salvation As are the sinews of all Religion As most concern our selves and families That concern righteousnesse and mercy That concern the avoiding of greater sins We should do all affectionately in or to observe Sol. I humbly conceive that our special care should be First Of those which do principally and immediately respect Gods Glory Summa ratio in summo fine Secondly Of those which do most absolutely and necessarily respect our own salvation as Regeneration Repentance Holiness Faith Thirdly Of those which are the bond and sinews of all Religion upholding it in the power and practice of it as the sanctifying of the Sabbath Fourthly Of those which do most concern our selves and such as are under our charge as family-duties Fifthly Of those which do require and enjoyn righteousness and mercy unto others and preserve publick society Sixthly Of those which do concern the greater sins which should be most carefully avoided Fourthly we should walk in Gods statutes and keep and do them affectionately we should affect the acts of obedience and be affected in them Suppose that a man did walk up to every statute of God yet if this were not done affectionately all were nothing Now there are four affections with which we should perform every service or duty that we do unto God 1. Love and delight 2ly Joy 3ly Fear 4ly Zeal First With Love and Delight We must love the Lord and his statutes and the With love and delight duties which he requires from us and take delight in obeying and doing his will Psal 119. 97. O how I love thy Law Ver. 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly Psal 40 8. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Secondly With joy and alacrity Psal 119. I have rejoyced in the way of With joy and alacrity thy testimonies as much as in all riches Psal 100. 2. Serve the Lord with gladness Our walking in Gods statutes should be our meat and drink we should find more satisfaction and soul contentment and refreshing when we are doing the will of God and are enjoying communion with him than we do find or take in any earthly enjoyment whatsoever Thirdly With fear Serve the Lord with fear Psal 2. 11. when ye are a performing With fear any duty to God ye must do it with a 1. Reverential fear Thou shalt fear this glorious and fearful Name the Lord A reverential fear thy God Deut. 28. 58. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him Psal 89. 7. Pray and hear with fear and trembling 2. Humble fear of our own sufficiency and of our own performance left Humble fear any thing should fall in with our duties by which God may be offended and our service of him may miscarry c. Fourthly With zeal or fervor of spirit The people of God must be zealous With zeal of good works and zealous in good works fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. It was said of Jehoshaphat that his heart was lifted up in the wayes of the Lord 2 Chron. 17. 6. And of Josiah that he made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandements and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul c. 2 Chron. 34. 31. See also 2 King 23. 25. Wrestling and striving in Prayer attend earnestly in hearing We must not walk in Gods statutes with careless sloathful indifferent spirits but with heightned and lively and enlarged spirits doing his will with all our might and strength bringing out all the might and power that we have in his service stir up our graces and our hearts Fifthly We should walk in Gods statutes uprightly and sincerely Gen. 17. 1. Walk before me and be thou upright And 1 Kin. 3. 6. David my Father walked Walk in them uprightly before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee Isa 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. 2 Cor. 1. 12. Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Quest But here now is the great Question how one may know that he walks Signs of sincerity uprightly in Gods statutes Sol. There are 〈◊〉 discoveries of this First The prevalent motive which alone sufficeth to his obedience and that If we obey because God commands is the will or command of God if a man be upright and walk with an unright heart then he will and doth act and move upon the sole account of Gods command that alone is reason enough and will prevail with him for obedience There are several Motives which induce men to do good works some do respect our selves and are drawn from a respect to our credit and profit as do such a work and perform such a duty and you shall have honour amongst men by it and you shall gain much by it these considerations are the prevailing Motives which men of unsound hearts to some things which God requires as it was with Jehu c. And some are drawn from God himself only from his Commandement and this is sufficient and this prevails with men of upright heart Psal 119. 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts dilgently Ver. 5. O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes Mark how his heart is drawn out to obedience upon the meer command of God Thou hast commanded us c. Isa 2. 3. He will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths Mark there is no more considered to move to walk in his paths than this he will teach us of his wayes i. e. he will make us to know that this or that is his will and command concerning us Paul relates that it was the earnest prayer of Epaphras for the Colossians that they might stand perfect and be filled with all the will of God Col. 4. 12. It is not Compleri but Repleri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some look upon that word as Metaphorical to be filled with the will of God as the sails of a ship are filled with wind which is enough to carry the ship in voyage so it is enough when the will of God fills our hearts and that carries them out to duty and David hath a singular expression in Psal 119. 6. When I have respect unto all thy Commandements you know that to have a respect unto a thing is this when that of all other swayes most with us as when a Master commands a servant he will do such a business because he respects him and at his command he will go and come though he will not at the command of any other this was Davids
God doth look upon the humble and contrite spirit and he will hear the desire of the humble He will prepare their hearts and cause his ear to hear Ezek. 16. 61. Thou shalt remember thy wayes and be ashamed c. ver 62. And I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 4. If you would have God to be your God in Covenant then you must get Get faith faith for God is a God in Covenant only with believers and there are three degrees of faith necessary unto this work one is a faith of acceptance a second Three degrees of faith necessary is a faith of dependance a third is a faith of reliance I will explain my self in all these 1. A faith of acceptance is necessary to put us into the Covenant and to finde A faith of acceptance God to be our God that is we must have so much faith as to accept of Christ and to unite us unto Christ for in that union twixt us and Christ in this relation of God to us is he to be found By him we have accesse unto the Father Ephes 2. Out of Christ you shall never finde God to be reconciled unto you nor to be your God As to Christ God first is a God in Covenant and Father in Covenant so to us God becomes our God and our Father upon our being in Christ Christ received the Covenant for himself and for all who are his he is as it were the head and the principal in the Covenant all his come into Covenant under him as in relation to him 2. A faith of dependance upon Christ particularly for his great satisfactions A faith of dependance unto God that is we must depend upon the blood of Christ and by faith offer that up as a satisfaction for all our sinnes and transgressions which have all this while kept God and us at distance and difference his blood is the sacrifice by which Gods justice is satisfied and truly untill divine justice be satisfied for our sinnes there is no hope of a Covenant to be made 'twixt God and us and therefore by faith look upon the blood of Christ and offer up that blood by faith Lord here is the blood of the Covenant here is the blood of Christ to satisfie for my sinnes and to expiate my sinnes now in this blood of his become my God in Covenant 3. A faith of reliance upon the mediation of Christ as the atonement and A faith of reliance peace and reconciliation Christ did make peace by his blood and he did reconcile us by it Colos 1. 20 21. And we who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Ephes 2. 13. I know not a more exact way to get God to be our God than by getting into Christ in whom alone our re-union with God is to be found and by whom alone God and we are knit together again not without cause is he called the Mediator of the new Covenant who undertakes between God and us as you shall hear ere long he undertakes to take away all which may keep up the difference 'twixt us and he undertakes to present all which may make a reconciliation betwixt us he doth make the way so open and so clear that our entrance into Covenant will certainly follow if once we were possessed of him by faith his blood being shed for the remission of our sinnes and likewise to procure a reconciliation 'twixt God and us and therefore above all things strive for faith to unite you to Christ and then by faith plead out the reconciliation purchased by Christ 5. Apply your selves unto the Ordinances of Christ which are the means to work all these things in you and particularly this faith which is so necessary and so immediate Apply your selves to the Ordinances of Christ to our admission into the Covenant Ephes 1. 13. In whom you also trusted after that you heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your salvation the Gospel is that Ordinance by which God makes known the Covenant of grace and by which faith is wrought to bring us into Christ and by him into Covenant with God and by which our faith is so enlarged and confirmed that at length we come to know that God is indeed our God in Covenant 6. I will adde one direction more as an help to bring us into the Covenant Seriously meditate and taking of God to be our God and that is a serious meditation of God himself and of the nature of this Covenant of grace 1. A serious meditation of God there is nothing in him to discourage you Of God from coming into Covenant with him and there is all in him to encourage you 1. There is nothing in him to discourage you from coming into Covenant with him There is nothing in him to discourage us He doth not in this Covenant treat with you for any personal satisfaction for the wrong which you have done him neither doth he insist for any goodnesse that you should work in your own hearts nor doth he except against you for any unworthinesse in you nor doth he distinguish you away for the greatnesse of your former transgressions nor yet doth deny you hope and accesse although you have a long time denied him audience unto his gracious offers nor doth he capitulate with you in your own name but by a Mediator who is most pleasing to him and prevalent with him 2. There is all in and from him to encourage you to come into Covenant There is all in and from him to encourage you with him for he doth expresse himself to be a merciful God towards sinners to be a gracious God to the sinners that come to him to be a tender God easily moved at the tears and cryes of those who would be his people to be a willing God to accept of you and to close with you and therefore he first makes known this Covenant and he first offers to treat with you about this Covenant and he makes the termes of agreement as fair as grace it self can frame them and he out of his own cost provided and sent Jesus Christ to be both the Messenger of the Covenant and the Mediator of the Covenant and besides all this he affords unto you the Gospel to work faith in you that so you may become the people of his Covenant and moreover he makes promises unto you of every thing which belongs to the making of a people to be the people of his Covenant yea and he promiseth his own Spirit to them that ask him by whose mighty operation we come indeed to be his people Truly a serious meditation of all this might conduce much to perswade our hearts to come in unto him and take him for our God in Covenant A second meditation of the nature of this Covenant of grace both as to the Of the nature of
