or deny the same principle Naturall perswasion is no faith if Nature gave thee all thou hast thou hast none at all Secondly If it bee Moralities gift to thee it is no faith I call that a Moral perswasion which is wrought from the consideration and improvement of Morall Principles if thou beest perswaded to rest and rely upon God and his promises for salvation meerely upon this skore I live justly I tythe Mint and Annis I have taken no mans Oxe or Asse from him whom have I defrauded Alas thus Aristides and Cato might beleeve Thirdly If thy Faith be thy grandfathers Legacy to thee it is no hand that will reach the Lord Iesus Christ A traditionall perswasion is no faith If thou beest perswaded that Christ dyed for thee c. upon this skore My Mother told me so our fore-fathers held so and they were wiser than wee c. Alas friend there is as much difference betwixt faith and thy soule as there is betwixt heaven and hell This was the Samaritanes Religion which the good woman was as tenacious of as ours are now of the Common Prayer Book Joh. 4. 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountaine and you say in Jerusalem is the place to worship It is the great objection wee have against the Church of Rome That they would have men beleeve as the Church beleeves But for the most part wee are condemned in what we condemne Doe not most men beleeve as their Fathers beleeved What a sinne it is thought to thinke of stripping Queen Elizabeths Reformation Are not most men limitted to this faith and is not here all the perswasion that men have of the saving Truths of God that Christ was God and man that he dyed rose and is ascended Why this was our Fathers Faith this wee were taught when wee were little ones and upon this skore being perswaded they must goe under the Notion of Beleevers and when heaven and hell meet this Faith shall save them Fourthly If thy faith be the Devills gift to thee it is no hand that will reach Christ The Devill hath his Apes-faced-Graces Morall walking instead of Gospell-obedience Feare of Hell in stead of feare of God and so presumption instead of Faith He carries too great designes 1. To flatter the soule to hell by presumption Thinke nothing ill of thy selfe sayes the Devill venture upon God let it never trouble thee venture all yes doe and cry confidently Lord Lord open to me I have prayed in thy name c. Hee knowes well enough that the answer will be Depart from me I know you not you workers of iniquity Feare not saith the Devill to apply hot boiling Lusts to the bleeding wounds of Christ you may rest upon him that dyed for you though you doe not take any such care to live strictly and holily with him other folk shall goe to heaven besides Puritanes God is mercifull Is thy faith such a one as this Christian O tremble at that Mat. 7. 24. And would not one thinke that this were the miserable faith of most of men It is impossible but when you heare so many peales in your eares of repentance as you heare in these dayes but you should have some thoughts what shall become of your poor soules And who so lookes upon your lives againe and seeth no repentance no sitting downe and saying What have I done no care of future obedience but a loose irreligious walking would he not bee confident that the Devill hath perswaded you to venture it is but a soule lost but poor wretch it is lost for ever and Christ is mercifull but to no such hell-hounds as thou art wretch O Lord it would make an heart tremble to come to some poore Creatures upon their Death-bed and examine the condition of their soules Why they are well they rest upon Jesus Christ they are confident he will save them who is bolder than blinde Bayard is our Countrey Proverb though all know the wretch never was sensible of his lost condition nor ever carefull to conforme himself in the least to Jesus Christ Faith is not the devils gift Diabolicall perswasion widely differs from faith But lastly Fiftly Faith is the gift of God It is grounded upon divine perswasion The Spirit of God and the Word of God and the Merits of Jesus Christ these are the grounds that perswade the soule to rely upon Jesus Christ Rom. 14. 14. I know my selfe and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus Christ The worldling is perswaded after another fashion from naturall or morall Principles or Tradition or at best as concerning Ahab 1 Kings 22. 21. There is an evill Spirit gone forth and said I will perswade him and the Lord hath permitted and assented to it ver 22. Thou shalt perswade him and prevaile also But now the child of God is perswaded another way come to him and aske him Christian what perswades thee to rest upon Jesus Christ he answereth with Paul I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus Christ Sir Ah Sir I was despairing almost the spirit of God by its inward motions inclined me to roll my selfe on Christ Or the word of God perswaded me I heard a Voice saying come I knew he that had promised was faithfull and able to performe it Rom. 4. 21. Faith is the gift of God saith the Apostle Ephes 2. 8. It is the Fathers work and gift the Sonnes gift and work the 1 Phil. 3. 9. Spirits worke and the Words worke 1. It is the Fathers worke and gift John 6. 37. All that the Father gives me shall come to me Faith is of his willing John 6. 40. It is the Sons gift and work I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus Christ It is a piece of Grace and Christ is the well-head of all divine Grace 1 Cor. 1. 4. He is therefore called The author and finisher of our faith Hebr. 12. 2. It is the gift and work of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 12. 9. To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisedome to another faith by the same Spirit It is therefore reckoned as one of the Spirits workes Gal. 5. 22. It is a fruit of the Spirit It is wrought by the Word which therefore is called the Word of faith Rom. 10. 8. Now try thy selfe Christian whether thy hand be a true hand Is thy faith a gift of God wrought by his Spirit and grounded upon his Word such must that hand be that plucketh the fruit of this Apple-tree of free grace Not mans much lesse the devills gift but Gods gift it will quicken thee in Gods wayes but I spake of that before I have now done with my rules of examination the Lord perfect this Application in every one of your soules Use 3 I proceed now to a third Use and and that is of Exhortation To all those that are through the mercy of God recovered out of that sad condition in which we were all by Nature that are now cleansed
where is thy victory When the Prisoner is freed it is a signe the debt is paid or the Gaoler beaten It was a signe of both in Christ as that the debt was paid due to his Fathers justice so also that death and hell were beaten 2. Christs Resurrection had an influence upon our raising by quickning us Col. 2. 12. Buried with him in Baptisme wherein you are also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead And being dead in your sinnes hath be quickned together with him c. Col. 3. 1. If then ye be risen with Christ seeke those things which are above and ver 2. Set your affections on things which are above c. We are risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with him and this should quicken us and strength derived from Christs Resurrection by faith doth quicken the Saints of God to live to God as becomes the redeemed ones of the Lord. 3. It hath an influence upon our raising by being a pledge to us of our owne rising unto everlasting glorie to live with that Christ who was dead and is alive againe This the Apostle fully proves in that fifteenth Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians from the thirteenth Verse to the five and twentieth Now I take by raising I raised thee not onely to be understoed of the work of Redemption but also all the privileges that from that worke of Redemption flow out of course to the servants of God being but as severall steps from one of which to another the Saint is raised till hee bee got to the toppe staire of glory Christ hath raised us by his owne rising from the pit of the grave 5. He hath raised us by his Ascension and sitting at the right hand of his Father Now Christs Ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father hath an influence upon our raising these wayes 1. In going before hee provides a place for us Take this out of his owne mouth John 14. 2. I goe to prepare a place for you And if I goe and prepare a place for you I will come againe and receive you unto my selfe that where I am there you may be also Christ is now preparing Mansions for his redeemed ones for in his Fathers house are many Mansions never a Saint of his shall want a seat or a roome in glory 2. In going he hath raised us in being our Way He being ascended and with the Father wee have through him a way unto the Father John 14. verse 6. I am the way hee was the way by which the Father came to us he communicated himselfe unto us in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ and hee is our way by which wee goe to God whatsoever we aske in his Name if we believe we shall receive it we shall receive it The Saint could not pray with comfort if he did not remember that Rev. 13. 