would find out something by which it might be done Others are willing enough to continue in Sin and Drunkeness Whoredom Lying and Hypocrisie these are a sort of Fools that make a mock of Sin and that swim in the stream of pleasure and what care they so long as they make a profession of Christianity But I am speaking of a People that are strugling under their corruptions that would mortifie Sin and serve God in Holiness and Righteousness and do Gods will on Earth as it is done in Heaven and do it not in form but would have power to do it And they try several ways to have it done it is not done many have been at this work till Gray Hairs are upon their Heads and it is not done Now God hath given Christ to make Reconciliation now how can we that have the Love of God extended to us But extend our Good-will to our Friends and signifie to them that all the travel and pains they are at and all the Prayers they make that all will do nothing till they have their Faith fixt upon Jesus that is able to save and deliver them and save to the uttermost all that come to God by him But here some will object and say It is true what you say But is it needful to preach such Doctrines to us for we all believe in Christ that is the only Mediator and Saviour We know that Christ Jesus is the only Mediator and that unless he Commend us to God we cannot be Accepted of him This is our General Doctrine therefore what need it be urged and pressed upon us that are come into the the Faith already Let me search into the matter it is of greater concernment than to search into a Bargain of Worldly things men would fain have others open and discover to them wherein they may be Cheated to prevent their being Imposed on in a wordly bargain I hope then they will hearken to know how and wherein they may be deceived by themselves and deceived by others in matters of Eternal concernment There are no Protestants but they reject any Mediator but Jesus Christ and believe that no Mediator can Reconcile them to God but Christ alone and they say he is the Object of their Faith I would ask them this Question Whether they believe in Christ at a distance or as present really present with them If their Faith be Historical and at a Distance that they believe in Christ as one born of the Virgin Mary and was Crucified and Dead before they were born and Arose again and Ascended into Heaven and is set at the right hand of God if the reason of my belief be I have heard of this Relation of Christ Or whether the reason be because by his Spirit he hath visited me in this Age The one is I believe because good men have told me so but the other is I believe because by this Spirit he hath promised to send to lead me into all truth he hath visited me Now whether I am aware of such a Spiritual visitation by this quickning Spirit which is the Lord from Heaven and not only the Lord in Heaven Whether I am aware of such a quickning Power and Vertue which I have received upon my Spirit that he is not only at the right hand of God on high in Heaven but that now he is come to knock at the door of my heart and hath raised in me a Life as opposite to sin as his was Now if I be aware of a secret touch of his quickning vertue upon my Soul whereby he hath begotten me into a Life opposite to sin so that if sin remains it remains as a Burthen and Oppression upon me so that I am a sufferer forasmuch as I am quickned and made sensible of a better life of a godly Life I would fain be at it and live in it but Iniquity Lust and Corruption lies in the way He that hath quickned me so far as to bring me to a sense of the Burthen of sin my Faith tells me he will take the Burthen off else my faith will do me no good if that Corruption still prevail upon me if my Faith tells me this it will tell the wickedest Man in the World as much But if my faith tells me I am a sinner and my sin consists of this and the other evil thing I do and am inclined to do it tells me again that he that hath quickned me and brought me to a sense of sin he can take the burthen off from me Here now is a true Faith that begins in Conviction and ends in true Conversion this is the word of Faith which was delivered to the Saints and which we are to Preach They said of Oâ—d that the word of Faith which they had to Preach was that which was nigh in their mouth that they might heaâ— it and do it I have something nigh that reproves me for sin if I be Obedient to it then Faith giveth me victory over that which is sinful for which the word reproveth me and as I see Faith gives me victory over any Corruption which I have been strugling under Here I am incouraged to fix my Faith upon him that hath thus quickned me So that this is the difference between Faith in Christ at a distance and Faith that quickneth me by Gods Spirit that Spirit which hath been so much slighted in our days by the highest Notionists in our Age they have supposed it to be a meer fiction some have mocked and derided and others have been discouraged to speak of the Spirit of Christ and his operations upon the Soul some have declared it both in the Press and Pulpit that they have had no experience of the touches of Gods Spirit upon their Souls But our experience hath brought us to another degree of knowledge We know and you may know if you please and that before you sleep that there is a way opened God hath made a way for his Spirit to reach the Spirits of men to signifie immediately to their Spirits without means herein thou dost wrong and herein thou mayest have life and seek after it Now the Spiritth at thus worketh is the Spirit of Christ the Spirit that proceeds from the Father and the Son that Voice in Man that tells them they might believe and be saved When he comes saith Christ He will lead you into all truth How shall the World know this is he He shall convince them of sin If there be any convincement that ariseth in Man of this and the other sin it must be from the way the holy Spirit hath upon their Spirits he hath a way to speak to men and every one that is a Lover of their own Souls are bound to hearken unto that voice In the latter days saith the Lord When I shall raise a Prophet in the midst of you whosoever will not hear that Prophet shall be cut off All Commentators agree on this Text that that
on in every ones Bosom when the Question is stated I would have you really Answer it Shall I guide my Actions and Words according to this unerring Rule or no I cannot tell what to say say some there is danger in it What danger can there be to answer that which a Man knows to be Truth I will tell you what danger The World is Perverse the most men Live out of Truth and the Devil is a Cunning Adversary and he would have none Live in it He abode not in the Truth and he would not have us live in it nor regulate our Words and Actions by the Truth in our own Souls What if most Men in the World pervert the Truth What if so few walk in the Narrow Way and so few come to Life Eternal therefore is that an Argument I must not come there should it not stir me up to greater diligence that by any means I may be of the number of that few that shall obtain Salvation and not go with a agreat company in the Way that leads to Destruction If we improve our Times and Seasons and Opportunities and Mercies and Blessings that are vouchsafed to us we at last may obtain Life Eternal But some may say I must sit down in Despair for I cannot come thither of my self though I do what I can to Work out my own Salvation There is a Decree against me what though I should Pray never so much and spend my Nights in Grief and Sorrow If I be Decreed to Eternal Damnation there is no help for me no hope that I should escape it And if I be Decreed to Salvation though I take my Liberty to Sin and be Loose and Wanton as others it cannot hinder me from attaining Salvation at last For this Reason many have laid aside the Spiritual Warfare against Corruption and their Spiritual Travel that they will do do nothing in order to their Everlasting Happiness therefore they think they had as good take their Pleasure But my Friends the case is not now so with us Let every Soul among us praise the Lord for his mercy in expelling that thick Cloud of Darkness which is vanished and gone This I know and I hope you do all believe that God doth every where and in every Nation call Sinners to Repentance and that He delighteth not in the Death of him that Dyeth but rather that they would turn and Live and in order thereunto he hath given his Son Jesus Christ to be a Saviour and a Mediator and he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our Hearts to give direction to us in our Way Now our Duty is to make improvement of those Visitations of Mercy that God hath bestowed upon us in order to our Salvation and not Live in Rioting and Drunkenness Chambering and Wantonness Strife and Envying and following the Fashons of the World But we must Work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling But some will say Is not this done already Is it not already wrought by our Saviour and Mediator Christ hath tasted Death for every Man and laid down a Price for the Soul of every Man But there must be a change wrought in us There is a Translation of our Souls from one state to another This is called in the Scriptute Regeneration and being born again this is called a being baptized into Christ and described also by other expressions But the matter is to Change thy Life for there is a sinful Source of Wickedness that is stirred up by the Motions of the Powers of Darkness and our own concupiscence but God is always ready to bring us under the Government of his Holy Spirit that will lead us into into all Truth and this cannot be done without a Cross but the Question lies here Shall I take up this Cross or no if I do it will Crucifie me to the World Let me see How much do I Love the World A great deal But do I Love the World better than my own Soul What will it profit me to gain the whole World and lose my own Soul Or what shall I give in Exchange for my Soul I cannot get to Heaven without denying my self let me take care of my Immortal Soul I am a poor Creature I will serve the Lord my Maker and make it my business to Glorifie and Please him He can snatch me away by Death when he pleaseth therefore I will labour that my Thoughts Words and Actions and Conversation may answer to that rule that he hath set before me as a Standard of Truth to square and regulate my actions by I will not live any longer in vanity as many do I do not know but my Breath may be stopt to Day before to Morrow therefore To Day while it is called to Day I will hear Gods Voice and not harden my Heart but receive that Counsel that is offered to me for the benefit of my Soul I am bought with a Price I am none of my own I will live to him that died for me I have more Reason to live to Christ and serve him that shed his precious Blood for the Redemption of my Soul and to be subject to him then to be subject to Christs Enemy to the Prince of the Power of the Air that Rules in the Children of Disobedience I will take up a Resolution to serve God but I can do nothing of my self but The Grace of God which brings Salvation will teach me to deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World Take heed of being deceived and beguiled for there is no way will bring you to Heaven but an Holy and Undefiled way Therefore come and take this Standard of Truth in your hands to guide you in your way that you may neither turn to the Right hand nor to the Left this will shew you the way you should walk in and be like the Cloud and Pillar of Fire to the Israelites in their journey to Canaan which was a Type of Heaven the Cloud they could see by Day and the Pillar of Fire by Night so this Standard of Truth will direct you in your Travel to the Heavenly Canaan Let this be the Rule and Measure of your Thoughts Words and Actions If a workman that is a Builder hath a Rule to work by if he goes on and never examines his Work by his Rule but makes his Eye his Rule if he doth not bring his Rule to his work every little while to see whether his work be right if he worketh on and never mind his Rule What sad work willl he make But a Prudent Skilful workman will say I will not trust mine Eye too much but I will look to my Rule my Rule will not fail me if there be bad work it will discover it to me that I may mend it before I go any further Thus a discreet Workman will bring his Rule to his Work and use his Line and Plummet
