will will please himselfe whoever be displeased And therefore to prevent these and the like inconveniences let us deny our own wils after the example of Christ and submit to the will of God in every thing Let Gods will his unknown will his undesired will by any but himself be done by us upon us Whatever his will bee concerning any let it take place in them upon them to the utmost Let not me nor any else be what we would but what Gods will pleaseth to have us and let us pray with our Saviour Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven that so Gods whole will and counsel may be fulfil'd upon us without so much as desiring him to give us the least account of it untill he pleaseth himselfe If God please to suffer us to be lead into folly sin death hell any thing let him do what he will carry us whether he will Let our own will wholly die in us that it may never avoid any thing more nor chuse any thing more in any kind but as Gods will shall chuse for us and avoid for us For my own particular let it be so that I perish for ever I had rather have it so then have mine own will fulfilled I know my own will so well that I desire to have it crossed even in the things that neerest concerne me I would not be saved as I have a mind to be saved I would not go to heaven in my own way and after my own will And on the contrary I have such a taste though that be but a smal one of the excellency of the hidden wil of God that I would not have it cross'd no not in those things that tend to my greatest prejudice If it be Gods wil that I must be damned I must deny my selfe in yeelding to this wil of God be content for Gods glory to subscribe my own damnation Nowthis may deserve the name of self-resignation the denying of our own wils which is the second stepof Selfe-denyall We now come to hold out unto you the third step or degree of our great Gospel-duty of Self-deniall namely the deniall of our gifts and our graces the fruits and improvments of our endowments whether natural or spiritual And first for our natural gifts and endowments there is naturally in every man selfe-boasting in the creatures own wisdom apprehended self-excellency There is a disposition of nature even in the Saints to be exalted above measure not onely in those graces received from Christ but in their own personal excellencies Saint Paul 2 Cor 12. 7. Was sensible of both And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure And there is in every childe of God a natural disposition to spiritual pride he that knows any thing knows it This is the filthinesse of the spirit that the Saints are liable unto Truly we have very little cause to glorie in any thing except in Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 4. 7. Therefore the Prophet saith Let not the wise man glorie in his wisdome nor the strong man in his strength but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth the Lord. It is the exhortation of Christ to his disciples Luk. 10. 22. All things are delivered to mee of my Father and no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father and who the Father is but the Son and to whom the Son will reveal him and this lesson Saint Paul learned and every Christian in some good measure must learn Gal. 6. 14. But God forbid that I should glorie save in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Let us therefore in the first place deny our Selfe-sufficiency and Selfe-strength There is a natural disposition in the creature to think that it hath power in it self to act towards God hut where Christ comes in power hee teacheth men to deny this principle Jeh 15. 5. I am the Vine yee are the branches hee that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me yee can do nothing And the Apostle that had experience of the workings of God confesseth it 1 Cor. 15. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I labored more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God which was in me And the reason wherefore wee are to deny our self-sufficiencie and self-strength is that so we may be able to hold out in the evill day when a man is put to it either by his spiritual or temporal enemies Men standing upon their own strength are gone Isa 40 30 Even the youths shall faint and he weary and the young men shall utterly fall they that apprehend a power in themselves to stand but ver 31. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they that see an insufficiencie in themselves and trust upon the Name of the Lord c. Psal 145. 1. Christ would have his work to be a perfâ—ct and full work his Covenant a sure Covenant Isa 55. 3. Incline your ear and come unto me heâ—r and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Therefore he undertakes not onely to being men into the Covenant but to keep them there Jerem. 32 40. And 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 It is in the strength of Christ the believer stands Job 15. 5. You cannnot pray or perform any duty acceptable Roâ— 8. 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what wee should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Much lesse stand and hold out to the end against all spiritual oppositions a Christian is to encâ—unter with all We are therefore to deny all our self strength and self-sufficiencie and so likewise all our self wisedom and knowledg and whatever natural gifts and endowments are in us more eminent then the rest Men are naturally too wise for Christ so were the Grecians 1 Cor. 1. 22. and therefore the Apostle exhorts the Church to take heed of self-wisdom 1 Cor. 3. 18. Let no man deceivhimself If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world let him become afool that he may be wise The readiest way to attain wisdome is to lay all our wisedome downe at the feet of Christ I beseech you consider this hath Christ taught your soules this lesson Is your wisedome heavenly born wisedom or is it earthly Is it your
