going to Christ by death he makes it terrible for as we see a weak eye cannot endure the light so a gauled guilty conscience trembles to think of Christs coming though the Earnest be there yet if the soul tremble that the soul be wounded stay a while Oh stay saith the Psalmist before I go hence and be no more seen When the wife hath been negligent she would have her husband stay but when she hath been diligent then the wife is willing her husband should come but perhaps things are not settled as they should and therefore she doth not desire his coming as at other times But take a Christian in his right temper he is willing to dye nay he is willing and glad and joyful to go to Christ then he knowes the Earnest shall be accomplished with the bargain then he knowes what God hath begun he will perfect then he knowes all the Promises shall be performed when all imperfection shall be removed and all enemies shall be conquered c. A carnal man doth not say as the Spirit in the Spouse speaks Come Lord come but stay Lord stay and as the Devil that possessed that person What have we to do with thee Art thou come to torment us before our time they think of it with quaking For otherwise they that have the Earnest of the Spirit have joyful thoughts of it and wishes answerable to those thoughts Again wheresoever this Earnest is in truth the Earnest of the Spirit there is growth for it is the nature of things imperfect to come to their perfection that they may encounter with whatsoever is contrary to them and that they may do their functions that they are fitted by for God Now God having fitted the new creature to serve him and to go through all the impediments in this world and all the crosses where he hath begun this work it will labour to come to perfection As in the natural body we are not content to live but when we have life we desire health and when we have health we are not content with that but we desire strength not onely health but strength to perform that we should do So where the spiritual life is begun the living soul is not content to live to find an Earnest a little beginnings but if he have that he would have health he would not have any spiritual disease to lye on the soul that might hinder it in the functions of it and together with health it desires fuller and fully strength because it hath many temptations to encounter with many corruptions to resist many actions to do many afflictions perhaps to bear all which require a great deal of strength wheresoever grace is in truth it is alwayes with a desire of growth and answerable to that desire will be the use of all the means of growth Again to name one or two more and so end Wheresoever the Spirit is as an Earnest it doth as the seal doth spoken of before that as it hath a quieting power an assuring power it quiets the soul wheresoever it si it is given to stay the soul to comfort it that the whole shall be performed in time and therefore the soul that hath the Earnest of the Spirit so far forth as he hath this Earnest it quiets and stayes the soul. A man may know true faith from false and true Earnest from presumption by this as we know other things I say it stills and quiets the soul and it will endure the tryal We say of Alcumy gold it is counterfeit it will not strengthen the heart true gold hath a corroborating power to strengthen the heart whether it be so or no let the Alcumists look to it but it is true that true Eanest the beginnings of faith though it be but in a little measure it hath a quieting a stilling a strengthening power to strengthen and corroborate the soul for it is given for that purpose And a man that hath the least grace will endure the search as true gold will endure the touchstone the false will not and it is a sign that a man hath true grace in him although it be with much
which I observe the rather because I would raise your hearts to hate unbelief and distrust exceedingly because God labours to undermine it by all means possible Wherefore doth he use so many terms here of Sealing Anointing and Earnest with words and Sacraments and all whatsoever may confirm you The Holy Ghost applyes it to us all this is that we may not doubt of the favour of God and therefore when we find any goodnesse in us let us accompt that to give false witnesse against our selves is a horrible sin it is to make God a liar God stands upon his credit and therefore take heed what we say specially if we have found the work of grace in former time any Earnest that we have no grace God doth this for our assurance all his dealing of Word and Sacraments of Earnest and Oath and all that may be to assure us and therefore we should not crosse the goodnesse of God so as to cherish such a disposition as is most contrary to him that he labours to undermine by all means And therefore here is the poyson of Popish Religion that it maintaines doubting and leaves men doubting indeed they do well to maintain it in their Doctrine for indeed they false found a man upon satisfaction they false found him upon Purgatory and merits and the foundation they have of a Christian soul is uncertain and therefore they may well teach doubting it suits with the course that they take but I say it is very corrupt for God useth all means that we should not doubt and therefore it is idly objected God for his part will but for our part we have reason to doubt why he in all things stoops to us he labours to secure us and therefore in the Covenant of grace he doth his part and ours too But I hasten to that which followes because I would end with the time To touch that a little distinctly by it self that the Spirit doth all the Earnest of the Spirit for indeed though Spirit be not added to stablishing yet the Spirit stablisheth by Christ and the Spirit it anoints and the Spirit seales to the day of redemption and the Earnest of the Spirit So it is the Holy Ghost doth all here you have the three Persons in the Trinity we have three grand Enemies the world the flesh and Satan Now here are the three persons in the Trinity stronger then all our enemies He which stablisheth us is God the Father by his Spirit upon whom upon Christ ââ¦n Christ and gives us the Earnest of his Spirit you have I say the three Persons of the Trinity here but why doth the Spirit give us the Earnest why doth the Spirit give us grace and comfort seal us and doth all and stablisheth us I answer First of all because now since the fall we have no principles of supernatural good and therefore it must be a principle above our nature to work both grace and comforts in our barren hearts Again as there is no principle to that which is supernaturally good so there is opposition to that which is supernaturally good and therefore there must be somewhat to overpower the corruption of our nature But why the Spirit rather then the Father and the Son He comes from both and proceeding from both he is fit to witnesse the love of both for the Holy Ghost is in the breast of the Father and the Son and proceeds from both and he knowes the secret love of the Father to us and the love of Christ Jesus Mediatour to us Now the Spirit knowing the secrets of God as a mans spirit saith the Apostle knowes his own secrets he knowes his love and he knowes whom he loves So the Spirit of God knowing the affection of the Father and the affection of Jesus Christ to us is fit to be an Earnest fit to be a Seal Indeed all things are wrought by the Spirit in grace for application the desert is from the Son originally from the Father but in regard of application of what is wrought by the Son all is by the Holy Ghost both graces and comforts the Holy Ghost takes from Christ for if grace be wrought it is with divine reasons from the love of God in Christ if grace he wrought it is from the wondrous love of God reconciled in Christ wherein heaven is opened hell is vanquished it is by reasons fetched from Christ and so he takes of mine as Christ saith He shall take of mine and give to you he takes reasons from Christ the holy Ghost whereby he makes all the application is altogether by the Spirit And it must be by the Spirit again because the Spirit of God and no lesse then the Spirit can quiet our spirits for when the soul is distempered it is like a distempered lock that no key can open So when the Conscience is troubled what creature can settle the troubled Conscience can open the ambages of a troubled Conscience in such perplexity and confusion and therefore to settle the troubled Conscience aright it must be somewhat above Conscience and that which must quiet the Spirit must be such a Spirit as is above our spirits This is excellently set down in this Epistle in the 3. Chap. the work of the holy Ghost in this kind But I cannot stand upon it now at this time I go on Likewise in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the second Chapter and 11. ver that one place shall stand in stead of all What man knowes the things of a man but the spirit of a man that is in him So the things of God no man knowes but the Spirit Now We have received the spirit not of the world but the Spirit of God to know the things that are freely given us of God if our spirits were in the heart and soul of another man in the breast of another man we should know what another man thinks if a man had a spirit in another mans spirit surely he would know all his thoughts and all his affections Now the holy Spirit of God is in the breast of the Father and the Son and he knowes our spirits better then we know our own spirits he searcheth he is a searcher as the word is in the original the Spirit is a searcher he searcheth our own hearts and he searcheth the secret love of God to us that is the Spirit must stablish us Well then if the Spirit doth all how shall we know then that we have this Spirit A note or two and so go on If we have this Spirit of God to seal us and to be an Earnest I will not speak all that may be but a little for indeed all comes from the Spirit Even as in our souls how may a man know that he hath a soul by living and moving by actions vital c. So we may know a man hath the Spirit of God by those actions that come onely from the Spirit which is to
have the Spirit And likewise the Spirit makes us mourn and wait for the adoption of the sons of God those that mourn and wait have the Evidence of the Spirit for a worldling doth not mourn for his imperfections for his corruptions he doth not mourn that he is absent from his Saviour neither doth he wait for the accomplishment of that that shall be bestowed on Saints because he hath his portion here therefore those that can mourn for their corruptions for those things which the world is not able to tax them for because they cannot serve God with enlargement of the Spirit as they would and they wait also without despair or without discouragement till God have finished their course they are led with a better Spirit then the world Though I should name no more what a many sweet evidences are here to manifest a soul truly acted and guided and led by the Spirit but these shall be sufficient for this time Well then if the Spirit doth all if the Spirit anoint and seal and give Earnest of grace and comfort and all till he bring us to heaven being Christs Vicar for Christ hath no other Vicar on earth but his Spirit if the Spirit doth all as indeed he doth all for God to us and from us to God whatsoever God doth to us it is by the Spirit he anoints and seals and sanctifieth by the Spirit and whatsoever we do to God it is by the Spirit or else it is not acceptable we sigh and groan in the Spirit we pray in the holy Ghost saith Jude and that God doth to us immediately from the Spirit and all that we do to God is in the Spirit Is this so then as it an undoubted truth oh then we should labour by all meanes for this Spirit of God To give some directions in a word and so to end Labour I say to have the Spirit and to groan in the Spirit and to this end because the Word is the Chariot of the Spirit in which the Spirit is carried attend upon the Ordinances of God and use all kind of spiritual meanes wherein the Spirit is usually effectual for the Spirit will onely work with his own means all those bastard inventions and devices fetched from the Church of Rome humane devices in Gods service they are naught Gods Spirit will not be effectual with Popish devices and therefore Rome is the habitation of Devils Gods Spirit hath nothing to do there because they have set up a worship contrary to Gods worship they have set up a Covenant contrary to Christs Covenant they have set up the Covenant of Works and deny in a manner a Covenant of Grace Christ is not taught as he should be there Now wheresoever the Spirit is it is with the clear teaching of the Gospel Received you the Spirit by hearing of the Law or of faith preached Therefore let us attend upon the unfolding of Christ Jesus in the Gospel for the Spirit is given with a clear and true unfolding of Christ and omit no spiritual means wherein the Spirit is effectual as meditation reading c. For as a man working in a garden though he think not of it perhaps he drawes a sweet sent of the flowers there is a tincture from the ayr that is round about him So the Word of God being indited by the Spirit of God we being in holy company being led by the same Spirit a man shall either by reading of the Word or in holy company or conversing in good books he shall draw a spiritual sweetnesse from the Word or from those that he hath to deal with The spirit of a man is like water that runs from Minerals as we see bathes have their warmth from Minerals that they run through they have a tincture from them to be hot in this or that degree in this or that quality So it is with the soul when it runs through holy things when it hath to deal with good books and good company c. it draweth a spirituall tincture and therefore if we would have the Spirit of God to guide us let us be much in those things that the Holy Ghost hath sanctified us for that end at all times when we have liberty from our callings And withall take heed that we greive not the Holy Ghost any way if we will have the Spirit to seal us to increase our Earnest How do we grieve the Holy Ghost By cherishing contrary affections and lusts and desires And resist not the holy Ghost as now when you hear the Word of God if you shut your resolutions if you shut your hearts and resolve not to give way to any instruction that shall be delivered This is a resisting of the Holy Ghost God now knocks at the hearts of those that are here by his Word and Spirit and therefore we should open the everlasting doors and let the King of glory come in We should lay open all to the Spirit Oh when the Spirit when Christ is so willing to give the Spirit it cannot be any but our fault if we be no more spiritual then we are for indeed there is nothing in a manner required to be spiritual but not to resist the Spirit The Holy Ghost presseth upon us in the Word such reasons of heavenly-mindednesse of despising of earthly things of purging our selves from the corruptions in the world such reasons to be good that indeed none are damned in the bosome of the Church but such as set a bar against the Spirit of God in their hearts with a cursed resolution that they will not be better that they will not part with their cursed lusts therefore they are damned because they will be damned that say the Preachers by the Word and Spirit what they will they think it better to be as they are then to entertain such a guest as will marre and alter all that was there before take heed therefore of resisting of the Spirit and of grieving of the Spirit by any thing in our selves or by conversing with company that will grieve him He that hath the Spirit of God in him cannot endure carnal company for what shall he hear what shall he draw in at his senses but that which will be vexation of spirit to him therefore it is said of Lot His righteous soul was vexed with the unclean conversation of the Sodomites it is an undoubted sign of a man that hath no grace not to care for his company that hath grace Likewise yield all obedience and subjection to the Spirit and to all the motions of the Word and Spirit bring our hearts into subjection lay our selves as it were before the Spirit suffer our selves to be moved and fashioned and framed by it for God gives his holy Spirit to them that obey him And beg the Spirit also as the principal thing God gives the Spirit saith Christ to them that ask him and by Christs manner of speaking there he
19. It put his soul out of taste with all other things This joy of the Spirit it puts such a relish in the soul that it makes it undervalue all other things whatsoever the price of other things falls down when a man joyes in the Holy Ghost because it ariseth from the grounds of faith from peace and righteousnesse And likewise if it look forward from the hope of life everlasting and the favour of God the ground of all It riseth from things that are above all other contentments The loving kindnesse of the Lord that faith apprehends that is the ground of joy it is above life it self Now life is the sweetest thing upon earth but the loving kindnesse of God is better then that Therefore those that lose their soules in base contentments and joy in the dirty things of this life that are not fit for the soul to fasten on to place contentment in but are only to be used as those that take a journey to refresh them but those that are swallowed up in these things they know not what spiritual joy is that ariseth from the Word of God from divine truth that ariseth from faith for if they did this joy would raise them higher above all earthly contentments whatsoever Then again where this joy is this spiritual enlargement of soul which is called joy it is from true grounds it is with humility For the same Word that discovers matter of joy discovers matter of humility and grief in our selves by reason of the remainders of sin and of our own deservings So true joy it is a tempered and qualified joy it is not joyned with pride and swelling because it riseth from those grounds that teach us what we are in our selves alas such that we need not be proud in our selves but if we will glory we must glory in God Well it is not that that I mean principally to stand on but only I speak of it because it is placed here for faith as it springs from faith we are helpers of your joy To hasten then to that that followes For by faith ye stand This principally depends upon the first words We have not dominion over your faith because faith is such a grace as you stand by in all conditions Now what you stand by must be firm it must be on a good bottome and what is firm must not be humane but divine therefore we have no dominion over your faith for by faith ye stand Standing is a military word by faith ye stand that is first of all faith gives a standing a certain standing before any conflict it gives a standing in Christianity it sets the soul in a frame in a standing Nay faith helps us we stand by faith not only in a frame of Christianity and furnished with spiritual strength but then we are fit to encounter opposition by faith we stand to it and stand against all opposition we stand and stand to it by faith And standing likewise implies continuance in managing Christianity and opposing all enemies whatsoever by faith we stand and continue standing we hold out in all opposition Standing likewise in the next place implies a kind of safety together with victory at length By faith ye stand you stand so as you are not wounded to death you stand so as you are kept safe especially from mortal wounds and altogether safe so far as you use faith as a shield till you have got perfect victory and faith end in triumph So faith is that grace whereby we stand whereby we are in a frame of Religion fit to stand and whereby we so standiug encouter oppositions and continue so encountering and preserve our selves safe till victory be obtained this is the full expression and comprehension of the word By faith ye stand Now why is it by faith that we have this standing Because faith it is that grace in the new Covenant that makes the soul go out of it self it empties the soul of all things in it self and goes out to somewhat else whereupon it stands For in the new Covenant since Adams fall all our strength is in the second Adam our head we fetch it there And faith is the hand of the soul. Now because faith in the new Covenant is an emptying grace and likewise because as it is a grace that empties the soul so it fastens upon another thing whereupon it relies for faith is an uniting grace as well as an emptying grace now faith emptying and uniting so it makes us stand And likewise faith as it drawes it hath a drawing vertue an attractive force it is a radical grace it is like a root when it knits to Christ it sucks out and drawes vertue from him every touch of faith drawes spiritual strength and vertue so it causeth us to stand by the attractive vertue it hath And then it is the force of faith likewise to make things present For therein it differs from hope hope looks upon things as absent now the things that hope looks on as things remote and distant in time and place faith makes them present therefore it is said to be the evidence of things not seen Now that that makes the soul to be strong and able to stand it must be somewhat present however the full possession of things be reserved not for faith but for vision for comprehenders in heaven where faith ends and determines yet notwithstanding faith drawes so much for the present it sets things to come so far present with such evidence and force as it upholds the soul and makes it stand It is the evidence of things not seen And thereupon it hath a kind of omnipotent power to make things that are not to be Heaven and glory and happinesse they are not for the pesent but faith looking on them in the authority of God and the divine promises faith makes them present by a kind of almighty power that it hath laying hold on an almighty power and hereupon it upholds the soul it is the prop and stay of the soul as in Heb. 11. it signifies to stay up to hold up as a pillar even from this vertue it hath to make things to come present You see then what it is to stand and how faith is fitted for this purpose because as I said it is the grace of the new Covenant emptying us and drawing us to Christ from whom we draw all vertue and because it makes things to come as present By faith wr are set in a right frame and condition again as by want of faith we fell The same grace must set us right for want of which we fell How came we to fall at the first You know Adam hearkened to his wife Eve and she hearkened to the Serpent they trusted not in God they began to stagger at the promises to stagger at the Word of God Satan robbed them of the Word He observes and continues the same Art still to take the Word from us and to
strength of love of ours it is his own free grace and love which is shed by the holy Ghost and springs only from his own goodnesse and loving nature and not from us at all this is Grace It must be distinguished from the fruits of it as the Apostle doth distinguish them Rom. 5. 15. Grace and the gifts of grace There is favour and the gifts of favour which is grace inherent in us Here especially is meant the fountaine and spring of all the favour of God with the manifestation of it with the increase of it with the continuance of it He wisheth these things the favour of God with the manifestation of it to their souls that as God would be gracious to them so that he would shew his Grace that he would discover it and shine upon them and to that end that he would give them his holy Spirit to shed his love into their hearts This shining of God into the heart this shedding of the love of God into the heart is the Grace here meant Gods favour with the manifestation of it to the soul and with the continuance of it and the increase of it still Grace unto you As if he should have said I wish you the favour of God and the report of it to your souls that as he loves you through his Christ so he would witnesse as much by his holy Spirit to your souls And I wish you likewise the continuance of it and the increase of it and the fruits of it likewise for that must not be excluded all particular graces which are likewise called Graces They have the name of favours because they come from favour and favour is the chief thing in them What is the chief thing in joy in faith in love they are graces they cannot be considered as qualifications as earthly things in us they proceed from the grace and love of God and have their especial value from thence So I wish you the manifestation the continuance and increase of favour with all the fruits of Gods favour especially such as concern a better life The word is easily understood after the common sence Grace is the loving and free respect of a superiour to an inferiour the respect of a Magistrate to such as are under him such a one is in grace with the Prince we say we mean not any inherent thing but free grace So in Religion it is not any inherent habitual thing Grace but it is free favour and whatsoever issues from free favour This must be the rather observed this phrase against the Papists we say we are Justified by Grace and so do they what do they mean by being justified by Grace that is by inherent Grace we say No we are justified by Grace that is by the free favour of God in Jesus Christ so is the acception of the word But to come to the point that which I will now note is this that A Christian though he be in the state of Grace and favour with God yet still he needs the continuance of it He stands in need of the continuance of God St. Paul here prayes for Grace and peace to those that were in the state of Grace already Why The reason of it is that we run into new breaches every day of our selves as long as there is a spring of corruption in us a cursed issue of corruption so long there will be some actions and speeches and thoughts that will issue that would of themselves break our peace with God or at least hinder the sweet sence of it therefore we have continual occasion to renew our desires of the sence and feeling of the favour of God and to renew our pardon every day to take out a pardon of course as we have now the liberty to do so oft as we confesse our sins he is mercifull to forgive us and to win his favour we have need every day still still of Grace I list not to joyn in conflict here with the Papists concerning their opinion I will but touch it by the way to shew the danger of it They will not have all of meer Grace but Christians are under Grace while they are in this World as St. Paul saith all is Grace Grace still nay at the day of judgement The Lord shew mercy to the house of One siphorus at that day at the day of judgement Grace and mercy must be our plea till we come to heaven They stand upon Grace to enable us to the work and then by the work we may merit our own salvation and so they will not have it of Grace of gift but as a stipend a thing of merite Directly contrary to St. Paul Rom. 6. ult Eternal life is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word comes of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of gift The gift of God a free gift through Jesus Christ our Lord. So from the first Grace to Eternall life which is the complement of all all is Grace As for the New Testament it is the Covenant of Grace the whole carriage of our salvation is called the Covenant of Grace because God of Grace doth enter into Covenant with us He sent Christ of Grace who is the foundation of the Covenant The fulfilling of it on our part is of Grace he gives us faith Faith is the gift of God he puts his fear in our hearts that we should not depart from him And when he enters into Covenant with us it is of Grace and love It was of Grace that he sent Christ to be the foundation of the Covenant that in the satisfying of his justice he might be gracious to us without disparagement to his justice Of Grace he fulfils the condition on our part we are no more able to believe then we are to fulfil the law but he inables us by his word and spirit attending upon the meanes of Salvation to fulfil the Covenant And when we have done all he gives us of Grace Eternal life all is of Grace There is nothing in the Gospel but Grace therefore in the Ephes. 1. it is stood upon by the Apostle To the praise of the Glorie of his rich Grace From Election to Glorification all is to the Glorie of his Grace We ought to conceive of God as a Gracious Father withholding his anger which we deserve to be poured upon us by the intercession of Christ withholding that anger and the fruits of it And notwithstanding we are in Grace if we neglect to seek to God the Father if we neglect to seek to Christ who makes intercession for us then though we be in the first Grace still we are not east away yet we are filii sub ira sons under wrath we are under Anger though not under hatred Therefore every day we should labour to maintain the Grace of God with the assurance of it It is a great matter to carrie our selvs so as we may be under the sence and feeling of the Grace of God It
is not sufficient to be in the Grace of God but to have the report of it to our own hearts to have it shine upon us How should we carry our selves so that we may be in state of Grace that is in such a state as we may find the sweet evidence and comfortable feeling continually that we are Gods Children First of all there must be a perpetual daily practise of abasing our selves of making our selves poore that is every day to see the vanity of all things in the world out of us to see the weaknesse of Grace in us to see the return of our corruptions that foile us every day that so we may see in what need we stand of the favour of God Considering that all comforts without are vanity and that all the Graces in us are stained with corruption considering besides the staines of our Graces that there is a continuall issue of corruption these things will make our spirits poor and make us hunger and thirst after the sence and feeling of free pardon every day This will enforce us to renew our patent to renew our portion in the Covenant of Grace to have daily pardon This should be our daily practise to enter deeper and deeper into our selves This is to live by faith As God is continually ready to shew us favour in Christ not onely at the first in acquitting us from our sins but continually doth shew us favour upon all occasions and is justifyng and pardoning and speaking peace continually to us so there must be an action answerable in us that is depending upon God by faith living by faith This we do by seeing in what need we stand of Grace God resists the proud but gives Grace to the humble Then again that we may walk in the grace of God and in the sence of it let us every day labour to have our souls more and more enriched with the endowments and graces of Gods Spirit that we may be objects of Gods delight Let us labour to be affected to things as he is affected two cannot walk together except they be agreed Let us hate that which God hates and delight in that which God delights in that we may have a kind of complacency and be in love with the blessed work of the Spirit of God more and more Let us labour to delight in them that grow in grace as the nearer any one comes to our likenesse the more we grow in familiarity with them Labour also to preserve a clear soul that God may shine upon us God delights not in strangenesse to us his desire is that we may walk in the sence and assurance of his grace and favour How shall we know that we are in state of Grace with God I Answer that we do not deceive our selves we must look to the work of Gods grace Gods grace is a fruitful grace his favour is fruitful it is not a barren favour it is not a Winter Sun The Sun in the Winter it carries a goodly countenance but it heats not to any purpose it doth not quicken but Gods grace it carries life and heat where it comes therefore if we be in state of grace and favour with God we may discern it But in times of desertion though a person be in grace and favour with God yet many times he thinks he is not so It is true then we must not alway go to our feeling at such times and the enlargement of our hearts by the Spirit of comfort but go to the work of grace for where grace and favour is there are the graces of the Spirit As it is nor a bare favour in regard of comfort so it is not a barren favour in regard of graces for every heart that is in favour with God hath some graces of the Spirit God enriches the soul where he shewes favour his love-tokens are some graces therefore if the witnesse and comfort of the Spirit cease in case of desertion let us go to the work of the Spirit and by that we may know if we be in grace with God For Gods people are a peculiar people and Gods children have alwayes some peculiar grace some Ornaments some Jewels the spouse of Christ hath which others have not Therefore examine thy heart what work of God there is and what desire thou hast after better things what inward hatred against that which is ill what strength thou hast against it go to some mark of Regeneration of the new Creature and these will evidence that we are in a state of grace with God because these are peculiar favours And though we feel not the comfort yet there is a work and that work will comfort us more then the comfort it self will do And this is one thing whereby we may know we are in favour with God when we can comfort our selves and can go to the throne of grace through Christ when we can go boldly to God it is a sign of favour when we can call upon him when we can go in any desertion to prayer when in any affliction we can have inlarged hearts it is a sign of favour with God A meer hypocrite or a man that hath not this peculiar grace he trusts to outward things and when they are gone when he is in trouble he hath not the heart to go to God his heart is shut up he sinks down because he relyed upon common matters he did not relie upon the favour of God and the best fruit of it which are graces but upon common favours therefore he sinks in despair But a sound Christian take him at the worst he can sigh to God he can go to him and open his soul to him by Christ we have an entrance to the Father Ephes 3. 12. We have boldnesse through faith Every Christian hath this in the worst extremity he hath a Spirit of prayer though he cannot enlarge himself yet he can sigh and groan to God and God will hear the sighes of his own Spirit they are loud in his ears David at the worst he prayes to God Saul at the worst he goes to the Witch and from thence to his swords point But usually the usual temper and disposition of a man in the state of grace is joy for as one saith Grace is the begetter of joy for they both have one root in the Greek Language there is the same root for favour and for joy so favour is usually and ordinarily with a sweet enlargement of heart we may thank our selves else that do not walk so warily and so jealously as we should The reward that God gives his Children that are careful is a Spirit of joy Rom. 5. 1. Being Justified by faith we have peace of God and joy in tribulation For even as it is in humane matters the favour and countenance of the King it is as a shower of rain after a drought it comforts his subjects there is a wonderous joy in the
Christ the Father of mercies c. That which to the flesh is matter of scandall and offence that to the spirit and to a spirituall man is matter of glory so contrary is the flesh and the Spirit and so opposite is the disposition and the current of the fleshly man to the spirituall man Job was so farre from cursing God for taking away that he saith Blessed be the name of God not onely for giving but for taking away too What ground there is in troubles and persecutions to blesse God we shall see in the current and passages of the Chapter To come then to the very verse it selfe where there is a blessing and praysing of God first And in this praysing consider The Act Object Reasons The Act Blessed be God which is a praysing The Object is God the Father The Reasons are inwrapped in the Object Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because he is the God and Father of Iesus Christ therefore blessed be he Secondly another reason is because he is the Father of mercies Another reason is from the Act of this disposition of mercie in God he is the God of all comfort and as he is comfortable so he doth comfort Thou art good and doest good saith the Psalmist thou art a God of comfort and thou doest comfort For as he is so he doth he shews his Nature in his working Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and God of comfort of which I shall speake when I come to them Blessed be God the Father c. We see here the heart of the blessed Apostle being warmed with the sense and taste of the sweet mercy of God stirrs up his tongue to bless God a full heart and a full tongue We have here the exuberancie the abundance of his thankfulness breaking forth in his speech his heart had first tasted of the sweet mercies and comforts of God before he prayseth God The first thing that we will observe hence is that It is the disposition of Gods Children after they have tasted the sweet mercy and comfort and love of God to break forth into the praysing of God and to thanksgiving It is as naturall for the new creature to doe so as for the birds to sing in the Spring when the Sun hath warmed the poore creature it shews its thankfulnesse in singing and that little blood and spirits that it hath being warmed after winter it is natural for those creatures so to do and we delight in them It is as natural for the new creature when it feels the Sun of righteousness warming the soul when it tastes of the mercy of God in Christ to shew forth it self in thankfulnesse and praise and it can no more be kept from it then fire can keep from burning or water from cooling it is the nature of the new creature so to do The reason is every creature must do the the work for which God hath enabled it to the which God hath framed it the happinesse of the creature is in well doing in working according to its nature the heathen could see that Now all the creatures the new creature especially is for the glory of God in Christ Jesus All the new creature and what priviledges it hath and what graces it hath all is that God may have the glory of grace why then it must needs work answerable to that which God hath created it for therefore it must shew forth the praise and glorie of God Blessed be God saith the Apostle Ephes. 1. And the blessed Apostle St. Peter begins his Epistle Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath begotten us to an Inheritance Immortal and undefiled which fadeth not away reserved for us in Heaven I shall not need to set down with the exposition of the word Blessed How God blesseth us and how we blesse God His blessing is a conferring of blessing our blessing is a declaring of his goodnesse it is a thing well enough known Our blessing of God is a praising of God a setting out what is in him Onely one thing is to be cleared What good can we do to God in blessing of him he is blessed though we blesse him not and he is praised whether we praise him or no he had Glorie enough before he made the world he contented himself in the Trinity the blessed Trinity in it self before there were either Angels or men or other creatures to blesse him and now he can be blessed enough though we do not blesse him It is true he can be so and he can have heaven though thou hast it not but be a damned creature and he will be blessed whether thou blesse him or no. Our blessing of him is required as a dutie to make us more capable of his graces to him that hath shall be given To him that hath and useth that he hath to the Glorie of God shall be given more we give nothing The stream gives nothing to the fountain the beam gives nothing to the Sun for it issues from the Sun our very blessing of God is a blessing of his It is from his Grace that we can praise his Grace and we run still into a new debt when we have hearts enlarged to blesse him We ought to have our hearts more enlarged that we can be enlarged to prayse God And to others it is good for others are stirred up by it Gods goodnesse and mercy is enlarged in regard of the manifestation of it to others by our blessing of God Yea this good comes to our souls besides the increase of Grace we shall find an increase of joy and comfort that is one end why God requires it of us though he himself in his essence be alway alike blessed yet he requires that we should be thankful to him alway that we should blesse and praise him even in misery and affliction why then because if we can work upon our hearts a disposition to see Gods love and to praise and blesse him we can never be uncomfortable we have some comfort against all estates and conditions by studying to praise God by working of our hearts to a disposition to praise and bless God for then crosses are light crosses are no crosses then That is the reason that the Apostles and Holy men so stirred up their hearts to praise and thansgiving that they might feele their crosses the less that they might be lesse sensible of their discomforts for undoubtedly when we search for matter of praysing God in any afliction and when we see there is some mercy yet reserved that we are not consumed the consideration that there is alway some mercy that we are yet unthankfull for will inlarge our hearts and God when he hath thanks and praise from us he gives us still more matter of thankfulnesse and the more we thank him and praise him the more we have matter of praise