may finde all this in Gods promise 2. Thy estate may be sure when as yet you are not assured It may be day though the Sun doth not gloriously appear I confesse that faith of evidence makes our condition joyful but yet the faith of adherence can make it sure and blessed for that is it which interests us into Christ and Christ is he who interests us into pardon and freedome you shall be saved because you are Christs not because you know that you are so 3. Nay great fear and troubles because of unassurances may and do usually end in sweetest and fullest assurance especially when those fears and troubles raise many prayers much tendernesse in conscience and serious diligence and humble and upright walking Secondly Though you have not your wages yet do not give up your works Though you have not your wages do not give over your work Do not say I will pray no more and hear no more and wait no longer whatsoever you may imagine yet I assure you of this it is nothing else but proud unbelief when God shall hear no longer from us because it is long before we hear from God and we therefore lessen duty because God is pleased to with-hold comforts Simile This is as if one should give over writing a Deed because it is not sealed write but to the bottome and then the seal shall be annexed Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. So say I Be diligent still in praying and be diligent still in hearing and be diligent still in holy and upright walking though these be not assurances yet these are the way unto assurance if you cannot be joyful friends yet be faithful servants if you cannot rejoyce to do his will it will not be long ere you shall rejoyce in knowing his love Esay 64. 5. Thou meetest him 〈◊〉 rejoyceâ—â— and worketh righteousnesse those that remember thee in thy ways Thirdly If you would have the light do not then shut up the window and If you would have the light do not shut up the window draw the curtain Do not hinder what you desire You would be assured that Christ is yours and dyed for you then do you not hinder the dawning of this day-star in your own hearts A person hinders his assurance many ways viz. 1. By great transgressions these are the thick and dark clouds which will make the Sun to set at Noon-day and will not suffer it to rise untill after great humiliations David found it so Psal 51. Exod. 25. 21. Thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the Ark and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee Ver. 22. And there I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat from between the two Cherubims which are upon the Ark of the testimony And you shall never meet with the mercy-seat if you slight the Ark of the testimony you cannot venture on any sin be it never so secret but you shall thereby dishonour your God break your peace lame your prayers set back your confidence and either strike off or else delay your assurance 2. By carelesse neglects when a man will not take pains to recover lost assurance it was the case of those in Cant. 5. 3. I have put off my Coat how shall I put it on 3. By cherishing unbelief and jealousies in misinterpreting and misapplying all that God speaks or does If he threatens wrath why I am the man If mercy be at any time distinguished from any sorts of sinners alas then mercy belongs not to me If the hypocrite be described then I fear such a one am I If the presumptuous person then am not I he If promises be unfolded I fear they are not my portion If the love of Christ I doubt it as to me If relations and titles to Christ sure they are not in me in truth If Arguments to satisfie and settle the heart O but I may not joyne with them When a troubled sinner is apt to joyne with all that will trouble and to take part with all that will weaken his faith and that will strengthen his unbelief and his great work lies in excepting and in questioning and in disputing away his helps and encouragements to believe this will hinder his assurance that which hinders faith will hinder assurance Directions 2. The Directions If you would come to this assurance that Christ dyed for you First Be humbly mournful Christ said to Mary when she wâ—â— weeping Be humbly mournful her sins are forgiven her Luk. 7. 47. Christ was sent to binde up the broken-hearted and to give the oyle of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heavinesse Isa 61. 1 3. A broken heart is near unto joy Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Matth. 5. 4. And so is the humble heart which judgeth it self lesse than the least of mercies and unworthy to be called a son and trusts not to any thing in it self and is made up altogether of the grace of God in Christ this heart is near to peace and to the Spirit of consolation Isa 57. 15. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also who is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Isa 66. 2. To this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my Word Secondiy Be earnest in prayer Pray without ceasing pray and faint not pray to know the love of Christ pray especially for the love of Christ for the Be earnest in prayer light of that Spirit and for the testimony of that Spirit because it is his work and office to seal and assure us and pray for those assuring promises of pardon Rev. 2. 17. Isa 60. 16. There are two choice works of the Spirit 1. One is to draw and perswade the sinner to come to Christ to believe on him to receive him 2. The other is to assure the believer of his relation to Christ and of Christs relation to him that he is Christs and that Christ is his that he loved him and gave himself for him O pray and continue this prayer that the Spirit of Christ may be given unto you to open and reveal all that is given to you c. Thirdly Attend the Ordinances of Christ the Word and Sacraments and the communion of Saints Attend the Ordinances of Christ The Word of the Gospel it is the Word of peace as well as of grace as it is the means of faith so it is the means of assurance it doth bring us to Christ and it can Ministerially evidence our interest in the things of Christ 1 John 5. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life How
19. Surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Ver 20. Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant child for since I spake against him I do remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Luk. 7. 38. And she stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with oyntment Ver. 47. Wherefore I say her sins which were many are forgiven c. v. 15. 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say to him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee Ver. 19. and am no more worthy to be called thy son c. Ver. 20. and he arose and came to his Father but when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him Quest But here some may reply It is granted that all who do truely repent are within the compass of the promise of forgiveness of sins and many do think How one may know he doth truely repent that they do truely repent of their sins but how may one know that he doth truely repent that so he may safely conclude the forgiveness of his sins Sol. I thank you for the propounding of this doubt for the clear resolution whereof I shall thus deliver my self 1. I shall shew unto you the integral part of Repentance i. e. those particular Branches of which true Repentance doth consist and unto all which forgiveness of sins is promised 2. I shall shew unto you the right qualifications of those particular parts of Repentance that so you may know whether you do truely Repent or no. First For the first of these you do know as I suppose that there are three The integral parts of repentance Contrition parts of Repentance viz. 1. Contrition or grief of heart for sins committed which is called sometimes godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 10. and sometimes a contrite spirit Isa â—6 2. and a broken and contrite heart Psal 51. 17. and sometimes the afflicting of our soules Levit. 16. 29. and sometimes the humbling of the heart 2 Chron. 7. 14. If my people shall humble themselves c. Lam. 3. 20. My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled within me and sometimes a mourning Zach. 12. 10. And they shall mourn as c. and sometimes a weeping Mar. 14. 72. And when he thought thereon he wept First There is no man a penitent sinner but he is a mourning sinner his soul is No man is a penitent sinner but a mourning sinner grieved his heart is displeased and humbled for his sins If the heart be hardned it is impenitent if thy sins which have grieved and troubled God do not trouble and grieve thy soul thou art an impenitent and hardened sinner much more art thou so if thy sins be the matter of thy delight and rejoycing And on the contrary all penitent persons are mourning persons Judg. 2. 4. The children of Israel repented and the people lift up their voice and wept 1 Sam. 7. 6. They repented and drew water and poured it out before the Lord. Psal 6. 6. David repented and watered his Couch with his tears 2 Chro. 32. 26. Hezekiah Repented 2 Chron. 33. 12. and humbled himself for the pride of his heart Manasses as some think repented and he humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers Jer. 31. 18 19. Ephraim repented and Ephraim bemoaned himself and smote upon his thigh and is even confounded Luke 7. 38. Mary Magdalen repented and she wept and washed the feet of Christ with tears Luk. 22. 62. Peter repented and he went out and wept bitterly 2 Cor. 7. 9. The Corinthians repented and they were made sorry after a godly manner Secondly Thus you see that all truely penitent persons are broken-hearted Mourning persons for sin are in a capacity of pardon persons and mourning persons for their sins and now ye shall find that all these persons are within the capacity of the promise of forgivenesse of sins Zach. 12. 11. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Zach. 13. 1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleannesse Jer. 31. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself c. Ver. 20. I will surely have mercy upon him Mark the place Ephraims heart is troubled for sinning and Gods bowels so are his mercies stiled are troubled for Ephraim Ephraim like a penitent Childe falls a weeping and God like an indulgent Father falls a bemoaning of him I am grieved and troubled and ashamed at my very heart that I have thus sinned against thee saith Ephraim O peace refrain thine eyes from tears saith God to Ephraim I cannot refrain my mercies from thee Lo this is thy pardon for thy sins Psal 51. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and why is a broken spirit called sacrifices of God Is it not for the acceptableness of it unto God and is it not because as upon sacrifices sins were put away so upon contrition of heart for sins there comes out the forgiveness of sins Isa 57. 15. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones And can the contrite heart be revived without forgiveness of sins Matth. 5. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Surely this is spoken of spiritual mourning of mourning for sin for can you say of any other mourning besides these that they are blessed and their blessedness lies in this that they shall be comforted and what comfort is that which a mourning sinner looks upon as blessedness why none buâ— that in Isa 40. 1 2. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her iniquitie is pardoned Confession of sins 2. The second part of Repentance is confession of sinnes which flows out of a contrite heart I speak not of a formal verbal empty confession we are all sinners God help us c. but of such a confession of sin as ariseth from a true and full sense of sin when the tongue speaks out of the abundance of a troubled spirit ingenuously and humbly acknowledging iniquities and transgressions and judging himself worthy of wrath and unworthy of mercy c. This confession you shall find in Repenting sinners and those persons so confessing under the capacity of the promise of the forgivenesse of their