they would give more reverence and respect to it It is this that brings those that Preach Christ to Preach him in those terms and under those Denominations that he is nigh them We do not doubt of Christs being born of a Virgin in the Land of Canaan and that he wrought Miracles and Preached many Godly Sermons and that he was Crucified Dead and Buried and Rose again from the Dead for these things are certainly true we would have him our Saviour in this Age we would have a nearer knowledge of him and a sense and feeling of the virtue of that Power by which he saved them that lived in former Ages He is not a Christ and a Saviour of one Age only but of all Ages to this Day from Adam to the last Man that shall live upon the Earth That Age and Generation that knoweth not Christ will not be saved by him if there be any Age wherein he is not known There is no other Name under Heaven by which you can be saved if you ask where is this Saviour Say not in thy Heart who shall Ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above or who shall Descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the Dead The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy Heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach He is nigh thy Soul he is the Lord of Life and a Quickenning Spirit If I know that Quickening Spirit after this I know the Lord Christ when he comes to work in me by his Power changing my Heart and translating me from Death to Life then I know the true Christ God hath manifested in all Ages that it is the Duty of People to come to the knowledge of the Son of God for he hath sent forth his Spirit for to teach us and to lead us into all truth For when Christ was with his Disciples he told them that he would pray the Father and he should send the Spirit the Comforter and when he came he would be known by his Divine and Inward Teachings and Operations guiding and leading them into all Truth that was his work to them But what shall other Folks do He will be made known to others too When he comes He shall convince the World of Sin So that his work to his Disciples was to lead them into all Truth and his work to the Woâ—ld is to convince the World of Sin Who will deny but that there is a Spirit in our Age as well as in other Ages that will convince men of Sin Is this the Spirit of God that convinceth the World of Sin or is it the Spirit of the QUAKERS only When People come to consider really and truly how they may serve God aright they will find there is no serving God aright unless they come to Christ the Mediator that in and by him they may put up suppplications to God and through him they may expect at the hands of God Peace and comfort and there is no other way nor never will be The Jews they had another way they had an outward way of serving God this stood in divers Offerings Sacrifices Washings and Observations this was a way of worship of Gods own institution to that People but what came of it When the Apostle came to grasp it he said The commers thereunto were not made perfect What were the transgressors of it then They that would sin on and continue in sin and not bring a Goat or a Ram or other Oblation they that did observe it and came up to the point of the Law they did bring their Offering when they were convinced of their Sin If a man sinned he was to bring a Hee Goat and to bring it to the Door of the Tabernacle but when he sinned the conscience of sin the guilt of sin remained upon him For it was impossible saith the Apostle that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away the Sin For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the Unclean Sanctifieth to the Purifying of the Flesh 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 When there is no hope of attonement and reconciliation with God by all those offerings under the Law he tells you of one offering of the Son of God himself through the Eternal Spirit by which he became a a Propitiation for thus will it do If I believe that Christ offered an Holy Offering to the Father for my sins I believe he offered his Body and that through the Eternal Spirit that he might be a propitiation for sin and take away sin and have Power over Sin and Death and conquer Death and Darkness the Apostle drives the matter farther you must come to the inward Work of this outward Offering this Eternal Offering that was in due time Offered to God you must come to know the Operation of it by the sprinkling of the Heart from an evil Conscience so that there was to be an Applicatory Faith for the offering of that The way to a Saviour was not made by Man no more than the way of Salvation by Christ was found out by Man No more than the Application of the benefits is effected by man Where it pleaseth God to call a People by his Grace he calleth them to his Son not by this and the other Form No man cometh to me saith Christ except the Father which hath sent me draw him The first thing that a Man or Woman comes to be aware of is the secret sense and feeling of the Lords Divine Power upon the Heart to seek Christ Jesus As soon as they feel this and embrace it this will be a Token of the Love of God I hope all this Congregation will acknowledge that they have sometimes felt his drawings and that they have not embraced and closed with them so well as they ought When the People are aware of these drawings Inwardly to Holiness and Righteousness and are sensible that they should with care and intention close with them for the good of their Poor Souls and that it concerns them to be happy in the other World that World that is to come and therefore resolve to be led by these drawings of the Spirit of God these are not weeds that grow in the Field Naturally These are sparks of Divine Fire kindled in the Hearts of Men by God himself No Man comes unto God till God cometh to him and touches him and gives him sense and motion these are the motions and stirrings of Gods Holy Power in the hearts of many that are wicked and Abominable Yet the Lord doth not despise the work of his own hands but reacheth to such When the Lord meets with these that Despise not but highly Prize this wonderful Grace and Close with it and are Glad of it such a one
that inhabits Eternity yet he dwells with meek humble and contrite Hearts that tremble at his word If I be one of the number of those that tremble at Gods word I have Gods promise that he will come Home to me and dwell with me It is well for thee if the over-ruling Power of God hath prevailed upon thee that thou canst be willing to be at Gods Disposal and say Lord What wouldst thou have me to do Therefore Friends I would advise you all in Love to your Souls that when God desires your Hearts that you would give them up to him that there he may delight to dwell and have his habitation Hearken to Gods Voice and have regard to his word which is a more sure word than any Man 's in the World There is a more sure word of Prophecy saith the Apostle unto which you will do well to take heed This will check you and reprove you when you do Evil and shew you wherein you have Transgressed and will encourage you and be a Comfort to you when you do that which is good This will make you wise to Salvation and throughly furnish you and give you understanding for every good work This word will tell you this you must not do lest you offend God and wound your Conscience and grieve the Holy Spirit this word will help you so to speak as to Administer Grace to the hearers such a one as hath regard to this word hath a Chaplain in his own Bosome That will direct and teach him how to stear his course and order his Conversation among Men and how to serve God acceptably This High Priests Lips will preserve knowledg even Jesus Christ The Righteous who speaks to us in his Word we can do nothing but by his Direction If you come to him to lead to you into all truth he will bring you the Father reconcile you to him that you may obtain his Favour and Everlasting Life when one of Christs Disciples said Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Jesus saith unto him He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And How sayest thou then shew us the Father If you subject your selves to Christ and to the Government of his Spirit he will bring you to that Life and Immortality that fadeth not away This hath been our Labour and Travel from time to time to Preach Christ among you and not to Preach our selves and gather a Church for our selves but to gather a People in to Christ who is Lord of Heaven and Earth We would Preach Christ Jesus the Lord we would not have you Admire Mens words and sayings and charge your Memory with them But we would have you remember the words and sayings of Christ who is the great Mediatour to reconcile Man again to God that you may know him by his Power working effectually in your hearts we Labour for nothing else and we want nothing else We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christs stead be ye Reconciled to God That you may so Live that whether you Eat and Drink or whatsoever you do you may do all to the Glory of God your great Creatour that hath given his Son to Die for you and Redeem you from all Iniquity that you might be a peculiar People zealous of all good Works Therefore let God have all the Honour and Glory for all his mercies and Blessings Let us render to him Hearty Praises and Thanksgivings for his wonderful Love and ackowledg that it is a great priviledg that we may obtain by Jesus Christ even to be brought again to the true knowledg of the living God which we lost by our Transgression His Prayer after Sermon GLorious art thou in thy Appearances O Lord and very wonderful is thy Power and thy ways past finding out And in this thy glorious Day thou art opening a way for the Sons and Daughters of Men to return to thee And O Lord those whose Eyes thou hast opened rejoyce and are Glad because they have seen the way of thy Salvations and the breathings of their Souls are that their Feet may be kept therein and that they may make straight steps in their way to thy kingdom And O Lord we are sensible that our strength and our Power and our Ability is only in thee and therefore are the Souls of thy Children bowed and subjected to thee Waiting for the Renewing of thy Power that as our Temptations are renewed from Day to Day that thou wouldest make known thy Power in us that we may feel the stretching forth of thy hand to save thy little Ones out of the hands of the Destroyer And so Powerful God of life break forth more and more in thy Glory and make known thy Power in expelling the Clouds of darkness and ignorance and bring the Minds and Understandings of thy People to know thee more and more till they come to the blessed Inheritance among the Saints in Light Holy and Powerful Father break in upon thy People by thy Almighty Power and scatter the dark Clouds of Temptation and cause the light of Life to shine upon them thou that hast commanded the Light to shine out of darkness do thou shine into the Hearts of the Sons and Daughters of Men. Open their Hearts that they may receive thy Truth and make tender their hard Hearts that they may live to thee that Created them and give a comfortable Account to thee of their Thoughts Words and Actions and let them turn to thee before it be too late to repent them Powerful God of Life thy mercies and loving kindness do abound to a little Remnant that do believe in Christ and do trust in thy great Name Thou hast been with them in their fiery tryalls and tribulations and to this Day thou hast been the glory of our Assemblies and the joy of our meetings We are sensible of thy holy Power working in our Souls and of thy renewing thy love upon us All that want a full sense thereof that are seeking and crying after thee for it O let them be brâ—ught to a due sense of God O arise for the help and the Comfort of the Sorrowful the Sighing and the needy Soul pour forth the treasures of thy love upon them that follow hard after thee and breath for deliverance that so Powerful God of life praises may arise to thee for all thy mercies and abounding blessings for thy goodness and loving kindness bestowed upon us from time to time Most Powerful God of life and light let the Eye of thy Favour be turned upon this Land of our Nativity spare the inhabitants of this City and Nation that they may seek after thee let them know the weight of thy Hand upon them to bow them down to humility and brokenness of Heart Give them Repentancee for their Sins Living God of life display thy Power to all from the highest to the lowest among us and advance the kingdom of our
that he may make it Workman like He will say if I let my Rule alone and not make use of it but work as I please and trust to mine Eye no wonder if I make bad work and what I build fall down again and tumble about mine Ears You to whom God hath given the Standard of Truth as a rule and measure to Govern your Thoughts Words and Actions by Let every thing be tryed with it before you Die and leave this World If you do so and make this your daily practice then ask your selves and you will be able to tell your selves and tell me and say I have now obtained more hopes of Gods Favour and a greater sense of his Love and goodness to me than ever I had before The Apostle doth exhort us to Walk Circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise Redeeming the time We have spent a great deal of time in vain let us now be Wise and Improve our time for our Eternal Advantage let us walk Circumpectly that is look round about us Consider our ways and try all our Thoughts Words and Actions by the Standard of Truth To Day My Friends while it is called to Day hear the Voice of God and harden not your Hearts and receive that Heavenly Counsel that is tendered to you that you may be partakers of the Inheritance among the Saints in Light His Prayer after Sermon BLessed and Eternal Father Thou hast brought forth thy Glorious Name and Revealed thy Power and thy Mighty Arm and thou hast caused a Remnant to bow and Worship at thy Appearance Thou art Wonderful Thy Majesty is Great they that do behold thee will with Reverence Worship before thee Thy Power is gone forth and hath reached the Hearts of thy People Thou hast humbled them and subjected them to thy Divine Almighty Power that they might appear in the Earth to the Praise and Glory of thy great Name And O Lord as thou hast begun a great Work in the Earth so thou hast committed this Work to thy Servants and Children that bear thy Name among the Sons of Men that they should shew forth thy Rightousness among the Inhabitants of the Earth and our Souls have said many a time Who is sufficient for these things All our fitness and sufficiency our meetness and preparation is from thee Do thou Reveal thy Power and make bare thy Almighty Arm. We have found thy Presence from day to day and thou hast upheld them that know thy Love O Gracious God of Life herein we have encouragement to go on in the Work which thou hast called us to hereby we are enabled to Worship before thee and to offer up living Praises unto thy great Name for that Refreshment and consolation which thou hast Ministred unto thy People And O living Father We have never waited on the in vain whensoever we have met together in thy Name We have found thy Divine Presence and the opening of the Treasures of thy Love of thy Wisdom and of thy Favour to thy Children So that from day to day and even at this day thou rememberest thy People and thou givest them fresh occasion to draw nigh to thee and receive their daily nourishment and strength from the operation of thy Power O living God of Life gather up the Hearts of thy People more and more and draw them into a nearness to thy self that their Understandings may be moâ—e and more opened to discern thy Will and subject themselves to thy Wisdom that every Thought that is exalted against thy Divine Power and living Voice in their own Consciences may be brought down that so all the Nations of the Earth may bow before thee that so thy Truth may Reign and thy Power may be exalted and the Righteousness which thou hast Revealed may shine forth more and more in the Brightness and Glory of it and enlighten those that are afar off that they may be brought to seek after God And Lâ—vâ—ng God of Life let thâ—se that are bowed down under the Weight of Sin be supported and raised up and those that are weary and Heavy Laden let them have rest to their Souls Powerful God of Life keep thy People in a fresh and living Sence of thy love and of thy Heavenly Vertue by which thou nourishest thy Children and satisfiest them from day to day Not only when they are met together but when they are separated from one another let thy People be preserved from the Evil of the World while they are in it and let thy Wisdom and Power give them Victory over it that thou mayest have the Glory of all thy Mercies and Blessings vouchsafed to them For thou alone art worthy who art God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Amen Sermon V. The great Duty of Remembring our Creatour Preached at Devonshire-House April 6. 