8. There is an Angell that stands before the Throne to whom much Incense is given to offer up the prayers of his people unto God But knowing we have a friend in the Court we offer up our prayers with boldnes and a great confidence in his goodnesse 3. His Ascension hath an influence upon our raising in that wee know now we have an Advocate with the Father even Christ Alas with what comfort can the child of God whose conscience the Lord hath awakened to consider his daily sinnes and corruptions thinke upon God or look up unto God if he did not know Christ were with him But now that Christ is with his Father wee know 1 Joh. 2. 1. That if any man sinne wee have an Advocate with the Father even Christ the righteous Hebr. 7. 25. He is therefore able to save them to the utmost that come unto God through him because he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Rom. 8 27. yea and verse 34. Now Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand who also maketh Intercession for us Observe there how the Apostle gives Christ ascension and sitting at the hand of God as the proximate cause of our Intercessor his Death and Resurrection made him not our Intercessor his Death made him our Saviour his Resurrection our Conqueror but his Ascension and sitting at the right hand of God hath ultimately made him in a capacity to bee our Advocate and Intercessor Thus he hath raised us by Ascension Yea 4. His Ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father hath an influence upon our raising in that now from thence he giveth gifts unto men Ephes 4. 8. When hee ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave gifts unto men The Psalmist Psalme 68. 18. from whence that passage is taken saith he received gifts for men he received them from his Father Now saith the Apostle when hee led Captivity Captive he distributed these to men As Conquerors use when they have taken the spoile to deale it out in gifts What gifts The Apostle expounds it in part ver 11. He gave some to be Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists In short I take to be meant by it all the gifts of Gods Spirit whether of common or speciall grace whether externall or internall gifts for the benefit of the Church and gifts for the benefit of our soules Nay the descending of the Spirit was a fruit of Christs Ascension See it Joh. 14. 16. John 16. 7. I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you Now it is plaine that the internall gifts of the Spirit and workes of it are fruits of Christs Ascension as well as the more common and externall gifts given in the dayes of Pentecost from the 14. of Joh. ver 16. where Christ promiseth them that the comforter which upon his departure he would send to them should abide with them for ever And thus I have shewed you now what course the Lord Jesus Christ hath taken to raise his redeemed ones that had lost all their life and strength and comfort in Adam out of this their lost condition thus he did it meritoriously These were his acts for us But now to what purpose is all this for any soules wounds that there is Balme in Gilead that there is a Phisitian there without the Balme bee applyed to its soul 6. Lastly therefore as Christ hath meritoriously thus raised the whole number of the Elect ones so he Particularly and Actually raiseth each one of those whom hee hath purchased by his bloud by applying himselfe unto each of their soules Now for the manner of this Application the blessed Apostle describes it Rom. 8. 30. Moreover whom hee did predestinate them he also called and whom hee called them he also justified and
is predicated of the subject is common to every particular soule as well as to the beleeving Church For every beleever leanes by faith upon the Lord Jesus and comes out of his particular wildernesses leaning upon him And therefore I rather agree with * Non solum vicinae gentes sed etiaÌ„ ipsi qui sunt in populo hanc mirantur sic ascendenteÌ„ ex deserto Luther Luther upon the place not only saith he the Neighbour Nations but those of the same Nation shall admire her comming out of the wildernesse In short I conceive the words have a Prosopopeia in them The Church or soule speaks them as if she should have said Methinks I fancie the world standing wondring at me how I can leane upon Christ in my wildernesseconditions and out of the saddest wildernesse how I can come up by the strength of Christ leaning upon him They will wonder at my glory and honour that Christ will priviledge such a worme as I am so as to lean upon him and that he will help me They will not understand how I can come leaning in the wildernesse they will say Who is this Christs power of Grace in me will be hidden to them and yet they will admire Who is this That comes up out of the wildernes Out of a sad low condition out of a lost rugged condition out of crosses trials afflictions inward or outward But I shall open this terme more hereafter Leaning Tremellius reads it associans associatura joyning or marrying or about to joyne or marry her selfe Vatablus Hierome and Lyra read it Deliciis â—ffluens flowing abounding with delights Beda and Brightman read it Innixa leaning upon her Beloved And so our Translation The quarrell betwixt these Expositors is not so great but I conceive it may easily be thus taken up 1. Leaning is a posture of familiarity And she that is so bold as to leane upon her Beloveds arme is surely lodged in her Beloveds heart and is associans marrying or associatura about to marry to her Beloved and 2. Leaning is a posture of love too She that leanes loves and surely she takes pleasure in her posture she takes delight in her Beloveds company Upon her Beloved Christ Jesus who loves her and having first loved her is now beloved of her He is called Her to denote her propriety in him Thus you have the sence of the former part of the Text. The Church or the beleeving soule fancies that the world seeing her keep her hold on Christ in saddest conditions and keep a close communion with Christ in the midst of briars and thorns in a barren heath and dry ground in the midst of trials would be ready either out of ignorance not knowing the power of grace that upheld and helpt and sustained her or else admiring her happy and glorious condition that in the wildernesse she had such a Beloved to leane upon or admiring the strangnesse of her constancy and patience that she would adhere to Christ at such a low ebbe would either by way of scoffing or admiring cry out Who is this that nothing will part from Christ Or Who is this that Jesus Christ will thus owne and uphold in saddest conditions Or Who is this What power is this that upholds this man or woman in such estates as every one else would bee lost in Who is this that commeth by the feet of faith and patience up out of these deep sad wildernes-straights and yet comes up with such a fixed temper of spirit with such a stayed mind and with such a stedfastnesse of reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ Who is this that commeth up Thus you have the former part opened It followes now in the Text. I raised thee up under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee For the opening of these words and making my way cleare these two things must be resolved 1. Whose part of the Dialogue whose speech these words be 2. What the meaning of them is The first great question is whose part in this dialogue of love these are This is certaine they are either Christ's or the beleevers the opinions of men are divided about it Some think that the words are the continued speech of the Spouse their great reason is because the words both before it and after it are the Spouses Of this opinion are Gregory Aquinas Lyra Hierom yea and learned Mercer and M. Ainsworth There are some others that think they are the words of Jesus Christ minding the Spouse how he raised up his Church say some which I doe not deny so they doe not limit it to the body of beleevers collectively for my owne part I strongly incline to the latter viz. That the words are the words of Christ my reasons are 1. Partly because the 4 verse containes a phrase of speech with which she had twice closed a speech before viz. chap. 3. 5 6. chap. 5. 