upon my knees and to my praiers for God's mercie and forgivenesse of our Pulpit-sins in that we have praied and preach'd the Doctrine and Discipline of three flourishing Nations into complicated Heresies and Confusion this too mingled with the blood of near upon an hundred thousand Protestant Christians so much is the number of the Church of Romes Adversaries lessened since the year 1640 I would to God that all such of my own Coat whom this concerns would but cordially think upon it and know for certain that though their bonus Genius the conscience of these Acts hath fled them now iterum tamen Philippis yet it will meet them again with horror upon their death beds I speak not this in malice or revenge as if any of those men had robb'd me of a Living or Church-preferment but meerly out of a deep Christian sence of that common calamitie which they have brought upon the three Nations and that fearful judgment which will fall upon themselves being already begun in a contempt of their Praying and Preaching-trade by those that have out-praied and out-preach'd them even from the Shop and Stall and will end upon their Persons Families in such a way as I tremble even to think oâ— And let this suffice Christian Reader for the reason of my Designe in publishing these Sermons As for the Sermons themselves bee pleased to take notice that not so much the Doctrine though that also will not be disliked by peaceable sober-minded Christians as the Style and manner of them is offered to thy view And here I shall not make any comparison between the several Styles nor determine which Way is best because I will not prejudice the sincere conscientious endeavours of any that with an upright unbyass'd spirit labour in God's vineyard but shall in my daily praiers desire Gods daily blessing upon them But then also for the Doctrine of these Sermons in general however particular Judgments may like or dislike of some particular doctrines For as I do not expect that those of the Episcopal perswasion should allow of every expression in the last so neither do I look that those of the contrary judgment will approve of every period in the first Sermon You are to know further that this Tract is so far for these Times as these Times are preaching times and this Tract a preaching Tract and yet in this agreement there is a vaste difference For this Pulpit age hath so much of the New light as it hath almost none of the Old day of the Gospel but the Tract before you discovers this day to you without that Light Again the present Times have preach'd Congregations into Armies and Churches into Garrisons making the Pulpit a Magazine or store-house for the War and the Minister both the old Trumpet of the Law and the new Drum of the Gospel whose Sermons are the great Artillery made use of not so much to beat down vice as Cities and men so that what heretofore was spoken of the true Prophets may now be applied to these False ones without a figure The chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof But Sir in these peaceable Sermons you shal meet with no armor but that of Gods no strong holds taken and sack'd unlesse those of hell The lines here speak not Petars and Granado's nor are the Doctrines delivered in a whirlewinde or tempest but in a soft still voice and answerable are the Applications for meeknesse and peace and brotherly love and not under pretence of cursing Meroz to murther Christians You have here indeed many of the Primitive Doctors of the Church drawn up like so many Commanders as it were into an Armie yet not one of that long robe did change his Miter for an Helmet nor his Crosier for a Sword I do not finde in Ecclesiastical storie that old Anselme did ever command a troop of horse or Nazianzene a regiment of foot neither do I meet with among the Records of the Church for 1500 years together that though the Ministers of the Gospel were back and breast proof they were ever clad in Armour never did they preach or pray in Buffe and yet even those naked praiers of theirs could subdue heaven it self never as I read of did those Primitive Saints gather their People into Regiments nor the Catholick Church into a Catholick Armie and yet that Church was an Armie too and that Armie had its weapons and its war but both spiritual The breathings of the Holy Ghost though sometimes they might come as a mighty rushing winde that fill'd both houses and hearts likewise yet never did that winde blow down the one into ruine nor the other into despair and if at any time that winde was cleft into Tongues of fire those tongues were onely to warm and enlighten not to burn down and consume Cities You are also taught from these leaves that Secular Learning is not so heathenish but it may be made Christian Plato and Socrates and Seneca were not of such a reprobate sence as to stand wholly Excommunicate The same man may be both a Poet a Prophet a Philosopher and an Apostle Virgil's fancie was as high as the Magi's Star and might lead Wisemen in the West as clearly to their Saviour as that Light did those Eastern Sages And so likewise