refreshment as the Christian hath 2. More Practical and Applicative Meditation is when we take our selves aside from worldly distractions that we may solemnly debate and study how to carry on the Holy Life with better success and advantage when we are wise in our Sphere Luke 16.8 The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their generation it is an Hebrew Phrase for the Manner Course and Sphere of our Lives Gen. 6.9 These are the generations of Noah Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation and Noah walked with God so to be wise in our generation is to be wise in our manner of living and business So it is said Psalm 122.5 He will guide his affairs with discretion which noteth plotting and wise fore-sight choosing our way or devising our way as Solomon calleth it Prov. 16.9 A mans heart deviseth his way It is a great part of a Christians Employment The Scriptures call for it for a Minister 2 Tim. 2.15 Study to shew thy self approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth to devise how to carry on his Ministry with most Honour and Success So for Private Christians Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works We should consider one another each others Gifts Dispositions and Graces that so our Spiritual Converse and Commerce might be the more improved By this kind of Meditation Piety is made more prudent reasonable and orderly Christians that live at hap-hazard and order their Lives at adventure without these rational and wise Debates if they do not stain their Profession with foul indiscretions yet find much inconvenience and toyl in the Holy Life and are not half so useful as others are Certainly we should learn this of the Children of this World a wicked Man is plotting for his Lusts Rom. 13.14 Make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the luste thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they make Provision they are catering how they may feed such a Lust and satisfie such a Carnal Desire Therefore certainly we should take care for the Conveniencies of the Holy Life how we may be most needful for God and pass through our Relations with most advantage and cast our businesses that they may be the least disadvantage to Religion and consider how particular Duties may be the most dexterously accomplished Psal. 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me These are the kinds of Meditation The Definition may be formed thus Meditation is that Duty or Exercise of Religion whereby the Mind is applyed to the serious and solemne Contemplation of Spiritual things for Practical Vses and Purposes I shall open the Description by the parts of it 1. It is a Duty and Exercise of Religion 1. That it is a Duty and Exercise of Religion appeareth by the Evidence of Scripture where it is commanded Ioshua 1.8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night It is made a Character of a Godly Man Psal. 1.2 His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night It is commended in the Practice and Example of the Saints that were most famous in Scripture Isaac in the Text Moses and David And as it is plain by the Evidence of Scripture so by the Light of Nature and Reason God that is a Spirit deserveth the most Pure and Spiritual Worship as well as such as is performed by the Body The Thoughts are the Eldest and Noblest Off-spring of the Soul and the solemn Consecration of them is fit for God In the Gospel Meditation is called for I find in the Old Testament the main thing there called for is Meditation in the Law in the Gospel we are directed to a new Object the Love of Christ Eph. 3.17 18 19. That ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that is the Study of Saints I confess it is more called for in the Old Testament being gross and carnal they needed greater enforcements to Spiritual Duties but now it suiteth every way with the Nature of our Worship Iohn 4.24 God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Now Worship in Spirit and in Truth is more agreeable to our State Meditation is a pure and rational converse with God it is the flower and height of Consecrated Reason 2. It is not a Duty of an Arbitrary Concernment It is not only a Moral help that may be observed or omitted but a necessary Duty without which all Graces would languish and wither Faith is lean and ready to starve unless it be fed with continual Meditation on the Promises as David saith Psalm 119.92 Vnless thy law had been my delight I should then have perished in my affliction Thoughts are the Caterers of the Soul that purvey for Faith and fetch in Food and refresh it with the Comfort of the Promises Hope is low and doth not arise to such a fullness of expectation till by Meditation we take a deliberate view of our Hopes and Priviledges Gen. 13.17 Arise walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it for I will give it unto thee Our Hopes arise according to the largeness of our Thoughts it is a great advantage to have our Eyes open to view the Riches of our Inheritance and to have a distinct view of the hope of our Calling The Apostle prays for the Ephesians Chapt. 1.18 The eyes of your understandings being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of ehe glory of his inheritance in the Saints Men of barren thoughts are usually of low hopes and for want of getting to the top of Pisgah to view the Land our Hearts sink within us Certainly Hope thriveth best on the Mount of Meditation Then for Love the sparkles of Affection will not flow out unless we beat upon the Will by constant Thoughts Affection is nourished by Apprehension and the more constant and deliberate the Thoughts are the love is alwaies the deeper Those Christians that are backward to the Duty of Meditation find none of those impulses and meltings of Love that are in others they do not endeavour to comprehend the height and breadth and length and depth of the love of Christ and therefore no wonder that their Hearts are so narrow and so much straitned towards God Affections alwayes follow the rate of our thoughts if they are ponderous and serious Then for Obedience or keeping the Spirits constantly in a Religious Frame to others good Motions come like flashes of Lightning and are as soon gone as their thoughts
Faith and wherein the greatness of it lay 2. How this Faith was bred and begotten in him 3. The Effects and Fruits of it or how it discovered its self I. The Nature of his Faith It was a firm Perswasion that all Power and Authority was eminently in Christ and that he could do what he pleased The great End of Christ in all his Miracles was to discover himself to be the Son of God and one in whom the Divine Nature and Power resided and so by consequence that true Messiah and Saviour of the World This was Peter's Confession of Faith Matth. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the living God The Promised Messiah the anointed Saviour of the World And with Peter all the rest of the Disciples join Iohn 6.69 We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God This the Samaritans being Convinced and Converted confessed also Ioh. 4.42 We know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World This Martha acknowledges Ioh. 11.27 She saith unto him yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God that should come into the VVorld This was it which the Apostles preached Acts 13.23 Of this Man's seed hath God according to his Promise raised unto Israel a Saviour Iesus This they required of all whom they Converted to the Christian Faith Acts 8.37 I believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God Now this the Centurion cometh off roundly with being firmly perswaded of a Divine Power and Authority in Christ for he ascribeth an Omnipotency to his Word and reasoneth it out notably Speak but the word and my Servant shall be healed Ver. 8 9. For I am a Man under Authority having Souldiers under me and I say to this man goe and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my Servant do this and he doeth it Here then was the greatness of his Faith Objection You will say then all have great Faith for all the Christian World professeth this truth that Jesus is the Son of God Papists and Protestants Carnal and Renewed the rabble of Nominal Christians as well as the seriously Godly are of this Opinion that Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of the World Answer 1. Distinguere Tempora You must distinguish of the times In that Age there was no humane reason to believe this Truth Antiquity was against it and therefore when Paul preached Jesus they said He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods Acts 17.18 Authority was against it 1 Cor. 2.8 Which none of the Princes of this World knew for had they known it they would not have Crucifyed the Lord of glory Authority not only Civil but Ecclesiastical was against it Acts 4.11 This is the Stone which was set at nought of you builders The universal Consent of the habitable World was against it Only a small handfull of contemptible People owned him Luk. 12.32 Fear not little Flock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At that time it was the Critical Point the hated Truth that the Carpenter's Son should be owned as the Son of God Those bleak Winds that blew in our Backs and thrust us onward to Believe blew in their Faces and drove them from it Those very Reasons which move us to own Christ moved them to reject him For many Ages the Name of Christ hath been in Request and Honour but then it was a despised way For Men to lay aside their old Religion and Temples and Altars and Ceremonies and Rights of Worship for the new way of Jesus of Nazareth never heard of before born of a Jewish Woman living in a mean way Crucifyed like a Malefactor and dead and buried that he should be owned as the Son of God and the Saviour of the World what could be to appearance more unreasonable Alas what should we have done if we had been put to encounter with these Difficulties and Prejudices and no sooner did any Man own this truth but he was presently exposed to all manner of Troubles and Persecutions brought before Magistrates tortured murthered by all the Cruel Deaths that could be devised and all this to be endured upon the hopes of an unseen World Therefore then it was an undoubted Truth 1 Iohn 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Son of God is born of God And 1 Iohn 4.2 Every Spirit that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God Nay somewhat less than Faith and great Faith At his first appearance a certain perswasion impressed upon the Soul by the Spirit of God of the Divine Power and Alsufficiency of Christ so as to repair to him for help was Faith and great Faith when the vail of his Humane Nature and Infirmities did not keep the Eye of Faith from seeing him to have a Divine Power thô they could not unriddle all the Mysteries about his Person and Office this was accepted for Saving Faith 2. The Speculative Belief of this Truth was not sufficient then no more than it is now but the Practical Improvement Grant that Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and other things will follow as that we must obey his Laws and depend upon his Promises and make use of his Power and trust our selves in his hands otherwise the bare acknowledgment was not sufficient If a Man had at that time with some kind of Belief owned Christ as the Son of God and yet could not overcome the shame and fear of the World he would not have been accepted for it is said 1 Iohn 5.5 Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God Unless that effect followed the Belief was vain Therefore it is said Iohn 2.23 24 25. Many believed in his Name when they saw the Miracles which he did But Iesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men And needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in Man Christ knew the inside of Men and therefore knew this Faith was unlikely to bear any stress or hold out against Temptations Men might be convinced of some Excellency and Divine Power in Christ and yet remain unconverted So Acts 8. Simon Magus believed in Christ yet remained in the gall of bitterness and bond of Iniquity So we read again Iohn 8.30 31. As he spake these words many believed on him Then said Iesus to those Iews which believed on him if ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed Some are his Disciples in shew not truly and really being not settled and rooted in the Faith So it is noted Iohn 12.42 43. Nevertheless among the chief Rulers also many believed on him but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the Synagogue For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God They had Faith but it was too weak to encounter Temptations they were too
Faith standeth us in most stead Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Then by the one we are freed from the guilt of Sin and so have deliverance from Eternal Death By the other we have not only right but entrance into Eternal Glory What is our whole scope but to be absolved by Christ at last and enter into Eternal Life Finally these two are to be regarded to obviate their mistake who think indeed that Faith and it may be Repentance is necessary to pardon or to dissolve our Obligation to Punishment but not new Obedience But in their place all the Conditions are necessary They think new Obedience is necessary to Salvation or Eternal Life but not to Justification But Salvation is as gracious an Act of Mercy as free and undeserved a Gift as Pardon Rom. 6.23 The wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Eternal Life is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wages but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gift of God It is as much merited by Christ as the other and therefore as proper a part yea the chief part of the Hope of Righteousness by Faith and that which is only waited for and not injoyed III. What is the work of the Spirit in this business in urging Believers to wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith I Answer the work of the Spirit doth either concern the Duties of the new Covenant or the Priviledges of the new Covenant or what is common to them both I begin with the latter 1. What is common to them both He doth convince us of the Truth of the Gospel both of means and end that there is such an Hope and the Righteousness of Faith is the only way to obtain it Now this he doth Externally and Internally 1. Externally and by way of Objective Evidence All the certainty that we have of the Gospel is by the Spirit Acts 5.32 We are Witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Ghost which he hath given to them that obey him And Iohn 15. 26 27. When the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning Mark in both these places the two solemn Witnesses are the Spirit and the Apostles the one Principal the other Ministerial the one declaring Doctrine and Matter of Fact the other assuring the World of the Truth of their Testimony The Apostles testified of Christs sayings and doings and the Holy Ghost which came down upon them and the rest that consorted with them and was given in some measure to those that obeyed their Doctrine was an undoubted Evidence that God owned it from Heaven Here was enough to open mens Eyes and to give them a right understanding of his Person and Doctrine that it was of God The Visible Gifts of the Holy Ghost and his powerful working in the Hearts of men in order to their Conversion unto God These admirable Gifts and Graces shed abroad upon men were a Notable Conviction to the World that Christ was a Teacher sent from God to teach men the way to Eternal Life and Happiness This did afford sufficient matter of Confirmation and Conviction by the Spirit shed abroad and poured forth on the Christian Church 2. Internally inlightning their Minds and inclining their Hearts to imbrace the Truth Which maketh the former Testimony effectual So the Apostle prayeth Eph. 1.17 For the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ the eyes of their understanding being inlightned that they might know what is the hope of his Calling and the Riches of the Glory of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light To the sight of any thing these things are necessary an Object a Medium a Faculty As in outward sight an Object that may be seen a convenient light to represent it and make the Object perspicuous An Organ or Faculty of seeing in the Eye Unless there be an Object you bid a man see nothing Unless there be a Medium a due light to represent it as in a fog or at Midnight the sharpest sight can see nothing Unless there be a Faculty neither the Object nor Medium will avail a Blind-man cannot see any thing at Noon-day Now here is an Object the way of Salvation by Christ A convenient light it is represented in the Gospel And the Faculty is prepared for the Eyes of the Mind are opened by the Spirit that we may see both Way and End the necessity of Holiness and the reality of future Glory and Blessedness Alas without this sight we busie our selves about Vanities and Childish Toys and never Mind the things which are most necessary certainly we can have no saving understanding of Spiritual Truths neither what is the Benefit of Christianity or the blessed Condition of Gods People Nor what are the Duties of Christianity so as our Hearts may be held to them or how we may behave our selves as true Believers 2. The Work of the Spirit as to the Duties of the new Covenant He doth not only convince us of the Reality and the Necessity of Christs Obedience and our Holiness but by his Powerful Operation frameth and inclineth our Hearts to the Duties required of us Faith it self is wrought in us by this Holy Spirit for it is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 And so is Repentance and Obedience Heb. 8.10 I will write my Laws upon their Hearts and put them into their Minds Moses his Law was written on Tables of Stone as a Rule without them but Christs Law on the Heart and Mind as drawing and inclining them to obey it The Renewing Grace of the Spirit of God doth prepare us and fit us and his exciting Grace doth quicken us that we may do what is pleasing in his sight And therefore if we profess to live under the new Covenant we are inexcusable if we do not bestir our selves and accomplish the work of Faith with Power and obey from the Heart the Doctrine delivered to us Indeed the Spirit doth most naturally put us upon spiritual Worship and spiritual Holiness these things agree most with his Being and Nature The observances of the Law were carnal yet as long as Gods command continued the Spirit inclined to Obedience to them But a better Law being enacted by Christ the Spirit that proceedeth from the Father and the Son suiteth his Operations accordingly For he cometh into us as Christs Spirit He shall take of mine and glorifie me John 16.14 All that he doth accordeth with Christ as Christs Will doth with the Father 3. The work of the Spirit as to the priviledges of the New Covenant which are pardon and life 1. As to Pardon he is the Comforter He cometh
are his Members and belong to him Rom. 8.9 If ye have not the spirit of Christ ye are none of his 3. He blesseth his Word and Sacraments to this end and purpose Iohn 17.19 For their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth We hear of Christ by the Spirit and of the Spirit in the Ordinances and Duties of Religion Eph. 5.26 By the washing of water through the word Two are here mentioned the Word and washing of Water The one containeth our Charter or Grant of Christ and all his Benefits to every one that believes in him Iohn 3.16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The other is the Seal of it to assure us and be a pledge to us that Christ will be as good as his word Rom. 4.11 He received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of faith 1. The Word is a powerful Instrument Iohn 17.19 I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth John 15.3 Ye are clean through the word That warneth us of our Duty sheweth our Danger encourageth us by Promises to run to Christ for this Benefit holds forth his Blood as the meritorious Cause 2. Sacraments assure God will be as good as his word The doubting Soul saith â—how shall I know 2 Kings 20.8 What shall be the sign By these visible Things God assures us of the Truth of his Covenant Use. It sheweth us how and where we should look for this benefit of Sanctification From Christ by the Spirit in the Ordinances Look not to these singly but all together Holy Things do not sanctify us but we pollute them when we look to them singly Hag. 2.13 14. If one that is unclean touch any of these shall it be unclean The Priests answered It shall be unclean So is this people that which they offer is unclean Fowl Bodies the more you nourish them the more you hurt them 2. Go not to the Spirit alone without having accepted Christ and received him into your Hearts so upward Christ tendeth to the Spirit the Spirit to Ordinances Christ undertaketh to be a Sanctifier that you may have recourse to him A Sermon on Hebr. xiii 5 For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee IN the former part of the Verse the Apostle dissuadeth from Covetousness and perswadeth to Contentment The Motive to inforce the one and the other is God's Promise Many of our Distempers would have no more place if we did oftener study the Promises He saith that is God that He whose Voice should only be heard in the Church The Pythagoreans would use to say in their School 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath said It should much more be reason enough with Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he said But where doth the force of the Inference lye Apply it to the first part Let your conversation be without covetousness for he hath said I answer Covetousness is rooted in a Diffidence and fear of Want Now that Fear is irrational if we regard what he hath said God will maintain us as long as he hath Work for us to do He that is perswaded that God will not leave him will not be much troubled Apply it now to the second Branch Be content with such things as you have for he hath said I will never leave thee And how is that inferred I answer The comfort of our Condition doth not depend on outward Provisions so much as in God's Promises therefore though you have little be content If God denieth the Creature he will vouchsafe his own Presence and what need we care for the want of a Candle when we have the Sun Once more The Connexion between the Dissuasive and Exhortation and the Promise is to be observed Be not covetous be content for he hath said I will never leave thee And Men would have less trouble if they could learn to cast themselves upon God's allowance If we could depend more we should crave less The Promise well applied would not only allay our Fears but moderate our Desires Lust is ravenous and therefore suspicious If we believe his Word we shall have enough to glorifie God enough for that condition wherein God will make use of us Fixing upon Carnal Hopes doth but make trouble for your selves Carnal Affections prescribe God a Task which he will never perform Psal. 78.18 They asked meat for the lusts Not Meat for their Necessities but Meat for their Lusts. God never undertook to maintain us at such a rate to give us so much by the Year such Portions for our Children The Sheep must be left to the Shepherd to choose their Pastures bare or better grown Be content and then Faith will be more easie We may pray for a Competency and are bound to submit to an Extremity He hath said Where hath he said it Every where in the Word more especially to Ioshua in particular Iosh. 1.5 As I was with Moses so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee To all his People in general Deut. 31.6 8. Be strong and of a good courage fear not nor be afraid of them for the Lord thy God he it is that doth go with thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee David bids Salomon be confident of it 1 Chron. 28.20 David said to Salomon his son be strong and of good courage and do it fear not nor be dismayed for the Lord God even my God will be with thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee So Iacob Gen. 28.15 I will not leave thee till I have done all that I have spoken to thee of It is pleaded by Salomon 1 King 8.57 The Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers let him not leave us nor forsake us You see it is a known Truth and to be made use of upon all occasions of Tryal It was spoken to Ioshua when he was to fight the Lord's Battels To Israel when they had not as yet a foot of Land to possess To Iacob when to pass through many Services To Salomon when to go about a costly Work And God having said it so often delights to be challenged upon his Word and to have this Promise put in suit Before I come to shew you the full purport and drift of this Promise let me observe 1. Though the Promises were made upon a particular occasion to some of God's People yet they are of a general Use. Well then Promises made to one Saint concern another also Why 1. Because God is alike affected to all his Children he beareth them the same love His Saints now are as dear to him as ever Therefore as he would not leave Ioshua or Iacob or Salomon so he will not leave others that trust in him This honour have all his Saints Psal. 149.9 2. They have
wit the redemption of our bodies When we shall know more fully what Honour and Blessedness belongeth to the Children of God now it doth not appear what we shall be So pardon of Sin shall be then compleat Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. All pardoned Sins shall never be remembred more our Absolution shall be solemnly pronounced by the Judge upon the Bench. That is the great Regeneration Matth. 19.28 You that have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel So for Redemption Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption When all the Effects of Sin shall cease for Death remaineth on the Body till that day 7. This Work of taking away Sin is carried on with respect to Christ's threefold Office of King Priest and Prophet 1. As a Priest so he taketh away Sin by his Merit having purchased a Power and a Virtue whereby our Natures may be healed and cleansed and our Peace made with God In this sense it is said 1 Iohn 1.7 The blood of Iesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin 2. As a Prophet so he taketh away Sin by his Doctrine which is fit for such a purpose as it commandeth and requireth Purity and Holiness and inviteth us to it by notable Promises and encourageth us by blessed Examples especially of Jesus Christ himself and the perfect Pattern of his holy Obedience and heavenly Life Iohn 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth 3. As a King so he taketh away Sin by his Spirit So backward are our Minds so bad our Hearts so strong our Lusts so manifold our Temptations that beâ—â— Teaching will not serve the turn without a Spirit of Light Life and Love to open our Eyes and change our Hearts and incline us and bring us back again to God Therefore it is said Titus 3.5 6. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy-Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our saviour His Merit giveth us Confidence his Word Means and Helps and his sanctifying Spirit maketh all effectual to the Soul III. That this is the great End and Scope of Christ's coming into the World appeareth by sundry Scriptures 1 Iohn 3.5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin He was manifested in the Flesh and manifested in the Gospel for this end He came as an holy innocent Saviour to take away Sin Matth. 1.21 Thou shalt call his name Iesus for he shall save his people from their sins Not to ease them of their Trouble only but chiefly to destroy Sin with the mischievous Effects of it He is a Saviour that saves us from Sin not in Sin Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Not only from the Curse of the Law but from all Iniquity The Mediator's Blessing was not to free us from the Roman Yoke but from the slavery and bondage of Sin Acts 3.26 Unto you first God having raised up his son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Reasons 1. Sin is the great Make-bate between God and us The first breach was by Sin and still it continueth the distance Isa. 59.2 Your iniquities have separated between you and your God Till Sin be taken out of the way there can be no perfect Communion betwen God and the Creature The Purity of God is irreconcilable to Sin though not to the Sinner and therefore though the Sinner be pardoned the Sin must be taken away 2. Sin is the great Disease of Mankind and the cause of all Misery therefore Christ came to stop Mischief at the Fountain Head Take away Sin and you take away Wrath for when the Cause is gone the Effect ceaseth Those who are most sensible of their true Evil do mainly desire the taking away of Sin Pharaoh said Take away this Plague but the Church saith Take away all iniquity Hosea 14.2 Many seek to get rid of Trouble and Temporal Afflictions but not of Sin because they have a gross sense of Things and measure their Happiness and Misery by their outward Condition Hosea 7.14 They assemble themselves for corn and wine and they rebel against me They sought not God's Favour but Corn and Wine and Oyl Others if they mind Spiritual Things they mind only pardon of Sins and ease of Conscience but not to be freed from the Power of it as if a Man that had broken his Leg should only desire to be eased of the smart but not to have it set again But the true Penitent is troubled with the Stain as well as the Guilt therefore the Promise is suited to such 1 Iohn 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Others if they would be freed from Sin they respect only the preventing the outward Act but you must abstain from the Lust 2 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. If they look after the Heart and inward Man it is some Branch of Sin not the Root or the Change of the Heart and so die Impenitent Evil Practices do not flow from a present Temptation but an evil Nature All these lose their labour they neither get rid of Trouble nor prevent the Act nor are free from the breach of God's Law but Christ would make a thorough Cure 3. Taking away of Sin is a greater benefit than Impunity or taking away the Punishment Those Means which have a more immediate Connexion with the last End are more noble than those which are more remote The last End is the Glory of God Now the Holiness and Subjection of the Creature is a nearer means to it than our Comfort and Pardon Christ's End was to fit us for God's Use and therefore his End was to sanctifie us and free us from Sin 1 Use Is Caution Let us renounce all Sin that we may not make Christ's coming into the World in vain You go about to frustrate your Redeemer's End and so to put him to shame if you cherish Sin for then you cherish that which he came to destroy 1 Iohn 3.8 For this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil that is dissolve unty and loose this Knot The Work of the Devil is to bring us into Sin and Misery and will you tie the Knot the faster If you go about to frustrate his Undertaking you renounce all Benefit by him and slight the Price of
by his Death of Salvation by Faith in the Mediator this depends not upon the Connexion of natural Causes but the free Pleasure of God therefore the Angels knew it not till it was revealed in the Church Ephes. 3.10 To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God The Gentiles by looking into the Order of Causes could never find it out They might find a first Being and the chiefest Good but not a Christ not a Saviour there they sat in the shadows of Death and did not understand nor desire Eternal Life Acts 14.17 Nevertheless he left not himself without Witness in that he did good and gave us Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons filling our Hearts with Food and Gladness Much of God may be seen in the known courses of Nature Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons but nothing of Christ. The Apostle speaks it there to disswade them from the Worship of Iupiter and Mercury and other of the Vanities of the Gentiles he argues from the Grace of Nature and common Benefits which they had received this were enough to make them acknowledg a Divine Power Pray mark the Apostle saith He left not himself without a Witness yet he suffered them to walk in their own ways because he did not reveal his Gospel nor give them his Spirit Psal. 147.19 20. He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Iudgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Iudgments they have not known them Rom. 16.25 26. According to the Revelation of the Mystery which was kept secret since the World began But now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known unto all Nations for the Obedience of Faith Ephes. 3.4 5. Whereby when ye read ye may understand my Knowledg in the Mystery of Christ which in other Ages was not made known unto the Sons of Men as it is now revealed unto his Holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit Col. 1.26 27. Even the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations but now is made manifest to his Saints To whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in them the Hope of Glory But God suffered them to serve their own Lusts and to carry on that Religion which they had feigned to themselves But then he left not himself without a Witness for they had many corporal Blessings from whence they might easily collect that they should not worship Stocks and Stones and dead Men but the living God by whose Providence those Blessings were dispensed Though he gave them not the Gospel yet he gave them the Light of Nature and the Looking-glass of the Creatures There is much ado whether this were auxilium sufficiens Gratiae a sufficient Help to convert them or to bring them to such a Condition that they might gain the Grace of God It was enough to oblige them to seek after God and to convince them that they did ill in worshipping the Creatures but it was not sufficient to find out the true God and enjoy him Saving-Grace is not granted by any Promise to the improvement of Nature Well then though the whole Earth be full of the Goodness of the Lord that is of the Fruits and Effects of his common Bounty yet nothing of his Saving-Grace is known till it appeared and broke out in the Gospel 2. To the Jews this Grace began to dawn but it was veiled in Figures and Shadows that they could not see clearly The Substance of their Doctrine was the same with ours but there is a great deal of difference in the manner of Dispensation they had the dark Text and we the Exposition There was Grace and Shadow by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ John 1.17 because here all the Types were revealed and we have the Substance it self Christ is the Light of the World The Sun the farther off it is from rising the less Light it gives Christ was not then risen therefore there was but Twi-light and full of Shadows Grace is opposed to the Condemnation of the Moral Law and Truth to the Shadows of the Ceremonial Law Christ's Offices his Benefices his Person were but darkly propounded to them Take but one place for all Of all the Ministers of the Legal Dispensation Iohn Baptist saw the clearest yet saith Christ the least of Gospel-Ministers knows more than he Matth. 11.11 Verily I say unto you among them that are born of Women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he Iohn drawing nearer to Christ had a clearer knowledg of the Meaning and Application of the Types than others had But now those that have lived after the pouring out of the Spirit upon Christ's Ascension under the Gospel-Dispensation have a clear insight into the Doctrine of Grace far more clear than it was in the days of Iohn II. What and how much of Grace is now discovered I answer 1. The Wisdom of Grace The Gospel is a meer Riddle to Carnal Reason a great Mystery 1 Tim. 3.16 Great is the Mystery of Godliness There we read of God and Man brought together and Justice and Mercy brought together by the Contrivance of Grace Here we only see this Mystery that is without Controversy great for these Things could not come into the Heads of any Creatures If Angels and Men had been put to study and set down their Way of Reconciliation to God how it should be they could never have thought of such a Remedy as the bringing of God and Man together in the Person of Christ and Justice and Mercy together by the Blood and Satisfaction of Christ this came out of no Breast but God he brought the Secret out of his own Bosom When the Question was put in the Counsel of the Trinity How Man that was fallen might be brought again to God from the Depth of Misery to the Height of Happiness Grace interposed and propounded Christ to be God-Man in one Person O the strangeness and wonderfulness of this Contrivance If you consider the Weakness and Vileness of Humane Nature the Infiniteness and Excellency of the Divine Nature certainly such a Plot could not enter into the Head of any Creature Upon what Grounds could any Creature expect such a Condescention that Mortal and Immortal Infiniteness and Finiteness should come together And as the Person of Christ is wonderful so also is his Work and Business which was to bring Justice and Mercy to kiss each other that Justice might have full Satisfaction for Mens Sins and Mercy have full Content in procuring their Salvation that Grace might be glorified and yet Justice be no Loser When God redeemed the World he had a greater Work
