that is your season His killing and breaking time is your weeping and mourning time but when his healing time comes then is your time to laugh and dance Be willing therefore to be slain by the coming of the Commandment Rom. 7.9 and to lye dead under the Spirits wounds till the healing and reviving time comes Is there not a promise that the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 and that he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing Psal 126.6 bringing his sheavs with him And therefore do not dare to use any indirect means in hopes of relief he that would see a good issue of this work must stay the time Lam. 3.26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. 4. While you are under the Yoke of the Spirit give diligence to make a right use of it by improving your convictions while you are under them lest the Spirit cease his work and leave you and so your convictions die and wither and come to nothing This is a very common case for whence is it that convictions do so seldom end in conversion Many are convinced and yet few converted they have many and strong convictions yet perish under them they are made to see their lost estate and yet never come to Jesus Christ Now whence is this but from the slighting and not improving their convictions Of all duties therefore be sure make Conscience of this when the Spirit strives then do you strive when he works then is your time to work I pray consider four things First Prov. 17.16 What a price to get wisdom this work of the Spirit puts into our hands and shall it be a price in the hand of fools that have no heart to it no desire to obtain it The strivings of the Spirit time your seasons of grace For though every day is a time to repent and believe in yet a man hath not his special seasons and opportunities for this every day Opportunity is more than time it is the nick and season of time it is time fitted for action a conjunction of time and means together to bring a thing about When God shews a man his undone condition by reason of sin and makes a tender of Christ to him and the Spirit strives with him to bring him to accept the tender then is his season As the Lord said to David 2 Sam. 5.24 When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry-trees then thou shalt bestir thy self for then shall the Lord go out before thee Secondly Consider how easie the conversion is of those sinners that comply with and duly improve the seasons of the Spirit All things are easie in the Spirits seasons Great births are brought forth with easie travail How came Sarah barren Sarah to have a Son at ninety years old Gen. 18.10 why God came according to the time of life and Isaac is born So when the Spirit comes according to the time of life when his season is to bring life to a dead Soul then it lives you must know that Isaac was not so much the Son of Abrahams loyns as of Gods promise begotten by the Power of God making good the promise and therefore called a child of promise Gal 4.28 So is every Believer born not of the will of the flesh Joh. 1.13 but of God By the power of God put forth through the promise And hence all things in conversion become easie How difficult soever they are to the Creature yet in the Spirits season they are easie because of a Divine power How hard a work is it to repent and turn from sin a very difficult duty therefore compared to cutting off a limb But yet in the Spirits season how easie is it Zacheus says Christ make haste and come down Luk. 19. â— here is the season of Christ upon his Soul and how easily is his repentance brought about vers 8. Behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken ought fiom any man by false accusation I restore him fourfold How hard a work is the work of believing no duty more difficult It is easier to keep all the commands of the Law than that one command of believing And yet when the season of the Spirit comes how easie is it For now all things concur to bring it about the Commandment comes the eyes are opened sin is made burdensom the need of Christ is felt and by these means the Spirit draws and then the sinner runs Ah how easie are all things in conversion made by the Spirits seasons to the Soul that complies with them and improves them Thirdly Consider this is the highest and last of means for conversion 1 It is the highest it is that which puts efficacy into all other means which without it can operate nothing It is that which can make the weakest means as successful against the proudest lusts as the Rams horns were against Jericho though her walls reached to Heaven 2 It is the last means that God ever uses to convert sinners he hath appointed no other means to succeed this and therefore if you sin against your convictions you quench the Spirit and he may be so quenched as never to be kindled again and then your conversion becomes a thing impossible And therefore Fourthly Consider what a mischief it brings upon you not to improve the convictions of the Spirit Is it not a mischief when all the Ordinances and means of Grace are rendred fruitless and unsuccessful This is an effect of not improving the Spirits convictions Nay is it not a mischief to turn the edge of that Word against your Souls that was designed against your sins This is a fruit of not improving the Spirits convictions Is it not a mischief when the heart grows harder and harder under softning means This is a fruit of not improving the Spirits convictions Is it not a mischief to be delivered up to a cannot in believing Why he that improves not the convictions of the Spirit provokes him finally to depart and then the sinner is delivered up to a cannot in believing Therefore they could not believe Joh. 12.39 Is it not a mischief when the Oath of God seals up a persons or a peoples destruction Why thus it is when the convictions of the Spirit are not improved I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Psal 95.11 And who were these They were a people that had long resisted the strivings of the Spirit O therefore be diligent to improve your convictions while you are under them And if you ask me how they must be improved I shall give only this one answer and that is By hastening to Jesus Christ for pardoning and converting Grace You never improve your convictions aright till you are brought by them to a saving
conversion resting in them and so perishing in the place of the breaking forth of children Hos 13.13 Now that others should eternally miscarry under those means that have been blessed to thy conversion that they should perish under the same convictions which have been to thee the pangs of the new birth O what mercy is this While some despair and others presume thou art brought by a sight of sin to close with Christ upon Gospel terms And hast thou not cause to be thankful 3. This Yoke of the Spirit being once taken off shall never be put on again thou shalt never come under it more Doth not the Scripture say as much Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear In whomsoever the spirit of bondage once becomes a spirit of adoption he is never a spirit of bondage more in that soul If after he hath once sealed our adoption to us he should again impress fears of eternal wrath upon us he would herein be contrary to himself Object But are not many of the Children of God after Grace wrought full of fears and apprehensions of Hell and wrath Answ We must distinguish between bondage by desertion and bondage by the Spirit in conviction A Believer under desertion may be in bondage by his own spirit but not by the spirit of God When God doth suspend the wonted influences of Grace and comfort a mans own conscience may fill him with fears of Hell and dread of wrath but this is not from the suggestions of Gods spirit but from the mistake of his own He can never be a spirit of bondage more And is not this cause of thankfulness 4. How great the advantage is that comes by complying with and yielding to the spirit in convincing work For where he is complyed with in the beginning he carries it on to perfection If he convinces of sin and the soul fall under it by humiliation and repentance he will convince of righteousness too and so raise it up again by faith and dependance Nay by an early compliance with the strivings of the spirit when he first comes to discover to thee thy lost estate thou hast secured his presence for ever and he shall carry on this work of conviction so long as there is any one lust remaining A Believer hath need of the convictions of the spirit so long as he lives It is a mistake to think the convincing work of the Spirit is over when it hath discovered to a man his lost estate and so brought him to a close with Christ there is a great deal of convincing work yet to be done as there is a sinful estate so there is a sinful frame of heart Now though the Believer can no more need the convictions of the Spirit as to the former for his estate is changed yet he always needs them as to the latter Though he was convinced of the filthy nature and damning consequences of sin to prepare him for Christ and conversion yet there are convictions of necessary use to the carrying on and compleating the work of sanctification There is a great deceitfulness in sin more than the Believer ever yet saw and therefore he wants conviction of that There is a great power in remaining lusts to draw the heart from Christ he wants further conviction of that There is a gradual secret hardening of heart which in-dwelling sin works to even in the regenerate he wants further conviction of that Nay how many secret spiritual lusts hidden and close corruptions are there in the heart which at first entrance into a state of Grace the Believer never saw they lye in the heart undiscerned till the Spirit comes in with further light So that a Believer always needs the convincing work of the Spirit it is essentially necessary to the perfecting of Grace and holiness Now he that yields to the convictions of the Spirit at first doth thereby secure them to the last He shall never cease enlightening striving counselling so long as there is any one lust remaining His influences shall abide till he hath got the mastery of every sin and judgment be sent forth to victory over every corruption He dwelleth with you Matth. 