holds his Hand and cuts you short in spiritual Blessings which otherwise he would plentifully dispense unto his People Partly they exceedingly weaken the Work of Grace which is wrought upon their Hearts their Faith is more dead their Love is more cold than it was Hope is languid the spiritual Life is interrupted and at a stand tho the Seed of God remains yet it cannot put forth it self with such Vigor and Efficacy Yea they may never recover such a Portion of the Spirit as they had before 2 Chron. 17.3 Jehoshaphat walked in the first Ways of his Father David as having some note of blemish on his latter Ways These Sins in short as a Wound in the Body let out our Blood and Strength As a Prodigal that hath once broken after he hath been set up is not trusted with a like Stock again so God's Children may not recover that largeness of Spirit and fulness of inward Strength and Comfort which they had before as many after a great Disease do not regain that pitch of Health which formerly they had but may carry the Fruits of their Disease with them to their Graves Partly because Acts are intermitted when the Soul is distempered it is unfit for Action Either Duties are omitted or else done in such an overly manner as doth increase our Distemper and harden us the more In what a sorry Fashion did David worship till God awakned his Conscience by Nathan Prayer is interrupted 1 Pet. 3.7 As Heirs together of the Grace of Life that your Prayers be not hindred 2. Grieving the Spirit Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption All Sin is a Grief to the Spirit especially Filthiness and Bitterness Compare this with Ver. 29 31. Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouth but that which is good to the use of ediâ—ying that it may minister Grace unto the Hearers Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour and evil Speaking be put away from you with all Malice Now the gâ—ieving of the Spirit makes a great Breach in our Grace and Comfort as the Spirit is our Sanctifier and Comforter To speak only of the last When the Spirit is grieved we have not such a sense of God's Love For the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given 〈…〉 Rom. 5.5 We have not that Liberty and Confidence in Prayer we once had 1 John 5 21. Beloved if our Heart condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God Nor those lively Hopes of Glory and final Redemption in that Text Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption Nor that Comfort in Reproaches nor Courage in Afflictions nor Strength to resist Sin nor that Readiness and Chearfulness in Obedience that once they had So that a Christian is like Sampson when his Locks are gone all delightful Communion with God is suspended and a Christian doth not act like a Servant that is in his Master's Favour 3. Carnal Liberty When a Man giveth too much Contentment to the Flesh the Spirit or better Part is in Bonds Psal. 119.37 Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity and quicken thou me in thy Way A Man that lets loose the Reins to worldly Vanity will soon find Hardness coming on his Heart and see a need to ask quickning Grace Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your Hearts be over-charged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and Cares of this Life Worldly Comforts over-affected or immoderately used clog and enslave the Heart and so we are more unperswadible and disobedient to the Motions of his Spirit and the Counsels of his Grace Therefore if we will take heed that our Hearts be not hardned let them not out too freely to worldly things lest they be withdrawn from God but rejoice here as if you rejoiced not that you may keep up your Liberty to God 4. Pride and Self-sufficiency 2 Chron. 32.31 Howbeit in the Business of the Ambassadors of the Princes of Babylon who sent unto him to enquire of the Wonder that was done in the Land God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his Heart Paul was permitted to be buffered that he might be kept humble 2 Cor. 12.7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations there was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure When you trust to your selves God leaveth you to your selves and then we are as a Glass without a bottom broken as soon as out of hand Iam. 4.6 God resisteth the Proud but giveth Grace to the Humble It is not so much understood of a moral Humility or a lowly Carriage towards Men as of an Evangelical Humility which consists in brokenness of Heart or a sense of our Unworthiness and Weakness these are influenced by Grace but others are left to fall and miscarry by their own presumptuous Confidence And therefore if we would not incur any Degree of this Judgment we must take heed of Pride and spiritual Security Those that feel the daily and hourly necessity of Grace have more of the Supplies of the Spirit they are oftner waiting upon God Psal. 25.5 On thee do I wait all the day Christ hath taught us to beg daily Bread daily Pardon and daily Strength against Temptations that he might engage us to be often with God and keep in a constant dependance on him that the Heart might be kept more awful tender and serious 5. Carelesness and spiritual Sloth When we carelesly entertain the Motions of his Spirit and lie upon the Bed of Ease he is gone Cant. 5.2 3. I sleep but my Heart waketh it is the Voice of my Beloved that knocketh saying Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my Vndefiled for my Head is filled with Dew and my Locks with the Drops of the Night I have put off my Coat how shall I put it on I have washed my Feet how shall I desile them And ver 6. I rose up to open to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone God's Children may stifle many a pressing Conviction and Motion in their Souls hang off from the Throne of Grace and other good Duties and upon every frivolous Pretence keep away from God This unkind and ungracious Dealing will cost them dear Neglect of the Means of Grace quencheth the Spirit 1 Thess. 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophesyings Therefore we should be more diligent in the use of Means Mark 4.24 Vnto you that hear shall more be given We must more carefully obey the sanctifying Motions of the Spirit if we mean to avoid hardness of Heart 2 dly The Means to cure it 1. Bewail the Evil and complain of it before God who alone can help us We complain of
earnestly Micah 7.3 It is the difference between us and civil Men but unregenerate they are like Cypress Trees fair and tall but fruitless of a comely Life but none of these good Works are to be found in them It is the difference between us and Hypocrites A Hypocrite like a Carbuncle seems to be all on a fire but when you touch it it is quite cold so they pretend to Religion talk much but have no true regular Zeal no spiritual Warmth It is notable our Lord himself proves his Divine Original by his Works Iohn 10.38 Tho ye believe not me believe the VVorks that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him So is this the sensible Evidence you are in Christ and Christ in you Graces are not always evident in feeling but in Fruit the Effects cannot be hid Then they are Signs and Evidences to God himself the Lord will look upon them as Marks and Evidences of his People Look as the destroying Angel was to be guided by a Sign Exod. 12.12 13. by the sprinkling of the Door-posts not that he needed it but because God would have it to be so So the Lord sutes his Dispensations and guides them by a Sign It is true God in his Gifts is arbitrary but in his Judgments he proceeds by Rule according to our Works At the last Day God will judg you not by your Profession but by your Practice what you have done he will not say You have prophesied in my Name you have eaten and drunk in my Presence but you have fed me clothed me visited me That the Faith of the Elect might be found to Praise and Honour he will have Works produced Not that God wants Evidences of our Sincerity but he will have all the World know we have not been unfruitful A Man that expecteth to be posed is preparing to answer and would give somethink to know the Questions aforehand Christ hath told us what are the Questions upon which we shall be examined and taxed at the Day of Judgment he will say Have you fed and clothed my People have you ministred to their Necessities have you relieved them with spiritual Counsel and Admonition have you been good holy and just Therefore let us provide to give an Answer that we might not be ashamed at the last Day Thus this Zeal for good Works hath the place and room of a Witness to God as the Rule and Measure of his Process to our selves as the ground of our Assurance and to the World as the great vindication of the Honour of our Profession 2. It is a Fruit of Christ's Death partly by way of Obligation for certainly God hath not been at all this cost and labour for nothing he did not project the sending of Christ and Jesus Christ did not so give up himself in the Work of Redemption for nothing but to inflame us to a great height of Piety They that live at a low rate of Holiness cross and disgrace the whole Design of the Gospel they are not apprehensive of the Love of God in giving Christ nor the Love of Christ in giving himself Our Redemption was carried on in such a way not only that the Comfort but also the Duty of the Creature might be raised to the highest Partly again as Christ hath purchased the Gift of the Spirit to fit us for good Works yea to make us zealous in them Titus 3.5 6. According to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour Now the Spirit dwelleth in our Hearts to set our Graces a working Iohn 4.14 The Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of VVater springing up into everlasting Life So Iohn 7.38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living VVater This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him shall receive The Spirit is not a Fountain sealed up but flowing forth The Spirit of God is a mighty Spirit and comes in upon the Soul not only as a gentle Blast but as a mighty rushing Wind he comes not only in the appearance of a Dove but of cloven Tongues of Fire Acts 2. He comes as a Spirit of Power to quicken and awaken the Soul to great heights and fervours in Obedience Look as Men acted by Satan the unclean Spirit are restless in Evil and carried headlong as the Herd of Swine into the Sea so those that are acted by the Spirit of God are much more carried on with great Earnestness in the Ways of God The Devil hath not such Advantages to work upon his Instruments as the Spirit of God hath upon us The Devil works and operates in all the Children of Disobedience Ephes. 2.3 The Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience But the Devil cannot work but by Man's Consent neither can he work immediately upon the Soul but only by the Senses and by the Fancy but the Spirit of God can work immediately upon them in whom he acts Therefore being acted by him they must needs be zealous and earnest for the Spirit of God nescit tarda molimina knows no slow Motions The Soul in it self is dead and slothful and apt to yield to Laziness and Delays but when we are acted and quickened by the mighty Spirit then draw us and we will run after thee Cant. 1.4 When the Spirit puts forth its Force upon the Soul such as are drawn by the Holy Ghost they are not in jest as carnal Men are but in earnest they do not dally with Religion but make it their great business to surprize Heaven and carry on constant Communion with God Matth. 11.12 The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence and the Violent take it by force Vse 1. Information 1. That Grace is no Enemy to good Works Libertinism is ancient and natural Christ died to improve Piety not to lessen it but to raise it to the highest to make us zealous of good Works that we might be carried on to Heaven with full Sails Therefore he that grows looser less watchful against Sin less diligent in the exercise of Holiness less frequent in Communion with God less humble and penitent after committing of Sin offers the greatest Abuse to Grace that may be and perverts its natural Use. There is no freezing by the Fire we may freeze indeed by painted Fire that may make us contract Chilliness and Drowsiness but true Grace is a Fire that warms and inflames our Affections Christ came to make us more chearful and lively but not slack careless and cold 2. It informs us what little Reason the World hath to cry out upon Zealots for Christ died to make us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 zealous of good VVorks Men that are only contented with a brain Religion speculative Notions they cannot endure Heats and Fervors they would have
who was of that wicked one and slew his Brother And wherefore slew he him because his own Works were evil and his Brother 's righteous Now the Nature of Christ is quite contrary It is the Devil's Work to do all the Hurt that he can to the Bodies and Souls of Men and it is Christ's Work to do good and only good Acts 10.38 God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the Devil for God was with him Christ did nothing by way of Malice and Revenge he used not the Power that he had to make Men blind or lame or to kill any no not his worst Enemies when he could easily do it and justly might have done it No he went up and down giving Sight to the Blind Limbs to the Lame Health to the Sick Life to the Dead He rebuked his Disciples when they tempted him to destroy some for their Contempt by calling for Fire from Heaven telling them they knew not what manner of Spirit they were of for the Son of Man is not come to destroy Mens Lives but to save them Luke 9.55 56. It was unlike his Spirit and Design All his Miracles were Acts of Relief and Favour not pompous not destructive bating only two the blasting the unfruitful Fig-tree which was an Emblematical Warning to the Jews and suffering the Devil to enter into the Herd of Swine which was a necessary Demonstration of the Devil's Malice and destructive Cruelty who if he could not afflict and destroy Men would enter into the Herd of Swine that the poor Creatures might perish in the Sea Thus there was a perfect Contrariety of Nature between Christ and Satan 2. An Enmity proper to his Office and Design For he came to destroy the Works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 And was set up to dissolve that Sin and Misery which he had brought upon the World The Devil sought the Misery and Destruction of Mankind but Christ sought our Salvation Satan is the great Destroyer of the Creation and Christ is the Repairer of it Now Salvation and Destruction are diametrically opposite so are the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of Satan the Function and Office of Christ as a Saviour and the Purpose and Design of the Devil as Abaddon the Destroyer And therefore Christ proveth that he had not the least Confederacy with Satan for then his Kingdom would be divided against it self and how could it stand Mat. 12.25 26. It was impossible the Saviour could befriend the Destroyer or the Destroyer the Saviour no their Ends and Designs are perfectly opposite Now as there is such an Enmity between Christ and Satan so there is between the rest of the Confederates on either side 1. An Enmity or Contrariety of Nature The Seed of the Serpent inherits his venemous Qualities For as these are an Estate opposite to God so they are to the People of God and seek their Destruction by all cruel and bloody Means All People of a false Religion whether Infidels Idolaters or Hereticks are of bloody and desperate Principles their Minds being efferated by their false Religion and the Influence of their great Guide and Leader who is the Devil Iude 11. They have gone in the way of Cain Let me instance in Antichrist and his Abettors and Adherents who is the Devil 's eldest Son Witness their bloody Practices that have been acted on the Stage of Christendom for so many Years What a deal of Blood hath been sucked by these Leaches in England in Queen Mary's Days in Germany France and the Netherlands Witness of late their horrible Slaughters in Ireland Piedmont and the Hellish Powder-Plot the Deliverance from which we commemorate this Day this was a Flash of their Malice by which they would have blown up the whole State at once On the other side Christ conveyeth his holy meek and Lamb-like Nature to his sincere Worshippers and Followers There is indeed a Contrariety of Nature to the Carnal so as they do not run with them into the same excess of Riot so as their righteous Souls are vexed with the impure Conversation of the Wicked so as they are grieved to see People go by Droves to Hell and list themselves in the Devil's Service But there is no destructive Enmity If they hate the Wicked it is with an Hatred opposite to the Love of Complacency but not with an Hatred opposite to the Love of Good-will There is an Enmity to Satan and his Works yet a Pity to the Persons inveigled and deceived by him The Wicked hate that holy Disposition which is in the Hearts of God's People and therefore malign and persecute them But on the other side there is a Contrariety of Disposition Prov. 29.27 An unjust Man is an Abomination to the Iust and he that is upright in the Way is Abomination to the VVicked There is Odium Offensionis but not Inimicitiae an Hatred of Offence but not of Enmity They bear with them with Patience pursue their Recovery strive to rescue poor Captives out of the Snares of the Devil but aim not at their Destruction 2 Tim. 2.25 26. In Meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his VVill. 2. There is an Enmity of Design As Christ actually imployeth any as Souldiers to fight under his Banner so they participate of the Enmity of his Design and Office Every private Christian is one of Christ's Souldiers for we give up our Faculties and Powers as Weapons Rom. 6.13 Yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the Dead and your Members as Instruments or Weapons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Righteousness unto God And the Graces of the Spirit are called Armour of Light Rom. 13.12 Let us cast off the Works of Darkness and let us put on the Armour of Light And we are bidden to put on the whole Armour of God because we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this VVorld against spiritual Wickedness in high Places Eph. 6.11 12. The Ministers and those in a publick Station are Leaders under Christ the General and are by Office and Imployment engaged in this Warfare against the Kingdom of the Devil And therefore the Apostle biddeth Timothy to endure Hardness as a good Souldier of Iesus Christ 2 Tim. 2.3 And the Apostle says 2 Cor. 10.4 The VVeapons of our VVarfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of Strong-holds They must set themselves against the Devil and his Kingdom 2 dly The Enmity being such between the Seeds Christ sets upon his business to destroy Satan's Power and Works 1. His Power Satan hath a twofold Power over fallen Man Legal and Usurped 1. The Legal Power
It is a pleasure to see things by Picture though we know the Person so though we have an Image of Christ in the Word and may know his Person there yet it is a great relief to us to see Christ in the Supper by these outward Symbols where Sense may teach Faith what strength of Grace and what sweetness of Comfort to expect from Christ. These thoughts through the blessing of God will raise the Soul into a frame of Religion that when you come to this Ordinance you will not be so dry and barren 2. Wandring when the Heart is prepared and set towards God how shall we do to keep it from roving and prevent those excursions which are apt to carry away the Heart 1. Get an Awe and Dread of God Labour to have the deepest Apprehensions of the Presence of God as possibly may be Strong Affections especially Fear lock up the Mind and do not suffer it to flit abroad Now Fear is not unseasonable to this Duty but rather proper because of the Excellent Mysteries by which God condescendeth and approacheth us Chrysostome calls it terribilis mystica mensa the dreadful Mysterious Table and therefore now our Apprehensions should be most awful When Iacob had a sight of God saies he Gen. 28.17 How dreadful is this place And the Psalmist saith Psal. 68 35. Oh God! thou art terrible out of thy holy places Mixt Affections do best in the sweetest Worship Psalm 2.11 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Hosea 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter dayes Here we are to have distinct thoughts of his Holyness and Goodness and therefore we should fear before him lest we forget our selves to be poor guilty Creatures and Fear confineth the Soul and will not suffer it to run abroad 2. Chide the Heart for your vain Excursions Christians might have more command over their Hearts if they would but hold the Reins a little straiter and check their Souls they are not so sadly sensible of the idle roving of the brain which do not so directly carry them after the evil as when they make them to neglect the good Take up your selves as David doth about his lumpishness Psalm 42.5 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted in me Did I come hither to think of any thing but Christ and Heaven Did I come to think of News Vanity Business and Lust My work is to discerne the Lords Body not to think of Worldly Toyes Is this to remember and fruitfully to insist upon his Death Look as Christ did chide his Disciples Matth. 26.40 What! could ye not watch with me one hour So chide your Heart cannot I keep my Heart free for God a little while In Heaven Duty will be my constant work and if my Heart wander now How shall I be able to hold it for ever In the Supper God tyes my Soul by outward Rites least my Eyes should carry away my Heart God would exercise my Eyes Certainly if you would chide your Souls the Heart would not steal so many glances But usually our Hearts do not steal away we dismiss them and let them go God gave Reason a command of your Thoughts at first and we might exercise it more than we do 3. Stupidness Many times the Soul is surprized with deadness and amazement it neither actually thinks of Evil nor of Good but is at a dead pawse and stay For this I shall urge a double help 1. By earnest Ejaculations call in the help of the Spirit Cant. 4.16 Awake O north-wind and come thou south blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out Desire God to breathe upon the Soul with a fresh gale and excitement that he would take a Coal from his own Altar that the perfume might burn bright Censers must not be kindled with strange Fire Oh raise and quicken this dead Soul Remember the first Adam was made a living soul the last Adam was made a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 2. Call upon your own Hearts It is a mistake of Christians to think they are only to call upon God you are also to call upon your selves and to deal with your own Souls by way of quickning Psalm 57.8 Awake my glory awake psaltery and harp I my self will awake early Charge your Souls awake to the consideration of Heavenly Mysteries Speak to your own Hearts as David layes a charge upon himself Psalm 103.1 Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name The Children of God are brought in speaking to themselves Oh my drousie blockish Heart How coldly dost thou think of Christ This dead Heart will not become the Service of the Living God 4. A lazy Formality Either we cannot get the Soul to this Worship or we performe it slightly We content our selves with a few careless glances and lazy baren thoughts To remedy this consider in so sweet a Duty God doth not only require Affection but height of Affection an Holy ardor earnestness and raisedness of Spirit Cant. 4.6 Vntil the day break and the shadows flee away I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense an allusion to the Censers used in the Levitical Worship God requires such thoughts as will comfort revive and quicken our Souls Such thoughts as end in Affection Leave not off till you can say as the Spouse Cant. 2.5 Stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love Do not leave meditating of Christ till you can bring your Souls to a Holy ravishment and your Hearts are wounded with impatient Desires after Communion with Christ. No thoughts will work but those that are serious Secondly I will propound some cases which shall not only concern the Duty of the Lords Supper but some of them the Duty of Meditation in general 1. Case How can we do because of variety of Matter that is to be meditated upon that plenty makes us barren And in such streights of time how can we run through all I shall answer to this in three Propositions 1. The Mind of Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 working and much may be done by thoughts in a short time The Minds motion is not so slow as that of the Body which is burdened with a mass and clod of flesh and therefore must have time for its Action but the Soul is quick There are two sorts of Meditations in the Supper as indeed in all other Matters pregnant Apprehensions and enforcing Reasons 1. Pregnant Apprehensions sutable to each Circumstance of the Duty Now these are absolutely necessary as in blessing the Elements and setting them aside for this use think of the Eternal Decrees of God by which Christ was separated to the Office of Mediator In breaking the Bread your Thoughts must act afresh on the Sorrows of Christ's Cross and those bruises wherewith he was broken for our Iniquities Thus it is good
they visited thee The keeping up of this Acquaintance is necessary both to our present Comfort and future Acceptance 1. For our present Comfort it giveth you boldness to come to God in all your necessities and streights if you daily wait upon him Frequency of Converse begets familiarity and familiarity begets confidence When God and you grow strange you cannot come with that freedom to ask his help as those that familiarly converse with him do Eph. 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him A Child is not afraid to go to his Father nor a Man unto his Friend to pour out his complaint into his bosom nor a Servant of daily attendance to open his Suit to his Master they know his name Psalm 9.10 and are acquainted with him 2. For our future acceptance Luke 21.36 Watch ye therefore and pray alwaies that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man viz. at his coming They that are constant in Prayer make up their Accounts with God daily and so may with the better confidence attend his coming When you have been frequently with him frequently entertained by him and accepted with him had your Prayers heard and Desires granted it is a great incouragement in the hour of Death when you are to leave the World and come immediately before him On the other side for Men to appear before a God whom they never knew nor heartily loved and with whom they were never acquainted as to any intimate Communion and Converse this is a sad case Alas at the best it is to an unknown Friend but indeed it is to a certain Enemy they never had experience of his kindness which they would own nor interest in his Love and now are forced into his Presence against their Will Alas how soon will the time come when Men would fain set about Prayer but it is too late they have then neither Treasure nor skill to pray and the Prayers they then make are not the Fruits of Faith and Love but of Despair and Horrour they cry Lord Lord but Christ saith I know you not ye are workers of iniquity But on the other side they are fitted for Everlasting Communion with God who are acquainted with him already and when they come to be translated they do but change Place not Company Heaven is an access to God and the Throne of Grace is the Porch of Heaven We begin the Heavenly Life here by these frequent converses with God and our access to him now 3. With respect to the New Nature or the Temper and Disposition of the Saints Prayer is the cry of the New Creature a work natural and kindly to the Saints Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications A Spirit of Grace will soon break out into supplications and vent it self that way Acts 9.11 Behold he prayeth Zeph. 3.9 I will turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one consent In the Margin it is a pure lip Gods true Children are carryed to him by a kind of Natural Motion as light Bodies move upward they are a sort of Men that are seeking after God Psalm 24.6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Iacob Selah Therefore we should quite check and cross the bent and inclination of the New Nature unless we be much in Prayer and often with God 4. With respect to the necessities of the Saints Our wants are continual as well in Spiritual as in Temporal things That we need daily Bread is evident to Sense and that we need daily Pardon and daily Strength against Temptations should be as evident to Faith The Soul hath its necessities as well as the Body yea they are greater and of a more dangerous Nature Sometimes we lack Wisdom and who shall give it us but God Iames 1.5 If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Sometimes we lack Strength and that is to be sought in Prayer Eph. 3.10 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with all might by his spirit in the inner man Sometimes we lack life and quickning and to whom should we go but to the live-making Spirit to him who quickneth all things In short the Throne of Grace was set up for a time of need and therefore when our necessities drive us to it we should not hang off Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need We alwaies need to be delivered from evil we alwaies need to be established in good sometimes we need a Blessing on what we have that our Comforts may be sanctified to us sometimes a Blessing on what we do that we may begin it and end it in God All our Relations increase our necessities so do all our injoyments new Mercies occasion new Necessities And in the variety of our Afflictions we have still somewhat to do with God The receipt of one Mercy discovereth the need of another 5. With respect to the utility and profit of it It is endless to instance in all things I shall confine the Discourse to Spiritual profit and there 1. The Three Radical Graces Faith Hope and Love are acted and increased in Prayer Iude 20 21. But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercies of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternal life Mark there praying in the Holy Ghost is to be referred in common to them all to building up your selves in your most Holy Faith to keeping your selves in the Love of God to looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life Surely frequent Prayer keepeth every Grace active and more ready than if it were seldom used 1. For Faith in this Duty the Misteries of our most Holy Faith are reduced to practice even that great Mistery of the Trinity and their distinct personal Operations we find the benefit of it in Prayer Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an access by one spirit unto the Father To the Father as an All-sufficient Fountain of Grace Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God By Christ who hath purchased leave welcome and audience Heb. 10.19 By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And by the Spirit who hath given us an Heart to come inspiring us with Holy Motions enlivening our Affections Rom. 8.26 Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities That we may open our Hearts to God If Prayer be Prayer indeed