civil sinner Mary Magdalen as well as Lydia Saul as well as Nicodemus great sinners as well as small offenders But unless God would pardon great sinners the Gospel cannot invite all sorts of sinners For when you preach it to persons guilty of great sins alas say they mercy belongs not to us and what have you to do to press upon us to believe suppose we should believe yet we shall not be saved God will never justifie and pardon us c. 5. God brings great sinners into Covenant Publicans Harlots and when God brings great sinners into Covenant in a perfect league of love and peace God brings any actually into the Covenant there is a perfect league of love and peace made between them a mutual reconciliation and relation therefore he pardons their great sins For unless these were pardoned such a league of love and peace would be impossible Persons are not perfectly reconciled whilest the greatest matters of difference do continue 6. Son said Christ be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven thee Matth. 9. 2. Every justâ—fied person hath cause of rejâ—ycing Every justified or pardoned person is in a comfortable condition he hath cause of joy and rejoycing But if God did not pardon their great sins as well as the rest of their sins their condition would not be comfortable at all but most miserable and full of just horror and fear c. 7. God hath made use of the great sins of persons to humble them and will he not God makes use of great sins to humble men now make use of his great mercies to pardon them all our humbings are wrought by the Spirit in a reference unto mercy when God intends to make us vessels of mercy he doth first make us broken vessels Acts 2. 37. Pricked in their hearts Ver. 41. then believed Acts 9. 6. Trembled Chap. 16. 29. And when he intends to break and humble the heart of a sinner usually he makes the Conscience of him to apprehend and to lay hold of some of the greatest and worst of his sins Pauls Conscience took hold of his persecuting of Christ and the Jaylor of his injuriousness to the Apostles Zacheus on his exaction and Mary Magdalen on her adultery God layes on us the sense of our great sins to make us see the great need of mercy and to confess the greatness of mercy in the pardoning of such great sins and to quicken earnest prayers for mercy 8. God hath great glory in the pardon of great sins Who is a God like unto thee c Mich. 7. 19. q. d. there is not such a merciful and gracious God in all the God hath great glory in the pardon of great sins world Prov. 25. 2. It is the glory of God to conceale a thing Prov. 19. 11. It is the glory of a man to passe over a transgression So Jer. 33. 8. I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me Ver. 9. And this shal be to me a Name of joy and praise and honour before all the Nation This was his glory Exod. 34. 7. Keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin c. 9. God would have his people to pray for the forgiveness of their great sinnes God would have his people to pray for pardon of great sins Hose 14. 2. Take away iniquity and receive us graciously and they have prayed for the forgiveness of their great sins Psal 25. 11. For thy Name sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great And they have prevailed Exod. 32. 32. Therefore certainly he will forgive their great sins For whatsoever we ask according to his will and in Christs Name he will do it for us SECT II. 1. Vse DOth God promise to pardon the great sins yea the greatest sins of his people Hence we may be informed of the unspeakable goodness Information of the unspeakable goodness of God to his people In not taking advantage against us of God to his people First That he takes not advantage against them he seeks not occasions to fall off from them if he did then small offences would serve the turn our daily failings would have broken up all communions betwixt him and us much more would our great transgressions have raised up a partition wall and caused his soul to abhor us Psal 103. 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Great transgressions are great provocations and great injuries and great dishonours unto God yet you see he promiseth to pass them by to pardon them therefore certainly he takes no advantage against us he doth not mark iniquities and what we have done amiss There are no small matters God doth for us Secondly That they are no small matters which he doth for us There are two things which God doth for his people which are not small favours 1. One is the giving of Christ unto them and the giving of them unto Christ 2. The other is the forgiving of their great sins Moses reputes this work as the fruits of his great power and of his great mercy Numb 14. 17. I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying ver 18. The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression ver 19. Pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy And so doth the Apostle in Ephes 1 17. He puts this upon the account of the riches of Gods grace wherein ver 8. he abounds towards us Was it a small thing for the King in Matth. 18. 23 24. to forgive the servant who owed unto him ten thousand talents What is the desert of any one sin even of the least of our sins death and wrath and curse and hell what then is the punishment and recompence meritoriously belonging to us for our great transgressions yet God forgives them c. Thirdly That his love is very great and very firm and sure unto his people His love is very great and firm and never to be taken off and removed why so because he forgives all the sins of his people and the great and the greatest sins of them If any thing breaks off the love of God it must be sin for that he hates and that is the only provocation of him and if any sin doth it it is likely that a multitude of sins will daily and continual offences and if any of these will it is most probable that great and high sinnings will cut the knot asunder But you see it is not the multitude of sins nor yet the magnitude of sins which separates the people of God from the love of God but he will pardon all their sins yea the greatest of their sins therefore his love is fixed and never to be changed For if these will not alter it nothing else shall or can Fourthly That God takes
appear and no Use private helps of Conference and Prayer with godly and experienced Ministers and Christians special workings yet arise and no hope of mercy then let him conferre with some godly and well experienced Ministers and Christians if there be a messenger with him an Interpreter one among a thousand Job 33. 23. to pity his soul and to shew him his way and to open counsel unto him and to poure out his heart in prayer to the Lord for him The fervent prayers of the Righteous are effectual and prevalent Jam. 5. 16. and should be called in for help in such a case And when all of them joyn together and cry mightily unto God O Lord in the midst of judgement remember mercy Lord deal not with this sinner according to his sinning against thee Lord do not forsake him and leave him Lord return in mercy to his soul aâ—d renew him again unto repentance for thy Name sake for thy Christs sake do not abhor him but heal his back-slidings and be merciful unto his back slidings I teâ—l you that such joynt and earnest prayers of the people of God are seldom denyed by God Fourthly If yet no spiritual working can be revived but his heart like the Shunamites Repair to some soul-searching and quickning Ministry child which for all that Gehazi could say or do still remained dead so this mans heart for all that private helps can do still remains hard and unaffected then let him think on and repair to some soul-searching and quickning Ministry which God doth ordinarily bless to break down a presumptuous heart and to lift up a contrite heart to pierce and wound a hard heart and to comfort and revive a troubled heart Who can tell what the Lord will or may do in and by his own Ordinance especially when a poor â—â—nner comes directly for that end to receive impressions from God and renouncing all his own power as well he may for it utterly fails him offers up his heart such as it is unto the Lord to be created as it were again and new mouâ—ded and formed and quickned O Lord I doubt I have lost all since my sinning against thee oh that sinning against thee I can neither find thee nor my self Repentance seems to be dead O I cannot grieve or mourn and Faith seems to be dead and I cannot believe or trust Lord may I come to thee may I look up to thee may I call upon thee may I hope in thee thou canst yet do me good wilt thou so O that thou wouldest make thy power to appear if yet thou wilt not make thy grace to appear I have cast my self down and I cannot raise my self I have hardened my heart and I cannot soften it I have weakened every grace and I cannot quicken any one again yet O Lord thou canst do all this thou canst convince and humble and turn and raise and renew I bring my heart to thee do with me what seemes good in thine eyes only take not thy Spirit from me by thy Spirit breathe some life into this dead heart I have lived a presumptuous sinner yet O Lord let me not dye an hardened and impenitent and unbelieving sinner Fifthly If after all this nothing appears of change in thy hard heart then set Set some time apart for fasting and prayer somesolemn time apart for fasting and prayer to humble thy soule and to seek the face of God And indeed this is convenient and necessary in this case for extraordinary sinnings do require extraordinary humiliations and God gives in and comes unto us upon such extraordinary seeking when he holds off upon ordinary and common addresses The Word of God tells us so much and experience seals and bears witness thereunto And therefore let nothing hinder or divert thee from this work not that this kind of service hath any kind of merit in it but that 1. God expects it if we would have peace after great sinnings And 2ly it shews how much the heart is displeased with itself and truly longs to be raised and reconciled And 3ly God is usually found in this way and returns again and shews compassion and forgives sins and subdues iniquities And withall remember three things about this work 1. Be not discouraged though at the beginning thou findest thy heart very hardened and dull and straitned yet still hold on and before the end of it thou shalt find it altered into some mournings and meltings and hopes of mercy and gracious answers 2. Fasten all thy hopes on the Lord Jesus pray and ask in his Name and trust in his Name for thy pardon and for thy recovery and resolve plainly to wait and hearken what the Lord in his time will speak to thee and do for thee 3. Apply those promises which do especially respect thy â—ad condition What are those will you say They are 1. the promise of softening a hard heart 2ly The promises of healing a back-sliding heart 3ly The promises of pardoning great transgressions you have them all expressed in the Word Ezek. 36. 26. I will take away the heart of stone and will give them an heart of flesh Hose 14. 4. Isa 1. 18. I will heal their back slidings Though your sins be as scarlet I will make them as white as snow EZEK 36. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean c. YOU have heard already from this Verse two things One was the Quality of the mercy promised by God unto his people and that was the forgiveness of their sins The other was the Quantity of that promised mercy respecting partly the multitude of their sins and partly the magnitude of their sins From all your filthiness and from all you Idols will I cleanse you Now there remaines yet a little more which God doth promise about the forgiveness of the sins of his people and that is expressed in the words which I have read unto you I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean Object For it might be objected How it is possible that our sins which are so many and which are so great should be forgiven us what can be found to appease Gods justice for them and to take them away so that they shall never be imputed unto us and how may we be assured or ascertained concerning this Sol. The Answer is made in the Text I will sprinkle clean water upon you and What is meant by sprinkling clean water upon them The blood of Christ The particular application of his blood you shall be cleaâ—â—â— by which expression two things are meant 1. The blood of Christ which is the effectually meritorious reason of the forgiveness of the most and of the greatest of the sins of the people of God 2. The particular application of the blood of Christ unto them with an assurance that it was shed for their sins Both these doth the sprinkling of clean water import You read in