inclining the Heart to obey out of the sense of God's Love and encouraging us by Faith drawing Strength from Christ and looking to God for our Acceptance from him Some Works of the Unregenerate are materially good but it is not the Matter maketh the Work good but the Principle The Works of unregenerate Men are done by God's Enemies out of the strength of a corrupt Will for carnal Ends without any Conscience of God's Will or Respect to his Glory But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are giftless Gifts But now these done by Persons in a gracious State are as good Fruit growing on a good Tree Grace teacheth he speaketh not of the external Direction of the Gospel but the internal working of Grace in the Heart it worketh by Faith Love and Obedience Obedience owneth the Obligation Love inclineth to discharge the Duty and Faith looketh up to God for Help and Acceptance that we may do it in Christ and for Christ's sake to God's Glory There is a free loving Subjection of the whole Man inward and outward to the whole Will of God with a Desire to please him 2. That Grace and Corruption draw several Inferences and Conclusions from the same Premisses A Bee gathereth Hony from whence a Spider sucketh Poison Corrupt Nature is out in Conclusions Prov. 26.9 As a Thorn goeth up into the Hand of a Drunkard so is a Parable in the Mouth of Fools Let us do Evil that Grace may abound says a corrupt Heart Let us deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts says a gracious Person God doth all says a corrupt Heart therefore we need but lie upon the Bed of Ease and expect his Help No says a gracious Soul Phil. 2.12 13. Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his good Pleasure The Epicure says the time is short Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 1 Cor. 15.32 The Apostle argues otherwise 1 Cor. 7.29 Brethren I say unto you the time is short it remaineth that they that have Wives be as tho they had none c. So 2 Sam. 7.2 Then the King said unto Nathan the Prophet See now I dwell in an House of Cedar but the Ark of God dwelleth within Curtains compared with Hag. 1.2 This People say The time is not come the time that the Lord's House should be built Eli said 1 Sam. 3.18 It is of the Lord let him do what seemeth him good The King of Israel said 2 King 6.33 Behold this Evil is of the Lord why should I wait for the Lord any longer We are apt to stumble in God's plainest Ways Carnal Logick is one of our greatest Corruptions 3. That it is the greatest Wrong one can do to Grace to slacken any part of our Duty for Grace's sake Jude 4. Vngodly Men turning the Grace of our God into Lasciviousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hale it besides its purpose There is no such Teacher of Holiness as Grace it teacheth and giveth a Heart to learn They know not what Grace meaneth that grow wanton vain and sensual to make Grace Sin 's Lacky is a vile Abuse Rom. 6.15 What then shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid You are under Grace therefore yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the Dead and your Members as Instruments of Righteousness unto God ver 13. As Fulvius said to his Son when he slew him I begot thee not for Cataline but for thy Country God justified us not that we might live to Satan but to himself Vse 2. Of Trial. Whether we are made Partakers of the Grace of God in the Gospel Have we these Teachings and Arguings Many can endure to hear that Grace bringeth Salvation but that it teacheth us to deny Ungodliness there they flinch Men would have us offer Salvation and preach Promises but when we press Duty they cry out this is a hard saying The Cities of Refuge under the Law were all Cities of the Levites and Schools of Instruction to note that whoever taketh Sanctuary at Grace meeteth Instruction it is no benefit to thee else In the general doth it perswade you to make a willing Resignation of your selves to God Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God that ye present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service Every time you think of Mercy do ye find some Constraint in this kind More particularly 1. Doth it press you to deny Lusts Ezra 9.13 14. Seeing thou hast given us such Deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandments Doth it recoil upon you Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God Is this your Kindness to your Friend 2. Doth it press you to good 1 John 5.3 This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous When God maketh a motion by his Word or the Counsels of his Spirit Well! I cannot deny it what a small Service is this I owe to God as Iacob served seven Years for Rachel and they seemed unto him but a few days for the Love he had to her Gen. 29.20 And Shechem underwent the pain of Circumcision for Dinah's sake Obs. 2. Grace teacheth us both to depart from Evil and also to do Good Psal. 34.15 Depart from Evil and do good Isa. 1.16 17. Cease to do Evil learn to do Well We must do both because God hates Evil and delights in Good we must hate what God hates and love what God loves That is true Friendship eadem velle nolle to will and nill the same thing I durst not sin God hates it I durst not omit this Duty God loves it Again our Obedience must carry a proportion with the Divine Mercy Now God's Mercy is not only privative but positive God not only spares and delivers us from Hell but saves and brings us to Heaven The Lord God is a Sun and Shield Psal. 84.11 Not only a Shield to keep us from Danger but a Sun to afford us Comfort and Blessing Therefore it is fit our Obedience should be both privative and positive not only cease to do Evil but learn to do Well as the description of a Godly Man runs Psal. 1.1 2. Blessed is the Man that walketh not in the Counsel of the Vngodly nor standeth in the Way of Sinners nor sitteth in the Seat of the Scornful But that is not enough but his delight is in the Law of the Lord. Again we must have Communion with Christ in all his Acts in his Death and in his Resurrection and therefore we must not only mortify Sin but be quickned to Holiness of Conversation He that hath Communion with Christ in one Act hath Communion with him in all and therefore if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the
came not to judg the World but to save the World So 1 Iohn 4.14 We have seen and do testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World But then his second Coming is in more Majesty then he comes as a God to judg To consider him as a severe Judg that would make our Heart tremble but to consider him as a Saviour that 's comfortable then he remembers his old Relation for the Elect's sake In short he is the great God and our Saviour to shew his double Work and Office at the last Day he is a Saviour to his own People when he comes to shew himself to be the great God to punish the Wicked that would not accept of Grace and Salvation 4. To give us a Taste and Pledg both of his Willingness and Ability to do us good He is a mighty God and yet a Saviour Certainly there is a Difference between God and Man If we pardon and do good it is out of need because we dare not do otherwise but Jesus Christ is the mighty God strong enough to revenge yet our Saviour gracious enough to save and pardon The coupling of these Words shew that Christ is not a Saviour out of Necessity but good Will Men forbear their Enemies out of Policy not Pity 2 Sam. 3.19 These Men the Sons of Zerviah are too hard for me Power makes us cruel Who finds his Enemy and slays him not If a Man find his Enemy will he let him go well away 1 Sam. 24.19 Among Men observe it and you will find the weakest are most pitiful and merciful Why because they need Pity and Commiseration themselves from others But now Jesus Christ that hath the greatest Power hath also the greatest Mercy and the greatest Love he is the mighty God but yet the Prince of Peace He will be a mighty God rather in saving than in destroying though he hath all Power in his Hands yet he will exercise it in Acts of Mercy We abuse our Power to Acts of Oppression and Violence O when shall we learn of Christ to be mighty and yet saving There cannot be a happier Conjunction than when Greatness and Goodness Power and good Will are met together Remember Power is only given us to do good with it and to do good is some Resemblance of Christ. What a Comfort is this to the Faithful that Christ is the great God and also a Saviour both able and willing to do them good and to bestow abundance of Grace upon them 5. To shew what Christ is to the Saints wherever he shews himself a Saviour there he doth also shew himself to be a mighty God Together with Acts of Grace and Favour there are issued out Acts of Power and Strength there 's a concomitant Operation of Power together with an Act of Pardon and Grace I find the Scripture speaking of this he pardoneth as a strong God Mich. 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee pardoning Iniquity c. In the Original who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a strong God like unto thee And so Iunius renders it So Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord the Lord God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Moses plainly alludes to it Numb 14.17 18. Now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying The Lord is long-suffering and of great Mercy forgiving Iniquity and Transgression Whenever God shews Grace in pardoning Sin he shews Power also in subduing Sin So Psal. 62.11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that Power belongs to God And presently ver 12. Also unto thee O Lord belongeth Mercy Both these are dispensed together Those that come to God for Relief are under a double Trouble distemper'd Affections as well as a guilty Conscience therefore know for your Comfort Mercy and Power belong to God and in the Dispensation they usually go together 2 Pet. 1.3 According as his Divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness Christians if you go to God aright you go to him not only for Life that you may be respited from Destruction but for Godliness not only for Acts of Grace but for Acts of Power as Wrath and Power are suted to the Reprobate so Mercy and Power to the Godly 6. To shew that Christ is not only a desirable Friend but a dreadful Adversary You must close with him as a Saviour or else you shall find him to your cost to be a mighty God you must submit to him or be destroyed you must accept of Mercy or feel the Power of his Wrath. And thus in Scripture Christ is represented with a golden Scepter and with an Iron Mace to dash his Enemies in Pieces like a Potâ—eâ—â—â— Vessel you must touch his golden Scepter or feel the Weight of his Iron Rod He that saveth can punish and crush as well as comfort Again we read of a Banner of Love and of a flying Roll of Curses and therefore as there is Mercy and Sweetness in Christ so he is represented as a dreadful Adversary Usually we presume on God's Mercy and fear Man's Power but this should not be so O! observe the Counsel the Lord gives Isa. 27.5 Let him take hold of my Strength that he may make Peace with me Blessed God! who is able to grapple and deal with thee in thy Strength but we overcome by yielding Let us humble our selves betimes that 's taking hold of his Strength and making Power our Friend It is an Allusion not to a Wrestler for so how can our Hands be strong and our Heart indure in the Day he shall deal with us but to a Suppliant when a Parent or Master is ready to strike the Child takes hold of his Arm and seeks terms of Peace and intreats him to pacify his Wrath So saith the Lord make Strength your Friend then his Power which otherwise would be your Enemy is ingaged to you 7. To preserve that mix'd Affection which best becomes the present State we are in Our State is mix'd and we act best under a mix'd Affection God would have us not only love him but fear him And therefore he is represented as a mighty God as well as a gracious Saviour that we may come to him with Reverence and yet with Confidence That 's the proper temper of a gracious Spirit in all our Addresses to God Psal. 2.10 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoice with Trembling Fear mix'd and temper'd with Love is most regular so is Love that is guided with Fear Therefore when you pray to him and worship him and serve him remember he is the great God but lest that should breed Bondage and Dejection in your Spirits remember he is also our Saviour How sweet would this be if we could but make use of both these Titles
We were all forfeited to God but all the Elect have an Interest in the same Redeemer This will somewhat explain the Mystery 2. In that Law there was another Redemption that was to be made to Man and so there was a two-fold Redemption figured in the Legal Dispensation 1. There was a Redemption of the Inheritance or of the Person of the Brother that was waxen poor and so through Poverty had sold himself or sold his Land Levit. 25.25 If thy Brother be waxen poor and hath sold away some of his Possession and if any of his Kin come to redeem it then shall he redeem that which his Brother sold. And ver 47 48. And if a Sojourner or Stranger wax rich by thee and thy Brother that dwelleth by thee wax poor and sell himself unto the Stranger or Sojourner by thee or to the Stock of the Strangers Family After that he is sold he may be redeemed again one of his Brethren may redeem him The Goel or the next of Kin was to redeem both the Land and Person so sold. All this noteth our State by Nature we forfeited our Inheritance and sold our selves to work Iniquity there was a voluntary Forfeiture on our Part and we could not redeem our selves for we were waxen poor And when we had sold our selves all of the Kindred were altogether waxen poor and could not redeem us Psal. 49.7 8. None of them can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransom for him For the Redemption of their Soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever Therefore Jesus Christ comes from Heaven and takes Flesh that he might be of our Blood and Kin and so jure Propinguitatis as being next of Blood he had a Right to redeem and help us when we had forfeited our selves and were become Slaves and Vassals of Sin and Satan 2. There was the Redemption of Captives I confess I do not find express mention in the Law of this kind of Redemption though some Types of this Captivity there were and therefore here we must allude to the Customs of all Nations Therefore I shall shew First To whom we were Captives Secondly The manner of redeeming Captives both among the Jews and all Nations First To whom we were Captives to God to Satan to Sin 1. To God We were the Prisoners of his Justice and Wrath and therefore called Prisoners in the Pit in which there is no Water Zech. 9.11 It is a Description of our natural Bondage In our Original State we were God's Creatures but in our degenerate and fallen Estate we are God's Prisoners 2. We were Captives to Satan as God's Executioner given up to his Power that he might blind harden and lead us to all manner of Sin by a just Tradition 2 Tim. 2.26 That they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his Will Natural Men are at the Will of another as Christ told Peter John 21.18 Another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not So Satan leads and carries us up and down but it is there where we would our selves be we consent to this Bondage and are acted by the Spirit of the Devil and are at his beck Nay that is not all but we are also given up Captives to Satan that we might be tormented by him therefore he is said to have the Power of Death Heb. 2.14 The Devil as God's Executioner hath a great Power over carnal Men to stir up Bondage and Fear and Horrors of Wrath and to take them away to Torment though not as he will but as God willeth Satan is our Keeper as God is our Judg and Conscience which was made to be God's Deputy is as it were Satan's Under-keeper stirs up Fear and holds us in Chains of Darkness 3. We are Captives to Sin Every natural Man is a Slave to his own Lusts Tit. 3.3 Serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Man in his natural State is a Slave to his own Affections For the explaining of which let me tell you while Man was in his Original State and Condition his Actions were to be thus governed the Understanding and Conscience were to prescribe to the Will and the Will according to right Reason and Conscience was to stir up the Affections and the Affections according to the Counsel and Command of the Will were to move the Spirits and the Members of the Body This was the Order setled in Man's Nature before the Fall But now by Corruption there is a woful Change and Disorder and the Head is where the Feet should be the bodily Spirits move the Affections the Law in the Members prescribes many times to the Law of the Mind carnal Pleasures move the Affections and the Affections carry away the Will by Violence and the corrupt Bent of the Will blinds the Understanding and so Man is led headlong to his own Destruction and therefore the Apostle saith that carnal Men are sold under Sin Rom. 7.14 I am carnal sold under Sin As Captives in War were sold to be Drudges to those that bought them so Man by Nature is sold to be a Drudg to his own Lusts and to be at the Beck of every carnal and unclean Suggestion Here is the Captivity of Man by Nature there is the Judg and that is God to whose Wrath we are subject there is the Prison that is Hell there is the Keeper of the Prison that 's Satan and there are the Ropes and Chains by which we are bound and they are partly our Sins Prov. 5.22 His own Iniquities shall take the Wicked himself and he shall be holden with the Cords of his Sins And partly the Terrors of Conscience for the Devils are said to be reserved in everlasting Chains under Darkness unto the Iudgment of the great Day Jude 6. which signifies the Horror that is upon the damned Spirits expecting more Judgment from the Wrath of the Lord and at the Judgment of the Great Day The Devils that are most sensible of their Estate as being actually in Torment are said to be held in those Chains of Darkness and we as their Fellow-Prisoners are held in the same Chains though in the time of God's Patience we do not feel it Secondly Let us come to the way of redeeming these Captives Among the Nations there 's a four-fold way of redeeming Captives either gratuitâ manumissione by free Deliverance or else Permutatione by way of Exchange or else violentâ ablatione by way of Force and Arms or else soluto lutro by paying the Price or Ransom The two last are most proper to this Case taking away by Force or paying a Ransom though to me the former also have their Place 1. By free Dismission on God's Part that holdeth in the present Case we are freely dismissed namely as there is nothing done on the Captive's Part to free himself It is said Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in
earnestly Micah 7.3 It is the difference between us and civil Men but unregenerate they are like Cypress Trees fair and tall but fruitless of a comely Life but none of these good Works are to be found in them It is the difference between us and Hypocrites A Hypocrite like a Carbuncle seems to be all on a fire but when you touch it it is quite cold so they pretend to Religion talk much but have no true regular Zeal no spiritual Warmth It is notable our Lord himself proves his Divine Original by his Works Iohn 10.38 Tho ye believe not me believe the VVorks that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him So is this the sensible Evidence you are in Christ and Christ in you Graces are not always evident in feeling but in Fruit the Effects cannot be hid Then they are Signs and Evidences to God himself the Lord will look upon them as Marks and Evidences of his People Look as the destroying Angel was to be guided by a Sign Exod. 12.12 13. by the sprinkling of the Door-posts not that he needed it but because God would have it to be so So the Lord sutes his Dispensations and guides them by a Sign It is true God in his Gifts is arbitrary but in his Judgments he proceeds by Rule according to our Works At the last Day God will judg you not by your Profession but by your Practice what you have done he will not say You have prophesied in my Name you have eaten and drunk in my Presence but you have fed me clothed me visited me That the Faith of the Elect might be found to Praise and Honour he will have Works produced Not that God wants Evidences of our Sincerity but he will have all the World know we have not been unfruitful A Man that expecteth to be posed is preparing to answer and would give somethink to know the Questions aforehand Christ hath told us what are the Questions upon which we shall be examined and taxed at the Day of Judgment he will say Have you fed and clothed my People have you ministred to their Necessities have you relieved them with spiritual Counsel and Admonition have you been good holy and just Therefore let us provide to give an Answer that we might not be ashamed at the last Day Thus this Zeal for good Works hath the place and room of a Witness to God as the Rule and Measure of his Process to our selves as the ground of our Assurance and to the World as the great vindication of the Honour of our Profession 2. It is a Fruit of Christ's Death partly by way of Obligation for certainly God hath not been at all this cost and labour for nothing he did not project the sending of Christ and Jesus Christ did not so give up himself in the Work of Redemption for nothing but to inflame us to a great height of Piety They that live at a low rate of Holiness cross and disgrace the whole Design of the Gospel they are not apprehensive of the Love of God in giving Christ nor the Love of Christ in giving himself Our Redemption was carried on in such a way not only that the Comfort but also the Duty of the Creature might be raised to the highest Partly again as Christ hath purchased the Gift of the Spirit to fit us for good Works yea to make us zealous in them Titus 3.5 6. According to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour Now the Spirit dwelleth in our Hearts to set our Graces a working Iohn 4.14 The Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of VVater springing up into everlasting Life So Iohn 7.38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living VVater This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him shall receive The Spirit is not a Fountain sealed up but flowing forth The Spirit of God is a mighty Spirit and comes in upon the Soul not only as a gentle Blast but as a mighty rushing Wind he comes not only in the appearance of a Dove but of cloven Tongues of Fire Acts 2. He comes as a Spirit of Power to quicken and awaken the Soul to great heights and fervours in Obedience Look as Men acted by Satan the unclean Spirit are restless in Evil and carried headlong as the Herd of Swine into the Sea so those that are acted by the Spirit of God are much more carried on with great Earnestness in the Ways of God The Devil hath not such Advantages to work upon his Instruments as the Spirit of God hath upon us The Devil works and operates in all the Children of Disobedience Ephes. 2.3 The Spirit that now worketh in the Children of Disobedience But the Devil cannot work but by Man's Consent neither can he work immediately upon the Soul but only by the Senses and by the Fancy but the Spirit of God can work immediately upon them in whom he acts Therefore being acted by him they must needs be zealous and earnest for the Spirit of God nescit tarda molimina knows no slow Motions The Soul in it self is dead and slothful and apt to yield to Laziness and Delays but when we are acted and quickened by the mighty Spirit then draw us and we will run after thee Cant. 1.4 When the Spirit puts forth its Force upon the Soul such as are drawn by the Holy Ghost they are not in jest as carnal Men are but in earnest they do not dally with Religion but make it their great business to surprize Heaven and carry on constant Communion with God Matth. 11.12 The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence and the Violent take it by force Vse 1. Information 1. That Grace is no Enemy to good Works Libertinism is ancient and natural Christ died to improve Piety not to lessen it but to raise it to the highest to make us zealous of good Works that we might be carried on to Heaven with full Sails Therefore he that grows looser less watchful against Sin less diligent in the exercise of Holiness less frequent in Communion with God less humble and penitent after committing of Sin offers the greatest Abuse to Grace that may be and perverts its natural Use. There is no freezing by the Fire we may freeze indeed by painted Fire that may make us contract Chilliness and Drowsiness but true Grace is a Fire that warms and inflames our Affections Christ came to make us more chearful and lively but not slack careless and cold 2. It informs us what little Reason the World hath to cry out upon Zealots for Christ died to make us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 zealous of good VVorks Men that are only contented with a brain Religion speculative Notions they cannot endure Heats and Fervors they would have
is true Conversion where they are not only changed but quickned Heathens have been changed from Prophaneness to a moral course If you pretend to close with Christ and find no Life you can take no comfort in your Faith it is but a Cloud a Fancy John 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly So for Repentance and trouble for Sin if no Zeal follows it it is naught Rev. 3.19 Be zealous therefore and repent So for being Members of the Church you cannot take comfort of being Christ's Members without Zeal for all the true Members of Christ's Mystical Body are living Stones 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as lively Stones are built up a Spiritual House It is true in the outward Building there are some carved Stones So in the visible Church there are many polished with Gifts which may serve in their place to hold up the Building but they are not living Stones for they want Life And then for Hope it is but a Fancy and Dream if we be dead and sluggish It is called a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1.3 And if thou art drowsy still and neglectful of God surely thou art but in a Dream Canst thou take Comfort in this that thou art a constant Hearer of the Word if thou art as backward to Holiness and good Works as ever Phil. 2.16 Holding forth the Word of Life The Word is the Word of Life it doth not leave us dull slow and backward If there be not Life and Zeal all is nothing 11. Consider how odious want of Zeal is to God He will not own a cold careless neutral Spirit Rev. 3.16 So then because thou art luke-warm and neither hot nor cold I will spue thee out of my Mouth Cold lazy Professors that have nothing but a dead Form are as luke-warm Water to the Stomach and there is nothing the Stomach nauseates so much as that which is luke-warm So will God cast them out with much loathing he will uncase and pluck off their Masks and reveal them to the Congregation and make them odious this is worse than stark cold It is not enough that we are not violent against the Ways of God but are you zealous for God otherwise you are odious to God Mat. 25.30 Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness and not only the grosly Wicked but the unprofitable Servant Though he did not abuse his Talent nor embezel it away yet he hid it in a Napkin If you hide your Talent be it Parts Estate or Authority are you then zealous for God Useless Sapless Lifeless Christians incur the Penalty of Damnation as well as the openly Wicked they are cast into Hell therefore rest not in a dead Form 12. Consider how dishonourable it is to the living God to serve him with a dead Heart and cold Affections when he hath indented with you upon such glorious and noble Terms Heathens that worship the Sun offer to him a flying Horse because of the swiftness of his Motion 2 Kings 23.11 He took away the Horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the Sun So our worshipping of the living God must not be dead and cold Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God God that is a living God must have lively Service but Men worship him as a dead Idol In an earthly Matter we would not be so cold and careless in our Treaties and Transactions Malachi 1.8 Offer it to thy Governour will he be pleased with you or accept your Person saith the Lord What you do it must be done with all the Heart and all the Might Consider Religion is not a Fancy You do not worship the Vanities of the Gentiles therefore be not dead cold and careless You worship the living God and he will be served with Life Zeal and strength of Affection SERMONS UPON HEBREWS VI. 18 SERMON I. HEB. VI. 18 That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us TO give you the Occasion of these Words we must look back into the Context The Apostle proveth the firmness of the Promises and yet the great need of Faith and Patience e're they be accomplished He proveth both by the Instance of Abraham who was long exercised in waiting and had God's Promise ratified with the most solemn Assurance that can be conceived under Heaven with an Oath which is held sacred and inviolable among all Nations But here some might object That if Abraham had such a special Assurance from God what is that to us To this the Apostle replies That tho God's Oath were given to Abraham yet it concerns all the Heirs of Promise every Believer hath the same ground of Certainty that Abraham had so it is asserted ver 17. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath There is an Emphasis in the Phrase more abundantly God's Oath was not given out of Necessity but out of Condescension Not out of Necessity as if his Word was not valid and authentick without an Oath but he would give his Oath that over and above and by all solemn ways of Assurance the Lord would provide for our Certainty and Assurance that we might have strong Consolation upon solid Grounds That by two immutable things c. In the Words we have the Purport and the Aim of God's Oath which is to give Believers more solemn Assurance Take notice of three things 1. The Ground of this Assurance That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie 2. The Fruit of this Assurance That we might have strong Consolation 3. The Persons to whom God hath given this Assurance we who have fled for Refuge to lay hold of the Hope that is set before us Sutable to the three Parts there are three main Points I. God's Word and Oath are the immutable Grounds of a Believer's Certainty and Confidence II. That the Fruit of this Confidence and Certainty is strong Consolation III. That the Persons to whom God hath deposited his Oath and by it administreth so strong a Comfort and Consolation are those who fly for Refuge to take hold of the Hope that is set before them Doct. I. That God's Word and God's Oath are the immutable Grounds of a Believer's Confidence and Certainty for these are the two immutable things spoken of I shall speak of each distinctly First God's single Word is an immutable Ground having this you have enough And so it will appear if you consider the Power and the Certainty of it 1. The Power of God's Word His Word is nothing else but the Declaration of his powerful Will the Force of it was discovered in creating