8. and partly because of the congruity which appeares to me in the sence thus The Spouse before had seemed to cast out words as if she had bin almost ashamed of Christs company and by her walking with him had made her selfe a laughing stock or a wondering stock to the world for so the phrase Who is this may also be taken to which Christ replies I raised thee c. as if he should have said and do I not deserve this and a great deale more too Remember but what I have done for thee I have raised thee up under the Apple-tree c. To which as overcome with love the soule replies v. 6. Set me as a seale c. As if she should say Truth indeed Lord thou hast done it O set me now as a seale upon thine arme as a seale upon thy heart c. A third reason is the incongruity of the sence if the word be taken as the words of the Spouse which will further appeare in the opening of the words The first question being resolved I come to the second To shew you what is the meaning of these words In doing of which 1. I shall shew you the opinion of others 2. I shall reject most of them shewing you reason why I doe so 3. I shall give you my owne opinion concerning the words and reasons for it Sort. 1 1. I will begin with such expositors as would have these words to be the Spouses words and these are either Papists or Protestants The popish expositions run together I say they that is the Spouse the beleeving soule raised thee awakened and applied thee under the apple-tree hanging upon the crosse Gregory saith that the apple-tree is procul dubio arbor sanctae crucis the tree of the holy Crosse Sort. 2 M. Ainsworth and Mercer carry it another way I saith M. Ainsworth that is the Spouse raised thee up by earnest prayer Psa 44. 24. Raised up Christ under the apple-tree the tree of free grace and life mentioned Chap. 2. 3. To this sence
which is now glorified with our renewing lusts and corruptions I shall conclude this use with a prayer that God would fulfill to all our soules that gracious promise Zach. 12. 10. That he would poure out the spirit of grace and of supplications upon us and make us to look upon him whom we have pierced and doe pierce daily and mourn as a man mournes for his only Son And be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternes for his first-borne I passe on to a second way of Application viz. by way of Instruction Hath Christ and Christ alone raised us 1. Let us hence be instructed How Instruction much the Lord Jesus Christ loved us And here let my soule be drowned in sweetnesse and in sinking cry out O the depth of unfadomable love What tongue what Saint what Angell can speake out this unspeakable love Pray O pray Christians That Christ Eph. 3. 17 18. may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints What is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Is it love in a friend to passe his word for his friend arrested and ready to be haled to gaole and to take the debt upon himselfe and is it no love in Christ yea is it not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unspeakable of loves for Jesus Christ when a writ of eternal vengeance was Ready to issue out against you to be your surety and beare the blow off to the breaking of his own armes Was it love in the Roman to personate his friend and upon the Scaffold and after to suffer for him and is it not infinite love for Jesus Christ to take the raggs of your flesh upon him and indeed to dye a death upon the crosse for you for you deare friends for you he was smitten despised rejected of men he dyed to make you live he was content to fall so you might rise Let your thoughts sinke in this ocean and spend your lives in spelling the letters of love that must be joyned in this one word or sentence I Raised thee From hence Secondly be Instructed What a perfect Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ is he leaves nothing for thee to doe but to thanke him hee makes the plaister and layes it on hee trod the Wine-presse alone and there is none with him he hath left thee nothing to do but to believe his last words All is finished he conquered sinne upon the Crosse and death and hell in the grave He will have none to be a sharer with him either in his worke of Merit or Application get but hands he will deliver thee thy pardon ready written granted sealed nay he will help thee with hands too He was made perfect through sufferings Hebr. 2. 10. Heb. 5. 9. Being made perfect hee became the author of salvation to them that obey him 3. From hence againe bee instructed Christian What need thou and every poore soule hath of the Lord Iesus Christ Thou wert fallen and layest as unable to helpe thy selfe as an Infant throwne into an open field Men and Angels were at their wits ends to answer to this question How then can any be saved The Heavens said Salvation was not in them and Earth sayes Salvation is not in us nothing but God-man can doe this great work There is no other name but onely the Name of Iesus by which thou or I or any of the children of men can be saved If thou hast him thou hast enough if thou hast not him it is not all the righteousnesse of Saints and Angels that will make a garment which will not bee too short to cover thy nakednesse O cry Lord give mee Christ Lord give mee Christ or else I dye Thinke not of thy owne merits thy righteousnesse is as a menstruous cloth and as a filthy ragge Christs Righteousnesse is sufficient for thee 4. Let all the redeemed ones of the Lord be instrushed How much they owe and shall for ever owe to him that is become their Saviour It is no slight mercy Sirs to be saved out of everlasting burnings It is a piece of love which as wee can never comprehend so we can never walke up to O let us all say What shall wee render unto the Lord for his mereies wee will take the cup of salvation and praise the Name of the Lord. You would thinke you owed a great deale to him that should exalt you from a Dungeon to a Throne Mephibosheth thought he was mightily honoured to be admitted to eate bread at the Kings Table How much Ah! How much Christians is every of your soules indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ who remembred you in your low estate For his mercy endureth for ever But I passe on further Use 3 From hence may every one try himselfe whether he be raised out of that lost undone condition wherein he was by Nature I have spoke to this in the former Doctrine but because I here meet it so fit again take two Notes of Triall from this Doctrine 1. If you be raised you are raised by Christs merits 2. You are raised according to Christs method 1. If you be raised It is by Christs merits all the Abana and Parphars of thy owne merits would not doe it One drop of that fountaine that was set open for Iudah and Ierusalem for sinne and for uncleanenesse is worth all the waters of thine own Damascus What trusts thou in Christian Is it what thou hast done Alas thou art so far from having any naturall strength as Pelagians and Arminians dreame or any other strength of merits either of thy owne or thy friends which Papists dreame of that if all the Saints in the earth and all the Angels of heaven could unite their forces in one arme and to one act they could as little have lifted thee up out of the pit into which thou wert fallen as thou couldst lift up an house with the palme of thy hand if it were fallen downe It was onely this mighty one this Prince of glory this King of power that could doe it Say therefore as they say that great Papist concluded Tutissimum est Christi merit is confidere it is most safe onely to rest upon him believe it all other trusts are as the bruised Reed of Egypt and as the broken staffe of Assyria which if thou trusteth too they run into thy hand and pierce thee they will cause thee to fall many strides short of heaven when they have carried thee to their furthest their Nil ultra O trust not in them if there be all thy confidence thou art not yet raised 2. If Christ hath raised you it hath been in his method of Application Christ saves none but whom he sanctifies and sanctifies none but whom he justifies and justifieth none but whom he calls Some men are justified they think but they know not which way and