Seneca's Positions may become Saint Paul's text Aristotles Metaphysicks convince an Atheist of a God and his Demonstrations prove Shiloes Advent to a Jew That great Apostle of the Gentil es had never converted those Nations without the help of their own Learning It was the Gentiles Oratorie yet â—ot without the Holy Ghost's Rhetorick that did almost perswade Agrippa to be a Christian and it was the Gentiles Poetrie but not without a Dietie in the Verse that taught the Athenians to know an unknown God By which you see it is possible that Gamaliel's feet may be a step to an Apostleship and that there is no such necessary relation betwixt the Stall and the Pulpit but that gifted men may proceed from either of the Universities as well as from the Shuttle or the Laste And I do believe that within these very few years when the Vail and Vizard of these Times shall be laid aside all our New lights and gifts and inspirations will appear to the world to have a greater mystery in them then that of a Trade to be forg'd in no Shop but a Studie and by no handicraft Company or Corporation but a Societie and a College And remember you were told this sad truth by him who foretold it twelve years since in his private discourse and now as if the Transactions of these daies had turn'd that prophesie into storie dares publish it to this credulous abused Age as an experimented truth which notwithstanding is still contradicted by the Praiers though it cannot be by the Reason of SIR Your Christian friend and Servant AB WRIGHT THE First Sermon Which is that in B p ANDREWS His Style or Way of
the Lord foretold them in the 31. of Deuteronomie when saies hee I shall have brought Israel into the land that floweth with milke and honey and they shall have eaten and fill'd themselvs then will they turne unto other gods then and not till then and just so they did for in the very next Chap. at the 15 ver you have Jeshurun which is Jsraell wax'd fatt and kicking and then saies the text hee forsooke God which made him Another end of fasting is to elevate the soul and put her upon the wing of holy contemplation and prayer for it stands with reason that so long as shee is conversant in the kitchin so long as her spirits and faculties are spent in dispersing vapours and exhalations of meats shee her selfe must needs bee lâ—sse apt and free for heavenly emploiment Full bellies are fittest for â—est and not the body so much as the soule is most active with emtinesse for this reason fasting and praier go together in Scripture and as in Scripture so in our Churches practise solemne praier almost ever takes fasting to attâ—nd it A third reason of fasting is to â—estify our repentance by our penance the prostration of our soules by the humiliation of our bodies and thus did the primitive times by their course diet and cloathing present their unworrhinesse of the benefits of this life and by casting ashes on their heads speake themselves but dust altogether deserving to be as farre underneath the earth as they were above it and this repentance Christ implied to bee the most reall and unfained of all others when hee told the Jewes That had the mighty works been done in Tyre and Sidâ—n which were done amongst them they would have repented and is that all no they would have repented sitting in sack-cloath and ashes their very cloaths and haire had done pennance For tâ—ue repentance is not a bare turning to God but turning with fasting they are Gods own words Turn to mee with fasting weeping and mourning The belly must grieve and sympathize with the heart and the eye be as contrite as the minde Repentance then must together with fasting under the Law in Leviticus it was so their solemne repentance was ever at the time of their generall fast and they which had not the law as Nineveâ— nature it selfe taught them to take this Physicke as wee use all other fasting and fasting wee must take it if wee would have it worke kindly Nay Saint Basil in his first dejejunto saies it works not at all upon a full stomack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repentance without fasting is idle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meerly idle without any stirring any moving the ill humors atall The meaning is according to S. James As faith without works so repentance without fasting is little better then dead and again As faith without works so fasting too without works is dead and this is another end of our fasts the exercise of our charity alms To keep a fast for a nation and relieve it not is but to repeat that Sarcasme in the 2 d of S. James Depart in peace when they are already destroied by war warm your selves and fill your bellies without fire or meat Could we everimagine how our devotion should rout an enemie or our fasts raise a siege Joshua must sight against Amalek as well as Moses pray it were well then if they would order it that our hands may be lifted up no lesse then our votes and praiers and our Chests lie as open as our Church-doors For this is to fast saies God by his Prophet Isaiah To deal thy bread to the hungrie to bring the poor to thy house Israel was not chid for eating but laying up of their Mannah and therefore saies a Father Ita jejuna ut alio manducante prandisse te gaude as so fast that the poor may fare the better for it let thy Eves be their Festivals thy Lent their Easter And now we have got a fast for our time let us see whether wee can finde a time for our fast a tunc for our jejunabant which is my last part