there is a presence of the Spirit that comforts As we see oft times a man is comforted with the very sight of his friend without discourse to a man indued with reason whose discomforts are spirituall for the most part in the soule the very presence of a man that he loves puts much delight into him What is God then the God of comfort his very presence must needs comfort Comfort is taken many other wayes but these are the principall to this purpose First Comfort is the thing it selfe there is comfort in every creature of God and God is the God of that comfort In hunger meate comforts in thirst drink comforts in cold garments comfort in want of advice friends comfort and it is a sweet comfort God is the God of all comfort of the comfortable things But besides the necessary things every sense hath somewhat to comfort it The eye besides ordinary colours hath delightfull colours to behold and so the eare besides ordinary noise and sounds it hath musick to delight it the smell besides ordinarie savours it hath sweet flowers to refresh it and so every part of the body besides that which is ordinarie it hath somewhat to comfort it Because God is nothing but comfort to his creature if it be as it should be he is God of these comforts the God of all comfort of the comfort of outward things of friends c. So he is the God of the second comfort of comfortable reasons and arguments for a man especially in inward troubles must have grounds of comfort from strong reasons God ministreth these he is the God of these for he hath given us his Scriptures his Word and the comforts that are fetched from thence are strong ones because they are his comforts it is his Word The word of a Prince comforts though he be not there to speake it though it be a letter or by a Messenger yet he whose word it is is one that is able to make his word good he is Lord and Master of his word The Word of God is comfortable and all the reasons that are in it and that are deduced from it upon good ground and consequence they are comfortable because it is Gods word he is the God of all And those comforts in Gods word and reasons from thence they are wonderfull in the variety of them there is comfort from the liberty of a Christian laid out there that he hath free access to the throne of Grace comfort from the Prerogatives of a Christian that he is the Child of God that he is justified that he is the heire of Heaven and such like Comforts from the Promises of Grace of the presence of God of assistance by his presence these things out of the Word of God are wondrous plentifull Indeed the Word of God is a breast of comfort as the Prophet cals it Suck comfort out of the breasts of comfort Isa. 66. The books of God are breasts of comfort wels of comfort Isa. 11. there are springs of comfort Gods word is a Paradise as it were in Paradise there were sweet streams that ran through and in Paradise stirred the voyce of God not onely calling Adam where art thou terrifying of him but the voyce of God promising Adam the blessed seed So in the Word of God there is God rouzing out of sinne and there is God speaking peace to the soule there is a sweet current of mercie runs from the Paradise of God and there is the Tree of life Christ himselfe and Trees of all manner of fruit comforts of all sorts whatsoever And there is no Angel there to keep the doore and gate of Paradise with a fierie flaming sword No this Paradise is open for all and they are cruell Tyrants that stop th is Paradise that stop this Fountain as the Papists doe As God is the God of comfort so he is the God of comfort in that respect But this is not enough to make him the God of comfort we may have the Word of God and all the reasons from thence from priviledges and prerogatives and examples and yet not be comfortable if we have not the God of comfort with the Word of comfort the Spirit of God that must apply the comfort to the soule and be the God of comfort there For there must be application and working of comfort out of Gods word upon the soule by the spirit the spirit must set it on strongly and sweetly that the soule may be affected You may have a carnall man he for fashion or custome reads the Scriptures and he is as dead-hearted when he hath done as when he began he never looks to the spirit of comfort there must be the spirit of God to work and to apply comfort to the heart and to teach us to discourse and to reason from the Word not onely to shew the reasons of the Word but to teach us to draw reasons from the Word and to apply them to our particular state and condition the spirit teacheth this wisedome And therefore it is well called the comforter I will send you the comforter The poore disciples had many comforts from Christ but because the Comforter was not come they were not comfortable but heavie what was the reason because the Comforter was not come when the holy Ghost was come after the resurrection and ascension of Christ when he had sent the Comforter then they were so full of comfort that they rejoyced that they were thought worthy to suffer any thing for Christ and the more they suffered the more joyfull and comfortable and glorious they were You see what a comfort is it is the things themselves and the word and reasons from it and likewise the spirit of God with the reasons and with presence sometimes without any reasons with present strength God doth establish the soule together with reasons there is a strengthning power of the spirit a vigour that goes with the spirit of God that joyns with the spirit of the afflicted person So whether it be the outward thing as reasons and discourse or the presence of the spirit God joyning with our spirit God is the God of that comfort the God of all comfort A comfort is any thing that allaies a maladie that either takes it away or allaies and mitigates it A comfort is any thing that raiseth up the soul The comforts that wee have in this life they are not such as doe altogether take away sorrow and griefe but they mitigate them Comfort is that which is above a maladie it is such a remedie as is stronger to support the soul from being cast down over much with the grievance whether it be grievance felt that we are in the sence of such a grievance as is feared when the soule apprehends any thing to set against the ill we feare that is stronger then it when the soule hath somewhat that it can set against the present sence of the grievance that is stronger
comfort unlesse with revelation and application in the third place thou open my soul to joyn with these comforts There must be a discovery and application and an opening of the soule to them As there be diverse flowers that open and shut with the sun so the soul by the spirit of God it opens to comforts though comforts be put close to the soul if that do not open to them there is no comfort given for all is in the application There is a double application of the thing to the soul and of the soul to the thing God must do all What is the reason that many here Sermons and Read sweet discourses and yet when they come to suffer crosses and afflictions they are to see They go to the stream they cut the Conduits from the spring they go not to the Well-head they see not the derivation of comfort it is necessary for the deriving of comfort to the soul to take the scales from the eye of the soul they see not the necessity of a divine presence to apply it and and to lay it close to the soul and to open the soul to joyn the soul to those comforts God is the God of all comfort If any thing will stir up devotion much to pray to God undoubtedly this will be effectual that whatsoever the comfort be whether it be outward things or reasons and discourses whatsoever we may go to God that he would give it Well this being so if God be the God of all comfort the Well of comfort the Father of comfort and hath remedies for every malady Then you see here whither to go you see a Christian in all estates hath ground of comfort for he is in Covenant with the God of comfort You will say to me what is the reason that Christians are no more comfortable having the God of comfort for their God I answer it is partly from Ignorance we have remainders of Ignorance that we know not our own comfort Satan doth vail the eye of the soul in the time of trouble that we cannot see that there is a well of comfort Poor Hagar when shee was almost undone for thirst yet she had a fountain of water near hand but she saw it not she was so overtaken with grief Ignorance and Passion hinder the sight of comfort when we give way so much to the present malady as if there were no God of comfort in heaven as if there were no Scripture that hath breasts of comfort that is as full as a breast that is willing to discharge it self of comfort as if there were no matter of comfort they feed upon grief and delight to flatter their selves in grief as Rachel that mourned and would not be comforted so out of a kind of Ignorance and Passion and Wilfulnesse they will not be comforted And again as Bildad saith Job 18. are the comforts of God light to thee These are good words but my discomforts are greater my malady is greater so the comforts of the Holy Ghost the comforts of Gods Spirit seem light to them Ignorance and Passion and dwelling too much makes us neglect comfort it makes us to see comfort to be no comfort in a manner Mary when Christ was before her eyes they were so blubbered with tears with fear that her Lord was lost that she could not see him even when he was before her so grief and Passion hinder the soul so much from seeing Gods comforts that we see them not when they are before us when they are present So men are guilty of their own discomfort it is their own fault Again oft times forgetfulnesse as the Apostle saith Heb. 12. have ye forgotten the Consolation that speaks have ye forgotten that every Son that God chastizeth not is a bastard have ye forgotten insinuating that if they had remembred this it would have comforted them have ye forgotten And then one especial cause is that I spake of before the looking to things present forgetting the spring the well-head of comfort God himself the looking too much to the means oh say some if they be in distresse if I had such a Book if I had such a man to comfort me certainly it would be otherwise with me I should be better then I am put case he were with thee alas he is not the spring it is the God of comfort that must comfort thee man in all thy distresses whatsoever therefore if thou attribute not more to God then to the creature nay then to an Angel if he were to comfort thee thou shalt find no comfort I even I am he that comforts thee I am he that pardons thy sins which is the cause of all discomfort that is comfort that is the sting of all I am he that pardons thy sins We as Criers may speak pardon to the soule but God must give it we may speak comfort but God must give it he must say to the soule I am thy salvation When men Idolize any discourse in books or any particular man overmuch though we may value those that are instrumentall above others there may be a difference of gifts but the resting too much in the creature it is an enemy to comfort and some grow to that wilfulness in that kind that they will neglect all because they have not that they would have whereas if they would look to God meaner meanes would serve the turne oft times if they would goe to the God of comfort Who comforteth us in all tribulation Afflictions and crosses as they are irkesome in suffering so they are likewise disgracefull and as it was in the cross of Christ there was two things torment and shame the one he felt himselfe the other he had from others those two disgrace is proper to the cross so it is in all the crosses that we suffer there is some disgrace with it therefore Saint Paul to prevent the scandall and disgrace of the cross as I said before he doth here begin with praysing God even for crosses in the midst of them Blessed be God the Father of mercies the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all tribulations c. Who comforteth us in all tribulation These words contain a making good of the former title He is the God of comfort and doth comfort he is good and doth good He fils up his name by his works he shews what he is the Scripture doth especially describe God not in all things as he is in himself but as he is and works to his poore Church and they are usefull termes all of them he is the Father of mercie because he is so to his Church he is the God of comfort because he is so to his people therefore he saith here as he is the God of comfort so he doth comfort us in all tribulation He doth not say who keeps us out of miserie blessed be the God of comfort that never suffers us to fall
into discomfort no but Blessed be the God of comfort that comforts us in all tribulation It is more to raise good out of evill then not to suffer evill to be at all It shews greater power it manifests greater goodness to triumph over ill when it suffered to be and so not to keep ill from us but to comfort us in it He doth not say for the time past which hath comforted us or which can comfort us if it please him no he doth it it is his use he doth it alway it springs from his love he never at any instant or moment of time forgets his Children and he saith not he doth comfort us in one or two or a few tribulations but he comforteth us in al tribulations of what kind or degree soever It may be Objected to cleare the sence a little he doth not alway comfort for then there could be no time of discomfort I Answer He doth alway comfort in some degree for take a Christian at the lowest yet he hath so much comfort as to keep him from sinking when he is at the depth of miserie there is a depth of mercy lower then he Out of the deep have I cryed unto thee Lord and this is a comfort that he hath in the middest of discomforts that he hath a spirit of prayer and if not a spirit of prayer yet a spirit of sighing and groaning to God and God hears the sighs and groans of his own spirit in his children When they cannot distinctly pray there is a spirit to look up to God Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee saith Job in the middest of his miseries So though God more notoriously to the view of the world sometime doth comfort before we come to trouble that we may beare it the better and sometime he doth comfort more apparently after we come out yet notwithstanding in the middest of discomforts he doth alway comfort so farre as that we sink not into despaire there is somewhat to uphold the soule For when Solomon saith A wounded spirit who can beare that is none can beare it it is the greatest griefe then I would know what keeps a wounded spirit from sinking that it doth not despaire is it not a spirit stronger then the wounded spirit Is it not God that is greater then the wounded conscience Yes then there is comfort greater then the discomfort of a wounded conscience that keeps it from despaire those that finally despaire they are none of Gods So that take the words in what regard or in what sence you will yet thââ¦re is a sweet and comfortable sense of them and the Apostle might well say he is the God of all comfort that doth comfort us in all tribulation It is here a ground supposed that Gods Children are subject to tribulation We are subject here to tribulation of all kinds for God comforts us in all our tribulations we are here in a state therefore needing comfort because we are in tribulation And the second is that God doth answer our state God doth comfort his Children in all tribulation And the ground is from himself he is the God of comfort he doth but like himselfe when he doth it the God of comfort shews that he is so by comforting us in all tribulations First It is supposed that In this world we are in tribulations Indeed that I need not be long in we must at one time or other be in tribulation some or other For though in regard of outward afflictions we are free from them sometimes we have a few holy-dayes as we say yet notwithstanding there is in the greatest inlargements of Gods Children in this world somewhat that troubles their minds for either there is some desertion God withholds comfort from them in some measure he shews himself a stranger which humbles them much or else they have strong temptations of Sathan to sin by prosperity c. which grieves them as much as the outward cross or else their grievance is that they cannot serve God with that chearefulness of spirit Is there nothing who ever thou art that troubles thee as much as the cross in the day of affliction certainly there is somewhat or other that troubleth the soule of a Christian he is never out of one grievance or other The life of a Christian is as a web that is woven of good and ill he hath good daies and ill dayes he hath tribulations and comforts As St. Austin sayth very well between these two tribulation on our part and comfort on Gods part our life runs between these two our crosses and God comforts they are both mingled together There is no child of God but knowes what these things mean troubles either from friends or enemies or both domesticall or personal in bodie or mind one way or other That is supposed and it were not an unproper argument to the text for when he saith in all tribulations it is laid as a ground that every man suffers tribulation one way or other but I shall have fitter occasion after to enlarge this Again we see here that God comforts his Children in all tribulation And his comforts are answerable to their discomforts and beyond them they are stronger to master all opposites whatsoever and all grievances there could be no comfort else Alas what are all discomforts when God sets himself to comfort when he will be a God of comfort one look one glance of his fatherly countenance in Jesus Christ will banish all terrours whatsoever and make even a very dungeon to be a paradise he comforteth us in all tribulat on And this he doth as you may perceive by the unfolding of the words either by some outward thing applied to the outward want or crosse or by some inward reasons that are opposite to the inward maladie or by an inward presence His comforts are appliable to the tribulation and to the strength and length and variety of it We may know it by his course in this life what miserie are we subject to in this life but we have comfort fit for it so good is God We may reason thus very well if so be that in our pilgrimage here in this life of ours which is but the gallery as it were to heaven if in this short life which is but a way or passage we have both day and night so many comforts In the very night if we look up to heaven we see what glorious things there are towards the earth here on this fide the heaven the stars of the light c. And if so be upon the earth there be such comforts especially in the spring and summer time if the very earth the basest dreggs of the World yield such comfort and delights to all the senses then a man may reason very strongly what comforts shall we have at home If God by the creatures thus comfort us in our outward wants what are the inward comforts of his spirit here
to his Children and what are the last comforts of all the comforts reserved at home when God shall be all in all Now there are some drops of comfort conveyed in smells some in garments some in friends some in diet here a drop and there a drop but when we shall have immediate communion there with the God of comfort himself what comforts shall we have there God comforts us here by providing for us and giving us things that are comfortable Or by giving reasons and grounds of comfort which are stronger then the reasons and grounds of discomfort reasons from the priviledges and prerogative of Christians c. the scripture is full of them But likewise which is the best of all and most intended the inward inspiring of comfort with the reasons and grounds he inwardly conveyes comforts to the soul and strengtheneth and supports the soul. And he doth this not onely by the application of the reasons and the things that we understand to the soul but by opening the soul to embrace them for sometime the soul may be in such a case as it may reject comfort that the consolation of the Almightie may seem light to it sometime there may be such a disposition of soule that the chiefest comforts in scripture yield it not comfort they are not embraced the soul is shut to them God provides reasons and grounds of comfort and likewise he applies these comforts by his spirit to the soul and he inwardly warmes and opens the soul to embrace comfort he opens the understanding to understand and the will and affections to embrace or else there will be no comfort Many are like Rachel her Children were gone and it is said of her Shee would not be Comforted God is the God of Comfort as he gives the matter and ground of comfort and reasons out of his holy word above all dsscomforts so by his spirit he frames and fits the heart to entertain these to take the benefit of them He comforts us in all tribulation To comfort is to support the soule against the grievance past or felt or feared There may be some remainders of grief for what is past grief present presseth most and grief feared Now God comforteth whatsoever the grievance is by supporting the soul against it as I said before We are in tribulation in this life and yet in all tribulations God doth comfort us to add to that I said before of this point let us therefore go to God in all the meanes of comfort because he is the God of it and he must comfort us Therefore when we send for divines or read Holy books for we must use all meanes we must not set God against his meanes but joyn them together to add that caution by the way We may not therefore necessitate the God of comfort that because he comforts us therefore we will neglect reading and prayer and conference with them that God hath exercised in the schoole of Christ who should speak comfort to the wearie soul by their office No No God and his meanes must be joyned together we must trust God but not tempt him to set God against his meanes is to tempt him that because he is the God of comfort therefore we will use no meanes no Physitian for the body or for the soul this is absurd he is the God of comfort in the means he comforts us in all tribulation by meanes if they be to be had If there be no meanes to be had he is the God of comfort he can create them and if it be so far that there be no meanes but the contrary he is a God that can comfort out of discomfort and can as I said make the greatest grounds of comfort out of the greatest discomforts But he is a God of the meanes if they be to be had if there be none then let us go to him and say thou God of comfort if thou do not comfort none can comfort if thou help not none can help and then he will help and help strongly It is necessary to looke to God what ever the meanes be it is he that comforts by them Therefore let him have the praise if we have any friend any comfort of the outward man or any solace of the inward man by seasonable speech c. blessed be the God of comfort who hath sent this comforter who hath sent me comfort by such and such let him have the praise whatsoever the means be the comfort is his And that is the cause that many have no more comfort they trust to the means overmuch or neglect the means Again if God comfort in all tribulation Let Christians be ashamed to be overmuch disconsolate that have the God of comfort for their God who comforteth in all tribulation Why art thou so cast down Is there no Balme in Gilead for thee Is there not a God in Israel It is the fault of Christians they pore too much on their troubles they look all one way they look to the grievance and not to the comfort There is a God of comfort that answers his name every way in the exercise of that attribute to his Church therefore Christians must blame themselves if they be too much cast down and labour for faith to draw near to this God of comfort It should make them ashamed of themselves that think it even a duty as it were to walk drooping and disconsolatly and deadly to have flat and dead spirits What is this beseeming a Christian that is in Covenant with God that is the God of comfort and that answers his title in dealing with his Children that is ready to comfort them in all tribulation what if particular comforts be taken from thee is there not a God of comfort left he hath not taken away himself What if thou be restrained and shut up from other comforts can any shut up Gods Spirit can any shut up God and our prayers Is not this a comfort that we may go to God alway and he is with us in all estates and in all wants whatsoever So long as we are in covenant with the God of comfort why should we be over much cast down Why art thou so troubled oh my soul David cheeks his soul thrice together for distrust in God he is thy God the God of all comfort What course shall we take that we may derive to our selves comfort from this God of comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulations Let us consider what our malady and grievance is especially let us look to our spiritual grievance and malady sin for sin is the cause of all other evils therefore it is the worst evil And sin makes us loathed of God the fountain of good it drives us from him when other evils drive us to from him and therefore it is the worst evil in that sense too Again in the third place look to the discomforts of sin especially in the discomforts of
would never have us in a state of despair For other grievances besides sin the comforts that we are to apply are more easie and they are infinite if we could reckon the particular comforts that God comforts his Children withall It is good to have generall comforts readie for all kind of maladies and grievances and this poor wretched life of ours in our absence from God is subject to As for instance that general comfort the Covenant of grace that is a spring of comfort that God is our God and Father in Christ what can come from a gracious and good God in covenant with us but that which is good nothing but what is favourably good I mean For the covenant is everlasting when God takes once upon him to be our Father in Covenant he is so for ever Dum castigas pater c. While he corrects he is a father and when he smiles upon us he is a father God in the covenant of Grace takes upon him a relation that ever holds as he is for ever the Father of Christ so he is for ever the Father of those that are members of Christ and whatsover comes from the Father of mercy whether he correct or smile whatsoever he doth is in mercy Again in the middest of any grievance remember the gracious promise of mitigation 1 Cor. 10. 13. God will not suffer us to be tempted above our strength but he will give an issue to the temptation he will give a mitigation and either he will raise our strength to the temptation or he will bring the temptation and trial to our strength he will fit them and this is a comfort There is comfort likewise in all troubles whatsoever of the presence of God God will be present with us if once we be in Covenant with him he will be present in all trials to assist us to strengthen us to comfort us to raise our spirits And if God be present he will banish all discomforts for God is light and where light is darknesse vanisheth Now God being the Father of light that is of all comfort where he is present he banisheth discomfort in what measure he is pleased to banish it Therefore David often reasoneth from the presence of God to the defiance of all troubles Psal. 3. If God be with me I will not fear ten Thousand that are against me And in Psal. 23. Though I walk in the valley of the shaddow of death I will not fear for thou art with me And if God be with us who can be against us Rom. 8. And when thou passest through the fire I will be with thee c. I will be with thee not to keep thee out but to uphold thee As he did the Mariyrs there was a fire of comfort in them above that fire that consumed their bodies and as we see he was with the Three Children there was a fourth like the Son of God So in all tribulations there is another with us that is the Spirit of God that comforts us in all and is present with us in all The Goldsmith when he puts the wedge into the fire he stands by till the drosse be consumed so God is with his Children in the furnace of affliction he brings them into affliction he continues with them in affliction and he brings them at last out of affliction The presence of God is a main and a Grand comfort in all tribulation Besides in all that befalls us whatsoever consider the end all is for a good end All things work together for the best to them that love God saith St. Paul Why do we endure Physick because we know the Physitian is wise and he is our friend and he doth it to carry away burdensome hurtful humours we shall be better and lighter afterwards do we do this in our common course in the things of this life Grace will much more certainly teach us to do it to reason it is from a father and it is for my good Let us look whence it comes and what it tends to with the promise of mitigation and of Gods presence in our troubles these are main comforts if we could think of them if the Divel did not take them out of our memorie And for the first ground of comfort that God doth comfort us withall in all tribulations it is the promise of finall deliverance and finall comfort for ever if none will raise our souls that will when we shall consider that it will not be long The short afflctions in this world bring an eternal weight of glory there will be a finall deliverance Life it self that is the subject that receives affliction that is short our life is but a moment therefore our afflictions must be short Life is longer then discomforts there is but a peece of our life subject to miseries and if that be but a vapour but a moment and as a point between eternity before and eternity after what are the miseries of this life certainly they are but for a moment Therefore the promise of final deliverance when all teares shall be wiped from our eyes this should comfort us if nothing else would This is the way therefore whereby God usually comforts by suggesting the heads and springs of comfort And indeed there is a daily method of comforting whereby we may comfort our selves in all crosses if we would use that daily method and order of comfort As there is a kind of diet to keep the bodie in temper so there is a kind of spirituall diet to keep the soul in temper in a course of comfort unlesse it be when God takes liberty to cast down for some special end as we see in Job Therefore let us take this course for God as he comforteth us so he comforts us as understanding creatures he useth our understanding to consider how we should comfort our selves and after we are once in a state of comfort if we be not wanting to our selves there is no great difficultie to keep our comfort there are meanes to keep daily comfort God hath provided them and he will be present to make good all his comforts Grant it therefore that we are in the covenant of Grace that God is our Father in Christ and we take him to be our God to be all sufficient then to keep our selves in a daily temper for comfort every day keep our souls tender that we may be capable of comfort keep the wound open that we may receive balme that there grow not a deadnesse upon the heart considering that while we live here there is alway some sin in us that must be wrought out by some course or other let us trie and search our souls what ill is in the wound let us keep it open and tender that there may be a fitnesse for mercy to receive the balme of comfort which will not be if we slubber over Certainly it is an excellent course every day to search our
others as we should let us labour to get experience of comfort in our selves God comforteth us that we might be able to comfort others He will easily kindle others that is all on fire himself and that is comforted himself he can easily comfort others with that comfort he feels himself those that have experience can do it best As we see in Physitians if there be two Physitians whereof the one hath been sick of the disease that he is to cure in another the other parhaps is more excellent then he otherwise but he hath never been sick of it the patient will sooner trust himself with the experienced Physitian then with the other for undoubtedly he is better seen in that then the other though perhaps the other may be a greater booked Physitian then he As it is with the Physitians of the body so it is with the Physitian of the soul the experienced Physitian is the best What is the reason that old men and wise men are the mercifullest of all because they have had experience of many crosses and miseries a wise man knows what crosses are he understands them best The way then to comfort others is to get experience of divine comforts our selves And that we may get experience of Gods comforts let us mark what was said before of the rules of comfort and work upon our own hearts whatsoever may be comfortable to others That we may not be empty Truncks to speak words without feeling He that is well may speak very good things to a sick man but the sick man sees that he speaks without pitty and compassion those that have been sick of the same disease when they come to comfort they do it with a great deal of meeknesse and mildnesse Those that are fit to comfort others must be spiritual themselves first As the Apostle saith Gal. 6. 1. saith the wise and holy Apostle if any man be overtaken as alas we are all overtaken with some corruption or other ye that are spiritual restore such a one set him in joynt as the word is with the spirit of meeknesse knowing that thou thy self maist ââ¦e tempted The Spirit of God is a Spirit of comfort the more we have of the Spirit the fitter we are to comfort others We see many men will speak very good things but they do but personate sorrow and personate comfort it comes from them without feeling as he saith if thou didst believe these things that thou speakest wouldest thou ever say them so He that speakes good things without experience he speaks as if he did never believe them Those that speak things with experience that have wrought them upon their hearts and spirits there is such a demonstration in the manner of their speaking of a spirit of love and meeknesse and compassion that it prevailes marvailously It is so true that our Saviour Christ himself that he might have the more tender bowels of compassion towards us he made it one end of his Incarnation as it is pressed again and again in Heb. 2. and Heb. 4. the Apostle dwels upon it It became him to be man to take upon him our infirmities that he might be a merciful Redeemer a merciful high Priest It was one end of his Incarnation that he might not only save us but that he might be a merciful Redeemer that he might have experience of our infirmities of persecution he was persecuted himself of want he wanted himself of temptation he was tempted himself of wrath he felt it himself my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Here is the comfort of a Christian soul that Christ hath begun to him in all therefore it became him to be mam not only to Redeem us but to be a merciful high priest a comfortable high Priest The way then you see how to comfort others is to get our own hearts sensible of spiritual comfort Two Irons if they be both hot do close together presently but unlesse both be hot they do not joyn together handsomly so that that makes us joyn together strongly is if two spirits meet and both be warm if one godly men comfort another godly man if one holy man labour to breed an impression of heat in another there is a knitting of both spirits they joyn strongly together Therefore we ought to labour to get experience that we may comfort others seeing none can comfort so well as experimental Christians Why is experience such an enabling to spiritual comfort I answer because it brings the comfort home to our own soules The Divell knowes comfort well enough but he feeles none Experience helps faith it helps all other knowledge Our Saviour Christ is said to learn by experience for he learned obedience in that he suffered Experience is such a meanes of the increasing of knowledge as that it bettered the knowledge of Christ that had all knowledge in him he had knowledge by looking upon God being the Wisedom of God yet he learned somewhat by the experience he bettered himself by experience he knew what to bear the cross was by experience he knew what infirmities were by experience he knew what he could suffer by experience so it added to his knowledge as man And so the Angels themselves are continual students in the mysteries of the Gospel they get experimental knowledge to the knowledge that they have inbred that knowledge that they have by the presence of God to that they add experimental knowledge So then if it bettered the knowledge of our blessed Saviour and increased it it was a new way increased by experience and it adds to the knowledge of the Angels much more to ours Then again it gains a great confidence in the speaker for what we speak with experience we speak with a great deal of boldnesse Again experimental comforts those that we have felt our selves and have felt likewise the grievance we speak them with such expressions as no other can do in the apprehension of the partie whom we comfort so well as an experienced person for he goes about the works tenderly and gently and lovingly because he hath been in the same himself And that is the reason that the Apostle St. Paul in the place I named before Gal. 6. 1. presseth this duty upon spiritual men especially because themselves have been tempted and may be tempted those that have been tempted and think they may be afterward this doth wondrously fit them for this work of comforting others But to add a little in this point to shew how to comfort others by our own experience and skill I spake before of an Art of comforting our selves there is a skill likewise in comforting others Even as we comfor our selves in that method we must comfort others When we comfort our selves we must first consider our need of comfort search our wounds our maladies have them fresh in our sight that so we may be forced to seek for comfort and as we ought
what is the ground of it They are many to name some First of all this is a ground that the more capable the soul is of comfort the more comfort it receives but great troubles bring a capacity and capablenesse of soul fitting it to receive comfort How is that Troubles do humble the soul and humility is a grace and the vessel of all grace and of comfort too a low and meek spirit is a deep spirit and the lower and deeper and the larger the spirit is the more capable it is to contain heavenly comfort We know the more empty a man is of himself the more fit he is for comfort but crosses and afflictions empty us of our selves to see that there is nothing in us that what we are we must be out of our selves and the lesse we are in our selves the more we are in God And that is the reason that St. Aust. saith that nothing is more strong then a humble emptie spirit because it makes the creature to go out of it self to him that is strength it self and comfort it self Now that which makes us go out of our selves to strength that is strong but this doth crosses and afflictions that is the main reason why the proportion holds Again another reason is this troubles and afflictions and crosses do exercise graces and the more grace is exercised the more comfort is derived for comfort followes Graces the comforts of the spirit follow the graces of the spirit as the heat followes the fire or as the shadow followes the bodie Now the more grace the more comfort the more affliction the more exercise of Grace the more exercise of Grace the more Grace it self As we see the deeper the root the higher the tree after the sharpest winter usually there is the sweetest spring and the fruitfullest summer and Autumn because in the sharpest winter the ground is mellowed most and the seed sinks the deepest and the ground is inwardly warmed the soile the earth is prepared for it and thereupon when the outward heat comes to draw it forth it comes to be abundantly fruitful We see it in nature that that we call Antiperistasis the environing if one contrary with another increaseth the contrary Whatsoever is good is increased being environed by the contrary ill because they are put to the conflict So it is with the soul it is the showers of affliction that bring the sweet flowers of comfort after the soul is prepared and manured for them the soul is exercised and inlarged and fitted for them every way In the multitude of my sorrowes thy comforts refreshed my soul saith David Psal. 94. 19 answerable to our discomforts God comforts refresh our souls And God is so wise that before we enter to suffer any great matter he will give us more Grace answerable to the greatnesse of our suffering and after great suffering he will give great comfort God is so infinitely loving and wise that he will not call us to suffer great troubles till he give us some grace answerable As a Captain will not set a fresh-water Souldier in a sharp brunt but some experienced man Whatsoever wisdom is in man it is but a drop in regard of that infinite wisdome that is in God he proportions our strength before we suffer and in suffering he doth increase it and after suffering then comfort comes following amain indeed especially after a little while waiting for Gods time is the best time And we shall have most experience of the presence of Christ and his holy spirit at such times The nearer to the spring of comfort the more comfort but in the deepest and sharpest afflictions we are nearer to God therefore the more comfort How is this proved The more we are stripped of outward comforts the more near we are to God who is stiled the God that comforteth the abject and the nearer to God the nearer to comfort it self for all comfort springs from him and when outward meanes fail that should convey comfort to us then he conveys it immediately by himself I confesse he is present at all times but when the comfort is conveyed by the creature by man it is not so sweet as when God joyns with the soul immediately as in great crosses he doth Such occasion and such extreamity may be that none can comfort a man but God by his spirit When Christ comes to the soul immediately what abundance of comfort is there then As a King that doth not send a messenger but comes immediately in his ownperson to visit one in misery what a grace is it So what a grace is is to a soul afflicted and deserted to ha ve Christ immediately present As the Martyrs found when no other creature could comfort them there was a fire within above all the outward fire and torment which abated and allayed the torments that were without the divinest comforts are kept for the harshest and the worst times we shall have the presence of Christ in the absence of all other creatures and he will minister comfort They may keep outward comforts from us they can never keep the God of comfort from us so long as a Christian soul and God can close together it cannot want comfort Another reason why comforts increase because we pray most then when we pray most we are most happie but in our greatest sufferings we pray most and most ardently therefore then we feele most comfort When God and a christian soul can talke together and have communion though he cannot speak to God with his tongue yet he can sigh and groan to God he can pour forth his spirit to God and as long as we can pray we can never be miserable as long as the heart can ease it self into the bosome of God there will alway be a return of a sweet answer Of all the exercises of Religion that exercise that hath most immediate communion with God is prayer then we speak familiarly to God in his own language and words and call upon him by his own promises we alledge those to him and this cannot be we cannot speak and confer and converse with the God of Comfort without a great deal without a world of comfort great crosses drive us to this and therefore then we have great comfort What use may we make of this first for our selves we would not fear nor faint neither faint in troubles nor fear troubles faint not in them we shall have comfort proportionable and let us not fear troubles before they come or any measure of them proportionable to the measure of our afflictions shall be our comfort Let us not fear any thing we shall suffer in this world in a good cause for as we suffer so we shall receive from God we fear our own good For it is better to have the comfort we shall have in suffering any thing for a good cause then to be exempted from the suffering and to want the comfort there
