intention and is this a work to be done at random no 't is the most exact and curious of all works to have the Conscience right and keep it so as watches or other such neat pieces of Workmanship except they be dily wound up and skillfully handled they will quickly go wrong yea besides daily inspection it would as they at sometimes be taken to pieces and more accurately cleansed for the best kept will gather soyl and dust sometimes a Christian should set himself to a more solemn examination of his own heart beyond his daily search and all little enough to have so precious a good as this a good Conscience They that are most diligent and vigilant find nothing to abate as superfluous but still need of more The heart to be kept withall diligence or above all keeping corruption within ready to grow and gain upon it if it be never so little neglected and from without to invade it and get in we breath in a corrupt infected air and have need daily to antidote the heart against it You that are studying to be excellent in this art of a good Conscienee go on seek daily progress in it the study of Conscience is a more sweet profitable study than of all Science wherein is much vexation and the most little or no fruit read this book diligently and correct your Errata by that book the word of God labour to have it pure and right other books and works are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curious and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by works they shall not appear but this is one of the books that shall be opened in that great day according to which we must be judged On this follows a good Conversation as inseparably connexed with a good Conscience Grace is of a lively active nature and doth act like it self holiness in the heart will be holiness in the life too not some good actions but a good Conversation an uniform even tract of life the whole revolution of it regular the inequality of some Christians ways doth breed much discredit to Religion and discomfort to themselves But observe here 1. The order of these two 2. The principle of both 1. The Consâ—ience good and then the Conversation make the tree good and the fruit will be good says our Saviour so here a good Conscience the root of a good Conversation most Men begin at the wrong end of this work would reform the outward Man first that will do no good 't wil be but dead work Do not rest upon external reformations they will not hold there is no abiding nor no advantage in such a work you think when reprov'd Oh! I will mend and set about the redress of some outward things but this is as good as to do nothing the Mind and Conscience being defiled as the Apostle speaks doth defile all the rest 't is a mire in the spring although the pipes are cleansed they will grow quickly fowl again so Christians in their progress in grace would eye this most that the Conscience be growing purer the heart more spiritual the affections more regular and heavenly and their outward carriage will be holier whereas the outward work of performing duties and being much exercis'd in Religion may by the neglect of this be labour in vain and amend nothing foundly To set the outward Actions right though with an honest Intention and not so to regard and find out the inward disorder of the Heart whence that in the Actions flows is but to be still putting the Handle of a Clock right with your Finger while 't is foul or out of order within which is a continual business and does no good Oh! but a purified Conscience a Soul renew'd and refin'd in its temper and affections will make things go right without in all the duties and acts of our Callings 2. The Principle of Good in both is Christ. Your good Conversation in Christ. The Conversation not good unless in him so neither the Conscience 1. He the Person must be in him and then the Conscience and Conversation will be good in him the Conscience that is morally good having some kind of vertuous Habits yet being out of Christ is nothing but pollution in the fight of God it must be washt in his blood ere it can be clean all our pains will not cleanse it floods of tears will not do it 't is blood and that blood alone that hath the Vertue of purging the Conscience from dead Works Heb. 9. 2. In him the perfect pattern of Holiness the Heart and Life to be conformed to him and so made truely good 3. He the Spirit of Grace whence it is first derived and always fed and maintained and made active a Spirit goes forth from him that cleanseth our Spirits and so makes our Conversation clean and holy If thou wouldst have thy Conscience and Heart purify'd and pacify'd and have thy Life certify'd go to Christ for all make use of him as of his blood to wash of thy guiltiness so of his spirit to purifie and sanctifie thee if thou wouldst have thy Heart reserv'd for God pure as his Temple if thou wouldst have thy Lusts cast out that pollute thee and findest no power to do it go to him desire him to scourge out that filthy Rable that abuse his House and make it a Den of Thieves Seek this as the only Way to have thy Soul and ways righted to be in Christ and then walk in him Let thy Conversation be in Christ study him and follow him look on his Way on his Graces his Obedience and Humility and Meekness till by looking on them they make the very Idea of thee new as the Painter doth of a Face he would draw to the Life so behold his Glory that thou maist be transformed from glory to glory but as it is there added this must be by the Spirit of the Lord do not therefore look on him simply as an example without thee but as lâ—e within thee having received him walk not only like him but in him as the Apostle St. Paul speaks and as the word is here your Conversation not only according to Christ but in Christ draw from his fullâ—ess Grace for Grace 2dly The other thing in the Words is the advantage of this good Conscience and Conversation 1 Even external towards the malicious ungodly World they shall be ashamed that falsly accuse you thus often it is â—ven most evident to men the victory of Innocency silent Innocency most strongly confuting all calumny making the ungodly false accusers hide their heads thus without stirring the Integrity of a Christian conquers as a Rock unremoved breaks the Waters that are dashing against it And thiâ— not only a lawful but laudible way of revenge shaming calumny out of it and punishing evil-speakers by well-doing shewing really how false their acâ—users were this the powerfullest Apology and Refutation as his was of the Sophister that would prove there were no motion by rising up
the first was there is no power of hell can dissolve it He suffered once to bring us once unto God never to depart again as he suffered once for all so we are brought once for all We may be sensibly nearer at one time than another but yet we can never be separate nor cut off being once knit by Christ as the bond of our Union Neither Principalities nor Powers c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God because it holds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit The true life of a Christian is to eye Christ every step of his life both as his rule and as his strength looking to him as his pattern both in doing and suffering and drawing power from him for going through both for the look of Faith doth that fetches life from Jesus to enable it for all being without him able for nothing Therefore the Apostle doth still set this before his Brethren and here having mentioned his suffering in general the condition and end of it he specifies the particular kind of it that which was the utmost put to death in the flesh and then adds this issue out of it Quickned by the Spirit The strongest engagement and the strongest encouragement he our head crowned with Thorns and shall the body look for Garlands We redeemed from hell and Condemnation by him and can any such refuse any Service he calls them to they that are washt in the Lambs blood will follow him wheresoever he goes and following him through they shall find their Journeys end overpay all the