Case cleared one way or other 2. As Sins are committed get them pardoned 1 John 2.1 If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous Run to your Advocate never leave until you have gotten a Copy of your Discharge and God gives you assurance of your Pardon by his Spirit in the Court of your Consciences This will put you upon often recourse to Christ which is the sure way to get Comfort But Negligence in the Spiritual Life and swallowing Sins without remorse breeds Security Look as a Fountain when it is muddied never leaves till it work it self clear again so when you have fallen foul and Conscience smites never leave until God hath given you the Pardon of that Sin Jer. 8.4 Shall they fall and not arise Take heed of lying still or of Negligence If you be a constant observer of Corruptions and cease not until by Christ's Death you get a Pardon all things will not be so dark doubtful and litigious 3. Revise Acts of Faith assoon as they are exerted and put forth When Faith is renewed by the Word in Prayer or in Meditation examine it Lusts and Graces are best discovered whilst they are stirring A Man surprized in an Act of Sin is most sensible of it A Thief is ashamed when he is found Jer. 2.26 So to surprize the Soul in an Act of Grace as when sweet Thoughts and Hopes of God's Grace and Mercy are stirred up say Is not this Faith Carnal Principles that otherwise lie hid are best discovered in their Operation as when a Man is praying or preaching out of Vain-glory if his Heart return upon him and take him tardy his Shame is more increased 4. Get Experiences confirmed assoon as they are exhibited A Christian that walks in Darkness and is uncertain of his State had need be watchful and wait upon God in the Word and in Prayer and observe Providences for some Glimpses of his Love Look as Benhadad's Servants 1 Kings 20.33 watched for the word Brother so should you watch what Tokens of Love and Favour will pass out and what Experiences and Quicknings you have In the Word Psal. 119.93 I will never forget thy Precepts for with them thou hast quickned me When you find fresh Excitations of Grace come in upon the Soul O I shall never forget such a Duty there God met me and quickned me O improve it So in the Supper Cant. 1.3 Because of the savour of thy good Ointment thy Name is an Ointment poured forth therefore the Virgins love thee When at any time you have been conversing with God and the Lord hath stirred up holy Joy O remember it So for Comfort in Affliction Rom. 5.3 4. We glory in Tribulation also knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope When you have had any Experience of God in Trouble improve it to a setled Hope Should I not believe in him and wait upon him for Comfort that hath been so gracious to me When Experiences and Feelings pass away without any observation we lose a great deal of Comfort 5. Give not over strong desires of Grace until they be answered and satisfied Many times there is something which awakens the Heart to grow earnest in Prayer Observe what Answers God gives Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after When holy and strong Desires are stirred up in the Heart we must not suffer them to go away but they must be pursued resolutely and recommended to God until he give an Answer 6. When at any time you are convinced of the Power of Sin leave not until you get it mortified There are some Sins which have most power over us as suting with our Complexions and course of Life and they most of all urge the Soul with frequent Temptations Now a Christian is to observe the weakness and decay of this Sin as David Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine Iniquity Whatever the Sin be be it Pride Sensuality or Worldliness any carnal Practice or fleshly Gratification which you are convinced of by many smitings of Conscience A Man cannot be such a stranger to his Heart but he must needs find what this Sin is Now you will never have Peace till this be mortified Spiritual Peace is disturbed God provoked by it and a guilty Conscience is clamorous and full of Objections you must narrowly observe the decay of this Sin 7. Observe how daily Temptations are checked There is no Day but the Devil will be casting in some Bait or other either to please Appetite provoke Anger stir up Pride or worldly desires of Greatness and Reputation and rising in the World or fears of Men. Now unless a Man be a constant observer of his Temptations and Conflicts all will be out of order and in confusion with him a Man will be a great Stranger at home and not observe what his Heart is Thus much for the first Question how to get it Secondly How to keep it As it is gotten with much Diligence so it must be kept with much Care 1. There must be constant Watchfulness against Sin and avoiding it suppose it be Passion Wrath Evil-speaking envious and vain Thoughts all these grieve and disturb the Spirit in his sealing Work Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption Men usually sin away their Comfort and Peace and the grieved Spirit will refuse to give Witness Evidences are not kept clear but are blotted and blurr'd that you cannot read them Especially watch against such Sins as most waste the Conscience and disturb all in the Soul 2. There must likewise be a constant Increase and an Exercise of Grace I press both 1. A constant Increase of Grace Small things are hardly discerned Many Stars in the Firmament are so small that they cannot be seen so a great many Graces in the Soul when small Conscience can take no notice of them They need have good Eyes that read a very small Print Every Grace by degrees is set forth in a fairer Letter and a new Edition as the Waters of the Sanctuary grew deeper and deeper Ezek. 47.3 4 5. 2 Pet. 1.5 10. Give diligence to add to and increase every Grace He musters up several Graces and then infers the Exhortation ver 10. Wherefore the rather give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure So that by increasing of Grace still we increase our Assurance Christians rest in Complaints but do not increase and grow in Grace It is impossible for a Man to have Fire in his Bosom and not feel it so it is impossible if Men did grow and thrive every day but they would be sensible of it 2. Exercise Grace more By a constant exercise of Grace it is drawn forth into the view of Conscience Grace is never so apparent as when it is in Action As the Sap is hidden
Affection Yea in the Pen-men of Scripture you may observe a Variety Iohn is sublime and seraphical Paul rational and argumentative Peter writeth in a more easy fluent milky way So in the Old Testament Isaiah more Court-like and lofty Ieremiah more Priestly and gravely c. Every one hath his different Character and way of writing Among the saving Graces you may observe a diversity tho all have all in some measure for the new Creature must not be maimed nor in any part wanting yet some are more eminent for one Grace some for another as Abraham for Faith Iob for Patience Moses for Meekness Timothy for Temperance And Grace it self worketh according to the diversity of Tempers some are modest and mild others bold and zealous some are mourning for Sin others are wrapt up in the Admiration of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ some are exemplary for strictness and weanedness from the Delights of the animal Life others are industrious in Service So true is that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.7 Every one hath his proper Gift of God one after this manner and another after that That is some have this others that special Excellency whereby to glorify God And again Rom. 12.6 Having Gifts differing according to the Grace that is given unto us 3. They are not given to all in a like measure some have more others have less This is also spoken in Scripture Eph. 4.7 To every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ. Rom. 12.3 As God hath dealt to every Man the measure of Faith And once more Eph. 4.16 According to the effectual working in the measure of every part The measure of Christ respects the Author the measure of Faith the Benefit of the Receiver the measure of a part our Office in the Body All have their peculiar Function according to their several Designations and all this that every Man may be doing according to his best Capacity With respect to this variety some are weak some are strong Rom. 14.1 some have little and some have great Faith some are Fathers some young Men some Babes in Christ 1 Iohn 2.13 14. And our Lord in his Charge to Peter concerning his Pastoral Office distinguisheth between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his little Lambs and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Sheep Joh. 21.15 16. Feed my Lambs feed my Sheep This is very sutable to the Notion of a Body to which the Community of Christians is often resembled For as in the natural Body all Members are not of equal Growth and Bigness so it is in the Mystical Body of Christ there is a different measure in each part that there may be a meet Symmetry in the whole Besides all Members have not a like Office therefore God's Spirit giveth not all a like measure of Knowledg and other Gifts If all were of equal Strength for Faith Wisdom and other Graces the matter and occasion of sundry principal Duties would be taken away there would be no need that one Christian should edify another bear with one another avoid the Offence of another give help to another restore another Well then let us observe this measure for plainly there is a threefold difference 1. In the degree of the Gifts some have more Means some have more common Grace knowing their Master's Will which is a great Talent and Obligation some have greater Obligations and therefore greater Condemnation if they answer it not Iohn 3.19 This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men loved Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds were evil 2. In Opportunity Phil. 4.10 Ye lacked Opportunity Certainly the lack or want of Opportunity of doing good not through our Default doth excuse or justify the forbearance of it But when we have it we should take hold of it 1 Cor. 16.9 A great Door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many Adversaries The Door opened noteth Opportunity The Resistance of Adversaries is not a Discouragement but maketh it more necessary not to suffer it to be shut again Now all have not like Opportunity 3. In degree of Success It is ordered as God pleaseth some have more some have less Acts 17.34 Howbeit certain Men clave to him and believed Seldom doth God light a Candle but he hath some lost Groat to seek yet sometimes few are gathered for God is Debtor to none II. The Reasons 1. To shew the free Soveraignty of God who may do with his own as it pleaseth him And he will be known to be the supream Lord in the Distribution of his Gifts and Graces 1 Cor. 12.11 All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as he will As for Graces Mat. 11.26 Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight And as for Gifts God is arbitrary in his Gifts but not in his Judgments Gifts are not given as we will but as God willeth The Spirit is compared to Wind not only for his Force but his Liberty Iohn 3.8 The Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit God doth not only dispense Riches and Honours as he pleaseth and common Gifts of Knowledg and Utterance but saving Graces To some they are not given and where they are given to some it is in a larger to others in a more scanty measure 2. These things are given by Christ in a different Proportion that the World may know that all fulness is only in himself Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell The greatest Gifts and Graces which God bestoweth on any is far below that Fulness which is in Christ. We have the Spirit by measure but Christ without measure Iohn 3.34 For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him He giveth to none so much but still there is somewhat wanting and they who have received most are capable of receiving more In him there is not only plenitudo sufficientiae but redundantiae a fulness of Sufficiency but of Redundance not only plenitudo vasis but fontis not only the fulness of the Vessel but of the Fountain And so a manifest difference between Head and Members 3. To shew his singular Love Care and Providence for and towards the Church such a Body as that is needeth distinct Offices and because there is a diversity of Imployments and Offices which must not be confounded therefore doth he enable his Servants with neeedful Gifts and Graces Rom. 12.4 All Members have not the same Office some are designed for this Function and Use and some for that Now as Offices are divers so are Gifts and Graces Isa. 54.11 12. I will lay thy Foundations with Saphires I will make thy Windows of Agats and thy Gates of Carbuncles and all thy Borders of pleasant Stones The Church is there compared to a
which is very perswasive and pressing take it as it works only in a Moral way as Herod heard Iohn Baptist and did many things and heard him gladly Mark 6.20 Or else they may have this Common Grace by Experience of the Providence of God over the Church or themselves when they see God's Interest stands out against all Assaults Psal. 129.1 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my Youth Now may Israel say Many a time have they afflicted me from my Youth yet have they not prevailed against me When they observe that all those that dash against the Corner-stone are broken in pieces that many good men thô molested and troubled yet visibly have a Blessing and a Providence that attends them and that the prophane are overtaken in their Sins by pursuing Judgments that it is never better with them than when they own that which is Good This cannot but move them to something that is amiable to some sense of Religion and siding with the better Party Or they may have the Common Gifts of the Spirit Heb. 6.4 5. they may be enlightened may have Gifts of Prayer and Preaching some vanishing Tastes of the Goodness and Sweetness of Evangelical Doctrine some Motions and Impulsions and Excitations to good These are the Reasons I. VSE It shews us how inexcuseable they are in the sight of God and how just their Condemnation will be that have nothing lovely in them Certainly they might have had something or other lovely in them even while they were Natural if they would give their Heart to it either Wisdom or Valour Meekness or Zeal Humility or Charity Every Temper yieldeth some Way and Means of Glorifying God and it is their own Fault if they have not some Endowment or other I speak this not as to Spiritual Grace only which they do not only neglect but reject the Means whereby to get it they put away the Word of God from them shut the door upon themselves Acts 13.46 Ye put the Word from you and judge your selves unworthy of eternal Life and esteem Spiritual Grace nothing worth yea it is Folly to them 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Yea they think it as dishonourable and prejudical to them But also in respect of Moral Endowments I say certainly some Crown or other they might have if they did not uncrown themselves by Sin Natural Men may have brave Wits but they besot themselves and quench them in Luxury and Riot and pervert those Moral Inclinations those Seeds of God that were in their Nature while they Drink Whore and play away their Consciences There are none but have a Conscience till they get the Victory of it and smother it and outgrow the feelings and checks of it and lose all sense Eph. 4.19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness They might have lived Vertuously and Morally till they brought upon themselves the Tyranny of evil Custom and then no wonder if they are wholly given up to Sensual Lusts and to walk in a sinful way They have lost all former Advantages they have spoil'd their Natural Temper they have lost the Benefit of their Education despised Instruction and the Discipline of Parents lived in defiance of Laws received the Grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 In a word they have slighted God's Judgments quenched their Gifts checked the Motions of God's Spirit Therefore certainly they are altogether without Excuse that out-sin these Helps Natural Conscience Temper Education Laws Ordinances Providences and the Spirit 's Motions they are all helps and God forsakes men in none of these till they first forsake him and by some notable Sin provoke him to withdraw such Helps And therefore what will you say for your selves that have not any of these amiable Qualities and Moral Endowments Will you say you would fain be better but cannot That cannot be for many of these Amiable Qualities are found in Natural Men and you have had many Helps and Advantages either to get or increase them in your Souls If many Moral Heathens go to Hell that had not half those Helps and and yet were Exemplary in so many Amiable Qualities what will become of you if you refuse all the Helps which God hath vouchsafed to you in his Providence and yet run into enormous Evils II. VSE If there may be Amiable Qualities in Unregenerate Men then do not rest in these things Mat. 5.46 If you love them that love you what reward have you do not even the Publicans the same And Verse 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What do you more than others What over and above A Natural Man may have all these You may live orderly and yet if you have not Faith you cannot please God Heb. 11.6 For without Faith it is impossible to please God You may be Blameless yet if you be not born again you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Iohn 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Therefore do not rest in this that you have some Good Qualities which are Amiable and Praise-worthy before God and Men but labour for the sanctifying Vertue of God's Spirit and the Power of Godliness that you may be partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 for if thy Heart be not yet truly changed thy Person may be odious to God It is not mine but the Advice of Jesus Christ Make the Tree good and his fruit good Mat. 12.33 A man may carry the Fruits of Canaan as the Spies did upon a dry Staff but learn to bear them from a living Root To be Harmless Meek Chast Just Temperate all this is good but it is much better when they flow from a renewed Heart then they are gracious Evidences to you A Good Nature without Grace makes a fair shew with the World but it is of little Respect with God as to your Salvation All this may be from Temper and awe of Men. How may a Man mistake a still Nature for Meekness Fervency and heighth of Spirit for Zeal want of Affection to holy Things for Discretion Stupidity for Patience Obstinacy for Constancy but God knows how to distinguish Will Complexion and Temper ever pass for Grace in God's Account And usually if a Natural man hath one Good Quality he hath another Bad One to match it It is observed in History of Alexander that he was an Enemy to Uncleanness but extreamly given to Drunkenness Iulius Caesar was not given to Drunkenness but exceedingly addicted to Uncleanness Natural men if they have their Amiable Qualities they have some domineering Bad Quality to match them Nay a Good Nature once corrupted doth prove the worst of all others as the sweetest Wine makes the tartest Vinegar Augustus at first was of a good merciful Nature Suetonius observes of
Diseases he ascended up into a Mountain or retired into a Ship and leaves the Multitude and when they would have crowned him King he refused it all these were Arguments and Instances of his Humility Hear and wonder at what you read Iohn 13.3 Iesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God A magnificent Preface Now one would have thought that some rare act of Empire Soveraignty and Domination should have followed No Verse 4.5 He riseth from Supper and laid aside his Garments and took a towel and girded himself After that he poureth water into a bason and began to wash his Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded The Disciples did not wash the feet of their Lord but the Lord washed the Disciples feet and what was the meaning of this see Verse 15. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you 3. In Love to the Saints Iohn 13.34 A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another And Iohn 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you Oh how express are these Injunctions There is nothing in which Christ was more Eminent than in his Love no rancour of Spirit no boyling up of Envy but all Love The Apostle propounds it to Husbands Eph. 2.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ loved the Church Now how did Christ love his Church with a great Love so as to dye for his Church The Love of Christ was sincere not for By ends he loved Saints as Saints because of his Interest in them So should we love those in whom we see most of the Image of God It was not a blaze but a constant abiding Love whom he loves he loves unto the end so must we love the Saints It is true Jesus loved some above others Iohn was the beloved Disciple John 21.20 There was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Flower of the Disciples whom he loved most but he loved them all We should Love not in Word but in Deed and in Truth Oh be filled with Love to God and Love to the Saints who have his Image stamped upon them You that are Believers have cause to love one another have we not all the same Father Are we not Children begotten of the same Holy Seed the Word Do we not all suck at the same Breasts of the Promises Do we not all sit at the same Table at the Lords Supper Are we not all cloathed with the same Robe of Christ's Righteousness and do we not all expect the same Glory 4. In his Vsefulness and Profitableness And of this the whole Gospel is a Narrative and History Therefore when the Apostle would summ up the Life of Christ he tells us this Acts 10.38 He went about doing good giving Eyes to the Blind Feet to the Lame Speech to the Dumb healing every sickness and every Disease among the people Matth. 9.35 full of Compassion to the Souls of Men. Jesus Christ was nothing else but Charity covered over with Flesh and Blood he was always either giving of Blessings or forgiving of Sins All his Miracles were not actions of Pomp but of Relief and Succour unless it were blasting the Fig. tree and sending the Herd of Swine into the Sea and the Figg-tree was Barren and the Swine was of little use in the Jewish Countries All the Miracles of Christ were salutary and healing We never read he destroyed one Man by Miracle but saved many Eph. 5.1 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us Oh that we could learn this none is born for himself but for the Community and it is better to give than to receive 5. In his Piety towards God If you consider the History of Christ you will find him much in Acts of Devotion he was Frequent and Fervent and Reverent in Prayer Frequent Mark 1.35 And in the morning rising up a great while before day he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed And Luke 6.12 He went out into a Mountain to pray and continued all night in Prayer to God Alas we are weary in our ordinary stinted Offices of the day how soon do we grow weary of calling upon God! but Christ spends whole Nights in Prayer He was Fervent Luke 22.44 And being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly And he was Reverent when he was in the Garden he kneeled down and prayed Luke 22.41 And he fell on his face and prayed Mat. 26.39 He was a most diligent Observer of the Sabbath Luke 4.16 As his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day he was diligent in frequenting the Publick Assemblies Oh how doth this confute those that out of height of Spirit and a proud Conceit of themselves are above Ordinances and say they were appointed only for Christians of the lower form He praised God for mean and course fare when he had but five Barley Loaves and two Fishes He took the loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed to the Disciples John 6.11 Alas when our Tables are full furnished we have scarce any serious Thoughts of God that giveth us richly all things to enjoy 6. In his Spirituality and Heavenly-mindedness Christ came from Heaven and he lived in Heaven all the while he was upon the Earth When he was at the Well of Samaria conferring with the Woman there he discourseth of the Well that springs up to Everlasting Life Iohn 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life He drew her from a Discourse of ordinary water to a Discourse of the Water of Life When he was at Supper at the Pharisee's House he discourseth of eating Bread in God's Kingdom Luke 14.15 Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God When he had wrought the Miracle of the Loaves he discourseth of the Bread of Life and the Mannah that came down from Heaven Iohn 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for the meat which endureth to everlasting Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you When he was at the Feast of Tabernacles where they were wont to pour out water and so to make a Pool near the Temple he discourseth of Rivers of water and of the flowings of the Spirit Iohn 7.38.39 He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive A rare Pattern for us to follow We should labour as to see all things in God so to see God in all things and to be heavenly minded
holds his Hand and cuts you short in spiritual Blessings which otherwise he would plentifully dispense unto his People Partly they exceedingly weaken the Work of Grace which is wrought upon their Hearts their Faith is more dead their Love is more cold than it was Hope is languid the spiritual Life is interrupted and at a stand tho the Seed of God remains yet it cannot put forth it self with such Vigor and Efficacy Yea they may never recover such a Portion of the Spirit as they had before 2 Chron. 17.3 Jehoshaphat walked in the first Ways of his Father David as having some note of blemish on his latter Ways These Sins in short as a Wound in the Body let out our Blood and Strength As a Prodigal that hath once broken after he hath been set up is not trusted with a like Stock again so God's Children may not recover that largeness of Spirit and fulness of inward Strength and Comfort which they had before as many after a great Disease do not regain that pitch of Health which formerly they had but may carry the Fruits of their Disease with them to their Graves Partly because Acts are intermitted when the Soul is distempered it is unfit for Action Either Duties are omitted or else done in such an overly manner as doth increase our Distemper and harden us the more In what a sorry Fashion did David worship till God awakned his Conscience by Nathan Prayer is interrupted 1 Pet. 3.7 As Heirs together of the Grace of Life that your Prayers be not hindred 2. Grieving the Spirit Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption All Sin is a Grief to the Spirit especially Filthiness and Bitterness Compare this with Ver. 29 31. Let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouth but that which is good to the use of ediâ—ying that it may minister Grace unto the Hearers Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour and evil Speaking be put away from you with all Malice Now the gâ—ieving of the Spirit makes a great Breach in our Grace and Comfort as the Spirit is our Sanctifier and Comforter To speak only of the last When the Spirit is grieved we have not such a sense of God's Love For the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given 〈…〉 Rom. 5.5 We have not that Liberty and Confidence in Prayer we once had 1 John 5 21. Beloved if our Heart condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God Nor those lively Hopes of Glory and final Redemption in that Text Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption Nor that Comfort in Reproaches nor Courage in Afflictions nor Strength to resist Sin nor that Readiness and Chearfulness in Obedience that once they had So that a Christian is like Sampson when his Locks are gone all delightful Communion with God is suspended and a Christian doth not act like a Servant that is in his Master's Favour 3. Carnal Liberty When a Man giveth too much Contentment to the Flesh the Spirit or better Part is in Bonds Psal. 119.37 Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity and quicken thou me in thy Way A Man that lets loose the Reins to worldly Vanity will soon find Hardness coming on his Heart and see a need to ask quickning Grace Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your Hearts be over-charged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and Cares of this Life Worldly Comforts over-affected or immoderately used clog and enslave the Heart and so we are more unperswadible and disobedient to the Motions of his Spirit and the Counsels of his Grace Therefore if we will take heed that our Hearts be not hardned let them not out too freely to worldly things lest they be withdrawn from God but rejoice here as if you rejoiced not that you may keep up your Liberty to God 4. Pride and Self-sufficiency 2 Chron. 32.31 Howbeit in the Business of the Ambassadors of the Princes of Babylon who sent unto him to enquire of the Wonder that was done in the Land God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his Heart Paul was permitted to be buffered that he might be kept humble 2 Cor. 12.7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations there was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure When you trust to your selves God leaveth you to your selves and then we are as a Glass without a bottom broken as soon as out of hand Iam. 4.6 God resisteth the Proud but giveth Grace to the Humble It is not so much understood of a moral Humility or a lowly Carriage towards Men as of an Evangelical Humility which consists in brokenness of Heart or a sense of our Unworthiness and Weakness these are influenced by Grace but others are left to fall and miscarry by their own presumptuous Confidence And therefore if we would not incur any Degree of this Judgment we must take heed of Pride and spiritual Security Those that feel the daily and hourly necessity of Grace have more of the Supplies of the Spirit they are oftner waiting upon God Psal. 25.5 On thee do I wait all the day Christ hath taught us to beg daily Bread daily Pardon and daily Strength against Temptations that he might engage us to be often with God and keep in a constant dependance on him that the Heart might be kept more awful tender and serious 5. Carelesness and spiritual Sloth When we carelesly entertain the Motions of his Spirit and lie upon the Bed of Ease he is gone Cant. 5.2 3. I sleep but my Heart waketh it is the Voice of my Beloved that knocketh saying Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my Vndefiled for my Head is filled with Dew and my Locks with the Drops of the Night I have put off my Coat how shall I put it on I have washed my Feet how shall I desile them And ver 6. I rose up to open to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone God's Children may stifle many a pressing Conviction and Motion in their Souls hang off from the Throne of Grace and other good Duties and upon every frivolous Pretence keep away from God This unkind and ungracious Dealing will cost them dear Neglect of the Means of Grace quencheth the Spirit 1 Thess. 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophesyings Therefore we should be more diligent in the use of Means Mark 4.24 Vnto you that hear shall more be given We must more carefully obey the sanctifying Motions of the Spirit if we mean to avoid hardness of Heart 2 dly The Means to cure it 1. Bewail the Evil and complain of it before God who alone can help us We complain of
it especially the Sick and the Dying He that formerly tempted then beginneth to trouble and he that formerly shewed you the pleasant Baits of Sin will then shew you the Hook he who now representeth Pardon easy will then represent it as impossible And when Death cometh he hath Power to hale away the Sinner to Torments For as the good Angels carry the Souls of the Faithful to Christ Luke 16.22 23. so probably the Devil hath a Power to carry them to Hell Now as the Devil hath this Power of Death he bringeth Men into Sin that he may bring them into Terror Yea Satan hath a great hand in the Troubles of Conscience which befal God's Children Well then how is this Power destroyed By satisfying the Law Christ destroyeth the Power of the Devil For first he blotted out the Hand-writing that was against us and then spoiled Principalities and Powers Col. 2.14 15. And when he doth actually justify we feel the Comfort and Benefit of it Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth Who shall condemn It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right Hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us Our Advocate is more gracious in Court than our Accuser having payed our Ransom and interceding for us and pleading it what Accusation from the Law can stand against those who have imbraced this Gospel 3. The Being of Sin For while it remaineth there is somewhat of Satan left which he worketh upon There is a Remnant of his Seed in the best the Godly are yet in the Way but not at the end of the Journey and therefore he hath leave to assault them while they are here but Christ will perfect the Conquest which he has begun and so the very Being of Sin shall at length be taken away Iude 24. To him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the Presence of his Glory And Eph. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish At Death Sin is totally disannulled the Physician of our Souls will then perfect the Cure As in the first Moment of our Birth we were Sinners so in the Moment of our Expiration all Sin dieth Christ taketh that time to finish his Work No Sinner can enter into the State of Bliss but the Vail of the Flesh being rent we are immediately admitted into the sight of God and so made exactly perfect 2 dly As to the general Case or his Interest in the corrupt World It is true the Kingdom of Satan yet remaineth But he doth and shall divide the Spoil with the Strong Isa. 53.12 Therefore will I divide him a Portion with the Great and he shall divide the Spoil with the Strong And though his Doctrine and Religion meeteth with Opposition in the World yet it doth prevail upon Opposition and against Opposition and by Opposition when in the Seasons of it he cometh to set his Kingdom on foot Rev. 6.2 I saw a white Horse and he that sat on him had a Bow and a Crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer This is an Emblematical Representation of the Rise and Progress of Christ's Kingdom Where you may note his Furniture a Crown and a Bow The Crown noteth his Dignity the Bow his Armour and Strength Psal. 45.3 4 5. Gird on thy Sword upon thy Thigh O thou most Mighty with thy Glory and Majesty and in thy Majesty ride prosperously because of Truth and Meekness and Righteousness and thy Right Hand shall teach thee terrible things Thine Arrows are sharp in the Heart of the King's Enemies whereby the People fall under thee Christ having the Grant of a Kingdom over the Nations is every way furnished with Power to obtain it by Means proper to the Mediatory Dispensation by his Word Spirit and Providence 1. His Word which is called the Rod of his Strength Psal. 110.2 The Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.4 When Christ will work the World cannot resist its convincing Power those that feel it not fear it John 3.20 Every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved 2. His Spirit Now what can stand before the mighty Spirit of God convincing Men of the Truth of his Religion John 16.8 9 10 11. And when he is come he will reprove the World of Sin and of Righteousness and of Iudgment Of Sin because they believe not on me Of Righteousness because I go to the Father and ye see me no more Of Iudgment because the Prince of this World is judged Shewing hereby Christ was the Messiah and therefore they were guilty of great Sin who did not believe on him That he was a righteous and innocent Person and no Seducer because Christ rose from the Dead and went to the Father That he was an exalted Prince above Satan and whatever things were looked upon as Divine Powers Many that were not converted were convinced of this 3. His Providence All Judgment was put into Christ's Hands to be improved for the advancement of his Mediatory Kingdom John 5.22 For the Father judgeth no Man but hath committed all Iudgment to the Son He hath the Government of all things Angels and all Events that fall out in the World None of the Creatures are left to their own Arbitrement or uncertain Contingences but under the Government of a supreme Providence which is left in Christ's Hands Thus you see though the Devil's Interest be held up by the combined Interests of the World agreeing together to promote the Idolatries and Superstitions wherewith he hath inspired them yet Christ is able to break and dissolve all this Force and Power Secondly How far was Satan destroyed or his Head crushed 1. Negatively 1. Non ratione Essentiae not to take away his Life and Being No there is a Devil still and shall be even when the whole Work of Christ's Redemption is finished For then it is said Rev. 20.10 The Devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever So Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Then Eternal Judgment is executed on the Head of the wicked State Sentence was passed before and the Devil feareth it Matth. 8.29 Art thou come hither to torment us before the time He was condemned before but then it is executed upon him he is finally punished and shall for ever remain with the Damned 2. Non ratione Malitiae not in regard of Malice For the Enmity ever continueth between the two Seeds and Satan will be doing though it be always to Loss
