l. 13. dele will p. 84. l. 11. r. he is incomprehensible p. 97. l. 2. dele of p. 108. l. 11. dele and p. ibid. l. 20. r. continue p. 111. l. 22. r. alive p. 131. l. 21. r. the poor in spirit p. 139. l. 10. r. walks p. 140. l. 18. r. the. p. 143. l. 26. r. got p. 143. l. 26. r. especial p. 147. l. 3. r. own p. 180. l. 6. r. adultery p. 189. l. 8. r. your p. 196. l. 7. r. and. p. 212. l. 21. r. it p. 213. l. 3. r. suffered p. 224. l. 21. r. wicked p. 233. l. 28. r. Tables p. 234. l. 1. r. not Pilula ad expurgandam Hypocrisin A PILL to Purge FORMALITY 2 Tim. 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Habentes formam pictatis sed qui vim ejus abnegarint Istos igitur vel etiam istos aversare Having a forme of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away THis glorious Apostle of the Gentiles by the Spirit of prophesie foreseeing those evils that would abound in the last times writes unto Timothy that it might be made known to the Churches as a warning peece to future ages vers 1 The words have their precedency beginning at the first verse A Catalogue of sinners In the last dayes shall be perillous times soul-dangering and soul-damning times souls shall be in peril of being lost and lost eternally not lost to be found but found to be lost vers 2 They shall be lovers of themselves but properly termed haters of themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-love is soul-hatred he that will come to Christ must first deny himself condemn himself yea hate himself self-seeking stands in opposition to soul-saving in a lofty self-admiring soul dwels no love of God vers 3 Yea these men shall be so far from grace as that they shall be void of natural affection besides all the abominations that they are guilty of vers 4 They shall be traitors to God to man and to their own souls in stead of loving the Lord of life and the people of God they shall embrace and fall in love with the pleasures of death that is those pleasures which lead unto eternal death These things by way of explication premised we shall return unto the words which as they stand in reference unto the precedent are the Epitome of the ninteenth abomination and though they are the last in number yet not the least in nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having a forme of godliness Obser 1 That men notoriously wicked many times take upon them a shew of godliness or form of godliness what greater sinners and sins then these enumerated by the Apostle viz. Pride blasphemy covetousness disobedience to parents traitors heady high minded c and yet at this time when they lie under the guilt of these soul-destroying abominations even then are they said to have a forme of godliness Absalom when he was a traitor to his fathers crown and sought his fathers life even then he craved leave of the King to pay his vowe unto the Lord in Hebron And Absalom said unto the King 2 Sam. 15.7 8. I pray thee let me go and pay my vow which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron For thy servant vowed a vow while he abode in Geshur in Sira saying if the Lord shall bring me indeed to Jerusalem then I will serve the Lord. In the next words observe how he sent spies thorow out all Israel saying When ye hear the trumpets blow then say that Absalom reigns in Hebron You may see his pretence was to serve the Lord but his intent was to serve himself by depriving his father of his Crown and life 2 Sam. 17 1 2. for when Ahitophell said that he would go out against David with twelve thousand men and smite the King this saying pleased Absalom well O bloody Absalom that under shew of paying a vow to the Lord would kill his own father one that loved him as his own life Thus the Jews sent forth some faining themselves to be just men Luk. 20.20 that they might intrap Christ himself And they sent forth spies which should feign themselves to be just men that they might take hold of his words and deliver him to the Governor O wicked form of godliness that would betray the Lord of life you see traitors can insinuate and feigne themselves to be Saints Judas betrayes Christ with a kiss Luk. 23.48 Judas betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss Yet how smoothly and seeming innocently did he carry it all the time that he walked with the Disciples in so much that none did suspect him for when Christ said One of you shall betray me Mark 14 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one began to question and search into his own heart questioning amongst themselves Is it I is it I so that they did more suspect themselves then Judas here was a glorious forme when he went to sell and destroy the power and glory of Heaven and earth this was a white seeming Saint Rom. 2.20 21 22 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but a black devil see saith Paul Thou art confident that thou art a teacher of babes an instructer of the foolish who hast a forme of knowledge of the law thou that preachest a man should not steal dost thou steal Thou that teachest a man should not committ adultery dost thou commit adultery Thou that art a Minister in a parish that teachest men should not be proud art thou proud thou that teachest a man should not be covetous art thou covetous thou that teachest that men should be of peaceable humble meek and lowly spirits art thou a kindle-coal and an incendiary art thou he that studies mischief art thou he that teachest men should walk in love and wilt thou make division dost thou teach that men should follow their own callings and wilt thou entermeddle with State affaires and labor to fire a Kingdom thou that wouldest not that any should bear rule and Lordship over thy conscience and yet wilt thou lord it over the conscience of thy brother and have all men undone that see not with thy eyes though otherwise godly O what a shame is this This is the meer forme of godliness but I must take heed of raking too deep into this dunghil least I meet with some ominous Basiliske I shall therefore lay aside this coal and with another pencil shew you what is meant by these words forma c. The next thing is to inquire what is here meant by the words forma pietas forme and godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word forme signifies the shape the outside the fashion the beauty the likeness or maner of any thing the bark of the tree cannot be properly called the tree the shadow of a man in the Sun is not the real man so the habit or forme of godliness is not godliness indeed but you must know that