to be handled the circumstance or time of this fast implied in the Adverb then And then they shall fast and then Allowing the thing we can't chuse but allow it a time for there is a time for every thing under the Sun a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourne and a time to dance saies the preacher to dance when the Bridegroom is with us to sit down and mourn when hee is taken away when the marriage feast is at an end and this is that then in my text then shall they fast that is when the Bridegroom is taken away and the Bridegroom is taken away saies our Church Homilie when we are cast down with sicknesse grief of minde or the like As for sicknesse 't is a plain case that takes away the stomack quite and the time of grief is a time of fasting too Thus Hannah when she was upbraided by her adversarie wept and how then and did not eat saies the 1 of Sam. 1. 7. nor drink neither I believe unlesse her tears So Ahab also when he could not obtein the Vineyard mourn'd I that 's granted you 'l say for 't is wine that maketh glad the heart of man and Naboth denied that mourn'd yes and fasted saies the text no meat would down with him he was so vexed And so 't is here while Christ was with the Apostles they could not grieve for they had the fulnesse of joy but when that fulnesse of joy was to be taken away then they shall mourn tunc jejunabunt and then they shall fast mourn and fast all one in the text Another time of Fasting is the time of danger for when men are in jeopardy what pleasure can they take in meat knowing not how soon they may eat their last When the children of Israel saw the Egyptians at their heels they had no time then to think of their flesh-pots and onyons And this then this time of fasting is the most usuall in all the Scripture if a plague famine or Rabshekah bee fear'd sanctifie a fast in all hast put on sackcloath send for the Arke And thus was it with the Apostles Christ was their rocke and sure tower of defence from all danger and the feare of it but when this rocke was removed when Christ was once taken away then they were at St Pauls quotidie morimur every hour in danger to be drawn to the stake tunc jeiunabant and then they did fast Now if for the effect of sin we fast for the cause for sinne it selfe much more and this then this time of fasting for our sinns should wee duely observe our tunc would bee nunc our then would be now and as now ita nunc semper in secula so both now and for ever for should wee live alwaies wee should sinne alwaies and so fast alwaies But this because wee
Church from whose bodie every one that separates tears off a several limb and becoms a murtherer of the whole For which reason it hath been ever the devils policie who is encouraged not so much by his own strength as our weaknesse first to divide this armie with banners and then to assault through the breach because the conquest is easier against an hundred then against a thousand especially when the combatants fight with the publick enemie against themselves and that too commonly either about a School-subtilty or Churchceremonie the usual difference being not so much in the foundation as the paint and dresse of the building nay perchance a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Scotus upon the first of the Senten censures that grand controversie about the procession of the Holy Ghost a consent of opinions in contrary terms as a sundry dialect maketh not a several language both sides speaking the same way to heaven though in a diverse tone In these cases then no separation onely let thy charitie pitie thy brothers mistreading speak it errour in him but no irreligion in that he loves God with as strong a flame though of a weaker light with as high a zeal though a lower knowledg his slips alas being to him as part of his religion Creed errs meerly least he should dishonor God Leav him not therefore for his errors in doctrine nor yet for his errors in life separate neither from a particular Church nor a particular Congregation either for the Priests sin or the peoples refuse not to take the blessed Eucharist from him or receive it with these For first what if the Priest the sacrificer be unclean is the offering so 'T is a grosse dull capaeity that can't distinguish 'twixt the worke and the instrument the weakenesse of the person and the power of the function Now as we may not separate from the Communion for the Priests folly so neither for the peoples For what though some in the Congregation be prophane Wilt thou thrust all into the pit of hell because some few walke near the brink 'T is a priveledge of the Church triumphant to be all faire and have no spot in her the best proportion'd body hath not every part of an equall comlinesse nor is beauty made up of one colour Our spouse in this booke of Canticles wears a black eye in a cleare complextion that is but her naturall beautie-speck the moon 's a glorious body for all her moles the Church a faire Lilly for all the thorns And what are those to me Can't I enjoy the sweetnesse but I must needs pricke my fingers if I admonish the sinner and detest his sin what 's anothers profaennesse to my religion Our Saviour could be of the same table with Publicans and sinners yet none of their counsell eat of their meat without tasting their gall and bitternesse And we read his Apostles did communicate with Judas and yet not with his treason partake of the Paschal Lambe without tasting the bitter herbs And now what remedy for this confus'd communion