Father of the Wicked and Christ on the other the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2.10 Or between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed and it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel The Seeds are concerned in this enmity as well as the Chiefs 2. The Nature of this Enmity 't is double as on Sathans part both of Nature and Design so on Christs part both of Nature and Office 1. There is a perfect enmity between the Nature of Christ and the Nature of the Devil The Nature of Sathan is sinful Murtherous and destructive for t is said he was a Lyar and Murtherer from the beginning as before So 1 Iohn 3.8 He that committeth sin is from the divel and the devil sinneth from the beginning verse 12. Cain was of that wicked one who slew his brother 'T is the Devils work to do all the hurt and mischief that he can to the Bodies and Souls of Men. But the Nature of Christ is quite contrary 'T is his work to do good and only good Acts 10.38 God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him Christ did nothing by way of Malice and Revenge he used not the power that he had to make Men Blind or Lame or to kill any no not his worst Enemies But he went up and down doing good giving Sight to the Blind Limbs to the Lame Health to the Sick Life to the Dead he rebuked his Disciples when they called for fire from Heaven to consume those that despised them telling them they knew not what Spirit they were of Luke 9.55 56. No all his Miracles were Acts of Relief and Succour not pompous and destructive bating only the blasting of the unfruitful Fig-tree which was an emblematical warning to the Iews and his permitting the Devil to enter into the Herd of Swine which was a necessary demonstration of the Devils Malice and destructive Cruelty who if he could not afflict Men would destroy Swine 2. An Enmity of design For Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil 1 Iohn 3.8 as the Devil seeketh to oppose the Kingdom of Christ Christ was set up to dissolve that Sin and Misery which Sathan had brought upon the World and the Devil sought to keep it up and hinder our Salvation The Devil is the disturber of the Creation and Christ the repairer of it and therefore Salvation and Destruction are perfectly opposite Now such an Enmity as there is between Christ and Sathan such there is also between the Confederates on either side 1. An Enmity or contrariety of Nature The Seed of the Serpent inherit his venemous qualities For as they are an Estate opposite to God so they are to the People of God All People of a false Religion whether Infidels or Idolaters or Hereticks are of bloody and desperate Principles Partly by the influence of their great Guide and Leader partly because their false Religion efferateth their Minds and stirreth them up into a blind bitter Zeal These go in the way of Cain Iude 11. On the other side Christ conveyeth his Holy Meek and Lamb-like Nature to his sincere Worshippers and Followers Their Righteous Souls are vexed indeed with the impure Conversations of the Wicked but so as to stir them up not to passion but compassion They are grieved to see People go by droves to Hell and would â—ain rescue them out of the Snares of the Devil but aim not at their destruction Iude 22 23. And of some have compassion making a difference And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted with the flesh 2. There is an enmity of design Seeking to pull down what Sathan would set up all that Sin Idolatry Errour and Superstition whereby the World is corrupted 2 Cor. 10.4 5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds and casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. That is to bring down all the disputings and reasonings and prejudices which are raised up against the power of the Gospel and hinder the acknowledgment and practice of the Truth Sathans end is to draw Men into Sin and Damnation and to dishonour God Theirs to glorifie God in the World and save their own Souls and the Souls of all about them 3. This Enmity of Sathan and his Instruments is carried on both against Christ and his People with much rage and fury I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Gen. 3.15 There is something common to both for the word bruised is used mutually both of the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent In this War as usually in all other there are Wounds given on both sides The Devil bruiseth Christ and Christ bruiseth Sathan Only Christs heel is bruised but the Devils Head is crushed that is he is finally destroyed 1. Certain it is that Christ himself was bruised in the enterprize of redeeming poor Captive Souls which sheweth how much we should value our Salvation since it cost so dear The Lord Jesus thought not his whole Humiliation from first to last too much nor any price too dear for overthrowing the Devils Kingdom and rescuing us into the liberty of Gods Children But how was he bruised by the Serpent Certain it is on the one side that Christs sufferings were the effects of Mans Sin and a demonstration of Gods Holiness and governing Justice Therefore it is said Isa. 53.10 11. It pleased the father to bruise him Unless it had pleased the Lord to bruise him Sathan could never have bruised him But on the otherside they were also the effects of the Malice and rage of the Devil and his Instruments In his whole Life he was tempted by Sathan often vexed with his Instruments Therefore he saith ye are of your father the devil but the closing stroke was at his Death Sathan then doing the worst he could against him When Iudas contrived the Plot 't is said the Devil entred into him Luke 22.3 When the High Priests Servants came to take him verse 53. He telleth them This is your hour and the power of darkness They did prevail at last to cause his shameful Death this was all they could do this was the time the Devil and they were permitted to work their wills upon him 2. No Christians are exempted from Tryals of their sincerity God will have all Obedience to be tryed and honoured by opposition and sometimes by grievous and sharp opposition Rev. 2.10 The Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed Thus Iob was permitted to
took our Natures though the Crime of our first Parents had made it hateful to God and the consequent Miseries shewed it was not to be valued He that was a Judge of would become a Party and appear for us and answer in our Nature what might be required of us 3. It supports against the Terribleness of God's Majesty How can Men dwell with God Stubble with devouring Burnings If our Nature be taken into a personal Union with God it rendereth it more reconcilable to our Thoughts God incarnate born of a Virgin carried in the Womb rocked in a Cradle sucking of a Breast growing up by degrees going up and down and doing good when dying on the Cross lying in the Grave it mightily abateth our Fears 4. Against the pollution of our Natures which is so ingrained that it cannot be easily wrought off His own holy Nature is a Pledge of the Work of Grace He that separated our Nature in his own Person from all the pollution of his Ancestors he can purifie our Persons and heal our Natures how polluted soever So many as there are in the Story of Christ's Nativity Mat. 1. so many Miracles there are of Grace in that he prevented the Infection conveyed by such and such a one 5. Against the Mindlesness which Unbelief supposeth to be in God of Human Affairs especially of the Calamities of his People Now Christ hath taken the Communion of our Natures and Miseries as a pledge and sign of his Pity Heb. 2.17 He was made like his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-priest He would intender his Heart by Experience and inure himself to all our Sorrows 6. Against the doubt of Strangeness and that he will take no notice of our Request being so remote from him We may with the more confidence go to him with whom we communicate in Natures There is a natural Bond between him and us we are of the same Stock and Substance 7. Against the fear of Arrogancy in the assuming of the Priviledge of Adoption Surely he will bestow this Priviledge on a returning Sinner For if he be not ashamed to call us Brethren God will not be ashamed to be called our God Heb. 11.16 5 Use. Think of this for your Comfort We have an Unity with Christ in Nature that we may be encouraged to look after the Gifts which he dispenses that we may be one with him in Spirit We may the more chearfully come to him because he took our Nature for this end and purpose especially does this concern you that come to the Lord's Table The Meat that is set afore you is the Flesh of Christ his Humane Nature is the Food of your Souls It 's not enough that Christ the Son of God was partaker of our Flesh and Blood but we must also be partakers of his Flesh and Blood i. e. There must be a true Union and Communion with that Flesh and that Body and that Blood which Christ assumed into his Person and delivered up to Death for us all For Christ as the Son of Man in our Flesh is Head of the Mystical Body of which we are Members The Humane Nature is the Cistern in which the Spirit dwells without measure and of whose Fulness we all receive Grace for Grace that is the Temple in which the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily the Tree of Life whose Leaves heal the Nations In this Temple must we dwell into this Tree must we be grafted that we may become one with him and live by him So the Apostle tells us Eph. 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his Bones That is not only of one nature with him which is common to them with all Mankind but as Members of one Mystical Body with him Not as God but as God-man We all draw our Spiritual Life and Nourishment from those things which Christ has done in our Flesh. For this end was the Lord's Supper instituted that we might be partakers of the Flesh and Blood of Christ not only of Bread and Wine but Flesh and Blood it self How so Not with our Mouth and Teeth but Spiritually by Faith with an hungry Conscience and Spiritual desires That which we do receive is not only the benefits which flow from Christ but the very Body and Blood of Christ That is Christ himself Crucified As none can be partaker of the Virtue of the Bread and Wine to his Bodily sustenance unless he do first receive the Substance of those Creatures so neither can any be partaker of the benefits arising from Christ to his Spiritual relief except he first have Communion with Christ himself We must have the Son before we have Life 1 Iohn 5.12 He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life and we must eat him if we will live by him Iohn 6.57 Well then this is our great business to be partakers of Christ. Now in partaking of Christ we begin at his Humane Nature his Flesh and Blood Iohn 6.53 His Cross and his Death His Body and Blood 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ Christ as dying becomes fit Food for Hungry Sinners So only is he suitable to their necessities Certainly the hunger is not that of the body for a Meal but that of the Conscience for a Saviour In this sense the flesh profits nothing but the spirit quickens Iohn 6.62 A man is not better nor a jot the holier nor the further from the second Death if he had filled his Belly with it 'T is a Spiritual eating by Faith that brings quickning and Life an applying of Christ as a Saviour in our Nature Well then His Flesh was given as the price of Life Iohn 6.51 The Bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world This is the first receptacle of our Spiritual Life and being laid hold on by Faith is the Conduit to convey Life to us But the Author of all is his Spirit being and dwelling in us That same Flesh and Humane Nature of Christ which was offered up a ransom to justice is also the Bread of Life for Souls to feed upon tho' the quickning Efficacy and Virtue flow from the Godhead to which his Flesh is united 2. Doctrine That Christ having taken our nature upon him is not ashamed to accept and acknowledge us for Brethren What cause of shame there might be in it we intimated before in the Explication Notwithstanding our meanness and unworthyness and his own glory and excellency Divines observe That he never giveth his Disciples the title of Brethren but after his Resurrection before Servants little Children and Friends were their usual designations But then expresly he calleth them Brethren Servants Iohn 13.13 14. Ye call me Lord and Master and ye
lifted up his Eyes being in Torments He had a pompous Funeral here upon Earth for it is said he died and was buried which is not said of Lazarus These are Truths not spoken of once or twice but every-where 2 dly The Covenant sheweth it which is God's solemn Transaction with his Subjects and consists of Precepts or Laws invested with the Sanction of Promises and Threatnings Christ argues thus Luke 20.37 38. Now that the Dead are raised even Moses shewed at the Bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob For he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living He proves the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body 1. His Commands all of them imply such an Estate and some of them express it All imply it as Faith in Christ we believe in his Name to obtain eternal Life Joh. 20.31 But these things are written that you might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you might have Life through his Name And Joh. 5.24 He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life Repentance Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the Times of Refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Therefore it is called Repentance unto Salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 And Repentance to Life Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted Repentance unto Life So new Obedience Heb. 5.9 He became the Author of eternal Salvation to all that obey him Acts 26.7 Vnto which Promise the twelve Tribes instantly serving God Day and Night hope to come And some express it He hath commanded us not to labour for the Meat that perisheth but for that Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life John 6.27 Not to lay up Treasures upon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt and Thieves break through and steal but lay up for your selves Treasure in Heaven Mat. 6.19 20. And strive to enter in at the strait Gate Luke 13.24 Now if there were no such thing all these Commands would be in vain Would God flatter us into a Fool 's Paradise and command us to look after a thing of nought 2. The Sanction And there 1. The Threatning which is Damnation or the second Death Mark 16.16 He that believeth not shall be damned Is this a vain Scarcrow and need God govern his Subjects by a Cheat or a Lie 2. The Promises he promiseth Eternal Life to them that obey the Gospel and seek after this Immortality Rom. 2.7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful to Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Be faithful in making good your Baptismal Vow improving Talents withstanding Temptations So to comfort us against Fears Losses and Sorrows Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you a Kingdom Now would God over-reach us and lead us with Chimera's and vain Hopes 3 dly The Mediator of the New Covenant sheweth it his coming from Heaven the Place of Souls the Region of Spirits and his going thither again at his Ascension 1. His coming from Heaven Wherefore was Christ incarnate and clothed with our Flesh but that we might be apparrelled with his Glory Iohn 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly To lay a Foundation for our eternal Happiness 2. His going to Heaven his entring into that Glory he spake of and so giving a visible Demonstration to the World of the Reality of it 1 Pet. 1.21 Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the Dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and Hope may be in God There he remaineth at God's Right-Hand to open Heaven to all Believers Christ when he died recommended his Spirit to the Father Luke 23.46 Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit And so do Believers to Christ Acts 7.59 Lord Iesus receive my Spirit If the Soul did perish with the Body why should we commit it to Christ 4 thly The Holy Spirit is given to form and prepare us for this Estate therefore by consequence to assure us of it 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for this self-same thing is God who hath also given unto us the Earnest of the Spirit 1. Look to the Graces of the Spirit we are made Partakers of the Divine Nature to draw us off from the World to Heaven 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. Now will God fit the Soul for such a blessed Estate when this Life is ended and shall we never enjoy it If we consider the Soul not only as being an inward Principle of Life and Sense but also of Reason it proveth the Immortality of it much more as sanctified and enobled by Grace Rom. 8.10 The Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness Believers have a Life wrought in them by the Spirit which is the Pledg and Beginning of Eternal Life for they are sanctified and purified and fit to be brought into the Sight and Presence of God The Apostle doth not draw his Argument there from the Immortality of the Soul for that is common to Good and Bad the Wicked have a Soul that will survive the Body but little to their Comfort their Immortality is not an happy Immortality but he taketh his Argument from the New Life wrought in us by the Spirit which is the Beginning and Earnest of a blessed Immortality the New Life is an eternal Principle of Happiness 2. Look to the Comforts of the Spirit from the Love of God and the Hopes of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory Rom. 5.2 And rejoice in hope of the Glory of God Now is it a Fancy that holy Men rejoice in Look as the Terrors of a wounded Conscience are the Foretastes of Hell-Torments called somewhere the Pains of Hell so the Comforts of the Spirit are the first-Fruits of Heavenly Joys to set us a longing for more Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the first-Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Now by all these things let us rouse up a drousy Faith and triumph over that Carnal Atheism and Unbelief that worketh in our Hearts Is the whole Scripture false and the Christian Religion a well-devised Fable our Redeemer an Impostor and the Covenant of God a Dream and the Comforts of the Spirit Fanatical Illusions And were they all
hope the good Spirit will convey by it a double Portion of Grace to us who are left behind Let it not affright thee Reader to hear a dead Saint speak a dead Minister preach for 't is the same Spirit of Life and Power which once breathed from the Pulpit that now breaths from the Press the same Gospel which once dropp'd from his gracious Lips flows now from his sanctified Pen. Although the serious Perusal of these spiritual Discourses will more effectually commend them to thy Acceptance than the most elaborate Recommendation of the Prefacer yet I must not betray the Truth in concealing what the observing Reader will soon discern Acquired Learning humbly waiting upon Divine Revelation great Ministerial Gifts managed by greater Grace Warm Affections guided by a solid Iudgment Fervent Love to Saints and Sinners kindled by a burning Zeal for the Interest of a Saviour and a plain Elegancy of Stile adapted to the meanest Capacity yet far above the Contempt of the highest Pretender I can sincerely aver that it 's no part of the Design of this Epistle to conciliate a Reputation to these Writings from the acknowledged Repute of their Reverend Author Divine Truths need not those vulgar Artifices they carry their own Credentials in themselves nor yet to greaten the Author by magnifying his Works Grace kept him above those Temptations when labouring at the Footstool and Glory has advanc'd him beyond their reach now triumphing at the Throne It was then his sufficient Honour to be an Earthen Vessel filled with Heavenly Treasure that he might fill and enrich others and he is now engaged to his greater Satisfaction in blessing that ever-blessed God who served his gracious Counsels of him in the honourable though despised Work of the Ministry That which I have in my Eye is to lead thee into the Admiration of our Lord Iesus Christ who when he ascended up on high gave Gifts unto Men for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry To all he has given some to none has he given all but wisely divided to every Man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 Where he has given least they have a Competency where he has bestowed most there is no Redundancy none shall have cause to boast of his Ten Talents none reason to murmur that he has but One but that which we must ever adore and admire is that where he has bestowed most liberally Ministerial Abilities he has also bequeathed sanctifying Grace to keep them humble to secure them against Pride and preserve them in a meek Dependance upon himself That he should give them a due Proportion of Ballast to keep them steady lest they should overset with bearing too great a Sail That he should make and keep them lowly in their own Eyes who are precious in the Eyes of others and gracious in his And still further to admire his Power that has wrought such glorious things by weak Instruments saved them that believe by what the World accounts the Foolishness of Preaching dismantled the strong-holds of Sin and Satan by the gentle breathing of the Word and Spirit subdued proud broken and softned hard Hearts not by Might not by Power not by the Secular Sword but by the soft Whispers of Grace by melting bleeding tender Affections I have yet a further Reach in this Address both upon Preachers and their Hearers 1. To the former I would humbly offer that they would so Preach so Pray so Labour as they that are convinced they are all this while a dying that are passing every Moment from the Improving of to the Accounting for their Talents Dying Ministers preach living Sermons It deserves our Observation that God who honoured his Servant Ezekiel with abundance of glorious Revelations and Visions enough to have swell'd a Bubble till it broke to have lifted up a poor Worm above its measure should yet always use to him that abasing Term Son of Man warning him and in him all his faithful Ministers to fulfil their Ministry to work while it 's called To Day that whatever their Hand findeth to do they should do it with all their Might because there 's no Work nor Device nor Knowledg nor Wisdom in the Grave whither they are going Eccles. 9.10 How joyfully will a Minister receive the Summons to his Audit when a good Conscience shall afford him this Testimony I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith 2 Tim. 4.7 How edifying would their Preaching be could they carry these Thoughts with them into the Pulpit The Eye that now sees me shall see me no more The Ear that now hears me shall in a little while hear me no more There must be a last Time that I must speak in Christ's Name to this People and this may be that last Time O with what fervent Prayer with what Earnestness of Affection with what yearning Bowels to perishing Sinners with what Zeal for their Conversion would they engage in their Master's Service were their Souls impregnated with lively quick Apprehensions that the Graves are ready to receive them 2. Nor would it less affect the Hearers and awake their Conscience to improve the Labours of their Ministers could they maintain upon their Hearts a vigorous Sense that they are dying apace from their faithful Ministers and they from them to Repent Pray Believe work out their Salvation make their Calling and Election sure at another rate of Diligence than what is usually found amongst them Reader I will engross thee no longer to my self Be no more my Reader but the Author's there thou wilt find much better Entertainment And yet because I would not lose thy good Company First It must be a ravishing Sight to behold Divine Grace in all its Dimensions Grace working in the Heart of God towards lost Man and Grace working in the Heart of renewed Man towards God Let us therefore fix our Meditations upon Titus II. 11 12 13 14. where we shall meet with 1. The whole Duty of Man viz. The Grace of God teaching us that denying Ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World A Word sutable seasonable to our present Day wherein the Vigor of Religion runs out into Leaves when empty Notions too high for this World and too low for the next have eaten out the Life and Power of Practical Godliness when we dispute and quarrel our selves out of our Charity each to other and our Obediential Love to our God when the Name of Grace is abused to Gracelesness and Professors can believe any thing and practise nothing But Grace would teach us other Lessons as first to live soberly and temperately to our selves not pâ—rverting the Ends of Divine Bounty and Indulgence to make provision for the Flesh to be Food for devouring Lusts Fewel for the Fire of raging Corruptions but moderately to serve our Bodies that they may serve our Souls and both serve our God Secondly
to do than to make the World at first The Object of Creation was pure Nothing but then as there was no Help so no Hinderance But now in Redemption there was Sin to be taken away and that was worse than any thing We deserv'd Ill his Justice and Truth had a Quarrel against us and therefore this was the harder Work and needed more of his Wisdom which now is discovered fully to us in the Gospel When God was to make Man though he was to be his noblest Creature next the Angels it was nothing to the Divine Power to make him of the Dust of the Earth Now Sin makes us worse than Earth Job 30.8 They were Children of Fools Children of base Men they were viler than the Earth Our Condition was worse here God's Justice opposed but Grace found out the Contrivance and sent Christ in the Form of a Servant who was in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 7. 2. We discern the Freeness of Grace in the Gospel both in giving and accepting Whatever God doth is a Gift and what we do it is accepted of Grace In giving there 's a great deal of Grace made known there The Lord doth all freely Ioh. 1.16 And of his Fulness have all we received and Grace for Grace that is for Grace's sake He gives Christ gives Faith gives Pardon He gives the Condition as well as the Blessing Certainly now we have to do with a God of Grace who sits upon a Throne of Grace that he might bestow freely to all Comers Out of Christ and in the Law there God is discovered as sitting upon a Tribunal of Justice as he is described Psal. 97.2 Clouds and Darkness are round about him Righteousness and Iudgment are the Habitation of his Throne But now saith the Apostle Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and Grace to help in a time of need that we may have Mercy for Pardon and for acceptance of our Persons and Grace to help us against our Weaknesses This was figured out in the Law under the Law it was figured out by the Mercy-Seat between the Cherubims from whence God was giving out Answers but there the High-Priest could enter but once a Year and the way within the Veil was not fully made manifest Heb. 9.8 There was a Throne of Grace then but more of God's Tribunal of Justice there was Smoak and Thundering about his Throne But now let us draw near that we may obtain Grace take all freely out of God's Hand Then there is Grace manifested in accepting as well as giving God accepts of serious Repentance for compleat Innocence of Sincerity for Perfection of the Will for the Deed of a Person for Christ's sake and of the Works for the Person 's sake Thus God doth both give and accept freely That we do is not brought to the Ballance but Touch-stone Many times a good Work is not full Weight God doth not look to the Measure but to the Truth of Grace he requires Truth in the Reins 3. The Efficacy and Power of Grace is discovered in the Gospel Christ sendeth his Spirit to apply what he himself hath purchased One Person comes to merit and the other to accomplish the Fruit of his Merit Mark to stop the course of Grace Divine Justice did not only put in an Impediment but there was our Infidelity that hindred the Application of that which Christ was to merit and therefore as the second Person is to satisfy God so the third Person is to work upon us There was a double hinderance against the Business of our Salvation God's Justice for the Glory of God was to be repaired therefore Christ was to merit and there was our Unbelief therefore the Spirit must come and apply it First Christ suffered and when he was ascended then was the Spirit poured out Had it not been for the Gospel we should never have known the Efficacy and Power of Grace The Apostle puts the Question Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the Hearing of Faith How did you come to be acquainted with Grace This is the Seal which God would put upon the Excellency and Authority of the Gospel that he will associate and join in assistance with it the Operation of the Spirit to accompany it Look as it is with the Sun Light encreaseth with Heat the Morning-Beams are faint and gentle but at Noon the Sun shines out not only with Glory but with Strength So it is here the more the Light of the Gospel is encreased the more is the Efficacy and Power of it conveyed into the Sons of Men. The Dispensation of the Law is called the Oldness of the Letter and the Dispensation of the Gospel the Newness of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 But now ye are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in Newness of Spirit and not in the Oldness of the Letter In the meer Law-Dispensation there was only a literal Direction but no strength and ability to perform what is suggested Lex jubet Gratia juvat The Law commands but all the Commands of Grace help There is a Spirit that goeth along with the Gospel to qualify us for the Duties of it 2 Cor. 3.6 Who also hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth Life With the Dispensation of the Gospel God joins the Virtue and Power of the Holy Ghost The Letter convinceth and so by consequence obligeth to Death for we cannot perform what it requireth of us but now there 's a Spirit goes along with the Gospel and so we are acquainted with the Efficacy of Grace 4. We are acquainted with the Largeness and Bounty of Grace The Benefits that come by Christ were not so clearly revealed in the Law there was no Type that I know of which figured Union with Christ. The Blood of Christ was figured by the Blood of Bulls and Goats Justification by the fleeing away of the Scape-Goat Sanctification by the Water of Purification But now Eternal Life is rarely mentioned in express Terms sometimes it is shadowed out in the Promise of inheriting the Land of Canaan as Hell is by going into Captivity but otherwise it is seldom mentioned 2 Tim. 1.10 But now it is made manifest speaking of the Grace of God by the appearing of our Saviour Christ who hath abolished Death and hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel The Gentiles had but glimmerings and gross Fancies about the future State Life and Immortality was never known to the purpose till Christ came in the Flesh and therefore Heaven is as sparingly mentioned in the Old Testament as Temporal Blessings are in the New In the New Testament we hear much of the Cross of Sufferings and Afflictions
begging to his own Creature and deals with us as importunately as if the Benefit were his own thus doth he pray us to be reconciled And then God threatens eternal Death to stir us up to take hold of eternal Life he tells us of a Pit without a Bottom and a Worm that never dies Sometimes he seeketh to work upon our Hope and sometimes upon our Fear he not only tells us of the loss of Happiness which is very grievous to an ingenuous Spirit Heb. 12.14 Follow Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord But he tells us of those eternal Torments that are without End and Ease of a Worm than never dies and of a Fire that shall never be quenched O whose Heart doth not tremble at the mention of these things Then on the other side we have Promises as great as Heart can wish for and more 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises It hath not entred into the Heart of Man to conceive of these things Who ever hired a Man to be happy or a thirsty Man to drink or a hungry Man to eat Salvation is so acceptable and the heavenly and blessed Hope so glorious that we should purchase it at any rate but God taketh all Methods to awaken Man Thus the Gospel may well be said to be a powerful Instrument of our Salvation because it hath a powerful Tendency that way 2. Because it hath the Promise of the Spirit 's Assistance Rom. 1.16 the Gospel is said to be the Power of God unto Salvation not only because it is a powerful Instrument which God hath appropriated to this Work but this is the Honour God puts upon the Gospel that he will join and associate the Operation of his Spirit with no other Doctrine but this And therefore the Apostle saith Gal. 3.2 Received you the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith How come you to receive the Spirit either by endeavouring to get Acceptance with God according to the Terms of the Law or by the Doctrine of the Gospel The Assistance of the Spirit is joined with no other Doctrine This is the Authentick Proof of the Excellency of that Doctrine that God hath reserved the Power of his Grace to go along with it he will not associate and join his Spirit with any other Doctrine The Law as it is contra-distinguish'd from the Gospel it is called the Ministration of Condemnation 2 Cor. 3.9 and the Ministration of Death to fallen Man ver 7. It is the Office of the Law to condemn a Man not to save him Not as if preaching of the Law did make us guilty but shews us to be guilty to him that is guilty of Death it puts the Guilt before their Eyes that knowing it and feeling it he may be terrified and despair in himself and beg for Deliverance To this end the Apostle gives us an account of his own Experience Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once that is I thought I was alive and did not know my self or feel my self guilty of Death I thought my self to be in as good a condition towards God as any Man but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died then I counted my self to be lost and utterly undone A Sinner before the Law comes is like a Beggar that dreams he is a King and that he wallows in Ease and Plenty but when he awakes his Soul is empty and he feeleth his Poverty and his hungry Belly and his Rags confute all his Dreams and false Surmises So we thought our selves to be alive in a good condition towards God but when the Law comes then we see our selves to be dead and lost Therefore the Law as it is opposed to the Gospel is not the Means of Salvation so it is only the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Object You will say these seem to be hard Expressions to call it the Law of Sin and Death but you must understand it aright To Man fallen the Law only convinceth of Sin and bindeth over to Death it is nothing but a killing Letter but the Gospel accompanied by the Power of the Spirit bringeth Life Again Psal. 19.7 it is said there The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul therefore it seems the Law may also be a word of Salvation to the Creature I answer By the Law there is not meant only that part of the Word which we call the Covenant of Works but there it is put for the whole Word for the whole Doctrine of the Covenant of Life and Salvation as Psal. 1.2 His Delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night And if you take it in that stricter sense then it converteth the Soul but by accident as it is joined with the Gospel which is the Ministry of Life and Righteousness but in it self it is the Law of Sin and Death Look as a thing taken simply would be Poison and deadly in self yet mix'd with other wholsome Medicines it is of great use is an excellent Physical Ingredient So the Law is of great use as joined with the Gospel to awaken and startle the Sinner to shew him his Duty to convince him of Sin and Judgment but it is the Gospel properly that pulls in the Heart Vse To press you to regard the Gospel more as you would Salvation it self for it bringeth Salvation By way of Motive and Encouragement 1. Consider the greatness of the Salvation Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation It is not a slight matter in the Gospel God doth not treat with you about Trifles your eternal Life lies upon it we preach to you a Doctrine that tends to Salvation That so the Argument may be more operative consider what is Salvation Salvation implieth a Deliverance from Danger and Distress and a preservation in a condition of Safety Sometimes he is called a Saviour qui quod semel factum est conservat ne pereat that keepeth a thing in a condition of Safety tho it were never lost In this sense God is said to save Man and Beast Psal. 36.6 O Lord thou preservest Man and Beast As he doth preserve them from Decay and Ruin so he is the Saviour of all Men 1 Tim. 4.10 There is not a Creature but may call God Saviour But this Salvation I speak of is a Salvation proper but to a few Creatures not a general Preservation or Act of Providence here is not only Safety but Glory it is a translation to a place of Happiness Again he is said to save that delivers out of Danger and Destruction as the Shepherd that snatcheth the Lamb out of the Teeth of the Lion saveth him and in common speech we call him a Saviour that delivers from Evil. But mark this