troubles and sufferings of the way These are they said he to Iohn which came out of great tribulation tribulation and great tribulation yet they came out of it and glorious too arrayed in long white robes The scarlet Strumpet as follows in that Book died her Garments red in the blood of the Saints But this is their happiness that their Garments are washt white in the blood of the Lamb. Once take away sin and all suffering is light now that is done by this his once suffering for sin they that are in him shall hear no more of that as condemning them binding them over to suffer that wrath that is due to sin Now this puts an invincible strength into the Soul for all other things how hard soever Put to death This tâ—e utmost point and that which Men are most startled at to die and a violent death put to death and yet he hath led in this way who is the Captain of our Salvation In the flesh Under this second his humane Nature and Divine Nature and power are differenced Put to death in the flesh a very fit expression not only as is usual taking the flesh for the whole Manhood but because death is most properly spoken of that very person or his flesh the whole Man suffers death a dissolution or taking a pieces and the Soul suffers a separation or dislodging but death or the privation of life and sense particularly to the flesh or body but the Spirit here opposed to the flesh or body is certainly of a higher Nature and Power than is the Humane Soul which cannot of it self return and reinhabit and quicken the body Put to Death His death was both voluntary and violent that same power that restored his life could have kept it exempted from death but the design was for death he therefore took our flesh to put it off thus and offered it up as a Sacrifice which to be acceptable must of necessity be free and voluntary and in that sense he is said to have died even by that same Spirit that here in opposition to death is said to quicken him Heb. 9. 14. Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself without spot unto God They accounted it an ill boding sign when the Sacrifices came constrainedly to the Altar and drew back and on the contrary were glad in the hopes of success when they came chearfully-forward but never Sacrifice came so willingly all the way and from the first step knew whether he was going Yet because no other Sacrifice would serve he was most content Sacrifices and burnt Offerings thou didst not desire Then said I loe I come c. Was not only a willing Sacrifice as Isaac bound peaceably and laid on the Altar but his own Sacrificer the Beasts if they came willingly yet offered not themselves but he offered up himself and thus not only by a willingness far above all those Sacrifices of Bullocks and Goats but by the eternal Spirit offered up himself Therefore he says in this regard I lay down my life for my sheep it is not pull'd from me but I lay it down and so it is often exprest by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he died and yet this suites with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put to death yea it was also expedient to be thus that his death should be violent and so the more penal carry the more clear expression of a punishment and such a violent death as had both ignominy and a Curse tyed to it and this inflicted in a judicial way though as from the hands of Men most unjustly that he should stand and be Judged and Condemned to Death as a guilty Person carrying in that the Persons of so many that should otherwise have fallen under Condemnation as indeed guilty he was numbred with transgressors as the Prophet hath it bearing the sins of many Thus then there was in his Death external violence joyned with internal willingness But what is there to be found but Complications of Wonders in our Lord Jesus O! high inconceivable mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh nothing in this World so strange and sweet as that conjuncture God Man humanitas Dei what a strong Foundation of Friendship and Union betwixt the Persons of Man and God that their natures met in so close embraces in one Person And then look on and see so poor and despised an outward condition through his life yet having hid under it the Majesty of God all the brightness of the Fathers Glory And this the top of all that he was put to Death in the flesh the Lord of life dying the Lord of Glory cloathed with shame But it quickly appeared what kind of Person it was that died by this he was put to Death indeed in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit Quickned He was indeed too great a morsel for the Grave to digest for all its vast craving mouth and devouring appetite crying give give yet forced to give him up again as the fish that Prophet who in that was the figure of him the Chains of that Prison are strong but he was too strong a Prisoner to be held by them as our Apostle hath it in his Sermon that it was not possible that he should be kept by them They thought all was sure when they had rolled to the Stone and
sealed it that then the Grave had indeed shut her mouth upon him it appeared a done business to them and lookt very compleat-like in his Enemies eyes and very desperate like to his Friends his poor Disciples and Followers were they not near the point of giving over when they said This is the third day c. And we thought this had been he that should have delivered Israel And yet he was then with them who was indeed the Deliverer and Salvation of Israel that rolling of the Stone to the Grave was as if they had rolled it towards the East in the night to stop the rising of the Sun the next Morning much further above all their Watches and power was this Sun of Righteousness in his rising again That body that was enâ—omb'd was united to the Spring of Life the Divine Spirit of the Godhead that quickened it Obs. 1. Thus the Church which is likewise his Body when it seems undone is brought to the lowest Posture yet by vertue of that mystical Union with Jesus Christ as his Natural Body by personal Union with his Deity shall be preserved from destruction and shall be delivered and raised in due time Yet as he was nearest his exaltation in the lowest step of his Humiliation so is it with his Church when things are brought to the most hopeless appearance then shall light arise out of darkness Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses Therefore as we ought to seek more humble Sense of Sions distress so withal not to let go this hope that her mighty Lord will in the end be glorious in her deliverance and all her sufferings and low estate shall be as a dark Soil to set off the lusture of her restorement when the Lord shall visit her with Salvation As in the rising of Jesus Christ his Almighty Power and Deity was more manifested than if he had not died and therefore we may say confidently with the Psalmist to his Lord Psal. 71. Thou which hast shewed me greâ—t and sore troubles shall quicken me again and shall bring 〈◊〉 up from the depths of the Earth thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side Yea the Church comes more beautiful out of the deepest distress let it be oâ—erwhelmed with waves yet it sinks not but rises up as only washt And in this confidence we ought to rejoyce even in the midst of our sorrows and though we live not to see them yet even in beholding afar off to be gladed with the great things the Lord will do for his Church in these later times he will certainly make bare his holy Arm in the Eyes of the Nations and all the ends of the Earth shall see the Salvation of our God His King that he hath set on his holy Hill shall grow in his Conquests and Glory and all that rise against him shall he break with a Rod of Iron He was humbled once but his glory shall be for ever as many were astonished at him his Visage being mar'd more than any Man they shall be as much astonished at his Beauty and Glory so shall he sprinkle many Nations and Kings shall shut their mouths at him According as here we find that remarkable evidence of his Divine Power in rising from the dead