comparison with Babes and Novices Therefore it is good with Mary to sit at the feet of Iesus and not presently with the Spouse to beg the kisses of his mouth but to go on by degrees 2. Though we must contrive a Method and Course yet there must be a liberty left for Things for all Seasons and Occasions As in the World though a Man hath disposed his business yet he reserveth a liberty for incidental and unthought of occasions so in these Spiritual Matters and in the course of Religious Exercises you must not bind up your selves from these occasions I shall name Four 1. Working and Forcible Sermons It is not good to lose the heat that we have gotten at the Word but to go home and chew the Cud. In the word there is Ingestion in Meditation you turn it into nourishment There must be a time for Concoction and when the Seed is scattered it must be covered 2. For present Impulses keep your selves free that you may not lose the advantage of such impulses Many times Christ cometh leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills Cant. 2.8 He impelleth our Hearts on a sudden and unlookt for by causing Holy Thoughts to shoot into our Minds by representing our Unworthyness Coldness and Deadness of Life or else he inflameth us by representing the Beauty and Loveliness of Grace Then it is good those thoughts should take the next turn and our Method must give way to Gods Dispensation As general Nature altereth its course in some great particular Exigencies fire descendeth and Water ascendeth so in this case the general work must be interrupted It is a kind of resisting God not to entertain these Motions I do not mean when they come upon you in the necessary work of your Callings but only that they may have the next turn 3. For remarkable Providences when God casteth us upon such Objects as stir up special Veneration and Reverence as some Marvellous Events or Creatures that discover his Wisdom and Glory or sudden Death of one near us It is of Excellent Use while such Experiences are warm to go home and consider of them As Waldo a Rich Merchant of Lyons was conversing with a Friend and he fell down dead and presently he went home and thought of the uncertainty of Life and the necessity of providing for a Future State and God blessed these Thoughts for his Conversion Or else the end falls of a Person Eminent for Religion when we see some Glorious Star fall like Lightning from Heaven these are Accidents that must not be passed over without some Mark and Consideration and then God doth as it were call you off from your usual thoughts 4. The present Exigence of the Spirit Choose that which is seasonable and what suits with your own Case a Sermon works more forcibly when it is seasonable Thus David Psalm 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul He means his sad Thoughts it was an advantage to him then to solace himself with those Comforts God had provided The Scripture useth this Similitude of Rain upon New Mowen Grass Rain when it comes seasonably refresheth the Grass and causes it to spring up which otherwise would be burnt up with the Drought and Heat of the Season so the Soul would be parched with a Temptation if it be not watered with seasonable Thoughts But I have spoken to this point before But you will say What is the Method that we should use Answ. Though I cannot exactly prescribe it yet give me leave to advise 1. For those that are wholly to begin this Duty it is best first to meditate about Meditation the Nature Use and Excellency of it and how they may carry it on with success It is a good preparative to the whole Work I do direct you to this course because this is that which the Soul standeth in need of this will lay a Charge and Necessity upon the Soul As to Pray is a good preparative to Prayer so to Meditate on Meditation is a good preparative to Meditation To quicken you consider the Motives alledged and when you have done all say Oh Soul Do but go and try Oh Lord help me and keep this up in the Thoughts of thy Servant 2. For the general Method it is good to keep the Method of the Spirit The Method of Meditation should follow that of Gods Dispensation Iohn 16.8 When the spirit is come he shall reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment First begin with Sin which is more easie and familiar to the Understanding it is good to lay the Foundation of all in the mortifying and purgative way and then go to Righteousness and after the Extermination of Sin we shall be fitter to entertain the Love of God and then go to Judgment Take another Method First consider the great End of Man that you may come to your selves then the Evil of Sin that you may bemoan and avoid it then the Miseries of the World or the Vanity of the Creature that you may contemn it then the Horrors of Death the Severity of Judgment the Torment of Hell that you may prevent it then the Excellencies of Christ the Priviledges of the Godly the Rare Contrivance of the Gospel then of Providence of Heaven of God and his Attributes his Power his Wisdom his Eternity c. with suitable Scriptures for each of these 2. For the manner how you must work upon these Objects 1. There must be pregnant Thoughts and Apprehensions Deep Consideration begins the Work you must set your Hearts to consider the Subject for when the Heart is once set these Thoughts through the Blessing of God will come in freely It is often spoken in Scripture of setting our Hearts to seek the Lord when the Heart is set for Prayer God comes in with a great enlargement so when the Heart is set to consider you will have serious and solemn thoughts If vain thoughts trouble you and interpose yet still set the Heart and go on as a Man in a Journey though dogs come out and bark upon him he rideth on to run after every Cur would be a great hindrance and diversion so if you stand quarrelling with every vain thought you lose your purpose and so the Devil will gain that by a Reflexed Act which you seek to reject in a Direct Act as Cryers in a Court in calling for Silence many times make the greatest noise Mr. Greenham was wont to lift up his Heart in a short Ejaculation and so go on 2. There are Serious Inforcements and Rational Inculcations Things barely propounded do not work it is by Lively Reasons they are whetted upon the Soul Look as it is in going to Sea those that only mind passage do not stay upon the Ocean and therefore do not fetch up the Treasures of the great Deep but those that go to fish cast out the Net again and again so must you you must cast
the Holy Ghost Peace of Conscience increase of Grace joy in the Holy Ghost They shall not want incouragement who seriously set themselves to love Righteousness and hate Iniquity 2 Pet. 1.11 For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Hereafter Heaven is the Portion of the sanctified Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified He doth sanctifie all that believe on him and then give them Eternal Life 2. External in the course of his Providence Christ hath set up a Government wherein he will favour and protect those that walk uprightly Psalm 11.7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright But with the disobedient God is angry every day Psalm 7.11 Only it is the day of Gods patience God is preparing himself Well then we must neither rebel against his Government nor distrust his defence For Christ administreth Justice in his Kingdom defending the good and destroying the wicked and he will in time earnestly espouse the cause of all Holyness and Righteousness II. I come now to the Unction of Christ which is the consequent fruit of the former God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows There you may observe 1. The Author of this Unction God even thy God 2. The Priviledge it self to be anointed with the oyl of gladness 3. The Partakers of this Priviledge or the Persons to whom it is applyed One Principal and Singular who hath the Preheminence and that is the Mediator others Inferiour and in a lower degree of participation called here his fellows Let us a little explain these things 1. The Author of this Unction God even thy God Is this spoken to him as God or Man It may be true in both senses As to his Divine Nature he is God of God or as it is in Iohn 1.1 The word was with God and the word was God As to his Humane Nature he is a Creature made of a Woman and so God is his God as he is the God of all flesh But especially is this spoken of him as Mediator so Christ is one of Gods Confederates There is a Covenant between God and him Ioh. 20.17 I go to my father and your father to my God and your God The Sum of the Covenant was that after he had suffered here upon Earth and satisfied Gods Justice by being made a Curse for us he was at length to be raised out of the Grave and exalted to his Regal Power in Heaven All that belongeth to a Covenant is found in this Transaction between God and Christ. 1. God propoundeth the Terms or demandeth of his Son that he lay down his life and for his labour he promiseth that he shall see his Seed that God shall give him many Children Isa. 53.10 He shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands 2. The Son consenteth and saith A body hast thou prepared for me Loe I come to do thy will Psalm 40.6 7. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened burnt-offering and sin-offering thou hast not required Then said I loe I come in the volume of the book it is written of me Here the Eternal Son of God doth agree and contract with his Father to performe that perfect Obedience to his Laws and to offer up himself such a Divine and Spotless Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World as was necessary for the Expiation of Sin 3. Christ hath not only consented but doth with all Joy and Delight set about this whole Will and Counsel of God and go through with the Work and Office assigned unto him very chearfully and heartily till he had brought it to a good End and Issue Psalm 40.8 I delight to do thy will O my God! yea thy law is in my heart 4. After this ready and willing Obedience he is to plead the Covenant Psalm 89.26 He shall cry unto me thou art my Father my God and the Rock of my salvation Psalm 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Upon this there is 5. Gods Answer God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows And Psalm 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool Thus doth the Scripture lisp to us in our own Dialect or in such Language as we can best understand concerning that Bill of Contract or transacted bargain between God and Christ from all Eternity wherein Christ undertaking perfectly to fulfil the Will of God and to performe all Active and Passive Obedience even unto Death had the Promise from God that he should become the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him The Redemption of Sinners is not a work of yesterday nor a business of chance but well-advised and in Infinite Wisdom contrived There was a preparatory agreement to that great work before it was gone about and therefore it should not be slighted by us nor lightly passed over 2. The Priviledge it self to be anointed with the oyl of gladness It noteth his solemne Exaltation and Admission to the Exercise of his Office By Oyl all agree is meant the Spirit by which Christ was anointed Luke 4.18 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me 1. Christ was anointed at his Conception in his Mothers Womb when he was sanctified by the Holy Spirit For the work of the Spirit was not only to forme his Body out of the substance of the Virgin which Nature could not do of its self but chiefly to preserve it from Sin and endow it with the gift of Holyness From which time he grew in Wisdom and Grace as well as in Stature Luke 2.52 And Iesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man 2. Again Christ may be said to be anointed at his Baptisme which was the visible consecration to his Office when the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove Matth. 3.16 17. and Iohn 1.33 once more 3. He may be said to be anointed at his Ascension when he received of the Father the Promise of the Spirit to pour him forth upon his Disciples Acts 2.33 Therefore being by the right hand of God eâ—alted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear This I take to be the Sense here his Glorious Exaltation at the right hand of God where being possessed of all Power he joyfully expecteth and accomplisheth the fruits of his Redemption I am the more confirmed in this 1. Because the
Exaltation of Christ is as it were his welcom to Heaven God doth as it were take him by the hand and set him upon the Throne after all the sorrows of his Humiliation as we welcome a Stranger or a Guest whose coming is pleasing to us by taking him by the hand and bringing him into our Couses So is Christ exalted by the Right Hand of God and welcomed into Heaven as having done his work and made full provision for the Glory of God and the Obedience of the Creature as we are also received into Glory after we are guided by his Counsel Psalm 73.24 Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory And then all Tears shall be wiped from our Eyes 2. The Terme the oyl of gladness implyeth it for that was the entertainment of Honourable Guests invited to a Feast We see it practised to Christ by one Woman Luke 7.37 And behold a woman in the city which was a sinner when she knew that Iesus sate at meat in the Pharisees house brought an alabaster-box of ointment And by another Matth. 26.7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster-box of very precious ointment and poured it on his head as he sate at meat And the Psalmist speaking of Gods Festival Entertainment Psalm 23.5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oyl Another mention of this practice is Psalm 104.15 Wine to make glad the heart of man and oyl to make his face to shine All these places and many more in the Scripture allude to the custom of pouring some fragrant precious Ointments on the Heads of Guests of special Eminency called the oyl of gladness because the use of it was to exhilarate and chear the Spirits Now because this was an extraordinary respect paid them this Phrase came at length to signifie the prefering one above another and so it is fitly applyed to Christ whom God hath dignified above all Men and Angels in that he hath received Power Spiritual and Divine above what was communicated to any other 3. The Persons anointed 1. One singular in this Unction the Lord Jesus Christ. There are two sorts of Priviledges 1. Some things only given to Christ not to us as the Name above all Names to be adored Phil. 2.9 To be the Head of the Renewed state Ephes. 1.21 the Saviour of the Body Eph. 5.23 To have power to dispense the Spirit to administer Providences c. All this is proper to Christ neither Men nor Angels share with him in these Honours 2. There are other things given to Christ and his People as the sanctifying and comforting Spirit the Heavenly Inheritance Victory over our Spiritual Enemies the Devil the World and the Flesh These are given to us and him only God doth grace his Son above his Fellows Rom. 8.29 That he might be the first born among many brethren He must have the Honour due to the First-born Anciently the First-born was Lord of the rest of the Family Gen. 27.37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esan Behold I have made him thy Lord and all his brethren have I given to him for servants And also the First-born gave the rest of the Brethren a share of the Fathers Goods reserving to himself a double Portion Deut. 21.17 He shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the first-born by giving him a double portion of all that he hath for he is the beginning of his strength the right of the first-born is his Christ being the First-born he must in all things have the preheminence In our Conflicts and Tryals he is the captain of our salvation Heb. 2.10 In Holyness he is our Pattern or the Copy which we must transcribe 2 Cor. 3.18 Are changed into the same image from glory to glory Primum in unoquoque genere est mensura regula caeterorum The first in every kind is the Standard for all the rest In our Glory and Blessedness he is our fore-runner Heb. 6.20 having actually taken possession of that Felicity and Glory which he will bestow upon his Followers so that Christs Honour is reserved and Believers are comforted whilst they follow their Head in every State and Condition 2. Others are admitted to be partakers of this Grace in a lower degree called his fellows They are also dignified and graced by God above the rest of the World but not as Christ was Two things I will observe here 1. They must be his Consorts and Followers Sometimes they are called his brethren Heb. 2.11 Sometimes Members of his Mystical Body Eph. 1.22 23. Sometimes joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Meaning thereby all Believers who are Companions with him both in Grace and Glory Thus we must be before we partake of this anointing Actus activorum sunt in passivo unito disposito They that receive influence from another must be fitted for what they receive and united to him from whom they receive it Therefore none but Christs Members and Fellows do partake of his Unction But who are they All such as are like minded with himself that love Righteousness and hate Iniquity that set themselves seriously to promote the Glory of God and to destroy the Reign of Sin in the World both in themselves and others In short those that are Regenerated and planted into his Mystical Body by the Spirit 2. The next thing which I observe is That all these may have somewhat of this Unction according to their measure and part which they sustain in the Body 1 Iohn 2.20 But we have an unction from the holy one compare Psalm 133.2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garments The Ointment poured upon our head in such plenty that it diffuseth its self to all his Members God is the Author thereof 2 Cor. 1.21 Now he that stablisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God It is a Divine work but the Pipe or Means of conveying it to us is Christ who is the great Receptacle from whence the whole Family is supplyed Iohn 1.16 Of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace And it mainly consisteth in the gift of the Spirit sanctifying and preparing us for our present work and final reward and comforting us with our present Interest in the Love of God and hopes of Glory 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for this self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit VSE I shall exhort you to Two things 1. To Holyness 2. To get more of the Oyl of Gladness 1. To Holyness If there were no more than that it is pleasing to Christ and visibly exemplified in his own Person this should induce us It was love to Holiness and hatred of Sin that brought him out of Heaven and put him on the work of our Redemption Nothing doth
from Faith in Christ Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace with God from a sense of our sincere dealing with God 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world A serenity resulting from our peace with God and close walking with him 2. The strictness and exactness of the Apostles course He would keep this good Conscience void of offence It may be understood passively or actively Passively that Conscience be not offended and suffer wrong Actively that we offend not or offer wrong to others 1. That Conscience be not offended or receive wrong by any miscarriage of ours For it is a tender thing the least dust in the eye hindreth its use so doth Sin offend and trouble the Conscience Take those four Notions before-mentioned Clearness Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God A dusty Glass hindreth the sight of the Image so Lust cloudeth the mind In regard of Purity so far as we give way to Sin Conscience is defiled the Apostle speaketh of some Whose minds and consciences were defiled Titus 1.15 It is defiled by Sin In regard of tenderness nothing bringeth a brawne upon Conscience so much as frequent and allowed sinning in small things first it is wounded and then hardned and so groweth dead and sleepy though it may write it refuseth to speak it is a Register when it is not a Witness So it is offended in regard of quietness an offended Conscience will offend us and a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 You may as well expect to touch the Flesh with a burning Coal without pain as to sin without trouble of Conscience Sin will bring shame and horrour ever since Adams experience who was afraid and ashamed Gen. 3.7 2. The second Sense that we offend not nor offer wrong to others will fall in with the next Head 3. The Impartiality of his Obedience both towards God and towards men There are two Tables and we are to take care we do not give offence to God or Men by neglecting our Duty to either 1. Our chief care should be that we do not make a breach upon our Love to God Conscience standeth alwayes in dread of God's Eye and Presence to whom it is most accountable Acts 23 1. I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day Oh grieve not the spirit Eph. 4.30 Offend not the pure Eyes of his Glory 2. That we do not offend Men Rom. 12.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Provide things honest in the sight of all men We must be careful of our Conscience before God and frame with Men that we neither seduce them by our Example nor grieve them by any unjust or uncharitable Carriage of ours but be blameless to Men. 4. The Constancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes in all cases by all means at all times A Conscience brought forth at times and for certain turns is not a good Conscience Iob 13.18 Behold now I have ordered my cause I know that I shall be justified A Man is tryed by his course not by a step or two 1 Pet. 1.15 As he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every creek and corner of your lives not in an Humour and in good Moods A Christian is every where like himself and never dareth to do any thing knowingly against Conscience Thirdly The laborious diligences wherewith he carryed it on I exercise my self We must make it our constant labour and endeavour by a diligent search into the mind of God Rom. 12.2 That we may prove what is the good and acceptable will of God Eph. 5.17 Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Eph. 5.10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord that we may not offend him in Worship or Daily Conversation By a serious enquiry into the state of our own hearts and wayes Psalm 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not commune with your hearts upon your bed and be still If we would have Conscience speak to us we must often speak to Conscience Ier. 8.6 I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done Ask questions of your hearts And also by a constant watchfulness and taking heed to our feet Psalm 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that I offend not with my tongue Many live as if they had no Conscience and by a broken-hearted making use of Christs Death Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. And 1 Iohn 2.1 If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous And Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself to God without spot purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God By a serious resistance and mortification of Sin cutting off the right Hand and pulling out the right eye Matth. 5.29 30. and Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts And by the use of all Holy Means which God hath appointed II. The Reasons Why this is true Christianity 1. The necessity of it it is a great question how far Obedience belongeth to Faith whether as a part or as an end fruit and consequent I answer both wayes consent of subjection is a part of Faith Actual Obedience a fruit of it In the Covenant there is a consent first before practice Faith believeth the Precepts as well as the Promises Psalm 119.66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water It believeth the Promises to sweeten Obedience to us it hath a perswasive Oratory as it worketh by Love or Hope it worketh us to an observance of the Precepts by the hopes of the Resurrection least we be inticed from them either by things grateful or troublesome to present sense 1 Cor. 15.58 Be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abâ—iâ—ding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your work is not in vain in the Lord. If you believe things written in the Law and the Prophets you will see your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 2. The Comfort of Obedience to us we cannot make out our Evidence and Plea but by a uniform constant and impartial Obedience Principles are latent till they discover themselves by their Fruit our Faith and Hope is but a fancy unless it prevail over sensitive inclinations to present things that we may live in the patient and delightful service of God and an intire
Lord and those who most rejoyce in the Lord do most mourn for Sin As that Christian Niobe wept much because she loved much and she loved much because much was forgiven her Luke 7.47 As many times the Sun shineth when the rain falleth so there is a mixture of Spiritual Rejoycing and Holy Mourning a deep Sense of Gods Love and yet a Mourning because of the Relicks of Corruption Well then Carnal Rejoycing is opposite to Holy Mourning but not Joy in the Lord therefore these two must be mixed Sorrow is a Servant to Faith and Love and Joy in the Holy Ghost and Joy and Thankfulness for the Mercy of God in Christ is an help to Godly sorrow the one serves to mortifie Sin the other to strengthen Grace None are so displeased with themselves for offending so good a God as those that have tasted how good and gracious the Lord is But more thoroughly to reconcile this Holy mixture to your thoughts take these considerations 1. Godly Sorrow is better than all the pleasures of Sin 2 Cor. 7.10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of Many have repented of their vain pleasures or of their Carnal Mirth but never any repented of their Godly Sorrow Many have cursed the day of their Birth but never any cursed the day of their New Birth Whoever had any loathsome remembrance of those hours which they spent in reconciling themselves to God though it were done with grief and bitterness of Spirit Oh the remembrance of that happy time is ever sweet and grateful to them 2. That mourning for Sin containeth in it self the matter of Joy is evident because a poor Christian is glad when his Heart can melt for Sin A day of serious and sound Humiliation is more to him than all carnal pleasures whatsoever he would not exchange the Comfort that he findeth in his Penitent Tears for all the Mirth in the World He findeth this helpeth to mortifie Sin which would mar his rejoycing in God it helpeth him to value Christ and taste the sweetness of his Love they are more glad of that measure of Grace received than if they were Masters and Rulers of the World To be affected with the dishonour done to God is included in their Love and esteem of him and floweth from their delight in him 3. Though they groan under the Relicks of Sin yet they are glad they are but Relicks That they are in any measure gotten out of their former Estate is a comfort though that they are gotten no further be a grief to them The mourning Christian would not change Estates with the best and greatest of Ungodly Men which sheweth there is some solid complacency and delight in their present Condition though not that full Joy which they shall have in Heaven when Sin shall no more Joy is not perfect till Holiness be perfect yet there is joy still though be not perfect joy Here there is Gaudium ineffabile cum suspiriis inenarrabilibus a joy mixt with sorrow groans unutterable and joyes unspeakable and glorious Secondly Having removed the prejudices Let me now perswade you to rejoyce evermore by the two Arguments of necessity and Utility 1. The necessity of it 1. That you may own God as your God delighting in God is a Duty of the first Commandment Thou shalt have no other Gods before me that is rejoyce in no other but in me only as thy full and All-sufficient Portion and Happiness And therefore it is a part not of Instituted but of Natural Worship such Worship which we are to give God though he had never given direction about it which immediately resulteth from the owning and choosing of God for our God For if God be not loved and delighted in more than any thing or all things else he is not our God Now then is there not a necessity if you would worship God as God that you should rejoyce evermore and delight in him as sufficient to your Happiness whether the World cometh or goeth whether your Creature Comforts and Relations continue with you or be taken from you God still must be the Hearts delight and your exceeding joy Psalm 37.4 Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart 2. The necessity appeareth by this how can you be thankful and prize and value those Blessings which you have from God by Christ unless you rejoyce evermore whatever your Condition be in the World Surely Christ when received must be received with all love and thankfulness else you do not know the worth and value of his Grace and this esteem is never so much shewn in words as in deeds when you can delight in him more than all things else Psalm 4.7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased Delight in him so as to loose all for him Phil. 3.8 For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. Heb. 10.34 And took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance And you can esteem a naked Christ ground enough of Comfort though you be stript of all things The Heart is not sound with Christ till we be so taken up with the Love and Praise of our Redeemer that we have scarce leasure to observe whether we be rich or poor or to regard the honours and dishonours of the World 3. How can you profess to follow the Conduct of that Holy Spirit who hath undertaken to be your Comforter unless your solid Delight and Comfort be in God and Heaven I know the Spirit is not so necessarily a Comforter as he is a Sanctifier but I speak of that disposition of Soul which belongeth both to his sanctifying as well as his comforting Operation and is necessary to Grace and that is to place your Happiness not in this World but in God and Heaven and so to place it there as that this may be a support to you in poverty and disgrace and pain that nothing may be able to overcome your joy Iohn 16.22 Your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you Surely this is a necessary work of the sanctifying Spirit to teach you to fix your Comforts there where they may be out of the reach of the World that you may have Everlasting grounds of delight what ever Man can do unto you 2. The Utility of it both with respect to our Spiritual benefit and profit and our acceptance with God 1. With respect to the temper and frame of our own hearts or our Spiritual benefit There are two parts of Regeneration Mortification and Vivification and this rejoycing evermore promoteth both of them 1. As to Mortification It is most profitable to wean us from Carnal Vanities The Love of sensitive Delights is the Root of Sin some carnal lure there is which inticeth