Disadvantage to your selves for a Man that hath begun to be strict and careful and holy and righteous and profess himself to be taken out of the Kingdom of Darkness and made experience of the Ways of Christ yet if he falls off he doth as it were after Trial pronounce to the World that Satan's Service is better than Christ's As Iacob kept wrestling till Day-light appeared and would not let go his hold-fast so till the Morning of Glory come still keep on and continue your Courage Or as Elisha would not leave his Master till he was taken from him into Heaven so be constant to the last let the World know you see no cause to leave Christ or to be weary of his Service and to begrudg the Strictness of Religion Matth. 20. you read some were called into the Vine-yard sooner some later but they all kept working to the End and Close of the Day There 's a different time of Calling some begin with God in Infancy some in riper Age but none must be weary of well-doing But how apt are we to turn aside from God Our Righteousness must be as the Morning Light that always increaseth till High-noon but our Righteousness is like the Morning-Dew it is gone as soon as the Sun breaks out in Strength and Power We have a great many Resolutions when we begin a Course of Godliness but soon grow weary Look as a tired Horse is ready to turn in at every Inn so upon every Occasion and Temptation we are ready to turn away from God but it is not enough to begin to live godly strictly righteously but while Life lasteth you must hold on in God's ways it must be during your whole present State and Abode here in the World II. The Reasons why this Duty of our heavenly Calling must be in the present World 1. Because this is the Time of Grace There is no other Time to get the Favour of God and an Interest in Heaven but here upon Earth Now we have the Means hereafter the Recompences Now Christ saith Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden Matth. 11.28 Hereafter he will say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Mat. 25.34 Now he calls us to receive Grace hereafter we must receive either Vengeance or Glory In the Angels Song we find Luke 2.14 Peace upon Earth Here God proclaims Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation to the Creature if it will submit to God Now the Golden Scepter is held out and you will have no more such a Season This is God the Father's God the Son 's and God the Spirit 's Time but after this Life you shall have it no more It is the Time of God the Father's Patience and these are the Days of the Gospel when God the Son is offered to us and now we have the Advantage of the Spirit 's Impulses and his Convictions upon our Hearts But after this Life there 's neither Prophecy nor Gospel nor Conviction nor Means offered any more then comes Recompence and Retribution Zanchy speaks of some which had a Fancy that the Gospel should be preached hereafter in the other World to those that never heard of Christ in this World as to Children to Turks and Pagans to justify this Conceit they alledg that Place 1 Pet. 3.19 By which he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison But that 's a clear Mistake The Apostle speaks there how the Spirit of God went forth by Noah's Preaching in warm Conviction upon the Hearts of those that are now in Prison that were sometimes disobedient to the Warnings of Noah and are now held with Chains of Darkness in the Prison of Hell But however there is nothing to this World Now you have the Means and God's golden Scepter is held out Now Christ saith Come but if you refuse hereafter he will say Depart Now is the accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.1 2. This is the Time of our Exercise and Trial. 1. There must be this Exercise before we come to Heaven We do not leap into Heaven without any Preparation The Vessels of Glory must first be seasoned with Grace Col. 1.12 Who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light First we are qualified and seasoned then filled brim-full As when the Virgins were chosen for Ahasuerus they were to accomplish their Months of Purification so we must have a Time of purifying and cleansing from Corruption before we can get to Heaven Balaam would die the Death of the Righteous but not live his Life Numb 23.10 Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his As it is said of the Snake that when it is stricken with Death stretcheth out it self straight though crooked before at oportuit sic vixisse you should have so lived You should be sober righteous and godly Enoch before his Translation had this Testimony that he pleased God Heb. 11.5 Some-thing must be done here there is no Triumph without a Warfare 2 Tim. 2.5 If a Man strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned unless he strive lawfully that is according to the Laws of the Race or Exercise so we cannot expect to die in the Lord unless we live in the Lord Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Your Works die not when you die Eccles. 11.3 If the Tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be In the time of the Law there was nothing to be gathered upon the Sabbath-Day but a double Portion to be gathered before those that provide nothing on the sixth Day had nothing on the Sabbath-Day The Sabbath is a Figure of Heaven of that eternal Rest we shall have there if we do not make Provision during the time of Life there can be nothing done afterwards 2. It is only here this is the fittest Place for Exercise Here are Difficulties Snares and Temptations and these serve to discover the Glory of Grace and this makes it worthy of Praise that we can act for God in the present World where so many miscarry 2 Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present World Here is the fit Place for our Trial where we have so many Difficulties Snares Baits Avocations and Scandals to take us off from performing the Duty of our Heavenly Calling As Death leaves us so Judgment finds us Upon our Behaviour in the present Life both our everlasting Woe or Weal depends Hereafter is not a time of Labour but of Reward and Punishment there is no room for Exercise and Trial there no Snares in the next World Grace cannot be found worthy of Praise there for that is God's Day called the Day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.10
whenever we have to do with him Our Affections should be mix'd as Christ's Titles are It is said of the Church Acts 9.31 They walked in the Fear of the Lord and in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost This doth well together fear God and rejoice in God Do not dally with a Saviour and please your selves in cherishing a loose Comfort when you neglect Duty and are touched with no Awe of God and then do not indulge a legal Dejection the great God whom you dread and reverence is your Saviour Therefore are the Titles of Christ mix'd to beget a sweet Temperature of Fear and Love So much for the conjunct Consideration of the Words II. Let us come to handle them apart particularly but briefly First of the Stile of his Power The Great God Here is a pregnant Testimony of the Deity of Christ. Doct. That Iesus Christ together with the Father and the Holy Ghost is the Great God He is called the great God partly in opposition to those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that are only called Gods the Vanities of the Gentiles there are many that are called Gods 1 Cor. 8.5 6. For though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be Gods many and Lords many but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him And partly in opposition to the Gods of Man's making so the Devil is gotten to be a God The God of this World hath blinded the Eyes of them which believe not 2 Cor. 4.4 So we read of those whose God is their Belly Phil. 3.19 As the Strength of Mens Desires run out so they set up many Gods either Mammon or Bacchus And partly in Opposition to those representative Gods Magistrates who are called Gods Psal. 82.6 I said ye are Gods They resemble God in their Power and Soveraignty and Administration of Justice and large Opportunity of doing Good But the chief Reason why Christ is called the great God is to shew that he is not inferiour to the Father to remove the Scandal of his Abasement He is not a God by Courtesy or Grant but by Nature equal in Power and Majesty and Glory to God the Father To confirm this I shall prove First That considering his Work he ought to be God no inferiour Mediator could serve the turn Secondly That he is God and able to perform this Work First Consider his Work and so he ought to be God The Work of the Mediator could be dispatched by no inferiour Agent Consider the Mediator in all his Offices as Prophet Priest and King 1. For his Prophetical Office As a Prophet he was to be greater than all Prophets and Apostles It is above Man's Capacity to be the greaâ— Doctor of the Church In regard of his outward Work the Discovery of the Gospel and of the Riches of God's Grace it could be made by none but he that was in the Bosom of the Father Iohn 1.18 No Man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he hath declared him None could tell us what Bowels what Affections what Purposes of Grace the Father had concerning Sinners but Christ that was in his Bosom Mat. 11.27 No Man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him As an external Law-giver in the Gospel Christ the great Doctor of the Church ought to be Authentick a Law-giver from whose Sentence there is no Appeal a Lord in his own House Heb. 3.4 5 6. For every House is builded by some Man but he that built all things is God And Moses verily was faithful in all his House as a Servant for a Testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Son over his own House Moses was but a Servant who received the external Law from Christ upon Mount Sinai it was Christ whose Voice shook the Mount Heb. 12.26 But chiefly in regard of his inward Work as he is to be a Fountain of Wisdom to all the Elect 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom Men may teach the Ear but Christ must teach the Heart Blind Men cannot see the Sun though it shine never so clearly Light is come into the World but Darkness comprehends it not we must have Eyes as well as Light now it is only Divine Power can open the Eye of our Understanding and give us spiritual Illumination 2. As for his Kingly Office a finite Power would never suffice for that Christ is to break the Force of Enemies to raise the Dead to pour out the Spirit to bestow Grace and Glory all these are Christ's Donatives as King of the Church As a King he is to be an Original Fountain of Life to all the Elect As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me John 6.57 All these things are the Glory of God which he will not give to another and they cannot be performed by any but God The Creatures are limited they have not such a Vastness in them that out of their Fulness we might receive Grace for Grace as we do from Christ Iohn 1.16 Of his Fulness have we all received and Grace for Grace 3. For his Priestly Office this shews he ought to be God Of this there be two Acts his Oblation and Intercession 1. For his Oblation and Sacrifice he must offer up himself one for all and that but once and that to expiate Sin and procure the Favour of God for ever now who could do this but God And he must offer up himself he must be Priest as well as Sacrifice therefore must have a Power over his own Life to lay it down and take it up and that no Creature hath for whether we live or die we are the Lord 's And thus had Jesus Christ an absolute Power of Life and Death over that Nature he assumed therefore it is said Heb. 9.14 Who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God Then one must be offered for all 2 Cor. 5.14 If one died for all then were all dead Therefore that Person which suffered was to be virtually all those for whom he suffered that is infinitely as good and better than all Look as they said to David Thou art better than ten thousand of us so Jesus Christ that was given one for all must be such a Person as is better than all Men. A General given in Ransom will redeem thousands of private Souldiers so the Worth of Christ's Person made him equivalent in Dignity to the Worâ—h of all those whose Persons he sustained In all Ages his Death is a standing Remedy God had more Satisfaction than if Angels and Men had been made a Sacrifice And mark it was done but
the part of Physician not of a Judg he burneth us cutteth us puts us to pain but not to do us hurt not to satisfy Vengeance but to better our Hearts Hic ure hic seca Domine modo parcas in aeternum Our Afflictions are troublesome to the Flesh as Punishments are we cannot expect full Security or total Exemption from them Again they come not by chance Affliction doth not spring out of the Dust but they come by special Dispensation as Punishments also they do not come by chance Sin is for the most part the occasion of them God chasteneth them because they have sinned as we quench a Brand plucked out of the Burning or he warneth them that they may not sin again The Chastisements of the Godly serve for Examples as well as the Punishments of the Wicked But they are not properly Judicial Acts to satisfy the Law as a Judg taketh no notice of the Repentance of the Delinquent but of his Fault They are Acts of Love and a part of God's Family-Discipline Brambles are not pruned but Vines Heb. 12.6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth Bastards are leftto live more at large Again they are for the exercise of Grace not for the destruction of our Persons A Judg doth not punish Offenders because he loveth them but because the Law requireth it If Corrections were Punishments wicked Men should have the greatest share Heb. 12.10 He chasteneth us for our Profit that we might be Partakers of his Holiness A Judg looketh to the Good of the Common-wealth to keep Authority and the Majesty of Government not the Benefit of the Malefactor 1 Cor. 11.32 When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World The Godly are punished here that they may not be condemned hereafter The Scripture every-where maketh it a part of our Blessedness Iames 1.12 Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation Phil. 1.29 Vnto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are Dispensations of Love Answ. 2. For Death This was the primary Effect of Sin yet it remaineth Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die But the Curse of the Law is become a Blessing of the Gospel Death is ours 1 Cor. 3.22 Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World or Life or Death c. all are yours Adam might have lived here happily for ever but Christ hath provided a better place for us there is a deep Gulf which cannot be passed but by Death our present Earthly Nature is not fit for that happy State 1 Cor. 15.50 Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth Corruption inherit Incorruption If Christ could have contented himself with giving us an Earthly Paradise Death had not been necessary That State in the Garden was an innocent and happy but an Earthly State These Bodies of ours that need Meat and Sleep would have sufficed for the Earthly Garden but we expect a greater Benefit and therefore we must be contented with the Way and Passage Sense and Reason telleth us that these Bodies which we now carry up and down are not fit for that State we must lay what we received from Adam in the Grave that when it is purged and renewed we may be like to Christ. The Grain liveth not except it die the Shed and old House is pulled down that God may raise a more glorious Structure If all Believers should be wrap'd up into Heaven and changed Miracles would be multiplied without need It is no Punishment to lose our Corruption and Mortality 3. The next Proposition is this That the fairest part of this Redemption is hereafter then our Happiness in Christ is perfect Luke 21.28 When these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your Heads for your Redemption draweth nigh Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption Then we are past Gun-shot and out of Harm's way We are fully redeemed from the Guilt of Sin when there is no Monument of God's Displeasure left We must be like our Head in all Conditions We are not fully freed from the Relicks of Sin till the Resurrection that we may have new Matter to glorify God when we come to Heaven Old Adam is not quite abolished till God be all in all Secondly He hath delivered us from the Power of Sin He paid the Price on the Cross therefore it is said Rom. 6.6 Our Old Man is crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve Sin When Christ lay a dying Sin lay a dying and bled with him on the Cross then was Grace purchased and therefore Faith should look upon Sin as dead and actually crucified it is done in the Mystery And then he ascended and poured out the Spirit now to accomplish this Work God is satisfied and Christ's Work lieth now with Satan and our own Hearts 1. For Satan He is dispossessed and cast out at Conversion Luk. 11.21 22. When a strong Man armed keepeth his Palace his Goods are in Safety But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him he taketh from him all his Armour wherein he trusted and divideth his Spoils Then Christ taketh away the Prey The Devil may trouble us but he is but a Tyrant cast out he can no more reign And by preserving Grace he keepeth possession Christ will not lose Ground when once he hath got Footing Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly As Ioshua called unto his Companions chap. 10.24 Come near put your Feet upon the Necks of these Kings 2. As for our own Hearts He breaketh the Yoke and sets the Will at Liberty and maketh us free for God Rom. 6.17 But God be thanked ye were the Servants of Sin but ye have obeyed from the Heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered to you It was a willing Bondage but now we are made a willing People then our Consent was voluntary now our Resignation is so too There are indeed some Relicks of Corruption and Opposition left there are inward Monuments of the Fall as well as outward as there are some grudgings of a Disease after a Cure but in Heaven all is perfect and even now there is not a willing Subjection but a Resistance made to Sin Vse 1. To exhort us to Thankfulness to our Redeemer Remember your former Bondage it is a woful Captivity to be under Sin Those that are under Sin are under the Curse of the Law and the Tyranny of the Devil we could have no boldness with God as a Father nor look him in the Face the Law is against us God is the Judg Satan the Jaylor our own Consciences an under-Keeper Our Fears of Death
is true Conversion where they are not only changed but quickned Heathens have been changed from Prophaneness to a moral course If you pretend to close with Christ and find no Life you can take no comfort in your Faith it is but a Cloud a Fancy John 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly So for Repentance and trouble for Sin if no Zeal follows it it is naught Rev. 3.19 Be zealous therefore and repent So for being Members of the Church you cannot take comfort of being Christ's Members without Zeal for all the true Members of Christ's Mystical Body are living Stones 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as lively Stones are built up a Spiritual House It is true in the outward Building there are some carved Stones So in the visible Church there are many polished with Gifts which may serve in their place to hold up the Building but they are not living Stones for they want Life And then for Hope it is but a Fancy and Dream if we be dead and sluggish It is called a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1.3 And if thou art drowsy still and neglectful of God surely thou art but in a Dream Canst thou take Comfort in this that thou art a constant Hearer of the Word if thou art as backward to Holiness and good Works as ever Phil. 2.16 Holding forth the Word of Life The Word is the Word of Life it doth not leave us dull slow and backward If there be not Life and Zeal all is nothing 11. Consider how odious want of Zeal is to God He will not own a cold careless neutral Spirit Rev. 3.16 So then because thou art luke-warm and neither hot nor cold I will spue thee out of my Mouth Cold lazy Professors that have nothing but a dead Form are as luke-warm Water to the Stomach and there is nothing the Stomach nauseates so much as that which is luke-warm So will God cast them out with much loathing he will uncase and pluck off their Masks and reveal them to the Congregation and make them odious this is worse than stark cold It is not enough that we are not violent against the Ways of God but are you zealous for God otherwise you are odious to God Mat. 25.30 Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness and not only the grosly Wicked but the unprofitable Servant Though he did not abuse his Talent nor embezel it away yet he hid it in a Napkin If you hide your Talent be it Parts Estate or Authority are you then zealous for God Useless Sapless Lifeless Christians incur the Penalty of Damnation as well as the openly Wicked they are cast into Hell therefore rest not in a dead Form 12. Consider how dishonourable it is to the living God to serve him with a dead Heart and cold Affections when he hath indented with you upon such glorious and noble Terms Heathens that worship the Sun offer to him a flying Horse because of the swiftness of his Motion 2 Kings 23.11 He took away the Horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the Sun So our worshipping of the living God must not be dead and cold Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God God that is a living God must have lively Service but Men worship him as a dead Idol In an earthly Matter we would not be so cold and careless in our Treaties and Transactions Malachi 1.8 Offer it to thy Governour will he be pleased with you or accept your Person saith the Lord What you do it must be done with all the Heart and all the Might Consider Religion is not a Fancy You do not worship the Vanities of the Gentiles therefore be not dead cold and careless You worship the living God and he will be served with Life Zeal and strength of Affection SERMONS UPON HEBREWS VI. 18 SERMON I. HEB. VI. 18 That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us TO give you the Occasion of these Words we must look back into the Context The Apostle proveth the firmness of the Promises and yet the great need of Faith and Patience e're they be accomplished He proveth both by the Instance of Abraham who was long exercised in waiting and had God's Promise ratified with the most solemn Assurance that can be conceived under Heaven with an Oath which is held sacred and inviolable among all Nations But here some might object That if Abraham had such a special Assurance from God what is that to us To this the Apostle replies That tho God's Oath were given to Abraham yet it concerns all the Heirs of Promise every Believer hath the same ground of Certainty that Abraham had so it is asserted ver 17. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath There is an Emphasis in the Phrase more abundantly God's Oath was not given out of Necessity but out of Condescension Not out of Necessity as if his Word was not valid and authentick without an Oath but he would give his Oath that over and above and by all solemn ways of Assurance the Lord would provide for our Certainty and Assurance that we might have strong Consolation upon solid Grounds That by two immutable things c. In the Words we have the Purport and the Aim of God's Oath which is to give Believers more solemn Assurance Take notice of three things 1. The Ground of this Assurance That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie 2. The Fruit of this Assurance That we might have strong Consolation 3. The Persons to whom God hath given this Assurance we who have fled for Refuge to lay hold of the Hope that is set before us Sutable to the three Parts there are three main Points I. God's Word and Oath are the immutable Grounds of a Believer's Certainty and Confidence II. That the Fruit of this Confidence and Certainty is strong Consolation III. That the Persons to whom God hath deposited his Oath and by it administreth so strong a Comfort and Consolation are those who fly for Refuge to take hold of the Hope that is set before them Doct. I. That God's Word and God's Oath are the immutable Grounds of a Believer's Confidence and Certainty for these are the two immutable things spoken of I shall speak of each distinctly First God's single Word is an immutable Ground having this you have enough And so it will appear if you consider the Power and the Certainty of it 1. The Power of God's Word His Word is nothing else but the Declaration of his powerful Will the Force of it was discovered in creating
5.14 Wherefore he says Awake thou that sleepest 2. Have you been drawn to Christ by the Cords of the Gospel Have you been brought to him as a Sanctuary for your distressed Souls as the Man shut up himself in the City of Refuge 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that Day Here is my Anchor and Safety 3. Are you begotten to a lively Hope Do you often look within the Vail and groan and long for your everlasting Hopes Do you send Spies before-hand into the Land of Promise a few Thoughts thither What hearty Groans are there and Sighs of that happy State Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also who have the First-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Doth it quicken you and make you mend your pace whatever Difficulties you meet with Rom. 5.2 We rejoice in hope of the Glory of God Vse 2. Conviction It sheweth the hardness of their Hearts who have neither felt the Law-work nor the Gospel-work but remain like the Smith's Anvil softned neither with Hammer nor Oil neither driven by the Threatnings of the Law nor drawn with the glad Tidings of Salvation neither Iohn nor Iesus worketh on them Of such Christ speaketh Mat. 11.17 We have piped unto you and you have not danced we have mourned unto you and you have not lamented A rude and stupid People not affected with any kind of Musick In times of Rejoicing the Jews had their lighter Notes fitted for Mirth in times of Lamentation they had their Minstrels and mourning Women that had venales lachrymas beating their Breasts and crying Alas my Brother and ah Lord and ah his Glory Jer. 9.17 Consider ye and call for the mourning Women Notable movers of Passions they were It was a thing so common among them that the Boys would imitate them in the Streets To these Christ likeneth a stupid People that are moved with no kind of Doctrine neither with Judgment nor sweet offers of Grace Alas they are far from the strong Comfort here spoken of Vse 3. To perswade you to this Temper Three sorts of People usually we speak to 1. The carnally Secure 2. Those that are affected with their Condition 3. Those that esteem Christ and embrace him that own him as ready and willing to save Sinners 1. For the carnally Secure that never made their Peace with God never fled for Refuge nor took Sanctuary at the Grace of Christ. Our Work is to make them sensible of the Avenger of Blood that is at their Heels O poor Wretches will you sleep when your Damnation sleeps not Within a little while what will become of you In the ordinary Course of Nature you have but a few Years to pass over in this World but for ought you know the Wrath of God which makes Inquisition for Sinners may seize upon you a great deal sooner you may not live out half your Days that is so long as in an ordinary Providence you might expect Psal. 68.21 God shall wound the Head of his Enemies and the hairy Scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his Trespasses God may take you by the hairy Scalp while you are in your youthful Freshness before Baldness and old Age cometh and Infirmities seize upon you That which is measured by Time will soon come about Every Day you are a step nearer to Eternity O what will become of you When you are at odds with God Death way-layeth you in every place it may take you Sleeping Eating Drinking Ah poor Man what Refuge hast thou What Buckler to catch the Blow of God's angry Indignation and ward off the Strokes of his Vengeance O fly Sinners for Refuge the Lord knows how soon Destruction may seize upon you while you are yet in Health and Strength there is no other means but Christ. Surely this driving Work would prosper more if Men were not wanting to themselves to improve the Conviction of the Word When God shews you your natural Face and begins to startle and awaken you O let not Conviction die No Iron so hard as that which hath been often quenched and often healed So no Heart so hard as when it hath worn out many Convictions Make use of Remorses of Conscience and your own trembling Fears lest you are given up to a Spirit of Slumber 2. To those that are affected with their Condition to seek for Salvation in Christ alone You which are troubled about your Eternal State own Christ as a City of Refuge his Arms are always open to receive poor trembling Sinners that fly thither from the Wrath of God You do but go about while you seek else-where Jer. 31.22 How long wilt thou go about O thou back-sliding Daughter for the Lord hath created a new Thing in the Earth A Woman shall compass a Man that is when God hath set forth Christ born of a Woman why will you weary your selves to go about This City of Refuge stands open for all Corners own Christ as the only Remedy One who was long exercised with Troubles of Conscience and at length came to some establishment gave this Advice I will never look for that in the Law which is only to be found in the Gospel and I will never look for that in my self which is only to be found in Christ and I will never look for that on Earth which is only to be found in Heaven These three things are the Causes why Men are kept in Trouble You will get nothing but Weariness and Discomfort by running about and looking to Duties and legal Qualifications and therefore while you are affected with your Condition own Christ. 3. To those which are fled to Christ and owned him as the only Sanctuary for poor Souls Press onward to take hold of eternal Life Now you have fled from deserved Wrath run to take hold of undeserved Glory You are past the worst the rest is more easy The Apostle Rom. 5.11 12. puts a much more upon this Much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life as if that were a more easy thing Now the worst Brunt is over And not only so but we also joy in God through the Lord Iesus Christ by whom we have now received the Atonement When you are reconciled to God you may look to be entertained as Friends being adopted in Christ you may look for a Child's Portion If God would pardon your Sins and take you with all your Faults quicken your selves to be more diligent in the pursuit of Eternal Life and put to your best Strength You will have many ups and downs in the World but bear it with Patience Heaven will pay for all But here is a Doubt May we look to the Rewards I answer Yes else there were no room for Hope for Hope is nothing else but a longing