put to death in the Flesh but quickened by the Spirit 2. Thus a believing Soul at the lowest when to its own sense it is given over unto death and swallowed up of it as it were in the Belly of Hell yet look up to this Divine Power him whose Soul was not left there will not leave thine there Yea when thou art most sunk in thy sad apprehensions and far off to thy thinking then is he nearest to raise and comfort thee as sometimes it grows darkest immediately before day Rest on his power and goodness which never failed any that did so It is he as David says that lifts up the Soul from the Gates of Death 3. Would any of you be cured of that common Disease the fear of Death look this way and you shall find more than you seek you shall be taught not only not to fear but to love it Consider 1. His Death He died by that thou that receivest him as thy life maist be sure of this that thou art by that his death freed from the second death and that 's the great Point let that have the name which was given to the other the most terrible of all terrible things and as the second death is removed this death that thou art to pass through is I may say beautified and sweetned the ugly Visage of it becomes amiable when ye look on 't in Christ and in his death that puts such a pleasing comeliness upon it that whereas others fly from it with affrightment the Believer cannot chuse but embrace it longs to lie down in that Bed of Rest since his Lord lay in it and hath warmed that cold Bed and purified it with his fragrant Body 2. But especially looking forward to his return thence quickened by the Spirit this being to those that are in him the certain pledge yea the effectual Cause of that blessed Reâ—urrection that is in their hopes there is that Union betwixt them that they shall rise by the communication and vertue of his rising not simply by his Power so the wicked to their grief shall be raised but they by his life as theirs Therefore is it so often re-iterated Io. 6. where he speaks of himself as living and Life-giving Bread to Belivers adds I will raise them up at the last day This comfort we have even for the house of Clay we lay down and for our more considerable part our immortal Souls this his death and rising hath provided for them at their dislodging entring into that Glory where he is Now if these things were lively apprehended and laid hold on Christ made ours and the first Resurrection manifest in us quickened by his spirit to newness of life certainly there would not be a more wellcome and refreshing thought nor a sweeter discourse to us than that of death and no matter for the kind of it were it a violent death so was his Were it that we account most judgement like amongst diseases the plague was not his death very painful and was it not an accursed death and by that curse endured by him in his is not the Curse taken away to the Believer Oh! how wellcome shall that day be that day of Deliverance to be out of this woâ—ful Prison I regard not at what Door I go out at being at once freed from so many deaths and set in to enjoy him who is my life Verses 19 20 21. 19. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison 20. Which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water 21. The like figure
whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ. THere is nothing that so much concerns a Christian to know as the excellency of Jesus Christ his Person and Works so that it is always pertinent to insist much on that Subject The Apostle having spoken of this Spirit or Divine Nature and the power of it raising him from the Dead takes occasion to speak of another work of that Spirit to wit the emission and publishing of his Divine Doctrine and that not as a new thing following his Death and Rising but as the same in substance by the same Spirit promulgate long before even to the first Inhabitants of the World Quickned by the Spirit that is in our days says the Apostle but then long before that by the same Spirit he went and preached to the Spirits that were in Prison This place is somewhat obscure in it self as it usually falls but made more so by the various fancies and contests of Interpreters aiming or pretending to clear it these I like never to make a noise of That dream of the descent of Christs Soul into Hell though they that are in it think this place founds somewhat that way yet it proves being examined no way sutable cannot by the strongest wresting be drawn to fit their purpose For 1. That it was to preach that he went thither they are not willing to avow though the end they give it is as groundless and imaginary as this is 2. They would have his business to be with the Spirits of the Faithful deceased before his coming here we see it s with the disobedient 3. And his Spirit here is the same with the sense of the foregoing words which means not his Soul but his eternal Deity 4. nor is it the Spirits that were in Prison as they read it but the Spirits in Prison which by the opposition of their former condition sometimes or formerly disobedient doth clearly speak their present condition as the just consequent and fruit of their disobedience Other misinterpretations I mention not taking it as agreeable to the whole strain of the Apostles words That Jesus Christ did before his appearing in the Flesh speak by his Spirit in his Servants to those of the foregoing Ages yea the Antientest of them declaring to them the way of life though rejected by the unbelief of the most part This is interjected in the mentioning of Christs sufferings and exaltment after them And after all the Apostle returns â—to that again and to exhortation which he strengthens by it But so as this discourse taken in is pertinently adapted to the present Subject The Apostles aim in it we may conceive to be this his main scope being to encourage his Brethren in the faith of Christ and way of holiness against all opposition and hardship so to instruct his Brethren in Christ's perpetual influence into his Church in all Ages even before his Incarnation as that they see withal the great unbelief of the World yea their opposing of Divine Truth and the small number of those that receive it and so not be discouraged by the fewness of their number and the hatred of the World finding that Salvation in Jesus Christ dead and risen again which the rest miss off by their own wilful refusal And this very point he insists on clearly in the following Chap. ver 3. 4. And those very ways of ungodliness there specified which Believers renounce was those that the World was guilty of in these days and in which they were surprised by the flood they Eat and Drank till the flood came upon them In the words of these three Verses we have three things 1. An assertion concerning the preaching of Christ and the persons he preacht to 2. The designment and dâ—scription of the time or age wherein that was and the particular way of God's dealing with them 3. The adapting or applying of the example to Christians The first in these words which I take together By thee which Spirit he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison which sometime were disobedient In these words we have a Preacher and his hearers Of the Preacher we shall find here 1. His ability 2. His activity in the use of it His ability altogether singular and matchless the very Spring of all abilities the Spirit of wisdome himself being the co-eternal Son of God That Spirit he preacht by was it by which he raised himself from the dead and without this Spirit there is no preaching Now he was as our Apostle calls him a Preacher of righteousness but it was the power of this Spirit for in him did this Spirit Preach The Son is the wisdom of the Father his Name is the Word not only for that by him all things were created as Iohn hath it the Son that power by which as by the word of his mouth all things were made but the Word likewise as revealing him declaring to us the counsel and will of God therefore by the same Evangelist in the same place called that light that illuminates the World without which Man called the