1692. THERE is only One Living and True God Creatour of Heaven and Earth whom we are obliged to serve and Worship I have so much Charity as to believe there are none among us but will own and Acknowledge this And my Soul wisheth that this Obligation did always rest upon every ones mind that they might Remember their Creatour that hath given us all Life and Breath and continued all our blessings to us that so every one might apply their Hearts unto that Universal Duty that we are all convinced of And they that are thus imployed and exercised they are considering how and after what manner they may quit and discharge their Duty and perform the Obligation that lies upon them so that it may be accepted at the hands of God I speak now of those that are considerate not of those that go on in a Form of Religion and matter not nor Regard whether they are accepted of God or no but all that are Conscientious towards God they are desirous to serve God and Worship him so as they may be acceptable to him so to perform duties that they may receive their reward and that Encouragement that God in all Ages hath discovered and made manifest to be in his Purpose towards them that truly serve him When People come to this Consideration how they may serve God aright and worship him acceptably the Lord is nigh unto them to instruct them to teach them and guide them in that way that is Everlasting And blessed be his Holy Name a great many in our days have met with this Divine Teaching and Instruction and are taught in this Age as in former Ages to Understand the Worship of God that he requires that is in Spirit and Truth and do find that the Father doth seek such Worshippers and where he finds them he rewards them And they have an Answer of Peace in their Bosoms and they are encouraged to go on in the Worship and service of God to the end of their days And it is a great mercy and benefit a great blessing that God hath bestowed upon a Remnant so opened their Understandings to let them see and know
his Neighbour the party loseth by it and the Devil reioyceth at it Thus we know the Life of Righteousness is brought forth through the Spirit of Truth and outshines all and will reach Gods witness in them that are afar off and bring them near and happy and blessed are they that are found in this Divine work conforming their Lives and Conversations according to the new Creature Peace be upon them And upon the whole Israel of God There is a Minister that abides with you that goes home with you it is his Testimony that you must stand or fall by If any one should be a false Professor and be cryed up if he be not sincere he hath not Peace though he flutter a while and makes a shew the Worm of guilt Gnaws him and Torments him such as these have not Peace with God nor fellowship with the Church Though they seem to be a live yet they are Dead as it was with the Churches in Asia they had a name to live yet they were Dead though they have an empty Name such a one is a living Man or Woman are esteemed Friends to the Church but though they are commended and cryed up and have a Name to live yet they are Dead there are a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their Garments they walk with me in White saith Christ for they are worthy I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art Dead See what Christ the Bright Morning Star could do he could look into a Meeting and see whether few or many had only a name to Live or were really alive if they were Dead as to Sincerity and Truth though they had been among the Church they would help to break it down but not to build it up You that have his Divine life still stirring in you and feel the operation that first quickened you to God prize this principle of the Divine life above all What is there can rob you of it Value not the Friendship of the World Alas What can it Amount to Count it as Dung in comparison of Christ Jesus look upon all things with a sound Eye Peace with God is of that concerment that you cannot be happy here or hereafter without it the Friendship of the World I can be without and the customes and fashions of the World I can be without I can spare these things but the Favour of God I cannot be without and growth in Grace and the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and a sincere Profession of the Gospel I cannot be without these things My Friends though you do not make a shew and Flutter in the World as some others do yet your glory is within they that are living Members of this Divine body the glory and beauty and brightness of such appears in the sight of God If you grow in grace you will be a Comfort one to another and as the Apostle speaks You are our Epistle written in our Hearts knâ—wn and read of all Men. The Lord preserve and keep you simple keep you in all Sincerity in that Truth that hath wrought in your own hearts that you may have acquaintance with your teacher that he may not be driven into corners for you may do it and stop his mouth and silence him too If you let your Perverse will Rule you may slay the Just but there will come a Day of his Rising then down go you Whatsoever Men may get by it at present when Truth riseth when the just one that was slain hath a Resurrection in them then most certain down they go While you have an opportunity in your Hands and an Interest in the Covenant of Life walk with God according to the Counsel and Dictates of his Holy Spirit that you may be brought to an heavenly Fellowship and to partake of the Good things that God hath prepared for his Children My Friends Pray prize your seasons let no Day slip for fear you may miss a Day at last wait upon the Lord and let his fear and a Holy awe be always upon your Hearts Then peace will be upon you and there will be acceptance of all that you do Mark the Perfect Man and behold the upright for the End of that Man is peace when he can reflect upon his past Life and say I have walked before the Lord with a perfect Heart and done that which is good and well pleasing in his sight and have not turned aside to the right Hand or to the left but the standard of Truth hath been the guide of all my Spiritual and Temporal Actions If truth hath been thy guid here then Truth shall be thy Portion hereafter If Truth guide thee in thy way then thou shall rejoyce with the Saints and receive an Inheritance with the People of God and enjoy that glory and felicity which God hath prepared for them that Love him His Prayer after Sermon EVerlasting Glorious Eternal God of Life whose kingdom ruleth over all thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom a Glorious and Blessed Day hath dawned wherein thou art making thy self known to the Sons and Daughter of Men and thou hast opened an Eye in a Remnant which the God of this World had blinded to see the Glory of it For though we have lived without God in the World yet thou art near to us and thou hast called us to Repentance and inspired our Souls with a desire to thee and to the Remembrance of thy name Praises and Everlastings Thanksgivings belong unto thee who art the Author of our Salvation who hast reached out thy Hand and laid hold upon us and sought us out when we sought thee not and hast made known thy Power and love for our Redemption and Salvation and thou wilt make it known more and more to every upright and sincere mind O Powerful Father of Life how hath thy Power and Goodness been Revealed on our behalf for thine own Name sake Thou hast stood by us in all our Tryals and Exercises and we have â—ound thee a God nigh at Hand and thou hast brought a Remnant to desire nothing so much as the Injoyment of thy Presence thou hast brought them to be sensible that without thee they can do nothing therefore in all our Assemblies and Meetings we desire to be Acquainted with thy Power to hear thy Word which speaks Life to our Souls by which we may live And Dear and Powerful Father the Continuation of thy goodness among us doth greatly engage the Hearts of thy Children to offer up Praises and Thanksgivings to thee Thou hast inclined the Minds and Hearts of thy People to wait upon Thee and hast opened their understandings to receive thy Heavenly Truth and those rich and Heavenly treasures which thou offerest them and hast provided a Cup of Salvation to refresh the Poor and needy Soul O Living God of Life reach forth thy Hand to support and save those that are Breathing after thee that are sensible
SEVERAL SERMONS OR Declarations OF Mr. Stephen Crisp Late of Colchester in Essex Deceased Exactly taken in Characters or Short-hand as they were Delivered by him at the Publick Meeting-Houses of the People called Quakers In Grace-Church-street and Devonshire-House London And now Faithfully Transcribed and Published Together with his Prayer at the end of every Sermon LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1693 TO THE READER THough the Writer of these Sermons doth out of modesty decline to Print his name yet he is very willing to give all reasonable satisfaction to any sober Inquirer that he has not in the least altered or imposed upon the Authors sense either in the Taking or Transcribing of them And he does further assure the Reader that he neither is nor ever was one of those People called Quakers but always of another Persuasion Yet being willing according to the Apostles Rule to Try all things he has sometimes been present at their Meetings and having the Art of Short Writing he has Taken many of their Sermons and Prayers from the Mouths of divers of their Preachers and among others those of Mr. Stephen Crisp deceased which upon Review appeared to him as well as to three or four other eminent Persons of another Way to contain so many Gospel â—ruths delivered with such Plainness Zeal and Demonstration and generally agreeable to the known Doctrines of Christianity that it is hoped the Publishing of them may be useful to the World And that the Design and Intent of them may be the more readily comprehended there is a Title given to every Sermon agreeable to the Subject Matter Chiefly Treated of If any desire to be further satisfied by speaking with the Writer they may be gratified therein by applying themselves to the Bookseller Nath. Crouch Sermon I. The Great Mediator of the Everlasting Covenant Preached at Grace-Church-Street April 25. 1688. My Friends HOW should we all admire the workings of the Holy Ghost You may know from your own Experience that all the Operations of the Holy Spirit from the beginning have been in Order to the Cleansing and Purifying and Preparing you for the Kingdom of God This Experience is given to a little Remnant of the the manner of his working that the End Aim and Dâ—sign of all the Operations of his Powâ—r is for our good and in order to our Eternal Happiness Now this is a great ingagement upon the minds of the People of God diligently to wait upon him that they may be opened more and more into the Mystery of Life and Salvation that hath been hid from Ages and Generations and is now revealed by his Spirit And they that are thus exercised with the measure of Grace given unto them they do grow and increase in Holiness and Righteousness by the working thereof and they increase in Knowledge in the great things of his Law and the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Grace that the Eye which God hath opened may discern that the working of his Power in all Ages has been for the Extirpating Rooting out and Destroying of that Root of Iniquity that hath brought forth such a Crop of Sin and Wickedness which was not of his Planting nor of his Creating For from the beginning of the Creation of God unto this day God hath had a singular Love and Favour to the Sons and Daughters of Men as being as I may say the Master-piece or greatest piece of the Creation most nearly related to himself Created in his own Image in Righteousness and Holiness and in that they now are not so but Marred and Spoiled from bearing the Heavenly Image is not the Lords doing but hath been wrought by the Enemy both to God and Man And the Lord continuing his Love unto the Work of his hands hath from Age to Age Revealed and made Known hss Power for the restoring and bringing back again Lost Man Fallen Man Sinful Man to be Reconciled unto him that he might as was intended Enjoy and Possess the Love and Favour of his Maker but there was no possibility found for his Reconciliation with the Holy God but by making him Holy For as the making him Unholy separated him from his Maker So the making of him Holy again would Unite him again unto his Maker So that there must be a way and means for the Reducing of him to his Primitive State before he could enjoy and obtain his Primitive Enjoyments that is the Love and Favour of God And there hath been a General Universal sense upon the Sons and Daughters of Men of this Alienation and Estrangedness from God and they have put themselves upon divers ways and methods to obtain Reconciliation and to try if they could restore themselves and they have found out ways and tryed and proved the Inventions and Imaginations of their own Minds in their fallen Wisdom what they might do to please God and be Reconciled to him We are Sinners and we will Sacrifice we will bring a Sacrifice for our Sins and when they have brought a Sacrifice it hath not been accepted because there hath not been a Mediator known that might Mediate for them with the Lord so that all the Sacrifices they have Offered have never been accepted with him in order to an Attonement and Reconciliation Now only those that have Relation to the Mediator by Faith in him doth he Intercede for that he might present them again to God and this hath been the difference between Sacrificer and Sacrificer from the days of Cain and Abel unto this day Some have had Relation to the Mediator in all their Services and Sacrifices and some have had Relation only to the thing offered and the service performed but they have not in all Ages sped alike They whose Services and Worship was performed to God with a Relation to the Mediator they have found Acceptance and they whose Worship and Service was performed only with a Relation to the thing offered or done that was but their own Act that was but their Will-Worship and that was always turned back again upon them For there is no Name given under Heaven by which any can be saved but only the Name of Jesus Christ that is the Mediator of the New Covenant for the Old one was broken And when Aaron was set up to be an High Priest to God he was appointed to offer Sacrifices for the Sins of the People and they that committed a Sin was appointed by the Law to bring an Hee-Goat of the Flock unto the Door of the Tabernacle and to deliver it to the Priest and he was to make an Offering for the Sin committed after such and such a manner and it was to be an Attonement with God for them So here was seemingly a Reconciliation by a Sacrifice And some saw no farther than the bringing of a Goat and a Ram and the performance of the Priests Office and they counted all was well And others saw farther long before the Apostle