this it is enjoyed at an It is enjoyed at an easâ—e rate easie rate the price of it is very cheap as that ill piece of ground presently received the Word with joy Luke 8. 13. so a false assurance riseth very suddenly This houre very wicked and the next strangely assured it cost the man no tears nor prayers nor wrestlings for a man to be much in ignorance and wickedness and much in joy and assurance this cannot be right for the Apostle 2 Pet. 1. 10. would have us give all diligence to make our calling and election sure and Phil. 2. 12. To work out our salvation with fear and trembling All diligence and much pains must be laid out to attain a true assurance Many prayers Psal 51. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness Many tears Psal 6. 6. All the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears Many waitings Psal 85. 2. I will hearken what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace c. Fourthly A false assurance is a possession without a title The man talks of It is a possession without a title much joy and peace and comfort and assurance but there is not any one promise of God of these things to him nay God is so far from promising assurance of forgiveness that in the condition wherein this person remains there is not any one promise of forgiveness for he is wicked and unconverted and a stranger to Christ and to one remaining so there is not so much as a promise of pardon much less a promise of assurance that sin is pardoned Now take this for a certain truth that the assurance which any man hath of the pardon of his sins if it hath no foundation in a promise it is but a false delusion if God hath not promised to forgive you you cannot be safely assured that you are forgiven much more is it false if God threatens to destroy you for your unbelief and impenitency Suppose one doth promise and ensure in a conveyance of land such or such an estate to such or such a person whose name is there inserted and expressed Will you or may you thereupon seize your self of that estate and think to make money of it as yours who are not named in it this were a ridiculous madness Simile So the Lord makes promise of forgiveness of sins unto his â—eople unto them that believe unto them that repent those are their names whom God calls the heirs of his promise and presently you are confident and you are perswaded and you are assured that your sins are forgiven I pray you why so Is your name amongst the living do you repent of your sins who do still hold them fast and will not let them go Do you believe who still refuse to obey the voice of Christ God doth promise to comfort those that are cast down 2 Cor. 7. 6. Were your souls ever cast down And that they who sowe in tears shall reap in joy Psal 126. 5. Did you ever sowe in tears whose heart is hardened to this very day Fifthly A false assurance it is either without all ground or without all It is without ground or without sure ground proper and sure ground it is like the house built on the sand and not on a rock Matth. 7. For put it to any presumptuous sinner what are the reasons and grounds of your confidence what is the medium which doth thus perswade and assure you that your sins are certainly forgiven The man cannot if he will speak the truth give you any reason at all but so he thinks and he is of that mind and will be so and if he doth give you arguments and grounds they are of such a vulgar and common nature as no solid Christian dare build on them and the Scripture rejects them as unsafe being at the best and highest no other than civil men or hypocrites may be possessed of perhaps some outward temporal prosperity perhaps some works of civil righteousness perhaps some common supernatural gifts perhaps some external religious performances perhaps some sudden transient affections these or some other common works of the Spirit or matters below these are the foundations and bottomes upon which all his assurance is built Simile As if one should build a Ship of paper and set up there his confidence of safety The Scripture as you shall shortly hear lays other and more sure and higher foundations of building up a right assurance Sixthly I will adde one discovery more of a false assurance and that is It is vain and ineffectual this it is a vain and ineffectual assurance like painted fire which heats not or like a counterfeit drug which purges not There are five things which it never produceth and therefore it is not true assurance but an empty delusion 1. It makes not the heart more holy He that hath this hope purifieth himself as he is pure 2. It makes not the heart more humble but always more proud therefore it is no work of the Spirit 3. It makes not the heart more sorrowful for sin past and ashamed for sinning against such gracious mercies but leaves it hardened 4. It makes not the heart more fearful to sin but rather more ventrous neither do any more additions of sinning shake and interrupt or trouble this assurance 5. It puts not out the heart in more love to God or zeal for him or to express one jot more of godliness in the conversation all which doth infallibly prove that the assurance comes not from the Spirit of God but from a spirit of delusion Fourthly Now in the fourth and last place I will shew unto you that this false assurance concerning the pardon of our sins is a most dangerous deceit It is a most dangerous deceit It is soul deceit which will appear unto you thus First It is a soul deceit such a sinner deceives his own soul which is of all other deceits the highest and the worst There is a twofold self deceit 1. One respects our bodies and our outward temporal estates this many times proves very uncomfortable unto us and very miserable to our posterity 2. Another respects our souls and our sâ—iritual and eternal estates as to be confident that we are in a good estate when really we are in a bad estate and that we belong to Christ when really we do belong to Satan and that our sins are pardoned and that God loves us and will indeed save us when indeed our sins are not pardoned but remain debts uncrossed and we still lie under the wrath of God and under condemnation This is soul deceit and most woful deceit it is worse than to rest upon a false title for all our worldly estate it is worse than to trust to a false plea and vain defence for a mans life and it is the worse because 1. The sinner will not easily be convinced 2. Nor come back and begin the work
people and I will be your God Isa 56. 7. Even them especially of those that take hold of Gods Covenant ver 6. will I bring to my holy Mountain and will make them joyful in my house of prayer Isa 30. 19. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it he will answer thee Psal 35. 3. Say unto my soul I am thy salvation O what earnest wrestling prayer came from David before he could hear that voice of joy and gladness in Psal 51. And this is so experimented a truth that usually the sweetest assurances do attend our deepest tears and our highest prayers If therefore the assurance which you finde concerning the pardon of your sins be the perswasion given to you by the Spirit of God it doth alway follow mournfulness of heart for sin and an holy change of heart and faith in Christ and on the promises of Christ and earnest prayer if it be before or without any of these it is not the assurance of the Spirit of God but a delusion of our own spirits Secondly You may know that your assurance is the right assurance of the Spirit by those present appearing qualities which do always accompany the assurance By some presently accompanying works which comes indeed from the Spirit I will mention three of them First If it be the very assurance from the Spirit of God that your sins in particular Lâ—ve to God are forgiven this will immediatly kindle such a flame of love to God as you never found the like in all your lives We love him saith John because he loved us first 1 Joh. 4. 19. O Sirs when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5 5. Simile and so it is when he assures us that God for his great love and rich mercy hath forgiven us never was the heart of tender wife more knit to her husband than the heart of the assured sinner is to his forgiving God never did Jonathan delight more in David than this poor soul doth in his God why he loves him so sensibly so enlargedly that he meditates and meditates that he admires and admires and cries out Who is a God like unto thee O I love thee for this love for this mercy of mercies Mary had many sins forgiven her and Christ assured her of it therefore she loved much Luke 7. 47. Secondly If it be the very assurance of the Spirit of God that your sins are forgiven Softness of heart this will immediatly soften and melt your heart into such pure springs of tears that hardly you ever found the like for kind or degree There are tears which a man sheds before assurance for his sins and they are acceptable to God nevertheless they are something brakish and mixt with some trouble and distress but the tears of sorrow for sinning against God assuring us that he hath pardoned our sins they are so without all legality if I may phrase it so they flow from the soul so freely so tenderly so feelingly so abundantly I think that a man never wept more bitterly nor ever condemned himself more freely nor ever was more ashamed of himself and sinnings than at that time when God gave him his full discharge and pardon under the seal and witness of his own Spirit Ezek. 16. 61 63. Ashamed and confounded when God was pacified towards them The Prophet expresseth the quality and the quantity of their mourning in Zach. 12. 10. Object I but it should rather produce joy Sol. So it doth at the same time which is strange the greatest joy and the deepest sorrow Thirdly If it be the very assurance from the Spirit of God the heart thereupon Humbleness of heart becomes so humble and so lowly and so nothing the nearer that God draws to his people the more humble they are for when Gods Spirit assures us he doth cause us to see our own unworthiness and the exceeding riches of Gods grace Mark the men most eminent for assurance in Scripture of all men they were the most humble and lowly There are three men most high in assurance First Abraham was so He was strong in faith and he was fully perswaded and he was a most humble man Rom. 4. 20 21. Behold I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but dust and ashes Gen. 18. 27. Secondly David also was so Thou art my God Thou hast forgiven my iniquities and he also was a most humble man Who am I O Lord God! and what is my fathers house 2 Sam. 7. 18. Thirdly And Paul was so Who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. yet this man was a very humble and lowly man The least of the Apostles 1 Cor. 15. 9. Less than the least of all Saints Eph. 3. 8. and not meet to be called an Apostle O Christian you who talk how much and how long you have been assured where is this high love where is this deep sorrow where is this humble lowliness did your assurance ever produce these in you if not assuredly you have mock't your souls all this while with vain delusions Thirdly You may know that your assurance is right and comes from the very By the effects flowing from assurance Spirit of God by these singular fruits and effects which consequently do flow from your assurance I will mention six of them 1. Quietation of heart 2. More care to walk in all well-pleasing before the Lord. 3. More regard unto and delight in the Word 4. More zeal 5. More fear 6. More height of heart First One effect which flows from a right assurance that our sins are forgiven is a Quietation of heart present quietation of heart all storms cease upon one word spoken from the Spirit There were many doubts and many fears and many disputes and many reasonings and many sad thoughts and restless motions in the soul but when assurance of forgiveness is given in by the Spirit of God to our spirits all these do cease and there ensues a gracious calme in the conscience even an excusing delightful and joyful rest When God lifted up the light of his countenance upon David he lay down in peace Psal 4. 6 8. Now this quietation differs much from that Stupidity in a man deluded with a false assurance for First This stupidity is not the quieting of a troubled soul but so is this Secondly Their quietness is the effect rather of ignorance because they do not know their miserable condition than of assurance that they do certainly know their pardoned condition Thirdly Their quietness is from a seared conscience but not from an assured and pacified conscience Fourthly It is a passive silence but in this conscience doth witness and the heart rejoyceth Well then spiritual and joyful rest or quietation is the proper fruit of true assurance and verily it cannot but be so for assurance in the very nature of it
