I would Gal. 5.17 Go to Christ for help he was sent for this purpose to redeem you from Iniquity and dissolve the Devil's Work 1 John 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil It is his Office to purge the Church to set us at Liberty to destroy Satan's Power to free us from our Passions and Corruptions therefore go complain to him of the strength of your Sins for he will help you Vse 4. Comfort in our Conflicts You are sure of a final Victory before you enter into the Combate e're long we shall be out of the reach of Temptation and the Spirit shall be all in all Vse 5. Examination 1. Art thou sensible of thy natural Bondage so as to grieve under it As the Apostle Rom. 7.23 24. I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death If it be not thus with thee Redemption by Christ will never be precious there is sighing and weariness they lay their sad Estate to Heart as the Church hung their Harps upon the Willows it is the Grief of their Souls that their Lusts held them in Captivity The Children of God complain more of the Relicks of Sin than wicked Men do of the full Power of it 2. Hast thou any Freedom Sense of Bondage is a good Preparative but it is not enough All Christ's Subjects are Kings they rule over their own Lusts though not freed from them altogether they strive against them and keep them under And there is not only a freedom from Ill but a freedom to Good Psal. 110.3 Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power They do not serve God by Constraint but are free to Good and serve God with a great chearfulness as before they served their Lusts. Rom. 7.22 I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man They consult with the Word of God which was before their Bondage and Terror they have an Ability and Strength to do that which is Good there is a new Life in them yet so as they are still excited by the Spirit Vse 6. It informeth us what is true Liberty not to live at large John 8.36 If the Son therefore shall make you free you shall be free indeed Not to have Power and Sovereignty over others not to exercise Command and Authority over others but to subdue our Lusts not to be left to our selves to do what we please that is the greatest Bondage Rom. 6.20 VVhen ye were the Servants of Sin ye were free from Righteousness but to do the Will of God 1 John 3.5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our Sins and in him is no Sin He died to take away Sin and to make us like himself that the World might know that he was a pure and holy Saviour SERMON XXI TITUS II. 14 And purifying unto himself a peculiar People c. IN this latter Branch I observed Christ's Act and then his Aim His Act he gave himself His Aim and Intention And here is the privative part of Deliverance To redeem us from all Iniquity This I have finished I come to the Positive part And purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good VVorks He never communicates his Blessings where he doth not bestow his Grace He did not only free us from Hell but from Sin It is well for the Godly that Christ came to take away the proud and carnal Heart to take away Corruption and Iniquity which is their greatest Eye-sore But this is not all there is a positive Blessing Christ did not only come to deliver us from Sin but communicate Grace That he might purify to himself a peculiar People Two Points I shall open to you I. That whomsoever Christ maketh his People he first purifieth them or by purifying them maketh them his People II. Those that are purified are reckoned his Treasure or peculiar People Doct. I. That whomsoever Christ maketh his People he first purifieth them or by purifying maketh them his People Here I shall shew you 1 st The Necessity 2 dly The Manner of it First The Necessity of this Purification 1. In regard of God Father Son and Holy Ghost Every Person in the God-head in the dispensation of Grace hath a distinct personal Operation Election is ascribed to the Father Redemption to the Son and effectual Application to the Holy Ghost Now every one of these Operations respects Holiness Election Ephes. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we might be holy and without blame before him in Love Redemption Ephes. 5.25 26. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word Sanctification 2 Thess. 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth It is for the Honour of every Person that their Intention may not be frustrate and chiefly upon this ground because by this means they would justify and honour their personal Operation to the World Those that are chosen by the Father must be of a choice Spirit Christ will not be the Head of an ulcerous Body he will not be like Nebuchadnezzar's Image whose Head was of fine Gold his Breast and his Arms of Silver his Belly and his Thighs of Brass his Legs of Iron his Feet part of Iron and part of Clay Dan. 2.32 33. A beautiful Head upon a Negro's Body is monstrous We are Vessels formed and set apart for the Master's use Those that are under his forming come new out of the Forge Unclean Vessels can never be used to any good purpose unless they be washed and sweetned They are to be looked upon as God's Choice Christ's Purchase and the Spirit 's Charge Or if you will have it in other Relations they are God's Children Christ's Members and the Spirit 's Temples God's Children must resemble their Father Christ's Members must be like their Head and the Holy Ghost will not dwell in a defiled Temple 2. With respect to themselves and their relation to one another they must be purified 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing that ye have purified your selves in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned Love of the Brethren see that ye love one another with a pure Heart fervently The Purification of our own Souls maketh us to love Purity in others for Similitude is the ground of Delight and Complacency No Man can delight in the Purity of others unless he be in some measure purified himself Holy Men are only fit for this Communion and Society others go in the way of Cain Jude v. 11. Who was of that wicked one and slew his Brother And wherefore slew he him because his own
Here is God to satisfy us There is an infinite Latitude in the Object of Faith Father Son and Holy Ghost with all their Powers and Capacities to do us Good No Pain so great but he can mitigate or remove it no Danger so dreadful or so likely but he can prevent it no Misery so deep but he can deliver us from it no Enemies so strong but he can vanquish them no Want that he cannot supply Gen. 17.1 The Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect When we have a Want that God cannot supply or a Sickness that God cannot cure or a Danger that he cannot prevent or a Misery that he cannot remove or can produce any Enemies or Creatures that are too hard for God then we have leave to yield to Trouble and Despondency of Heart Chuse God as your Portion and chief Happiness and you shall want nothing Psal. 23.6 Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the Days of my Life Surely could we more believe in God our Hearts would be more ballanced and kept steady not tost up and down with various Occurrences Whatever falleth out we have a God still to rejoice in and depend upon Habak 3.18 Yet will I rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation He supposeth himself not only in some necessity but in extremity not only kept bare but reduced to nothing 2 Cor. 6.10 As sorrowful yet alway rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things You have all things in him 2. Here is Christ as Mediator We have great Advantage by that Consideration 1. Hereby we see God in our Nature and so nearer at hand and ready to help us and more accessible for us to come at than as God considered in the mere Deity John 1.14 The VVord was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us God is come down and become our Neighbour yea like one of us Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh. Though he has removed his Dwelling again into Heaven yet it is for our sakes our Nature is there though our Persons be not He is sat down as our Agent Heb. 8.1 VVe have such an High-Priest who is sat on the right Hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Heb. 4.15 For we have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all Points tempted like as we are yet without Sin God in our Flesh will not be strange to us We are bidden Isa. 58.7 not to hide our selves from our own Flesh. Gen. 29.14 And Laban said unto him Surely thou art my Bone and my Flesh and he abode with him 2. In the Mystery of Redemption all the Divine Persons put themselves in an Order for our Faith to take hold of Faith may close with any one of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity provided we divide not the Divine Essence in our Thoughts But in the Mystery of Redemption all is made obvious and handy to our Faith The Father considered as the Fountain of the Deity to whom we come for Grace and Mercy The second Person clothed with our Flesh through whom we come Being assisted and enabled to come by the Holy Spirit who is the third Person Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father This is that full and satisfying Object with which Faith closeth when it acteth most distinctly In the Father there we see original Love or original Authority and infinite free Grace Iohn 3.16 For God so loved the VVorld that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life In the Son everlasting Righteousness and Redemption Heb. 9.12 Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us In the Spirit infinite Virtue and Power for the applying of Christ's Purchase for he createth a new Spirit in us he createth the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace It is God that must be satisfied and by God must this Satisfaction be made and by him that is God must this Satisfaction be applied before we can have the Comfort of it You have all in one Verse 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledg of God the Father through the Sanctification of the Spirit unto Obedience and the sprinkling of the Blood of Iesus Christ. So ver 21 22. VVho by him do believe in God that raised him up from the Dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and Hope might be in God seeing ye have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit In the Father we see Elective Love in the Son there is full Redemption and by the Spirit effectual Application The Father appoints Blessedness to us the Son purchaseth it for us and the Holy Ghost carrieth it on powerfully and invincibly The Salvation of poor Sinners is a Work wherein all the Persons of the blessed Trinity are engaged and do concur therein by a several distinct personal Operation Surely that is a noble Work wherein such Agents are imployed and our Hearts must be raised to give equal Glory to all the Persons knowingly and distinctly and explicitely The Father out of his good Pleasure electing Sinners to Grace and Glory The Son by his Obedience and Suffering purchasing the same for them The Holy Ghost by his Power working Grace in them and preparing them for that Blessedness which the Father hath appointed and Christ hath purchased for them 3. In believing of Christ as Mediator our Troubles are stopped at the Fountain-head It is not the Wrath and Fury of the Creature but the Wrath of God which maketh us miserable and nothing can fully comfort us if God be apprehended as an Enemy or not fully reconciled to us Now God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself 2 Cor. 5.19 There was Enmity stopped God in our Nature suffering for us dying for us and paying a full Ransom for our Sins so that now all true Believers may draw nigh to him as a reconciled God for Christ hath merited Favour for all those who come to God by him 4. By believing in Christ as Mediator we may be assured of his purchase of Glory for us which is the great Cordial against all Trouble whatsoever 1 Thess. 5.9 10. For God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by Iesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him He biddeth them comfort one another with these Words ver 18. When a great Judgment is a coming upon Men because of their Sins a Believer is Affliction-proof because he hath secured his eternal Interests by Christ. Here our Lord Jesus telleth them he was going to Heaven to prepare a Place for them Whilst we flatter our selves with temporal
refreshment as the Christian hath 2. More Practical and Applicative Meditation is when we take our selves aside from worldly distractions that we may solemnly debate and study how to carry on the Holy Life with better success and advantage when we are wise in our Sphere Luke 16.8 The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in their generation it is an Hebrew Phrase for the Manner Course and Sphere of our Lives Gen. 6.9 These are the generations of Noah Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation and Noah walked with God so to be wise in our generation is to be wise in our manner of living and business So it is said Psalm 122.5 He will guide his affairs with discretion which noteth plotting and wise fore-sight choosing our way or devising our way as Solomon calleth it Prov. 16.9 A mans heart deviseth his way It is a great part of a Christians Employment The Scriptures call for it for a Minister 2 Tim. 2.15 Study to shew thy self approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth to devise how to carry on his Ministry with most Honour and Success So for Private Christians Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works We should consider one another each others Gifts Dispositions and Graces that so our Spiritual Converse and Commerce might be the more improved By this kind of Meditation Piety is made more prudent reasonable and orderly Christians that live at hap-hazard and order their Lives at adventure without these rational and wise Debates if they do not stain their Profession with foul indiscretions yet find much inconvenience and toyl in the Holy Life and are not half so useful as others are Certainly we should learn this of the Children of this World a wicked Man is plotting for his Lusts Rom. 13.14 Make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the luste thereof ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they make Provision they are catering how they may feed such a Lust and satisfie such a Carnal Desire Therefore certainly we should take care for the Conveniencies of the Holy Life how we may be most needful for God and pass through our Relations with most advantage and cast our businesses that they may be the least disadvantage to Religion and consider how particular Duties may be the most dexterously accomplished Psal. 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me These are the kinds of Meditation The Definition may be formed thus Meditation is that Duty or Exercise of Religion whereby the Mind is applyed to the serious and solemne Contemplation of Spiritual things for Practical Vses and Purposes I shall open the Description by the parts of it 1. It is a Duty and Exercise of Religion 1. That it is a Duty and Exercise of Religion appeareth by the Evidence of Scripture where it is commanded Ioshua 1.8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night It is made a Character of a Godly Man Psal. 1.2 His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night It is commended in the Practice and Example of the Saints that were most famous in Scripture Isaac in the Text Moses and David And as it is plain by the Evidence of Scripture so by the Light of Nature and Reason God that is a Spirit deserveth the most Pure and Spiritual Worship as well as such as is performed by the Body The Thoughts are the Eldest and Noblest Off-spring of the Soul and the solemn Consecration of them is fit for God In the Gospel Meditation is called for I find in the Old Testament the main thing there called for is Meditation in the Law in the Gospel we are directed to a new Object the Love of Christ Eph. 3.17 18 19. 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 that is the Study of Saints I confess it is more called for in the Old Testament being gross and carnal they needed greater enforcements to Spiritual Duties but now it suiteth every way with the Nature of our Worship Iohn 4.24 God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Now Worship in Spirit and in Truth is more agreeable to our State Meditation is a pure and rational converse with God it is the flower and height of Consecrated Reason 2. It is not a Duty of an Arbitrary Concernment It is not only a Moral help that may be observed or omitted but a necessary Duty without which all Graces would languish and wither Faith is lean and ready to starve unless it be fed with continual Meditation on the Promises as David saith Psalm 119.92 Vnless thy law had been my delight I should then have perished in my affliction Thoughts are the Caterers of the Soul that purvey for Faith and fetch in Food and refresh it with the Comfort of the Promises Hope is low and doth not arise to such a fullness of expectation till by Meditation we take a deliberate view of our Hopes and Priviledges Gen. 13.17 Arise walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it for I will give it unto thee Our Hopes arise according to the largeness of our Thoughts it is a great advantage to have our Eyes open to view the Riches of our Inheritance and to have a distinct view of the hope of our Calling The Apostle prays for the Ephesians Chapt. 1.18 The eyes of your understandings being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of ehe glory of his inheritance in the Saints Men of barren thoughts are usually of low hopes and for want of getting to the top of Pisgah to view the Land our Hearts sink within us Certainly Hope thriveth best on the Mount of Meditation Then for Love the sparkles of Affection will not flow out unless we beat upon the Will by constant Thoughts Affection is nourished by Apprehension and the more constant and deliberate the Thoughts are the love is alwaies the deeper Those Christians that are backward to the Duty of Meditation find none of those impulses and meltings of Love that are in others they do not endeavour to comprehend the height and breadth and length and depth of the love of Christ and therefore no wonder that their Hearts are so narrow and so much straitned towards God Affections alwayes follow the rate of our thoughts if they are ponderous and serious Then for Obedience or keeping the Spirits constantly in a Religious Frame to others good Motions come like flashes of Lightning and are as soon gone as their thoughts
Faith standeth us in most stead Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Then by the one we are freed from the guilt of Sin and so have deliverance from Eternal Death By the other we have not only right but entrance into Eternal Glory What is our whole scope but to be absolved by Christ at last and enter into Eternal Life Finally these two are to be regarded to obviate their mistake who think indeed that Faith and it may be Repentance is necessary to pardon or to dissolve our Obligation to Punishment but not new Obedience But in their place all the Conditions are necessary They think new Obedience is necessary to Salvation or Eternal Life but not to Justification But Salvation is as gracious an Act of Mercy as free and undeserved a Gift as Pardon Rom. 6.23 The wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Eternal Life is not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wages but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Gift of God It is as much merited by Christ as the other and therefore as proper a part yea the chief part of the Hope of Righteousness by Faith and that which is only waited for and not injoyed III. What is the work of the Spirit in this business in urging Believers to wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith I Answer the work of the Spirit doth either concern the Duties of the new Covenant or the Priviledges of the new Covenant or what is common to them both I begin with the latter 1. What is common to them both He doth convince us of the Truth of the Gospel both of means and end that there is such an Hope and the Righteousness of Faith is the only way to obtain it Now this he doth Externally and Internally 1. Externally and by way of Objective Evidence All the certainty that we have of the Gospel is by the Spirit Acts 5.32 We are Witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Ghost which he hath given to them that obey him And Iohn 15. 26 27. When the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning Mark in both these places the two solemn Witnesses are the Spirit and the Apostles the one Principal the other Ministerial the one declaring Doctrine and Matter of Fact the other assuring the World of the Truth of their Testimony The Apostles testified of Christs sayings and doings and the Holy Ghost which came down upon them and the rest that consorted with them and was given in some measure to those that obeyed their Doctrine was an undoubted Evidence that God owned it from Heaven Here was enough to open mens Eyes and to give them a right understanding of his Person and Doctrine that it was of God The Visible Gifts of the Holy Ghost and his powerful working in the Hearts of men in order to their Conversion unto God These admirable Gifts and Graces shed abroad upon men were a Notable Conviction to the World that Christ was a Teacher sent from God to teach men the way to Eternal Life and Happiness This did afford sufficient matter of Confirmation and Conviction by the Spirit shed abroad and poured forth on the Christian Church 2. Internally inlightning their Minds and inclining their Hearts to imbrace the Truth Which maketh the former Testimony effectual So the Apostle prayeth Eph. 1.17 For the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ the eyes of their understanding being inlightned that they might know what is the hope of his Calling and the Riches of the Glory of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light To the sight of any thing these things are necessary an Object a Medium a Faculty As in outward sight an Object that may be seen a convenient light to represent it and make the Object perspicuous An Organ or Faculty of seeing in the Eye Unless there be an Object you bid a man see nothing Unless there be a Medium a due light to represent it as in a fog or at Midnight the sharpest sight can see nothing Unless there be a Faculty neither the Object nor Medium will avail a Blind-man cannot see any thing at Noon-day Now here is an Object the way of Salvation by Christ A convenient light it is represented in the Gospel And the Faculty is prepared for the Eyes of the Mind are opened by the Spirit that we may see both Way and End the necessity of Holiness and the reality of future Glory and Blessedness Alas without this sight we busie our selves about Vanities and Childish Toys and never Mind the things which are most necessary certainly we can have no saving understanding of Spiritual Truths neither what is the Benefit of Christianity or the blessed Condition of Gods People Nor what are the Duties of Christianity so as our Hearts may be held to them or how we may behave our selves as true Believers 2. The Work of the Spirit as to the Duties of the new Covenant He doth not only convince us of the Reality and the Necessity of Christs Obedience and our Holiness but by his Powerful Operation frameth and inclineth our Hearts to the Duties required of us Faith it self is wrought in us by this Holy Spirit for it is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 And so is Repentance and Obedience Heb. 8.10 I will write my Laws upon their Hearts and put them into their Minds Moses his Law was written on Tables of Stone as a Rule without them but Christs Law on the Heart and Mind as drawing and inclining them to obey it The Renewing Grace of the Spirit of God doth prepare us and fit us and his exciting Grace doth quicken us that we may do what is pleasing in his sight And therefore if we profess to live under the new Covenant we are inexcusable if we do not bestir our selves and accomplish the work of Faith with Power and obey from the Heart the Doctrine delivered to us Indeed the Spirit doth most naturally put us upon spiritual Worship and spiritual Holiness these things agree most with his Being and Nature The observances of the Law were carnal yet as long as Gods command continued the Spirit inclined to Obedience to them But a better Law being enacted by Christ the Spirit that proceedeth from the Father and the Son suiteth his Operations accordingly For he cometh into us as Christs Spirit He shall take of mine and glorifie me John 16.14 All that he doth accordeth with Christ as Christs Will doth with the Father 3. The work of the Spirit as to the priviledges of the New Covenant which are pardon and life 1. As to Pardon he is the Comforter He cometh
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me Now it is a blessed thing to see what we love and possess what we see The Priests here though they do not worship an unknown God yet they worship an unseen God The Romans when they brake into the Sanctum Sanctorum and saw no Image there gave out that the High-Priest did worship the Clouds The World suspecteth the God whom we worship but there we see him Face to Face with a clear and distinct Vision 2 Cor. 5.7 For we walk by Faith not by Sight There Vision succeedeth in the room of Faith Fruition of Hope and perfect Love of that weak Adherence which now we put forth towards God If God should suffer himself to be seen by his Creature in the Condition to which Sin hath reduced him it would prove rather a ground of Fear and Astonishment than of Love and Fruition or else the Majesty must be clouded with some Allay of Condescention which would not sufficiently reveal him to us The immediate Presence of God which is our Felicity in Heaven would be our Misery upon Earth The Scripture telleth us Exod. 33.20 No Man shall see him and live And Manoah Judg. 13.22 We shall surely die because we have seen God We cannot look upon this glorious Sun but we are in danger of losing our Life together with our Sight The Scripture sometimes maketh God to dwell in Darkness sometimes in Light inaccessible to note the Incapacity of our Faculties and the incomprehensible Splendor of his glorious Majesty We are not able to pierce through this Darkness or endure this Light But the Majesty of God is not there formidable but comfortable for we shall behold the glorious God in a glorified Estate both of Soul and Body 2. We shall serve him perfectly and without Weakness Weariness and Distraction 1. Here is Weakness What dull and low Conceptions have we of God! What heartless irreverent and poor Expressions of his glorious Excellency whenever we come to worship before him such as should make us ashamed to open our Lips before the Lord Isai. 6.5 Wo is me for I am undone saith the Prophet Isaiah for I am a Man of unclean Lips and I dwell in the midst of a People of unclean Lips for mine Eâes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Or as Iob 40.4 Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my Hand upon my Mouth The best of God's Servants when their Eyes are but a little opened to see the Glory of that God they speak to how sensible would they be of the Shortness of their Apprehension and Expressions of that God they speak to Alas how can such narrow Hearts frame an Apprehension or receive an Impression of such an infinite Greatness and eternal Goodness as there is in God! But when we shall see him as he is then we shall better praise him and conceive more sutably of him 2. Here is Weariness and we cannot endure long under our weak Duties neither as to the Frame of Body nor Mind but there God in Communion is always new and fresh to us every Moment And the more we look upon the Object the more is the Faculty fortified and strengthened in conversing with God Matth. 18.10 In Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven The blessed Spirits are never weary of beholding God and injoying his glorious Presence 3. Here is Distraction We pretend when we worship God to leave the World and turn the back upon all things else and to set our selves before the Throne of God but alas we bring the Flesh along with us and that will have its Excursions and so our Hearts are stolen away from under Christ's own Arm We mingle Sulphur with our Incense groan under divers Infirmities We cannot do what we would do Gal. 5.17 But there is nothing to divert us from thinking of God there is no Blemish in Priest or Sacrifice nothing will appear in us displeasing unto God which is a Comfort in our present Weaknesses 3. We shall then serve God uninterruptedly for there shall be no Impediment of Business nor Need of Sleep Here earthly Occasions straiten Christ and crowd up his Interest in the Soul and we spend almost half our time in Sleep not shewing one Act of Thankfulness to God but then we shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thess. 4. 17. We shall always stand before his Throne of Glory and abide in his blessed Presence Our Labour shall not need Repose nor shall the Night ever draw a Curtain upon that Day There will be no Miseries Wants and Necessities to distract us and take off our Minds The whole Strength of our Souls is carried out to God and our time is spent wholly and only in worshipping and serving God Constant and perpetual solemn Service is a Celestial Privilege and they that serve God most uninterruptedly come nearest Heaven For there Christ is ever with us and we ever with him 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. When absent from the Body we are present with the Lord and shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth 4. There we are admitted into a nearer Communion with God than now in this mortal Estate We draw nigh to him now but we are not so nigh but there is some Distance But in the Palace of Glory our Approach will be so near as to take away all Distance and we shall have immediate and full Communion with God Now God is in Heaven and we upon Earth we receive no more of God than an Ordinance can convey to us Here and there he droppeth in a little Comfort and Quickening into the Soul the Pipe cannot convey much and the Vessel can hold less the Means are narrow and the Person is not capacitated to be filled up with all the Fulness of God But then the Lord will do his Work by himself the means shall not straiten him God will communicate himself without Means and be instead of all Means he will be all in all and therefore will communicate his Grace in full Perfection The more we draw nigh to God here the more like him Moses while he conversed with God in the Mount his Face shone Christ was transformed in his Prayers Luke 9.29 And as he prayed the Fashion of his Countenance was altered and his Raiment was white and glistering So by Proportion in Heaven the nearer we draw to God the more we injoy of him 1 Iohn 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Perfection of Holiness is the Glory and Happiness of the Saints in Heaven As Iron by lying in the Fire seemeth to be all Fire when it is red hot the Qualities of Fire are imprinted on it So we by being
So the Heart is fixed in God by Faith it depends upon him and looks for the Success and Issue of all from his Blessing though the Hand in the mean time be imployed in the Use of Means Certainly God allows us careful Provision against all visible Evils though they be to come as Ioseph stored the Granaries of Egypt against the dear Years But not to distract our selves with a Supposal of future Contingencies therefore our Saviour saith Matth. 6.34 Take no Thought for the Morrow and ver 31. Take no Thought saying What shall we eat or what shall we drink and wherewithal shall we be clothed This is that the Scripture forbids You ought not to trouble your selves with uncertain future Events but to refer your selves to the Disposal of God Briefly sinful Cares may be thus discerned 1. Distrustful Care is troubled about the Event what shall be the Issue but lawful Care is imployed in the Use of Means The Event is God's Act Duty is ours and to trouble our selves about it is to take God's Work out of his Hands We set our selves in God's stead when we think to accomplish our Ends by our own Industry The Lord might lay this Burden upon us as a Punishment of Sin but he would have us cast it upon himself 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your Care upon him for he careth for you To neglect the Means were to neglect Providence but then to trouble our selves about the Event what will be the Issue and how these Means will succeed that is to renounce Providence to reproach God as if he were not sollicitous for us A Christian is not to trouble himself what will become of him and his Posterity that is God's care and it is altogether needless in us for God is alsufficient but he is to be diligent in a lawful Calling and then let God do what seemeth him good 2. Sinful Care flieth to unlawful Means but Religious Care keepeth within the bounds of Duty Prov. 16.8 Better is a little with Righteousness than great Revenues without right It useth no Means that are indirect and sinful Men that will not trust God with success will soon go out of God's way The Unbeliever looketh not to what is just but to what is gainful as those that gathered Manna on the Sabbath-Day and trod Wine-presses and brought in Sheaves and laded Asses Neh. 13.15 3. Sinful Care is immoderate in the use of lawful Means Eccles. 2.23 For all his Days are Sorrows and his Travel Grief yea his Heart taketh not rest in the night Those that have none else to trust to no wonder if they make use of their own Endeavours to the uttermost but he that hath an Heavenly Father should not so cumber and distract his Spirit Eccles. 4.8 There is one alone and there is not a second yea he hath neither Child nor Brother yet is there no end of all his Labour neither is his Eye satisfied with Riches neither saith he For whom do I labour and bereave my Soul of Good The World will not let them be quiet they toil and moil and there is no end When Men multiply Means they have no trust in God God is tender of all his Creatures much more of the reasonable Creature 4. Sinful Care increaseth upon good Duties but diligent Care fairly complieth with them Christ warns his Disciples Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your Hearts be over-charged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and Cares of this Life Our care for eternal Things doth not carry any proportion to the Excellency of them but they are laid aside Mat. 13.22 He heareth the Word and the Care of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches choak the Word and it becometh unfruitful They take up the Room Travel and Affection which Heavenly things should have so that they have no time to converse with God or to look into their Souls so that the Heart groweth poor lean distempered and unfit for holy Uses they are greedy of Wealth and prodigal of Salvation Secondly Whence it ariseth From a distrust of God and discontent with our Portion 1. From a distrust of God Carking takes his Work out of his Hands as the Care of the Son is a Reproof to the Father You tax his Being and Providence A Child at School taketh no care for Maintenance because he hath a Father Mat. 6.32 Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things 2. From discontent with our Portion We have never enough and expect more than God will allow Heb. 13.5 Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee It is not our Necessities but the enlargement of our Desires that causeth carking We would have more and more worldly Goods which hindreth us from trusting God's Promise I will never leave thee nor forsake thee The Sea hath Banks and Bottom but not Man's Heart We begin and end with nothing and yet nothing will suffice us There is a Story of a Discourse between Pyrrhus and Cynicus when he told him of his Designs When thou hast vanquished the Romans what wilt thou then do Conquer Sicily What then Subdue Africk When that is effected what then Then we will sit down and be quiet and spend our Time contentedly And what hinders but thou mayest do so before without all this Labour and Peril Thirdly The Cure of it Cure it by Christ's Arguments Matth. 6.25 Take no thought for your Life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your Body what ye shall put on Is not the Life more than Meat and the Body than Raiment c. 1. Life is more than Meat and the Body than Raiment ver 25. Deus donando debet God by giving is become a Debtor Life without any Aid of ours is a Pledg of more Mercy God provided us two Bottles of Milk when we were new born Psal. 22.9 10. Thou art he that took me out of the Womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my Mother's Breast I was cast upon thee from the Womb thou art my God from my Mother's Belly Who formed us and suckled us and continued us hitherto We are unthankful to God if we ascribe it to our selves 2. Consider God's Providence to other Creatures God feeds the Fowls Matth. 6.26 Behold the Fowls of the Air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into Barns yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them Are not ye better than they God paints the Lilies ver 28 29. Consider the Lilies of the Field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed like one of these Luke instances in the Raven which is Animal cibi rapacissimum a Creature ravenous of Food chap. 12.34 Consider the Ravens for they neither sow nor reap which neither have Store-house nor
Disadvantage to your selves for a Man that hath begun to be strict and careful and holy and righteous and profess himself to be taken out of the Kingdom of Darkness and made experience of the Ways of Christ yet if he falls off he doth as it were after Trial pronounce to the World that Satan's Service is better than Christ's As Iacob kept wrestling till Day-light appeared and would not let go his hold-fast so till the Morning of Glory come still keep on and continue your Courage Or as Elisha would not leave his Master till he was taken from him into Heaven so be constant to the last let the World know you see no cause to leave Christ or to be weary of his Service and to begrudg the Strictness of Religion Matth. 20. you read some were called into the Vine-yard sooner some later but they all kept working to the End and Close of the Day There 's a different time of Calling some begin with God in Infancy some in riper Age but none must be weary of well-doing But how apt are we to turn aside from God Our Righteousness must be as the Morning Light that always increaseth till High-noon but our Righteousness is like the Morning-Dew it is gone as soon as the Sun breaks out in Strength and Power We have a great many Resolutions when we begin a Course of Godliness but soon grow weary Look as a tired Horse is ready to turn in at every Inn so upon every Occasion and Temptation we are ready to turn away from God but it is not enough to begin to live godly strictly righteously but while Life lasteth you must hold on in God's ways it must be during your whole present State and Abode here in the World II. The Reasons why this Duty of our heavenly Calling must be in the present World 1. Because this is the Time of Grace There is no other Time to get the Favour of God and an Interest in Heaven but here upon Earth Now we have the Means hereafter the Recompences Now Christ saith Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden Matth. 11.28 Hereafter he will say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Mat. 25.34 Now he calls us to receive Grace hereafter we must receive either Vengeance or Glory In the Angels Song we find Luke 2.14 Peace upon Earth Here God proclaims Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation to the Creature if it will submit to God Now the Golden Scepter is held out and you will have no more such a Season This is God the Father's God the Son 's and God the Spirit 's Time but after this Life you shall have it no more It is the Time of God the Father's Patience and these are the Days of the Gospel when God the Son is offered to us and now we have the Advantage of the Spirit 's Impulses and his Convictions upon our Hearts But after this Life there 's neither Prophecy nor Gospel nor Conviction nor Means offered any more then comes Recompence and Retribution Zanchy speaks of some which had a Fancy that the Gospel should be preached hereafter in the other World to those that never heard of Christ in this World as to Children to Turks and Pagans to justify this Conceit they alledg that Place 1 Pet. 3.19 By which he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison But that 's a clear Mistake The Apostle speaks there how the Spirit of God went forth by Noah's Preaching in warm Conviction upon the Hearts of those that are now in Prison that were sometimes disobedient to the Warnings of Noah and are now held with Chains of Darkness in the Prison of Hell But however there is nothing to this World Now you have the Means and God's golden Scepter is held out Now Christ saith Come but if you refuse hereafter he will say Depart Now is the accepted Time now is the Day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.1 2. This is the Time of our Exercise and Trial. 1. There must be this Exercise before we come to Heaven We do not leap into Heaven without any Preparation The Vessels of Glory must first be seasoned with Grace Col. 1.12 Who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light First we are qualified and seasoned then filled brim-full As when the Virgins were chosen for Ahasuerus they were to accomplish their Months of Purification so we must have a Time of purifying and cleansing from Corruption before we can get to Heaven Balaam would die the Death of the Righteous but not live his Life Numb 23.10 Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like his As it is said of the Snake that when it is stricken with Death stretcheth out it self straight though crooked before at oportuit sic vixisse you should have so lived You should be sober righteous and godly Enoch before his Translation had this Testimony that he pleased God Heb. 11.5 Some-thing must be done here there is no Triumph without a Warfare 2 Tim. 2.5 If a Man strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned unless he strive lawfully that is according to the Laws of the Race or Exercise so we cannot expect to die in the Lord unless we live in the Lord Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Your Works die not when you die Eccles. 11.3 If the Tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the Place where the Tree falleth there it shall be In the time of the Law there was nothing to be gathered upon the Sabbath-Day but a double Portion to be gathered before those that provide nothing on the sixth Day had nothing on the Sabbath-Day The Sabbath is a Figure of Heaven of that eternal Rest we shall have there if we do not make Provision during the time of Life there can be nothing done afterwards 2. It is only here this is the fittest Place for Exercise Here are Difficulties Snares and Temptations and these serve to discover the Glory of Grace and this makes it worthy of Praise that we can act for God in the present World where so many miscarry 2 Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present World Here is the fit Place for our Trial where we have so many Difficulties Snares Baits Avocations and Scandals to take us off from performing the Duty of our Heavenly Calling As Death leaves us so Judgment finds us Upon our Behaviour in the present Life both our everlasting Woe or Weal depends Hereafter is not a time of Labour but of Reward and Punishment there is no room for Exercise and Trial there no Snares in the next World Grace cannot be found worthy of Praise there for that is God's Day called the Day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.10
I shall tell you what Application there must be if we cannot attain to Assurance There are three degrees of Application beneath Assurance 1. Acceptation of God's Offer that is one degree of Application Iob 5.27 Hear it and know thou it for thy good Put in for these Hopes and take God on his Word stipulate with him and undertake thy part of the Covenant upon a confidence God will not fail thee As Moses when the Book of the Law was read Exod. 24.6 took half the Blood and sprinkled it on the Altar to shew that God undertook to bless them and ver 8. the other half he sprinkled on the People by which they were engaged to obey There must be in all Christians the Answer of a good Conscience 1 Pet. 3.21 2. Adherence Stick close to this Hope in a course of Obedience If we do God's Work we shall not fail of Wages 1 Cor. 9.26 I therefore so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beateth the Air. 3. Affiance noting waiting upon God tho with some Doubts and Fears for the Revelation of this Glory Tho you cannot say It is yours yet wait with hope till your Change come looking for the Mercy of Christ so that you durst venture your Soul in that Bottom This is committing our Souls to him in well-doing as to a merciful and faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4.19 You put your Souls into God's Hands that made them 3. Expect it This is the formal Act of Hope which is pressed in the Text. This Hope and Expectation of Blessedness is the Strength of the inward Man The Devils have a Faith but because it is without Hope it yieldeth no Refreshment James 2.19 Thou believest that there is one God thou dost well the Devils also believe and tremble The word signifies such a trembling as the raging of the Sea it is a Light that does not refresh but scorch There would be Comfort in Hell if there could be Hope there It is the Duty now in season here we must expect Rom. 8.24 We are saved by Hope In Innocency there was little or no use of Hope and in Heaven there will be none at all the Object of Man's Happiness will be present and enjoyed but now all is to come we have only a Taste and Pledg to make us long for more and expect more Faith by Hope maketh them present Substance Heb. 11.1 Faith is the Substance of Things hoped for Things of Eternal Life seem as a Shadow and Fiction to a carnal Heart This Hope is an earnest Elevation of the Mind to look for what Faith counteth real Vse 3. To direct us how to look for this blessed Hope 1. Consider it Hope is a temperate Extasy a Survey of the Land of Promise As God said to Abraham Gen. 13.14 15. Lift up now thine Eyes and look from the Place where thou art Northward and Southward and Eastward and Westward For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever So Psal. 48.12 Walk about Zion and go round about her tell the Towers thereof It is a great Advantage to think often of Heaven it maketh it present to us Heaven deserveth our best Thoughts We should always do it in the Morning it were a good Preservative to keep us from being under the power of present things Psal. 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness In some special Seasons doth Hope set the Mind a-work in times of Trouble and present Sufferings we enjoy a happy Dedolency the Mind is untouched whatever the Body suffereth When we are summoned to the Grave and bodily Sicknesses put you in mind of Death when Sense and Speech fail the Love of God never fails this pale Horse is sent from Christ to carry us to Glory and though we go down to the Grave to converse with Worms and Skulls this Hope may comfort us Iob 19.26 27. And thougâ after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another tho my Reins be consumed within me 2. Long for it Hope cannot be without Groans Every day wind up your Affections for here is nothing but Conflicts and Sorrows Love to Christ cannot be without him it will never be content Nature desires Perfection Col. 3.1 2. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right Hand of God Set your Affections on Things above not on Things on the Earth There is our God our Christ our Rest Where your Treasure is there will your Heart be also Mat. 6.22 not only the Mind but the Heart what we are much thinking of the Desires will be working that way The new Nature cannot be without these Desires every thing tendeth thither whence it came Eph. 1.3 Who hath blessed us with all spiritual Blessings ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in heavenly Places God sits in Heaven that dispenseth Grace Christ that conveyeth it thence come our Mercies Comforts and Joys therefore it is against the tendency of the new Nature not to be tending thither where Christ is who is our greatest Happiness There is your Father your elder Brother the best of the Family and your spiritual Relations whom you most valued the best Company is in the other World Here you have Maintenance as in a foreign Land but there is your Interest and Estate How unworthy soever we are there is infinite Mercy to give it there it acts like it self infinite Merit to purchase it there we receive the full Fruits of our Redemption and the present Fruits of the Spirit are the Earnest of it as an Earnest is something in part of a greater Sum. 3. Wait for it There are Groans of Expectation as well as of Desire You have a fair Charter granted by God the Father written with the Blood of Christ sealed by the Spirit To make your Expectation more firm consider 1. Christ's Goodness and Mercy Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternal Life Jude v. 21. He never discovered any backwardness to thy Good or inclination to thy Ruin 2. God's Faithfulness Heb. 9.18 19. That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong Consolation God stands more on his Word than on Heaven and Earth If an honest Man has made a promise of any thing he will make it good much more may we depend on the faithful God 3. God's Power If our Souls were in our own keeping we might fear but we are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Abraham being perswaded of God's Power against Hope believed in Hope Rom. 4.18 4. Christ's Merit and Intercession Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right Hand of God who also maketh