despight of the world that will beare the cross of Christ For the other as their jollity increaseth in the world so their crosses and troubles shall increase As it is said Revel 18. 17. of mysticall Babylon the Church of Rome that hath flourished in the world a great while and sate as a Queen and blessed her self As she gloried herself and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her So it is true of every wicked man that is in an evill course and will be and as the Scripture phrase is blesseth himself in an evil course they shall be sure of the curse of God and not of comfort for in what proportion they have delighted themselves in this world in sin in that proportion they shall have torment of conscience if conscience be awaked in this world and in that proportion they shall have torment in the world to come As sin is growing so rods are growing for them wicked men saith St. Paul they grow worse and worse the more they sin the more they may they sink in rebellion and the more they sink in rebellion the more they sink in the state of damnation they fill up the measure of their sins and treasure up the wrath of God against the day of wrath Whosoever thou art that livest in a sinfull course and wilt do so in spight of Gods Ordinance in spight of the motions of the spirit that hast the good motions of the spirit knocking at thy soule and yet wilt rather refuse comfort then take comfort together with direction go on still in this thy wicked course but remember as thy comforts increase in this world so thy torment is increasing And here is the disproportion between Gods children and others they have their sufferings first and their comfort afterward but others have their pleasure first and their torment after theirs are for a time but others for ever Thus we see what we may comfortably observe from this that comforts increase as crosses increase A Word of the fourth and last point How comes this to pass that as our afflictions abound so our consolations abound They abound by Chrst saith the Apostle God the Father he is the God of comfort the Holy-Ghost is the Comforter but how comes this to pass that we that are not the Objects of comfort but of confusion should have God the Father to be the God of comfort and the Holy-Ghost to be our comforter Oh it is that Jesus Christ the great peace-maker hath satisfied God and procured the Holy-Ghost for the holy-Ghost is procured by the satisfaction and death of Christ and he was sent after the resurrection and ascension of Christ. Therefore Christ is called the consolation of Israel and those that waited for Christ waited for the consolation of Israel All comfort is hid in Christ he is the store-house of comfort we have it through him and by him and in him For that God is the Father of comfort it is because Christ is our Mediatour and Intercessour in Heaven that the Holy-Ghost is the comforter it is because Christ sent him and the comforts of the holy-Ghost are fetched from Christ from the death of Christ or the ascention of Christ from some argument from Christ. Whatsoever comforteth the soule the Holy-Ghost doth it by fetching some argument from Christ from his satisfaction from his worth from his intercession in Heaven something in Christ it is So Christ by his Spirit doth comfort and the reasons fetched by the Spirit are from Christ therefore it is by Christ. What is the reason that a Christian soule doth not feare God as a consuming fire but can look upon him with comfort It is because God hath received satisfaction by Christ. What is the reason that a Christian soule feares not Hell but thinks of it with comfort Christ hath conquered Hell and Satan What is the reason that a Christian feares not death Christ by death hath overcome death and him that had the power of death the Devill Christ is mine saith the Christian soule therefore I do not feare it but think of it with comfort because a Christian is more then a Conquerour over all these What is the reason that a Christian is not afraid of his corruptions and sins He knows that God for Christs sake will pardon them and that the remainder of his corruptions will worke to his humiliation and to his good All shall work for the best to them that love God What is the reason that there is not any thing in the world but it is comfortable to a Christian When he thinks of God he thinks of him as a Father of comfort when he thinks of the Holy-Ghost he thinks of him as a spirit of comfort when he thinks of Angels he thinks of them as his attendants when he thinks of Heaven he thinks of it as of his inheritance he thinks of Saints as a communion whereof he is partaker whence is all this By Christ who hath made God our Father the holy-Ghost our Comforter who hath made Angels ours Saints ours heaven ours earth ours Devils ours death ours all ours in issue For God being turned in love to us all is turned our crosses are no curses now but comforts and the bitterest crosses yield the sweetst comforts All this is by Christ that hath turned the course of things and hid blessings in the greatest crosses that ever were And this he did in himself before he doth it in us for did not his greatest crosses tend to his greatest glory who ever in the world was abased as our head Christ Jesus was that made him crie My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee All the Creatures in the world would have sunk under the sufferings that Christ indured what abasement to the abasement of Christ and what glorie to the glorie of Christ Phil 2. He humbled himself to the death of the cross wherefore God gave him a name above all names that at the name of Jesus euery knee should bow both of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Now as it was in our head his greatest abasement ushered in his greatest glorie so it shall be in us our greatest crosses are before our greatest comforts he is our President he is the exemplarie cause as well as the efficient working cause it is by Christ all this that consolations abound in us it was performed first in him and shall be by him by his Spirit to the end of the world The use that we are to make of this is that in all our sufferings before we come to Heaven we should look to Christ he hath turned all things let us study Christ and fetch comfort from him our flesh was abased in him our flesh is glorified in him now in Heaven in his person And so it must be in our own persons our flesh must be abased and then as he is glorious in Heaven so shall we be in our selves That very
did Again Afflictions doe good to others by ministring occasion to them to search deeper into the cause when they they see the people of God are so used they take occasion hereby to enquire what is the cause and so take occasion to be instructed deeply in matters of Religion for mans nature is inquisitive and grace takes the hint of any thing What is the matter that such and such indure such things Hereupon I say they come to be better grounded in the cause little occasions oft times are the beginnings of great matters by reason that the spirit as well as wit is of a working nature and will draw one thing from another We see what a great Tree riseth of a little seed how a little thing upon report worketh conversion Naaman the Assyrian had a Servant and she told him that there was a Prophet in Jurie that was a famous man that did great matters and if he would go to him he should be cured of his leprosie that little occasion being ministred Naaman comes to the Prophet and he was cured of a double leprosie both of soule and body and went home a good man so by way of ministring occasion of inquisition the sufferings of others doe good And then seeing the constant and resolute spirits of those that suffer it doth them good and comforts them for first it makes them conceive we of the cause certainly these men that suffer constantly and chearefully it is a good cause that they suffer for when they see the cause is such a resolution and courage in the sufferers And it makes them in love with and begin to think well of the persons when they can deny themselves surely these men care not for the pleasures and vanities of the world that can indure to suffer these So Justin Martyr saith when he saw Christians suffer he thought they were men that cared not for pleasures for if they had they would not suffer these things Besides They can gather from the presence of Gods spirit imboldening the sufferers what they may hope for themselves if they should suffer They may reason thus Is God by his spirit so full and so strong in these that are flesh and blood as we are is he so strong in women in young men in aged men that neither their yeares nor their sex nor their tenderness can any kind of way hinder them from these kind of abasements and sharp sufferings surely the same spirit of God will be as strong in me if I stand out in the same cause and carrie my self as they do and there is good reason for God is the same God the spirit is the same spirit the cause is the same cause therefore it is no false reasoning I may upon a good presumption hope for the presence and assistance of the Spirit of God to inable and strengthen me as he did them for the same Spirit of Godwill be strong in all And this is partly likewise in the intent of them that suffer There is a double intent it is the intent of God to single them out to suffer for the good of others and it is their intent to suffer that others may have good This is one reason why they are willing rather to suffer shame or bodily punishment then they will hinder others of the good they may take by their suffering So it is Gods end and their end It is for your consolation in Gods intent and in my intent and purpose and in the event it self Thus you see how afflictions suffered in good cause help for the consolation and salvation even of others the example of those that suffer flow into the mind and insinuate into the judgment and affection of the beholders many wayes And this the Factors of Antichrist know very well for if ever there be any persecution again we shall hardly have fire and fagor that they may not give example they will come to Gun-powder plots and Massacres and such violent courses to sweep away all They know if it come to matter of example once the grace of God in his children and the presence of his Spirit that shall appeare to others it is of a wondrous working force they are wise enough to know that the Devill teacheth them that wit when he hath been put by all his other shifts If it be so that the sufferings of Gods Children are for the good of others then to make some use of it Let us not take any offence at the cause of religion for suffering we ought not to have an ill conceit of a cause for suffering but rather think the better of it I speak it is in this regard we have many that will honour the Martyrs that are dead that are recorded in the book but if any suffer in the present view before their eyes they are disgracefull to them This should not be For first of all if the cause be good the end of good men by the help of the spirit of God is for thy good Was it not a cruell thing in Saul to strike at David when he played on his Harpe when he sought his good and easement To kill a Nightingale in singing it is a barbarous thing Gods Children by all that they suffer intend the good of others now to hurt and and maligne them in doing good to persecute them that indure ill for our good or that labour and do any thing for our good it is a barbarous savage thing All is for the Elect I suffer not for the Elects sake saith St. Paul in 2. Tim. so my sufferings are for you We may know we are elected of God if we take good by the sufferings of others if we take no scandall and offence and doe not add affliction to the afflicted for all is in Gods intent and in their intent for our good For instance a little to enlighten the point because it is not usually stood on and it is a notion that may help our conceits of the excellent estate of Gods Children Reprobation to go as high as we may it is for their good to shew mercy to them to set by and neglect so many and to single them out The creation of the World is for their sakes Gods providence directs all for their Good for why doth he suffer wicked men it is that they may be instruments to exercise them that are good it is by reflexion or some way for the cause of the good that the wicked are suffered to be upon the earth The administration of the world it is not for the Rebels that are in it it is for those that are Gods Children and he tosseth and tumbleth Empires and Monarchies the great men of the world they think they doe great matters but alas all this is for the exercise of the Church this is reductive to the Church by Gods providence All their attempts are for the little flock for a few that are a despised company that he meanes to save
had gotten by his policie and malice and then God delivered his Church and confounded Haman These and the like reasons may be given to shew that God in heavenly and deep wisdom doth not presently deliver his children The proper use of it is that we should learn not to be hasty and short-spirited in Gods dealing but learn to practise that which we are often injoyned to wait on God to wait his good leasure Especially considering that which is the second point let that satisfie us that After God hath done his work he will deliver Let us wait for he will deliver at length perhaps his time is not yet that he will deliver but usually when all is desperate when he may have all the glory then he delivers He delivered the three young men but they were put into the fire first and the Furnace was made seven times hotter that he might have the glory in consuming their enemies so he delivered Hezekias in his time but it was when the enemy was even ready to seize upon the City He promised St. Paul that not one man should perish in the ship but yet they suffered shipwrack they went away onely with their lives God doth so deliver his that he doth not suffer them to perish in the danger Therefore let us stay his time and waite it may be it is not Gods time yet When shall we know that it is Gods time to deliver that we may wait with comfort God knowes his own time best but usually it is when we are brought very low and when our spirits are low when we are brought very low both in regard of humane support and in regard of our spirits when we are humble when our souls cleave to the dust help Lord for we are brought very low Help Lord for vain is the help of man When the Church can plead so it is a good plea when we are at the lowest and the malice of the enemy is at the highest when the waters swell Help Lord for the waters are come into my very soul when we are very low and the enemies very high as we see in Pharaoh And so in Herod when he was in the height of his pride when he was in all his glory God takes him there Thus God delivers his and confounds his enemies I joyn them both together for the one is not commonly without the other the annoyance of Gods Children is from their enemies therefore when he delivers the one he confounds the other When the malice of the one is at the highest and the state of the other is at the lowest and their spirits are afflicted and cast down with their estate then is the time when God will deliver Again when our hearts are inlarged to pray when we can pray from a broken heart as you see here he joynes them together God will deliver me but it must be by your prayers when we have hearts to pray and when others have hearts to pray for us that is the time of deliverance Usually there goes before deliverance an enlarged heart to pray to God as we see in Daniel Dan. 9. a little before they came out of Babylon he had a large heart to pray to God And when we can plead with God his promise Remember Lord thy promise wherein thou hast caused us to trust when we can cast our selves upon Gods mercy with prayer and plead with God to remember his promise it is a sign God means to deliver us When the heart is shut and closed up that it cannot speak to God when there is some sin or other that doth stifle the spirit that it cannot vent it self with that liberty to God it is a signe that it is not the time yet of Gods deliverance God will at the length deliver therefore from both these that he doth deferre deliverance and that he will deliver at length let us inferre this lesson of waiting let us wait therefore and wait with comfort Let us remember these principles First God hath a time as for all things so for our deliverance Secondly that Gods time is the best time he is the best discerner of opportunities Thirdly remember that this shall be when he hath wrought his work upon our souls specially when he hath made us to trust in him As here when Saint Paul had learnd to trust in God then he delivered him And why should we desire to do our bodies good or our estates good till God hath wrought his cure on our souls for God intends our souls in the first place our soules they are the whole man in a manner The welfare of the soul drawes the welfare of the body and the welfare of the estate after it the body shall do well if the soul do well Therefore we should desire rather that the Lord would let the affliction stay then that it should part without the message for which God sends it Every affliction is Gods messenger we should desire the Lord to let it stay for the answer for which he hath sent it And indeed it will never part without the answer for which God sends it till it have humbled us till it have brought us to trust in God till we be such as we should be And a Christian soul rather desires to be in the Furnace to be under the affliction to be purged better yet then to have the crosse and affliction removed and not to be a whit the better for it Therefore considering that there will be a time and that Gods time is the best time and that this time will be when he hath fitted us we should learn to waite in any crosse and not to be over hasty Again consider though the time be long yet he will deliver at length by death death will end all miseries And consider that how long soever we indure any thing yet what is that that we indure here to that that we are freed from by Christ We are freed from misery from all misery from the wrath of God from damnation And what is that that we can suffer here to the glory and joy that remaines for us in heaven What is all that we can suffer here to that that Christ hath indured for us what is all that we can indure here to that that we have deserved Considering then what we are delivered from what God hath reserved for us what Christ hath indured and what we deserve it will make us wait and wait with patience Especially considering as I said before that God is working his good worke for our good though we at the first perhaps for a while doe not see the meaning of the affliction the meaning of the cross we cannot read it perfectly yet in general we may know it is for our good God of his infinite wisdom will not suffer a hair to fall from our heads without his providence And all shall work together for the best to those that love him Rom. 8. It is
communion in duties one to another one prayes for another there is a mutuall entercourse of duty and those that truly believe the communion of Saints do truly practise the duties belonging to that blessed society that is they one pray for another I meane here on earth here we have a command here we have a promise here we have mutuall necessities I have need of them and they have need of me we have need one of another In heaven there is no such necessity yet there may be as Divines grant a generall wish for the Church because the Saints want their bodies and because they want the accomplishment of the elect Where there is want of happinesse there will be a generall desire that God would accomplish these daies of sin but for any particular necessities of ours they cannot know them Abraham hath forgotten us and Israel knows us not There is a communion of Saints and this blessed communion and society trade this way in praying for one another God commands that we should pray one for another Every Christian is a Priest and a Prophet now the Priests duty was to pray and the Prophets duty was to pray Now as the Priest carried the tribes on his brest onely to signifie that he had them in his heart and that he was a type of Christ who hath us in his heart alway in heaven to make intercession for us so in some sense every true Christian is a Priest he must carrie the Church and people of God in his heart he must have a care of others he must not onely pray for himself but for others as he himself would have interest in the Common prayer Our Father as Christ teacheth us Not that a Christan may not say My Father when we have particular ground and occasion to go to God but Chrst being to direct the Church of God he teacheth us to say Our Father there is therefore a regard to be had by every true Christian of the estate of others The reason is Gods Children sometimes cannot so well pray though they have alway a spirit of prayer that they can groane to God yet in some cases they cannot so well pray for themselves as in sicknesse Affliction is a better time to pray in then sicknesse for affliction gathers and unites the spirits together it makes a man more strong to pray to God but sicknesse distempers the powers of the soul it distempers the instruments that the soul works by it distempers the animall spirits which the understanding useth they are inflamed and distempered and confused Now the spirits that are the instruments of the soul being troubled with sicknesse sicknesse is not so fit a time for a man to pray for himself though God hear the groanes of his Spirit as David saith My sighs are not hid from thee yet notwithstanding it is good at this time to send for those that can make a more distinct prayer though it may be they be great Christians therefore saith-Saint James James 5. 13 14. Is any man afflicted let him pray is any man sick let him send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray for him not that he is not able to pray for himself but let them help by joyning together with him to God And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up Nay I add more for the illustration of the point it is so true that God regards the prayers of one for another that he regards the prayer of weak ones for grand ones great Christians are helped by mean ones yea Pastors are helped by the people St. Paul a man eminent in grace and place a grand Christian and for place an Apostle yet he was helped by the prayers of the weak Corinthians so that a weak Christian in grace and place may help a greater Christian then himself both in grace and in place Parents are helped by the prayers of their Children Magistrates by those that are under them the rich are helped by those that are poore the Ministers by the prayers of the people You helping by your prayers The prayers of the people prevail for the Ministers for though there be a civill difference which shall all end in Death yet notwithstanding in the Communion of Saints there is no difference A poore man may be rich in faith as St James saith and one may have as much credit in the Court of heaven as another As St. Austin saith well God hath made the rich for the poor and the poor for the rich the rich to relieve the poor and the poor to pray for the rich for herein one is accepted for another St. Paul stands much upon the vertue and efficacy of the prayers of the Corinthians for himself a great Apostle And so in Rom. 15. I beseech you for the love of Christ and for the blessed work of the Spirit strive by Prayer together with us As ever you felt Christ do good to you and as ever you felt the efficacy of the Spirit strive with God wrastle by prayer for me and so in every Epistle he begs their prayers And Ministers need the prayers of people to God as well as any other or rather more for as God conveys much good to others by them so Satan malignes them more then other men Aime not at small nor great but at the King of Israel pick out him so the Devill aimes not at small nor great but at the Guides of Gods people at the Leaders of his armie I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered Therefore pray for them that they may have abilities that they may have parts and gifts and that they may have a willing mind a large heart to use them that they may have successe in using them that they may have strength of the outward man that they may have protection from unreasonable men Pray for us that we may be delivered from unreasonable and absurd men 2 Thessalonians 3. Absurd men for none but absurd men will wrong those that God conveys so much good by as he doth by the Ministery it is their lot to be vexed with such men oft-times and therefore pray for us What is the reason of this that mean Christians may help great Christians by their prayers God will have it thus great Christians have not the Spirit of prayer alike at all times though it be supposed they have it yet the more help there is the more hands are put to the work the sooner it is dispatched As in the removing of a burden the more joyn together the sooner it is remoed and so in the drawing of any thing the more hands the speedier dispatch So when we would draw blessings from heaven the more prayers there be that offer violence to God the more we draw from him If it be a judgment that hangs over our heads the more there be that labour to put away the judgment
forgiven witnessing that he lives as a Christian should do witnessing that he hath the evidences of his justification that he hath a holy life the pledge likewise of future glory his joy is well bred Likewise it is permanent Other mens joy and rejoycing is but as a flash of thornes as the Wise man calls it as it were a flame in thornes as the crackling of thornes which is sooner gone And it is an unseemly glorying and rejoycing for a man to glory in that which is worse then himself and in that which is out of himself as all other things are out of a mans self and worse and meaner then a mans self therefore a man cannot rejoyce in them and be wise It is a disparagement to the wisdom of a man to glory in things that are meaner then himself and that are out of himself A holy Christian hath that in himself and that which is more excellent then himself to glory in This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience All other rejoycing it is vain glorie and vain rejoycing therefore in Jerem. 9. saith he Let not the wise man glory in his wisdome let not the strong man glory in his strength let not the rich man glorie in his riches but if a man will glorie let him glorie that he knowes the Lord to be his and that he knowes himself to be the Lords When he knowes the Lord to be his and himself to be Gods by faith and a good conscience then there is matter of glorying Of all kind of men God doth hate proud boasters most of all for glory is the froth of pride and God hates pride he opposeth pride and sets himself in battel aray against it and who can thrive that hath God for his enemie boasting and pride in any earthly thing it is against all the commandements almost It is Idolatrie it makes that we boast and glorie in an Idoll whereas we should glorie in God that gives it And it is spirituall adulterie when we cleave in our affections to some outward thing more then to God It is false witnesse pride is a false glasse it makes the things and the men themselves that enjoy them to seem greater then they are The divell amplifies earthly things to a carnall man in a false glasse that they seeme big to him whereas if he could see them in their true colours they are false things they are snares and hinderances in the way to heaven and many such names they have The Scripture gives an ill report of them They are vanity and vexation of spirit because we should be discouraged from setting our affections on these things and from glorying in them Therefore let us take heed of false glorying if we will glorie we see here what we are to glory in This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience c. And this we may justify and stand by that it is good It is the Testimony of conscience This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience The testimony of conscience it is a matter and ground of joy to a true Christian here we are to consider these things First to consider a little the nature of conscience And then that conscience beares witnesse that there is a testimony of conscience And that this conscience bearing witnesse is a ground of comfort For the first Every man feeles and knowes what conscience meanes There be many rigid disputes of it among the Schoole men that had leisure enough of all men knew as little and felt what it was as any sort of men living under the darkness of Poperie and superstition and being in thraldome to the Pope and to the corruptions of the times they lived in They have much jangling about the description of it whether it be the soule it self or a facultie or an act In a word Conscience is all these in some sort in diverse respects therefore I will not wrangle with any particular opinion For what is conscience but the soul it self reflecting upon it self It is the propertie of the reasonable soule and the excellencie of it that it can return upon it self The beast cannot for it runs right forward it knowes it is carried to the object but it cannot returne and recoile upon it self but the soule of the reasonable creature of all even from men to God himself who understands in the highest degree though he do not discourse as man doth yet he knowes himself he knowes and understands his owne excellencie And wheresoever there is understanding there is a reflect act whereby the soule returnes upon it self and knowes what it doth it knowes what it wills it knowes what it affects it knowes what it speakes it knowes all in it and all out of it It is the propertie of the soule Therefore the originall word in the Old Testament that signifies the heart it is taken for conscience Conscience and heart are all one I am perswaded in my soul that is in my conscience and the Spirit witnesseth to our spirit that is to our conscience Conscience is called the spirit the Heart the soul because it is nothing but the soul reflecting and returning upon it self Therefore it is called conscience that is one knowing joyned with another because conscience knowes it self and it knowes what it knowes it knowes what the heart is it not onely knowes it self but it is a knowledge of the heart with God It is called conscience because it knowes with God for what conscience knowes God knowes that is above conscience It is a knowledge with God and a knowledge of a mans selfe And so it may be the soule it self indued with that excellent facultie of reflecting and returning upon it self therefore it judgeth of its own acts because it can return upon it self Conscience likewise in some sort may be called a faculty the common stream runs that way that it is a power It is not one power but conscience is in all the powers of the soule for it is in the understanding and there it rules conscience is it by which it is ruled and guided Conscience is nothing but an application of it to some particular to some thing it knowes to some rules it knowes before Conscience is in the will in the affections the joy of conscience and the peace of conscience and so it runs through the whole soule It is not one facultie or two but it is placed in all the faculties And some will needs have it an act a particuler act and not a power When it doth exercise conscience it is an act when it accuseth or excuseth or when it witnesseth it is an act at that time it is a facultie in act So that we need not to wrangle whether it be this or that let us comprehend as much in our notions as we can that it is the soul the heart the spirit of a man returning upon it self and it hath something to doe in
because men are ready to trample upon and to rase out the writing of conscience but the Book of God they cannot therefore that is added to help conscience And God adds his Spirit to his Word to convince conscience and to make the witnesse of the Word more effectuall for although the Word say thus and thus yet till the Spirit convince the soul and set it down that it is thus till it convince it with a heavenly light conscience will not be fully convict That conscience therefore may be able to witnesse well Let us regard the notions of nature preserve them if we do not God will give us up to grosse sins Let us labour to have right principles and grounds to cherish principles of nature common with the Heathens and to lay up principles out of the Word of God to preserve the admonitions and directions and rules of the Word And especially the sweet motions of Gods blessed Spirit For conscience alway supposeth a rule the rule of nature the rule of the Word and the suggestions of the blessed Spirit with the Word Therefore to note by the way an Ignorant man can never have a good conscience especially a man that affects Ignorance because he hath no rule he labours to have none It is not meerly ignorance but likewise obstinacy with ignorance He will not know what he should lest conscience force him to doe what he knowes What a sottish thing is this It will be the heaviest sin that can be laid ro our charge at the day of judgment not that we were Ignorant but that we refused to know we refused to have our conscience rectified and instructed And those that avoid knowledg because they will not do what they know they shall know one day that their wilful Ignorance will be laid to their charge as a heavy sin Labour to have right principles and grounds What is the reason that commonly men have such bad consciences They have false principles they conclude may I not do what I list may I not make of my own what I will and every man for himself and God for us all diabolicall principles And so commonly if a man examine men that live in wickednesse they have false principles God sees not God regards not and it is time enough to repent The cause that men live wickedly is false principles therefore they have so vile consciences as they have their hearts deceive them and they deceive their hearts They have false principles put into them by others they are deceived and they deceive their hearts they force false principles upon themselves Many study for false grounds to live by for their advantage There are many that are Atheisticall that live even under the Gospell and what rule have they the example of them by whom they hope to rife they study their manners they square their lives by them that is all the rule they have And again the multitude they do as the most do and custom and other false rules These rules will not comfort us to say I did it by such an example I did as others among whom I live did or I did it because it was the custom of the times these things being alledged will comfort nothing For who gave you these rules doth God say any where in his Word you shall be judged by the example of others you shall be judged by the custom of the times you live in No you shall be judged by my Word The Word that Moses spake and the Word that I speak shall judge you at the last day They that have not the Word shall be judged by the Word written in their hearts Those that have sinned without the Law shall be judged by that without the Law of Moses God hath acquainted us with other rules We must take heed of this therefore thatwe get good rules take heed that they be not false rules for the want of these directions men come to have ill consciences Where there is no good rule there is a blind conscience where there is no application of the rule there is a prophane conscience And where there is a false rule there is an erroneous a scrupulous a wicked conscience A Papist because he hath a false rule he cannot have a good conscience The abomination of Popery is that they sin against conscience and conscience indeed is even with them for it overthrowes the most of their principles They sin against conscience many wayes I mean not against their own conscience but they sin against the conscience of others For what do they That they may rule in the consciences of men for that is the end of their great Prelate the Tyrant of souls they have false rules that the Pope cannot erre their rule is the authority and judgement of him that cannot erre and he for the most part is an unlearned man in Divinity that never read over the Scriptures in all his life and he must judge all controversies Where this is granted that the Pope cannot erre he fits in the conscience to do what he list And he makes divine Lawes and cursed is he saith the Councel of Trent that doth not equalize those traditions with the VVord of God From this false rule comes all even rebellion it self If he give dispensation from the oath of Allegiance because he cannot erre therefore they ought to obey him and rebell against their Governours All rebellion is from that rebellious rebellion that comes from false principles These men talk of conscience and they come not to Church for conscience sake what conscience can they have when they have false rules To equivocate and lie sins against nature And other rules that give liberty against the Word that children may disobey their Parents and get into a Cloyster c. The most of Popery though there were no VVord of God it is against nature against conscience which God hath planted in man as his deputy his tenant And as they sin against conscience so as I said conscience is even with them For let a man trust to his conscience and he can never be a sound Papist except he leave that and go upon base false grounds because other great men do it and because his predecessours have done it c. I appeal to their own consciences if any man at the day of death think to be saved by his merits doth not Bellarmine after long dispute of salvation by merits disclaime it doth he not put away merits for the uncertainty of his own righteousnesse So their own consciences do wring away the testimony of trusting to merits Again that Original sin is no great sin it is but the cause of sin and it is lesse then any venial sin Oh but when conscience is awaked to know what a corrupt estate it is it will draw from them that which it drew from Saint Paul Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Conscience when it is awaked