of the multitude certainely none If the Children of God come to present themselves before his Throne there seldom misses a Sathan in the mid'st as we read Job 2 no crosse or holy water can keep him out Our bells are not exorcists they may cleare the aire if you will but of no evill spirits neither is their sound so subtle to distinguish 'twixt good and bad invites not the Publican and forbids the Pharisee they both came up to the Temple at the houre of praier there seldome being a gathering together into the Arke the Church but some uncleane beast enters not the most perfect Synod on earth even that of the Apostles but had its Judas and yet these Apostles were Chist's and that Ark God's which points to my last particular the Artisan or Limmer himself that hath drawn and owes and will protect this piece implied in the particle my As the Lillie so is my Love God is in the world as the soul in the bodie life and government and as the soul is in every part of the bodie so is God in everypart of the world no quartermaster but universal Monarch a God every where every where wholly a God his power extending as well to an Ant as to a Man to an Atome as to a Citie but not in the same degree as his glorie fill'd both Moses his bush and the space about it but not with the same measure the one being too holy onely for the Prophets shoo 's the other even for his feet Thus do Common-wealths inherit a greater share of the Almightie's Providence then single families their laws being wrap'd in his decrees and their policies in his counsels plotting and contriving nothing but what meets with an Eternal thought And even amongst Common-wealths some enjoy more otherslesse of divine protection for though all Nations beare God's stampe and image yet Israel had his superscription too those tribes were writ his and none but his here was his lot his inheritance his Church and where this is you have still a greater influence of the Diety And by this right of inheritance hath God jus patronatus the perpetual Advousen of the Catholick Church and therefore well may hee say in the text my love mine for I made her there is the right of Creation mine for I made her again wash'd and cleans'd her there is the right of Regeneration mine for I bought her there is the right of Redemption mine for she is my self my Spouse there is nexus indissolubilis the right of matrimonial union And as mine to love so to defend the result and inference is natural I am thine therefore save mee O Lord was the Prophets Interest cannot stand without protection as one relation lives not without its brother the hand saies it is my head therefore I will guard it with my strength the head replies it is my hand therefore I will advise it with my counsel And thus it holds in all save where is lack of love or power but with God is want of neither not of love for he that toucheth Israel toucheth the apple of Gods eie nor of power the agent being omnipotent able to compasse his will both without means and contrarie to all Thus rather then his children shall perish either by a deluge or a drought by too much or too little water the red sea shall be divided into walls and the stonie rock into springs and if the Church hath yet any adversaries more mercilesse then water â—he earth shall open from below and burie them before dead or fire shall descend from above and make them a sacrifice without an offering God never suffering this Lillie either to be cut down by the sword or burnt up by the fire of martyrdom 'T is true it may somtimes like a nipp'd blossom hang down the head nay be driven by a winter of persecution to keep house under ground retire I mean to
said to give almes of what they have cheated and robbed unlesse they cannot tell the persons whom they have injured or the proportions in such cases they are to give those unknown portions to the poore by way of restitution for it is no almes Onely God is the supreme Lord to whom those escheats devolue and the poor are his receivers And therefore are said in my Text to receive you into everlasting habitations which is my last generall part of the division beeing the end and motive to good works That when yee fail c. In the handling of which part I shall First propose to your consideration three brief positions and then proceed to a more full explication of this generall head For the Positions the First is this that if men were their own friends they would make others so with their Mammon and while they are on earth provide for heaven Blessed are the mercifull for they shall receive mercy was our Saviours in the Gospell God's promises though they be gracious yet they are confined and he onely shall receive mercy that shewes it The Almighty being therefore bountifull to us that we might be so to others promising that if we feast those that cannot bid us againe and build for those that cannot lodge us againe We shal be made partakers of that Mariage-feast and those habitations whose maker and builder is God If men then were their owne friends they would make others so with this Mammon Why should the rust of that gold rise up in judgment against thee the right use of which will place thee with those that shall sit in judgment Turning thy Talents into Cities and saying the foundation of that building whose walls reach up to heaven And that is our First Poâ—ition But can good workes purchase these eternall habitations By no meanes And therefore Our Second Position is this That not our good workes But Christ's merits are