12.20 and shall be in you John 14.17 O what cause of thankfulness have such as have born the Spirits Yoke with success Secondly Your Duty is to be humble Remember your Bonds so doth the Church Lam. 3.19 20. Remembring mine affliction and my misery the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me One excellent means to cure spiritual pride is to look often back to the days of your soul distresses therefore God when his people were settled in the promised Land often remembers them of their wilderness state that they might not pride themselves in their present possessions Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee in the Wilderness to humble thee And ver 3. He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger And ver 14 15. Beware lest thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and drought where there was no water that he might humble thee No man will be lifted up under his present mercies that doth but seriously and frequently reflect upon his lost estate and the means and manner of his deliverance O think often of the sighs and sorrows the tears and terrours the griefs and groans of thy sinking Spirit in the Day when the Arrows of God stuck there How long thou hast formerly lain at God's foot begging for one Drop of the bloud of Christ to pardon sin one Dram of Grace to secure thy Estate one glympse of comfort to refresh thy wearied and heavy laden spirit and then be proud if thou canst Thirdly Labour to be fruitful This is the great end of the Spirit in all his convictions He convinceth of sin to break off the Sinner from it he convinceth of righteousness that the Sinner may seek after it and he convinces of the necessity of holiness that he may get it and grow up in it so that ye sin against and frustrate the whole design of the Holy Ghost in his work in the heart without this For ye are therefore made free from sin and become servants to God that ye might have your fruit unto holiness Rom. 6.22 And the same Apostle tells you cap. 7.4 Ye are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that ye should bring forth fruit to God Labour therefore to be fruitful for this is that which secures the Spirits influences to your great advantage Every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit John 15.2 Secondly This Doctrine affords matter of counsel to such as never were under the
Spirits Yoke I would commend to such three things especially First Be perswaded of the necessity of a true and sound conversion Think often of what Christ so solemnly averreth John 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God And in order to this think seriously what a miserable state an unconverted state is It is a state of enmity to God it is a state wherein all the guilt of all the sins that ever you committed the least whereof deserves Hell lyes upon the soul and binds it over to eternal damnation It is a state wherein the bloud and righteousness of Christ cannot avail us for he pardons none whom he doth not change and convert 1 Joh. 5.6 he comes whereever he comes by bloud and water It is a state which mingles a curse with all your blessings To the unbeliving is nothing pure It is a state of death for every unconverted Sinner is spiritually dead he cannot do any one act that is spiritually good It is a state wherein the Sinner is not only liable to damnation as an Heir of Hell but he is condemned already John 3.18 36. the Law condemns him though the final Sentence be not yet passed upon him and if he dyes in that state without a real conversion God will most certainly judge as the Law judgeth so that he is as sure to be damned as ever he was born And all this the Word of God plainly attests And is not there a necessity of a sound conversion Is such a state as this a state to be rested in No not for a day Gen. 19.15 17. Arise escape for thy life lest thou be consumed Secondly Hearken no longer to the Devils suggestions and counsels his great design is to keep thee secure in a carnal condition to ward off all serious thoughts of spiritual and eternal concernment and he hath innumerable methods and devices for the carrying on of this design Sometimes by fascination of the senses with carnal pleasures sometimes by incumbring the mind with worldly businesses as in Luke 14.18 19 20. so that we have no leisure for God and our souls How often doth the Spirit knock but cannot be heard how loud doth he call but receives no Answer how freely hath he tendred his counsels Prov. 1.25 but they have been set at nought Satan by the noise of bewitching pleasures or incumbring cares makes the Sinner turn a deaf ear to all the Spirits calls and counsels Or if the Sinner do at any time bethink himself of his soul and salvation then he labours to perswade him there is no danger he is secure as to that by what Christ hath done and suffered for him if he doth sin so do the best that live and if he begs forgiveness God is full of mercy Thus he keeps men from repentance and salvation by perswading them they are safe already and if he can but hide their danger from them which he industriously endeavours to do he knows he hath them fast enough For who will mind the Physician that knows of no disease he hath who will think of turning back that concludes he is in the right way who will stoop to the convictions of the Spirit that is perswaded his sins are pardoned and his condition safe Thus as Nebuchadnezzar put out Zedechiah's eyes and carried him captive to Babylon Jer. 39.7 so doth Satan blind Sinners to their eternal destruction Thirdly Do what in you lies to come under the convictions of the Spirit As you value your souls and would have the way of the Lord prepared into your hearts be willing to be made truly sensible what a lost state you are in For you must know that it is one thing to be a Sinner it is another thing to be convinced of it it is one thing to be lost in our condition it is another thing to be lost in our apprehension There is a great difference between a state of bondage and a Spirit of bondage Every Sinner is in a state of bondage but few come under the Spirit of bondage The state of bondage is a great curse the Spirit of bondage may be a real blessing for the Spirit of bondage is to deliver us out of a state of bondage It hath been so to thousands and therefore why not to thee Therefore do what in you lyes to come under the convictions of the Spirit Object But have you not said that every Sinner is dead in sin by nature And if so then what can a dead Sinner do to obtain the Spirit and the convictions of the Spirit Answ There is somewhat in the order of means that men may do towards the obtaining of the Spirit of God For though every man in a natural state is dead spiritually and therefore can do no spiritual act yet he can do the acts of that life he hath He is a living man though he be dead in sins and God commands us to shew our selves men Isai 46.8 that is by acting rationally though we cannot act spiritually Though we cannot do any thing to compel the Spirit because he is free yet we may use those means in which God is wont to vouchsafe his Spirit As for instance First There is an attendance upon the Word preached And this is the great Ordinance of God for the convincing and converting Sinners the way by which the Spirit doth ordinarily work upon the souls of men Though he is not tyed to means yet God hath appointed them and he will put honour upon his own appointments How many thousands were pricked in their hearts and so convinced to conversion by that Sermon of Peter Acts 2.37 How was Lydia converted but by attending to the things that were preached by Paul Acts 16.14 These weapons are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong Holds 2 Cor. 10.4 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Psal 19.7 Now this is every mans duty to attend upon the Word and there is no Sinner but is able to do this as well as any other natural or moral action Who is not as able to go to a Sermon as to a Play And to frequent God's House as well as a Drinking-House and to read God's Book as seriously as a News Book Secondly There is a diligent intention of mind to be exercised in attending on the Ordinances of God that we may understand and apply the things revealed as the counsel of God concerning us And this every man that hath the use of reason is able to do In other matters we can weigh things and consider them according to their weight and importance and why not in things that concern our souls and our everlasting happiness Cannot a natural man reason thus Either these truths of the Word of God signifie something or nothing if nothing why hath the wise God ordained them to be thus earnestly pressed If they do signifie any thing why should