and 28. Fear not them that kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul And again Weep as if you wept not 1 Cor. 7.30 And mourn not as Men without Hope 1 Thess. 4.13 But such is the Goodness of our God that he hath said all this and much more and so made our Comfort and Chearfulness a great part of our Work and hath made it unlawful for us to be miserable and to pierce our selves through with divers Sorrows The Lord foresaw what sinful Anxiety was incident to us because of our Difficulties and Discouragements and how we would be distracted in our Duty if he should leave the Burden of Care and Sorrow upon us Therefore he would only have us mindful of our Duty leaving all Success and Events to him A small matter occasioneth much Vexation of Spirit to us when we take the Care of it upon our selves Therefore it is not only our Privilege that we may but our Duty that we must disburden our selves of these distrustful Fears and Cares and Sorrows It is his peremptory Command which his People must not disobey unless they will incur his Displeasure 2. A Submission to his Providence He is absolute Lord to dispose of our Persons and Conditions as it shall seem good in his Sight For he is our Potter and we are his Clay Isa. 45.9 Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker let the Potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth Shall the Clay say to him that formeth it What makest thou Therefore we must not be troubled when he exerciseth this his Soveraignty Iob 33.13 Why doest thou strive against him for he giveth not an account of any of his matters Who shall be Judges and Arbitrators to take the Account of his Proceedings And before whom will you call him to render a Reason of his Actions No he ruleth with absolute Dominion and Soveraignty but yet sheweth himself a loving and tender Father to his People Matth. 6.32 Your heavenly Father knoweth you have need of all these things The Lord will keep off Dangers provide every thing needful and is more sollicitous for your Well-being than you can be your selves There is a constant fatherly Providence watching over his People for good if we do believe it why are our Hearts troubled Let our Father take his own way to bring his Children to Glory Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom That Clause concerneth not only our final Blessedness but all the ways and means which conduce thereunto 3 dly It is contrary to that Peace Comfort and Happiness we might otherwise take in the rich Provisions and Preparations of Grace which God hath made for us It is said Psal. 94.19 In the multitude of my Thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul It is a great Point of Sincerity to comfort our selves with God's Comforts such as he alloweth to us provideth for us and worketh in us Many careful Troubles and perplexing Thoughts are apt to arise in our Minds in a time of danger Now where is our Ease and Relief but in God's Comforts These will yield not only Support but Delight they have a Power to revive and chear the Soul All the business is to enquire what are God's Comforts The Comforts of the Gospel such as result from the sense of our Reconciliation with God Rom. 5.11 Ye Ioy in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom we have received the Atonement The Pardon of our Sins Mat. 9.2 Son be of good chear thy Sins be forgiven thee Our Adoption or being taken into God's Family Heb. 12.5 Ye have forgotten the Exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto Sons It cannot be otherwise with those that have a Father in Heaven but they may have some Comfort if not in the Creature yet in God if not on Earth yet in Heaven Besides this there is the hope of Glory Rom. 5.1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. By whom also we have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God Sin hath woven Calamity into our Lives and filled us with Troubles Griefs and Fears but God hath sent his Spirit not only a Sanctifier but Comforter into our Hearts to fill us with all Ioy and Peace in believing Rom. 15.13 Now shall God make all this Provision for our Comfort and we never the better Luke 24.38 Why are ye troubled and why do Thoughts arise in your Hearts Surely the comforting Work of the Spirit should not be interrupted by us It is our Sin if these Comforts be despised our Infelicity if they be not injoyed they being necessary for us for our Incouragement in the way of Holiness and to quicken our Praise and Thanksgiving and raise our Hearts in Love to God Vse Let us all take heed then of the Evil of a troubled and uncomfortable Spirit What shall we do to prevent it 1. Something is pre-required that a Man be upon good terms with God 1 Sam. 30.6 David encouraged himself in the Lord his God He was in a great distress at that time the City wherein he left his Family and the Families of his Followers was taken and burnt their Wives and Children carried away and all gone So that David and those that were with him lifted up their Voices and wept till they had no more power to weep and to make up the Calamity his Souldiers were ready to stone him In this desperate condition David incouraged himself in the Lord his God So Psal. 42.11 Why art thou cast down O my Soul Why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the Health of my Countenance and my God David speaketh this when he was deprived of Ordinances and his constant recourse to God's solemn Worship which was a sad Reflection to him yet he rebuketh himself for being utterly cast down or immoderately disturbed And why because he had some Supports in the midst of all this Sadness God is the Health of my Countenance and he did not despair but God would return in Mercy to him and he should find some way of escape because God was his God This is a stay to our drooping Souls that we be not too much dejected and disturbed that God is our loving Father when we are under his sharpest Chastisements If God be ours in Covenant with us Why should we be troubled If you have consented that God shall be your God your Portion and Saviour and Sanctifier there needeth no more for your Comfort Are you resolved of this 2. See that your Hearts be mortified to the World and fixed on Heavenly Things Whilst you have too great a value for Worldly Things your Hearts will be overwhelmed with Griefs and Cares and Troubles Our Affections increase our Afflictions Iob 1.22 In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly
Here is God to satisfy us There is an infinite Latitude in the Object of Faith Father Son and Holy Ghost with all their Powers and Capacities to do us Good No Pain so great but he can mitigate or remove it no Danger so dreadful or so likely but he can prevent it no Misery so deep but he can deliver us from it no Enemies so strong but he can vanquish them no Want that he cannot supply Gen. 17.1 The Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect When we have a Want that God cannot supply or a Sickness that God cannot cure or a Danger that he cannot prevent or a Misery that he cannot remove or can produce any Enemies or Creatures that are too hard for God then we have leave to yield to Trouble and Despondency of Heart Chuse God as your Portion and chief Happiness and you shall want nothing Psal. 23.6 Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the Days of my Life Surely could we more believe in God our Hearts would be more ballanced and kept steady not tost up and down with various Occurrences Whatever falleth out we have a God still to rejoice in and depend upon Habak 3.18 Yet will I rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation He supposeth himself not only in some necessity but in extremity not only kept bare but reduced to nothing 2 Cor. 6.10 As sorrowful yet alway rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things You have all things in him 2. Here is Christ as Mediator We have great Advantage by that Consideration 1. Hereby we see God in our Nature and so nearer at hand and ready to help us and more accessible for us to come at than as God considered in the mere Deity John 1.14 The VVord was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us God is come down and become our Neighbour yea like one of us Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh. Though he has removed his Dwelling again into Heaven yet it is for our sakes our Nature is there though our Persons be not He is sat down as our Agent Heb. 8.1 VVe have such an High-Priest who is sat on the right Hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Heb. 4.15 For we have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all Points tempted like as we are yet without Sin God in our Flesh will not be strange to us We are bidden Isa. 58.7 not to hide our selves from our own Flesh. Gen. 29.14 And Laban said unto him Surely thou art my Bone and my Flesh and he abode with him 2. In the Mystery of Redemption all the Divine Persons put themselves in an Order for our Faith to take hold of Faith may close with any one of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity provided we divide not the Divine Essence in our Thoughts But in the Mystery of Redemption all is made obvious and handy to our Faith The Father considered as the Fountain of the Deity to whom we come for Grace and Mercy The second Person clothed with our Flesh through whom we come Being assisted and enabled to come by the Holy Spirit who is the third Person Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father This is that full and satisfying Object with which Faith closeth when it acteth most distinctly In the Father there we see original Love or original Authority and infinite free Grace Iohn 3.16 For God so loved the VVorld that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life In the Son everlasting Righteousness and Redemption Heb. 9.12 Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us In the Spirit infinite Virtue and Power for the applying of Christ's Purchase for he createth a new Spirit in us he createth the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace It is God that must be satisfied and by God must this Satisfaction be made and by him that is God must this Satisfaction be applied before we can have the Comfort of it You have all in one Verse 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledg of God the Father through the Sanctification of the Spirit unto Obedience and the sprinkling of the Blood of Iesus Christ. So ver 21 22. VVho by him do believe in God that raised him up from the Dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and Hope might be in God seeing ye have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit In the Father we see Elective Love in the Son there is full Redemption and by the Spirit effectual Application The Father appoints Blessedness to us the Son purchaseth it for us and the Holy Ghost carrieth it on powerfully and invincibly The Salvation of poor Sinners is a Work wherein all the Persons of the blessed Trinity are engaged and do concur therein by a several distinct personal Operation Surely that is a noble Work wherein such Agents are imployed and our Hearts must be raised to give equal Glory to all the Persons knowingly and distinctly and explicitely The Father out of his good Pleasure electing Sinners to Grace and Glory The Son by his Obedience and Suffering purchasing the same for them The Holy Ghost by his Power working Grace in them and preparing them for that Blessedness which the Father hath appointed and Christ hath purchased for them 3. In believing of Christ as Mediator our Troubles are stopped at the Fountain-head It is not the Wrath and Fury of the Creature but the Wrath of God which maketh us miserable and nothing can fully comfort us if God be apprehended as an Enemy or not fully reconciled to us Now God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself 2 Cor. 5.19 There was Enmity stopped God in our Nature suffering for us dying for us and paying a full Ransom for our Sins so that now all true Believers may draw nigh to him as a reconciled God for Christ hath merited Favour for all those who come to God by him 4. By believing in Christ as Mediator we may be assured of his purchase of Glory for us which is the great Cordial against all Trouble whatsoever 1 Thess. 5.9 10. For God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by Iesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him He biddeth them comfort one another with these Words ver 18. When a great Judgment is a coming upon Men because of their Sins a Believer is Affliction-proof because he hath secured his eternal Interests by Christ. Here our Lord Jesus telleth them he was going to Heaven to prepare a Place for them Whilst we flatter our selves with temporal
and maimed with croocked Bodies distorted Limbs that the Shape of our Bodies might discover the Depravation of our Souls If it be not so give God the Praise and pity others We read Iohn 9.1 2 3. As Iesus passed by he saw a Man that was blind from his Birth And his Disciples asked him saying Who did sin this Man or his Parents that he was born blind Iesus answered Neither hath this Man sinned nor his Parents but that the Works of God might be made manifest in him We are not to make a perverse Judgment or censure others but to admire the secret Wisdom of God and bless him if he hath given you a better Constitution and a Body fit for Work and Service 2. Do you differ in the Endowments of the Mind in a quick Wit clear Understanding solid Judgment and the Vivacity of Natural Parts whilst others are more heavy and blockish Who must have the Glory of this God or you Iob 32.8 There is a Spirit in Man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them Vnderstanding You are to help the weaker and glorify God that you have a more acute discerning otherwise your Understanding may undo you and your unsanctified Wit may be your eternal Ruin as many wit themselves into Hell 3. Is it that you flow in Wealth and Honour and have great Power and Interest Will you therefore vaunt your selves unseemly and despise and oppress the poor There are three Proverbs Prov. 14.31 He that oppresseth the Poor reproacheth his Maker Prov. 17.5 Whoso mocketh the Poor reproacheth his Maker And again Prov. 22.2 The Rich and the Poor meet together the Lord is the Maker of them all that is they live one among another and have need of one another Now God that forbiddeth the Poor to envy the Rich doth forbid the Rich to despise the Poor for otherwise they dishonour God This Injury and Contempt is to despise the Wisdom of God who would have some low and poor others dignified with Honour and Estate God hath laid this Burden upon them The Heathens that acknowledged a God and a Providence said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He that upbraided another with the Defects of Nature did not upbraid the Person so much as Nature it self So we that own a particular Providence may know that to upbraid any Man with his Poverty is to upbraid God who hath laid this Burden upon them We have cause to give Thanks that we are not as they that our Maker hath put a difference when they labour hard for the Supplies of Life they come to us more plentifully and easily 4. But chiefly is this difference to be understood with respect to spiritual things that we have the Means of Grace and are called to the knowledg of the Truth while others are left to their own ways sitting in the shadow of Death Surely it is a great Favour that we are not put to spell God out of the dark Book of the Creatures that we are not put to learn the Majesty of God from those natural Apostles the Sun and the Moon nor his Goodness from Showers of Rain and fruitful Seasons But shall not God have the Thanks and Praise Psal. 147.19 20. He shewed his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Iudgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Iudgments they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. There is a kind of Election and Reprobation within the Sphere of Nature or the Dispensation of external means as they are ordered by God's Providence The Benefit of Scriptures and Ordinances is a great Benefit How much hath God done for us above many others Our Lot might have fallen in Places of the greatest Idolatry and Antichristian Barbarism where we might have sucked in Prejudices against the Gospel with our Milk But to have a standing there where Salvation is usually dispensed is a great Mercy 5. Is it that you have many common Gifts and Graces which are denied to others Some have great Gifts for the good of the Body Mystical Common Christians have common Gifts some have what others have not Heb. 6.4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again to Repentance c. compared with ver 9. But Beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation tho we thus speak To be nearer the Kingdom of Heaven is an advantage and to have some common work of the Spirit as Compunction After I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh Jer. 31.19 Awakening Grace Ephes. 4.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light 2 Tim. 2.16 That they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken Captive by him at his Will God's Reproof Prov. 1.23 Turn ye at my Reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit upon you Job 36.10 He openeth also their Ears to Discipline and commandeth that they return from Iniquity God sanctifieth Providences to make us serious Psal. 94.12 Blessed is the Man whom thou chastenest and teachest him out of thy Law 6. Is it that you are a Christian not by outward Profession but spiritual Acquaintance with God Gal. 1.15 It pleased God who separated me from my Mother's Womb and called me by his Grace to reveal his Son in me There is a revealing Christ to us and a revealing in us that you are not carnal obstinate unbelieving as others but chosen out of the World John 15.19 and 1 Iohn 5.19 We know that we are of God and the whole World lieth in Wickedness that we are separated from the World and called to the Communion of God in Christ. 7. Is it that you are inabled in this Estate to do any thing that concerneth the Glory of God The Romans were wont to cast Garlands into their Fountains So we must ascribe all to God 1 Cor. 15.10 By the Grace of God I am what I am Luke 19.16 Thy Pound hath gained ten Pounds You must not rob God and put the Crown on your own Head no all must be laid at his Feet Rev. 4.10 The four and twenty Elders fell down before him that sat on the Throne and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their Crowns before the Throne They have their Crowns from him and hold them of him and their only Design is to improve them for him 8. That among the serious Worshippers of God there is any difference between you and others either in Gifts or Graces or knowledg of his Will Iohn 14.22 Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not unto the World That you are not lost in the Crowd and Throng That God should call you out to any Eminency
of Trial God hath his end in these things for humbling and exercising the good and hardning the wicked But in the day of Recompence then it shall be only ill with them that do Evil and well with them that do Good and the Retributions of his Justice shall be fully evidenced 3 dly The Person By that Man whom he hath ordained meaning thereby Christ. But why doth he call Christ Man rather than God 1. Partly with respect to the Gentiles Incapacity to apprehend the Mystery of the Trinity or the Incarnation of the Son of God and it concerneth us to dispense Truths as People are able to bear them as Christ taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were able to bear it Mark 4.33 Therefore Paul would not offend them by Doctrines which they could not yet understand You will say the Resurrection was as offensive Answ. That was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the first Points of the Apostolical Catechism Heb. 6.1 2. Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto Perfection not laying again the Foundation of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptism and of laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the dead and of eternal Iudgment So that the Apostle could not preach the very Rudiments of Christianity if he had not mentioned that 2. Christ is to discharge this Office in the visible Appearance of Man As the Judgment was to be visible so the Judg. The Judgment is not to be acted by the Father or the Spirit but by Christ in the Human Nature Therefore his coming is called an Appearance Tit. 2.13 Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. And 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Iudg shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his Appearance And when the Judgment is spoken of Christ is often designed by this Expression the Son of Man Mat. 24.30 They shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory And Mat. 16.27 For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works He is the visible Actor in the Judgment sitting on a visible Throne that he may be seen and heard of all and the Godhead doth most gloriously manifest it self by the Perfections of his Human Nature 3. This Power is given to Christ as a Recompence of his Humiliation For therefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name That at the Name of Iesus every Knee shall bow of things in Heaven and things i◠Earth and things under the Earth Phil. 2.9 10. which is at the day of Judgment Rom. 14.10 11. We shall all stand before the Iudgment-seat of Christ. For it is written As I live saith the Lord every Knee shall bow to me Then all Creatures in Heaven Earth and Hell are to own the Soveraign Power and Empire of the Crucified Saviour Some do it willingly as the elect Angels and Men others do it by constraint as the Reprobate and evil Angels when they are forced to stand before the Tribunal of Christ to receive their final Doom and Sentence This is the last Act of his Kingly Office and the Fruit and Consequent of his Humiliation Therefore this Christ spake of when he stood before the Tribunals of Men Mat. 26.64 Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the Right-hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven The despised Man who was before them as a Criminal in their repute summoneth them to answer before his Tribunal at that Day when his Shame shall be turned into Glory and the Scandal of his first Estate shall be fully taken off and those that despised him as Man shall be forced to acknowledge him as God Secondly The Subsequent Proof Whereof he hath given assurance to all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead I hat is a sufficient Testimony to convince the whole World The Resurrection is a Certain Proof and Argument of the Dignity both of Christ's Person and Office It is an Attestation to his Person Rom. 1.4 Declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead To his Office and Doctrine Iohn 5.27 28 29. And hath given him Authority to execute Iudgment also because he is the Son of Man Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done well unto the Resurrection of Life and they have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation How doth this make Faith to all the World for that is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answ. God hath not given Faith to all Men but he hath given an Argument to all Men that is a ground of Faith from whence Faith may evidently conclude that Christ is our Judg for he hath raised him from the Dead Where is the force of this Demonstration Others were raised from the Dead as Lazarus and the like and yet they are not Judges of the World I answer Christ died in the repute of Men as a Malefactor but God justified him when he would not leave him under the Power of Death but raised him up and assumed him into Glory thereby visibly declaring unto the World that the Judgment passed upon him was not right but that he was indeed what he gave out himself to be the Son of God and the Judg of the World to whom Power is given over all Flesh to save or destroy them If he live with the Father in Glory and Majesty it will necessarily follow that he was not a Seducer but that Holy and Righteous One by whom God will execute his Judgment Secondly What Influence this hath upon Repentance 1. The very Day appointed inferreth a necessity of Change both of Heart and Life For how else shall we stand in the Judgment who have broken God's Laws and are obnoxious to his Wrath and Displeasure If we should never be called to an account for what we have been and done here in the World we might then freely indulge our selves in all fleshly Delights and do what we please But this is a Principle of Fear and Restraint that for all these things God will bring thee into the Judgment Eccles. 11.9 Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth and let thy Heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Iudgment None of us can hide or withdraw our selves from that great Tribunal before which we are to give an
expect and that we may resolve to hold on with God whatever it cost us VSE This shews us the Reason of that Presumption which is so common We use to say that Despair kills thousands but Presumption its ten thousands What 's the Reason that many Presume O the Difficulties of Salvation are not well weighed True Hope is a middle thing between Presumption and Despair the Object of Hope is Bonum Futurum Arduum sed possible Hope considers its Object as hard for that which is easie to come by is as if it were already enjoyed a Man cannot be said to hope for that which he may have with the turn of his Hand Well then it considers the good to come as difficult to awaken diligence and serious endeavours but then it considers it as possible for otherwise we are really discouraged from looking after it for why should we look after that which is impossible Paul's Mariners gave over working when all hope that they should be saved was taken away Acts 27.20 But now Presumption leaves out the difficulty and reflects only upon the possibility Some may be saved surely God will not damn all his Creatures therefore I shall be saved But suppose the contrary few are saved then what shall become of me On the other side Despair reflects only upon the difficulty and leaves out the possibility O it is hard it is impossible with Men therefore they give it over I shall make no Work of it saith Despair Now the Scripture that would breed and nourish in us a true Hope doth all along lay forth the difficulty to prevent slightness of Spirit and yet represents the possibility to prevent Despair The Difficulties to quicken our Endeavours and the possibility to encourage men to Hope for the Grace of God 2 VSE It presseth us to mortifie our addictedness to present things O Christians if you could overcome the World you pluck out the root of all Temptations and then the Commandments of God would not be grievous Joh. 5.3 4. For this is the Victory whereby we overcome the World even our Faith The World is the great Lett which hinders us from keeping the Command from being so exact punctual and sincere with God Overcome the World and the work will be easie Take heed of pleasing the Flesh or letting the World have too great an Interest in your Hearts let it not seem a great thing in your Eye Until your Hearts are drawn off from present things and you are wholly Baptized into that Spirit that suits with the World to come to make that your main Care and Desire you will never prosper in Heavens way until your Thoughts be loosened from the World and you are carried out more to Heaven and heavenly things Consider why should you be addicted to present things You that are Strangers and not Inhabitants your Happiness lyes not here If our hopes were only in this life we were of all Men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 We are but probationers for Heaven Our Conversation should be in Heaven Phil. 3.20 3 VSE To fortifie us against the Difficulties in the way of Salvation You must be at some Pains and Labour Ioh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that meat that endureth unto everlasting life Do not slacken your endeavours To quicken you Consider 1. If you love your Salvation you will be at some Cost about it It is a sign you make no reckoning of Heaven and have no great sense of things to come when you grudge your Pains it is a sign you slight it when you are so slow in the pursuit of it Phil. 3.14 I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus O did you value Heaven or had you any esteem of heavenly things you would not think much of a little Pains of striving with God in Prayer of wrestling and denying your Lusts to bring your Hearts to a readiness and chearfulness in the Service of the ever-living God No Trade in the World you can drive on by Idleness Who ever prospered in any course of living if he followed it with a slack hand we cannot think to have those great invisible things of the Lord's Kingdom and his Glory if you will do nothing for it 2. There is difficulty both in the way to Heaven and Hell Lusts are ravenous things and cannot be fed or kept without much Self-denyal You must deny your selves either for God or the Devil You must deny your Comforts and your Estate Men will venture much for their Lusts and for their Sensuality there must be a great deal of Charge to feed this humour to satisfie the Pleasures of the Flesh. It is costly to be an Epicure Worldliness wasts the Spirits racks the Brain For Ambition how many hazards do Men run for their Greatness in the World how many Men sacrifice their Lives upon the Point of Honour for Revenge and for a little vain glory Now if a Man will take Pains to go to Hell shall he not take Pains to go to Heaven When Men will be at such Costs for Lusts as to deny Conscience and slight many of the Comforts of the present World for Lusts sake shall we take no Pains and exercise no Self-denyal for Heaven 3. If we be at a little Labour it will not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 Be steadfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord Whether you consider your Vales or Wages your Labour is not in vain Your Vales Christ's Servants have a great deal of Comfort and Sweetness Prov. 3.17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace And for the World to come there is a full and sure Reward therefore do not stick at a little Pains tho' it be difficult yet remember it is for Salvation 4 VSE Let us look to our own selves how is it with us are we in the way to Hell or Heaven Let us look to our own standing do we leave the Boat to the stream do we give up our selves to the sway of our corrupt and Carnal Affections or else do we row against the stream and current of Flesh and Blood It is no easie matter to be saved I do not ask now what will become of those that never minded Salvation that never busied their Thoughts about it but even in effect say Let them take Heaven that list But I ask what will become of those slothfull perfunctory Christians that count a little slight and formal Religion enough which is without any Life Alacrity and Power Will this do the Deed such will fall short of Heaven SERMON XIV ON MARK X. v. 27. And Iesus looking upon them saith With Men it is impossible but not with God for with God all things are possible WE have seen the Disciples Wonder returning Christ that is never wanting to his in
goods to feed the poor and though I give my Body to be burned and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing I am nothing without saving Grace Therefore these are the Mercies for which God will be praised Thirdly These are brought about with more ado than Temporal Favours God as a Creator and Upholder of all his Creatures doth bestow Temporal Blessings upon the Ungodly World even upon the Heathens that know him not that never heard of Christ yet Saving Grace he bestoweth only as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who was to purchase these Blessings by his Death and bloody Sufferings before we could obtain them Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Other Blessings run in the Channel of common Providence these in the Channel of Christ's Mediation Fourthly Because these are pledges of Eternal Blessings and the beginnings of our Eternal well-being The Life that is begun in us by the Spirit is perfected in Heaven Ioh. 5.24 He that heareth my words and believeth on him that hath sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life It is a spark that shall not be quenched and the Food that feedeth it is the meat that perisheth not but endureth to everlasting life John 6.27 Those Graces and Eternal Blessedness are to be linked together that they cannot be separated Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Sanctification is included in the last word here in the Beginnings by Sanctification and hereafter in the full possession of Eternal Glory So 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. It loseth it self in the Ocean of Eternal Glory and Happiness Fifthly These incline and fit the Heart for praise and Thankfulness to God There is an Occasion to praise God and a Disposition and an Heart to praise God outward Benefits give us the Occasion to praise God but these not only the Occasion but the Disposition other Benefits are the Motives but these the Preparations as they do fit and encline the Heart The Work of Faith and Love do set the Lips wide open to magnifie and praise the Lord Grace is the matter of God's Praises and give also a ready will to praise him yea the very Deed of praising him Psal. 63.5 My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips When they feel the Love of God shed abroad in their Hearts they are enclined to praise God Sixthly Temporal Favours may be given in Anger but the Graces of the Spirit are never given in Anger God may give us worldly Honour and Riches in Judgment and indulge large Pastures to Beasts fatted for destruction but he giveth not Faith and Love in Anger or a Renewed Heart in Anger but as a token of his Special Love To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 13.11 To you it is given to believe Phil. 1.19 So that for these principally we should praise the Lord. We have a quick sense in Bodily Mercies but in Soul Concernments we are not alike affected We think God dealeth well with them to whom he giveth Greatness and Honour but doth he not deal well with you to whom he hath given his Spirit Seventhly These render us acceptable unto God A Man is not accepted with God for his worldly Blessings he is indeed the more accountable unto God but not of greater Account with him Luke 12.48 For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall the more be required The more Helps and the more Encouragements the more Work and Service God expecteth but they are not more precious in his sight for Temporal things sake Under the Law the Rich and Poor payed the same Ransom the Rich is not accepted for his Riches nor the poor Man despised for his Poverty but now the Saving Graces of his Spirit are acceptable with God It is said 1 Pet. 3.4 A meek and quiet Spirit it is in the sight of God of great price God esteemeth this more and therefore it should heighten the esteem of Grace in our Hearts and quicken us more to get and encrease it Eighthly These Benefits should be acknowledged that God may have the sole Glory of them for he is the Father of Lights from whom cometh every good and perfect gift Jam. 1.17 It was the Opinion of the Stoicks Quod vivamus Deorum munus est quod bene vivamus nostrum Our Natural Being we ascribe to God but our Moral Perfections we are apt to usurp the Glory of them to our selves Iudicium hoc est omnium mortalium saith Tully All Men think that Prosperity and Success is to be asked of the Gods but Prudence and good Management belongeth to us But these Opinions are Sacrilegious and rob God of his chiefest Honour Therefore to prevent Spiritual Pride we must be sure to bless God for Spiritual Blessings our Crowns must be cast at the feet of the Lamb Rev. 4.10 11. for he only is worthy to receive Honour and Blessing and Glory and Power Whatever we do 't is from him who worketh all our works in us Isa. 26.12 Thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works in us And 1 Chron. 29.14 All things come of thee and of thy own have we given thee By his Grace we are what we are 1 Cor. 15.10 By the Grace of God I am what I am And Luk. 19.16 Thy pound hath gain'd ten pounds VSE Is to Exhort us to two Things First To be in a Capacity to bless God for Spiritual Blessings Secondly To be most Affected with these Mercies First See that you be in a Capacity to bless God for Spiritual Blessings First see that you have these Mercies and then bless God for them It would trouble a Man even to trembling to hear slight and vain persons take up a Form of Thanksgiving which no way is proper to them as to Bless God for their Election before Time their Sanctification in Time and their Hopes of Glory after all Time As if a Leper should give thanks for perfect Health or a Mad-man that he is made wiser than his Neighbours or a Man that is ready to die to thank God that he is pretty well and recovering so they give thanks for Grace which they never knew nor felt This is to mock God while we pretend to adore him It is true there are Spiritual Mercies for which all are bound to give Thanks such as the Mystery of Redemption the New Covenant the Offers and Invitations of Grace Means and Time to Repent these you
