can you produce as fruits of your Election and first fruits of your Salvation When you passed through the new birth what were your pangs How were your throws 3. Sleep takes away sense and feeling The man that is lockt up in sleep as he hears not when you call him not seeth you though you stand before him so he feels not though you jog him by the elbow And therefore God to increase his Saints graces keeps their feeling awake and lively their sense of sin is still fresh in them upon their Consciences God keeps open their wounds of godly sorrow that they bleed afresh upon every good occasion they feel their wants and spiritual defects their spiritual poverty they feel how little they grow in grace they feel how weak their spiritual life is how feeble their strength how faint their faith how languid their Communion with God how cold their affections are to Christ and are therefore very sedulous to supply what is lacking to their graces and to be found in an acceptable state at their Lords coming 1. They feel the knocks of the spirit and are ready to open unto and receive him 2. They feel Gods retreat and absence from their souls 3. They feel when they work by the spirit or by their own strength When they pray in the spirit or by their own gifts and parts 12thly God increaseth his Saints graces by their exercise of their graces Herein do I exercise my self saith Paul to Act. 24. 16. have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man Paul by exercising a pure Conscience kept a pure Conscience so must every Saint that would be skilful at his weapons be training and exercising himself in his postures 1. There 's no grace the Christian hath but the Lord calls for its daily exercise Pray but how continually Continue in Col. 4. 2. prayer Rejoyce But when Alway Rejoyce in the Lord alway Phil. 4. 4. Give thanks for what In every thing 2. What makes garments breed moths but lying in the 1 Thes 5. 18. Chest or Coffer And Iron to rust and the stone to gather Moss but to lye still What makes water in a pond to gather Mud but because 't is standing water 3. This makes God to exercise our graces It may be YOV will not exercise grace your selves and therefore God steps in and doth it for you he provides service and work for your graces And truly though when God comes to exercise your graces it is sharp for the time and tedious yet it is gainful to you and very advantageous Graces do never increase and thrive so much as when God himself doth exercise them and find employment for them Oh ye Saints God seeth your graces would decline and go behind-hand in you did he not cut out work for them He brings thee into a Labyrinth of straits to exercise thy Faith In thy prosperity and fulness Faith in God is laid aside as useless and thou relyest upon thine own props and therefore God plungeth thee into straits that thou mayst exercise thy Faith on him He loads thee with reproaches to exercise thy humility he encounters thee with the other affliction to exercise thy patience Poor occurrences and trifles not worth the naming that meet thee every day in thy way these distemper thee and make thee peevish and then God sends some weighty load of affliction on thee to exercise thy humility and patience to purpose saith he I will make thee cry out for something Oh ye secure Saints that have laid down your Watch and are grown remiss in your walkings I do assure you God hath some sharp scourges and severities to exercise you with There are some of you whom I know God hath a sharp scourge for 4. Exercise of grace keeps Satan out of us at a distance from us from being able to close in with us What keeps an Enemy from coming in to a man but by acting his weapon and holding him still at the swords point What is it that keeps an Army at distance but the playing of the Ordinance else they would come up to the City and scale the walls So my Beloved 'T is the exercise of your graces that stand between Satan and your graces The exercise of Divine Meditation keeps Satan out of your Thoughts and Meditations 5. Either exercise thy grace or Satan will act thy corruption As one Bucket goeth down the other riseth There is a principle of sin within which like a malignant party watcheth for such a time to step into the saddle and it is easier to keep it down than to pull it down 13. God keeps up and improves the graces of his people by giving them discontents in the creature he affords them no ease nor rest in any condition The Lord crosseth them of what they look for in this world They desire such and such a comfort and if they might have it oh they promise themselves much happiness and rest in it Will ye see now how the Lord deals with them if they belong to him Either he flatly denieth them the comfort they desire they shall not have it or else he gives it them but with an hundred crosses and discontents with it He imbitters the happiness and sweetness they promised themselves in it and then they cry out Now we see that all is vanity and vexation See ye it not by experience That what outward comfort a Saint delights in most in that God crosseth him most When they sit down to feed upon and enjoy it the Lord mingleth some tart sauce or other with it that their expectation is broken and find it not what they promised it would be to them like Beer it hath a tang with it something that doth displease them with it Thus I say doth the Lord deal with his Saints that belong to him their dearest comfort he pours some or other unpleasing ingredient into it they shall not have their full pleasure in it that he may wean them from it to himself Saints if God hath a mind to save you he 'l let nothing go away with your love from him and therefore he will put into every worldly comfort some correctives to abate your delight in it and that you may not take up your rest in it If such an outward comfort be sweet it shall be a sweet-bryar to thee and scratch thee If another comfort be a Rose to thee which thou delightest to smell at it shall be a Rose with prickles to thee God will make it so that thy heart may be indifferent to it I say thou shalt have discontent in every thing in every comfort thou enjoyest in every kind of life thou livest the single state and the married state shall have their thorns and burdens If thou hast an Husband or a Wife thou shalt have them with prickles thou shalt have riches and wealth with adhering crosses and vexations thou shalt have credit with envy and biting emulations thou
of life or spirit of lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 7. and man became a living soul So when thou lyest dead before the Lord without any life or breath of Prayer in thee thou canst not so much as breathe before him he 'l breathe a Soul of Prayer into thee he 'l put breath into thee as he did into Acts 9. 11. Saul Behold he prayeth saith God 2. Sometimes a man sends a gift to one that never asked him for it so doth God sometimes send his gifts of grace to them that never ask for it he gives them before they ask it Opposers and Persecutors are said to be the greatest Sinners yet saith Christ upon the Cross Father forgive them they know not what they do he spake it of those that put him to Death Some might have said Lord they are opposers of thee even to the Death be it so saith Christ I have mercy for opposers too and for persecutors too Father forgive them they know not what they do But Lord they do not beg for pardon wilt thou give such a kindness to them that ask not for it They do not acknowledg their fault if thou wilt shew mercy to them stay till they acknowledg their fault and be humbled and ask pardon nay saith Christ I will prevent poor sinners with my love Though they do not ask forgiveness yet I beg forgiveness Father forgive them But Lord these are great sinners and less mercy would serve the turn forgiveness is a great mercy no saith Christ no mercy less than forgiveness will serve the turn they 'l be never the better for any mercy without forgiveness therefore they shall have it Father forgive them but forgiveness is a great mercy be it so saith Christ I know what I do I have great mercy the greatest mercy for the greatest sinners and because they cannot ask it I will ask it for them Father forgive them Vse 6. Wo to you Professors that have not true grace from Matth 13. 12. Luk. 8. 18. them shall be taken away even that which they have Luke saith From them shall be taken that which they seem to have For if we speak of true grace they have not grace only seem to have it They seem to be holy and their seeming holiness shall be taken from them They seem to believe and their seeming Faith shall be taken from them They seem to repent and their seeming Repentance shall be taken from them They Matth. 13. 20. seem to joy in Christ and in Mercy and the Promises but their seeming joy shall be taken from them The spirit doth but assume them he doth not inform them nor enliven them As the dead bodies which Angels assume for a time they seem to live and talk and eat and drink but when the Angel leaves them because they were not the Angels proper bodies they vanish away and lose that life they did seem to have So the Spirit of God doth assume and act the souls of many men in the Church for a time to do service for God by them and all that while they pray and preach and hear and walk up and down in Duty out of one Duty into another and the Spirit leaves them because he did but assume them and then they drop down dead as indeed they are and always were Thus the Spirit did assume Judas for a time Judas was but a dead man in soul all the time he was with Christ only the Spirit of God assumed him and acted him and he followed Christ and went about Preaching the Gospel with the other Disciples but when the Spirit left him he betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver that was his proper work and despaired and dyed Vse 7. This should put the Saints upon a serious Tryal of their graces The Point tells you that where there are beginnings of true grace God will make rich Additions of more grace Oh then try what grace yours is if it be true grace God will give more grace As the Apostle saith He that hath begun a good work in you will perfect it If it be a good work God will perfect it he will cherish his own work Sirs God will not nurse up a spurious seed Bastard grace whereof he is not the Father Oh! then all you that would taste comfort from this Point try your graces The Evangelical Hypocrite is he I aim at There is Gospel-Hypocrisie so I call it for where the Gospel comes there are two sorts of Persons that walk beside it 1. Some directly oppose the Doctrine of it and those are Justitiaries that set up their own Righteousness as the Jews Rom. 9. 31 32. did And therefore it is said That Christ came to his own and his John 1. 11. own received him not And such are the Papists at this day who are justly by our Divines said to answer to the Jewish Pharisees These are Christian Pharisees they receive Christ in Name but set up their own Righteousness and will be justified by their own Works and saved by their own Merits 2. Others there are that receive the Gospel and so decry all their own Righteousness and cry up Christ they see nothing in themselves and look for all from Christ renouncing their own Righteousness and resting upon Christ alone for salvation These are of divers sorts 1. Some receive Christ with an Historical lifeless Faith they believe in Christ but will not part with their sins they gladly embrace Christ as a Saviour but oppose Holiness and will not change their lives and because Christ came into the World to save sinners they take liberty to sin and hope to be saved as well as any These are those we call our large Protestants who are as great Enemies to Christ as Papists are The Papists persecute the true Christians in the Point of Doctrine and these Enemies within us persecute the true Christians in Point of Holiness The Papists they will be saved by works without Faith these will be saved by Faith without works These are spots in our feasts The Epistles of James and John were written as Antidotes against this kind of poyson And Jude writes against these men ungodly men turning the Vers 4. grace of God into lasciviousness Arguing from mercy to liberty which is the Divils Logick Continuing in sin that grace may abound And my Beloved in this lyeth the very form of an Evangelical Hypocrite in denying his own Righteousness to establish his sin he will advance Christ to advance his lust Dub. But how can open sinners keep their lusts live in visible prophaneness and yet believe in Christ Sol. Because the Gospel brings the sweetest and highest Consolations along with it And therefore every man under sense of sin will fly thither for Sanctuary and hide himself under the Canopy of the Gospels mercy A man that travels under the fiery Beams of the Sun in an hot day the cool shadow of a Tree is very
his Promises Exod. 7. 17. Is the Lord among us or not In the wilderness of the Children of Israels tempting of God was a doubting of Gods Care and Providence and Power and Wisdom of which they had so many arguments assurances and promises from him In Numb 14. 22. Their tempting of God ten times sprang from their not believing him in all his signs which he had shewed Vers 11. among them and what that unbelief was appears by their words at the 2d verse Would God that we had died in the Vers 13. land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey Thinking that God could not preserve them or else would not go along with but leave them to be devoured by the people of the land as you may see at the 9th verse Now if you ask why sinful men tempt God it is from unbelief sometimes it springs from presumption believing more than God has promised they hope to be saved although they live in sin they are too confident and have too much faith they are over-believing 4. What is it sinfully to tempt and try God You must know as you have heard already that man may tempt God Et in excessu in defectu both in the excess and in defect 1. They tempt God who neglect second causes and use Neglectu licitorum not means which God hath prescribed when thou expectest God alone to help thee or give thee a mercy which thou oughtest to come to by thy own labour and co-operation this is to tempt and try both the Power and the Will of God They that will not labour with their hands but put it upon God to provide for them these tempt the Lord they that will not manage their estates but put it upon God to help them they sin most grievously It is true Gods Providence doth all things yet thy Providence must work with his Providence as a servant under it In Prov. 10. 22. It is said The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and yet at the 14th verse it is said The hand of the diligent maketh rich How stand these two together they are not opposita but subordinata not opposites but subordinate the one to the other Gods blessing makes rich as the principal cause and the diligent hand makes rich as the instrumental cause under Gods blessing there must be a wheel in the middle of a wheel the wheel of diligence in the wheel of Gods blessing there must be a hand in a hand the hand of diligence in the hand of blessing the diligent hand cannot make rich without Gods blessing and Gods blessing will not make rich without a diligent hand So they tempt God that divide the spirit from the Ordinance that look for Revelations and discoveries without Gospel-ordinances that look for grace without the Word that look for light without the candle of the Ministry that neglect Sabbaths neglect Ordinances and sit at home and say God will give them faith Ah ye true Phanaticks for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God the word cannot work grace without the spirit the spirit ordinarily will not work grace without the word So they tempt God that look for God to subdue their sins and they do nothing God must master their lusts and unruly desires but themselves will not strive nor fast nor pray nor deny themselves nor wound their flesh As if an Army should stand in Battalia against the Enemy and not strike one stroke were not this a mad tempting of God and horrid self-murder Up sirs then and your selves fight the good fight of faith against your lusts Victory over sin is a mercy which thou must come to by thy own labour and co-operation 't is God indeed that hews down the strong oaks of our lusts but the Ax wherewith he doth it must be in our hands If ye through the spirit mortifie Rom. 8. 13. the deeds of the body ye shall live So they tempt God that will go in the way of means but not far enough many will pray against sin but not practise against sin as if a sick man should pray for his health but will take no physick for his health or he that hath a dangerous wound should pray to be healed but will apply no plaister they that pray for their children but do not educate them instruct reprove correct them they tempt God in that they do not use all the means for as Solomon saith Foolishness is bound in the heart Prov. 22. 15. of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him They that argue if we are elected we shall be saved though we live as we list and if we are not elected we shall be damned though we live never so holy and endeavour never so carefully these tempt God egregiously for God electing to the end elects also to the means hence that saying Praedestinatio est praeparatio gratiae in praesenti gloriae in futuro Predestination is a preparation of grace for the present and of glory for the future And therefore whereas thou sayst If I am elected I shall be saved though I live as I list the inference is most false for then 1. Conversion and Grace should be commanded in vain and because predestination alone should bring men to heaven which is a foolish conceit I say predestination alone brings no man to Heaven it is but the first link of the chain 2. Election or Predestination carrieth the means to salvation in the Womb of it so that this conditional proposition though Paul continues a blasphemer yet by vertue of his Election he shall be saved is so far from being true that the contrary ought to be inferred if Paul be not converted 't is impossible he should be saved though elected because God who elected Paul to be saved elected him to be saved by conversion not by rebellion by faith not by unbelief And whereas thou sayst if I am not elected do what I can live I never so holy though I should believe and repent I shall be damned by reason of the infallible decree I answer There was never any such decree at all in the Divine Will of damning any man though he believed and changed his life and returned to God I tell thee there was never any such Decree at all in the Divine Will but the contrary which God would have establisht for ever as most sure and certain and promulged abroad to all men That whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life and he that will have the son shall have life Oh comfort unspeakable comfort and therefore come in souls come in and take Christ ye sinners and fear not Reprobation ye shall be saved Sirs let me in short give ye a blessed word fear sin and fear not reprobation if