be vexed by Sathan for his Tryal Iob 1.12 And Paul had his Messenger of Sathan to try him to see what shift he could make with sufficient internal Grace against outward and vexatious evils 2 Cor. 12.7 8. Now it is better to undergo the fiery Tryal than the fiery Torment Tryed we are then but not destroyed Yea sometimes hurried to Death and yet we overcome Revel 12.11 Christ doth prevail upon opposition and by opposition When Sathans Instruments were killing Christians they were pulling down Sathans Throne and advancing Christs and when they were butchered and slaughtered yet they multiplyed 4. The Means and Manner of Victory is to be considered 1. Christ overcometh this Enmity by taking our Nature He might have destroyed him by his Divine Power but the Conquerer is the Seed of the Woman or the Son of God incarnate He conquered in the same Nature that was so lately foiled and thereby Sathans main design is crossed and counter-worked which was double Partly to make Man jealous of God as if he were envious of our Happiness and by this false representation to alienate our hearts and make a breach between us and him Gen. 3.5 God knoweth that in the day ye eat thereof ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil This way would he weaken the esteem of God in our Hearts but hereby we have a fuller manifestation of his love to make him the more amiable to us Rom. 5.8 But God commended his love to us that when we were sinners Christ dyed for us And Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And 1 Iohn 4.9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins We would be as God and Christ would be as Man Partly to depress the Nature of Man which in Innocency stood so near to God that was the end of his malicious suggestion But now 't is advanced and set up far above the Angelical Nature and admitted to dwell with God in a Personal Union Heb. 2.16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham The Nature of Man being only assumed by Christ the Angels are not concerned in it immediately Man had the benefit and honour put upon him especially in his glorified Estate Eph. 1.20 21. 2. By his Passion or Death on the Cross Heb. 2.14 For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is is the Devil Christ would not only take our Nature but also suffer in it so to frustrate and make void the Devils design which was to keep Men for ever under the power of Death wherein he had involved him He had brought Sin upon us and by Sin Death and in this Condition as the Executioner of Gods Curse he would still have held us but that Christ came to put us into a Condition of Holiness and Happiness and so make us capable of Eternal Life The Devil did not conquer Christ by Death but Christ did conquer the Devil When the Roman Soldiers were parting and spoiling his Garments he was spoiling Principalities and Powers 3. By his Resurrection and Ascension After he had been a Sacrifice for Sin by his Resurrection he overcame Death Hell and Sin and soon after he ascended into Heaven that he might triumph over the Devil and lead Captivity Captive Eph. 4.8 His Enemies were foiled upon the Cross but his Triumph over them was at his Ascension whereby he hath assured the World of his Conquest that he hath carried the day and gained an absolute and compleat Victory for our Lord in Heaven is out of the reach of Enemies as having done his work we are only left behind to scatter the Relicks of the Battle 4. By his sitting at the Right Hand of God he doth two things 1. He poureth out the Spirit endowing his Messengers with all Gifts and Graces ordinary and extraordinary to preach the Gospel to the Heathen World whereby the Old Religion by which the Devils Kingdom was supported went to wrack every where his Oracles were silenced his Superstitions suppressed No more the same Temples the same Rites the same Gods all fell before God as worshipped in Christ Iohn 16.11 The spirit shall convince the world of judgment because the prince of this world is judged 'T is true in some parts of the World Sathan yet reigneth where Christ hath not pursued him with his Gospel or withdrawn his Gospel for the ingratitude of Men but where it cometh it prevaileth mightily and the World cannot resist its convincing power 2. By his Secret and Invisible Providence he defendeth his People and stilleth the Enemy and Avenger Christ as God incarnate having the grant of a Kingdom is every way furnished with power to maintain it by Means proper to the mediatory Dispensation by his Word Spirit and Providence this last we are upon All Judgment is put into his hands Iohn 5.22 Though there be many vicissitudes and changes in the outward Condition of the Church yet by invisible wayes God doth notably defeat Sathan and his Instruments And though there be ebbings and flowings of the two Kingdoms yet we have much experience that Christ is upon the Throne by his protecting strengthning and assisting his faithful People and prospering their just endeavours for the advancing of his Kingdom Sometimes he destroyeth Enemies Isa. 27.4 Who would set the briers and thornes against me in battle I would go through them and burn them together Sometimes he infatuateth their Counsels Iob 5.12 13. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot performe their enterprize He taketh the wise in his own craftiness and the counsel of the froward is carried head-long Sometimes he hideth his People in the secret of his Presence Psalm 31.20 Sometimes he blasts all their prosperity by an invisible Curse Iob 20.26 A fire not blown shall consume them Or else he divides them as you may read in 2 Chron. 20. Chapter 5. The Degree of the success How far is the Enemy and Avenger stilled I Answer 1. Non ratione essentiae not to take away his Life and Being No there is a Devil still and shall be when the whole work of Christs Redemption is finished for it is said of that time Revel 20.10 That the Devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and for ever So Matth. 25.41 Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels Then Eternal Judgment is executed on the
Head of the wicked State Sentence was past before and the Devil feareth it Matth. 8.29 Art thou come to torment us before the time He was condemned before but then the Sentence is fully executed upon him he is finally punished and shall for ever remain among the damned 2. Non ratione malitiae not in regard of Malice and Enmity for the Enmity ever continueth between the two Seeds and Sathan will ever be doing though it â—e to his loss 1 Iohn 3.8 He sinneth from the beginning and therefore he is not so destroyed as if he desired not the ruine and destruction of Men. He is as malicious as ever He is alwayes at the old trade of destroying Souls and watcheth all advantages to that end and purpose 2 Pet. 5.8 The Devil like a roaring lyon goeth about seeking whom he may devour 3. Then affirmatively it remaineth that it is Ratione potentiae in regard of Power but how far is his power destroyed For still he governeth the wicked and possesseth a great part of the World The Devils are called Eph. 6.12 Rulers of the darkness of this world The Gods of the Heathen Idolatrous Superstitious World and still he molesteth the Godly whether considered singly and apart or in their Communities and Societies Singly he may sometimes trouble them and soarly shake them as wheat is tossed to and from when it is winnowed in a Sieve Luke 22.31 or in their Communities and Societies The Devil by his Instruments may soarly distress them Psalm 129.1 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth upward that is from the beginning of their being a People unto God or else corrupts them 1 Cor. 11.3 I fear least by any means Sathan should corrupt you and therefore we must see how far his power is destroyed I Answer 1. It may be considered either 1. With respect to Christ the Author of our Deliverance Or 2. With respect to Men who are the Subjects of this Deliverance or the Persons delivered 1. With respect to Christ our Deliverer 1. There is enough done by way of Merit to break the Power of Sathan or that whole Kingdom of Darkness which is united under one Head called the Devil The Price and Ransom is fully paid for Captive Souls and there needeth no more to be done by way of Merit and Satisfaction to dissolve that woful work which Sathan hath introduced into the World Col. 2.15 He hath spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them on his cross 1 Iohn 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil Both these places shew there is enough done for the benefit of particular Believers and for the success of the Gospel over false Religions He hath devested evil Spirits of their Power thrown them out of their Temples silenced their Oracles he hath made it publickly discernable by the suâ—cess of the Christian Religion in the World he hath purchased the power of recovering Souls out of their Apostacy at a dear rate 1 Pet. 1.18 We are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of the Son of God Well then the value of the Blood of Christ is sufficient 2. Christ is upon the Throne and we are under his protection Therefore the Devil cannot totally prevail over those that have an Interest in him either as to single Believers Iohn 10.28 And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hand Or to their Communities and Societies Matth. 16.18 Vpon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it The Gates of Hell signifie their Power and Policy there was their Armory and there they sate in Counsel Christ expecteth their most fierce and furious assaults but all should be to no purpose but as the dashing of the waves against a Rock which ends in foam and the shame of the Oppressors and Assailants So that besides his Merit on the Cross there is his Power in Heaven where he is to rule in the midst of his Adversaries Psalm 110.1 Sit at my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool There he is exalted in that Humane Nature which he had assumed to the highest pitch of Glory Majesty and Authority 3. Though there be not a total destruction of the Kingdom of Sathan yet it remaineth in an absolute subjection to the Throne of the Mediator The Kingdom of Sin and Sathan are so far destroyed as not to hinder Gods great Design the Demonstration of Mercy to the Elect and to be subservient to the Demonstration of his Justice towards others who either contemn or neglect the Remedy offered that the Elect may obtain though the rest be hardned 2 Thess 9 and 13. Even him whose coming is after the working of Sathan with all power and signs and lying wonders c. But we are bound to give thanks alwaies to God for you brethren because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth 4. Christ will in time destroy all opposite Reigns and Kingdoms some sooner other latter but there will be an Universal and Absolute subjection to Christ at the day of Judgment when Infernal Spirits shall bow the knee to him Isa. 45.23 compared with Phil. 2.10 He hath given him a name above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee shouâ—d bow And Rom. 14.10 11. The Mistery of Iniquity will then be finished and come to nothing and the Saints shall judge the Evil Angels 1 Cor. 6.3 that is when they are crowned they shall pass Sentence against the Evil Spirits But in the mean time you will say we are assaulted Therefore 2. With respect to Men who are to be delivered so Sathans Power may be considered with respect to single Persons or his Interest in the corrupt World 1. As to single and individual Persons So Sathans Power over them is by reason of Sin which was introduced into the World by his Subtilty and Malice Now these may be considered with respect to Conversion and Confirmation 1. Conversion When the Reign of Sin is broken they are rescued out of Sathans hands Col. 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the power of Sathan and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son And Acts 26.18 To turn us from darkness to light and from the power of Sathan to God Luke 11.21 When a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted 'T is the fruit of his Victorious Grace As long as Sin reigneth Sathan is in peaceable possession For when he had lost his Seat in Heaven he affected to set up a Throne in the Hearts of Men and to Lord it over them as his Slaves But now the reign of Sin is broken when he puts an Enmity into your Hearts against
a memorial of his Death and Passion 1. Reasons why we should now express our Love 2. How we should exercise love in this duty 1. Why. 1. Because his death flowed from his love Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me Eph. 5.2 Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Rev. 1.5 Unto him that loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood And therefore we never felt the principal effect of this duty unless we find this love inkindled in us we do not observe it as we ought 2. Because his intent is to convey and apply his love to us It is applied outwardly by the Word and Sacraments inwardly by his Spirit Rom. 5.5 The Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us And the Bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the Life of the World John 6.51 It is given in pretium in pabulum for price and for food His Blood which was shed for our Redemption now is poured out for our refection to chear our Souls that eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood we may become one Spirit and he may live in us and we in him and that nothing may separate us from his love All the dainties here set before us taste and savour of nothing but love Our Meat is seasoned with love and our drink is squeezed into our Cup out of the Wine-press of Love And God intendeth union Cant. 2.4 He brought me to the banqueting House and his Banner over me was Love Christ conducteth his Spouse in state to the solemn participation of his benefits and receiveth her with a Banner or Canopy This Banner is displayed in the Gospel the whole doctrine of which is to shew us the love of our Saviour towards mankind but then in the Sacrament we are brought into the house of Wine we come to taste of the satisfying and comfortable blessings which are to be found in Christ. 3. If we do not bring love with us we shall not be welcome to God for he that loveth God is known of him Others are not owned in an ordinance but dismissed as they came God will not fail the loving Soul 2. How we should exercise love in this duty 1. In ardent desires of Christ's benefits We can neither live nor die without him therefore we must desire his Grace his Righteousness and Spirit Luk. 1.53 He hath filled the hungry with good things Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my Life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple 2. In an holy joy and rejoicing in him Cant. 1.4 We will be glad and rejoice in thee Christ hath a special way of communicating the sense of his love to a Believer Now when we are admitted to what we long for we must express our gratitude 3. We must not restrain the benefit to the act of receiving no our future profit is to be regarded that for the time to come we may live to no other purpose in the World but to obey and honour Christ even at the dearest rates We must from henceforth live as those that are the Lords 2 Cor. 5.15 And that he died for all that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again A Sermon on Psalm Lxxxiv 10 For a day in thy Courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of wickedness IN these words is set forth David's esteem of the Ordinances and Means of Grace Here is 1. A general Proposition A day in thy Courts is better than a thousand 2. A particular Application to the Man of God's own Judgment and Sentiment in the case I had rather be a door-keeper in the House of my God than dwell in the Tents of wickedness The one sets forth the excellency of the thing it self the other David's and in his Person every godly man's sense and opinion of it Things may incomparably differ yet every one hath not the Eyes to see it In the general Proposition the comparison is made with any earthly thing whatsoever In the particular Application to David with the pleasures of sin Both must be considered In the general Proposition A day in thy Courts is better than a thousand i. e. a day or hour spent in thy Worship is better than a thousand spent among worldlings and about worldly business Eternal things and all things conducing thereunto must be preferred before temporal and communion with God above all the pomp and glory of the most splendid worldly condition But then in the particular Application temporal things are considered as enjoyed with sin as also Heb. 11.25 Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season However there you may observe 1. God's worst I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God 2. Sin 's best Than dwell in the Tents of wickedness Where observe I. The Terms in which one Condition is opposed to the other 1. On the one side The meanest lowest Office about God is mentioned to be a Door-keeper or as the Hebrew signifieth to sit at the Threshold A phrase often used to express the Office of the Levites or Sons of Corah who were keepers of the Gates or Thresholds of the Tabernacle 1 Chron. 9.19 and therefore called Porters vers 17. And to these was this Psalm committed for the Title saith it was a Psalm for the Sons of Korah and to encourage them in their Office David useth such an expression He had rather be in the meanest condition wherein he might daily worship God 2. On the other side here was dwelling in the Tents of wickedness that is in the stateliest Habitations of the Great ones of the World wherein wickedness reigneth Possibly he alludeth to the wild Arabians who lived by prey and lived in Tents which were black without and rich within Therefore the Church is compared to Tents of Kedar Cant. 1.5 I am black but comely as the Tents of Kedar as elsewhere he saith God is more glorious and excellent than the Mountains of Prey Psal. 76.4 Preferring God's strength above theirs that dwelt in the Mountains and lurked there for Prey And this suiteth with his condition who in his exile from the Temple was forced to live as a wild Kedaren or Ishmaelite Psal. 120.5 Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar meaning the Arabian Tents the barbarous People of Arabia that were called Scenitae for their manner of living he then resembled them II. Observe how the Terms are framed to suit
out of the burning That God should reform thy crooked perverse spirit and pardon all thy sins and lead thee in the way of righteousness unto Eternal Glory How should thy heart and mouth be filled with the high Praises of God! and how should you say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed my Soul 3. Consider what preventing Grace God used towards you How he sought you out when you sought not him that he might save you As this saving Mercy was not deserved by you so it was not so much as desired by you the Lord pittied thee when thou hadst not an heart to pity thy self and prevented thee with his goodness It is good to observe the circumstances of our first awakening or reducement from our wandrings The Apostle speaketh of the called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 Not the purpose of them that are converted but the purpose of God For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate and whom he did predestinate them he also called vers 30. Many come to a Duty with careless and slight Spirits or by a meer Chance as Paul's Infidel 1 Cor. 14.24 25. But if all prophesie and there come in one that believeth not or one unlearned he is convinced of all he is judged of all And thus are the secrets of the heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth Oh how many do thus stumble upon Grace unawares as not minding or desiring any such Matter yet God directeth a seasonable word that pierceth iâ—to their very hearts Sometimes when opposing and persecuting as Paul Acts â— Many that come to scoff I have seen his ways I will heal him Isa. 57.18 Soâ—e are leavened with prejudice loth to come drawn against their consent Iohn 1.46 Nathaniel saith to Philip Can any good come out of Nazareth Philip saith unto him Come and see yet there he met with Christ. Various circumstances there are which shew Christ's vigilancy and care in seeking after lost Souls 4. That he hath made the Cure effectual notwithstanding the reluctancies of our carnal hearts We are all of us full of the wisdom of the Flesh and that is enmity to God Rom. 8.7 Because the Carnal Mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Now that our hearts should be quite changed and have another bias and inclination put upon them this is the Lord 's doing and it should be marvellous in our eyes Iohn 3.6 That which is born of flesh is flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That we should be so quite altered as now to mind Serious Spiritual and Heavenly things surely nothing could do this but the Almighty Spirit of Christ or that efficacy which is proper to the Mediatour Sermon I. on Psal. Lc 1 Lord thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations IN a time of danger we would all be glad if we could get a safe place of retreat or a secure habitation where the evil might not come nigh us The Text will direct you to one if you have an heart to make use of it This Psalm was penned by Moses the Man of God as the Title sheweth It 's reflection is mainly upon the state of those times wherein he lived when the Children of God wandered up and down in the Wilderness and were sorely afflicted by sundry Plagues and great Multitudes of them cut off by untimely death for their Provocations The Psalm is said to be a Prayer of Moses He beginneth his Prayer with an acknowledgment of God's goodness and gracious protection In the howling Wilderness and in all former Ages he had been their habitation And this giveth him confidence to ask and expect other things from God's hand From hence we may learn to express Faith in Prayer before we express Desire and give God glory in believing before we lay forth our own wants So doth Moses the Man of God Lord thou hast been our dwelling-place in all Generations Doctr. That God is his Peoples habitation or dwelling-place I shall deliver the sum of this point in these Considerations First The First shall be a General Truth That true and lively Faith doth apprehend all things as present in God which it wanteth in the Creature When they wandered up and down in the Wilderness God was their habitation As the life of Sense is a flat contradiction to Faith so is the life of Faith to the life of Sense Faith is supported by two things God's All-sufficiency and Gracious Covenant The one sheweth what may be the other what shall be As God hath a double Knowledge Scientia simplicis intelligentiae visionis By the former he knows all things that may be in his own All-sufficiency By the latter he knows all things that shall be in his own Decree So Faith sees all things made up in God This can be because God is able to bring it to pass This shall be because God hath promised it His promise is as good as performance therefore a Believer in the want of all things doth not onely make a shift to live but groweth rich 2 Cor. 6.10 As poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things Nothing in the view of Sense but all things in God that are good for him As God was as a fixed habitation to them that were in the Wilderness so he promiseth Ezek. 11.16 Although I have cast them far off among the Heathen and although I have scattered them among the Countreys yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the Countreys where they shall come A Christian that hath learned to live by Faith above Sense he can never want any thing he hath it in God and can see not onely pardon and righteousness forth-coming out of the Covenant but food and raiment protection and maintenance house and home and all things even then when they are most destitute It is not onely an act of Love that God is instead of all these things but an act of Faith As to Love 1 Sam. 1.8 Am I not better to thee then ten Sons God is not onely better than all to a Believer but he is all Secondly God's People may be reduced to such exigences that they may have no house nor habitation on this side God As now the People of God were in a wandering condition 1 Pet. 1.1 Peter directs his Epistle To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia Strangers not only in affection but condition Exile and Separation from their outward comforts and priviledges may be the lot of the People that are dearest to the Lord of any on earth besides Heb. 11.37 They wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skin being destitute afflicted tormented v. 38. They wandered in Desarts and in Mountains and in Dens and in
possident minores census tulerunt Those that possessed great Estates paid the least Taxes In many great Houses how little is God owned God hath many times more Prayers from a smoaky Cottage than from Great Mens Houses The Revenues of Heaven do more arise from a few poor broken-hearted Christians that have little in the World than from Great Ones that have altogether broken the yoak 3. We must inure the Soul to the thoughts of a change and live in the midst of the abundance of worldly comforts with greater weanedness and looseness of heart As remembring that temporal enjoyments are not our happiness that here God will exercise us with much uncertainty and that surely every Man at his best estate is altogether vanity Psal. 39 5. When we seem most setled to rest secure upon temporal things is but to raise a Fabrick or Structure upon the Ice God can soâ—n remove us not onely by the great remove of death but by many interveening accidents during life when we have surest tenures strongest dwellings clearest air best accommodations how soon can the Lord blast all these things and break in upon us by his Judgments There were two Types Leaven in their Thank-offerings and Dwelling in Booths at the Feast of Tabernacles Deut. 16.13 14. with Levit. 23.42 After they had gathered in their Corn and VVine and their Houses were full of all the Blessings of the Earth then they were to dwell in Tents They that are secure as if above Changes God will soon shew them the vanity of all earthly enjoyments Psal. 30.6 7. In my Prosperity I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled No Man ever slept well on a carnal Pillow but his rest was disturbed before his night was spent 4. Be content with God's allowance God is our habitation and doth appoint to us how much or how little we shall have of these comforts He is as to temporal things a larger habitation to some than to others If he be but an hiding-place to us though not a Palace we must be contented Psal. 119.114 Thou art my shield and my hiding-place David took notice of that as a great Mercy VVe are not to seek great things for our selves If we have any tolerable safety or any tolerable condition of life and opportunity of service it is enough The degree of enjoying these Comforts must be left to God himself Promises were not made to suffice Covetousness but to incourage us in our want Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Purge the Soul from VVorldly desires and then there will be room and place for the exercise of Faith 5. If God be our habitation the heart must not be fixed in the Creature nor diverted from the everlasting enjoyment of him For the present your dwelling is in God himself Now God is enjoyed three ways In the Creature In the Ordinances and in Heaven These three ways of enjoying God must not clash one with another but be subordinate To be satisfied in the enjoyment of God so far as the creature or outward things can let him out to us is a sign of a carnal heart David was otherwise minded His great thing in this VVorld was to enjoy God in his Ordinances See Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple that is to enjoy God in the Ordinances Now those that desire thus to enjoy God in the Ordinances will long to see his Face in Heaven For these are but part of his ways a taste to make us long for more Besides God is never so much so truely an house to us as in Heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens That house should be mainly desired Therefore all that we enjoy here should but quicken our desires after more in Heaven for if God be our habitation he is there all in all Heb. 11.14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country and verse 16. Now they desire a better Countrey that is an Heavenly There is our Inheritance which is Immortal Eternal and Undefiled There is our Father and the best of our Kindred If the Creature were onely our habitation then it were good to be here still but since God is we must strive to be there where we shall have most of him And therefore as to the Creature and any outward comforts resulting from thence we must carry our selves as Strangers and Pilgrims The Life of Faith is Heaven anticipated and Heaven is but the Life of Faith perfected Here we must be contented to be Strangers and Pilgrims So was Abraham who had the best right Heb. 11.9 By Faith he sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country So was David who had most possession Psal. 39.12 I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers were He that had so full a right to an opulent powerful Kingdom not onely when he was chased like a Flea or Partridge on the Mountains but in his full glory and prosperity when he offered many Cart-loads of Gold and Silver 1 Chron. 29.15 For we are strangers before thee and sojourners as were all our Fathers Iesus Christ who was Lord Paramount complains Psal. 69.8 I am become a stranger to my Brethren and an Alien to my Mothers Children He that was Lord of all had neither house nor home He telleth us Iohn 17.16 I am not of this World He passed through the World to sanctifie it as a place of service but his heart and constant residence was not here to fix in it as a place of rest All that are Christ's have the Spirit of Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostom We pass through but do not inhabit this World Here we are absent from our own Country yea from our God who is our house and home 2 Cor. 5.6 Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. We are at home there where we may enjoy the full of God Our hearts should be still homeward and we should take little and moderate pleasure in the delights that offer themselves in the course of our Pilgrimage and esteem it an honour if we may get a little leave and respite to do any piece of service to God while we are upon our Journey Vse of all To press us to dwell in God This is the happiness and honour of the People of God that they dwell in God and God dwelleth in them He
Life It is the fashion of the World to respect great ones If a rich or Noble Man should invite himself to our Houses we take it for a great favour we strain our selves to give him suitable entertainment the more free they are with us the more we give them thanks If they eat heartily of the provisions we have made for them we take our selves to be obliged by a new benefit which boldness if a poor Man should take we look upon it as a saucy intrusion and we rate him away with a frown They are the Rich that are respected the Rich are entertained their Causes and Suits are dispatched when the Poor can hardly get access and audience As all Floods run to the Sea so doth the respect of the World to the Rich and Mighty Where they expect a return there they bestow their courtesies But God respecteth all for he needeth none he is present with all provideth for all supplyeth all protecteth all that flie unto him in their tribulation Psal. 34.6 This Poor Man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles Prayers in Cottages are as acceptable to him as Prayers in Palaces 3. When once you are received and admitted into this Habitation you need not fear any calamity in the World because none can endamage your Spiritual interest nor frustrate your great hopes Whatever become of the Man the Christian is safe So that you may keep up not only patience and constancy of Mind but joy of Heart Rom. 8.38 Neither heighth nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus my Lord. Nothing shall be able to drive you out of your hiding place You lie fairer for temporal safety than others do and are more likely to have it and if any thing fall out otherwise than well it shall be sanctified You have a God that is fully inclined to do you good and he hath alsufficient power and hath ingaged it by his infallible Truth to set it a work for you so far as it shall be for his Glory and your Good Why then should you be afraid take up your Habitation in God And you are safe especially as to your main interest 2. What it is and in what manner this is done 1. There must be a solemn reconciliation with God in Christ. For we enter into God as an habitation to seek our comfort and safety and happiness in him only by Christ. For till sin be pardoned and God reconciled to the Soul what blessing or comfort can we expect from him whose nature ingageth him to loath us and justice to punish us Man by sin is become an odious Creature to the holy God Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity And being an unthankful Rebel is liable to the process of his revenging justice and severe punishment Therefore when wrath maketh inquisition for sinners there is no hiding place till found in Christ. Phil. 3.9 And be found in him not having my own Righteousness There must be an Atonement not only made but applied before we can delight in God and have comfortable communion with him or have any right to the blessings of his Providence Rom. 5.11 We joy in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom also we have received the Atonement It is applied on Gods part by the Spirit And 1 Iohn 4.13 Hereby know we that we are in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And on our part by broken-hearted penitent believing addresses to him or by breaking off our sins and giving up our selves to him in an everlasting Covenant not to be forgotten This must be renewed as often as there is a breach on our part for all occasions of breach must be removed Or when God is executing judgment on his part for then he seemeth to put the Bond in suit which we must deprecate by flying humbly to the Throne of Grace Psal. 57.1 In the shadow of thy Wings will I make my refuge Psal. 61.4 I will abide in thy Tabernacle for ever I will trust in the covert of thy Wings He joineth the Wings of God with the Tabernacle Psal. 36.7 8. How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! therefore the Children of Men put their trust under the shadow of thy Wings they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House He speaketh of the goodness of God in his House 2. There must be an actual dependence upon God and trust in him for what he hath provided and we stand in need of or a firm adherence unto him according to his promise It is dependance breedeth observance The Soul that doth not trust in God cannot be true to him Faith and Faithfulness are not so near akin in sound as they are in Nature Nothing is more ingaging than the great bond and tye of our obedience Psal. 123.2 Behold as the Eyes of Servants look unto the Hand of their Masters and as the Eyes of a Maiden unto the Hand of her Mistress so our Eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy upon us Phil. 2 12 13. Work out your Salvation with fear and trembling For it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure Therefore is trust so often called for Psal. 62.8 Trust in him at all times ye people Psal. 86.2 Save thy Servant that trusteth in thee Isa. 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee We are without distraction of Mind and Thoughts when we refer all to the All-sufficient God as being persuaded that he will cast things for the best See the application David maketh of that great truth Psal. 91.1 2. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord He is my Refuge and my Fortress my God in him will I trust You must keep up the thoughts of his Goodness and All-sufficiency 3. There must be supplication and earnest fervent prayer for his powerful and gracious protection This is the acting of our trust and God will have all blessings sought out this way that we may take them immediately out of his Hands Ier. 29.11 Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you Ezek. 36.37 Yet for this will I be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them There Faith is exercised Hope is declared desires are expressed in a solemn manner Psal. 62.8 Trust in him at all times ye people pour out your Hearts before him God is a refuge for us Selah It is a means to ease us of our cares and fears and of laying down our burden at Gods Feet and it reviveth the sense of our obligations 4. Holy walking is necessary