the World whether Christ should come or no do you think carnal Men would give their Vote this way for Christ's Coming The Voice of corrupt Nature is Depart Iob 22.14 Therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy Ways that 's the Language of their Hearts Carnal Men are of the Mind of the Devil when Christ wrought a Miracle in casting out a Devil and discovered somewhat of his Divine Power the Devils were afraid as if he were coming to Judgment already Matth. 8.29 Art thou come hither to torment us before the time The Devil cannot endure to hear of Christ's Coming no more can carnal Men for they are of his Mind If Thieves and Malefactors might have the Liberty to choose whether there should be Assizes yea or no do you think they would look for and long for the Judg's Coming and the Day of his Approach So corrupt Nature hath no Desire of this Day It is the Spirit in the Bride that says Come as soon as the Spirit of Grace works in us there is a Bent and Inclination this way 1 Pet. 1.3 Who hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope Spiritual Desires come from Heaven and thither they tend As soon as the Spirit works Grace in the Heart it looks out this way the Heart is bent thither from whence it receives all it hath as all Creatures love the Place of their Original The great Work of the Spirit is to bring us and Christ together The Spirit comes from the Father and the Son to bring us to the Father by the Son and therefore the Spirit stirs up those holy Groans in us When will he come Then look upon the Graces of a Christian there is Faith Love and Hope 1. Faith The Ground of this Looking is the Promise now Faith stands waiting for the Promise as if it were already begun to be accomplished Look as Rebeka espied Isaac a-far off so Faith espies Christ a-far off Faith is the Evidence of things not seen and looks upon Christ as if he were already on his way and so makes the Soul stand ready to meet and receive him As a loving Wife stands upon the Shoar and looks for the Return of her Husband and the Sight of every Ship makes her to realize by an active and loving Fancy the Sweetness of an Interview So Faith stands waiting for the Coming of Christ and the Approaches he makes towards the Church 2. Love 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love The Saints love Christ whom they never saw We know Christ by hear-say here in the Church not by Sight he wooes us as Princes use to do by Picture therefore they long for his Appearing Whosoever is a Friend to Christ will find his Heart long for Christ of whom he hath so often heard in the Word and so often tasted in the Supper Love is an Affection of Union it desires to meet the Party loved so is Love to Christ it is not satisfied with the present State but it cries out Come come Why is his Chariot so long a coming It longs to see him whom it hath heard of so often and so much and of whose Sweetness it hath already tasted for this Love is not only kindled by the Knowledg we have of him by hear-say but by Experience Christ first comes in the Heart by Grace and then the Soul having tasted the Sweetness of it longs for another Coming When will he come in the Clouds that we may see him as he is And as Love to Christ so also Love to the Saints enkindles this Desire We have not all our Company here in the World and till we all meet together we shall never be satisfied 3. Hope that is another Grace God sitteth us with Graces as well as Happiness The Lord doth not only provide a glorious Estate for us but Grace to expect it and stirs up Affections in us sutable thereunto As in the privative Part of Salvation Christ doth not only deliver us from the Hurt of Death but from the Bondage and Fear of Death Despair is the Beginning of Hell So in the positive Part of Salvation the Lord doth not only provide Heaven and Happiness for us but Hope that we may look for this Happiness We are begotten again to a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1.3 And to wait for his Son from Heaven 1 Thess. 1.10 Hope was made on purpose for this thing that we expect our full and future Happiness When the Affection of Hope is elsewhere placed and turned to carnal things it is like a Member out of Joint It was made and framed on purpose that we might look for this glorious Appearing of Jesus Christ. 2. Look upon their Relation to Christ. There are two Relations the Scripture usually takes notice of with respect unto the Day of Judgment Christ is our Master and our Husband As he is our Master we must look for him It is the Property of a good Servant to wait for his Master 's Coming Mat. 24.46 Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Here we have only present Maintenance but hereafter we shall receive our Wages Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me A Servant of God should remember that when Christ comes he will not come empty-handed he is your good and bounteous Master Here you have but an Earnest as when you hire a Man you give him Earnest But now because God would not have our Affections to be servile therefore there is a sweeter Relation we are to look for him not only as a Lord and Master but as an Husband and therefore it is the Bride that saith Come Rev. 22.17 Here we are only contracted to Christ he hath pass'd his Promise to us but the Day of Judgment is the Day of solemn Espousals Hos. 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever Here in the Covenant of Grace Christ doth pass a Promise to the Church here he comes to give us a Pledg and take a Pledg from us As Tertullian saith Christ took from us the Token and Pledg of our Flesh and is gone to Heaven to make all things ready and he hath left with us the Token of his own Spirit that so we might long for the time when he shall come again for the Consummation of this happy and glorious Marriage that is between him and us We are to wait for Glory as a Servant for his Master and as a Bride or Virgin betrothed doth wait for the Coming of him that hath promised Marriage to her 3. Look upon a Christian's Privileges which we shall then enjoy and certainly Christians must needs desire Christ's Coming The Day of Judgment is the Day of Manifestation the Day of Perfection the Day of Congregation and the Day of Glorification 1. It is called a Day of Manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 The earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of
came not to judg the World but to save the World So 1 Iohn 4.14 We have seen and do testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World But then his second Coming is in more Majesty then he comes as a God to judg To consider him as a severe Judg that would make our Heart tremble but to consider him as a Saviour that 's comfortable then he remembers his old Relation for the Elect's sake In short he is the great God and our Saviour to shew his double Work and Office at the last Day he is a Saviour to his own People when he comes to shew himself to be the great God to punish the Wicked that would not accept of Grace and Salvation 4. To give us a Taste and Pledg both of his Willingness and Ability to do us good He is a mighty God and yet a Saviour Certainly there is a Difference between God and Man If we pardon and do good it is out of need because we dare not do otherwise but Jesus Christ is the mighty God strong enough to revenge yet our Saviour gracious enough to save and pardon The coupling of these Words shew that Christ is not a Saviour out of Necessity but good Will Men forbear their Enemies out of Policy not Pity 2 Sam. 3.19 These Men the Sons of Zerviah are too hard for me Power makes us cruel Who finds his Enemy and slays him not If a Man find his Enemy will he let him go well away 1 Sam. 24.19 Among Men observe it and you will find the weakest are most pitiful and merciful Why because they need Pity and Commiseration themselves from others But now Jesus Christ that hath the greatest Power hath also the greatest Mercy and the greatest Love he is the mighty God but yet the Prince of Peace He will be a mighty God rather in saving than in destroying though he hath all Power in his Hands yet he will exercise it in Acts of Mercy We abuse our Power to Acts of Oppression and Violence O when shall we learn of Christ to be mighty and yet saving There cannot be a happier Conjunction than when Greatness and Goodness Power and good Will are met together Remember Power is only given us to do good with it and to do good is some Resemblance of Christ. What a Comfort is this to the Faithful that Christ is the great God and also a Saviour both able and willing to do them good and to bestow abundance of Grace upon them 5. To shew what Christ is to the Saints wherever he shews himself a Saviour there he doth also shew himself to be a mighty God Together with Acts of Grace and Favour there are issued out Acts of Power and Strength there 's a concomitant Operation of Power together with an Act of Pardon and Grace I find the Scripture speaking of this he pardoneth as a strong God Mich. 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee pardoning Iniquity c. In the Original who is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies a strong God like unto thee And so Iunius renders it So Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord the Lord God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the strong God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Moses plainly alludes to it Numb 14.17 18. Now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying The Lord is long-suffering and of great Mercy forgiving Iniquity and Transgression Whenever God shews Grace in pardoning Sin he shews Power also in subduing Sin So Psal. 62.11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that Power belongs to God And presently ver 12. Also unto thee O Lord belongeth Mercy Both these are dispensed together Those that come to God for Relief are under a double Trouble distemper'd Affections as well as a guilty Conscience therefore know for your Comfort Mercy and Power belong to God and in the Dispensation they usually go together 2 Pet. 1.3 According as his Divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness Christians if you go to God aright you go to him not only for Life that you may be respited from Destruction but for Godliness not only for Acts of Grace but for Acts of Power as Wrath and Power are suted to the Reprobate so Mercy and Power to the Godly 6. To shew that Christ is not only a desirable Friend but a dreadful Adversary You must close with him as a Saviour or else you shall find him to your cost to be a mighty God you must submit to him or be destroyed you must accept of Mercy or feel the Power of his Wrath. And thus in Scripture Christ is represented with a golden Scepter and with an Iron Mace to dash his Enemies in Pieces like a Potâeâââ Vessel you must touch his golden Scepter or feel the Weight of his Iron Rod He that saveth can punish and crush as well as comfort Again we read of a Banner of Love and of a flying Roll of Curses and therefore as there is Mercy and Sweetness in Christ so he is represented as a dreadful Adversary Usually we presume on God's Mercy and fear Man's Power but this should not be so O! observe the Counsel the Lord gives Isa. 27.5 Let him take hold of my Strength that he may make Peace with me Blessed God! who is able to grapple and deal with thee in thy Strength but we overcome by yielding Let us humble our selves betimes that 's taking hold of his Strength and making Power our Friend It is an Allusion not to a Wrestler for so how can our Hands be strong and our Heart indure in the Day he shall deal with us but to a Suppliant when a Parent or Master is ready to strike the Child takes hold of his Arm and seeks terms of Peace and intreats him to pacify his Wrath So saith the Lord make Strength your Friend then his Power which otherwise would be your Enemy is ingaged to you 7. To preserve that mix'd Affection which best becomes the present State we are in Our State is mix'd and we act best under a mix'd Affection God would have us not only love him but fear him And therefore he is represented as a mighty God as well as a gracious Saviour that we may come to him with Reverence and yet with Confidence That 's the proper temper of a gracious Spirit in all our Addresses to God Psal. 2.10 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoice with Trembling Fear mix'd and temper'd with Love is most regular so is Love that is guided with Fear Therefore when you pray to him and worship him and serve him remember he is the great God but lest that should breed Bondage and Dejection in your Spirits remember he is also our Saviour How sweet would this be if we could but make use of both these Titles
Judgment and Hell are a part of our Bondage But now what cause have we to bless God Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus Then to be under the Power of Sin is a woful Bondage to be at the beck of every Lust and carnal Suggestion Men rejoice in their Bondage they think there is no such Life as to live at large and to do as we list but the more liberty we take in Sin the greater Slavery the Work is Drudgery and the Reward is Death Sin hath reigned unto Death Rom. 5.21 2 Pet. 2.19 While they promise them Liberty they themselves are the Servants of Corruption for of whom a Man is overcome of the same is he brought into Bondage It is the saddest Judgment to be given up to our own Will to be given up to Satan to be given up to Self What a Slavery is this when we see Mischief and know not how to avoid it Conscience is held a Prisoner we cannot see a Vanity but the Heart lingereth after it and groweth sick as Ahab for Naboth's Vineyard Duties of Godliness are esteemed an heavy Task the Law of God is impelling to Duty and the Law of Sin impelling to Evil. What Thanks is due to God for delivering us from so great a Bondage Vse 2. To press us to avoid Sin Mortify the Lust and prevent the Action let it not reign in the Heart nor be discovered in the Life and Conversation Christ died that the Body of Sin might be destroyed Rom. 6.6 And he died to redeem us from our vain Conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 Consider when Sin remains in its Power and while you serve Sin what Dishonour you do to God and what Disadvantage it is to your selves 1. The Dishonour you do to God to all the Persons in the Godhead To the Father by making void the whole Plot of Redemption This was the eternal Project and Design as it were of God the Father the wise Counsel his Wisdom found out to remedy the Fall of Man Jesus Christ was ordained before all Worlds to redeem us from our vain Conversation 1 Pet. 1.20 Who verily was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World The Lord projected this way of Restitution from all Eternity that this Course should be taken to destroy Sin Now will you go about to make all this void Then you wrong God the Son and that many ways You disparage the worth of his Price as if it was not sufficient to purchase Grace and so seek to put your Redeemer to shame Nay you disparage the Purity of his Person for you were redeemed with the Blood of Christ as a Lamb without spot and blemish Nay you disparage the Greatness and Extremity of his Sufferings It cost him dear to purchase Grace and Deliverance from Sin and you slight it and make nothing of it Then you rob him of the Greatness of his Purchase he bought us with this great Price that we might not be our own and live to our Lusts. Such as are bought with Money are theirs who bought them 1 Cor. 6.20 For ye are bought with a Price therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are his Did Christ pay our Debts and shall we like desperate Prodigals do nothing but encrease them by our Sin Then you disparage the Holy Ghost the Spirit whom Christ doth shed abroad to accomplish his Work 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty The great Work of the Holy Ghost is to free us from the Bondage of Sin Have you the Assistance of such a Spirit and can you not resist carnal Motions And are you taken with every vain Delight a Fashion a sensual Bait Thus consider what a dishonour it is to God to let Sin live if Christ died to redeem us You do as much as in you lieth to defeat the Project of God the Father the Purchase of the Son and the Work of the Spirit 2. It is a Disadvantage to your selves You cut off your own Claim and declare you have no Interest and Share in Christ if Sin live for he came to redeem us from Iniquity We cannot have an Interest in any part of Christ's Redemption till this be for all these go together God's Anger is not appeased the Devil's Power is not restrained the Law 's Curse is still in force as long as Sin lives You can have no Comfort if you be not freed from Sin the Wrath of God is against you and Hell is your Portion nay if you are not redeemed from all Sin for he redeems us from all Iniquity A Bird that is tied by the Leg may make a shew of escape but it is fast enough So though many may abstain from gross Sins for they that commit such shew plainly they are acted by the Spirit of the Devil yet if one Sin remains unmortified it enthralleth as well as many but if it reigns in the Soul you have no Interest in Christ. Object You will say Why should we mortify what should we trouble our selves about this Christ hath done all this Answ. No Christ hath redeemed us from all Iniquity but his Redemption doth not make void but oblige our Endeavours for he undertook as God's Surety that Sin should be destroyed and as our Surety that we should not serve Sin Rom. 6.6 Our Old Man is crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve Sin There 's a Work on God's part he undertook for the pouring out of Grace and on our part that we should be watchful and strive against Sin and watch against all Occasions of it And he hath given us encouragement so to do Non pugna sublata est sed Victoria It is not the Conflict against Sin that is taken away by Christ but the Victory of Sin Look as when the Israelites had a Promise that God would give their Enemies into their Hands the meaning was not that they should not strike a Stroke but they were to fight the Battels of the Lord So when Christ hath redeemed us from Iniquity yet we are to use all spiritual means of Mortification to subdue the Lusts and to prevent the Act of Sin It will be our great Condemnation when we have so much help that still Sin should remain Certainly he is very lazy that will not ply the Oar that hath both Wind and Tide on his side And when the Lord Christ hath purchased Grace and the Spirit yet we will not endeavour against Sin Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again in the Yoke of Bondage Gal. 5.1 Vse 3. Direction When-ever you are troubled with your Sins and Lusts are too hard for you go to Christ. It is his Office to redeem you from your Iniquity and the Tyranny of Sin Therefore when you feel any Corruption stir go and complain to him as Paul did I cannot do the things
Works were evil and his Brother 's righteous 1 Joh. 3.12 Carnal Professors that creep into the Church unawares are full of Envy Strife and Wrath. How can we edify one another in the holy Faith unless we be first holy A Man would think they should be purified to the Love of God nay but they must be purified to the Love of the Brethren 3. With respect to the World A distinct Body should have a distinct Excellency They are a People distinct from the World they are set apart for God Psal. 4.3 Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself They are a chosen Generation Many other Societies excel the Church for Strength Policy and worldly Pomp but Holiness and Purity is the Church's Badg Psal. 93.5 Holiness becometh thy House O Lord for ever God's peculiar People must have a peculiar Excellency upon a double ground 1. Because of Likeness to God Exod. 15.11 Who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods who is like thee glorious in Holiness It is God's Glory and therefore the Churches God is rich in Mercy but glorious in Holiness his Treasure is his Goodness but his Honour is his Holiness and immaculate Purity as among Men their Wealth is distinguished from their Honour 2. Because all the Ordinances hold it forth especially the Ordinance of Initiation So that it is the greatest Hypocrisy in the World to pretend to be God's People and not to be holy because they wear the Badges of Holiness they all come in by the washing of Water Men forget their Baptism 2 Pet. 1.9 He hath forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins Men that are only whited over with the Name of Christians and Sin is still new and fresh as an old thing they forget the Effect of their Baptism That a washed Man should be so foul and noisom still sure they forget or do not know what it is to be baptized into Christ. Secondly The Manner how he purifieth them There is on Christ's part the Spirit and Ordinances and his Merit reacheth to both and on our part Faith 1. On Christ's part 1. The Spirit is necessary Titus 3.5 He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost applieth all the Grace which the Father intendeth and Christ hath purchased We are usually said to be saved by the Blood of Christ that was the Merit and Price There was a Grant on God the Father's part Rev. 19.8 To her it was granted to be arrayed in fine Linen clean and white An Authentick Act passeth in the Court of Heaven that we shall have fine Linen as Esther had Garments out of the King's Wardrobe But this is founded on Christ's Merits the Stream in which we are washed flowed out of Christ's Heart 1 Iohn 1.7 The Blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin But then the Holy Ghost as the Executor of Christ's Will and Testament worketh and applieth all The Merit of the Creature is excluded by Christ's Merit and the Father's Grant the Power of the Creature is excluded by the Work of the Spirit he worketh with a respect to Christ's Blood As in the cleansing of the Leper the Bird was to be killed over running Water Levit. 14.5 So in the cleansing of the Sinner there is the Merit of Christ and the Work of the Spirit 1 Cor. 6.11 But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God If we come to the Father the Father sends us to the Son otherwise he could not look upon us the Son sends us to the Spirit the Spirit sends us to Moses and the Prophets 2. The Ordinances Ephes. 5.26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word These are the Ordinances that are specially consecrated and to which Christ's Merit reacheth he hath not only procured the Gift of the Spirit but a Blessing on the Means that we may use them with Confidence The Word helpeth us by way of Declaration and Offer and Baptism concurreth sacramentally by way of signing and sealing and so it is a Means to confirm and provoke the Faith of a Receiver to lay hold on this Grace The Ordinances are an help to call to mind Baptism It is not good to balk the known and ordinary Means of Grace Christ hath purchased a Treasure that cannot be wasted Iohn 17.19 And for their sakes I sanctify my self that they also may be sanctified through the Truth When you come to hear you come to receive the Fruits of Christ's Purchase 2. On our part there is required Faith which also purifieth Acts 15.9 Purifying their Hearts by Faith Christ's Blood cleanseth the Gospel cleanseth Baptism cleanseth the Spirit cleanseth Faith cleanseth all these are not contrary but subordinate neither Christ nor the Word nor the Spirit worketh without an Act on our parts As under the Law the Priest was not only to wash and cleanse the Leper who herein represented God but also after the sprinkling of the Priest he was to wash himself Lev. 14.8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his Clothes and shave off all his Hair and wash himself in Water that he may be clean to shew that some Work is required on our part The Work of Faith is to apply to wait to work by Reflection and to stir up Love 1. To apply the Promises of God the Offers of Grace in the Word and the Blood of Christ and all these to purge out Corruption It applieth the Blood of Christ urgeth the Soul with it he died to purchase that Grace which thou wantest The Water and Soap cleanseth but the Hand of the Landress must apply it and rub the Clothes that are washed This is called sprinkling the Conscience with the Blood of Christ Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith having our Heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water We should thus argue with our selves Surely Christ died to sanctify Sinners his Death cannot be in vain Grace is bought at a dear rate in the offers of the Word God maketh a tender why should I not accept of it Heb. 4.2 For unto us was the Word preached as well as unto them but the Word preached did not profit them not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it But we do not say What shall we say to these things By Faith the Plaister is laid on the Sore 2. In the Use of Means it waiteth for the sanctifying Virtue of the Blood of Christ and looketh upon them as Ordinances under a Blessing Isa. 45.24 Surely shall one say In the Lord have I Righteousness and Strength It casts out the Net at Christ's Commandment Micah 7.19 He will turn again he will have Compassion on us he will subdue our Iniquities and thou wilt cast all their Sins
is true Conversion where they are not only changed but quickned Heathens have been changed from Prophaneness to a moral course If you pretend to close with Christ and find no Life you can take no comfort in your Faith it is but a Cloud a Fancy John 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly So for Repentance and trouble for Sin if no Zeal follows it it is naught Rev. 3.19 Be zealous therefore and repent So for being Members of the Church you cannot take comfort of being Christ's Members without Zeal for all the true Members of Christ's Mystical Body are living Stones 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as lively Stones are built up a Spiritual House It is true in the outward Building there are some carved Stones So in the visible Church there are many polished with Gifts which may serve in their place to hold up the Building but they are not living Stones for they want Life And then for Hope it is but a Fancy and Dream if we be dead and sluggish It is called a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1.3 And if thou art drowsy still and neglectful of God surely thou art but in a Dream Canst thou take Comfort in this that thou art a constant Hearer of the Word if thou art as backward to Holiness and good Works as ever Phil. 2.16 Holding forth the Word of Life The Word is the Word of Life it doth not leave us dull slow and backward If there be not Life and Zeal all is nothing 11. Consider how odious want of Zeal is to God He will not own a cold careless neutral Spirit Rev. 3.16 So then because thou art luke-warm and neither hot nor cold I will spue thee out of my Mouth Cold lazy Professors that have nothing but a dead Form are as luke-warm Water to the Stomach and there is nothing the Stomach nauseates so much as that which is luke-warm So will God cast them out with much loathing he will uncase and pluck off their Masks and reveal them to the Congregation and make them odious this is worse than stark cold It is not enough that we are not violent against the Ways of God but are you zealous for God otherwise you are odious to God Mat. 25.30 Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness and not only the grosly Wicked but the unprofitable Servant Though he did not abuse his Talent nor embezel it away yet he hid it in a Napkin If you hide your Talent be it Parts Estate or Authority are you then zealous for God Useless Sapless Lifeless Christians incur the Penalty of Damnation as well as the openly Wicked they are cast into Hell therefore rest not in a dead Form 12. Consider how dishonourable it is to the living God to serve him with a dead Heart and cold Affections when he hath indented with you upon such glorious and noble Terms Heathens that worship the Sun offer to him a flying Horse because of the swiftness of his Motion 2 Kings 23.11 He took away the Horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the Sun So our worshipping of the living God must not be dead and cold Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God God that is a living God must have lively Service but Men worship him as a dead Idol In an earthly Matter we would not be so cold and careless in our Treaties and Transactions Malachi 1.8 Offer it to thy Governour will he be pleased with you or accept your Person saith the Lord What you do it must be done with all the Heart and all the Might Consider Religion is not a Fancy You do not worship the Vanities of the Gentiles therefore be not dead cold and careless You worship the living God and he will be served with Life Zeal and strength of Affection SERMONS UPON HEBREWS VI. 18 SERMON I. HEB. VI. 18 That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us TO give you the Occasion of these Words we must look back into the Context The Apostle proveth the firmness of the Promises and yet the great need of Faith and Patience e're they be accomplished He proveth both by the Instance of Abraham who was long exercised in waiting and had God's Promise ratified with the most solemn Assurance that can be conceived under Heaven with an Oath which is held sacred and inviolable among all Nations But here some might object That if Abraham had such a special Assurance from God what is that to us To this the Apostle replies That tho God's Oath were given to Abraham yet it concerns all the Heirs of Promise every Believer hath the same ground of Certainty that Abraham had so it is asserted ver 17. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath There is an Emphasis in the Phrase more abundantly God's Oath was not given out of Necessity but out of Condescension Not out of Necessity as if his Word was not valid and authentick without an Oath but he would give his Oath that over and above and by all solemn ways of Assurance the Lord would provide for our Certainty and Assurance that we might have strong Consolation upon solid Grounds That by two immutable things c. In the Words we have the Purport and the Aim of God's Oath which is to give Believers more solemn Assurance Take notice of three things 1. The Ground of this Assurance That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie 2. The Fruit of this Assurance That we might have strong Consolation 3. The Persons to whom God hath given this Assurance we who have fled for Refuge to lay hold of the Hope that is set before us Sutable to the three Parts there are three main Points I. God's Word and Oath are the immutable Grounds of a Believer's Certainty and Confidence II. That the Fruit of this Confidence and Certainty is strong Consolation III. That the Persons to whom God hath deposited his Oath and by it administreth so strong a Comfort and Consolation are those who fly for Refuge to take hold of the Hope that is set before them Doct. I. That God's Word and God's Oath are the immutable Grounds of a Believer's Confidence and Certainty for these are the two immutable things spoken of I shall speak of each distinctly First God's single Word is an immutable Ground having this you have enough And so it will appear if you consider the Power and the Certainty of it 1. The Power of God's Word His Word is nothing else but the Declaration of his powerful Will the Force of it was discovered in creating
Case cleared one way or other 2. As Sins are committed get them pardoned 1 John 2.1 If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous Run to your Advocate never leave until you have gotten a Copy of your Discharge and God gives you assurance of your Pardon by his Spirit in the Court of your Consciences This will put you upon often recourse to Christ which is the sure way to get Comfort But Negligence in the Spiritual Life and swallowing Sins without remorse breeds Security Look as a Fountain when it is muddied never leaves till it work it self clear again so when you have fallen foul and Conscience smites never leave until God hath given you the Pardon of that Sin Jer. 8.4 Shall they fall and not arise Take heed of lying still or of Negligence If you be a constant observer of Corruptions and cease not until by Christ's Death you get a Pardon all things will not be so dark doubtful and litigious 3. Revise Acts of Faith assoon as they are exerted and put forth When Faith is renewed by the Word in Prayer or in Meditation examine it Lusts and Graces are best discovered whilst they are stirring A Man surprized in an Act of Sin is most sensible of it A Thief is ashamed when he is found Jer. 2.26 So to surprize the Soul in an Act of Grace as when sweet Thoughts and Hopes of God's Grace and Mercy are stirred up say Is not this Faith Carnal Principles that otherwise lie hid are best discovered in their Operation as when a Man is praying or preaching out of Vain-glory if his Heart return upon him and take him tardy his Shame is more increased 4. Get Experiences confirmed assoon as they are exhibited A Christian that walks in Darkness and is uncertain of his State had need be watchful and wait upon God in the Word and in Prayer and observe Providences for some Glimpses of his Love Look as Benhadad's Servants 1 Kings 20.33 watched for the word Brother so should you watch what Tokens of Love and Favour will pass out and what Experiences and Quicknings you have In the Word Psal. 119.93 I will never forget thy Precepts for with them thou hast quickned me When you find fresh Excitations of Grace come in upon the Soul O I shall never forget such a Duty there God met me and quickned me O improve it So in the Supper Cant. 1.3 Because of the savour of thy good Ointment thy Name is an Ointment poured forth therefore the Virgins love thee When at any time you have been conversing with God and the Lord hath stirred up holy Joy O remember it So for Comfort in Affliction Rom. 5.3 4. We glory in Tribulation also knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope When you have had any Experience of God in Trouble improve it to a setled Hope Should I not believe in him and wait upon him for Comfort that hath been so gracious to me When Experiences and Feelings pass away without any observation we lose a great deal of Comfort 5. Give not over strong desires of Grace until they be answered and satisfied Many times there is something which awakens the Heart to grow earnest in Prayer Observe what Answers God gives Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after When holy and strong Desires are stirred up in the Heart we must not suffer them to go away but they must be pursued resolutely and recommended to God until he give an Answer 6. When at any time you are convinced of the Power of Sin leave not until you get it mortified There are some Sins which have most power over us as suting with our Complexions and course of Life and they most of all urge the Soul with frequent Temptations Now a Christian is to observe the weakness and decay of this Sin as David Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine Iniquity Whatever the Sin be be it Pride Sensuality or Worldliness any carnal Practice or fleshly Gratification which you are convinced of by many smitings of Conscience A Man cannot be such a stranger to his Heart but he must needs find what this Sin is Now you will never have Peace till this be mortified Spiritual Peace is disturbed God provoked by it and a guilty Conscience is clamorous and full of Objections you must narrowly observe the decay of this Sin 7. Observe how daily Temptations are checked There is no Day but the Devil will be casting in some Bait or other either to please Appetite provoke Anger stir up Pride or worldly desires of Greatness and Reputation and rising in the World or fears of Men. Now unless a Man be a constant observer of his Temptations and Conflicts all will be out of order and in confusion with him a Man will be a great Stranger at home and not observe what his Heart is Thus much for the first Question how to get it Secondly How to keep it As it is gotten with much Diligence so it must be kept with much Care 1. There must be constant Watchfulness against Sin and avoiding it suppose it be Passion Wrath Evil-speaking envious and vain Thoughts all these grieve and disturb the Spirit in his sealing Work Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption Men usually sin away their Comfort and Peace and the grieved Spirit will refuse to give Witness Evidences are not kept clear but are blotted and blurr'd that you cannot read them Especially watch against such Sins as most waste the Conscience and disturb all in the Soul 2. There must likewise be a constant Increase and an Exercise of Grace I press both 1. A constant Increase of Grace Small things are hardly discerned Many Stars in the Firmament are so small that they cannot be seen so a great many Graces in the Soul when small Conscience can take no notice of them They need have good Eyes that read a very small Print Every Grace by degrees is set forth in a fairer Letter and a new Edition as the Waters of the Sanctuary grew deeper and deeper Ezek. 47.3 4 5. 2 Pet. 1.5 10. Give diligence to add to and increase every Grace He musters up several Graces and then infers the Exhortation ver 10. Wherefore the rather give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure So that by increasing of Grace still we increase our Assurance Christians rest in Complaints but do not increase and grow in Grace It is impossible for a Man to have Fire in his Bosom and not feel it so it is impossible if Men did grow and thrive every day but they would be sensible of it 2. Exercise Grace more By a constant exercise of Grace it is drawn forth into the view of Conscience Grace is never so apparent as when it is in Action As the Sap is hidden
expectation of Blessedness to come Sure those think themselves wiser than God that deny us the use of the Spirit 's Motives why else doth God set these things before us It requireth some Faith to aim at things not seen The World is drowned in Sense and present Satisfaction it is a great help to us to look upward Christ made use of it Heb. 12.2 For the Ioy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the Shame As Man he was supported with humane Encouragements Our Flesh is weak and our Task is difficult and therefore we need all Helps But yet we are not so to covet the Reward as to fever it from Duty and neglect our Work SERMONS UPON St. IOHN XIV 1 SERMON I. JOHN XIV 1 Let not your Heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me THE Disciples had heard our Lord Jesus discoursing of his Death and Departure and the great Trials which they were to undergo and that one Disciple should betray him another eminent among them deny him and all take offence and leave him therefore Fear and Trouble seized upon them Our Lord perceiving this Distemper growing upon them seeketh to relieve and ease them He had Sorrow and Agonies of his own to think upon but he is so taken up with comforting his Disciples that he seemeth to forget himself and his own approaching Death and wholly applieth himself to them Let not your Heart be troubled c. In these Words we have 1. An Evil dissuaded Let not your Heart be troubled 2. A Cure prescribed and that is the Exercise of Faith set forth by its double Object God and Christ Ye believe in God believe also in me In God as the supream Fountain of all Blessing in Christ as Mediator or the only Way to come to God In God as the Creator and Preserver of all things in Christ as the Redeemer to whom the Care and Conservation of the Church belongeth They did believe in God they were trained up in that as Jews but they had not hitherto so clear so distinct so strong a Faith in Christ as they should have their Faith was but dark and weak as to the Dignity of his Person Therefore he presseth them to believe not only in God as Iews but in himself as Christians that was the Point the Faith of which would be now assaulted by his ignominious Death and Sufferings There are two Points First That Christians should carefully guard themselves against Heart-trouble Secondly The proper Cure of Heart-trouble is Faith Doct. 1. That Christians should carefully guard themselves against Heart-trouble 1. What is this Trouble of Heart that is here spoken of There is a twofold Evil Natural Evil which is Misery and Moral Evil and that is Sin The one we act of our own accord the other we suffer against our Wills The one ariseth from something within the other from something without This Text speaketh not of Troubles for Sin but of Troubles in the Flesh which being many and grievous to be born it cannot be supposed but that the Heart will be touched with them 2 Cor. 4.8 We are troubled on every side Yet let not your Heart be troubled A âense of them ãâã not only laâful but necessary The two Extreams must be both aâââded Slighting and Faiâting Heb. 12.5 My Son despiâe not thâu the chasteââng of the Lord nor faint âhen thou art rebuked of âim Without ãâã sense of them they cannot be improved neither do we shew that Reverence that is due to our Father's Anger as not to be afflicted and humbled under his mighty Hand Numb 12.14 If her Father had spiâ in her Face should she not be ashamed seven days Some kind of Spirits are stupid and sensless neither affected with Sin nor Misery Not with Sin tho they provoâe God to his very Face with their continual brutish Practices yet they never lay their Condition to heart Conscience is feared or at least benummed they are past feeling Eph. 4.19 Shall we say to these Let not your Hearts be troubled No these usurp a Peace and Exemption from Trouble as if Joy and Comfort were their Portion The only way for such is to be troubled that their Trouble may prepare them for Comfort Christ came to save Sinners but they are penitent and broken-hearted Sinners that are weary and heavy-laden under the Burden of Sin Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you Rest. Not the Heart that is whole but the Heart that is wounded These he calleth and calleth to Repentance Mat. 9.13 I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Not with Misery neither with their Fathers Anger nor their Brethrens Misery Jer. 5.3 O Lord are not thine Eyes upon the Truth Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive Correction they have made their Faces harder than a Rock they have refused to return Amos 6.3 Ye that put far away the evil Day and cause the Seat of Violence to come near Fall out what will they set their Hearts for Ease and Pleasure and carnal Delights and are given altogether to Mirth and âollity Riot and Revelling and all manner of Vanity Should we say to these Let not your Hearts be troubled and lull them more asleep in carnal Security by tincturing their Sensuality with Religion and adding a Dram of spiritual Comfort to make their carnal Potion more effectual No Christ speaketh not to such kind of Persons as mind neither his Presence nor Absence and regard not whether he do Good or Evil. No to such we must rather say Be afflicted and weep and mourn let your Laughter be turned to Mourning and your Ioy to Heaviness James 4.9 We call not upon them to rejoice but to howl for the Misery that is coming upon them A Sense there must be Q. What is then dissuaded Answ. A perplexing oppressing Trouble about sensible and worldly things Here I shall shew you First The Causes of this Trouble Secondly The Nature of it First The Causes of this Trouble which are 1. Carnal Self-love which is all for bodily Ease and Welfare or the Pleasures and Honours or Profits of the World They that are under the power of it seek great things here and the disappointment of their carnal Expectations breedeth Trouble Solomon telleth us what was the result of his accurate and deep search into all worldly and humane Affairs Eccles. 1.14 I have seen all the Works that are done under the Sun and behold all is Vanity and vexation of Spirit He found all worldly things not only vain and ineffectual to confer Happiness but which is worse apt to bring much Trouble and Affliction upon the Hearts of those who are too earnestly conversant about them Therefore the best way to be free from Trouble is to look for no great Matters here in the World 2. The Life of Sense which
Affection Yea in the Pen-men of Scripture you may observe a Variety Iohn is sublime and seraphical Paul rational and argumentative Peter writeth in a more easy fluent milky way So in the Old Testament Isaiah more Court-like and lofty Ieremiah more Priestly and gravely c. Every one hath his different Character and way of writing Among the saving Graces you may observe a diversity tho all have all in some measure for the new Creature must not be maimed nor in any part wanting yet some are more eminent for one Grace some for another as Abraham for Faith Iob for Patience Moses for Meekness Timothy for Temperance And Grace it self worketh according to the diversity of Tempers some are modest and mild others bold and zealous some are mourning for Sin others are wrapt up in the Admiration of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ some are exemplary for strictness and weanedness from the Delights of the animal Life others are industrious in Service So true is that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.7 Every one hath his proper Gift of God one after this manner and another after that That is some have this others that special Excellency whereby to glorify God And again Rom. 12.6 Having Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given unto us 3. They are not given to all in a like measure some have more others have less This is also spoken in Scripture Eph. 4.7 To every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ. Rom. 12.3 As God hath dealt to every Man the measure of Faith And once more Eph. 4.16 According to the effectual working in the measure of every part The measure of Christ respects the Author the measure of Faith the Benefit of the Receiver the measure of a part our Office in the Body All have their peculiar Function according to their several Designations and all this that every Man may be doing according to his best Capacity With respect to this variety some are weak some are strong Rom. 14.1 some have little and some have great Faith some are Fathers some young Men some Babes in Christ 1 Iohn 2.13 14. And our Lord in his Charge to Peter concerning his Pastoral Office distinguisheth between ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his little Lambs and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his Sheep Joh. 21.15 16. Feed my Lambs feed my Sheep This is very sutable to the Notion of a Body to which the Community of Christians is often resembled For as in the natural Body all Members are not of equal Growth and Bigness so it is in the Mystical Body of Christ there is a different measure in each part that there may be a meet Symmetry in the whole Besides all Members have not a like Office therefore God's Spirit giveth not all a like measure of Knowledg and other Gifts If all were of equal Strength for Faith Wisdom and other Graces the matter and occasion of sundry principal Duties would be taken away there would be no need that one Christian should edify another bear with one another avoid the Offence of another give help to another restore another Well then let us observe this measure for plainly there is a threefold difference 1. In the degree of the Gifts some have more Means some have more common Grace knowing their Master's Will which is a great Talent and Obligation some have greater Obligations and therefore greater Condemnation if they answer it not Iohn 3.19 This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men loved Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds were evil 2. In Opportunity Phil. 4.10 Ye lacked Opportunity Certainly the lack or want of Opportunity of doing good not through our Default doth excuse or justify the forbearance of it But when we have it we should take hold of it 1 Cor. 16.9 A great Door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many Adversaries The Door opened noteth Opportunity The Resistance of Adversaries is not a Discouragement but maketh it more necessary not to suffer it to be shut again Now all have not like Opportunity 3. In degree of Success It is ordered as God pleaseth some have more some have less Acts 17.34 Howbeit certain Men clave to him and believed Seldom doth God light a Candle but he hath some lost Groat to seek yet sometimes few are gathered for God is Debtor to none II. The Reasons 1. To shew the free Soveraignty of God who may do with his own as it pleaseth him And he will be known to be the supream Lord in the Distribution of his Gifts and Graces 1 Cor. 12.11 All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as he will As for Graces Mat. 11.26 Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight And as for Gifts God is arbitrary in his Gifts but not in his Judgments Gifts are not given as we will but as God willeth The Spirit is compared to Wind not only for his Force but his Liberty Iohn 3.8 The Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit God doth not only dispense Riches and Honours as he pleaseth and common Gifts of Knowledg and Utterance but saving Graces To some they are not given and where they are given to some it is in a larger to others in a more scanty measure 2. These things are given by Christ in a different Proportion that the World may know that all fulness is only in himself Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell The greatest Gifts and Graces which God bestoweth on any is far below that Fulness which is in Christ. We have the Spirit by measure but Christ without measure Iohn 3.34 For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him He giveth to none so much but still there is somewhat wanting and they who have received most are capable of receiving more In him there is not only plenitudo sufficientiae but redundantiae a fulness of Sufficiency but of Redundance not only plenitudo vasis but fontis not only the fulness of the Vessel but of the Fountain And so a manifest difference between Head and Members 3. To shew his singular Love Care and Providence for and towards the Church such a Body as that is needeth distinct Offices and because there is a diversity of Imployments and Offices which must not be confounded therefore doth he enable his Servants with neeedful Gifts and Graces Rom. 12.4 All Members have not the same Office some are designed for this Function and Use and some for that Now as Offices are divers so are Gifts and Graces Isa. 54.11 12. I will lay thy Foundations with Saphires I will make thy Windows of Agats and thy Gates of Carbuncles and all thy Borders of pleasant Stones The Church is there compared to a