stands for nothing before God and Christ without the other Spiritual sins are the souls poyson the souls death and there is no carnal sin could reign in us were it not held up by some spiritual sin spiritual sin is the root upon which all carnal sins grow Spiritual sins are the Devils sins he cannot act bodily and fleshly sins he can be no drunkard nor adulterer he is a spirit and sins as a spirit so are those sins we speak of proper to the souls nature that is a spirit as self-love hatred of God Idolatry error in the mind and understanding admiring of our selves seeking our own glory pride unbelief fears cares desires These are spiritual wickednesses by these are we set farthest from God nay by these we become Anti-Gods and are the very pictures of the Devil he cannot be a drunkard or adulterer but he can be proud and envious and malicious and contentious and self-seeking and vain-glorious and in these we play the Devils And therefore I say our Mortification must be inward it must fall upon our inward and spiritual man of sin within us And therefore by Mortification we understand not only corporal austerities such as affect the sense as macerations fastings and other external exercises which rob the sense of what is most agreeable to it which though they be good and sometimes necessary yet are not the principal but we intend I say inward Mortification whereby a man purifies his heart annihilates the sources within drys up the fountains and pulls up the inward roots of vice he dyes to himself kills the seeds of self-love though hid in every thing gets victory over himself and his inclinations his principal care is to annihilate his reason and understanding his will his intentions his desires his propensities as far as they are corrupted chusing in all things that which is most pure And now he becomes most conformable to the spirit and purity of Jesus Christ And therefore to this he wholly addicts himself herein he is very vigilant he knows it generally as a maxim that the more the heart of man is filled with the creatures and the love and regard of himself the more he is separated from God void of his spirit and true virtue 2. To imitate Jesus Christ is not only to do what is good but to do it in the spirit and disposition of Jesus Men will be doing good actions they cannot help it they have so much light and are so inwardly convinced but we must remember that our actions must be so done as to be Christian and worthy the Son of God They must be holy and to be holy they must be accomplish'd in the spirit and by the principle of grace i. e. the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Jesus Our actions to be Christian must be done in the spirit and disposition of Jesus Christ that is Christ must do them in us the spirit of Christ must act them in us we must do all with the very heart of Jesus Christ you know all our good actions are nothing without the heart My son give me thy heart Now the heart from which we do them must be the very heart of Christ in us Thus Paul gives witness of himself God is my Record how greatly I long after you all in Phil. 1. 8. the bowels of Jesus Christ So if you reprove sinners if you tell others their faults if you do works of mercy you must do all in the bowels of Jesus Christ So then it is not enough barely to do what the Son of God hath done we may deceive our selves herein believing we do much when we do nothing of value because Jesus Christ being man as we are and conversing among them no doubt but we may find some conformity and resemblance to him even among the wicked in the common states of men Many suffer and are oppressed many poor and humbled many sequester themselves from the pomp of the Court and live in the obscurity of a retired life many fast and pray and do almost all the outward actions that the Son of God did upon the earth He was man as we are we are men as he was he did good we do some good this is no imitation of him The reason is because it is not enough to do what he did but we must do it with the spirit in the disposition and by the sacred principle that he operates This few persons mind it is not enough to do but we must do it by a principle of grace not of general grace comprised under the common name we give to all the gifts of God but of grace which gives us Christ communicates to us his spirit and puts us into the holy disposition of his soul and doing all things by this principle we imitate the Son of God so far that our natural and common actions are withdrawn from their meanness and are of great account with God as being operated by the same principle and with the same dispositions of the Son of God Herein appears the great difference between Christian virtues and moral or humane A man that hath refined principles and perfections and acts according to them may be called good but a man that is in Christ is a new creature and hath another goodness a new goodness and his actions are conformable to this new Being and life To difference Christian virtues from Moral we must be one with Christ and consequently must not operate but with him for this cause he gives us his spirit whereby we act or he acts in us It follows they are not so much our virtues our graces as these of Jesus in us The spirit and disposition of Jesus Christ in all his services looked upon the Will of God the glory of his Father I seek John 5. 30. John 6. 38. John 8. 49 50. John 7. 18. not mine own will but the will of him that sent me I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me And again I honour my father I seek not mine own glory He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory but he that seeketh his glory that sent him as Christ did the same is true and no unrighteousness is in him You see what Christ aimed at and which way his spirit and disposition looked out in all his actions the will of his Father the glory of his Father and in pursuit of that doth what is most contrary to his own interests conceals nothing though it cost him never so dear to declare it his Fathers honour only sate upon his spirit Now if you would truly and rightly imitate Jesus Christ you must not only be found doing good but you must do it in the spirit and disposition of Jesus Christ Thou must not honour thy self nor seek it from others you must not attend your own advantages somewhat of glory or profit to your selves but labour only the bringing honour to God If we imitate
to profess and acknowledg their Ignorance Non Pudor est Nescire aliquid sed Discere Nolle Et Pudor Scelus est 4. The Saints are very desirous to know the Reason of Christs Actions Why speakest thou unto them in Parables 5. Beginnings of Grace and Knowledg are very earnest after more Good hearts are very Inquisitive and diligent to ask and understand the Mysteries of Heaven Dub. 1. And indeed it is a wonder that Christ who loved souls so dearly and thirsted after their Salvation who was sent into the world by his Father to Vnmask the way to Heaven and who had before Explained the Law and taken the Vizor off from the face of it and convinced the Proud and Preached so home to the heart that he Preacht with Authority He Preached plainly when he said Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand He preached plainly when he said Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven c. and now to cloathe his Sermons with such dark Parables it is a wonder Resp To this the Lord Jesus Answers That he therefore preached in Parables i. e. darkly and obscurely Because he preached in Judgment unto some that were present He preacht that they might not understand him Dub. 2. But why should his Disciples admire that he preached now in Parables seeing it was always his custom to do so And Parables do illustrate and clear things more to the understanding than plain phrases Resp Christ was wont to preach in Parables and therefore that is not the Disciples Query at least not the meaning of it why he did now use Parables for he did ordinarily use them but when he did use them he did Explain them Luk. 15. 4-7 and 16. 1-8 9. But now Christ did preach in Parables and not Explain them as he was wont to do And before we leave this Query of the Disciples Why speakest thou unto them in Parables Observe further First Their Charity Secondly Their Modesty 1. Their Charity and love to the souls of others Why speakest thou to them in Parables They understand thee not they first ask Christ why he spake to them in Parables before they ask him to Explain the Parables to them Obs Good hearts desire the Salvation of others as well as their own aeque though not aequaliter 2. Their Modesty towards Christ They do not question Christ's Doctrine or manner of Teaching in publick but ask him in private to Explain himself When he was alone Mar. 4. 10. and Mat. 13. 36. Obs People ought not to question and move doubts against their Ministers Doctrine in publick but in private lest they should by their importunity create stirs and tumult and give to others occasion of doing any thing unseasonably and out of due time Therefore his Disciples move questions in private We shall now descend to the words of our Text To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance To you The word to you hath Emphasis in it Vobis vestri similibus To you and such as you 1. To you Elect for Christ speaks of the Elect under the Apostles Persons To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Vobis amantibus videlicet Sicientibusque veritatem To you Guilliandi who love and thirst after Truth to you that are godly and gracious the Spirit gives to you not only to hear and see these things but to know them and believe and feel them in your hearts And therefore these are no mysteries to you but Salvation and truth Revealed 'T is given that is it comes to pass 1. Not Casu by chance 2. Nor Necessitate by necessity 3. Nor Natura by nature or natural industry That you know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven But 't is given He discovers the gift and Grace of God For O man What hast thou which thou hast not received Obs The knowledg of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven is a Supernatural gift a gift from above None can understand the mysteries of Heaven but they to whom it is given The gifts of God are two-fold 1. The gifts of Nature 2. The gifts of Grace It was given them by Nature that they could hear or see But it was given them by Grace that they should hear the Gospel and see the Miracles and Face of Jesus Christ but more Grace yet that they could Receive the Gospel and Believe in Christ and know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven It was outward Grace to have the Gospel given them to hear it and Christ given them to see him It was inward Grace to have knowledg to see into the Mysteries of the Gospel and to have Faith to distinguish and apprehend Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory There 's the Gospel of Grace and the Grace of the Gospel To have the Gospel of Grace preached to them and to have Grace to receive the Gospel is a double Grace The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Is a Periphrasis of the Gospel and of those things which lye hid in the Gospel Obs The Gospel is a mystery The Doctrines of the Gospel are mysteries Mysterium significat secretum aliquod quod remotum est ab oculis atque absconditum praecipuè vero in verbis ut cùm aliquid dicitur quod obscurum est intellectu difficile Solemus dicere hoc mysterium est Subest his verbis tectum aliquid abstrusum Mysterium sic enim consuevit appellare Scriptura quae praeter spem praeter humanam fiunt Opinionem Ecce mysterium vobis dico Omnes quidem c. Guilliandus in Loc. 1 Cor. 15. The mysteries of God therefore are Faith and the Gospel concerning Christ nay Christ himself is called a mystery because he is a Spiritual thing and remains hid and covered till the Spirit unvail him For whatever the Gospel preacheth they Mat. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 2. 6 7 8. are remote from sense and reason that the whole world cannot apprehend them till they are Revealed by the Spirit You shall see many preach and many hear that Christ was delivered for us to Redeem us but these words are only in ore in the mouth not in corde in the heart For 1. Neque ipsi suis verbis credunt neither do they themselves believe their own words 2. Neque gratiam hanc aliquatenus sentiunt neither do they feel the Grace of the Gospel But to them it is not given Luke hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark hath Luke 8. 10. Mark 4. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui for is sunt sive exteris To them that are without By which he understands not only them that are strangers all their time from the Kingdom of God as the Gentiles but also all those that have been for a time the children of the
which are wonderful Thy testimonies are wonderful therefore doth my soul Psal 119. 129. keep them There is peace that passeth all understanding joy unspeakable and full of glory There we have the ways of his Wisdom and his dealings with the Saints which are wonderful as Job saith Things too Job 42. 3. wonderful for me which I knew not To bring us to life by death to glory by shame to perfect his work in abasement to bring it low that he may raise after But how may we know these Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. You must use all means you must read and hear and discourse you must study the things of God and converse with the Saints to whom God hath revealed these Mysteries The Ministry of the Word is the golden pipe through which these Divine Mysteries flow down into your Knowledg And then meditate of these things till the heart be warmed fasten your thoughts on them every day It is your Wisdom to spend consideration on them Oh that my people were wise that they would consider their latter end I say it is your wisdom to consider the Excellency of these Mysteries of Religion the Beauty of them in themselves the fruit and sweetness of them in this world and in the world to come An ingredient in the use of means after this Knowledg is that you must search for it The promise of finding Knowledg is only to such as search for Knowledg It is such a precious treasure that it lyeth deep in the bowels of Scripture Thou Prov. 2. 4. shalt find wisdom if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures There are two places two veins especially where wisdom is to be found there is the Book of Gods Word and the Book of Gods Works the Book of Scripture and the Book of Providence In these two Books we are to search and study out the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven The Word reveals them the hand of Providence doth dispense them The Word unfolds them Providence makes all things to further them in the soul And let me tell you One great means to irradiate your Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven is to know that Mystery of sinfulness that is in you and that Mystery of misery that lieth upon you It is not to be conceived as Jeremy saith How deceitful the heart is and how desperately wickea what a depth of corruption lyeth there The cursed and woful state we are in by nature is not to be conceived Man's apprehension is too little to take in all the Dimensions of it to lye under the eternal wrath of God what head can comprehend it VVhat created soul can fathom in her widest thoughts the wrath of an infinite God Who can tell what Hell is And how hot the fire is which Gods Almighty wrath hath kindled to all eternity As eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him so neither hath eye seen nor ear heard nor can the heart of man conceive those depths and treasures of misery that men are in by nature Here we may cry out Oh the depths Therefore the more transparent Knowledg we have of the Mystery of Corruption and of the dreadful misery we are in by sin the more we shall wonder at the unparalell'd goodness of God in the Mystery of our salvation the one will sharpen the appetite of the other Truly Sirs if you are yet in the state of sin consider how little there is between you and eternal Death you are ready to drop into Hell immediately and irrecoverably Did these things sit sadly and seriously upon your spirits how would it advance the Knowledg of the Mysteries of Heaven 2. That you may know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven bring Humility and self-denial Humble reason and make her give place to Faith for the humility we here speak of is a Denial of our own Parts and Wits though they be never so capacious In this case the Intellectus must be rasa tabula I say the understanding must be as a Table scraped all the Writings and Notions of humane Wit and Reason must be scraped out It must be like the Wax that hath no Character that it may receive the Impression of the Seal That which reason should do in supernatural things is to stoop to Faith to believe the things of God upon the sole Authority of God Here it is the greatest reason to yield to Faith In Divine Mysteries Faith is the reason of reason and the highest reason is to yield to God that hath revealed them And therefore Faith stands with the greatest reason that can be for is it not the greatest reason in the world to believe him that is Truth it self Reason it self saith It is the greatest reason to believe God who is the first Truth 3. Wait upon the spirit Give the spirit that Honour to reveal these Mysteries to you For your eyes are blind you have an inward darkness upon you the Gospel takes away the Vail from the things but the spirit takes away the Vail from our souls The Jews had a Vail of types and shadows thrown over the things themselves now I say Our Gospel takes away the Vail from the things but the spirit must take away the Vail from our hearts In Nature there is need of a double light that we may behold Objects 1. A light someness upon the Object it self through the Medium and therefore men cannot see in the night because the air which is the Medium is dark 2. A light besides in the Organ that is the eye and therefore blind men cannot see in the day because though the Sun shines and things may be seen in themselves yet they want a light in the eye So though the former darkness which lay upon the Mysseries of Heaven be taken away those legal shadows and curtains are removed and the Sun of the Gospel shines full upon our faces yet we are blind within there lyeth an inward darkness upon our faculty and the spirit must open our eyes and give us a vital light to joyn with the outward light 4. Send up your prayers to Heaven The holy Vapours of Prayer ascending the spirit comes down in showres upon the soul The earth must send up Vapours before the Clouds can give down rain And therefore Paul prays for the Ephesians That God would give them the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1. 17 18. that the eyes of their understanding being enlightned they might know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints 5. He that would find the knowledg of Divine Mysteries must seek it with a sanctified mind That which enables us to know and understand aright the things of God must be a living principle of Holiness in us As Plotinus saith The eye cannot behold