Ghost yet there is but one the only and true God 2. He is represented by his Relation to the Creatures the Father 'T is not taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Personally but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essentially as often in Scripture as Isa. 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us Meaning not only the first Person but all the rest And Mat. 5.16 Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And Mat. 6.9 Our Father which art in Heaven Jam. 3.9 Therefore we bless God even the Father In all these and many other places Father Son and Holy Ghost is the only true God and called Father 3. He is set forth by his Dignity and Preheminence as the first cause and last end For from him are all things and we in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. To him and for him I take the Marginal Reading so Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things 2. What is said of the Mediatour He is described 1. By his Person or Name signifying his Person Iesus Christ. There is no other Name given under Heaven Acts 4.12 c. 2. By his Dignity Lord that is Mediator Christ is often set forth by this Term or Title Acts 2.36 God has made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. He is Lord over all Creatures and over the House of God Phil. 2.11 And that every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father He died for that End and Purpose Rom. 14.9 To this End Christ both died and rose again and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and living Therefore we should own him as such Iohn 20.28 My Lord and my God Both in Word and Deed. In Word Phil. 2.11 That every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord. Indeed in worship Psal. 45.11 He is thy Lord worship thou him In ordinary Practice and Conversation Loving Serving Sâ—udying to please him â—n all things Luke 6.46 Why call you me Lord and do not the things which I say Col. 1 10. Walk worthy of the Lord in all pleasing 'T is our Comfort that he is Head over all things Eph. 1.22 So he is able to Subject the Church to himself by his Spirit to vanquish its Enemies and defend us by his Power And 't is both our Comfort and Duty that he is our Lord. He purchased us by his Blood Acts 20.28 and Eph. 1.14 â—herefore the Church is given him as an Inheritance Psal. 2.8 We are married to him in the Covenant of Grace Therefore he appeaseth the Wrath of God by his Passion and Intercession He cherisheth and takes care of us 3. The Appropriation of this Office and Dignity to him alone one Lord Iesus Christ. To set up other Lords of our Faith or other Mediators between God and us is a wrong to Christ. There is but one Mediator either of Redemption or Intercession and no Saints or Angels share in this Honour 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Iesus Eph. 4.5 One Lord. Without Partner or Substitute He will communicate this Glory and Dominion over his Church to no other in whole or in part 4. The distinctness of his Operation as Mediator from what was said concerning the Father 'T is said of the Father Of whom and for whom are all things but of the Mediator it is said By whom are all things and we by him God is the Fountain of all Heavenly Gifts Iam. 1.17 And Christ is the Pipe and Conveyance God is the ultimate Object of our worship and by the Mediator do we make our Addresses and Applications to him Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father From God all things have their Being as from their Spring and Cause both in a way of Nature and Grace So all things by the Mediator Doct. That the owning and worshipping God by the Mediator Iesus Christ is the summ of the Christian Religion Natural Religion owneth a God but the Christian Religion owneth a Mediator and Father Son and Holy Ghost for that only true God and Jesus Christ for that Mediator See other Scriptures Iohn 17.3 And this is Life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent There is the summ of what is necessary to Life Eternal that God is to be known loved obeyed worshipped and injoyed and the Lord Jesus as our Redeemer and Saviour to bring us home to God and to procure for us the Gifts of Pardon and Life and this Life to be begun here and perfected in Heaven So 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is but one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Iesus Here are the two great Points of the Christian Religion one God in whom is all our Trust and Confidence and one Lord Jesus the only Mediator for the Restauration and Reconciliation of Man with God Here I shall shew you 1. The Necessity of a Mediator 2. The Fitness of Christ for this Office 3. The Benefit and Fruit of it 4. Who are the Parties interested in these Comforts and most concerned in these Duties I. The Necessity of a Mediator in this lapsed and faln Estate of Mankind Two things infer and inforce this Necessity Distance and Difference Distance by reason of Impurity and Difference by reason of Enmity Both these occur in the Case between God and Men. God is a God of Glorious Majesty and we are poor Creatures God is an Holy God a God of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity and we are sinful Creatures As Creatures unworthy of immediate access to God as lapsed and under the guilt of Sin and desert of Punishment and unable to deliver our selves cannot draw nigh to him with any Comfort 1. Our Distance Which is so great that it is a Condescention for God to take notice that there are such Creatures in the World Psal. 113.6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things which are in Heaven and Earth The Excellency and Majesty of God is so great that either Angels or Men are unworthy to approach his Presence Now as Inferiour and mean People dare not approach the presence of a great Prince but by some powerful Friend and Intercessor at Court so our distance produceth our fears and estrangedness and backwardness to draw nigh unto God and so hindreth our Love and Confidence in him Well then to depend upon one so far above us that he will take notice of us take care for us relieving us in our Necessities and Streights and help us out of all our Miseries and finally save us requireth a Mediator one that is more near and dear to God than we are which can be no other than Jesus Christ as I shall shew by and by When a Sinner looketh only at God as in himself he is confounded and amazed as quite
terms Therefore he revealeth and perswadeth us to accept the conditions of the New Covenant and to cast away all our rebellion against God and enter into his Peace 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God They plead in his Name and by vertue of his Power Secondly As a King and Lord so he maketh these terms part of the New Law for the remedying of lapsed Mankind Heb. 5.8 Though he were a Son yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered And not only so but he subdueth us to himself Luke 11.21 By strong hand rescueth us out of the power of the Devil and giveth us Grace to serve him acceptably Heb. 12.28 And taketh us into his care and ruleth us and protecteth us till we enter into everlasting life His Lordship is a great part of his Mediation III. The Comforts and Duties thence resulting namely from Christ's being constituted as Mediatour as they are laid forth in the Text. 1. I observe That the Father's Honour and Glory is still secured and preserved safe and intire notwithstanding the giving the Glory to Christ as the Lord of the New Creation The Glory of the Mediatour doth no way impair and infringe the Fathers Glory That is apparent partly because all the good we have is from the Father but onely by Christ. For when the Father is spoken of 't is said From him are all things but when the Mediatour then 't is said By him which notes a subordinate operation or administration as Lord Deputy under the Father and therefore in the subjection of the Creature unto Christ the Glory of the Father is expresly reserved Phil. 2.11 That every Tongue should confess that Iesus is Lord to the Glory of the Father Again it 's apparent because it 's said We are to him or for him The Mediatour does not lead us off from God but to him Therefore both our love to God and subjection to him must still be preserved 1. Our love You must not think of the Father that he is all Wrath severe and inexorable and his Favour not to be gain'd but upon hard terms no if he himself had not loved us we could never have had Christ for our Redeemer All things are of him not only in a way of Creation but Redemption and one great end of sending Christ was to shew the amiableness of the Divine Nature Christ himself was sent by the Father John 3.16 God so loved the World that he sent his onely begotten Son 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their trespasses to them Rom. 8.32 God spared not his own Son but delivered him for us all 2. Our Subjection and Obedience Rev. 5.9 Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood His antient right in us is not disannull'd but promoted We are redeemed to his Service and Obedience See 1 Cor. 6.19 20 Which are God's viz. By a right beneficial as a farther obligation God is the Efficient and Final Cause of all things Therefore still our Subjection to God and Love to God must be preserved 2. I observe That the expressions here used imply Returns as well as Receipts Look to the Expressions in both Clauses either concerning the one God or the one Mediatour The one God From him are all things and we by him or for him As from his bounty and goodness so for his honour and service Prov. 16.4 God hath made all things for himself 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God Whether it be in a way of Nature or Grace all things come of God These words do especially concern Christians All matters of Grace come from the Father to us for his Glory All things that belong to the New Creation as appeareth by the last clause we by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or for him See Eph. 1.12 That we should be to the praise of his glory So for what is said of the Mediatour and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things That is which we receive from God and we by him that is all the services which we return to God again Not onely Blessings come from the Father to us but we also must return duty and service to God by the same Mediatour Receipts come from God by Christ and Returns go back by Christ to God Which is to be noted by them who are all for Receipts but think not of Returns And also by them who own God in their Mercies but make Returns in their own Name No all that duty which we perform to God 't is by the Mediatour All Christianity is a coming to God by Christ Heb. 7.25 If we believe in God 't is by him 1 Pet. 1.2 By whom we believe in God If we love God 't is in Christ. If we pray to God 't is in and through him Ephes. 2.18 For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father If we praise God 't is in and by Christ Phil. 1.11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Iesus Christ to the Glory and Praise of God Otherwise our Duties are not acceptable and pleasing to him 3. I observe That in the Receipts we expect from God there is great encouragement to expect them For God is represented as a fountain of Grace as a Father as a God and Father that acts by a Mediatour whose Merit is exprest as large as the Father's Power 1. As a Fountain of Grace he is the supream Cause of all things from whom all creatures have their life and being A Fountain ever-flowing and over-flowing What can we ask of him which he is not able to do Psal 57.2 I will cry unto God most high unto God that pâ—rformeth all things for me If it be pardon of sin or the gift of the spirit If subduing Enemies or everlasting Salvation he is able to give it you If it be strength against Temptations or Grace to serve him acceptably you come to a God from whom are all things VVhen a Man seriously worshippeth God he turneth his back upon all other things and turneth his face to God as the supream Lord and Fountain of all Happiness You may with confidence present your Petitions to him that can perform all things 2. You come to God as a Father If you take it personally 't is comfortable to come to him as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Ephes. 3.14 or essentially as a Father of the whole family of the faithful He loveth us dearly VVe have the Supream God for our Father and shall not we trust in him 2 Cor. 6.18 And I will be a Father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters VVho would distrust a Father and an Omnipotent Father VVhen we remember not onely his sufficiency but his love to us and our
True Wisdom is from above 6. Do not only seek the light of the Spirit but wait for his renewing Grace that you may make things unseen your felicity and portion Iohn 3.6 That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Naturally there is in us a foolish inordinate desire after the Dignities Honours and Pleasures of the World But we should earnestly desire the New Birth 1 Pet. 2.3 As new born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby 1 Joh. 5.4 Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World And 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature That we may have a deep sense of and respect to the other World 7. Think often and seriously what a value Eternity puts upon things small much more upon things great in themselves 1. That Eternity puts a value upon things in themselves small whether good or evil evil as what a Torment would an Everlasting Tooth ach be Tho' the pain be not very great nor mortal yet the Eternal length and duration maketh it intolerable So in things good if a Man might have a Cottage but for an hundred years he would prize it more than to have liberty to walk in a Glorious Palace for one day so that things which are eternal do much more excel those things which are temporal though there be otherwise a difference between the things themselves As the Tooth-Ach is not a Mortal disease but every Man would die presently rather than live under an everlasting Tooth-Ach A Cottage is not to be compared to a Palace yet the Inheritance of a Cottage is much better than the liberty of a walk in a Palace for an Hour or a Day A small thing is greatned by Eternity much more a greater Well then since things unseen do so far exceed things seen and the one are Temporal and the other Eternal why should Man be so foolish and perverse as to prefer the one above the other Whatever hurts is but a flea-biting whatever delights is but a May-game The good and evil of the World is not to be compared with the fore-taste of the good and evil of the World to come Horrors of Conscience or Joy in the Holy Ghost Horrours of Conscience Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of a man will sustain his Infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear Joy in the Holy Ghost 1 Pet. 1.2 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory Horrour of Conscience is a greater pain than any pain And joy in the Holy Ghost is a greater joy than any joy now Eternity cometh and addeth a greater weight to it as to the horrours of the Wicked or the joys of the Blessed If these horrours be so burdensome what is it to lye under them for evermore If we cannot sleep one whole Night as to a man in a Fever a Night is an Year though he lie in a soft bed How do we long for day How tedious is it then to lie under Eternal darkness and to despair of ever seeing day more So for the joys of the Blessed If a day in Gods Courts be better than a thousand elsewhere What 's a Month what 's an Year what are an hundred years what 's six hundred what a thousand what 's Eternity Every thing in the other World as it is great so 't is Eternal there is an Eternity in the evil part of it The Bodies of men are Eternal their Souls Eternal the fire never goeth out for the fewel never ceaseth the Prison in which they are kept is Eternal the Torment is Eternal because the Judge is Eternal and his Sentence shall never be reversed Heb. 10.31 So the Joys as they are unspeakable and glorious so Eternal The Crown of Glory is an Incorruptible Crown 1 Pet. 5.4 The Inheritance an incorruptible Inheritance The Vision of God is not by Snatches but Everlasting the fruition of God is uninterrupted all is great and all is Eternal 2. This must be seriously considered by us and often and deeply If we did so what help should we then have against Temptations It would make us obey Gods Commandments more chearfully subdue the desires of the Flesh and make us more ready to every good work to consider that Eternity ensueth That Everlasting wo and weal is in the Case Meat well chewed nourisheth the more but being swallowed whole breedeth Crudities burdeneth the Stomach and defileth the Body so to hear of Eternity and swallow it without Rumination and due Consideration maketh these things lose their force so that they do not excite our Diligence nor break the force of Temptations Oh that they were wise and would consider their latter end Deut. 29. And my People do not consider Isa. 1.3 'T is our Carelessness and Inconsideration that undoeth us We read in Story which also hath been repeated in a late instance But Originally it is recorded of Agrippina and Nero That when a Prodigal Prince had given away a huge summ they laid all the Money in an heap before him that he might see and consider what he had given away to bring him to retract or in part to lessen the grant So 't is good for us to consider what we lose in losing Eternity what we part with for these vile and perishing things Invisible things if they are small yet they are Eternal but they are great and Eternal too But these other things are small and Temporal Eighthly Consider How certain and sure these Invisible things are which lye in the other World There wanteth nothing but this to strike the Temptation dead which ariseth from temporal things for since these Invisible things are greater and more durable why should they not prevail more with us The Reason is we See Feel Taste the one but the other lye out of sight in an unknown World and so we doubt of them or our perswasions about them are very weak But to Check this disease consider what help is offered to you 1. By the Light of Nature which sheweth it may be 2. The Light of Christianity which sheweth it shall be 1. The Light of Nature will offer proof enough to make us more serious than ever we have been For 1. If there be not a World to come and a state of Invisible Happiness and unseen Glory why is it that such a conceit hath been rooted in the Minds of Men of all Nations and Religions Not only Greeks and Romans but Barbarians and People least civilized Herodotus telleth us that the Ancient Geâ—es thought their Souls perished not when they died but went to Tamolxis And Diodorus Siculus of the Egyptians that their Parents and Friends went to some Eternal Habitation And the Modern Heathens but newly discovered hold the Condition of Men and Beasts different that
11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ. These holy Men had the same nature the same interests and concernments We have the same helps and incouragements the same God and Christ and Spirit and Rule and Hopes and Comfort and Glory which should shame us to come short of them Therefore you must be a going from strength to strength Yea the Angels Matth. 6. 10. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven It is but reason that they that would be like them for priviledges should be like them for service and duty If the Angels that are out of Gunshot and Harms-way hold on in God's service much more should we Wicked men think every thing in Religion enough and that we make more ado than needeth but Christ referreth us to the Angels Yea to God himself 1 Pet. 1.15 Be ye holy as he that has called you is holy Matth. 5.48 Be ye Perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Now therefore we must by degrees be growing up unto this estate The holiest upon Earth are not a sufficient copy to us God is essentially Holy infinitely Holy originally Holy Now wherein must we imitate him We must be immutably holy we should aim at that state when we shall be in some sort so God is universally holy in all his ways and works we should get nearer and nearer to this Pattern 6. That we may answer our many experiences There is no man of any long standing in the profession of Godliness but he hath many experiences of the bitterness of Sin when he hath been medling with Forbidden Fruit. And on the vanity of the Creature when he hath doated upon it and at length he findeth that there is a lye in his right hand Eccles. 1.14 I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun and behold all is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit Of the comfort of duty when done all things for God there is a sweetness accompanieth it Micah 2.7 Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Of the help of God in his difficulties and straights Psal. 46.1 God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Of the truth of his promises Psal. 18.30 As for God his way is perfect the word of the Lord is tryed he is a buckler to all those that trust in him Of Answer of Prayers Psal. 116.1 2. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication Because he hath inclined his Ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live Of the enterprizes of Satan 2 Cor. 2.11 Lest Sathan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices Now to have all these experiences and to be nothing improved and bettered is very sad 29. Deut. 4. Yet the Lord hath not given them an Heart to perceive nor Eyes to see nor Ears to hear unto this day To be nothing better nothing wiser is an argument of spiritual stupidness and folly 7. To answer all the means and the care and cost that God hath been at with us and for us God expecteth growth where he has afforded the means of growth in great plenty Luke 13.7 He said to the Dresser of his Vineyard behold these three years I came seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and find none cut it down why cumbreth it the ground It must be understood De jure not De facto of what God might expect for God cannot be disappointed Have I been thus long with you and hast thou not known me 14. Iohn 9. It was a grief to Christ when they were not grown under the means of grace Luke 12.48 Where much is given much is required It is grievous to the spirit of God when we are no better for all that is done to us Application 1. As it is a priviledge of the sincere Christian whose heart is set Heavenward Use. So it is for his incouragement They go from strength to strength if there be new troubles there is new strength Many are ready to faint in the Valley of Bacha and think they shall never hold out There is a continual supply Rom. 2.7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality Eternal Life Luke 8.15 The good ground bringeth forth fruit with patience They have present support and shall have final deliverance 138. Psal. 3. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul God gives a power to bear up your Spirit in all your burdens God is no Pharaoh you shall have strength with your work strength with your tryals strength with your difficulties A good man will not over-burden his Beast And God will give final deliverance your troublesome journey will not last long it will be over in a little time and then you shall appear before God in Zion There is rest Rev. 14.13 That they may rest from their labours and their works follow them In Heaven you have nothing to do but to bless God and praise God and admire God to all Eternity Therefore be incouraged go in the strength of your present refreshings and God will find new grace for you while you continue upright with him 2. As it is a duty 1. Use. It sheweth the folly of them who count an earnest pursuance of Eternal Life to be more than needs and that a little holiness will serve the turn Oh no! a Christian should always be growing and always improving still pressing nearer and nearer towards the mark going on from strength to strength There is no nimium in Holiness you cannot have too much Holiness or too much of the love of God nor of the fear of God nor of faith in him There are many that come near and never enter Luke 13.24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able Certainly he that knoweth what was lost in Adam and must be recovered in Christ cannot think he can do enough or too much How hard a matter is it to keep what we haveâ— Such is the vanity lightness and inconstancy of our Hearts in good and so furious are the assaults of sundry Temptations and so great is our impotency to resist them our proneness to turn from the ways of God so great so strong subtile and assiduous are our Spiritual Adversaries so many are those Difficulties Discouragements Diversions and Hindrances which we have to wrestle with and overcome in the way to Heaven that it concerneth us to give all diligence to advance in our Christian Course Once more there is so much promised that certainly a Man knoweth not what Christianity meaneth if he striveth not to be more holy So exact is our Rule and strict so holy is our God so great are our Obligations from all the Means and Providences of God that such a vain Conceit cannot possess the Soul of
afraid to be damned it is not God's displeasure they care for but their own safety The youngman went away sad and was grieved for he had great possessions Mark 10.22 Because he could not reconcile his Covetous mind with Christ's Institutes So Felix trembled being convinced of Sins which he was loath to discontinue and break off 3. They differ in their effects many men tremble at the word of God coming in upon their Hearts with power but this awakning worketh diversly Sometimes to a solicitous Anxiousness about the way of Salvation and then it is good as those Acts 2.37 And when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do That was a kindly work to desire to be further instructed and directed into the way of Life and Peace Sometimes to rage Acts 7.54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth they were vexed at the galling truths which Stephen delivered and the conviction that was upon them kindled their rage against him Sometimes it produceth nothing but dilatory excuses as here in Felix go thy way for this time when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee II. The cause of this trouble and Agony was the word wherein the matter and the manner is considerable 1. The matter is to be considered both generally and particularly 1. Generally the word of God or the Doctrine of Faith in Christ. It hath a convincing power 1 Partly because of its Author the impress of God is upon it it partaketh of his Properties Heb. 4.12 13. For the word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper than any two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do God searcheth the Heart and the word searcheth the Heart God is powerful and his word is powerful in discovering a Sinner to himself and bringing a Sinner out of his lurking Holes and taking off all disguises 2 Partly because of its clearness and evidence to a natural Conscience if it be not strangely stupified and blinded by fleshly Lusts 2 Cor. 4.2 3 4. By manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every Man's Conscience in the sight of God But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them This Scripture sheweth that the Gospel is light which will discover its self if Men do not shut their Eyes And if men refuse the Converting power they cannot withstand the Convincing power of it for the work of bringing home Souls to God lyeth more with their Lusts than with their Consciences 3 And chiefly because of the Concomitant Blessing God hath appointed the Word to be the great Instrument of Convincing and Converting the World and doth accompany it with his Grace and Spirit sometimes to one effect sometimes to another To Convincing Iohn 16.8 The Spirit shall convince the World of Sin and of Righteousness and of Iudgment If it doth no more it shall leave them under a conviction of the truth Sometimes to Conversion as 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. God concurreth with his own ordinance by his omnipotent and creating power 2. Particularly the Day of Judgment is to be insisted upon in our Ministry The Apostles in planting the Faith observeth this point of Wisdom to insist much upon the Judgment Day Acts 10.42 43. And he commanded us to preach unto the the people and to testifie that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of Quick and Dead And to him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of Sins This was the great point which his chosen Witnesses were to insist upon So also Acts 17.30 31. But now commandâ—th all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead The Apostles observed the Tempers of those they dealt with when with the brutish multitude they invite them by Arguments of Providence Acts 14.15 16 17. Sirs Why do ye these things We also are men of like passions with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God which made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that are therein Who in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways Nevertheless he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our Hearts with food and gladness When with the Learned he speaks of the first Cause and chief Good Acts 17.28 For in him we live move and have our being And binds all by his coming to Judgment ver 31. So he deals with Felix here he urges principles of known Dignity and Sobriety from the day of Judgment See also 2 Cor. 5.10 11. For we must all appear before the Iudgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the Body according to that he hath done whether good or evil Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men This was their great and powerful Argument Reasons 1. Because this made their access into the Hearts and Consciences of Men more easie because of its suitableness to natural Light That Man is God's Creature and therefore his Subject is evident by Reasons drawn from our dependance on the first Cause and Fountain of all Being That Man hath failed in his Subjection to his Creator and Lord is evident by daily experience that therefore God may call him to an account and Man should fear his wrath is a principle as evident as the former and justified by the guilty fears incident to Mankind because of their offences Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death Divine Justice must once publickly appear and rectifie the disorders of the World Now because of the sentiments of Nature the Doctrine of the final Judgment doth easily enter into the Thoughts and Conscienâ—ces of Men. 2. This doth most befriend the great discovery of the Gospel which is justification by Christ and pardon of Sin by submitting to his instruction If
took our Natures though the Crime of our first Parents had made it hateful to God and the consequent Miseries shewed it was not to be valued He that was a Judge of would become a Party and appear for us and answer in our Nature what might be required of us 3. It supports against the Terribleness of God's Majesty How can Men dwell with God Stubble with devouring Burnings If our Nature be taken into a personal Union with God it rendereth it more reconcilable to our Thoughts God incarnate born of a Virgin carried in the Womb rocked in a Cradle sucking of a Breast growing up by degrees going up and down and doing good when dying on the Cross lying in the Grave it mightily abateth our Fears 4. Against the pollution of our Natures which is so ingrained that it cannot be easily wrought off His own holy Nature is a Pledge of the Work of Grace He that separated our Nature in his own Person from all the pollution of his Ancestors he can purifie our Persons and heal our Natures how polluted soever So many as there are in the Story of Christ's Nativity Mat. 1. so many Miracles there are of Grace in that he prevented the Infection conveyed by such and such a one 5. Against the Mindlesness which Unbelief supposeth to be in God of Human Affairs especially of the Calamities of his People Now Christ hath taken the Communion of our Natures and Miseries as a pledge and sign of his Pity Heb. 2.17 He was made like his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-priest He would intender his Heart by Experience and inure himself to all our Sorrows 6. Against the doubt of Strangeness and that he will take no notice of our Request being so remote from him We may with the more confidence go to him with whom we communicate in Natures There is a natural Bond between him and us we are of the same Stock and Substance 7. Against the fear of Arrogancy in the assuming of the Priviledge of Adoption Surely he will bestow this Priviledge on a returning Sinner For if he be not ashamed to call us Brethren God will not be ashamed to be called our God Heb. 11.16 5 Use. Think of this for your Comfort We have an Unity with Christ in Nature that we may be encouraged to look after the Gifts which he dispenses that we may be one with him in Spirit We may the more chearfully come to him because he took our Nature for this end and purpose especially does this concern you that come to the Lord's Table The Meat that is set afore you is the Flesh of Christ his Humane Nature is the Food of your Souls It 's not enough that Christ the Son of God was partaker of our Flesh and Blood but we must also be partakers of his Flesh and Blood i. e. There must be a true Union and Communion with that Flesh and that Body and that Blood which Christ assumed into his Person and delivered up to Death for us all For Christ as the Son of Man in our Flesh is Head of the Mystical Body of which we are Members The Humane Nature is the Cistern in which the Spirit dwells without measure and of whose Fulness we all receive Grace for Grace that is the Temple in which the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily the Tree of Life whose Leaves heal the Nations In this Temple must we dwell into this Tree must we be grafted that we may become one with him and live by him So the Apostle tells us Eph. 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his Bones That is not only of one nature with him which is common to them with all Mankind but as Members of one Mystical Body with him Not as God but as God-man We all draw our Spiritual Life and Nourishment from those things which Christ has done in our Flesh. For this end was the Lord's Supper instituted that we might be partakers of the Flesh and Blood of Christ not only of Bread and Wine but Flesh and Blood it self How so Not with our Mouth and Teeth but Spiritually by Faith with an hungry Conscience and Spiritual desires That which we do receive is not only the benefits which flow from Christ but the very Body and Blood of Christ That is Christ himself Crucified As none can be partaker of the Virtue of the Bread and Wine to his Bodily sustenance unless he do first receive the Substance of those Creatures so neither can any be partaker of the benefits arising from Christ to his Spiritual relief except he first have Communion with Christ himself We must have the Son before we have Life 1 Iohn 5.12 He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life and we must eat him if we will live by him Iohn 6.57 Well then this is our great business to be partakers of Christ. Now in partaking of Christ we begin at his Humane Nature his Flesh and Blood Iohn 6.53 His Cross and his Death His Body and Blood 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ Christ as dying becomes fit Food for Hungry Sinners So only is he suitable to their necessities Certainly the hunger is not that of the body for a Meal but that of the Conscience for a Saviour In this sense the flesh profits nothing but the spirit quickens Iohn 6.62 A man is not better nor a jot the holier nor the further from the second Death if he had filled his Belly with it 'T is a Spiritual eating by Faith that brings quickning and Life an applying of Christ as a Saviour in our Nature Well then His Flesh was given as the price of Life Iohn 6.51 The Bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world This is the first receptacle of our Spiritual Life and being laid hold on by Faith is the Conduit to convey Life to us But the Author of all is his Spirit being and dwelling in us That same Flesh and Humane Nature of Christ which was offered up a ransom to justice is also the Bread of Life for Souls to feed upon tho' the quickning Efficacy and Virtue flow from the Godhead to which his Flesh is united 2. Doctrine That Christ having taken our nature upon him is not ashamed to accept and acknowledge us for Brethren What cause of shame there might be in it we intimated before in the Explication Notwithstanding our meanness and unworthyness and his own glory and excellency Divines observe That he never giveth his Disciples the title of Brethren but after his Resurrection before Servants little Children and Friends were their usual designations But then expresly he calleth them Brethren Servants Iohn 13.13 14. Ye call me Lord and Master and ye