superficial profession from the discerning eye of God when thou shalt make thy approaches unto Christ then even then shall thy paint appear and be discovered like the paintings of an harlot before the heat that which passeth for solidity in the eyes of man will be found vanity in the sight of God for though men judg according to the outward appearance yet Christ judgeth according to what 's within so that though thou mayest carry things close and covered for a time yet a discovering time will come when Christ will say Mat. 25.29 Go take from him that hath not even that he hath that is that he seemeth to have O then thy godliness will prove but a form Revel 3.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy riches poverty thy glorious garments nakedness thy conceit of wanting nothing will be the want of all things Yea thou wilt be poor blinde and naked wretched and miserable O you that have been professors of the Gospel these twenty thirty or forty yeers who have followed Sermons as much as any who have performed duties in your families yea in your closets tell me did you ever meet with Christ in a Sermon in a family or closet-duty have you not gone on in a formal way resting upon duties done what are you reformed in your families or in your persons are you not as covetous now as twenty yeers since as uncharitable as proud as lukwarme as self-seeking yea and hast thou not taken content and blessed thy self in this condition O be now informed that all this time thy Religion is but a form of godliness thou art but a rotten hypocritical professor one that hast all this time lived upon thy self thy duties thy parts thy gifts but to this day never upon Christ never had one hours sweet communion with God never seen the rayes of his love in the face of Christ never been with God in the mount never been ravished with his presence nor seen his glory yea heaven and earth shall witness against thee this day that thou hast only a form of godliness thou takest that for Gold that is but dross and tin it will not pass for currant coin another day your garment will be moth-eaten your nakedness will appear your faith will prove but historical and temporary you have spent your time to small purpose you are like the horse in the mill you are now where you were twenty yeers ago not one step neerer heaven you have not had one glimpse of glory from above not one supper with Christ nor one Feast of fat things to this very day thou hast spun a fair thread but not a sure one thy glass hath run for vanity not for eternity thou shalt have the full aime of thy performances accomplished into thy bosom the applause and pleasing of men thou mayest expire thy last breath in the praise and admiration of man thy name may be had in continual remembrance for thy good deeds and Saint like conversation with them which indeed was the sum of thy expectation but in stead of thy approbation before God thou shalt receive a curse and the dismal and woful doom of horror and destruction unto all eternity in that lake which burneth for ever where thy good works before men shall be thy accusers and tormenters before God for thy trusting to them for life and salvation Those that under a form of godliness oppose the power of it let such know that they strive against that stream that will swallow them up for great is truth and it shall prevaile truth may be opposed and opprest but never supprest it will couragiously bear up that soul that shall imbrace it in all trials and afflictions O take heed though you are cunning yet it is but to deceive your selves look but upon Judas how did he oppose truth yea the Lord of truth but how soon did the power of truth convince his spirit Mat. 27.5 and caused such a horror of conscience within him that he went out and hanged himself how soon tumbled he into hell what damnable hypocrisie is it for a man to profess to love that which he hateth in words to profess he knows God and in works to deny him Tit. 1.16 to love the body and hate the soul of godliness O know that the time is at hand that thy own conscience will fly in thy face thy own profession will witness against thee that thou didst but palliate and counterfeit the sincerity of Religion and how thou didst abhor in thy heart the purity of that godliness that thou pretendedst with thy mouth and actions O this is a soul-damning sin indeed this is to be in the power of darkness Joh. 3.19 Light is come into the world Zach. 2.8 Qui enim tangit vos tangit pupillum oculi sui Heb. 12.29 but these men love darkness more then light and it is because their deeds are evil These men fight against God yea cast dirt in the very face of God that man that opposeth the truth of God opposeth God himself he that strikes and stands in opposition against the power of godliness strikes at the Saints of God and he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of Gods eye He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me little doth a man know what and whom he opposeth when he opposeth truth He opposeth all power in heaven and earth for God is a God of Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isai 40.15 Is a dry reed able to stand against a consuming fire surely no yet this God whom thou opposest is a consuming fire is a Worm able to overcome a Lyon thou art much less able to fight with God who can contend with the Almighty unto whom all the Nations of the earth are but as one drop of a bucket and all the world but as the dust of the ballance God is so infinite in himself as that he weigheth the Mountains in a ballance and taketh up the Iles as a very small thing Job 38.2 O what art thou that darkness counsel by words without knowledg did ever any man oppose God and prosper lo this is the condition of them that oppose the power of godliness He opposeth that whereby God communicates himself to the souls of his people in and through Jesus Christ O wretched man thou dost as much as in thee lieth cut thy self off from heaven life and glory dost thou think it nothing to shut the door against Christ and stand at defiance against God himself though thou maist deceive men yet thou canst not deceive God who searcheth the heart Jer. 17.10 Ego Jehovah scrutator cordes probator renum c. and trieth the reines and knows poor sinful mans thoughts afar of whatsoever designs thou plottest and projectest against the Truth and so against God himself though they be never so covert yet they shall be manifested and made known for none can hide from his