WAY been their first If the Devill could have lost our Saviour in it we should never have found the way out of it A dangerous a disconsolate place well tearmed a wildernesse as the Saint will tell you that hath been in it 5. A fifth Wildernesse that the Spouse is sometimes in is the Wildernesse of desertion Here 's a sad wildernesse a desert indeed Quum Dens deseruit When God hath forsaken or withdrawne himselfe from the Soule this Desert Christ himselfe was in Eli Eli lama-sabachthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me was the voice of the Lord Jesus hollowing in the wildernesse such a wildernesse was the Spouse in when she sought him but found him not Cant. 3. v. 2. In this desert the soule is solitary her God is gone and she knowes not what is become of him the soule never calls any company her company if her God be not there David was in this wildernesse too he is often crying out of the wildernesse he was in when God hid his face from him The foule that belongs to the Lord Jesus goes through many a wildernesse in this world but scarce any which Christ hath not walkt in before it and hewn a way through it through every wildernesse we may follow the Lamb in his own path 6. Nay lastly The Saints whole life below is but a wildernes Earth is a Christians desert while she lives here she lives in widowhood it is a sinfull place a dangerous place a thorny place and a place where she finds an abatement of the joyes she shall be swallowed up in in glory Mortality is but Meshech and her best habitations are but tents of Kedar nothing to the temple of Glory she shall worship her God in hereafter and the former deserts are but as severall corners of this wildernesse but she commeth up out of every wildernesse That is the next branch of Doctrine I hasten to Branch 2. That though the Saint of God hath had and may have her dwelling in the wildernesse she rests not there but commeth up out of it She cometh up It seemes to argue a propriety in the motion as if she were not driven nor drawne up nor made to come but of her selfe came and of her owne strength and yet not of her own strength neither her owne leggs would not beare her for the text tells us she comes up leaning she had fallen had she not leaned Here is the Question stated what the soule doth towards its conversion what power of doing any thing tending towards its conversion before it is sanctified or after it is sanctified whether it may meerly passive what she may doe what she cannot doe how far she may come where she must lean Whether hath the soule any power to come up out of the wildernesse of sinne to the Lord Christ to move one step heaven ward of it selfe And here I have a narrow path to tread betwixt the Pelagians and Arminians on the one side that would make the soule have more power than it hath and the Antinomians and Sectaries on the other side that are so farre from holding that the soule hath no power to come to Christ that they would make us beleeve she hath no power to come to Church neither I shall not know how to determine this Question better than in the words of pious and learned Bishop Davenant Determ Q. 9. 49. Non potest quodvis opus ex divina premissione ad impetrandam peecatorum remissionem aut adeundam possessionem regni coelorum ordinatum The soule cannot doe any thing that is ordained by God or hath the promise of God to obtaine pardon of sinnes or possession of the Kingdome of heaven she cannot savingly beleeve repent love c. for these are the acts of grace and God is the fountain and donour of all grace 1. But first she may by Gods generall restraining grace without speciall and saving grace abstaine from grosse sinnes the heathens did so the light of nature which God keeps from none will shew her that this is darknesse 2. Secondly She may by Gods exciting grace without any saving grace performe many previous actions that are required of men to faith and repentance she may by vertue of Gods generall grace his exciting grace goe to Church hear the word of God meditate of God peccat a propria consider are sēsu eorum expavescere saith Davenant Ay and she may beg deliverance from that wofull condition which she apprehends her selfe in but she stirrs not one of these stepps after a spirituall but after a naturall manner till the quickning grace of God come A man may in a wildernesse conceive himselfe lost look about for the way out call for help be willing to be out yet not be one step in the way that will lead him out and this the soule must doe so farr as it can Negamus etenim hanc gratiam regenerantem infundi hominibus inertibus sed animis per verbum Dei erectis subact is per praedictas actiones quodammodo dispositis viz. We deny that regenerating grace is infused into sloathfull men but into soules subdued by Gods word and law and after a manner disposed by the foregoing actions yet we say that even these foregoing actions have their first motions from God and the question is whether God doth not first work a sight and sense of sinne and an humiliation for it by his exciting grace before he comes with his regenerating quickning and saving grace into the soule we say he doth in his ordinary course of his dispensations Only I must bee here safely understood that I speak according to mans apprehension for in respect of God nothing is first or last he works all in an instant all graces together in the soule but the question lies not whether God works the habit of Repentance before the habit of Faith or no for without question he works together all his works but whether God makes humiliation act before faith which we say he doth Esau and Jacob may be in their mothers womb together but Esau may come out and be seen in the world before Jacob yet not tying up the Almighty to this method who can and will work any way even which way it pleaseth him Nor doe we say any such previous action can be performed by the Creature ut de merito congrui teneatur Gratiam dare That God is bound for the desert of any such privious action to give his inward and regenerating quickning grace But yet this Dave ibid. we say that in the Church of God where men are dayly stirr'd up by the word and spirit to repent and beleeve savingly God will give though not for any of these previous or dispository actions yet freely regenerating grace to all such as are capable of it unlesse they have resisted the spirit of God in the preceding operations and rejected his quickning grace but yet we deny that any man can performe these
Though now for a season you are in heavinesse through manifold temptations yet it is that the triall of your faith being much more precious than of gold which perishes though it be tried with the fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory In temptations they leane upon God and they come out of these temptations leaning beleeving upon God too having found that he is able and knoweth how to deliver the godly out of all temptations 2 Pet. 2. 9. A fifth wildernesse in which the Spouse of Christ leaneth upon her Beloved and out of which she commeth leaning is the wildernesse of desertion And this is one of the saddest wildernesses that the Spouse of Christ comes in and she hath an hard work to leane here when Christ seemeth to pull away his shoulder yet even here she leanes Christ himselfe did so My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me Mark the phrase Forsaken yet not forsaken the Bridegroome cryes out he was forsaken yet my God Gods forsaking us is no ground for us to forsake him If he seemes not to owne us it is no warrant nor policy in us not to owne him It is the duty of a pious soule when God clouds himselfe yet to cry My God The bowels of the father must yearne upon the childe againe if the childe cryes and will not shake him off It is a remarkable expression of Job chap. 13. ver 15. Though he kils me yet will I trust in him How now if thou beest kill'd blest Job how canst thou trust O immortall faith that puttest Spirits of confidence in the dust and ashes of Job Let God hide himselfe from the soule and so kill it For Gods separation of himselfe from the Christians soule is a worse death than the separation of his soule from his body Yet the soule must trust in him it must it will leane upon him The Spouse loseth not but quickens her faith in a fit of desertion That place of the Prophet is remarkable Isa 50. v. 10. Who is amongst you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God They that feare the Lord though they may walke in a darke wildernesse and see no such light as they were wont to see have no such comfortable enjoyments of their God as they were wont to have yet they will trust and rest themselves upon the Lord and come out of this wildernesse leaning In all the wildernesses of this life the Spouse will leane upon her Beloved yea and upon him alone in all states in all conditions upon him for directing grace upon him for quickning grace upon him for whatsoever she hath need of either pardon or guidance or direction or assistance or comfort or heaven at all times she must trust in the covert of his wings for all blessings The Spouse of Christ is a most dependent creature The Babe of grace is never old enough to goe alone it hangs like a childe upon the mothers hands and leanes like a Bride upon the Bridegroomes bosome Thus have I done with the Doctrinall part having shewed you how she hath had and sometimes hath her dwelling in the wildernesse and how out of every wildernesse she commeth up but leaning and what strength there is in her Saviour to beare her up leaning upon him even in every wildernesse Who is this commeth up from the wildernesse leaning upon her Beleved Now let us see what use we may make of it And first here may a word of reproof and a brand of folly be fastened upon