lesser World the intellectual World were as the greater World without the Sun and all that bring aright the Doctrine of saving wisdom derive it necessarily from him all Preachers draw from this Soveraign Preacher as the Fountain of Divine light as all the Stars receive their light from the Sun and by that diffusing amongst them it is not diminisht in the Sun but only communicated to them remaining still full and entire in it as its source so doth the Spirit flow from Christ in a particular degree unto those he sends forth in his name and its in them that he preaches by the power and light of his Eternal Spirit Hither then must they all come that would be rightly supplyed and enabled for that work It is impossible to speak duly of him in any measure but by his Spirit there must be particular access and a receiving of instructions from him and a transfusion of his Spirit into ours Oh! were it thus with us how sweet were it to speak of him To be much in prayer much dependance on him and drawing from him would do much more in this than reading and studying seeking after arts and Tongues and Common Knowledge These not to be despised nor neglected Reading good and learning good but above all anoynting necessary that anoynting that teacheth all things And you that are for your own interest be earnest with this Lord this Fountain of Spirit to let forth more of it upon his messengers in these times you would receive back the fruit of it were ye busie this way you should find more life and refreshing sweetness in the word of life how weak and worthless so ever they were that brought it it should descend as sweet showers upon the Valleys and make them
main subject and scope in the foregoing Discourse that death was before called a suffering in the flesh which is in effect the same and therefore though the words may be drawn another way yet its strange that Interpreters have been so far wide of this their genuine and agreeable sense and almost all of them taken in some other intendment To be judged in the flesh In the present sense is to die to sin or that sin die in us and it s thus exprest 1. Suitably tably to the nature of it it is to the flesh a violent death and it is according to a Sentence judicially put against it that guilty and miserable life of sin is in the Gospel adjudged to death there that arrest and sentence is clear and full Rom. 6. 6 c. 8. 13. That sin must die that the Soul may live it must be crucified in us and we to it that we may partake of the Life of Christ and Happiness in him And this is called to be judged in the flesh to have this sentence executed 2. The thing is the rather spoke here under the term of being judged in counter-ballance of that Judgment mentioned immediately before v. 5. The last Judgment of quick and dead wherein they that would not be thus judged but mockt and despised those that were shall fall under a far more terrible Judgment and the sentence of a heavy death indeed everlasting death though they think they shall escape and enjoy liberty in living in sin And that to be judged according to men is I conceive added to signifie the connaturalness of the life of sin to man 's now corrupt nature That men do judge it a death indeed to be severed and pulled from their sins and that a cruel death and the Sentence of it in the Gospel a heavy Sentence a hard Saying to a carnal Heart that he must give up with all his sinful delights must die indeed in self-denial must be separated from himself which is to die if he will be joyned with Christ and live in him Thus men judge that they are judged to a painful death by the Sentence of the Gospel although it is that they may truely and happily live yet they understand it not so They see the death the parting with sin and all its pleasures but the life they see not nor can any know it till partaking of it it is known to him in whom it is it is hid with Christ in God And therefore the opposition here is very fiâ—ly thus represented that the death is according to men in the flesh but the life is according to God in the Spirit As the Christian is adjudged to this death in the flesh by the Gospel so he is lookt on and accounted by carnal men as dead for that he enjoyes not with them what they esteem their life and think they could not live without it one that cannot carrouse and swear with prophane Men is a silly dead Creature good for nothing and he that can bear wrongs and love him that injured him is a poor spiritless fool hath no mettal nor life in him in the World's account thus is he judged according to men in the flesh he is as a dead man but lives according to God in the Spirit dead to men and alive to God as ver 2. Now if this life be in thee it will act all life is in motion and is called an act but most of all active is this most excellent and as I may call it most lively life it will be moving towards God often seeking to him making still towards him as its principle and fountain holy and affectionate thoughts of him sometimes on one of his sweet attributes sometimes on another as the Bee amongst the Flowers And as it will thus act within so outwardly laying hold on all occasions yea seeking out ways and opportunities to be serviceable to thy Lord employing all for him commending and extolling his goodness doing and suffering chearfully for him laying out the strength of desires and parts and means in thy station to gain him Glory If thou be alone then not alone but with him seeking to know more of him and be made more like him if in company then casting about how to bring his name in esteem and to draw others to a love of Religion and Holiness by Speeches as it may be â—it and most by the true behaviour of thy carriage Tender over the Souls of others to do them good to thy utmost thinking each day an hour lost when thou art not busie for the honour and advantage of him to whom thou now livest thinking in the Morning now what may I do this day for my God How may I most please and glorifie him and use my strength and wit and my whole self as not mine but his and then in the evening reflecting O Lord have I seconded these thoughts in reality what glory hath he had by me this day whither went my thoughts and endeavours what busied them most have I been much with God have I adorned the Gospel in my converse with others And if finding any thing done this way to bless and acknowledge him the spring and worker of it If any step aside were it but to an appearance of evil or if any fit season of good hath escapt thee unprofitably to check thy self and to be grieved for thy sloth and coldness and see if more love would not beget more diligence Try it by sympathy and antipathy which follows the nature of things as we see in some Plants and Creatures that cannot grow cannot agree together and others that do favour and benefit mutually If thy Soul hath an aversion and reluctancy against holiness this is an evidence of this new Nature and Life Thy heart rises against wicked ways and speeches oaths and cursings and rotten communication yea thou canst not endure unworthy discourses wherein most spend their time findest no relish in the unsavory societies of such as know not God canst not sit with vain persons but findest a delight in those that have the image of God upon them such as partake of that Divine Life and carry the evidences of it in their carriage David did not disdain the fellowship of the Saints and that was no disparagement to him he implies in the name he gives them Psal. 16. The excellent ones the Magnifick or Noble and that word is taken from one that signifies a robe or noble Garment so he thought them Nobles and Kings as well as he and had robes royal and therefore Companions of Kings A spiritual eye looks on spiritual dignity and esteems and loves them that are born of God how low soever be their natural birth and breeding The Sons of God have of his Spirit in them and are born to the same inheritance where all shall have enough and they are tending homewards by the conduct of the same Spirit that is in them so that there must be amongst them a