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a Reprobate mind Vse 8. Try your graces Gifts will not save you see that you have not the gift of Knowledg but the grace of Knowledg not the gift of Prayer but the grace of Prayer See that you have not good parts but parts in Christ as our Lord said Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken Luk. 10. 42. from her No man hath good parts till he hath part in Christ Would you try your graces know then 1. Grace acts inwardly It works upon the heart upon the vitals it works upon the subject it is in as physick works upon Nature so doth grace it works upon the very nature and constitution 2. It acts Divinely it doth all for God and for Divine ends He that hath the gift of Prayer prays for himself that he may shew himself as David said to King Achish Thou shalt 1 Sam. 28. 2. know what thy servant can do But he that hath the grace of Prayer prayeth for God he doth not only pray to God but for God that he may have more of God and less of himself more communion with God less communion with himself he that hath the grace of Prayer prays for grace He that hath the grace of patience suffers Divinely because God will have him suffer as David said concerning Shimei Let him alone saith he for God hath bid him curse David 2 Sam. 16. 10. He that hath the Grace of Obedience obeys Divinely he acts with Divine raptures of love to God and zeal for his Glory 3. It acts universally As the Sun being in the Heavens runs its course over all the World so the soul that is fixed in an Heaven of grace runs its course and motion through all the Commandments As the Apostles being universal pastors were not fixed to any place but went Preaching the Gospel all the world over so those that are universal Saints limit and fix themselves to no Commandment but travel over all the world of Gospel-precepts Vse 9. This speaks admirable comfort to many sorts of men who start up doubts and scruples against themselves and follow the scent of them too far so as to hinder them in the way of believing Dub. 1. Saith a doubting soul I am a poor man and despised in the world and will the Lord reveal his Mysteries of Heaven to me Will the Lord look upon me Sol. And why not upon thee Though the Lord be high yet he looks low He humbleth himself to behold the children of men 1. The Lord will not despise thee in that thou art poor because 't is the condition himself hath put thee in Now the Lord doth never despise his own work he despiseth Satans work and Mans work which is sin but he doth never despise his own work he that made thee poor will not despise thy poverty Thou canst not be worse than a beggar a blind beggar we count a beggar to be in a low condition but a blind beggar that cannot see to work for his living we count him very low and yet Christ gives grace to such Mark 10. 47 He was blind and yet he saw Christ by Faith for as soon as ever he heard it was Jesus He cryed out Jesus thou Son of David i. e. the Messiah have mercy on me Christ Jesus before he came at him sent his spirit to teach him to say Jesus thou Son of David Christ Jesus came by that way on set-purpose to reveal himself to the poor beggar 2. Thy Saviour was poor and therefore no marvel if the poor be saved He that made Christ poor will make the poor Christians 3. To chuse God will reveal his Mysteries to the poor rather than to the rich not that he doth despise riches but because the rich despise him they are proud of their riches and think that God is engaged to save them above others because they are great above others They that are rich in estate are rich in conceit Dub. 2. But I have but an ordinary Trade and will the Lord give grace to me Sol. Why not to thee The Lord had as leif Trade with thee as with any other The Apostles many of them were but Fishermen and yet the Lord Christ caught them in his Net his spirit mov'd upon their Waters and took them out of the depths of sin and revealed the glories of Heaven to them so as to none ever before or after them A Fisherman is as ordinary a Trade as any in the World and yet Christ preferred them above all the World and made them the greatest men in Heaven and Earth for himself sits next the Father and the Apostles next him Dub. 3. But I am a Servant an Apprentice I am an Handmaid whose work is the meanest drudgery in the house and will the Lord reveal to me the Mysteries of Heaven Sol. And why not to thee especially if thou art humble If thy Master trust thee with his Estate and Cash will not God trust thee with his Jewels and Graces God is an humble God and will sit with the servant at the lower end of the Table as well as with the Master at the upper end of the Table Nay with God all are round Tables there 's no upper end he respects not the Master more than the Servant in matters Eph. 6. 9. of grace Thou sayest I am but a servant I sit not down with my Master at Table I wait So doth Free-grace it waits too Thy condition is not so low but Free grace goeth lower God waits to be gracious Isa 30. 18. Dogs are lower than Servants and yet Christ gives grace to Dogs to the Woman of Canaan whom he called a Dog Oh woman great is thy Faith The Children of Israel were but Servants and Bondmen in Egypt and yet God appeared to them not to Pharaoh Thou dost the basest service in the house and they made Brick and yet God appeared to them not to Pharaoh Joseph was but a servant and yet how familiar was God with him It is worth your noting Joseph was a Servant all along A servant to his Brethren they sold him as his Masters into Egypt He was a servant in Potiphar's house and yet God reveals his Presence to him there When his Mistris tempted him saith he How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God A man may be a servant to men and yet not a servant to his lusts and then God appears to thee Joseph when he was cast in the Prison was worse than a servant and yet God was with him there God keeps company with Joseph from service to prison and gives him favour in the Jaylours eyes and he trusts him with all his Prisoners When men have command over their lusts God gives them command over men Dub. 4. But yet saith a soul I am a foolish man an unlearned man and will the Lord reveal his Mysteries to me Sol. And why not to thee The Lord loves to be
and grace for grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. one grace for another The latter for the former for having mentioned the fulness of Christ he saith That not one but many graces are drawn and derived from him not one but many graces the first whereof is the cause of the second the second of the third and the third of the fourth and so along always the latter is given for the former till all the gifts of grace being compleated beatitude it self is at last perfected Not as if more grace were given for the right use of grace for that were to take us off from Christ to our selves whereas 't is the Apostles scope to fix us wholly on Christ but the Condition and Nature of Saving-grace which is such Vt prima Trahat alteram that the first draws the second they are as it were so concatenated as one Ring in a chain draws another and for the former that is given the latter is given that is God because he hath given the one will give the other such is the Order and Method he observes he give grace for grace that is where he finds one grace he gives another and where he finds some he gives more Or Grace for Grace i. e. Gratiam super Gratiam grace upon grace i. e. abundance of grace having scarce received one but presently receive another and after that another which Musculus saith the Hebrews express 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle shews it in Rom. 8. 30. From the fulness of Christ we have received the grace of our Calling and upon our calling the grace of Pardon and Justification here 's grace upon grace and upon our Justification the grace of Adoption and Sanctification here 's grace upon grace and upon our Adoption the grace of Glory and Salvation still grace upon grace as the Apostle expresseth it in Ephes 1. 3 4 c. We shall now give you the Reasons of the Point why it is that where there are beginnings of true grace though never so weak God makes rich additions of more grace And Reas 1. Because grace in a Saint is God's own child the infant grace is the Spirits little babe begot in the Womb of the soul by the Spirit the soul is the Mother of it and the Spirit is the Father of it Now you know a Father is very tender of his young babe he takes it up in his Arms and looks upon it he reads his own Image in it and puts it in his bosom he handles it as gently as ever he can and preserves it from the least harm So when the Infant-grace is born in the soul the Spirit is very tender of his young babe he makes wondrous much of it and is as Preservative of its life as ever he can As you may see in Paul he had been in sore pangs of Travel three days and three nights together and the child Grace was newly born and see what care the Spirit had of it said he to Annanias Arise do not stay saith he but Acts 9. 11. arise and go into the street which is called Straight and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth The child Grace as soon as it was born began to cry and the Spirit presently takes care of it 1. The Spirit when the soul is brought to bed and safely delivered of her Man-child Grace sets the little babe to nurse and provides suck for it and gives it the Breasts of the Ordinances as the Apostle saith And I brethren could not speak 1 Cor. 3. 1 1 Pet. 2. 2. unto you as unto spiritual but as unto babes in Christ I have fed you with milk And in 1 Pet. 2 2. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby A babe when 't is new-born must have milk which is the most nutritive food in the world so must the little new creature when it is born it must have milk and therefore the Spirit provides it for him The Ordinances are the Breasts and the Ministers are the Nurses which give it suck As the Apostle saith We were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth 1 Thes 2. 7. her children 2. The Spirit dades his little child Grace and teacheth it to go As God saith When Israel was a child I loved him Hos 11. 1. Verse 3. and called my son out of Egypt I taught Ephraim also to go taking them by their arms And therefore are we said to be led by the spirit and to walk Rom. 8. 14. in the spirit 3. The Spirit teacheth his little child Grace to speak as a Father you know takes up his little one upon his knee and teacheth him to Articulate words and to call Dad so doth the Holy Spirit teach the child Grace to cry Abba Gal. 4. 6 Father Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Reas 2. Where there are beginnings of true grace God makes rich Additions of more grace because such is the Lords noble Nature that he loves to be giving To give is an Act Dare honestum quid est Recipere utile Dans exercet Actum Monestum Accipere utilem Agit ille hic patitur potius for a Prince rather for a God poor men receive rich men give Subjects receive Princes give Creatures receive the Creator gives The more noble and eminent natures are the more they give and the less they receive The heavenly bodies glance their light and dart their influences upon the Earth below but receive nothing from the Earth To give is an Act of perfection to receive is a note of imperfection were we not imperfect we need not be receiving He that gives imitates God who gives and receives not again because he wants not any thing And therefore it was a saying of Christ It is more blessed to give than to receive Acts 20. 35. It is a part of Gods Beatitude that he is all things and hath all things to give that he can give and not be beholden to receive that he is an overflowing Sea always pouring out his gifts and golden streams upon the Creature When he hath given thee grace he hath more grace still to give And being a God and not man he gives continually to give he makes his continued Act He 'l never cease giving to his Saints not only in this life but in the life to come he will be giving out unto his Saints eternally As the Sun is always giving out its heat and virtue to the World so will God be always giving out his sweetness to his Saints throughout Eternity So that he that hath grace shall have more grace he that hath it in the bud and in the beginning shall have it in the perfection fear not poor creature if thou art always wanting God will be always giving and being a God
greatnotice of her little strength Christ makes much of a little grace As the Father dandles his little child so Jesus Christ dandles a little grace upon the lap of his Commendation Though thy grace be but low yet he hath an high esteem of it 3. God's giving some grace engages him to give more Hath God given thee a little grace His giving thee that little puts an engagement upon him to give thee more one of his gifts bind him to give another When God went about to destroy Sodom saith God Shall I Gen. 18. 17 18. Hide from Abraham that thing which I do seeing I mean to make him a great and mighty nation As though one kindness did bind him to give another with God the bestowing of one favour binds him to add another If God begin to give thee grace he is engaged to go on and give thee more grace not for thy sake but because 't is his own work and therefore if he should not carry it on he should lose what he had begun If God hath pardon'd thee some sins and should not pardon thee all the rest all his former Pardons would be thrown away like precious water spilt upon the ground If God hath begun to give thee some grace he is engaged to give thee more for the sake of the former I say he is engaged to give thee more for the sake of the former and to give thee more yet nay more yet for the sake of that grace that went before As man that ploughs a piece of Land counts himself engaged to sow it and if he sow it he counts himself engaged to fence it and make it thrive because one work is for another the former for the latter plowing is for sowing and sowing is for growing and growing is for reaping and therefore one labour calls for the help of another So when God puts a little grace into thee it is for another to bring on another and that the former grace may not be in vain one gift calls for the help of another 4. A little grace is a pledg of more I say the little grace thou hast is a sure pledg of more as a little piece of money is an earnest of the whole sum God speaking of the effusion of his gifts and graces saith I will pour out my spirit God gives his spirit as freely as he gives rain now you know first it rains small drops and after greater and the small are the signs of the great 5. Jesus Christ makes intercession for a little grace Peter saith Christ I have pray'd that thy faith fail not thou hast but a little faith and I have prayed for thy little faith for thy weak faith that it fail not if any man sin we have an 1 John 2. 2. advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Vse 2. What saith this Principle to Sinners that are without grace Surely Sirs it should much deject you and make you smite upon your hearts When Christ saith It is given to you to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it is not given should it not make those tremble that have not the gift that have not this special gift To know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven When our Lord saith To him that hath shall be given should it not shake the heart of the man that hath not so much as the first gift of grace yet bestowed upon him Sinner thou hast not so much as the Foundation the first stone of the building yet laid in thee Lord what a sad case am I in whilst thou art promising the addition of grace to others thou hast not planted so much as the beginnings of grace in me 1. While the saving-work in others is going on it is not yet begun in thee While others are upon their growth thou art not yet born I say not born again Sinner thou hast not yet so much as the first preparation of Heaven in thee while others are upon their Progress thou art not as yet in the Race while others are running to the Gole thou lyest dead while others are raised and enlivened thou hast not yet set out toward Heaven while others are a great way upon their Journey to Glory thou art left sleeping in Sodom till the sparks of fire and brimstone fall down from Heaven and fly about thine ears while the Lots are carried out by the Angel of the Lord Oh Sirs see your misery 2. Sinners you are ugly and mis-shapen Creatures without grace you want the Image of God upon you Holiness is our comeliness and Grace is the only handsom garment What are thy sins but thy deformities and thy lusts but thy leprosies Thou carest not what thou art in the eye of the godly but carest thou not what thou art in the eye of God Thou feest no unhandsomness in sin thou seest not thy self ugly but art thou therefore the less ugly A Toad or a Snake hath no odious apprehensions of it self it is above their reach to apprehend what they are so Sinners cannot discern their own deformities their Judgments follow their Natures and Dispositions 3. If Jesus Christ doth not conquer you he 'l slay you In Rev. 6. 2 there saith John I saw and behold a white horse Rev. 6. 2. and he that sate on him had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went forth conquering and to conquer 1. Here John saw an horse which is mystically the Gospel because of its swiftness The Apostles and Apostolical Preachers of the Primitive times were Horses for their nimble and swift Preaching of the Gospel through the World 2. This is a white horse to signifie 1. The Purity of the Gospel or Divinity of its Doctrine 2. to signifie the joy and peace it offers to the Sons of Men it is called glad tidings and the Gospel of peace A white Flag is an Ensign of Peace 3. To signifie the Glory of Christ white robes are Emblems of Glory Princes and Nobles did go in white 4. To signifie the Triumph of Christ white horse in sign of victory and Triumph The Romans when they rid in Triumph had white Horses to ride on or to draw their Chariots The Lord Christ will get the day he will triumph over souls either in their submission or destruction And therefore it is said 3. That he that sate on the white horse had a bow given him This Horse-man or Prince the Lord Christ had a bow in his hand and a Bow presupposeth arrows that is terrors and threatnings against his Enemies that will not submit to his mercy he hath his Arrow prepared upon the string and will shoot at the rebellious Sinner It may be thou hast some of Christ's Arrows sticking in the ribs of thy Conscience and art wounded for some sins thy very heart is galled with the threatnings that fly like Arrows out of the Bow of the Ministry but thou frettest instead of being converted