quenched there he never strives again Where it is quenched but partially and gradually it is a very hard thing to kindle it again as you may see Cant. 5.6 but where it is totally quenched it can be kindled no more Alas who should kindle it The Saints can't Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn as Eliphaz said to Job in another case Job 5.1 Could the wise Virgins kindle the foolish Virgins lamps when they were gone out no they could not Give us of your oyl for our lamps are gone out Mat. 25.8 but alas they had none to spare Not so lest there be not enough for us and you v. 9. Can the sinner himself kindle it no that is impossible he can quench it but he cannot kindle it He may sin away the Spirits motions but he can never recover them again That is plain in Prov. 1.24 25. Because I called and you refused I stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel c. Here is the Spirit quenched and see how they strive to light it again but in vain Vers 28. They shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me The sinner you see can quench the Spirit but he cannot kindle it Can the Ordinances kindle it again no neither Alas how should they when they have no life in themselves but what the Spirit puts into them Pray mind if you at any time quench the Spirit in your selves you do thereby quench it in all the Ordinances and then though the Word be otherwise the word of life yet it is but a dead letter when the Spirit is quenched None can kindle it again but God and he will not Where the sinner doth once totally extinguish it God will never light it again Thirdly If it once come to this you can never come to Christ never take up his Yoke For this is a work that can never be done without the help of the Spirit If he must help the Believers infirmities then sure he must cure the Sinners obstinacies there is a yoke to be broke off as well as a yoke to be put on corrupt habits to be extirpated or obedience to Christ can never be owned And this is a work that none but the Spirit of God can effect The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing Isa 10.27 Though that be spoken of the Assyrians yoke yet it is typical of sins yoke which none can free thee from but the Spirit of Christ and therefore if the Spirit depart thou art undone there is no possibility of conversion to Christ thou art given up to a perpetual vassalage to sin and lust and to an hardned refusal of all the counsels of God and of all the ways of life So that upon all these accounts it is highly reasonable that every one of you should stoop to the Yoke of Christ betimes The Spirit of the Lord calls you to this the end of all his motions and strivings is to bring you to this And how little while he may strive you don 't know And if he once give over striving the work can never be done Here then you see the reason why every one should take up the Yoke of Christ in his youth because of the Call of God God the Father calls who made thee God the Son calls who redeemed thee God the Spirit calls who was sent to counsel and guide thee to regenerate and change thee to sanctifie and make thee meet for Glory And shall not the Call of God be obeyed This one thing will make it appear to be the most reasonable thing in the world viz. The Covenant you are entred into are not you entred into a Covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost What is your Baptism but a token and pledge of it Hereby God hath owned you for his and hereby you are ingaged to be the Lord's And shall God take me into Covenant and shall I refuse to take up Christs Yoke This is that will destroy your Covenant-interest God expects that so soon as you come to years of understanding to know your interest and duty you should renew the Covenant of God upon your own Souls and take hold of it for your selves as your Parents did for you before Now wherein doth your personal entring into Covenant with God chiefly consist but in your taking up the Yoke of Christ Sure therefore this should be done betimes if you refuse this ye renounce your Covenant with God you cast your selves out by your unbelief and then God will cast you out Rom. 11.20 Because of unbelief they were broken off Secondly Consider what this Call is When you are called to take up the Yoke of Christ you are called from a state of sin and misery to a state of true blessedness from the vilest slavery and drudgery in the world to a work of the highest pleasure and delight Prov. 3.17 No greater pleasure than in duty and obedience where the heart is right with God You are called to holiness 1 Thess 4.7 God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness And a life of holiness is the most desirable life in the world it is the life of God it is that life in which only a man can have communion with God for a man must partake of the nature and life of God that would have fellowship with God contrary natures can have no communion He will not take the wicked by the hand * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 8.20 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 It is not meant only of seeing God in Heaven but in this world also for there is a seeing of God fiducially as well as beatifically Mat. 5.8 Heb. 11.27 and the one is as necessary to the present state as the other is to a state of Glory And he that doth not see God in this world shall never see him in the next Now that which fits for present Vision and Communion is holiness And your holiness lies in taking up the Yoke of Christ and conforming to the Law and Will of Christ This is that which you are called to Nay when you are called to take up Christ's Yoke you are therein called to partake of the glory and blessedness of Christ in Heaven For though this Call of God begins in Grace yet it ends in Glory There is a twofold end of Gods Call with respect to sinners the near and proximate end is the conversion of sinners to Christ and a life of obedience the remote and ultimate end is the bringing those to glory who are thus brought home by grace and therefore the Call of God is said to be to glory 1 Thess 2.12 who hath called you to his kingdom and glory And 2 Pet. 1.3 called us to glory and virtue To virtue as the means to glory as
Ordinance every Providence every thing hath a commission so to do Rom. 11.8 Make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed Isai 6.10 Ye read in Rom. 1. of a threefold giving up v. 24. God gave them up to uncleanness v. 26. God gave them up to vile affections v. 28. God gave them up to a reprobate mind There is a gradation in this judicial process of God Here is the practice of sin and a giving up to that then a love and delight in sin and a giving up to that and at last a sensless stupidity in sin and then a giving up to that And these are the three saddest judgments on this side Hell God brought ten sad Plagues upon Pharaoh but there was one greater than all and that was a hardned heart Exod. 10.27 I have hardned his heart saith the Lord Exod. 7.13 And how is this done How can God be said to harden a sinners heart Non infundendo malitiam 〈◊〉 subtrahendo gratiam not by infusing any evil qualities that were not there before but by withdrawing the striving of his Spirit and leaving a man to be acted by his own lusts which do quickly work to hardening the heart and therefore that which is called a hardening the heart there is by the Apostle here explained by giving up to uncleanness to vile affections to a reprobate mind Which imports no more but a dereliction of the Spirit a ceasing to strive any longer Fifthly If a man may possibly commit the unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost then he may out-live the strivings of the Spirit and sin away his day of grace But this is possible for a man to do so did those Pharisees and Scribes Mat. 9.34 Mark 3. They commit this sin v. 22. And the Lord Christ charges them with it and tells them they shall never be pardoned nor saved by reason of it v. 29 30. So that they out-lived their day of grace Therefore the thing is most evident that a man may so long go on in sin and so far resist the Spirit in his strivings with the Soul as that his day of grace may be past and gone It may be sinned away How long the Spirit of the Lord may continue to strive with a sinner before he gives over and strives no more that I think is a question too hard for any man to determine to say thus long the Spirit will strive but no longer thus long the sinners day of grace shall continue but no longer is beyond the skill of any man 1. Because things that are purely arbitrary come under no rule 2. The Scripture is silent as to any positive determination herein God hath no where said how long it shall be how long he will wait to be gracious And where the Scripture doth not determine who can We ought not to have an ear to hear where the Scripture hath not a tongue to speak 3. It is most certain that the day of grace hath differing periods It is not of the same length to all one sinner hath the glass of his opportunity sooner run out than another To some God calls and sets open the door of grace for them and if they will enter well and good if not he shuts the door upon them and