and rebellion of their hearts there must be a mutual will and consent and agreement which cannot be till resistance in our hearts be removed that so our hearts may be made willing to comply with him and with his will and with his wayes and with his works Secondly That he may bring them all into union with Jesus Christ his people Bring them into union with Christ are a people given unto Christ from all eternity Thine they were and thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. And as they are given to Christ by an eternal compact so they must be given in to Christ in time by effectual vocation in a way of believing And for this reason also he will take away the hardness of their hearts which is imcompatible with closing with Christ Heb. 3. 7. To day if ye will hear his voice ver 8. harden not your hearts Thirdly That he may enjoy communion with them and they with him This is one Reason why he makes us to be his people that he might make known all Enjoy communion with them his love and goodness unto us and that our hearts might be taken up with him and set on him in love and fear and desire and joy and hope None of which will or can be unless the Lord were pleased to take away the heart of stone from his people c. Fourthly That he may bring upon them all the good which he hath promised unto And bring upon them all the good that he hath promised to his people viz. All the blessings of mercy and peace and comfort and joy of which they are not capable untill the Lord take away the hardness of their hearts Would you have the Lord to settle pardoning mercy on a hard heart and to speak peace to a hard heart and to revive with comfort and joy the soul of an hardened sinner who will hold fast his iniquities and who will not obey his voyce and will none of him This is as it were a foundation-work for the other works of the Covenant Sol. 2. Again the Lord himself doth again by promise undertake to take away God by promise undertakes it Because of the impossibility of it the stony heart from his people upon a twofold account First On the impossibility of the work without his own Omnipotency None but the Almighty can cure the stone of the heart neither Angels nor Men nor Ministry nor Self-power for the hard heart is too hard for all means whatsoever only the Lord is too hard for it he can subdue all the powers of sin and he can pull down all high imaginations which do exalt themselves and he can abase the pride of man and he can circumcise all the stoutness of the heart so that the rebellious shall submit themselves Secondly The other that his people when they are made sensible of their That men may not despair hardnesse may not despair but may apply themselves unto him who is able to work all their work in and for them and to heal all their diseases and to subdue all their iniquities Beloved a Promise of God in any kind is a singular foundation for Faith and Prayer And so it is in this business of hardness of heart if the Lord promise to take it away then the work is possible it may be done and it is likewise de futuro it shall be done As the Lord is able to perform whatsoever he promiseth to his people so he is faithful and will perform the same And both these are grounds for Faith and Prayer to go unto the Lord and beseech him and trust upon him that he will according to his word take away the hardness of our hearts Quest 3. How this can be affirmed for a truth seeing that much hardnesse How this can be since much hardness remains A difference betwixt the hardness remaining in the best and that in the wicked The godly are sensible of it of heart remaines in all the people of God all the dayes of their lives Sol. This hath been answered in part already in the manner how God takes away the hardness of heart from his people only I will adde that there is a vast difference 'twixt the hardness of heart remaining in the people of God and that hardness of heart abiding in ungodly men v. g. First Though hardness of heart in some degrees remains in the people of God yet they are sensible of it as their great evil and burden and do exceedingly bewail it and complain to the Lord of it and cry out Why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy fear Isa 63. 17. But wicked men are unsensible of the hardness of their hearts they are past feeling and their consciences are seared as with a hot iron as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 4. 2. When a part of the body is feared with a hot iron it becomes utterly stupid and unsensible c. Secondly The hardnesse of heart remaining in the people of God it It is still mortifying in the best is still mortifying and decreasing the more they feel it the more they pray against it and never give over till they have obtained more grace and strength against it untill they find their hearts more tender and pliable But the hardness of heart in ungodly men as it is raigning so it is raging it still increaseth unto more hardness ungodly men sin more and more and still oppose the means of softning their hearts and the more they do sin the more they do harden their hearts and the more they do oppose the light and means of softning the more they do augment their sins and hardness Thirdly Though hardness of heart doth remain in the people of God yet Though it remains yet They do not willingly take those wayes that tend to hardening 1. They do not willingly and advisedly give up themselves to any wayes and courses which tend to the hardning of their hearts as to the neglect of the Ordinances to the omission of holy duties to the commission of sins against the light of the Word and of Conscience 2. They do cordially use all the means to work off the hardness of their hearts as frequent self-examinations humble confessions and self-judgings earnest Prayer for more Faith and fear and tenderness of spirit and the Lord doth Cordially use the means against it graciously â—ear them in these Requests But thus it is not with ungodly men whose hearts are hardened they practice wickedness and they sell themselves to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord 1 King 21. 25. And give themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greedinesse Ephes 4. 19. And trample under feet the light of the Word and the actings of Conscience and whatsoever stands in their way to restrain them from sinning and are so far from improving any means for the removing of the hardness of their hearts that they deride and scorn at them and reject and abhor
Every one of Gods people hath so much of the spirit as is necessary to salvation Sixthly Though none of the People of God in this life have the Spirit in perfection yet every one of them hath so much of the Spirit as will bring him to salvation For he hath so much of the spirit as will bring him to Christ and he who hath as much as will bring him to Christ certainly he hath as much as will bring him to heaven Again he hath as much of the spirit as doth sanctifie and renew and regenerate him and therefore he hath as much as will bring him to salvation Matth. 5. 8. The pure in heart shall see God 1 Pet. 1. 3. We are begotten again to a lively hope Ver. 4. To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away reserved in heaven for us SECT II Vse 1. DOth the Lord put his own Spirit within his own people Then let Try whether we have the spirit within us all of us look well to this whether we have within our hearts the the Spirit of God yea or no. O beloved think much and often of that expression of the Apostle in Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he hath no part in Christ who hath no part in the Spirit of Christ There are four Reasons why I should press this great search and great care upon Reasons of this search you to know whether God hath put his own Spirit within you 1. Because many persons have not the spirit of God 2. Because many persons do deceive themselves with a false and lying spirit instead of the Spirit of God 3. Because many have the spirit as to many effects and works yet the spirit is not fully given to them 1. Many persons have not the Spirit of God Many have not the spirit of God They who blaspheme the Spirit First What think you of those who blaspheme and scoff at the Spirit As those Jews did at the effusion of the Spirit upon the Apostles These men are full of new wine Acts 2. 13. And ordinarily among our selves the Spirit of God is jeared derided mocked and reproached in his graces which he bestows upon the people of God O these are men of the Spirit these are the Saints your holy brethren and your holy sisters forsooth they are full of the Spirit Ah thou profane wretch unworthy to live among Christians and unworthy of the name of a Christian who darest thus openly to reproach the holy God and the holy Spirit of God! and the graces in the people of God which are the excellent faculties of the Spirit promised unto all who are in Covenant with God! Is the Spirit of God a scorn unto thee is any work of the Spirit a derision unto thee is holiness the chief of all his works a matter to be scoffed and mocked at O how wicked art thou what a child of the Divel art thou what an Atheist how deep in the guilt of blasphemy will the Lord ever pardon thee can'st thou ever repent can'st thou ever be saved who deridest the Spirit without whom and his holiness without which there is no salvation Secondly what think you of those who do despite to the Spirit of grace Who do despite to the spirit of grace of such you read in Heb. 10. 29. And have done despite unto the Spirit of grace Men do despite to the Spirit of grace many wayes 1. When they have base thoughts of Jesus Christ and his blood treading under foot the Son of God and counting the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing these the Spirit sets forth as most high and precious and worthy of all reverence and acceptation but when sinners come to despise Christ and his blood looking on them but as common and ordinary things and regarding them no more than the dirt under their feet they do now despite unto the spirit of Grace they do now prejudice and disgrace and dishonour and shame him in his Revelation and Commendation of Christ and his blood 2. When they will sinne on purpose to vex and grieve the Spirit when they know Who sin on purpose to grieve the Spirit such or such a work or way is evil and displeasing unto him they will therefore chuse to do it knowing that it is grievous and vexatious to the Spirit as they in Jer. 44. 4. Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate Ver. 5 But they hearkned not nor inclined their ears And verse the 17. profess that they will burn incense unto the Queen of heaven c. Thirdly what think you of those that either have no work of the Spirit within Who have no saving work of the spirit in them them or no saving work of the Spirit within them have those the spirit put within them The spirit is never present in any but there is some work or other of the spirit appearing in them for he is most active and working some way or other in the hearts of those where he is present and dwells Ergo. But in some persons 1. There is no work of the Spirit at all neither highest nor lowest the lowest works of the Spirit within men are illuminations and pulsations when he enlightens sinners to see their sins and moves and stirs them to leave their sinnes and gives them some trouble for their sins But many persons there are who never had any light from the Spirit to see their sins nor were they ever troubled for their sins nor did they ever find those strong motions and perswasions of the Spirit to leave their sins 2. Though in many persons these common works of the Spirit may be found yea so many works as the Spirit useth the Ministry of the Law for as Illumination Conviction Excitation Humiliation and Terror and Fear yet in them we no Evangelical and saving works of the Spirit to be found no works of Regeneration no works of union with Christ no hungring and thirsting after him no faith in him no love in him no holy sorrow no repentance no newness of obedience no walking and living in the Spirit c. Fourthly What think you of those who have in them another spirit quite contrary Who have in them another spirit to the Spirit of God even that spirit which works effectually in the children of disobedience and in whom all the qualities and works of a contrary spirit are manifestly appearing and ruling The Spirit of God is a pure and holy Spirit but they are unclean and unholy The Spirit of God is effective an humble and lowly Spirit but they are proud and lofty and arrogant The Spirit of God is meek and gentle but they are turbulent and furious and violent The Spirit of God is merciful and compassionate but they are unmerciful incompassionate cruel and bloody The Spirit of God is a Spirit of love and of peace but they are full of