Truth once fully clear'd oughâ— to be slighted yet there are things that may be true and yet are but of less importancâ— and of less evidence than others And that this difference is wisely to be consider'd by Christians for the interest of this agreement of Minds here recommâ—nded and concerning it we may safely conclude 1. That Christians ought to have a clear and unanimous belief of the mysteries and principlâ—s oâ— Faith to agree in those without controversie 2. They ought to be diligent in the research of Truth in all things that concern Faith and Religion and withal to use all due means for the fullest consent and agreement in them all that possibly can be attained 3. Perfect and universal consent in all after all industry bestow'd on 't for any thing we know is not â—ere attainable neither betwixt all Chuâ—ches nor all Persons in one and the same Church And therefore though Church Meetings and Synods as the fittest and effectuallest way to this Unity should endeavour to bring the Church to the fullest agreement that may be yet they should beware least the straining it too high in all things rather break it and an over diligence in appointing Uniformities remove them further from it leaving a latitude and indifferency in things capable of it is often a stronger preserver of Peace and Unity But this by the way We will rather give some few Rules that may be of use to every particular Christian toward this common Christian good of Unity of Mind 1. Beware of two extreams that often cause divisions captivity to Custom on the one hand and affectation of Novelty on the other 2dly Labour for a stay'd Mind that will not be toss'd with every wind of Doctrine or appearance of Reason as some that as Fanes easily are blown to any side with mistakes of the Scriptures either arising in their own minds or suggested by others 3dly In unclear and doubtful things be not pertinacious as the weakest minds are readiest to be upon â—â—eming Reason which try'd will possibly fall to nothing yet they are most assur'd and cannot suffer a different thought in any from their own there is naturally this Popeness in every mans mind and most I say in the shallowest a kind of fancy'd Infallibility in themselves which makes them contentious contrary to the Apostles Rule Phil. 2. 3. And as earnest upon differing in the smallest Punctilio as in a high Article of Faith Stronger Spirits are usually more patient of contradiction and less violent especially in doubtful things and they that see furthest are least peremptory in their determinations The Apostle to Timothy 2 Ep. 1. chap. hath a Word the Spirit of a sound Mind 't is a good sound constitution of mind not to feel every blast either of seeming reason to be taken with it or of cross opinion to be offended at it 4thly Joyn that which is there the Spirit of Love in this particular Not at all abating affection for every light difference and this the most are a little to blame in whereas the abundance of that should rather fill up the gap of these petty disagreements that they do not appear nor be at all sensibly to be found No more disaffection ought to follow this than the difference of our Faces and Complexions or feature of Body which cannot be found in any two alike in all things And these things would be of easier perswasion if we consider'd 1. How supple and flexible a thing Humane Reason is and therefore not lightly to be trusted to and that especially in Divine â—hings for we here know but in part 2. The small importance of some things that have bred much noise and dissention in the World as the Apostle speaks of the Tongue how little a sparke how great a fire will it kindle and a great many of these debates that cost men so mâ—ch pains and time as far from clear decision as when they began and possibly of so little moment that if they were ended their profit would not quit the cost 3. Consider the strength of Christian Charity that if it dwelt much in our hearts would preserve this Union of Mind amidst very many different thoughts such as they may be and would teach us that Excellent Lesson the Apostle gives to this purpose Phil 3. 15 16. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing Let us follow our Lord unanimously in what he hath clearly manifested to us and given us with one consent to embrace as the Spheres notwithstanding each one hath his particular motion yet all are wheel'd about together with the first And that leads us to consider the further extent of this word to agree in Heart and in Conversation walking by the Rule of those undoubted Truths we have receiv'd And in this I shall recommend these two things to you 1. In the defence of the Truth as the Lord shall call us let us be of one Mind and all as one Man Satan acts by that Maxime and his Followers have it all divide and conquer and therefore let us hold that counter Maxime Vnion invincible 2. In the Practice of that Truth agree as one let your Conversation be uniform by being squared to that one Rule and in all Spiritual Exercises joyn as one be of one Heart and Mind would not our Publick Worship think you prove much more both comfortable and profitable if our hearts mâ—t in it as one that we could say of our hearing the Word as he Acts 10. We are all here present before God to hear all things c. And if our Prayers ascended up as one Pillar of Incense to the Throne of Grace if they besieg'd it as an Army all surrounding it together for the obtainment of favour to our selves and the Church This is much with God the consent of hearts petitioning so says our Saviour Where two or three are gathered not their bodies within the same Walls only for so they are but so many Carkasses tumbled together and the promise of his being amongst us not made to that for he is the God of the Living and not of the Dead 't is the Spirit of darkness that abides amongst the Tombs and Graves but gathered in my name one in that one holy name written upon their hearts and uniting them and so thence express'd in their joynt-Services and Invocations so he says there of them who agree upon any thing they shall ask if all their hearts present and hold it up together if they make one cry or song of it that harmony of their hearts shall be sweet in the Lord's ears and shall draw a gâ—acious answer out of his hand if ye agree your joynt petitions shall be as it were an arrest or decree that shall stand
fruitful 2. By this Spirit it s said here he preacht not only did he so in the Days of his abode on Earth but in all times both before and after never left his Church altogether destitute of saving light which he dispenced himself and conveyed by the hands of his Servants therefore it s said he preacht that this be no excuse for times after he is ascended into Heaven no nor for times before he descended to the Earth in humane flesh though he preached not then nor does now in his flesh yet by his Spirit he then preacht and still doth so according to what was chief in him he was still present with his Church and preaching in it and is so to the end of the World This his infinite Spirit being every where yet 't is said here by it he went and preached signifying the remarkable clearness of his Administration that way as when he appears eminently in any work of his own or taking notice of our works God is said to come down so to those Cities Gen. 11. Let us go down So Exod. 3. 8. Thus here so clearly did he admonish them by Noah coming as it were himself on purpose to declare his Mind to them And this word I conceive is the rather used to shew what equality there is in this He came indeed visibly and dwelt amongst Men when he became flesh yet before that he visited by his Spirit he went by that and preached And so in after times himself being ascended and not having come visibly in his flesh to all but to the Jews only yet in the preaching of the Apostles to the Gentiles as the great Apostle says of him in this expression Eph. 2. 