naturall to man much more to the spirit of a man For if a man know what is in himself naturally his own wit and understanding which is alway with him bred up with him much more he knowes by his spirit the things that are adventitious that come from without him that is the work of Grace If a man by a reflect knowledge know what naturally is in him in what part he hath it and how he exerciseth it if he know and remember what he hath done and the manner of it whether well or ill then he may know the work of the Spirit that comes from without him that works a change in him We say of light that it discovers it self and all other things so the soule it is lightsome and therefore knowes it self and knowes other things The Spirit of God is much more lightsome where it is it discovers it self and lighteneth the soule it discovereth the party in whom it is As the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have the Spirit whereby we know the things that we receive of God It not onely worketh in us but it teacheth us what it hath wrought Therefore a Christian knowes that he is in the state of grace he knowes his virtues and his disposition except it be in the time of temptation and upon those grounds named before Therefore we should labour to know our estate to examine our selves whether we be in the faith or no except we be reprobates and cast awayes as the Apostle speakes A Christan should aime at this to understand his own estate in grace upon good grounds But it may be objected how can we know our estate in Grace our virtues are so imperfect our abilities are so weak and feeble I answer the ground of judging aright of our estate it is not worthiness or perfection but sincerity We must not look for perfection For that makes the Papists to teach that there may be doubting because they look to false grounds but we must look to the ground in the covenant of grace to grace it self and not to the measure Where there is truth and sincerity there is the condition of the covenant of grace and there is a ground for a man to build his estate in grace on The perfect righteousnesse of Christ is that that gives us title to heaven but to know that we have right in that title is the simplicity and sincerity in our walking in our conversation as the Apostle saith here This is our reoycing c. Therefore Christians when they are set upon by temptations of their own misdoubting hearts and by Satan they must not go to the great measure of grace that is in others that they have not so much as others and therefore they have none nor to the great measure of grace that they want themselves but to the truth of their grace the truth of their desires and endeavours the truth of their affections Hereby we know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren This should stir us up to have a good conscience that we may rejoyce Why should we labour that we may rejoyce Why what is our life without joy and what is joy without a good conscience What is our life with out joy without joy we can do nothing we are like an instrument out of tune an instrument out of tune it yiels but harsh musick Without joy we are as a member out of joynt we can do nothing well without joy and a good conscience which is the ground of joy A man without joy is a palsie-member that moves it self unfitly and uncomely he goes not about things as he should A good conscience breeds joy and comfort it inables a man to do all things comely in the sight of God and comfortably to himself it makes him go chearfully through his businesse A good Conscience is a continuall feast without joy we cannot suffer afflictions we cannot die well without it Simeon died comfortably because he died in peace when he had imbraced Christ in his heart and in his armes Without joy and the ground of joy we can neither do nor suffer any thing Therefore in Psalme 51. David when he had lost the peace and comfort of a good conscience he prayes for the free Spirit of God Alas till God had enlarged his heart with the sense of a good conscience in the pardon of his sins and given him the power of his Spirit to lead a better life for the time to come his spirit was not free before he could not praise God with a large spirit he wanted freedom of spirit his conscience was bound his lips were sealed up Open my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise His heart was bound and therefore he prayes to have it inlarged Restore to me thy joy and salvation intimating that we cannot have a free spirit without joy and we cannot have joy without a good conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ in the pardon of our sins If it be so that we cannot do any thing nor suffer any thing as we should that we cannot praise God that we cannot live nor die without joy and the ground of it the testimony of a good conscience let us labour then that conscience may witnesse well unto us Especially considering that an ill conscience it is the worst thing in the world there is no friend so good as a good conscience there is no foe so ill as a bad conscience it makes us either Kings or slaves A man that hath a good conscience that witnesseth well for him it raiseth his heart in a Princely manner above all things in the world a man that hath a bad conscience though he be a Monarch it makes him a slave a bad conscience imbitters all things in the world to him though they be never so comfortable in themselves What is so comfortable as the presence of God What is so comfortable as the light yet a bad conscience that will not be ruled it hates the light and hates the presence of God as we see Adam when he had sinned he fled from God A bad conscience cannot joy in the middest of joy it is like a goutie foot or a goutie toe covered with a velvet shoe alas what doth it ease it what doth glorious apparel ease the diseased body nothing at all the ill is within there the arrow sticks And so in the comforts of the Word if the conscience be bad we that are the messengers of comfort we may apply comfort to you but if there be one within that saith thus it is true but I regarded not the Word before I regarded not the checks of conscience conscience will speak more terrour then we can speak peace And after long and wilful rebellion conscience will admit of no comfort for the most part Regard it therefore in time labour in time that it may witnesse well An ill conscience when it should be most
good we have is it not from him And the nearer you come to him the more your happinesse is increased the more you are striped of earthly things the more you have in God Hath not he mens hearts in his hands when you think you shall endanger your selves thus and thusby plain direct dealing without doubling if you be called to the profession of the truth c. Hath not he the hearts of men in his hands to make them favour you when he pleaseth In Pro. 10. He that walketh uprightly walketh boldly He that walketh uprightly not doubling in his courses he walketh safely God will procure his safety God that hath the hearts of men in his hand as the rivers of water he can turn them to favour such a man A mans nature is inclined to favour downe-right dealing men and to hate the contrary You see the three young men when they were threatened with fire come what will O King we will not worship the Image of Gold which thou hast set up They would be burned first What lost they by it Howsoever if we should lose as it is not to be granted that we canlose any thing by direct dealing For the earth is the Lords the fulnesse thereof and the hearts of men are his But suppose they doe yet they gain in better things in comfort of conscience and expectation and hope of better things Faith is the ground of courage and the ground of all other Graces that carrie a mans courage in a course of simplicitie in this World Therefore if we would walk simply and have our conversation in the world in this grace let us labour especially for faith to depend upon Gods promises to approve our selves to him to make him our last and chief end and our communion with him and to direct all our courses to that end This is indeed to set him up a Throne in our hearts and to make him a god when rather then we will displease him or his Vicegerent his Vicar in us which is conscience that he hath placed in us as a monitor and as a witnesse we will venture the losse of the creature of any thing in the world rather then we will displease that Vicar which he hath set in our hearts This I say is to make him a god and he will take the care and protection of such a man S. Paul here in all the imputations in all crosses in the world he retires home to himself to his own house to conscience and that did bear him out that in simplicity he had had his conversation in the world The next particular is In Sincerity The Apostle addes to simplicity this Godly sincerity and he may well joyn these two together for plainnesse and truth go together a plain heart is usually a true heart Doublenesse and hypocrisie which are contrary they alwaies go together he that is not plain to men will not be sincere to God Simplicity respects our whole course with men sincerity hath an eye to God though perhaps in matters and actions towards men Sincerity is alway with a respect to God and so it is opposed to hypocrisie a vice in Religion opposite to God Now this Sincerity that the Apostle speaks of it is A blessed frame of the soul wrought by the Spirit of God whereby the soul is set straight and right in a purpose to please God in all things and in endeavours answerable to that purpose and to offend him in nothing I make a plain description because I intend practice there may be some nicer descriptions But I say It is a blessed frame of the soul wrought by the sincere Spirit of God whereby the soul is set straight and right to purpose and to endeavour all that is pleasing in Gods sight and that with an intention to please God with an eye to God or else it is not sincerity It is such a disposition and frame of soul that doth all good that hates all ill with a purpose to please God in all with an eye to God And therefore it is called sincerity of God or godly sincerity and it is called so fitly because God is not onely the authour of it but God is the aim of it and the pattern of it for he is the first thing that is sincere that is simple and unmixed God is the pattern of it it makes us like to God and he is the aim of it A man that is sincere aimes at God in all his courses wherein he aimes not at God he is not sincere It comes from God and it looks to God For naturally we are all hypocrites we look to shewes therefore sincerity is from God And it is the sincerity of God especially because where this sincerity is it makes us aime at God in all things it makes us have respect to him in all things as the creature should have respect to the Creator the servant to the Master the sonne to the Father the Subject to the Prince The relations we stand in to God should make us aime at him in all things The Observation from hence is this A Christian that hopes for joy must have his conscience witnesse to him that his conversation is in the sincerity of God As the Apostle saith here This is the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation c. Now to go on with this sincerity and lay it open a little Sincerity it is not so much a distinct thing as that which goes with every good thing Truth and sincerity it is not so much a distinct vertue and grace as a truth joyned to all graces As sincere hope sincere faith sincere love sincere repentance sincere confession It is a grace annexed to every grace it is the life and soul of every grace and all is nothing without it Therefore it behoves us to consider of it I say not so much a distinct thing from other graces as that which makes other graces to be graces without which they are nothing at all so much sincerity so much reality So much as we have not in sincerity we have nothing to God it is but an empty shew and will be so accounted In Philosophy you know that which is true onely hath a being and consistence all truth hath a being all falshood is nothing it is a counterfeit thing it is nothing to that it is pretended to be An Image is something but S. Paul calls it nothing because it is not that which it should be and which the Idolater would have it to be he would have it to be a God but it is nothing lesse All is nothing without sincerity Therefore let us consider of it And that we may the better consider of it let us look upon it in every action All actions are either Good Ill. Indifferent How is Sincerity discovered in good actions Sincerity is tryed in good actions many waies First of all a man that is
knowes both the grounds and principles and he knowes what may be raised from thence and likewise a man that is truly wise he not only knowes them but he knowes how to act them how to work and act his principles and conclusions to an end He hath principles and conclusions and workings out of his brain and when he hath done all in the brain when he hath framed the aime of his principles and the manner how to act them then he goes about to work and a wise man can work answerable to his end and rules Now there is a carnal wisdome that initiated this for Carnal Wisdome hath aimes and ends and principles and it hath conclusions from those principles and it acts to an end A true Christian he hath his ends his aime is supernatural to please God in all things to be happy in another world to enjoy God to have nearer acquaintance with him while he lives here many such subordinate ends besides the main end he hath And some principles likewise he hath out of the Word of God concerning this end and then he hath directions out of the Word of God suitable to those principles And then he sets on working and all that he works is in order to his end and in vertue of the end he propounds As a man that travels every step that he goes in his journey every stepp is in vertue and strength of his first intention and the end that he propounds though he think not of his end in every step and he consults and asks about the way and all to that end So it is with a Carnal man too he that walks after carnal wisdome Carnal wisdome hath its end and that is a mans self for a carnal man himself is the Idol and the Idolater his end is himself either in his honours or in his pleasures or riches c. himself is the Centre into which all the lines of his life fall And he hath rules seek thy self in all things love thy self above all And what then If thou love others love them for thy self as far as they may serve thy turn care for no man further then thou canst make use of him for thy self respect him so far and no further But it may be there are many that stand in the way Then again he hath principles undermine them ruine them make way to thine own ends by the ruine of as many as thou canst And if another man's light over-shine thine that thou art no body to him Carnal wisdome bids thee deprave him slander him back-bite him the more he seems to be vile the lesse thy nakednesse shall appear Here is Carnal wisdome There is no envy in goodnesse in strength and ability they would have all to be so but basenesse is joyned with much envy when it sees another overshadow it it labours to eclipse him with slanders and base reports This is a principle of Carnal wisdome And hence comes all that working and undermining secret conveyances and laying nets for others as the Prophet speaks All carnal wisdome hath carnal ends and carnal rules and carnal courses answerable It consults upon the attaining of its end it deliberates and consults and shrewdly too for it is whetted by Satan And then it goes with the stream of the world and therefore it is carried very strongly towards its end And then it resolves strongly because fleshly wisdom usually is with the times And then it executes God suffers it oft-times to come to execution and to enjoy its plots and projects And therefore in regard that it hath the same passages though in a contrary kind with other wisdome it is called wisdome though indeed it be not wisdome and thereupon it hath a diminishing term here it is fleshly wisdome Now this wisdome is called fleshly because it is led with reasons from the flesh and it tends to the maintenance of the flesh it comes from it and it tends to it I take not flesh here for one part of a man his body but for the unregenerate part which is carried to changeable things to the creature and sets up some creature to be an Idol instead of the Creator Blessed for evermore And that from this reason because the creature the things below are near to us and pleasant to us and because we are brought up in these delights of the creature that are sensible and therefore the flesh the baser part is ready to draw away the soul to the delights of it because the delights of it are pleasant and we are trained up in them from the beginning of our life to the end of it Now these things below the profits and pleasures and honours they work first upon the senses upon the outward man and from the senses they ascend to the fancy and imagination and that being carnal by nature esteems more highly of them then there is cause And esteems of the contrary to these as the greatest ills Oh poverty is worse then hell to a carnal man and he had rather be dead then be disgraced he had rather damne his soul then to be denied of his pleasure Imagination makes them such great things and the Devil helps Imagination he hath much affinity with that part with the Imagination and Imagination when men have strong conceits of these things that labours to draw the will and affections to it self to sway that part so that the will the commanding part of the soul for the most part it yields to these Imaginations of base things it conceives of them highly and the contrary to be vile and base And hereupon the will comes to approve of these things and to choose these things yea and the understanding part it self that blessed spark of wisdome that is left in us capable of better things and fit for the Image of God yet that by our corruption being stripped of the grace it had in the creation and now being under original corruption being under the Law of sin it is led by a carnal will and Imagination and by sense and is ruled by them So that that which should rule all is ruled by base earthly things The soul of man while we live here is between things better then it self and worse then it self meaner then it self Now by corruption it cleaves to things meaner then it self it is witty to devise them it is willing to chuse them it delights in them it bathes it self in them so that whereas it should rule the body the body and the lower parts rule the soul. When it yields to that which is better then it self to the sanctifying Spirit of God and to the Word of God and is cloathed with the Image of God when it yields to better things then they raise it to a degree of excellency even above it self when it was at the best for a man that is in Christ that hath the Image of Christ upon him in some sort is better then Adam was in innocency his estate
many times but by the power of the Spirit he checked it and kept it under it was not his rule Now the reasons of this Doctrine That the godly guide not themselves by fleshly wisdome which hath worldly aimes and carnal means to bring those aimes to passe they are First Because Gods Children will not cherish that in them and make that their rule which is contrary to God which is enmity to God but this carnal wisdome which proules for the world and looks for ease and profit and pleasure it is enmity to God Rom. 8 6 7 8. the Apostle proves it at large They being subject to God Children of God being under him in all kind of subjection as servants as Children as spouses they will not cherish that which is rebellion to God which is not subject to God neither can be as we may say a Papist that is Jesuited he is neither a good Subject nor can be so the wisdome of the flesh neither is it subject to God nor can be subject in the nature of it it is rebellion It is Gods enemy it withstands all the Articles that he hath given us to believe fleshly wisdome hath some opposition against all truth it opposeth every command that God gives us to obey there is something in flesh and blood to withstand every command it is the greatest enemy that God hath And as it is an enemy to God so it is to us it is contrary to our good It is death the wisdome of the flesh Rom. 8. Saith the Apostle Rom. 7. The flesh deceived me and slew me There is no wise man will cherish that which is death and which is Gods enemy and his own too The wisdome of the flesh as it is opposite to Gods Spirit a rebel and an enemy to him so it is death to a Christian and therefore be will not frame his course of life by it It brings us to eternal death it betrayes us to Satan Sampson could have had no harm had not Dalilah betrayed him so the Devil could not hurt us unlesse it were for fleshly widome the Devil is not such an enemy to a man as his own fleshly wisdome Again a Christian knowes that as it is contrary to God and contrary to his good so it is base and unworthy as well as dangerous It is base and unworthy for a Christian that is an heir of heaven that is raised to be a Child of God to abase his wits to proule for the world how base and unworthy is it for him to seek the things below that is born again to an inheritance immortal and undefiled that is reserved for him in Heaven How unworthy is it for him that hath his understanding and all his inward parts and powers dedicated and consecrated to God to make his understanding a bawd for the base purposes of the flesh The high indignity of the thing makes the Child of God ashamed to be ruled by the flesh to prostitute the strength of his soul to the flesh to make his soul that should carry the Image of God to carry the Image of the Devil to make his wit and understanding a bawd to accomplish earthly things which God hath sanctified to attain grace and comfort in this world and to live as a Christian should do that he may die with comfort and enjoy heaven Again Gods Children will not be ruled by that which they should mortifie and subdue but this wisdome of the flesh is the object of mortification they are redeemed from it A Christian as he is redeemed from hell and damnation so he is redeemed from himself he is redeemed and set at liberty from the slavery of his soul to Satan to the world and worldly projects he is redeemed from the base conversation he was in before What hath he to do to be ruled by him from whom he is redeemed These things might be amplified at large but you see the truth evident what ground a Christian hath not to be ruled by fleshly wisdome But to make it a little clearer A Christian hath no reason to be ruled by earthly wisdome for the yielding to it doth all the mischief in the world it is the cause of all the misery in the world unto Christians especially God catcheth the wise in their own ãâã though they be politick and wise especially if a Christian give way to carnal politick wisdome God will universally shame him I never knew a Christian thrive in politick courses When he hath secret conveyances for the world God crosseth him every way in his reputation in his projects and purposes But consider to amplifie that which I gave in a branch before what reason hath a Christian to be ruled by fleshly wisdome when it hinders him from all that is good if he yield unto it and keeps him in imperfect good I speak especially now to those that are not in the state of grace What reason hath any one of you to be ruled by fleshly wisdome when it keeps you in the state of unregeneracy It keeps you perhaps in some good but it is imperfect good You think you are good enough and that all is sure and God will be merciful c. when as a Reprobate may go beyond you It hinders from good actions with pretences for fleshly wisdome will tell us there will be danger you shall be reproached if you do this and that you shall be accounted thus and thus and run into obloquie It hinders from doing good There is a Lion in the way it forecasts this and that danger it keeps us in imperfect good that will never save us it objects dangers the sluggard that will not set on his spirit to labour he thinks himself wondrous wise in forecasting dangers Oh I shall want my self c. It dulls and distracts us in good he that hath a carnal projecting head it eats up his soul that when he comes to pray or to hear or to meddle with spiritual matters the marrow and strength of his soul is eaten up with carnal projects and he doth things by halves Nay Carnal Wisdome as far as it is in us unmortified it sets it self against good by depraving good that we may seem to be mischievous and ill and wicked with reason Men are loath to go to hell without reason there was none that ever went to hell yet without wisdome a great deal of wisdome And how doth their wisdome bring them to hell as in other respects which I named before so in this it whets the poysonfulnesse of their nature to invent and to raise scandals or to be willing to take scandals when they are offered A carnal wise man when he knowes that such a degree of Religion is contrary to his carnal projects he fastneth all the disgrace on it that he can that he may be the lesse observed Religious he would be but with a limitation with a reservation and restraint as far as may stand with his
he saith We have not led our conversation according to carnal fleshly wisdome but by Grace his meaning is that a Christian when he hath heavenly wisdome he hath all graces and wisdome together There is a connexion a combination of graces as I said so he leads his life by all graces for all graces are necessary to a Christian life therefore instead of wisdome he puts the word grace Now besides these besides the favour of God accepting us in Christ And besides the working of these graces in us in and after our conversion there is another degree of grace requisite which is a particular exciting applying strengthening grace which is required to every good act to act every good work and to resist every evil and to enjoy good things as we ought to enjoy them I say there is a grace necessary to withstand temptations in all evil besides graces habitual that are wrought in us of Faith and Love and Hope c. These except they be actuated and enlivened by the continual work of the Spirit except they be brought to act and a new strength put into them they are not sufficient for a Christian life Therefore S. Paul here by Grace meanes not onely the graces of the Spirit habitual graces but the power of the Spirit acting enlivening quickening and strengthening him against every evil in particular and to every good work in particular But by the Grace of God In that the Apostle here though he principally mean wisdome yet he names Grace the next point I will observe is this That All the Wisdome that we have it comes from Grace All the wisdome we have comes from Grace meerly from Grace And this Grace is not wanting to us when we have renounced our fleshly wisdome Heavenly wisdome comes altogether from Grace To make this a little clear Whatsoever is spiritual it comes from Christ since the fall we have nothing but by especial grace God being reconciled by Jesus Christ he hath placed all fulnesse of grace in him he hath inriched our nature in him with wisdome and all graces whatsoever All the treasures of wisdome are in him and all other graces God the Father and our Saviour Christ they send the Spirit they communicate the Spirit which takes of Christ and doth enlighten and quicken and guide all those that are members of Christ. All in particular all inward things come from Grace Grace comes from the Spirit the Spirit from Christ and this is the descent of Grace and Wisdome Thereupon they are taken indefinitely in Scripture sometimes to walk wisely to walk graciously sometimes to walk in the Spirit sometimes to walk in Christ it is all one sometimes to be in Christ Whosoever is in Christ c. And to walk in the Spirit and by the Spirit to pray in the Spirit and in wisdome and in faith or to live by faith or to live by Grace or in Grace they are all one because they are subordinate For Christ is the treasure of the Church all that is Good for the Church is laid up in him Wisdome and whatsoever Of his fulnesse we receive Grace for Grace Grace answerable to the grace that is in him he vouchsafes us his Spirit Now the Spirit guides us not immediately but it works a habit in us as we call it it works somewhat in us to dispose us to that which is good And when that is wrought the Spirit guides us to every particular action These things that the Spirit works in us are called Graces because they come from out of our selves by the Spirit so wisdome is called Grace because it comes from the Spirit the Spirit comes from Christ and Christ hath grace not onely grace in himself but he infuseth Grace into us he hath not onely abundance but redundance not only Grace flowing in himself but redundant overflowing to all his members This Saint Paul meanes when he saith We have had our Conversation by the Grace of God that is by such blessed habits of Wisdome Faith Love c. as are wrought by the Spirit of God which Spirit is given us by Jesus Christ our head Hence we learn that every thing that is necessary to bring us to heaven it is a grace that is it comes from without us Adam had it within him he was trusted with his riches himself but now in Jesus Christ we have all of Grace we have all out of our selves Christ is the Sun we have all our beams from him all our light all our life from him he is the head all our motion is from him And this is not onely true of habits as we call them that is a constant work or disposition wrought in Gods Children which for the most part they carry about with them but likewise in all the particular passages of their life they have need of grace for every particular action And herein the soul is like to the ayr the ayr stands in need of light and if it be not enlightned by the Sun it is presently dark so a man is no wiser in particular actions then God will make him on the sudden put case he be a man of a wise spirit for the most part that he passeth for an understanding man and is so yet except he have the grace of Gods Spirit except he have wisdome to guide him in particular he is no wiser then God at that time will make him to be You see all motion in the body it comes from the head let the spirits in the head be obstructed never so little and there followes an apoplexy there will be no motion so all our wisdome all the direction that we have to lead our lives as becomes Christians it comes from Christ it comes from Grace not only the disposition but likewise every particular action for we need Grace continually to assist us to excite and stirre up our powers and to strengthen them against oppositions and if the opposition be strong we have need of a stronger Grace There is never a good work that we do but it is opposed from within us from without us From within us by Carnal wisdome as I said before and by carnal passions and affections From without us by Satan by the world and by men that are led with the spirit of the Devil therefore there is need of a strength above our own Besides the Grace that is in us ordinarily there needs a new particular strength and light to particular actions Doth all come from God and from his Grace Let us take heed when we have any thing of sacrilegious affections of attributing any thing to our selves to our own wisdome and let us give all presently to Grace Mark the phrase of S. Paul here Not by fleshly wisdome but by the Grace of God he doth not say by any habit in my self he doth not say by any wisdome that is in me but he chooseth that which is in God Grace and favour because he would
by the grace of God which is the ground of all joy and comfort as S. Paul saith here How shall a man know whether he lead his life by this spiritual gracious wisdome or no I answer mark the opposition here Not with fleshly wisdome but by the Grace of God He then doth lead his life by the Grace of God that doth renounce carnal and fleshly wisdome Carnal wisdome is a false rule and it cannot stand together with grace they one expell another A double-minded man saith S. James is unconstant in all his waies that is he that hath two strings to his bowe he that will be content to be led by the grace of God and by the Word of God which is the Word of his Grace and yet notwithstanding he will have carnal policies he will have shifts too he is a double minded man he is not now under the government of grace he halteth as the Prophet tells the Israelites Why do you halt so he halteth between carnal and heavenly wisdome He is loath to renounce carnal wisdome no he thinks if he do he shall be a fool he shall lose this way of getting and that way of rising But he that is under the Spirit of God that is under Grace and is guided by it he will renounce the motions and stirrings of carnal wisdome When Carnall Wisdome like to Eve or like Job's Wife or like Peter shall suggest Oh spare your self why will you do this why will you go on in these courses yet notwithstanding he is able to renounce it The most of Gods Judgments in this world on his Children it is for this halting they have much carnal wisdome in them and God to work it out of them is forced to crosse them sharply in their projects and courses and all to bring them to rely on Grace to rely on his Government in the use of good meanes For we must serve Gods providence in the use of good means A man may know by Gods afflicting of his Children that they deal too much in carnal wisdome for if it were not for carnal wisdome if we would submit our selves to his sweet and easie guidance and use the lawful means that he hath discovered in a lawful calling if we would observe lawfull courses alas we should see a clear light and an easie passage we need not to use these shifts but because we cannot do so we are loath to trust him but we are double-minded we will be ruled by him a little but we will be politick and subtile therefore he sends crosses upon crosses upon our carnal ends and projects especially those that are his Children he will not suffer them to prosper in ill courses That is one sign those that are led by the grace of God they will not be led by Gods enemy and the enemy of their own soules now God and our own soules have not a worse enemy then carnal fleshly wisdome that is evident from the opposition Those that deny carnal wisdome that deny themselves and put themselves upon God it is a good Evidence And as it is a sign so it is a cause You see in holy Abraham when he had put himself on God and left his Countrey and his fathers house God guided him God took him into his government I am God Al-sufficient walk before me and be perfect God meanes this That by leaving all other things and cleaving to me thou shalt lose nothing thou shalt have all in me I will be al-sufficient therefore walk before me and be perfect be sincere A man shall never know what God will do for him till he put himself upon him and cease to try him and begin to trust him trust him once honour him of his Word have not a double eye partly to carnal means and partly to him but have a single eye to his wisdom and know that he will reward thee and keep promise It is an excellent thing to deny carnal wisdome How many Cavils might blessed Noah have had before he built the Ark The world would scorn him as an old doting man that would go about to be wiser then all the world besides But he denies all carnal reason and rejects the scornes of sinful persons and obeyes God and we see how God protected him and went on with him And so in David and S. Paul And to adde a little to that I touched before God usually strangely crosses carnal wisdome because men will not deny their carnall will and their carnal wit There was never any Politician in the world that ever was but complained of it if he lived any time in the world that God went beyond him Saith the Heathen man Tully I thought my self wise but I never was so and so they may all take up the same complaint God dashes the Imaginations of the proud They build a Babel a confusion to themselves and others that are led by carnal wisdome that will not trust to the grace of God Let no man flatter himself but trust in God and not rely upon carnal wisdome and such courses Those that will bring Religion to reasons of State and policy and subject the highest thing in the world to the basest thing which is carnal wit as I said before we see what they do The nature of man infinitely desireth the accomplishment of their will We see that where corruption may have the greatest advantage in greatnesse let them have their will they will overthrow a world to have it their wit is bent to serve their will All witty men that account it a heaven upon earth to have their will instead of law and conscience and all they set their wits on the strain to serve their will and so set themselves against God Is it not Gods honour to set himself against them Was there ever any fierce against God and prospered saith Job Denial of fleshly wit and will and wisdome it is both a sign and evidence of grace and it is a meanes likewise why Gods grace will lead us when we deny that which is strong in us God will make a supply by his Grace we are no losers by it Again you see here in the Text where the life is led by the Grace of God by the Spirit of God stirring us acting us leading moving and strengthening of us there a mans courses are in simplicity and sincerity the soul that is under grace will put it self simply upon God that soul will be no wiser then the Word of God makes it to be it will be no happier no richer then God makes it it will use no other meanes then what God allowes this is plainnesse and singlenesse and simplicity of heart Again it will be in sincerity where a man leads his life graciously his actions are sincere this grace as it comes from God so it tends to God sincerity looks to God it doth things as to God So that where Grace is it carries a man above himself to
own particular one way and gain to the State or Religion another he considers not what will it advantage me but what is it for Religion It is the chief prevailing reason how he may gain to Religion and the glory of God he will not redeem his life to impeach the glory of God and Religion This is a man that leads his life by grace Again where grace is there graces are together there is a sweet linking of them therefore S. Paul instead of wisdome names Grace of God all grace A man therefore may know that he is led by grace when there is no solitary grace for where grace is solitary it is not at all it is but a shadow For there is not one grace but it is of special use in the managing of a Christians life and conversation therefore S Panl instead of wisdome puts grace here For instance there is a great necessity of seeing by a light above nature things above nature If a man lead a life above nature there is a necessity of heavenly illumination and conviction that there is a better happinesse then the world affords And then there is a need of love to carry the soul to that happinesse that is discovered But then there are a world of impediments between us and heaven and happinesse that is discovered to us in the Gospel by Christ Jesus there must be heavenly wisdome therefore to discover the impediments and to remove them And there are many advantages how to attain our end we must use this and this meanes these and these helps that God hath ordained here must be heavenly wisdome to use the advantages and to avoid the hindrances But there are a world of troubles between our end and us between heaven that is discovered and us therefore saith the Apostle Ye have need of Patience And patience that is sustained by hope hope casts anchor in heaven and assures us of happinesse there and then patience sustains us in whatsoever befalls us in this world Therefore the Apostle saith not I lead my life by wisdome but by grace by wisdome as it hath a connexion with all other graces Therefore a man that out of hearing of the Word or reading c. hath it discovered that there is a better way then he takes and yet notwithstanding hath not love to carry him to it nor wisdome to remove the impediments he works not towards his end there is no grace at all there is illumination but it is not sanctified illumination but a meer common work of the Spirit because where true wisdome is there is love and patience and hope and all other graces to carry the whole soul to that happinesse that is discovered Therefore by this you may know a gracious wise man he works to his end alwayes another man heares and wishes Oh it were well if I could attain heaven but carnal policy and base affections hold him in a beastly course of life that he works not to that end onely he hears such things and thinks God will be merciful and Christ hath dyed and when he cannot enjoy the world longer he will have good words that way but that will not serve the turn a man must lead a life in grace that will dye and be saved by grace he must work and carry the whole man with it and not onely have knowledge but faith and love and all a man must work with it Who is a wise man in outward matters is he a wise man that only talks of States matters out of Books he hath read No but he that when he comes to a businesse to negotiate in the world can remove hindrances and attain his end and overthrow the plots of his enemies when it comes to particular actions here is a wise man that can attain his end by working that doth work to his end till he have attained it So he proves graciously wise in Religion that works to his end or else he is a foolish man a foolish builder As Christ saith If ye know these things and do them not you are as a man that builds on the sands your profession will come to nothing Again a man may know that he is guided by Grace that he doth every thing by gracious wisdome when he doth provide for himself best in the best things out of a sanctified judgment when he doth judge aright of differences when he considers that there is a difference between the soul and the body between this life and eternal life there is a main difference between the glorious eternal life in the world to come and this fading life which the soul communicates to the body in this world when a man judgeth the difference between true riches and these things that we are so set upon that are but lent us for a little while When he judgeth between the true honour to be the Child of God and the fading honours of this world that shall lye down in the dust with us and shall all depart and be gone it appears then he hath a sanctified judgment he discerns of things that differ And according to this if he lead his life in gracious wisdome he makes his provision he makes his provision as his judgment leads him his judgment leads him to the best things therefore he provides for the best things As Christ saith of the Children of this world they are wise in their courses in their Generation they provide against beggery they make friends before-hand as we see in that unjust steward So a Christian provides for his soul he looks to that he makes him friends of his unrighteous Mammon he makes him friends of his earthly things that is he doth deserve well of men that they pray for him and so help him to heaven He daily makes his account ready he cuts off impediments that he meets with in the way he troubles not himself with impertinencies he spends not more time then needs about worldly things he useth them as they may help his work to be better and better in grace to be fitter and fitter for glory As he discerneth differences so he makes his provision answerable he provides for the best in the first place Or else he were a foolish Merchant a foolish builder a foolish man every way the Scripture saith he is no better that cannot discern the difference and provide well for himself when other things fail The Scripture doth well call wicked men fooles they have no judgement they do not provide for themselves they prefer these things say what they will before better things they are fooles in their provision Achitophel he made provision he set his house in order and what became of him after he hanged himself He made much provision for the world and at last he knew not how to forecast and provide for his soul. The Scripture calls the rich man in the Gospel a fool he was wise enough to contrive for himself yet he was but a rich