be given to them that have grace be it never so small Then Saints see what your work is What 's that to receive How may we receive more grace First Open thy soul to receive grace For to receive a thing is sometimes a motion of the subject or faculty opening it self to receive it As the hand doth open it self to receive a gift and a vessel must be opened to receive oyl or cordial pour'd into it The earht opened her mouth and swallowed up Corah And Numb 16. 32. Gen. 4 11. the earth as God said to Cain opened her mouth to receive thy brothers blood from thy hand Now the opening of the soul to receive Grace consists in these three Things 1. In believing the Promise when the soul believes its door stands open to receive the golden Treasures of Grace that are brought into it out of the store-house of the Promise And therefore saith the Text They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith unto Acts 14. 27. the gentiles 2. In love to grace promised for love is an opening grace When a man loves a friend dearly he opens his Arms to embrace and receive him so when a man loves grace he opens his heart to welcom grace into it And therefore ye shall find this passage between Christ and his Spouse saith Christ Open to me my love And saith the Spouse I rose up to open to Cant. 5. 2. Vers 5. my beloved He that loves Christ will open the two-leav'd gates of his soul to let in Christ with all his train 3. In desire after grace promised for the desire of grace is an opening of the soul to receive grace As the Lord saith Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide i. e. ask freely open thy mouth in Prayer as wide as thou wilt And I will fill it 2dly Lye low The valleys that receive all the showres and floods into their bosom lye low under all the high hills and proud mountains so the humble Saints that lye in the bottom of self-abhorrence under all the rest receive the showres of grace the floods stay upon them and they drink them in they are overflown like your low grounds with abundance of grace 3dly Accept of grace to receive grace is to accept of grace As Jacob said to his brother Esau Nay I pray thee if now I Gen 33. 10. have found grace in thy sight then receive my present at my hand i. e. accept of my present at my hand Vse 5. What shall I do that have no grace To him that hath shall be given But what shall I do that have not Consider grace is a gift and therefore 1. God can give grace where it is not he gives grace where is none he doth good to them that are not good A gift is bestowed where it is not See Isa 44. 3 I will pour water upon Isa 44. 3. him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring i. e. as I pour Water and Floods upon the dry and thirsty ground that hath none so will I pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring Where observe God gives showres of grace where there 's not a drop before 2. He can give grace to whom he will he can love whom he will and he can give grace to whom he will this is the Prerogative of Gods Love he can love any one Man being a narrow creature cannot love any one one that is fowl and ugly and crooked but God can love any one he can love unhandsom and deformed Creatures and marry them and make them lovely Naaman the Syrian was a Leper and therefore wondrous ugly he was a Leper in Body and Mind too The beauty of the mind presents a crooked person comely to us but Naaman had beauty in neither part he was a Leper in body and an Idolater in mind and yet God loved him and by a poor maid in his house sent him to the Prophet of Israel and healed his outside and healed his inside made his Body comely and made his Soul comely 3. He makes notorious sinners noteable Saints he makes Persecutors Preachers As he did Paul and all the Church admired it But they had heard only that he who persecuted us Gal. 1. 23. in times past now PREACHETH the faith which once he DESTROYED See the Work and Free-grace of God! Would God shew mercy to him that destroyed the Faith Yes he gave Faith to him that destroyed the Faith Paul if he could would have kil'd Christ and yet God gives him Christ The Gentiles were the greatest Sinners in the World and they were at the height of sin when the Gospel began to be Preached to them they were counted unclean the unclean Act 10. 14 15. beasts swine and other Beasts which the Jews under the Law might not eat did signifie the Gentiles and the Jews not eating the unclean beasts did signifie that they should have no communion with the unclean Gentiles yet on the GENTILES Vers 45. Acts 11. 17. also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost And forasmuch as God gave them i. e. the Gentiles the like gift as he did unto us 4. Sometimes God makes his greatest Act of Love to pass upon the greatest sinner Paul you know was a Saul indeed chief of sinners he saith it of himself and yet notwithstanding Acts 9. 3 4. Christ Preached from Heaven to him he sent men to Preach to others as Philip to the Eunuch but Jesus Chrrist doth himself Preach to Paul Jesus Christ when he was on Earth in the form of a servant called the other Apostles as Matthew at the receipt of custom and Peter when he was fishing follow me but when he was on his Throne in Majesty he Preacht from Heaven to Paul Wondrous love to a wondrous sinner 5. He bids thee pray and he 'l give Ask and it shall be Matth. 7. 7. Luk. 11. 13. given you But you 'l say he saith this to Saints Sol. See what our Lord Christ saith to the Woman of Samaria If thou knew'st the gift of God and who it is that saith John 4. 10. to thee Give me to drink thou would'st have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Dub. But I ask and yet 't is not given Resp Questionless he that bids us ask means to give As we bid our Children say I pray you father give me such a thing we do it not but when we mean to give it them Object But I cannot pray I cannot pray for grace Answ 1. He that will give thee grace when thou prayest will give thee grace that thou mayest pray As God first formed Adams body and it lay dead before him on the ground without breath or life or soul in it and God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of their work and that which makes musick upon the strings of their hearts because it pleaseth him It is with every man as it was with Sampson he would needs have a wife of the Philistins Why so because she pleaseth Judg. 14. 3. me So why do men seek themselves love themselves and espouse these and those lusts but because it pleaseth them Look then as the soul when he loved himself did seek to please only his own will in every thing and 't was good because it pleased him so the Saint whose heart is now endeared to Christ though he cannot perfectly do it that 's in Heaven yet he seeks to give the whole will of Christ content because it pleaseth Christ He that is unmarried saith the Apostle careth for the 1 Cor. 7. 32. things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord. 2. The upright heart though he cannot joy in the Lords Love yet he will joy in the Lords Will His delight is in the Psal 1. 2. Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night 3. They close with the whole Will of God as their happiness It is not only good to do the Lords Will for thus men may seek the Lord as thinking it good so to do but as their Blessedness else 't is not their last end and so not sought as their last end The sanctified soul obeys God as his Blessedness Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord Psal 119. 1. Vers 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart This makes them seek God with the whole heart because they count this their Blessedness this makes a gracious heart prize service to God above the whole Creation and set an higher rate upon a good work than upon a miracle he had rather be obeying than working miracles rather humbling his soul than removing mountains because he is doing the Will of God Vse 8. Saints reach after more grace It should not content a Saint to have grace but to have more grace As it doth not content God to give grace but to give more grace so it should not content a Saint to have grace but to have more grace Because 1. The more grace thou hast the more of God thou hast in thee And he that is full of grace is full of God To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might Eph. 3. 19. be filled with all the fulness of God 2. Abundance of grace is lovely for grace is the beauty of the soul the quintessence and sweetness that doth dulcifie and perfume the soul A little sugar doth not sweeten a cup especially if it be a bitter cup such as mans nature is we say of a little that 't is as good as none at all A little Frankincense doth not perfume a room especially if it be a stinking room such as mans impure nature is Where grace is predominant there a Saint is lovely Ah my Beloved God would have the Saints lovely in his eye and lovely in the Worlds eye Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven There must be abundance of light in thee to shine over all the Horizon of thy Conversation as there is abundance of light in the Sun that shines over all the Hemisphere we live in and therefore 't is a great body so must thou be a great Saint to shine before all men and therefore the little stars do not shine scarce to our eye Ah my Beloved This is the reason why many who call themselves Saints are not lovely in the eyes of the World they have not abundance of grace they have abundance of profession but not abundance of grace abundance of profession but little grace and this makes them so odious in the World abundance of profession without grace makes them but the more odious in the world The world seeth so much pride and so little humility in them so much worldliness and so little of Heaven in them so much unjust dealing and so little truth in them that the world is apt enough to conclude that either this is not the Gospel which they profess or that they are not true to their profession John the Baptist had abundance of grace and he was very lovely in the eye of the World he was lovely in Herods eye Mark 6. 20. 3. Abundance of grace is lively for grace is the life of the soul and where life is but weak there the actings are not lively A weak man cannot run But saith David I will run the way of thy Commandments He was lively for he had Psal 119. 32. abundance of grace Moses was mighty in Prayer saith God Let me alone that Exod. 32. 10. my wrath may wax hot against them i. e. hinder me not by thy Prayer from punishing them Moses had abundance of Spirit he was too hard for God himself as I may say with reverence Saints had ye abundance of Faith ye would be lively in believing As 't is said of Abraham He was strong Rom. 4. 20. in Faith 4. The more grace thou hast the more terrible to the Devils The Devil trembles at the mighty Prayers of a gracious man the Devil trembles at the strong Faith of a gracious man Oh! Who would not have grace And who would not have much grace When the Apostles acted by Faith came as Christ said to cast out Devils Did not the Devils tremble at them Saint he fears thee more than thou needest fear him Jesus I know Act. 19. 15. and Paul I know said the Devil That is I know them to my fear they have put me to flight many a time And if you were such as they I should fear you also Believe it Soul he trembles at thy holiness he trembles at thy Faith put it forth in Prayer and thou shalt see him run Resist the Devil Jam. 4. 8. and he will flie from you 5. The more grace thou hast the more thou shalt-serve the Lord which is the true and proper end of thy Creation Lord saith one is it much that I serve thee whom Thom. a Kempis l. 3. c. 10. all creatures are bound to serve It ought not to seem much unto me to serve thee but this rather seems much and marvelous to me that thou vouchsafest to receive into thy service one so poor and unworthy to serve thee He goeth on Behold all is thine which I have and whereby I serve thee and yet in very deed thou rather servest me than I thee 6. Nothing but grace will bring thee to Heaven Vanity of vanities and all is vanity but only to love God and wholly to serve him Knowledg is Vanity yea Knowledg of God himself is Vanity and of Christ himself is Vanity without grace to love him and live to him As one
saith What will it avail thee Tho. a Kempis to dispute profoundly of the Trinity if thou be void of grace and displease the Trinity High words surely make a man neither holy nor just but grace makes him dear to God It is vanity to seek after fading riches it is vanity to gape after withering honours vanity it is to wish to live long and to be careless to live well But now many will say grace doth increase in us we do reach after more grace and this many false hearts say they do My Beloved false grace may grow and doth lengthen out in desires and dimensions many that are Hypocrites glory in this that their graces grow I must therefore shew you the difference between the increase of true grace and counterfeit grace 1. The Hypocrite grows out of Emulation The true Saint grows out of love to goodness The Hypocrite is grieved that others go beyond him and over-match him not love to grace but a spirit of envy makes him to advance The true Saint grows out of Duty to God to bring in more glory to his Name The growth of others is matter of his joy not of his repining He is glad that God is better served though it be by another his only grief is that himself can serve him no better 2. The Hypocrite another sort of them groweth in Parts but not in the Power of godliness in gifts and curiosities but not in vital and Divine quicknings In Knowledg and Speculations but not in strength against sin and temptations Judas by conversing with Christ could not but grow in Knowledg but being not incorporate into Christ never grew in grace But the true Saint grows in his spiritual life in Union to Christ in Communion with God The Hypocrite may grow in quantity but not in quality the real Saint grows as much in quality as in quantity 3. The Hypocrite may grow more and more in hearing the word but the Saint grows in tasting the word and in tasting that most deliciously which is most spiritual The Hypocrite longs more after new truths but the Saint tastes old Promises with new affections and old truths with a new appetite The Knowledg of an Hypocrite may grow bigger but the Knowledg of a Saint grows more savoury and judicious The Hypocrite may know more Objects than he did before but the Saint relishes the things more sweetly which he knew before The Hypocrite may grow in enlargements and pour out longer Prayers but the Saint prays more spiritually The Hypocrites zeal may be a great fire but the Saints zeal is more heavenly and discreet there is more incense in his golden censer his love more solid and active more to God and less to himself and the world The hypocrite is like a tree that bears great Apples but they are sower but the Saint the fruit he bears it may be are not such big Apples but they are sweet Apples the juice is better that gives them a more pleasant relish in Gods palate There is a sweeter juice of love and kindness and godly sorrow and filial delight in God in a Saints duties and here the Saints growth chiefly lyes his fruit groweth more ripe and mellow and so more pleasant and sweet His Prayers are not bigger in quantity but better in quality he grows in choiceness of spirit he comes to the Throne of grace with a more precious esteem of Christ upon his heart He comes to the word with a dearer thirst upon his palate 't is the same Christ that is set still before him but he relisheth Christ more sweetly receiveth and tasteth the same promises more ravishingly trembleth at the same threatnings more tenderly and meltingly Whereas the hypocrite is cloyed with the word if it be not dish'd up to his palate but the Saints palate is spiritualized to the word The hypocrites tast of Sermons is flatted by reading of Books but the Saints taste is quickned by the sense of his wants For this is the true use of reading and the end of Knowledg To make VS more sensible of our wants and make Christ more excellent in our eyes Therefore in taking notes the hypocrite picks out matter here and there according to his nice and licquorish palate but the hungry Saint takes all and feeds upon all that comes before him feeling his need to be stirred up to consider what he knows Vse 9. Here 's a sweet ground to assure the Saints perseverance To him that hath grace he shall not lose it but more shall be given him he shall not lose what he hath but he shall have more than he hath he shall not fall away but stand faster They that fall away are those that have not truth of grace at all Whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath But the poor Saint that hath To him shall be given and he shall have more abundance He shall be so far from losing grace that he shall have more grace Dub. But my grace is but little I cannot stand Sol. God shall make thee stand Rom. 14. 4. Where disputing of him that is weak in the faith Vers 1. saith he Vers 4. HE shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand The more weak thou art the more tender God will be over thee if thou canst not stand he will make thee stand thou shalt stand in his arms In Christ you have not only the graces of Christ but the spirit of Christ I pray you mark it 1. If Adam had stood how long we know not it may be had he stood the first shock of Satans temptation all his Posterity should have had that assistance of the Spirit that they should have never fallen as the Holy Angels that were contented with their first station and abode in the truth when the other Angels fell this was their Obedience that they were loyal in the day of their great Tryal when the others their Fellow angels rebelled and their reward was That they are confirmed in their happy condition and secured in it so if Adam hemself in whom we were all one man had stood I say if he therefore had stood it out to the last both he and all his Posterity should have had the continual and constant assistance of the Spirit and been confirmed so as never to have fallen And the ground is the rule of Justice for if he falling all his Posterity are forsaken of God and put under the Reign of Sin and Death and Satan then he standing all his Posterity should have had the perpetual Presence of Gods Spirit and been under the everlasting Reign of the Spirit of grace and life 2. But now Jesus Christ the second Adam who was the Head of the new seed and family he stood and therefore propagates to all his Posterity the perennious Presence and constant assistance of the Spirit whereby being once begotten of him they live for ever and abide in him As in Adams fall
we all fell so in Christs standing we all stand the Lord Jesus having stood they cannot fall because by virtue of his standing they have the eternal Presence of the Holy Ghost I say the ground is Christs standing for though there are many reasons why the Saints shall not fall from Christ as the immutable love of God the Covenant of Grace the spirit of Grace and the Intercession of Jesus Christ yet all these are bottomed upon Christs standing and fulfiling the first Covenant For therefore is the Covenant of grace unchangeable and the federal love of God to us in that Covenant immutable and the dwelling of the spirit eternal and the sealing of the spirit indelible because built upon the unchangeable Priesthood of Jesus Christ such a Priest as stood and finished the work so stood as to satisfie Justice and vanquish Satan And the Intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven for us is built upon the standing and perseverance of Jesus Christ had not Christ stood his Intercession had not now been standing had he fell that had fell to the ground also had he fell the Holy Ghost had not been given Hence it is that the Covenant of grace reigns to life Rom. 5. 21. eternal Hence it is that they who receive Christ shall be sure to Vers 27. reign with him Hence it is that our Justification by Christ is not a tottering or fallible Justification that may be lost but a Justification Vers 18. unto life In a word hence it is that the Spirit when he comes he comes to dwell and abide in Believers Rom. 8. 11. He is called the spirit that abides for ever And now I am returned where I began Saints your perseverance is certain in it self though not perhaps to you because in Jesus Christ you have not only the graces of Christ but the spirit of Christ the spirit dwelling and abiding in you 1. The spirit knits the soul to the Lord and never suffers that Love-knot to be untied again This knot the spirit makes is stronger than the Gordian-knot which cannot only not be loosed but cannot be cut asunder The Gordian-knot Alexander the Great when he could not loose it cut it asunder but this knot whereby the Saints are tyed to Christ 't is such a knot as can neither be untied nor cut asunder 2. When the poor soul is careless of himself the spirit keeps him he sleeps and the spirit sits by him The wise virgins took a nap as well as the foolish they fell into a sleep of carnal security but the spirit watcht by them and awaked them 3. When the poor soul is weak the spirit helps him 4. When the froward soul offers to run from the Lord the Spirit follows him Jonah run from God but the Spirit follows him into the Sea and into the Whales belly and there he prayeth and looks again toward the holy Temple Is not this your wonder 5. When the unkind soul grieves the spirit yet the spirit still keeps the house and will not depart from him and so not suffer the soul wholly to depart from the Lord When David sinned and defiled himself he grieved the spirit he polluted the house and yet the spirit would not leave the house the spirit stai'd to keep grace alive in the embers and to blow it again into a new flame at Nathans Sermon Vse 10. You to whom God hath given grace the beginnings of grace here 's a great deal of work for you to do 1. Give the Lord the Honour of his grace And now the Lord knows I know not to whom I speak The Lord knows who are his Some that make the least appearance may have the greatest grace and some that cast the greatest lustre may have no grace a slight Impression upon the soul among men goeth for grace But you that have searched your hearts and found the pearl there give the Lord the Honour of his grace that ever he should plant such a flower in your bosoms For the last end of all the Elect is to admire and honour the riches of Gods grace Eph. 1. 5 6. Beloved This is Heavens work Oh! learn this song before you go thither which none learn but the redeemed and sealed Rev. 14. 3. of the Lord. The Lord in all his dealings with his people seeks lastly to bring about the glory of his grace 1. He leaves them a long time in their graves of sin before he gives them the resurrection of grace that they live like other men wallow in sin as other men which is strange that he that loved them so long should leave them so long to be as bad as any yet this he doth because it makes for the praise of his grace Eph. 2. 2 4 7 8 verses And this doth so confound Gods People that they wish not only Heaven but Earth and Ages to come may record this love 2. Out of men fallen he picks out usually the poorest and the vilest The younger Brother most despised and least respected in a Family and leaves the elder Jacob have I loved Rom. 9. 11 13. 1. Cor. 1. 26. Esau have I hated This is strange that the Lord should chuse thus but this he doth to blur the Glory of all the World 3. The Lord leaves many wants in his People under which they sit sighing and sometime very long Sometimes he takes away those feelings those enlargements they had hides his face from them that if ever he returns in love his grace may be the sweeter and last the longer 4. Sometimes he refuseth to hear their Prayers that when he doth answer them at last his free-grace may be adored and cryed up 5. Sometimes he humbleth them with vexing sins and pricking distempers and it is to advance grace 2. Cor. 12. 7 9. 6. In a word you shall find the Lord so strangely carrying on matters as if he did not love nor care for his people against the hair and grain of their desires and when all comes to winding up 't is to advance grace All a mans good days and bad days all Gods frowns and smiles all the Lords food and physick all God cares for works and plots for 't is to do his people no more hurt than this To advance his grace in them and by them All his hewings and hammerings of you his knocking you a pieces and new melting and new casting of you 't is that you may be vessels of his glorious grace that you may be able to live in the Air of Gods grace to suck in and breathe out grace and let all the powers of Hell seek to blur it yet grace shall conquer Who would not be under grace Oh poor creature Satan is tempting sin vexing yet grace must reign 2. Act for Jesus Christ Do the work of Christ and finish it Christ gives grace because he hath given work for grace to do Christ sets up a work in you that he may do work by you