17. He came and preached to you which were asar off and this he continues to do in the ministry of his word and therefore says he he that despiseth you despiseth me c. Were this considered it could not but procure far more respect to the word and more acceptance of it Would you think that in his word Christ speaks by his eternal Spirit yea he comes and preaches addresses himself particularly to you in it could you slight him thus and turn him off with daily refusals or delays at least Think it is too long you have so unworthily used so great a Lord that brings unto you so great Salvation that came once in so wonderful a way to work that Salvation for us in his flesh and is still coming to offer it unto us by his Spirit does himself preach to us tells us what he undertook on our behalf and how he hath performed all and now nothing rests but that we receive him and believe on him and all is ours But alas from the most the return is that we have here disobedience Sometimes disobedient Two things in the hearers by which they are charactared their present condition in the time the Apostle was speaking of them and this by-past disposition when the Spirit of Christ was preaching to them this latter went first in time and was the cause of the other Therefore of it first If you look to their visible subordinate Preacher a holy Man and an able and diligent Preacher of righteousness both in his Doctrine and in the tract of his life which is the powerfullest preaching it seems strange that he prevailed so little But much more if we look higher this hight as the Apostle points to us to look to that Almighty Spirit of Christ that preacht to them and yet they were disobedient The word is they were not perswaded and it signifies both unbelief and disobedience and that very fitly unbelief being in it self the grand disobedience the mind not yielding to Divine Truth and so the spring of all disobedience in affection and action And this root of bitterness this unbelief is deep â—aâ—â—ened in our natural hearts and without a change in them a taking them to pieces they cannot be good it is as a Tree firm rooted cannot be pluckt up without loosening the ground round about it and this accursed root brings forth fruit unto death because the Word is not believed the threats of the Law and promises of the Gospel therefore Men cleave unto their sins and speak peace unto themselves while they are under the Curse It may seâ—m very strange that the Gospel is so fruitless amongst us yea that neither word nor rod both preaching aloud to us the Doctrine of Humiliation and Repentance yet perswades any Man to return or so much to turn inward and question himself to say what have I done But thus it will be till the Spirit be poured from on high to open and soften hearts It is to be desired as much wanting in the Ministery of the Word but were it there that would not serve unless it were by a concurrent work within the Heart meeting the Word and making the impressions of it there for here we find the Spirit went and preacht and yet the Spirits of the Hearers still unbelieving and disobedient it s a combined work of this Spirit in the Preacher and Hearers that makes it successful otherwise it is but shouting in a dead man's ear there must be something within as one said in a like case To the Spirits in Prison That 's now their Posture and because he speaks of them as in that Posture he calls them Spirits for it s their Spirits that are in that Prison As likewise calls them Spirits that the Spirit of Christ preacht to because it is indeed that that the preaching of the Word aims at it hath to do with the Spirits of Men is not content to be at their ear with a sound but works on their Minds and Spirits some way either to believe and receive or to be hardened and sealed up to Judgement by it which is for Rebels If disobedience follow on the preaching of that word the prison follows on that disobedâ—ence and that Word which they would not be bound by to obedience binds them over to that Prison whence they shall never escape nor be released for ever Take notice of it and know that you are warned you will not receive Salvation offering pressing it self upon you You are every day in that way of disobedience hastening to this perpetual Imprisonment Consider you now sit and hear this Word so did these that are here spoken of they had their time on Earth and much patience used towards them and though not to be swept away by a flood of Waters yet daily carried on by the flood of â—imes 90 Psal. and mortality And how soon you shall be on the other side set into Eternity you know not I beseech you be yet wise hearken to the offers yet made you for in his name I yet once again make a tender of Jesus Christ and Salvation in him to all that will let go their sins to lay hold on him Oh! do not destroy your selves you are in Prison he proclaims you Liberty Christ is still following
Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt And besides many other things to animate this that is here exprest Oh! how full is it They shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead And this in readiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath the day set and it shall surely come though you think it far off Though the wicked themselves forget them and the Christian slight them and let them pass they pass not so they are all registred and the great Court-day shall call them to account for all these riots and excesses and withal for all their reproaches of the godly that would not run with them in these ways Tremble then you despisers and mockers of Holiness though you come not near it What will you do when these you reviled shall appear glorious in your sight and their King the King of Saints here much more glorious and his glory their joy and all terror to you Oh! then all faces that could look out disdainfully upon Religion and the Professors of it shall gather blackness and be bathed with shame and the more the despised Saints of God shall shout for joy You that would rejoyce then in the appearing of that holy Lord and Judge of the World let your way be now in holiness avoid and hate the common ways of the wicked World they live in their foolish opinion and that shall quickly end But the Sentence of that day shall stand for ever Verse 6. 6. For for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the Spirit IT is a thing of prime concernment for a Christian to be rightly inform'd and frequently remembred what is the true estate and nature of a Christian for this the Multitude of those that bear that name either knows not or commonly forgets and so is carried away with the vain fancies and mistakes of the World The Apostle hath charactered Christianity very clearly to us in this place by that which is the very nature of it conformity with Christ and that which is necessarily consequent upon that disconformity with the World And as the nature and natural properties of things hold universally thus it is in those that in all ages are effectually called by the Gospel are moulded and framed thus by it thus it was says the Apostle with your Brethren that are now at rest as many as received the Gospel and for this end was it preacht to them that they might be judg'd according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the Spirit We have first here the preaching of the Gospel or suitable means to a certain end 2. The express Nature of that end 1. For this Cause There is a particular end and that very important which the preaching of the Gospel is aimed at this end many consider not hearing it as if it were to no end not propounding a fixed determined end in our hearing This therefore is to be considered by those that preach this Gospel that they aim right in it at this end and no other no self end The legal Priests not to be squint eyed nor evangelical Ministers thus squinting to base gain vain applause and also that they make it their study to find in themselves this work this living to God otherwise they cannot skillfully nor faithfully apply their gifts to this effect on their hearers and therefore acquaintance with God most necessary How sounds it to many of us at the least but as a