never opens it more To others he shews much long suffering he calls aloud Rom. 9.22 and strives much and knocks often at the sinners door before he will take a denial To some God lays the ax to the root of the tree Mat. 3.10 and says either bear or burn either for fruit or fire Luke 13.6 7. To others God comes looking for fruit one year after another before he gives the word for the cutting them down 4. The patience of God doth not determine the thing For that may be continued to a sinner when the Spirit hath given him over and done striving with him there may be a long day of forbearance where the day of grace is past The Lord awaken sinners to consider this for they are very apt to presume upon Gods patience and think that a season of repentance whereas the repentance and conversion of the sinner doth not depend so much upon Gods patience as upon the Spirits strivings It is this that puts a price into our hands to get wisdom Prov. 17.16 this makes the season of grace the patience of God may be for a contrary end it may be only for the filling up the measure of our iniquity And therefore sinners may possibly live long under Gods patience and forbearance and yet the season of the Spirits strivings may be at an end But yet though none can say how long or how little while the sinners day of grace shall last yet these two things may be safely said concerning it First The greater the means of grace is the shorter the day of grace is the old world had not so great means but then they had a longer day My Spirit shall not always strive with man yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years Gen. 6.3 It is not meant of the days of his life that he should live so long but it is meant of the day of grace so many years God would give them to repent in so many years his Spirit should strive with them before judgment was executed The people of Israel had greater means than the old World but then their day of grace was shorter Forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness Acts 13.18 And afterwards in Canaan still as their priviledges were inlarged so their day was shortned Never were their injoyments so great as by the coming of Christ in the flesh but yet this shortned their day of grace the more as you may see in that Parable of the Fig-tree Luke 13.6 7. And in that Commission which Christ gives to his Disciples Luke 10.10 11. Into whatever city ye enter and they receive you not go out into the street and say Even the very dust of your city we do wipe off against you notwithstanding be ye sure of this that the kingdom of God is come nigh to you As if he should say Tell them this is their day of grace which since they slight God will shake off them as you do the dust of your feet The more lively and awakening the Ministry you at any time sit under is the shorter your day of grace is for it either converts or hardens it either betters your estate or makes it worse If it be not a savour of life to life it will be a savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 It never leaves sinners as it finds them If your spiritual estate be not bettered by it the Spirit of the Lord will not strive long and then your conversion is impossible There are three sad evils
they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Corinth 2.8 So did men but know what Religion is they would revere it and not scoff at it But the God of this world hath blinded their minds 2 Cor. 4.4 And who values the judgment of a blind man why then should any one be discouraged from owning Religion by the scoffs of such as know nothing of it or Secondly They are sensualists men soaked in sensual pleasures and swayed by brutish appetite swilling Sots Debauchees beastly Buffoons men of profligate Lives and Consciences 2 Pet. 3.3 who never had the least savour of the things of Religion and are these competent Judges of the sweetness of the heavenly life what do they know of the things they scoff at and reproach ask them what Religion is and they are not well enough catechised to make an answer They understand the newest fashions the wittiest Plays the most taking Healths the gentilest Oaths things suitable to their huffing humour but as for the ways of God they are far above out of their sight Psal 10.5 And therefore as brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed they speak evil of the things they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption 2. Pet. 2.12 4. Consider why they scoff at Religion and at them who profess and practise it First Why do they scoff at Religion but because it would restrain their lusts and obstruct their sinful course which they are bent upon And therefore they discountenance Religion that they may the better countenance their lusts There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts 2 Pet. 3.3 mark it is for the sake of their lusts that Religion is scorned and hated It is from an evil life that any man reproaches Godliness they hate the light and come not to it lest their deeds should be reproved John 3.20 Secondly Why do they scoff at them that profess and own Religion but because they will not be Beasts nor offer violence to their Reason nor stifle the convictions of their own Consciences nor resist the spirit nor put off the Image of God and become as Devils They mock at them for taking God for their chief good for seeking his love and favour for minding and endeavouring to save an immortal Soul for labouring to avoid the wrath of God and the miseries of Hell and to secure an everlasting happiness For this is the great work and business of Religion the Object of it is God in Christ the Rule of it is the holy Scriptures the End of it is the Glory of God in our own Salvation and the whole work and business of it is to dye to sin to live to righteousness to walk after the spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh To deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 This is the sure way to that blessed end ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life Rom. 6.22 This is the summ of the Christian Religian and what is here to be ridiculed and made mockery they that will scoff at men for being Religious may as well scoff at the Seaman for using a Pilot to keep the Ship from Rocks and Sands or at the blind man for walking with a guide that he may not fall into the Pit or at the sick man for seeking a Cure when his life is in danger They scoff at you for keeping the promise they have broken and for endeavouring to make good the baptismal Covenant which they have violated They have promised to renounce the world to forsake the Devil and all his works to abandon the lusts of the flesh but have not done it but are Covenant-breakers and because you labour to be true to your Covenant with God therefore they mock and scoff so that the true reason of all is because you are not as vile as they as false to God and to your ingagement they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 1 Pet. 4.4 and is not this most irrational and worse than brutish and why should you cease to act like rational creatures because others act below the Brutes 5. It is not you but God whom they hate and scorn it is his name and honour they wound through your sides and therefore the Apostle calls the reproach of Christians Christs reproach Heb. 13.13 For whoever scoffs at any man for that of God that is in him scoffs not at man so much as at God Were you a swinish Drunkard an unclean Brute a proud Huff an hectoring Atheist a Dam-mee like themselves they would hug and imbrace you so that the hatred and enmity is evidently against the Image and Life of God in you and therefore against God himself If ye were of the world the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you John 15.19 Now if the holy God who is able to frown the proudest sinner into Hell in a moment is patient and long suffering towards these and bears all their scoffs and hard speeches and indignities why should you think much to bear them especially when it is for his name sake All these things will they do unto you for my name sake John 15.21 6. Set the respect of God against the scorns of the World What though the World hates so long as God loves let them reproach thee yet the holy God honours thee If any man serve me 1 Sam 2.30 him will my father honour John 12.26 He is not ashamed to be called your God Heb. 11.16 and if so why should you be ashamed to be called his People He accounts of you as the excellent of the Earth Psal 16.3 and therefore you should set that against the mocks and scoffs of wicked men Aliud judicium hominis aliud judicium Dei whose judgment is most to be esteemed the righteous Gods Rom. 2.2 which is always according to truth or unrighteous mans which is blinded with prejudice and hatred of God and all his ways and People and therefore the Apostle Paul flights the censures of men and values himself wholly upon the approbation of God With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of mans judgment but be that judgeth me is the Lord 1 Cor. 4.3 4. 7. These scoffs and reproaches which you undergo upon the account of Christ and Religion here shall add to your Crown and greaten your Glory in the last Day Every degree of suffering for Christ now shall then have its reward He that hath promised to requite your well doing to a cup of cold water Matt. 10.42 hath also promised to recompence your sufferings to the least scoff or jeer Blessed are ye when men shall revile you rejoyce and be exceeding