for himself every Principle is for Operation The eye for seeing and the ear for hearing so grace is for work Now I say Christ hath begun a good work in you be you then at his work daily and finish it As it was with Christ the Head so should it be with all his members I have finished the work which thou gavest me Joh. 17. 4. to do The Apostle speaking to the Saints that had grace begun in them saith he As you have yielded your members servants Rom. 6. 19. to uncleanness and to iniquity Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness Peter writing to them saith The time past of our life may 1 Pet. 4. 3. suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles Sirs before you had grace you served sin and having grace will you not stir up your selves to serve Jesus Christ Your so long service to sin should set a keen edg upon you to serve Jesus Christ You live in Times and Places wherein men have so much work of their own to do that Christ is neglected and few men walk with God or act for God Some take mens Examples for patterns and copies and content themselves to do as others do Others are apt to put off Christ with desires but serve Satan indeed Others are catching at comforts and promises but neglect Precepts the Commands of God are tedious and burthensom to them Surely then you in whom the work of grace is begun it stands you upon to be at work for God whilst others shut up shop and are Bankrupts you should drive on a Trade for him 1. For he hath set you up again he hath underlaid and stockt you with Principles of Action he hath put you into a way of doing and given you wheels to move upon he hath made you Wings to fly Object Many excuse their negligence by pretending inability How often do Saints put a fine dress upon their laziness Alas I am nothing of my self except God give me an heart and strength what can I do Without me saith Christ ye can John 15. 5. do nothing Answ Do not deceive your selves God will not be mocked 1. The words of Christ have this meaning without me that is separate from me ye can do nothing that is till you are planted in me Now you say you are planted in Christ and therefore your excuse is but a lye This expression of Christ speaks no more but this that till you be knit to Christ you are but dead and barren Branches as Christ explains himself As the branch cannot bring forth fruit of it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in Vers 4. me Now you say you are knit and united to Christ and therefore away with these couzening vizors and palliations If you are not yet in Christ then confess it if you say you are in Christ then say not you can do nothing 2. The regenerate have a power to Act for God and to do work for Christ First Else there is no specifical difference between a man regenerate and unregenerate if both were without strength Secondly We should not have as much benefit by the second Adam as we had by the first Adam The first would have communicated his Power to do good and being corrupted doth communicate Power to do evil Therefore much more by Christ have we a Power to act for God in our measure Thirdly If you are in Christ you are living Branches vital Members and all life is a Power to act Fourthly What is grace but a repairing of that Holiness and Image of God which we lost in Adam But that was a Power to do what God required therefore so far as that Image is renewed so far there is a Power And therefore Saints Act for Jesus Christ I say you have wings and therefore fly upon action soar up a lost in Service for Jesus Christ God hath given you feet and therefore run the way of his Commandments God hath said to you as Peter did to the man that was Act 3. lame from his mothers Womb In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk and your feet and ancle-bones received strength And therefore God expects that you should be upon employment for him If you say It is true we have habitual grace a new frame of heart but we must have assisting grace and influence else we can do nothing the work is hard and we cannot act without new breathings I say Let the duty be to nature impossible yet the Lord is at hand to help even when there is no strength He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he Isa 40. 29. increaseth strength You know how the Israelites pleaded impossibilities and then the Lords anger rose when they were ready to enter Canaan If you had no Christ no Spirit no Promise to assure you to help you might then let fall Duties and cease to action and say 't is impossible I should ever overcome such sins or attain such a measure of grace or bear the Cross or do any thing But when Promises to assure you and Christ and Spirit to breathe upon you are at hand now to plead impossibility is to reproach the Lord If you were under the Law you might plead this but under Grace 't is horrible to make this excuse Remember therefore Gideon and Sampson and David who went out in the Name and Spirit of the Lord and they were helped 3. Know this that the more difficult any work or duty is the more sweetness shall you find in it if you break through it He that overcomes shall eat of the hidden Manna Have you not found your selves dead to Prayer yet you fell to it and then would not but have took the season for a world The husbandman that hath laboured eats afterward of his 2 Tim. 2. 6. fruit You plead the difficulty of a Christian life and therefore taste not the sweetness of it If you can do no more than what is easie and pleaseth self the Lord will never let you taste the sweetness of pleasing him 4. What do you mean to be Like whom Christ teacheth you to breathe out this Prayer Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Do you look for Heaven and will you not act as they do in Heaven whom do you make your patterns If you are not like Heaven you are Bastards not Sons I am sure Angels are content to come out of Heaven to do the work of God nay the Lord Christ himself came down from Heaven and was made lower than the Angels to do the Work of God and shall your hands shrink at it or will you think your selves too good to do it You have here the noblest patterns and most unparallel'd Copies to write after Like whom then do you mean to be Will you draw back from Angels work from the work the Son of God was
is coy of what he knows lawful You will say this is pure niceness nee lless preciseness I tell you you know not the Scriptures All things are lawful but all things are not expedient All things are lawful for 1 Cor. 6. 12. 1 Cor. 10. 23. me but all things edifie not The judicious tender conscience asks Bernards three Questions An Liceat An Deceat An Expediat Is it lawful May I do it and not sin But suppose it be lawful Is it comely Is it becoming me a Christian May I do it and not reflect upon my Profession Is it expedient May I do it and not offend my weak Brother There are some things we must deny our selves for others sakes Things that are evil we must deny them for our own sakes and many lawful things we must deny for others sakes If meat make my brother to offend I will eat no 1 Cor. 8 13. flesh while the world stands lest I make my brother to offend 7. The tender conscience observes as well what he hoth not as what he doth regards omissions as well as commissions Our Lord Christ was as much displeased with Peters disswasion of him from suffering as with Satans perswasion to fall down and worship him his answer was the same to both Get thee behind me Satan Thou must as well observe what thou doest not as what thou doest The tender conscience takes notice of every opportunity he hath to do good trembleth to neglect duty as much as to act sin Thirdly God advanceth grace in his People by preserving their appetite to Ordinances They that are not hungry cannot feed It is uncomfortable to come with a full stomack to a full Table They look upon the dishes while others eat of them These may talk of Christ and Religion but the others feed on them A mans graces cannot grow strong unless he feed and he cannot feed unless he is hungry And therefore God adds strength to his Saints graces by preserving appetite in them to his Ordinances When Peter was hungry he heard a voice saying Rise and Act. 10. 13. eat It is Gods delight to fill the hungry with good things Luk. 1. 53. Matth. 5. 6. And this it is that Christ stiles them Blessed Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Hunger though it speaks want yet there 's a blessedness attends it They shall be filled 'T is a strange promise that a man should be filled for no other reason but because he is hungry Among men it is not so In the Gospel the poor mans hunger is his Blessing In the World the poor mans hunger is his misery because men are not willing to feed him as oft as he is hungry and therefore the poor man of the world could wish he might be never a hungry But in the Gospel through Gods free-grace and bounty Blessed are the hungry for they shall be filled Their appetite makes them eat Christ and eat promises and eat pardon of sin and eating makes them strong Their hunger makes them prize Ordinances and the Gospel provisions when they are called they come to the marriage they do not make excuses but come to the supper and these guests God himself bids them welcom and carves unto them and therefore their graces must needs thrive God accepts our appetite as much as if we paid ready money for his graces Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the Isa 55. 1. waters buy and eat Their hunger is instead of a price their thirst pleaseth him as much as payment and therefore Blessed are the hungry for they shall be filled What made Davids graces thrive so well but his appetite to the Ordinances One thing have I desired of the Lord that I may dwell in the house of the Lord and to enquire in his Psal 27. 4. temple O God thou art my God My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee To see thy power and thy Psal 63. 1 2. glory so as I have seen thee in thy sanctuary David had a keen-appetite after the Ordinances and his appetite made his graces strong I say his appetite made him relish the word How sweet are thy words unto my taste Psal 119. 103. yea sweeter than honey to my mouth And this made him feed so heartily when he came My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63. 5. And now grace must needs grow because their palate is qualified for such delicates they taste them with a transporting delight and feed upon them with extream pleasure Thus God animates and strengthens his Saints graces by preserving a fresh appetite in them to Ordinances And how doth he preserve their appetite to Ordinances Because this is so necessary to keep grace alive and vigorous in the soul therefore you shall find God runs various Methods to accomplish it 1. He keeps their sins in their eye or some special sin upon their Conscience My sin saith David is ever before Psal 51. 3. me Quietness within no trouble upon the Conscience will in time dull the appetite Men surfeit upon their peace within As a long peace corrupts a State and breeds sins and vices in it a still and standing pool is full of mud so a continued peace in the soul begets much vanity and many diseases in her Quietness takes away her stomach And therefore God represents some sin that we have done to the soul and stings the conscience with it and then the soul runs and looks up to the brazen Serpent God will not suffer your consciences to be quiet his design is to maintain an appetite in you to Ordinances 2. He hides their graces from them they think they have no grace at all or not true grace they have it there it is but God sends it to hide it self behind the curtain they cannot find it and then they cry and their spirits are stirred up now their appetite is rowsed they find an appetite to Prayer an appetite to Self-examination an appetite to Christ and to Ordinances God is fain to deal thus with them to hide their graces from them and then when they think they are lost they go from place to place to find them and at last they come as Joseph and Mary did to the Temple and there they find Christ This God doth to preserve and keep up your appetite 3. The growth of grace is hidden and concealed from them and here they make heavy complaints and conclude sadly against themselves Surely my graces are not of the true blood of the royal descent because they do not grow in me were they vital they would grow or else God hath forsaken me and I am under his sore and sad dissertion Thus they lye under the black Cloud their graces being true without question do grow and yet their growth of grace is hid from them And why doth the Lord carry things thus with them but to
quicken and stir up their appetite that they may have an edg upon their spirits to the Ordinances And thus though under many fears and much doubting yet grace increaseth in them for as a lively and quick appetite to the Ordinances is a sign of growth so it is a means of the growth of grace 4. The Lord increaseth grace in his people by the communion of Saints It is not good saith God for man to be alone As man is a sociable creature so grace loves company nay grace needs company and society Exhort one another daily saith the Apostle while it is called to day Travellers are sensible how dangerous it is to ride alone Who knows what or whom they may meet with in the way Communion of Saints is a Divine Ordinance Grace cannot thrive well without it and we must not think to grow in grace when we will live without an Ordinance In Communion there is Communication in the Communion of Saints there is a Communication of Graces and Experiences and Influences There cannot be a building unless there be a meeting of stones Saints together In the Communion of Saints there is a bearing up of one another As in a Fabrick one stone holds and bears up another Bear you one anothers burdens and so fulfil the law of Gal. 6. 2. Christ In the Communion of Saints there is a praying for one another Pray one for another And what an help is this to the Jam. 5. 16. growth of grace In the Communion of Saints there is a telling of one another their faults an opening of the wound that it may let out Matth. 18. 15. the corrupt matter a friendly conviction to nip the sin in its bud that it may go on no further and doth not this contribute much to the growth of grace In the Communion of Saints there is a mutual mourning over 2 Cor. 12. 21. one another a shedding of tears for one another which falling like dew cannot but moisten and mollisie the withering herb and repair decaying grace Tell me Doth not this advance the work In the Communion of Saints there is a restoring of one another a setting of bones that are out into joynt again like curious and tender Chyrurgeons with gentle handling of the diseased party not roughly but by putting him to as little pain as may be for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies If any be overtaken Gal. 6. 1. in a fault Restore him with the spirit of meekness And doth not this help to perfect grace wonderfully In the Communion of Saints there is a consolation of repenting sinners a providing of Cordials for lapsed souls that faint under the sense of their sins an Application of comforts to them under their grief and shame Forgive him saith the 2 Cor. 2. 7 8. Apostle and comfort him lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow confirm your love toward him And tell me how Doth not this cheer up grace exceedingly This is another means whereby God furthers grace in his People the Communion of Saints And are ye not now ashamed of your selves that you use this Ordinance no more among you Do you not find your graces to wither in you for want of it There are strong Saints and there are weak Saints and the weak ones should receive quicknings from the Benign influence of the stronger As Pliny tells us of a Territory in Africk Nat. Histor l. 18. c. 22. in which a City called Tacape is situate I say in this Territory as he tells us in his time there stood a mighty great Date-tree having under it growing an Olive under which there is a Fig-tree and that over-spreads a Pomgranate-tree under the shade whereof there is a Vine Every one of these saith he live joy and thrive under the shade of each other Such is the Communion of Saints rightly planted a company of precious Trees where the Olive grows under the Date-tree the Fig-tree under the Olive the Pomgranate under the Fig-tree and the Vine under the Pomgranate the weak Saints under the shadow of the stronger 5. By want of assurance I say the Lord quickens his peoples graces by withdrawings of his Presence and interpositions of black darkness They lye out in a night of sad fears and wants of assurance Not that God delights in these Methods but he is fain to do so the necessities of his Saints call for it otherwise they would be stark naught They would forsake God if God did not forsake them for a while For 1. Did they always enjoy Gods smiles they would grow fearless of God Fear of God is a great preservative of grace and antidote against sin Now fearlesness of God is a distemper which the Saints are apt to grow into As children are wont to grow sawcy and irreverent when their Father dandles them too much upon the lap of familiarity and therefore he is fain sometimes by his frowns and distance to take down their spirits So though God be a Father yet he will be feared Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Psal 2. 11. And therefore to correct the sinful boldness of his Children and cause them to stand in awe of him he sometimes shuts in his favour and takes state by concealing himself as the Persian Kings shunned familiarity and were seldom seen that they might be the more honoured The fear of God is one of the main pillars of his Throne and so far as he is not our fear he is not our God And therefore to advance his fear in the hearts of his people he withdraws his face and where fear grows grace grows For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom i. e. the chief or principal part of our wisdom The Saints fear of God keeps them from Apostacy I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall never depart from me and to quicken their fear they shall sometimes feel his absence 2. The Lord leaves his people in wants of assurance to cure them of slightness of heart There is a trifling disposition in the hearts of Saints they are apt to be superficial in their ways and this God visits upon them They dally with duties do them as if they did them not without heart in a lazy and liveless manner you are in an evil frame of heart when you can do the weighty things of God with slightness There are three evils in a slight and formal Commnnion with God 1. Vnfaithfulness A slothful servant is an unfaithful servant He that is faithful doth his masters work with all his might And certainly a slight communion with God speaks a slight love to God Where then there is idleness and indisposedness God comes in a way of anger to whip up the slothful and unfaithful spirit and this stirs up grace Negligence and dallying with duties would kill grace and therefore it is a mighty mercy of God to shadow himself from his