them and in an order to Christ and their salvation by him for by this they see that there is no longer staying or resting in their sinful conditions but then they must and will arise from their sleep in sin By this they find there is nothing in themselves for them to rest upon for when the Spirit indeed convinceth us of our sinful condition as he doth therewith convince us of the curse and wrath so doth he at the same time convince us of our own personal impotency and insufficiency and that there is no help at home if they are there they perish By this they are occasioned and indeed do actually look out for Christ and Righteousness and Peace and Salvation by him and in the event come in to him stoop unto all his Precepts and gladly accept of him and them and with all their hearts do magnifie and bless the grace of God for appointing and setting up such a way of life for miserable lost and self-undone and self-unable sinners Secondly Humiliation this is another work of the Spirit when he is given unto Humiliation us Rom. 8. 15. Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear If they had not received it again then sometime or other they had received that spirit of bondage to fear Indeed it is a question whether any who are by faith brought into Christ are under the spirit of bondage to fear but it is I think without all question that the spirit of bondage to fear goes before the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And so likewise is it without question that humiliation for sin or bondage unto fear is the work of the Spirit for none but the Spirit of God can work that work within us Now there are two things in that expression the Spirit of bondage to fear Whar is the spirit of bondage which I intend in that outward humiliation First An apprehension and feelling of our present sinful condition of which we have been convinced as our bondage or slavery which you know is 1. A base and contemptible condition 2ly A restrained and depriving condition 3ly A subjected and stooping condition to the will of another 4ly A laborious and toylsome condition and that upon very hard and cruel terms 5ly A vexations and grievous condition even ready to break the heart 6ly A most dangerous condition wherein our life lies at the mercy of him who hath it in bondage every hour 7ly It is a most wearisome and burdensome condition one would be most glad of escape and deliverance out of it Thus it is with a man who hath received the spirit of bondage 1. He looks on his sinful condition and on himself as vile and base and cryes out like the Leper unclean unclean like Paul O wretched man that I am 2. He looks on himself as in prison as one shut up and shackled and fettered no liberty no power to any good 3. He looks on himself as fallen into the hands of the living God and righteous God who may when he will execute his fierce wrath upon him 4. On himself as a very drudge to sin at the command of every lust and working out his own damnation 5. He feels this condition full of vexation and terror and burdensome so â—hat his very soul doth fail him and he knows not what to do with himself nor for himself 6. And oftimes in the anguish of his spirit cryes out O who will pity who will deliver me who will break the bonds of my distress Secondly A sad expectation of evil setling upon the soul which is here called fear for fear is the expectation of evil The humbled sinner lying under the spirit of bondage is farre from jollity and mirth and vain confidences he fears what the holy and righteous God who hath revealed his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness will do unto him for all the sins of which he is guilty And he fears exceedingly to dye in this condition if I dye I am damned for ever and he fears to come near to God he is afraid that God will never look on him nor answer him nor shew him mercy in a word he is a very troubled sinner for what he hath done against God and for what God may justly do against him Object But will some say Doth every one who receives the Spirit of God Whether all the godly have first the spirit of bondage find it thus with him hath every one the Spirit of bondage to fear Sol. I answer every one who hath the Spirit hath this those in Act. 2. 37. found it thus Paul in Act. 9. 6. found it thus the Jaylor Act. 16. 29. found it thus only you must distinguish 1. Of the intentions and measures of it All that have received the Spirit have not the like equal measure of bondage to fear Some drink deeper of the cup than others It is terror in some and burden in others it is horror in some it is only pain in others it is the breaking of the bones in some and only the lash of the rod on others 2. Of the duration and continuance of it Some are longer under the spirit of bondage than others are Simile As some women have quicker labour and others have stronger and longer labour So some have a longer time of humiliation for their sins than others have Some are under trouble of Conscience for many years some only a few dayes and then they meet with Christ and are eased Object But this work of humiliation cannot be any demonstrative note of having the Spirit of grace because many wicked men living and dying so have had this work of humiliation Sol. Humiliation may be considered two wayes 1. As a meere Legal and Judicial work for sin as it is a pure retribution of wrath and horror upon the conscience and one of the first fruits and taste of deserved damnation Thus I grant that a Cain and Judas may meet with it 2. As a preparatiâ—e work of the Spirit for Christ thus it is not given to any but to such whom God intends to convert and save by Christ Quest But may some reply There lies the Question How may one know that How to know which is true humiliation this work of Humiliation is not a judicial but a preparative work Sol. It may I humbly conceive be thus known When humiliation is a preparative work of the Spirit First Then the heart is troubled for the filthiness of sin as well as for the guiltiness of sin Not only because God may punish us but also because we have offended God not only because I am a guilty sinner deserving and feeling wrath but also I am a filthy and defiled creature destitute of the image and glory of God Secondly Then the heart is broken from sin as well as for sin sin troubles me and I trouble sin former sins are my burden and grief and present sins is become the
object of my hatred I hate that which hath so much provoked God against me and which is the cause of all the evil upon me I will never love nor serve it any more Thirdly Then all our hopes are in mercy alone of which we judge our selves unworthy Fourthly Then it draws out the heart to make after a Christ who only can give peace and ease and bind up the broken in heart the Spirit of God leads out this humbled sinner to Gospel enquiries and to Gospel helpers As Act. 2. 37. What shall we do And Act. 16. 30. What must I do to be saved Fifthly Thus the heart strives earnestly with the Lord to give Faith that it may be able to close with Christ and the man is not and will not be satisfied untill he be by faith possessed of Christ how he prayes how he hears how he attends and waits till it be given unto him to believe 3. Union and Conjunction with Christ this is another choice work of the Spirit apparant in all to whom God gives his Spirit Union with Christ It is the Spirit of God who perswades and inclines and draws in the broken-hearted sinner unto Christ by him is the match made between the soul and Christ by him is Christ joyned unto us and by him are we joyned unto Christ Now the Spirit unites or brings in the humble and broken-hearted sinner to How the Spirit unites the broken-hearted sinner to Christ Christ on this wise First By opening the Gospel that word of glad tidings and of good news that good word of life and of hope unto the humbled sinner wherein as in a glass he doth see the great love rich mercy and free grace of God in Jesus Christ unto such who was sent and given by the Father to suffer for our sins and to take away our sins and to make our peace and to reconcile us unto God and to deliver and save our souls and that'â— the way to partake of him and all good by him is to believe on him this the Spirit of God makes evident unto the humble sinner and withall offers him that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. Secondly By presenting strong and safe Grounds or Arguments to the humble sinner that he ought to believe and may lay hold for his particular v. g. 1. The express command of God 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his command that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 2. The express offer unto the humble sinner and plain call of Christ Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden c. 3. The designation of Christ to this work of help and comfort Isa 66. 1. The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted 4. The promises and assurances of Christ that he shall not be disowned if he comes to him Joh. 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out nay he shall be accepted and eased Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Thirdly by answering and resolving all the doubts and fears and exceptions of unbelief from the greatest of former sinnings and from present unworthiness and multitudes of wants these the Spirit inwardly answers and takes off by convincing the sinner that Christ must be his Righteousness and will be so to every one that believes and that our unworthiness hinders not but he that is athirst may come and take the water of life freely Rev. 22. 17. And he that hath no money he may come and buy wine and milk without money and without price Isa 55. 1. Fourthly By making the Gospel at length through his own power an effectual means of faith so that the humbled sinner becomes a believing sinner his heart is perswaded and opened to Christ and he glorifies all the goodness and kindness of Christ he receives and embraces him takes Christ for his Lord and Saviour and Husband and Head and is joyned unto him and made one with Christ and Christ is one with him This is the great and notable work of the Spirit which he works in every one of the people of God in Covenant not one of them but he is by the Spirit brought in to Christ The Spirit doth not only in a preparative way convince and humble them for their sins but also he doth in an effectuall manner bring them in to Christ whom he hath before prepared for Christ Therefore let us look well unto our selves by this may you know undoubtedly whether God hath put his Spirit within you If his Spirit be in you then you are in Christ If the Spirit be in your hearts then Faith is in your hearts If you be possessed of the Spirit then you are possessed of Christ your hearts are overcome are perswaded are drawn to Christ he hath been the great desire of your souls and he is the very portion of your soules You are Christs and Christ is yours But if your hearts remain ignorant of Christ or undesirous of Christ and careless of Christ and stubborn and opposite to Christ you will not have Christ to reign over you and you will not come to him though you may have life and you love your sins better than Christ and you will sit down with the pleasure and with the profit of the world assuredly you have not the Spirit of God and if you continue thus you shall dye and perish in you sins Fourthly Regeneration or Renovation this is another eminent work of the Spirit extant in all the people of God they are all of them regenerated and Regeneration renewed by the Spirit Joh. 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Tit. 3. 5. According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost For the better opening of this I will shew unto you 1. What this work of the Spirit is what Regeneration or Renovation is 2. That this work of the Spirit is to be found in all the people of God to whom the Spirit is given Quest 1. What is this work of Regeneration or Renovation Sol. It is that work of the Spirit by which we partake of a new spiritual being What regeneration is even of the life of Christ yea of the same image of Christ and by which we are made new creatures As in every natural generation there is as the Philosophers speak an introduction of a new form as when the water is turned into aire or the are is turned into fire there is still another form a new form brought into them or as when a child is generated there is another new form brought into the matter which it had not before viz. a reasonable soul So is it in Spiritual