convictions Secondly It may respect the earliness of being And that seems rather to be the sense of the place Vatablus renders it from his Youth taking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 early impressions upon the conscience by the convictions of the Spirit are a great good to the soul It is good to bear this Yoke betimes for three reasons 1. Because the sooner it is done the easier it is done the longer we are before we come under it the harder it will be to bear it The longer thou continuest in sin the harder it will be to bear repentance If thy conscience be so charged with guilt that thou darest not look into it at ten or twenty years old what will it come to if thou lettest it run on till fifty or sixty The longer the Debt stands in the Book the heavier the account when we come to reckon for all the arrears of so many years actual sins added to the grand Debt of original sin Therefore it is good to bear this Yoke in your Youth Strength to bear it is then greatest and the burden to be born is then lightest Guilt of sâ—n encreases by lying and new guilt daily added to the old makes the burden still the heavier therefore it is good to comply with the spirit of God betimes Reas 2. The sooner it is begun the sooner it will be done the sooner this Yoke is put on the sooner it will be put off For it is but for a time that the soul bears it but how long or how little while is uncertain Paul lay under it three days and nights Acts 9.9 Acts 16.33 the Goaler for ought I can find not above an hour the three thousand in Acts 2. not above the length of one Sermon But some now adays are held days and months and years according as the Case requires But the sooner we come under this Yoke the less while it is like to lye Reas 3. How rich do such grow in Grace that by early conviction pass through the new Birth betimes He that sets up soonest is like to get the fairest estate if be improve his opportunities Ford of Bondage p. 75. If one go to be an Apprentice when he is a man there is a double inconvenience in it First His service will be much more irksome and tedious Secondly The prime of his days will be gone wherein he should have been trading for himself had he been his own man Though the work of the Spirit be better late than never yet it is an unknown loss the soul sustains by a late work He loses much joy and peace the thought of his living so long without God becomes many times a new wound when the old is healed the after pains of the new birth do abide upon some to their dying day And in this Case there is but little comfort though the work be real He loses much sweet communion with God He loses many rich experiences He loses a great accession of Grace Growth in Grace is a work of time and he that hath but little time can make but little improvement He loses many opportunities of service Nay he loses much in the degrees of Glory Hadst thou had more time to sow thy Harvest would have been â—â—â—ater for as a man sows so shall he reap 〈◊〉 â—â—â—refore he that spends the best of his time in the service of the flesh if he should be converted at last which yet few are he is like to prove but a feeble Christian The more our opportunities of service are if improved and the more our seasons of communion are if used aright the richer must we needs be both in grace experience and comfort therefore it is the most thrifty course to be an early Convert to bear the Spirits Yoke in our Youth CHAP. IV. Containing some useful counsel and directions to persons of several denominations with respect to the Yoke of the Spirit THere are three sorts of persons I would speak somewhat to by way of counsel and direction in this matter First To such as have born the Yoke of the Spirit with good success to whom the Spirit of bondage hath at last become the Spirit of adoption who are passed from a state of fear and terrour into a condition of hope and comfort Your Duty lyes chiefly in these three things be thankful be humble be fruitful First Study thankfulness and give the Glory of this work to the Spirit of God We are very apt to ascribe too much to means to this or that Minister alas they are but poor Instruments Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed 1 Cor. 3.5 even as the Lord gave to every man They have but the place of Instruments God is the great Agent and therefore all supernatural effects are to be ascribed to him alone Neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the encrease And therefore the Apostle Paul having called the Church of Corinth his Epistle in 2 Cor. 3.2 he doth in v. 3. call them the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with Pen and Ink but with the Spirit of the living God Ministers are but as Pens it is the Spirit of the living God that writes his Law in the heart by them and thus they become the Epistle of Christ and therefore let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. 1 Cor. 1.31 Is there not a cause Especially if it he considered 1. What a heart thine was when the Spirit of the Lord first took it in hand how hard how stubborn how dead how obstinate how long was the light opposed that shined in darkness and the attempts of the Spirit frustrated how great were the resistances made by it against Grace and how many the strong holds of Satan which were pulled down to bring about the Conquest Think how often the Spirits motions were slighted his counsels set at nought his strivings resisted Think how often he knocked how loud he called before he could be heard think how much unbelief how many confederacies with corruption what strong lusts what enmity to God and holiness lay in the way to obstruct the Spirits design O what a mighty power did he put forth to make sin a burthen and to fasten his Fetters upon the soul without which thy resistances had never been conquered nor thy thoughts brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 And hast thou not cause to be thankful 2. How many miscarry under the same convictions which have issued in a sincere conversion to thy soul Many by their sights of sin and Hell have been driven into utter despair as Cain and Spira Many have laid violent hands on their own lives as Judas many have stifled and sinned away their convictions and thereby have provoked the Spirit finally to withdraw and give them up to hardness of heart many have mistaken their convictions for
they be thus sinfully sleighted Thirdly It is a Duty to pray over what we hear and to beg success upon the Word for the ends whereto God sends it And is not this in the power of every natural man There is no man of reason but hath praying abilities many indeed have their excuses they cannot pray but this is but to shift off Duty and to excuse one sin by another You never saw a hungry Beggar but could pray nor a Child of five years old but when the Rod is at his Back can pray and cannot the Sinner cry to God When you go to hear can you not pray that God would open your eyes to see the wonders of his Law Psal 119.18 Cannot you beg of God that the Word may take hold of your heart and pull down all the strong Holds there Can you not plead with him that he would send his Spirit to accompany the Word to your heart that sin may be discovered and your hard heart broken and that you may be made to see the need of Christ and so brought to believe in him for pardon and salvation These are no other than what every natural man hath power to perform by the same assistance with which he lives and moves and who knows what God may do in a way of Grace and mercy when the Sinner is found thus doing I do not dare not say with the Papists and Arminians That if we use our natural power to do our utmost God is bound ex congruo to give Grace but yet this I may say That such is the goodness of God that he seldom if ever fails to give Grace to that man that doth to the utmost of his abilities in the use of means endeavour to obtain it nor had ever any cause to complain upon this account And therefore let young ones hearken to this counsel and as you love your souls do what in you lyes in the use of all Gods appointed means to come under the Spirits Yoke For consider First You can never be brought from under the Yoke of sin and lust but by coming under this Yoke Till you are weary of sin you will never forsake it and you will never be weary of sin till the Spirit of bondage hath made it a burthen to you Secondly You can never see the need you have of Jesus Christ till you are brought under the Yoke of the Spirit and till you do see your need of him you will never hunger nor thirst after him and so you will be excluded from all benefit by his righteousness and then you must perish For the Scripture discovers no way of escaping wrath to come but by being convinced by the Holy Ghost first of sin and then of righteousness Thirdly You can never take upon you Christ's Yoke which is the great command of the Gospel Matth. 11.29 unless you have been first under this There is as I said before the Yoke of the Spirit and the Yoke of Christ the Yoke of the Spirit is in conviction of sin the Yoke of Christ is in obedience and the one is preparatory to the other you can never submit to Christs Yoke until the Spirits Yoke have fitted the neck to it and so it becomes easie My Yoke is easie Matth. 