divers erroneous opinions and practices First is it so that the Spouse of the Lord Christ that comes and is married to the Lord Christ comes out of the wildernesse of sinne Then this may reprove the errour and folly of those that dreame of heaven and flatter themselves with the hopes of glory but yet never regard comming out of this wildernesse Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance These men dreame of Heaven and yet never thinke of Repentance Christ came to seeke and to save that which was lost friend how lost what insensibly lost as all of us were by Nature This is an idle construction that giddy headed Sectaries have of late devised to help themselves to heaven with The Devils are so lost yet Christ never came to save them No no friend it is those that are lost in their own apprehensions those that know not what to dot o be saved those that feel themselves even in the jawes of hell he makes apprehensions of his wrath precede the apprehensions of his love But woe and alas how many thinke they have a part in Christ That the Devill hath as great a part in Christ actually as they have Heaven is growne the common journeyes end and let men ride which way they list Not the most debauched wretch in a Congregation but aske him what he thinks shall become of him if he dyes in that condition why he hopes he shall goe to heaven nay I wish he doth not say he is sure of it too All men are sinners He is lost but Christ came to seek and save that which was lost Tell him of mourning for his sinnes if he meanes to be comforted of humbling himselfe if he meanes to bee exalted of feeling hell if ever he means to feele heaven O then you are a legall Preacher Heare what the other side saith what those you call Antinomian Preachers O these are the only Gospell-preachers to them This makes them to passe for such honest men O they shew a fine Cushion-way to Heaven that you shall not need wet a foot or eye in But let them preach what they will friend beleeve him who although he knowes but little yet knowes you must go out of the wildernesse if ever you come there The way is neither the Drunkards Ale-way nor the Adulterers uncleane way nor the Covetous man his dirty way nor the Ambitious mans high way nor the Hypocrites hidden way nor the Carnall-Gospellers formall way nor the Antinomians easie way It is a way through a wildernesse not a way in a wildernesse The Spouse is not described by her staying in the wildernesse but by comming out of the wildernesse Who is this commeth out of the wildernesse Secondly Doth the Spouse of the Lord come out of a wildernesse of sorrow leaning upon her Beloved First she is in then she commeth out then this reproves the folly of those that preach men found before they were lost and of those that dreame of leaning before they are in the wildernesse The Spouse leans but it is when she is comming out of the wildernesse Is there any that preacheth down a needlesnesse of duties that mockes at mourners that learne people a way to be found before they are lost Examine the Scriptures before you trust them under a pretence of exalting
his speciall grace for Even thus going back from their owne great Rabbies one of which was pleased to confesse d Homo sine gratiâ Dei non potest non peccare mortaliter venialiter Lom That a man without the grace of God could not but sinne both mortally and venially What is become here of the Beloveds leaning but no more of these only if you heare such Doctrines as you may heare any thing in these dayes beleeve them not Doth God move the will attendding him in duties first secondly 5. Spiritus Sāctus praevenit move◠impellit voluntatem in conversione non otiosam sed attendeniem verbo Chemnit Vel per speculationem somniorum vel per simulationem oration is illabi efficaciam Spiritus Sancti Vid. D. Featly Dippers dipt when the will is thus moved doth it then come when it is drawne doth it runne Then this reproves the Enthusiasts of old the Anabaptists Antinomians Seekers of our dayes that hold first there is no need of duties Enthusiasts of old affirmed That for the receiving of the Spirit of Promise and saving grace the Spirit of God was either infused to them in a dreame Vel per simulationem orationis Ay and the motions of the Spirit were as sensible in their flesh as the beating of the pulse so blasphemous were they growne and thence they would lye and gape for Revelations and so indeed they may have a suggestion from the Devill but scarse a Revelation from God Oh! How in these dayes are men tainted with these lazie Opinions slighting duties vilifying Sabbaths neglecting Ordinances that if poore people would truely now give account of their growth in grace and of their learning godlinesse many of them might truly As the child that ye have heard a story in the learning of its Primmer boasted to the father that it had learned past grace Is not this the miserable learning of our dayes that men are grown past grace past Prayer past Ordinances past all duties 6. Againe what you have heard that after the soule is drawne then it comes may shew us the falsenesse of another Doctrine of Enthusiasme too briefe even in these dayes also that the soule is meerly passive even after the worke of conversion also and is even then a meere stone Draw me saith See the Booke set out from the Ministers of New-England of the Hereticks c. Post conversionem concurrit voluntas non tamen quasi suis viribus adjuvet spirituales actiones Semper addendum est non esse plenam libertatem in sancto renato sed virtutem in infirmitate perfici Chemnit Intelligant si filii Dei sint spiritu Dei se agi ut quod agendum est agant cum egerint illi à quo aguntur gratias agant Aguntur enim ut agant non at ipsi nihil agant Aug. the Spouse and then I will runne after thee Indeed after our conversion the will is but in part sanctified and the Image of God in us will want of his first integrity after it is renewed but Christs strength is perfected in our weaknesse we must understand if we be the children of God that God hath therefore wrought in us that we might also worke something and when we have wrought it give thankes to God who hath made us to worke for God hath wrought in us that we might worke not that we should be idle Thus I have laboured to you to divide the Truth from Errour Now you have heard of the leaven of these Pharisees take heed of it In the next place what you have heard that the soule that comes to the Lord Jesus Christ leanes upon a new Beloved not upon her old beloveds may serve to reprove those that would faine plead a title to Christ and have a portion in Christ but they will not take Christ alone two sorts there are of these The one cannot leave their old beloveds and the other cannot trust this Beloved O the wicked man would have his portion in Christ if he might but have his lusts too his pleasures his profit but to take Christ alone O this is such a hard saying that they cannot beare by any meanes If Christ and his lusts would lye both in one bed Christ at the feet and his lusts at the head then Christ should be as welcome as any thing to him but he is loath to sue a divorce from this Beloved he is loth to part with his old love for a new till he seeth how he can love him but at a venture he will take him in partem amoris O wretch flatter not thy selfe if Christ be thy Beloved he will endure no Polygamy you must leave your sinnes or be without Christ The true Spouse leanes upon her Beloved not upon her Beloveds upon her now Beloved she forsakes her old Lastly this may serve to reproove 1. Those that would leane upon Christ but they dare not trust their soules upon Christ alone Forsooth he will be the Spouse of Christ but he must leane upon Christ with one hand and his good works with the other The whore of Babylon commits adultery with her selfe 2. Under this lash comes a better ranke of people that when God hath shewed them their owne sinfull sad condition they doe not only performe duties pray and mourne and repent and be humbled all which they ought to doe but they are ready to rest in them and make them their Beloved It is naturall to the soule that God hath made to loath its sinnes to love its duties it finds duties almost as consentaneous to its nature as sinnes were before and it is too ready to thinke that its saving or damning depends upon such a quantity of teares and humiliation Hence you heare soules in this condition often complaining Oh! I could beleeve if I were humbled enough if I could but mourne enough This soule doth well to be sensible of the hardnesse of its owne heart and it is too true it can never mourne it can never be humbled enough But it doth ill to think that free grace stints its operation and blessed influence to such a quantity of teares if it be humbled enough to see its want of Christ The water runs through the river that is the way to the Sea but it doth not rest in the river but with a swift and continued motion runs betwixt the banks till it comes and is swallowed up in the Sea Even so the soul ought to run through duties but not to rest betwixt the banks of duties but to run through till it come to the Sea of free grace where it will be swallowed up of infinite mercy and our imperfections will be drowned in his infinite perfection we ought to take duties in our way to Christ but not to make duties our Jesus God hath ordained that they should fit us for him but it is written My glory will I not give to another The glory of the Lords free grace