the formall cause of our Salvation For neither the vertue of the works they bee but the fruits of charity nor the vertue of charity that is but the fruit of faith nor the vertue of faith that 's but an instrument to apprehend Christ but he alone our Saviour alone by his merits hath made this purchase and prepared those mansions for us And yet mistake me not there is no lesse necessity of good workes then if you should be saved by them that though you cannot be saved by them as the meritorious causes of your glory yet that you cannot be saved without them as the necessary effects and arguments of that grace which brings glory Which is our Second Position upon the point Our third runns thus The poor by their praiers receive us into those eternall habitations which Christ bestowes and confers upon us Now the poor here meant in the Text are either Pauperes spiritu the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God Mat 5. or Pauperes sacculo the poor in purse and these by their prayers shall receive thee into heaven For as Christ is said to receive those almes on earth which the poor put up and not he so the poor in heaven are said to receive us into everlasting habitations which Christ shall bestow and not they Can you conceive how the Queen of Sheba and men of Nineve shall rise up at the last day In the same manner but for a better end shal the men women and children of your Hospitals rise up and testify on your behalf saying Sweet Jesus had it not been for these and these Benefactors we had perished for want As therefore Saint Paul said to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 1. Ye are our hope cause these at the last day would witnesse how he had laboured for their salvation so may every one of you say of all those to whom you have done good You are our hope for that they shall testifie your good works before men and Angels justifie that sentence which shal receiv you into everlasting habitations These are the three brief Positions I mentioned Now that we may come to a more full explication of the point these everlasting habitations according to several Expositors are severally interpreted for first to be received into these everlasting habitations is to be taken into the protection of God according to Psal 90. 1. which is interpreted by the next Psal 1 ad 4. ver from which first interpretation our position shall be That it is better to give away all that wee have to the poor and have God with nothing then all the world without God To have God with nothing did I say Nay in having him wee have all things saith Saint Cyprian de Coen Dom. cum Dei sint omnia Since all things are God's to him that hath God nothing can be wanting except he be wanting unto God nothing saith the Father no good thing saith the Prophet the young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal 34. Though all earthly persecutions entrench thee and miserie seems to come upon thee like an armed man and thou art fallen into the jawes of those enemies whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword yet Angels shall encampe about thee and the Lord of Hosts shall be thy buckler and thy shield the neighing of the horse the noise of the trumpet shall not invade thee or if they do and at such a strait that the arme of flesh growes weak yet his mercie is great unto the heavens and his truth reacheth unto the clouds the glorious hoste above shall muster all their forces to assist thee the starrs shall fight for thee and thunder speak loud unto thy enemies Thus in the height of miseries God shall be thy castle and strong tower and under the shadow of his wings shall bee thy refuge till these calamities bee overpast God never leaveth his in their extremities whether in the Cave or in the Mountain in the Den or in the Dungeon hee is alwaies there both in his power and assistance and somtimes in his person too when all natural supplies grow hopelesse God purveies for his children by his miracles rocks shall burst with water and Ravens provide bread and clouds drop fatnesse and heavens shower mannah and Angels administer comforts which when we are naked shall cloath us and receive us or rather usher us into these everlasting habitations Now besides this exposition of the words these everlasting habitations may receive a double interpretation one in respect of the everlasting fame and glorie of your name in this world the other in regard of your everlasting reward in the next and that first branch hath a double relation one to your self the other to your posteritie truly even this part of the reward and retribution namely in this life is worth a great deal of your cost and alms that God shall establish your posteritie in the world and in the