Take it in the regiment and goverment of it Take it in the worship Take it in the opinions you may draw all to one of those three heads For the government of it There is a wisdome a wondrous wisdome a fine subordination to one Head the Pope to hear all controversies and under him the Cardinals and under them the Generals and all at Rome and they have th eir Provincials under them here is a wondrous fine subordination butall this is by fleshly wisdome For this beast riset out of the earth and out of the Sea out of the Tumult of the people out of base earthly respects Therefore it is said in the Revelation when the Bishop of Rome became Pope and was at the highest that a Star fell he fell when he rose when he was at the highest he was at the lowest why because his rising was carnal and earthly or lower if you will it was hellish and devillish Their government is opposite to Christs Government and being so it must needs be mightily opposed by him again and therefore it must needs down the fabrick of it being opposite to the frame of Christs Government though it be wondrous witty Therefore in the Revelation 666. is the Number of a man If you mark the frame of the Romish policy it is wondrous accurate it goes smoothly by tens and by hundreds 666. This Babylon is the number of a man a fine policy but it is but the number of a man it is the device of carnal wisdome it self therefore it is divellish wisdome Thus it is in the government of it And their Worship is according to the wisdome of the flesh some wisdome there is in not going to God immediately but by Saints and Angels What! is it not wisdome in the Princes Court first to go to the Favourite and by him to the Prince So is it not wisdome not to go directly to God it is bold rashnesse to come immediately to God but by Saints and Angels This is the wisdome of a man this is the wisdome of the flesh Colos. 2. this is carnal wisdome it is opposite against the truth Doth not Christ bid us come all to him do Angels love us better then he Is not he the great Favourite of heaven I will not enter into controversie but onely shew how they work by fleshly wisdome Here is wisdome when we cannot raise our selves up to God to bring him down to us As in the Sacrament they shew carnal wisdome Oh it is a fine thing that Christs body and ours should be joyned together it seemes to be a fine point that Christ should be hid in the bread c. But here is no spiritual wisdome The union that the Scripture speaks of is by faith ascending into heaven laying hold on Christ there and going back to the crosse and seeing Christ crucified there and so he is meat indeed and drink indeed as we see him crucified and satisfying Gods wrath for us for our sins And so again is it not a pretty wisdome to draw men by pictures and likenesses are not men delighted with the Images of their friends and of their parents and therefore is it not a good religious policy to have pictures of Christ and pictures of God the Father Here is wisdome correspondent to the dealing and affaires of men but all this is fleshly wisdome The Scripture speaks mightily against making of Images the Word of God is directly against it this is fleshly wisdome Grace doth not rule here So that the soules when they go out of this world being very unclean that they should be purged that there should be some satisfaction some Purgatory c. here seems to be wisdome but wherefore serves the blood of Christ then that is the onely Purgatory that purgeth from all sins mortall sins venial sins all sins Again is it not a seeming wisdome to come to heaven by our own works by our own merits that so we may set the people on to good works or else we dull their spirits and endeavours I but this is fleshly wisdome this is devillish wit and so it will prove in the end for the Scripture goes onely to Christ onely Christ. We are saved by faith onely by Christ. I will not enter into the point I onely shew you what a seeming wisdome they have but it is not heavenly but meerly carnal And that their Religion is carnal do but consider that all the points wherein they differ from us may be resolved either to belly-policy or to State-policy either to ambition and riches or the belly Wherefore is their Monarchy all their great preferments but to increase their ambition Wherefore are their pardons and indulgences but to get money basely as some of their own Writers confesse And their Purgatory c. these things be for carnal ends it is a Religion fitted for their own ends They make what they list to serve them Religion Nature Reason Conscience whatsoever is good they make all stoop to interest their own cause in Their orders that is their spiritual good must be their advancement it is but a colour put uponcarnal ends The spiritual good is their own advancement they aime at their own peculiar interest in all their villainies As if God stood in need of our lie as if Gods glory were advanced by the Devil As well their Government as their Religion is lies it is defended by lies by equivocation and rebellion by withdrawing the allegiance of Subjects and murthering of Princes Lawes and Religion and all must stoop to their wisdome under pretence of bonum spirituale These things are known I do but touch them to breed a deeper hatred of this Religion which is altogether fleshly and carnal And so far as they are led by carnal wisdome they are not led by the grace of God Wherefore is their lying for advantage their dispensations and horrible allowing of any thing is it not meerly carnal wisdome In a word their Religion is meerly policy if it be not too good a word for it it is meerly carnall policy it came not from heaven but from the bottomlesse pit Then they fell from heaven when they grew to their highest when they were in their top This I thought good to touch collaterally from the Text which doth characterize a true Christian indeed in his temper that he is joyful when he is as he should be and the ground of it is from a good conscience and that good conscience ariseth out of a course of life and conversation led in simplicity and sincerity to God For Religion hath majesty enough in it self without far fetches and devices And the principle from whence By the grace of God in the evidence of the Spirit and not according to fleshly and carnal wisdome In a word therefore labour that from the evidence of the Spirit having your soules sanctified by the Spirit you may reflect on your selves and look into your lives and say truly
as S. Paul doth here My care in my course of life and conversation hath been in Simplicity I have cast my self upon God and his government and not looked to the world and in sincerity I have aimed at God in all things I have had no false and by aimes I have not spared even my life by any carnal end I have not served my self either in Religion or in my course of life but I have laboured to serve God in serving my brethren and have led my life by the grace of God and by the Word of grace which I laboured to know that I might follow Let us be able in some measure in truth to say thus And then we may say further with S. Paul That this is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience We shall never want joy And then let the world judge of us as it will there is such a strength and power such a prerogative and majesty in Christian comfort when a man can as I said reflect thus on himself that though in a weak measure yet in truth his conversation and course of life hath been though his slidings have been something in simplicity and sincerity that nothing can daunt it in this world It is above all discouragement above all eclipse of good name the testimony of Conscience which hath Gods testimony with it The witnesse of two is a strong witnesse the witnesse of God and conscience it will so settle our soules that neither ill reports nor any usage in the world shall daunt us we shall have comfort in all the passages of our lives be they what they will Whereas other men that lead not their lives in a constant course of holy simplicity and sincerity they are as the Prophet saith like the leaves of the Forrest shaken with every alteration with every rumour of ill newes But a sound Christian in the worst alteration there may be combustions there may be alteration of State yet his heart is fixed he is not moved Likewise in the hour of death he can say with Hezekias Thou knowest Lord I have led my life in simplicity that I have served thee with a perfect heart that is in sincerity I have desired and endeavoured to grow better which is all the perfection we have in this world sincerity witnessed by growth and strength against the contrary this will comfort us in all the alterations and changes in this world which is as a Sea full of trouble and at the hour of death likewise and at the day of Judgment this is that onely that will make us able to look Christ in the face Truth hath a Divinity in it this simplicity and sincerity more then any earthly thing it hath that in it that is real and spiritual A man that hath the Grace of God in the truth of it there is a great deal of majestie in it There is the greatest majestie in heavenly things when they appear most simple because of their excellency There is some thing of Gods in sincerity so much as a man hath in truth so much of Gods He partakes of the Divine nature as S. Peter saith so much as he hath in truth though it be never so little and being a branch of God it will make him look upon God in the day of Judgment Why because he knowes he is in the Covenant of Grace that he hath title to heaven by Christ. When a mans conscience can tell him that he hath led his life not by carnal wisdome but in the truth of Grace it will make him out-look Satan and all the troubles of the world and look unto Christ with comfort Who would not be in such a state Thus we see a Christian leads his life Not in fleshly wisdome but by the Grace of God I will adde one thing more and so finish the verse We may see hence That the most Religious men are the best Statesmen I know proud carnall Machivillian dispositions make a scorn at these positions they think them to be austere and poor principles till they come to death As that Wretch said himself when he came to dye That he had provided for all things but for death but while they are in their ruffe they think they can manage States and do all When indeed they bring the vengeance of God upon their own persons and upon the State they live in For God is neither in them nor with them He is not in them for they want Grace they are led by carnall wisdome altogether And he is not with them God will not give them good successe unlesse it be to increase their Judgement He will not give good successe to those projects that they take up contrary to his rule Therefore those that will be guided by reasons of Religion and submit themselves to the guidance of Gods blessed Spirit they are best for the state of their own soules and best for the publick estate For doth not God know the mysteries of State better then any man Is not he a better Politician then any Achitophel in the world If they have any State-policy that is worth the naming is it not from him Is it not a beam from that Sunne Yes why then who is the better the difference of parts excepted but take them alike a gracious man and another that is not so let the one fetch his counsel from hell from darknesse and the other be ruled by reasons of conscience and Religion there is no comparison God will crosse and curse their projects that are for their own ends both in themselves and in the State too As for the other that are under Grace and the government of Grace God will be wise in them by his Spirit and he will be wise for them Psal. 1. Whatsoever a good man doth it shall prosper it is a large promise How wondrous happy and wise were the Children of Israel when they kept the Covenant of God This is your wisdome to keep the Commandements of God Deuteron 4. and their wisdome made them happy How happy were they in David's time who made the Statutes of God the Man of his Counsel How happy was the State in Solomons time till Solomon did warp and bend to Carnall counsell to strengthen himself How happy was his Government till that time but never after that they were environed with enemies round about but alas who could hurt the people of God so long as they submitted themselves to the government of grace they were alway happy Therefore it is an idle thing to suppose that there will be any good successe by carnal projects no the onely good States-man is the religious man And it was never better with the Church of God before or since the time of Christ then when those were in the stern Do but think of this oft as S. Jude saith God onely wise we must all of us light our candle at that fire All wisdome even this poor spark of reason that God enlightneth every
an oath which is the sign of all truth between man and man Their abuse of the Sacrament too they have abused all Gods signs and all to ill purposes to swear with private reservations whereas the old principle of Isidore is constantly and everlastingly true Conceive the oath as you will it must be understood as he to whom it is sworn understands it and not as he that swears Therefore undoubtedly Popery must fall every day and judicious men though they be not gracious they see it must fall It should make us hate them deeply because the courses they take are the overthrow of society this abuse of expressions of that excellent gift that God hath given namely the tongue whereby what is in my heart another man may understand and also writing whereby a man may convey his mind many hundred miles Now these excellent gifts that God hath given for society for men to turn them against God and against Society it must needs provoke the Majesty of God And as it is a sin against Society so it is a sin that is punished by society All men must needs hate them that do so those that have no other argument against Popery they have argument enough from their equivocation Those that are not subtile-headed to see other things when they look to the Gun-powder Treason and to their equivocation there is argument enough for any plain simple man to hate Popery Therefore let us be like our selves in all that we do to God or to men I had occasion to presse the Point when I spake of simplicity therefore I will not dwell further on it I write no other thing then what you read or acknowledge He means they acknowledged it in their heart and conscience What I write of my conversation that which you have heard it is no other then that you read and you acknowledge it too for they had felt the power of his Ministery Whence first of all observe That Where the Minister converseth by the Grace of God and not by carnal wisdome God is not onely wise in him but for him He is gracious and good for him he gives him successe in the hearts of others When a man is led by the Spirit of God the same Spirit that guides him in speaking guides his auditors in hearing and gives a sweet and a strong report in their hearts of what he saith What I write of my self you acknowledge that my Conversation hath been in sincerity and not onely my conversation but my Doctrine every way you have acknowledged me the same Spirit that guided me to do so wrought in you an acknowledgment of it in your conscience Therefore if you would have the speeches of the Ministers to take effect you should desire God not only to guide them in what they are to say but likewise with the same Spirit to work in the hearers and when the same Spirit works in both what a glorious successe is there As we see here S. Paul carried himself in his own person and in his Ministery graciously in simplicity and sincerity for it is meant of both he taught simple doctrine without any glozing without any far-fetched beauty from wit or eloquence or the like and he looked to God in his life and conversation and as God guided him so he stirred them up to pray for him as the Word and Prayer they are alway joyned together the Word had a report in their hearts as it had in his own What I speak you acknowledge c. It is not for us to deliver our minds and there an end but when we are to speak we ought before-hand to look up to God and desire his Spirit to be effectuall in us that we may speak in the wisdome and grace of the Spirit and likewise that it may be effectual to them that they may acknowledge it that they may feel in their soules and consciences the power of what we speak and feel in our selves So you see the truth of what I said before That God was not onely wise in S. Paul but he was gracious and good for him in those that he was to deal with And there is the glory of a good Minister that is a humble man and denies carnal wisdome That God will delight to honour himself by using him as an instrument to do good to others God usually will give report of what he saith to the hearts of others Proud men that speak what they speak by carnall projects and carnall wisdome and seek themselves usually the hearts and consciences of other men give no report to them For man naturally is proud and when he sees that the most excellent man in the world hath by-aimes he will not be gone beyond by him say what he will If a man set up sailes for himself he doth not win upon others But he that discovers himself that he seeks the glory of God and the good of the soules that he deales with and denies himself in that which otherwise he could do that useth not the strength of parts which he hath because he would discover the simple Word which is most Majestical in simplicity God seeing this simple and sincere desire he honours and crownes the Ministery of such a man with successe in the hearts of the people Therefore saith S. Paul here I write no other thing concerning my self but God hath honoured me with the issue of it in your hearts likewise that you acknowledge what I say You acknowledge Acknowledge is a deep word it is more then to know it is more then a conviction of the judgment it is when the heart and affections yield when the inward Spirit upon experience yields I feel and acknowledge this is true it is more I say then knowledge The next point then that I observe is this That God doth give his Children that love him in simplicity and sincerity a place in the conscience of men He gives them place in the consciences of those that have conscience for there are some that have no science and therefore they have no conscience as Popish superstitious persons c. But those that deal faithfully that live in the Church and see the glory of God God gives them a place in the conscience of those that they live amongst and deal with And they seek more to have place in their conscience then in their fancy then in their opinion and Imagination and humour A carnal man so he may have the humour the fancy and Imagination of his hearers delighted he regards not what inwardly they may feel from him he regards not how he warms their hearts and conscience and how they acknowledge him within and therefore perhaps if he have a good word for the present Oh a glorious man c. it is all he cares for but he hath no place in their conscience because they feel him not working there and he hath no aime to be there A good man seeks to edifie and build up
Christ. The best things are behind our chief rejoycing is behind our rejoycing now is our hope that we shall rejoyce then The Corinthians were S. Paul's joy now because he knew they should be his main rejoycing then If we rejoyce in any thing now let it be that our names are written in heaven in the testimony of our conscience that we are Gods that our hearts are wrought on that we have something that Christ will acknowledge when he sees his stamp and Image on us when he shall look on us and see his own Image upon our hearts there will be matter of joy in that day There will be joy in our selves and joy in all the blessed instruments that are under Christ the Ministers they shall rejoyce likewise in us and all of us shall joyn in joying in Christ all shall meet there For their joying in S. Paul and he in them it was that Christ was theirs And Christ shall come as it is in 2 Thess. 4. to be glorified in his Saints not onely in himself but in his believing members for his glory shall reflect upon them as the Sun reflects upon light bodies all light bodies are made light by the Sun So the Sun of Righteousnesse shall come and all them that have glory it shall be by reflexion from him they shall be glorious in him so he is both the Ministers joy and the peoples they shall all glory in Christ whose glory is their glory He shall come to be glorious in his Saints therefore frame your courses that way to have glory then to have comfort in the hour of death and at the day of Judgment And to end the point Let us labour to be acquainted with him now before that day we shall never have comfort in the day of the Lord Jesus except we be acquainted with him and acknowledge him in the Ministery now and in the Sacraments for none shall ever be acquainted with him there that have not been acquainted with him and known him in this world How do we come to be acquainted with Christ To be present where he is present and he is present where two or three are met together in his Name He is present now in our meetings he is present when we hear the Word He is present in the Sacrament more especially we have his very body and blood As verily as we take the outward signs so verily Christ is present to our hearts at the same time from heaven he reacheth us himself with all the benefits of his passion when the Minister reacheth the bread he reacheth his body As our outward man is refreshed with the elements so our soules are refreshed with the spiritual presence of Christ. Now he is excellently present in heaven he is present to our senses in the Sacrament and by his Spirit in the Word Would you have him then at his appearing come and own you and say then Come ye blessed be acquainted with him now upon all occasions hear the Word receive the Sacrament and come to the Sacrament as acknowledging him there How is that Why then you acknowledge the bread and wine to be Seales of him and of all the blessings by him when you come prepared when you come to them as his or else you do not acknowledge them you know them to be such and such things but you acknowledge them not to be set apart for such a holy use except you come with prepared hearts Will any body acknowledge him to go to a great person when he goes deformed and in rags do you know whither you go would some say to him He considers not whither he goes that comes to the Sacrament in his old sins Come acquainted therefore with Christ to acknowledge him that shall be your Judge at the latter day therefore come prepared And then because the Sacrament is a means to seal to us all the benefits we have by Christ and to incorporate us more nearly into Christ he that comes to the Sacrament as he should must come with joy Is it not a joyful thing to be united to Christ and to have further assurance of all the good things by him Yes it is a matter of great joy Therefore when you have repented of your sins come with joy And come with holinesse The things are holy as our Liturgy hath it let us give holy things to holy persons here is presented holy bread and wine and here you are to deal with Christ therefore come with holy reverence in the whole carriage of the businesse And come with faith and assurance and then you shall acknowledge Christ in this Ordinance in the Sacrament You shall acknowledge that he deales not complementally with you to feed you with empty signes but you shall have himself with his signs you shall have the Lord himself in the Word and in the Sacraments With the field you shall have the treasure in the field as the wise Merchant had With the Word you shall have Christ wrapped in the Word and in the Sacrament you shall have Christ and all his benefits Trust to it make it your weapon against Satan he will tempt you to doubt of your interest in Christ. Think with your selves Had I grace to receive Christ to be incorporate nearer into him why should I doubt to renew my Covenant And though I have fallen by weaknesse yet I have a gracious Intercessour in heaven that makes my peace continually Come in faith Know that God in good earnest here offers Christ with all his benefits And come with a purpose and resolution to be led by him You come to renew your Covenant here is the Covenant when Christ is given to you and you give your selves to Christ. Therefore as I said if you come with a purpose to live in sin come not at all Christ will not live in a heart where there is a purpose to sin therefore esolve to leave all sin or else you cannot receive him To move you to come and to come thus do but consider that it will be your joy in this world and in the world to come before Christ that you have been thus acquainted with him herc on earth acquainted with him in the Ministery acquainted with him in the Sacrament in private prayer and meditation in all the blessed means that he hath appointed and then he will look on you as upon his old friends But now he that is a Rebel that goes away or else comes not acknowledging with whom he hath to deal him that shall be his Judge ere long the Great God of Heaven and Earth that shall come in glory and majestie with thousands of his Angels Then he shall be Wonderfull indeed as his Name is Isai. 9. 6. and as the Apostle saith 2 Thess. 2. where he useth the word he shall be wonderful in his Saints Then all the world shall wonder at the glory of a poor Christian when he shall put down the Sun and all the
our former exhortation get into Christ by all means for out of him we have nothing savingly good But you will say Doth not God do many good things to them that are out of Christ doth not the rain fall upon the ill as well as the good and doth not he fill the bellies of the wicked with good things Yes he doth he doth but are they blessings no they are not but as God saith to Moses If you do this and this ill I will curse you in your dough I will curse you at home and abroad I will curse you in your Children c. They are cursed in their blessings There is no man that is a carnall brutish man but though he live and have revenues and pleasures he is cursed in his blessings For what is he made for this life onely no he is but fatted on to the day of destruction they are snares to him How do you know they are snares because they make him secure and careless of the worship of God they make him prophane they make him despise the power of Religion a man may see by his conversation they are snares they are not promises in Christ for then they would come to him out of Gods Love Therefore get into Christ rest not in any thing abstracted from Christ Let us not rest in any blessing except we have it in Gods love in Christ. And I may know that I have any thing in this world any deliverance from ill or any positive good thing from Gods love in Christ if I have it with a heart wrought on to the best things to value Christ and to account all dung in comparison of him When I esteem my being in Christ above all beings above being rich or honourable or in favour alas this I know is fading but my being in Christ is Yea and Amen that will stand by me when all these beings will fail This is comfortable if I can do this and have other things I have them with the Love of God and Christ. Let us get into Christ therefore For this purpose attend upon the meanes of salvation that the Word may be effectuall by his Spirit accompanying his own Ordinance to open the excellencies of Christ to us to make us love him and get our affections into him How are we in Christ By knowing him and then knowledge carries our hearts For our wills cleave to that that we know to be excellent and necessary Christ is discovered as excellent and necessary and so the will cleaves to him as a good so discovered and the affections follow the will When the will cleaves to Christ as excellent and necessary then I love him then I rest on him then I have peace in him I may know that I am in Christ upon my knowledge of him and cleaving to him and finding peace in my conscience For he that is in Christ hath rest Faith in Christ hath a resting stablishing power If I be in Christ my soule rests for I know that all is Yea and Amen in him My soule rests in him whatsoever I find in the world to unsettle me things are amisse and otherwise then I would have them but I rest in the Love of God in Christ. Let us get into Christ by knowledge Let the will follow that and our affections follow that and then we shall find the rest and peace that will secure us that indeed we are in Christ. Alas what is a man out of Christ as a man in a storme that hath no cloathes to hide his nakednesse to cover him from the violence of the storme As a man in a tempest that is out of a house to hide him As a stone out of the foundation that is scattered here and there as neglected As a branch out of the Vine out of the root what shape is in such a branch it will be cast into the fire afterwards A man out of Christ that is not cloathed with him that is not built on him and settled on him and planted in him he is a man destitute We pittie such mens cases in the World but if we had spirituall eyes to look on these men on prophane civill wretches that pride themselves in a little moralitie and have scarce that perhaps and neglect grace and the mystery of Christ such a man deserves pittie there is but a step between him and Hell if he be out of Christ and live and die so and at the Day of Christ he will account him so O saith St. Paul Philip. 3. I account all dung and drosse in comparison of Christ not having my own righteousnesse but to be found in him having the righteousnesse of God in Christ. O happie man indeath and at the day of judgement that is found in Christ and not in himself not in his own righteousnesse though that there must be not to give us title to heaven The best thing is to be found in Christ to have his righteousnesse and obedience that is so excellent that Saint Paul accounted all dung and drosse in comparison of that to be found in that Get into Christ by all meanes for in him all the promises are Yea and Amen not out of him If so be all the promises be Yea and Amen in Christ then here again see the stabilitie of a Christians estate that hath promises to uphold him compare it with a man that hath present things onely with an Esau that hath the things of this life The men of this world as the Psalmist calls them they have present things they have performance he gives them their portion here as he saith to Dives Thou hadst thy good that which thou caredst for thou hadst it here and Lazarus had Pain and miserie and povertie here now the case is altered he is advanced and thou art tormented A Christian as a Christian he hath a great many promises some of them are performed for God is delivering him and comforting him and protecting him and speaking peace to his conscience but the greatest part are yet to be performed the perfection of Grace and Glorie to come he is a Child of the promise a son of the promise here is his estate Another man hath present payment and that is all he cares for he hath something and he swells in the conceit of that that he is some bodie What is the difference what hath the one but a great deale of nothing what saith Solomon that had tried all the world All is vanity and vexation of spirit all is uncertain and we are uncertaine in the use of them if we have no better life then the life of nature But the promises they are yea they are certain they contain undoubted certain good things that will stick by us when all else will leave us A Christian take him and strip him in your thoughts from all the good things in the world he is a happier man then the greatest Monarch in the world out
yea and amen to be yea and nay We make truth a lie and do rather believe our own lying hearts then Gods immutable and unchangeable Promises Therefore let us see the fulnesse of our hearts and complain of them to God and desire him to cure it and redresse it and he will do it This is to give glory to God indeed we cannot honour God more then to believe his Promises and build on him This will breed love when we feel the comfort of the Promises Foolish men think to honour God by complements by dead performances filly men consider that the principal honour in the world to God is to seal his truth that thou shouldest not make him a liar Hath he promised all things in the world get faith that will honour him and he will honour thy faith What makes God honour faith so much He that believes he will bring him to heaven Faith honours him it gives him the glory of his truth the glory of his goodnesse of his mercy of his truth c. as it honours him he honours it The Believer shall come to heaven when the idle fashionable Christian shall vanish with his conceits that thinks to serve God with empty vain shadowes Honour God with the obedience of faith man cast thy self upon him trust in him in life and death and then thou givest him the honour that he requireth at thy hands For as the honour of his mercy is the greatest honour he will have in this world more then that in the Creation so thou honourest him more in the Gospel to cast thy self on him for forgivenesse of sins and life everlasting and for the guidance of thy daily course of life thou honourest him more then by looking on the creature or by doing him any service He is honoured more by faith in Christ then by any other way Let faith go to him as faith honours him so he will honour it Let it be according to thy faith Let not all be lost let us bring vessels for the precious Promises the vessel of a believing heart Shall all this be lost for a vain heart that will not lodge up these promises shall we have a rich portion and neglect it shall we have so many promises and not improve them and make use of them Therefore I beseech you let it be our practice continually every day of all portions of Scripture make the Promises most familiar to us for duties follow promises if we believe the Promises with our heart they are quickning Promises we will love God and perform other duties Faith works by love If we believe love will come kindly off Therefore he saith here All the Promises are Yea and Amen insinuating that all is included in the Promises Let us empty our hearts of confidence in any thing and fill them with the Promises in Christ that are Yea and Amen Let us stablish our hearts with the Promises let us warm and season and refresh our hearts every day with these In these times of infection what do we those that are careful of themselves that go abroad in dangerous places they have Preservatives they take something to preserve their spirits and to strengthen them against the contagion abroad and it is wisdome so to do it is folly to neglect it and to tempt God not to be careful in this kind it is very well done But what is this if thou do not fence thy soul and thy spitit and take a draught of the Promises every day afresh Let us take out our pardon of course every day of the forgivenesse of sins We sin every day let us go for our pardon If we sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ and he is the propitiation for our sins And the blood of Jesus Christ shall purge us from all sin And he is in justifying us still every day he is acquitting our soules and there is a pardon of course to be taken out every day Let us renew and refresh our hearts with the Promises of pardon and forgivenesse of sins every day Let us strengthen our soules with renewing the Promises of grace for that day to walk comfortably before God that he will keep us by his Spirit from sin that he will be a shield and a Sun to us that he will give us wisdome to carry our selves as we should and he will give us his holy Spirit if we beg it Let us every day take these Promises to be Cordials in these dangerous times and then come life come death all shall be welcome why because we are in Christ and have imbraced the Promises and Christ and all in Christ is Yea and Amen it shall go well with us What a wondrous comfortable life would a Christians life be if he could yield the obedience faith answerable to the promises What a shame is it that having such rich promises we should be so loose so changeable that we should be cast down with crosses and lift up with prosperity It is because we believe not the promises of better things therefore we are proud of present things and cast down with present crosses and are fast and loose Now we have good things for the present afterward the devil comes between us and the promises and makes us let go our hold Religion stands on this which makes me to presse it the more If this were well taken to heart and digested we should know what Religion means if we know Christ and the promises all other things will come off All others are but formalities they will never comfort without the confideration of knowing God in Christ and the rich promises to us in Christ. Likewise if this be so that the promises of God in Christ are Yea and Amen This teacheth us how to make use of all former examples of others and of all former goodnesse to our selves Was God merciful to Abraham and to David Our father 's trusted in thee and were not confounded Psal. 22. Therefore he reasons If I trust in God I shall not be confounded for the Promises are Yea and Amen they are true to one as well as another And whatsoever was written afore was written for our comfort Rom. 15. And this is a singular good use we may make of reading of the stories of the Scripture and of holy men that the same God he lives for ever his arm is not shortened he that was is and is to come and therefore we should read histories with application Did God make sure his Promises to them surely he will make sure his Promises to us Had David forgivenesse of sins upon his confession surely so shall we Abraham believed and it was accââ¦ed to him for righteousnesse and ââ¦o it shall to us if we believe It is alledged for that end Rom. 4. And S. Paul prefixeth his example to all posterity God was mercifull to me and not so onely but to all that believe in him 2 Tim. 2. This is an Use
conquered over all enemies whatsoever and his conquest is ours Well then we see the foundation of the Church and of every particular Christian Christ Jesus whence comes the stability and firmnesse of the Church that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it It is built upon the rock upon Christ. So all the stablishing that a Christian hath it is from this rock his being built upon Jesus Christ If we were built upon man we could not stand if we were built upon Angels we could not stand if we were built upon any thing in the world we could not stand but being built upon Jesus Christ who is all in all to a soul that is stablished in him there must needs be an everlasting stablishing It is a fond Objection of some and unlearned against the principles of Divine truth that we may fall as well as Adam in Paradise as well as the Angels in heaven As if there were not a wide and broad difference between the state of grace and the state of nature A Christian hath more strength then the Angels in heaven or then Adam in Paradise ever had he hath a more firm consistence because he stands by grace By grace we stand as the Apostle saith A Christian hath promises of perseverance Adam and the Angels had none and therefore to fetch a reason of falling away from grace from the proportion we have to that condition is a meer Sophisme not rightly discerning the disparity It is not alike with the Angels and Adam and us for we stand by grace out of our selves being stablished in another We have not onely a promise of happinesse as the Angels and Adam had happinesse and a blessed estate but they had no promise to stand and be confirmed A poor weak Christian hath a promise to be stablished and confirmed Therefore those proud Sectaries that are between us and the Papists and joyn rather with them then us that trouble the Church so much they make an idle objection concerning falling away from grace to say Did not Adam fall away What is that to the purpose was Adam under the same Covenant as we are now in Christ Is there not a new promise made to us in Christ better then ever Adam could attain to Besides we are founded upon a better Adam upon the second Adam God-man we have not onely a better foundation but better promises that Adam and the Angels themselves wanted And therefore the Covenant of grace is said to be an everlasting Covenant I will marry thee to my self for ever Hos. 2. A Christian is not to be considered abstractively or alone for then indeed he is a weak creature as weak as other men are but consider him in his Rock on whom he is built consider him in his Husband to whom he is united and knit consider him in his head Christ look upon him as he is thus founded and stablished oh he is an excellent person See him in the difference betwixt him and others Those that are not stablished by a firm judgment and will and affection and so by faith in Jesus Christ what consistence what stability have they Those who have the firmnesse they have in the favour of men it is but vanity those that have the firmnesse they have in riches what are they how soon do they leave it all those that have the firmnesse they have in dependance upon any creature be it never so great alas they are nothing they are all vanity Both we our selves in depending and the things we depend upon are vanity therefore we are vanity because we fasten upon that which is vanity things have no more firmnesse then that hath upon which they lean those that have but a weak prop to support them when that falls they fall together with it Now those that are not founded upon Christ by knowledge and love and united to him by faith alas what standing have they when all things else besides God are vain For nothing hath a being but God and a Christian so far as he leans upon God Were not all things taken out of nothing and shall not they all turn to nothing must not this whole world be consumed with fire There must be a new world a new heaven and a new earth but this and all the excellencies in it as they were raised out of nothing so they shall come to nothing God he is I am that I am saith he and Christ he is yesterday to day to morrow and the same for ever A man cannot say of any creature in the world that it was yesterday and shall be to morrow and for ever We may say it of Christ he is Alpha and Omega the first and the last he was and is and is to come and therefore those that are founded upon him that have their happinesse in him they are firm as he is firm and those that build upon any other thing they vanish as the thing vanisheth There is nothing in the world hath such a Being but it is subject in time not to be it is onely a Christian that is in Christ who is as firm as Christ is and Christ can never be but that which he is for of necessity God must be alwayes like himself he is Jehovah I am I am at all times and Christ he is Jehovah A Christian therefore and none but a Christian hath a firm stablishing in Christ. Without this stablishing in Christ what are we what are wicked men Chaffe that the wind blowes away they are grasse c. things of nothing carried away with every blast but a Christian is a stone a rock built upon Christ Jesus But to come to the Person who it is that stablisheth He that stablisheth us in Christ is God Wherein we may consider these two Branches God must stablish God will stablish Can none stablish the soul upon Christ but God No For God is the onely maker of the Marriage between Christ and the Church The same God that brought Adam and Eve together in Paradise brings the Church and Christ together And as he gives Christ to the Church and hath sealed and appointed him to be wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption being made of God unto us for that purpose as the Apostle saith so he works the consent of the Church a consent in heart and spirit to take and embrace Christ. Now it is God onely that can work the heart to Christ None can come unto me except God the Father draw him It is God that gives Christ to be the husband of the Church and that brings the Spouse the Church to Christ. For first it is God by his Spirit that discovers to the soul its hideous desperate and woful estate without Christ and by the Spirit in the Ministery of the Word layes open the riches and excellency that is in Christ and the firmnesse and stability that is to be had in him and so drawes us with the Cords of a man