of Trial God hath his end in these things for humbling and exercising the good and hardning the wicked But in the day of Recompence then it shall be only ill with them that do Evil and well with them that do Good and the Retributions of his Justice shall be fully evidenced 3 dly The Person By that Man whom he hath ordained meaning thereby Christ. But why doth he call Christ Man rather than God 1. Partly with respect to the Gentiles Incapacity to apprehend the Mystery of the Trinity or the Incarnation of the Son of God and it concerneth us to dispense Truths as People are able to bear them as Christ taught ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as they were able to bear it Mark 4.33 Therefore Paul would not offend them by Doctrines which they could not yet understand You will say the Resurrection was as offensive Answ. That was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one of the first Points of the Apostolical Catechism Heb. 6.1 2. Therefore leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto Perfection not laying again the Foundation of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptism and of laying on of Hands and of the Resurrection of the dead and of eternal Iudgment So that the Apostle could not preach the very Rudiments of Christianity if he had not mentioned that 2. Christ is to discharge this Office in the visible Appearance of Man As the Judgment was to be visible so the Judg. The Judgment is not to be acted by the Father or the Spirit but by Christ in the Human Nature Therefore his coming is called an Appearance Tit. 2.13 Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. And 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Iudg shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them that love his Appearance And when the Judgment is spoken of Christ is often designed by this Expression the Son of Man Mat. 24.30 They shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory And Mat. 16.27 For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works He is the visible Actor in the Judgment sitting on a visible Throne that he may be seen and heard of all and the Godhead doth most gloriously manifest it self by the Perfections of his Human Nature 3. This Power is given to Christ as a Recompence of his Humiliation For therefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name That at the Name of Iesus every Knee shall bow of things in Heaven and things iâ Earth and things under the Earth Phil. 2.9 10. which is at the day of Judgment Rom. 14.10 11. We shall all stand before the Iudgment-seat of Christ. For it is written As I live saith the Lord every Knee shall bow to me Then all Creatures in Heaven Earth and Hell are to own the Soveraign Power and Empire of the Crucified Saviour Some do it willingly as the elect Angels and Men others do it by constraint as the Reprobate and evil Angels when they are forced to stand before the Tribunal of Christ to receive their final Doom and Sentence This is the last Act of his Kingly Office and the Fruit and Consequent of his Humiliation Therefore this Christ spake of when he stood before the Tribunals of Men Mat. 26.64 Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the Right-hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven The despised Man who was before them as a Criminal in their repute summoneth them to answer before his Tribunal at that Day when his Shame shall be turned into Glory and the Scandal of his first Estate shall be fully taken off and those that despised him as Man shall be forced to acknowledge him as God Secondly The Subsequent Proof Whereof he hath given assurance to all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead I hat is a sufficient Testimony to convince the whole World The Resurrection is a Certain Proof and Argument of the Dignity both of Christ's Person and Office It is an Attestation to his Person Rom. 1.4 Declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the Dead To his Office and Doctrine Iohn 5.27 28 29. And hath given him Authority to execute Iudgment also because he is the Son of Man Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done well unto the Resurrection of Life and they have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation How doth this make Faith to all the World for that is the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Answ. God hath not given Faith to all Men but he hath given an Argument to all Men that is a ground of Faith from whence Faith may evidently conclude that Christ is our Judg for he hath raised him from the Dead Where is the force of this Demonstration Others were raised from the Dead as Lazarus and the like and yet they are not Judges of the World I answer Christ died in the repute of Men as a Malefactor but God justified him when he would not leave him under the Power of Death but raised him up and assumed him into Glory thereby visibly declaring unto the World that the Judgment passed upon him was not right but that he was indeed what he gave out himself to be the Son of God and the Judg of the World to whom Power is given over all Flesh to save or destroy them If he live with the Father in Glory and Majesty it will necessarily follow that he was not a Seducer but that Holy and Righteous One by whom God will execute his Judgment Secondly What Influence this hath upon Repentance 1. The very Day appointed inferreth a necessity of Change both of Heart and Life For how else shall we stand in the Judgment who have broken God's Laws and are obnoxious to his Wrath and Displeasure If we should never be called to an account for what we have been and done here in the World we might then freely indulge our selves in all fleshly Delights and do what we please But this is a Principle of Fear and Restraint that for all these things God will bring thee into the Judgment Eccles. 11.9 Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth and let thy Heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Iudgment None of us can hide or withdraw our selves from that great Tribunal before which we are to give an
himself with a spurious Covenant of Works of his own making which is the main Lett and Hinderance to keep him from Christ and Salvation There is a two-fold Covenant of Works one genuine and true and of God's own Institution another Apocryphal and feigned a Bastard-Covenant of Works and of Mans Invention namely that which a Creature unable to perform the Duty of the Law or to get from under the Curse thereof frameth out of his own Brain as by doing something in order to our acceptation with God thô not doing all that is required and to make recompence for the defects in the weighty things by abounding in Externals There is a Covenant Man makes of himself by a short Exposition of the Law that he may have a large Opinion of his own Righteousness It is not for the Interest of their Quiet and Peace that the Ell should be longer than the Cloath therefore because they know they are not able to stand by the true genuine Covenant of God's making they make a Covenant of their own that so a blameless Conformity to the outward Letter of the Law may make a recompence for their other Defects abounding in humane Inventions and Observances of vain Riâes as if this would make them acceptable with God This is the great thing which keeps him off from submitting to the Gospel-way of Faith and Repentance and humbling himself before the Lord. 2 Reason It must needs be a powerful Instrument to prepare Men for Christ because this Covenant shuts up a Sinner without any hope of Relief unless Christ and Grace open the Door to him There are three places of Scripture which speak fully to this purpose Rom. 3.19 That every mouth may be stopped and all the World may become guilty before God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã lyable to his Process and Wrath nothing to say for themselves no Plea to make by the first Covenant Rom. 11.32 speaking of the Iews he saith For God hath concluded them all in Vnbelief By this Covenant they are as it were shut up in Prison but no way to escape unless Grace and Mercy open the Door So Gal. 3.22 The Scripture that is the Law-Covenant hath concluded all under Sin that the promise by Faith of Iesus Christ might be given to them that believe This Covenant accusing convincing and condemning all Mankind for Sin it doth as it were shut them up under the fearful Curse as a Malefactor is shut up in Prison So that a Man is forced to lay aside all confidence of any Righteousness in himself and fly for Refuge to the Promises and to the Righteousness of Christ. Let us see how this Covenant shuts Men up and inevitably concludes them Lost and Undone If this could be powerfully and throughly done the Work of Conversion would not be at such a stand Thô all men be in such a Cursed Condition yet it is a matter of no small difficulty to convince Men of it or to affect their Hearts sensibly with it Therefore if there were any way to shut them up without all Hope where there is not the least Wicket or Door open for escape from deserved Wrath then the Work would powerfully go on and they would be necessitated to fly to Christ. Let us see then how this Law shuts Men up because the Duty of it is Impossible and the Penalty Intollerable 1. The Duty is Impossible So full and exact is that Righteousness that is required by the Law-Covenant in order to Life that it is impossible for the fallen Creature ever to perform it Rom. 8.3 What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh. The Law promiseth no good to Sinners but only to the Innocent it reveals no way of taking away Sin past but only of punishing Sin no way for Man once a Sinner ever to recover himself therefore it is become weak that is impossible through our Flesh the weakness of the Flesh will not permit it to be fulfilled in that exactness which is required of us if it could be exactly fulfilled for the future yet there would be no hopes of Life because of Sins past Therefore to hope our good Meanings good Intentions and Endeavours should help us is to no purpose A Man must from the first moment of Life to the last minute thereof be perfectly exact with God Now Man that could not keep himself in Innocency it cannot be thought that he can recover himself when Lost. 2. The Penalty is Intollerable Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them The Law is a mouth that speaketh terrible things it curseth a Man in his Person Comforts Basket Store in all things that he hath all the Miseries of this Life are included in this Curse Lam. 3.39 Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sins Death it self is part of it it is the wages of Sin Rom. 6.23 and the pains of Hell Mark 25.41 Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire When the Law shall take a Sinner by the Throat and say Pay me what thou owest Alas what can a poor Creature do to avoid the Curse or overcome it Every one of us in Thought Word and Deed have broken the Law of God now wherewith shall we appease his Wrath We have nothing to give God or that he will accept at our hands we cannot hide or withdraw our selves from the presence of the Lord for we must all appear before the Iudgment Seat of Christ We cannot abide this Curse for who can dwell with devouring Burnings O what shall we do then to escape this horrible Curse There is no way but by flying from the Sentence of the Law to the Throne of Grace for Mercy and Pardon There is no other Hope left us for they that do not betake themselves to the Covenant of Grace must stand or fall by the Sentence of the Law So that this is the most powerful Engine to awaken Mens Consciences and prepare them for Christ. Therefore for good Reason Christ sends this Confident Young man to the Law Thou knowest the Commandments 3 Reason There is none passeth into the New Covenant till he be driven by the Old and therefore certainly this is the Way to prepare a Man for Christ to have some sense and feeling of it in our own Heart and we see we are cursed and Undone Creatures and so lye at God's feet with Brokenness of Heart Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father There is a Spirit that goes along with every Covenant the Spirit of Bondage begets fear in all that are under the first Covenant and the Spirit of Adoption begets Hope in all that are under the second Covenant Gal. 2.19 I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God Before we can
that Riches are evil in themselves but that it is hard for such Creatures as we to possess them without sinful and inordinate Affections 4. Consider who it is that speaks it Alas if it had been the saying of any private Divine or particular Minister we might tax it as rash and rigorous but the mouth of Truth it self hath spoken it even Jesus Christ whom we own as our Lord and Master He knew the way of Salvation and knew the state and danger of Souls and he hath interposed his Authority and represents the difficulty It is Jesus Christ that had so much Wisdom to judge aright of matters Jesus Christ that had so much regard to the Comfort and Happiness of Men that he would not fright them with a needless danger and therefore certainly you should take such an Admonition to Heart from the mouth of him whom you call your Lord and Master and from whom at last you expect your doom and judgment he hath said it If any wise Man hath said it from the Experience of almost all Ages and Persons you ought to have regarded it but when our Lord hath said it he who is the Amen the Faithful and true Witness why should we not believe him I pray what do you think of Christ was not he able to judge of the Case It was the saying of Plato ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is impossible to be excellently good and eminently rich Therefore Celsus a Heathen who sought all occasions to disgrace the Gospel saith that Christ borrowed this saying of Plato but he is confuted by Origen in his Book against him This proud Heathen was sensible there was Wisdom in the speech therefore he would deprive Christ of the Honour of it But now since we believe the Doctrine of Christ and own it as the Speech of Christ who is our Lord and Master therefore it should more sink into our Hearts Thus for the Explanation of the Point from the Circumstances of the Text. II. Let us see whence this difficulty doth arise I answer Because of the sins to which a wealthy Estate doth expose us 1. Riches are apt to breed Atheism and Contempt of God They that are wholly drowned in Pleasures of Sense do not look into the Invisible World and see God which is the Father of Spirits Prov. 30.9 Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord There is a Practical Atheism when Men forget or despise God and a Speculative Atheism when they deny God Now the Rich are apt to do both A Man that tumbles in Wealth Ease and Plenty is apt to forget and despise God But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art waxen fat thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his Salvation Deut. 32.15 Nay in some sort they deny God they live as if there were no God at all none to call them to Account Men that have seen no Changes and were never humbled under God's mighty hand never think of an Invisible Power I remember the Psalmist saith Psal. 55.19 Because they have no Changes therefore they fear not God they have not an Awe or Reverence or due sense of a Divine Power upon their Hearts because they never have been acquainted with Changes the Condition they have lived in hath been a constant tenour of Worldly Happiness So Zeph. 1.12 They are settled upon their Lees that is are not tossed from Vessel to Vessel as Wine that is racked They live in an even course of Worldly Prosperity and in abundance of Worldly Comforts without a Change and this choaks and gluts the Heart that they have no sense of the Lord's Goodness Changes do more awaken us and make us look to God as the Fountain of good and evil Isne vices magis in nobis excitant sensum divinae bonitatis quà m continuus tenor faelicitatis qui nos inebriat In short The Pleasures and Thoughts of the World do so take up their Hearts that there is no place for any serious thought and solemn remembrance of God such as should beget an awe in us It is said Isa. 5.12 The Harp and the Viol and Tabret and Pipe and Wine are in their Feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands Thoughts of God are suppressed as soon as they do arise and they take no notice of the work of God's hands nor what he doth in their days to revive the sense of his Eternal Power and Godhead nor do they take their Comforts out of God's hands but look altogether to natural and to second Causes as being sufficient to themselves to live of themselves Indeed they may seem in Opinion to own a God as others do they take up the current Opinions and perform customary Worship but they do not glorifie him as God or repair to him with that life and fervency as those that stand in need of him nor consecrate their best Time and Strength and Affections to his Service It is usually the broken-hearted godly poor and those that have had frequent Experiences of the Changes of Providence that exercise themselves to Godliness and seek after God in good earnest The great Landlord of the World hath more Rent from many poor Cottages than from divers great Pallaces for they wallow in Plenty and never think of God 2. Riches keep Men from being broken-hearted and seeing their need of Christ. It is the poor needy Soul sensible of its own sin and misery that is likely to thrive in Religon and prosper in any heavenly design and pursuit Now those that are rich have so many entertainments of sense to inveagle their minds and divert their thoughts and are so besotted and inchanted with present delights and Pleasures that they have no feeling of their Condition or sense of the necessity of God's Grace therefore it is our Lord begins his description of Blessedness Mat. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven How few of them that are rich in Estate are poor in spirit the sense of their present Ease and Welfare makes them forget all thoughts of their spiritual Condition and reconciling themselves to God by Christ. The Prodigal never thought of going to his Father 'till he began to be in want Luk. 15.17 18. While Men have any thing in the World they are senseless and secure in the midst of all their sin and âisery and if they can live without God and apart from God they will not come at him Ier. 2.31 Wherefore say my people We are Lordâ we will come no more unto thee As if this merry World would always last and there were no Judgment to come and God would never bring them into his Presence but they live a Life of Estrangement from God they can live upon themselves and their own supplies and things that fall to them by the Bounty of God's Providence 3.
Treasure in Heaven the Purchase whereof is certain the Possession firm and the Price incomprehensible The Lord will keep you aloof from Temptations he knows that if you were rich you would grow sensual insolent and negligent of spiritual things God knoweth what Condition is best for you you should have a greater account to make he expecteth from others Charity from you Patience Besides says Iob Chap. 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Some think it is the greatest Misery to have been sometimes happy but that is through Corruption when former Enjoyments make Men more nice delicate and tender and so less able to bear the present Cross. But if we consider rightly the less we have been afflicted the less are our Afflions on that behalf is it nothing that God hath given us to pass over some of our dayes with Peace and Comfort should we be so unthankful as to account that no benefit because it is past Iob 2.10 What! shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil is not what you have received a Pledge of what he can do for the future 3 VSE To the Rich to shew them what need they have of special Grace to manage that Condition aright It would seem an hard Censure upon this sort and order of Men yet it is a Truth and spoken by him who is Truth it self It concerneth you to look after special Grace more than others your danger is great and your difficulties in order to Eternal Life not a few You need peculiar Grace 1. To prevent the Evils and to heal those Diseases that are incident to Riches As Contempt of God We are apt to neglect and despise him when our Necessities do not drive us to him such is the Pravity of our Natures Hosea 5.15 In their Affliction they will seek me early Make God your refuge and he will be your habitation Psal. 91.9 Because thou hast made the Lord thy refuge even the most high thy habitation Neglect of Christ and Salvation by him they that have an Happiness in their hands already see no want in their Condition The whole need not a Physitian take heed of being heart-whole then you will have no relish for the Gospel It disposeth to Apostacy you have something of Value which you must esteem as nothing for Christ. It maketh us neglect Heaven Psal. 4.6 7. There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased An Estate without God is not good Lord let me not have my All here for these things must be left It maketh you proud and scornful Remember there are the true Riches without which a Person is but Vile He is most honourable before God that hath most Grace The Value of Men is otherwise in the World to come than in the present World Your Humility is your Crown It makes you to be more Sensual Wealth is the Pander of Pleasure the Purveyor for the Flesh but it should not be thus There is more cause of Fear than Rejoycing Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption It makes us Worldly as Chains to detain us under the Power of Satan and enslave us to the World It doth but betray you into mischief Do you desire your way to Heaven should be made more hard that is hard enough already 2. That you might devote your Riches to the Lord and be holy and heavenly in the midst of so great Temptations that you may not by momentary and temporal things forfeit eternal but rather further them Luk. 12.21 So is he that layeth up treasures for himself and is not rich towards God 1 Tim. 6.18 19. That they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life Wealth rightly imployed makes us capable of a greater Reward hereafter as it makes us more useful here SERMON XI ON MARK X. v. 24. And the Disciples were astonished at his words But Iesus answered again and said unto them Children how hard is it for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God IN these Words you have two things 1. The Entertainment which the Disciples gave to his former speech They were astonished at his words 2. Christ's further Explication of himself But Iesus answered again and said unto them Children how hard is it for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God Wherein Observe 1. The Manner of our Saviour's speaking in that kind Compellation Children 2. The Matter of the Explication How hard is it for them that trust in Riches to enter into the Kingdom of God 1. For the Entertainment which the Disciples gave to his former speech They were astonished at his words This Astonishment was caused either by the legal Dispensation under which Obedience was rewarded with visible and temporal Blessings and therefore they marvelled that rich men should find such difficulty of entering into Heaven Or else it was occasioned by the Jewish Expectation of a pompous Messiah wherewith the Disciples themselves were levened expecting to share of the Honours and Riches of that Kingdom which Christ would set up Now Christ's Answer was quite blank contrary to these Carnal Hopes therefore they marvelled Or it may be upon the common reason that the Gates of Heaven should be shut to them to whom the gates of the World do always ly open Thus hardly are good Men brought to disesteem worldly things and rightly to ponder and weigh the Doctrine of the Cross which Christ had so frequently taught them 2. For Christ's Explication And there 1. The Compellation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Children so he bespeaks them who were sincere for the main thô a little leavened with Carnal Conceits and to sweeten the Doctrine which seemed so contrary to their humour 1 Thes. 2.11 As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a Father doth his Children Novices and weak ones are to be used with all Indulgence for they had not received the Spirit in that plentiful measure as afterward 2. The Matter of his Explication How hard is it for them that trust in Riches c He had said before How hardly do they that have Riches now he explains himself they that trust in Riches He instanceth in this 1. As one common Disease of Rich Men as soon as they have any thing in the World they are apt to trust in it Some abuse Riches one way some another some to encrease their Worldly Cares and desire of having others to feed their Pride and Sensuality this way or that way according to their different Temper and Constitution of Body and
Miracles and Acts of Mediation as if we had seen him in the Flesh is still the work and exercise of our Faith So the Apostle telleth the Galatians Chapter 3.1 Before whose Eyes Christ Iesus hath been evidently set forth Crucified among you That is before you he hath been convincingly declared as if he were set before your Eyes Nailed to the Cross. VVe should receive Christ as it were Crucified in the midst of us And the more lively and impressive Thoughts we have of this in the VVord and Sacraments the stronger is ones Faith VVe do so believe it and our Hearts are so warmed by it as if it were all done before our Eyes Such Evidence and Conviction should we have as to warm our Hearts 2. Present To see him so as to make him the Object of our Love and Trust. Iohn 6.40 And this is the will of him that sent me that he that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Everlasting Life There is a clear sight of Christ still necessary to believing we must see him and know him Spiritually Though he be removed from us within the Curtain of the Heavens yet we must see him and such Worth and Excellency in him as may draw off our Hearts from other things see him so as to believe that he is at the Right Hand of God negotiating for us that we may trust our Selves and our All in his Hands Stephen said Acts 7.56 Behold I see the Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the Right Hand of God He saw the Lord Jesus as in a posture of readiness to assist and help him that was by Extraordinary Vision for it is said The Heavens opened But Faith doth the like in its degree and proportion Especially must we see him at the Right Hand of God ready to receive us when we die 3. Future We must see him that is be assured of his second Coming and thoroughly perswaded that we shall see him As Iob 19.25 26 27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter days upon the Earth And though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh I shall see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold him At the Resurrection we shall get this Sight and Blessed Vision of God Now Faith must over-look all Impediments to assure our selves of this 2. There are other Objects about which the Vision of Faith is exercised as the Glory and Blessedness of the World to come Faith is the Perspective of the Soul by which it can see things at a distance as present It can look beyond and above the World and draw unspeakable Joy from the Hope of Eternal Life Moses Heb. 11.26 Esteemed the Reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the Recompenâe of Reward ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He looked to it The Glory of the World to come is represented and set before us in the Promise we see it clearly there Heb. 6.18 That by two Immutable Things in which it was impossible for God to Lie we might have strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Iesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Ioy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the Shame and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God To this we should look and see it as if it were before our Eyes that we may not be allured or terrified by the things that are before our Eyes But of this I have already spoken in the Nature of Faith See Sermons 3 d Volume on Heb. 11.1 only let me advice you now to keep the Eye of Faith clear that Christ and Heaven may be always in view The Devil seeks to shut it 2 Cor. 4.4 In whom the God of this World hath blinded the Eyes of them which believe not least the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them He doth it by the World deluding and bribing the Flesh and Inchanting the Mind with worldly Felicity so that God and Heaven are forgotten and that necessary Care which we should use in preparation for it is neglected and omitted But it is opened by the Spirit Eph. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him The Eyes of your Vnderstanding being Enlightned that ye may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints And therefore we should always pray for this Spiritual Eye-salve that we may have a due sense of the World to come fresh and strong upon our Hearts Secondly The next Effect is deep Affection or Rejoicing in Christ and all the Work of Redemption done in his Day Certainly a sight of Christ by Faith doth bring true Joy and Peace into the Soul Here I shall shew 1. That no other Affection will become Christ and the Salvation offered by him and received by Faith but great Joy This is evident by the whole drift and current of the Scriptures The Angels told the Shepherds at Christ's Birth Luke 2.10 And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you Good Tydings of great Ioy which shall be to all People Surely Tydings of Christ the Redeemer of the World are Tydings of great Joy because then there was a way found out for our Reconciliation with God and the taking up that dreadful Controversie between us and him that Heaven and Earth may kiss each other and meet again in a Covenant of Love and Peace and Grace purchased by Christ whereby we might overcome the Devil the World and the Flesh. The great Enemies of our Salvation are defeated and a proportionable Happiness found out for Man without which he would have been as Leviathan in a little Pool So when this Grace was offered to any as to Zacheus by Christ's coming into his house and bringing Salvation with him Luke 19.6 He made haste and came down and received him joyfully Or published in the Word Acts 13.48 When the Gentiles heard these things they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed Now we are concerned as well as they The Gospel should never be as State-News to Sinners or as a Jest often told Our Necessities are the same with theirs and the Benefits are offered to us as well as them The Virgin Mary was thus affected Luke 1.47 My Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour That Christ was to be born of her and was formed in her The Eunuch when Philip had preached to him Iesus and he was Baptized into this Faith Acts 8.39 He went on his way rejoycing as Men do that have met with a good Bargain and
and plenty of Revelations So we read of Peter's Rapture while he was praying Acts 10.10 He fell into a trance ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a trance fell upon him noting that those Raptures are things of Dispensation rather than Choice and Duty they fall upon us we do not work our selves into them So we read of Paul's Rapture 2 Cor. 12.2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth such an one caught up to the third heaven Whether these things were framed by way of Representation to the Soul or whether the Soul were for a time separated from the Body and was transported into Heaven Paul himself was at a loss and could not determine and resolve the Case 2. These Dispensations may still be though not in the same height and manner which the Apostles enjoyed God may do it still for he is left to the Liberty and Soveraignty of his own Dispensations and though Sight and the Beatifical Vision and Contemplation be the Happyness of the next World yet in some measure God may begin it here that his Children may enter into their Inheritance by Degrees and may be before-hand led into the Suburbs of Heaven As a Father gives the Child not only a part of the Estate but sometimes the Liberty of the whole House so God may give us here in this World not only those more Temperate Enjoyments of Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost and the first Fruits of the Spirit but he may lead us into the Suburbs of Heaven and put us above the Clouds into the Glory of the World to come Though there may be such a Dispensation yet not in the same manner that the Apostles enjoyed it for that was peculiar to them and therefore when the Apostle Paul had reported his Rapture he pleaded that he had the Sign of an Apostle 2 Cor. 12.12 Truely the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds With these Raptures there was a Concomitant Revelation of the Will of God And they were for other ends these Raptures were not so much Excesses of Religion but Revelations for the great ends of the Gospel Iohn's Rapture was to receive the Visions of God for the Comfort of the Churches Peter's to go to the Gentiles Paul's that he might have Commission for the Apostleship and the Mark and Sign of an Apostle Therefore though God may use some such dispensation for we know not what he may do out of Soveraignty yet not in the same way and for the same end Those Raptures and Transportations which the Children of God now feel sometimes proceed from strong Pangs and Extasies of Love which for a while do suspend and forbid the distinct use of Reason and cast the Soul into a quiet silent gaze Observe that Love where it is moderate venteth it self in thoughts and words and it is a great help to make the inward sense more acute and sharp but where it is vehement and strong it is contented with it self and satisfied with its own Heat Ardor and Intenseness therefore there is not such a distinct actual Discourse As when a Man huggeth and embraceth a Friend the closer he huggeth him the less distinctly doth he behold and take a view of him so in the embraces of Love when the Soul falleth into the Arms of Christ and claspeth about Christ with the Arms of its own Love it hindreth the distinct Exercise of Reason and those Offices of Discourse by which the Soul would otherwise reflect upon him A Man that desireth a Precious Jewel at first he vieweth it with greediness and delight but afterwards he layeth it up in his Bosom and wholly pleaseth himself in the possession of it so the Soul that thirsts after Christ pleaseth it self in the consideration of his Beauty and Perfection and dwells upon it with Religious thoughts but afterwards Love growing very strong and being heightned unto the utmost degree shutteth the Eyes of our Souls and we only please our selves in a more intimate feeling and in the sweetness of our embraces Great and high Affections must needs hinder the use of Reason because all our strength and vigour runneth out into one faculty and then such a poor limited Creature as Man is cannot attend other Offices and Employments of the Soul It is very notable in the whole Life of Christ that he had no Extasie Propter maximam capacitatem supernaturalem animae because of the extraordinary perfection of his Person and the large Capacity of his Soul he had a Transfiguration yet all the while in the midst of that he had a temperate use of Reason Matth. 17. The Disciples were indeed suprised by those glimpses and emissions of his Glory they were overwhelmed so that they fell on their faces and were sore afraid verse 6. Poor Man being of a lesser Capacity cannot suffer such a feeling and high tyde of Affection without some Transportation and Ravishment beyond the support of Reason for the strength and vigour of his Soul is melted out to Christ in Love Now the Soul being of a limited Power and Capacity the more strongly it attendeth one Office and Function the less can it serve others Look as a Flame when it ascendeth endeth in a point and groweth narrower and thinner so such high Flames and such glorious Ascents of Affection usually mind but one thing and do not permit the Soul any variety of discourse but fix it in one thought and in one study and deliberate gaze 4. Usually such experiences of Gods Children are given in to them in the most Social Duties As in the time of Prayer Peter's trances fell upon him in Prayer Ordinary Extasies carry some proportion with that which is Extraordinary and usually the Soul flames out to God and breaks forth in Religious Ascents in the time of Prayer And so such strong Affection over-sets the Soul in the time of the Lords Supper Cant. 5.1 Eat O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved Be drunk with Loves that whole Song concerneth our Communion with Christ in Heaven and in the Ordinances above all in the Ordinance of the Supper which is the pledge of Heaven So also in the height of Meditation when the Soul hath been spent and much exercised it self in that work after the labour of Meditation God giveth in this silence and rest in the steady Contemplation of his Love and Glory and the mind being inflamed and heightened with Spiritual Thoughts and Exercises suffereth a kind of Transportation It is very notable that those Ravishments that were between Christ and the Spouse were in the Palm-tree Cant. 7.8 I said I will go up to the palm-tree I will take hold of the boughs thereof now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine and the smell of thy nose like apples There Christ would satisfie himself with the Churches
SERMON V. GENESIS xxiv 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even-tide 4. Case WHEN must we Meditate 1. In the General something should be done every day seldom Converse begetteth a strangeness to God and an unfitness for the Duty It is a Description of Gods Servant Psalm 1.2 His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night At least we should take all convenient occasions It is an usual way of Natural Men to make Conscience of Duties after a long neglect they performe Duties to pacifie a Natural Conscience and use them as a Man would use a sleepy Potiori or Strong Waters they are good at a pinch not for constant Drink Alass we lose by such wide gaps and distances between performance and performance it is as if we had never done it before 2. For the particular time of the day when you should meditate that is Arbitrary I told you before you may do it either in the silence of the Night when God hath drawn a Curtain of Darkness between you and the things of the World or in the freshness of the Morning or in the Evening when the Wildness and Vanity of the Mind is spent in Worldly Business 3. There are some special solemne times when the Duty is most in season As 1. After a working Sermon after the Word hath fallen upon you with a full stroak it is good to follow the blow and when God hath cast Seed into the Heart let not the Fowls peck it away Matth. 13.19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart Ruminate on the Word chew the Cud many a Sermon is lost because it is not whet upon the Thoughts Iames 1.23 24. He is like a man that beholdeth his Natural face in a glass For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was Matth. 22.22 When they heard these things they marvelled and left him and went their way You should rowl the word in your thoughts and deeply consider of it 2. Before some solemn Duties as before the Lords Supper and before special times of deep Humiliation or before the Sabbath Meditation is as it were the breathing of the Soul that it may the better hold out in Religious Exercises it is a good preparative to raise the Spirits into a frame of Piety and Religion When the Harp is fitted and tuned it doth the better make Musick so when the Heart is fixed and setled by a preparative Meditation it is the fitter to make Melody to God in Worship 3. When God doth specially revive and enable the Spirit It is good to take advantage of the Spirits gales so fresh a Wind should make us hoise up our Sails Do not lose the Spirits Seasons the Spirits Impulses are good significations from God that now is an acceptable time 5. Case What time is to be spent in the Duty I Answer That is left to Spiritual Discretion Suck the Teat as long as Milk cometh Duties must not be spun out to an unnecessary length You must neither yield to laziness nor occasion Spiritual wearyness the Devil hath advantage upon you both wayes when you rack and torture your Spirits after they have been spent it makes the Work of God a Bondage And therefore come not off tiâl you find profit and do not press too hard upon the Soul nor oppress it with an indiscreet Zeal It is Satans Policy to make you out of Love with Meditation by spinning it out to a tediousness and an unnecessary length 6. Case Whether should the time be set and constant I Answer It is good to bind the Heart to somewhat and yet leave it to such a liberty as becomes the Gospel Bind it to somewhat every day that the Heart may not be loose and arbitrary we see that necessity quickneth and urgeth and when the Soul is engaged it goes to work the more throughly Therefore the Lord asks Ier. 20.21 Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me It is good to lay a tye upon the Heart and yet I advise not to a set stinted Hour lest we create a snare to our selves Though a Man should resist Distractions and Distempers yet some business is unavoidable and some Distempers are invincible I have observed this that even Religious Persons are more sensible of their own Vowes then of Gods Commands when Men have bound up themselves in Chains of their own making their Consciences fall upon them and dogg them with restless Accusations when they cannot accomplish so much Duty as they have set and prescribed to themselves And besides when Hours are customary and set the Heart groweth formal and superstitious 7. Case Are all bound to meditate Are the Ignorant Are Men of an unquiet Nature Are Servants Are Ministers 1. Are the Ignorant and Men of barren Minds that have not a good stock of Knowledge I answer Yes they are bound to this as well as other Duties though they cannot do it well it is their Duty to strive that the Word of God may dwell richly in them It is a mark of a Godly Man every Man is bound to be skilful in the Scriptures Ier. 31.34 They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord. God hath no Child so little but he knows his Father therefore all are bound in some measure to be able to discourse of God and of the things of God 2. But some are of an unquiet Nature fit for Publick Duties but not for Private Exercises are they bound as well as those of softer Spirits and fitter for Meditation I answer This is not Temper but Distemper the unquiet Spirit must not totaliter cessare wholly discontinue this work They are to mind wherein they may serve God most but not totally desist from a work so necessary and of such great importance 3. Are Servants bound to it whose time is not their own I Answer They should do what they can God is more merciful to them but those that are in bondage to others may find some leisure for God 4. Are Ministers obliged Their whole work is a Study their Imployment is a continual Meditation I Answer There is a difference between Meditation and Study In Study we mind the good of others in Meditation the good of our own Souls Things work with us according to our end and the aims that we propose to our selves Things work with us according to our end and the aims that we propose to our selves Publick Teaching is no such Tryal of our Hearts there is a Natural Pride in us to urge us to teach others and that makes so many intrude into the Ministry there is some kind of Authority in it that we exercise over others but we are to mind the good of our own Souls and to regard
his Sufferings 1. In the value of the Sacrifice Nothing could expiate Sin but the Blood and Shame and Agonies of the Son of God A Man would have thought that a Word of Christs Mouth would have pacified God but so great was the offence that though he cryed with strong cries God would not hear him till he had endured his Wrath. Christ prayed Matth. 26.39 O my Father If it be possible let this cup pass from me But God would not bate him a farthing If you would know Sin go to Golgotha 2. The Extremity of his Sufferings His outward Sufferings were much If you consider the Majesty of his Person he was the Great God that filled Heaven and Earth with his Glory and yet was sold for thirty pence the price of a Slave His back was mangled with Whips his Body nailed to the Cross he was scorned in all his Offices a variety of Sorrow was poured in by the Conduit of every sense seeing smelling tasting hearing and feeling If you consider the Excellency of his Constitution his Body being framed by the Holy Ghost was of a more exact temper his Senses more lively they that enjoy Life in a higher measure than others the more delicate the Sense the higher the Pain the back of a Slave is not so sensible of stroaks as of one that is nicely and tenderly bred His Senses were kept lively and in their full vigour he refused the stupifying Cup that was given to him He kept his strength to the last this appeared by his strong cry when he gave up the Ghost Luke 23.46 And when Iesus had cryed with a loud voice he said Father Into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost But what is this to what is inward The Agonies of his Soul under the Curse and Wrath of God due for Sin his Desertion of the Father it is more to see the Sun eclipsed than to see a Candle put out he complained that his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death Matth. 26.38 His Soul dwelt with God in a Personal Union Christ knew how to value his Fathers Wrath he had an excellent Judgment and tender Affections When he sweat drops of curdled Blood he needed support from an Angel Now put all these Circumstances together and see if Sin be a light thing Object But many think this lesseneth Sorrow Christ hath endured so much what need they be troubled Answ. 1. These know not what Faith and Love meaneth Can a Man love Christ and not mourn for that which was the cause of his Sufferings Thou art the Man that laid all this upon Christ. 2. Slight thoughts of Sin are a disparagement of Christ's Sufferings you make nothing of that which cost him so dear 3. Christ's Death doth not nullifie our Duty in this kind but ratifie it He died not only to expiate the guilt of Sin but also to shew the heinousness of it God might have taken another course This for Humiliation 2. As to Reformation The Death of Christ furthereth this 1. By way of Obligation Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me The great Argument that quickneth us to the Spiritual Life is that it is a thing pleasing and acceptable to him If we knew any thing pleasing and acceptable to a Man that had redeemed us out of a miserable thraldom we would do it They are unthankful Wretches that dare to deny Christ any thing 2. By way of Purchase Our Liberty from Sin was bought at a dear rate not with Silver and Gold You disparage your Redeemer and seek to put him to shame if you live in Sin for you go about to make void the purchase and to overturn the whole business which Christ hath been establishing with so great a cost He paid dear for that Grace which you slight you tye the Bonds which he came to loosen 3. By way of Conformity to the purity of our Sacrifice He was without spot and blemish A Carnal Christian dishonoureth his Head and puts him to an open shame as if the Church were but a Sanctuary for naughty Men and Christianity a design to make us less Careful and Holy What a spotted Christ do we hold forth to the World We are to look upon Christ crucified so as to be crucified with him 2. The Day of Judgment The serious Consideration of that day is an help to Repentance Acts 17.30 31. He hath commanded all men every where to repent Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness As Hell worketh on Fear so this on Shame It helpeth Humiliation and Reformation 1. Humiliation It is a means to prevent the Shame of that Day if we do not call Sin to mind God will call it to mind Psalm 50.21 I will set thy sins in order before thee The Book of Conscience shall be opened and not only ours but Gods Book too Now it will cost us grief to look upon our Sins then grief with desperation terms of Grace are ended and we can have no hope A Sinner now blots the Book that is in his own keeping but then he cannot We will not own the Convictions of the Word when it sheweth our Face but then Iude 15. He will convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds that they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Confession now is neglected but then all shall be brought to light out of our own Reins 1 Cor. 4.5 Iudge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darknâss and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God Let us take shame before it be imposed on us Sins repented of will not be mentioned to our confusion but only to the glorifying of the Riches of the Lords Grace They that repent their Sins shall be then blotted out Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the days of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. 2. Reformation It includeth Faith and Obedience 1. Faith Let us get our discharge before that day cometh then we shall have boldness 1 Iohn 2.28 And now little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming The Members of Christ's Mystical Body need not to be affraid of Christ's Judgment their Advocate shall be their Judge their Hearts are sprinkled with his Blood as the Door-posts against the destroying Angel They that are not careful to be found in Christ surely they do not believe that God will make inquisition for Sinners Is the day of Judgment a Fable Scripture