14. Lords face and turn from their wicked ways When they hear the words of the Lords threatnings they will rend their clothes 2 Chr. 34. 27. and weep before the Lord They that are humble they will accept of the punishment of their iniquity they will kiss Lev. 26. 41. the Rod of their correction glorifie his Justice and implore his Mercy The proud man thinks his little much the humble man thinks his much is too little The proud man thinks he hath grace enough the humble man thinks he can never have enough The proud man hath high conceits of himself the humble man hath high conceits of God The proud man seeks himself the humble man seeks Gods Glory and therefore his desires of grace are infinite because no measures are sufficient to serve Gods Glory The proud man reflects upon what he is the humble man reflects upon what he was that he was unprofitable he did serve sin a long time too long Many years were spent before he was called and all that while God lost by him and therefore now he must Row hard and ply his Oars with quickest diligence he did God much wrong and therefore now he must work and labour hard for him As Paul did I am the least of the Apostles that am not meet to 1 Cor. 15. 9 10. be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God I laboured more abundantly than they all The proud man reflects upon his attainments and what he hath done the humble man forgets those things which are behind Phil. 3. 13. Ad humilitatem pertinet ut Homo defectus proprios considerans seipsum non extollat Aquin. 22ae q. 35. ad 3. and reacheth forth unto those things which are before Is it possible that grace should not thrive here Oh! now it goes on amain The proud man casts his eye upon his Beauties the humble man turns his eye upon his Deformities the proud man looks upon his graces the humble man looks upon his sins and then crys out Oh! how much dirt and dross have I yet within me that must be purged out My sins out-weigh my graces so much levity of heart in me yet to be mortified so much self will to be expunged and self ends to be dethroned and carnal wisdom to be dismounted so much want of love to God and his Saints which must be heightned so much slavish fear in me which must be turned into filial fear so much studying mine own preservation more than the Honour and Interest of the Lord studying my safety more than my duty asking how I may be saved oftner than how I may serve God how little I rejoyce at the prosperity of the Gospel if my self be in adversity and how little I grieve in the adversity of the Church if I my self be in prosperity Thus the humble Saint by considering his imperfections advanceth on to perfection by advising with his own wants is still drawing more water out of Christs fulness 10thly God increaseth his Saints graces by making themselves to improve and increase them God increaseth their stock by their own good husbandry When the noble man in the Parable called his Servants Luk. 19. 12. and gave a stock of money among them to traffick with in his absence he charged them to improve it to his best advantage and one of them said Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds and another came and said Lord thy pound hath gained five pounds So when the Lord Christ gives a stock of grace and sets up a soul he looks that your own care should come in and that by your own good husbandry you should add to it You suppose the work of increasing grace lyeth in Christ alone This is and is not true 1. It is true in this sense that the increase flows only from Christ the increase is his blessing As Paul said in another case Paul planteth and Apollo watereth but God giveth the increase 'T is he alone that adds to the first stock wherewith he set you up None can create grace in the soul but Jesus Christ Every addition is a new creation When David after his great fall prayed for increase of grace He saith Create in me a clean heart O God When Paul stirreth them Psal 51. 10. Eph. 4. 23 24. up to be renewed in the spirit of their mind he adds which is created As the first platform of the new man is created so is every degree of it This is the difference between the growth of nature and of grace In natural growth there ariseth out of nature a new addition but in the growth of grace there is a new creation Thus far that all your increase of grace lyeth in Christ alone is true 2. But in another sense it is not true that is without the endeavour For you must act that Christ may give the increase You must work out your salvation with fear and trembling though God must work in you both to will and to do And therefore 't is said to you Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledg and to knowledg temperance The Disciples came to Christ and said Lord increase our faith And Paul prays for the Thessalonians The Lord make you to increase and yet he saith to them We beseech YOV brethren that ye increase more and more 11thly God increaseth grace in his Saints by keeping them awake The sluggard and the sleeper goeth behind-hand it is impossible he should thrive or keep cart on wheels And therefore God to increase their graces keeps his Saints awake Sleep is Ligatio sensuum the binding of the senses and therefore to be awake is when the senses are free and at their liberty 1. Sleep shuts up the eye the man that sleeps seeth no more than the man that 's blind And therefore God keeps his Saints eyes open to see Temptations and spiritual dangers to see the snares that are laid for them at their feet to see things invisible to see Judgment at hand to see the Tribunal set and the Books opened and the Judg sitting with innumerable Angels round about him and now repentance thrives and self-examination is at work and making your calling and election sure goeth on and spinning of fine linnen and washing of our robes white in the blood of the lamb and preparation for the nuptials with the Bridegroom While the eye of Hope is 1 Joh. 3. 3. kept open the man purifieth himself as Christ is pure 2. Sleep locks up the ear As long as a man is drown'd in a dead and deep sleep he hears no noise about him and therefore the Lord to increase his Saints graces keeps their ear open they hear the word of the Lord they hear and believe they believe and tremble they tremble and obey they obey and set upon action they read they run they pray they consult with the Saints they enquire how did the Lord work upon you What signs and evidences of grace
sins in other kinds are so many and so great that you should bear the more patiently to be hardly thought of when you know you are so bad If you are in truth godly you have seen a sink of uncleanness in your selves and have loathed and condemned your selves often and do you think much then to be condemned by the world If you judg your selves to be so bad should you be troubled that you are thought by others to be bad If you condemn your selves is it suitable for such a spirit that hath been condemning himself to be vexed in that he is condemned by others Conclude therefore it is no great matter to be condemned by the world so long as we are not condemned with the world Seventeenthly Again yet God goeth higher with his Saints he assaults them with the reproaches of Saints Oh! the godly wound me and speak ill of me If 't were others I could pass it by but those that are godly are upon me and whet their tongues against me What shall I do now Is God doing me good by this Yes by this if thou knowest how to make use of it How now judg thy self most of all when the Servants of God think hardly of you and above all if it be wise and impartial men that are acquainted with you it is then your duty to be very jealous of your hearts and ways to fear least you are guilty and to search the more diligently Eighteenthly Yet further God increaseth his Saints graces by Temptations by all sorts and varieties of Temptations And therefore if you would look to grow in grace you must expect and make account of all Temptations whatsoever I say you must look to dwell in the air of perpetual temptations and so have the four cardinal winds of temptations to be always nay sometimes at once blowing on you and blustering about your ears You must never think to be free you would fain have it always a calm and serene air but be not mistaken look for an air full of windy exhalations for the end and use of the winds is to open the pores of the earth for fructification to ventilate and fan the air thereby to purge it and keep it from putrefaction to gather the Clouds together and then dissolve them to water the Earth and nourish the fruits of seeds plants and trees so that as the end for which God made the Winds is for life and growth so doth he in his Wisdom make use of Temptations to serve the growth of your graces For to be tempted is the Way and Conduct of God over his Church and over all souls and was a part of the life of the Son of God It must be also part of the life of a devout soul and we must not doubt but God hath great designs upon them whom he puts into this state For as Gods Power so 2 Cor. 12. 9. our grace also is made perfect by weakness thence she receiveth lustre God purifies us by contradictions and subversions he confirms and assures us by temptations You shall need to take great notice of what hath been said because there are Christians that are of two different Judgments about this point 1. Some expect the way of Religion should be very facile and easie to them and that as soon as ever they are Saints they should sail always with a secûnd or prosperous wind But they are far deceived who think Piety grows among Lillies that the way toward perfection of grace is strew'd with flowers who imagine nothing but sweetness and that devotion is a Land flowing with Milk and Honey and consequently that there is or should be nothing that is difficult Which yet they are the sooner perswaded to in that they only seek a certain satisfaction and ease to their own flesh using no violence but fastning only upon this That it is sufficient for a man to do what he can 2. There are others on the contrary that look upon the exercises of Religion as so rigorous strict and painful that they say of it as the sensual Jews did of the Land of promise It is an ill Countrey possessed of Gyants and that eateth up the inhabitants Here are two different sentiments lying in extreams and consequently faulty both deceive themselves To remedy this the truth we are to say is That godliness is indeed a lilly but growing among thorns Religion hath its thorns they prick it may be hurt us but these thorns are laden with Roses As Moses found God in the burning bush of thorns so a Christian finds God and Grace and Comfort in a Bryar-bush of Conflicts and Temptations And as temptation was the life of Jesus so it is the life of our souls to believe otherwise were to flatter our selves And yet 't is certain there is much content in this warfare for the grace and help of God is always present which will never fail us as long as we dispose our selves to receive it in this respect it is that Religion is all sweetness in that we are able to do all in him who strengthens us in him who comforts us But lastly God tempts his Saints by Satan by the Devil himself and thence I argue that God increaseth his Saints graces by the very temptations of the Devil God sets the Devil upon his own Saints unlooseth the chain and lets him out upon them as a Mastive and there leaves them fighting hand to hand Satan is a Mastive in Gods Chain and therefore could not come out at all to bait us unless God loose him and set him on us Was not Satan fain to get leave of God before he could assault Job Yes surely Satan had his Commission from God to deal with Job The power the Devil had God puts it into his hands That part of the conference between God and Satan is worthy your notice saith Satan to God Put forth thine hand now Job 1. 11. and he will curse thee to thy face Saith God to Satan Behold Vers 12. all that he hath is in thy power Satan moved that God would put forth his hand against Job and God puts Job into Satans hand Was not our Lord Christ led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil Paul had a messenger of Satan sent by God himself to buffet 2 Cor. 12. 7. him Why then should you think much that God in his Sovereignty useth this discipline to exercise and increase his peoples graces as though some strange thing happened unto you 1 Pet. 4. 12. And what I pray you will the issue hereof be but that you may be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing 1 Pet. 1. 7. of Jesus Christ Deo soli Honor Gloria AN ACCOUNT OF SATANS TEMPTATIONS 2 Cor. II. 11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices THE way to Heaven is encounter'd with difficulties and Travellers are in danger of
in unto you to take off your thoughts from the present duty He will let your thoughts wander in Prayer upon good things that you may be never the better for that Prayer And he will raise up good and holy motions in you whilst you are hearing a Sermon that they might divert your thoughts from the present Sermon Here our deceitful hearts will be ready to think that those come from the Spirit of grace oh cunning Devil but the truth is they come from Satan for the Spirit of God hath no such office to draw away mens minds from hearing the word nor to trouble mens minds in prayer with thoughts impertinent 6. Satan makes choice of such instruments to tempt by as are likely to be most effectual Thus you know he did Gen 3. 6. 1 Reg. 21. Job 2. 9. overcome Adam by Eve his second self Again thus he tempted Ahab by Jezzabel a prevailing instrument And thus he tempted Job by his wife and thus he tempted Christ Matth. 16. 22. 23. by Peter and therefore said Christ to Peter Get thee behind me Satan Satan can make use of our friends to do us hurt by He tempts not only by himself but by instruments and not only by such as are at a distance from us but by those who are nearest in relation and by those most He can make a friend a child a wife instrumental for our ruine As Saul married his Daughter to David that she might be a snare to him 1 Sam. 18. 21. 6. Satan tempts us by our own selves He makes use of our own reason or understanding to deceive our selves he draws reason out of our own bowels to destroy us and here you have the first particular where you find how busie Satan is and how skilful an artist Satan is to undermine us he is a very intelligent creature 2. Satan is armed with malice against souls That 's a reason 2 Particular Psal 41. 7. that sets him upon devising devices against us As David saith All that hate me whisper together against me against me do they devise my hurt And in another place While Psal 31. 13. they took counsel together against me they devised to take away my life So that hatred and malice is the root of plotting and evil devices against one When we hate one and bear him ill will then we set upon devices against him Now Satan is full of malice against God and then against the Church and People of God 1. His malice against God To tempt men is a pleasure to his malice thinking himself by this means somewhat revenged of God As he that defaceth the picture of his enemy when he cannot come at his person easeth his spleen a little so the Dog gnaws the stone that cannot reach the thrower so Satan makes it his work to raze Gods Image out of man because he cannot reach God himself 2. Satan is boundless in his malice against Gods People and against the Church of God Therefore saith Paul God is 1 Cor. 10. 13. faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted namely by Satan above that you are able As if he had said Satan would with all his heart lay more upon you than you are able to bear Satan would break your backs if he were let alone but God will not suffer it Observe here these four things 1. Satans extream malice is seen in tempting us against God and in tempting God against us He doth not only tempt us to sin against God that were malice enough but when we little think of it when we are asleep or in our business he is trying and tempting God against us O extream malice Thus God himself acknowledgeth in Job Thou movedst Job 2. 3. me against him to destroy him without cause Pure malice stirreth up Satan against the People of God though he always pretends somewhat in them yet the cause is in himself and therefore Satan hath two names in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tempter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 slanderer or accuser noting his two special works Temptation Accusation He solicites good men to do evil against God hence he hath his name the tempter and he solicites God to conceive evil of good men and hence he hath his name the slanderer or accuser 2. When Satan cannot obtain against us by one means he endeavours it by another He will not give off for the loss of one game he is not wont to give his cause over for lost because he cannot carry it at first he will try and try again As it was with Balaak when he sent for Balaam to curse the Numb 23. 27. people and saw the business did not prosper Balaam could not curse them he brought him to another place Come faith he I pray thee I will bring thee to another place peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence though you could not do it in one place you may in another Satan if he cannot work his will one way will try a second or third and observe that when Satan tryeth a second means after a first he tryeth a way more probable and efficacious for his ends than the former 3. When a weaker will not do it he provides stronger means As God in punishing or chastising sinners when a lesser Judgment will not humble them he sends a greater God comes not only with another but with sorer Judgments I F ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me then I will punish ye seven Lev. 26. 18. times more for your sins So Satan if you will not hearken unto him in one temptation he will tempt you seven times more and seven times stronger as he did Job Job 2. 5. Job 1. 14 15 16 19. Before he got leave to touch Jobs cattel and goods and to touch Jobs Children Sons and Daughters here was one greater than the former for a mans children are more than all that he hath in the world besides A mans children are himself in every child is the Father multiplied the child is the Fathers bowels and therefore this affliction reached to the very bowels of Job Then after all this he gets leave to smite Jobs body Put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his Chap. 2. 5. flesh and he will curse thee to thy face And this is greater still than the former Jobs children were near to him but himself was nearer and therefore said Satan Touch his bone and his flesh that is afflict his body the bone and the flesh are the two chief parts the material parts of the body of them the whole Fabrick doth consist The bone is as the stone or Timber in this house and the flesh is as the Lime and Morter filling of it up Touch this faith Satan and here he aims at sore affliction for if he had said only thus Touch his flesh that might have been made affliction great enough But