of free grace to speake it with reverence and he desires nothing more then to be delivered in thine heart He is a Sea of mercy and he would rejoyce to empty himselfe by drops into his peoples hearts But why did I say empty Can the Sun lose any light by communicating his light to others When the creature speaks of God he must speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would fill thee and yet continue full himselfe He is satisfied when thou art full He shall see of the travell of his soule and shall be satisfied Thou art not so willing to receive as he is to bestow free grace O then lean upon him Thirdly Consider that canst not dishonour thy God more then when thou art humbled by him for thy sins and cast downe in thine owne thoughts and cal'd to beleeve in his mercies and secured upon his word if thou wilt but trust him If thou wilt not then beleeve in him Surely then thou art of a little faith if not an Infidell Thou couldst not beleeve when thou wert an impaenitent hard-hearted creature Why because thou knewest no need thou hadst of faith Neither couldst thou hear Christs invitation because thou wert not weary and heavie loaden but now that the Lord hath humbled thee now the promises belong unto thee what darest thou not take Christs word Suppose a Traytour were condemned to dye and the King should send a Pardon by the hand of his owne Son to this forlorne wretch and he should refuse it saying The King cannot pardon me what hath he to do to send me a Pardon I know he doth but mock me he meanes nothing lesse c. Were not this a peice of unworthinesse by which he should dishonour his Prince as much as with his Treason before O take heed of provoking the Lord still it is enough that thou hast provoked him once yet he will pardon thee And on the contrary thou canst not honour Christ more then in beleeving for thou acknowledgest the unfadomable depth of his free love and mercy Thou proclamest God to be a God gracious long-suffering a God that may be trusted by the creature which hath deserved nothing at his hand that he is so pure an Essence of love that he will create himself a cause of love where is none And though he coould find nothing in thee to pardon thee for thy sake yet he would pardon thee for his owne Name sake So likewise you that are in any wildernesse or shall be of Affliction Desertion Temptation c. O leane leane T is that which God requires at your hand 't is that which will ease you when you are weary help you when you are heavie laden Beleeving will ease you when complaining will not 't is that which honours God and honours Christ It gives him the glory of his Power and Providence Dominion and free Grace and mercy Christ beleeve me will take it kindly at your hands that you will try him in need and trust him even in despaire though he kills you yet you will trust in him Those that venture upon Death with such a faith cannot dye Those that have such a Spirit must live eternally The way to live is to dye beleeving and the way to stand is to leane falling O come all yee that love the Lord trust in his mercies I have done only I conclude with my Text. O you that are falling as you think into the pit of despaire that are lost in the wildernesse of sorrow Beleeve beleeve and you shall be saved Come out trusting upon God resting upon the fulnesse of his mercy and the freenesse of his grace come out come out leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in a wildernesse of afflictions lean upon Gods staffe let his rod comfort you beleeve that he smileth while he smiteth thee beleeve in affliction you shall have no more then you are able to beare he will let his grace be sufficient for you and all shall worke for your good And come you out of your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved O you that are in the wildernesse of temptation in the snare of the Devill beleeve and leane your Christ was tempted and he knowes how to succour those that are tempted leane upon him to beare you up in and to give you an happy issue out of your temptations in which you are in for the triall of your faith and come you out likewise leaning upon your Beloved You that are in the wildernes of Desertion cry My God! though you be forsaken keep your faith retaine your Interest O leane lose not your hold you have upon the Almighty leane in and come out of this your wildernesse leaning upon your Beloved Finally All you that are in the wildernesse of sin the worst wildernesse of all Let me conclude with you And once more as the Embassadour of Jesus Christ in my Masters name as if he himselfe were here I beseech you by the many and tender mercies of him whose bowels yerne towards you by his precious bloud which was powred out upon the Crosse for sinners and who knowes whether not for you as well as others as you tender the life happines of your own souls the joy of your faithfull Pastors nay which is most of all as you tender the honour of God come out O come out of your sad wildernesse be humbled and mourne sit downe in dust and ashes that you may rise up adorned with grace and be crowned with glory that you may leane upon your Beloved and O that my first or last words might prevaile with some great sinner this day for whom we might all rejoyce concerning whom we might all say who is this that comes out of the wildernesse leaning upon her beloved FINIS A LESSON OF SELF-DENIALL OR The true way to desirable BEAUTY By JOHN COLLINGS M. A. Mat. 10. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Ver. 38. And he that taketh not up his crosse and followeth after me is not worthy of me Printed for Rich Tomlins 1649. TO THE Right Honourable The Lady Frances Cecill the only Daughter of the Right Honourable the Lady Elizabeth Counteise Dowager of EXETER Increase of true Honour and Peace and Happinesse Madam WHen I considered the plenty of Gospell-sheaves which the Gracious Lord of the Harvest hath in our days caused his reapers to bind up I could not but question whemy gleane were worth your Ladiships stooping to take up God hath seemed to empty his treasuries upon our heads that there is scarce a gospell-duty but some or other more eminent labourers in the Lords harvest have undertaken to discover and urge which makes me sometimes tremble to think at what disadvantage they must perish that are yet dead or unfruitfull But if there be any lesson that hath been lesser urged or practised than other it is this of
selfe Deniall I rejoyce to see the flowings of the spirit of grace in those eminent Servants of the Lord that have both hunted for venison and caught it to make savory meat for the Saints discovering those secrets of the Lords strength and unsearchable riches of love beyond the pennes or tongues of those that have gone before them But methinkes I have sometimes feared lest while those Eminent ones have driven according to the peace of their own soules and made it their work almost onely to dresse out the strong meat they should have driven beyond the pace of the Lambs and onely go away with part of the flock who are able to receive and have eares to heare such sublime gospell mysteries I have sometimes wished a Shepard or Hooker or two more to stay behind and to drive the remnant of the flock which in heaven will overtake the other though there be many things to be spoken which without over driving them they are not yet able to beare I being one borne out of due time am onely fit for such a work the opening the Rudiments of Christianity and it shall be my crowne if by teaching the A B C of the wayes of grace I may be made instrumentall but to fit Saints for their highschooles I have presumed here to present your Honour with the first Lesson of Grace He that will be my disciple saith Christ let him deny himselfe and take up the crosse and follow me first deny himself then follow me Not but that I hope your Ladiship can readily endorse this sermon with that speech of the young man All these have I kept from my youth Though I need not mind your Honour that it is a lif 's not a dayes practice Madam there can be no Mistresse like Experience which easily convinceth me that your Ladiship who have had a constant sight of sublunary vanities an enjoyment of creature-contentments is