and is referred to the common good to preserve Order and for an Example to others Certainly Punishment doth not belong to the wronged party as such then every one would have a right to punish and so invade the Power of the Magistrate A private Person hath a right of seeking Restitution or Compensation for the wrong done to him unless higher reasons of Charity forbid him but not a Power to compel them to punishment unless satisfaction be given But the case is different here God punisheth non qua laesus sed qua Rector not as the Offended Party but as a Governour Now the Government of the World requires Gods Holyness should be demonstrated and his Laws vindicated and a brand put upon Sin 2. From the Gift which is the sanctifying Spirit which being the gift of his Love must needs be the fruit of his Peace and Reconciliation with us Rom. 5.5 Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Other things may be given us during his Anger for God sheweth himself placable in the whole course of his Providence Yea they may be given in Anger But the Regenerating Spirit is never given us during his Anger or in Anger Sanctifying Grace doth evidence his special Favour Look as the payment of the Ransom was testified by the visible pouring out the Spirit Acts 2. so is our particular Reconciliation by the gift of the Spirit to us 1. VSE is of Instruction 1. How we are to look upon God in our Prayers as the God of Peace reconciled to us by Jesus Christ. When we pray to him we look upon him as a God of Grace 1 Pet. 5.10 But the God of all Grace who hath called us c. This sheweth his propension and inclination to communicate his Grace freely to Unworthy Sinners we also pray to him as the God of Power Rom. 16.15 Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my Gospel But here we are directed to look upon him as the God of Peace as pacified in Christ which is a greater ground of confidence If a Socinian were to pray to him he could only use the plea of Benhadad to Ahab we have heard the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings So we have heard the God of Israel is a merciful God If the Papist would pray with confidence he thinketh he must appease God by himself by his poenal satisfactions and costly Offerings As Iacob would appease Esau by sending gifts to him Gen. 32.20 But the Penitent Believer is reconciled to God by Christ Rom. 5.1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith c. He cometh to God in his Name and no other Iohn 16.23 24. In that day ye shall ask me nothing verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Hitherto you have asked nothing in my Name ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full He runneth to the Horns of the Altar accepteth of the Peace published in the Gospel devoteth himself to God and rests upon Christ's Mediatorial Sacrifice as sufficient Here is his hope and confidence 2. How careful we should be that no breach fall out between us and God least we stop grace at the Fountain head Continued Sanctification cometh from the God of Peace as well as the first Renovation of the Heart The giving the Spirit is a sign of Gods Love and the with-holding of the Spirit is a sign of his Anger and Displeasure the one is the greatest Mercy the other the greatest Misery In his Internal Government the one is the highest Reward the other the greatest punishment As a Reward it is spoken of Prov. 1.23 Turn you at my reproof Behold I will pour my spirit upon you I will make known my words unto you As a punishment Psalm 51.10 11 12. Create in me a clean heart O God! and renew a right spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit The one is to be sought Luke 11.13 How much more will your heavenly Father give the holy spirit to them that ask him the other to be deprecated Take not thy holy spirit from me Psalm 51.11 Therefore take heed the Spirit be not grieved but obeyed 3. What ground of thankfulness to Christ. 1. That he hath made our peace with God at so dear a rate All your Repentings if you had wept out your Eyes for Sin would not have made your peace with God nor have satisfied his Justice nor procured Pardon and Life for you Now God is appeased Christ having slain the enmity by his cross Eph. 2.16 2. That the New Covenant is procured wherein Pardon and Salvation is offered to you as sealed by the Blood of Christ who hath payed our Debts Luke 22.20 This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you There had been else no place for your Repentance Faith Prayer or Hopes 3. That such free and easie conditions of Mercy with Power to performe them are propounded in the Gospel Lord Thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works in us Isa. 26.12 4. That he should call us and have such favourable thoughts to us who for a long time were dead in Sin and in Hostility against him Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life A SERMON Preached on a DAY of Publick Thanksgiving II. CHRONICLES xxxii 25 But Hezekiah rendred not according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up therefore wrath was upon him and upon Iudah and Ierusalem THAT I may not detain you in a Preface let me tell you the Words hold forth 1. A Sin But Hezekiah rendred not according to the benefit done unto him 2. The Proof and Argument of it for his heart was lifted up 3. The sad Effects and Punishment of it both as to his own Person and the People under his Government Let me Explain these Branches and then come to observe something in order to the work of the day I know Christians you look not for things luscious but savoury 1. In the Sin there was a benefit done unto him and Hezekiah's fault is that he rendred not accordingly The Benefit done him implyeth a Complication of Mercies not only his Miraculous Recovery out of Sickness and Fifteen years added more to his Life but also the destruction of his Enemies the Assyrians Mercies which fell out near about the same time though I dare not say with the Iewish Writers that three dayes before the slaughter of the Assyrians this Sickness and Recovery fell out yet certainly they were near together as appeareth
godliness The whole Gospel is called Titus 1.1 The truth which is after godliness and 1 Tim. 6.3 A Doctrine which is according to godliness Because it delivereth the exact and most perfect way of serving God The Lord Jesus was desirous that this Doctrine should take place in the World therefore he himself was pleased to assume our Nature to preach it to us So for his Precepts they all prescribe an universal adherance to God and dependance on him that we may not be carryed away by the false Offers and Delights of Sin but may live in perfect Obedience to God and Justice and Charity to Men. Besides the word discovereth all the cheats and fallacies we put upon our selves to keep us from all impure mixtures of worldly and carnal aims it discovers the crafty pretences and the most insinuating and cunning contrivances to disguise and hide Sin Heb. 4.12 For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart In short the whole aim of it is That we may please God and be beloved by him Iohn 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him The Promises call for the greatest purity and cleanness of Heart and Life 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit perfecting holyness in the fear of God So the Threatnings Why doth Christ tell us of Torments without end and ease of a Pit without a bottom of a Fire that shall never be quenched but to make Sin more odious and hateful to us Surely not to terrifie us but to sanctifie us for his Government is rather by Love than by Fear Now whosoever wistly considereth the Christian Religion he will soon discerne that it was framed and set afoot by one that loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity 2. His Priestly Office consists in his Oblation and Intercession As the High Priest under the Law did both offer Sacrifice and intercede for the People Now what was the intent of Christs Sacrifice but to put away Sin Heb. 9.26 Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself That is not only to destroy the Guilt but the Power of it There are Three things in the Death and Sufferings of Christ to make us hate Iniquity and so by consequence to love Righteousness First By way of Representation Secondly By way of Impetration Thirdly By way of Obligation 1. By way of Representation His bitter Sufferings are an instance of Gods great Wrath against Sin and Sinners For if Christ must thus be handled rather than Sin shall go unpunished it warneth us to be very cautious how we meddle with the forbidden fruit When we remember his bitter Agonies his accursed shameful Death we should cry out Oh odious Sin This is the meaning of that expression Rom. 8.3 And for sin he condemned sin in the flesh That is by a Sin-Offering or the Sacrifices of Christ he hath condemned Sin he hath left a brand or mark of his Displeasure against Sin which should induce us to be very cautious and watchful against it For if these things be done in the green Tree what shall be done in the dry 2. By way of Impetration and Purchase Christ came not only to expiate the guilt of it but to get it out of our Hearts As he pacified the Wrath of God so he purchased the Spirit in which Sense our old man is said to be crucified with him Rom. 6.6 Namely As Grace was obtained whereby it might be crucified Now we are sluggish and cowardly if we tamely yield to our Lusts and pretend want of Power when it is want of Will to cast them off 3. By way of Obligation by this great instance of his Love to induce us to kill our Love to Sin 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed Since he hath borne the weight of our Sins and endured the Wrath due to them in his own Person if we have any esteem of Christs Love certainly we would not spare our most beloved Lusts nor be still alive to Sin and dead to Righteousness nor wittingly and allowedly do the least thing that is offensive to him Ezra 9.14 Should we again break thy commandments and join in affinity with the people of these abominations wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hadst cânsumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping 3. The next is a King He is one whose Heart was so set upon the Love of Righteousness and the Hatred of all Iniquity that he would come as a Prophet himself to teach the sinful lost World how to become Holy again And as a Priest to dye for the guilty World to reconcile them to God surely he was fit also to Rule and Governe the World There are two parts of Government Laws and Actual Administration His Laws are all good and equal the same with his Doctrine As he giveth notice of these things as a Prophet so he giveth charge about them as a King Of his Laws we need not further speak but the Administration is under our Consideration Now in the Righteous ordering the Affairs of his Kingdom he sheweth himself to be one that loveth Righteousness and hateth Iniquity As the Laws are good and equal so the Administration is right and just The Administration of this Kingdom is two-fold Internal and External 1. Internal Christ is set over the Church of God as a Glorious Head and Chief who is to recover a lost People unto God His Internal Administration is either effective or remunerative 1. Effective by his preventing Grace as he changeth our Hearts bringeth us into his Kingdom worketh Faith in us and maketh us willing Subjects to him Conversion is one of his Kingly Acts wrought in us by the efficacy of his preventing Grace otherwise we cannot enter into his Kingdom Matth. 18.3 Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Col. 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son Till he subdue the Power of Sin and Sathan in our Hearts we shall still groan under that Tyranny Acts 26.18 To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Sathan unto God 2. Remunerative By the Rewards of Godliness here and hereafter Here Rom. 14.17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in
the Holy Ghost Peace of Conscience increase of Grace joy in the Holy Ghost They shall not want incouragement who seriously set themselves to love Righteousness and hate Iniquity 2 Pet. 1.11 For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Hereafter Heaven is the Portion of the sanctified Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified He doth sanctifie all that believe on him and then give them Eternal Life 2. External in the course of his Providence Christ hath set up a Government wherein he will favour and protect those that walk uprightly Psalm 11.7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright But with the disobedient God is angry every day Psalm 7.11 Only it is the day of Gods patience God is preparing himself Well then we must neither rebel against his Government nor distrust his defence For Christ administreth Justice in his Kingdom defending the good and destroying the wicked and he will in time earnestly espouse the cause of all Holyness and Righteousness II. I come now to the Unction of Christ which is the consequent fruit of the former God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows There you may observe 1. The Author of this Unction God even thy God 2. The Priviledge it self to be anointed with the oyl of gladness 3. The Partakers of this Priviledge or the Persons to whom it is applyed One Principal and Singular who hath the Preheminence and that is the Mediator others Inferiour and in a lower degree of participation called here his fellows Let us a little explain these things 1. The Author of this Unction God even thy God Is this spoken to him as God or Man It may be true in both senses As to his Divine Nature he is God of God or as it is in Iohn 1.1 The word was with God and the word was God As to his Humane Nature he is a Creature made of a Woman and so God is his God as he is the God of all flesh But especially is this spoken of him as Mediator so Christ is one of Gods Confederates There is a Covenant between God and him Ioh. 20.17 I go to my father and your father to my God and your God The Sum of the Covenant was that after he had suffered here upon Earth and satisfied Gods Justice by being made a Curse for us he was at length to be raised out of the Grave and exalted to his Regal Power in Heaven All that belongeth to a Covenant is found in this Transaction between God and Christ. 1. God propoundeth the Terms or demandeth of his Son that he lay down his life and for his labour he promiseth that he shall see his Seed that God shall give him many Children Isa. 53.10 He shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands 2. The Son consenteth and saith A body hast thou prepared for me Loe I come to do thy will Psalm 40.6 7. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened burnt-offering and sin-offering thou hast not required Then said I loe I come in the volume of the book it is written of me Here the Eternal Son of God doth agree and contract with his Father to performe that perfect Obedience to his Laws and to offer up himself such a Divine and Spotless Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World as was necessary for the Expiation of Sin 3. Christ hath not only consented but doth with all Joy and Delight set about this whole Will and Counsel of God and go through with the Work and Office assigned unto him very chearfully and heartily till he had brought it to a good End and Issue Psalm 40.8 I delight to do thy will O my God! yea thy law is in my heart 4. After this ready and willing Obedience he is to plead the Covenant Psalm 89.26 He shall cry unto me thou art my Father my God and the Rock of my salvation Psalm 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Upon this there is 5. Gods Answer God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows And Psalm 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Thus doth the Scripture lisp to us in our own Dialect or in such Language as we can best understand concerning that Bill of Contract or transacted bargain between God and Christ from all Eternity wherein Christ undertaking perfectly to fulfil the Will of God and to performe all Active and Passive Obedience even unto Death had the Promise from God that he should become the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him The Redemption of Sinners is not a work of yesterday nor a business of chance but well-advised and in Infinite Wisdom contrived There was a preparatory agreement to that great work before it was gone about and therefore it should not be slighted by us nor lightly passed over 2. The Priviledge it self to be anointed with the oyl of gladness It noteth his solemne Exaltation and Admission to the Exercise of his Office By Oyl all agree is meant the Spirit by which Christ was anointed Luke 4.18 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me 1. Christ was anointed at his Conception in his Mothers Womb when he was sanctified by the Holy Spirit For the work of the Spirit was not only to forme his Body out of the substance of the Virgin which Nature could not do of its self but chiefly to preserve it from Sin and endow it with the gift of Holyness From which time he grew in Wisdom and Grace as well as in Stature Luke 2.52 And Iesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man 2. Again Christ may be said to be anointed at his Baptisme which was the visible consecration to his Office when the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove Matth. 3.16 17. and Iohn 1.33 once more 3. He may be said to be anointed at his Ascension when he received of the Father the Promise of the Spirit to pour him forth upon his Disciples Acts 2.33 Therefore being by the right hand of God eâalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear This I take to be the Sense here his Glorious Exaltation at the right hand of God where being possessed of all Power he joyfully expecteth and accomplisheth the fruits of his Redemption I am the more confirmed in this 1. Because the
from Faith in Christ Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God from a sense of our sincere dealing with God 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world A serenity resulting from our peace with God and close walking with him 2. The strictness and exactness of the Apostles course He would keep this good Conscience void of offence It may be understood passively or actively Passively that Conscience be not offended and suffer wrong Actively that we offend not or offer wrong to others 1. That Conscience be not offended or receive wrong by any miscarriage of ours For it is a tender thing the least dust in the eye hindreth its use so doth Sin offend and trouble the Conscience Take those four Notions before-mentioned Clearness Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God A dusty Glass hindreth the sight of the Image so Lust cloudeth the mind In regard of Purity so far as we give way to Sin Conscience is defiled the Apostle speaketh of some Whose minds and consciences were defiled Titus 1.15 It is defiled by Sin In regard of tenderness nothing bringeth a brawne upon Conscience so much as frequent and allowed sinning in small things first it is wounded and then hardned and so groweth dead and sleepy though it may write it refuseth to speak it is a Register when it is not a Witness So it is offended in regard of quietness an offended Conscience will offend us and a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 You may as well expect to touch the Flesh with a burning Coal without pain as to sin without trouble of Conscience Sin will bring shame and horrour ever since Adams experience who was afraid and ashamed Gen. 3.7 2. The second Sense that we offend not nor offer wrong to others will fall in with the next Head 3. The Impartiality of his Obedience both towards God and towards men There are two Tables and we are to take care we do not give offence to God or Men by neglecting our Duty to either 1. Our chief care should be that we do not make a breach upon our Love to God Conscience standeth alwayes in dread of God's Eye and Presence to whom it is most accountable Acts 23 1. I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day Oh grieve not the spirit Eph. 4.30 Offend not the pure Eyes of his Glory 2. That we do not offend Men Rom. 12.17 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Provide things honest in the sight of all men We must be careful of our Conscience before God and frame with Men that we neither seduce them by our Example nor grieve them by any unjust or uncharitable Carriage of ours but be blameless to Men. 4. The Constancy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã alwayes in all cases by all means at all times A Conscience brought forth at times and for certain turns is not a good Conscience Iob 13.18 Behold now I have ordered my cause I know that I shall be justified A Man is tryed by his course not by a step or two 1 Pet. 1.15 As he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in every creek and corner of your lives not in an Humour and in good Moods A Christian is every where like himself and never dareth to do any thing knowingly against Conscience Thirdly The laborious diligences wherewith he carryed it on I exercise my self We must make it our constant labour and endeavour by a diligent search into the mind of God Rom. 12.2 That we may prove what is the good and acceptable will of God Eph. 5.17 Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Eph. 5.10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord that we may not offend him in Worship or Daily Conversation By a serious enquiry into the state of our own hearts and wayes Psalm 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not commune with your hearts upon your bed and be still If we would have Conscience speak to us we must often speak to Conscience Ier. 8.6 I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done Ask questions of your hearts And also by a constant watchfulness and taking heed to our feet Psalm 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that I offend not with my tongue Many live as if they had no Conscience and by a broken-hearted making use of Christs Death Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. And 1 Iohn 2.1 If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous And Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself to God without spot purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God By a serious resistance and mortification of Sin cutting off the right Hand and pulling out the right eye Matth. 5.29 30. and Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts And by the use of all Holy Means which God hath appointed II. The Reasons Why this is true Christianity 1. The necessity of it it is a great question how far Obedience belongeth to Faith whether as a part or as an end fruit and consequent I answer both wayes consent of subjection is a part of Faith Actual Obedience a fruit of it In the Covenant there is a consent first before practice Faith believeth the Precepts as well as the Promises Psalm 119.66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water It believeth the Promises to sweeten Obedience to us it hath a perswasive Oratory as it worketh by Love or Hope it worketh us to an observance of the Precepts by the hopes of the Resurrection least we be inticed from them either by things grateful or troublesome to present sense 1 Cor. 15.58 Be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abâiâding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your work is not in vain in the Lord. If you believe things written in the Law and the Prophets you will see your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 2. The Comfort of Obedience to us we cannot make out our Evidence and Plea but by a uniform constant and impartial Obedience Principles are latent till they discover themselves by their Fruit our Faith and Hope is but a fancy unless it prevail over sensitive inclinations to present things that we may live in the patient and delightful service of God and an intire
his own wounds so must we look upon Christ as our own Saviour with application to our selves Iohn 20.28 My Lord and my God! 3. Affectionate with Desire and Trust. With desire longing for Cure there must be hearty groans and desires Our eyes are upon thee 2 Chron. 20.12 The having our eyes to any thing noteth our desire Psalm 121.1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help Earnestly desire to be partaker of these benefits by Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 To them that believe he is precious And with trust Isa. 17.7 At that day shall a man look to his maker and his eyes shall have respect to the holy one of Israel that is he shall seek to him trust in him depend upon him because what Men trust to they are wont frequently and wistly to look after and to have their eyes fixed upon Psalm 123.2 Behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God till he have mercy on us Psalm 34.5 They looked to him and were lightned That is comforted in the middest of their darkness and trouble Psalm 141.8 Mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee I trust 4. Ingaging we need to get open Eyes to see him and contemplate him till we see Beauty in him that may allure us to love him and esteem him as the fairest of Ten Thousand to renounce our selves and the Vanities of the World and betake our selves to his Discipline to see all is nothing in comparison of his Excellency Phil. 3.8 Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord. A True Knowledge of Christ is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Eph. 1.17 which is elsewhere rendred acknowledging so as to give due Honour Respect and Reverence to him We may know Strangers and those whom we contemn and despise but we do not acknowledge them VSE Let us look upon the Lord Jesus for cure He calleth upon us in his word Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth Isa. 45.12 It is little that we can afford Christ if we cannot afford him a serious look It may be you will think that this is so sleight a work that it will not produce any great effects in the Soul that a look should heal is strange Surely you will say this is not a full Notion of Faith nor an Act that will do us any good I answer Indeed it will not if it be done sleightly Therefore let me tell you that there are several Notions of Faith which all have their use Some Notions are fitted for Soul-Examination as Faith that worketh by Love that conquereth the World that purifieth the Heart these do best for a deliberate search and the stating of our Interest Some for anxious thoughts at the first awaking of the Soul out of the sleep of Sin as coming running flying and seeking when the Soul is under trouble and hangeth off from the Grace offered we press them to come as our Necessities are great we press them to run a Soul deeply pressed with a sense of its Necessity and Danger is alwaies in hast so we press them to flie for refuge when Comfort appeareth not presently we press to seek and to a diligent attendance on the appointed means Some for Agonies of Conscience after some former manifestations of Gods Love these we exhort to staying and resting Isa. 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God We press recumbency and adherence Isa. 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth iâ thee Some for Agonies of Death and great and imminent dangers when long Debates are not so seasonable these we press to committing 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day 1 Pet. 4.19 Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator Jesus Christ himself did so Luke 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And David Psal. 31.5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit Some for Holy Duties as Word Prayer Lords Supper we press to acceptance of Christ in the word to coming to Christ or to God by Christ in Prayer we accept him from God in the word of Promise we present him to God in Prayer as the ground of our confidence and hope for the Mercies prayed for In the Lords Supper as Religion is made visible and we are to make use of the help of Sense Eye Tast and Hand so we press you to take eat and look this is a Notion for this use when Christ is crucified as it were before our Eyes Well then this is one great work to look to Jesus the Author and Dedicator of our Faith to spy out Christ under his Memorials here he is set forth dying and hanging on a Tree Pilate when he had scourged him brought him forth and shewed him to the Iews he said Behold the man Iohn 19.5 We say to you in Gods Name Behold your dearest Redeemer bleeding and dying Now he is evidently set forth to you your business is to behold him And that this look may be serious Remember 1. This is supposed that you come hither as stung with Sin and that your Hearts are deeply affected with your Malady Alas otherwise here is no work to do if Men are not sensible of their Malady why should they look after a Remedy Matth. 9.12 13. They that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick For I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance None but the burdened will look out for ease or the self-condemned for Pardon If sin be not sin indeed Grace will not be Grace indeed Christ was anointed to heal the broken-hearted Luke 4.18 2. Your sight of Christ must not meerly be Historical and Literal the work of the Understanding and Memory but of Faith A few cold thoughts raised upon this occasion do not warm and comfort the Heart You are to look to him so as that the Heart be affected with Mourning Desire and Trust. 1. Mourning for Sin If you are sensible of your case you will do so A slight glance of the thoughts leaveth no Impression Look as the three Maries Mary the Mother of Jesus Mary the Wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalen they were affected when they saw Christ dying Iohn 19.25 26. Of one of them it is said Luke 2.35 Yea a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also So do you Acts 2.37 When they heard this they were
they visited thee The keeping up of this Acquaintance is necessary both to our present Comfort and future Acceptance 1. For our present Comfort it giveth you boldness to come to God in all your necessities and streights if you daily wait upon him Frequency of Converse begets familiarity and familiarity begets confidence When God and you grow strange you cannot come with that freedom to ask his help as those that familiarly converse with him do Eph. 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him A Child is not afraid to go to his Father nor a Man unto his Friend to pour out his complaint into his bosom nor a Servant of daily attendance to open his Suit to his Master they know his name Psalm 9.10 and are acquainted with him 2. For our future acceptance Luke 21.36 Watch ye therefore and pray alwaies that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man viz. at his coming They that are constant in Prayer make up their Accounts with God daily and so may with the better confidence attend his coming When you have been frequently with him frequently entertained by him and accepted with him had your Prayers heard and Desires granted it is a great incouragement in the hour of Death when you are to leave the World and come immediately before him On the other side for Men to appear before a God whom they never knew nor heartily loved and with whom they were never acquainted as to any intimate Communion and Converse this is a sad case Alas at the best it is to an unknown Friend but indeed it is to a certain Enemy they never had experience of his kindness which they would own nor interest in his Love and now are forced into his Presence against their Will Alas how soon will the time come when Men would fain set about Prayer but it is too late they have then neither Treasure nor skill to pray and the Prayers they then make are not the Fruits of Faith and Love but of Despair and Horrour they cry Lord Lord but Christ saith I know you not ye are workers of iniquity But on the other side they are fitted for Everlasting Communion with God who are acquainted with him already and when they come to be translated they do but change Place not Company Heaven is an access to God and the Throne of Grace is the Porch of Heaven We begin the Heavenly Life here by these frequent converses with God and our access to him now 3. With respect to the New Nature or the Temper and Disposition of the Saints Prayer is the cry of the New Creature a work natural and kindly to the Saints Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications A Spirit of Grace will soon break out into supplications and vent it self that way Acts 9.11 Behold he prayeth Zeph. 3.9 I will turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one consent In the Margin it is a pure lip Gods true Children are carryed to him by a kind of Natural Motion as light Bodies move upward they are a sort of Men that are seeking after God Psalm 24.6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Iacob Selah Therefore we should quite check and cross the bent and inclination of the New Nature unless we be much in Prayer and often with God 4. With respect to the necessities of the Saints Our wants are continual as well in Spiritual as in Temporal things That we need daily Bread is evident to Sense and that we need daily Pardon and daily Strength against Temptations should be as evident to Faith The Soul hath its necessities as well as the Body yea they are greater and of a more dangerous Nature Sometimes we lack Wisdom and who shall give it us but God Iames 1.5 If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him Sometimes we lack Strength and that is to be sought in Prayer Eph. 3.10 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with all might by his spirit in the inner man Sometimes we lack life and quickning and to whom should we go but to the live-making Spirit to him who quickneth all things In short the Throne of Grace was set up for a time of need and therefore when our necessities drive us to it we should not hang off Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need We alwaies need to be delivered from evil we alwaies need to be established in good sometimes we need a Blessing on what we have that our Comforts may be sanctified to us sometimes a Blessing on what we do that we may begin it and end it in God All our Relations increase our necessities so do all our injoyments new Mercies occasion new Necessities And in the variety of our Afflictions we have still somewhat to do with God The receipt of one Mercy discovereth the need of another 5. With respect to the utility and profit of it It is endless to instance in all things I shall confine the Discourse to Spiritual profit and there 1. The Three Radical Graces Faith Hope and Love are acted and increased in Prayer Iude 20 21. But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercies of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternal life Mark there praying in the Holy Ghost is to be referred in common to them all to building up your selves in your most Holy Faith to keeping your selves in the Love of God to looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life Surely frequent Prayer keepeth every Grace active and more ready than if it were seldom used 1. For Faith in this Duty the Misteries of our most Holy Faith are reduced to practice even that great Mistery of the Trinity and their distinct personal Operations we find the benefit of it in Prayer Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an access by one spirit unto the Father To the Father as an All-sufficient Fountain of Grace Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God By Christ who hath purchased leave welcome and audience Heb. 10.19 By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And by the Spirit who hath given us an Heart to come inspiring us with Holy Motions enlivening our Affections Rom. 8.26 Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities That we may open our Hearts to God If Prayer be Prayer indeed
off Prayer especially in secret Gods Children may be streightned in Prayer but they do not restrain Prayer Conscience is clamorous Prayer would fain break out but they smother these checks and sentiments of Religion till they wholly quit a course of praying Sometimes they deny Providence Psalm 73.11 They say how doth God know and is there any knowledge in the most high And verse 13. I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency Mal. 3.14 Ye have said 't is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts Or else they do not soundly believe the Covenant of God as made with them in Christ Rom. 10.14 How shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed We cannot address our selves to God in Christ if we are not rooted in the Faith of the Gospel 2. Sometimes through a defect of their Love to God They have no delight in him and therefore call not upon his Name Iob 27.10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he alwaies call upon God They may sometimes cry to him to be free from trouble but they do not alwaies call upon him nor keep up a constant use of Prayer They are weary of God Isa. 43.22 Thou hast not called upon me O Iacob Thou hast been weary of me O Israel They that left their first love left their first works Rev. 2.3 4. Or else they are glutted with Worldly Happiness and so God is neglected Ier. 2.31 We are Lords we will come no more unto thee They are well and at ease or else they are besotted with carnal pleasures that they have no heart to come to God Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life The Heart is withdrawn from God and stolne away by carnal vanities 3. From a defect in their Hope they despair either of assistance or acceptance 1. Of Assistance Having such a wandring lean and barren Understanding and dead Affections they think they shall be never able to pray And though God hath promised a Spirit of Grace and Supplication and is ready to give it to those that do not give way to these evils but strive against them and the Holy Ghost is appointed to teach them to pray yet they give way to this dulness and deadness out of an indulgence to the ease of the flesh and sloathfulness and despair of Gods help Isa. 64.7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee There is the lazy despair as well as the raging despair when Men will not stir up themselves and overcome the seeming difficulties which at first a course of Prayer meeteth with 2. Of Acceptance They have lost their peace by some grievous wounding Sin and then have not the heart to go to God As David kept silence and hung off Psalm 32.3 till he recovered his peace So others have offended God and represent him to themselves as an angry Judge rather than a gracious Father and so run away from him as guilty Adam did to the bushes Gen. 3.8 rather than come to him In part this may be in Gods Children when they have grieved the Spirit but mostly it is in the wicked who go on impenitently in some grievous and heinous sin and so can have no heart to go on in a course of lively Prayer The Presence of God is terrible to a Sinner because of the Conscience of their own sinful Courses they expect nothing but Wrath and Vengeance from God and they will not take Gods way to reconcile themselves and make their peace with him but only put off the thoughts of that they cannot put away and neglect God rather than seek to appease him VSE II. It informeth us of a necessary Truth if we must pray evermore then there must be an endeavour to keep up our hearts still in a praying temper or in a disposition to go to God upon all occasions that when God offereth these occasions there may not want a suitable frame of heart The Disposition and Temper of Heart fit for Prayer must never be lost Sathan is a great Enemy to this Commerce with God and our Hearts soon grow unfit for it It is a difficult thing to keep up this praying frame yet this must be a Christians constant work and care The whole Spiritual Life is but a watching unto Prayer Now this praying frame lyeth in three things 1. A broken-hearted sense of our Spiritual wants We have a quick and tender feeling of Bodily wants for these are evident to Natural Sense and we love the Body more than the Soul and are tender of our Bodily Interests but we should be alike affected with Soul necessities or else there will be no life in our Prayers God filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away Luke 1.53 The poor in Spirit do most mourn before the Lord and hunger and thirst after Righteousness Matth. 5.3 4 5 6. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Now that which hindreth this brokenness of Heart is carnal pleasures which bring on a brawn and sensless deadness upon the Soul Therefore the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 4.7 Be sober and watch unto Prayer Now Sobriety is a sparing use of Sensual and Worldly Delights or a Moderation in all Earthly Things This you must labour after if you would keep up your correspondency with God by Prayer in a lively manner 2. A strong and earnest bent of Heart towards God and Heaven and so towards Spiritual and Heavenly things Isa. 26.9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early The Soul that is set to seek the Lord is most fit for this Duty But unless the Heart be thus set towards God and Heavenly things Prayer will be as a customary talk we shall ask for fashions sake pray from our Memories rather than our Conscience and from our Conscience rather than Heart and Affections or from Affections actually excited and stirred rather than from an Heart renewed or that habitual bent and tendency towards God which is at the bottom of Prayer The Heart sensibly stirred in our Duty may do well for the time but it is soon lost and controlled and mastered by contrary affections That which doth habitually dispose and incline you to pray alwayes is the fixed bent of Heart towards God and Heaven There are three Agents in Prayer as in every Holy Duty the Humane Spirit the New Nature and the Spirit of God The Humane Spirit or my Natural Faculties that by
they erred not The Prophet is to be excused because the intention of David's zeal was good and a meet expression of his thankfulness to God God himself liked of the intention in it self 1 Kin. 8.18 The Lord said unto David my Father Whereas it was in thy Heart to build an House unto my name thou didst well that it was in thine Heart And besides he might tell him The Lord is with thee from former observation God had accompanied David with his Spirit and Blessing in all his enterprises Well then this he said not by Divine revelation but of himself Herein he was faulty that he consulted not with God And it teacheth us this lesson that in all businesses of moment and concernment to God's glory we must ask God's leave and counsel and blessing Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine Heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths 3. The next thing observable is the Lord 's rectifying the Prophets mistake by a special revelation from v. 4. to v. 17. Wherein the Lord recapitulateth the several favours and honours he had put upon his servant David with promises of blessing upon his Family but denyeth him this one honour of putting his designs in execution of building him an house because that was reserved for his Son a more peaceable Prince and whose hands were not defiled with blood And it teacheth us this lesson that we should be content with those other honours and favours which we have received at God's hands though he in his wise providence deny us the liberty of perfecting some enterprises which we have designed for his glory If God cut us off in the midst of our service or interrupt us in our work he knoweth how to carry it on by others and 't is a mercy that we have had his presence hitherto in former services God had been with David whithersoever he went but would not allow him to build him an House 4. David's carriage upon this message ver 18. He went and sate before the Lord or abode in his presence and expresseth himself both by way of praise and prayer 1. Praise in the 18 19 20. to the end of the 24th verse Acknowledging that all his goodness to him and his people came from his mercy and truth for his words sake and according to his own heart to fulfil his Covenant and his self-inclination to do good Admiring the greatness of these favours to such an unworthy creature as himself Who am I O Lord and what is my House that thou hast brought me hither c. And is this the manner of man O Lord God c. 2. Prayer from the 25th verse to the end Wherein he beggeth a performance of the things promised Shewing that he should not dare to ask and expect these things if God had not prevented him by his Word Thou hast revealed to thy Servant saying I will build thee an house therefore hath thy servant found in his Heart to pray this prayer unto thee In which words there is a Directory for prayer And 1. The qualification of the person Thy Servant 2. The sincerity of the prayer Hath found in his Heart 3. The instance and vehemency of it in the doubling of the words not simply to pray but to pray this prayer Jam. 5.17 He prayed earnestly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He prayed in his prayer 'T is one thing to say a prayer another to pray a prayer 4. His reverence Vnto thee Or as 't is more emphatically repeated 1 Chron. 17.25 Therefore thy Servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee When we set our selves as before the invisible God And that may be part of the meaning of the phrase used ver 18. he sate before the Lord. But the main circumstance which I shall insist upon is that Found in his Heart Doct. That the Birth-place or proper rise of Prayer is in the Heart Or whatever prayer we pray to God must be found in our Hearts before it be uttered with our Tongues I. I shall inquire concerning the sense and meaning of this expression what it is to find a prayer in our hearts That implieth two things when we pray as inclined and pray as incouraged And so David must be interpreted here I have found in my Heart that is I am inclined by a due esteem and desire of the blessing promised For he admireth it and was exceedingly ravished with the thought of it that God should have such respect to his House and Family Again I have found in my Heart that is I am incouraged by the Lord's goodness and the experience of his blessing and the assurance of his promises So in every general case all that would pray must find in their Hearts to pray to God that is be inclined and be incouraged 1. We are inclined or stirred up to pray for such good things as we ask of God 1. By a sense of our wants Iam. 1.5 If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God And Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in a time of need Our addresses to God must begin in a broken hearted sense of our own wants otherwise 't is but an empty careless formal way of praying We have a quick and tender feeling in all bodily necessities the worst will express themselves sensibly enough in such cases Hos. 7.14 They have not cried unto me with their Hearts when they howled upon their Beds they assemble themselves for Corn and Wine and they rebel against me Those that rebelled against God howled upon their Beds for Corn and Wine as Beasts will make their moan when pinched with hunger but in Soul necessities we are not so sensible And prayers put up without sense of want and need are but dead and lazy Many think their condition so good that they need not trouble God about it but they can manage it well enough themselves and therefore either pray not at all or without poverty of Spirit and their Prayers are but an empty complement to God But now a Godly man is sensible of his daily necessities he is kept poor in Spirit and seeth that he cannot subsist a minute without God and that he is environed with dangers and obliged to a multitude of duties which require assistance from above that Satan is continually tempting and he is continually sinning and so he needs daily pardon and daily sustentation as well as daily bread Give us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this day our daily bread Mat. 6.11 And that if he should forget to pray to God he should forget to bid himself good morrow or good day In short the more men exercise themselves unto godliness the more their necessities and wants will be discovered to them Painted fire needeth no fuel but real fire must still be supplied with matter for it to feed upon 2. An esteem
fourth rank is of those things which are evil in themselves and good only by accident in order to some greater good which may be procured by them as War to make way for a lasting Quiet and Peace the cutting off an Arm or Leg to preserve the rest of the Body burning the Harvest to starve an Enemy In a Theological Consideration Afflictions have this use which are not things to be desired and chosen but endured and suffered when sent by the wise God for our good Well now a Christian should love all things according to their value and as they approach nearer to his last end and chief good He valueth all things as they more or less let out God to him the nearer means more than the remote subservient helps Thus he delighteth in the Ordinances more than the Creatures because the Ordinances discover more of God and exhibite more of God to him He valueth Graces more than Ordinances because by the Graces of the Spirit he is brought into more Conformity to God and Communion with him than by the bare formality of a Duty And he delighteth in Jesus Christ more than in Created Graces as being by him nearer to God and God nearer to us Here is the method and order of our value and esteem then First God next Christ as Mediatour next the Graces of the Spirit next the Ordinances next the Creatures and Comforts of this Life 3. A Godly mans Judgment is rectified about the difference between things spiritual and temporal Prov. 23.4 Labour not to be rich cease from thine own Wisdom 1 Cor 2.12 We have received not the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God Psal. 16.7 I will bless the Lord who hath given me Counsel my Reins also instruct me in the night season He counteth that Condition beââ wherein he may be most serviceable to God and best helped to Heaven The natural understanding valueth all things by the Interest of the Flesh for it looketh only to present things 't is the Spirit of the World But one to whom God hath given Counsel he is of another temper seeth things by another light and liveth to another end and scope His End enlightneth him and the Spirit of God enlightneth him The Spirit sheweth him the reality and worth of Heavenly things Eph. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of him The Eyes of your Vnderstanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints There is no Prospect of the other World by the light of a natural Spirit but by Faith 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off A meer naturaâ man acteth at little a higher rate than a Beast A Beast seeth things before him tasts what is comfortable to his Senses is guided by Fancy and Appetite But the Spirit of Faith maketh a Man live as in the sight of God and under a sense of another World His end enlightneth him for Mat. 6.22 The light of the Body is the Eye if thine Eye be single thy whole Body shall be full of Light When a man hath fixed his end he will the sooner understand his way Finis est mensura mediorum The End is the measure of the means A good end and scope inlightneth and governeth a man in his whole course As a Man's end is so he judgeth of Happiness and Misery If a Mans end be to live well in the World then Happy are the People that are in such a Case If his end be to enjoy God then Happy is the People whose God is the Lord Psal. 144.15 It is a blessed opportunity to be waiting upon him So he judgeth of Liberty and Bondage If his end be to please God then Corruption is his Yoak if to please the Flesh Duty is his Yoak So he judgeth of Wisdom and Folly A carnal man counteth himself wise when he has made a good Bargain then he applaudeth himself Psal 10.3 The wicked boasteth of his Hearts desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth The Godly Man then counteth himself wise when he has redeemed time for spiritual uses Eph. 5.15 16. Not as Fools but as Wise redeeming the time because the days are evil And the Eunuch when he was instructed by Philip went on his way rejoicing Acts 8 39. Vse 1. If these things be so then it informeth us how chearfully we should pass through our Sabbath Duties Isa. 58.13 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy Pleasure on my Holy Day and call the Sabbath a delight the Holy of the Lord honourable and shalt Honour him not doing thine own work nor finding thine own Pleasure nor speaking thine own Words c. It followeth naturally from the Point in hand for if a day in Gods house be better than a thousand elsewhere then a Christian should be in his Element when he is wholly at leisure for God His Sabbath time should not hang upon his hands nor should he count this day as a melancholy Interruption Few are of this Spirit they are out of their course Amos 8.5 When will the Sabbath be gone that we may set forth Wheat They are weary of Sacred Meetings and long to have them over that they might follow their gain and satisfie their worldly Humour They make the World and their Gain their great Errand and look upon Attendance upon God as a matter by the by and therefore are soon weary of it Vse II. Let us reflect the Light of this Truth upon our own Hearts have we this love and affection to the means of Grace If we profess it the Truth of it is best known to God but in some measure it should be known to our selves also if we would take Comfort in it Therefore let us a little state it 1. This Affection and Respect to Ordinances is to them as pure to those meetings where God is sincerely and purely worshipped As new born Babes desire ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the sincere Milk of the Word 1 Pet. 2.2 The new Nature is suited to Gods Institutions As the puking Infant when he sucketh a Stranger doth in Effect say this is not my Mothers Milk Christ is there where he is worshipped in his own way Mat. 28.20 Teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World The Church hath nothing to do about ordaining or instituting but only about ordering the natural circumstances of Worship 2. It is not the empty formality which the Saints prize but meeting with God Psal. 81.1 2. How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts my Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord
it Again it is an holy Law according to which the process of that day shall be guided A Law that is clean and pure which alloweth not the least evil Thy Law is exceeding pure Psal. 119.140 The Gospel abateth nothing of the purity of it Now when we appear before an holy God and must be judged by an holy Law surely we must have holiness and righteousness answerable or how can we stand in the Judgment It is an holy God before whose Tribunal we must appear and an holy Law that we must be judged by therefore if we be destitute of all kind of righteousness What shall we do 2. No other righteousness will serve the turn but the righteousness of Faith And therefore till we submit to the New Covenant we are in a woful case Now the righteousness of the New Covenant is supream or subordinate The supream by way of Merit and Satisfaction The Subordinate by way of Application and Qualification on our parts 1. The Supream is the Righteousness or Obedience of Christ. VVhich can alone deliver us from Hell Job 33.24 Deliver him from going down to the Pit for I have found a ransom There is no deliverance from eternal destruction which our sins deserve but onely by the Ransom which he hath paid Till his Justice be satisfied by Christ no good can come unto us 2. The Subordinate Righteousness which qualifieth us and giveth us an interest is Faith Repentance and new Obedience All which are hugely necessary and convenient and gracious terms 1. Faith By which we own and acknowledge our Redeemer with love thankfulness dependance and hearty subjection to him Certainly love and thankfulness is due to him who hath indured so much and procured such great benefits for us Would we have the blessings instated on us and not know from what hand they come And acceptance is due for should Christ save us without our wills and against our consent Dependance is due Should they have benefit by Christ's Merits who question the force and efficacy of them Therefore God hath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his Blood Rom. 3.25 2. Repentance is necessary Would we have God to pardon us while we continue in our rebellion without sorrow for it or purpose to leave it The case of the obstinate is not compassionable Jer. 3.13 Onely acknowledge thine iniquity and I am gracious And to acknowledge an offence and continue in it is to condemn our selves 3. New Obedience That was due before to our Creator and our Redeemer strengtheneth the Bond and maketh it more comfortable For we have a new Lord by right of Redemption Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living A Lord that hath payed dear for our Souls 3. This righteousness is every way sufficient that we may venture our eternal well-being upon it For what is appointed by God will be accepted by God And though there be many defects in our Faith Repentance and Obedience yet there is an intrinsick value in the obedience and death of Christ besides the Institution Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by Tradition from your Fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Lastly See your help The Spirit is the great New-Covenant Gift purchased by Christ that it might be dispensed to us the more abundantly John 1.16 And of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace Tit. 3.5 6. By the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us By his Sanctifying and renewing Grace we are inabled for all this duty We have it by the hearing of Faith Gal. 3.2 And the whole dispensation of the Gospel is called the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 5.8 Therefore if a sluggish heart did not possess Christians they might do more than they do A Sermon on 2 Pet. III. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance THe Apostle in Answer to the Cavil and Exception of the Mockers of Religion is taking off the Scandal of the delay of Christ's Coming Three Considerations are produced to satisfie the Godly 1. The true measure of speed or delay is the Eternity of God which admits of no beginning succession and ending but consists in a constant presentness to all that which to us seemeth past or to come And we must judge as he judgeth This is laid down vers 8. 2. The end of this delay which is the conversion of Sinners It proceedeth not from any culpable slackness in God but onely his patience towards the Elect. God is not slack but we hasty Our temper requireth time and patience to work upon us and bring us under the power of Grace This is in the Text. 3. The manner of coming which is sudden and unexpected like the coming of a Thief upon a sleepy family ver 10. Therefore we should rather prepare for it than complain of slackness We are upon the second consideration Wherein 1. The false cause of this delay is removed The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise as some Men count slackness 2. The true cause assigned But is long-suffering to us ward 3. The end of this long-suffering propounded First Negatively Not willing that any should perish Secondly positively But that all should come to Repentance Wherein the way to escape ruine is intimated which is Repentance The only doubt is about the sense of the words How that is to be understood that God would not have any perish but all come to Repentance For we see many do yet perish all do not come to Repentance And is God frustrated of his end Ans. To this doubt three answers are given and all solid though I prefer the two first 1. The Patience of God according to its nature hath that use and end to invite all sinners to Repentance Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance Gods continuing forfeited Mercies and tarrying the sinners leisure giveth us an hope that he is willing to be reconciled And if we do not seek his favour and turn to him by Repentance it is long of our selves the fault is our own because we do not improve this hope 2. The Apostle in this place hath special reference to the Elect who are concerned more especially in the promise of Christs coming to put an end to their sufferings and to render them an eternal reward Certain
have preached unto you let him be accursed 3. Extraordinary means will do no good where ordinary prevail not But man is never satisfied with the present Dispensation Psal. 78.22 23. But they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation tho' he had commanded the Clouds from above and opened the doors of Heaven Whatever means âod useth man is man still There were Carnal Wretches when there were Miracles and so there will be still when the Heart is out of order bare means will not set it in frame 4. Though we live not in the Age of Miracles and Oracles yet if we have valuable Testimony of them it is enough to beget Faith Psal. 78.5 6 7. He commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children That the Generation to come might know them even the Cildren that should be born who should arise and declare them to their Children That they might set their hope in God It were endless to attest former Miracles with a new supportation of Miracles report is enough to convey them to us and if we cannot contradict them why do we not believe Use I. To check the dream of the Efficacy of extraordinary means above the ordinary which God seeth fit to give us Our Lord impersonateth our thoughts Luke 16.30 31. If one went unto them from the Dead they would repent And he said unto them They have Moses and the Prophets if they hear not them neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the Dead We think the Word is an Antiquated State Dispensation that hath lost all its force If God would assure us and invite us to Faith and Repentance some other way it would be more successful as if one came from the other World or an extraordinary Messenger from Heaven or Hell Let us argue the Case It must be either because he is supposed to bring a more necessary Doctrine to work men to Faith and Repentance or can urge better Arguments or with more Perswasiveness or propound these Truths with more Certainty or convey a Power greater than is ordinarily dispensed by the Word It must be one of these four things but neither the one nor the other can be 1. Not a Doctrine more necessary to convince men of their Misery and Remedy Sin and Duty The Son of God is a sufficient Teacher of all Divine things for he lay in the Bosom of God John 1.18 And he came on purpose to reveal what was necessary to mans Salvation 2. Not better Arguments to enforce it What would we have an hotter Hell or a better Heaven More direful Threatnings or sweeter Promises Or more powerful Motives Surely nothing can be added What is beyond Eternal Misery or Eternal Happiness 3. Not propound these things with more Certainty For these things are offered to our understandings by a full and fair Credibility Christ being fore-described by Prophesies Authorized by Miracles mightily declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the Dead requiring nothing of us but what is suited to Gods Nature and our Necessity What certainty would a Spectre or Ghost or an Angel or Apparition give above this 4. Nor convey a greater Power and Force to affect the Heart of man What is of greater Efficacy than the Spirit of God Surely he is able to change the Heart of man when nothing else can Now the Gospel is the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 See these Heads more inlarged in the Sermon on Luke 16.30 31. Use II. If God hath so settled the way of Salvation in the new Covenant as to leave no cause or occasion of Doubting or suspecting of the Truth or Certainty of these Blessings he hath promised to us then we should not live in Jealousies and Doubtfulness as if we were not upon sure Terms with God If we transact with another about certain Benefits the Transaction may prove to no purpose if the matter about which we contract with them hath no being or the Terms be impossible or the conveyance be not so firm and strong as to hold good in Law Now none of these can be imagined in our entring into Covenant with God For 1. Eternal Life is not a Chimera or a thing that hath no being Then you might run uncertainly 1 Cor. 9.26 If it were a Dream or a well devised Fable No it is the greatest reality that can be thought of Iohn 14.2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you Christ would not flatter us into a Fools Paradice 2. It is not upon impossible Terms but such as are performable by the Grace of God as Faith Eph. 2.8 For by Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of yourselves it is the Gift of God And the Apostle telleth us Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed Consider the Conditions that concern either the making or keeping Covenant The Conditions for making Covenant Ier. 24.7 I will give them an Heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole Heart And Ezek. 36.26 A new Heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony Heart out of your flesh and I will give you an Heart of flesh Then for keeping Covenant for this is a Covenant that keepeth us as well as we keep it Ier. 32.40 41. I will make an Everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their Hearts that they shall not depart from me Yea I will rejoice over them to do them good and I will plant them in this Land assuredly with my whole Heart and with my whole Soul So there is a Promise of Influences to prevent danger of discovenanting Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them 3. If the conveyance be not so strong and firm to make a Plea in Law but this is conveyed by Gods Word and confirmed by his Oath Heb. 6.17 18. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong Consolation It is assured to us by his own Son Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom and sealed to us by Christs Spirit 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts Therefore the conveyance will bear a Plea both now in Prayer and before the Tribunal of God If there be
Ghost yet there is but one the only and true God 2. He is represented by his Relation to the Creatures the Father 'T is not taken ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Personally but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Essentially as often in Scripture as Isa. 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us Meaning not only the first Person but all the rest And Mat. 5.16 Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And Mat. 6.9 Our Father which art in Heaven Jam. 3.9 Therefore we bless God even the Father In all these and many other places Father Son and Holy Ghost is the only true God and called Father 3. He is set forth by his Dignity and Preheminence as the first cause and last end For from him are all things and we in him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. To him and for him I take the Marginal Reading so Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things 2. What is said of the Mediatour He is described 1. By his Person or Name signifying his Person Iesus Christ. There is no other Name given under Heaven Acts 4.12 c. 2. By his Dignity Lord that is Mediator Christ is often set forth by this Term or Title Acts 2.36 God has made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. He is Lord over all Creatures and over the House of God Phil. 2.11 And that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father He died for that End and Purpose Rom. 14.9 To this End Christ both died and rose again and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and living Therefore we should own him as such Iohn 20.28 My Lord and my God Both in Word and Deed. In Word Phil. 2.11 That every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord. Indeed in worship Psal. 45.11 He is thy Lord worship thou him In ordinary Practice and Conversation Loving Serving Sâudying to please him ân all things Luke 6.46 Why call you me Lord and do not the things which I say Col. 1 10. Walk worthy of the Lord in all pleasing 'T is our Comfort that he is Head over all things Eph. 1.22 So he is able to Subject the Church to himself by his Spirit to vanquish its Enemies and defend us by his Power And 't is both our Comfort and Duty that he is our Lord. He purchased us by his Blood Acts 20.28 and Eph. 1.14 âherefore the Church is given him as an Inheritance Psal. 2.8 We are married to him in the Covenant of Grace Therefore he appeaseth the Wrath of God by his Passion and Intercession He cherisheth and takes care of us 3. The Appropriation of this Office and Dignity to him alone one Lord Iesus Christ. To set up other Lords of our Faith or other Mediators between God and us is a wrong to Christ. There is but one Mediator either of Redemption or Intercession and no Saints or Angels share in this Honour 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Iesus Eph. 4.5 One Lord. Without Partner or Substitute He will communicate this Glory and Dominion over his Church to no other in whole or in part 4. The distinctness of his Operation as Mediator from what was said concerning the Father 'T is said of the Father Of whom and for whom are all things but of the Mediator it is said By whom are all things and we by him God is the Fountain of all Heavenly Gifts Iam. 1.17 And Christ is the Pipe and Conveyance God is the ultimate Object of our worship and by the Mediator do we make our Addresses and Applications to him Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father From God all things have their Being as from their Spring and Cause both in a way of Nature and Grace So all things by the Mediator Doct. That the owning and worshipping God by the Mediator Iesus Christ is the summ of the Christian Religion Natural Religion owneth a God but the Christian Religion owneth a Mediator and Father Son and Holy Ghost for that only true God and Jesus Christ for that Mediator See other Scriptures Iohn 17.3 And this is Life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent There is the summ of what is necessary to Life Eternal that God is to be known loved obeyed worshipped and injoyed and the Lord Jesus as our Redeemer and Saviour to bring us home to God and to procure for us the Gifts of Pardon and Life and this Life to be begun here and perfected in Heaven So 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is but one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Iesus Here are the two great Points of the Christian Religion one God in whom is all our Trust and Confidence and one Lord Jesus the only Mediator for the Restauration and Reconciliation of Man with God Here I shall shew you 1. The Necessity of a Mediator 2. The Fitness of Christ for this Office 3. The Benefit and Fruit of it 4. Who are the Parties interested in these Comforts and most concerned in these Duties I. The Necessity of a Mediator in this lapsed and faln Estate of Mankind Two things infer and inforce this Necessity Distance and Difference Distance by reason of Impurity and Difference by reason of Enmity Both these occur in the Case between God and Men. God is a God of Glorious Majesty and we are poor Creatures God is an Holy God a God of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity and we are sinful Creatures As Creatures unworthy of immediate access to God as lapsed and under the guilt of Sin and desert of Punishment and unable to deliver our selves cannot draw nigh to him with any Comfort 1. Our Distance Which is so great that it is a Condescention for God to take notice that there are such Creatures in the World Psal. 113.6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things which are in Heaven and Earth The Excellency and Majesty of God is so great that either Angels or Men are unworthy to approach his Presence Now as Inferiour and mean People dare not approach the presence of a great Prince but by some powerful Friend and Intercessor at Court so our distance produceth our fears and estrangedness and backwardness to draw nigh unto God and so hindreth our Love and Confidence in him Well then to depend upon one so far above us that he will take notice of us take care for us relieving us in our Necessities and Streights and help us out of all our Miseries and finally save us requireth a Mediator one that is more near and dear to God than we are which can be no other than Jesus Christ as I shall shew by and by When a Sinner looketh only at God as in himself he is confounded and amazed as quite
terms Therefore he revealeth and perswadeth us to accept the conditions of the New Covenant and to cast away all our rebellion against God and enter into his Peace 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God They plead in his Name and by vertue of his Power Secondly As a King and Lord so he maketh these terms part of the New Law for the remedying of lapsed Mankind Heb. 5.8 Though he were a Son yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered And not only so but he subdueth us to himself Luke 11.21 By strong hand rescueth us out of the power of the Devil and giveth us Grace to serve him acceptably Heb. 12.28 And taketh us into his care and ruleth us and protecteth us till we enter into everlasting life His Lordship is a great part of his Mediation III. The Comforts and Duties thence resulting namely from Christ's being constituted as Mediatour as they are laid forth in the Text. 1. I observe That the Father's Honour and Glory is still secured and preserved safe and intire notwithstanding the giving the Glory to Christ as the Lord of the New Creation The Glory of the Mediatour doth no way impair and infringe the Fathers Glory That is apparent partly because all the good we have is from the Father but onely by Christ. For when the Father is spoken of 't is said From him are all things but when the Mediatour then 't is said By him which notes a subordinate operation or administration as Lord Deputy under the Father and therefore in the subjection of the Creature unto Christ the Glory of the Father is expresly reserved Phil. 2.11 That every Tongue should confess that Iesus is Lord to the Glory of the Father Again it 's apparent because it 's said We are to him or for him The Mediatour does not lead us off from God but to him Therefore both our love to God and subjection to him must still be preserved 1. Our love You must not think of the Father that he is all Wrath severe and inexorable and his Favour not to be gain'd but upon hard terms no if he himself had not loved us we could never have had Christ for our Redeemer All things are of him not only in a way of Creation but Redemption and one great end of sending Christ was to shew the amiableness of the Divine Nature Christ himself was sent by the Father John 3.16 God so loved the World that he sent his onely begotten Son 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their trespasses to them Rom. 8.32 God spared not his own Son but delivered him for us all 2. Our Subjection and Obedience Rev. 5.9 Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood His antient right in us is not disannull'd but promoted We are redeemed to his Service and Obedience See 1 Cor. 6.19 20 Which are God's viz. By a right beneficial as a farther obligation God is the Efficient and Final Cause of all things Therefore still our Subjection to God and Love to God must be preserved 2. I observe That the expressions here used imply Returns as well as Receipts Look to the Expressions in both Clauses either concerning the one God or the one Mediatour The one God From him are all things and we by him or for him As from his bounty and goodness so for his honour and service Prov. 16.4 God hath made all things for himself 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God Whether it be in a way of Nature or Grace all things come of God These words do especially concern Christians All matters of Grace come from the Father to us for his Glory All things that belong to the New Creation as appeareth by the last clause we by him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or for him See Eph. 1.12 That we should be to the praise of his glory So for what is said of the Mediatour and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things That is which we receive from God and we by him that is all the services which we return to God again Not onely Blessings come from the Father to us but we also must return duty and service to God by the same Mediatour Receipts come from God by Christ and Returns go back by Christ to God Which is to be noted by them who are all for Receipts but think not of Returns And also by them who own God in their Mercies but make Returns in their own Name No all that duty which we perform to God 't is by the Mediatour All Christianity is a coming to God by Christ Heb. 7.25 If we believe in God 't is by him 1 Pet. 1.2 By whom we believe in God If we love God 't is in Christ. If we pray to God 't is in and through him Ephes. 2.18 For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father If we praise God 't is in and by Christ Phil. 1.11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Iesus Christ to the Glory and Praise of God Otherwise our Duties are not acceptable and pleasing to him 3. I observe That in the Receipts we expect from God there is great encouragement to expect them For God is represented as a fountain of Grace as a Father as a God and Father that acts by a Mediatour whose Merit is exprest as large as the Father's Power 1. As a Fountain of Grace he is the supream Cause of all things from whom all creatures have their life and being A Fountain ever-flowing and over-flowing What can we ask of him which he is not able to do Psal 57.2 I will cry unto God most high unto God that pârformeth all things for me If it be pardon of sin or the gift of the spirit If subduing Enemies or everlasting Salvation he is able to give it you If it be strength against Temptations or Grace to serve him acceptably you come to a God from whom are all things VVhen a Man seriously worshippeth God he turneth his back upon all other things and turneth his face to God as the supream Lord and Fountain of all Happiness You may with confidence present your Petitions to him that can perform all things 2. You come to God as a Father If you take it personally 't is comfortable to come to him as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Ephes. 3.14 or essentially as a Father of the whole family of the faithful He loveth us dearly VVe have the Supream God for our Father and shall not we trust in him 2 Cor. 6.18 And I will be a Father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters VVho would distrust a Father and an Omnipotent Father VVhen we remember not onely his sufficiency but his love to us and our
and pardoned he is unfit for God and uncapable of Salvation or any present communion with God What can we expect from him and how unsufficient are we for either of these two works to renew our Souls and reconcile them to God VVhat can we do to satisfie Justice or break the love of sin in our Souls Therefore the Lord Jesus hath undertaken the Office of being the Redeemer and Saviour of the VVorld by his Sacrifice Merit and Intercession We must be pardoned and accepted and onely by him must we come to God If your repentance towards God and your Faith in him be sincere you shall have all the Blessings of the New Covenant In short Obedience and the Love of God was the Primitive Holiness for which we were created and from which we fell VVe by Repentance are willing to return to this again and therefore depend upon a Saviour and Sanctifier that we may be reconciled and renewed and so are said in this general sense to come to God by him Secondly More particularly we are said to come to God by Christ Three ways First In the exercise of our Graces I shall instance in the Three Radical ones which constitute the New Creature Faith Hope and Love For in the exercise of these communion with God doth consist 1. Faith seeth God in Christ as sitting upon a Throne of Grace ready to give out all manner of Grace and seasonable relief to Penitent Believers in all their necessities and temptations and duties Well then boldly trust him and depend upon him Thus we come to God by Christ 2 Cor. 3.4 Such trust have we through Christ to Godward 1 Pet. 1.21 By him we believe in God This is living by Faith in Christ so often spoken of in Scripture When you make use of him in all your wants duties and difficulties expecting your Father's Love and Blessing to come to you through him alone and the Spirit that must help you and assist you in all your Infirmities and Temptations as coming from the Father and the Son not onely procured but given by him your head In all your doubts fears and wants you go to him in the Spirit and to the Father by him and by him alone this is living by Christ. 2. Love which vents it self in a desire of full Communion with God and delights in him Desire is a coming to God or a following hard after him Delight is an adherence to him as satisfied with so much as we enjoy of him Our enjoyments here are partial and therefore our delight is very imperfect but yet such as it is it begets a study to please God and fear to offend him Our Father is in Heaven but on Earth we have a glimpse of him enough to make him amiable to the Soul Psal. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Thus we love him through Christ or in Christ for we study Christ to see the goodness and amiableness and love of God in him Ephes. 3.17 18 19. That Christ 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 heighth And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God A condemning God is not so loved as a gracious and pardoning God Surely we love him more as a Father than as a Judge And 't is the Spirit of Christ which maketh us cry Abba Father not onely thereby expressing our confidence and dependance but affection Gal. 4.6 Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father 3. Hope We come to God as we longingly expect the full fruition of him Love puts us upon seeking after God But alas upon Earth we do but seek in Heaven we expect to find Hope causeth us to hold on seeking till we find and get nearer to him and maketh us resolve that 't is better to be a seeker than a wanderer to wait till the delight of love be perfect than to turn the back upon God and his ways We cannot have Mount Zion in the Wilderness For the present Christ doth but guide us to the Land of Promise we have a refreshing by the way Manna in the Wilderness but not Canaan in the Wilderness Earth at the best will not be Heaven Our perfect Blessedness is when God is all in all For the present as God is seen but as in a glass so he is proportionably enjoyed The Devil the World and the Flesh are not perfectly overcome and therefore we have but little of God And the Ordinances cannot convey him all to us while his interest is so crowded up in our hearts but we wait and look and long till we have more Our onely coming now to him is by hope and that partial enjoyment of his love which we attain unto makes us look for more The New Nature inclineth us to Hope for they that love God will desire to be more like him and to get more of him and our experience quickeneth our hope Rom. 5.4 But all is by Christ. The Apostle saith The Lord Iesus himself hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope thâough Grace 2 Thes. 2.16 As at first he inclined us to set our Hearts on another World and lay up our Hopes in Heaven and to part with all things seen for that God and Glory which we never saw which otherwise by reason of unbelief and sensuality we should never have done so still he inclineth us to hope and wait in the midât of difficulties and disappointments and incourageth us by his tenderness and constant pity Iude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Iesus âhrist unto everlasting Life 2. This coming to God is by all Divine Ordinances or Acts of Worship the use of our liberty to approach to him in these duties is one special way of coming to him by Christ. To come to him in the Word as our teacher in the Lords Supper as the Master of the Feast in Prayer as our King and Almighty helper is a very great priviledge and comfort certainly if at any time then we come to God we come to him in worship for then we turn our backs upon all things else that we may present our selves before his Throne But now thus we can only come by Jesus Christ. If we come to receive a Blessing in the Word we come to receive the fruits of his purchase Iohn 17.19 And for their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also may be sanctified through the truth Eph. 5.26 That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the Word If we come to the Lords Supper that duty was instituted for the remembrance of Christ that his Flesh might be Meat indeed and his blood
God Heb. 4.14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens c. 2. God in our Nature was Abased Crucified made Sin made a Curse for us that he might pacifie the Justice of God and reconcile us to him So that besides the infinite Mercy and Power of God there is the Infinite Righteousness and everlasting Redemption of a Mediator God offended with Man is fully satisfied with the Ransom paid for Sinners by Christ Mat. 3.17 This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 3. God having laid such a foundation and bestowed so great a gift upon us will not stick at any thing which is necessarily required to make us fully and eternally happy Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but gave him up c. shall he not with him freely give us all things Here in the Text 't is said All things are by him such abundant provision hath he made for Mans Salvation Surely here is a broad foundation for our comfort and hope Here is God appeased the works of the Devil dissolved our wounded Natures healed our Enemies vanquished by him as the Captain of our Salvation the Church defended and maintained by him as supream Head and Pastor all kept quiet by him between God and Us as our Agent and Advocate and finally he will bring us into the immediate presence of God that we may remain with him for evermore 4. Besides the dignity of his person consider the suitableness of his office to our necessity The dignity of his person must not be over-looked for he is God-man and therefore he is accepted by the Father and may be relied upon by us Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Besides the institution there is an intrinsick value Act. 20.28 'T is called the Blood of God But what a suitable as well as valuable a remedy do his Offices of King Priest and Prophet make him By these three Offices he exerciseth the Office of Mediator The three Offices are alluded unto Iohn 14.6 I am the Way the Truth and the Life The Way as a Priest Truth as a Prophet Life as a King The Way because he hath removed the legal exclusion we were fugitives exiled and then Truth to direct us and give us the knowledge of Gods Nature and Will The Life To begin a Life of Grace in us by his Spirit which shall be perfected in Heaven So 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption All the offices of Christ are there expressed with a suitableness to our misery Wisdom as a Prophet to cure our ignorance and folly we had no true sense of the evil we deserved nor the good we wanted nor of the way to remove the one or obtain the other but he convinceth and instructeth us in all these things We lye also under the guilt and power of sin that is our second necessity and so Christ is made Righteousness and Sanctification as a Priest for he gave himself to cleanse us from sin Eph. 5.26 We are also liable to many miseries introduced by sin yea under a necessity of dying and perishing for ever therefore Christ is made Redemption as a King and as Captain of our Salvation at length fully redeemed us from all evil Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies Luk. 21.28 And when these things begin to come to pass then lift up your Heads for your Redemption draweth nigh Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby ye are seal'd to the day of Redemption Thus you see how amply we are provided for in Christ. It may as well be said By him are all things as it may be said of the Father From whom are all things Secondly Another improvement is to ingage and incourage us to make those returns of Love Worship and Obedience Service and Glory which are expected and required of us There is something which reflecteth from us upon God from all this Grace and Mercy which God dispensed by the Mediator We must be for him and we must be by him 'T is more than if it were said we must serve him glorifie him We in our whole capacity we must be whatever we are and do whatever we do to God and for God by the Mediator 1. We must enter into Covenant with him and give the Hand to the Lord and consent to be his Isa. 44.5 One shall say I am the Lord 's another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his Hand unto the Lord. They should enter their Names to God to be entred into his Muster-Roll or Listed among the Faithful that belong to him and are Listed for his service a Member of that Body whereof Christ is Head a subject of that Kingdom whereof Christ is King 2 Cor. 8.5 'T is said But first gave their own selves unto the Lord. Rom. 12.1 Present your Bodies a living Sacrifice Holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service Christ gave himself a Sin-offering and we give up our selves a Thank-offering 2. There must be a strong love to God ever at work in our Hearts levelling and directing all our actions to his glory and this love must be an impression of the love shewed to us by Christ a thankful sense of his Mercies and Benefits 1 Iohn 4.19 We love him because he loved us first 2 Cor. 5.14 The Love of Christ constraineth us Love is an earnest bent and inclination of Heart towards our chief good and last end and its effect and work is to devote our selves to his Service Will and Honour longing after more of God and continually seeking for it Psal. 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee My Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is A Soul that hath chosen God for its portion cannot want him nor be long without him nor satisfied with any partial enjoyment of him therefore still seeketh for more The main work of this life is a desirous seeking after God and getting nearer to their last end by all the means which God hath appointed us to use 3. There must be a constant study and care to please honour and glorifie this God Acts 27.23 Whos 's I am and whom I serve If we be dedicated to God there must be a conscience of our dedication that we may live unto God and this not now and then but in our whole course All our Faculties Bodies Souls 1 Cor. 6.19 20. What! know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy
another World they would sooner discern their mistake How miserably will you bewail your selves when you have lost Eternity for poor Temporal things What comfort will it be to you that you have been Merry lived in Pomp and Ease It is better to believe than try To prevent the misery than experiment it Now for means to help you Vse I. Frequent Recollection For thereby you come to your selves Luke 15.17 And when he came to himself he said How many Hired Servants of my Fathers have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with Hunger Many are so busie about their vanities that they cannot find that they are Men or think what business they have to do in the World nor where they must dwell for ever Self-communing would be an hopeful means to undeceive them Isa. 46.8 Remember this and shew your selves Men bring it again to mind O ye transgressors And elsewhere the Prophet sheweth what reasonings we should use with our selves Isa. 55.2 Surely this would be one means to wean you from Carnal Vanities and to deaden the Gust and Tast of them to your Souls most men debase their reason to the service of their Appetites and Lusts their pleasure and business is the pleasing and gratifying of the Flesh Rom. 13.14 All their care is to Eat well and Drink well to be well Fed and well Clad and to make a fair shew in the Flesh and live in Worldly Pomp All their business is to gather in provision for the satisfying of their present Lusts they spend their days and cares for nothing else which is that living after the Flesh Rom. 8.13 That sowing to the Flesh Gal. 5.8 which the Scripture condemneth And what is the reason of all this Because they are inconsiderate Never consider whence am I whither am I a going What shall become of me to all Eternity Psal. 119.59 I thought on my ways and turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies They are like Children hunting after Butter-flies and when they have them their gawdy Wings melt away in their Hands and there remaineth nothing but an ugly Worm The Worm of Conscience the Worm of Disappointment Oh recollect thy self is this to make Eternal things our scope 2. Let us often compare together the condition of the present and of the future Life All things that are liable to the view of Sense soon pass away whether Comforts or Crosses The Good and Evil of the present World are soon over accordingly should be our carriage towards them 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. Now consider how unreasonable it is the Soul should be drawn away by Transitory things from those which are Eternal The things we doat upon are not worthy to be compared with the greatness and duration of those things to which we are invited by the Promises of the Gospel It may be you have Health and Strength and Wealth now but how long will you have it We are not sure of the enjoyment of these things the next day How soon may they be withered The prosperity of the wicked is cut down as Grass withered as the Green Herb Psal. 37.2 But things unseen will be yours to all Eternity God is an everlasting Portion Psal. 73.26 My Flesh and my Heart faileth But God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Christ's Redemption is an everlasting redemption Heb. 9.12 He entred in once into the Holy place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us God and Christ will be yours to day and will be yours to all Eternity Those things which are seen if they do not perish may be taken from you Mat. 6.19.20 We are not sure to get it but you are sure to leave it Iob 1.21 But these other things cannot be taken from you Luke 10.42 One thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her The Devil cannot and God will not take it from you 3. Improve your experience of the vanity of this World Psal. 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandments are exceeding broad Vain light Hearts pass over these things and get no profit by them They find the Creature vanity and vexation of Spirit yet run out as greedily after it as they did before Psal. 49.13 This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings They are sensible of the folly of their Ancestors but are not mended by it they have Eyes to see but not an Heart to see Deut. 29.2 3 4. Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your Eyes in the Land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and to all his Servants and to all his Land The great Temptations which thine Eyes have seen the Signs and those great Miracles yet the Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to Hear unto this day 4. Be sure when you are tempted to revive this meditation upon your Hearts That things seen are Temporal and things unseen are Eternal As 1. When any Temptation cometh to draw your Hearts to give contentment to the Flesh for a season As for Instance when you are tempted to please your Eye your Taste your Sensual Desire or to wrong your Souls for Wealth and Honour remember these are not Eternal Pleasures Riches Honours And shall I dare run the hazard of wronging God or my Soul for a little present satisfaction Leave my fatness and sweetness to rule over the Trees What! hazard Eternal things for Temporal trifles 2. When tempted by the bitterness of the Cross to relent in Gods Cause Say as Basil's Forty Martyrs that were kept naked in the open Air in a cold Night to be burn'd next day Sharp is the cold but sweet is Paradice Troublesome is the Way but pleasant is the end of the Journey Let us endure a little cold and the Patriarchs Bosom will soon warm us Stephen saw Heaven opened and that fortified him against the Showers of Stones from the People Act. 7.51 'T is for such a season 5. Beg the light of the Spirit 'T is necessary for us both with respect to things seen and unseen 1. Seen That we may apprehend the vanity of the Creature Psal. 90.92 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psal. 49.4 I will incline mine Ear to a Parable I will open my dark saying upon the Harp David is describing the vanity of Worldly prosperity And also to see things unseen Eph. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of him The Eyes of your Vnderstanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the Hope of his âalling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Our Wisdom Natural is Carnal and Sensual Iam. 3.15 Either for Riches Pleasures or Honours Prov 23.4 Labour not to be Rich cease from thine own Wisdom Reason catereth for the Body
they subsist after Life and have a Being is their firm Perswasion And therefore are wont to assign to the dead part of the goods which they possessed And Acosta telleth us that in Peru they are wont to kill some of their Slaves to attend the dead in the World to come Thus in a manner all Nations have received this Tradition from hand to hand from their Ancestors and the nearer to the first Original of Mankind the more clear and pressing hath been the conceit hereof Lapse of time which decayeth all things hath not been able to deface it out of the Minds of Men who though they have been gradually depraved and degenerated according to the distance by which they have been removed from their first Originals yet they could never blot out the sense of an Estate after this Life An universal Tradition is some Argument when there can be no solid and indubitable Reasons brought to convince it of falsity Now such is this spread throughout the Universe and with extream forwardness received of all Nations and hath born up against all the encounters of Time and constantly maintained it self in the midst of so many Revolutions of Humane Affairs by which many other things were lost 2. All men have believed that there is a God and very few doubted but that He is a Rewarder of Virtue and Punisher of Vice Now neither the one nor the other is fully accomplished in this World even in the Judgment of those who have no great Knowledge of the Nature of Sin nor what Punishment is competent thereunto Therefore there must be some state after this Life in which this retributive Justice of punishing the Bad and rewarding the Good shall be manifested For here Providence seemeth to be darkned and the World is offended with the Calamities of the Good and Prosperity of the Wicked 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this Life only we have Hope in Christ Iesus we are of all men most miserable 3. If there be an end of man when he dieth Why is man afraid of Torments after Death Heb. 2.15 Deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to bondage Men fear Deaâh not as a natural Evil as it terminateth our present Comforts but as a Penal Evil as it is an Entrance to unknown Sorrows 1 Cor. 15.56 The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law What 's the Reason of these stings of Conscience which are never so sensible and quick as when they approach near Death or behold themselves in some imminent danger What are these but presaging fears which anticipate miseries after this life If there were an utter end of men these troubles should in Reason then vanish But this is the Time when these Alarums are redoubled and those Tempests increase their Violence 2. The Light of Christâanity doth much more discover it That 's properly a Doctrine of things unseen That telleth us of a Prison where are the Spirits of Wicked men 1 Pet. 3.19 Of a Palace or Mansions in our Fathers House where are the Spirits of Just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 On the one hand it telleth us of a Worm that never dieth of a Fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 On the other side of Joys that are at the right hand of God for evermore Psal. 16.11 That Christ died to free us from the wrath to come 1 Thess. â 10 And purchased Heaven for us 1 Thess. 5.10 And is gone to Heaven to seise upon it in our Name Iohn 14.2 3. Having first left a sure Promise of Eternal Life to all that believe in him 1 Iohn 2.25 Which âromise was outwardly confirmed by divers Miracles accompanying them that went abroad to make this offer in his Name Heb. 2.3 4. Inwarâly in the Hearts of his People by giving them the first fruits of this Everlasting Estate in their Union with himself Col. 1.27 And the Joys of his Spirit which are therefore said to be full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 These are Truths interweaved throughout the whole Body of Christianity Now discourse but with your selves 1. Parâly concerning the thing it self Partly 2. Concerning the certainty of your Hope 1. Concerning the certainty of the thing it self Is the whole Scripture false The Gospel a Fable Are all the Oracles of the Prophets the Doctrine of Christ his Miracles Resurrection Ascension but a Dream Were they all deceived that followed Christ upon these Hopes That took such pains in subduing the Flesh And hazarding their Interests freely upon the Hopes of another World Are the wisest sort of men the World ever saw Fools All the Ordinances of Christ a customary Superstition Is Grace a Fancy The Joys of the Spirit Delusions or phantastical Impressions These rejoicings and foretasts of the Children of God a meer Deceit and Imposture Surely it cannot be that all this Solemnity should be used to establish a vain Conceit 2. Excite and work up your own Faith and Hope Is there not a state of Blessedness reserved for me in the Heavens Invisible and Glorious things which I am bound to seek after Thou hast not Possession but thou hast the Grant the Deed of Gift sealed thou hast the Conveyance to shew Gods own Word and Promise to assure thee Yea 't is not nudum pactum God hath given thee the Earnest of a greater summ 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the Earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts What should I do then but look for it long for it and earnestly seek after it Use II. Is for Reproof 1. To the Incredulous and Unbelieving to whom all Invisible Things seem a Fancy Scoffing Atheists they will not believe there is an Heaven or an Hell till they see them In the face of the Visible Church there may be such and in the latter times there shall be many such 2 Pet. 3.4 But in Hell there are none such because then matters of Faith are matters of feeling and to their bitter cost they find the Truth of what they doubted of To these I shall say God hath always tried his People and distinguished them from others by respect to things not seen Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House by the which he condemned the World and became Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith By this he condemned the World at his costly Industry and care to frame an Ark but whilest he provided for his safety they perished in their Sins Must every thing be seen before we fear it or hope for it Why then do men provide for time to come so long before hand Why for Old-Age in Youth Why for Winter in Summer As the Industry of the Ant is recommended for our Imitation Prov. 6.6 7 8. Go to the Ant thou Sluggard consider her ways and be wise Which having no Guide Overseer or Ruler provideth her Meat in