like Men be strong let all things be done with Charity And therefore that qualification which entituleth us to the Priviledges of the New Covenant is made to be Faith working by Love Gal. 5.6 The one Grace without the other is not saâ—ing and sincere Faith without Love is dead Iam. 2.17 and Love without Faith is but a little good Nature or facile Inclination to others not derived from the Spirit of God nor built on our Belief of his Grace in Christ they depend upon one another as the Effect upon the Cause Faith produceth Love as it sheweth the true grounds of Union and from a sense and apprehension of God's Love to us causeth us to love others In short both Graces are recommended by the same Authority 1 Ioh. 3.23 And this is his Commandement that we should believe on the Name of his Son Iesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandement He that maketh Conscience of the one will make Conscience of the other also Again the one referreth to God the other to Men Faith for God Charity for our Brethren The one keepeth us from defection from God the other preventeth a Schism and a Breach with our Fellow Christians Well then here was the Commendation of those Thessalonians their Adherence to the Faith was very Constant and they lived in Unity and Amity with one another There is no surer Argument of Sincerity and Proficiency in Christianity than this growth of Faith and Love they are the Fountain of all other Duties and if you would be accounted thorough and growing Christians you must excel in both these Graces for true solid Godliness is rooted in Faith and acted by Love towards God and Men which is the All of Christianity 5. This Growth and Proficiency was found in all Not only some among them were Eminent for Faith and Love but all If the Apostle had only said The Charity of you all aboundeth it might seem to refer to the Church that there was no Schism there but he saith of every one of you all towards each other In other Epistles the Believers to whom the Apostle wrote have all the Style of Churches or men sanctified c. but afterwards notorious and particular miscarriages are reproved which sheweth that the Denomination was a potior parte from the better part but here he mentions all and every one they were a choice sort of Christians where shall we find their Fellows It is our Duty to be such and it should be our Care for here we see what the Grace of God can do if we be serious and what an Advantage it is to be in good Company and to have good Examples about us and how much living Coals do inkindle one another when they lye together 6. He saith Faith groweth but Love aboundeth Love must not only increase but abound to each other A thing may be increased Intensivè or Extensivè Intensively when it is more rooted when there is a greater Fervour and Vigour of Faith and Love Extensively either as to Effects or Objects as to Effects in doing more good as when we abound in Works of Mercy or as to Objects by doing good to more Persons not confining our Love to one only or a few but extending it to all This was the Case of those Thessalonians their Love was not a lank or lean Love but an abounding Love full of all good Fruits and this not to some but to all even the meanest Christians among them If we would give others occasion to Bless God for us let us imitate their Example Occasions are many Objects are many to whom we may be beneficial therefore our Charity must not be streightned but abounding 1. The Internal Affection must increase Phil. 1.9 This I pray that your Love may abound yet more and more that is both their Love to God and their Neighbours especially to those who are God's There are so many things to extinguish it or make it grow cold that we should always seek to increase this Grace that it may be more fervent and strong and not grow cold and dead 2. The external Expressions should abound both as to Acts and Objects 1. As to Acts In Duties of Charity we should not be weary Now we may be weary upon a double Occasion either because we meet not presently with our Reward to that the Apostle speaketh Gal. 6.9 Be not weary of well-doing for in due time we shall reap if we faint not Duties of Charity have their Promises annexed which are not presently accomplished but in their season they will be either in this Life or in the next Or because of continual Occasions when there is no end Heb. 6.10 11. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which you have shewed towards his Name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister and we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end Meaning that formerly they had a Courage to own Christ and his despised wayes and to be Charitable to poor Christians now he desireth them to be so still as long as the Occasion continueth so long should the Charity continue that at length they might reap the Reward Ye have ministred and do Minister This is tedious to Nature and to a Niggardly and base Heart but Love will be working and labouring still and ever bringing forth more Fruit. Where this Heavenly Fire is kindled in the Soul it will warm all those that are about them but Love is cold in most it will neither take Pains nor be at Charge to do any thing for the Brethren But Christian Love is an Immortal Fire it will still burn and never dye therefore we should continue the same Diligence Zeal and Affection that formerly we had 2. As to Objects Christ telleth us The poor ye have always with you Matth. 26.11 As long as God findeth Objects we should find Charity and the Apostle saith Gal. 6.10 As we have opportunity let us do good to all Men. Expensive Duties are distastful to a Carnal Heart it may be they would part with something which the Flesh can spare and will snatch at any thing to excuse their neglect they have done it to these and these but as long as God bringeth Objects to our View and Notice and our Ability and Affection doth continue we must give still If our Ability continueth not Providence puts a barr and excuseth but if our Affection doth not continue the Fault is our own Now I come more particularly to speak of the Growth of Faith Your Faith groweth exceedingly Doct. That 't is well with Christians when their Faith groweth and doth considerably increase The Scripture speaketh of a weak Faith and a strong Faith therefore it concerneth us to consider whether our Faith be weak or strong in the wane or in the increase Now we shall best Judge of the growth of Faith 1. By
the Guilt of hainous Sins and be insensible after gross Falls they may lie in Hardness for a while till God rouse them up again Great Falls are like a Blow upon the Head that stuns us and amazes us for a while and it is some good while ere we recover again David's Conscience was not presently awakened Spiritual Lethargies are long Fits David lay ten Months from the Conception to the Birth of his Child and yet all this while did formally use God's Ordinances and publick Service Nathan comes to him after the Child was born 2 Sam. 12.14 The Child that is born unto thee shall surely die And he never relented till Nathan came to him as appeareth by the Title of the fifty first Psalm A Psalm of David when Nathan the Prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba All this while Grace was not dead but in a deep Sleep The least Sin maketh way for hardness of Heart much more Sins against Conscience there is a more long Sequestration then God will not let you enjoy the Comforts and effectual Presence of his Spirit These Blows and Wounds will leave you for dead for a long while SERMON II. MARK III. 5 And Iesus looked round about on them with Anger being grieved for the Hardness of their Hearts IV. THE Causes of hardness of Heart 1. Ignorance The blind Mind and the hard Heart always go together Iohn 12.40 He hath blinded their Minds and hardned their Hearts that they should not see with their Eyes nor understand with their Hearts Men are first unteachable then unpliable Obstinacy beginneth at Sottishness of Conceit He that knoweth not what he ought to do careth not much what he doth The Children of God never feel hardness in their Hearts but when the Light in their Minds is unactive or obscured there is a kind of Darkness for that time We see that the most carnal Wretches when they come to die are sensible when the Mind is cleared from the Fogs of Lust and Conscience is awakened then they feel a great Weight of Sin upon them Light always begets Tenderness as in a clear Vessel the Dregs do soon appear Well then either they are ignorant or have but a naked Theory not the lively Light of the Spirit and hence it is that their Hearts are hardned 2. Unbelief for it is Faith that maketh all Truths active and lively The great Motives and Arguments of Religion are mainly fetched from things to come Now it is not enough to know the things of the World to come but there must be an hearty Assent to them as if we did see them before our Eyes Things that are at a distance are as nothing to us as the Stars appear as so many Spangles they lose much of their Greatness Men sin and no Evil cometh of it therefore they grow bold and sensless in Sin Eccles. 8.11 Because Sentence against an evil Work is not executed speedily therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do evil They grow remiss and slack in their Duty The Reward is not by and by Mal. 3.14 Ye have said It is in vain to serve God and what Profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts We are for a present Good Now Faith is the Substance of Things hoped for and the Evidence of Things not seen Heb. 11.1 It maketh Things present as if we did see them with our Eyes as if the Judgment-Seat were set and the Books were opened Those that hardned their Hearts did not believe what God said was true Heb. 3. from the seventh to the eighteenth Verse If Men did believe there were an Heaven and Hell and Judgment to come they would not lie in their Sins they could not be unpliable to God's Motions All disrespect of Promises and Threatnings cometh from Unbelief Christ did chide his Disciples for their Unbelief and hardness of Heart Mark 16.14 What is the Reason that though we preach the Law and the Judgment of God so much to you and beseech you to come in and receive Christ and you shall be saved and this Time after Time and Day after Day and yet the Word hath no Effect upon you you are as ignorant and careless as ever The Reason is you do not believe Certainly the Word would work otherwise than it doth if you did believe it If one should tell a Man that such an earthly Potentate if he would but come to him and visit him would raise him to great Honour it would be the first thing he would do Truly so if you did believe that coming to Christ were the only way to Happiness you would mind it more seriously than you do Again if you did believe that the Word of God is true that God is a just God if the Drunkard did believe that Drunkards shall be damned or the Adulterer did believe that no Adulterer shall inherit the Kingdom of God or if the vain Person or the Gamester did believe that they must give an Account of their mis-spent Time and idle Words and vain Communication they would not sport themselves in their Sins as they do If Men did believe that God calleth when and whom he listeth they would not defer their Repentance and put off the Motions of the Spirit but would strike while the Iron is hot and let out the Sails when the Wind bloweth But Men do not believe and therefore go on in their Sins as they do Tell Men of earthly Things of a Commodity which if they would but by it would yield an hundred for one surely they would not neglect the Market We press Men to renounce but a little Ease and carnal Pleasures and to use Diligence to get Christ into their Hearts and they shall have a hundred for one but Men want Faith therefore Christ lieth by as a refuse Commodity There is nothing breedeth hardness of Heart so much as Unbelief of what God can and will do 3. Custom in Sinning As an High-way is trodden hard by long travelling in it so the Heart by long Custom groweth more obstinate every day In Sin there is not only a Fault Guilt but a Blot a stronger Inclination to the practice of the same Sin again as a Brand that has been once in the Fire is more apt to burn again Every new Oath is as Oil to the Tongue to make it more glib and fleet in the repetition of that Oath or vain Speech There is a natural Tenderness in Men whilst young at least a lesser degree of Hardness which will get Strength by Use and Age if not in time cured Ier. 13.23 How can ye do Good that are accustomed to do Evil Water when it first freezeth will not bear the weight of a Pin but afterwards by continual freezing it cometh to bear a Cart-load 4. Hypocrisy Take it for Dissembling whereby we deceive others or Formality whereby we deceive our selves For
Chair of the Scorner is a Preferment in Sin Psal. 1.1 Blessed is the Man that walketh not in the Counsel of the Vngodly nor standeth in the Way of Sinners nor sitteth in the Seat of the Scornful Jer. 23.34 to 39. And as for the Prophet and the Priest and the People that shall say The Burden of the Lord I will even punish that Man and his House Thus shall ye say every one to his Neighbour and every one to his Brother What hath the Lord answered and what hath the Lord spoken And the Burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more for every Man's Word shall be his Burden for ye have perverted the Words of the living God of the Lord of Hosts our God c. The Prophets used to begin their Prophecies with the Burden of the Lord and they would in mockery demand What Burden they had from the Lord for them Now shall we hear again of the Burden of the Lord. Saith God Every Man's Word shall be his Burden that is you shall dearly pay for this scoffing Language your Words shall be your Burden But these Marks may not be close enough let me propound other things 1. Did you ever lay down the Buckler before God and say I have done foolishly I will do so no more Were you ever feelingly convinced and your Lusts powerfully subdued Did you ever say as Paul Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do Every Man carrieth on his Opposition against God till he be brought to yield by a mighty Spirit breaking in upon him When were the Wings broken that you could fly no longer the Will subdued that you said Lord I have too long stouted it out against thee so that you were willing to be at peace with God Isa. 27.5 Let him take hold of my Strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me Were you ever forced to cry Quarter Didst thou ever apprehend God ready to smite and give Fire upon thee and then in a submissive Posture didst intreat him to stay his Hand 2. What Effect hath the Word upon you Isa. 66.2 To this Man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite Spirit and trembleth at my Word It is a great part of Sensibleness to tremble at the Word What meltings and yieldings of Heart do you express Doth it put you upon recourse to God 2 Chron. 34.27 Because thine Heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before God when thou heardest his VVords against this Place and against the Inhabitants thereof and humbledst thy self before me and didst rent thy Clothes and weep before me I have even heard thee saith the Lord. Didst thou ever humble thy self before the Lord to clear up Matters between God and thy Soul and to get thy Doubts resolved and thy Lusts mortified 3. What pliableness has there been in thee to the Holy Ghost's Motions A Man that hath a tender Heart yieldeth to the Motions of the Holy Spirit Psal. 27.8 VVhen thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart said unto thee Thy Face Lord will I seek There is a quick Eccho to God's Voice Isa. 6.8 I heard the Voice of the Lord saying Whom shall I send and who will go for us Then said I Here I am send me There is not only a readiness to obey but he offers himself to the Work When we grow lazy and backward in holy things and hang off it is a high degree of hardness of Heart Vse 2. Exhortation 1. To press us to beware of hardness of Heart It is a grievous Sin I shall use three Arguments 1. It depriveth you of Grace See before pag. 507. 2. It unfitteth you for Duty while we are under the power of it An hard Heart is forced and superstitious With what Coldness and Formality did David pray during the suspension of God's Grace We come into God's Presence with great Backwardness and Reluctancy while we are under the power of a hard Heart 3. It fitteth for Judgment The Heart groweth harder and harder and the Mind blinder and blinder till it be cast into an utter Indisposition and Impossibility of Repentance Hardness of Heart turns a Man into a Beast nay into a Devil and according to our Sin so is God's Wrath Rom. 3.5 After thy Hardness and impenitent Heart thou treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Iudgment of God 2. To press us to come out of this evil Frame of Spirit Arguments 1. As long as the Heart is hard you are very remote from the Comforts of the Gospel Christ came to heal the broken-hearted Luke 4.18 So Matth. 9.12 13. They that be whole need not the Physician but they that are sick I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance You are full of Sin but not sick as a Toad is full of Poison but the Toad is not sick because it is natural to him Will a Physician go about to cure a Toad Men lie under a great weight of Sin yet they sleep and eat and drink and trade and look as well as ever feel no Pain nor any thing to trouble them These Men have no Need and Will to be cured and of all Men are most properly said to be dead in Trespasses and Sins they neither break an hour's sleep nor abate one drachm of their carnal Delights but are Heart-whole The Physician hath no desire to meddle with them that will not take what he prescribeth as carnal Men will not submit themselves to God's Directions 2. You are very remote from the Work of the Gospel As God maketh a way for his Anger so he maketh a way for his Mercy and Grace The Heart is fitted and prepared for the Spirit 's Residence It is softned before it is quickned Ezek. 36.26 27. 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 Iudgments and do them The vital Spirit is not infused till the Body be organized and formed God made Adam out of the Dust of the Ground and then breathed into him the Breath of Life The Spirit of Grace coming into the tender Heart maketh way for it self Now for the Cure of it I will recommend unto you two Means two Graces and two Ordinances First Two Means Light and Love 1 st Light Jer. 31.19 Surely after that I turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the Reproach of my Youth Men that know not the Nature and Danger of Sin are little troubled about it Where there is no Knowledg there is little Conscience When the Troops of Syria were smitten with Blindness they were easily led into the midst of their Enemies 2 Kings 6.18 19. And when they thought themselves
my Soul and forget not all his Benefits who pardoneth all thy Iniquities and healeth all thy Diseases Psal. 103.1 2 3. 3. Our own personal Victory over Satan's Temptations In part now We renew that Covenant now wherein we ingaged to fight against Satan 1 Iohn 2.14 I have written unto you young Men because ye are strong and the VVord of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one Fully hereafter Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your Feet shortly The God of Peace as pacified in Christ. Now this is matter of Thanksgiving 1 Cor. 15.57 Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. That Christ will take us along with him in his Triumphant Chariot and help our weak Faith and faint Hope and that we may conquer the Tempter and Accuser IV. Tho Christ's Heel was bruised in the Conflict yet it endeth in Satan's final Overthrow For his Head was crushed which noteth the subversion of his Power and Kingdom To explain this we must consider First What is the Power of Satan Secondly How far Satan was destroyed by Christ. First What is the Power of Satan It lieth in Sin And Christ destroyed him as he made an end of Sin and brought in everlasting Righteousness and made Reconciliation for Iniquities Dan. 9.24 Namely as he reconciled Man to God and restored God's Image and Life eternal In short the Power of Satan may be considered either as to single Persons or his Interest in the corrupt World or the sinful Race of Apostate Adam who in their degenerate Estate make up a Confederacy or Party that may be called the Kingdom of the Devil 1 st As to single and individual Persons All his Power over them is by reason of Sin which was introduced by his Subtilty and Malice There are three things in Sin the Power the Guilt the Being Whilst any of these remain Satan hath some Power and all these Christ came to dissolve but by several Means and at several Times 1. The Devil's Power lieth in the Corruption of our Natures for Men continuing in the Apostacy from God are of Satan's Party Eph. 2.1 2 3. And you hath be quickned who were dead in Trespasses and Sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the Course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience Among whom also we all had our Conversation in Times past in the Lusts of our Flesh fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh and of the Mind This was the Power that Satan had over us to rule us and govern us by the Lusts of the Flesh. This was our daily Walk and Trade without any Remorse for it or any desire to change our Condition And we are the more confirmed in it by the general and corrupt Example of those among whom we live Now whilst we follow these sinful Motions and Suggestions Satan is our Prince and God the corrupt Nature maketh us readily to entertain his Motions and we are taken captive by him at his Will and Pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 Now how doth Christ take away this Power I answer By converting Grace which is not only a turning from Sin to God but from Satan to God Acts 26.18 To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God Whereby the Reign of Sin is broken for as long as Sin reigneth Satan is in peaceable Possession Luke 11.21 When a strong Man armed keepeth his Palace his Goods are in peace And the Devil who hath â—ost his Seat in Heaven hath still a Throne in the Hearts of Men and lords it over them as his Slaves Now the Reign of Sin is broken when Christ puts an Enmity into your Hearts against it I will put Enmity between thy Seed and her Seed For Sin dieth as your Love to it dieth and is mortified and subdued as your Enmity increaseth Well then they that are converted to God are possessed with a Spirit of Enmity to Satan and his Ways such as they had not before whilst they remained in the degenerate Estate Therefore 't is said Ezek. 36.26 A new Heart will I also give to you and a new Spirit will I put within you such as none else have till the Redeemer work upon them 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God The Spirit which possesseth the Generality of Men is the worldly Spirit that inclineth to earthly and sensual Satisfactions but this Spirit maketh them look after the great things promised by Christ and the great things required by Christ In short a Spirit quite opposite to the Satanical Spirit The Satanical Spirit is contrary to God and Man To God Col. 1.21 And you that were sometimes alienated and Enemies in your Mind by wicked Works yet now hath he reconciled To Man James 4.5 The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to Envy But this Spirit begetteth in us Love to God and Man that we may seek his Glory and the Good of others Now till this Spirit be planted in us we have not changed Parties and Masters The Being of Sin is found in all but the Reign only in the Unconverted Therefore the Reign of Sin must be broken by the dwelling of this Spirit in us Sin will put strongly for the Throne again but you must pray earnestly Psal. 119.133 Order my Steps in thy Word and let not any Iniquity have Dominion over me And watch constantly as ever mindful of your Baptismal Vow and Covenant Rom. 6.11 Likewise reckon ye your selves to be dead indeed unto Sin but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. And then you will find Christ overcoming more and more the Satanical Spirit and inlarging you into the Liberty of God's Children 2. The Guilt of Sin which is an Obligation to Punishment and ariseth from the Sentence of Condemnation pronounced by the Law against Sinners Our Misery ariseth first from the Violation of the Precept of the Law and then from the Sanction and Penalty threatned And so also therein lieth Satan's Power as we are obnoxious to the Wrath of God for therein he is the Minister and Executioner of Death as God maketh use of all his Creatures according to their Inclination And so this wrathful revengeful Creature is the Instrument of his Wrath he hath an advantage against us by the Law of God the Precepts whereof we have broken and so incurred the Penalty and so Satan cometh on as one that hath the Power of Death Those obstinate and careless Souls who refuse the Government of the Lord's Grace and Spirit are put into his Hands as when the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him 1 Sam. 16.14 He doth or may terrify and afright the Consciences of Men with the dreadful Expectations of Death and the Consequences of
doth the Gospel teach us To live soberly righteously and godly To injoy God to live with Man and the government of our selves We have enough if we have all this But we have all this in as ample manner as heart can wish for and therefore he that cometh from the dead must either preach the same Doctrine and then it is needless and superfluous or contrary things and then how shall we believe him who are forewarned Gal. 1.8 But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed Christ enters a caution against them 2. Better Arguments cannot be urged nor more perswasively The Gospel is the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 And surely God knoweth all the Wards of the Lock and what kind of Keys will fit the Heart of Man He hath laid forth the riches of Wisdom and Grace upon this Blessed design and hence it is that we have such Mysterious Doctrines such Dreadful Threatnings such Sweet Promises such strong Obligations from the Death and Incarnation of the Son of God from the Example of Christ which doth secure our Direction and incourage our Practice Out of what Rock was Man hewen if all this will not work upon him What must God do Provide a better Heaven a hotter Hell another Son to dye for us or a more forcible and incouraging Example than that of Jesus Christ What 's the matter that the wicked Sinner will not be allured and made tame charme the charmer never so wisely What do we need more to move us Shall God pipe to you in a sweeter strain than that of Gospel-Grace or Gospel-Promises Is the giving himself and his Christ a price too cheap to purchase your hearts Or must he thunder to you in a more dreadful accent than the horrours of Everlasting Darkness Are these but poor and mean Scarecrows to tell you of a Pit without a bottom of a Worm that never dyeth of a Fire that shall never be quenched Or what is the matter that the Sinner stirreth not Is the Scripture a dead Letter And needeth it to be actuated and enforced by a living voice God hath provided us Apostles and Prophets to write Scriptures so Pastors and Teachers to explain and apply Scriptures Eph. 4.11 He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Men who are concerned as well as our selves the value of whose credit we know by their faithfulness in other things that have the same Temptations Affections and Necessities as we have Men with whom we may more familiarly converse and with less fright than with one from the dead Oh but one that cometh from the dead is supposed to testifie his own sight and knowledge and so to speak more feelingly And have not Gods Messengers some experience Cannot they say we declare to you the things which we have seen and heard and felt Have they not been scorched by the Spirit of Conviction tasted Comfort felt a change in their own hearts What can any Messenger from the dead say that hath not been told you over again and again a thousand times Would he say that all shall dye That you see with your Eyes that presently after Death cometh Judgment That you pretend to believe already that the Torments of Hell are terrible and insupportable This God hath told you over and over And if we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater 1 Iohn 5.9 That you must repent and be converted This is that that is sounded in your Ears every day Therefore we are better provided already than to need the horrour of an Apparition or a warning from one among the dead 3. It is not because he could propound these Truths with more certainty for these things are already propounded to our Understandings and we have sensible confirmation 1. They are propounded to our understandings with a fair and full credibility The Holy Scriptures have in themselves a self-evidencing light by which they make it out to the Consciences of Men that they are of God Every thing that hath passed the hand of God discovereth its Author all Gods works have his Signature and Impression upon them which is legible and visible to every attentive beholder Rom. 1.20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse Psal. 19.1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work Not a pile of grass but sheweth its Maker Praesentem refert quaelibet herba Deum and surely his Word which he hath magnified above all his name Psal. 138.2 is not altogether without such an impress and stamp of God upon it therein being revealed things most worthy of the Truth Wisdom Goodness and Holyness of God and suitable to that Wisdom and Truth that is in us so far as there is any in us What shall I speak of the most satisfactory way of Reconciliation with God The fairest draught of Moral perfection far beyond all that which is of meer Humane Recommendation Here is no dead fly in this box of Ointment but all pure and holy without mixture nothing so accommodate to the necessities of Man and fit to bring us to the injoyment of that which the reasonable Nature aimeth at What shall I speak of the Majesty of the Stile the genuine simplicity of the Narrations the Harmony of the Parts the Sublimity of the Doctrines the Impartiality and Purity of the Precepts the overflow of God's Love in the Promises the glorious Rewards the certainty of the Prophesies All which are so many innate Characters and Evidences of the Divine Authority of these Writings by which they clearly insinuate themselves with wonderful force and power into the Consciences of Men 2 Cor. 4.2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness not handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God There was an evidence in the Truth it self preached by the Apostles so there is in the word written by the Apostle for the voice could add nothing to it and the Writing take nothing from it A Man of Art and Judgment discovereth himself in every Book he writeth Aristotles Writings shew him a Person of great knowledge Can a Book have God for its Author and have nothing to discover its Author 'T is unreasonable Masters in Writing or Painting shew their hand the Scripture doth not stand or fall to the courtesies of Man Well then if these things be so as certainly they are so we have more certainty by the Word it self than possibly we can have by a Messenger from the dead yea or a voice from Heaven for it hath such a signature of God upon it that we need go no