11.30 It is not easie to the sinner that is at ease but to the weary soul it is Then any Yoke but the Yoke of lust any burthen to be delivered from the burthen of sin and guilt But who will walk in the narrow way that never entred in at the strait Gate Who will account subjection to Christ freedom until he hath first been wearied under the slavery of sins Dominion And this is a fruit of the convincing work of the Spirit And will you not come under his Yoke But when It must be done out of hand delay in this matter is very dangerous 1. In regard of the indisposition it works unto The longer sin hath possession the more it will strengthen it self and harden the heart against conviction and the harder the heart the greater the danger for growing hardness improves it self into a judgment Hardness persisted in provokes to hardening 2. In regard of the uncertainty of our duration Who knows how few hours there are between him and eternity You that refuse the Yoke of the Spirit as a work fit for riper years 'pray what security have you for the number of your years Hath God said you shall not dye next sickness or next Voyage to Sea or the next time you go to Bed or walk abroad An hundred dye young to one that lives long and is it not then an hundred to one but you may And how if you should dye in an unconvinced and unconverted state Consider what your eternal condition must then be O be willing therefore to come under this Yoke of the Spirit betimes 3. Here 's matter of instruction to such as are at present under the Spirits Yoke made sensible of sin and of their lost state and cry out of Hell and wrath c. First Take heed of discouragement To mourn under this condition that is a duty but to be discouraged and despond that is a sin For it obstructs the soul in that which is its duty it benumns and weakens the workking hand The Spirit of the Lord hath no hand in this he sets sin home upon the heart to humble us and break us and lay us low but not to bring us to discouragement and despair unless it be in our selves and therefore that is the print of the Devils foot It is one of his subtilties to rivet his temptations into our convictions When the Spirit of the Lord discovers sin in its guilt and filth to out us of our selves and shew us our need of mercy then he labours to sink us down under the despair of mercy therefore let not thy sense of sin cause thee to draw false Conclusions which in this Case is too common For though thy Case be dark it is not desperate though it is uncomfortable it is not incurable though it is sad yet it is not singular For First This is the way of God with all Sinners to whom he hath a purpose to shew mercy The Wilderness is the way to the Land of promise I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and there speak comfortably to her Hos 2.14 Secondly This lays thee under the Promise For that promises are not made to Sinners in their sins but to Sinners made sensible of their sins so that though thou art a Prisoner in a Pit where there is no water Ezek. 9.11 yet thou art a Prisoner of hope ver 12. God invites such as thou art the tenders of Christ and Grace have a peculiar respect to thy condition Thirdly This is that which prepares the way of the Lord into the heart He comes not till the mountains be laid low Luke 3.4 5. and the way prepared for him and nothing doth this
pleasure in Unrighteousness no but the contrary Who can reckon up the clamours it causes without and within Who can number the troubles of strife and variance How great is the pain of malice and envy What torments and horrours do blood and murder fill the Soul with Add to this that while unrighteousness is the bane of conversation which turns the world into a den of savage beasts where one devours another righteousness is the bond of humane Society which consults glory to God honour to Religion quietness to Conscience and happiness to Mankind And the same may be said of Godliness there can be nothing so truly pleasant and sweet Look upon the knowledge of God in Christ and how pleasant is that The Scripture calls it life eternal Joh. 17.3 One part of the pleasure of Heaven consists in knowing God and therefore this light must needs be sweet here And if it be sweet to know him how sweet is it to be united to him And that whether ye consider the misery of a state of distance and enmity Heb. 12.29 in which God is a consuming fire and we as briars and thorns and this is the state of every man by nature Eph. 2.12 without God in the world Or whether you consider the objects to which all are united that are not in union to God Their union is with their corruptions they are in Covenant with sin their Souls are glewed to their lusts some to pride some to covetousness some to uncleanness and how transcendently sweeter must the pleasure of union to God be than this Or whether ye consider the nature of this union as it is spiritual and indissoluble It is a spiritual union and therefore the pleasure of it is spiritual it is not to be seen nor felt nor tasted by common senses and therefore the natural man is so far from receiving it 1 Cor. 2.14 Prov. 24.7 1 Cor. 1.18 that he scoffs at and derides it Such wisdom is too high for a fool and therefore it is to him foolishness but the more spiritual and sublime the greater must the pleasure of it be to the Heaven-born Soul It is an inseparable union which can never be dissolved nothing can break it Death it self which can untye all other unions that of friend and friend that of man and wife that of body and soul which of all is the nearest yet it cannot râ—â—ch to dissolve this though the Soul and the body part yet God and the Believer part not neither as to body nor Soul for while the Soul is hereby taken up into a full communion the body is not left alone in the grave Rom. 8.38 39. Death cannot separate from the love of God in Christ. Therefore ye read of the dead in Christ 1 Thess 4.16 Mark it dead and yet in Christ though Dead This is meant of the body for the spirit dies not The body is in union to God when rotting in the dust therefore it is said to sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4.14 O how sweet must union to God be upon this account that it is indissoluble though it had a beginning it shall never have an end Or whether ye look to the many and great blessings which flow from this union to God Such as pardon of sin the grace of Adoption the indwelling of the Spirit a participation of all Grace a title to all the Promises and blessings of the Gospel Oh how pleasant and sweet must these things needs make out union to God to be And where there is this union to God how delightful and sweet must all worship and service and all obedience to his commands be For by virtue of this union to God the Believer derives such power and strength from him as makes every duty not only possible but pleasant And where a man is much in obedience he is much in communion and much communion with God brings in much comfort and much comfort makes the life sweet and pleasant Therefore no life to the life of godliness Is there pleasure in living in Heaven Why a life of godliness is a conversation in Heaven our conversation is in heaven Phil. 3.20 Hath God pleasure in his own life why godliness is the life of God Eph. 4.18 As Holiness is the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 so the acting of Holiness is the Divine life Now as the life of God being the highest life must necessarily be filled up with the highest pleasures and delights so a Believer partaking of the life of God which is of all the highest must proportionably partake of the pleasures of God which are of all the greatest And thus you have the first consideration which makes the Yoke of Christ pleasant and that is the matter of his service Secondly Consider the state in which this service is commanded and this Yoke injoyned to be put on and that is a state of regeneracy and renovation Without this obedience is not only difficult but impossible The proud neck of nature cannot bow to the Yoke of Christ Luke 19.14 Mat. 12.33 We will not that this man rule over us The tree must be good before the fruit can be good Good works don't make a man good they prove his state to be good but they do not make it good that is God's work Hence that in Ezek 36.26 27. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them So that it is first a new heart and a new spirit and then a new life first a good tree and then good fruit first spiritual habits and then spiritual acts In Creation every creature is fitted and furnished with such faculties and powers as are suitable to those actions which are proper to its nature So it is in the new Creation We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 First a new creation and then a new conversation and this makes Duty a delight Things are easie or unpleasant according to the inclination and poise of our spirits All pleasure and delight in doing arises from a suitableness between the heart and the work if there be Precepts upon us and a defect of Principles within us much may be done but there can be little pleasure in doing A sick man may eat and drink as a healthful man doth but he hath no pleasure in it all things are savourless and against stomach he hath no delight in it But it is for other ends that nature may be supported and life preserved he can't live without taking something But a man of a sound body and healthful temper acts not only his judgment in eating but his pleasure and delight his appetite is stirred up by the sweetness that