that is that Jam. 2. 19. there is one God and tremble Answ 2. And observe it in that the Devil tempts thee that there is no God should be a means and argument to thee to believe more certainly that there is a God Satan would keep you from believing that which he cannot but believe And this should be a strong argument to make us believe that there is a God for were there no God the Devil would never tempt to think that there is a God 3. Another temptation to men in conversion is this My heart is hard I cannot repent of sin I cannot be sorry for my sins Oh! you must venture your soul upon Jesus Christ for free pardon and justification you must take Christ and he will give you a soft heart he will give you repentance unto life Acts 5. 31. You must take Christ for pardon and for repentance also that you may be pardoned Quest But may I before I repent take hold of Christ for pardon May one that cannot repent lay holy and lean upon Christ Answ 1. There 's difference between one that cannot repent but would 2. And one that doth not repent and will not cares not to repent 1. He that doth not repent and will not he may not take hold of Christ nor lay claim to him 2. But he that cannot repent but would he may lay hold of Christ that he may repent and he will go to Christ nothing shall stave him off to fetch repentance from him I say he may go to Christ for repentance See how David did do so Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me There are two snares and nets which the Devil sets for people 1. One is that they hope to be saved by Christ and never care to be humbled nor to be sanctified and in this the prophane are caught 2. Another snare which Satan layeth is to make men labour for Humiliation Holiness Mortification Obedience and not labour to believe and in this well-meaning people are caught For the first First They that hope to be saved by Christ and never care First snare to be humbled nor to be sanctified these are sadly in Satans snare he holds them deadly for Faith which justifieth makes holy though it doth not justifie by its holiness Faith makes thee a new creature that Faith is none of Gods making that doth not make thee a new man And therefore it was the speech of Francis Spira in his desertion and anguish of spirit Pag. 114. I will not saith he derogate from the certainty of saving-faith and the promises of the Gospel for they are most sure but yet take heed of relying on that faith that works not a holy and unblamable life worthy of a Believer believe me quoth he it will fail I have tryed it and therefore he much commended to them the Epistles of Peter which press sanctity and chastity Secondly The other snare which Satan layeth is to make men Second snare dig and labour in the Mines of Humiliation and Holiness and subduing their sins and not take pains to believe 1. Here 's labour in vain for that which can never bring thee Christ nor salvation and that Satan knows and therefore puts men on it to make them spend time and pains to no purpose he puts them in a way where Christ is not that they may not find Christ where he is As Rahab sent the men of Josh 2. 5 6. Jericho away towards Jordan to seek for the spies when she hid them in the stalks of flax So Satan sends men a travelling after Christ over Hills and Dales over the hills of Duty and high strains of Holiness and days of Humiliation And therefore as Christ said to Martha so say I to these Ye are careful about many things how to subdue your sins and be humbled for them but one thing is needful that is to come to Christ and believe in him do this and you shall be saved 2. When ye have believed and received Christ then you shall be able to do all things then you shall have 1. Mortification and Victory over your lusts 2. Sanctification and Ability to duty and not before These be the Births of believing you must believe before you can have these As a woman must be married to a man before she can have lawful children by him Were it not a simple thing for a woman to expect children legitimate by a man and then she would marry him As absurd it is to expect First to have legitimate graces in the soul and then to believe to be sanctified and get victory over sin and then to believe in Christ for Faith which doth espouse thee to Christ is the cause of all true Mortification and Holiness as marriage is of children As the Apostle tells you Ye are married to another even to him who is raised from Rom. 7. 4. the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God Christ is as it were the Father of all our graces of him we received grace for grace and when he hath married us to himself he begets them in us Of his grace he conveys grace to us and he never doth it but by our Faith in him for it is by Faith that he lives in us and we in him and holiness is the means by which Christ after he is believed in brings them that believe in him to salvation And this removes that objection that troubles many repentance Act. 2. 38. and conversion is requited to pardon of sin Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost Again Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may Act 3. 19. be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Once more For him hath God exalted Act. 5. 31. with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins How then shall I believe his promise of mercy to the pardon of my sins that cannot clear my Conversion to my Conscience None can enter into the Kingdom of God except they be born again of the John 3. 3. Rom. 8. 13. spirit If I live after the slesh I shall dye Here are two questions consounded they must be distinguished and taken asunder 1. What manner of persons they be whom God admits into Heaven 2. What manner of persons may receive Christ unto Justification of life For the first 1. God indeed receives none into Heaven but those on whom he hath written the golden Characters of sanctification And now brethren I commend you to God and to the word of Act. 20. 32. his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified For the second who may receive Christ 2. I say
any one whoever he be that finds his own guiltiness and death and is affected with it in his heart Every burdened sinner hearing Christ propounded in the Covenant of Grace with this only condition of believing in him may come to him for life Christ and the Covenant of Grace is offered to unregeneraete Mr. Wilson Help to Faith 80 81. Ibid. men who being enabled by Gods Spirit to perform the condition which is to believe in Christ Christ is theirs A man must not stay to receive Christ till he first find in himself regeneration and repentance towards God which is wrought out of it but he must first believe that in Christ he may receive the promised Spirit unto his new creation or conversion unto God for Christ is given to give us these things he is sent to bless men in turning them from their sins And Act. 3. 26. Act. 5. 31. him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins And therefore we are not to look first to find Repentance and Conversion in our selves and then come to Christ to obtain forgiveness but we must seek both in him we must take Christ that we may have these from him as the woman that had an incurable Issue 1. Believed that she should be healed if she touch't the Hem of Christs garment 2. She ventured and resolved in her self to touch him 3. Upon the touch felt in her self that she was healed so poor sinners that feel loathsom diseases of sin in them are to go and venture to touch Christ and to expect pardon and ho liness from him And therefore see your error you who will not believe till you have first grace strengthening you to duty and subduing sin in you if you could clear up your Conversion and find these things in you then you could believe and not else and therefore thou must first believe in Christ before thou canst clear up thy Conversion to thee To answer this Branch how shall I believe till I clear up my Conversion Thirdly There is a double Act of Faith 1. There is indeed an act of Faith which cannot be had Mr. Arcker P. 30. till this be had which Divines call the reflect act where by a soul believes that it doth believe believes that it is in Christ bebelives that it is in a saved condition before this act can be there must be repentance and holiness and tryal of our graces Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own 2 Cor. 13. 5. selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates This act presupposeth Faith and is a knowing that we have Faith This is not the necessary means to salvation but to assurance and comfort 2. There is another act of Faith namely the direct act which is believing not a believing that I do believe nor a believing that Jesus Christ is mine but a believing on Christ that Christ may be mine and that I may be saved and sanctified by him and this must be before we can repent we must not stay from this act of Faith till we can clear up our Conversion to us but believe in Christ that we may love God and clear up our Conversion to our selves For mark you Faith is one part or grace of thy Conversion Thou canst not clear up thy conversion till thou dost believe surely then thou must first believe also in Christ as well as repent that thou mayst clear up thy conversion to thy soul And therefore when Satan shall tempt thee what hast thou to do to cast thy self upon Christ seeing thou knowest not that he is thine What right hast thou to put thy self on Christ and art not sure he is thine Oh saith a soul if I might trust my self on Christ I would Thou mayst cast thy soul upon Christ before thou knowest Note him to be thine Observe there is a twofold trusting and relying upon Christ 1. The one is at a venture without a perswasion Mr. Archer p. 20. of an Interest in him grounded on Gods free offer of him to all sorts of people This is the ground of our first believing on our first coming to him and entertaining of him for if this were not people would never receive him This seems to be no more than a confidence in his ability and willingness to save all that come to him Thus the man that had the leprosie came and cast himself on Christ at a venture he knew that Christ could heal him and therefore faith he Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean He is not sure that Christ would heal him only makes a venture upon the pleasure and goodness of Christ to heal him 2. The other is a more certain thing grounded on the Knowledg of an Interest in Christ Because a soul knows it hath Christ for its own therefore it rests on him confidently for salvation This trust follows the Knowledg of our believing and is a further act and degree of Faith and comes after our coming to him and receiving of him The Lord is my rock and my fortress Psalm 18. 2. and my deliverer My God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my tower O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed let not mine Psalm 25. 2. enemies triumph over me And therefore poor sinners let me oh let me invite you to Jesus Christ I tell you Christ and Justification by Christ are free for any person whatsoever to obtain by believing See John 6. 35 I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst He that cometh he that believeth that is any one that cometh any one that believeth It is an indefinite proposition and is equivalent to an universal It is as much as to say whosoever comes as it is elsewhere expressed That whosoevrr believeth in him John 3. 16. should not perish but have everlasting life that is any person whosoever may upon believing obtain Christ and Life by him The meaning is not only that Christ is free for all sorts of people for all sorts of people shall actually have Christ because God hath his elect of all sorts both poor and rich bond and free Jews and Gentiles young and old men and women wise and foolish one nation and another but that there is no particular person in the world to whom the Gospel comes who may not by believing have Christ and Salvation by him Christ is so freely tendered to all comers to all receivers to all that believe in him that there is no person of any Countrey or Condition of any Age or Sex or Sins whatsoever but by believing he may have Christ and Grace and Holiness by him This was typified by the years of Jubilee In
sins Because the Pharisees were not Adulterers Extortioners nor such gross sinners as publicans therefore they were proud and despised salvation by Christ The Devil will not tempt some men to gross sins he seeth which way their vein goeth and will make use of their own righteousness to exalt them and then break their necks with it How strongly doth he tempt civil men by not tempting them By not tempting them to be drunkards and adulterers he tempts them to be Justitiaries not to see their need of Jesus Christ He makes them think themselves better than Saints because he tempts them not to do such gross sins as some Saints have done so he tempts thee to security and quietness in a sinful estate by not tempting thee with thy sins nor troubling thee with the fears of Hell Know my Beloved that God loves us as well when he doth us evil as when he doth us good in this world Satan will go about to perswade thee in afflictions as thou must look for them that God hates thee and cares not for thee if he loved thee he would not use thee thus as he doth Be not deceived make God thine and then be cheerful in every state It becomes a gracious man to rejoyce in afflictions in sickness in poverty in weakness in reproach in persecution Satan in all afflictions would befool thee and make thee believe any thing as if thou wert no body with God because thou art sick or poor and no body in the world it is his delight to fill thee with sorrow But I say it becomes a gracious man to rejoyce in afflictions Oh that you would or could digest this principle and believe Note it and act it namely outward evils are to be received in the same manner and with the same mind that good things are received with you receive health with joy and riches and peace with joy oh you should receive sickness and weakness and poverty in the same manner saith Paul We glory in tribulation Rom. 5. 3. And again As sorrowful yet alway rejoycing 2 Cor. 6. 10. The sorrow of the Saints should be like the joy of the wicked only in appearance Paul had only a shadow of sorrow as sorrowful but his joy was substantial and lasting always rejoycing though his outward estate cast up amounted but to this poor and having nothing yet he was always rejoycing Why so Because God is the same in all varieties God loves us as well when we are poor as when we are rich as well when himself smites as when he heals he is as good to us when we receive evil as when we receive good And therefore if God be the same surely we ought to be the same too and our faith the same Now thou mournest heretofore thou didst rejoyce now it may be thou art in want but thou hast had abundance and therefore thou art dejected and sad and canst scarce lead one comfortable day for disquiets and castings in thy thoughts We have a saying Faelicem fuisse miserrimum it is a miserable thing to have been happy But 't is vain a godly man is happy in the midst of all his misery he may say with Luther Let him be miserable that can be miserable I cannot He that hath not a God to lose nor a soul to lose cannot be miserable whatsoever he loses while Christ is safe a believer hath no reason to be unsatisfied And this will discover the truth of grace to you your joy in God When we have outward mercies we think we rejoyce in them only as pledges of Gods love when indeed we rejoyce more in the benefits themselves than in the benefactor The discovery is by our drooping and dejection under the Cross If it had been Gods favour only we had rejoyced in in our prosperity why then is the copy of our countenance changed for Gods favour is still the same to his in affliction as it is in prosperity haply greater So again observe thy self in a sickness thou wilt say oh I am hindred from doing God service by sickness as if thou desiredst health meerly to do God service this is thy hearts deceitfulness Satan would make thee believe that thou desirest health to do God service when it is out of love to health it self For 1. Every state that God puts us into is the best service to him When God puts us into sickness to serve him there is the best service A master takes that service best from a Servants hands which he commands him to do so if God commands thee to be sick and commands thee to serve him on a sick bed this is the best service thy master would have thee employed there 2. God may yea hath as much use of our lives in our troubles as in our comforts We may do much business for God on a sick bed we may do God as much work when we are bound hand and foot in a prison as when we are at liberty Passive obedience brings as much glory to God as active doth Afflictions are the highest services and employments of grace Oh! but my graces are weak 1. God will put weak grace to no more work than it can do 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it He shall feed his flock like Isa 40. 11. a shepherd he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young 2. God will raise up little grace sometimes to act above its strength though the babe be but weak the nurse is strong so though grace be weak the spirit is strong And he said 2 Cor. 12. 9. unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness 3. God will not leave his works imperfect when he begins a work he compleats and carries it through He is a rock Deut. 32. 4. saith Moses his work is perfect What he said concerning the house of Eli I may apply hither when I begin I will also 1 Sam. 3. 12. make an end that is I will do it fully I will do it perfectly for the end of a work is its perfection 't is so in spirituals when he begins a work of grace he will make an end Bring my sons from Isa 43. 6 7. far and my daughters from the end of the earth even every one that is called by my name for I have created him for my glory I have formed him yea I have made him God doth his work exquisitely or as we say artificially yea those works that we look upon as full of confusion are full of order and those works in which we see no form or nothing but deformity even these will one day