further 2 Pet. 1.18 19. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount who have also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more sure word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts What greater confirmation could the Apostles expect than that voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 17.5 Yet Peter who heard that voice telleth us that comparatively we have greater security from and by the written Word not in it self but as it is given in evidence to us so that there is no compare between it and one from the dead 2. We have sensible Confirmations VVe are wrought upon by sence now is not ordinarily the word as sensibly confirmed to us as it would be by a Vision or Apparition from the dead 1. There is the Holyness of Professors 1 Cor. 14.25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth 1 Pet. 4.4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you Is it not more wonder to see a Living Man that hath not devested himself of the Interests and Concernments of Flesh and Blood to deny himself for things to come then to hear a tale from a dead Man 2. There is the constancy of the Martyrs that have ratified this Truth with the loss of their dearest concernments Revel 12.11 And they overcame by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death 'T is possible a Man may suffer for a false Religion and Sacrifice a stout Body to a stubborn mind But is there no true Gold because there hath been some counterfeit Coin The Devils Martyrs have not been so many for number nor for Temper and Quality so Holy so VVise so Meek as the Champions of the Truth The Christian Religion can shew you Persons of all Ages young and old of all Sexes Men and VVomen of all Conditions of Life Noble and of Low Degree of all Qualities Learned and Unlearned See Sermons on John 17. p. 256. 3. Then there is the inward feeling of Gods Children they find a Power in the word convincing changing comforting fortifying their hearts These can speak of what they hear feel and tast as well as one that cometh from the dead They have answerable impressions on their hearts Heb. 8.10 I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts 2 Cor. 3.3 Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart All this stampt upon the heart in legible Characters A true Christian is the lively transcript of his Religion the Scriptures are the Original and every Believer is the Copy it is gone over again in his heart 4. Those that have no Experience of this have a secret fear of the power of the word Iohn 3.20 For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved He will not come to the light because he is afraid of the Majesty of God shining forth in the Scriptures Men dare not muse upon and seriously consider the Doctrine therein contained Atheisme lyeth in the heart the Seat of desires Psalm 14.1 The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Men question the word because they would not have it true they are willing to indulge their lusts and therefore they are afraid of the word that forbiddeth them As Ahab was loath to hear Michajah because he prophesied evil Strong Lust maketh us incredulous A Malefactor desireth to destroy the Records and Evidences that are against him 5. There are also outward Effects of the Power of the VVord its propagation throughout all the VVorld within thirty years or thereabout the Doctrine it self contrary to Nature it doth not court the Senses nor woe the Flesh it doth not make offers of splendour of Life or Pleasures and Profits but biddeth us deny these things and expect troubles the drift of it is to teach Men to row against the stream of Flesh and Blood to renounce our Lusts deny our Interests And this was done by a â—ew Fishermen who had no long Sword no Publick Interest or Authority to back them and that in the face of the Learned VVorld when all Civil Disciplines were in there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and height The word prevailed against Ancient Customs the Ark was to be set up in the Temple that was already occupied and possessed by Dagon 6. Then consider the many sensible Effects of the VVord as the Accomplishment of Prophecies Promises Threatnings and Answer of Prayers Gods Providence is a Comment upon Scripture It is an Authentick Register and Infallible Prognostication and Kalender VVe need not have one come from the dead to tell the truth of it it is fulfilled before our eyes every day 4. Or else they can convey a Power or expect that God will co-operate more with their report than with the Holy Scriptures Surely they are finite Creatures though passed out of this Life Nothing can convert and turn the heart of Man but the Infinite Power of God all the Angels in Heaven cannot pluck one Sinner out of the State of Nature VVe read one Angel could destroy One Hundred Eighty Five Thousand in Senacheribs Hoast 1 Kings 19.35 But all the Angels cannot convert one Soul But will God co-operate Alas when all prejudices are removed Men are nothing the better till the Lord puts in his Grace the Iews suppose Moses and the Prophets to be of God they were confirmed by notable Miracles the fame of which continue among them But the matter is about Gods Efficacy But now God concurreth with his instituted Course common means of Gods appointing have a singular efficacy annexed as Reading Acts 8.32 Hearing Mark 4.24 Meditation Acts 17.11 Christ dyed to sanctifie Ordinances Eph. 5.26 and there if ever shall we meet with the Power and Grace of God Secondly Against it There are more rational prejudices that lye against any other way than this way that God hath taken As to instance in the matter in hand 1. It is no mean scruple about the lawfulness of hearkning to one that should come from the Dead since they are out of the Sphere of our Commerce and it is a disparagement to the great Doctor of the Church Against consulting with the Dead See Deut 18.10 11 12 with 14 15. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire or that useth divination or an observer of
times or an inchanter or a wiâ—ch or a charmer or a consulter with familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord and because of the abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee For these nations which thou shalt possess hearkned unto observers of times and unto diviners but as for thee the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the middest of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken It would make Religion ridiculous like a story of Hobgoblins and Bugbears wherewith we fright Children or like the fond superstitions of the Heathens that held the World under the servility and bondage of scrupulous fears 2. It is not so sure a way How could we trust or believe any one that should bring a message from the dead since impostors are so rise Satan can turn himself into an Angel of Light What security can we have against delusions How miserably we may be deceived by Stories from the dead is to be seen in Popery Therefore it is a favour that we have such a sure rule Gal. 1.8 But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you let him be accursed We shall never be free from evil designs 3. It is not so effectual a course as some think The great Doctor of the Church arose from the dead which was confirmed by Five Hundred Witnesses nothing so credible and yet they would not believe and repent for all that The Iews would not believe Lazarus when after he had been four days dead he was raised up again 4. 'T is not so familiar a way and therefore not so fit to instil Faith and reduce Men to God's purpose by degrees as the written word to which we may have recourse without affrightment and that at all times This Spirit must be supposed to appear but rarely for if it were frequent and settled into a constant converse the way would be contemned But here we may view and review the Counsel of God in our most deliberate and serious thoughts and by searching come to know the mind of God Faith groweth in a rational way Acts 17.11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures dayly whether these things were so 1. VSE Information 1. That Man is apt to indent with God about believing and repenting upon terms of his own making Matth. 27.42 If he be the king of Israel let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him Psal. 78.19 Can God furnish a table in the wilderness Matth. 4.3 If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread Many require Miracles or new Apostles that maketh them turn Seekers or a Testimony from the dead a Spirit or a Vision and that maketh them turn Atheists or an Infallible Interpreter that should solve all questions or excuse them from the pains of Study and Prayer and that maketh them turn Papists Thus foolishly would we give Laws to Heaven and prescribe to God how he shall reveal his mind to Men. God will not alwaies give sensible confirmation 2. There lye more prejudices by far against any way of our devising than against the course which God hath instituted for the furthering of our Repentance Man is an ill Caterer for himself the People slighted Moses and would hear God himself speak But when he thundred upon the Mount then they say Let us no more hear the voice of God for then we shall dye Exod. 20.19 And they said unto Moses speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we dye All Gods institutions are full of reason and if we had Eyes to see it we could not be better provided for 3. God in giving the Scriptures hath done more for us than we could imagine yea better than we could wish to our selves He hath certainly done enough to leave us without excuse You think if one came from the dead this would be better but you have more and therefore if you be damned it will not be for want of Power but want of Will you have more than if one came from the dead Try what you can do with Moses and the Prophets It is a great Mercy to have a Rule by which all Doctrines are to be tryed to have a Standard and Measure of Faith and that put into Writing to preserve it against the weakness of Memory and the Treachery of evil designs and that translated into all Languages That we have such a Rule and so thoroughly finished is a great Mercy 4. That we are apt to betray present advantages by wishes of another Dispensation as that we may have Oracles and Miracles It is but a shift to think of other means than God hath provided They that believe not the Word will not believe one that should come from the dead Extraordinary means will not work upon them upon whom ordinary do not prevail Whatever Dispensation God uses Man is Man still Psalm 78.22 23 24. They believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation though he had commanded the clouds from above and had opened the doors of heaven And had rained down Manna upon them to eat and had given them the corn of heaven There were Unbelievers and Carnal Wretches when there were Miracles and so there would be still Though there were never so sufficient proof yet such is our perverseness that we shall slight Gods Counsel Man is ever at odds with the present Dispensation It is a sign the heart is out of order or else any Doctrine that is of God would set it a work 5. Those that like not the Message will ever quarrel at the Messenger and when the heart is wanting something is wanting We have means enough to believe it is our own carelesness and obstinacy that we do not Matth. 11.18 19. Iohn came neither eating nor drinking and they say he hath a Devil The Son of man came eating and drinking and they say Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners There is alwayes one exception or another 6. How credulous we are to Fables and how incredulous as to undoubted Truths Spirits and Apparitions these things are regarded by us but the Testimony of the Spirit of God speaking in the Scriptures is little regarded 2. VSE To exhort us to improve the Scriptures to Repentance This is the great work Here I shall shew you 1. What Repentance is 2. What the Holy Scriptures offer to work us to Repentance 3. How we may improve these I. What Repentance is It is a turning of the whole Heart from Sin and Satan to serve God in newness of Life Or a turning from Sin because God
from Faith in Christ Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God from a sense of our sincere dealing with God 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world A serenity resulting from our peace with God and close walking with him 2. The strictness and exactness of the Apostles course He would keep this good Conscience void of offence It may be understood passively or actively Passively that Conscience be not offended and suffer wrong Actively that we offend not or offer wrong to others 1. That Conscience be not offended or receive wrong by any miscarriage of ours For it is a tender thing the least dust in the eye hindreth its use so doth Sin offend and trouble the Conscience Take those four Notions before-mentioned Clearness Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God A dusty Glass hindreth the sight of the Image so Lust cloudeth the mind In regard of Purity so far as we give way to Sin Conscience is defiled the Apostle speaketh of some Whose minds and consciences were defiled Titus 1.15 It is defiled by Sin In regard of tenderness nothing bringeth a brawne upon Conscience so much as frequent and allowed sinning in small things first it is wounded and then hardned and so groweth dead and sleepy though it may write it refuseth to speak it is a Register when it is not a Witness So it is offended in regard of quietness an offended Conscience will offend us and a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 You may as well expect to touch the Flesh with a burning Coal without pain as to sin without trouble of Conscience Sin will bring shame and horrour ever since Adams experience who was afraid and ashamed Gen. 3.7 2. The second Sense that we offend not nor offer wrong to others will fall in with the next Head 3. The Impartiality of his Obedience both towards God and towards men There are two Tables and we are to take care we do not give offence to God or Men by neglecting our Duty to either 1. Our chief care should be that we do not make a breach upon our Love to God Conscience standeth alwayes in dread of God's Eye and Presence to whom it is most accountable Acts 23 1. I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day Oh grieve not the spirit Eph. 4.30 Offend not the pure Eyes of his Glory 2. That we do not offend Men Rom. 12.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Provide things honest in the sight of all men We must be careful of our Conscience before God and frame with Men that we neither seduce them by our Example nor grieve them by any unjust or uncharitable Carriage of ours but be blameless to Men. 4. The Constancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes in all cases by all means at all times A Conscience brought forth at times and for certain turns is not a good Conscience Iob 13.18 Behold now I have ordered my cause I know that I shall be justified A Man is tryed by his course not by a step or two 1 Pet. 1.15 As he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every creek and corner of your lives not in an Humour and in good Moods A Christian is every where like himself and never dareth to do any thing knowingly against Conscience Thirdly The laborious diligences wherewith he carryed it on I exercise my self We must make it our constant labour and endeavour by a diligent search into the mind of God Rom. 12.2 That we may prove what is the good and acceptable will of God Eph. 5.17 Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Eph. 5.10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord that we may not offend him in Worship or Daily Conversation By a serious enquiry into the state of our own hearts and wayes Psalm 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not commune with your hearts upon your bed and be still If we would have Conscience speak to us we must often speak to Conscience Ier. 8.6 I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done Ask questions of your hearts And also by a constant watchfulness and taking heed to our feet Psalm 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that I offend not with my tongue Many live as if they had no Conscience and by a broken-hearted making use of Christs Death Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. And 1 Iohn 2.1 If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous And Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself to God without spot purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God By a serious resistance and mortification of Sin cutting off the right Hand and pulling out the right eye Matth. 5.29 30. and Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts And by the use of all Holy Means which God hath appointed II. The Reasons Why this is true Christianity 1. The necessity of it it is a great question how far Obedience belongeth to Faith whether as a part or as an end fruit and consequent I answer both wayes consent of subjection is a part of Faith Actual Obedience a fruit of it In the Covenant there is a consent first before practice Faith believeth the Precepts as well as the Promises Psalm 119.66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water It believeth the Promises to sweeten Obedience to us it hath a perswasive Oratory as it worketh by Love or Hope it worketh us to an observance of the Precepts by the hopes of the Resurrection least we be inticed from them either by things grateful or troublesome to present sense 1 Cor. 15.58 Be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abâ—iâ—ding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your work is not in vain in the Lord. If you believe things written in the Law and the Prophets you will see your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 2. The Comfort of Obedience to us we cannot make out our Evidence and Plea but by a uniform constant and impartial Obedience Principles are latent till they discover themselves by their Fruit our Faith and Hope is but a fancy unless it prevail over sensitive inclinations to present things that we may live in the patient and delightful service of God and an intire
off Prayer especially in secret Gods Children may be streightned in Prayer but they do not restrain Prayer Conscience is clamorous Prayer would fain break out but they smother these checks and sentiments of Religion till they wholly quit a course of praying Sometimes they deny Providence Psalm 73.11 They say how doth God know and is there any knowledge in the most high And verse 13. I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency Mal. 3.14 Ye have said 't is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts Or else they do not soundly believe the Covenant of God as made with them in Christ Rom. 10.14 How shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed We cannot address our selves to God in Christ if we are not rooted in the Faith of the Gospel 2. Sometimes through a defect of their Love to God They have no delight in him and therefore call not upon his Name Iob 27.10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he alwaies call upon God They may sometimes cry to him to be free from trouble but they do not alwaies call upon him nor keep up a constant use of Prayer They are weary of God Isa. 43.22 Thou hast not called upon me O Iacob Thou hast been weary of me O Israel They that left their first love left their first works Rev. 2.3 4. Or else they are glutted with Worldly Happiness and so God is neglected Ier. 2.31 We are Lords we will come no more unto thee They are well and at ease or else they are besotted with carnal pleasures that they have no heart to come to God Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life The Heart is withdrawn from God and stolne away by carnal vanities 3. From a defect in their Hope they despair either of assistance or acceptance 1. Of Assistance Having such a wandring lean and barren Understanding and dead Affections they think they shall be never able to pray And though God hath promised a Spirit of Grace and Supplication and is ready to give it to those that do not give way to these evils but strive against them and the Holy Ghost is appointed to teach them to pray yet they give way to this dulness and deadness out of an indulgence to the ease of the flesh and sloathfulness and despair of Gods help Isa. 64.7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee There is the lazy despair as well as the raging despair when Men will not stir up themselves and overcome the seeming difficulties which at first a course of Prayer meeteth with 2. Of Acceptance They have lost their peace by some grievous wounding Sin and then have not the heart to go to God As David kept silence and hung off Psalm 32.3 till he recovered his peace So others have offended God and represent him to themselves as an angry Judge rather than a gracious Father and so run away from him as guilty Adam did to the bushes Gen. 3.8 rather than come to him In part this may be in Gods Children when they have grieved the Spirit but mostly it is in the wicked who go on impenitently in some grievous and heinous sin and so can have no heart to go on in a course of lively Prayer The Presence of God is terrible to a Sinner because of the Conscience of their own sinful Courses they expect nothing but Wrath and Vengeance from God and they will not take Gods way to reconcile themselves and make their peace with him but only put off the thoughts of that they cannot put away and neglect God rather than seek to appease him VSE II. It informeth us of a necessary Truth if we must pray evermore then there must be an endeavour to keep up our hearts still in a praying temper or in a disposition to go to God upon all occasions that when God offereth these occasions there may not want a suitable frame of heart The Disposition and Temper of Heart fit for Prayer must never be lost Sathan is a great Enemy to this Commerce with God and our Hearts soon grow unfit for it It is a difficult thing to keep up this praying frame yet this must be a Christians constant work and care The whole Spiritual Life is but a watching unto Prayer Now this praying frame lyeth in three things 1. A broken-hearted sense of our Spiritual wants We have a quick and tender feeling of Bodily wants for these are evident to Natural Sense and we love the Body more than the Soul and are tender of our Bodily Interests but we should be alike affected with Soul necessities or else there will be no life in our Prayers God filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away Luke 1.53 The poor in Spirit do most mourn before the Lord and hunger and thirst after Righteousness Matth. 5.3 4 5 6. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Now that which hindreth this brokenness of Heart is carnal pleasures which bring on a brawn and sensless deadness upon the Soul Therefore the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.7 Be sober and watch unto Prayer Now Sobriety is a sparing use of Sensual and Worldly Delights or a Moderation in all Earthly Things This you must labour after if you would keep up your correspondency with God by Prayer in a lively manner 2. A strong and earnest bent of Heart towards God and Heaven and so towards Spiritual and Heavenly things Isa. 26.9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early The Soul that is set to seek the Lord is most fit for this Duty But unless the Heart be thus set towards God and Heavenly things Prayer will be as a customary talk we shall ask for fashions sake pray from our Memories rather than our Conscience and from our Conscience rather than Heart and Affections or from Affections actually excited and stirred rather than from an Heart renewed or that habitual bent and tendency towards God which is at the bottom of Prayer The Heart sensibly stirred in our Duty may do well for the time but it is soon lost and controlled and mastered by contrary affections That which doth habitually dispose and incline you to pray alwayes is the fixed bent of Heart towards God and Heaven There are three Agents in Prayer as in every Holy Duty the Humane Spirit the New Nature and the Spirit of God The Humane Spirit or my Natural Faculties that by
my understanding I may work upon my Will and Affections and rouse up my self for the Holy Ghost doth not work upon a Man as upon a block Then the New Nature which inclineth us to God as our chief good and last end for the Holy Ghost doth not blow as to a dead Coal Then the Divine Spirit which exciteth those Graces in us which incline us to God as Faith or a belief of his Being Providence and Covenant Love and Desire of the full fruition of him in the Heavenly Glory and hope of the means and end of the means by which we attain the end and the end that we shall thus enjoy by the means These are the three Agents in Prayer and every Holy work I must do something as a Reasonable Creature something as a New Creature and the Spirit influenceth all The second we are now speaking of the New Nature or Inclination to God which inclination is not barely Natural as the inclination of Creatures without Life as in fire or light bodies to ascend or in a stone or heavy bodies to descend but voluntary as in a rational Agent and therefore it is not so indeclinably set that it needeth not to be strengthned excited and increased in us and this I now press you to if you would keep up your praying frame 3. There is a liberty or confidence which ariseth from our peace and friendship with God 1 Iohn 3.21 If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards God When we walk unevenly we grow shie of God our Mouths are shut our Prayers choaked in the utterance Therefore we should take heed we do not interrupt our peace 1 Pet. 3.7 Dwelling as heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered Our access to God in Prayer cannot be carryed on so chearfully unless we walk orderly and peaceably in our Relations A Christian is very careful that he may not interrupt his Communion with God but must avoid hainous wounding Sins And because do what we can do daily infirmities will break out he often renews his Covenant with God that his Heart may be settled VSE III. To exhort us to pray without ceasing Consider 1. The Throne of Grace which God hath erected in the midst of his People standeth alvvaies upon God doth not keep Termes and dayes of Audience The High Priest vvas not to be too familiar vvith God to come to him but once in a year But vve may come every day Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Let us then be often vvith God 2. Gods Compassions and Mercies never fail There is an inexhausted Treasure and Stock of Grace Iames 1.5 If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Compare this vvith Prov. 25.17 Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbours house lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee You may come too seldom but you can never come too often to God 3. We ovve this respect to God that vve must not go about his Service by fits but constantly As the Queen of Sheba pronounced of Solomons Servants 1 Kings 10.8 Happy are thy men happy are these thy servants that stand continually before thee and that hear thy wisdom much more may it be said of the Servants of God Prov. 8.34 Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my gates waiting at the posts of my doors It is a blessed thing to be much vvith God 4. We never vvant occasions of praying either for our selves or for the Church of God Therefore vve ought alvvaies to live in the sense of our ovvn emptiness and in the Faith of Gods fulness and vvillingness to supply our vvants alvvaies sensible of our need to pray and alvvaies confident of Gods readiness to ansvver and pray accordingly 5. Love vvill not suffer us to keep long out of Gods Company They that delight in one another must have their frequent meetings and frequent interviews An instance of this we have in Ionathan and David 1 Sam. 18.1 The soul of Ionathan was knit with the soul of David and Ionathan loved him as his own soul and therefore he could not be long without his Friend David If we have a love to God we cannot keep long out of Gods Company but will be with him pouring out our hearts to him Consider these things that you may quicken your selves to this Duty of praying without ceasing A SERMON On MARK ii 17 When Iesus heard it he saith unto them They that are whole have no need of the physician but they that are sick I come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance THE words are Christs Apology for eating with Publicans and Sinners They thought no Iew was to eat or drink or converse with Publicans whom they looked upon as the vilest sort of Men. Publicans are often joyned with Sinners in the Iewish scorn thereby is intended Sinners of the Gentiles Gal. 2.15 Publicans and Heathens Matth. 18.17 Because by reason of their calling they conversed often with Gentiles Their calling was counted sordid hiring or farming the Tributes It is an Hebrew Proverb Take not a Wife out of a Family in which is a Publican because they are all Thieves They were wicked Sinners in common repute Now for Christ to be entertained in the House of a Publican and to converse so familiarly with Publicans this the Pharisaical strictness and rigorous institution could not endure The Cavil was brought to his Disciples and Followers They muttered and whispered about them words that tended to disprove this familiar Converse as not becoming the Person which Christ took upon himself The old Hypocrites deal not directly with the Master himself but the young Converts Christ when he heard it vindicates his practice 1. By representing the agreeableness of this Converse to his Office Represented in a Proverb The whole have no need of the physician but the sick Two things are herein represented 1. That Sin is a soar sickness A Disease not of the Body but the Soul A Mortal Disease it will at length prove unless it be in time cured and the Disease is the more grievous because we are so insensible of it 2. That Christ alone is the true Physician of Souls He knoweth our Malady and our Remedy and is ready and offereth his help to cure if we will but submit to his prescriptions Now both make up his Argument Where doth the Physicians work lye but among the Sick 2. From the end of his Commission I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Where observe 1. The Persons with whom he hath to do not the righteous but sinners 2. The way that he taketh he calleth 3. The end or means of cure on their parts Repentance I. The Persons concerned
pardon all our wrongs surely they that are brought back from the Grave and fetched up from the Gates of Hell and from under a Sentence of Condemnation will be ingaged more to love God Psalm 130.4 But there is forgiveness with thee that thou shouldest be feared The Woman loved much who had much forgiven her Luke 7.47 3. It is most for the Comfort of the Creature that a stated certain course of Remedy should be appointed for our Peace which may leave the greatest Evidence upon our Consciences Now what is likely to do so much as this first and apparent change whereby we utterly renounce and bitterly bewail our former folly and solemnly give up our selves to God by Christ. Things are evident to the feeling which are serious advised difficult have a notable delight accompanying them all which concur here This is the most important Action of our Lives the setling of our Pardon and Eternal Interest a sense of Sin if deep and thorough will ever stick with us The Heart is heartily brought to this to submit to Gods appointed course Rom. 10.3 For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about â—o establish their righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God And 't is rewarded with some notable tasts of Gods Love for he reviveth the hearts of his contrite ones Isa. 57.15 and restoreth comfort to his mourners verse 17. VSE Let us obey Christ and continually carry out the work of Repentance with more seriousness Sin is not hated enough nor God loved enough and therefore we have so small a tast of the Comforts of Christianity Groans unutterable make way for Joyes that are unspeakable Motives 1. The unquestionable necessity of the Duty should move us Christs Authority is absolute He telleth us I came to call sinners to repentance If he saith so Contradiction must be silent Haesitation satisfied all Cavils laid aside and we must address our selves to his work and never cease till we are past Repentance and that is only when we have no more sin in us which will never be till we die 2. The profit should move It is a Duty of great use By Repentance we are put into a capacity to serve and please God For New Creatures are set in joint again who were disordered by the fall Eph. 2.10 And Titus 3.5.2 Tim. 2.2 and by it we are put into a capacity to injoy God Acts 26.18 To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Sathan to God 3. Nothing can be excepted against this course 1. The plea of Unworthiness hath no place It is not the applying a Priviledge but the performance of a Duty we invite you to If we did directly call you to accept a Pardon you might question our Doctrine Perhaps you may think you are unworthy to be pardoned but God is worthy to be obeyed Christ calleth you to Repentance 2. You cannot object the greatness of your Sins Did Christ come from Heaven only to cure a cut finger and not a deadly wound He calleth Sinners and Sinners without exception Sinners of all sorts and sizes This thought often cometh into our mind That Christ is a Saviour but not of those who are faln into such hainous and enormous offences as we have done as if any Disease were beyond the skill of the Spiritual Physician as if he could cure a Cold or a slight Ague but not the Leprosie and the Plague All Sinners are called 3. The plea of weakness doth not lye against the Duty neither For he that calleth the things that are not as though they were Rom. 4.17 Lazarus come forth Iohn 11.47 Why doth he speak to a dead Man So to the Man with the withered hand Stretch forth thy hand Matth. 12.13 Do not say Lord This I cannot do No go forth in the strength of Christs Call He calleth not only by the Ministry of the Word but the inward operation of his Spirit Now for Means 1. Examine thine own Heart to find out thy particular sins Psalm 119.59 I thought on my wayes and turned my feet into thy testimonies Lam. 3.40 Search and try your wayes and turn to the Lord. Repentance usually beginneth with serious Soul searching otherwise we spend our indignation upon a Notion Particulars are most affecting Sin is the common Pack-Horse to bear every Mans burden but Sin must be particularly confessed forsaken and mortified that it may be pardoned 2. Labour to work thy Heart to Godly sorrow for them Lam. 3.20 My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled within me We should humble our selves greatly Iob 42.6 I repent and abhor my self in dust and ashes Matth. 11.21 Repented in dust and ashes This is spoken according to their National Customs Men most abased are most serious But our Repentance generally is not deep and serious enough so as will become offences and dishonours done to God by such weak Creatures as we are and so deeply ingaged to him There is not that self-loathing nor such a measure of Godly sorrow as may either make Christ sweet or Sin bitter to us If it affect the Heart so as Sin becometh hateful and there is a price and value put upon Gods Grace in Christ then it is right Oh therefore bemoan your selves to God as Ephraim did Ier. 31.18 3. Lay them open before God in humble Confession 1 Iohn 1.9 If we confeâ—s sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Ier. 3.13 Only acknowledge thine iniquities that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God And set apart some special time to do it 4. Crave and sue earnestly for the pardon of them in Christs Name and for Christs sake Eph. 4.32 As God for Christs sake hath forgiven you 1 Iohn 2.12 I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his names sake All benefits must be asked in his Name much more this which is the great fruit of his Redemption God himself has taught us to pray for Pardon and to say Take away all iniquity Hos. 14.4 And take the Sacramental Pledges out of Gods hand for this end 5. There must be an unfeigned Purpose and Endeavour to forsake them Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Ezek. 3.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye for why will ye die O house of Israel Hosea 14.8 Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idols Isa. 30.22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy molten images of gold thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence A SERMON On PSALM viii 2 Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest
I shall state it in these propositions 1. Certain it is That the Kingdom which God will erect and establish is the Kingdom of the Mediator And the Kingdom which God will destroy is the Kingdom of the Devil I put it in this copulate axiom or double proposition because the one immediately dependeth upon the other and the one cannot be done without the other The Kingdom of Christ as Mediator cannot be set up unless the Kingdom of the Devil be destroy'd Now that this is the purpose of God to erect the one and destroy the other is evident by Scripture Psal 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Christ upon the throne hath Enemies but in due time they shall be his foot-stool He shall gain upon opposition and against opposition and by opposition They shall be so far from overturning his Throne that they shall be a step to it as the foot-stool is to the Throne And 1 Iohn 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To unravel all that Satan hath been a weaving for the captivating and deceiving of the World Christ having a grant of a Kingdom over the Nations his design is to conquer them and subdue them to himself and to recover them to himself This was the meanning of Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel 2. To know these two Kingdoms we must consider the quality of either 1. The Gospel Kingdom is a Kingdom of Light Life and Love Of light Because the drift of it is to give Men a true knowledge of God Act. 26.18 To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God The Devils Kingdom is the Kingdom of darkness The Devils are said to be Rulers of the darkness of this world Ephes. 6.12 And those that are called from one Kingdom to another are called from darkness to light Col. 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son It is a Kingdom of Life As men that were before dead in sins may be made alive unto God Joh. 10.10 I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly For Heathens and all men in their natural estate are alienated from the life of God Ephes. 4.18 But by Faith in Christ we live in God and to God Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 5.6 In Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love As it worketh by love we are inclined to God and do his will and seek his Glory and our happiness in the everlasting fruition of him And of Love It is a Kingdom of Love as it possesseth us with a fervent Charity to God and men 1 Joh. 4.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Act. 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Now opposite to Light is Ignorance and Errour To life a Religion that consists of shows and dead ceremonies To love uncharitableness malice and hatred of the power of Godliness and Persecution And where-ever these eminently prevail there is an opposite Kingdom set up to the Kingdom of Christ. Which may be done by two sorts of persons or People 1. Those that continue in the old apostacy and defection from God As eminently was done by the Gentiles and Idolatrous Heathen World Who live in ignorance of the true God and are dead in trespasses and sins And where envy pride malice and ambition reigneth instead of that Spirit of love and goodness which the Gospel would produce 2. It may be done by a second falling away which is foretold 2 Thes. 2.3 For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first Now this falling off from Christ's Kingdom is there where in opposition to Light Errour is taught and Ignorance is counted the Mother of Devotion and People are restrained from the means of knowledge as if it were a dangerous thing As if the height of Christian Faith and Devotion did consist in a blind obedience and a believing what men could impose upon them by their bare authority And instead of life men place their whole religion in some superstitious rites and ceremonies and trifling acts of devotion or exteriour mortifications And instead of love to God and Souls all things are sacrificed to private ambition and consciences are forced by the highest penalties and persecutions to submit to their corruptions of the Christian Faith and Worship Where this obtaineth there is a manifest perversion of the interests of Christ's Kingdom Both these Apostacies The general Apostacy from God and the special Apostacy from Christ may be upheld by the Authority Power and Interest of several Nations And though the name of God and of Christ be retained in either for a cloak yet clearly we may see they are revolted from the Kingdom of God and of Christ. 2. The Devil's Kingdom Surely he hath a great hand in all the corruptions of mankind especially in Antichrist's Kingdom As the Apostle telleth us his coming shall be by or after the working of Satan 2 Thes. 2.9 He is the Raiser and Support of that estate as will appear by what is ascribed to the Devil in the Scriptures 1 Ignorance and Errour and Seduction For it is said Iohn 8.44 That he abode not in the Truth because there is no Truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the Father of lies And therefore in that Society of professed Christians where ignorance not only reigneth but is countenanced and means of grace suppressed and most errours and corruptions in doctrine have been introduced there Satan hath great influence 2 Cor. 4.4 In whom the god of this World hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them 2. Idolatry This was his first and great endeavour for perverting the world to bring men to worship another God or the true God by an Idol The Devil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a delighter in Idols Sinecius he was the contriver of the Idols of the Gentiles therefore they are said to Sacrifice their Sons and Daughters unto Devils Psal. 106.37 And Deut. 32.17 They sacrificed unto Devils and not unto God They meant it to God but the Lord saith it was to Devils Aaron saith To
they erred not The Prophet is to be excused because the intention of David's zeal was good and a meet expression of his thankfulness to God God himself liked of the intention in it self 1 Kin. 8.18 The Lord said unto David my Father Whereas it was in thy Heart to build an House unto my name thou didst well that it was in thine Heart And besides he might tell him The Lord is with thee from former observation God had accompanied David with his Spirit and Blessing in all his enterprises Well then this he said not by Divine revelation but of himself Herein he was faulty that he consulted not with God And it teacheth us this lesson that in all businesses of moment and concernment to God's glory we must ask God's leave and counsel and blessing Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine Heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths 3. The next thing observable is the Lord 's rectifying the Prophets mistake by a special revelation from v. 4. to v. 17. Wherein the Lord recapitulateth the several favours and honours he had put upon his servant David with promises of blessing upon his Family but denyeth him this one honour of putting his designs in execution of building him an house because that was reserved for his Son a more peaceable Prince and whose hands were not defiled with blood And it teacheth us this lesson that we should be content with those other honours and favours which we have received at God's hands though he in his wise providence deny us the liberty of perfecting some enterprises which we have designed for his glory If God cut us off in the midst of our service or interrupt us in our work he knoweth how to carry it on by others and 't is a mercy that we have had his presence hitherto in former services God had been with David whithersoever he went but would not allow him to build him an House 4. David's carriage upon this message ver 18. He went and sate before the Lord or abode in his presence and expresseth himself both by way of praise and prayer 1. Praise in the 18 19 20. to the end of the 24th verse Acknowledging that all his goodness to him and his people came from his mercy and truth for his words sake and according to his own heart to fulfil his Covenant and his self-inclination to do good Admiring the greatness of these favours to such an unworthy creature as himself Who am I O Lord and what is my House that thou hast brought me hither c. And is this the manner of man O Lord God c. 2. Prayer from the 25th verse to the end Wherein he beggeth a performance of the things promised Shewing that he should not dare to ask and expect these things if God had not prevented him by his Word Thou hast revealed to thy Servant saying I will build thee an house therefore hath thy servant found in his Heart to pray this prayer unto thee In which words there is a Directory for prayer And 1. The qualification of the person Thy Servant 2. The sincerity of the prayer Hath found in his Heart 3. The instance and vehemency of it in the doubling of the words not simply to pray but to pray this prayer Jam. 5.17 He prayed earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He prayed in his prayer 'T is one thing to say a prayer another to pray a prayer 4. His reverence Vnto thee Or as 't is more emphatically repeated 1 Chron. 17.25 Therefore thy Servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee When we set our selves as before the invisible God And that may be part of the meaning of the phrase used ver 18. he sate before the Lord. But the main circumstance which I shall insist upon is that Found in his Heart Doct. That the Birth-place or proper rise of Prayer is in the Heart Or whatever prayer we pray to God must be found in our Hearts before it be uttered with our Tongues I. I shall inquire concerning the sense and meaning of this expression what it is to find a prayer in our hearts That implieth two things when we pray as inclined and pray as incouraged And so David must be interpreted here I have found in my Heart that is I am inclined by a due esteem and desire of the blessing promised For he admireth it and was exceedingly ravished with the thought of it that God should have such respect to his House and Family Again I have found in my Heart that is I am incouraged by the Lord's goodness and the experience of his blessing and the assurance of his promises So in every general case all that would pray must find in their Hearts to pray to God that is be inclined and be incouraged 1. We are inclined or stirred up to pray for such good things as we ask of God 1. By a sense of our wants Iam. 1.5 If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God And Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in a time of need Our addresses to God must begin in a broken hearted sense of our own wants otherwise 't is but an empty careless formal way of praying We have a quick and tender feeling in all bodily necessities the worst will express themselves sensibly enough in such cases Hos. 7.14 They have not cried unto me with their Hearts when they howled upon their Beds they assemble themselves for Corn and Wine and they rebel against me Those that rebelled against God howled upon their Beds for Corn and Wine as Beasts will make their moan when pinched with hunger but in Soul necessities we are not so sensible And prayers put up without sense of want and need are but dead and lazy Many think their condition so good that they need not trouble God about it but they can manage it well enough themselves and therefore either pray not at all or without poverty of Spirit and their Prayers are but an empty complement to God But now a Godly man is sensible of his daily necessities he is kept poor in Spirit and seeth that he cannot subsist a minute without God and that he is environed with dangers and obliged to a multitude of duties which require assistance from above that Satan is continually tempting and he is continually sinning and so he needs daily pardon and daily sustentation as well as daily bread Give us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this day our daily bread Mat. 6.11 And that if he should forget to pray to God he should forget to bid himself good morrow or good day In short the more men exercise themselves unto godliness the more their necessities and wants will be discovered to them Painted fire needeth no fuel but real fire must still be supplied with matter for it to feed upon 2. An esteem
and value of the blessings asked All such as pray aright must have an high estimation of what they seek For if we do not set a value upon it we shall neither seek it earnestly nor will God care to give it us for he will not thrust spiritual comforts upon them that despise them Paul was so earnest to have Christ and his benefits because he counted all things but dung and dross that he might win Christ and be found in him c. Phil. 3.7 8 9. David prized communion with God therefore sought it so earnestly Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I might dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life Temporal things are usually over-prized therefore these things are dispensed with a looser providence without prayer and many times to those that never pray and to the godly by way of overplus to direct us to value Spiritual blessings and to seek them in the first place Mat. 6.33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you First in our Prayers as well as first in our Endeavours 3 Desire That must urge us to ask and doth both open our mouths wide and put Life and Vehemency into our requests and supplications There is a good rule that will be of general use to us Desire nothing in your hearts but what you can Pray for and Pray for nothing but what you desire The former part checketh both worldly and fleshly lusts Have I or can I have so little reverence for the Godhead as apparently to ask meat for my lusts so much by the year such dishes at my table so much in Lands and Honours But the latter checks Formality and Deadness in Prayer Desire must go before and all along with the request and the heart must be the fountain of the words otherwise it is but a vain babling Much speaking is not praying Words are but the body Desires are the soul of Prayer as the body without the soul is dead so are words without a spirit of desire Therefore we should be more careful of afâ—ections than words Eccles. 5.1 2. Be not hasâ—y to utter any thing before God c. The prayer must be framed in such words as we can but our chief business is to awaken and call in our affections from wandring after worldly things or to set our hearts to seek the Lord. The Spirits help in Prayer is not seen in the flow of words but in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Groanings that cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 Holy ardours and groans to God and desires of his help A Prayer without Life and Affection is Thuribulum sine prunis A Censer without Fire 4. Prayer must not only come from the present desires but from the habitual inclination of the mind and heart towards God and heavenly things which is the great effect of healing and sanctifying grace Psal. 119.36 Incline my heart unto thy Testimonies and not to Covetousness This is the radical inclination of grace to be carried out to God and all things that belong to God as they more or less lead to Him more than to Honours Pleasures Profits As Prayer is not a Lip-labour so it is not a Work of the mere Human Spirit or a Fruit of Memory and Invention but an Exercise of Grace A man may exercise his natural faculties in Prayer when he doth not exercise the graces of the Spirit in Prayer Grace is given as the remote preparation to Prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look on him whom they have pierced c. We oftner pray from our Memories than our Consciences and from our Consciences than our Affections and from our Affections as presently stirred but soon checked and controlled than from a Fixed bent and Inclination of Heart towards Heavenly things A man may have Wit and Memory to Pray when he hath not a Conscience of Praying He may have an inlightened Conscience when not a renewed Heart which may put us upon asking what we ought rather than what we really desire as Augustine speaketh of interlining his prayers with an At noli modo timebam enim ne me exaudiret Deus not yet Lord and I feared lest the Lord should hear me Or from a present affection stirring when yet there is not a rooted inclination Ioh. 6.34 Evermore give us of this Bread compared with v. 66. Many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him Many desire pardon desire the spirit but these desires are controlled by other desires soon put out of the humour and carried off by other things 2. We are incouraged in Prayer and so we find it in our hearts to Pray by several things 1. Gods merciful Nature 2 Sam. 7.21 According to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things Ex mero motu God fetcheth not his reasons from without but from his own bowels His own self inclination to do good doth sufficiently provoke him to it Now God is the same to others that he was to David His readiness to hear and to forgive doth incourage poor creatures to come to him The full breast desireth to be sucked as much as the hungry child to suck Psal. 65.2 O thou that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all flesh come God is ready to give audience and doth wait for the coming of the humble supplicant that mercy may be obtained in his own way 2. His great love shewed to the World in Christ Ephes. 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence Heb. 10.19 Having boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Iesus God out of Christ is inaccessible but in Christ propitious Now in the days of the Gospel God doth not keep state as in the Jewish times Numb 1.53 The Levites shall pitch round about the Tabernacle of Testimony that there be no wrath against the Congregation of the Children of Israel Numb 4.15 The Sons of Kohath shall not touch any holy thing lest they die and vers 20. They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered lest they die The way to the Sanctuary being not yet open The People murmur at it Numb 17.12 13. The Children of Israel spake unto Moses saying Behold we die we perish we all perish whosoever cometh any thing near unto the Tabernacle of the Lord shall die shall we be consumed with dying It was a grievous thing to them But now the Throne of grace is always open God keepeth not Terms or special days of Audience God in Christ is near to us and we are near unto God in and by him which much increaseth our Love and Confidence and giveth us more familiar thoughts of God who seemed before to be at an unaccessible distance He hath taken the humane nature into himself This should
you If you be sollicitous about the word of Christ and the matters of Duty contained therein you have a great advantage at the Throne of Grace So Psal. 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear me Many that pray are as Ice a little thawed above but hard at bottom they have not such a strong setled Resolution to walk more closely and orderly with God but allow some secret Lust and so marr their own Audience and Acceptance with God II. For Reasons 1. With respect to God 1. His Observance 2. His Acceptance 1. With respect to Gods Observance He is an All-seeing Spirit and therefore will not be mocked with a vain appearance or a little bodily exercise but the Prayers we make to him we must find them in our Hearts 1 Sam. 16.7 For God seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the Heart We may Act the Parrot before men but God looks to what there is in the Heart 1 Chron. 28.9 Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect Heart and with a willing Mind for the Lord searcheth all Hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the Thoughts A man up in the Air seeth the Spring as well as the River and its course we that stand by see the course but not the Spring God understandeth whether we are inclined and encouraged whether we are habitually inclined to God Ier. 5.3 O Lord are not thine eyes on the Truth Rom. 8.27 And he that searcheth the Heart knoweth what is the Mâ—nd of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the will of God He knows a belch of the Flesh from a groan of the Spirit He understandeth our desires as well as our Words So whether we are encouraged by the Grace of the New Covenant and Sense of our own qualification 1 Ioh. 3.20 21. If our Heart condemn us God is greater than our Heart and knoweth all things Beloved if our Heart condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God 2. With respect to Gods Acceptance God granteth not our Prayers till our Hearts be fixedly bent towards him Psal. 10.17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their Heart thou wilt cause thine Ear to hear When God hath put it into their Hearts to pray and awakened their desires then he will hear Dan. 10.12 From the first day that thou didst set thine Heart to understand and to chasten thy self before thy God thy words were heard God hath accepted the Heart without the Tongue but never accepted the Tongue without the Heart Moses cryed to God when he spake not one word Exod. 8.12 and God heard him 2. With respect to us 1. The part which the Heart beareth in all humane Actions It is fons actionum ad extra and it is terminus actionum ad intra In our actings towards God Prov. 4.23 Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life and in our receipts from God this is the thing that God aimeth at Rom. 6.17 Ye have obeyed from the Heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered you Prayer is not a receiving duty as hearing In praying the Heart begins in hearing it ends the Duty 2. With respect to our carriage in Prayer We do not conceive a Prayer but impose a Prayer upon our selves if the Tongue guide the Heart rather than the Heart the Tongue Like Children that cast stones into the Mine but do not draw Oar out of the Mine Acts 2.26 Therefore did my Heart rejoice and my Tongue was glad I. Vse Information 1. What need is there of Recollection before we come to pray that we may not force upon our selves what chance offereth but may have a Prayer in our Hearts before we have it in our Tongues Psal. 45.1 My Heart is inditing a good matter I speak of the things which I have made touching the King my Tongue is as the Pen of a ready Writer Usually we offer to God a dough-baked Sacrifice Only that I may not grate upon a tender Conscience there is an habitual Preparation and an actual Preparation The habitual Preparation lyeth in a broken hearted Sense of our wants radicated Inclination or bent of Heart towards God and Heavenly Things and in a Confidence and Liberty towards God The actual Preparation lyeth in such a Sense of our Necessities as the present Case doth deserve such a quickening of our desires after Heavenly Things as may fill us with Life such a remembrance of the Grace of God in Christ and our own Sincerity that our Hearts may not reproach us when dealing with God as a Father Again I distinguish that our requests are Ordinary or Extraordinary Ordinary When we ask daily supplies of Grace having no particular streight Temptation Difficulty or Business of moment then in hand Here the Habitual Preparation with little or no Actual Preparation serveth in our daily Prayers for necessary Blessings Extraordinary as in some notable trial difficult Streight Conflict Temptation or when we seek some special Benefit and upon eminent Occasions then as our Necessities are greater so our Acts of Prayer are more earnest Psal 109 4. For my love they are my Adversaries but I give my self unto Prayer Our Lord Jesus Christ being in an Agony prayed more earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 22.44 And so it resolveth this Case What if I have not such a feeling of strong and earnest desire or the over ruling bent of the general Inclination Yet keep not off from Prayer 1. Good desires are to be asked of God 2. Such desires as you have must be expressed 3. Prayer is the usual way to quicken and increase them 4 Turning away from God is the means to kill them 2. It informeth us what need we have of more help than our own if we must find every Prayer in our Heart which we utter with our Tongues Three things are necessary in Prayer The Humane Spirit or natural Faculty that I may by my Understanding work on my Will The New Nature Faith Hope and Love to believe in God and see him before me to incline me to God as my chief good and to hope for Benefit from him The Divine Spirit to excite these Graces Iude 20. Praying in the Holy Ghost Rom. 8.26 The Spirit it self also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered The Spirit works not on us as blocks but as rational Creatures nor does it blow on a dead Coal II. Vse Caution Do not take every thing for Prayer which looks like it 1. Bodily exercise Mâ—ny by the Agitation of the bodily Spirits work themselves into some vehemency their Voice is heard on high but the Heart is dead and cold quibus arteriis opus est These fill up only a little
to everlasting Destruction In the former respect we are compared to lost Sheep who when they are once out of the way know not how to find it again Psal. 14.3 They are all gone aside And Isa. 53.6 All we like Sheep have gone astray Swine and other Creatures if they wander all day will easily find the way home again but we are gone astray like Sheep Domini errare per me potui redire non potui Lord I have wandred of my self but I cannot return of my self In the second respect as they are in the way to destruction so we are compared to the lost Son who undid himself and wasted his substance with riotous living Luk. 15.13 So we are lost by reason of Original Sin or the corruption introduced by Adam's first sin Hereditarily derived to us from our first parents Psal. 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me And also by reason of actual sins whereby we involve our selves more and more in the wrath and curse of God Eph. 2.1 2. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of disobedience And v. 3. We were by nature the Children of wrath even as others Take one distinction more Some are lost totally and others totally and finally too All men in their natural estate whether they be sensible or insensible of it are lost totally Isa. 53.6 All we like Sheep have gone astray not one excepted The Elect though for the present they are totally lost yet they are not finally lost But those that still continue in their impenitency and unbelief are both totally and finally lost justly given over and designed to everlasting Perdition and Destruction In which sense Iudas is called the Son of Perdition John 17.12 Those which thou hast given me I have kept and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition unbelief persisted in is a sign of Perdition Therefore the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.3 If our Gospel be hid it is hid to those that are lost Well then such as refuse the Gospel are in an actual state of perdition and while they continue to repel and refuse the benefit of the Gospel there is no hope of them Thus we are really and indeed lost 2. Some are lost and undone in their own sense and feeling All by reason of sin are in a lost state but some are apprehensive of it when the Soul is made sensible of its utter perishing condition and fear of its aggravated punishment by reason of actual sin as the lost Son apprehended his perishing for want of Bread Luk. 15.17 And when he came to himself he said How many hired servants of my Fathers have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger Thus would Christ represent the sensible sinner that is apprehensive of his condition Now such a sense is necessary to prepare us for a more broken-hearted and thankful acceptance of the Grace of the Gospel 1. Because the Scripture speaketh of an awakening before Conversion Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light While we are asleep we are neither sensible of our misery nor care for our remedy but please our selves with Dreams and Fancies but when a Man's Conscience doth rouse him up out of the sleep of sin and awaken him to some sight and sense of his miserable condition he is in a good measure prepared to hearken to the offers of the Gospel and to be afâ—ected with and entertain the Grace of Christ so Psal. 22.27 All the Nations of the Earth shall remember and turn to the Lord first remember then turn They are like Men sleeping and distracted before they do not consider whence they are what they are doing whither they are going what shall become of them to all Eternity 2. Till we are sensible of our lost estate we have not that trouble for sin that hunger and thirst for Grace which the Scripture expresseth every where in the calls and invitations of the Gospel As Mat. 9.12 13. The whole need not the Physician but they that are sick I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance And Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Isa. 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the Waters Heb. 6.18 Who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us They that are Heart-whole will not value the Spiritual Physician neither will they that feel not their load care for offers of ease None will prize Bread but the hungry nor come to the Waters but the thirsty nor make haste to the City of refuge but those that see an Avenger of Blood at their Heels Or to devest these things of their Metaphor sin unseen grieveth not that which the Eye seeth not the Heart rueth not it is the hungry Conscience that cannot be satisfied without Christ's renewing and reconciling Grace 'T is the Curse driveth us to the promise and the Tribunal of God's Justice to the Throne of Grace One Covenant to another None do with such sighs and groans mourn and wait in the use of Means till they obtain Mercy as those who have a sight and sense of their lost estate or their sad and miserable case by nature 3. It appeareth by the Types the deliverance of the Children of Israel out of Egypt and Babylon which figured our restauration by Christ. Now God would not deliver his people out of Egypt till they sighed and groaned out of the anguish of their Spirits for their cruel bondage Exod. 3.7 I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their sorrows So God delivered them not out of their Captivity of Babylon till they were sensible of their being ready to perish under it Ezek. 37.11 Behold they say our Bones are dried and our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts Now the great truth figured hereby is our perishing condition under the captivity of Sin before the Spirit of Life entereth into us 4. By experience it appeareth that Christ is not valued nor his Grace so highly prized till Men have a sensible awakening knowledge of their own misery and lost estate by reason of sin When sin is sin indeed then grace is grace indeed and Christ is Christ indeed if Men have a superficial sense of sin they have a superficial Faith in Christ. The slight person doth the work of an Age in a breath We are all sinners but God is merciful Christ died for sinners and there is an end both of their Law and Gospel Work If Men have a Doctrinal and Speculative knowledge of sin they have also a