farre more able to read him who now writes a lecture of the Vanity of every thing under the Sun than he is to read it your Ladiship who hath been blest in the want of those advantages and onely from a guesse at the body by the foot can subscribe Solomons account of them surely Madam there is nothing under the Sun but in cleaving to it and neglecting Christ a rationall creature must dishonour himselfe as well as his Saviour and as well call in question his own judgement and out-law his owne reason as disobey his God Christ Madam Ah! Christ Christ alone is the excelling one that is Altogether desires It is the Rose of Sharon only that wants prickles His name is the onely box of Ointment which one fly or other will not make to stinke And now I mention his name I remember what the spouse saith Thy name is an ointment powerd forth therefore doe the Virgines love thee Of those Virgines I trust your Ladiship is those that love Christ for the ointment of his name powred forth so I trust hath the Ointment of grace powred upon that head from which you drew your naturall breath ran downe to the skirts of all her Relations Madam This world is not so well bred but in Christs wayes if your Ladiship desire to walk you must expect to be a sharer in the scoffs of those that put out the finger at those that run not with them to the same excesse of Riot I need not mind your Ladiship of the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ who patiently endured the crosse and despised the shame for your sake Madam the wayes of Christ the paths of holinesse are onely uncomely to those before whose eyes the Devill hath cast a mist and the God of this world hath blinded their eyes lest the glorious light of of the gospell should shine upon them If the King desires our beauty no matter whether our rate be high or low amongst the children of Vanity whose God is their Belly and whose glory is their shame May your Ladiship strive after perfection and yet daunce before the Ark though Michal mocks out at the window The Moone keeps its course though the dogs bark This Sermon Madam was formerly dedicated to your Ladiships eares I never thought then that the noise of it should have gone beyond the chappell it was preacht in nor indeed had it had not your Ladiships noble Mother commanded the transcription of a coppy which desire was also seconded by other Noble friends whose commands I was as unwilling to disobey as unable to performe through my multitude of other occasions which is the only reason of my publication of it that I might be thrifty of my time for my other studies and by troubling the world worke my own ease Having resolved upon this course I was desirous it should appeare as covertly as might be and have therefore added it to some other Sermons preacht long before then sent to the presse to gratify the desire of the Printer Madam your Ladiship I trust will easily excuse me for the want of paines in it If I should spend time to tickle some few ears it would be unthriftily done and possibly I might by it lose the advantage of speaking to many anothers heart I had rather so preach and write that those that heare or read my sermons should read and heare with a trembling heart than with a tickled fancy Madam Such as it is I crave leave to present it to your Ladiship Beseeching the God of grace so to empower every line that it may be a drop of mercy to your Honours and every Readers soule That your Ladiship may grow up like the tree planted by the rivers of water and bring forth fruit in your season That in the renewing of every week there may appeare in your Ladiships heart conversation an answer of those old prayers newly returned to your Ladiships Noble Parent That the Lord may have glory your soule peace and hee the dayly answer of his prayers who truely is Madam Your Honours most humbly obliged servant in the Lord Jesus John Collings Chaplyfield house Aug 21. 1649. A LESSON OF Self-Denyall Psal 45. 10 11. Hearken O daughter and consider and encline thine eare Forget also thy own people and thy Fathers house so shall the King desire thy beauty IT is agreed almost amongst all Expositors that this Psalme is a Marriage-Song and principally relating to the spirituall marriage between Jesus Christ and the beleeving soule or between Christ and his Church But there is a little question amongst them whether the spirituall sense of it be couched under a type or an Allegory Some thinke that the Holy Ghost here treates of that spirituall marriage under the type of Solomons marriage to Pharaohs daughter of which wee read 1 King 3. 11. Of this opinion saith D. Rivet are D. Rivet Pref. in hunc Psalmum the Hebrew Interpreters and most others as Calvin Bucer Junius Jansenius c. yet these grant that there are some things in the Psalme not
betimes believe it there will bee more weeping else when you come to part Dir. 4 Lastly Crie crie mightily unto God that he would take off your heart Believe it it must be his work you will be wearied else in the multitude of your owne indeavours if the Lord draw off the heart it will be drawne indeed Be much in publique prayer but especially be much in secret prayer I must conclude 2. Br. Lastly you that have been taught of the Lord to forget your fathers house that so the King might desire your beauty Let mee plead with you still to forget it more Selfe-deniall is a long and hard lesson a Christian must be learning it from his cradle to his grave and every time hee studies it hee shall find something to be done that is yet behind and all that he hath done to bee done better you have learned in part how to doe it I need not direct you you need no other directions then 1. To study every day more and more the vanitie of the creature Read over the book of Ecclesiastes well it is enough to teach you that lesson 2. Converse little with your fathers house have as little to doe with the world the pleasures or profits or riches or companie or manners of it as you can the lesser the better 3. Be more acquainted with Jesus Christ get neerer to him bee more in communion with him get more tasts of Heaven Earthw ill relish the worse for it I might presse upon you the same motives I urged before and I should doe it with advantages you know what this King is how much to bee desired how much to bee odored you know what a difference there is betwixt the worlds comelinesse and the comelinesse which hee putteth upon his Saints Let mee onely urge one word or rather name it Some read the words quia concupivit Because the King hath desired thy beauty here 's an argument an engaging argument to a Saint The Lord hath effectually made it knowne in your soules that hee desires your beauty more than tenne thousands of others Hee hath whispered not onely in your eares but in your heart his desire to you Ah now Christians be you humble self-denying ones because the King hath desired your beauty Let the love of Christ constraine you to order your hearts and conversations as becommeth the Gospell of the Lord Jesus Christ According to the lawes of this King that hath so passionately desired and so effecaciously declared his desire to your beauty I must have done The Lord adde his blessing FINIS THE RIGHT VVAY TO TRUE PEACE OR A discovery of a Gospell-Mystery how the spirit that is troubled may find Peace in Christ and how A Christian may know whither the Peace which his spirit hath in trouble or with which it comes out of any trouble be Christ's Peace Discovered in a Sermon Joh. 16. 33. By John Collings M. A. Preacher of Gods word in Norwich Joh. 14. 