well couched story whose use is to amuse us and possibly delight us a little and there is an end and indeed no end and turns the most serious and most glorious of all Messages unto an empty sound and if we awake and give it hearing it is much but for any thing further how few deeply before hand consider I have a dead heart therefore will I go unto the word of Life that it may be quickened it is frozen I will go and lay it before the warm Beams of that Sun that shines in the Gospel my corruptions mighty and strong and grace if any exceeding weak there is in the Gospel a power to weaken and to kill sin and to strengthen grace and this being the intent of my wise God in appointing it it shall be my desire and purpose in resorting to it to find it to me according to his gracious intendment to have faith in my Christ the Fountain of my Life more enabled and more active in drawing from him to have my heart more refined and spiritualized and to have the Sluse of Repentance opened and my Affections to Divine things enlarged more hatred of sin and more love of God and communion with him Ask your selves concerning former times and to take your selves even now enquire within why came I hither this day what had I in mine eye and desires this morning ere I came forth and in my way as I was coming did I seriously propound an end or no and what was my end Nor doth the meer custome of mentioning this in prayer satisfie the question for this as other such things usually do in our hand may turn to a lifeless form and have no heat of spiritual affection none of David's panting and breathing after God in his ordinances such desires as will not be still'd without a measure of attainment as the Childs desire of the breast as our Apostle resembles it chap. 2. And then again being returned home reflect on your hearts much hath been heard but is there any thing done by it have I gained my point it was not to pass a little time simply that I went or to pass it with delight in hearing rejoycing in that light as they did in S. Iohn Baptists for a season 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as long as the hour lasts it was not to have my earpleased but my heart changed not to learn some new notions and carry them cold in my head but to be quickened and purified and renewed in the Spirit of my mind is this done think I now more esteemingly of Christ and the life of faith and the happiness of a Christian and are such thoughts solid and abiding with me what sin have I left behind what Grace of the Spirit have I brought home or what new degree or at least new desire of it a living desire that will follow its point Oh! this were good repetition A strange folly of multitudes of us to set our selves no mark to propound no end in the hearing of the Gospel The Merchant sails not only that he may sail but for traffick and trafficks that he may be rich The Husband Man plows not only to keep himself busie with no further end but plows that he may sow and sows that he may reap with advantage and shall we do the most excellent and fruitful work fruitlesly hear only to hear and look no
real complacency and delight in one another And then consider the temper of thy heart towards spiritual things the Word and ordinances of God if thou dost esteem highly of them and delight in them that there is a compliance of thy heart with Divine Truths somthing in thee that suits and sides with them against thy corruptions That in thy affliction thou seekest not to the puddles of earthly comforts but hast thy recourse to the sweee Christal Streams of the Divine Promises and findest refreshment in them It may be at sometimes in a spiritual distemper holy exercises and ordinances will not have that present sensible sweetness to a Christian that he desires and some will for a long time lie under dryness and deadness this way yet there is here an evidence of this spiritual life that thou stayest by thy Lord and reliest on him and will not leave these holy means how sapless soever to thy sense for the present thou findest for a long time little sweetness in prayer yet thou prayest still and when thou canst say nothing yet offerest to it and lookest towards Christ thy life thou doest not turn away from these things to seek consolation else where knowest life is in Christ and will stay till he refresh thee with new and lively influence it s not any where but in him As St. Peter said Lord whether should we go thou hast the words of eternal life Consider thy self if thou hast any knowledge of the growth or deficiences of this spiritual life for it is here but begun and breaths in an air contrary to it and lodges in an house that often smoaks and darknes it Canst thou go on in formal performances from one year to another and no advancement in the inwards of Grace and restest content with that it is no good sign But art thou either gaining victories over sin and further strength of faith and love and other graces or at least art earnest seeking these and bewailing thy wants and disappointments of this kind then thou livest At the worst wouldest thou rather grow this way be further off from sin and nearer God than grow in thy estate or credit or honours esteemest thou more of grace than of the whole World There is life at the root although thou findest not that flourishing thou desirest yet the desire of it is life in thee and if growing this way art thou content whatsoever is thy outward estate Canst thou solace thy self in the love and goodness of thy God though the World frowns on thee art thou not able to take comfort in the smiles of the World when his face is hid this tells thee thou livest and he is thy life Although many Christians have not so much sensible joy yet they account spiritual joy and the light of God's countenance the only true joy and all other without it madness and they cry and sigh and attend for it mean while not only duty and hopes of better but even love to God makes them to be so to serve and please and glorifie him to their utmost And this is not a dead resting without God but it is a stable compliance with his will in the highest point waiting for him and living by faith which is most acceptable to him in a word whether in sensible comfort or without it still this is the fixed thought of a believing Soul its good for me to draw nigh to God only good and will not live in a willing estrangedness from him what way soever he is pleased to deal with 〈◊〉 Now for the entertaining and strengthning this life which is the great business and care of all that have it beware of omitting and interrupting these spiritual means that do provide it and nourish it Little neglects of that kind will draw one greater and great neglects will make great abatements of vigour and liveliness Take heed of using holy things coldly and lazily without affection that will make them fruitless and our life will not be advantaged by them unless used in a lively way Be active in all good within thy reach as this is a sign so it s a helper and friend to it A slothful unstirring life will make a sickly unhealthful life Motion purifies and sharpens the Spirits and makes Men robust and vigorous 2. Beware of admitting a correspondence with any sin yea do not so much as discourse familiarly with it or look kindly toward it for that will undoubtedly cast a damp upon thy Spirit and diminish thy Graces at least and will obstruct thy Communion with God thou knowest that hast any knowledge of this life that thou canst not go to him with that sweet freedom thou wert wont after thou hast been but tampering or parlying with any of thy old loves Oh! do not make so foolish a bargain as to prejudge the least of thy spiritual comfort for the greatest and longest continued enjoyments of sin that are base and but for a season But wouldest thou grow upwards in this life have much recourse to Jesus Christ thy head the spring from whom flow the animal Spirits that quicken thy Soul Wouldest thou know more of God he it is that reveals the Father and reveals him as his Father and in him thy Father and that 's the sweet notion of God Wouldest thou overcome thy lusts further our victory is in him apply his conquest We are more than Conquerors through him that loved us wouldest thou be more replenisht with graces and spiritual affections his fulness is for that use open to us life and more life in him and for us this was his business here he came that we might have life and might have it more abundantly Verse 7. 