a serious Christian. 2. Use. It reproveth those who if they have gotten such a measure of Grace whereby they think they may be assured they are in a state of Grace they never look further but set up their Rest and think hereafter Christ will make them perfect when they dye Consider 1. They hazard their Claim of Sincerity that do not aim at Perfection For where there is true Grace there will be a desire of the greatest Perfection as a small Seed will seek to grow up into a Tree He that is truly good will be growing from good to better and so is best at last the more his Light and Love is increased the more he is troubled about the Relicks of Sin and grieved at his heart that he can serve God no more perfectly 2. All Promises are accomplished by degrees And so far as we hope for any thing we will be endeavouring it 1 Iohn 3.3 Every man that hath this hope in him purifyeth himself even as he is pure 3. According to the degrees of Grace so will our Glory be The Vessel is filled according to its capacity They that are growing here have more in Heaven He that improved ten Talents hath a Reward proportionable and so he that improved five Matth. 25. As our measures of Grace are so will our measures of Glory be all according to their Size and Receptivity As there are degrees of Punishments in Hell so of Rewards in Heaven He that loved God more on Earth has more of his Love in Heaven 3. Use. It sheweth the miserable Estate of them that do not go from Strength to Strength but from Weakness to Weakness That wast their Strength by Sin that are fallen back and have lost the savouriness of their Spirits and their delight in communion with God and grow more careless and neglectful of holy Things weak in Faith impatient under the Cross formal in holy Duties their Heart is not watched their Tongue is not bridled their Conversation is more vain they wax worse and worse Oh! take heed of such a declining Estate When Men fall from their first Love Rev. 2.4 I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love First Faith 1 Tim. 5.12 Having damnation because they have cast off their first faith Or first Obedience 2 Chron. 17.3 The Lord was with Iehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father David David in his later time fell into scandalous Crimes 4. Use. Is to perswade you to go on from Strength to Strength It is the Gift of God's free Grace and the Work of the Spirit Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man By maintaining and actuating Grace notwithstanding all difficulties Motives 1. What a monstrous thing is it to be always Babes and Infants in Grace Heb. 5.12 13. For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness for he is a Babe After many years of growing to be a Babe still an Infant still is monstrous 2. Besides your entrance into Christianity there must be a progress There is the Gate and the Way Matth. 7.14 Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life Will you always keep at the Door and Entrance It is not enough to begin but you must finish what you have begun in the way of Mortification Heavenly-mindedness and Self-denial 3. All the Ordinances promote your Growth it is the Work of the Spirit but the Spirit doth it by the means of Grace We must not be idle and negligent but use the means as the Word 1 Pet. 2.2 As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby Every Duty giveth Christ a more hearty Welcome into your Souls but especially the Lord's Supper At the Table of the Lord we have our Spiritual Refreshings Our Initiation was by Baptism but our Growth by this Ordinance How doth this do it Partly as it increaseth our assurance of God's Love and so encourageth us in his Service Partly as we do more solemnly make use of Christ who is our Sanctification 1 Cor. 1.30 Partly as it doth excite unto more fruitfulness we being planted in the Courts of God and feasted at his Table and taking our Meal and Viaticum to encourage us in our Journey to Heaven 4. How many have thrived by less means Twice Christ marvelled at the Faith of the Centurion Matth. 8.10 He marvelled and said I have not found so great faith no not in Israel And at the Unbelief of his own Country-men Mark 6.6 He marvelled because of their unbelief One had so great a Faith and so little Means the other so little Faith and so great Means 5. You might more convert the World if you had more Grace and Holiness in your Hearts and did discover it more in your Conversations By your Purity Matth. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven The more we live holily the more we commend our Profession So by your Constancy and Courage 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you On their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified By your deadness to the Pleasures of the Flesh 1 Pet. 4.4 5. Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead By your Fidelity in your Relations The Apostle speaking of the faithful behaviour of Servants saith Tit. 2.10 Shewing all good fidelity that ye may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things What is the reason that the Hearts of Men are not more freely drawn out to the Doctrine of Christ Doubtless one reason is it wanteth adorning and beautifying by the carriage of its Professors They that carry themselves holily in their Relations they make Religion a beautiful lovely thing in the Eyes of the World 1 Pet. 3.1 Likewise ye Wives be in subjection to your own Husbands that if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the Wives That is preparatively induced Prejudices vanish at least 6. You harden the Wicked while you continue in your Weaknesses and are so like them so feeble in the resistance of Sin and the governing of your own Passions Appetites and Desires You should condemn the World as Noah Heb. 11.7 By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark to the
righteousness for the remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God Rom. 3.25 In him God will satisfie his justice and accept of the believing Penitent He spared not his Son that he might spare us Rom. 8.32 He that spareth not his own Son but delivered him up for us all Isa. 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand In the same verse Christ's Bruises and our Salvation are called the pleasure of the Lord. The Lord was willing of both and well content with both 3. His gracious Covenant which may be considered 1. As to the terms or conditions it requires 2. As to the Penalties which God hath reserved a Liberty to inflict 1. As to the Terms or Conditions propounded it requireth Perfection and accepteth of Sincerity It requires Perfection Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect Surely the Covenant of Grace requireth Perfection for the righteous Law is Adopted into the frame of it as the rule of our duty otherwise our defects were no Sins and otherwise allowed failings were consistent with sincerity and where shall we then stop otherwise we were not obliged to strive after perfection for it were only a work of Supererrogation not of necessary Duty to press towards the mark Therefore certainly it doth invite us to the highest degree of Goodness and maketh Perfection it self our Duty And there is Mercy in it that our Duty and Happiness may agree and we may not have liberty to be bad and miserable but ever bound to our own felicity which consisteth in an exact Conformity to God and the most perfect subjection to him But yet it accepteth of Sincerity If our Hearts be upright with God and set to obey please and glorify him and we make it our main work so to do God will not enter into judgments with his Servants nor be strict to his Children nor condemn those that Love and Fear him 2 Chron. 30.18 19 20. But Hezekiah prayed for them saying The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his Heart to seek God the Lord God of his Fathers though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary And the Lord hearkned to Hezekiah and healed the people Therefore he taketh not advantage of our infirmities to ruine us Indeed as the Covenant commandeth Perfection it noteth our infirmities to humble us in order to our cure but as it accepteth of Sincerity Christ looketh not to our Infirmities as a Judge but as a tender Physician to rid us of them and free us from them more and more 2. As to the Afflictions and Penalties which God hath reserved a liberty to inflict notwithstanding the new Covenant they all infer his sparing of us for they are but Temporal Evils when we have deserved Eternal and the Temporal Evil is sent to prevent Eternal It is true they are merited by our Sin but yet they turn to our good They are in themselves the effects of God's displeasure and parts of our Misery but by them he speaketh to the Conscience of a Sinner and sealeth Instruction to our Hearts that we no longer deal perversly for the rod hath a voice Micah 6.9 Hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it In short they are in themselves and in their own nature Evils of punishment but there property is changed and so they are acts of God's Faithfulness Psal. 119.75 I know O Lord that thy Iudgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me and they are sent to us as a needful Medicine Isa. 27.9 By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his Sin And are profitable acts of God's Fatherly Discipline Heb. 12.10 For they verily for a few days chastned us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holiness Mercy turneth them to our benefit 'T is our part to seek after the benefit it is God's part to give it and to remove the affliction and that is his sparing Hic ure hic seca modo in Aeternum parcas or Burn me or Cut me or do what thou wilt with me here so thou spare me as to Eternal punishment said one of the Ancients 4. From his comfortable relation to us He is our Father and a Father will not be severe to his Children partly out of Instinct of Nature which inclineth the Bruits to their Young ones till they can shift for themselves and partly from Reason which should guide Men they being our own Flesh Blood and Bone a New and Second self the Child is the Father Multiplied and the Father Continued And partly out of Conscience of God's Command who hath injoyned this Duty on Parents to be tender of their Children Now if God be our Father and will take the relation upon himself he will do whatever this relation implieth Psal. 103.13 Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth thosâ that fâar him Yea whatever is in the Creature is ascribed to God per modum Eminentiae By way of Eminency Tam Pater nemo No one is so much a Father as God Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good Gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him So in the present case 1. There is sparing as to acceptance A Father if there be any blemish in his Child he will pity it and cover it He accepteth in good part the willingness of his Son to serve him though he through weakness fail in the exact manner of performance So our Heavenly Father accepteth of a willing and honest Heart though we come short of that perfection required in the Law His choice Servants have had their blemishes yet their merciful Father giveth them this commendation that they have have walked before him with a perfect Heart So doth God to David Asa and Iehosaphat 1 King 15.5 David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing which he commanded him save only in the matter of Uriah The brand of that wilful sin sticketh upon him but other things are passed by 2. There is God's sparing as to Punishment and Correction It is true that God hath reserved a liberty to scourge his Children but still he doth it as a Father Heb. 12.6 For whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth To spare the Rod is to spoil the Child but still he useth it as a Father which is seen partly because he cometh to it unwillingly There are Tears in his Eyes as it were when the Rod is in his hand Lam. 3.33 He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men And partly because he doth it in measure and with great Moderation In chastising his people he dealeth otherwise with his People than
against the Soul as they bring a servitude and a brawn and a deadness upon the Heart Tit. 3.3 We our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures c. As we are apt to love them more than God 2 Tim. 3.4 Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God As they bring a brawn and a deadness upon the Heart and so make it uncapable of that sweet consolation which the Spirit worketh in us 2. When the Heart is mortified and subdued to God there is no such pleasure as the contempt of Bodily pleasures Quam suave mihi subito factum est carere suavitatibus nugarum How sweet is it to me to want the sweetness of these trifles In some diseases it 's a pleasure to eat Dust when the disease is cured it 's abhorred as a filthy thing It is our distemper that leaveth the carnal rellish so strong upon us get rid of your distemper and you will be ashamed of your brutish satifactions it is a diseased Mind that looks after them 1 Use. To remove prejudice Men usually judge Wisdoms ways to be sower and bitter whereas they yield great joy and pleasure to those that walk in them Here is peace for their Consciences and pleasantness to satisfie their Affections Who live the pleasant life they that walk upon the brink of Hell every moment or they who being justified by Faith are made Heirs of Eternal life who look every day when God will translate them into his immediate Presence They that satisfie their Lusts by breaking God's Law or they that provide for the Peace of their Consciences by observing and keeping it Who are like to be most satisfied in their Object they that love a vain uncertain world or they that live in the love of God If Men would but come and try what it is indeed to believe in Christ to live in the love of God and the hope of Eternal life their prejudices would be soon confuted Object But you will say your Spiritual delight is but a fancy it seemeth to be hard to forsake what I see what I feel what I taste what I love for a God and a Glory which I do not see and it may be never shall see I Answer It is no wonder How can you see when you have no Eyes Faith is the eye of the Soul Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and ver 27. By faith he forsook Aegypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible 2 Pet. 1.9 Whom having not seen ye love in whom tho' now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory And how can you hope to see while you are carnal and your Hearts do not suit with these things or ever experienced this Joy But beg the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Eph. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and return you to him Illumination and Inclination conduce both to your cure For this Holy Delight cannot be forced nor drawn forth by bare Commands and Threatnings When the attractive goodness of the Object is represented by the Spirit the Heart must be suited to it and then you will find this joy 2. Use. To reprove two sorts of People 1. Those that can find no pleasure in an Holy life that is no ground of pleasure Is not God a delectable Object Is not Salvation by Christ a delightful speculation or such a Glorious Mystery as cannot be found elsewhere Are not the promises of Heaven comfortable things If a Man should adopt you into the succession of a Crown VVould it not please you And is not God's promise more sure Is not Communion with God a pleasing exercise Heathens pretended to Secresie with their gods as the greatest Felicity Needeth a Christian pretend it Hath he not liberty to open his Heart in secret Do you ever come from your Sports with such a chearful Soul as you come from your Duties Many have repented of their carnal Mirth never any of their Godly Sorrow VVhich is better to fill the body with Diseases which is the part gratified by Sin and is more Wasted than Gratified or to enrich the Soul with Graces To deny the clamours of the Flesh or the importunities of Conscience Or which is all one to offer Violence to our Lusts or to our Consciences 2. It reproveth them that live as if there were no pleasure in a course of Holiness When others go merrily to Hell will you go drooping to Heaven I pray whose Work are you about Whither doth your Journey tend Are you sad because you have left Sathan's service Was he a good Master to you Or because it is now a part of your business to tame and subdue the Flesh Will that yield any thing more satisfying than the love of God It could yield you nothing but Vain Pleasure that when gone is but as a Wind nay it proves a Whirlwind in the Conscience or is it because you have renounced the World Is not Heaven better Is God wanting in such Wordly supplies as are necessary for you Or is it because you thrive no more in holy Endeavours Is not God's Grace sufficient for you Was he ever backward to do you good whilst you were labouring and striving to approve your selves to him Hold up your hearts the way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10.29 3. Use. To press you to make trial Resolve upon an holy and heavenly course and then you are in the ways of Wisdom Psal. 34.8 O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him Trust him upon his Promises before all be confirmed to you upon Experience To this end consider 1. We invite to Pleasure not to Labour or to Labour seasoned with Pleasure And Pleasure is the lure that draweth all the world By sensitive Pleasure men are perverted Iam. 1.14 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed By holy pleasure he is perfected 2. We invite you not to pleasure only in another world but pleasure during service Psal. 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of Life in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore But now that we may not be tired with expectation There is pleasure not only in the end but in the way and path 3. We invite you to Continual Pleasure Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord always and again I say rejoyce In Worldly Joys there are vicissitudes and subalternations Now we rejoyce and anon we weep there is joy when a Child
Psal. 17.14 15. From men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life and whose Belly is fill'd with the hid treasure they are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their Babes But as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Men are dazled with the splendour of Worldly Happiness and think it a fine thing to be well fed and well clad and well attended but this is all for them and theirs and shall we Envy them for this That they have more for Back and Belly than we have a little pomp of living especially when such great things be provided for us in Christ. Alass what is a more plentiful Table to the Everlasting fruition of God The Pomp of the World to the Honour Christ will put on us at the day of Judgment when he shall be admired in his Saints The favour of Princes to seeing God face to face Vain Glory to Everlasting Glory Their momentary Pleasures which pass away suddenly as a Dream to that Everlasting pleasure at God's Right hand A little Decking and Adorning of the Body to be satisfied with his likeness and to walk with God in White 2. Present Enjoyments Here I take in the notion of the Text his secret is with the righteous There is some difference what should be meant by the secret of the Lord. Sometimes it noteth 1 Spiritual Illumination or the knowledge of God's Will Psal. 25 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him he will teach them his Covenant They know more of God's mind than others do and they know it not only Literally but Spiritually That is by the lively light of the Spirit not Disciplinarily Now this is a great favour that God doth so love them that he doth admit them to his Arcana Iohn 15.15 I have called you Friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you 'T is a greater Evidence of God's Friendship to understand his Counsel in the Word and to be acquainted with the Mysteries of Godliness than all the Success Power and greatness of the World Christ gave his Spirit to the rest of the Apostles but his Purse to the Son of Perdition Some have Knowledge and Eminent Gifts others Wealth and Honour yea though they which increase Knowledge increase Sorrow yet the knowledge of a despised hated truth though it expose us to sufferings is better than to flourish in opposition against the ways of God through our ignorance obstinacy and blind prejudice And will you that are directed in the way of Salvation advanced to know God and the tenour of his Will far more than the Blind Carnal Careless World Envy them that are only acquainted with Christianity as a Report or Tradition calculated and formed to to a Worldly Interest 2. The secret of the Lord may intend not only direction in our Duty but Satisfaction about God's Dispensations for our Consolation in all Afflictions God helpeth them to interpret his Providence better than others called the secrets of Wisdom Iob. 11.6 And should the Saints whose Graces make them so sharp and Engaged that know more of God's mind than others in these very dealings which are so troublesome and offensive to them should they envy the Oppresâor and be so discontented to suffer a little that have more skill than others to look into God's ways and consider the course of his proceedings 3. Secret may imply the visible Blessings of God's Providence so 't is said Iob. 29.34 The secret of the Lord was upon my Tabernacle The singular Love God bore to him did preserve him and did guide him and his Family and made all his Affairs prosper Psal. 31.20 God shall hide them in the secret of his presence When they seem to be left open as a prey to the oppressions and injuries of their potent Adversaries yet there is a secret guard upon them and they are kept the World knoweth not how Now should such that are hedged round about with the guard of a secret Blessing leave their refuge for the defence of a little Interest in the World which God hateth and can soon blow upon Psal. 91.1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty 4. Secret may note the intimate familiarity that is between God and them and that inward Consolation which they have with God in a course of Holiness which is hidden from the World 1 Iohn 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him Many secret Refreshings visits of Love expressions of Grace are bestowed upon them Now have such any cause to envy others They that walk with God meet him at every turn are so often comforted and quickned by the manifestations of God and the influences of his Grace Psal. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness The Psalmist preferreth his present condition before the greatest happiness of carnal men because he had opportunities of beholding the Face of God or enjoying the Comforts of his Presence This is as if a Child fed with Manchet should envy a Slave for being fed with the Bread of Sorrows 3 The Nature and mischievous effects of this envy For 't is not so tame an evil as the world doth imagine 1. It disposeth to fretting or murmuring against God's Holy Providence Psal. 37.1 Fret not thy self because of evil doers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity Prov. 24.19 Fret not thy self because of evil men neither be thou envious at the wicked It notes a certain taxing of God's Providence as if he did not rightly Govern the World 1. It tempteth to Apostacy from God's ways to the ways of the wicked That 's in the Text clearly Envy not the oppressor and chuse none of his ways implying that this emulation of their Happiness will draw you to cry up a Confederacy with them and to enter into their Lot and Net Prov. 24.1 Be not thou envious against evil men neither desire to be with them When we admire their Happiness it secretly inticeth our Hearts to take share and lott with them A Man is perverted by this Envy it weakneth our fear of God our value of Spiritual Blessings expectation of things to come and diligence in God's Service 3. It implieth and includeth many ill Principles which tend directly to the weakning of Faith Hope and Piety 1. It implyeth or includeth this Principle or Opinion That the felicity of a Man consisteth in these external good things which the wicked enjoy which is an error destructive to Godliness For change a Man's
therefore either glut themselves with Carnal Delights and are always making provision for the flesh to fullfil the Lust thereof Rom. 13.14 Cater for the Body but neglect the Soul or else they seek to joyn House to House and Field to Field Isai. 5.8 or to be built a story higher in the World They are of the Earth and incline to the Earth and therefore Earthly things are the height of their desires and they are filling and stuffing their Hearts with the Comforts of them more and more This is the Comfort they live upon the Happiness they effect The Godly Man he must be satisfied too He is a poor empty Creature and therefore is Hungring and Thirsting after righteousness that he may be filled Matth. 5.6 He must have more of God and more of Christ and more of Grace and therefore he is sucking and drawing and can never be satisfied till he be filled up with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.19 III. That they may be filled they take their several ways the one his own ways the other God's direction For of the Backslider it is said he shall be filled with his own ways He despiseth God's Counsel and taketh his own course to live a pleasant and Carnal Life here So by the same proportion the good Man that hath chosen God for his Portion taketh God's way and obeyeth the call and invitation of Wisdom First The Backslider in Heart shall be filled with his own ways That is such as suit with his own Carnal Heart 1. Naturally a Man is addicted to Carnal things more than Spiritual and to Worldly Vanity rather than Heavenly Enjoyments to the Creature rather than to God Why 1. Because they are in part necessary for our uses and so the natural Appetite desireth them as well as the inordinate Appetite which is corrupted by Sin Prosperity Plenty Wealth Honour Ease Pleasure are good for us if subordinated to Grace and better things Wisdom with an Inheritance is good Eccle. 7.11 And again Eccle. 5.18 'T is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his laâours that he taketh under the Sun all the days of his life for it is his portion But alass Men are apt to exceed their bounds and become Enchanted with the false Happiness so that they neglect the true and sit down contented with their Worldly Portion and God and Eternity are little thought of or cared for 2. They are comfortable to our senses The sweetness of Wealth Honour and Pleasure is known by feeling and therefore known easily and known by all Now whilst the Soul dwelleth in the Flesh and looketh out by the Senses we soon receive the Teint which ariseth from sensible objects All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and pride of Life is not of the Father but is of the World 1 Iohn 2.16 3. They are suitable to our Fancies and Appetites For they that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 Every ones gust and tast is according to his Constitution 4. These Things are near us present with us and ready to be enjoyed whereas Spiritual and Heavenly Things are unseen and afar off But he that lacketh these Things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins 2 Pet. 1.9 2. What is the issue of all this They love a Worldly a Sensual and Ungodly Life and 1 Religion is sleighted and neglected They live in an Oblivion of God The Wicked through the pride of his Countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal. 10.4 The offers of Grace and Eternal Life are not regarded All Things are ready come unto the Marriage but they made light of it and went their ways one to his Farm another to his Merchandise Mat 23.4.5 2 Yea Religion and Godliness is cast off and Trampled upon For Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present World 2 Tim. 4.10 3 Or else opposed and persecuted and by none more than by those that once had some sense and tast of it Apostatae sunt maximi osores sui ordinis The Revolters are profound to make slaughters Hosea 5.2 By plausible pretences it is palliated and Counsels are laid deep to extirpate the Godly Apostates are most cruelly oppressive 4. Or if it be kept up it is only to hide and feed their Lusts making a Market of Religion and denying the power under the form of Godliness Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof 2 Tim. 3.5 And the Apostle speaketh of some that supposed gain to be Godliness 1. Tim. 6.5 That is made Religion an advantageous Trade When thou dost thine Alms do not sound a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the Streets that they may have glory of men Matth. 6.2 They did it to be seen of Men And Luke 16.15 And he said unto them ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your Hearts for what is highly esteemed among men is Abomination in the sight of God 5. They lead a life of pomp and ease wallowing in all manner of Sin and Sensuality as the Carnal Rich Men are described Iames 5.1 2 3 4 5 verses to be such as lived in all Voluptuousness Uncleannness and Oppression These are the ways from whence do they suck all their pleasure and contentment and therewith glut and fill themselves more and more some in a more gross others in a more cleanly manner Secondly It is implyed that the good Man seeketh God's direction for he is opposed to him that despiseth God's Counsels Now God giveth this Counsel by his word and spirit 1. In the Word In the Scripture God hath shewed us true Happiness and the way to it which was a secret and a Riddle to the World before True Happiness is but one Thing but the World seeketh it in many Things Two Hundred Eighty Eight Opinions were reckoned up and none lighted upon the Truth and therefore we run about and weary our selves in a maze of uncertainty How long wilt thou go about O backsliding Daughter Ier. 31.22 Experience will tell us that nothing in the Creature will make us completely Blessed 'T is but labour in vain to seek it there Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Isa. 55.2 And the many Religions in the World prove not the Remedy of Mankind but the Disease Only in Christ's Religion is the True rest and ease and repose of Souls Ier. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your Souls Matth. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and
their Broach was fashioned to the shape of a Cross a transverse piece of Wood thrust through the Shoulders of the Lamb and why should we not believe this Holy Man who was well acquainted with the Jewish affairs being born at Sychem Besides the notable Providence of God that Christ's Legs should not be broken 3. The fruits and benefits of this Sacrifice 1. By the sprinkling the Blood of the Lamb he that destroyeth the first born of the Aegytians could not touch them Heb. 11 28. This secured them against the destroying Angel to teach us that the justice of God doth only spare them whose Consciences are sprinkled with the Blood of Christ. The Blood of the Lamb and the Blood of Christ was shed for this end that it might be sprinkled and being sprinkled might exempt and free us from Death So the Apostle St. Peter speaketh of the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus by which the Elect are sanctified and saved 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Iesus Christ. There was not only Blood shed but Blood sprinkled so Heb. 12.24 And to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel God said of the blood of the Paschal Lamb Exod. 12.23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Aegyptians and when he seeth the blood upon the Lintel and on the two side posts the Lord will pass over the Door and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you So when Wrath maketh inquisition for Sinners God beholding his Sons Blood wherewith the Elect are sprinkled they are exempted from the Curse wherein others have intangled and involved themselves for saith the Apostle Paul Rom. 5.9 Being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him So that we need not fear the Sword of the destroying Angel whither he be an Angel of Darkness or an Evil Angel for God hath delivered us from the power of Darkness by the Blood of his Son Col. 1.13 or an Heavenly Angel by the same blood he hath reconciled all things unto himself both in Heaven and in Earth Col. 1.20 Those Angels which were heretofore set as a guard upon the Earthly Paradise with a Flaming Sword to keep us out from thence do carry us into the Heavenly Paradise Luke 16.22 The Begger died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom and are Ministring Spirits sent forth for the Heirs of Promise not to destroy them but to keep them and preserve them Heb. 1.14 Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation 2. In that very Night in which the Paschal Lamb was slain the Israelites obtained their freedom and deliverance out of Aegypt So hath Christ by his Blood freed us from the slavery of Sin the Devil and the World and called us into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God 1 Cor. 7.23 Ye are bought with a price be not ye the Servants of Men. So Heb. 2.15 That he might deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to Bondage And Iohn 8.36 If the Son therefore shall make you free ye shall be free indeed We are redeemed unto God as they went into the Wilderness to worship God 3. In that very Night God exercised Judgments on the Gods of the Aegytians So it is said Exod. 12.12 Against all the Gods of the Aegyptians will I exercise Iudgment And it is repeated Numb 33.4 For the Aegyptians buried all their first born which the Lord had smitten among them upon their Gods also the Lord executed Iudgments Some say by slaying the Beasts which the Aegyptians Worshipped as the Oxe Ionathan in his Paraphrase saith that all their Idols of Metal melted and their Idols of Stone and Earth were broken in pieces and their Idols of Wood were burned to Ashes whether this or that we cannot tell because the Scripture is silent but surely these threatnings were not in vain and wanted not there certain effect Certain we are that by the blood of Christ the Devils Kingdom goeth down Iohn 12.31 32. Now shall the Prince of this World be cast out And I if I be lifted up from the Earth will draw all men unto me As Christ's Kingdom goeth up the Idols are thrown to the Moles and to the Bats Isa. 2.20 And God will famish all the Gods of the Earth Zeph. 2.11 And in the 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your Fothers But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot The blood of Christ fetcheth over men from their inveterate Customs and Superstitions And Rev. 12.11 They overcame by the blood of the Lamb. And 1 Iohn 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 4. How shall we be partakers of those good things which come to us from the Lamb of God Two things were required of these Israelites that they should sprinkle the blood of this Lamb upon the Lintel and the two side Posts And then eat his flesh in an Holy and Religious manner and if any of the Israelites had neglected either of these he had refused the grace annexed to this Ordinance and so lost the benefit of it So if we neglect the means by which Christ is to be applyed we lose our benefit by him 1. They were to sprinkle the Lintel and the two side Posts of their doors At another time God gave them direction to write his Law on the door Posts Deut. 11.20 Thou shalt write them upon the door Posts of thy house and upon thy gates Which I mention that we may the better understand what is meant by them By these Door Posts are meant our Hearts for these God sprinkleth with the blood of his Son Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience And upon these hearts of ours doth he write his Laws Ier. 31.32 I will put my law in their Inward parts and write it in their hearts For the Hearts of Men are as open to God as the Doors of our Houses are to our selves Now our hearts are sprinkled with the blood of Christ when we firmly believe that God is propitiated by the blood of Christ and will spare all those who in a broken Hearted manner sue out their pardon in Christ's name unfeignedly devoting themselves to God Oh than Let every one of us get our hearts sprinkled with the blood of Christ and apply it to our Consciences and say with the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.15 Iesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners of whom I am chief And again Gal. 6.14 God forâid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the World
your Redemption 2 Use Hath Christ taken upon him to carry away Sin Then here is Instruction 1. To the Careless Certainly he that seeketh after benefit by Christ must be one that is not a Stranger to himself one that knoweth and is acquainted with the case of his own Heart and Life one that is sensible of his Sins and corrupt Inclinations and the guilt and burden that lieth upon him one that mourneth under the fears of God's displeasure Will Christ ease a Man of a Burden that he feeleth not A sensless sleepy Soul hath not Work for Christ to do He inviteth those that see a need of Mercy Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest 2. To those who are afflicted in Conscience for Sin Remember you must be not only sensible of the guilt of Sin but the stain of it and look after not only Peace but Healing Isa. 53.5 With his stripes we are healed It is not a sound Cure that aimeth only at the asswaging of the Grief but the Distemper must be removed Mountebanks only stop the Pain but let alone the Cause such a Cure would they have who are more earnest for Ease and Comfort than for Grace Sin in some sense is worse than Damnation Remember then this is the Undertaking of our blessed Redeemer will he come in vain and miss of his End Consider the Merit of his Humiliation what a Price he hath paid for sanctifying Grace 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot This Price was not given only to heighten our Esteem of the Priviledge but to encrease our Confidence And consider the Power of his Exaltation Acts 3.26 God having raised up his son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Having paid our Ransom he is gone into Heaven fully furnished and impowred to free from Sin all that consent to receive this Benefit But what shall we do that we may have the actual Benefit 1. Seek the Pardon of Sin in the way of Repentance confessing your Sins with brokeness of Heart 1 Iohn 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Sue out his Grace and turn to the Lord. Repentance lieth not in a feigned Wish only that Sin had not been done but in a change of Mind Heart and Life in a hatred to Sin repented of and a love to God and Holiness Man's Fall was specially in point of Love and his Recovery must be a Recovery of Love to God again Your Love to Sin must be turned into an Hatred of Sin the Soul must be not only turned from Sin but against it Repentance is most seen in our Love and Hatred 2. Seek the subduing of Sin in a diligent use of Means There is a Spirit purchased by Christ to begin the Life of Grace and to carry it on with success to heal and renew our Natures and to strengthen them being heal'd and renew'd Now we must not by our carelesness negligence or other Sin provoke the Lord to withdraw from us and suspend his Grace but humbly implore his Favour wait for his Approaches and attend and obey his sanctifying Motions God is willing to give the Spirit to them that ask him as a Father is to give an hungry Child bread Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him We make our selves uncapable of this help by grieving the Spirit Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption When we are so easie to the Requests of Sin and so deaf to his Motions he ceaseth to give us warning There are certain Ordinances whereby this Grace is conveyed to us and Christ died to sanctifie them to us Eph. 5.25 26. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word These Ordinances are the Word and Sacraments by the use of which Sin receiveth a new wound The Word is for cleansing the Soul Iohn 15.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you Baptism must be improved for the washing away of Sin Acts 22.16 Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins A Man forgetteth his Baptism that is neglecteth it if he be not purged from Sin 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins That is he hath made no use and received no benefit by his Baptism In the Lord's Supper we remember the Death of Christ as the Price given for the Life of our Souls as a Spectacle that may affect us with the Odiousness of Sin as an occasion of renewing our Covenant with God and binding our selves afresh to his service and as a means to stir up our Love to God and so by consequence our hatred of Sin Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil And to awaken our hopes and so of purifying the Soul 1 Iohn 3.3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure Here is delivered to the believing Soul a sealed Pardon of all Sin Matth. 26.28 This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins And we wait for the Application of his mortifying and renewing Grace 3. If the first Attempt succeed not yet afterwards Sin may be subdued and broken In natural Things we do not sit down with one Tryal and one Endeavour a Man that will be rich pierceth himself through with many Sorrows 1 Tim. 4.10 and after many miscarriages pursue their Designs till they compleat them and shall we give over our waiting and striving because we cannot presently find success That sheweth our Will is not fully bent and set upon the thing we seem to desire In the face of Discouragements we must venture again Luke 5.5 Master we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing nevertheless at thy command I will let down the neâ God's Grace is free and his holy Leisure must be waited for it was long e're God got us to this pass to be sensible of our Burden or anxiously solicitous about our Soul Distempers We must lie at the Pool for cure the Spirit bloweth when and where it listeth Iohn 3.8 The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the spirit He that begun the
the Original of that Altar which Paul saw with this Inscription To the unknown God Acts 17.23 I have brought this account to shew you that all Evil is sent by God and his Hand must be acknowledged in it or else Religion will fall to the ground When the Disciples were terrified in a great storm Christ cometh walking upon the Waters and telleth them Be of good chear it is I be not afraid Mark 6.50 They thought it was a Spectre but Christ saith It is I. In short the Author of all the Annoyances and Afflictions that befalleth us in this Life is God their End is Repentance their Cause is Sin and this well thought of will silence all our Murmurings II. That it is a great advantage to Patience when we can consider him not as an angry Judge but as a gracious Father The Cup which Christ drank off was very bitter and yet he saith The cup which my father hath given me Now every one cannot apply this Comfort for many are not so much as in a visible relation to God and others that visibly live in his Family yet are not owned and acknowledged by him as his dear Children rather counted Bastards than Sons as the Apostle speaketh Heb. 12.7 8. If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisements whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons Not legitimate but degenerate Children Others have a special relation to God such as is between Father and Children 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be unto you a father and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty These have an Interest in his dearest Love and a Right to his choicest Benefits and they shall know it by his Fatherly dealing with them Now to such this Comfort properly belongeth for though God may punish and afflict others yet he cannot be said to chastise them as a Father but as an angry Judge he doth punish them for their Offences and Rebellions Therefore if you would apply this Comfort you must clear up your Interest enter into Covenant with him and sincerely believe in Christ and devote your selves to him that he may be your God and Father But because Being and Seeing are two things and many that are the Children of God may not know themselves to be so therefore I shall 1. State this Matter 2. Shew what an advantage it is to Patience First I shall state this Matter in these Considerations 1. God is a Father by Creation or Adoption 1. In a more general Respect by Creation as Adam is called The son of God Luke 3.38 So Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one father Hath not one God created us God is more our Father than our natural Parents are they concur to our Beings but instrumentally but God originally It is God that formeth us in the Womb we are his Workmanship not our Parents both as to Body and Soul As to the Body Psal. 119.73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me They know not whether the Child be Male or Female Beautiful or Deformed they cannot tell the number of the Bones Muscles Veins and Arteries which God hath framed in such a curious and exact Order But for the Soul which is the better part of Man that is of his immediate Creation therefore God is called The father of spirits Heb. 12.9 They do not run in the Channel of Carnal Generation or Fleshly Descent In this general sense by virtue of Creation God is the Father of all Men good and bad which though it give Cod a Title to our Love Service and Honour yet it giveth us no Interest in his special Benefits or the Fruits of his Fatherly Love it moveth God not to stir up all his Wrath against them yet not to bestow Saving Grace his Favour and Image upon them 2. More especially and in a more comfortable sense there is a more peculiar sort of Men to whom God is a Father by Adoption and they are his dear Children This Title is not by Nature but by Grace the Foundation of it was laid in the Election of God Eph. 1.5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Iesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will But before this Decree could be executed and take place the redemption of Christ was necessary for we read Gal. 4.4 5. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons Sin needed to be expiated by the Son of God in our Nature before God would bestow this Honour upon any of Mankind Christ was to take a Mother upon Earth that we might have a Father in Heaven Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 2.14 15. And besides this Grace is applied to us by the Spirit who by his effectual Operation bringeth us into a state of Love and Sonship As a Father by Creation he giveth us our natural Endowments as a Father by Adoption he giveth us the supernatural Grace of the Spirit to sanctifie and change our Hearts for Regeneration and Adoption always go together Iohn 1.12 13. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God And by the new Nature put into us we are brought into this new State and Relation Gal. 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father The Soul that was shy of God then inclineth to him as our Lord that we may honour love and obey him and as our Happiness that we may seek after him and live in Communion with him And lastly the Act on our part that we may be received into the number of God's Children is an owning and acknowledging Christ to all the ends and purposes for which God hath appointed him if we really entertain him as sent by God to be our Lord and Saviour we are advanced to this Dignity Iohn 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name This of the Priviledge 2. You having received this Grace it is your duty to get it evidenced that you may maintain a comfortable sense of your Adoption It is evidenced by the dwelling and working of the holy Spirit in you Rom. 8.16 The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are