spake or wrote it It was not the Blood of Bulls or Goats nor the Blood of a Ram that could purge away Sin from their Consciences And after the Apostle had opened the Mystery of Divinity who had a Divine and Spiritual Skill in unfolding the Restoration of Mankind he declared plainly that when the Offering was made by Aaron for Sinners even then there remained still a Conscience of Sin for it was not possible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin so that their outward performances and their outward services they did but point out the Mediator they had a pointing finger as it were to the Real True and Everlasting Mediator Christ Jesus who is made a Mediator betwixt God and Man that by and through him man might be again Reconciled to God So that now in these Gospel days wherein God is opening the Mysteries of Life and Salvation to the intent and purpose that the Sons and Daughters of Men might be restored again unto their Primitive Enjoyment of the Favour of God Now in these days it is the Duty of all Christians and of all that are seeking the welfare of their Immortal Souls that they have their Eyes and their Hearts unto Jesus as unto one that is able to Reconcile them unto God To him it is committed to him Wisdom and Power is committed and to him Authority is committed that he should be an Everlasting High Priest and that all the Services and all the Worship and Religious performances that People offer up to God should be in his Name that so by him they might be Recommended to God For none will ever find Acceptance with the Father unless in all their performances they have an Eye unto him So that it comes plainly to pass according to that short and confident Assertion of the Author to the Hebrews That without Faith it is impossible to please God But it is possible to Offer Sacrifices without Faith and possible for People to perform Religious Services without Faith as woful Experience have taught us in our days That many have been exercised in a kind of a Religious Service and Worship that never in their Lives had Faith enough to believe the things that they pray for And they are without Faith For when People Pray to God to send his Holy Spirit into their Hearts that they may keep his Commandments to their Lives End they have not Faith to believe it And when they Pray Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven This is a Religious performance but I question whether it be done in Faith if not it is but an Increasing in Sin an Addition to Sin Where is the Man that is exercised in praying to God that believeth that ever such a thing is like to come to pass Go where you will in this or the other Nation and Inquire of People about their Faith they believe there is no possibility of Extirpating and Rooting out of Sin while they live upon the Earth therefore all their Prayers for it are vain and their Faith a vain Faith and it is high time in such a day as this when men are Faithless and Unbelieving to preach up the object of Faith the Lord Jesus Christ People are of divers Faiths and of divers Beliefs but we have found by experience that they do them no good they do not bring a thing to pass that of necessity must be brought to pass ere they can be Reconciled to God their Faith doth not cleanse the Heart nor extend so far as to believe that ere they shall be cleansed In all the Worship and Religion that they perform they come not to this Faith that they shall be made clean All that is done is but in sin and uncleanness they cannot bring a clean Sacrifice out of an unclean Vessel And our Lord Jesus Christ saith concerning this Subject An Evil Tree cannot bring forth Good Fruit. But there must be good Fruit brought forth how must we do it Make the Tree good and the Fruit will be good When that Mens vain janglings about Religion and Religious fancies must come to an end Then all that Religion will appear to be in vain and will not answer the end for which it is performed till men believe that it will make the Tree good and cleanse the Heart and Transform men by Renewing the Spirit of their Minds So that Religion it must begin within And it is not our changing our forms of Worship from one form to another and taking up this and the other Opinion that doth change our hearts Sad Experience doth teach us that men may carry over their old Lusts into a new Religion we can carry over our old Inclinations into our new Opinions For though the form of Worship be changed the Heart remaining unchanged and the Lusts unmortified their Religion is in vain let them be of what persuasion they will Now the remedy of this great Calamity that hath overspread all sorts of People for there is no sort of People but there are those among them that are under this great Calamity of holding the profession of Godliness with an Ungodly mind and the profession of Truth with a false and treacherous Spirit Now for the remedying of this there is but one way that all Mens Eyes be brought off from having their Eye unto their Performances and to the Doctrines and Tenents that they hold and do as the Apostle saith Fix their Eye upon Christ and look upon Jesus that is the first thing that must begin our Religion for Christ must be the Alpha of our Religion as well as the Omega of it If I begin not there let me begin where I will I begin wrong Let me begin at the most serious and sound Doctrines and at the most Apostolical Religion If Christ and his Apostles were here upon the Earth if I walked among them if I believed all they said and did I should begin wrong if I did not fix mine Eye upon Jesus Christ that is the taker away of sin and is the sanctifier of the Soul by his Spirit There must be the first beginning and there must be the conclusion he is the Author and the finisher of all true Faith There are Authors of other Faiths Men have different Faiths and their Creeds and Articles And they have exposed and imposed them too but this is the worst of it none of them are right let them be exposed and imposed with never so much force and violence none of these will cleanse the heart but that Faith which is delivered over by Christ Jâ—sus that hath the quality of cleansing and purifying that is the Faith when all is done that will do the work that is it that will save and sanctifie and do the business that all the World is about every one would have a Reconciler with God and Sin rooted out and be as God would have them be this is the publick profession of Christendom at least they
Prophet was no other than Christ Jesus it was not John Baptist nor Paul nor Peter but Christ that was promised to be raised there was such an absolute Command went along with that Prophecy That all should hear him and it had a threatning at the end of it That all that will not hear him shall be cut off Are there not Whoremongers and Drunkards and Lyars that will not hear this Prophet They will not hear him because they love their Sins what becomes of them They are cut off from the enjoyment of the Love and Favour of God And when they did draw nigh to God in Prayer and other Religious exercises it was with them as it was with Cain Sin lies at the Door When they come into a storm at Sea or are Arrested with sickness and Death looks them in the face they would have Peace but there is Distress and Trouble in the Room of it what is the matter wast thou not baptized into the Christian Faith Did not the Minister tell thee That thou art a Child of God and an Inheriter of the Kingdom of Heaven Alas my Sin lies at my Door Oh that I had time to live a better Life What ails thy life Man My Life hath been a Life of Deceit Lust and Vanity Corruption and Hycrisie Did not thy Teacher teach thee that a believer hath no guilt upon him but that all his Sins are pardoned from the day he became a believer This Doctrine will not hold in a storm though it will do in fair Weather when men are swimming in their pleasures it will serve them but when they come to deal with their Maker no Faith will serve them but that which purifies the heart and that which makes a change from the Earthly Image to the Heavenly It were better for you and I and every one of us to take these things into consideration while we have health and strength and while some Sand as I may so speak is in our Glasses to consider what is my Faith What is the Object of it Have I a dependency upon my Duties and Alms and good Deeds They will fail me But if my dependency is upon Christ as a Saviour and a Sanctifyer and my Sanctification is carryed on gradually He that hath begun a good work in me will perfect it And if the reason of my going to Meetings and going into my Closet and bowing my self before the Lord is to keep close to him that carries on the Work of Sanctification he will work all my work in me and for me I cannot expect to live in this World but I shall meet with Temptations the Devil will Tempt me but my Saviour will be nigh me as nigh to me as the Devil can be If I Keep close to him he will keep close to me My Father saith Christ is greater than I and none is able to pluck you out of your Fathers hands I must expect to be tempted For the Adversary the Devil goes about like a Roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour Alas saith one though I have made some progress in the work of Sanctification yet for all that he may one day betray me Am I grown strong enough to resist his Temptations And wise enough to foresee all his Gâ—ns and Traps which he lays to insnare me But I know who can see them and defeat them I have my Faith fixed upon one that can bind the strong Man and cast him out The Life that I now live is not in my own Parts and by my own Understanding and Sence But the Life that I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God This is that Faith that gives me victory the Apostle had a battle for it I have fought the good fight and henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness and not for me only but for all them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ And that come to have familiarity with Christ with his Spirit and Truth in their Hearts with his Grace and Word though these are several Expressions they all signifie one Immortal seed of Life by which men are United to God It is a Leaven there to Leaven them into the Divine Nature Whenever such a one his Tempted he resists not the Tempter in his own power but he waits to feel the arisings of that Life and Power and Vertue that was in Christ Jesus and is in him still he waits for that power that in the name of Christ he may say Get thee behind me Satan Being fortifyed by Christs Name and armed with his power What is it that a Christian cannot do What Valiant Noble and Wonderful things have they done that have been shielded with this Faith See the Eleventh Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews All the Repetitions of that Chapter from one end to the other in all of them the Apostle he ascribes all the Valiantness and Couragiousness of those noble Acts to the power of Faith they looked to Jesus before ever the Virgin Mary brought him forth of her body The Prophets did earnestly seek to know those things which the Spirit of Christ that was in them did signifie That there was to be a Prophet before ever the Virgin Mary was born So that Christ was always the Object of a true Believers faith tho' under the Law they had an high Priest and he was placed at the Altar and they had Offerings burnt upon it Yet they had an Eye unto Christ They had an undervaluing of all that their Sacrifices could do for them If thou wouldst have had burnt Offerings saith David I would have given them I would not have with-held them from thine Altar thou shouldest have had enough of them He was bold to say in respect of Acceptance and Reconciliation Burnt Offerings and Sacrifices thou wouldst not a Body hast thou prepared me for it is written in the Volume of the Book I come to do thy Will O God He had an Eye unto Jesus that was to come upon whom help was laid there was a Redeemer that should come from Sion and a Lawgiver from Jerusalem they had an Eye beyond Sacrifices unto Christ In all Ages the People of God they have had the Answer of their Souls which is Reconciliation and the Favour of God they that had this Answer never had it but by Christ No Man can be accepted with God can never have the desire of his Soul Answered in Peace and Reconciliation with God till his Faith be placed on Christ Jesus Neither can any man have Faith in Christ at a distance and thereby be Reconciled unto God but must know his Spirit I must have an experimental knowledge of his Power and Wisdom and this I cannot have without his Spirit Let me believe never so Orthodoxly except I have the Spirit of Christ it will do me no good it will be of no Advantage to me This is the Word that was in my heart as a well