7. But the end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer THE heart of a real Christian is really taken off from the World and set heavenwards yet there is still in this flesh so much of the flesh hanging to it as will readily poise all downwards unless it be often wound up and remembred of these things that will raise it still to further spiritualness This the Apostle doth in this Epistle and particularly in these words In them three things to be considered 1. A threefold duty recomended 2. Their mutual Relation that binds them to one another 3. The reason here used to bind them upon a Christian. And of the three the last is evidently the chief and here so meant the other being recommended as suiting it and subserving to it prayer Therefore I shall speak first of it And truly to speak and to hear of it often were our hearts truly and entirely acquainted with it would have still new sweetness and usefulness in it Oh! how great were the advantage of that lively Knowledge of it beyond the exactest defining of it and a discoursing Knowledge and of the heads of Doctrine that concern it Prayer is not a smooth expression or a well-contrived form of words not the product
he is the Lord our maker Power Is here not only ability but authority and Royal Soveraignity that as he can do all things he rules and governs all things is King of all the World Lord paramount all hold their Crowns of him and the Shields of the Earth belong unto God he is greatly to be exalted disposeth of States and Kingdoms at his pleasure establisheth or changeth turns and overturns as seems him good and hath not only might but right to do so He is the Most High ruling in the Kingdoms of the Children of Men and giving them to whomsoever he will and readily pours contempt upon Princes when they contemn his power The term for ever Even in the short Life of Man Men that are raised very high in place and popular esteem may and often do out live their own Glory but the Glory of God lasteth as long as himself for he is unchangeable his Throne is for ever and his wrath for ever and his mercy for ever and therefore Glory for ever Inf. 1. Is it not to be lamented that he is so little glorify'd and prais'd that the Earth being so full of his goodness is so empty of his praise from them that enjoy and live upon it How far are the greatest part from making this their great work to exalt God and ascribe power and glory to his name for that all their ways are his dishonour seek to advance and raise themselves to serve their own Lusts and pleasures and altogether mindless of his glory the Apostles complaint holding good against us all seeking our own things and none the things of the Lord Iesus Christ true some there are but as his meaning is so few that they are as it were drown'd and smother'd in the crowd of self seekers so that they appear not After all the judgments of God upon us how doth still luxury and excess uncleanness and all kind of profaness out-dare the very light of the Gospel and rule of holiness shining in it scarce any thing a matter of common shame and scorn but the power of godliness turning indeed our true glory into shame and glorying in that which is indeed our shame Holiness not only our true glory but that wherein the ever glorious God doth especially glory and hath made known himself so much by that name the holy God And that which is the express stile of his glorious praises uttered by Seraphims Isa. 6. Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory Instead of sanctifying and glorifying this holy name how doth the Language of Hell oaths and cursâ—s abound in our Streets and Houses that blessed name that Angels are blessing and praising abused by base worms Again notwithstanding all the mercies multiply'd upon us in this Land where are our praises our Songs of deliverance our ascribing glory and â—ower to our God who hath prevented us with loving kindness and tender mercies hath removed the stroaks of his hand and made Cities and Villages populous again that were left desolate without Inhabitants Oh! why do we not stir up our hearts and one another to extol the name of our God and say give unto the Lord Glory and strengthâ— give unto the Lord the glory due to his name have we not seen the pride and glory of all flesh stain'd and abased were there ever affairs and times that more discovered the folly and weakness of Men and the Wisdom and power of God Oh! were our hearts set to magnifie him that word often repeated in that Psalm Psal. 107. Oh! that Men would praise the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the Children of Men. Inf. 2. But what wonder that the Lord loses the reverence of his praises at the hands of the common ungodly World when even his own people fall so far behind in it as usually they do the dead cannot praise him but that they that he hath quickned by his Spirit should yet be so surprised with deadness and dullness as to this Exercise of exalting God this is very strange for help of this 1. We should seek after a fit temper labour to have our hearts brought to a due disposition for his praises and 1. That they be spiritual spiritual services require that but this most as being indeed the most spiritual of all affection to the things of this Earth draw down the Soul and make it so low set that it cannot rise to the height of a Song of praise and thus if we observ'd our selves we would find that when we let our hearts fall and entangle themselves in any inferiour desires and delights as they are unfitted generally for holy things so especially for the praises of our holy God Creature loves abase the Soul and turn it to Earth and praise is altogether heavenly 2. Seek a heart purify'd from self-love and possest with the love of God the heart that is ruled by its own interest is scarce ever content still subject to new disquiet self is a vexing thing for readily all things do not sute our humours and wills and the least touch that is wrong to a selfish mind distempers it and disrelishes all the good things about it a childish condition it is if crost but in a toy throw away all Whence are our frequent frettings and grumblings and that we can drown a hundred high favours in one little displeasure and still our finger is upon that string more male-content and repining for one little cross than praises for all the mercies we have received Is not this evidently the self-love that abounds in us Whereas were the love of God predominant in us we would love his doings and disposals and bless his name in all whatsoever were his will would in that view be amiable and sweet to us however in it self harsh and unpleasant Thus would we say in all this is the will and the hand of my Father who doth all wisely and well blessed be his name The Soul thus framed would praise in the deep of troubles not only in outward afflictions but in the saddest inward condition would be still extolling God and saying however he deal with me he is worthy to be loved and praised he is great and holy he is good and graâ—cious and whatsoever be his way and thoughts towards me I wish him glory if he will be pleased to give me light and refreshment blessed be he and if he will have me to be darkness again blessed be he glory to his name yea what though he should utterly reject me is he not for that to be accounted infinitely merciful in the saving of others must he cease to be praise worthy for my sake if he condemn yet he is to be praised being merciful to so many others yea even in so dealing with me is he to be praised for in that he is just Thus would pure love reason for him and render praise to him but our ordinary way is most untoward