so 1 Pet. 1.13 Be sober and hope to the end Draw off your Affections from Carnal Vanities or Delights of the Senses that you may more earnestly mind God and Heaven 2. Wait on all opportunities of profiting and use the known Means of Grace more conscionably These Graces indeed are not acquired but infused they are God's Gifts As for Faith Eph. 2.8 For by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God So for Love 1 Iohn 4.7 Beloved let us love one another for love is of God Not only recommended to us by his Example but wrought in us by his Spirit So for Hope Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill ye with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy-Ghost But God loveth to bless us by his own means which are the Word and Prayer 2 Use. Exercise these Graces Remember they are your Armour and Furniture for the Conflict when your Resolutions of Obedience to God are most assaulted or you are apt to be discouraged 1. When any Want Cross Sorrow or Tribulation overtaketh you upon Earth fetch your Comforts from God Christ and Heaven be sure that Faith Hope and Love be at work so the Children of God are wont to do in their deep Afflictions How calamitous soever our condition be Faith can see that there is comfort enough to be had in God Christ and the Covenant 1 Pet. 1.8 In whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory So for Hope Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation Though we are pressed with Wants and Miseries yet there is a better State to come And in the worst condition Love can rejoyce in God Hab. 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation 2. In some grievous Temptation whereby we are apt to wax weary in our Minds stir up these Graces Do I believe the Promises heartily love God and hope for his Salvation And shall his Service or my Fidelity to him be tedious to me When some present Delight inviteth us to Sin or some present Bitterness to draw us off from God in time of Temptation these Graces are seasonably acted to counterbalance Things carnal with spiritual Things present with future Heb. 11.35 They were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection A Sermon on Prov. xiv 14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways and a good man shall be satisfied from himself IN the Proverbs we must not look for Method and Coherence for these Sentences are not as Golden Links in a Chain hanging one to another but as Pearls in a String every Sentence is precious but independant of each other In this Proverb I shall take notice 1. Of the Drift of the Holy-ghost 2. The Art and Contrivance so as may best suit that Scope First The drift of the Holy-Ghost is the same with that of many other Scriptures and divers Passages in the Proverbs also which may serve for a Doctrine Doctr. That whether good or bad every one shall reap the Fruit of his own ways Isa. 3.10 11. Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with them for they shall eat the fruit of their own doings Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him To keep up the Hearts of that small company of godly Persons that yet remained among them God giveth them assurance of his goodness they shall fare well whatsoever befalleth others All things that happen shall be good or work for good to better their Hearts or hasten their Glory for they shall enjoy the Fruit of all their Labours But it is sure to go ill with the Wicked for he shall be rewarded according to what he hath wrought Lest you should think this a particular Promise to that time only Salomon maketh it the common Cordial of the Saints against the prosperity of the Wicked Eccles. 8.12 13. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God that fear before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God Wicked Men though they escape long they shall not escape always though Punishment be delayed it is at length executed and generally they do not live long Lest you think this is spoken Pro more faederis according to the tenor of the Mosaical Covenant where long Life is promised instead of Eternity and short Life threatned as a Curse Let us see what the Gospel saith where we have greater Encouragements to quicken us to hold fast our Integrity and go on steadily in our Obedience and patient waiting on God Rom. 6.21 22 23. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed For the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord. Where the different Recompences are asserted and the manner how they accrue to us Death to Sin as Wages and Life to Obedience as the meer Gift of God not merited by us but bountifully bestowed by him This is the drift of the Holy-Ghost to shew that different Courses have contrary Ends and Issues Secondly The Art and Contrivance of this short saying whereby this Truth may the better be insinuated into our Minds and here 1. I shall take notice that here are two different Persons spoken of The backslider in heart and The good man 2. That both desire to be filled or satisfied 3. That the one taketh his own Ways and the other God's Direction 4. That in the Event they are both filled but in a different sense 5. That rightly understood every one hath this from himself The Backslider is filled with his own Ways and the godly Person hath his own Choice and eats of the Fruit of his Doings I. Let us state the Character of these different Persons for that is the Clue to guide us to the understanding of all the rest for according to this the different Course and End must be determined Well then The backslider in heart and The good man are opposed First The backslider in heart is he that turneth his Heart from God and his Ways and daily groweth worse and worse The Word may be rendred doubly either Aversus Corde or Reversus Corde and so it is meant either of the ordinary wicked Person or of the Apostate the one turneth away from God after Counsel the other after Tryal 1. It is meant principally and chiefly of the ordinary wicked Person who turneth
therefore either glut themselves with Carnal Delights and are always making provision for the flesh to fullfil the Lust thereof Rom. 13.14 Cater for the Body but neglect the Soul or else they seek to joyn House to House and Field to Field Isai. 5.8 or to be built a story higher in the World They are of the Earth and incline to the Earth and therefore Earthly things are the height of their desires and they are filling and stuffing their Hearts with the Comforts of them more and more This is the Comfort they live upon the Happiness they effect The Godly Man he must be satisfied too He is a poor empty Creature and therefore is Hungring and Thirsting after righteousness that he may be filled Matth. 5.6 He must have more of God and more of Christ and more of Grace and therefore he is sucking and drawing and can never be satisfied till he be filled up with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.19 III. That they may be filled they take their several ways the one his own ways the other God's direction For of the Backslider it is said he shall be filled with his own ways He despiseth God's Counsel and taketh his own course to live a pleasant and Carnal Life here So by the same proportion the good Man that hath chosen God for his Portion taketh God's way and obeyeth the call and invitation of Wisdom First The Backslider in Heart shall be filled with his own ways That is such as suit with his own Carnal Heart 1. Naturally a Man is addicted to Carnal things more than Spiritual and to Worldly Vanity rather than Heavenly Enjoyments to the Creature rather than to God Why 1. Because they are in part necessary for our uses and so the natural Appetite desireth them as well as the inordinate Appetite which is corrupted by Sin Prosperity Plenty Wealth Honour Ease Pleasure are good for us if subordinated to Grace and better things Wisdom with an Inheritance is good Eccle. 7.11 And again Eccle. 5.18 'T is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his laâ—ours that he taketh under the Sun all the days of his life for it is his portion But alass Men are apt to exceed their bounds and become Enchanted with the false Happiness so that they neglect the true and sit down contented with their Worldly Portion and God and Eternity are little thought of or cared for 2. They are comfortable to our senses The sweetness of Wealth Honour and Pleasure is known by feeling and therefore known easily and known by all Now whilst the Soul dwelleth in the Flesh and looketh out by the Senses we soon receive the Teint which ariseth from sensible objects All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and pride of Life is not of the Father but is of the World 1 Iohn 2.16 3. They are suitable to our Fancies and Appetites For they that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 Every ones gust and tast is according to his Constitution 4. These Things are near us present with us and ready to be enjoyed whereas Spiritual and Heavenly Things are unseen and afar off But he that lacketh these Things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old Sins 2 Pet. 1.9 2. What is the issue of all this They love a Worldly a Sensual and Ungodly Life and 1 Religion is sleighted and neglected They live in an Oblivion of God The Wicked through the pride of his Countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts Psal. 10.4 The offers of Grace and Eternal Life are not regarded All Things are ready come unto the Marriage but they made light of it and went their ways one to his Farm another to his Merchandise Mat 23.4.5 2 Yea Religion and Godliness is cast off and Trampled upon For Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present World 2 Tim. 4.10 3 Or else opposed and persecuted and by none more than by those that once had some sense and tast of it Apostatae sunt maximi osores sui ordinis The Revolters are profound to make slaughters Hosea 5.2 By plausible pretences it is palliated and Counsels are laid deep to extirpate the Godly Apostates are most cruelly oppressive 4. Or if it be kept up it is only to hide and feed their Lusts making a Market of Religion and denying the power under the form of Godliness Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof 2 Tim. 3.5 And the Apostle speaketh of some that supposed gain to be Godliness 1. Tim. 6.5 That is made Religion an advantageous Trade When thou dost thine Alms do not sound a Trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the Streets that they may have glory of men Matth. 6.2 They did it to be seen of Men And Luke 16.15 And he said unto them ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your Hearts for what is highly esteemed among men is Abomination in the sight of God 5. They lead a life of pomp and ease wallowing in all manner of Sin and Sensuality as the Carnal Rich Men are described Iames 5.1 2 3 4 5 verses to be such as lived in all Voluptuousness Uncleannness and Oppression These are the ways from whence do they suck all their pleasure and contentment and therewith glut and fill themselves more and more some in a more gross others in a more cleanly manner Secondly It is implyed that the good Man seeketh God's direction for he is opposed to him that despiseth God's Counsels Now God giveth this Counsel by his word and spirit 1. In the Word In the Scripture God hath shewed us true Happiness and the way to it which was a secret and a Riddle to the World before True Happiness is but one Thing but the World seeketh it in many Things Two Hundred Eighty Eight Opinions were reckoned up and none lighted upon the Truth and therefore we run about and weary our selves in a maze of uncertainty How long wilt thou go about O backsliding Daughter Ier. 31.22 Experience will tell us that nothing in the Creature will make us completely Blessed 'T is but labour in vain to seek it there Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Isa. 55.2 And the many Religions in the World prove not the Remedy of Mankind but the Disease Only in Christ's Religion is the True rest and ease and repose of Souls Ier. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your Souls Matth. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and
your Redemption 2 Use Hath Christ taken upon him to carry away Sin Then here is Instruction 1. To the Careless Certainly he that seeketh after benefit by Christ must be one that is not a Stranger to himself one that knoweth and is acquainted with the case of his own Heart and Life one that is sensible of his Sins and corrupt Inclinations and the guilt and burden that lieth upon him one that mourneth under the fears of God's displeasure Will Christ ease a Man of a Burden that he feeleth not A sensless sleepy Soul hath not Work for Christ to do He inviteth those that see a need of Mercy Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest 2. To those who are afflicted in Conscience for Sin Remember you must be not only sensible of the guilt of Sin but the stain of it and look after not only Peace but Healing Isa. 53.5 With his stripes we are healed It is not a sound Cure that aimeth only at the asswaging of the Grief but the Distemper must be removed Mountebanks only stop the Pain but let alone the Cause such a Cure would they have who are more earnest for Ease and Comfort than for Grace Sin in some sense is worse than Damnation Remember then this is the Undertaking of our blessed Redeemer will he come in vain and miss of his End Consider the Merit of his Humiliation what a Price he hath paid for sanctifying Grace 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot This Price was not given only to heighten our Esteem of the Priviledge but to encrease our Confidence And consider the Power of his Exaltation Acts 3.26 God having raised up his son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Having paid our Ransom he is gone into Heaven fully furnished and impowred to free from Sin all that consent to receive this Benefit But what shall we do that we may have the actual Benefit 1. Seek the Pardon of Sin in the way of Repentance confessing your Sins with brokeness of Heart 1 Iohn 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Sue out his Grace and turn to the Lord. Repentance lieth not in a feigned Wish only that Sin had not been done but in a change of Mind Heart and Life in a hatred to Sin repented of and a love to God and Holiness Man's Fall was specially in point of Love and his Recovery must be a Recovery of Love to God again Your Love to Sin must be turned into an Hatred of Sin the Soul must be not only turned from Sin but against it Repentance is most seen in our Love and Hatred 2. Seek the subduing of Sin in a diligent use of Means There is a Spirit purchased by Christ to begin the Life of Grace and to carry it on with success to heal and renew our Natures and to strengthen them being heal'd and renew'd Now we must not by our carelesness negligence or other Sin provoke the Lord to withdraw from us and suspend his Grace but humbly implore his Favour wait for his Approaches and attend and obey his sanctifying Motions God is willing to give the Spirit to them that ask him as a Father is to give an hungry Child bread Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him We make our selves uncapable of this help by grieving the Spirit Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption When we are so easie to the Requests of Sin and so deaf to his Motions he ceaseth to give us warning There are certain Ordinances whereby this Grace is conveyed to us and Christ died to sanctifie them to us Eph. 5.25 26. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word These Ordinances are the Word and Sacraments by the use of which Sin receiveth a new wound The Word is for cleansing the Soul Iohn 15.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you Baptism must be improved for the washing away of Sin Acts 22.16 Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins A Man forgetteth his Baptism that is neglecteth it if he be not purged from Sin 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins That is he hath made no use and received no benefit by his Baptism In the Lord's Supper we remember the Death of Christ as the Price given for the Life of our Souls as a Spectacle that may affect us with the Odiousness of Sin as an occasion of renewing our Covenant with God and binding our selves afresh to his service and as a means to stir up our Love to God and so by consequence our hatred of Sin Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil And to awaken our hopes and so of purifying the Soul 1 Iohn 3.3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure Here is delivered to the believing Soul a sealed Pardon of all Sin Matth. 26.28 This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins And we wait for the Application of his mortifying and renewing Grace 3. If the first Attempt succeed not yet afterwards Sin may be subdued and broken In natural Things we do not sit down with one Tryal and one Endeavour a Man that will be rich pierceth himself through with many Sorrows 1 Tim. 4.10 and after many miscarriages pursue their Designs till they compleat them and shall we give over our waiting and striving because we cannot presently find success That sheweth our Will is not fully bent and set upon the thing we seem to desire In the face of Discouragements we must venture again Luke 5.5 Master we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing nevertheless at thy command I will let down the neâ— God's Grace is free and his holy Leisure must be waited for it was long e're God got us to this pass to be sensible of our Burden or anxiously solicitous about our Soul Distempers We must lie at the Pool for cure the Spirit bloweth when and where it listeth Iohn 3.8 The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the spirit He that begun the
the children of God He witnesseth objectively and effectively Per modum Argumenti per modum Efficientis Causa By way of Argument and by way of Causal Efficiency Objectively if I have the Spirit of God framing my Heart to love and honour and fear and obey him and delight in câ—mmunion with him surely I am a Child of God for where these are sincere love to God prevaileth 1 Iohn 4 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit There he speaketh of Love to God and so for Honour it is else but an empty Title Mal. 1.6 If I then be a father where is mine honour If I be a master where is my fear So for Fear or Child-like Reverence that we dare not offend him Psal. 103.13 As a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him His Children and those that fear him are equivalent Expressions 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye call on the father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear I illustrate by that Ier. 35.6 And they said we will drink no wine for Ionadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying Ye shall drink no wine neither ye nor your sons for ever So for Obedience 1 Pet. 1.14 As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance Eph. 5.1 Be ye followers of God as dear children So for delighting in communion with him Rom. 8.15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father Gal. 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba father This 〈◊〉 most felt in Prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications Rom. 8.26 Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Jude 20. But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost Here we have the nearest familiarity with God whilst we dwell in the Flesh and our Souls are carried to God as light Bodies move upward This is the matter of the Evidence but the Spirit giveth a sight or sense of this if he be not grieved and ill treated but his sanctifying Motions be obeyed he sheddeth abroad the Love of God in our Hearts and filleth us with much Joy and Peace 3. If this be faithfully done and there be no other reason to break our Confidence the bare Affliction or the greatness and grievousness of your Afflictions should not For these sharp Afflictions are not only consistent with this Relation as the Instance of Christ sheweth but also it is an act of his Fatherly Love and Discipline The Exhortation speaketh to us as Children Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. Ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons God's Children must look to be chastened neither must our Father's hand be slighted nor must we faint under it It is an act of love and kindness to us that he will not suffer us to go on in our Sins God seemeth to cast off them whom he leaveth to their own Hearts lusts Hosea 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone But he loveth whom he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth The Rod of Correction will not wholly be laid aside while God's Children are in the Flesh In Heaven where there are no Dangers there is no use of it any more because then we are fully and perfectly sanctified but here you must be content to submit to the discipline of the Family Certainly you must not question his Love because something falleth out contrary to your desires God is a Father when he frowneth and when he smileth he is the God of the Valleys as well as of the Hills and Mountains his Love doth not alter with our condition the comfort of Adoption is not for such a time only 4. Because of our imperfection both in Holiness and Comfort we must submit to the Authority of a Father when we cannot see our Interest in his special Fatherly Love Alas most are so ill settled in the Peace and Comfort of the Gospel that every notable Affliction reviveth our guilty Fears as the Sareptan said to Elijah when her Child died Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son 1 King 17.18 She looked upon that sad Providence as a Judgment for her Sins so if God awakeneth in us a Spirit of Bondage Besides there is none of us but may justifie God that he is not needlesly severe yea some have so sinned that though they be not Filii irae Children of Wrath yet they are Filii sub irâ Children under Wrath though they need no Regeneration or Conversion yet they have grieved the good Spirit of God by walking inordinately therefore their business is to submit to the Authority of God justly correcting and punishing them for Sins Micah 7.9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him And by unfeigned Repentance to renew their Claim and promise greater Loyalty and Fidelity for the future Ier. 3.19 Thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me They must get their Wounds healed make up the Breach between God and them sue out their Pardon in the name of Christ and get a renewed Grant of it and a sense of their Adoption 5. If hitherto you have been quite Strangers to God such Providences may be an occasion to begin the Relation before they are over as they are helps to Repentance and Recovery Upon the serious working of your Souls the Lord may be found as a Father and admit you into his Family It is said The Lord loveth whom he chasteneth Heb. 12 6. There is a twofold Love in God the Love of Benevolence and the Love of Complacency the one while we are Sinners the other after he hath made us amiable Some God chooseth in the Fire or Furnace of Affliction Isa. 48.10 Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction The hot Furnace is God's Workhouse the most excellent Vessels of Honour are formed there Manasseh Paul the Iaylor in the Acts When the Prodigal began to be in
all forgiven it is all expiated by my Merit 2 Use. This affords much comfort to humbled Sinners Take Christ as freely as he freely offereth himself for you he resigned up himself to Death and will not you resign up your selves by Faith He poured out his Soul to Death and will not you pour out your Souls into his Bosom Consider all the Persons of the Trinity are willing and wiâ—l not you The Father gave him Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Christ gave himself Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me The Spirit is willing he is grieved with your neglect and refusal Mat. 23.37 How often would I have gathered thy children together as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not Oh! pour out your Souls in Faith and Prayer as Christ did his upon the Cross. 3 Use. Let us learn to imitate Christ at the close of his Life he said It is finished and so bowed the Head and gave up the Ghost Believers have a Joy set before them as well as Christ it is not so with wicked Men they cannot say that with them it is begun their Heaven endeth when they come to die but God's People should take Death chearfully if they can say as Christ Iohn 17.4 Father I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work that thou gavâ—st me to do Let the Death be violent or natural it is aâ—l one whether we are a Peace-Offering or a Burnt-Offering there is more of Man's Maâ—ice in a vioâ—ent Death but it cannot hurt us But alas Men generally do not live as if they did look to die and therefore they do not die as if they did look to live and so here they would not dâ—e and there they would not live A SERMON UPON ECCLES VII 29 But they sought out many Inventions THERE are two things in this Scripture 1. The Righteousness of God in his Work about Men God made Man upright 2. Man's perverse Subtilty in inventing Ways of Backsliding and Apostacy from God But they sought out many Inventions From this latter part observe Doct. That Man fell from the Integrity of his first Estate and is ever since full of evil and fruitless Inventions I. I shall speak to this Point as it is represented in the Text. II. Give some Considerations as to the general Case 1. The Persons they the Expression was singular before God made Adam upright but now plural not only to include both our first Parents but all their Posterity Adam had his Invention and all his Posterity theirs The Devil inspired Adam with a sad and doleful Invention to go about to find out another Happiness than God had appointed Adam could not content himself with this kind of Happiness but fancied to himself an higher Perfection and yielded to follow these new-devised Ways of Blessedness which Satan and his own deceived Heart did suggest to him And this Invention hath invented and found out all the Sin and Misery under which the World groaneth As Adam had his Invention so all his Posterity theirs We are inventing still to make our selves more miserable The least Ebolitions of Sin are expressed in the Old Testament by Imaginations in the New by Lusts. In the Old Testament by Imaginations Jer. 18.12 And they said There is no Hope but we will walk after our own Devices and we will every one do the Imagination of his evil Heart Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually In the New by Lusts James 1.14 But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own Lust and enticed Titus 3.3 For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers Lusts. Not only the desiring but the understanding Faculty is corrupt Therefore 't is said Prov. 1.31 They shall eat the Fruit of their own Way and be filled with their own Devices Jer. 6.19 Behold I will bring upon this People even the Fruit of their Thoughts Meaning the Evil which their own Devices and Practices had procured to themselves Every one of us have our Devices Ways and Haunts of Sin whereby we make our selves more wretched and sinful 2. Their Act They sought out that sheweth the Voluntariness and Studiousness of Man's Defection it is their own Act and Deed and their Hearts are set upon it It is said Ionah 2.8 They that observe lying Vanities forsake their own Mercies They set their Minds a-work prostitute their Reason to their Senses All Mens Projects what do they tend to but the Satisfaction of their own Lusts to cater for the Body and gratify the Animal Life Making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 Taking thought what they shall eat or what they shall drink Mat. 6.25 Their Care is about the base and brutish Part more than about the Soul how to adorn the Body and gratify the Body and for this the Soul must be made a Slave There is a perverse Diligence in Men to corrupt themselves 3. The Object with its Number Many Inventions There is some difference in the Translations Ludovicâ—â— de Dieâ— because the Word for many signifieth also great and mighty rendreth it Ipsi autem quâ—siverunt cogitationes magnatum meaning by the Mighty the Angels who were not contented with their own Station but forsook it Iude v. 6. Certain it is the Devil's first Temptation was Gen. 3.5 Ye shall be as Gods that is advance into a more honourable and noble Condition than now you are in These Thoughts being suggested by Satan they ambitiously entertained them The Vulgar readeth it Se infinâ—tis miscuit quaestionibus Adam at first out of Curiosity would know Good and Evil and ever since we have been sick of Questions questioning this and questioning that and have no clear Light to guide us The Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they sought out many Ratiocinations We grope in a maze of Uncertainties and so intangle our selves the more Our Heavenly Wisdom is lost by our Sin and Rebellion and instead thereof we have gotten a false Carnal Wisdom which is Enmity to God Rom. 8.7 and only inclineth us to a false Happiness Iames 3.15 to the Pleasures Honours and Profits of the present World and so are given up to an injudicious Mind and are left in the Hands of our own Counsel which is the heaviest Plague that can light upon a reasonable Creature Psal. 81.11 12. But my People would not hearken to my Voice and Israel would none of me so I gave them up unto their own Hearts Lusts and they walked in their own Counsels For our own Wisdom is an ill Guide and Counsellor and will never guide us aright in the Way to true Happiness but lead us into â—ogs and Pits and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts. But keeping more closely to