the sweetnesse of his spirit joynes us with you he saith not you with us but as if they were as firmly set in Christ as himself he saith us with you he puts them together with himself for indeed all of us one with another weak Christians and strong Christians fetch all that we have from one Fountain draw all from one Spring are led all by one Spirit You have here also the Character of a sound Christian he loves and values all Christians A carnal man may value excellent Christians that have excellent parts of whom he hopes for kindnesse in some peculiar regard but he loves not all the Saints Love to all Christians as they be Christians because they have some anointing of the Spirit some earnest somewhat they have to be valued is a note of a good and sound Christian Another reason why he joynes us with you is to shew that the working of the Spirit it is not in the members severed from the body but as they are in the body The Spirit works in us but in us with you and in you with us that is as all the spirits come from the head and heart to the severall members of the body so they must be united they must be in the body before they can have the benefit of the spirits there must be an union with Christ the head and with the rest of the members before we can have the Spirit to strengthen us and anoint us those that rend themselves from the body cannot hope for stablishing from the head This should be a bond to ty us to the communion of Saints we have all that we have in the body we all grow in the body we are all stones in one building whereof Christ is the foundation therefore as stones in an Arch strengthen one another so should we Let us look for grace to be given in the communion of Saints it is an ill sign when any man will be a solitary Christian and will stand alone by himself As we are knit to Christ by faith so we must be knit to the communion of Saints by love That which we have of the Spirit is had in the communion of Saints It is worth ohserving the better to cherish Christian lovingnesse Thus you see the parts of this sentence in which we have the grace it self here spoken of Stablishing In whom we are stablished In Christ. By whom by God And who those are that are stablished Us with you To make now some Application of all If it be God that stablisheth us let us make this Use of it Let God have the glory of our stablishing If we have it in dependance upon God by Prayer let us return all by praise and thanksgiving all comes of his meer grace let all return to his meer glory Not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise It is the song of the Church on earth and the song of the Church triumphant in heaven that all glory be to God in all the whole carriage of salvation The promises are his stablishing is his that he would make a Covenant it is his that he will perform his Covenant to us it is his that he will enable us to perform the Covenant it is by his strength all is his therefore both the Church here and the Church in heaven our song should be Great and gracious and merciful is the true God that is so gracious and righteous in all his promises Let us labour I beseech you for stablishing especially in these times Is it not a shame that we have gotten no more ground now then we had threescore yeares ago nay that we rather call principles into question The Pope hath been Antichrist and Traditions have been accounted Traditions and not equal with the Word what shall we now stagger in the foundation is here our progresse Oh beloved labour to be stablished in the present truth that you may not be a prey for every subtile man And here especially I would speak to the younger sort that they should labour for this stablishing betimes before they be engaged in the world and before other businesses possesse them over-deeply for falshood hath more correspondency and suits better with our corruption specially if it be forced from subtil wits it prevailes much with unstable dispositions those that are uncatechized and ungrounded they are soon led away and therefore with other studies we should study the truth and remember that our best calling is to be a Christian and our best honour to be able to stand for the truth we professe Labour to have fundamental graces established and then all will be stablished if the root be strengthened the tree stands fast radical graces must be strengthened First Humility The foundation of Religion is very low and humility and abasing is in all parts of Religion every grace hath a mixture of humility because our graces are from God they are dependences Now humility is an emptying grace and acknowledgeth that in my self I am nothing Spiritual poverty with humility acknowledgeth that I in my self am a dependent creature if God withhold his influence if God withdraw his grace I shall be as other men as Sampson when his hair was cut Our strength is in God altogether Let us pray that we may be humble God gives grace to the humble When I am weak saith blessed S. Paul then I am strong that is when I am humble and feel and acknowledge my weaknesse then I am strong or else a man is not strong when he is weak but when he feeles and acknowledgeth his weaknesse Therefore let us labour to grow in humility and self-denial and we shall grow in strength Then again another radical grace to be stablished is Faith Depend upon God altogether for considering our strength is out of our selves and faith being a grace that goes out of our selves and layes hold of that that is out of our selves faith is necessary to our stablishing Believe and ye shall be stablished saith the Prophet Though the Promise be sure in it self yet we must be established by faith How doth God stablish us by working a spirit of faith therefore strengthen faith strengthen all other graces all have their issue from faith And faith comes from sound knowledge knowledge therefore hath the name of faith This is eternal life to know thee strengthen and increase knowledge Historical faith is nothing but knowledge when we know the Word of God to be as it is and that is the ground of justifying faith and dependance For the more I know God in Covenant as he hath revealed himself and the more I know the promise and the more I know Christ the more I shall depend upon him and trust in him They that know thy Name will trust in thee Psal. 9. Therefore let us labour for certainty of knowledge that we may have certainty of faith What is the reason that our faith is weak because men
When a man is without grace he goes lumpishly and heavily about the service of God he is drawen and forced to prayer and to hearing and to conference and meditation he is dead and dull and frozen to good works but when a man hath received this sweet anointing of the Spirit his heart is enlarged to all duties whatsoever he is prepared to every good work Again oyl makes chearefull so doth grace it makes chearful in adversity chearfull in death chearful in those things that dismay the spirits of other men so much grace so much joy for even as light and heat follow the fire so the spirit of joy doth follow this spiritual anointing Conscience of the interest he hath in the favour of God in Christ and the evidences of grace stamped upon his heart an assurance of a better estate in the world to come wonderfully enlarge the soul with spiritual joy that which makes a man lumpish and heavy and earthly is not the Spirit of God the Spirit of God is a Spirit of joy and it puts a gracious chearfulnesse in the heart of a Christian if there be mourning it is that it may be more chearful for light is sowen to the righteous sometimes in mourning God loves a chearful giver and a chearful thanksgiver all must be sweetened with chearfulnesse now this comes from the Spirit of God and he that is anointed with the Spirit in some measure partakes of spiritual joy and chearfulnesse Againe ointment you know is of a healing nature as Balme and other sweet ointments have a healing power and vertue the Scripture makes mention of the Balme of Gilead so grace hath a healing power repentance that is of a purging spiritual joy of a healing nature there must you know be first a cleansing and then a healing and strengthening so some graces are purgative and cleansing some againe are strengthening and healing repentance is a good purgation it carries away the malignant and evill matter but the Cordial that strengthens the soul is joy The joy of the Lord is your strength Nehem. 8. and so the grace of faith and love tend to cherrish and corroborate the soul so that I say these graces this Balme of the Spirit hath a special Soveraign power to heale us to heale us both from the guilt of sin and from the dominion and rule and filthy stain of sin it hath both a purging and a Cordial vertue Thus you see that upon good grounds the graces of Gods Spirit that he communicates to the Elect and only to them that are in Christ they are called anointing and they will have the effect of an ointment in us if we receive this anointing Let us therefore try our selves by these whether we be anointed or no what chearfulnesse is there what joy what strength what nimblenesse to that which is good what soveraignty hath grace in our hearts you have a company that professe Religion but make it serve their owne turne that make heaven to come under earth that make the service of God to stoop to other ends Beloved grace it is a superiour thing and Religion makes all subordinate Grace and Religion wheresoever it is in truth is of a ruling nature and so it is sweet and it is strong wheresoever it is it is curing and purging and cleansing wheresoever it is therefore I beseech you let us not deceive our selves I need say no more of the Point you may enlarge it in your own meditations I come to the persons As this anointing hath reference to the ointment so it hath relation to the persons that were anointed Now the persons anointed were first dedicated by anointing they were consecrated to God and separated from the world And as they were dedicated and separated so they were dignified by this anointing it raised them above the common condition And likewise with this anointing God gave them qualifications suitable You have three eminent persons that were anointed and so raised above the common condition of other men Prophets to teach the people Priests to offer sacrifice Kings to govern them Now Christ is principally all these He is the principal Prophet of his Church the Angel of the Covenant He is Logos the Word because as the inward word the mind of a man is known by the outward word so Christ is called the Word because as a Prophet he discovers his Fathers mind and makes known his Fathers will unto us And he is the great high Priest he makes atonement between God and us he stands between his Father and us And he is the great King of his Church that rescues it from all its enemies to protect and defend it But as Christ hath received this anointing primarily and above his fellows yet as I said before he hath received it for his fellows Every Christian hath his anointing from Christs anointing all our graces and all our oyatment is derived from him He saith the Appostle Rev. 1. hath loved us and washed us in his blood he loved us first which is the cause of all and then he washed us in his blood he did not onely shed his blood for us but he washed us in his blood he hath applied his blood to our souls and by applying that and sprinkling it upon our souls he hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father And indeed the great King of heaven and earth he is and will be attended upon by none but Kings and Priests he hath no servants but such as are anointed he is followed of none but eminent persons such as are separated from the world and dignified above all other people for the glory of his followers tends to his honour therefore those whom God chuseth to be his atendants he qualifies them gives them the hearts of Kings royal qualifications and the hearts of Priests and the hearts of Prophets But this in the general To shew it therefore in particulars A Christian is anointed he is a person severed from the world dedicated to God and dignified above others and that from good reason because God hath given him an inward qualification which is the foundation of all And first he is a true Prophet for he hath received the anointing of the Spirit 1 Joh. 2. whereby he is enabled to discern of things he knowes what is true honour to be the child of God he knowes what is true riches Grace he knowes what is true Nobility to be born of God what is true pleasure Peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost he can discern between seeming and reall things and onely he that hath received this anointing of the Spirit And again as a Prophet he knowes not onely the things but the doing of the things he hath with the anointing of the Spirit ability to do that which he knowes the grace of God teacheth him not onely the duty that he should live justly and soberly and godly but teacheth him to do the things for God writes his Lawes in
onely so but he sealed him by many miracles by the resurrection from the dead by which he was declared to be the Son of God by the calling of the Gentiles and by many other things Christ being sealed he sealed all that he did for our redemption with his blood and for the strengthening of our faith he hath added outward seales the two Sacraments to seal our faith in this blood and in him who is sealed of the Father But here in this place is meant another manner of sealing for here is not meant the sealing of Christ but the sealing of us that have communion with Christ. The same Spirit that sealed the Redeemer seales the redeemed What is our Sealing Sealing we know hath this use First of all it doth imprint a likenesse of him that doth seal upon the wax that is sealed as when the Kings Picture or Image is stamped or sealed upon the wax every thing in the wax answers to that in the seal face to face eye to eye hand to hand foot to foot body to body So we are said to be sealed when we carry in our soules the Image of Jesus Christ for the Spirit sets the stamp of Jesus Christ upon every Christian so that there is the likenesse of Christ in all things understanding answers understanding in proportion as a child you know answers the father it hath limb for limb foot for foot finger for finger but it is not in quantity but in proportion and likenesse so it is in the soul that is sealed by the Spirit there is a likenesse to Christ something of every grace of Christ there is understanding of the same heavenly supernatural truths there is a judging of things as Christ judgeth and the affections go as Christs do he loves that which Christ loves and he hates that which he hates he joyes in that which Christ delights in Every affection of the soul is carried that way that the affections of our blessed Saviour are carried in proportion Every thing in the soul is answerable to Jesus Christ and there is no grace in Christ but there is the like in every Christian in some small measure the Obedience of Christ to his Father even to the death it is in every Christian the Humility whereby Christ abased himself it is in every Christian. Christ works in the soul that receiveth him a likenesse to himself And this is an undoubted Character of a Christian The soul that believes in Christ doth not onely believe in him for his own sake to be forgiven of his sins but together with believing feeling the forgivenesse of his sins and that Christ hath so loved him and done such things for him he is ambitious to expresse Christ in all things and it stirres him up with desire to be like him for thinks he is there such love in Christ to me and is there such grace and mercy in God to me and was Christ so good as to do and to suffer such things for me Oh how shall I improve things for him Oh that I might be like him lovely in his eyes This I say must needs be so these desires are undoubtedly universally in the soules of all those that partake of Christ it is the nature of the thing to be so we shall desire to be transformed more and more to Christ Every way to bear the Image of the second Adam who is as the Apostle saith from heaven heavenly and so shall we be heavenly-minded as he was heavenly-minded on earth talking and discoursing of the Kingdome of Heaven and sitting people for the Kingdome of heaven and drawing others from this world to meditate of a better estate there is a likenesse to these in the soul of every believer and that 's the reason that Christs Offices are put together in all those that he saves that look whosoever he is a Priest to to dye for their sins to them he is a Prophet to teach them and a King to subdue their corruptions and to change them and alter them and to rule them by his Spirit You have carnal men in presumption which leads them to destruction they sever things in Christ they will take benefit by Christ but they care not for his likenesse they will have him as a Priest but they respect him not as a King Now all that are Christs have the stamp of the Spirit upon them there are desires wrought in them by the Spirit of God to that purpose and a Spirit of Sanctification that makes them every way like Christ in their proportion And that is an evidence of the sealing of such a soul because the soul of it self hath no such impression for the soul of it self is a barren Wildernesse a stone that is cold and uncapable of impression when therefore the soul can command nature being stiffe and hard and dead we see an impression of a higher nature a man may know that undoubtedly the Spirit of God hath been in this soul for we see a loving spirit an humble spirit a gracious a believing a broken spirit an obedient spirit to every commandment of God the soul can yield it self wholly to the will of God in all things certainly I say the Spirit of God hath been here for these things grow not in a natural soul. A stone you know is cold by nature and if a man feel a stone to be hot a man may undeniably gather Certainly the Sun hath shined upon this stone Our hearts are very cold by nature undoubtedly when they are warmed with the love of God that they are made plyable to duties the Sun of righteousnesse Christ hath shined on this cold heart Gods Spirit can work on Marble can work on Brasse as Jeremy saith It was the commendations of one of the Fathers that he could work on Brasse God can work on our soules which are as brasse and make an impression of grace there and therefore when a man sees an impression upon such hard mettal certainly he may know that the finger of Gods Spirit hath been there So that the work of Sanctification is an undoubted feal of the Spirit of God A second use of a Seal is Distinction Seales are given for distinguishing for you know sealing is a stamp set upon some few out of many so this sealing of the Spirit it distinguisheth Christians from others as we shall see more at large afterwards Then again a Seal it serves for Appropriation for men seal those things that are their own Merchants seal those Wares that they either have or mean to have a right unto Men seal their own sheep and not others and stamp their own Wares and not others God here stoops so low as to make use of terms that are used in humane matters and contracts and by sealing he shewes that he hath appropriated his own to himself chosen and singled them out for himself to delight in Again sealing further serves to make things authentical to give authority and excellency to
things Magistrates and Officers go with their broad Seal and deliver things that they would have carried with authority sealed and the Seal of the Prince is the authority of the Prince so that a Seal is to make things authentical to give validity to things answerable to the value and esteem of him that seales These four principal uses there is of sealing Now God by his Spirit doth all these for God by his Spirit sets the stamp and likenesse of Christ upon us he distinguisheth us from others from the great refuse of the world he appropriates us to himself and like wise he authorizeth us and puts an excellency upon us to secure us against all when we have Gods Seal upon us we stand against all accusations Who shall separate us from the love of God we dare defâ⦠all objections and all accusations of conscience whatsoever a man that hath Gods Seal he stands impregnable it so authorizeth him in his conscience for it is given us for our assurance and not for Gods God seales not because he is ignorant He knowes who are his But what is the Spirit it self this seal or the graces of the Spirit or the comforts of the Spirit what is this seal for that is the question now whether the Spirit it self or the work of the Spirit or the comfort and joy of the Spirit I answer indeed the Spirit of God where it is is a sufficient seal to us that God hath set us out for his for whosoever hath the Spirit of Christ is his and whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his but the Spirit is the Authour of this sealing and the sealing that is in us is wrought by the Spirit so that except you take the Spirit for that which is wrought by the Spirit you have not the right comprehension of sealing and so the Spirit with that which the Spirit works is the seal for the Spirit is alway with his own seal with his own stamp Other seales are removed from the stamp and the stamp remains though the seal be gone but the Spirit of God dwells and keeps a perpetual residence in the heart of a Christian guiding him moving him enlightning of him governing him comforting him doing all offices of a seal in his heart till he have brought him to heaven for the Holy Ghost never leaves us it is the sweetest inhabitant that ever lodging was given to he doth all that is done in the soul and he is perpetually with his own work in joy and comfort though he seems sometimes to be in a corner of the heart and is not discernable yet he alway dwells in us the Spirit is alwayes with the stamp it sets upon the soul. What is that stamp then to come to the matter more particularly what is that that the Spirit seales us with especially what is that work I answer the Spirit works in this order for the most part and in some of these universally First the Spirit doth together with the Word which is the instrument of the Spirit the Chariot in which it is carried convince us of the evil that is in us and of the ill estate we are in by reason thereof it convinceth us that we are sinners and of the fearful estate that we are in by sin this is the first work of the Spirit on a man in the state of nature it convinceth us of the ill that is in us and of the ill due unto us and thereupon it abaseth us therefore it is called the Spirit of bondage because it makes a man tremble and quake till he see his peace in Christ. When the Spirit hath done that then it convinceth a man by a better by a sweeter light discovering a remedy in Christ who is sealed of God to reconcile God and us And as he enlightneth the soul convinceth it of the all-sufficiency that is in Christ and the authority that he hath being sent and sealed of God for that purpose so he works on the affections he inclines the heart to go to God in Christ and to cast himself on him by faith Now when the soul is thus convinced of the evil that is in us and of the good that is in Christ and with this convincing is enclined and moved by the holy Spirit as indeed the holy Spirit doth all then upon this the Spirit vouchsafeth a superadded work as the Spirit doth still adde to his own work he addes a confirming work which is here called Sealing that seal is not faith for the Apostle saith After you believed ye were sealed so that this sealing is not the work of faith but it is a work of the Spirit upon faith assuring the soul of its estate in grace But what need confirmation when we believe Is not faith confirmation enough when a man may by a reflect act of the soul know that he is in the state of grace by believing It is true as the natural conscience knows what is in a man as the natural judgment can reflect so the spiritual understanding can reflect and when he believes he knowes that he believes without the Spirit by the reflect act of the understanding except he be in case of temptaton what needs sealing then This act of ours in believing and the knowledge of our believing it is oft terribly shaken and God is wondrous desirous as we see by the whole passage of the Scripture that we should be secure of his love he knowes that he can have no glory and we can have no comfort else and rherefore when we by faith have sealed to his truth he knowes that we need still further sealing that our faith be current and good and to strengthen our faith for all is little enough in the time of temptation and therefore the single witnesse of our soul by the reflect act knowing that we do believe when we do believe it is not strong enough in great temptations for in some tryals the soul is so carried and hurried that it cannot reflect upon it self nor know what is in it self without much ado therefore first the Spirit works faith whereby we seal Gods truth Joh. 3. He that believes hath put to his seal that God is true when God by his Spirit moves me to honour him by sealing his truth that Whosoever believes in Christ shall be saved then God seales this my belief with an addition of his holy Spirit so that this sealing is a work upon believing and as faith honours God so God honours faith with a superadded seal and confirmation But yet we not come particularly enough to know what this Seal is When we honour God by sealing his truth then the Spirit seales us certainly then the Spirit doth it by presence by being with us in our soules What then doth the Spirit work when we believe How shall we know that there is such a spiritual sealing I answer the Spirit in this seaââ¦g works these four things First a secret voyce or
in the meanes of salvation and the more we conflict with our corruptions the more he increaseth the sweet comforts and the hidden Manna of the Spirit Thus we see how the Spirit seals I beseech you therefore let us examine our selves by that which hath been spoken after we believe God seales those that do believe we honour him by believeing he honours us by sealing us with his Spirit Hath God spoken to thy soul by the witnesse of the Spirit and said I am thy salvation thy sins are forgiven thee doth God stirre up thy spirit to call upon him especially in extremity and to go with boldnesse and earnestnesse to him surely this boldnesse and earnestnesse is an evidence of the seal of the Spirit for a man that hath no seal of the Spirit he cannot go to God in extremity Saul in extremity he goes to the Witch and Achitophel and Judas in extremity go to desperate conclusions a man that hath not the Spirit of God speaking peace to his conscience to whom God hath not given the Spirit of Adoption to cry Abba Father in all manner of exigents he sinââ¦ks as lead to the bottom of the sea so heavy is the soul that is not raised by the Spirit of God he hath no consistence till he come to the Centre to hell Did you ever feel the sweet joy of the Spirit after conflict with corruptions and getting ground of them and in holy duties c. it is a sign that God hath sealed you But you will say How can that be a seal that is not alwaies a seal cotinues with the thing Gods children find not peace alwaies the joy of the Spirit comes after the work of the Spirit how then can this be a seal I Answer Yes for howsoever it be or not alway sensible yet it is alway a seal though we have not alwaies the joy of the Spirit yet we have the Spirit of joy a Christian hath not the joy of the Spirit at all times for that is moveable but he hath alwaies the Spirit of joy which Spirit though it be not known by joy yet it is known by operation and working there is the work of the Spirit where there is not alwayes the joy of the Spirit and therefore when that fails go to the work of sanctification and see what stamp and resemblance of Christ there is see if thy heart be humble and broken if thou have a loving disposition in thee like to Christ that thou hatest that which Christ hateth that thou seest a division in thy self I say when the joy of the Spirit ceaseth go to the work of the Spirit and to this work of the Spirit viz. the voice of the Spirit canst thou cry to God with prayer and supplication and if thou canst not pray with distinct words canst thou mourne and groan to God this sighing and groaning is the voice of Gods Spirit and God knowes the voice of his own Spirit But for the question propounded the soul of a Christian knowes that when it findes not extraordinary comfort from Gods Spirit that Gods love is constant It can reason thus Though I find not the comfort of the Spirit yet I have the Spirit of Comfort because I had the Spirit in former times and Gods Spirit is unchangeable and therefore though it be not with me now as in those ravishings of the Spirit yet the love of God is the same though my feeling be not the same because though I be off and on and my feeling ebb and flow yet his love is not so and here upon the extraordinary feeling of the Spirit which is superadded as an extraordinary seal it may be a sound seal of Comfort from the constancy of God who gave it and he gave it for this end that we might have recourse and retire back in our thoughts and argue it was thus and thus with me then we remember the times of old as David saith Psal. 77. and help our selves with our former feelings he that alway hath life is not alwaies alike stirred Christ may be begotten and live in us but he stirs not alwaies alike so though the Spirit of sanctification be in us and stir in us yet his stirring is not alike so sweet and the stirring of the Spirit though it be not alway yet the Spirit is alway there so the soul may have recourse to that which is unchangeable and constant even God himself and his love is as himself But to take a Christian in his worst time in the worst and greatest afflictions how shall he know then that he is sealed of the Spirit when corruption temptation and affliction meet together in the soul when temptation is joyned with our corruption and afflictions yield ground to temptations for Satan useth the afflictions we are in as temptations to shake our faith Canst thou be a child of God and be so exercised is this grace so affliction is a weapon to temptation for Satan to help his fiery darts with Now how shall a man know that God hath any part here He may know that he is sealed by the Spirit of God if he have a spirit to thwart these if he row against the stream if he go contrary to all these if he find a spirit resisting Satans temptations and raising himself above afflictions and standing against and combating with his corruptions and checking his carnal soul when it is drawing him down Why art thou discomforted O my soul saith David Psal. 42. 43. He found corruptions and afflictions and Satans temptations working with them depressing his soul downwards hereupon having the Spirit in him saith he Why art thou disquieted within me trust in God He first chides his soul Why art thou so and then he layes a charge upon it trust in God So I say when this is in the soul in the greatest extremity when I can check my soul Why art thou thus yet trust in God whatsoever is in the world yet there is hope in heaven though there be little comfort upon earth this is a sign that I am sealed with the Spirit of God and thus in the worst temptations that can come and so in the worst times a man may know that he is in the state of grace One use of a seal I told you before was to distinguish if a man therefore find in himself a distinguishing from the errours of the times Many walk saith the Apostle of whom I have told you oft their end is damnation their belly is their god they mind earthly things but what did S. Paul in the mean time what did the Spirit work in him But our conversation is in heaven saith he The whole world was overspread with a deluge of sin but what was Noah and his family God by his Spirit distinguished them they went a contrary course to the world and Lot in Sodom so a man may know that he is sealed when the Spirit leads him another way that he is not led with the
errours of the times Thus we have unfolded to you the sealing of the Spirit and you see the Spirit of God not onely anoints but seales Now we should labour to have our hearts thus sealed by the Spirit Can we desire and never be at quiet till our Instruments be sealed till our acquittances till our Charters be sealed and shall we be patient not to have our soules sealed Let us labour by all means to have the Image and likenesse of Christ stamped upon our soules especially that is wondrous comfortable when we can find somewhat in us like to Jesus Christ. To encourage us to this let us consider that death and Judgment will come and God will set none at his right hand but his sheep that have his mark those that he sets his stamp and Image upon those he will set on the right hand in the day of Judgment And how comfortably in the hour of death can the soul commend it self to God when it sees it self stamped and sealed by the Spirit of Christ when he can say to Christ Lord Jesus receive my soul that thou hast redeemed by thy blood that thou hast sealed by thy Spirit and that thou hast set thine own stamp upon acknowledge thine own likenesse though it be not as it should be what a comfort I say hath the sealed soul at the hour of death and so in all other extremities and in times of trouble and danger those in whom God sees his own Image and likenesse he will own and to those he will alwayes shew a distinct and respective love in hard times What a difference is between that soul and others in the time of affliction as in the time of pestilence and war the soul that is sealed knowes that he is marked out for God for happinesse in the world to come whatsoever befalls him in this world and he knowes that God in all confusion of times knowes his own seal those that are sealed God hath a speciall care of I say therefore in Ezek. 9. they are said to be marked in their foreheads not that there was any visible mark on them but it is a phrase to signifie what speciall care God had of his people specially in times of destruction God will as it were set them out in those times and make special provision for them thus Josiah was taken away from the evill to come and Lot was taken out of Sodom when fire and brimstone was to come from heaven and Pella a little Village was delivered when the general destruction came upon Jerusalem So that I say God hath a speciall care of his little ones in this life and if he take them away yet their death is precious in his sight He will not part with them but upon special consideration he sees if they live it will be worse for them he sees it is better for them to be gathered to himself and to the soules of men made perfect in heaven And as he hath a special care of them in regard of outward miseries and calamities so in regard of spiritual contagion and infection as Rev 7. there Gods holy ones were sealed so many of such a tribe c. which is to signifie to us that God hath alwayes some that he will keep and preserve from the universal infection and contagion of Antichrist in the worst times God hath alwayes a Church in the worst times in the obscurest ages of the Church eight or nine hundred years after Christ especially nine hundred years when Egyptian darknesse had overspread the world and there was little learning and goodnesse in the world God had alwayes sealed ones marked ones that he preserved from the danger of dark times and so he will alwayes have a care of his own that they be not led away with that soul-hurting errour Popery another manner of mischief then men take it for The Scripture is more punctual in setting down the danger of those especially in lighter times of the Church that are carried away with that sin then any other sin whatsoever they have a contrary mark those that have the mark of the Beast it is contrary to the mark of Christ it is far from being the mark and seal of the Spirit that implicite bloody faith Theirs is the bloody Church pretend what they will and they stand out to blood in the defence of all their cruel superstitious and bloody decrees Those persons I say that are deeply died in Popery that have the mark of the Beast they are in a clean opposite condition to those that are marked with the Spirit that Christ marks for his Let us not fear therefore I say if we have the Spirit of God stamped upon us though in a little measure if it be true let us not fear death Christ knowes his own mark even in death and out of death And let us not fear afflictions nor evil times Christ will know his seal He hath a book of remembrance for those that are his Mal. 3. for those that mourn for the sins of the times and when he gathers his Jewels those shall be his he will gather his Jewels as a man in his house gathers his jewels he suffers his luggage to burn in the fire so God in common calamities he suffers luggage wicked men to go to wrack but he will free his own Let us labour therefore for this seal to have our soules stamped with the Spirit of God to have further and further evidence of our state in grace that in the time of common calamity we may be free from danger free from errour and destruction But you will say What shall I account of it if there be but a little sign of grace Be not discouraged when the stamp in wax is almost out it is currant in Law put the case the stamp of the Prince be an old coyn as sometimes we see it on a King Harry groat yet it is currant money yea though it be a little crackt So put tbe case the stamp of the Spirit be as it were almost worn out it is our shame and ought to be our grief that it is so yet there are some evidences some pulses some sighes and groans against corruption we mourn in our spirits we do not joyn with corruption we do not allow our selves in sin there is the stamp of the Spirit remaining though it be overgrown with the dust of the world that we cannot see it Sometimes Gods children though they have the graces of the Spirit in them yet they yield so much to their corruptions that they can read nothing but their corruptions when we bid them read their evidences they can see nothing but worldlinesse nothing but pride and envy c. though there be a stamp on them yet God holds the soul from seeing it so that they can see nothing but corruption this is for their negligence God gives them up to mistake their estates because they will not stirre up the graces of the Spirit