1. Let not your hearts be troubled you believe in God believe also in me London Printed for R. Tomlins 1649 To the Right Honourable the Lady Katharine Courteen Grace Mercy and true Peace Madam WHen this Sermon was first preach'd your Honour was pleased to entitle your selfe to it conceiving it which indeed was composed for my selfe to have been prepared and suted to the temper of your Ladiships spirit at that time So farre my Master onoured me that day as to doe him a double work with the same hand Truly Madam it was a salve provided for my owne use and not intended further than for my friends in that assembly where first I published it and accordingly was laid up in my closet till I brought it forth privately for the use of some other noble friends who were better able then my selfe to judge of the efficacy of it having received from some of them a probatum est and God having made it acceptable and in their estimation more usefull than my own low opinion of the workman's pains in it conceived it They were pleased to desire the recent which to spare my owne paines in transcribing it was the onely cause of my least thoughts of the publication of it Truly Madam in these unhappy times wherein the Presse is become such a prostitute I think I may easily be excused of my ambition to have this or any other worthlesse notes of mine come under it To abate the noise of many things in Print which believe it sounds not at all sweet in my eares I have desired it should be added to some former Sermons which before were in the Printers hands in which also I satisfied but his desires in denying my selfe in my owne But to those worthlesse precedent pieces it comes in a fit place The first of the Sermons tels us what is the state of the Elect by nature The second what is their estate in Christ and describes their way of Restauration The third points out their duty as redeemed ones to lean upon their beloved The fourth minds them of the Saints great duty of selfe-denyall Now in regard that the soule reconciled to God may bee sometimes saying where is my God become and as there is none lives and sins not so none shall live but at one time or other shall meet with trouble I have added this to the other in which I have endeavoured to discover to a Christian how hee may recover his quiet and in the midst of those troubles which in the world hee shall bee sure to meet with find that peace which passeth all understanding The first of these Sermons shews us our originall want of peace being not reconciled to God The second describes our Peace-maker and his severall acts both of purchase and application by which he both made peace for his elect in generall and applies it to each of them in particular The third discovers the instrument and directs the soul in the particular use of Faith which is the instrument to convey this peace to the soule upon all occasions The fourth will teach the soule how to keep its peace And this in case the soule hath lost its peace and the spirit of the Christian bee over whelmed with trouble wil in some measure direct him how to find his peace and how to come out of trouble by the hand of Christ Madam this is a great Gospell mystery It is a subject that deserved a more learned pen and one more experienced in the wayes of God to have discussed and resolved it than that poore worthlesse creature who hath undertaken it That in the world the Saints must look for trouble your Honour knowes I believe by as sad experiences as most of those that tread the wayes of God That in the midst of these troubles in Christ the soule of the Christian may have peace This Text and Sermon Madam I trust wil sufficiently make good both by generall proofe and particular demonstrations In troubles to have peace is no
ther not love enough of God remaining to sweeten this soure potion to make pleasant this bitter dispensation will not Christ's dying for my sinnes and washing me with his bloud make me amends for Gods present bitter dealing with mee is there not faithfulnesse in that God who hath said Hee will never leave nor forsake his people who hath said joy shall come in the morning and that light is sowne for the upright in heart But thirdly Dir. 3 Sit downe and meditate in thy hour of trouble what particular promises the Lord hath made out to his Saints under such troubles that so thy soule may close with them and thou mayest be still'd with a good word from God some of you know what it is so to bee still'd to have a disturbed spirit quieted by the seasonable comming in of a Gospell promise in an houre of straits oh how sweet is that peace say now to your selves The Lord hath here brought an houre of trouble upon me hath he no where made out a word of promise to suit my condition I dare say it there is no condition no sad dark condition that a poore Christian can be in but somewhere or other the Lord in his word hath suited the soule in that condition with a speciall promise find it out Christian it is the bladder that under the arme-holes of the soule must keep the soule from sinking in the deep waters of afflictions Peace made by Gods good words you heard before is a true peace a peace of Jesus Christ's making in the soule Dir. 4 Sit downe in thy day of trouble and weigh Gods mercies against his frowns then thou shalt find that the beame of thy soule will stand even nay it will leane to the scales where his mercies are sit down and think with thy self here 's a bitter triall a bitter affliction but have I no mercies to countervaile them The Lord hath taken away one of my children but hath hee not left me my fruitfull vine yet hee hath nipt off one of my olive branches but hath he not left me many remaining about my table he hath left mee my husband my wife yet It may be he hath taken away part of thy estate but hath he not left thee food convenient for thee If not hath he not left thee an estate in Christs love yet a sure estate in Grace and a richer reversion in glory It may be hee hath hid his face from thee for a moment for a little moment but hath he not given thee everlasting mercies Think of this Christian and doe thus and thou wilt find thy spirit will begin to bee rightly quieted Dir. 5 Study in the day of trouble how far Christ hath overcome the world the frownes of the world as well as any thing else and is not his victory thine Christian sit downe and think well here 's a bitter crosse a sad dispensation but my Saviour hath pull'd out the sting of it it comes not upon mee as a law demand O crosse where 's thy sting O hell where 's thy victory this comes not upon mee as it would have come upon another as it would have come upon a Reprobate Is 27. 7. Hath he smitten them as hee smote those that smote them the gall and vinegar is taken out of the cup Christ had that when he hung upon the crosse for mee this will helpe something to calme thy spirit to think it is a fathers rod not a sword of an enemy Dir. 6 Consider the dayes of old thus I told you before David did Psal 119. 52. and the Psalmist Psal 77. sit downe and think how God hath dealt bitterly with thee but did he never deale kindly with thee hadst thou never the shinings of his countenance Think how graciously God hath formerly dealt with thee and see what that will doe towards thy peace Dir. 7 Let reason sleep and set faith on work I told you before that in a day of trouble peace may bee brought to the spirit as a conclusion from reason I cannot helpe it and it is a foolish thing in me to feare what I cannot avoid I cannot alter this dispensation why should it trouble me c. Let Tully or Cato work out their peace upon this account let heathens that know not faith's nature or objects quiet themselves upon such considerations Christian In the day of trouble if thou wouldst have peace let reason sleep and let faith act upon the promises and providence and nature of God Dir. 8 Lastly Pray unto God to settle thy soule to send thee his peace and wait upon God in his ordinances The way of peace is in the Sanctuary True Peace is some of the water of life that must be drawn by the bucket of faith out of the wells of salvation I shall adde no more by way of direction But now lest Christians should think this of flight concernment and that if they can get their spirits quiet it is no matter what quiets them Christian know there is a great difference betwixt Peace and Peace betwixt the world's Peace and Christ's Peace betwixt adulterate and true borne Peace I will not stand at large to set them together though they would best appeare so but in short saith Musculus the worlds peace is Fusa instabilis nudis verb is ad perditionem a large peace upon no good grounds an instable peace upon no good bottome a meer verball Peace and that which will end in everlasting trouble But on the contrary consider by way of motive that the Peace which I have been describing to you which is laid up in Christ for the Saint and may be drawn from Christ by the Saint in a day of trouble is 1. A true Peace the other is no Peace a meere truce Peace made with the spirit for a while till some new breakings forth a flattred shadowy Peace a conceited imaginary Peace Peace in a Picture where is onely the resemblance not the substance This is a true Peace Peace indeed to the soule 2. This Peace is a sweet Peace a Rose without Prickles a Potion without Gall a sweetned Cup without any rubbings of Wormewood Hezekiah complained that in his Peace hee had great bitternesse It is true though in another sense concerning all the world's Peace and all morall Peace but Prov. 10. 22. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and addes no sorrow therewith This is Peace with the Lord's blessing the other is but at the best the Peace of a warme Sun there will be no sorrow added with this Peace with all other Peace sorrow will be added 3. This Peace is a lasting Peace all other Peace will fade and die Nature in time may bee out of breath of course that it can sigh and groane and weep no more But let it get but breath againe and that Peace will be disturbed Reason may tame Passion a while but let but Passion at any time get the upper hand in Reason's sleeping time or let it