to say after him The flesh profiteth nothing If you onely know Christ as dying and rising without you it will profit you nothing unlesse you know him as dying and rising within you Any man is capable of remembring the storie of Christ and rehearsing it if hee have but common reason and can say as well as another that Christ died for him and can throw himself upon Christ and can hang upon Christ this is not faith this is not salvation for saith James Faith without works is dead and Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath `made me free from the law of sin and death he doth not say that such a proposition or text of the Gospel did set him free he doth not say that the hearing that Christ died for the sins of men doth set him free No there was the Spirit of life in Christ as well as the law or letter it is that entails life upon Christ and his seed There is an outward Covenant and there is an inward Spirit The outward Covenant is this I will be thy God and the God of thy seed and may not any man pretend to be in this Covenant of this seed do not thousands professe themselvs to be so Do not thousands in the world say Lord Lord Lord and presse to enter into heaven We cannot put a difference betwixt one or other except we know this truth for they say they are within the Covenant and of Christs seed and what hold they forth for this they hold forth the confession of Christ and say that he died for their sin and rose for their justification and this they believe and upon this they lay their souls for salvation May not the veriest hypocrite do so as well as the truest Saint but here 's that which puts the difference when the spirit of Christ brings this Covenant to the heart of a poor creature when the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of son-ship revealing God as our Father revealing God in Union with us our righteousnesse our strength hee doth indeed seal us to the day of Redemption he sets apart Christs sheep and this distinguisheth them from the other So that if you lay salvation upon an historical Christ you 'l be deceived If you would have that in which you may confide you must have Christ revealed in you in the Spirit you must have the same Spirit of Faith that was in Christ and the same spirit of power that wrought in him you must have the same eternal spirit by which you must offer up your bodies offer up your flesh to God as a sacrifice yea your selves and your own righteousnesse this is true salvation this is salvation manifested unto life To make this yet more clear I shal shew you the difference between Christ in the flesh and Christ in the Saints between that work of God within us and that work of God in Christ the latter is the truth of the former Sanctifiethem through thy truth Joh. 17. 17. that is do thou act those things really in them which are done in a figure for them upon mee there is the truth I desire to clear this to you by some familiar experience You know that Jesus Christ is said to die for our sins and rise for our justification Here is now Christ in the flesh here is his ministration Why now hereupon salvation is preach'd to men and they are told that God is reconciled for he hath sent his Son there is nothing to be done God is reconciled his justice satitfied onely believ Here is the outward difpensation But now a poor soul notwithstanding all this lies under the guilt and weight of sin whereby he cannot believe or take comfort in these glad tidings Do you not see that there is need of another ministration Is there not need of the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus as well as the proposition of the Gospel You come and shew a poor soul the proposition of the Gospel that whosoever believeth in Christ shall have eternal life Yet all this while the poor soul lies dead till not onely the letter but the spirit of the Gospel comes and appears to him till Christ appears not onely in his first Court that is his own flesh or the letter of the Gospel but the inmost place of all that is in this man's conscience For wee may allude to Heb. 9. 24. That Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us These words are spoke figuratively It is true he went visibly into heaven that is a place remote from their sight a cloud received him out of their sight The true heaven and that heaven where Christ doth appeare to the comfort and releife of a poor soul is the conscience of a poor sinner and that is called heaven because as heaven is the place of God so is the heart of man He is sayd â—o be the searcher of the heart God sits there and wounds and heales there that is God's true place It is not in the understanding of a man in the Notions there but it is in the heart of man there it is gone Christ in the spirit is in the heart of his people that is Christs place and there it is that Christ Jesus speakes a word for a poor soul there it is that Christ Jesus sits as King in our conscience Christ may offer himself long enough in the letter in the history of the Gospel but if he appeare not in the spirit and sit in our consciences to quiet them we shall never have any true understanding of the word Now for this reason I shall desire you to looke within your selves and I make no question but if you do wait upon God without prejudicate spirits he will clear this truth unto you And now while I come to some application of this truth I shall desire you in the feare of God not to mistake me Let us take heed of idolizing even the humanity of Jesus Christ himselfe of idolizing his doings and his sufferings We see God through these doings and sufferings of Jesus Christ as through a glasse but it is not blasphemie to say that a believer may come to see a love born unto him above and before the manifestation of it in the sufferings of Jesus Christ he may see it in God himself though by Christ Do not think you know so much as you need to know in knowing the flesh of Christ in knowing the man Christ Jesus for unlesse you know God in his appearance under that form you mistake Christ and make him an Idol I am nothing saith Christ and hee that sends is greater then he that is sent If God be greater then Christ then Christ himselfe is but a medium through which you come to be acquainted with God and in which you must not rest Take