Job 7.20 21. I am a burden to my self why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity And there must needs be a sweetness in that which easeth the Soul of such a burden as sin is Thirdly It is that which renders all sin remissible Repentance and forgiveness always go together true repentance shall ever find forgiveness and this makes repentance very sweet and pleasant in that it renders all sin remissible Where-ever the Lord gives a heart to repent there he hath a heart to pardon So that a Soul that doth unfeignedly repent of all sin may be assured of the forgiveness of all sin Some call repentance a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter-sweet It is a stormy voyage but hath a rich return At the entrance it is like our Saviours draught of vinegar and gall but the conclusion is like the end of Jonathans rod dipt in a honey-comb 2. Another duty is Mortification of Sin and this seems a very difficult duty And indeed to flesh and blood it is so What to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye This is a hard saying But yet to a regenerate Soul it hath real pleasure and sweetness in it And needs it must if you consider First The enmity that is between the new heart and fleshly lusts There is not a greater enmity and contrariety between any things in the world than between these two Light and darkness Heaven and Hell are not more contrary And from this contrariety of the Spirit to the flesh there is a constant lusting against it Gal. 5.17 The spirit that is the new nature lusts against the flesh And what is this lusting but a desire and endeavour to subdue and destroy lust and corruption within Enmity delights in opposition What greater pleasure than to conquer and get the better of an enemy The reason why the mortification of sin is grievous is because of the friendship that is between the heart and lust Did we look on it as an enemy as it is the greatest in the world the subduing of it would be a pleasure Secondly If you consider the mischievous design that is carried on by sin And what is that but to destroy the Soul Nothing less can satisfie lust than the life of the Soul What is said of the Harlot Prov. 6.26 that she hunts for the precious life is true of every lust which is therefore said to war against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 against the grace of the Soul against the comfort of the Soul and against the life of the Soul Therefore he that loves his Soul cannot but take pleasure in mortifying of lust which hunts for the life of it Thirdly It is pleasant as it establishes a firm peace in the Conscience That is the truest pleasure which ministers most peace and quiet to Conscience He that gratifies lust offends against the quiet of Conscience but he that mortifies sin consults its peace and comfort Fourthly It is pleasant as a means to the end Our eternal life depends upon the mortifying our lusts Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live No mortification no Salvation If there be no cutting off right hand lusts there can be no standing at the right hand of Christ Now we say Finis dat amabilitatem mediis The goodness of the end puts a loveliness into the means How delightful then must the mortifying of sin be whenas the life of the Soul is secured by it 3. Another difficulty is bearing the Cross Many can follow Christ till they come within sight of the Cross but can go no farther Like the stony ground Professor who endures for a while but when persecution arises because of the word by and by he is offended Mat. 13.21 But where the kingdom of God is come with power into the heart the Soul takes pleasure in the very Cross of Christ I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12.10 And it is said of the Apostles Acts 5.41 They rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name And thus I have made it out to you that obedience to Christ is matter of real pleasure and that three ways 1 positively 2 comparatively 3 by a collation of instances I have instanced in the most difficult duties of Religion and have made it out that there is a real pleasure in them and if in them then in all So that Religions worst is better than sins best the worst of Christs Yoke is easier than the easiest of sins bonds As the Apostle says 1 Cor. 1.25 The foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men so the most unpleasant of Christs ways are more sweet and delightful than the most pleasant of sins ways can be and therefore it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth CHAP. VIII Some Objections against early Obedience answered NOW in the next place I shall endeavour to remove the stumbling blocks which Satan and a corrupt mind are wont to lay in the way of young ones to hinder their complying with this duty of taking up the Yoke of Christ betimes by answering such objections as are usually made against it Object 1. The first stumbling block I shall name and endeavour to remove is about the unchangeable Decrees of God Hath not God say some immutably fixed the eternal condition of every man Hath he not chosen such as shall be saved and passed by the rest And who can resist his Will or alter his Counsels which have been from everlasting If God hath elected me to eternal life his purposes shall stand they can never be disannulled My sin can never frustrate Gods Election and therefore my Salvation is sure And on the other hand if God hath shut me out of Heaven by the fatal Decree of his Preterition all my duties and indeavours can never reach to reverse the Decree And therefore these arguments for taking up the Yoke of Christ betimes are of little force and to little purpose Now in answer to this Objection I would say these five things Answ 1. We are not to look to the Decree of God for a rule of life but to the Word of God It is not what his secret purpose is so much as what his revealed Will is Secret things belong to the Lord but revealed things to us and to our children for ever that we may do all the words of this Law Deut. 29.29 The Decree can neither be a rule of life nor a ground of hope but the Precept and the Promise So far as the Precept is our guide the Promise will be our incouragement He that sins against the Gospel and rejects the Yoke of Christ no Decree can save him and he that gives up himself to conform in heart and life to the will
by and we shall stand or fall according as they are sound or corrupt The Apostle hints this to us Rom. 2.16 in telling us that at the day of judgment God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Now principles are the great secrets of men hid from all but God and a mans own heart Nothing is more latent they are as the spring to a Clock you see the hand move but that which causes the motion is not seen Actions are manifest and may be seen by all but principles are secret and discerned by none but God takes strict notice of them and will judge us according to them Nothing therefore concerns a man more than to see that the principles of his obedience be right Now the great principles that a man is acted by and that carry him on in gospel obedience are these three Faith Love Self denial 1. Faith This is the great principle of all acceptable obedience without which no obedience can please God the Apostle is peremptory in it Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God And therefore all gospel obedience is called the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 There is a twofold obedience to the gospel 1. Obedience to the call of the gospel whereby fallen sinners are invited and by various methods of grace perswaded to return to God and live Now there can be no obeying the gospel in this sense without faith For how can a man turn from his sins and take Christ upon the terms of the gospel resigning himself to the guidance of his word and spirit without faith 2. There is obedience to the rule of the gospel which directs and guides us how to live and walk so as to approve our wayes to God For the gospel is not only the power of God to salvation Rom. 1 16. but it is the will of God also for our guidance and direction and all obedience to it as such is the fruit of faith Therefore we are said to live by faith Gal. 2.20 and to walk by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 And living and walking take in the whole course of a Christians obedience in the language and sense of the Scripture As the gospel hath not only its credenda but its agenda not only truths to be imbraced but duties to be practised so faith hath both a receptive and a dispensing property it receives the truths of the gospel and imbraces them 1 Thes 2.13 Ye received the word not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God And it hath a dispensing property too whereby it payes homage to Christ in all capacities it doth not only receive the Law at his mouth as a Prophet and rest upon his merits as a Priest but subjects to his yoke as a King Faith is an active principle it doth as freely submit to the government of Christ as it readily accepts of pardon and salvation by him By faith Abraham obeyed Heb 11.8 This is one principle of obedience 2. Another principle is love And this is of as great importance as the other nay faith it self is deficient without this for faith