as most sure because God hath given his Spirit unto you 2ly In Particular But let us descend unto particulars which if we do rightly understand and consider of we must confess that to have the Spirit given unto us it is an unspeakable blessing and mercy You read in Scripture of several Attributes if I may so call them given unto the Spirit and all of them in relation unto those to whom he is given And every one of them respecting their good and benefit all the dayes of their life He is called 1. A holy and sanctifying Spirit What the spirit is called in Scripture 2. A revealing and manifesting Spirit 3. A strengthening and helping Spirit 4. A restoring and recovering Spirit 5. A comforting and quickning Spirit 6. A dwelling and an abiding Spirit 1 Fifthly The Spirit of God which is given unto you is a holy and sanctifying He is a holy and sanctifying spirit Spirit He is the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4. 30. And the Spirit sanctifies 1 Cor. 6. 11. Now there are three comforts from this that the Spirit of God within you is a sanctifying Spirit 1. He sanctifies you in truth he renews your very hearts it is not a formal or Sanctifies in truth deceivable work but a real and effectual work which is indeen the new Creation 2 Cor. 5. 17 18. the image of God the life and glory of Christ which shall certainly end in happiness Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. 2. He will go on with his sanctifying work he will begin and make an end Causeth growth in grace 1 Thes 5. 23. He will change you from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. Though it begins in weakness he will carry it on in power This sanctifying work of the Spirit shall move on in the soul as the sun doth in the firmament from strength to strength the Spirit within will more and more mortifie and weaken and destroy the body of sin and he will be renewing your inward man day by day 2 Cor. 4. 3. He will still maintain and preserve this sanctifying work against all the rebellions Defends it against all its enemies of our corruptions and against all the assaults of Satan and will never leave untill he hath crowned it with glory Secondly The Spirit of God which is given unto you is a revealing and manifesting Spirit He is expresly called the Spirit of revelation in Ephes 1. 17. and He is a revealing spirit verily herein doth lie most admirable comfort and joy yea all our actual soul joy in this life If all the thoughts and works of grace were hid from us we should have but sad dayes all our life long we should be in perpetual fears and doubts and complaints But the discovery of them which is by the light of the Spirit makes day with us makes joy and rejoycing abound within us Now there are four things which the Spirit of God given unto the people of God can and doth reveal unto them First The presence of Christ within us Though Christ be in us for he dwells The spirit reveals Christs presence within us in our hearts by faith Ephes 3. 17 yet we cannot see or discover his presence but by the Spirit Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us â— Joh. 3. 24. To know that Christ is mine and in me and that I am Christs and in him cannot be without the Spirit and this manifestation is from the Spirit and is not this joy and comfort indeed to know that Christ is in us Know ye not that Christ is in you except you be reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. Secondly The love of God towards us 'T is true that God doth love his people with a most gracious love and with a great love and with a most kind love Gods love towaâ—ds us his love is called loving-kindness Hose 2. 19. with a love that surpasseth all love And it is also true that the apprehension and experience of his love is most sweet and transcendent Thy loving-kindness is better than life Psal 63. 3. And if we could know his love unto us this would pacifie us and how should we come to tast how gracious the Lord is by the holy Ghost Rom. 5. 5. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Simile The love of God is like a fountain that is sealed it is like a vessel of precious liquor like that box of oyntment none can open it unto us none can poure it into our hearts none can make us see and tast it he can and oftentimes doth make us to know that the Father loves us Thirdly The wonderful glory prepared for us Mark what the Apostle saith The glory prepared for us 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Ver. 10 But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirt searcheth all things yea the deep things of God the quality and quantity of future happiness prepared from eternity and must answer the blood of Christ c. Fourthly All the precious works of the Spirit himself with his finger hath The precious works of the spirit wrought in us Though there be an aptitude in them to manifest and discover themselves yet we cannot see them without the Spirit How often are we in darkness how often in doubts and enquiries but have I faith but have I repentance but have I godly sorrow but have I the new heart the tender heart the humble heart In truth Simile Beloved as there is no seeing of the heavenly bodies but by an heavenly light so there is no discovering of the graces of the Spirit but by the light of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things which are freely given us of God O what happiness is all this to enjoy the Spirit of God by whom we come to know Jesus Christ and as present in my soul to know the love of God and tast the sweetness of it in my heart to know the future heavenly happiness that is prepared from eternity and prepared for my soul and to know all that God hath freely given me in order unto my own eternal happiness Thirdly The Spirit of God which is given unto us is a strengthening and helping He is a stâ—enthening spirit Spirit Ephes 3. 16. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Rom. 8. 26. Likewise also the Spirit helpeth our infirmities c. Is it not a benefit when one is weak and faint to find a friend to relieve to support assist uphold and help him we are weak we are fainting we are oppressed distressed burdened ready to sink to fail
will you weary my God also said the Prophet Isa 7. 13. So say I Is it a small thing that you injure another but will you also injure the Spirit of God Simile If a friend should help you out of prison and heal all your diseases and sores and furnish you with clothes and money and house and lands do you not wrong him in saying upon every discontent What hath he done he hath never done any thing for me Why it is the Spirit of God who hath quickned you from the dead who hath delivered you out of the power of darkness who hath renewed and healed your soul who hath begun every saving grace in your hearts who hath been your life and strength and after all this is it meet for you to say What hath he done and he hath wrought nothing for us nothing why how came you to be so sensible of your sins how came your hearts to be broken and mournful whence came those desires after Christ and grace whence came those fervent prayers and importunate cries whence came those resolutions to walk with God and careful endeavours to honour and glorifie him O Christianâ— be humbled for thy rashnesse and for thy unthankfulness and for this injuriousness done unto the good Spirit of God disown him no more and deny not any work of his any more though it be but little yet do not disown it though it be sometimes hidden from thee yet do not disown it though it doth many times work but weakly do not disown it though it be put sometimes to a stand though thou dost not in every particular answer the motions and rules of the Spirit yet do not disown the work of the Spirit condemn every sinful work which is thine own but do not deny or dishonour any work that is his Secondly By not crediting the testimony of the Spirit Beloved sometimes By not crediting the spirit we do bear witness or give testimony for the Spirit as when we humbly and thankfully confess his workmanship in our hearts saying This is the Lords doing this he hath done for my soul c. Sometimes the Spirit bears witness or gives in testimony unto our hearts he bears witness saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 16. that we are the children of God and concerning this he gives in his testimony partly by his works of Faith and Regeneration which are to be found in all and only the children of God And partly by extraordinary assurance letting in such a ligâ—t and evidence and perswasion which abundantly clears up our Relation that without doubt God is our Father and we are his children If now after both these testimonies in assurance of the Spirit in after times of darkness and desertion and temptation we call the testimony of the Spirit into question and charge it for a false delusion do we not exceedingly injure the Spirit of God in some sort to make bim a lyer and a false witnesse Object But we do not do so and we dare not do so his testimony is true only How to know the testimony of the Spirit we fear that the testimony which we have found was not his testimony but a delusion either of Satan or of our own hearts Sol. O but what if indeed that testimony was not the delusion of your hearts but the very testimony of the Spirit which you have challenged and rejected as a delusion are you not then very guilty of great injuriousness unto the Spirit And that it was the very testimony of the Spirit of God may thus appear 1. It was a testimony after deep humblings of the heart for sin 2. It was a testimony after importunate cries and wrestlings for mercy and assurance 3. It was a testimony after your believing and closing which Christ offered and accepted 4. It was a testimony after the matching of the promises with your souls condition 5. It was a testimony that filled your heart with joy unspeakable and glorious and with a love most dear and superlative and with most humble and serious care and diligence how to walk more exactly and chearfully to the praise and honour of this most gracious God If it was thus it was no delusion it was indeed the testimony of the Spirit and you have dealt unkindly and unworthily thus to requite him and thus to disgrace his precious testimony Thirdly By disregarding and slighting the Ordinances of Christ Some people do think that because they have the Spirit therefore there is no need of Ordinances By slighting Christs Ordinances at least for them perhaps they hold that the Ordinances may be useful for others who as yet have not received the Spirit but yet they are needless for them who have received the Spirit And three places of Scripture they alledge for this Jer. 31. 34. They shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest of them saith the Lord. 1 Joh. 2. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have also a most sure Word of prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place untill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in your hearts With your favour I will speak something in 1. Opposition to this Opinion it is the Opinion of the Libertines of old and of some now amongst our selves The Libertines answered who desire and endeavour to subvert the Ministry and the Ordinances of preaching 2ly In resolving the true meaning of those places of Scripture First I affirm that Gods giving of his Spirit unto his people was never intended by him to put a period unto any Evangelical Ordinance or to render them useless unto any of his people this may be demonstrated thus First From the scope of the Scriptures All Scripture saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 16. is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Iâ—struction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works ver 17. If the Word of God be given for these ends For Doctrine to teach us the matter of faith for Reproof to convince errors for Correction to condemn sin for Instruction to shew us our duties and to make us perfect To beget us Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the Word of truth To build us up Acts 20. 33. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified then certainly the presence of the Spirit and the Ministry of the Word are not