case it be in a dungeon if he have a little light shining into him from a little crevice that little light discovers that the Day is broke that the Sun is risen Put the case there be but one grape on a vine it shewes that it is a vine and that the vine is not dead So put the case there be but the appearance of but a little grace in a Christian perhaps the Spirit of God appeares but in one grace in him at that time yet that one grace sheweth that we are vines and not thistles or thorns or other base plants and it shewes that there is life in the root The Spirit of God appears not in all graces at once it appears some time or other in some one grace We see in plants the vertue of them appears diversly In Winter the vertue of them lyes in the root In the spring-time in the bud and the leaf In the Summer in the fruit it is not in all parts alike so it is with the Spirit as it is an Earnest it appears not in all graces in a flourishing manner at the first sometimes it appears in the root in humility sometimes in faith sometimes in love sometimes in one grace sometimes in another though the Spirit be in every grace yet in appearance to a mans self and others it appeares but in one An Earnest is little especially at the first Weak Christians therefore should not be discouraged Despise not the day of little things there is cause of mourning we that have received the first fruits of the Spirit we mourn because we have but the first-fruits and we would have the full harvest but as there is cause of mourning because we have but the first-fruits so there is cause of comfort because it is the first-fruits it is an Earnest onely and not the whole bargain therefore we have cause of mourning that it is so imperfect that it is so weak as it is yet there is cause of comfort because though it is not the whole yet is a part and secures us of the whole And therefore Christians should labour to mingle duties and let one grace qualifie another For indeed a Christian is a mixed Creature his comforts are mixed and his mourning is mixed With a carnal man it is all otherwise if he mourn he is all a mort because he hath no goodnesse if he joy he is mad his mirth is madnesse A Christian joyes indeed some times he hath joy unspeakable and glorious because he looks to his hope and the accomplishment of it and yet he mourns because he hath but the Earnest because he hath but the beginnings because he hath but the first-fruits here And therefore again as it should comfort us if we have any thing so it should exhort us to examine rather the truth then the measure of any grace we have examined the truth it is the truth of this Earnest the truth of grace and comfort it is an excellent speech of our Saviour Christ in Rev. 3. to the Church of Philadelphia in verse 8. Because thou hast a little strength and hast kept my Word and hast not denyed my Name there is a great promise made to the Church of Philadelphia and why Because thou hast a little strength how is that discovered Thou hast kept my Word and hast not denyed my Name So then if that little be true God respects not that little as it is little in quantity but as he means to make it ere long he looks upon the Earnest as he means to make up the bargain he looks upon the foundation as he means to rear up a goodly building he looks upon the first-fruits as he means to adde the harvest and therefore Ephes. 1. and other places We are elected to be holy and blamelesse in his sight So Ephes. 5. latter end He purgeth the Church that she may be presented to him without spot So Christ looks upon his Church as he is purging and washing till he have made it holy in his sight We are elected not to Earnest not to first-fruits but to be unblameable we are elected to perfection it is the comfort of Christians that God looks upon his not as they are imperfect here but as they are in beginning and as they are growing and as he intends to bring them to perfection afterwards For all things are present we know to him the time to come what we shall be he considers us as if we were in heaven already we are in our degree and in our faith So now we sit in heavenly places therefore as he looks on us as we shall be so faith answers his looking when we are framed by the Spirit to comfort faith looks not upon the weak Earnest the poor beginnings but as we shall be after in heaven without spot and wrinckle I but how shall we know the truth of his Earnest that it is true though it be little To speak a word or two of that for tryal Where the Spirit of God is with the relation of an Earnest he is as an Earnest by way of grace and comfort for those two wayes the Spirit discovers himself in us to sanctifie our nature or by comfort and peace and joy and such like Then it doth stir up the soul to mourn that is but an Earnest as I said before and to wait for the accomplishment as the Apostle saith in Rom. 8. We that have received the first-fruits of the Spirit mourn in our selves that it is no better with us then it is and withal We wait for the redemption of the sons of God the adoption of the sons of God we wait for the accomplishment hereafter it is the nature therefore of the Spirit of God as it is an Earnest to stirre up the spirits of Gods children to mourn something and likewise to wait patiently to wait for the full accomplishment hereafter and as a fruit of their waiting to endure quietly patiently and comfortably that which is between the Earnest and the accomplishment of it and therefore God gives them the grace of hope and constancy and of perseverance till all be accomplished for there is the tediousnesse of time between which is irk some hope deferred and a tediousnesse of deferring and besides many afflictions withal Now Gods children that have the Earnest of the Spirit they have a spirit likewise to wait and that they may be strengthened to wait they have the Spirit of Constancy a Spirit of patience to endure trouble and to persevere and to hold out in regard of the tediousnesse of the time So that they may not give over religious courses though they have it not fully here but go on still and wait And likewise those that have the Earnest of the Spirit that have the Spirit as it hath this qualification upon it of an Earnest it stirres them up to frame themselves answerable to the full ccaomplishment for He that hath
God alone with that but above all beg of God that he would encrease in us and renew the Earnest and the stamp of the Spirit that we may have somewhat in our soules wherein we may see the Evidences of a Christian estate I might adde many things to this purpose but this is sufficient to any Judicious Christian to encourage us to labour for the Spirit above all things in the world all other are but grasse but fading but grace and glory grace and peace and joy nay the very Earnest of the Spirit is better then all earthly things for the Earnest of it is joy unspeakable and glorious and peace that passeth all understanding If the Promise and the Earnest here be so I beseech you what shall the accomplishment of the promise be if the Promises laid hold on by faith so quicken and cheer the soul and if the giving a teste of heaven lift a Christians spirit above all earthly discouragements what shall it be when the Spirit shall be all in all in us if the Earnest be so comfortable But I go on to the next Verse VERSE XXIII Moreover I call God to record upon my soul that to spare you I came not yet to Corinth IN this Verse the Apostle labours to remove suspition of levity and inconstancy there were jealousies in the minds of the Corinthians which were also fomented by some vain-glorious Teachers amongst them that laboured to undermine S. Paul in the hearts of the Corinthians as if he had not loved the Corinthians so well as they did therefore he is so carefull to clear himself in their thoughts from suspition of inconstancy and want of love to them because suspition grounded upon the lightnesse in his carriage might reflect upon his doctrine He knew well enough the malice of mans nature and therefore he is very curious and industrious to make a clear passage for himself into the hearts of these Corinthians by all means possible as we heard in part out of the 17. Verse Moreover I call God to record c. Saint Paul is here purging himself still to clear himself First he labours to clear himself from the suspition of inconstancy and want of love to them in not coming Secondly he sets down the true cause why he did not come I came not to spare you You were much to blame in many things and among the rest of the abominations among you you cherished the incestuous person and many of you doubted of the resurrection I should have been very severe if I had come therefore I came net to spare you hoping that my letter would work upon your spirits so that I need not be severe to you therefore do not suspect that for any ill mind I came not for it was to spare you that I might not be forced to be severe Then the third thing is the sealing of this speech with a serious oath I call God for record upon my soul that I came not to spare you So here is the wââ¦ping away of suspition And the setting down the true cause why he did not come And the ratifying and confirming it by an oath he makes his purgation here by an oath These three things I will briefly touch First of all you see here he avoids suspition of lightnesse which the Corinthians had of him partly by the false suggestion of proud Teachers among them who fomented their suspitious dispositions because they would weaken S. Paul's esteem among the Corinthians they had a conceit he was an uncertain man he promised to come and did not now here he declines that suspition Where first Observe these two things briefly First that the nature of man is inclined to suspition And secondly that it is the duty of men to avoid it as much as may be and to wipe it away if it cannot be avoided Mans nature is prone to suspition Mans nature is prone to suspect ill of another though never so good Christ could not avoid it because he conversed sociably with other men he was thought to be a Wine-bibber a companion of sinners And God himself was suspected of Adam in innocency the Devil is so cunning that he calls God himself into question as if he had not meant so well to him What will that impudent spirit do that will bring the creature in suspition of him that is goodnesse it self God knowes that when you eat your eyes shall be open and you shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Do you think that he intends you any good in forbidding you to eat c He did not spare Christ innocency it self cloathed with mans flesh and will he spare to bring uncharitable suspitions upon others surely he will not And then mans nature of it self is prone to suspect and think ill of another From many grounds Sometimes out of experience of the common infirmities thnt men meet with in the world out of the experience of the falshood of men they are many times prone to suspition But most commonly it is out of guiltinesse that men think ill of others because others have cause to think ill of them none are so prone to suspition as those that are worst themselves because they judge others by their own hearts The better sort of people think of others as they are and as they deserve themselves but others because they are naught they think others are so because they deserve ill they think others have deserved an ill opinion of them so many times it comes of guilt because we are not as we should be Then again it ariseth from a guilty conscience in another respect we think because men have cause though they have no wrong to themselves yet because our own hearts tell us we are ill we suspect them So from an uncharitable disposition and guiltinesse of conscience it oft-times comes Then again sometimes from the concurrence of probabilities the suiting of circumstances that makes things somewhat probable whereupon suspition may be fastened Sometimes when there is a concurrence of probabilities of the likelihood of things there suspition is prone to rise for suspition is not a determining of a thing it is but a slight kind of conceit it is more then a fear and lesse then judgment of a thing It is more then fear for he that fears suspects not suspition is a degree to judgment it doth not fully judge for then it were not suspition it is more then fear suspects not but fears It conceives slightly that such a thing should be done and yet he dares not say it is done Suspition is nothing else but an inclination of the soul to think and imagine ill of another a looking curiously under a thing or person As we use to say Envy pries into things an envious person searcheth so a suspitious person looks under to see if he can see matter of ill to fasten his ill soul upon So it inclines the soul to think
that the Romish Religion indeed is nothing but a meer carnal devillish policy to bring others to be subject to them and to make not only Kings and Princes but to make God and Christ and the Scriptures whatsoever is divine or humane to make all to serve their aimes What do they with Christ but under the Name of Christ serve themselves What do they with the Church but under the name of the Church carry their own ends What do they with the names of Saints and Angels Peter Mary c. but under a plausible pretence carry their own ends and set up a visible greatnesse in this world answerable to the Cesarian Monarchy This is plain and evident to all that will see that it is so and one main way to attain their ends is to rule over the conscience And that they may help all the better forward they have raised in the Church a kind of faith which they call an implicite and infolded faith that people must believe what the Church teacheth though they know not in particular what the Church teacheth and so they lead people hoodwinck'd whither they please themselves To make some Use of it briefly Let us labour to blesse God that hath freed us from this spiritual tyranny O beloved it is a great tyranny when conscience is awaked to be racked and tormented and stung by Scorpions to have conscience tormented with Popish errours as in the point of satisfaction the most of them if their eyes be open they dye with terrour O it is a blessed liberty that we are brought out of Antichristian darknesse that we know we believe and upon what termes we believe and are taught to submit our conscience only to the blessed truth of God that the soul it is the bed as it were only for Christ and his holy Spirit to dwell in and to lodge in and that no man may force the conscience with any opinion of his own further then it is demonstrated out of the Word of God what a sweet inlargement of Spirit do we live in now and our unthankfulnesse perhaps may occasion God to bring us in some degree of Popish darknesse again I beseech you let us stand for the liberty of Christ and the liberty of our consciences against the spirituall tyrant of soules Let us maintain our liberty by all we can by all lawes and execution of lawes by all that may uphold our spirituall liberty for there is no bondage to that of the soul. Do but a little consider the misery of the implicite faith that the Popish sort are under that infolded inwrapped faith wherein they are bound to believe without searching what the Church determines Hereupon they swallow in all doctrines that tend to superstition that tend to rebellion that tends to treason they swallow up all under this implicite faith as if God had set an Ordinance and Ministery in the Church against himself as if he had advanced any Ministery against his own Ordinance When you think of Popery consider not so much particular dotages as about Images and Transubstantiation and Reliques c. but consider the very life and soul of Popery in this opinion the leading errour of all others the tyranny over soules of people and holding them in blindnesse and darknesse It is not a device of mine do but read the Council of Trent in some editions There the late Pins Quartus that sate there daily he made more Articles then the Apostles distinct not proved by Scripture he made Articles of his own to be believed people were tied upon the necessity of salvation to believe them and to believe them with that faith that is due to Scripture And it is a common tenent among them Every man is bound to be under the authority of the Church of Rome under peril of damnation There is the grand errour that 't is a matter necessary to salvation to be under their tyranny Hereby they excommunicated all the Eastern Churches and all former times wherein they were not undes the Romane tyranny for that is but of late six hundred years since they condemned S. Cyprian's time and other times And they made Articles of Religion and established them with this censure that upon pain of damnation men must believe these things as well as the Articles of the Creed As Transubstantiation Invocation of Saints Purgatory and such things they are so many Articles indeed as I say they have more Articles then the twelve Articles of the Apostles We say an errour in the foundation it is not mended after and the first concoction if it be naught all after are naught if there be not good concoction in the stomack at the first the blood is naught and all is naught So this is a fundamental errour and a ground of all errours that they hold they cannot erre and hereupon they come to tyrannize over the consciences and soules of people Therefore I say let us blesse God that hath set our soules in spiritual liberty that now we see God in the face of Christ now we see the means of salvation we see the bread of life broken to us we see Christ unveiled we see what to found our consciences upon we cannot be sufficiently thankful for this Thankfull we may be for the peace of the Kingdome that we have so long a time enjoyed and for the outward prosperity we have so long had But above all be thankful for the peace of Religion for the peace of conscience for the liberty of soul that we enjoy And as I said if any thing move God to strip us of all it will be our unthankfulnesse and our practice witnessing our unthankfulnesse by valuing no more the blessed estate of the Gospel we enjoy Not that we have dominion over your faith This disposition to domineer over the faith of others from abominable grounds it ariseth Partly from pride and tyranny that they would set themselves in the Temple of Christ where he should rule in the hearts of his people And partly out of idlenesse they raise the credit of their own Traditions that they may not be forced to take the labour of instructing the people therefore they fasten a greater vertue upon outward things then there can be only to avoid the labour of instruction And then it riseth partly from guilt they are so in their lives especially if they be looked inwardly into as that they cannot endure the knowledge of people They are afraid that people should know much lest they know them too well and their courses and errours So partly from pride and partly from idlenesse and sloath and partly from guilt they domineer over the faith of Gods people But are helpers of your joy The end of the Ministery is not to tyrannize over peoples soules to sting and vex them but to minister comfort to be helpers of their joy that is to help their salvation and happinesse which is here termed joy because joy is a principal
ready to any action This I mention onely as a ground A Christian that hath given his name to Christ is either in a state of joy or else should labour for it The second which is the main is That The Word of God as it is unfolded is that that helps this joy We are helpers of your joy we Ministers S. Paul spake of himself as a Minister The Word of God is a helper of joy especially as it is unfolded considered as it is dispensed in the Ministery You know the Word of God it is called The Word of reconciliation because it doth unfold the Covenant between God and us It is called The Word of the Kingdom The Word of life c. which all are causes of joy therefore the Word breeds joy Psal. 19. 8. One commendation of the Statures of God is that They comfort the heart and refresh the heart He followes the commendations of the Word at large The Statutes of God are perfect converting the soul The Testimonies of God are sure making wise the simple And among the rest of the commendations as a commendation issuing from the rest The Statutes of God are right rejoycing the heart The Word of God is a Cordial especially to refresh and solace the heart Saint Paul Rom. 15. 4. makes it the scope of the Word Whatsoever was written afore-time was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope So likewise 1 Cor. 14. He that Prophesieth speaketh to men to edification to exhortation and to comfort He that prophesieth that unfoldeth the Word he speaketh to men to edification to exhortation and to comfort So the end of the Word and the end of prophesying the Ministery of the Word is to help our joy our comfort to support us against all ills eithert felt or feared by greater arguments then the ill is For that is to comfort and rejoyce to make any to joy it is to support the soul against all grievance either spiritual or outward either felt or feared and that from stronger arguments then the grievances are If they be equally poized it is no comfort if the comfort be inferiour it is no comfort As the Heathen man complained of those comforts he had I know not how it is but the Physick I have to cure the grievance of my mind it yields to the malice of the disease the disease is above the cure So it is true of all Philosophical comforts that are fetched out of the shop of nature the Physick yields to the disease the malady or disease exceeds the remedy therefore there is no comfort Comfort is when the inward support is greater and stronger then the grievance is whatsoever it be Now such comfort must onely be fetched out of the Word The Scripture is a common treasury of all good and comfortable doctrines but especially as it is dispensed in the Ministery as it is divided by the Ministers of God thereafter as they see the necessity of Gods people and the exigents they are brought to accordingly they should draw comfort out of this common treasury Thereupon that that Christ saith of himself Esay 50. Thou hast given me the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the weary soul it is true of all the true Ministers of Christ that have that spiritual anointing that have the same Spirit that Christ had God hath anointed them that they might speak a word in season to poor distressed soules God hath given them the tongue of the learned for this very end and purpose God hath given them a healing tongue for a wounded soul. Indeed they carry Physick in their tongues and the very leaves the very words have a medicinal force When those that are true Ministers speak a word in season to a wounded distressed soul the Spirit goes with the Word and it hath wondrous efficacy for the comfort and raising up of the soul. Experience shewes this Now to give a few instances how it is done how the Ministers do it how they are helpers of our joy They do it first of all by acquainting people with the ill estate they are in for all sound comfort comes from the knowledge of our grief and freedome from it They acquaint people with their estate by nature that they are in the state of damnation that they are under the curse of God under the wrath of God that they are in a spiritual bondage they labour that they together with the Spirit of bondage may make people to see their state of bondage For they must plow before they sow and the Law must go before the Gospel The Law shewes the wound but the Gospel heales the wound Now they must know the wound the commanding part all the threatening part of the Word They must know what they are before they can know their comfort Therefore John Baptist he came before Christ he made way for the sweet doctrine of Christ that came with blessing in his mouth Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are they that hunger and thirst Blessed are those that suffer persecution c. Even as to Elias there was a strong wind came before the still voyce so there must be somewhat to rend and to open the heart before this oyl of comfort can be poured in Now that is the first thing the Ministers help people to comfort by helping them to understand themselves what they are in the state of nature They labour to search the wound first to cure the soul as much as they can of all guile of spirit that the soul may not be guilefull to misunderstand it self And when they have done this then they breed joy by propounding and shewing the remedy which is in Jesus Christ then they open the riches of Gods love in Christ then open the sweet box of oyntment in Christ they shew to man his righteousnesse As you have an excellent place in Job Chap. 33. 14. of the whole force of the Ministery it is followed at large what the Minister doth to bring a man to joy he begins verse 14. God speaks once and twice but man perceives it not In visions and dreams by night when deep sleep falls upon them then he opens the eares of man and seales instruction c. He chastiseth him with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain so that his life abhorres bread He speaks of a man that is brought down by the sight of sinne His flesh is consumed away it cannot be seen his bones stick out c. A strange description of a man in a disconsolate estate his soul drawes near to the grave and his life to the destroyers What of all this what is the way to bring him out of this If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one of a thousand one that hath the tongue of the learned to shew a man his righteousnesse then God is gracious to him
and delight in what we single out but in his own course and way And if Naaman the Assyrian that thought the rivers of Damascus were as good as Jordan and therefore he thought it a fond thing to wash there if he had not yielded to the counsel of his servants he had gone a leper home as he came but he was wiser So those that cavil at the Ordinance of God they may live and die Lepers for ought I know except with meeknesse of spirit they attend upon the Ordinance But you will say Those that are true Christians and good men they are oft-times cast down by the Ministery and brought to pangs of conscience therefore what joy can there be how are they helpers of their joy If they do so yet it is that they might joy S. Paul did bring the Corinthians here to sorrow but he brought them to sorrow that they might joy as you have it excellently set down 2. Cor. 7. 8. For though I made you sorry with a letter I do not repent though I did repent I was sorry that I was forced to be so bitter against you for I perceive that the same Epistle made you sorry though but for a season now I rejoyce not that you were made sorry here is a sweet insinuation but that you were sorry to repentance for you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might receive dammage by us in nothing So the sorow that is wrought by the Ministery in the hearts of people it is a sorrow to repentance a sorrow tending to joy We say of April that the showers of that Moneth dispose the earth to flowers in the next so tears and grief wrought in the heart by the Ministery they breed delight in the soul they frame the soul to a delightful joyful temper after And that is part of the scope of this very text we are helpers of your joy and therefore if I had not spared you but had come in severity all had been for joy so whether the Minister open comfort or direction it is for their joy If they see them not in a state fit then to discover to them their sin and danger and to tell them that they must be purged by repentance before they can receive the Cordial of joy but all is for joy in the end A Physician comes and he gives sharp and bitter purges saith the Patient I had thought you had come to make me better and I am sicker now then I was before but he bids him be content all this is for your health and strength and for your joyfulnesse of spirit after you will be the better for it so in confidence of that he drinks down many a bitter potion So it is with those that sit under the Ministery of God thought it be sharp and severe and crosse their corruptions yet it is medicinal physick for their soules and all will end in the health of the soul in joy afterwards It will be objected again The Word of God and the dispensation of it it is for Doctrine to teach and to instruct and not especially to joy that should not be the main end for we see in Rom. 14. Whatsoever was written was written for our learning so in 1 Cor. 14. he that speakes speaks to edification and exhortation as well as to comfort It is true but all teaching and all exhortation and all reproofe they tend to comfort even Doctrine it self tends to comfort For as it is with divers kinds of food they have both a cherishing vertue in them to strengthen and a healing vertue to cure So it is with the Word of God the doctrinal part of it hath a comforting force And indeed doctrine is for comfort for what is comfort but a strengthening of the affections from some sound grounds of doctrine imprinted upon the understanding whereof it is convinced before The understanding is convinced throughly before the soul can be comforted throughly Therefore the Scripture tending to doctrine that being one end of it tends likewise to comfort because that is the issue of doctrine for what is comfort but doctrine applyed to a particular comfortable use As in Plants and Trees what is the fruit of the tree nothing but the juice of the tree applyed and digested into fruit so indeed doctrine is that that runs through the whole life of a Christian and the strength of Doctrine is in comfort Comfort is nothing but doctrine sweetly digested and applyed to the affections He will never be a good comforter that doth not first stablish the judgment in some grounds of doctrine to shew whence the comfort flowes So that howsoever there be many things in Scripture that are doctrinal yet in the use of them those doctrinal Points tend to joy and comfort As I said in meat there is the same thing sometime that both nourisheth and likewise refresheth as a Cordial So the Word of God both nourisheth the understanding and is as a Cordial to refresh and comfort and it is a kind of joy to the soul to have it stablished in sound doctrine that is the ground of comfort So that notwithstanding any thing that can be objected the end of the Word of God especially in the dispensation of it is to joy and comfort Which should teach people to regard the Ministery in this respect that it is a helper of their comfort that they do not grieve those that help their comfort for what is the end of a Minister as a Minister but to make others joy that both God in heaven and the Angels and Ministers and all may rejoyce together in the conversion of a Christian. Now for people to vex those that by vertue of their calling labour to help forward their joy is very unkind usage yet it was the entertainment that our blessed Lord and Master himself found in the world And S. Paul himself saith The more I love you the lesse I am loved of you And then it should move people to lay open the case of their soules to their spiritual Physicians upon all good occasions People do so for the Physicians of their bodies they do so in doubtful cases for their estates is all so well in our soules that we need no help nor comfort no removing of objections that the soul makes no unloosing of the knots of conscience is all so clear or are men in a kind of numbnesse and deadnesse and Atheism that they think it is no matter that they put all to a venture and think all is well It were better for the souls of many if they had better acquaintance with their spiritual Pastors then they have for their calling is to help the joy of the people and how can they help it except they lay open their estates to them upon good occasion what do they herein but rob themselves of joy they are their own enemies I passe to the third They are helpers of joy
and but helpers They do but utter and propound matter of joy grounds of joy from the Word of God but it is the Spirit of God that doth rejoyce the heart The fruit of the lips is peace it is true but it is when the Spirit of God speaks peace to the soul together with the lips God creates the fruit of the lips to be peace saith Esay The fruit of the lips is peace bâ⦠God creates it to be so so the Ministers are comforters but God saith I even I am thy comforter We speak matters of comfort and grounds of comfort but God seals them to the heart by his holy Spirit God is the comforter himself He is the Father of comfort and the God of all consolation And the Spirit is called the comforter to shew unto us that however in the Ordinances the materials of comfort be set abroach to Gods people yet notwithstanding that that that speaks peace to the heart and sets on those comforts to the soul and conscience it is the Spirit of God God himself So there is the outward preaching and the spiritual preaching He hath his chair in heaven that teacheth the heart as S. Austin saith S. Paul speaks but God opens the heart of Lydia he hath the Key to open the heart Therefore you have all attributed to the Spirit of God In Joh. 16. I go hence but I will send you the comforter the Holy Ghost and what shall the Comforter do he shall convince the world of sin of righteousnesse and judgment Do not pretend therefore your own inability that you are unable to comfort or to cast down or to seal unto people their righteousnesse do you that that is your duty propound grounds of direction and casting down and of righteousnesse and of judgment of holy life after and then the Holy Ghost shall go with you the Comforter shall do this to the hearts of people the Holy Ghost shall convince What is Paul or what is Apollo but Ministers Paul may plant and Apollo may water but if God give not the increase what is all Therefore Christ promiseth his disciples that the Holy Ghost should accompany their teaching They might have objected Alas we shall teach the world that they are Gentiles that they are obstinate persons hardened in superstition Do not fear saith he I will send the Holy Ghost he shall fall upon you and furnish you Now when the Holy Ghost was in them and the Holy Ghost in their auditors too together with the Word inspired by the Holy Ghost when the Spirit meetes in these three there are wonders wrought When the Spirit of God is in the teacher and the Spirit of God in the hearers and the Spirit of God in the Word I say when there is one Spirit in the teacher and in the hearers and in the Word there are wonders wrought of conversion and comfort It is the Spirit that must do all we are nothing but Ministers Let a man conceive of us as Ministers and dispensers of the Gospel Ministers of comfort we are and but Ministers just so we are helpers of your joy but we are but helpers Those that account us not helpers of joy know not our calling and those that account us more that we are able to comfort people by the Word they turn the preaching of the Word to magick to a charm We can speak the Word but God must speak to the heart at the same time As it is with Physical water there is the water and there are many strong things in it What doth the water cure or purge it is a dead thing it hath no efficatious quality but to cool c. Whence comes the efficacy There are some cool herbs some strong things in it and then it doth wonders So what is the infusion of the Word but water but aqua vitae water of life the dew of heaven Rosa solis whence is it so as water no but there is a Divine influence and vigour in it that refresheth and quickeneth the soul. It doth not do it of it self but it hath a Divine influence of the Spirit So we see though Ministââ¦s be helpers of joy they are but helpers they are but the conduits that convey that that comes from the Spirit of God they are instruments of the Spirit You see it clear then that God only speaks comfort because the Spirit of God only knowes our spirits throughly The spirit of God can only comfort because he knowes all the discomforts of our hearts he knowes all our griefs all the corners of our hearts that the Minister cannot do The Minister may speak general comforts but the Spirit of God knowes all the windings and turnings of the heart and all the disconsolate pangs of the heart and soul every little pang and grief the Spirit of God knowes it Therefore the Spirit of God is the Comforter he strikes the nail and seales the comfort to the soul we are but helpers Then again the Spirit of God must do it because the soul must be set down with that that is stronger then it self it must be so convinced and set down that it must have more to say against the griefe or temptation then can be alledged by the Devil himself The soul before it be comforted it must be quieted and stilled Now who is above the soul and Satan that tempts the soul Let Satan be let loose to tempt the soul and the soul hath a hell in it self if God let it alone who is above those unspeakable torments of coascience if they be not allayed by the Spirit of God Who is above the soul but the Spirit of God will the soul allay it self no it will never Therefore the Spirit of God that is stronger and wiser then the soul and is the Spirit of light and strength it must set down and quiet and calm the soul that it hath nothing to say against the comfort it brings but quiets it self and saith I must rest I must see this is from heaven I am quiet This the Spirit doth Therefore make this Use of it that in all our endeavours to procure peace to our consciences and spiritual balm to the wounds of our soules let us go to this heavenly Physician not depend over-much upon the Ministery or reading or any outward task but in the use of all things lift up our hearts to God that he would comfort us by his Spirit that he would send the Comforter into our soules Though the disciples had comfort upon comfort by Christ yet till the Comforter came whose office it was to do it to seal his Word to their soules alas they were dead-hearted people but after the resurrection when the Comforter came and refreshed their memories and convinced their understandigs then they could remember all the sweet comforts that our blessed Saviour had taught them before So it is with us we hear many sweet comforts day after day out of Gods
book comforts against sin comforts against trouble outward and inward and all but till the Comforter come till God send his holy Spirit we shall not make use of them Therefore let us labour to have more communion with God before we come to hear the Word and after we have heard it let us have communion with God again that he would seal whatsoever is spoken to our soules and make it effectual to us Therefore we must learn to give the just due to the Ordinance of God and not to idolize it to make it the means of comfort not to make it the chief Comforter but the Spirit of God by it What is Paul or Apollo what are we but Ministers of faith and by consequent Ministers and helpers of comfort but not the authors of comfort Oh if I had such and such here I should do well I should be so and so Alas all is to no purpose unlesse thou hast the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God that can help by weak means Therefore we must not tie comfort and joy to this or that means but in all means look to the ground of comfort and the spring of all the Holy Ghost The reason why men do nor profit more that they are not more cheared and lift up with the Ministery of the Word which is a Word of reconciliation and of joy and comfort it is because they are more careful in the use of means then in going to God for his Spirit to blesse the means Now these must go together a care of using the means and a care to pray to him that he would give us wisdome and strength and blessed successe in the use of all means Then if we would joyn religiously and conscionably these two together the use of all means conscionably and in the use of all to lift up our hearts to God to blesse them we should find a wondrous successe upon the Ministery and all other good means likewise So much for that I go on to the last clause of the Chapter For by faith ye stand Why doth the Apostle vary the word we have not dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy whereas the consequence it seems might run thus we do not domineer over your faith but are helpers of your faith he puts joy instead of faith and afterward he brings in faith again for by faith ye stand This is one main reason because joy riseth from faith therefore he names it in stead of faith for the Holy Ghost is not curious of words but when the same Spirit wroks both he names that which he thinks will fittest suit the purpose Faith breeds joy How is that Because faith first of all doth shew to us the freedome from that that is the cause of all discomfort whatsoever it takes away all that may discourage For it takes away the fear of damnation for our sins it shewes our reconciliation in Jesus Christ. Faith shewes liberty and deliverance and so discovering deliverance by a Mediator it works joy Is not a prisoner joyful when he is set at liberty Then likewise faith discovers to us the face of God shining to us in Jesus Christ it shewes not only deliverance but favour It shewes us the ground of all the righteousnesse and obedience of our Saviour whereby we are delivered and brought into favour Now from this comes peace from the knowledge of our deliverance and acceptance with God founded upon the obedience of God-man a Saviour there comes in peace and peace breeds joy because faith discovers all these the ground of reconciliation with God in Jesus Christ and thereupon peace therefore it causeth joy For this is the pedigree and descent of joy as the Apostle hath it Rom. 14. The Kingdome of God is in righteousnesse and peace and joy There must be righteousnesse first of a Mediatur to satisfie the wrath of God and procure his favour From righteousnesse comes peace peace with God peace of conscience From peace comes joy there is no joy without peace no peace without righteousnesse And this whole pedigree of joy as it were is excellently set down Rom. 5. Being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord and have accesse to the throne of grace by which grace we stand and not only so but rejoyce So there is justification by the righteousnesse of Christ and thereupon peace with God and from peace boldnesse and accesse to God and thereupon joy So we see how faith brings in joy because it shewes the spring of joy whence it comes it shewes peace and peace riseth from reconciliation and reconciliation from righteousnesse of Christ Mediator whereupon we are delivered from all that we may fear and set in a state of true joy God being our friend When God is reconciled all is reconciled all is ours have we not cause of joy then Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 15. The God of peace fill you full of joy in believing shewing that faith is the cause of all spiritual joy And the same you have in 1 Pet. 1. 8. In whom ye rejoyced after ye believed with joy unspeakable and glorious In whom after ye believed that is in Christ you rejoyced with joy unspeakable and glorious And therefore you see the Apostle might well substitute joy in stead of faith because it springs and riseth from faith in Jesus Christ the Mediatour Hereupon we may come to make this Use of tryal how we may know whether our joy be good or no. Among many other evidences this is one that spiritual joy is good if it spring from the Word of faith If it spring from the Ordinance of God unfolded in the Word shewing us the ground of believing For he that truly joyes can shew the ground of his joy Herein joy differs from presumption from presumptuous swelling conceits true joy that is not the joy of an hypocrite it doth shew from whence it comes it riseth from grounds out of divine truth Then again this joy doth more immediately spring from faith in the Word from assurance that God is ours and that Christ is ours that God is at peace with us and that we are at peace with him it ariseth from peace that is wrought by faith Then again this joy if it be sound it is such a joy as S. Peter saith is an unspeakable and glorious joy joy arising from the Word of God and from faith and peace it is above discouragement because we have in the Word of God matter of joy above all discouragements and all allurements whatsoever It is a joy above the joy of riches or pleasures or profits why because the Word shewes matter of joy above all these The Prophet David rejoyced in the Word of God above Gold and Silver as one that had gotten great spoyles you see how oft he repeats it Psal. 119. It was sweeter to him then the honey and the honey-comb Psal.