wisher to the Souls of all Men As God hath done good to my Soul So I cannot but wish well to the Souls of others That as he hath found out a way for my Redemption and Salvation so likewise I wish the same for others that are bond-men and bond-women and under the Power of their Corruption Gods work hath been to destroy the Bondage and the Oppression and to destroy the Tyrant that Reigns over the Souls of his People God having made them for his Glory and the Devil hath Stolen them away that they do not that which pleaseth God But God's good pleasure is that all may be Saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth And God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not Perish but have Everlasting Life And he is called The Lamb of God which takes away the Sins of the World He can take away Sin if my Sin do not obstruct my Faith and Confidence in him he will take it away and if he takes that away then he makes the Tree good Nothing hinders us from the injoyment of God but Sin and if Christ will take it away by the blood of his Cross no matter for all the Scorn Contempt Hardship Reproach and Persecution of this World no matter for he hath not deceived us but told us before hand If we will be followers of him and be led by him we must expect these things suffering Reproaches Persecutions Disdain Envy these things come not uncertainly upon us the World loves its own and cannot love them that are not of it but they that are now of the World may be brought to the terms of God and they may not be any longer of the World Christ Prayeth not that his Disciples may be taken out of the World but kept from the evil he prayed for them that did not believe So that Christ is a Mediator for all men and a Propitiation for all men and he is working by his Spirit for the Redemption of all men That to as many as believe in him to them he gives Power to become the Sons of God The sum of all is this that we have an opportunity put into our hands we cannot deny it you must all upon search confess that the Grace of God doth often work in your hearts against any Corruption against any Evil Let not this prize be put into our hands in vain as into the hands of fools If I knew that this and that was a sin I would leave it let us be of that mind and we shall soon know it Then say If I knew such a thing to be a sin If I could get a thousand pounds by it I would not do it why should'st thou love sin for profit or pleasure I am sure it is an ill bargain when it is done Whatsoever I am convinced of is a sin I will not it Resolve upon this and there the Grace of God will be at work we shall soon see that we must leave off sinning there is such a thing I must leave God hath set up a Judgment in my mind against it though it bring profit and pleasure away it must go here is a step a following step to follow Christ he that will deny himself will follow Christ My Redeemer shews me this to be an evil I will not do it but follow him and imitate him Here the Soul is led step by step even by Christ the Captain of our Salvation till it is gradually cleansed from sin and reconciled unto God and this can be done by no other means for Prayer and Alms will not do it All that can be done by us will not dot it none can do it but Christ alone that God hath laid help upon that you may all wait for the Divine Operation of his Grace in your hearts that is it which we Labour and Travel for as knowing that God hath wrought wonderfully by it for the Redemption of all those that love him more than they love their pleasures more than they love their sins it must be concluded that following of him and leaving Father and Mother Husband and Wife Children Brethren and Sisters all these things as they stand in competition with him and the Obedience of his Spirit all these must be looked upon as nothing to him Then above all things I must not displease him He can speak Peace and none can take it away and if he take it away none can give it If we follow Christ when this is done then all is done according to the Will of God then the blessing of God descends upon the whole Creation then every man will speak truth to his Neighbour and every man will govern his Family with discretion So God is Glorified and his name comes to be Exalted who is worthy to be Loved Adored and Exalted above all Blessings and Praises to him be Glory who is God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Amen His Prayer after Sermon MOST Glorious God of Life and Power and of Everlasting Kindness a God of Long-suffering and Patience else we had not been here at this day Lord we are Monuments of thy Mercy thou hast spared us long and hast called unto us in a day when we turned away our Ear from thee thou hast stretched out thy hand all the day long and thou hast gathered a little Remnant of the lost Sheep of the house of Israel to partake of thy Pastures of Life and now all our Souls have been greatly refreshed and comforted since we come to understand and comprehend with the rest of thy Saints the Height and Length and Breadth and Depth of thy Love which in the Son of thy Love thou hast Revealed to us And blessed Father of Life our Souls do breath and cry unto thee on the behalf of Strangers which are Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel that are yet breathing and inquiring after thee And asking the way to Sion O Lord remember them and hear their cry and let their sighing and complaining enter into thine Ears that all they in whom thou hast begun to kindle up holy desires after thee may have them grow into a flame to burn up all their Enmity to thee that so they may be purified by thy judgments and receive of thy Heavenly Grace This is the way which thou hast used with thy Children thou hast commanded them to Worship thee in thy dwelling place thou hast taken them into thy house and fed them with thy finest Wheat refreshed them with thy Loving-kindness and filled them with thy Holy Spirit Dearest God of Love this is the design and purpose of our Meeting together that we may enjoy thy Presence and feel the operation of thy Word and have Communion with thee and thy Son Jesus Christ through thy Holy Spirit the way into Rest and Life is with thee thou canst open and none can shut Lord open the hearts of this People to receive of thy
in your Sins whether I go you cannot come O Friends lay these things to your Hearts what have I to do but to tell you that the Love I have in my Soul to you all makes me desire in my Heart that you might be saved This is the Will of God that you might all be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth Blessed are they which know the Truth the Truth as it is in Jesus Truth in the inward parts hath a speaking Voice and if thou hearken to it it will tell thee that thy state is nought Canst thou believe the Truth when it tells thee so That thy state is nought and that thou art like to go to Eternal Destruction unless there be Repentance and Regeneration to prevent it Canst thou believe this Doctrine when it sounds in thy own Heart If thou canst not Believe it Unbelief will be thy Ruine The Spirit of Truth is come to convince the World of Sin because they believe not in Christ he tells them their Condition and they will not believe him The Spirit of Christ convinceth men of Sin and they believe him not The Spirit of Truth convinceth thee of thy Sin but thou believest him not Thou Lovest thy Pleasure and thy Profit and thine Honour then thou Lovest not God with all thine Heart and then thou art not a Christian but out of Covenant with God Art thou sensible that thy condition is bad were it not best to get it mended After we are convinced of our own sinful state Is it not our best course to seek to have it mended Who shall mend it Saith one I have done all I can to mend my Life and I cannot mend it I have concluded so in my younger years I have Fasted and Prayed and spent time in Hearing Reading and Meditation and did all in my own Power and all to mend my state but I could not mend it and as I grew up in years Sin and Corruption more prevailed and there was no help and I came so far as to believe there was no help and that if God did not help me I was undone to all Eternity I many times wisht that I had never been born I went to Ministers and Meetings and to all sorts of separate People and to all manner of Ordinance and to all manner of Means to mend this bad Heart of mine to see if I could get a Power that would give me Victory over my Corruption but my Arm was never so long as to reach thereunto it was far out of my Power and Reach Many have sought to get this Power of Reforming their Hearts and Lives to attain it by their own hands by their own endeavours but they could never do it they could never better their condition nor bring forth fruit worthy of amendment of Life I wish that every one was come to that pass that they knew not which way to turn them that they were come at last to their Wits end they will come to it sooner or later the sooner the better I have done all I can I can do no more I am at my Wits end and know not what to think concerning my Eternal State I know not what to judge of it I strive against my Lusts and Corruptions but for all that they prevail upon me Temptations come before me but I cannot conquer them O I am glad when People are come to that pass that they know not what to do but to despair of their own Arms of their own Strength and their own Wit and despair of all other help in the World I am glad of that But I am not Preaching up Despair of Gods Grace and Mercy but let me tell you when Men Despair of their own doings and of all outward means and helps then they are fit Objects for the mercy of God and not till then When the Lord looked and saw that there was none to Save and Deliver then his own Arm brought Salvation God will not save tâ—ll then God will not reveal his Power till Men have done with their own Power they will never Trust God while they think they can do something for themselves All the Forms of Religion of the several People of this Nation will do them little good without the Power What is the meaning of that Principle that have such Masses and Prayers and Performances What is the meaning of it let us search to the bottom They say we are Sinners when we Pray to God for his Blessing and for Salvation by Christ there is this at the bottom They think these Duties and Performances will be very helpful to their state helpful towards the knowledge of it to speak plain English these are their Gods If I speak of Prophane and Wicked People I would say their Lusts is their Gods But when I speak of Righteous People that are meer Formalists then I say their Duties as they call them are their Gods When they have done all they can do nothing for them then they have no Gods at all they are Godless And if God doth not help them they are undone to all Eternity When poor Creatures are Cast out as it were into the open Field to the loathing of their Persons not salted at all nor swadled at all but lying in the Guilt of their Blood When I passed by thee saith the Lord and saw thee polluted in thy own Blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy Blood yea when thou wast in thy Blood I said unto thee Live When I passâ—d by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was a time of Love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy Nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine What was it a time of Love when I was such an Obeject in my own Eyes that I thought I was the most miserable Creature in the World One that could not make a good Prayer nor Dispute for Religion nor Perform any Duty a Poor Creature Cast out into the open Field to the loathing of my Person Lost all that I Gained my Name was from among the Living my Days were passed over in Sorrow and I said there is nothing but Darkness and Death and Misery for me I used all means and tryed all things save only a living Trust in God a trust in God alone and that Flesh and Blood cannot do Flesh and Blood cannot know him therefore Flesh and Blood cannot trust in him Alas said I I cannot trust in the Lord I cannot cast my Soul and all my Concernments my Fame and Reputation in the World I cannot cast all upon the care of the Almighty I cannot know him nor trust in them how can I do it No body can do it They that know my Name saith the Lord they will put their trust in me never a truer word was spoken but how they should know God and trust in him I know not When thou comest once