deceived that embraced the Christian Religion that took such Pains in subduing the Flesh so freely hazarded their Interests and Life it self on the Promises of Christ and the Hopes of another World Are the wisest Men the World ever saw Fools and the Ordinances of Christ a customary Superstition and these Rejoicings and Foretastes of the Children of God a meer Deceit and Imposture Surely it cannot be Therefore this is true that the Soul dieth not with the Body but is in that Estate into which God disposeth it II. By the Light of Reason First I shall urge such Arguments as the Scripture directeth us to 1. From the Nature of the Soul it is a Spirit and such a Principle of Life as hath Light in it John 1.4 In him was Life and the Life was the Light of Men. The Soul of Man differeth from the Soul of a Beast for that hath only Life and Sense in it but this hath Light and therefore was designed to more noble and glorious Ends than merely to quicken and enliven the Body The Soul of the Beasts is mortal because it is created only to serve the Body and knoweth nothing desireth nothing delighteth in nothing but what belongeth to the Pleasure and Welfare of the Body But now the Soul of Man apprehendeth things past present and to come is capable of Tongues Arts and Sciences and things abstract from bodily Sense it can discourse about God Angels and all kind of spiritual Beings about Eternity and Immortality and propound and debate Questions and Doubts concerning the World to come The Beasts look only to their Food and the Propagation of their Kind they know nothing and can conceive nothing of Man's Affairs But now Man's Soul is not only capable of being enobled and improved by Moral Vertues and such things as fit us for Humane Society but is capable also of Conformity to God by being made holy and upright and of Communion with him in holy Duties and Acts of Grace 1 John 1.3 And truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. The Beasts desire not the Company of Men as we do of God and of the blessed Spirits In short there is a greater Affinity between the Souls of Men and Angels than between the Souls of Beasts and Men Psal. 8.9 Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels Well then can it be imagined the Souls of Men furnished with such Capacities of Understanding are nothing but a little Puff of Air that is dissipated in dying or a little vital Heat that is extinguished with the Corporeal Matter or only the Vigour of the Blood That Soul that can so much soar aloft above the Interests and Concernments of the Body and take such a marvellous Delight and Contentment in spiritual things as the view of all manner of Truths must that follow the State of the Body Shall that Creature that cometh so near the Angels die like the Beasts or rather become like the Angels of God that always behold his Face Yea that Creature that draweth so near to God in the Majesty of his Person and the Abilities of his Mind that was created after God's own Image and for the Worship and Service and Enjoyment of God shall he die as the Beasts that perish It cannot be imagined 2. The Scripture mentions Words that imply its Independance upon the Body or that it doth not so wholly depend on the Body that it cannot subsist and act without it they go several ways as in the Text. 3 John â— 2. I wish above all things that thou maist prosper and be in Health as thy Soul prospeâ—eth 2 Cor. 4.16 For which cause we faint not but though our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed Day by Day And Experience teacheth the Truth of these things that the Body and Soul seem sometimes to have no Communion with one another so different are their Functions and Offices You shall often see Men decrepit in all the Members of the Body who yet have the Motions of their Minds as strong and as nimble as when in perfect Health and when they are upon the Borders of Death without Vigour and Pulse their Understandings are more sublime than before and their Thoughts more refined It is true the Indispositions of the Body clog the Soul in things that are to be acted by the Body but in what the Soul acteth apart in the midst of Aches and Pains their Strength of Mind is entire and their Comforts never more raised than in bodily Weakness Therefore it lives and acts apart from the Body 3. The Scripture directs us to this Argument that this is the general Perswasion of all Mankind that there is a Life after Death and it instanceth in that that is most sensible and of every Day 's Experience our Desires and Fears 1. Desires The Soul hath a natural desire of Immortality which if it should not enjoy that Desire were in vain but God doth nothing in vain The Apostle intimateth this how Men feel about for something eternal and infinite Acts 17.27 That they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him Every Man would be happy and eternally happy for otherwise he would be tormented with a fear of losing that which he counteth his Happiness See Psal. 4.6 Who will shew us any Good Lord lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us Mat. 13.45 â—6 The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls who when he had found one Pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it John 6.34 Lord evermore give us this Bread Numb 23.10 Let me die the Death of the Righteous Other Creatures besides Man are satisfied with what they have here but the Soul of Man is satisfied with nothing but the eternal Injoyment of what is good an immortal Estate an infinite Good Every one that loveth himself would be happy and if he could everlastingly happy The Saints and those that are taught of God pitch upon the right Way Psal. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness But this is the universal Inclination of all Mankind Whence cometh this Desire to be so universal if there be nothing to satisfy it Every natural Appetite was given us for some Purpose and have things designed for their Satisfaction and therefore there is that Immortality we all seek after not in our Bodies they must return to their Earth not in Fancy that is a Sâ—adow this is like the Pleasure which those take that want Children in playing with little Dogs it lieth in the Soul in the eternal Injoyment of God 2. Fears which presage and foretel such an Estate to our great Disquiet Conscience fears a Judgment after this Life Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the Iudgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death And a State of Misery to come
Son of God Rom. 1.4 Declared to be the Son of God with Power by the Resurrection from the dead The true Messiah and Judg of the World Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead If he had been an Impostor neither could he have raised up himself being a mere Man nor would God have raised him up for we cannot imagine that Divine Providence would cooperate to countenance a Lie or Cheat. As then you would not be found Enemies to Christ in his Imperial Day give him Glory and Dominion If you slight him you despise one that is evidently declared to be the Son of God and there is no Medium either he must be your loving Saviour or your terrible Judg. If you neglect him he will not be the first-born from the dead to you nor the first-Fruits to you The first-Fruits did not bless the Tares or the Cockle or Darnel or filthy Weeds but only the good Corn though raised again you shall be by his Judicial Power Again he is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth and therefore highly to be respected Respect to great Ones and fawning upon great Ones is the practice of all the World all will seek the Ruler's Face As all Rivers run to the Sea so do all the Respects of the World to the Great and the Mighty And is not the Son of God worthy of our Respects that is sat down at the right Hand of Majesty above all If we did live by Faith as much as by Sense we would see it is our Interest as well as our Duty to honour Christ we would not fear a mortal Man that can threaten us with a Prison but Christ who can threaten us with Hell nor be dismayed at the Frowns of Men when Christ smiles Who would not fear thee O Lord and glorify thy Name Rev. 15.4 We would yield up our selves to be his willing Subjects and obey his Laws who can reward us not with Temporal Dignities but Eternal Life The Authority and Power that all others have is but derived from Christ and subordinate to him therefore if he smiles whose Frowns need we fear He is the one Law-giver that hath Potestatem Vitae Necis Power of Life and Death he is able to destroy absolutely and you may be safe in his Protection Well then if we consider what he is he deserveth everlastingly to be honoured II. What he hath done for us He loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood And there we begin First With the Fountain and Bosom-cause of all and that is Christ's Love To him that loved us 1. Christ's Love is the Ground of Man's Redemption that stirred all the Causes and set them a-work that concurred to this End Other Attributes were manifested in the Redemption of Mankind as God's Wisdom Power Justice Holiness but they are all subservient to Love but Love is at the upper end of all Causes subservient to nothing but it self If you ask a reason of other things it may be assigned but if you ask a reason of his Love that cannot be given but from it self If the question be Wherefore did God discover such Riches of Wisdom Goodness and Power for the saving poor worthless Creatures He loved us Iohn 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son Wherefore did Jesus Christ submit to such bitter Agonies such an accursed Death He loved us Ephes. 5.2 Walk in Love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savour Ephes. 5.25 Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it And Gal. 2.20 Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me But now put the question Wherefore did he love us Love only is the reason of it self He loved us because he loved us Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord did not set his Love on you nor choose you because ye were more in number than any People c. but because the Lord loved you 2. As it is the Fountain-Cause so it was that Property that shined forth most conspicuously in the Work of Redemption Rom. 5.8 God commendeth his Love toward us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us And therefore this is that which we should most admire and be ravished with in our Thoughts Here next to the Description of the Excellency of Christ's Person the first thing mentioned in the Doxology it self is this To him that loved us This is a comfortable Word as if Jesus would be described and known by nothing so much as by his Love What was the Son of God but Love incarnate Love born of a Virgin Love conversing in the World and preaching Salvation to poor Sinners Love going about and doing Good Love relieving the Diseased and the Possessed curing the Deaf and the Dumb and the Blind and the Lame and finally Love dying and hanging on the Cross God is Love 1 John 4.8 The Angels in Heaven adore this Love tho Spectators not Parties interested he came not for their sakes but ours only We have a little notional knowledg of it but could we once find the saving Effects of God's Love in Christ impressed upon our Hearts by the Spirit how would you be melted and ravished and ever be thinking what Glory and Honour you might bring to him that thus loved you You and I may discourse of it it is not a few cold Thoughts of the Love of Christ will work on us but the shedding of this Love abroad in your Hearts by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 There is no Knowledg like the experimental Knowledg which ariseth from the felt and known Effects of this Love this would awaken your Hopes fill you with solid Comfort excite you to your Duty 2 Cor. 5.14 For the Love of Christ constraineth us However till you have this the Means you must use are sound Belief and serious Consideration 1 st Imbracing by Faith the Love of God in Christ and the good things prepared by it as they are revealed and offered in the Gospel That is the way to get this fuller Insight and experimental Knowledg and Feeling of this Love for so the Apostle prayeth Ephes. 3.17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith that ye being rooted and grounded in Love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledg 1 John 4.16 We have known and believed the Love which God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 2 dly The serious Contemplation and
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me Now it is a blessed thing to see what we love and possess what we see The Priests here though they do not worship an unknown God yet they worship an unseen God The Romans when they brake into the Sanctum Sanctorum and saw no Image there gave out that the High-Priest did worship the Clouds The World suspecteth the God whom we worship but there we see him Face to Face with a clear and distinct Vision 2 Cor. 5.7 For we walk by Faith not by Sight There Vision succeedeth in the room of Faith Fruition of Hope and perfect Love of that weak Adherence which now we put forth towards God If God should suffer himself to be seen by his Creature in the Condition to which Sin hath reduced him it would prove rather a ground of Fear and Astonishment than of Love and Fruition or else the Majesty must be clouded with some Allay of Condescention which would not sufficiently reveal him to us The immediate Presence of God which is our Felicity in Heaven would be our Misery upon Earth The Scripture telleth us Exod. 33.20 No Man shall see him and live And Manoah Judg. 13.22 We shall surely die because we have seen God We cannot look upon this glorious Sun but we are in danger of losing our Life together with our Sight The Scripture sometimes maketh God to dwell in Darkness sometimes in Light inaccessible to note the Incapacity of our Faculties and the incomprehensible Splendor of his glorious Majesty We are not able to pierce through this Darkness or endure this Light But the Majesty of God is not there formidable but comfortable for we shall behold the glorious God in a glorified Estate both of Soul and Body 2. We shall serve him perfectly and without Weakness Weariness and Distraction 1. Here is Weakness What dull and low Conceptions have we of God! What heartless irreverent and poor Expressions of his glorious Excellency whenever we come to worship before him such as should make us ashamed to open our Lips before the Lord Isai. 6.5 Wo is me for I am undone saith the Prophet Isaiah for I am a Man of unclean Lips and I dwell in the midst of a People of unclean Lips for mine Eâ—es have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Or as Iob 40.4 Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my Hand upon my Mouth The best of God's Servants when their Eyes are but a little opened to see the Glory of that God they speak to how sensible would they be of the Shortness of their Apprehension and Expressions of that God they speak to Alas how can such narrow Hearts frame an Apprehension or receive an Impression of such an infinite Greatness and eternal Goodness as there is in God! But when we shall see him as he is then we shall better praise him and conceive more sutably of him 2. Here is Weariness and we cannot endure long under our weak Duties neither as to the Frame of Body nor Mind but there God in Communion is always new and fresh to us every Moment And the more we look upon the Object the more is the Faculty fortified and strengthened in conversing with God Matth. 18.10 In Heaven their Angels do always behold the Face of my Father which is in Heaven The blessed Spirits are never weary of beholding God and injoying his glorious Presence 3. Here is Distraction We pretend when we worship God to leave the World and turn the back upon all things else and to set our selves before the Throne of God but alas we bring the Flesh along with us and that will have its Excursions and so our Hearts are stolen away from under Christ's own Arm We mingle Sulphur with our Incense groan under divers Infirmities We cannot do what we would do Gal. 5.17 But there is nothing to divert us from thinking of God there is no Blemish in Priest or Sacrifice nothing will appear in us displeasing unto God which is a Comfort in our present Weaknesses 3. We shall then serve God uninterruptedly for there shall be no Impediment of Business nor Need of Sleep Here earthly Occasions straiten Christ and crowd up his Interest in the Soul and we spend almost half our time in Sleep not shewing one Act of Thankfulness to God but then we shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thess. 4. 17. We shall always stand before his Throne of Glory and abide in his blessed Presence Our Labour shall not need Repose nor shall the Night ever draw a Curtain upon that Day There will be no Miseries Wants and Necessities to distract us and take off our Minds The whole Strength of our Souls is carried out to God and our time is spent wholly and only in worshipping and serving God Constant and perpetual solemn Service is a Celestial Privilege and they that serve God most uninterruptedly come nearest Heaven For there Christ is ever with us and we ever with him 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. When absent from the Body we are present with the Lord and shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth 4. There we are admitted into a nearer Communion with God than now in this mortal Estate We draw nigh to him now but we are not so nigh but there is some Distance But in the Palace of Glory our Approach will be so near as to take away all Distance and we shall have immediate and full Communion with God Now God is in Heaven and we upon Earth we receive no more of God than an Ordinance can convey to us Here and there he droppeth in a little Comfort and Quickening into the Soul the Pipe cannot convey much and the Vessel can hold less the Means are narrow and the Person is not capacitated to be filled up with all the Fulness of God But then the Lord will do his Work by himself the means shall not straiten him God will communicate himself without Means and be instead of all Means he will be all in all and therefore will communicate his Grace in full Perfection The more we draw nigh to God here the more like him Moses while he conversed with God in the Mount his Face shone Christ was transformed in his Prayers Luke 9.29 And as he prayed the Fashion of his Countenance was altered and his Raiment was white and glistering So by Proportion in Heaven the nearer we draw to God the more we injoy of him 1 Iohn 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Perfection of Holiness is the Glory and Happiness of the Saints in Heaven As Iron by lying in the Fire seemeth to be all Fire when it is red hot the Qualities of Fire are imprinted on it So we by being
the poor Saints which are at Jerusalem What is in our Translation to make a Contribution for the Saints is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a Communion or Communication So 2 Cor. 8.4 Praying us with much Intreaty that we would receive the Gift and take upon us the Fellowship of the ministring to the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So 2 Cor. 9.13 And for your liberal Distribution unto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So here the Communication of the Spirit If you will render it Communion this is the great Effect of the Love of God and the Grace of Christ that we are made Members of Christ's Mystical Body by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one Spirit we are are all baptized into one Body And so are united to the Head and to one another by this Bond of Union The Church is a Mystical Body whereof Christ is the Head and the Holy Ghost is as it were the Heart of it the one guideth this great Body the other quickneth it Now in this Mystical Body we actually come to the Participation of what Christ hath purchased for us by the Holy Ghost 4. These make way one for another or work into each others hand for what the Father intended Christ purchased and the Spirit applieth God the Father is as the Fountain of Grace Jesus Christ as the Conduit or Pipe to convey it to us and the Holy Ghost the immediate Operator and Worker of it The Father of his good Pleasure electing Sinners to Grace and Glory the Son by his Obedience and Sufferings purchasing it that it may be brought about in a Way convenient for God's Honour the Spirit by his Virtue and Power working Grace in them There is not a different Effect from the Father which is not from the Son and from the Son which is not from the Spirit but they concur in an united Way that what cometh from the Father cometh from the Son and the Spirit the Father makes way for the Son's Work and the Son for the Spirit 's So back again the Spirit is said to honour the Son Iohn 16.14 He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you And the Son is said to glorify the Father Iohn 14.13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son The Spirit acts as sent by Christ and Christ as sent by the Father This is necessary to be regarded by us because as our Salvation in the general is from the Father through the Son by the Spirit so in all our Commerce with God God the Father as a Judg by the Spirit of Bondage sendeth us to Christ as Mediator and Christ as Mediator by the Spirit of Adoption sends us back again to God as a Father It is a great Help to Prayer Eph. 2.18 For through him we both have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father To whom are we praying To God as a Father Whence have we hopes of Audience By Christ. Who giveth us an Heart to come The Spirit II. The Reasons why they concur 1. That we may have the higher Esteem of the Work which hath such Agents concerned in it It is no slight thing to bring about the Salvation of lost Sinners all the Persons of the Godhead are at work about it and shall not we who are the Parties interested be employed about it also God is in good earnest for therefore before all Worlds he employed the Riches of his Wisdom and Grace to save us in this convenient Way 1 Pet. 1.20 Who verily was fore ordained before the Foundation of the World but was manifest in these last Times for you And who are we that the Thoughts of God should be taken up about us so long ago Jesus Christ hath spared no Pains to accomplish the Work of our Redemption but freely offered himself to this Work Heb. 10.7 Lo I come to do thy Will O God He repented not his Undertaking but was fully contented if Souls may be saved Isa. 53.11 He shall see of the Travail of his Soul and shall be satisfied And the Holy Spirit continueth striving with us though often grieved by our Obstinacy and Disobedience Gen. 6.3 My Spirit shall not always strive with Man Isa. 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Many a Conviction do we smother and often check and resist his Motions yet he is importunate to prevail with us 2. That our Hearts may be raised to give equal Glory to all the Persons concerned We must honour the Son as we honour the Father as it is expresly said Ioh. 5.23 That all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that hath sent him There is an Honour due to God only not to be given to any other Christ is equal with the Father in participating this Honour he is to have the same Glory of Believing Love Fear and Invocation So also for the Spirit he is an Object of Invocation for as the Apostle wisheth and desireth Love from the Father and Grace from Christ so a liberal Distribution and Communication of Gifts and Graces from the Spirit Now to excite us to give this due Respect to all the Persons every one concurreth in his way to promote our final Happiness and Salvation The Father deserveth this Esteem from us Many think of God the Father as all Wrath and Justice difficult to be reconciled to Man and of the second Person of the Trinity as more gracious and merciful No the Love of God is the Original of our Redemption God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all Rom. 8.32 And God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses to them 2 Cor. 5.19 And the Father himself loveth you John 16.27 Christ came to shew the amiable Nature of God Being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1.3 Then for the Lord Jesus in Christ the Glory and Riches of the Grace of God doth more eminently and palpably appear This is the Contemplation of the Saints Iohn 1.14 And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only-begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Ephes. 3.18 19. That ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height and to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledg that ye might be filled with all the Fulness of God Heb. 3.1 Wherefore holy Brethren Partakers of the Heavenly Calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Iesus Christ. His Grace thus condescending to Men is more eminently seen Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us And Rev. 1.5 To him who loved us and washed us from
the Apostles given to him that he might trouble and vex them and not suffer them to have any rest but God would turn it to an Holy Use to purge you from your dross your worldly and carnal Affections Sathan desireth to trouble us but thereby God doth cleanse and refine us He would have liberty to do his worst to drive you from the Faith of Christ but though somewhat of that is granted to him yet the power of the Devil is limited both as to tempting and hurting Cribratione Satanae non perditur sed purgatur frumentum The Corn is not spoiled but cleansed by Satans sifting 2. Here is Comfort propounded to sustain them under this great danger where observe two things 1. The means of disappointing Sathan I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not 2. The Event delivered in the form of a Direction Peter should recover out of this lapse and be a means to strengthen others And when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren 1. The means of disappointing Satan I have prayed for thee c. Mark to Sathans desires there are opposed Christs Prayers There is more force in Christs Prayers than in Sathans Temptations More particularly consider 1. Who prayeth 2. For whom he prayeth 3. For what 1. Who prayeth Jesus Christ the Mediator and Advocate of his People The Devil is the Accuser but Christ the Advocate to whose Mediation and Intercession it must alone be ascribed that we do not finally miscarry Christ is ready to pray for he knoweth the Heart of a Tempted Man Heb. 2.17 18. Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted And his Prayer is effectual Iohn 11.42 And I know that thou hearest me alwaies Christ doth not only perfume our Prayers or stay till we pray for our selves but prevents them by his own Intercession when he foresees the danger 2. For whom he prayeth I have prayed for thee that is for Peter What for him only No but the rest of the Disciples also The Remedy was prepared for them before the Tryals came and the Plaister fitted before the Wound was made But was it for the Apostles only No but for all Believers Iohn 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word Christ here upon Earth did pray first for the Colledge of the Apostles and then for all Believers So in Heaven he hath a watchful care over us that we may not faint under the Temptations of Sathan 3. For what he prayeth That thy faith fail not that is may not utterly miscarry Here observe 1. The Grace prayed for Faith The Grace most necessary and upon which other things depend All matters that concern Christ and his Kingdom depend upon Faith 2 Pet. 1.5 6. Add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness If Faith fail not other Graces will not fail 1 Pet. 5.9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith And Faith is the Grace most assaulted in the present Tryal For Peter was put to it whither he would own and acknowledge Christ to be his Lord and Master To Faith there belong two Acts Believing with the Heart and Confession with the Mouth Rom. 10.9 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus Christ and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation This last was put to the Tryal 2. How far it was prayed for in the word fail not Christ prayeth not that our Faith should never be tryed and assaulted nor that we should be exempted from trouble but kept from the Evil Iohn 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil Not that we should be never oppugned but not expugned Neither that it should be not in any degree weakned but not extinguished Faith doth not fail totally as to the Habit and Root of it in their Heart though the Habit may be much weakned and diminished and its proper and natural Action obstructed and interrupted such as is Confession with the Mouth Christ foresaw his approaching denyal of him and foretold it but Peter did not utterly forsake the Faith as appeareth by his speedy Repentance As a Candle smoaking and newly blown out easily sucketh â—ight and flame again so did he recover himself out of that Surprize 2. The Event delivered in the form of a Direction wherein 1. Is intimated his Recovery and Being converted Peter had denyed Christ with Oaths and Execrations A foul fault But Christ recovered him by his look that no Man might despair and after his Resurrection bringeth him to a threefold Confession Iohn 21.15 16. Lovest thou me more than these and lovest thou me and lovest thou me Now the Coar of his Distemper was gotten out Lovest thou me more than these Is thy love to me so great as thou didst seem to affirm it when thou saidest Though all men forsake thee yet will not I Is thy love surpassing the love of all other my Disciples What was Peters answer Lord thou knowest that I love thee That is sincerely Being taught by his smart experience he dareth not make comparison with all others no more comparisons now Peter had been under a severe Discipline which taught him Humility and before all the Disciples he testifieth his Repentance which was first acted in secret Now he was grown more jealous of himself he would not boast of such a singular love But observe the terme converted Recovery out of a soar Temptation is a kind of second Conversion Grace is battered and bruised and so many things are necessary to put us in joint again Denyal of Christ even out of weakness is a loss not easily recovered First Peter had Christ's look Luke 22.61 And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter which pierced his very heart upon which he went out and wept bitterly verse 62. And then Christ's Message Mark 16.7 Tell his Disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee there ye shall see him Be sure to tell Peter a little to revive and comfort him He was now full of tears and grieved at heart for his former offence then Christ appeared to him alone as Luke 24.34 The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon Therefore the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.5 That he was seen of the Cephas then of twelve Then afterwards he is brought publickly upon the Stage to acknowledge his Love to Christ Iohn 21.15 16 17. So hard a matter is it to set a Member in
joint again that is once out So David Psalm 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O God! and renew a right spirit within me He speaketh of it as a second Creation and Renovation not that there was a total expulsion of Faith or Charity but to shew that the loss is not soon repaired 2. There is Counsel given him Strengthen thy Brethren When by Repentance thou art recovered out of thy Sin be more careful to confirm and strengthen others 1. To prevent falling pray for them warne them be an example of Constancy to them that they may not fall or fail in like manner which he did by his three-fold profession of Love to Christ and in glorifying God in his whole Life and Death Iohn 21.19 This spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God Christ warneth him of his future Sufferings shewing that he should be more stout than in his former Tryal Such a difference there was between Peter trusting in his own strength and Peter supported by God He that before was blown down by the weak blast of a Damosels Question could then confidently look a cruel Death in the Face 2. Recover them if lapsed with Meekness that they may not despair Gal. 6.1 If a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted If the possibility of falling be an Argument the actual experience is much more Christians should not exercise too great severity on them that are fallen considering we have or we might fall into like Sin in the time of Temptation Thus would Christ season and prepare his Servants for their Office and by their own Experience teach them meekness and tenderness to others In general it is said 2 Cor. 1.4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulations that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble with the comforts wherewith we our selves are comforted of God Such Comforts are not only for our good but for the benefit and advantage of others Confirme thy brethren saith Christ here to Peter They are Brethren and they need to be strengthned for all these Afflictions are incident to all our Brethren which are in the Flesh and our Example and Consolation from experience are a great relief to them Thus you have a full view and prospect of the words I shall observe this Point from the whole Doct. That though Sathan by Gods permission may soarly trouble and vex his people yet we are not wholly exposed to his fury to be dealt with as he pleaseth Let me shew you 1. How many wayes Sathan may vex and trouble Gods People Either by inward Suggestion or by outward Persecution and Affliction 1. By inward Suggestions as when he tempted David to number the People 1 Chron. 21.1 Sathan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel Namely as he moved him to Pride and Glory in the Arm of Flesh or in his Grandure or multitude of Subjects God had an hand in it 2 Sam. 24.1 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say Go number Israel and Iudah To punish David and his People for their Sins God as a just Judge using Sathan as his Minister therein God by permission and a wise Ordination of it for good and Sathan by Suggestion and Malicious Intention for evil God as a Judge in a just punishment for Sin and Sathan as an Enemy and an Actor of Sin It is no excuse to Sathan or David that God moved nor any blot in God that Sathan moved they acting from divers Principles and divers ends Well but to our present purpose Sathan moved David a Man after Gods own heart Alas the best have their Infirmities and Sathan hath many hidden secret Arts to mischief Souls which we think not of 2. By Persecutions or Afflictions Many of Satans Temptations are conveyed by Afflictions that he may make the People of God weary of their Profession and either quit the Truth or cast off their Duty to him Thus when the Apostle telleth us of the Devils unwearied Malice and Enmity to Souls he biddeth us resist him stedfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren which are in the world 1 Pet. 5.9 And again Revel 2.10 The Devil shall cast some of you into prison Surely they were put in Prison by Men but these Men were Sathans Instruments They have their Hour some Times and Seasons when they work great Trouble to the People of God God doth not so altogether bind up Sathan but that he suffereth him to act many strange parts in the World either by himself immediately or by his Instruments II. Our Tryals are the more soar because Sathan hath an hand in them 1. Not only because that is cumulative to the Malice of Men or superadded to it And so the Apostle Eph. 6.12 We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickednesses in high places Our business lyeth not with Men with Flesh and Blood only but with Sathan Men are but the Devils Instruments Humane and Bodily Powers are Sathans Auxiliaries whom he stirreth up and imployeth so that there is a double Party The invisible Agents and the invisible Powers by which they are assisted and acted But 2. There are special Reasons why the Devil is a more terrible and dangerous Party than any Humane Power As partly 1. Because of his great Enmity to Mankind especially the redeemed by Christ Because he looketh upon them as likely to possess the vacant places from which he and his Angels are faln He is alway called the Enemy with respect to War Adversary or Opposite Litigant Party with respect to Law 2. Partly because of his unwearied activity He is alwaies going about 1 Pet. 5.8 Your adversary the Devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour And in the Book of Iob chap. 1.7 From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it And 3. Partly for his insatiable Cruelty His Malice is bitter and extream seeking whom he may devour His aim is utter Ruine and Damnation to prejudice us in our Eternal Estate or our Spiritual and Heavenly Concernments It is not your Temporal and Bodily Interests that he would mainly bereave you off He can let you injoy the pleasures of the World that he may deprive you of your delight in God He can be content that you shall have Dignities and Honours Ease and Safety so they prove a Snare to you all is to ruine your Souls If he cannot prevail so far yet he would thereby draw you to scandalous Sins that you may dishonour God 2 Sam. 12.14 By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme and destroy your own peace Psalm 32.3 My bones waxed