the children of God He witnesseth objectively and effectively Per modum Argumenti per modum Efficientis Causa By way of Argument and by way of Causal Efficiency Objectively if I have the Spirit of God framing my Heart to love and honour and fear and obey him and delight in câmmunion with him surely I am a Child of God for where these are sincere love to God prevaileth 1 Iohn 4 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit There he speaketh of Love to God and so for Honour it is else but an empty Title Mal. 1.6 If I then be a father where is mine honour If I be a master where is my fear So for Fear or Child-like Reverence that we dare not offend him Psal. 103.13 As a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him His Children and those that fear him are equivalent Expressions 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye call on the father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear I illustrate by that Ier. 35.6 And they said we will drink no wine for Ionadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying Ye shall drink no wine neither ye nor your sons for ever So for Obedience 1 Pet. 1.14 As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance Eph. 5.1 Be ye followers of God as dear children So for delighting in communion with him Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father Gal. 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba father This ãâã most felt in Prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications Rom. 8.26 Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Jude 20. But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost Here we have the nearest familiarity with God whilst we dwell in the Flesh and our Souls are carried to God as light Bodies move upward This is the matter of the Evidence but the Spirit giveth a sight or sense of this if he be not grieved and ill treated but his sanctifying Motions be obeyed he sheddeth abroad the Love of God in our Hearts and filleth us with much Joy and Peace 3. If this be faithfully done and there be no other reason to break our Confidence the bare Affliction or the greatness and grievousness of your Afflictions should not For these sharp Afflictions are not only consistent with this Relation as the Instance of Christ sheweth but also it is an act of his Fatherly Love and Discipline The Exhortation speaketh to us as Children Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. Ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons God's Children must look to be chastened neither must our Father's hand be slighted nor must we faint under it It is an act of love and kindness to us that he will not suffer us to go on in our Sins God seemeth to cast off them whom he leaveth to their own Hearts lusts Hosea 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone But he loveth whom he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth The Rod of Correction will not wholly be laid aside while God's Children are in the Flesh In Heaven where there are no Dangers there is no use of it any more because then we are fully and perfectly sanctified but here you must be content to submit to the discipline of the Family Certainly you must not question his Love because something falleth out contrary to your desires God is a Father when he frowneth and when he smileth he is the God of the Valleys as well as of the Hills and Mountains his Love doth not alter with our condition the comfort of Adoption is not for such a time only 4. Because of our imperfection both in Holiness and Comfort we must submit to the Authority of a Father when we cannot see our Interest in his special Fatherly Love Alas most are so ill settled in the Peace and Comfort of the Gospel that every notable Affliction reviveth our guilty Fears as the Sareptan said to Elijah when her Child died Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son 1 King 17.18 She looked upon that sad Providence as a Judgment for her Sins so if God awakeneth in us a Spirit of Bondage Besides there is none of us but may justifie God that he is not needlesly severe yea some have so sinned that though they be not Filii irae Children of Wrath yet they are Filii sub irâ Children under Wrath though they need no Regeneration or Conversion yet they have grieved the good Spirit of God by walking inordinately therefore their business is to submit to the Authority of God justly correcting and punishing them for Sins Micah 7.9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him And by unfeigned Repentance to renew their Claim and promise greater Loyalty and Fidelity for the future Ier. 3.19 Thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me They must get their Wounds healed make up the Breach between God and them sue out their Pardon in the name of Christ and get a renewed Grant of it and a sense of their Adoption 5. If hitherto you have been quite Strangers to God such Providences may be an occasion to begin the Relation before they are over as they are helps to Repentance and Recovery Upon the serious working of your Souls the Lord may be found as a Father and admit you into his Family It is said The Lord loveth whom he chasteneth Heb. 12 6. There is a twofold Love in God the Love of Benevolence and the Love of Complacency the one while we are Sinners the other after he hath made us amiable Some God chooseth in the Fire or Furnace of Affliction Isa. 48.10 Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction The hot Furnace is God's Workhouse the most excellent Vessels of Honour are formed there Manasseh Paul the Iaylor in the Acts When the Prodigal began to be in
want he thought of returning to his Father Luke 15.17 18 19. if our Ears be opened to Discipline we can own God in the humbling though not the comfortable way Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son Many that were never serious before are brought to bethink themselves in their Afflictions 1 King 8.47 48. Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives and repent and make supplications unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives saying We have sinned and have done perversly we have committed wickedness And so return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul. The Doors of God's Family are always open to believing Penitents and it is a Fatherly Providence at last Secondly What an advantage is it to Patience and submission to God 1. God's Fatherly Relation sheweth his Love to us and so we know that by all his Chastisements he doth but seek our spiritual and eternal Good Heb. 12.9 10. We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Children though they take it ill to be beaten by others yet they take it patiently when beaten for their faults by their Parents who under God are the cause of their Being and Maintenance and ever in correcting seek their good much more should we submit to our Heavenly Father Earthly Parents may err wanting Wisdom or being blinded with Passion and so their Chastisements are arbitrary and irregular But there is more of Compassion than Passion in God's Rod all cometh from purest Love and is regulated by perfect Wisdom and tendeth to the highest End even our Holiness and Happiness 2. It inferreth great Love from us to God again No owning of God is allowed but the Practical owning of him and therefore none own God as a Father but those that love him as a Father Now love God once and nothing that he doth will be grievous to us for as Love sweetneth Duties so it sweetneth Providences It cometh from my Father that doth not only bespeak Reverence or Submission Numb 12.14 If her father had but spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven days but welcom any thing should be well taken at his hand III. It well becometh his People to endure willingly whatever God calleth them unto 1. From God His Sovereignty and Power He is too great to be questioned Iob 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him Who will say unto him What dost thou His Justice He is too just to do us wrong Iob 34.23 For he will not lay upon man more than is right that he should enter into judgment with God There is Guilt enough in every one to silence us Psal. 119.137 Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy judgments His Goodness He is too good to do us harm he knoweth how to recompense us Psal. 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted Nothing but Good can come from him who is Goodness and Love it self His Wisdom and Faithfulness he will afflict us no more than need requireth or will exceed our strength 1 Pet. 1.6 Wherein ye greatly rejoyce though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations 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 what you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it 2. With respect to Christ whose Example should be of force to us both for Suffering and patience in Suffering For Suffering there is a certain measure of Affliction fitted and prepared for Christ and all his Followers the bitter Cup goeth round from hand to hand the whole Wave dashed upon Christ some Drops light upon us Col. 1.24 Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the Church And for patience in Suffering Heb. 12.2 3. Looking unto Iesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despised the shame and is sate down at the right hand of the throne of God For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself least ye be wearied and faint in your minds 1 Pet. 2.21 Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps And Vers. 23. Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously He hath trod the way before us and his steps drop fatness Matth. 20.23 Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father There are two things if any would be nearer in Dignity to Christ than others it is not in reigning but in suffering with Christ in drinking Christ's Cup but for Preferment in another World and to have a larger measure of Honour that is given to those for whom it is appointed We are to prepare for the Cross. The other is the New Covenant engageth us hereunto for there is an Allusion to the Sacraments Therefore Christ useth these Notions 1 Use Sheweth what Provision the Christian Religion maketh for Patience Rom. 15.4 For whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope This Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures is a higher thing than what is learnt by the Institutions of Philosophy Tam in ipsis falsa erat patientia quà m falsa sapientia Cypr. Both their Patience and their Wisdom is false The Grounds of Patience from the Christian Religion are particular Providence Adoption the Example of Christ the Assistance of the Spirit the Desert of Sin the Fruit of Afflictions both as to the refining of Grace and preparing us for Glory Heb. 12.11 Now no chastening for the presânt seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby 2 Vse To exhort us to bear whatsoever God shall lay upon us 1. Seek this Grace of God both the Wisdom and the Power to calm the Spirit Col. 1.11 Strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness Jam. 1.5 If any of you lack wisdom let him ask it of God Man's
forsake their Sins and fly unto him for Mercy He seeks for Pardon for them that sought it not and considereth not so much what they deserved as what became himself and the Riches of his Grace They curse and he blesseth they vomit our Scorns and Slanders but he poureth out Prayers to God for them 2. That all Sins even the greatest except that against the Holy-Ghost are pardonable What greater Sin could there be than crucifying the Lord of Glory yet upon Repentance it is forgiven That it was capable of Pardon appeareth by this Prayer of our Saviour and that it was actually Pardoned appeareth by the Second of the Acts when they were touched to the quick with the sense of this Crime and asked what they should do Peter adviseth them to this Remedy Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins and they found it effectual upon the use of it Ver. 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls And that it is so in the general Case our Lord assureth us Mat. 12.31 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy-Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men There is no exception of any Sin though it go so high as Blasphemy but the malicious blaspheming the Operations of the Holy-Ghost those by which he testified manifestly and sufficiently that he was the true Messiah and their imputing these Operations to the Devil But of other Sins there is no exception speaking against the Son of Man was not believing him to be the Messiah that may be forgiven but Blasphemy against the Holy-Ghost is resisting his Manifestations affirming them to be done by the Devil rather than God and this shall never be forgiven Well then let us conceive of God's Mercy according to the Infiniteness of his Nature and of Christ's Merits according to the Dignity of his Person an Ocean of Water will wash one Sink or filthy Hole clean 3. That Remission of Sins is the free Gift of God and the Fruit of his Pity and Grace Christ asketh it of his Father Father forgive them He must be sought to we cannot merit it of our selves David addresseth himself to God and useth no other Plea but Grace and Mercy Psal. 51.5 Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Our Work lieth with the Father of Mercies and the God of all Compassions that he may be reconciled to us and seal up his perfect Pardon to our Souls 4. That Pardon of Sins is a special Benefit Christ asked no more than Father forgive them It is a special Benefit because it freeth us from the greatest Evil Wrath to come 1 Thess. 1.10 And it maketh us capable of the greatest Blessing Eternal Life Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life It is purchased at the dearest rate even the Blood of Christ Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God It is brought about by the highest Power the finger of God or his all-conquering Spirit who by converting us or giving us Repentance maketh us capable of Pardon Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 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 It openeth the Door to the choicest Priviledges the favour of God and communion with him in the Spirit therefore David pronounceth the Pardoned blessed Psal. 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no iniquity 5. That Love of Enemies and those that have wronged us is an high Grace and recommended to us by Christ's own Example Sure it is needful that we should learn this Lesson to be like God Luke 6.36 Be ye merciful as your father also is merciful That we may obey God who hath required this at our hands Therefore we must consider not what others have been to us but what God will have us to be to them meek patient and merciful Again we hereby shew the Purity and Sincerity of our Love Nature will teach us to love those that love us but Grace only teacheth us to love Enemies This is Love with Self-denial they who love us indear themselves to us the other alienate themselves from us yet for God's sake we can love them and seek to draw them out of the Snares of the Devil that we may restore them to God 2 Use. Reproof of those that are Cruel and Revengeful How different are they from Christ who are all for Unkindness and Revenge and solicite Vengeance against God's suffering Servants with eager Aggravations Oh! how can these Men look upon Christ's Practice without shame How can they look upon these Prodigies of Love and Grace and not blush Can there be a greater Crime and Wrong done to any than was done to Christ And yet when he was whipped Crowned with Thorns pierced with Nails lifted up upon the Cross he doth not pray for Revenge but Pardon he doth not cry Justice Justice but Mercy Mercy Father forgive them he doth not by captious Queries and Expostulations aggravate the Offence but he alleviates it by a sweet Interpretation They know not what they do It is strange to think what bloody Principles many Christians have espoused of late that we rage against our Brethren upon every Offence especially in Matters of doubtful Apprehension where Men are more liable to Mistakes Oh! it is sad when God is but a little displeased to help onward the Affliction I wonder where Men learn that cruel and fell Spirit into which we are commenced of late it was wont to be good Doctrine Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful What is become of all those good Lectures of Charity and Meekness and Gentleness which are commended to us in the Rule of the Gospel and the Example of Christ Certainly when the Spirit is exulcerated it argues some loss of Peace with God David was never more cruel than when he had violated the Peace of his own Conscience 2 Sam. 12.31 And he brought forth the people that were therein and put them under saws and under harrows of iron and under axes of iron and made them to pass through the brick-kilne Certainly Matters are not right between us and God when Men's Principles and Practices grow bloody and cruel 3 Use. To exhort us to imitate Christ in being meek patient merciful void of Malice doing Good for Evil bearing the worst Usage
without studying Revenge Surely the same Mind should be in us that was in Christ Jesus Head and Members are acted by the same Soul so in the Mystical Body Christ and we should be acted with the same Spirit the same Spirit of holy Love Sweetness and Forgiveness that breathed in Christ should breath forth in our Lives and Conversations Eph. 4.32 And be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you All his Ordinances imply this in the Word we hear of Christ's meekness his Pattern is set forth that we might be like-minded in Prayer we are taught to say Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us We break our Sponsion and Promise solemnly given in this Petition if we do not Pardon others in Baptism We put on Christ Rom. 13.14 we put on his Nature and Qualities that is planting us into his Likeness in the Lord's Supper we come to renew our Union and Communion with him and to liken our selves to Christ yet more and more Christ changeth the temper of those that Spiritually feed upon him as Natural Meaâs communicate their Qualities to us the Israelites were more generous because they were so long fed with Manna Nero was more bloody because he sucked the Milk of a cruel Nurse who was wont to besmear her Duggs with Blood Achilles was more valiant because he was nourished with the Marrow of Lions Men's Dispositions are much according to their Food certainly those that eat the Lamb should not be Wolves but meek as Christ was and ready to forgive and every way transcribe their Master's Pattern See how Stephen imitates his Master when he comes to die first he prayeth for himself Acts 7.59 Lord Iesus receive my spirit as Christ did Luke 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And then he intercedeth for his Enemies Acts 7.60 Lord lay not this sin to their charge Here is not only an Example of Faith he committed his Soul to Christ but of Charity he deprecateth Revenge from his Enemies Moses and other holy Ones of God have done so Moses Numb 12.13 Heal her now O Lord I beseech thee when his Sister Miriam was smitten with a Leprousy for doing him wrong Aaron when he was despightfully used and his Calling maligned Numb 16.47 48. He ran into the midst of the people and behold the plague was begun among the people and he put on incense and made an atonement for the people and he stood between the dead and the living and the plague was stayed David fasted for his Enemies when they were sick Psal. 35.13 But as for me when they were sick my cloathing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting We fast against them often but seldom fast for them So Paul 1 Cor. 4.12 13. Being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat When we are looked upon and treated as evil doers we should bear it patiently not rage against Instruments but pray the Lord to open their Eyes that they may see the greatness of their Sin in hating and opposing the Godly You should not think the Example of Christ an Act beyond imitation you see the holy Men of God have attained a great measure of Self-denial do you go and do likewise 1. In private Cases A Man shall meet with Offences in the World all Men have not Faith some are absurd and injurious what a comfort would a Man have in his spirit when he can pity their Blindness and pardon their Malice They took away the Life of Christ and yet he saith Father forgive them he was slain by them and yet he prayeth for them Certainly it is not comely for us to Retaliate to Hate Curse Revile and pursue Injury with Injury They that Revenge take an Example from their Enemies and do them this honour to make them their own Pattern and what Comfort can any have to make a Wicked Man his Precedent Besides to Revenge is to rush into God's Tribunal and to take his Work out of his hands Prov. 24.29 Say not I will do to him as he hath to me I will render to the man according to his work Salomon putteth it into such Words as are proper to God that we may be sensible of the Pride and Usurpation that is in Revenge And Rom. 12.19 Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. We take upon us to be Rewarders when at least we should leave the case to God you may put it into the hands of the righteous Judge 1 Pet. 2.23 When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Besides it will much interrupt your Prayers our revengeful Dispositions must needs weaken our Confidence for we muse of others as we use our selves How can you say Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us when we are like Vessels broken as soon as touched and are furious and raging upon every Wrong and the least Offence done to us Alas their Offences to us are nothing like ours to God either for Number or Weight Not for Number no Man can wrong us so much as we daily trespass against God how many Neglects and Affronts doth Mercy put up at our hands every day Luke 17.4 If he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him Seventy times seven is a number too little for the Transgressions and Offences of one day and yet we grow peevish and passionate upon every slight Fault or Wrong done to us So for the Weight the naughty Servant would not forgive a hundred Pence when his Master forgave him ten thousand Talents Mat. 18.24 compared with the 28th Verse There is a great difference between Pence and Talents the Roman Peny was Seven-pence Half-peny and their Talent was One hundred eighty seven Pounds ten Shillings Their Offences cannot be so heinous as ours because of our great Obligations to God and the Dignity of his Essence theirs are against Dust and Ashes their guilty Fellow-Creatures ours are against the Great God It is proper to Christians that know such an infinite Pardoning Mercy to do something above Heathens and Publicans Mat. 5.46 If ye love them which love you what reward have ye Do not even the Publicans so Christianity should raise the Affections to a greater Self-denial so that we are to love our very Enemies Besides all this consider the benefit of a meek Patience Revenge is sweet but you will find more Pleasure in Meekness All Vexations disturb the Peace and Quiet of the Soul and I cannot do my Enemy a greater Pleasure than to let him take away my Contentment and when I am wronged by others to wrong my self Will you hurt your self by
Profit and Pleasure that is in Adultery and Theft but shutteth the Eyes of his Mind against the Filthiness or Injustice that is in it and therefore he is like a Man that leapeth from an high place into the Water who first shutteth his Eyes and then casts himself into the Flood or Stream 3. Consequent Ignorance is after the Sin or Act of the Will either from the depraved Disposition of the Will Iohn 3.20 For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Or from the just Judgment of God Iohn 9.39 For judgment I am come into the world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind God inflicts a Judicial Blindness on Men that will not obey the Truth 3. Ignorance is either Invincible or Vincible 1. Invincible Ignorance is when there is not sufficient Revelation when it is a thing we should know but God hath not brought Light among us Thus the Heathens are punished for not glorifying God whom they knew by the Light of Nature Rom. 1.21 When they knew God they glorified him not as God Not because they believed not in Christ for he was not revealed unto them But Christians shall be punished for not obeying the Gospel 2 Thess. 1.8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. 2. Vincible Ignorance is when there are plentiful Means and gross Helps to overcome it then is our Ignorance more culpable This is seen when either Ignorance is Voluntary and Pertinacious or when there is gross Negligence When it is Voluntary 2 Pet. 3.5 For this they are willingly ignorant of That they may Sin more freely and securely they will not know what may disturb or trouble their Sleep in Sin Iob 21.14 Therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways The Psalmist says of them Psal. 95.10 It is a people that do err in their hearts they have not known my ways They err in their Hearts as well as in their Minds when they do not desire to know what they should know this Ignorance is voluntary Or else it is bewrayed by gross Negligence when a Man doth a thing that if he were not grosly Negligent he might know to be Sin Eph. 3.15 16 17. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is A Christian is bound to use all holy Means to know all things that belong to his Duty and must bestow much time and diligence upon it If he is grosly ignorant it is a sign he hath a mind to put a cheat upon his Soul Use. Let us beware of Sin against Knowledge these Sins of all others are the most dangerous whether they be Sins of Omission to omit Duties that we know to be Duties this is very dangerous Iames 4.17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Or Sins of Commission to commit Sins that we know to be Sins Rom. 2.21 22. Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thou that preachest a man should not steal dost thou steal Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery dost thou commit adultery Thou that abhorrest idols dost thou commit sacriledge To commit Sins that we know to be Sins is to involve our selves in Wrath and Vengeance Have a care then of these Sins if you are guilty of them it cannot be pleaded for you Father forgive them they know not what they do A Sermon on JOHN xix 30. He said It is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost THIS is one of the seven Words which Christ uttered upon the Cross the last save one for before his bowing of the Head and giving up the Ghost those Words must come in which are mentioned Luke 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost To make way for these Words we need go no farther back than the 28th Verse it is said there After this Iesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled said I thirst Where we may observe 1. The exact knowledge which Christ had of all his Sufferings He knew that all things were accomplished namely all the preparative Sufferings which were to usher in his Death All these bitter Sorrows were numbred out to him by the Divine Decrees and praesignified in the Prophesies Jesus knew all the exact Tale and account of them A Circumstance that doth much commend his Love to us Christ knew how dear the bargain of Souls would be to him and yet he would shew his Obedience to the Father and his Love to Mankind He long since sate down and counted the Charges and yet he came to do his Father's Will When a Business proveth hazardous and inconvenient we are apt to say If I had known it would have cost me so much I should never have undertaken it Christ went not to the Cross blindfold he knew the Work of our Redemption would be troublesom and painful that he was to give his Back to the Smiters and his Cheeks to the Nippers that he was to be hurried from the Garden to the Courts of Men from the Courts of Men to the Cross and there to endure acute Pains and Torments Jesus knew that all these things were to be fulfilled 2. Observe It is said he knew they were accomplished Christ had a lively feeling of every part of his Sorrows and his Senses remained in full vigour to the last and without any stupefaction He knew what Hour the Clock of the Divine Decree would next strike or what was the next Circumstance whereby he was to discover himself to be the true Messiah David saith Died Abner as a fool dieth 2 Sam. 3.32 We may say so Died the Lord Jesus as a Fool dieth in a stupid sensless way Or as one merely passive Extremity of Pain had now surprized the Thieves which were crucified with him we hear no more of them but Christ's Reason and Senses are still exercised and his Sorrows made more active by his own apprehension 3. Observe That the Scriptures might be fulfilled he said I thirst By fulfilling another Prophecy God discovereth another Note whereby the Messiah might be known All the Passages of Christ's Death were appointed with infinite Wisdom and Love either they were such as were necessary parts of Redemption or some Indications whereby the Messiah fore-prophesied of might be discovered Here is another Prophecy fulfilled in Christ's Thirst. The Prophesies alluded to are two one is Psal. 22.15 My strength is dried up like a potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws thou hast brought me to the dust of death The other Prophesie hinteth the
off from Earthly He bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost I come to the later part of the Text. Some read it that first he Died and then bowed the Head there being no Spirit left to support it but Christ first bowed the Head and then died he did as it were becken to Death to come and do its Office He yielded up the Ghost his Soul was truly separated from his Body The form of Resignation we have Luke 23.46 Father into thy hands I commit my spirit Wicked Men because they die against their Wills their Souls are said to be taken away Luke 12.20 Thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee Job 27.8 For what is the hope of the Hypocrite thò he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul But Christ yieldeth it up and for a Godly Man to give up the Ghost noteth his Faith Submission and Willingness to depart out of the Body As the Prophet saith of Christ Isa. 53.12 He hath poured out his Soul unto death Death did not surprize him Doctr When all things were finished Christ freely and willingly gave up the Ghost His Life was not taken away but resigned there was much of Violence but no Coaction The Term Giving up the Ghost doth not imply the bare Death of Christ but that he died willingly and freely Nihil in hoc Christo est nisi profusa liberalitas misericordiae remissionis peccatorum I can see nothing in this Christ but a prodigality of Love and Mercy He had freely emptied his Veins in the Garden every Pore became an Eye and wept Blood for your sakes and now he cometh to pour out his Soul Reasons why Christ was so willing to die 1. Out of Obedience to his Father The Divine Decrees had laid a necessity upon him and where the Father saith Must Christ saith I will Matth. 26.54 55. Thinkest thou not that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels which was the just number of a Roman Army But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Christ willingly took this Necessity upon him it was but Necessitas ex Hypothesi had it not been for his Eternal Consent it would never have been said Thus it must be Luke 22.37 This that is written must be accomplished Luke 24.46 Thus it is written and thus it behoveth Christ to suffer It was a Necessity of his own making he was not compelled to Accept of the Conditions from God nor forced by the Violence of Man âo yield up his Life Iohn 10.18 No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again This commandment have I received of my father 2. Out of Love to us The Jews crucified him but Love made him die we had else perished for ever The Law laid it upon us but Love made Christ take it upon himself Isa. 53.4 Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our Sorrows Justice demanded it of us but Christ said I will be responsible exact it of me Mat. 20.28 Even as the son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many He took Life to lay it down at the demand of Justice Justice said I must have a Ransom Christ said Take it of me let these go Iob 33.24 Then he is gracious unto them and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom The Father received it and Christ payed it As the Angel said to Abraham Gen. 22.12 Lay not thine hand upon the lad neither do thou any thing unto him Justice would have reached forth a deadly stroke to us but Christ catched the blow 3. This would finish his Labours Death was Christ's last Enemy of his Person as well as of his Kingdom He had been harassed and worn out with Sorrows the Grave was a place of Rest it was finished as to him Isa. 57.2 He ââall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds Death was the end of Christ's Journey and all his Labours in the Flesh. The Grave was a dark dismal place till Christ went into it ever since it is but a Chamber of Rest and Christ keepeth the Key of it Isa. 26.20 Enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment 4. This furthered his Triumph and made it every way more compleat By dying Christ carried the War into his Enemies Land and foiled Death in its own Territory and made Death it self Mortal by lying in the Grave The Cross and the Grave were the means of Christ's Triumph by these the Devil thought to foil him and by these he triumphed He conquered Satan and Sin when they seemed to have most power upon him like angry Bees they stung him and disarmed themselves Heb. 2.14 That through death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil Col. 2.15 And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã On the Cross Eph. 2.16 Having slain the enmity thereby that is by his Cross formerly spoken of When he was slain himself then he slew Death and the Law Christ's crucifying was his Exaltation and Preferment It is twice expressed by lifting up Iohn 3.14 So shall the son of man be lifted up John 12.32 33. I if I be lifted up will draw all men after me This he said signifying what death he should die The Grave was consecrated and sanctified by Christ's lying there Duo in cruce affixi intelliguntur saith Origen Christus visibiliter sponte suâ ad tempus Diabolus invisibiliter invitus in perpetuum There were two crucified at once Christ visibly of his own accord for a time only the Devil invisibly against his will for ever Christ received a slight hurt in his Heel but he bruised Satan's Head 5. He was hastening to his own Glory Heb. 12.2 For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross despising the shame and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God He was thinking of his Welcom to Heaven Oh what sweet Embraces there would be between the Father and him Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool Dan. 7.13 14. I saw in the night-visions and behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of Heaven and came to the Ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed How the Angels should usher him into Glory
all forgiven it is all expiated by my Merit 2 Use. This affords much comfort to humbled Sinners Take Christ as freely as he freely offereth himself for you he resigned up himself to Death and will not you resign up your selves by Faith He poured out his Soul to Death and will not you pour out your Souls into his Bosom Consider all the Persons of the Trinity are willing and wiâl not you The Father gave him Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Christ gave himself Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me The Spirit is willing he is grieved with your neglect and refusal Mat. 23.37 How often would I have gathered thy children together as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not Oh! pour out your Souls in Faith and Prayer as Christ did his upon the Cross. 3 Use. Let us learn to imitate Christ at the close of his Life he said It is finished and so bowed the Head and gave up the Ghost Believers have a Joy set before them as well as Christ it is not so with wicked Men they cannot say that with them it is begun their Heaven endeth when they come to die but God's People should take Death chearfully if they can say as Christ Iohn 17.4 Father I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work that thou gavâst me to do Let the Death be violent or natural it is aâl one whether we are a Peace-Offering or a Burnt-Offering there is more of Man's Maâice in a vioâent Death but it cannot hurt us But alas Men generally do not live as if they did look to die and therefore they do not die as if they did look to live and so here they would not dâe and there they would not live A SERMON UPON ECCLES VII 29 But they sought out many Inventions THERE are two things in this Scripture 1. The Righteousness of God in his Work about Men God made Man upright 2. Man's perverse Subtilty in inventing Ways of Backsliding and Apostacy from God But they sought out many Inventions From this latter part observe Doct. That Man fell from the Integrity of his first Estate and is ever since full of evil and fruitless Inventions I. I shall speak to this Point as it is represented in the Text. II. Give some Considerations as to the general Case 1. The Persons they the Expression was singular before God made Adam upright but now plural not only to include both our first Parents but all their Posterity Adam had his Invention and all his Posterity theirs The Devil inspired Adam with a sad and doleful Invention to go about to find out another Happiness than God had appointed Adam could not content himself with this kind of Happiness but fancied to himself an higher Perfection and yielded to follow these new-devised Ways of Blessedness which Satan and his own deceived Heart did suggest to him And this Invention hath invented and found out all the Sin and Misery under which the World groaneth As Adam had his Invention so all his Posterity theirs We are inventing still to make our selves more miserable The least Ebolitions of Sin are expressed in the Old Testament by Imaginations in the New by Lusts. In the Old Testament by Imaginations Jer. 18.12 And they said There is no Hope but we will walk after our own Devices and we will every one do the Imagination of his evil Heart Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually In the New by Lusts James 1.14 But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own Lust and enticed Titus 3.3 For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers Lusts. Not only the desiring but the understanding Faculty is corrupt Therefore 't is said Prov. 1.31 They shall eat the Fruit of their own Way and be filled with their own Devices Jer. 6.19 Behold I will bring upon this People even the Fruit of their Thoughts Meaning the Evil which their own Devices and Practices had procured to themselves Every one of us have our Devices Ways and Haunts of Sin whereby we make our selves more wretched and sinful 2. Their Act They sought out that sheweth the Voluntariness and Studiousness of Man's Defection it is their own Act and Deed and their Hearts are set upon it It is said Ionah 2.8 They that observe lying Vanities forsake their own Mercies They set their Minds a-work prostitute their Reason to their Senses All Mens Projects what do they tend to but the Satisfaction of their own Lusts to cater for the Body and gratify the Animal Life Making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 Taking thought what they shall eat or what they shall drink Mat. 6.25 Their Care is about the base and brutish Part more than about the Soul how to adorn the Body and gratify the Body and for this the Soul must be made a Slave There is a perverse Diligence in Men to corrupt themselves 3. The Object with its Number Many Inventions There is some difference in the Translations Ludovicââ de Dieâ because the Word for many signifieth also great and mighty rendreth it Ipsi autem quâsiverunt cogitationes magnatum meaning by the Mighty the Angels who were not contented with their own Station but forsook it Iude v. 6. Certain it is the Devil's first Temptation was Gen. 3.5 Ye shall be as Gods that is advance into a more honourable and noble Condition than now you are in These Thoughts being suggested by Satan they ambitiously entertained them The Vulgar readeth it Se infinâtis miscuit quaestionibus Adam at first out of Curiosity would know Good and Evil and ever since we have been sick of Questions questioning this and questioning that and have no clear Light to guide us The Septuagint render it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they sought out many Ratiocinations We grope in a maze of Uncertainties and so intangle our selves the more Our Heavenly Wisdom is lost by our Sin and Rebellion and instead thereof we have gotten a false Carnal Wisdom which is Enmity to God Rom. 8.7 and only inclineth us to a false Happiness Iames 3.15 to the Pleasures Honours and Profits of the present World and so are given up to an injudicious Mind and are left in the Hands of our own Counsel which is the heaviest Plague that can light upon a reasonable Creature Psal. 81.11 12. But my People would not hearken to my Voice and Israel would none of me so I gave them up unto their own Hearts Lusts and they walked in their own Counsels For our own Wisdom is an ill Guide and Counsellor and will never guide us aright in the Way to true Happiness but lead us into âogs and Pits and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts. But keeping more closely to
1. Here is represented the State of the Body after Death 2. The State of the Soul 1. The State of the Body it shall be resolved into the Matter out of which it was made Dust it was in its Composition and Dust it shall be in its Dissolution Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was 2. The State of the Soul in the other World And the Spirit shall return to God that gave it Where 1 st The Nature of it or what kind of Substance the Soul is it is a Spirit or an immaterial Substance 2 dly The Author of it who is God he gave it he gave us the Body too but the Soul in a more especial manner 3 dly The Disposal of it or in what State it remaineth after Death it returneth to God It is not extinguished when the Body is dissolved into Dust nor doth it vanish into the Air but returneth to God All true Wisdom consisteth in the Knowledg of God and our selves We cannot know our selves unless we know the Parts of which we do consist This Text giveth you a right Notion of them both for it telleth you what they are and what shall become of them They are conjoined but distinct And therefore when the Union betwixt them is dissolved they go several ways We are concerned in them both but more in the Soul which hath the Preheminence above the Body The one is visible and therefore its Changes are known but the other is invisible and therefore more unknown but the State of both is equally certain for as certainly as the Body returneth to the Dust so doth the Soul return to God First For the first Branch Then shall the Body return to the Earth as it was I shall not stay upon it 1. It giveth you the right Notion of the Body it is but Dust moulded up into a comely Shape which is an Effect of God's Wisdom and Power to make such a curious Frame out of the Dust of the Ground We read in the History of the Plagues of Egypt that the Magicians were not able so much as bring forth Lice out of the Dust of the Ground Exod. 8.18 19. But God could raise such a beautiful Structure as Man's Body is But though it speaketh God's Power yet it sheweth our Frailty Our Body is here called Dust it is not Brass or Iron or Stone or stiff Clay but Dust and shall return to the Earth as it was Dust hath no Coherence or Consistence but is easily scattered with every Puff of Wind so is our earthly or dusty Tabernacle with every blast of God's Displeasure Gen. 18.27 Behold now I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord who am but Dust and Ashes Isa. 40.15 Behold the Nations are as a Drop of the Bucket and they are counted as the small Dust of the Ballance 2. What shall become of it It shall return to the Earth as it was Gen. 3.19 Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Psal. 104.29 Thou takest away their Breath they die and return to their Dust. Psal. 146.4 He returneth to his Earth Which should teach us to take Care for a better Estate 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens The Soul dwelleth now in an earthly House it should look out for a more glorious Mansion Secondly Of the Soul three things are spoken which are so many Arguments to prove its Immortality which is the Subject I mainly intend 1. The kind of it it is a Spirit The Matter of which the Body is made is the Earth and so it is still maintained He bringeth forth Food for them out of the Earth Psal. 104.14 And so breedeth and casteth out Corruption every Day but the Soul is a simple Substance not compounded of corruptible Principles and therefore cannot be resolved into any The Body liveth by the Soul and from the Soul but the Soul dependeth upon nothing but God The Argument is good it is incorporeal and immaterial therefore immortal for Mortality hath Reference to some compounded Substance which hath in it self some Principle and Cause of Motion as well as a material and passive Part that may be moved by that Principle and signifieth no more but a Capacity of the material and passive Part to be deprived of the inward and active Principle of its Motion In short if the Soul die it must be from the Violence of some external Power or some Principles of Corruption within not by Violence without Matth. 10.28 And fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul And it hath no Principles of Corruption whereby it should destroy it self for it is a Spirit 2. The Author God gave it our Bodies are also his Workmanship but the Soul is immediately framed by God both in the first Creation and the continual Propagation of Mankind At the first Creation we read the Body was created out of the Earth or the Dust of the Ground but the Soul out of nothing but immediately breathed into Adam by God Gen. 2.7 And the Lord formed Man out of the Dust of the Ground and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul And still the Soul is immediately created by God Zech. 12.1 He stretcheth forth the Heavens and laid the Foundation of the Earth and formeth the Spirit of Man within him The creating of the Soul is reckoned among the Works of his Omnipotency Heb. 12.9 Furthermore 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 The Fathers of our Flesh are distinguished from the Father of Spirits Our natural Parents under God are the Instruments of our natural and earthly Being as they procured the Matter out of which our Bodies were derived they are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Fathers of our Flesh but God is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Father of our Spirits The Spirit of Man runneth not in the material Channel of fleshly Descent it is not educed out of the Power of the Matter but immediately made by God 3. The Disposal of it When it flitteth out of the Body it returneth to God that is to God as a Judg to be disposed of by him into its everlasting Estate God challengeth Souls as his or belonging to his Government as universal King and Judg of the World Ezek. 18.4 All Souls are mine He will give to every one according to his Works adjudging and sentencing them either to Heaven the Mansion of the Blessed or Spirits of just Men made perfect Heb. 12.23 or to Hell the Place where damned Spirits are kept in Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 He went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison The Body is not said to return to God but to return to the Earth as it was but
lifted up his Eyes being in Torments He had a pompous Funeral here upon Earth for it is said he died and was buried which is not said of Lazarus These are Truths not spoken of once or twice but every-where 2 dly The Covenant sheweth it which is God's solemn Transaction with his Subjects and consists of Precepts or Laws invested with the Sanction of Promises and Threatnings Christ argues thus Luke 20.37 38. Now that the Dead are raised even Moses shewed at the Bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob For he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living He proves the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body 1. His Commands all of them imply such an Estate and some of them express it All imply it as Faith in Christ we believe in his Name to obtain eternal Life Joh. 20.31 But these things are written that you might believe that Iesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you might have Life through his Name And Joh. 5.24 He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life Repentance Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the Times of Refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Therefore it is called Repentance unto Salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 And Repentance to Life Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted Repentance unto Life So new Obedience Heb. 5.9 He became the Author of eternal Salvation to all that obey him Acts 26.7 Vnto which Promise the twelve Tribes instantly serving God Day and Night hope to come And some express it He hath commanded us not to labour for the Meat that perisheth but for that Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life John 6.27 Not to lay up Treasures upon Earth where Moth and Rust doth corrupt and Thieves break through and steal but lay up for your selves Treasure in Heaven Mat. 6.19 20. And strive to enter in at the strait Gate Luke 13.24 Now if there were no such thing all these Commands would be in vain Would God flatter us into a Fool 's Paradise and command us to look after a thing of nought 2. The Sanction And there 1. The Threatning which is Damnation or the second Death Mark 16.16 He that believeth not shall be damned Is this a vain Scarcrow and need God govern his Subjects by a Cheat or a Lie 2. The Promises he promiseth Eternal Life to them that obey the Gospel and seek after this Immortality Rom. 2.7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful to Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Be faithful in making good your Baptismal Vow improving Talents withstanding Temptations So to comfort us against Fears Losses and Sorrows Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you a Kingdom Now would God over-reach us and lead us with Chimera's and vain Hopes 3 dly The Mediator of the New Covenant sheweth it his coming from Heaven the Place of Souls the Region of Spirits and his going thither again at his Ascension 1. His coming from Heaven Wherefore was Christ incarnate and clothed with our Flesh but that we might be apparrelled with his Glory Iohn 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly To lay a Foundation for our eternal Happiness 2. His going to Heaven his entring into that Glory he spake of and so giving a visible Demonstration to the World of the Reality of it 1 Pet. 1.21 Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the Dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and Hope may be in God There he remaineth at God's Right-Hand to open Heaven to all Believers Christ when he died recommended his Spirit to the Father Luke 23.46 Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit And so do Believers to Christ Acts 7.59 Lord Iesus receive my Spirit If the Soul did perish with the Body why should we commit it to Christ 4 thly The Holy Spirit is given to form and prepare us for this Estate therefore by consequence to assure us of it 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for this self-same thing is God who hath also given unto us the Earnest of the Spirit 1. Look to the Graces of the Spirit we are made Partakers of the Divine Nature to draw us off from the World to Heaven 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. Now will God fit the Soul for such a blessed Estate when this Life is ended and shall we never enjoy it If we consider the Soul not only as being an inward Principle of Life and Sense but also of Reason it proveth the Immortality of it much more as sanctified and enobled by Grace Rom. 8.10 The Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness Believers have a Life wrought in them by the Spirit which is the Pledg and Beginning of Eternal Life for they are sanctified and purified and fit to be brought into the Sight and Presence of God The Apostle doth not draw his Argument there from the Immortality of the Soul for that is common to Good and Bad the Wicked have a Soul that will survive the Body but little to their Comfort their Immortality is not an happy Immortality but he taketh his Argument from the New Life wrought in us by the Spirit which is the Beginning and Earnest of a blessed Immortality the New Life is an eternal Principle of Happiness 2. Look to the Comforts of the Spirit from the Love of God and the Hopes of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory Rom. 5.2 And rejoice in hope of the Glory of God Now is it a Fancy that holy Men rejoice in Look as the Terrors of a wounded Conscience are the Foretastes of Hell-Torments called somewhere the Pains of Hell so the Comforts of the Spirit are the first-Fruits of Heavenly Joys to set us a longing for more Rom. 8.23 And not only they but our selves also which have the first-Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body Now by all these things let us rouse up a drousy Faith and triumph over that Carnal Atheism and Unbelief that worketh in our Hearts Is the whole Scripture false and the Christian Religion a well-devised Fable our Redeemer an Impostor and the Covenant of God a Dream and the Comforts of the Spirit Fanatical Illusions And were they all