working in the Soul tend to beget a Love to God and fervent desires after being cleansed and purified from Sin and earnest Prayer to the Lord to make that Holy Fire to kindle that would burn it up The more the Soul trusteth in Christ the more doth this Heavenly Fire burn up our Lusts and then a Man feels a great change in his mind The things saith he that I delighted in are now grievous to me I hope I shall never be found in those things again my mind is now taken off them who took it off Didst thou not strive before to take it off I did but I could not do it There are many I believe in this Assembly before the Lord that are my witnesses in this matter that when they came to Christ the Mediator he changed their minds and he untyed the Devils fetters they were tyed to their Sins and Lusts but he hath unloosed them and set them at liberty and they now find such a change that they hate those things they loved and when they come to think of them they are ashamed they are ashamed of those things that they formerly took pleasure in What fruit saith the Apostle had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed So I say what pleasure have you in Sporting and Gaming and Drinking and Company-keeping What pleasure have you to think of your Wanton Discourses What pleasure in Pride and Vanity What pleasure in Wrath and Bitterness of mind And what pleasure in Malice and Envy What pleasure have you in those things whereof you are now ashamed So far as you are convinced you are ashamed to think of them I am ashamed to think that the Devil at such a time by such a Temptation should prevail over me I would to God you were all come to this to be ashamed that you might remember your past evil Ways and Actions with sorrow and shame There is a secret Joy in this Sure it is better to be ashamed than to continue in impudence God hath wrought this change at last and who shall have the Glory of it God shall have the glory of it for his own Works will praise him What men do many times they do for their own praise but when they are at their wits end and know not what to do they cast themselves upon their Maker to see if he will have mercy upon them if not they must Perish then for what he doth he gets the Glory and the Praise of it There are some here that are bound to praise God while they have a Day to live for what he hath done for them They could never have loved God with all their Hearts but they would have continued Strangers to God and the Devil would have led them Captive at his Will They would not have loved God with all their Hearts had not God first shed abroad his love upon their hearts and constrained them to love him it is he that hath first loved them and wrought in them both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Whatsoever we are we are by the Grace of God this Grace is magnified in them that believe and obey the Gospel My Friends we know there is so much Peace and Pleasure in the ways of God so much Soul-satisfaction in Walking with God and loving of him with all our Hearts That I should be glad that every one of you were of the same mind and had experience of it We Labour diligently for this purpose and we would set before you these two things First how we may come to know our miserable State by Nature What a blessed and happy Sâ—ate they are in that have been Converted and Changed that have been translated out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of God's Dear Son Consider your State by Nature is Evil we hope that many of you in hearing the Reports of the Gospel concerning the goodness of the Lord his great love in sending his Son into the World to seek and save you that were lost and that you may believe in him And we are perswaded that by the Foolishness of Preaching God will save some of you that you may be his Redeemed Ones and trust to no other Saviour for there is not any other Name under Heaven but the Name of Jesus by which you can be saved He only can take away the Sâ—ns of the World his Spirit searcheth the Heart and tryeth the Reins which he promised to send into the World when he was leaving it Now I dare Proclaim that Holy Spirit to be the Spirit of the God of Heaven that now sees what Resolution thou art of and what thou art now proposing to do whether to go on in Sin or to return to God This I can speak without Blasphemy it is God's Spirit that searcheth thy Heart and knoweth thy thoughts and purposes and convinceth thee of thy Sin God hath sent his Son Christ Jesus into the World to enlighten you that by his Light you might see him and that by his Grace you migh Receive him and that by his Grace you might be saved To him I commit you all and these words that we have spoken are in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit according as he hath wrought in us I must tell you we were never called of God to Study Sermons for you nor to Preach things that are made Ready to our hands but as the Lord our God hath wrought in us and as God hath been pleased to make known his mind to us and by his Spirit given us utterance So we speak and so we Preach You that are come to believe and receive the things of the Spirit you will Judge what I say I speak unto you that are Spiritual Judge ye what I say saith the Apostle so when I speak of Divine and Heavenly things you that are Spiritual Judge what I say and as you come to Judge and Determine in your selves that these things are true you will feel the Power of them in your own Spirits And we shall all be of the same mind and as we have One God we shall serve him in sincerity and Worship him with Reverence then his Name shall be Exalted in the midst of us and we shall Edifie one another in Love and we shall instruct one another and call upon one another Come let us go to the House of the God of Jacob He will Teach us and Preserve us in his way and do us good and keep us from all Evil. Turn your minds inward and consider that God is a God at hand ready to help you and he requires no more of you than of other People in former times to love the Lord with all your Hearts and to abstract and withdraw your minds from all other things that do come in Competition with him and be sure to have no Trust or Dependance but upon him Then see what God will do for you no Tongue can express nor Pen Write neither
Judgment if they are but willing upon all their own Ways A Man or Woman may know in every word they speak in every Action they do whether they speak and do according to the Truth or whether they are justified by the Truth in what they speak and do I tell you my Friends this is no small mercy that Mankind hath obtained at the Hands of his Maker that he is brought into a Capacity of not acting blind-fold but that he may see his way and his own Inclinations and pass Judgment upon them whether they are good or evil whether they will stand justified in the sight of his Maker or whether they will be Condemned I Confess the vail of Ignorance that is come over the Sons and Daughters of Men through Sin Transgression and Rebellion is very great And I may say as the Apostle said sometime you were darkness and what can Darkness see What can darkness discover The Lord our God that made us hath not left us in that State of Darkness Blindness and Ignorance but through the Riches of his Mercy and goodness hath found out a way to command that Light should shine out of Darkness into Peoples Hearts for all that the Devil did to darken Man to alienate and estrange him from his Maker The same Almighty Power that said in the Creation Let there be Light and it was so he hath shined into our Hearts and the way by which he hath done so is through the Mediator through Jesus Christ the Redeemer in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells He hath received Power from his Father not only to be Light and Salvation but to impart and Communicate of that Divine Light unto them even unto every one that cometh into the World that so by means thereof they may be delivered from their Darkness and Ignorance of the mind of God that they were lyable to in the Fall and might be restored through the Mediator to a Capacity of Judging of their own state as the Lord Judgeth and of their own Actions and of their own words and ways and Inclinations This is the Standard which God hath pitched in every one of your Bosoms for the Tryal of your selves either for Justification or Condemnation of every Word and Action Now to make every one sensible of the greatness of this blessing Consider it is not only given to augment and to encrease Knowledge but it is given on purpose to allure and perswade Men into a likeing of Truth into a Love of Truth The Apostle esteemed it a wonderful mercy that came by Christ he hath sent him to bless us in turning every one of us from the Evil of his ways so that here is a Capacity that the Sons and Daughters of Men have through the Mediator of being turned from the Evil of their ways and doings to that which is well pleasing to God The next work after God hath wrought thuâ— mercifully for the Sons and Daughters of Men is that they would be good to themselves and merciful to themselves and take pity of themselves by a due Improvement of the Grace and Mercy and kindness of God that he hath bestowed freely upon them and in bringing all their Dâ—eds to that Standard all their words and Actions to that Rule that so whatsoever they be or how many so ever if they do not answer that Standard and Rule they may deny withstand and resist them that so they may keep out of Condemnation For the Apostle declares it plainly without scruple There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus If he had said to them that profess Christ Jesus there had been a large Latitude especially for these Nations but the Words are limitted and you will find them so that is to them that are in Christ Jesus and as if he should say that you may know rightly whom I mean I mean such as walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit They that are in Christ walk after his Spirit for they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his but they that are his walk after the Spirit the Spirit of Truth and there is no Condemnation to them It is not only the Scriptures that Ratify and confirm this Doctrine but you your selves are all living witnesses of the Truth of this that so far as you do act and speak in Obedience to the Principle of Truth that God hath Planted in you you feel no Condemnation upon you Such a thing I did at such a time and I had no Condemnation Why so Because I did it in Obedience and Subjection to that measure of Grace that God set up in me and such a thing I did for which I was Condemned why so Bâ—cause I did it according to the Inclination of my own Corrupt mind and in Contradiction to the truth that opened in me My Friends I would have you in point of the Doctrine of Christianity to be the better for what you Read and hear it is possible for me to Preach the Truth and you may believe what I say and you may Read the Holy Scriptures and have the belief of what you Read but if you come to a sensible feeling of the fulfilling of the things you hear you will give a greater Seal to the Truth of the Doctrine than by all you have Read and heard and you will grow wise to Salvation by trying and experiencing the effect of every thing you understand And not like the Carnal Men of this World that have not Faith that mind only their Worldly Profits and Pleasures such are Earthly Sensual Devilish but I would judge of Actions and Words according to truth and according to the effâ—ct I find in me I did such a thing and I had peace in the doing of it I feel no Reproach no Condemnation upon me here is a way for People to grow up in the Life of Christianity to keep to the Standard of Truth for whether Men will or no they must do it at last and may now if they please make a Tryal of their Words and Actions As for the most part of you you are got past Pilate Pilate could make that enquiry What is Truth saith he And I confess it is not long ago it is within the Memory of Man that a more serious and better sort of People were confounded with the Darkness and Ignorance of those times that they were ready to cry out What is Truth And where is Truth Their Eyes were so blinded and things were so jumbled and confused by the Disputations that Men Raised they made things so dark that People could not see their way but God who hath commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath brought a Glorious Day that hath dissipated and scattered and driven away a great deal of that Fogg and Mist that did overspread Mens minds As many as have sincerely sought the Truth in the inward parts they have found a Divine Principle of Truth that hath a self
a Voice behind thee saying this is the way walk in it There is a Voice that calls to People in our Days to look behind them for they are out of the way This Prophecy is fulfilled in our Days we cannot turn away from the good ways of God but we may hear a Voice behind us saying thou art sinning against God and breaking the Holy Law of God Now if People return it must be by the Cross I will not return to God saith one I have Pleasure Profit and Honour and whatsoever my Heart can desire in this evil way that I am walking in if I return I shall have nothing but shame and Reproach I shall be undone and ruined and I shall lose the Favour and Friendship of my Friends and Relations I cannot return to God but through a Daily Cross and self Denial What then It 's likelier to be the right way this bearing the Cross Christ tells us If any will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow Me. This Voice of Christ calls me to repent and turn from Sin and giveth me a strong Argument that it is true that it is the same way that will bring me back to God by the Mediator It brings its own Evidence with it We need no Argument to prove that it is a right way It is a right way because it is the narrow way It is the right Gate because it is the strait Gate Every body can walk in the broad way with ease without any Cross When People are come thus far that they are convinced of their Duty when they are called to amend their Lives and Conversations to forsake their Sins and turn to the Lord This is the great Question now Have I Power to do this This Question hath stumbled a great many when they have some beginning thoughts of turning to the Lord and at last they have setled themselves in a belief that they cannot do it it is true and nothing truer that Men Convinced of their Sins have not Power to leave their Sins of themselves This is true but not all the Truth to Men that God convinceth of Sin He gives them Power to be made willing to forsake their Sins He hath given Power to all that are in Christ Jesus to believe and become the Sons of God then they have denied ungodliness and Worldly Lusts If they be the Sons of God and live Righteously Soberly and Godly in the World But what shall they do that are sensible they have not Power to forsake their Sin till God is pleased to give them Power Such have nothing to do but to wait upon the Lord for the giving of this Power and then I have a Duty Incumbent to me to Answer this Power The Apostle upon this subject tells us what People are to do for their own Conversion He ascribes the Power of Conversion to Christ Jesus The Prophets and Apostles they tell us there is something for Man to do that is if he hath not Power he is to be willing to receive it The Apostle hath a notable Expression to this purpose He puts them in mind how they used to do by the Devil when they were the Devils servants they did obey his Commands and yielded their Members servants to Unrighteousness How did they yeild They did it Heartily with pleasure and delight thus