works by love Gal. 5.6 This love as it is the Christians badge and character Let them that love thy name be joyful in thee Psal 5.11 So it is the great principle of obedience The Law being a ministration of death 2 Cor. 3.7 Eccles 12.13 the great principle of obedience there was fear Fear God and keep his commandments but the gospel is a ministration of life and glory and the great principle there is Love if a man love me he will keep my words Joh. 14.23 Love is vertually all obedience and therefore our Lord Christ reduces all the precepts to this Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Matt. 22.37 39. and thy neighbour as thy self So that the substance of Religion is contained in this It is not Circumcision as the Jew would nor uncircumcision as the converted Gentile would but faith that works by love Gal. 5.6 There is no such principle of obedience as Love This will be evident if you consider but eight properties of it 1. It is an appretiative principle that prefers and values Jesus Christ above all It sees such a beauty and excellency in him that it counts all loss and dung in comparison of him Phil. 3.8 And he that thus loves Christ can't but obey him 2. Love is an opening principle Open to me my sister Cant. 5.2 and ver 6. I opened to my beloved Christ can have no entrance into the heart if love do not let him in This is the opening grace It is so in God the Father What makes him open his eternal counsels and purposes of grace and mercy to poor creatures but love It is so in God the Son What made him open heaven and come into the world open the virgins womb and be born open his side and let out his blood and so open a new and living way for us to the Father Heb. 10.20 What makes him open his arms to receive returning sinners and open the gates of glory for them but love It is so in God the Holy Ghost What makes him open blind eyes and deaf ears and hard hearts but love And look how love works in God to us so it works in us to God it opens the ear to hearken to him it opens the mouth to speak for him it opens the hand to work for him it opens the heart to entertain and imbrace him 3. Love is a liberal principle it is all for giving it is the most bountiful affection Love is all for laying out upon its object It is so with God Divine love expresses it self in acts of bounty Joh. 3.16 Luk. 11.13 Psal 84.11 Heb. 8.10 Ephes 2.5 God so loved the world that he gave his son He gives Christ He gives his Spirit He gives grace and glory He gives himself I will be their God So it is said of Christ He loved us and gave himself for us And look how love acts in God and Christ so it acts in all that are born of God he that loves God gives all to God he gives not only his time and strength and talents but he gives himself I am my beloveds Cant. 6.3 4. Love is a laborious principle It is alwayes doing Amor nescit ferias it hath no days of leisure it sets all the wheels of the soul in motion And therefore the holy Ghost joyns love and labour together God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6.10 Your work of faith and labour of love 1 Thes 1.3 As the word of God is objectum practicum a thing not only to be known but obeyed so love is principium operativum not a meer notion swimming in the brain but a devout affection quickning the heart to obedience I have lifted up my hands to thy commandments which I have loved Psal 119.48 If any thing keep a
it a Crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to open shame Heb. 6.6 It is a less evil to refuse the first tenders of grace then to reject Christ after he hath been professed and own'd the former may be from ignorance and prejudice but to cast him off upon tryal argues his yoke to be uneasy and his Commandments grievous he sayes in the language of his action there is not that good to be found in God as he expected nor that comfort in his ways as was promised And what greater contempt can be put upon Christ then this 2. It hath mischievous effects with respect to our selves 1. It proves the unsoundness and hypocrisie of our hearts and shews they were never right with God They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 1 Joh. 2.19 He that at any time shall cast off the yoke of Christ shews that his heart was never right in taking of it up In a Marriage relation love increases and firms the bond but adulterous love is only hot while new 2. Another mischievous effect is in those unspeakable losses we sustain by casting off Christs yoke 1. A loss of all we have done or suffered for Christ when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned Ezekiel 18.24 thy Faith thy Prayers thy Alms-deeds thy Fastings thy striving against sin thy zeal and fervour for Christ will all come to nothing it shall never be mentioned all thy labour and obedience and duties are lost though they have been never so many and great When a Nazarite under the Law had separated himself to the Lord if any defilement came upon him all was lost and counted for nothing Numb 6.12 He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation that is he shall begin all again but the days that were before shall be lost because his separation was defiled So it is with professors of Religion if they draw back all is lost In Christianis non initia quaeruntur sed finis It is not only how we begin but how we finish And therefore it is excellent counsel the Apostle gives 2 Epist Joh. ver 8. 2 Epist Joh. Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which yee have wrought 2. A loss of that honour and reputation which doth ever attend sincerity and perseverance as an Apostate loses the profit and comfort of all his duties so he loses the honour of his profession Ye did run well who hindered you Gal. 5.7 Demas hath forsaken us 2 Tim. 4.10 and imbraced this present world it is recorded as an act of perpetual infamy and dishonour So Christ saith of him that begins to build and is not able to finish that all that behold it shall mock at him saying This man began to build and was not able to finish Luk. 14.29 30. The Crown of profession is only secured by perseverance Hold fast that which thou hast that no man take thy Crown Ne honorem perseverantiae amittas Gro. Revel 3.11 3. A loss of gifts and parts and of that expediteness for service which we once had When men withdraw from and forsake Christ he causes his Spirit in his wonted operations and influences to withdraw from and forsake them So that they are not the men they once were How hath the experience of the present Age verified this Do we not see many that once had great gifts of the Spirit for praying teaching and edifying of others who by turning their backs upon Christ to a dead way of formal Worship have sinned away the gifts of the Spirit and are now become utterly dead and lifeless and thus is that of our Lord made good Mark 4.25 He that hath not not improved from him shall be taken away that which he hath Thus Christ took away the Talent from the unprofitable servant Mat. 25.28 4. A loss of that tenderness of Conscience which is necessary to a true repentance for when a man doth reject and cast off Christs yoke usually Conscience is laid wast it is sinned out of office and so lets a man sin on without check or controul And how shall that man repent who hath sinned away all tenderness of Conscience therefore the Apostle sayes It is impossible if such fall away to renew them again to Repentance Heb. 6.4 6. 5. A loss of Heaven and the salvation of their souls There are two sorts of persons that are for ever shut out of Heaven Such as never believed and such as make Shipwrack of Faith Such as never would take up the yoke of Christ and such as having taken it up do finally cast it off again If you forsake God he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 This is willful sinning and how dreadfully hath God expressed himself against this Heb. 10.26 If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries you therefore that have taken up the yoke of Christ let that severe threatening of Christ fasten it for ever upon you Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of the Father with his Holy Angels These are the Arguments the Directions follow Direct 1. Would you not cast off Christs Yoke Then do not be weary of his service Do not count it burdensome No man loves to bear what is burdensome it makes him weary and wearyness causeth fainting Hence that of the Apostle Heb. 12.3 Consider him that indured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds There is a weariness from contrariety of Spirit to the work Mal. 1.13 Ye have said what a weariness is it And there is a weariness from despondency of Spirit under discouragements in the ways of God by reason of contradictions and sufferings but nothing should make us weary of Christs work Gal. 6.9 Be not weary of well-doing 2 Thes 3.13 Christ speaks it to the commendation of that Church of Ephesus Rev. 2 3. For my name sake thou hast laboured and hast not fainted Scaliger sayes lassitudo est deficientia virtutis moventis Weariness is from a failure in the moving Principle and that is the love of God in the heart So that weariness in the work of God shews that the heart is not right with God Direct 2. Look to your first undertaking in giving your selves up to Christ that it be in sincerity and uprightness of heart How can that man hold out in the service of Christ to the end