Faith standeth us in most stead Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Then by the one we are freed from the guilt of Sin and so have deliverance from Eternal Death By the other we have not only right but entrance into Eternal Glory What is our whole scope but to be absolved by Christ at last and enter into Eternal Life Finally these two are to be regarded to obviate their mistake who think indeed that Faith and it may be Repentance is necessary to pardon or to dissolve our Obligation to Punishment but not new Obedience But in their place all the Conditions are necessary They think new Obedience is necessary to Salvation or Eternal Life but not to Justification But Salvation is as gracious an Act of Mercy as free and undeserved a Gift as Pardon Rom. 6.23 The wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Eternal Life is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wages but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gift of God It is as much merited by Christ as the other and therefore as proper a part yea the chief part of the Hope of Righteousness by Faith and that which is only waited for and not injoyed III. What is the work of the Spirit in this business in urging Believers to wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith I Answer the work of the Spirit doth either concern the Duties of the new Covenant or the Priviledges of the new Covenant or what is common to them both I begin with the latter 1. What is common to them both He doth convince us of the Truth of the Gospel both of means and end that there is such an Hope and the Righteousness of Faith is the only way to obtain it Now this he doth Externally and Internally 1. Externally and by way of Objective Evidence All the certainty that we have of the Gospel is by the Spirit Acts 5.32 We are Witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Ghost which he hath given to them that obey him And Iohn 15. 26 27. When the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning Mark in both these places the two solemn Witnesses are the Spirit and the Apostles the one Principal the other Ministerial the one declaring Doctrine and Matter of Fact the other assuring the World of the Truth of their Testimony The Apostles testified of Christs sayings and doings and the Holy Ghost which came down upon them and the rest that consorted with them and was given in some measure to those that obeyed their Doctrine was an undoubted Evidence that God owned it from Heaven Here was enough to open mens Eyes and to give them a right understanding of his Person and Doctrine that it was of God The Visible Gifts of the Holy Ghost and his powerful working in the Hearts of men in order to their Conversion unto God These admirable Gifts and Graces shed abroad upon men were a Notable Conviction to the World that Christ was a Teacher sent from God to teach men the way to Eternal Life and Happiness This did afford sufficient matter of Confirmation and Conviction by the Spirit shed abroad and poured forth on the Christian Church 2. Internally inlightning their Minds and inclining their Hearts to imbrace the Truth Which maketh the former Testimony effectual So the Apostle prayeth Eph. 1.17 For the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ the eyes of their understanding being inlightned that they might know what is the hope of his Calling and the Riches of the Glory of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light To the sight of any thing these things are necessary an Object a Medium a Faculty As in outward sight an Object that may be seen a convenient light to represent it and make the Object perspicuous An Organ or Faculty of seeing in the Eye Unless there be an Object you bid a man see nothing Unless there be a Medium a due light to represent it as in a fog or at Midnight the sharpest sight can see nothing Unless there be a Faculty neither the Object nor Medium will avail a Blind-man cannot see any thing at Noon-day Now here is an Object the way of Salvation by Christ A convenient light it is represented in the Gospel And the Faculty is prepared for the Eyes of the Mind are opened by the Spirit that we may see both Way and End the necessity of Holiness and the reality of future Glory and Blessedness Alas without this sight we busie our selves about Vanities and Childish Toys and never Mind the things which are most necessary certainly we can have no saving understanding of Spiritual Truths neither what is the Benefit of Christianity or the blessed Condition of Gods People Nor what are the Duties of Christianity so as our Hearts may be held to them or how we may behave our selves as true Believers 2. The Work of the Spirit as to the Duties of the new Covenant He doth not only convince us of the Reality and the Necessity of Christs Obedience and our Holiness but by his Powerful Operation frameth and inclineth our Hearts to the Duties required of us Faith it self is wrought in us by this Holy Spirit for it is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 And so is Repentance and Obedience Heb. 8.10 I will write my Laws upon their Hearts and put them into their Minds Moses his Law was written on Tables of Stone as a Rule without them but Christs Law on the Heart and Mind as drawing and inclining them to obey it The Renewing Grace of the Spirit of God doth prepare us and fit us and his exciting Grace doth quicken us that we may do what is pleasing in his sight And therefore if we profess to live under the new Covenant we are inexcusable if we do not bestir our selves and accomplish the work of Faith with Power and obey from the Heart the Doctrine delivered to us Indeed the Spirit doth most naturally put us upon spiritual Worship and spiritual Holiness these things agree most with his Being and Nature The observances of the Law were carnal yet as long as Gods command continued the Spirit inclined to Obedience to them But a better Law being enacted by Christ the Spirit that proceedeth from the Father and the Son suiteth his Operations accordingly For he cometh into us as Christs Spirit He shall take of mine and glorifie me John 16.14 All that he doth accordeth with Christ as Christs Will doth with the Father 3. The work of the Spirit as to the priviledges of the New Covenant which are pardon and life 1. As to Pardon he is the Comforter He cometh
have preached unto you let him be accursed 3. Extraordinary means will do no good where ordinary prevail not But man is never satisfied with the present Dispensation Psal. 78.22 23. But they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation tho' he had commanded the Clouds from above and opened the doors of Heaven Whatever means â—od useth man is man still There were Carnal Wretches when there were Miracles and so there will be still when the Heart is out of order bare means will not set it in frame 4. Though we live not in the Age of Miracles and Oracles yet if we have valuable Testimony of them it is enough to beget Faith Psal. 78.5 6 7. He commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children That the Generation to come might know them even the Cildren that should be born who should arise and declare them to their Children That they might set their hope in God It were endless to attest former Miracles with a new supportation of Miracles report is enough to convey them to us and if we cannot contradict them why do we not believe Use I. To check the dream of the Efficacy of extraordinary means above the ordinary which God seeth fit to give us Our Lord impersonateth our thoughts Luke 16.30 31. If one went unto them from the Dead they would repent And he said unto them They have Moses and the Prophets if they hear not them neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the Dead We think the Word is an Antiquated State Dispensation that hath lost all its force If God would assure us and invite us to Faith and Repentance some other way it would be more successful as if one came from the other World or an extraordinary Messenger from Heaven or Hell Let us argue the Case It must be either because he is supposed to bring a more necessary Doctrine to work men to Faith and Repentance or can urge better Arguments or with more Perswasiveness or propound these Truths with more Certainty or convey a Power greater than is ordinarily dispensed by the Word It must be one of these four things but neither the one nor the other can be 1. Not a Doctrine more necessary to convince men of their Misery and Remedy Sin and Duty The Son of God is a sufficient Teacher of all Divine things for he lay in the Bosom of God John 1.18 And he came on purpose to reveal what was necessary to mans Salvation 2. Not better Arguments to enforce it What would we have an hotter Hell or a better Heaven More direful Threatnings or sweeter Promises Or more powerful Motives Surely nothing can be added What is beyond Eternal Misery or Eternal Happiness 3. Not propound these things with more Certainty For these things are offered to our understandings by a full and fair Credibility Christ being fore-described by Prophesies Authorized by Miracles mightily declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the Dead requiring nothing of us but what is suited to Gods Nature and our Necessity What certainty would a Spectre or Ghost or an Angel or Apparition give above this 4. Nor convey a greater Power and Force to affect the Heart of man What is of greater Efficacy than the Spirit of God Surely he is able to change the Heart of man when nothing else can Now the Gospel is the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 See these Heads more inlarged in the Sermon on Luke 16.30 31. Use II. If God hath so settled the way of Salvation in the new Covenant as to leave no cause or occasion of Doubting or suspecting of the Truth or Certainty of these Blessings he hath promised to us then we should not live in Jealousies and Doubtfulness as if we were not upon sure Terms with God If we transact with another about certain Benefits the Transaction may prove to no purpose if the matter about which we contract with them hath no being or the Terms be impossible or the conveyance be not so firm and strong as to hold good in Law Now none of these can be imagined in our entring into Covenant with God For 1. Eternal Life is not a Chimera or a thing that hath no being Then you might run uncertainly 1 Cor. 9.26 If it were a Dream or a well devised Fable No it is the greatest reality that can be thought of Iohn 14.2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you Christ would not flatter us into a Fools Paradice 2. It is not upon impossible Terms but such as are performable by the Grace of God as Faith Eph. 2.8 For by Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of yourselves it is the Gift of God And the Apostle telleth us Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed Consider the Conditions that concern either the making or keeping Covenant The Conditions for making Covenant Ier. 24.7 I will give them an Heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole Heart And Ezek. 36.26 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 Then for keeping Covenant for this is a Covenant that keepeth us as well as we keep it Ier. 32.40 41. I will make an Everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their Hearts that they shall not depart from me Yea I will rejoice over them to do them good and I will plant them in this Land assuredly with my whole Heart and with my whole Soul So there is a Promise of Influences to prevent danger of discovenanting Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them 3. If the conveyance be not so strong and firm to make a Plea in Law but this is conveyed by Gods Word and confirmed by his Oath Heb. 6.17 18. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong Consolation It is assured to us by his own Son Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom and sealed to us by Christs Spirit 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts Therefore the conveyance will bear a Plea both now in Prayer and before the Tribunal of God If there be
Spirits to all the other parts so what we receive from God as good Stewards we should dispense it again and so propagate the Knowledge of God in the World which is better than Gold and fine Silver 3. It is a great comfort and quickening to confer together of holy things Rom. 1.12 That I may be comforted together with you by the mutual Faith both of you and me It is a far sweeter thing to talk of the Word of God and spiritual and heavenly things than to imploy our Tongues in vain and foolish Mirth or discoursing about mere worldly Matters Should any thing be more delightful to a Christian than God and Christ and Heaven and the Promises of the World to come and the Way thither And therefore surely we should take all meet occasions to confer of these things Certainly our relish and appetite is mightily depraved to judge our selves as in a Prison when we are in good Company who remember God And when they invite you to remember him with them will you frown upon the Motion because it is some check and interruption to Carnal Vanity Had you rather hear the Ravens croak or the Nightingale sing The grunting of a Swine or the melody of an Instrument Such a a difference there is between vain and worldly talk and heavenly discourse 4. The well-ordering of our Words is a great point of Christianity and argueth a good degree of Grace He that bridleth his Tongue is a perfect Man Jam. 3.2 If any Man offend not in words the same is a perfect Man and able also to bridle the whole Body And Solomon saith Prov. 18.21 That Death and Life are in the power of the Tongue Upon the good or ill use of it a Man's safety doth depend not only Temporal safety but Eternal And a greater than Solomon tells us Matth. 12.37 By thy Words shalt thou be justified and by thy Words shalt thou be condemned Therefore it concerneth us to look to our Discourses as well as our Actions Solomon often describeth the Righteous by his good Tongue Prov. 10.31 The Mouth of the Iust bringeth forth Wisdom Prov. 12.8 The Tongue of the Wise is Health The first Use is to inform us 1. What an Happineâ—s it is to converse with just and renewed Men Their Tongue is as choice Silver You are inriched by converse with them with such Treasures as if you were well in your Wits you would prefer above fine Gold and choice Silver And so sheweth what Teachers you should live under and what Families you should put your selves into if you be at your own disposal and what Company you should chuse You should go into the Mines those places where the Vein of choice Silver is to be had 2. That it is not enough to avoid evil Communication but our Speech must be ordered by Grace to the benefit of others Besides vain babling there are two defects Some are dumb and tongue-tyed in holy Things they can speak liberally of any Subject that occurreth but are dumb in Spiritual Matters which concern Edification Men shew so little Grace in their Conferences because they have so little Grace in their Hearts Many carry it as if they were â—shamed to speak of God or had nothing to say of him or for him You are not bound always to speak of Religious Things but sometimes you are bound now when do you interpose a word for God in a serious and affectionate manner Others jangle about disputable Opinions and all their talk is Controversie as if the plain and uncontroverted Points were not worth the owning yet in these the life and power of Godliness consisteth this is like leaving Bread and gnawing upon a a Stone In Nature necessary things are obvious so in the Universe of Religion to inculcate on each other the Vital Truths and the most necessary Duties Controversies have their place but the ordinary discourse of Christians should be about the most necessary things 3. To shew us what need there is that we should be just holy and righteouâ— If we would profit others by our discourses two things are necessary that we should be inlightned and mortified 1. That we should be inlightned by the Spirit of Grace If we would teach others the way of God it is necessary that we our selves should be taught of God It cometh warmer and fresher from us when we speak not by hear-say only but Experience as Heart answereth to Heart so the renewed Heart in him that heareth to the renewed Heart in him that speaketh and we shew others what God by his illuminating Grace hath first shewed us Then it savoureth of the Spirit that worketh in both he that is all on fire himself will more easily inkindle others Alas Good Things pass through many like Water through an empty Trunk without feeling they may speak very good things but they do but personate and act a part When God hath bound up our Wounds we do more feeling speak to others Certainly we are apt to speak oftenest of those things which we do most affect when we have a true discerning of the Excellency of holy things our Speeches about them will be more frequent lively and savoury 2. That we be mortified and dead to carnal things for we cannot conceal our Affections whether they are bent to the things of the Flesh or to the things of the Spirit Till the Heart be câ—eansed and we mortifie our sinful Inclinations from whence Thoughts and Words proceed they always obey the Ruling Power A good Man will be known by his discourse so will the Carnal The Froward will speak froward things and the Sensual of what is grateful to the Flesh and the Worldly of what is suitable to their worldly Designs and Knowledge doth not guide us here so much as Inclination for Speech is but the overflow of the Heart The second Use is of Exhortation To press us to imploy our Tongues to the Use of Edifying 1. Let us be much exercised in reading and meditating on the Word of God and get a good stock of sound Scriptural Knowledge Matth. 12.35 A good Man out of the good treasure of the Heart bringeth forth good things Every Man entertaineth his Guests with such Provision as he hath He that taketh Money out of his Pocket if it be stored with Gold or Silver or Brass Farthings as his Stock is so will the Draught appear The Word of God is that which enableth us to edifie our selves and others with holy Conference The more Store the more we have to bring forth upon all Occasions Coll. 3.16 Let the Word of God dwell in you richly in all Wisdom teaching and admonishing one another A plentiful measure of Gospel-Knowledge enableth us to instruct others and direct others There all Wisdom is made plain things revealed which cannot be found elsewhere that which by long search we get in the Writings of Heathens is there made ready to our hands and brought down to the meanest Capacity If the
is in his Heart And those that are either contriving Sin or musing upon Vanity will bewray themselves in their Speeches 6. That familiar Converse with those whose Hearts are nothing worth will little tend to our profit but rather to our hurt For to this end is it spoken by the Holy Ghost to direct us in the choise of our company They that have the Spirit of Grace are most likely in their Discourses to minister Grace to the Hearers and should be most acceptable to those that have the same Spirit and can savour Spiritual things If we are as in a prison when we are in good company who use Gracious Talk 't is none of the best signs Our Souls are grown out of rellish with Spiritual and Heavenly things if such kind of Discourse doth not please us Surely this is the company that is most likely to be most fruitful and profitable to us Prov. 20.15 The lips of knowledge are a precious Iewel But in vain and idle company what can you meet with but vanity and that which is little worth A Trifle not a Jewel Impertinency Levity Folly Immodesty Worldliness Pride is all that you can gather from others and we have too much of this our selves already Depraved Nature needeth no helps to deprave it more but all the means of Cure that can be used Prov. 10.21 The lips of the righteous feed many but fools dye for want of knowledge Surely then it will be our Wisdom to be intimate with those that discourse of Holy things where you may have something of value but nothing but idle Talk is to be expected from them whose Hearts are nothing worth II. The Reasons 1. Because they are not furnished with those Graces which do serve in munimentum ornamentum or emolumentum which may serve to defend their own Souls or be delightful in the eyes of God or make them profitable to others and those are Faith Hope and Love They never felt the quickning virtue of Faith nor were wrought by it to the true love of God and an Holy and Heavenly Mind Those that were never acquainted with the virtue of Faith and the power of Divine Love and the quickning efficacy of an Heavenly Hope certainly they have base dead poor and unworthy Spirits and can do no eminent thing for God in the World nor for the Salvation of their own Souls I prove it from the use of these Graces they are in munimentum for Defence 1 Thess. 5.8 But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breast-plate of faith and love and for an Helmet the hope of salvation Rom. 13.12 Let us put on the Armor of light Grace is our sure Defence against the Teint of the sensual ignorant and brutish World These have a Spirit that carrieth them to God and Divine and Heavenly things and so are clarified and purified from the dregs of Sense Faith purifieth Acts. 15.9 Purifying their heart by faith Love purifieth 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your Souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren see that ye love one another and Hope purifieth 1 Ioh. 3.3 He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure Again these Graces serve in Ornamentum for Ornament to make us amiable in the sight of God and Men and therefore Holiness is called an Ornament of great price and the righteous are called the excellent ones of the earth Psal. 16.3 Whereas the wicked are called vile persons Psal. 15.4 And Prov. 12.26 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor He hath an Heart which others have not and a Spirit to which they are strangers And it is said of Daniel that he had an excellent Spirit found in him Dan. 6.3 Certainly there is not such a noble Spirit in the World as that of a true Christian. Again they are in emolumentum utilitatem for profit These things are given us to profit others 2 Pet. 1.8 If these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ Iesus our Lord. Now fruitfulness is for the Honour of Christ and the good of others they shall make you a Man can have no Rest or Peace in his Soul till he be useful and fruitful and they cannot satisfie themselves with doing a little good but still they must do more for these Graces do mightily enlarge the heart of a Man that they are not satisfied unless they take all occasions of promoting the Glory of God and the good of Souls Faith working by Love and Hope constraineth them 2. They are byassed with carnal Affections and Inclinations which fill their Minds with vanity or are seasoned with the wisdom of the flesh so that all they speak and do hath a Tang of it therefore their Spirits are slight drossie sensual Take in all the operations of the Soul they study to please the Flesh they value all things by the interests of the Flesh. But because Thoughts are principally intended here as the Fountain of our Speeches I shall only instance in them And 1. I take for granted that the wisdom of the Flesh is that which inclineth and disposeth us to savour and rellish the Pleasures Honours and Profits of the World These are the three baits 1 Iohn 2.16 All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life And the wisdom of the flesh suiteth with them Iam. 3.15 This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sâ—nsual devilish 2. The operations of our Minds are either 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discourses and Reasonings 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musings and Imaginations or 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contrivances and Devises and the Hearts of carnal and unsanctified Men are wholly taken up about these things 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Debates and Discourses of their minds are of no value and tend to no serious and profitable use Certainly Mens Affections have an influence upon their Opinions and their Opinions have an influence upon their Thoughts Therefore those who make the flesh their principle rule and end they have in their hearts many corrupt Principles and Opinions about the things of God and against the being of God Psal. 14.1 The fool hath said in his heart there is no God that it is folly to deny present advantages for a future and unseen Happiness 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him That there is no profit in serving of God Iob 21.15 What is the Almighty that we should serve him Or what profit shall we have if we pray to him That the ways of God are grievous and unequal Ezek. 18.25 Yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal That they shall do well enough Deut. 29.19 And it come to pass when he hears the words of this
how miserable a thing it is to have a drossy unsanctified Heart even though your Life should be never so blameless Now the Spirit of God calleth upon us to shew our selves Men Isa. 46.8 Remember this and shew your selves men bring it again to mind O ye transgressors And if you will never sit alone and commune with your selves about these weighty Matters your Condemnation is just Motives to quicken us how much it concerneth you to get your Hearts sanctified 1. Because of the two great Competitors God and Satan how earnest they are for the Heart It is God's Choice Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart This is that which God craveth and every good Man should say Lord I give it unto thee It pleaseth God to hide our Hearts from one anothers knowledge but he seeth them whether they be kept in a right frame yea or no. Men are incompetent Judges of the Heart therefore they look to the outward appearance but God's Eye is upon the Heart 1 Sam. 16.7 Man looketh unto the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart Psal. 41.6 Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom If we have a wise and understanding Heart a choice and excellent Spirit On the other side it is that which Satan striveth for most the greatest Contest between God and Satan is who shall have the Heart of Man As Acts 5.3 Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost So Luke 22.3 Then entred Satan into Iudas Then he gets into the Man when he gets into the Heart Iohn 13.2 The Devil having now put into the heart of Iudas to betray him This is the Castle the Enemy would surprize he maintaineth his Interest there by vain and sinful Thoughts 2. The importance of the Heart as to our Speeches and Actions it is Fons Actionum ad extra the Fountain of all our outward Actions we bring every thing out of the Heart Matth. 12.35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things The Tongue Eyes Hands and Feet are but Instruments to execute the motions of the Heart The Prophet cast Salt into the Spring to cure the brackishness of the Water 2 Kings 22.21 And it is Terminus actionum ad intra the principle of our internal Actions Rom. 6.17 Ye have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered you Means 1. Earnest Prayer to God Psal. 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me God beginneth to us that we may imitate him Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always Psal. 86.11 Unite my heart to fear thy name The Heart naturally is scattered to vain Objects 2. Treasuring up the Counsels of the Word Psal. 119.11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee Prov. 6.20 21 22. My son keep thy fathers commandments and forsake not the law of thy mother Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee 3. Serious Caution that bad Principles be not rooted in us Heb. 3.12 Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God 4. Watching against vain Pleasures which render it brutish sottish frothy and stupid Hosea 4.11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart The generosity bravery and spriteliness of the Heart 5. If gotten keep it Prov. 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence Our first business is to get an Heart worth the keeping a vain Heart is better thrown away than kept When the Heart is renewed and changed keep it pure and loyal to God First get out Sin then keep it out We keep it by a constant watchfulness over the Senses Iob 31.1 I made a Covenant with my eyes why then should I look upon a maid Over the Thoughts Prov. 15.26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. Over the Affections and Passions Gal. 5.24 They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts 6. Increase it to a Choice an excellent Spirit 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind A Sermon on Acts x. 34 35. Then Peter opened his mouth and said Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him THese Words are Peter's reply to Cornelius who sent for him to hear the Gospel from his mouth For the entertaining of this Message both Peter and Cornelius were aforehand prepared severally by God Peter by a Vision Cornelius by an Oracle So much ado was needful to gather in the first Fruits of the Gentiles In the Words take notice of two Things 1. Peter's acknowledgment of his former Mistake Vers. 34. 2. His assertion of the positive Truth which he learned by this Providence Vers. 35. First In the acknowledgment of his former Error you may observe three things 1. The Preface or Introduction Then Peter opened his mouth and said Prophane Spirits cavil at this Expression as needless For how could he speak say they without opening his mouth But they mind not that it is an Hebraism frequently used in Scripture concerning them that are about to speak any thing weighty upon mature deliberation As of our Lord Christ it is said Matth. 5.2 He opened his mouth and taught them saying So Psal. 78.2 I will open my mouth in a parable Prov. 8.2 I will speak of excellent things the opening of my mouth shall be right things To open the Mouth is to speak considerately prudently confidently Would to God that those that scoff at these things would never open their Mouths to worse purpose 2. The means of his Conviction Of a truth I perceive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Phrase is used of those that are apparently convinced and perswaded to change their Opinion The Latines would express it A vero vinci to be overcome by the Truth it self Peter once thought that it was unlawful for a Man that is a Jew to keep company with or go to one that is of another Nation as he himself expresseth it Vers. 28. But being prepared by his Vision and now convinced by the Words of Cornelius he perceived the contrary 3. The Error That God was a Respecter of Persons or had so confined his Respect to the Jewish Nation that
the same Covenant It is a common Charter Acts 2.39 For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off even to as many as the Lord our God shall call 3. They have the same Redeemer 1 Cor. 1.2 Iesus Christ both theirs and ours Rich and Poor gave the same Ransom Exod. 30.15 Half a shekel One has not a more worthy Christ than another Rom. 3.22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference 4. The Faith of the one is as acceptable to God as the other 2 Pet. 1.1 Simon Peter a servant and an Apostle of Iesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our saviour Iesus Christ. The same for kind though not for degree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A jewel held by a Child's hand is a Jewel as well as that held by a Man's Well then the Expressions of God's love to his People of old have their use for the establishment of our Comfort and Hope Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 4.23 It was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also As Judgments on the Wicked are for our Admonition 1 Cor. 10.6 These things were our examples So Promises are for our Consolation The Word is not only an History but a Book of Precedents As a Painter hangeth forth his Master-Pieces to draw Custom so here God's kindnesses to his People are advantageous to us only let us take heed that we have the same Spirit 2. I observe that it is a capacious Promise applicable to several purposes To Ioshua to imbolden him against Dangers To Iacob to make him patient under Crosses To Salomon to quicken him against coldness in God's Service To Israel to hearten them against Enemies To all Believers to support them under Family-wants and Straights One Promise hath several Uses it is good for Wants good for Wars This one Promise well observed will teach us to live well and dye well for still God is with us To live without carking for then God is with us and to dye without discomfort for then we are with God If one Promise yield so much Comfort what will all It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common Remedy for every Disease As the Scripture saith in another case Mark well her Bulworks tell her Towers There is no Case to which God hath not spoken no Blessing but it is adopted into the Covenant 3. I observe that it is a Promise emphatically delivered 1. For the Matter I will not leave thee nor forsake thee That is I will be so far from forsaking or casting thee off that I will not so much as leave thee for a time It is such another as that Psal. 121.4 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep There is no time that his People are left to shift for themselves but they are under the Care of his Providence continually 2. For the Form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will not not leave thee neither not not forsake thee Five Negatives He will not yea he will not surely he will not forsake his Servants or neglect them and withdraw his Presence and Providence from them 3 For the Duplication I will not leave thee nor forsake thee Ioseph told Pharaoh the Dream was doubled because it was established by God Gen. 41.32 All this is to shew how dull and stupid we are in conceiving of God's Promises O ye fools and slow of heart to believe Luke 24.21 We are backward to every thing but especially to Faith or dependance on God for something that lyeth not in our own power Before we are serious and put to tryal nothing seemeth more easie than dependance upon God but when it cometh to the push it is evinced Now it is God's condescention that he will press these things again and again that we may not lose the comfort of the Promise The Expression is universal to awaken our attention to engage our Hearts to believe that he will not forsake us in our streights 4. I observe that it is a promise that every one must particularly apply to his own case God doth not say I will not leave you nor forsake you as speaking to his People collectively but distributively thee And that not only to Ioshua but to Israel Deut. 31.6 8. Be strong and of a good courage fear not nor be afraid of them for the Lord thy God he it is that doth go with thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee As in the Decalogue that every one might look upon himself as concerned God speaketh in the singular number to every individual Person Thou shalt have no other Gods So here Thou as if spoken to by name Thou Peter Andrew Thomas I will not forsake thee Oh that we had this Spirit of Application and could read our Names in Christ's Testament Omnis operatio fit per contactum the closer the touch upon our Hearts the greater the Efficacy Break out your own Portion of the Bread of Life Iob 5.27 Loe this we have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy good Christian how many Promises dost thou know for thy good Canst thou say Here is my Portion blessed be God for this comfortable Promise to me Doctr. That God never utterly forsaketh or leaveth his People destitute to utter and insupportable Difficulties Why 1. The tenderness of his Love will not permit it Isa. 49.15 Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee There is no such Affection as God hath to his Children The Mother if she leave her sucking Child she doth not utterly forsake him but runneth to the cry So will God he is unchangable Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not He is immutable in his Grace and constant in his Promise as well as his Being He needs no after-thoughts his purpose of Love stands firm he willeth a Change but changeth not his Will Though he uses various contrary Means yet his Love altereth not as our Condition altereth We are full of Inconstancy but not he Death doth not make void Christ's Interest nor cause his Affection to cease when we are rotting in the Grave Where God has once fixed his Dwelling-place he will never leave it again Psal. 37.28 The Lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints By Judgment is meant Righteousness or Holiness the Rule for conformity to the Rule that is the Ground His Truth is plighted in his Promises God hath ever stood upon his Credit especially when his Promise hath drawn forth the faith of his People Psal. 111.5 God will ever be mindful of