you did when you did not know the Power of God but now you are come to the knowledge of the Power of God Yield not your Members as Instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your Members as Instruments of Righteousness unto God Rom. 6.13 Let your Minds and wills and Affections be joyned to that Power which God Visited you with in Love to God give up your Members as Servants unto Righteousness Here is something for Man to do in the Day of Gods Visitation Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power That they may come to that and experience that this shews that they are the People of God But they that are not a willing People are none of Gods People but Gods People are so And I pray God make you all so to be a People willing to be Gods People when he gives you Power and it will not be long before he gives you Power to forsake your Sins to forsake this and the other Foolish Proud and vain Action and fashion he hath made Christ Jesus to be Lord and King and he shall Reign over Death he hath made all things by Christ and he is become the Saviour of all Men but especially of them that believe so that I would have a special Salvation and thou wouldest have it too Christ hath made a way and opened a door for us to be saved that we might have an abundant entrance into his Everlasting Kingdom But I would have a special Salvation that will invest me with the Love of God in my Heart before I die It is to be had only through Christ therefore to him will I come to him must every one come and every Knee bow to his Name and every one must wait to his appearing in the Spirit When Christ appears Truth stirs Now if a Holy Divine Life is in thee it is He if a Principle of Truth stir in thee it is He The same Jesus only in a smaller Manifestation He that is Faithful in a little He will make him Ruler over much This is he that God hath ordained to be the Captain of our Salvation this is that which we Preach in his Name and testifie and declare to all People that there is no other Saviour No deliverance from Death and Hell but by and through him In him there is Reconciliation and that Peace which passeth all Understanding and Power over all those things which have Captivated us and made us disobey our great Lord and Maker Let us wait for the coming of Christ He is our King our Lord and Lawgiver and he will save us This was the cry of his People of Old for the glorious and great Salvation he hath given and the Work he hath wrought Let the Prayers and Supplications of all People that desire Salvation be put up more and more that he will visit the Earth and give Power from above and bring us into that New and Living Way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh to whom be Glory for Ever and Ever Amen His Prayer after Sermon BLessed and Eternal Father thou hast brought forth thy Glorious Name and revealed thy Powerful and mighty Arm Thou hast caused a Remnant to bow and Worship at thy appearance thou art wonderful O Lord thy Majesty is great and they that behold thy Glorious appearance will bow and with humble Reverence Worship before thee Thy Power is gone forth and hath reached the Hearts of thy People thou hast humbled them and subjected them to
thy Divine Almighty Power that they might appear in the Earth to the Praise and Glory of thy great Name And O Lord as thou hast begun a great Work in the Earth so thou hast committed this great Work to thy Servants and Children that bear thy Name among the Sons of Men that they should shew forth thy Righteousness among the Inhabitants of the Earth And our Souls have said many times who is fit and sufficient for these things All our sufficiency and Preparation is from thee do thou make bare thine Arm and Reveal and make known thy Power We have found thy Presence with us from day to day and thou hast upheld them that know thy Love O Glorious God of Life herein we have Encouragement to go on in the work that thou hast called us to Hereby we are enabled to Worship before thee and to offer up Living Praises to thy great Name for that Consolation that thou hast Ministred unto thy People And O living Father we have never waited upon on thee in Vain when ever we have met together in thy Name we have found thy Divine presence and the opening of the Treasures of thy Love of thy Wisdom and of thy Favour unto thy Children so that from day to day and even at this day thou remembrest thy People and givest them fresh occasions to draw nigh to thee and to receive their daily nourishment and strength from the Operation of thy Power O living God of Life gather up the Hearts of thy People more and more unto thy self and draw them into a nearness to thy self that their Understandings may be more opened to discern thy will and subject themselves to thy Wisdom that every thought that is exalted against thy Divine Power and living Voice in their own Consciences may be brought down That so all the Nations of the Earth may bow before thee that so thy truth may Reign and thy Power may be exalted and the Righteousness which thou hast revealed may shine out more and more in the brightness and glory of it and inlighten those that are afar off that they may be brought to seek after thee And O thou living God of life and power let those that are bowed down under the weight of Sin be supported and raised up And let those that are weary and heavy laden have rest to their Souls Powerful God of life keep thy People in the fresh and living sense of thy love and of thy Heavenly Vertue by which thou nourishest thy Children and satisfiest them from Day to Day not only when they are met together but when they are separated from one another let thy People be preserved from the World while they are in it and let thy Wisdom and Power give them Victory over it That thou mayest have the Glory of all thy Mercies and Blessings vouchsafed to them for thou alone art worthy who art God over all Blessed for Ever and Ever Amen Sermon VI. The Divine Monitor OR Light from Heaven Preached at Grace-Church-Street June 19. 1692. IT is a great Priviledge to the Sons and Daughters of Men that it hath pleased God Almighty to open a way how they may come to the true Knowledge of himself And O that there was a Heart in every one of us that could rightly prize this Priviledge as they ought to do for in the Knowledge of the true God consists our true Happiness and without this the mind of no Man or Woman can be be good there is nothing seasons the mind and Soul of Man and prepares and fits it for an everlasting well-being but the Divine Knowledge of the living God that made him And there is a Propensity in the Soul of Man even since the Fall to return again to God and to have that acquaintance and Communion with the Lord that Man had before he fell and they that have regard to that inward spark of Divine Love that they find in their own Souls towards God they will experience that the Lord is merciful and Gracious and Propitious to that which is of himself For though the Soul is lost and Man is lost through transgression and a great Alienation is happened between him and his Maker yet the Mercy of the Lord endureth for ever And his kindness and favour to lost Man is such that he stretcheth out his hand all the day long and presents and offers to the Children of Men a Friendship and Acquaintance and a Communion again with him and though by Sin and Transgression there is a rebellous Nature grown up in the Sons and Daughters of Men yet the Soul of Man is not wholly so there is something that strives and labours in a contrary way and persuades the Soul to turn again unto the Lord and to wait for the knowledge of God and whosoever hearkens with care and diligence to that Divine Monitor that is daily drawing and persuading People to seek after God they come to understand that the Lord is not so Angry with Mankind but his Love and Mercy and Good-will reaches towards all the Sons and Daughters of Men and the Bar that hinders their Communion with God and Peace with God it is not in the Lord but it is in themselves and therefore the remedy must be wrought in themselves This is evident to every Eye that there is something gotten into Mankind which the Holy God cannot own and can never have fellowship with That is another contrary Spirit hath wrought upon the Souls of People and hath seduced and drawn them out to that which is unholy and contrary to God and the terms of Gods Covenant with Mankind which is that he should forsake that which the contrary Spirit hath wrought Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts Why should he forsake his ways Because the Lord never led him to those ways He that made him never led him into them but the Devil the Enemy of Mankind seduced him into those ways therefore the Creatour cries out to him Let the wicked forsake his Ways and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts I cannot have union with him as long as he walks in his evil ways I cannot dwell in his mind so long as evil thoughts are in it so may the Lord complain of the works which the Devil hath wrought that Man is carryed away from God by his evil thoughts and the works of the Devil Why doth not God destroy those works when he is Almighty and able to do it Very true God is so but he hath offered to Mankind through the Son of his Love a way and means how Man may come to be purged and cleansed from the evil that the Devil hath wrought in him and how he may come to be reconciled to God God hath not chosen the way of Coertion and Force and to work altogether by irresistible Power that Man shall go to Heaven whether he will or no there was no force used for his going to Hell and Darkness but
it was the choice of his Will The Devil could not have forced Man and Led him away out of Covenant with God he could nor compel him to break the Holy Command of God but the Devil tempted him and he yielded to the Temptation and now Man is driven out of the presence of God yet God hath found out a way for the Sons and Daughters of Men to return again to him what by Force and Coertion and Irresistible Power No but the Scripture saith he hath offered Faith and Salvation to all Men He hath freely given the Son of his Love out of his own bosom who making himself an Offering for sin hath presented a way and means for Mans returning again to God How doth God present Christ to us he presents him to the view of every ones mind to the understanding of every Soul He Offers and presents him for Salvation to the ends of the Earth There is Damnation come in by Man's being subject to Satan But Salvation comes in by his being subj ct to Christ as Damnation came in by his being defiled so Salvation came in by his being cleansed As the Devil is the Defiler so Christ is the Cleanser and Man is the object upon which both do work and they that have been defiled and corrupted as we all have by the unclean Spirit Can any of us give a reason why we should not be cleansed by the holy Spirit we have lost our Right to Heaven by Sin and Transgression in the first Adam And can any give a reason why we should not be Restored and Redeemed by Jesus Christ the second Adam No reason can be given of our Redemption but that God is free in his Love and Christ in his Offering He hath Offered himself a Sacrifice for Sin Every Priest hath something to Offer This Man the Man Christ Jesus offered himself through the Eternal Spirit a Sacrifice for Sin And now the Sacrifice is Offered and a Door is opened and a new and living way consecrated through the Vail that is to say his Flesh Now who can be wise enough to find out a reason why all men enter not in at this Door for all Men Run in at the other Door which the Devil and Adam opened to run from God all could run in at that Door what is the reason that all run not in at that Door which Christ hath opened and God hath Revealed and which cost Christ so dear to work our way back again for Mankind to return to God If we go about to enquire into the reason we shall find it very little for there is all the reason in the World we should serve God and seek our own Happiness There is all the reason in the World we should part with Sin and Iniquity and with the Devils Work which he wrought if we knew but how now this I say is a great Priviledge that God hath afforded to the Sons and Daughters of Men that they may know for here is the terms of the Gospel and of Salvation brought to a narrow compass to a short sum there needs no Catalogue of them they that will be ruled by the Wicked one must have their part with him and they that will be ruled and Governed by the Holy one shall have their part with him that where he is there they may be also Is this in the Power of Man's Will no there lies the mischief in the will of Man for you cannot but know by Experience if a Man may have his own will he will alwaies run headlong to Destruction and run in the way of Wickedness And if ever he comes to turn out of that way into the way of Righteousness he must do it in a way that is Cross to his own will Some have said because we have spoken of the Free Grace of God in a way that is universal of his kindness to Mankind through Jesus Christ they have said that we hold Free Will that Men might be saved if they would but alas We have tried it and we have an Universal Knowledg that is able to convince us and all the World that it is far enough from our own will Man is far enough from being able to save himself from being saved by his own will he can run on to Damnation there is a Current goes with his Affections and with his Corrupt desires they go with the Current and Stream As long as a Man goes on in Sin he Swims down the Stream Now many after they have long gone on in Sin and their evil ways they think of returning to God for they think there is a better way and a surer way and a safer way for their Souls than to go on in wickedness so there is if there be so saith the sincere Soul O that I might walk in it Why dost thou not I am convinced that I see a more excellent way than my way is a better walking and Conversation than my Life is but Alas It is too hard for me to walk in it Why What is the matter What makes it hard Because of my own will I cannot walk in it and have my will I cannot walk in it and enjoy my Affections and Desires and my Interest in the World This is no wonder that thou tellest me now thou art Convinced of a better way and wouldst walk in it and thou canst not walk in it but thou must take up a Daily Cross we might all of us tell that and read it before I pray God you may come to read it within what a Cross it is you are to take up and what a way it is you are required to walk in that it is the way o God the way that leads to Heaven it is a Narrow way the way that the Devil would have you to walk in is a Broad way there is no Rub in it O! Would you but once come to Experience how hard it is to walk in that way that leads to Life you will find that you cannot do it without self denial It comes to this point I read of it before but now I find it so such a Man or such a Woman will seriously apply themselves to live blameless harmless and Inoffensive towards God and Man they will set a Bridle and a watch before their mouth that they might not speak a vain Word they will take care of the frame and Temper of their Minds that they Sin not in their Thoughts that they Sin not with their Lips nor with their hands This is not as I was wont to do I was used to have my liberty now I find my self yoked I dare not Sin against God Now I find by experience what I heard before that no Man can follow Christ without denying himself and taking up a Daily Cross I would have you experienced in this work wicked Men think it is a pleasant Life to follow the Devils work and to walk in the Broad way but the way of self-deniall is uneasie there