their worst if you will needs fear I will tell you whom you shall fââ¦ar Fear him that can cast both body and soul into hell So if we be forced to suffer the losse of any thing that is good in the world or be cast into any ill condition what saith S. Paul The troubles and afflictions of the world are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed Let us set that glory before us and that will prevail against that all the world can threaten or take from us what is all to it nothing Therefore by faith we stand we keep our own standing and withstand all oppositions whatsoever Oh but what if there come more subtile temptations end the Lord himself seemes to be our enemy that we have sinne and God is angry and we see he followes us with afflictions that are evidences of his anger how shall we stand now and keep our selves from despair This is a fiery dart of Satan when a man hath sinned and conscience is awakened to make him sink in despair O but faith will make the soul to stand in these great temptations against those fiery darts faith puts a shield into the hand of the soul to beat back all those fiery darts For faith will present Christ to God Indeed I have been a sinner but thou hast ordained a Saviour and he is of thine own appointing of thine own aââ¦ting a Saviour of thine own giving and thou hast made a promise that Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life I cast my self upon thy mercy in him hereupon faith comes to withstand all such fiery temptations whatsoever nay against God himself Lord thou canst not deny thine own Saviour thou ââ¦mest to be an enemy and though I be a sinner and have deserved to be cast into hell yet I come to thee in the Name of thy Son that is at thy right hand and pleads for me by vertue of his blood shed for me I came in his Name thou canst not refuse thy owne Son For all temptations when a man hath faith in him it will send Satan to Christ to answer for him Go to Christ he is my husband he hath paid my debts he hath satisfied for my sins So that whatsoever the temptation be make it as subtle as you will there is a skill in faith to stand against it and to beat back all the fiery darts of Satan Therefore to end all we see here what an excellent estate a Christian is in above all others that he hath a better standing then others have not onely a better standing in Religion then the Papists have but in the profession of Religion he hath a better standing then common professors why he stands by faith by sound faith He stands not upon opinion or because he hath been bred so he stands not upon his wit because he sees reason for it he stands upon faith and faith stands upon divine authority he stands partly upon his own experience that seconds faith Those then that care not for Religion what standing have they those that stand only in pleasures and profits and in the favour of great men what standing have they They stand as the Psalmist saith in slippery places There is no man but if he nave not faith he stands slippery though he be never so great if he be a Monarch alas what is it to stand a while all these things are but uncertain though they yield present content they are but uncertain contentments the Wise-man saith they are but vanity they are like the reed of Egypt that will not uphold they will not sustein the soul in the time of trouble there is nothing that a man can stand upon and fasten his soul upon if he be not Religious that will hold scarce the fit of an ague that will hold in the pangs of death even in the entrance of it that will hold in terrours of conscience How little a trouble will blow away all those that stand on so weak a foundation as an earthly thing is For they have but an Imaginary good to speak of and that Imagination is driven out by the sense of the contrary Let contrary troubles come and all their fooles Paradise and their happinesse they had before is at an end it goes no deeper then Imagination All the things in this world stablish not the heart Those that do not stand by faith in the favour of God in Christ let their standing be what it will it will soon be over turned by any temptation they can stand out against nothing Therefore let us labour above all things in the world to have that faith strengthened by which we stand and let us often be encouraged to strengthen our faith by all means that we may stand the better upon it and try our faith before we trust it it is that that we must trust to and stand to in life and death Therefore let us often think Is my faith good is it well built Let us oft put this query to our soules I believe the Religion I professe but upon what grounds I believe the truths in the Word of God but upon what grounds have I a clear understanding of them because they are divine doth the Spirit of God open them and shew a light in the Scripture that is divine doth the Spirit of God give me a relish of the Scriptures above all the pleasures in the world Do I find God speaking to my heart in the Word do I find the Spirit of God with his Ordinance then my knowledge and my faith will hold out I can stand by that faith in the Word that is wrought by the Spirit and fastened upon the Word with the Spirit But if I believe the Religion I professe only because the State doth so and if the King and State should do otherwise I would change my Religion or if it be because my parents were so or my friends and Patron is of that religion whom I depend upon or because I see greater seeming reason for this then for the other I can hold argument for this and not for the other Alas this will not hold But labour to know the truth of the Word of God by experience as much as we can and by the Spirit of God giving evidence to our soules from the inward grounds of Scripture that it is the Word I know whom I have trusted I know the promises are good I have felt them in my soul the Spirit hath reported them to my soul they are sweeter then all the things in the world It is a sure Word I bottome upon it I have found the comfort of it before therefore I will build upon it We can never stand unlesse we can make our knowledge spiritnal it is but acquisite knowledge else We fall in three things vilely we labour that our knowledge of Religion be spiritual and fetched divinely out of the Word of God together with the Spirit We
fall into sin from this very ground for why do men fall into sin because at that time they stand not upon the Word of God revealed by conscience to be the Word of God Ask them why they sweat if they did believe the truth the Word saith I will not hold them guilââ¦lesse that take my Name in vain But I am not convinced by the Spirit assuring my soul that it is the Word of God if men did believe it would men bring a curse upon themselves And so whoremongers the Word of God saith Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge would men if they did believe this truth live in these sins But they have only an opinion of these things I hear that these things are divine perhaps they are not so and the knowledge that we have is not divine faith is not mingled with the Spirit Then again from sin we fall into despair for sin at last why because our knowledge of divine truthes is not spiritual nor from inward grounds of Scripture felt by experience the Spirit sealing the Scripture to my heart by some spirituall experience and thereupon men fall into despair for sin at length For Satan plies them with temptations from their own guilty conscience the grounds of their fears are present and the grounds of their terrours are present to their soules for they are there as it were sealed and branded in their very soules but their comforts are overly the promises are overly the Word is not rooted in their hearts by faith it is not sealed there by the Spirit of God the sanctifying Spirit never brought the Word and their soules together Hereupon they fall into desperation when their terrours are present and their comforts are overly If a man have never so sound a foundation if he stand not but float upon it he may fall and sink if a man be never so weak if he lie on a rock the strength of the rock is his so in our temptations if we have a strong foundation if we do not rest on it the foundation will not uphold us Now how can those rest on it that stagger in it that were never convinced by the Spirit that these things are so and that have had no spiritual experience Satan drawes thousands of soules to perdition because their terrours are present and their comforts are overly they are not built upon divine truth by the Spirit of God Again for Apostasie in the times of the alteration of Religion why do men alter as the State alters they are ready to have every Moneth a new faith if the times and Goverment alter why because they were never convinced by the Spirit of God of divine truths They had it from forreign arguments The former State of things countenanced this way now another State countenanceth another opinion therefore I will be of the safest This is because the soul was never convinced of the truth Therefore I beseech you labour to have arguments from the experience of the power of the Word in your soules and arguments from the Spirit of God to your spirits that it is the Word of God I will stand to divine truth I find such a majesty such a humbling pacifying satisfying power in it to all my perplexities and doubts that it cannot but be the Word of God it stayes my soul in all oppositions in all temptations and corruptions it gives a stay and foundation to my soul that no truth in the world else can do When the soul is brought to such a frame such a soul will not fall into grosse sins while it is in such a frame much lesse will it despair for sin and if there be altering of Religion a thousand times it stands as a rock unmovable because it knowes from inward grounds from the Word of God it self sealed by the Spirit to my spirit that it is the Word of God such a soul will hold out and only such a soul. We should labour therefore by all means to have our faith strengthened and amongst other meanes by the use of the Sacrament whereby God sweetly conveys himself to us by way of a banquet strengthening our faith in Christ he presents Christ to us as the food of our soules to refresh us even as the bread and wine doth Our blessed Saviour is wiser then we he knowes what we stand in need of that we have need to strengthen our faith For we have need to strengthen that that must be our strength which is faith And what is the Ordinance of God to strengthen faith is it not the Sacrament The proper use of the Sacrament is to strengthen faith which the Sacrament doth being a visible Sermon to us for here we see in the outward things Christs body broken and his blood shed it is a lively representation a visible crucifying of Christ a breaking of his body and pouring out of his bloud And withall here is an offer of Christ to us in the elements sealing of what it represents to our soules if we come prepared God feeds us not with empty signes but together with the outward things themselves he gives the spiritual to the soul that is a worthy Receiver Therefore come with a humble stooping to Gods wisdom in appointing these Ordinances to this end to strengthen faith And come with a desire to have faith strengthened that will uphold us against all temptations to sin or to despair for sin Oh beloved if we knew what good our faith must do us ere long we would labour to have it strengthened by all means What will become of us in the hour of death and in great temptations we shall be as chaffe driven with the wind if we have no consistence and stability in divine truth if our soules be not built on that if we have not faith whereby our soules may be rooted in Christ we shall be but a prey for Satan Therefore considering that faith is of such wondrous consequence it is the root of all other graces whatsoever as the Apostle saith here By faith ye stand He doth not say By patience or by hope or the like they are drawn from faith Strengthen that and strengthen all other that are infused from it As a tree we cast not water on the branches but on the root all the branches are cherished by the root so strengthen faith we strengthen love and hope and all if we strengthen faith and assurance of Gods love in Christ. Thus I have at length gone over this fruitfull portion of Scripture FINIS AN Alphabetical Table DIRECTING The Reader to the Ready finding out the Principal Points and Matters handled in this Book A. Achaia AChaia the Countrey wherein Corinth was Page 5 Acknowledge Acknowledge or Acknowledgment what p. 316 331 To acknowledge Christ what pag. 331 Christ acknowledged in the Minister p. 331 333 How to know whether we acknowledge the Minister p. 331 332 333 Action Three sorts of Actions good ill indifferent p. 254
Flesh ibid. To purpose and consult according to the Flesh a ground of lightnesse p. 366 How to know whether we consult according to the Flesh p. 367 Signs whereby to know that we are not led or advised by the Flesh ibid. How to avoid fleshly wisdome pag. 368 369 See Wisdome G. Generation PRerogatives of Christs Generation p 388 Gentle Gentle courses first to be used why pag. 510 When gentle means prevail not severe must be used ibid. Glory Glorying Whether a man may glory of any thing in himself how he may and how not p. 216 Cautions for glorying in grace pag. 241 Gods glory manifest in the Gospel viz. the glory of his 1. Justice 2. Mercy 3. Wisdome 4. Power 5. Truth p. 438 439 Gods glory is displayed by the Ministery p. 439 Grace and Glory differ but in degrees p. p. 490 Good Gods children do good in every condition p. 113 What good we get by others afflictiens p. 109 The sufferings of Saints do good to others how ibid. See Afflictions God in all outward things that are ill intends the good of the soul p. 151 A good man a publick good p. 272 A good man should take occasion to do good p. 354 The good things the wicked enjoy are not blessings but curses and snares to them p. 414 How to know they are so p. 414 415 How to know that the good things we enjoy we have them in love p. 415 Govern Guide All inferiour creatures areunder the guidance and government of some Superiour p. 289 Grace Grace sweetens all a Christians conversation p. 9 Grace what p. 10 Christians though in the state of Grace yet still need Grace p. 119 349 How to have continual assurance of grace p. 12 13 A man may know his own estate in grace p. 234 Objection against this answered p. 235 Why the Apostle names Grace not Wisdom p. 289 290 Grace two-fold p. 296 Grace wrought in us described p. 296 297 All our wisdome comes from grace pag. 297 Every thing necessary to bring as to heaven is a grace p. 298 351 352 All the good we have is of grace p. 298 God is ready to give us grace p. 299 Signs of being led and guided by grace p. 302 to 309 Helps or Meanes to be led and guided by grace p. 309 to 312 The Preaching of the Word is a special Grace p. 347 Every benefit and blessing is a grace p. 298 351 352 We ought to strengthen radical graces viz. 1. Humility 2. Faith 3. Knowledge p. 454 We may be assured from a little measure of Grace that we are truly in the state of grace p. 491 c. How to know whether the little grace we have be true grace p. 493 c. H. Health HEalth is a gift yea a great blessing of God p. 202 All other blessings are uncomfortable without health ibid. Holy Holy men are but men subject to mistake p. 374 Holinesse and Happinesse differ but in degrees p. 490 Those that look to be happy must first be holy p. 491 Hope A double effieacy in Hope p 120 123 We may stedfastly hope for performance of Divine truths p. 123 We should hope well of others p. 323 344 345 346 See Conceit Opinion Hypocrite Wherein a true Saint differs from an Hypocrite p. 8 c. A Christian no hypocrite p. 8 317 Prophane Professours are grosse Hypocrites p. 7 I. Jealousie Men are wondrous prone to Jealousie and suspition p. 356 506 Whence Jealousie or suspition ariseth p. p. 357 507 Jealousie what ibid. Mââ¦schief from Jealousie ibid. We should labour to avoid Jealousie why p 508 Inconstancy Publick persons should labour to avoid the just imputation of Inconstancy pag. 359 Grounds or causes of Inconstancy p. 360 361 362 We must not take that for Inconstancy which is not p 361 Remedies against Inconstancy p 3ââ¦3 Carnal men Inconstant p. 370 Indulgences Popish Indulgences what p. 107 Popish Indulgences confuted ibid. See Satisfactions Infallibility How the Prophets and Apostles were infallible and how no. p. 374 See Errour Mistake Ingratitude Ingratitude a horribe sin p. 204 A Carnal man Ingrateful why p. 19 Joy Rejoyce Christians have their joy or a Christians estate is a joyful and a rejoycing estate p. 217 528 c. A Christians joy is spiritual he rejoyces in spiritual things and what these are p. 217 218 Wicked men dare not reveal their joy but seek to hide the ground of it p. 218 A Christian is not ashamed of his joy why ibid. A faithful Minister is the joy of the people why pag. 333 528 530 531 32 533 The peoples proficiency in grace is the Mininisters joy p. 336 Salvation termed joy why p. 528 The end of the Ministery is to be helpers of the peoples joy p. 528 530 531 532 533 How Ministers are helpers of the peoples joy p. 531 c. Objections answered p. 533 c. Joy is that frame and state of soul that Christians are in or should labour to be in why p. 528 c. Reasons or Motives why Christians should be joyfull p. 529 c. Ministers onely helpers not authours of joy p. 535 c. Gods Spirit alone speaks joy and comfort to the soul why p. 536 Faith breeds joy how p. 538 Signs or Evidences whereby to know whether our joy be good p. 539 540 Journey It 's a commendable thing for Christians to bring one another on their journey p. 355 Our Journey to heaven certain pag. 375 How S. Paul could be deceived in his journey and not in his doctrine p. 373 374 Judgment Gods Word ââ¦r the holy Scriptures the Judge of all Controversies p. 382 383 Properties of a Judge p. 383 Judgment of Conscience a forerunner of the great and general Judgment p. 222 The measure of a Christians joy is as it will be esteemed at the day of Judgment p. 340 We should of ten think of the day of Judgement p. 341 See Day K. King CHristians are Kings how p. 469 470 Knowledge God is known in his 1. Nature pag. 158 2. Promises 3. Works If our knowledge be not spiritual we fall into 1. Sin 2. Despair 3. Apostasie p. 549 L. Legacy GOds Promises are Legacies p. 435 Difference between a Legacy and a Covenant ibid. Lightnesse Publick persons should avoid the just imputation of Lightnesse p. 359 Grounds of Lightnesse p. 360 361 362 Remedies against Lightnesse p. 363 c. To purpose according to the flesh is a ground of Lightnesse p. 366 Lie All sorts of lies are unlawful p. 247 A lie what p. 372 Equivocation is a lie ibid. See Equivocation Live We may not live as we list if we mean to dye well p. 271 272 M. Mercy MErcy what p. 24 God stiled the Father of Mercies why p. 21 22 23 Why not called the Father of Mercy but of Mercies p. 23 24 Use to be made of Gods Mercifulnesse or in that he it the Father of Mercies p. 25 to 38 Against presuming upon Gods mercy p.
subordinate Religion to State-Policy p. 294 295 Religion tends to practice p. 295 Popish Religion is a carnal Religion p. 312 313 The most Religious men are the best States-men p. 315 Wherein our Religion and the Pââ¦pish agree and differ p. 395 398 Popish Religion unsound and rotten p. 546 Popish Religion is not founded upon the Scriptures but upon Tradition p. 545 546 Popish Religion crosseth the Word of God p. 385 386 Popish Religion is full of contradictions p. 386 Popish Religion is full of uncertainties p. 386 387 It's safer to be of the Protestant Religion then of the Popish p. 397 Whether one living and dying in the Romish Religion may be saved p. 397 398 Repentance Late Repentance such as is in time of sicknesse and death seldome true Repentance p. 33 Reproof It 's a sign of a gracious heart to endure reproof and to esteem and affect the reprover p. 330 513 A Minister must not spare to reprove people for sin committed p. 512 c. A three-fold Reproof or Correction p. 514 Resolution Of good Resolutions pag. 323 324 c. Resurrection The Resurrection is an argument to strengthen faith p. 167 There will or shall be a Resurrection p. 167 c. God raiseth the dead p. 167 to 171 Rock What is meant by Rock Matth. 16. 18. p. 394 S. Saint OUr love and respect should be carried to all Saints p. 5 God scatters his Saints why p. 6 All that make profession of Religion should indeed be Saints ibid. Professours called Saints why ibid. Four things required to make a Saint viz. 1. Separation 2. Dedication 3. Qualification 4. Conversation pag. 7 8 How to know a Saint from a meer civil man p. 8 True Saints wherein different from hypocrites and formal professours ibid. See Christian. Salvation Salvation wrought by affliction or suffering how and how by Christ p. 108 to 113 How Afflictions or Patience in suffering afflictions helps to salvation p. 110 111 112 Two wayes to obtain salvation p. 108 Salutation Use of holy Salutations three-fold p. 9 Salutations should be holy p. 10 Gods Name when taken in vain in salutations ibid. Salutations in what cases to be omitted ibid. Satisfaction Against Popish Merits and satisfactions for others p. 107 See Indulgences Scripture How to know the Scripture to be the Word of God and truly Divine p. 386 392 Whether the Scriptures receive any authority from the Church p. 3 4 545 The Scripture is to be believed for it self not because of the Church p. 392 393 See Word Seal Christ the head is first sealed and then the members viz. Christians pag. 473 Our sealing what p. 474 Four uses of a Seal p. 474 475 The Spirit compared to a Seal wherein pag. 474 475 476 478 481 How the Spirit differs from other seales p. 476 How the Spirit seales us p. 476 477 Four things the Spirit works in this sealing 477 c. How to know the sealing of the Spirit or that we are sealed by the Spirit p. 477 478 Objection against the Spirits sealing answered p. 479 c. Motives to labour to get the Spirits sealing or to have the image of Christ stamped upon our soules by the Spirit pag. 481 to 486 Simplicity Simplicity what and how taken p. 216 242 243 Why called godly simplicity or the simplicity of God p. 243 Difference between Simplicity and sincerity p. 241 S. Paul's conversation in Simplicity how p. 241 242 To what things Simplicity is opposed p. 244 245 246 Directions or Means to get Simplicity p. 251 Simulation Of Simulation p. 244 Aggravations of this sin p. 245 See Dissembling Sincerity Sincerity what p. 253 How Sincerity differs from Simplicity p. 241 Why called godly Sincerity or the Sincerity of God p. 253 A Christians conversation in the world should be in sincerity p. 253 271 Sincerity in good actions how discovered or tryed p. 254 255 Sincerity how tryed or discovered in ill actions p. 256 Sincerity how tryed or discovered in actions indifferent p. 257 Motives to labour for sincerity pag. 258 259 263 264 Means to get sincerity pag. 260 261 262 Corruptions and imperfections may stand with Sincerity p. 264 c. Order in sincerity how to be kept pag. 265 Sincerity extends it self to all the frame of a mans life p. 266 We must have our conversation in sincerity while we live in the world pag. 271 Singularity There is a spirit of singularity in many pag. 3 Slander How to arm and fence our selves against Slander pag. 357 Society The comfort and benefit of Society p. 71 267 Solitarinesse Solitarinesse very dangerous pag. 71 267 See Alone Society Son Christ the Son of God how differing from others sons p. 388 Soul Gods Spirit alone speaks comfort and peace to the soul p. 536 God in all things that are ill intends the good of the soul p. 151 The soul must have somewhat to trust to ibid. People should do well to open the case of their soules to their spirituall Physicians p. 535 Spirit The Spirit with its graces compared to Anointing or Oyntment See Anointing Ointment The Spirit compared to an Earnest See Earnest The Spirit compared to a Seal See Seal Why the work of Grace is attributed to the Spirit rather then to the Father or the Son p. 498 Why the Spirit is said to seal and to be an Earnest and not the Father or the Son ibid. Means to attain or come by the Spirit p. 501 502 503 How to know that we have the Spirit p. 499 500 Of our anointing by the Spirit p. 463 to 473 Of our sealing by the Spirit p. 473 to 485 Gods Spirit alone seales comfort to the soul p. 536 Stablish Stablishing grace necessary why pag. 442 Christ is the foundation of our stability p. 443 Our judgment will affections c. are stablished in Christ p. 444 It 's onely God that can stablish the soul he must do it none else can pag. 446 c. As God can so he will stablish us pag. 446 c. God stablisheth us by working in us stablishing graces viz. 1. Fear 2. Wisdome 3. Faith 4. Peace of Conscience c. 449 Means of stablishing or whereby we may come to be stablished pag. 455 456 457 Signes or Evidences of our stablishing p. 458 to 463 Strength How these two may stand together 2 Cor. 18. We were pressed out of measure above strength and 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithfull and will lay no more upon you then you shall be able to bââ¦r p. 124 125 Suffering The sufferings of Christ abound in us or Gods Saints are subject to many sufferings why p. 74 All Christians suffer how p. 112 A threefold suffering in the Church since Christs time p. 76 The sufferings of Christians are the sufferings of Christ and why so called p. 77 Christs sufferings two-fold ibid. Differences between the sufferings of Christ and ordinary crosses p. 78 Motives to suffer for Christ ibid. How the sufferings of Saints do good
abuse Promises of this life 2. Gods Promises wondrously performed 3. God deferreth his performance To wait Gods time Believe contraries in contraries To have Amen for Gods Amen Complaint of Unbelief Faith in the Promises honours God Why God honors faith so much To make the Promises familiar How to make use of former examples What use to make of the story of our own lives Comfort in the false dealing of men To deceive trust odious Comfort in all changes in the world How the Word of the Lord endures for ever To rely constantly on the constant Promises To observe how God daily fulfills his Promises 1. For temporals 2. For spirituals Turn Promises into Prayers Labour to know the Promises Work the Promises on our hearts Evidences of believing the Promises 1. They breed joy 2. They quicken to obedience 3. They purge 4. They quiet the soul. 5. A staying of tââ¦e soul when all iâ⦠contrary 6. Faithfulnesse in our Promises to God Quest. Answ. God gives grace to perform the Covenant God promiseth the things be requires Promises Legacies Covenant a Testament Threatnings of God Amen as well as Promises 7. Opposition of flesh and fleshly men Carnal men despise those that trust in Gods Promises To go to God in Christ to perform the promises How to think of Christ. All in the world nothing without Christ. Observ. Gods glory manifested in the Gospel More then in the Creation Our estate in Christ better then Adam's Glory of Gods Justice His Mercy Wisdome Power Truth To see Gods Attributes in Christ. To honour God by believing the Gospel Glory of God by the Ministery Observ. A double Amen 1. In Gods Promises 2. In our Faith Necessity of application Difference between faith and presumption Observ. Stablishing grace necessary Reason 1. In regard of our indisposition 2. In regard of oppositions Difference between true Christians and others Degrees of faith Observ. Christ the foundation of our stability 1. Our Judgment stablished in Christ. 2. Our Will 3. Our affections A Christians stability more then Adam's or Angels None are firm but Christians Observ. God onely can stablish the soul. 1. By shewing our misery and Christs excellency The ground of believing Gods Word Reason of Apostasie The reason of unfruitfulnesse The reason of Despair Spiritual knowledge necessary Observ. God will stablish us 1. Because he is constant All of Grace from God Ground of a Christians not falling away God stablisheth bâ⦠working stablishing graces Fear Wisdome Faith Peace To value all good Christians The Spirit works as we are in the body Bond of communion of Saints Use. To give God the glory of our stablishing Strengthen radical graces 1. Humility 2. Faith 3. Knowledge Knowledge must be spirituall 1. Be acquainted with Gods Word 2. Take no scandal at those that shrink 3. Retain the truth in love 4. Practise truths ââ¦nown 5. Be frequent in holy conference 7. Pray to God to stablish us 8. Be spiritually poor 9. Hate lukewarmnesse Use 2. Examination of our stablishing 1. When it is grounded on the Word 2. When weak men overcome strong temptations 2. By freedome from base fears cares c. Examine our knowledge Examine our course of life None but a Christ an truly couragious in death 2. Desire of Christs coming Why God useth so many several words to secâ⦠us What the Spirit is an Earnest of The Spirit an Earnest 1. For security 2. It is part of the whole 3. An Earnest is little to the whole 4. It serves the party receiving it 5. It is never taken away Observ. A Christian man be assured of his estate in grace All in the work of Redemption is for that end Christians not alike assured at all times Double act of saith 1. Direct 2. Reflect The reflect act may be hindred Naughty hearte content with a state of doubling Observ. Gods Children may be assured they shall held out to the end Grace and glory differ but in degrees Observ. Those that look to be happy must first be holy Observ. We may be assured from a little measure of grace The Spirit appears not in all graces at once A Christian is a mixed creature Use 2. To examine the truth of grace We may know grace is true though little 1. The soul mournes that it is little 2. Wait 3. To wait with Patience 4. Constancy 5. To purge our selves 6. Desire of accomplishment Cautions 1. When conscience is wounded 2. Have been carelesse 7. Growth in grace 8. Quieting of the soul. 9. True gold will endure the tryal 10. It will persevere Christians get strength by their falls To labour for assurance Earnest given for our sakes To labour against unbelief Earnest the work of the Spirit 1. He proceeds from Father and Son 2. He only can quiet the soul. How to know we have the Spirit 1. By life and motion 2. By transforming us 3. By Conflict 4. By supernatural obedience 5. It dwells in us 6. It mortifies sin 7. It leads us 8 It is a Spirit of adoption 9. It teacheth to pray 10. And to wait Directions to have the Spirit 1. Attend Gods means 2. Not to grieve the Spirit 1. By cherishing Lusts. 2. Obey the Spirit 3. Pray for the Spirit The Spirit makes impregnable No thankfulnesse without the Spirit No joy without the Spirit No willââ¦ngnesse to dye without it Parts of the Verse Observ. Mans nature prone to suspition Grounds of suspition 1. The infirmity of men 2. Guiltinesse 3. From Probabilities Suspition more then fear lesse then judgment Suspition what Suspition makes the worst construction Why the Devil cherisheth suspition Mischief from suspition Observ. To labour to avoid suspition Suspition a Canker That that is suspected is made unprofitable God labours ââ¦o free himself from suspition Christ labours to be freed from suspition Sin must be censured and judged Doctr. Gentle courses first to be used Reason 1. It is suitable to ââ¦ns nature Reason 2. To Gods disposition Reason 3. To the carriage of our salvation Reason 4. Gods course Reason 5. It is most successeful Reason 6. It is tasting Use. To deal gently with others Doctr. When gentle means prevail not severe must be used Reason Men must not spare that God may Against selfrââ¦spects in reproos of sin Use. People to be willing to bear of their sins How to prevent severity in others Vexation in hell to those that were cherished in sin Three-fold correction 1. Private admonition 2. Before others Definition of an Oath None but good men should take an Oath To swear by none but God Invocation in an Oath Imprecation Oath to be taken onely in serious matters An Oath must be 1. In Truth 2. In Judgment 3. In Justice Against equivocation An oath only in matters in determinable Oath lawful Ordinary Swearing forbidden Object Answ. Swearing without good life nothing Object Answ. Custome no plea for swearing Object Answ. Company no excuse for swearing Swearing ordinarily argues a vile heart Original of common swearing 1. Atheisme 2. Cherishing passion 3. Affectation 4. Shame Men should abstain swearing in love to the Kingdome For love to theââ¦r own sam lies Conscience of lessââ¦r oathes Ordinary Swearers curse themselves A Christians life a kind of oath Doctr. No man hath dominion over anothers faith 1. What it is not to have dominion over the faith of others What ââ¦ranny over the faith of others is Quest. Answ. The Church of Rome domineers over the faith of others 1. By Traditions 2. Will-worship 3. That the Pope cannot erre A grand lie that hinders their Reformation 4. Church Judge of Controversies 5. In the intentioâ⦠of the Minister in the Sacrament Confession Satans malice to sit in Gods throne Popery would subdue all Use. To be thankful for freedome from this tyranny How to think of Popery Grounds of spiritual Tyranny Salvation termed joy why Doctr. 1. The state of a Christian is joy Nature teacheth it God gives matter of joy 1. Freedom from ill 2. The good they are brought to Reason 1. That God may have glory Reason 2. It makes active in doing good Reason 3. And able to suffer ill Reason 4. To encourage others Doctr. 2. The Word unfolded helps this joy To comfort what The Ministers helpers of joy 1. By shewing people their ill 2. By shewing the remedy 3. By advice Light Liberty Victory 4. By forcing it as a duty 5. In death Object Answ. Ministers trouble the joy of carnal men Object Answ. Private means will not comfort when publick are neglected Object Answ. The sorrow caused by the Ministery tends to joy Simile Object Answ. Simile Comfort what Use. To esteem the Ministery To open the case of our soules to spiritual Physitians Doctr. 3 Ministers but helpers not the authours of joy Simile Gods Spirit only specks comfort 1. He only knowes our hearts 2. He only can set down the soul. Use To look for comfort from the Spirit by the means Not to idolize the Ordinances why S. Paul varies the phrase Observ. Faith breeds joy 1 Faith takes away all that may discourage 2. It shewes Gods love in Christ. Pedigree of joy Use. To try if our joy be good 1. If it spring from the Word 2. It springs from faith 3. It is above discouragements or allurements 4. It is with humility Standing what meant by it Quest. Answ. Why our stand ing is by faith Four degrees of assent 1. Opinion 2. Knowledge 3. Believing 4. Experience How we stand by faith Quest. Answ. What faith it self stands on God our Father The nature of God Observ. The foundation of faith out of us Faith withstands opposition Quest. Answ. How we stand by faith when conscience is awakened for sin The firmnesse of a Christians standing If our knowledg of Scripture be not spiritual 1. We fall into sin 2. To despair 3. To Apostasie The Sacrament strengthens faith Faith the radical grace
look that he should deliver us not onely our persons but the State wherein we live let us pray to God that he would do so and praise God for his former deliverance Again this is another motive the praising of God for formet deliverances it invites him to bestow new blessings Upon what ground doth the Husband-man bestow more seed upon that which hath yielded most in time past Will any man sowe in the barren wildernesse where it is lost No but where he looks to reap most and hath done formerly Where he sees a soil that is fruitfull he will sowe it the more and where the heart is a barren wildernesse that it yields nothing back again he takes that away that he gave before You know there is a debt in giving there must be a returning of thanksgiving alway and kindnesse requires kindnesse there is an obligation And where benefits are taken and men are thankfull that is the way to get more to be thankfull for that we have For God minds his own glory above all things and he will especially be bountifull to those from whom he sees he hath most glory therefore alway those that have been richest in grace and in comfort they were most in thankfulnesse as we see in David a man after Gods own heart and in diverse others Let this incourage us First if we be not thankfull it stops the current of benefits Secondly if we be thankfull God will give us more mercies and deliverances when we praise him in our hearts in our lives in our bounty to others in reall thankfulnesse when we are ready to good works then he is ready to bestow new still Again to stir us up to this duty of praising God for our selves and others Consider it is the beginning of heaven upon earth what a happinesse is it that when our persons cannot go to heaven till we die till our bodies be raised yet we can send our Ambassadors we can send our prayers and thanksgivings to heaven and God accepts them as if we came in our own persons Let your conversation be in heaven saith the Apostle How is that by praising God much I pray what is the imployment of heaven of the Angells and blessed Spirits They praise God continually for the work of Creation and for the work of Redemption that is their especiall task in heaven Our duty is to be much this way in praising God Self-love forceth prayer oft-times but to praise God comes from a more heavenly affection Again do but consider that no creature in the world is unthankful but divells onely and divellish men and good men onely so far as they are corrupt and hold correspondencie with their corruptions for every creature praiseth God in his kind set the divell aside who is full of envy and pride and malice against God therefore except we will be like the Divells let us be thankfull God hath made all creatures to praise him and to serve us that we may praise him and when they praise him shall we blaspheme him May not the swearer think with himself every creature blesseth God even the senselesse creatures and shall I dishonour God by my tongue which should be my glory to glorifie him shall I blaspheme him and be like to the divel shall I be more base then the senselesse creatures What glory hath God by many men that live in the Church that blaspheme God and their whole life is a witnesse against God as the whole life of a Christian after he is in the state of Grace is a witnesse for God and a praising of him his whole life is a thanksgiving so the whole life of wicked and carelesse creatures is a dishonour of God it is a witness against God There are none but divells divellish-minded men but they praise God even the very dumbe creatures Let us labour to have a part in that blessed musick and harmonie to praise God if we do not praise God here we shall never do it in heaven But we must remember by the way that this thankfulnesse it must be a fruitful thanksgiving As for us to pray to God to blesse us and then to do nothing it is a barren prayer so to thank God and then to do nothing it is a barren thanksgiving Our deeds have words our deeds have a voyce to God they speak they pray there is a kind of prayer a kind of thanks in our works Works pray to God they have a kind of crie to God both ill works and good works and if good works have a crie to God in prayer they will have a voice in thanksgiving this fruitful this real thanks is that which God stands upon And therefore it is alway joyned with a study how to improve the things that we thank God for to the best advantage If we thank God for health and recovery and deliverance we will labour to improve it to Gods glorie if we be thankful to God for riches for peace we will improve that to grow in grace to do good to others There is never a thankful heart but it studies to improve that which it is thankful for really that God may have the Glory and it the comfort and benefit by it or else it is but a lip-labour but a lost labour Let us shame our selves and condemne our selves for our unthankfulnesse and that will be done by comparing our carriage to men with our carriage to God If so be that a man do us a little courtesie how are we confounded if we have not returned some thanks and yet notwithstanding from God we have all that we have all that we are all that we hope to have and yet how many benefits do we devoure and do not re turn God thanks This disproportion will shame the best Christian that he is not so quick in his devotion to God to be thankful there as he is sensible of small kindnesses done by men this is a good way to make us more thankful And now when we come to the Sacrament let us blesse God The Eucharist is a thanksgiving where there are many there should be thanksgiving where there is a communion there is many and thanksgiving should be especially of many met together to thank God for Christ and for the good we have by him for if many joyned together in praise for St. Paul that was but a Minister that was but an instrument to set out the praise and the Doctrine of Christ much more should we be thankfull to God for Christ himself which is the gift of all gifts and for which he gives us all other gifts if he give us him can he deny us any thing If we be thankful for the health of our bodies as indeed we should if we be thankful for the peace of our humours much more should we be thankful for the peace of our consciences when our soules are set in tune when God and we are friends when the soul by
the Spirit of God is set at peace and is fit for the praise of God and is fit to do good when it is a healthful soul. As in the body it is a sign it is sick when the actions are hindered so it is likewise with the soul. We should blesse God for ability to do good for any health in our souls more then for health of body Do but consider if hwe are to thank God for the instruments of good much more are we to thank him for the good things themselves If we should thank God for the Ministers for now I stand upon that many prayers and praises were given to God for Saint Paul much more should we be thankful for that which we have by the Ministery that is for all the blessings of God for grace and glorie for life and salvation It is the Ministery of life And the power of God to salvation We should be thankful to God for peace We are the messengers of peace We should be thankful to God for grace and for his holy Spirit the Spirit is given with it We should be thankfull especially for spirituall favours A man cannot be thankful to God for health and libertie unlesse first he know God to be his that he can blesse God for spiritual favours Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Ephes. 1. We should be thankful for Christ and all the benefits we have by Christ much more then for any other blessings whatsoever Therefore now seeing we are a Communion let praise be given by many We have greater matters then the health of a Minister or any particular person either our selves or others to be thankful for we have greater cause being to blesse God for the greatest gift that ever he gave even for Christ. The disposition in a feast is to be joyful and chearful to praise God now we are to feast with God and with Jesus Christ. Christ is not onely the food but he invites us he is with us What will we do for Christ if we will not feast with him What a degree of unthankfulnesse is it when we will not so much as feast with him when we will not willingly receive him What will he do for Christ that will not feast with him how unfit will he be to praise God and praise Christ that when Christ makes a feast of himself and gives himself together with the bread and wine representing the benefit of his bodie and blood broken and shed for us and all his benefits if we will not feed upon himself when he stoopes so low as to give himself for us and to feed us with himself what will we do How can we be thankful for other blessings when we are not thankful for himself And how can we be thankful for himself when we will not come and partake of him Let us stir up our hearts and think now to take the Communion As for matter of repentance and sorrow it should be dispatched before It is the Eucharist a matter of thanksgiving we should raise our hearts above earthly things We should consider that we are to deal with Christ and these are but representations When the bread is broken think of the body of Christ and when the wine is poured out think of the blood of Christ and when our bodies are cheared by these elements think how our soules are refreshed by the blood of Christ by faith If we should be thankful to God for bodily deliverance how much more should we thank him for our soules being delivered from hell by the blood of Christ which is the grand deliverance Let us dispose our hearts to thankfulnesse it is a fit disposition for a feast And as I said take heed of sin it choaks thankfulnesse therefore examine thy purposes how thou comest if thou come with a purpose to live in sin thou art an unfit receiver The place we stand in is holy the business is holy we have to deale with a holy God and therefore if we purpose not to relinquish wicked courses and to enter into Covenant with God to abstain from fin we come not aright When thou commest into the house of God take heed to thy feet saith the Wise man take heed to thy affections consider with whom thou hast to deale but if thou hast renewed thy repentance and thy purposes with God for the time to come come with chearefulness with a thankfull disposition thankfulness is a disposition for a feast if it be a disposition for bodily deliverance it is much more for the deliverance of the soule and much more for Christ and the blessings we have by him who is all in all That thanks may be given by many on our behalfe VERS 12. For our rejoycing is this the testimonie of our conscience c. SAINT Paul in these words doth divers things at once First He shews a reason why many should pray for him and give thanks on his behalf you have cause saith he for our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience c. therefore if many of you give thanks to God for me it is your duty my conscience beares me witness that I have carried my self well towards you you have cause to pray for us and to praise God for our deliverance for you have received much good by us God conveys much good by publick persons to those that are under rhem therefore there ought to be many prayers and many thanks for them And again they ought to pray and give thanks for him because they should not lose their labour they should not lose their prayers their incense because it should be for a man that was gracious with God that had the testimonie of his conscience that he walked in simplicity and godly sincerity as he saith Heb. 13. Pray for us for we are assured that we have a good conscience so they are a reason of the former Another thing that he aimes at is the preventing of some imputations he was accused in their thoughts at least and by the words of some false teachers that were his worst enemies as you have no enemy next to the divell to a Minister like a Minister If a man would see the spirit of the divel let him look to some of them Saint Paul had many enemies many false brethren that laid false imputations upon him to disparage him in the thoughts of others in the thoughts of his hearers They accounted him an inconstant man that he came not to them when he promised and that he suffered affliction and it was like enough for some desert they accounted him a despicable man he suffered afflictions in the World he wanted discretion to keep himself out of the crosse Nay saith he whatsoever you impute to me and lay upon me Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience c. Again he aimes at this to lay the blame upon those false brethren