deceived that embraced the Christian Religion that took such Pains in subduing the Flesh so freely hazarded their Interests and Life it self on the Promises of Christ and the Hopes of another World Are the wisest Men the World ever saw Fools and the Ordinances of Christ a customary Superstition and these Rejoicings and Foretastes of the Children of God a meer Deceit and Imposture Surely it cannot be Therefore this is true that the Soul dieth not with the Body but is in that Estate into which God disposeth it II. By the Light of Reason First I shall urge such Arguments as the Scripture directeth us to 1. From the Nature of the Soul it is a Spirit and such a Principle of Life as hath Light in it John 1.4 In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men. The Soul of Man differeth from the Soul of a Beast for that hath only Life and Sense in it but this hath Light and therefore was designed to more noble and glorious Ends than merely to quicken and enliven the Body The Soul of the Beasts is mortal because it is created only to serve the Body and knoweth nothing desireth nothing delighteth in nothing but what belongeth to the Pleasure and Welfare of the Body But now the Soul of Man apprehendeth things past present and to come is capable of Tongues Arts and Sciences and things abstract from bodily Sense it can discourse about God Angels and all kind of spiritual Beings about Eternity and Immortality and propound and debate Questions and Doubts concerning the World to come The Beasts look only to their Food and the Propagation of their Kind they know nothing and can conceive nothing of Man's Affairs But now Man's Soul is not only capable of being enobled and improved by Moral Vertues and such things as fit us for Humane Society but is capable also of Conformity to God by being made holy and upright and of Communion with him in holy Duties and Acts of Grace 1 John 1.3 And truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. The Beasts desire not the Company of Men as we do of God and of the blessed Spirits In short there is a greater Affinity between the Souls of Men and Angels than between the Souls of Beasts and Men Psal. 8.9 Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels Well then can it be imagined the Souls of Men furnished with such Capacities of Understanding are nothing but a little Puff of Air that is dissipated in dying or a little vital Heat that is extinguished with the Corporeal Matter or only the Vigour of the Blood That Soul that can so much soar aloft above the Interests and Concernments of the Body and take such a marvellous Delight and Contentment in spiritual things as the view of all manner of Truths must that follow the State of the Body Shall that Creature that cometh so near the Angels die like the Beasts or rather become like the Angels of God that always behold his Face Yea that Creature that draweth so near to God in the Majesty of his Person and the Abilities of his Mind that was created after God's own Image and for the Worship and Service and Enjoyment of God shall he die as the Beasts that perish It cannot be imagined 2. The Scripture mentions Words that imply its Independance upon the Body or that it doth not so wholly depend on the Body that it cannot subsist and act without it they go several ways as in the Text. 3 John â 2. I wish above all things that thou maist prosper and be in Health as thy Soul prospeâeth 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not but though our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed Day by Day And Experience teacheth the Truth of these things that the Body and Soul seem sometimes to have no Communion with one another so different are their Functions and Offices You shall often see Men decrepit in all the Members of the Body who yet have the Motions of their Minds as strong and as nimble as when in perfect Health and when they are upon the Borders of Death without Vigour and Pulse their Understandings are more sublime than before and their Thoughts more refined It is true the Indispositions of the Body clog the Soul in things that are to be acted by the Body but in what the Soul acteth apart in the midst of Aches and Pains their Strength of Mind is entire and their Comforts never more raised than in bodily Weakness Therefore it lives and acts apart from the Body 3. The Scripture directs us to this Argument that this is the general Perswasion of all Mankind that there is a Life after Death and it instanceth in that that is most sensible and of every Day 's Experience our Desires and Fears 1. Desires The Soul hath a natural desire of Immortality which if it should not enjoy that Desire were in vain but God doth nothing in vain The Apostle intimateth this how Men feel about for something eternal and infinite Acts 17.27 That they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him Every Man would be happy and eternally happy for otherwise he would be tormented with a fear of losing that which he counteth his Happiness See Psal. 4.6 Who will shew us any Good Lord lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us Mat. 13.45 â6 The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls who when he had found one Pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it John 6.34 Lord evermore give us this Bread Numb 23.10 Let me die the Death of the Righteous Other Creatures besides Man are satisfied with what they have here but the Soul of Man is satisfied with nothing but the eternal Injoyment of what is good an immortal Estate an infinite Good Every one that loveth himself would be happy and if he could everlastingly happy The Saints and those that are taught of God pitch upon the right Way Psal. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness But this is the universal Inclination of all Mankind Whence cometh this Desire to be so universal if there be nothing to satisfy it Every natural Appetite was given us for some Purpose and have things designed for their Satisfaction and therefore there is that Immortality we all seek after not in our Bodies they must return to their Earth not in Fancy that is a Sâadow this is like the Pleasure which those take that want Children in playing with little Dogs it lieth in the Soul in the eternal Injoyment of God 2. Fears which presage and foretel such an Estate to our great Disquiet Conscience fears a Judgment after this Life Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the Iudgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death And a State of Misery to come
ever with the Lord and ministring in his Presence have more of the Divine Nature communicated unto us 5. There is the unanimous Conjunction of all the Saints in the Praises of God or a joining in Consort without jarring or difference The Apostle biddeth us Rom. 15.6 with one Mind and with one Mouth to glorify God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. It is our Duty but never performed to the full but when we meet together in that great ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Council of Souls or the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which the Apostle describeth Heb. 12.23 The Spirits of just Men made perfect or consecrated It is comfortable to join in Worship with the People of God now Moses preferred it with Afflictions before all the Riches and Honours and Pleasures he enjoyed in Egypt Heb. 4.24 Choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season But then is the Communion of Saints compleated when all are admitted to the Vision and clearest Knowledg of God and have the most perfect Adherence and Love to him Now what an happy Time will that be when we and all the holy Ones of God shall with the same enlarged Affection set about the same Work As our Groans here made but one Sound and our conjoined Tears but one Stream and our united Desires but one Prayer so all our Praises then shall make but one Melody and Harmony If it be an Happiness to live with the Saints in their Imperfection when Sin doth often imbitter their Society surely it is an Happiness to live with them for ever when they are purged and freed from Sin and fully consecrated and fitted to minister before the Lord. 6. To think of God and to rejoice in his Glory and to love and praise him will be our great Imployment There we shall be intent upon our Choice and noble Work which is praising and lauding God Psal. 84.4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they are still praising thee Praises now are a part of our Sacrifices and must be mingled with our Prayers Phil. 4.6 In every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be known unto God So Rev. 5.8 The four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them Harps and golden Vials full of Odours which are the Prayers of the Saints Harps signify their Praises and Thanksgivings Here it cometh in by way of Mixture but there it is our sole Imployment There is no need of Prayers for there are no Sins nor Wants nor Necessities there all is Praise David calleth upon the Angels to bless the Lord Psal. 103.20 to tell us what they do And when a Multitude of them descended at Christ's Birth Luke 2.13 14. they presently fell a lauding and praising God Glory be to God in the Highest It is the Opinion of the ancient Hebrews that every Day they sing Praises to God and that in the Morning this they gather from Gen. 32.6 Let me go for the Day breaketh Which Place the Targum of Ierusalem thus explaineth Let me go for the Pillar of the Morning ascends and behold the Hour approacheth that the Angels are to sing This was their Opinion Sure we are that the Angels bless God and that in an eminent manner as appeareth by frequent Passages of Scripture where they are called upon to bless the Lord for though the Speech be in the Imperative Mood as if it were hortatory yet it is to be expounded by the Indicative as Narrative of what the Angels do Particularly we read they blessed God for his own Excellence Isa. 6.1 2 3. In the Year that King Uzzia died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple Above it stood the Seraphims each one had six Wings with twain he covered his Face and with twain he covered his Feet and with twain he did fly And one cried unto another and said Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory For the Creation Iob 38.4 5 6 7. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast Vnderstanding Who hath laid the Measures thereof if thou knowest or who hath stretched the Line upon it Whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned or who laid the Corner-stone thereof When the Morning-Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Ioy. For the Nativity of Christ Luke 2.13 14. And suddenly there was with the Angel a Multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest on Earth Peace good Will toward Men. So they blessed Christ Rev. 5.11 12. I beheld and I heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud Voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing Though they cannot fully comprehend God yet they do it far more clearly than we They apprehend God's Excellency and Perfection in himself they know also the Excellency of his Works Creation and Providence and the Redemption of Mankind Then we shall know as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 and understand the Faithfulness of God's Conduct in bringing us to Glory O blessed Time when we shall fall upon the Work of Angels when we shall have a sublime Understanding to know God an Heart to love him and a Mouth to praise him for evermore We shall not need any Excitement but be willing and ready to do it We have greater cause of blessing God than the Angels have It is a question whether an innocent or a penitent Person is more bound to thank God An innocent Man is bound to praise God in respect of the Greatness of the Benefit and the Continuance of it but a penitent Man in respect of the Freeness and Graciousness of it The Freeness and Graciousness is much more conspicuous towards Men. God was indeed good and bountiful to the Angels creating them out of nothing endowing them with many excellent Gifts But to Man sinful was God good indeed he loved us as Enemies when his Justice offended by Sin put a Bar to our Salvation he spared not his beloved Son but delivered him to a cursed Death in our Room and Stead Secondly To exhort us to prepare our selves for this Estate And let us labour that we may be such as may be counted meet to minister before the Lord in his Heavenly Temple To this End 1. Let us hasten the Acts which belong to our Consecration and attend upon them with more Seriousness which is the cleansing of the Soul from the Guilt and Stain of Sin From the Guilt of Sin Rom. 5.1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we
have Peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. By whom also we have Access by Faith unto this Grace wherein we stand and rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God Comfortable Access to God here in the World depends upon our Justification the more clear that is the more we are fitted to come before the Lord. From the Stain of Sin Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God Though all see enough of God to Satisfaction these see more than others do Therefore the more we cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit the more of God shall we see and the sooner shall we be admitted into his blessed Presence It was an old Observation even among the Heathens ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That he whom God loveth dieth young Not that all that die young are beloved of God But ordinary Observation will teach you this that let a Man more than ordinarily improve in Purity of Heart though God may lend him to the World for an Example for some time yet they are taken to God sooner than others or if they are continued in the World they are continued under more Weaknesses and do with more Earnestness expect their Translation to the everlasting Priesthood 2. Let us begin our Sacrifices and discharge our Priestly Office now and perform all the Duties which belong to our Ministration with more Fidelity Some of our Duties are proper only to the present State as consecrating our selves to God and using our selves for God that is out of date then for our Consecration is over before we come there It is undeniable that the blessed Spirits all live to God Luke 20.38 He is not a God of the Dead but of the Living for all live unto him But there is no need of giving up our selves to God for then we possess God Mercy is useless in an Estate where Misery cannot approach therefore now it must be exercised None are Priests in Heaven but those that have acted the Priests part upon Earth But Praise holds good now and then too Psal. 107.22 Let us sacrifice the Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and declare his Works with rejoicing This is to tune our Instruments and to be fitting our selves for our everlasting Work 3. Let us be more frequent and often with God For the Throne of Grace is the very Porch of Heaven by it we pass to the Throne of Glory Surely that Life upon Earth is best which is likest to the Life of Heaven Psal. 84.10 For a Day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness Prayer giveth us the nearest Familiarity which a Man in Flesh can have with God and is the best Preparation for our Entrance upon our everlasting Priesthood A Man acquainted with a God before-hand is not to seek for a God to pray to when he cometh to die nor for a Mediator to intercede for him nor for a Spirit of Adoption to fly to God as a reconciled Father Having been frequently entertained and accepted by God he can the better resign his Spirit into his Hands and with more Confidence wait for this nearer Attendance Alas to go out of the World into unknown and unseen Regions where we are wholly Strangers how sad is that Who will venture into the Ocean who hath not learned to swim in the shallow Brooks and Streams Communion with God in a way of Grace is the way to Communion with him in a way of Glory We go to see him Face to Face whom we have seen by the Eye of Faith to live with him in Heaven with whom we have lived upon Earth Species non laetificat in Patria quem fides non consolatur in via Sight will not be joyful to him in Heaven whom Faith hath not comforted upon Earth He that hath often heard and accepted us will not reject us Thirdly Let us be more apprehensive of the Greatness of the Privilege of drawing nigh to God that we may improve it accordingly The Priests were sanctified to draw nearer to God than the common People and imployed in his holy Service yea Nearness of Ministration before the Lord is the Felicity of the Glorified How must we improve it 1. Partly to be ashamed of our Lothness to draw nigh to God and our Weariness of his special Service O let us not shun God as an Enemy and be loth to come into his special Presence or backward to converse with him 2. To Thankfulness to our Redeemer It was purchased by the Blood of Jesus Heb. 10.19 Having therefore Brethren Boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Iesus We may be the more confident of drawing nigh to him in a way of Grace for he hath purchased also our Entrance into Glory Ephes. 3.12 In whom we have Boldness and Access with Confidence by the Faith of him Vse 3. Comfort 1. Against present Weaknesses in Duty There will be a Time when we shall more perfectly express our Thanksgiving to God 2. Against Troubles and Sufferings It must be so now that we may be conformed to our Head but no Molestation should be an Impediment in our Work 3. Against Death It should make us willing to die that we may minister before the Lord. If David so longed for the Injoyment of God in the earthly Temple Psal. 63.1 2. O God! thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my Flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no Water is to see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary How much more Cause have we to long for the time when we shall be made Priests to him for ever SERMONS UPON LEVITICVS XIX 17 SERMON I. LEVIT XIX 17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him I Am to speak to you at this time concerning Christian and Brotherly Reproof Our first Care should be that we are not Sinners our selves Our next that we partake not of the Sins of others which may not only be by counselling and abetting their evil Actions but also by a faulty Connivance and Silence when the Glory of God and Love to our Neighbours Souls do loudly call upon us to mind them of their Duty and warn them of their Danger To this End I have made choice of this Scripture Thou shalt not hate c. Where take notice First Of the Removal of the Impediment Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart Secondly An earnest Excitement of the Duty of Reproof Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour Thirdly A Reason to enforce it Thou shalt not suffer Sin upon him or that thou bear not Sin for him First A Removal of the Impediment or Hindrance Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart Hatred is forbidden when Rebuke or
knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ they are again entangled therein and overcome 2 Pet. 2.20 Vse 2. Is Exhortation to press you 1. To seek after Honour Glory and Immortality O this is the best Pursuit you can engage in What is better for you Can the World or the Devil propound any thing so good or better than this glorious Estate Are the dreggy Contentments of the Flesh the Vain-glory and Honour of the World the uncertain Riches we enjoy here worthy to come in competition with Eternal Life Surely in matter of Motive a Christian hath the Advantage however a carnal Man hath the Advantage in matter of Principle because in him it is wholly intire and unbroken 2. To Well-doing Surely you should not need many Arguments to press you to do well rather to press you to do ill should be the more difficult Task it is so contrary to our Reason and the right Constitution of our Natures but that we are strangely depraved O Christians what do we invite you to but to love God above all and seek his Favour in Christ and love your Neighbour as your self and by Temperance Purity and Chastity to preserve your own Vessels both Bodies and Souls in Sanctification and Honour Surely these Duties are not Gifts but Ornaments and such Subjection to God should be preferred before Liberty in Sinning 3. To continue with Patience I will press you to this by two Arguments 1. There will be always the same reason for going on that there was for beginning at first Did the Sense of your Duty invite you The same Bond of Duty lieth upon you still Did the Hopes of the World to come engage you Heaven is not yet obtained And will you lose all the Coât you have been at already Gal. 3.4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain 2. There can be no Temptation great enough to recompense you for the loss of your Reward of Eternal Life Is it Reproach When Men despise God will honour thee and it is a blessed thing to be reviled for Righteousness sake Is it worldly Loss Better lose the World than lose our Souls Mat. 16.26 What will it profit a Man if he should gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Is Life in danger Losing Life for Christ is the way to save it And Iohn 11.25 Though he were dead yet shall he live Is it the continual reviving of Troubles In the other World there is nothing to assault thy Perseverance there thou art out of the Gun-shot of Temptations and shalt serve God without defect or difficulty there our Service is not troublesom to us A SERMON UPON 2 CORINTHIANS XIII 14 The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen MY Purpose is to open the Apostolical Benediction or Prayer for the Corinthians for our way of Blessing is only to pray for those whom we bless To love others is to desire their Good They that love best and most desire the best Good for their Friends and better Good there cannot be desired than that those we love may have God for their God Now they that have God for their God have all that is in God and all that is God God the Father Son and Holy Ghost will imploy all his Wisdom Power and Goodness to save them from all Evil and bring them to eternal Blessedness This is that which is prayed for in this place The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen In the Words we have The Thing prayed for together with the Persons from whom Or rather 1. The Matter of the Blessedness wished The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the Love of God the Communion of the Holy Ghost 2. The effectual Application to the Corinthians Be with you 3. The Confirmation of these Hopes and Desires in the word Amen 1. The Matter of the Blessing It consists of three Branches suted to the Persons of the Godhead 1st The Grace of Christ. 2dly The Love of God 3dly The Communion of the Holy Ghost 2. The effectual Application Be with you These things are with us or in us two ways 1. In the Effects 2. In the Sense 1. In the Effects when we have the Fruits of the Father's Love and Christ's Grace and the Spirit 's Operation That the Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them John 17.26 2. In the Sense and Feeling when we comfortably know it is thus with us Ioh. 14.21 He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self unto him Rom. 5.5 Because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us 3. The Confirmation of these Desires and Hopes in the word Amen which is Signaculum Fidei an Expression of Faith and Votum Desiderii an Eruption of our Desire and Love Doct. That all the Persons of the Blessed Trinity do concur to the Happiness and Salvation of Believers Here let me shew you I. How they do concur II. Why they do concur I. How they do concur Let us explain the Text. 1. Here are all the Persons of the Godhead mentioned God is taken personally for the Father and then Jesus Christ and the Spirit are distinctly mentioned So in other Scriptures 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledg of God the Father through Sanctification of the Spirit unto Obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Iesus Christ. The fundamental Cause of Salvation is the Election of God who when he had all fallen Mankind in his Prospect and View was pleased to choose out some to Grace and Glory passing by others Then there is Reconciliation ascribed to Jesus Christ and Sanctification to the Spirit as the Means by which this Purpose is brought about The Beginning is from God the Father the Dispensation is by Jesus Christ and the Application is through the Holy Ghost So also Titus 3.4 5 6. But after that the Kindness and Love of God our Saviour towards Man appeared not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour God the Father out of Love sent a Saviour by whose Grace we are saved and God the Son from God the Father sent God the Holy Ghost who applieth the Love of God and the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ by renewing and healing our Natures So 2 Thess. 2.13 14. But we are bound to give Thanks always to God for you Brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of the Lord
Iesus Christ. Where the three Persons are again mentioned and their Concurrence to our Salvation 2. That Words proper to their personal Operation are used for there is Love ascribed to the Father Grace to the Son and Communion to the Holy Ghost The Father is represented as the Fountain of Love and all Goodness and as expressing and exerting his Love by the Son and Spirit By the Grace of Christ is meant all that gracious Provision which he hath made for Man's Salvation both in the reconciling God to us and procuring the Mission of the Spirit Communion is ascribed to the Spirit because all is applied or communicated to us by him Or thus our Salvation is ascribed in Election to the Love of the Father in Redemption to the Grace of the Son in Sanctification to the Communion or Participation of the Holy Ghost 1st The Love of God Love is ascribed to the Father for the Love of God is the Cause of all consider his giving Christ for us or giving Christ to us and us to him 1. In giving Christ for us Iohn 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Christ did not merit electing Love but Love rather moved God to give Christ for Sinners Love appointed the Son to be our Redeemer there was the Bosom and Bottom-Cause 2. In giving Christ to us Iohn 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out John 17.6 I have manifested thy Name unto the Men which thou gavest me out of the World thine they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy Word And in time he doth execute and accomplish this out of his meer Love Ier. 31.3 The Lord hath appeared to me of old saying Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting Love therefore with Loving-kindness have I drawn thee As by Elective Love the Heirs of Salvation were distinguished from others in God himself or in his Intention and Purpose so by Regeneration and converting Love they are distinguished from others in themselves and set apart from the rest of the World to be the Objects of his special Love and Instruments of his Glory Besides there is a Love of God whereby he loveth us when we are in Christ Jesus which is the Ground of our Safety and Preservation Rom. 8.38 39. For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. 2dly The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ. What is intended us by the Father is brought about by the Grace of the Redeemer and therefore all the Provision Christ had made for our Salvation is called Grace 2 Cor. 8.9 For ye know the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his Poverty might be rich That is ye know his gracious Condescension in submitting to such a mean Condition for our sakes So 1 Cor. 16.23 The Grace of Lord Iesus Christ be with you all Grace is God's Favour and Love which was first purchased by Christ by his Obedience and bloody Sufferings Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Iesus Christ. Secondly applied by his Intercession which is also another Act of his Grace and therefore we come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help us in time of need Heb. 4.16 Namely having a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Iesus the Son of God ver 14. who knoweth our Infirmities Thirdly As it is bestowed by him as Lord of the New Creation upon such Terms as every way keep up the Honour and Interest of Grace in our Salvation Ephes. 2.8 By Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God All the saving Benefits we have by Christ are from Grace such as Reconciliation with God the Renovation of our Natures and everlasting Glory and Happiness they are all dispensed in a gracious way from first to last 3dly The Communion of the Holy Ghost Communion is ascribed to the Holy Ghost It may be rendred Communion or Communication The Spirit reneweth and changeth our Nature and worketh Faith and Holiness in us Light Life and Love are the special Benefits which he communicates to us He doth enlighten our Minds to understand and believe the great things prepared for us by God through Jesus Christ. It is said 1 Cor. 2.10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God So Ephes. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him the Eyes of your Vnderstanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the Hope of his Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Life for we live in the Spirit and are born of the Spirit that is have a new Life begotten in us therefore called a Spirit of Life before we lived as Men now as Christians And Love the Heart is bent and inclined to God It began in Love and endeth in Love Love of God endeth in Love to God This threefold Effect is expressed 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power of Love and a sound Mind Life in Power as Light in a sound Mind And it is all together called the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature For it answereth to the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God 3. That all these Words imply Riches of Goodness Bounty and Liberality Love noteth a ready Inclination to do Good to others without the Excitement of external Motives it openeth and inlargeth the Heart to another and then the Hand cannot be shut 2 Cor. 6.11 O ye Corinthians our Mouth is open unto you our Heart is enlarged Grace is some good thing freely given So ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Communion noteth a liberal Effusion or Distribution of the Graces of God's sanctifying Spirit and so it suteth with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Love of God and the Grace of Christ Elsewhere ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Communion of the Spirit is joined with Bowels and Mercies Phil. 2.1 If any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies that is if you have received any Good from Christ by the Spirit So Rom. 15.26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain Contribution for
the poor Saints which are at Jerusalem What is in our Translation to make a Contribution for the Saints is in the Original ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to make a Communion or Communication So 2 Cor. 8.4 Praying us with much Intreaty that we would receive the Gift and take upon us the Fellowship of the ministring to the Saints ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So 2 Cor. 9.13 And for your liberal Distribution unto them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So here the Communication of the Spirit If you will render it Communion this is the great Effect of the Love of God and the Grace of Christ that we are made Members of Christ's Mystical Body by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one Spirit we are are all baptized into one Body And so are united to the Head and to one another by this Bond of Union The Church is a Mystical Body whereof Christ is the Head and the Holy Ghost is as it were the Heart of it the one guideth this great Body the other quickneth it Now in this Mystical Body we actually come to the Participation of what Christ hath purchased for us by the Holy Ghost 4. These make way one for another or work into each others hand for what the Father intended Christ purchased and the Spirit applieth God the Father is as the Fountain of Grace Jesus Christ as the Conduit or Pipe to convey it to us and the Holy Ghost the immediate Operator and Worker of it The Father of his good Pleasure electing Sinners to Grace and Glory the Son by his Obedience and Sufferings purchasing it that it may be brought about in a Way convenient for God's Honour the Spirit by his Virtue and Power working Grace in them There is not a different Effect from the Father which is not from the Son and from the Son which is not from the Spirit but they concur in an united Way that what cometh from the Father cometh from the Son and the Spirit the Father makes way for the Son's Work and the Son for the Spirit 's So back again the Spirit is said to honour the Son Iohn 16.14 He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you And the Son is said to glorify the Father Iohn 14.13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son The Spirit acts as sent by Christ and Christ as sent by the Father This is necessary to be regarded by us because as our Salvation in the general is from the Father through the Son by the Spirit so in all our Commerce with God God the Father as a Judg by the Spirit of Bondage sendeth us to Christ as Mediator and Christ as Mediator by the Spirit of Adoption sends us back again to God as a Father It is a great Help to Prayer Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father To whom are we praying To God as a Father Whence have we hopes of Audience By Christ. Who giveth us an Heart to come The Spirit II. The Reasons why they concur 1. That we may have the higher Esteem of the Work which hath such Agents concerned in it It is no slight thing to bring about the Salvation of lost Sinners all the Persons of the Godhead are at work about it and shall not we who are the Parties interested be employed about it also God is in good earnest for therefore before all Worlds he employed the Riches of his Wisdom and Grace to save us in this convenient Way 1 Pet. 1.20 Who verily was fore ordained before the Foundation of the World but was manifest in these last Times for you And who are we that the Thoughts of God should be taken up about us so long ago Jesus Christ hath spared no Pains to accomplish the Work of our Redemption but freely offered himself to this Work Heb. 10.7 Lo I come to do thy Will O God He repented not his Undertaking but was fully contented if Souls may be saved Isa. 53.11 He shall see of the Travail of his Soul and shall be satisfied And the Holy Spirit continueth striving with us though often grieved by our Obstinacy and Disobedience Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with Man Isa. 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Many a Conviction do we smother and often check and resist his Motions yet he is importunate to prevail with us 2. That our Hearts may be raised to give equal Glory to all the Persons concerned We must honour the Son as we honour the Father as it is expresly said Ioh. 5.23 That all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that hath sent him There is an Honour due to God only not to be given to any other Christ is equal with the Father in participating this Honour he is to have the same Glory of Believing Love Fear and Invocation So also for the Spirit he is an Object of Invocation for as the Apostle wisheth and desireth Love from the Father and Grace from Christ so a liberal Distribution and Communication of Gifts and Graces from the Spirit Now to excite us to give this due Respect to all the Persons every one concurreth in his way to promote our final Happiness and Salvation The Father deserveth this Esteem from us Many think of God the Father as all Wrath and Justice difficult to be reconciled to Man and of the second Person of the Trinity as more gracious and merciful No the Love of God is the Original of our Redemption God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all Rom. 8.32 And God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses to them 2 Cor. 5.19 And the Father himself loveth you John 16.27 Christ came to shew the amiable Nature of God Being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1.3 Then for the Lord Jesus in Christ the Glory and Riches of the Grace of God doth more eminently and palpably appear This is the Contemplation of the Saints Iohn 1.14 And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only-begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Ephes. 3.18 19. That ye 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 knowledg that ye might be filled with all the Fulness of God Heb. 3.1 Wherefore holy Brethren Partakers of the Heavenly Calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Iesus Christ. His Grace thus condescending to Men is more eminently seen Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us And Rev. 1.5 To him who loved us and washed us from
our Sins in his own Blood And for God the Spirit we also find our Hearts raised to give him Glory partly by the Motions of his Grace which we feel in our Hearts Psal. 143.10 Teach me to do thy Will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of Vprightness Nehem. 9.20 Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them The Sanctifier Guide and Comforter of Believers is God's Spirit he is the only Author and Fountain of all Goodness and Holiness And partly by the comfortable Sense he begets in us of our Adoption Gal. 4.6 And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father And of our Hopes of Glory 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who hath also given unto us the Earnest of the Spirit And partly by the Support and Comfort we have from him in all our Conflicts and Distresses 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you on their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified 3. That we may with more Confidence wait for the Beginning Progress and Consummation of our own Salvation There is the eternal Love of God the alsufficient Merit of Christ and the omnipotent Operation of the Holy Ghost What cannot Eternal Love Infinite Merit and Almighty Power do As Christ is necessary to keep all right between us and God so the Spirit is necessary to keep all right between us and Christ. As we need a Person of the Godhead to satisfy the Justice of God so also to overcome our Obstinacy and Unbelief and to vanquish Temptations and Doubts and Fears and to settle us in the Comfort and Hope of the Gospel It is God's Prerogative to settle the Conscience Isa. 57.19 I create the Fruit of the Lips Peace Peace to him that is afar off and to him that is nigh saith the Lord. God is the supream Judg and the wronged Party He commands his Loving-kindness in the Day-time Psal. 42.8 By a powerful Imperial Act of the Spirit he stilleth our Doubts and Fears 4. That the whole Glory of our Salvation may redound to God alone Therefore the Divine Persons carry it on among themselves Love Grace and Communication do all To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1.6 Grace is the Fountain-Cause of our Election Grace bringeth it about for who could ransom a Soul except Christ had taken the Work in hand There would have been a stop there Psal. 49.7 8. None of them can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransom for him for the Redemption of their Soul is precious and ceaseth for ever There would have been a stop there Grace applies all What are we before the Grace of the Spirit How unworthy till Grace made us lovely How unable to lay hold on it before the Spirit of God enable us Rom. 5.6 For when we were yet without Strength in due time Christ died for the Vngodly And how unable are we to make good use of it afterward For 1. What was our Behaviour before Calling Disobedient serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Titus 3.3 2. In Calling it was slight and âefractory Iob 33.14 For God speaketh once yea twice but Man perceiveth it not He often inviteth but Men take no notice of what so much concerneth their Souls good but slight all Warnings and Instructions lay not their Condition to heart and many an Opportunity is lost but God overcometh Mens Evil by his own Goodness and will not lose his Elect therefore ver 16. He openeth the Ears of Men and sealeth their Instruction that is breaketh in upon them in such a powerful way that they cannot withstand it 3. Since Calling there are frequent Interruptions of Obedience Iames 3.2 For in many things we offend all Our best Performances are weak and full of Blemishes Isa. 64.6 We are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy Rags So that from first to last all floweth from God and all floweth from Love and Grace and Communication of the Spirit that our Persons and Actions are accepted Now it is our Duty to acknowledg this Love and highly esteem this glorious Grace and to testify our Esteem by Word and Work By Word ân Praises by Deed expressing our Thankfulness in our Lives that they may be a constant Hymn to God and a Praise of his Grace that we are made Partakers of Vse 1. To encourage us to seek after the Effects of this Love of God Grace of Jesus Christ and Communion of the Spirit 1. I will plead your Want What will you do if you have not Father Son and Holy Ghost for your God You have your Beings from him for a while but the Day of his Patience will not always last You must die and give an Account and woful yea dreadful will their Account be who are not only involved in the common Apostacy but have heard of the Transactions of Father Son and Holy Ghost about their Recovery and never minded the Benefit or made light of it Surely it is woful Dulness and Stupidity not to value it and to feel no need of it 2 Cor. 6.1 We then as VVorkers together with him beseech you also that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain What Grace was that God was in Christ reconciling the VVorld to himself chap. 5.19 That Grace which the Father hath contrived for your Salvation that Grace for which Christ laid down his Life that Grace which is so affectionately tendred in the Gospel that Grace and that free undeserving Mercy which is so sutable to your Necessities Will you despise this It was an Act of infinite Love of God to design it and reveal it to you of Christ to purchase it for you of the Holy Ghost to offer it to you yea to strive with you to make you capable of it Shall the Gospel be cast away upon you and all those gracious Methods of God frustrated Or have you no need of it How will you maintain Peace in your Consciences now without Grace How will you stand before God's Tribunal at the last Day 2. Let me plead the Worth of it He that hath this Love of God this Grace of Christ this Communion of the Spirit wanteth nothing to his solid Happiness He hath all necessary things in their Cause and Fountain for he hath God Christ and the Spirit For all things come from the Love of God and the Grace of Christ and the Communion of the Holy Ghost And he doth possess all things in that measure that God sees fit for him Psal. 84.11 The Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly It bringeth other Mercies with it and nothing is
good without it All things are Mercy even those that fall out contrary to our Expectations Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good to them that love God to them that are the Called according to his Purpose Well then they that know the want of Grace or the worth of Grace will earnestly seek it 3. Let me plead the possibility of obtaining it For the three Persons conspire and agree together not to your Ruine but Salvation Whatever may be expected from Infinite Love Eternal Merit and Almighty Power it is all offered to those that will seek after it There are none but are sensible that they need to address themselves to God for Pardon and a Blessing Now God is an holy God how shall Sinners deal with him As the Prophet said to Ahab If it were not that I regard the Presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look towards thee nor see thee 2 Kings 3.14 Whatever we seek and expect from God we must seek it from Jesus Christ who hath purchased all Isa. 53.5 He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Ephes. 1.7 In whom we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins And he is appointed to bestow all that which he had purchased Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and Remission of Sins And by his Intercession he doth apply all Heb. 7.25 VVherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Well then if we will go to Christ he sendeth us to the Spirit who worketh all and doth accomplish in us the Pleasure of his Goodness Go to the Spirit he must heal you and help you The Spirit sendeth us to the Means Acts 1.4 And being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the Promise of the Father You shall find him present in the Ordinances O what Incouragement have we to be serious and in the use of the Means by which the Spirit worketh 4. We are obliged by our Baptismal Covenant Matth. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Father Son and Holy Ghost take upon them to convey this Love Grace and Power and we take upon our selves to accept the Father for our Lord and Happiness Christ for our Redeemer and Saviour and the Holy Ghost for our Guide Sanctifier and Comforter to obey his Motions to use those Means whereby we may feel his Power to avoid those wilful Sins which may grieve the Spirit and cause him to suspend his Operations and Comforts There we are consecrated as Children to the true God consent to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and obey his Spirit Now make Conscience of this Vow Vse 2. Is to put us upon Self-reflection Is the Love of the Father and the Grace of Christ and the Communion of the Holy Ghost with us Do we seek our Happiness in Father Son and Holy Ghost Or do you consent that God shall be your God as reconciled to you in Jesus Christ 1. As to the Father Do you own him as your rightful Lord and are you willing to return to his Obedience by Jesus Christ Do you take him for your Portion and Felicity Do you expect to receive all your Happiness from him valuing and preferring his Favour and Love above all the Pleasures Profits and Honours of the World Psal. 4.6 There be many that say VVho will shew us any Good Lord lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us Admiring it 1 Iohn 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! His Favour is Life Psal. 30.5 yea better than Life Psal. 63.3 Because thy Loving-kindness is better than Life my Lips shall praise thee Willing to forsake all rather than forsake him Behave your selves with that Thankfulness as those that owe your selves and all your Happiness to him 2 Cor. 5.14 15. The Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judg that if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again Carry it as those that are obliged by Love 2. Do you take Christ for your only Saviour and Redeemer giving up your selves to be saved by his Merits Righteousness and Intercession as he hath promised in the Word Do you trust your selves and Souls with him for Pardon Peace and endless Happiness depend upon his Covenant and Promises for Reconciliation with God and everlasting Fruition of him in Glory trampling upon all things rather than turn your Back upon your Redeemer's Grace 5. Do you yield your selves to the Holy Ghost Are you unfeignedly desirous to be rid of Sin as displeasing to the Holy God how dear soever it hath been to you And do you submit to the Spirit to be sanctified and perfected by degrees in the Means he hath appointed being ruled by his Motions rather than the Desires of the Flesh Do you observe his Accesses and Recesses and behave your selves accordingly FINIS AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF THE Principal Matters Contained in this VOLUME A Page ABraham's Faith opened 1. In his clear sight of Christ to come 474 The Grounds of this Faith 475 The Strength of it 476 2. In overlooking the Difficulties that lay in the way of the Promise 482 The Grounds of this Faith 483 The Strength of it ibid. The Effects of it 488 Acceptance with God for the pardon of Sin the highest matter in the World 945 Account There are Books of Account kept between God and the Creature 261 At the Day of Iudgment these Books of Account shall be opened 262 All shall be called to an Account ibid. Iudgment shall pass upon all Men according to the Account then given 263 The Advantage of calling our selves often to Account ibid. Mens Account shall be answerable to their Mercies ibid. Adherence Resolute Adherence of Faith how seen 471 The Grounds of this resolute Adherence 472 Adoption How the Spirit witnesses of our Adoption 1135 Afflictions should not make us question our Adoption 1136 1139 Afflictions come from God 1133 Afflictions and Miseries may befal Gods ' People 1210 Bearing Afflictions becomes God's People 1137 We must not faint under Afflictions 765 Afflictions of the Righteous prove a Life to come 1215 Angels look into the Mystery of Redemption by Christ 918 What of this Mystery Angels look into ibid. The manner how Angels look into it 920 The Reasons why Angels look into it ibid. Angels fallen Why God would not save fallen Angels but fallen Men 658 Page