Lord Jesus Christ to whom thou hast given a Name above every Name and let his kingdom and glory be exalted over all and shine forth in the midst of us Blessed Father of Life give wisdom to our Counsellers that they may Counsel for thee Make known thy will and send help from Heaven to all that stand in need thereof and that wait upon thee for it Give them thy Holy Spirit that they may be guided in thy way let thy Son Jesus Christ have the stearing and Governing of all things and let Glory be rendered to thy great aad worthy Name and keep us in the Love of God and in Union one with another let the stroak of thy Power remain upon the Hearts of all whose Hearts thou hast touched at this time let them be bowed down always in thy Holy Worship and remain in a belief of thy truth and cease to do evil and learn to do well and walk acceptably before thee that so Transgression may be finished and Sin and Iniquity may be put to an end and that Truth and Righteousness may be set up and shine among us and that our Souls may rejoyce in thee that we may magnifie and praise thy Power and Glorifie thy Name for thou art worthy of all Honour praise and glory and humble thanksgivings for the manifestation of thy love and Power All which we desire to offer thee through Jesus Christ who art God over all blessed for ever and ever Amen Sermon VII The Inward Preacher Or The Office of Conscience Preached at Grace-Church-Street June 21. 1692. My Friends MAny have been sent among you that from Living experience have declared their Testimony for the truth that you might all be brought to wait for the testimony of Truth in your selves This is that which will stand you in stead to know the testimony of truth in your own Hearts to be for you Therefore you are to wait especially at such times as these to hear the Voice of Truth in your own Souls For whatsoever the Preacher preacheth if the Truth in thine own Heart doth not speak Peace it is not well with thee Whatsoever testimonies are born of the Truth it self it is the Truth that must bear testimony of thee That unerring Word that gives to every one an Infallible evidence of their Peace with God or against that which hinders them You know our labour hath been to perswade all People to hearken unto the Truth in themselves and to make it their business and travel and endeavour that they might have unity with the Truth in their own Hearts that their Consciences may not condemn them For such as you in whom God hath raised his witness and hath exalted his Truth for a Judge You are not Ignorant nor covered over with darkness as many others are you do not remain in doubt but you know the Truth and have an Answer of Peace in well doing and a condemnation in evil doing not Administred to you only by Preachers without but by the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of God in your own Hearts This is that standing Ministry which God hath raised which can never be put down again but as each one may put it down in themselves I grant that Men may put it down You have read and had it plainly witnessed to you even killing the just and Crucifying the Lord of Glory and of spiritual Sodom and Egypt These things you have read of and you that are turned to the Light know the meaning of those sayings by woful experience for when ever you have turned aside from a due subjection to rhe Grace of God by which we are convinced then there hath been a piercing and Crucifying the Son of God a fresh and a vexing and a grieving the Holy Spirit by which you should be Sealed to the Day of Redemption then there hath been Anguish and Tribulation upon your Souls And if this be minded it will plant a fear upon the Heart and make you affraid to do the like again but where this Tribulation and Anguish is neglected and put off there a custome of Sin takes away the sense of Sin As you know many have had more Judgment at sometime upon them for a vain word or a vain Thought than afterward they have come to have for the most abominable wicked Action How come this to pass Was Sin ever the better Or hath it changed its Nature No but they are further off from the sense of the evil of it this is the word of Truth to which you must stand or fall this is the Stone that whosoever falls upon it shall be broken and tendered But if they stay till the weight of Truth fall upon them it will grind them to Powder They that will have a life of liberty let the Truth say what it will I will have my liberty and use my Tongue as I list I will be wanton and proud and envious and malicious though I know these things to be nought and the witness in my Conscience testifies that these things are wicked and contrary to the will of God yet I will have them whosoever comes to this Mind the Stone is near falling upon them and they will be ground to Powder they are like the barren Earth which beareth Thorns and Briars and is rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned Therefore Friends I entreat you to hearken to the Word of the Lord it is a holy Word an old Word many have professed it There are some Preachers that will cry Hearken to the Word of the Lord in such a Chapter and such a Verse My Testimony this Day is Hearken to the Word of the Lord but where shall we find it some will say I tell you it is written with the Finger of God in your own Consciences and is either for you or against you Let your Profession amongst Men be what it will this Minister of the Covenant hath no respect of Persons or regard to Profession he will not excuse this or that Man because he makes a greater Profession of his Name than others this rather is his Judgment and his Condemnation shall be more swift and sharp upon him that makes a Profession of Christs Name If Judgment begin at the House of God what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel of God These that take upon them a strict Profession they do greater dishonour to God than those that cry out there is no Reformation there can be no Living without Sin these Profess what they do and they do as they Profess But when People come to Profess Holiness and Righteousness and Profess a Power also by which Righteousness is obtained but live not strictly according to their Profession these are they That cause the Name of God to be Blasphemed among the Heathen more than they that say there can be no living without Sin Now this Witness of God hath no respect to Profession but hath respect
of God obtain a Reputation to be true and just and holy and righteous all Men will expect Holiness and Righteousness at their hands What if I profess to be one of those People If I have not the Truth in my own Heart This reputation though I put it on as a Cloak to hide my Insincerity the want of that Truth takes away my Courage It is Truth in all Men in the World that hath a Power and it is the Power of Holiness and Righteousness that makes wicked Men affraid and therefore the Apostle argues upon that subject the Magistrate is clothed with Power what Power hath he The Power of Justice and the Power of the Sword What Sword hath he A Sword of Justice and he is a Terrour to evil-doers but a praise to them that do well It is true if I have done evil if I meet with a Man that is but my Equal if in buying and selling and Commerce I have wronged him and deceived him though he knows not of it Yet I am affraid of him I am fearful that he will discover me and find me out But if I speak the Truth and do that which is honest in the sight of all Men I shall not fear any Man there is no Nation under Heaven but there is a principle of Truth to be found amongst them in the Hearts of Men If I Act according to the principle of Truth in mine own Heart there is the same principle of Truth in all Men. If I walk up to the principle of Truth in my self I shall likewise walk up to the principle of Truth in all Mens Hearts if mine own Heart doth not condemn me all the World cannot condemn me If professors were resolved to answer the principles of Truth in their own Hearts and go through stitch in the profession they might live Couragiously Truth will Crown them with Victory But if they do not live according to the rule and standard of Truth they are like Salt that have lost its savour which is trodden under feet of Men. But where all are one in Truth they are gathered into the Truth and they will live according to it so far as they are convinced of it If you will give them a World they will not give away an Hairs breadth of the Truth which they have professed when Truth thus comes to have Dominion then Truth shall overspread the Earth and the kingdoms of the World shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and righteousness shall rule and the Scepter of it be swaied over the Nations and they that Rebel against it shall be broken by it and they that are found in it shall have Dominion and they shall condemn Hypocrites and Dissemblers Now if you would grow up into this Dominion you have an opportunity for it because the Truth is Revealed in your own Hearts They who go about to walk in the Truth meerly from what they hear the Ministers of Truth Preach laying up in their minds a company of Doctrines Notions and Tenets they will stumble and fall but they that will hearken to the Truth in their own Hearts and regard the Voice of it in all their ways and undertakings these have a Minister at Home with them they have a Chaplain in their own House if there be any thing they know not and if they know not what to do they ask this Minister of the Sanctuary others they will ask their Ministers but your Minister is at Home with you Where hath God appointed any Man to rule over your Consciences no God hath appointed Christ only to guide and govern your Consciences to be the Author of Faith and the Finisher of it too You that are come to to the Dispensation of the Spirit of Christ keep to the testimony in your own Hearts then we have fellowship with one another in the Truth and we have cause to bless God for it that God hath so opened the Heart of one towards another that the suffering of one is the suffering of all and the Consolation of one the comfort and rejoycing of all But Alas Who is in this fellowship Only those that are in fellowship with the Truth in their own Heart are really so If a Man shall break fellowship with Truth in his own Heart he will make no bones of breaking fellowship with his Brethren As soon as Men break fellowship with Truth they are unruly Heady troublesom and make no matter of splitting and tearing and rending of fellowship with others How comes it to pass that thou hast done this thou didst not thus whilst thou feared Sinning against the witness of God in thine own Heart But when Men have once made Light of the great Minister of the Gospel in their own Hearts it is an easie matter to make light of all the rest if as Christ saith They have done so to the Green Tree no wonder that they do so to the Dry Tree If they despise me saith Christ do you think they will love you It is most evident in a great many at thiâ— Day they Dispute against Truth they have taken a Liberty to speak contrary to the Truth in their own Hearts then they cry down the Ministers of it Do you think any body doth so that keep their first tendernesâ— When they were first convinced the Power of the Lord rested upon them when the Power of God first wrought upon you and brought you to Yea and Nay and to plain simple Language and Habit this was with jâ—y and delight for Christs sake They that keep up this tenderness and simplicity of Mind there is no scattering nor rending or tearing among them they keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and they are kept together in one Friends you have an opportunity in your hands see that you make use of it you may bear up and not be deceived by Men or Devils If you keep faithful to the Principle of Truth in your own Hearts Let what Reproach and Persecution soever come here is a Standard a Foundation and a Rule for you to be Governed by Every hour of the Day search your Hearts and try your Consciences by it As you do this and keep to the Rule of the new Creature of the Regeneration being changed from a Carnal Birth to an Incorruptible Birth If you he born of the Incoruptible seed the Devil cannot corrupt you Evil passions cannot corrupt you if you keep upon that Foundation that is Incorruptible in it self then nothing will corrupt you nor your ways and manners If you will then live according to the simplicity of the Gospel you will serve God and be examples to others in the Life of Holiness and Righteousness and hereby God shall be glorified This is that which will shine forth to the whole Nation and give a good Report to Truth But if any that Profess the truth be found false to their Profession and be found unholy and deceive and over-reach