yet Heb. 4. 15. without sin But in our infirmity of the flesh we are seldom tempted by afflictions without sin Although affliction doth not quite vanquish and overcome us yet always almost at the very first on-set it doth like a great blow dizzy the brain and makes us give back If we be not thrown down yet we reel and stagger and sometimes it lays us flat and our faith lyes sprawling upon the ground In affliction there are two things 1. Sensation And 2. Temptation 1. In affliction there is Sensation doloris sensus the sense of pain and grief and this Christ felt as well as we we cannot and he could not taste affliction without pain as we are affected with Dolour when evils lye upon us so was Christ he felt sharp and keen pain and thus Christ was tempted in all things and in the same manner as we are as to sense of pain and grief yet without sin But 2. In affliction there is also temptation to sin and because it is so true that great temptations arise out of afflictions therefore are afflictions Antonomastice called temptations they tempt sadly to murmuring and impatience to wrangling and expostulation with God to unbelief and doubting of his love nay to cast off God Doth God himself tempt me thus and afflict me thus and shall I serve such a Master Ah! look how ye are under your daily afflictions Vse 8. Doth God tempt Abraham Abraham his friend Then you may be the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord God tempts and tries his dear ones all 's in love 1. He tempts his dear ones he tempts those whom he loves dearly Abraham was high in Gods Books one of his intimate and bosom-acquaintance and yet God tempts Abraham Nay to give you a greater instance than Abraham Jesus Christ was tempted I say Jesus Christ was Heb. 4. 15. in all points tempted like as we are and yet the beloved of the Lord he was the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord he was tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently superlatively more than us all and yet he was beloved of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminently and superlatively above us all So that ye may be the tempted and yet the beloved of the Lord nay Jesus Christ was tempted of God himself he was not only tempted by the tempter but by his dear Father God himself My God my God why hast thou forsaken me 2. All is in love he tempts in love he not only tempts his beloved but he tempts them in love that he may love them the more and they in the Issue love him the better How much more did God love Abraham when he saw him forget himself to be a Father and his own child to be his Son for his sake By my self have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou Gen. 22. 16 17. hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son That in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the Sea-shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies And did not this message from heaven think you kindle a greater flame of love in Abrahams bosom toward God without doubt it did God loves Abraham more Abraham loves God more than ever he did When Abraham saw Gods design and had his Son delivered safe to him again How was his heart filled with a spiritual torrent of joy He gained the experience of Gods love to him and of his love to God and would not have unwished the temptation again upon any terms 3. God tempts and all is in wisdom God tempts his Beloved in wisdom he corrects his Children as well as his Enemies but when he corrects them it is in much prudence and wisdom Quest But how shall I know that God tempts me for my good How shall I know that God afflicts me and tempts me in love 1. Why first because he loves thee whom he loves he tempts and proves them in love you imagine he loves you but you do not feel that he loves you the sense of Gods love would put all these out of doubt 2. You may know he tempts you in love if ye be faithful unto him in temptations if you depart not from God in the day of temptation God is trying and tempting his people at this day and it may be it will be a sad day and a dark day of temptation it may be it will be a strong day of temptation and of long temptation and you would know whether he tempts you at this day in love then make choice of suffering rather than sin of affliction rather than defection The Heb. 10. 38. just shall live by faith saith the Apostle that is shall hold out by faith in the day of temptation But if any man draw back my soul saith God shall have no pleasure in him Would ye know whether God proves you at this day and tries you in love then put on the whole armour of God that ye Eph. 6. 11 14. may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth c. Watch ye 1 Cor. 16. 13. stand fast in the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quit your selves like men be strong Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ Gal. 5. 1. hath made us free and be not intangled again with the yoke of bondage Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together Phil. 1. 27 28. for the faith of the Gospel And in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God So stand fast in the Phil. 4. 1. Lord my dearly beloved 3. Cleanse your hearts from hypocrisie see that your souls are right before the Lord and then Gods Temptations are all in love all goeth right with upright hearts The upright Prov. 11. 20. in their way are his delight 4. You may know whether God tempts you in love by the issue and fruits of your temptations Abraham sin'd in temptation and Saints may sin in temptation In a temptation you would know whether you shall hold out I will not prophesie but I will give you a sign have you held out through former temptations thou mayst hold out through others Vse 9. You beloved of the Lord bear Gods Temptations with willingness and patience The Apostle stirs up the Hebrews to learn practically this lesson Despise not thou the chastening Heb. 12. 5 9. of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Furthermore saith he we have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live Gods Temptations are your gain not your loss but your Gods Temptations are your gain
of his grace but also his spirit and life in the same manner as we say the members move not themselves nor live but by the life of their head So that to live christianly it is not enough to say that we must be in grace but we must live in the spirit and life of Jesus Forasmuch as we are one with Christ we must live his life and be acted and guided by his Spirit That life of Union which makes us one with him causes us to live in his spirit and life Not I but Christ Jesus Gal. 2. 20. lives in me And therefore the life of a Christian is the life of God himself who lives in us by his Son Whence it follows that as the Father lives in the Son and the Son in the Father so we live in Jesus and Jesus in us and because Jesus lives in us the Father also lives in us as you may find in Job 14. 23. If any man love me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him 3. This expression in Christ Jesus speaks causality because all that live godly are in Christ Jesus as the effect in its cause they have all their Being of grace from Jesus Christ I say they are in Christ as the effect in its cause They are in Christ Jesus as 1. In the efficient cause 2. In the exemplary cause 3. In the conserving and supporting cause of all their graces 1. They must be in Christ as in the efficient cause of all their graces For God in giving us Christ in our nature makes him thereby the principle of a new life in us and wills that as himself is the principle of the life of his Son in eternal generation so his Son should be the principle of our life in the new Regeneration of our souls with the washing of Eph. 5. 26. John 5. 21. water by the word As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom he will whether dead in their graves or dead in their sins And again As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given the Son to Vers 26. have life in himself i. e. to give life to others 2. The godly are in Christ as their exemplary cause They form up themselves to him Men cannot be godly unless they make Christ their Samplar so that to live godly in Christ Jesus is to act and live like unto Jesus Christ to make him the Idaea of our graces and the partern of our life All that wear the name of godly upon them are obliged to imitate Jesus Christ The greatest honour we can give him is to conform our selves to his life and intentions to imitate Jesus Christ maintains our adherence to him I beseech you observe it we adhere no longer to Christ than we are like him and we are not in him if we do not imitate him Our life then must be a lively Image of the life of Jesus Christ The first use a Christian is to make is to look upon the Son of God as the Prototype and Exemplar of his life and actions to express and represent him as it were to the life As the Son of God is the Image and Resemblance of his Father so must the Christian be of the Son We must be by grace what Jesus is by nature the Son of God is the true life and true model of our life Our interior and exterior life then must imitate and regard the exercises of the soul of Jesus Christ and the actions of his sacred life What Paul saith in another case As we have born the 1 Cor. 15. 49. image of the earthly Adam so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly i. e. of Christs glory when we come to glory so as we have born the Image of Adam imitating him by sin and following him by our own inclinations we must also bear the Image of Jesus Christ copying out his life and actions God gave us a Law as a Rule of life but he gives us a living Law a living Rule and form of life in Christ and shews us in him the manner of conversation that we must follow to live christianly that is to live a new life My Beloved we should never have understood the dimensions of life as it lyeth in the law had we not seen it acted in Christ Jesus By looking on and taking some measure of the excellent life of Jesus Christ we come to know what the life of holiness is that is commanded in the law And observe it The Lord Christ came not only to set himself before us to imitate him but to give us a grace and power to imitate him and put on his likeness As Paul saith I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Consider it seriously Many because they lean upon Christ for pardon and upon his righteousness alone for salvation believe lustily that they are in Christ Jesus But ye are not in Christ till ye live his life your vital imitation of Christ speaks your Vnion to Christ if you are not like him you do not live in him To imitate Christ 1. We must shun all manner of sin for he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 22. And again 't is said of him Who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And 't is said there That he left us an Vers 21. example that ye should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth So then here lies our imitation of Christ that as he had no sin so we must strive to have no sin in us And my Beloved to what end are we religious and pray and put on a devout form upon our selves if we favour our sins in us To pray against sin and yet indulge sin us is to play the greatest hypocrites to pray like Christ and not live like Christ is the rankest dissimulation And that you may put your selves into a perfect resemblance of Jesus Christ you must mortifie nature in you for Christ was pure in his nature he was not only free from acts of sin but had an unstained nature and therefore to be like Christ you must get all stains of sin out of your nature you most mortifie the Spirit and Inclinations of Adam in you you must root out of the foundation of your soul I say you must put out of the very foundation of your Being all hidden principles all oppositions inclinations and customs contrary to holiness And therefore Mortification which is in a manner lost among Christians must be both inward and outward nay chiefly of the inward man The keen edg of Mortification must fall directly upon the root the nature of man the heart and spirit of Adam in us And therefore though to abstain from gross sins makes a fair and goodly shew in the flesh yet 't is insignificant and
live godly in Christ Jesus they derive it from him and direct it to him they breath for him and bring forth all their actions for him for this is essential to an Evangelical life to do all in the strength of Christ as their root and to do all for Christ as their end And if this be a godly life to live to Christ then let us so think of him and so do that from henceforth our hearts and mouths may neither speak nor think but of him that all things else may be of no savour to us that nothing enter our spirit which resenteth not the Spirit and Odour of Jesus Christ and respires not his honour and glory I say let us be vigilant and faithful to do and desire nothing but the honour of Christ to regard nothing but his pleasure and glory so as to have no eyes but for Jesus no more life but what is consecrated to the honour of his Soveraignty and Greatness Vse We have shewed you what a godly life is and how you may attain a godly life Let us now stir you up to attain this godly life 1. Let me take St. Pauls word to Timothy that which he recommends to him is Piety Exercise thy self unto godliness 1 Tim. 4. 7. Truly all virtues are good and all suitable to the state of a Christian the acquisition and practise of them all useful and necessary but he would have his prime and chief care be To exercise thy self unto godliness for godliness is the Ornament and Mistress of all other virtues it leads us to God and makes use of all virtues to conduct us thither and having no Object but God teaches us the worship and honour that we must render to him and like a good mistress puts us into a ready and easie practise of virtues and entertains us in the exercise of actions that honour God and are acceptable to him 2. Godliness is profitable as Paul saith in the same place Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable to all 1 Tim. 4. 8. things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come True godliness is one of the principal foundations on which Christian perfection stands and is supported In the conduct of men all actions and exercises of their life are ruled according to the Piety and as we commonly say according to the Devotion they have If their Piety be not well-laid the rest of the Christian life will be unconstant and its exercises very uncertain and superficial as we see in the devotion of many which is only in the exterior Who as the Apostle saith having the form of godliness deny and despise the power thereof In such souls we see nothing solid nothing but inconstancy in their lives imperfection in their actions disquiet disturbance and adherence to several creatures in their spirits a small blast of adversity over-turns them Object But it is an hard thing to be godly we have Satan opposing us and he is too hard for us besides our own corruptions and strong temptations Answ While we strive to be godly we may safely expect the Presence of God he is never wanting to those that seek after him and never fails those that engage in his quarrels As he who plots sin shall be sure to find Satan standing at his right hand so he that pursues after God and Holiness shall find God nearer to him than he is to himself God hath not forsaken the earth but as he sustains the whole universe much more those who are seeking grace and participation of himself Are you then striving to be godly and aiming at a Divine life His almighty arms will bear you up and he 'l cherish you with his own goodness Wheresoever God beholds any breathings after himself he gives life to them as those which are his own breath in them where there is any serious and sober resolution against sin any real motion towards God there 's the blessing of heaven in it He that planted it will also water it and make it to bud and blossom and bring forth fruit Object But a godly life is an afflicted life Answ You have heard that grace in us is the life of Jesus in us We ought then to know what his life was The life of Jesus is Divinely Humane and Humanely Divine he is God and Man and therefore lives a life Divine and a life Humane As God he lives the life of God in the bosom of his Father a life of Glory Power and Majesty As Man he lived the life of Man in lowness humiliation in impotence in sufferings so that at the same he is living in the bosom of his Father and dying on the arms of the Cross There he reigns and governs and judges all the world here he is accused and accursed condemned and crucified at the same instant he is in the exaltation and greatness of his Majesty and in the lowness and humiliation of our Humanity Such also ought the Christian life to be on the one side it is great seeing grace makes us the Children of God elevates and unites us to God On the other side the same life is obscured dejected wholly in the spirit of humiliations and privations for grace cannot reign in the soul without operating therein annihilation death and humility Again The Saint by his Union to the Son of God is raised Eph. 2. 6. up and made to sit in heavenly places in Jesus Christ And at the same time the life of a Christian is exposed here to Temptations derided by men and condemned by the world at the same time it is in the greatest cherishing of God and under the fiercest agitation of the Cross So that an afflicted godly life should be no wonder being compared with the life of Christ Besides God enlightens the soul by grace 't is granted but 't is in annihilation he upholds her but 't is in confounding her he unites her to him but it is in separating her sometimes from himself and she remains separated from God as long as she remains upon earth While we are in the body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6. so she is at once united and separated Again This is the Conduct of God over his Church If we reflect upon the highest works we shall find he puts not on the Ornament of Grace he lays not the foundation of her estate but in lowness his grace his gifts his spirit and his communications When did he come down from heaven and give her his law with such appearance of glorious Majesty as never the like was but when he had brought her into a wilderness When the Lord Christ instituted the Sacraments which are Conduit-pipes to convey his graces to his Church he chose bread water such things as are mean little or nothing esteemed among men In the Birth of the Church he took the Cross for the Throne of his Empire a Calvary for his Seat-Royal he rejected an estate by Poverty Sufferings and Martyrdom and at this day he doth the same in the Regency of his Church And according to Gods proceedings in the Conduct of his Church is likewise his carriage in the sanctification and government of our souls he leads them by the Cross he retires from them he hides himself he leaves them in privations he humbles them annihilates them smites them overthrows them Whereby is discovered how they are as I think deceived who in their devotions and religious exercises seek resentments enjoyments content and satisfaction and would know and feel the excellency and elevations of grace I call it a deceit as I suppose for Christian grace consists chiefly in privations in lowness in rigours and that is it they stand most in fear of and avoid But as the life of Jesus began in poverty and ended on the Cross so a perfect Christian who would live a life of grace must resolve to walk among Thorns to bear privations and sustain desertions for the Cross and Thorns are things proper to Christian-grace and to the love of Jesus Let us not so much seek after assurance of heaven as a thing to come as after heaven it self present in us For where Heaven comes into a heart it will bring its own light comfort and assurance along with it Get Heaven into your soul and you will easily have the assurance of Heaven Let us have a fire in a room and we shall quickly have the light and warmth of it there also Men seek the assurance of Heaven as a thing to come but neglect the present power and possession of Heaven it self in their souls Oh! let us get the Sun it self into us and then we shall not be without its shine and smiles within us FINIS Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel PResent State of New-England Burges's Husbandmans Companion Burges's Englands Bond. Adams's Catechism Survey of Quakerism A view of Antiquity by J. Honner Abyssus Mali or Man's Corruption by Nature by W. G. England's present and most great incumbent Duty by Robert Perrott The Ark of the Covenant opened or a Treatise of the Covenant of Redemption Janewayes Life Meads Almost Christian Mr. Cawtons Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Vincent and Mr. Hurst Phelpes Caveat against Drunkenness Wadsworths last Warning unto secure Sinners Kidder on the Sacrament Wells Funeral Sermon by Mr. Tho. Watson Mr. Wadsworths Funeral Sermon Preached by Mr. Bragg Bishop Reynholds Meditations on the Fall and Rising of St. Peter Practical Divinity of the Papists proved to be destructive unto Christianity and Mens souls Burroughs's four Treatises Dr. Collins on the Canticles