Spirit but did you ever find him a witnesting Spirit Now improve your interest in the Spirit for these soul-renewing works which you long for but never yet found why beâ—eech the Lord to give you the Spirit of Joy as well as the Spirit of Faith the Spirit of Peace as well as the Spirit of Holiness the sealing and witnessing Spirit as well as the renewing and changing Spirit The Spirit of gladness as well as of mourning Say unto my soul I am thy salvation Be of good comfort go in peace thy sins are forgiven thee Thy heart is ready to sink and break for want of comfort why Go to the Lord Lord comfort my soul thou hast promised joy and comfort to thy people and biddest thy Ministers to comfort them O comfort me with thine own Spirit it is his work it is his Office to be the Comforter c. Secondly For the works which he hath begun but hath not as yet perfected and finished within you as all the works of grace of knowledge of faith of love c. be not content with a little of these but as the Apostle exhorts in Ephes 5. 18. Be filled with the Spirit labour to encrease and abound in all fruits of the Spirit Psal 92. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the house of our God Ver. 14. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing Here I will briefly answer two Questions 1. Quest One is Why they that have the Spirit of grace should strive to increase Why such as have grace should labour to grow in it and to abound in grace Sol There are five Reasons for it First This will testifie the truth that is in them That they have the graces of the Spirit indeed there are three things amongst many others which do testifie grace in truth 1. One is Power 2. The second is Growth 3. The third is Perseverance Dead things and Artificial things have no growth q. because they have no life Every branch in me that beareth fruit the Father purgeth that it may bring forth more fruit saith Christ Joh. 15. 2. Secondly Yea and this testifies that the Spirit is in you of a truth for the Spirit changeth us from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. When the Spirit changeth us at the first from sinfulness to holiness this is a glorious change for as the natural estate is vile and inglorious so the renewed and sanctified estate is an excellent and glorious estate and when the Spirit begins a glorious change he proceeds and makes it still more glorious the spirit changeth us from glory to glory Grace makes us glorious and more grace makes us more glorious the more grace the more glory and where the Spirit of God is there he carries on his work from glory to glory Thirdly The more that ye do grow in the graces of the spirit the greater and fuller is your conformity unto Christ Grace is in Christ as in a Fountain and perfection as in a pattern Now the more you have in answerableness to the pattern the fuller is your conformity a little grace in us resembles that grace which is in Christ Simile But as those who lived under the Old Testament had some glimpses of Christ but they that lived under the New Testament had a more clear knowledge of him face to face So they that have but a little of grace there is some resemblance and manifestation in them of the image of Christ but they who are high in grace they are nearer to Christ in the resemblance of his excellent perfection of holiness and to speak plainly there is much more of Christ in them Fourthly The more you obtain in the proportion of grace the greater Revenue of honour will you be able to bring in to God I told you that the weakest grace can enable you to bring God some honour why then much grace can help you farther in that service it can set up his Name on high A little Faith can honour God but a strong Faith such as Abrahams or Moses's will bring more honour to his goodness and faithfulness a little love will make you to do something for Christ but much love will make you do much more The more grace that you attain the more gloriously will you shine in your conversation and in all the fruits of Righteousness with more fulness evenness and stedfastness and all this glorifies your Father which is in heaven Fifthly You your selves would gain more if your graces were increased more e. g. You would certainly find more peace in conscience and more freedom from slavish fears and doubts and more confidence in your accesses to God and more sweetness in the Ordinances of Christ and more enlargement of heart in all your communions with God and more wisdom and strength against the temptations of Satan 2. How may one know that he hath much of the Spirit of God in him that How to know that we have much of Gods spirit in us If more humble grace is increased and raised that he is more spiritual Sol. You may know it thus First If you be more humble The more pride alwayes either no grace or very little but the more humility still the more grace mark the Records in Scripture and you shall find the most excellent in grace have been the most eminent in humility e. g. Abraham Jacob Moses David Paul c. For much grace 1. Discovers most wants 2ly Most failings 3ly Most self-insufficiency 4ly Most self-unworthiness 5ly That all our receptions are from meer grace and mercy Secondly If you be more exact in your walking giving no just occasion either If more exact in our walking of offence to the weak or of grief to the strong Christians or of reproach to them that are without A man that can order his conversation so as good men are edified by him and wicked men have their mouthes stopped or cannot speak ill of him without lying he hath a great measure of grace Thirdly If a man be able to drink of the cup which Christ did drink and to If able to suffer afflictions be baptized with the baptisme wherewith Christ was baptized Mat. 20. 22 23. this man hath got on far in the work of grace The more able that you are to suffer reproaches and losses yea death itself for Christ the greater is your faith and the stronger is your love when you can rejoyce in tribulations bear the reproaches for Christ taking the Cross as your Crown and triumph that ye are counted worthy to suffer for his Name Fourthly If you be able to govern your tongues with wisdome and meekness If we can wisely govern our tongues and grace and truth this is a sign that you are strong in grace Jam. 3 2. If any offend not in word the same is a perfect man Fifthly The less careful we are for outward things and
is Evangelical obedience and the Paths wherein we will walk 3ly In the love of them delighting our selves in them 4ly In an humble and sincere endeavour to keep them all This walking in Gods statutes and keeping of his judgements is not impossible and there is not a godly man on earth who riseth not to this Heb. 13. 18. We trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly Fourthly If this Evangelical walking in Gods statutes be impossible to any man this ariseth not from the nature of the statutes of God but from the wickedness of mans own nature which he should beseech the Lord to heal and change and renew by his grace and then the statutes of God would not be grievous unto him much less would they be impossible he should quickly find that of Christ to be true Math. 30. My yoke is easie and my burden is light Ezek. 36. 27. And cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgements and do them SECT II. 2. Vse THe second Use which I would make of this Point that the people of How to prove our selves to be of the number of Gods people God under the Covenant of grace are to walk in his statutes and to do them is this That as we are to approve our selves to be the people of God that we make it our care and business to order our conversations according to his Word to walk in his Statutes to conform our selves in all our wayes to the obedience of his will And for the better carrying on of this Use I desire to speak unto three Questions 1. How a man must be qualified that so he may be willing 〈◊〉 and in some measure able to walk in the statutes of God and do them 2. What mistakes a man must take heed of in the performances of duties of obedience to Gods Laws and statutes 3. What rules are to be observed in walking in Gods statutes and how one may perform acts of obedience or spiritual duties in such a manner as God will accept of them 1. Quest How a man must be qualified that so he may be willing and in some measure able to walk in the statutes of God and do them How we may be enabled to walk in Gods statutes Sol. There are six Qualifications as to this 1. A Credence that there is a God who hath given Laws unto men which every man is enjoyned to obey 2. A Knowledge of the Laws of God which do concern him to keep or obey 3. A Sanctified will or renewed heart 4. An Evangelical faith 5. An Vnfeigned love of God 6. An Humble spirit 1. A Credence that there is a God who hath given Laws unto all the sons of men and they are bound to keep and obey them If this Principle as I have expressed it be not granted it is in vain to offer any thing concerning walking in Gods statutes and keeping and doing of them If a person denies 1. That there is a God unquestionably he doth therein deny all the Lawes or statutes of God and likewise all obedience unto his laws and hold Three Atheistical Positions 2. That God hath no authority to prescribe Laws unto his creatures or that he never did constitute any Laws prescribing and limiting his creatures but hath left every man to walk in the wayes of his own heart 3. Though he hath set Laws and Rules of life yet his creatures are at their own liberty to obey them or not obey them if he obey them it is well and if they please not to obey them there is no sin or danger I say such Atheistical Positions as these do utterly void all the soveraignty of God and obligations of man and are the foundations of all wickedness and disobedience therefore of necessity if any person would walk in the statutes of God and do them he must be really and fully convinced of these three Principles 1. That there is a God a true and living God the Maker and possessor of Heaven and Earth who is the Lord and Soveraign of all men to whom the authority of making laws for them doth of right belong for he indeed hath the Soveraignty and highest power 2. That he hath given Laws or statutes unto all the sons of men in which he reveals his mind will and pleasure concerning them what he would have them to do and what he would have them to avoid 3. That those Laws or statutes of his are Obligations upon men they do not only teach what is good and evil but bind us also to do that good and to decline that evil The Lord God being bound to uphold his own will and glory and having threatned all transgressors of his Laws and revealed his wrath against them and hath punished them and still hath in readiness to avenge the disobedience of men Secondly When you do believe that there is a God who hath authority to prescribe Laws unto you and that he hath enacted and published them for all men to take notice of them then must you give diligence to know what his Laws are concerning you and to understand them that you may be able to say concerning your selves what the Apostle spake of others This is the will of God concerning you Psal 119. 27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts Ver. 18. Open thou mine eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy Law Ver. 12. Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy statutes Isa 2. 3. Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his wayes Now here briefly are two Questions 1. Quest What kind of knowledge of Gods statutes is requisite towards our A threefold knowledge of Gods statutes walking in them There is a threefold knowledge of them First A knowledge of apprehension which is partly 1. Literal this is the least and weakest part of our knowledge when a man A â—iteral knowledge can say or read or hear the words of Gods Laws and recite them word by word yet without understanding the hiddenness of the Laws themselves as many say the words of the Lords Prayer who yet understand not the meaning of that prayer So do many say the words of Gods Laws or Commandements who yet c. 2. Spiritual and this is of that Law which is in the Law it is a knowledge of Spiritual knowledge the true meaning and purpose of any Law or statute of God Many know literally who yet know not spiritually so aâ— to dive into and reach the meaning of God e. g. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me Exod. 20. 3. These letters and words are known by many and yet the sense of them is known only to a few namely that we must set up the true God only for our God and make him the only object of our trust and love and fear Now look