there be in every godly soul against the lest temptation of sin and this inward disturbance and disquietness of spirit the hypocrites and men of the world cannot bear Is not Zoar a little one and my soul shall live what cannot I give a little liberty to the flesh make use of a small lust what not a little liberty for company keeping for covetousness for pride revenge for wrongs done me must I keep so close and exact to the rule O this makes mens actions speak that they are no friends to the power of godliness though in words they will not confess it for shame the truth is that in all ages there have been underminers of the power of godliness in a secret way pretending to truth and godliness when their intents were quite contrary witness the high Commission Court of late yeers yea witness all the faction of the conformable Clergy yea and thousands of professors at this very day and especially those that so much vindicate and plead for forms in the Worship of God also those loud out-cries against all men that side not with nor approve of Zion-Colledg-Presbytery being not content with what the Parliament appoints but are grasping and thirsting after more power that it might be in their own hands to tyrannize over mens consciences more then in truth either the Bishops or their Courts did ever exercise for they generally assented to conformity to such Ceremonies as made for the establishing of their pomp and glory and in those days a man for a little money might make means and friends to enjoy the liberty of his conscience but now nothing will serve but submission or exile as some Presbyterians have said to my face that such ought to be the condition of all those that were of a contrary judgment and that after admonition would not submit they were not fit to live in a Kingdom though at the same time they have confessed that they have been honest men setting their judgments aside O this is unexpressible madness for men to subjugate Christians consciences unto a formal government their very words argue them formalists and their inward malice and predomination over tender consciences demonstrates the want of the power of godliness therefore take this for a rule that whosoever in all his discourses or actions shall so contend for any form whatsoever in matters of Religion more then power such a man denyeth the strength and power of godliness for godliness is of a more excellent nature it tyeth a man to a strictness of life wherein power will appear as well as form the heart is the thing that God requireth for he will be sainctified of all them that draw neer unto him and he will be worshipped in spirit and truth and not in outward forms onely Do men that profess the form of godliness oppose the power of it O then it doth highly concern men to look into their own ways examine their own hearts dost thou profess Religion because the laws of the Land injoyn thee to it or is it from a principle of thine own or by the power of Jesus Christ O know whatsoever flowes from man as he is man is carnal earthly and sensuall therefore as the cause is such is the effect as the principle such the act art thou guided and principled by the Spirit of God in thy profession is the word of God the pattern and rubrick of thy life doth thy conversation speak thee Christian and spiritual doth thy blossom sprout from the tree of life art thou rudimented and disciplined from thy School-master Christ then thou mayest without prejudice conclude thy qualifications to be truly sanctified and thy profession truly godly it is not the outward profession but the inward intention and cordial affection that God accepts My son saith God give me thy heart walk before me and be thou upright and perfect it is the close and inward walking of the heart with God that God accompts uprightness and perfection its impossible for a man to be upright with God unless his heart be for him there can be no soundness in Religion springing from a rotten heart away then with these outside services abandon all thy goodly flourishes cease to seem learn to be let not thy profession be superficial but supernatural be less glorious in the eyes of men and more of God sore not too high with thy artificial plumes lest the vigorous heat of the Sun of righteousness scorch thy wings and thy soul and body be precipitated into the infernal lake Take heed then unto thy heart labor for integrity in that and thy conversation will be godly it is the madness of many men when they are reproved for their sinful lives to reply and say Why what man is there that liveth and sinneth not though I sometimes fall into error and sin against God yet my heart is good my wishes are to and for God O foolish men who hath bewitched you is it possible for vertue and vice to co-inhabite for a bad life to issue from a good heart can spirit and flesh can light and darkness can Christ and Belial be co-inthroned O vain conceptions O foolish imaginations A good and sincere heart maketh an identity and conformity in the whole man it spiritualizeth his understanding will and affections It puts a spirit of illumination into the Understanding and Judgment of that man whose heart is truly sanctified and upright towards God whereby he is able to discern and judg of things that differ between things that are good and evil It purifies his Will and puts it upon the choice of the best things it makes it aspire after heaven and heavenly things it will labor and act after nothing but Christ and him crucified It regulates and placeth the Affections upon their right Object thus the heart being made spiritual the Understanding the Will and the Affections will be all subservient to the dictates of the Heart the Understanding thereby comes to a knowledg of the things that are of God the Will that approves of that knowledg and acts for God then the Affections which are the wheels of the soul carrie the whole man after that which is good Col. 3.1 If you be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ your Head is Set not your affections on things of the earth for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God that is you are or ought to be dead in your affections to the things of this world O let your conversation be where your life is hid Now to draw a period to this Point and to wind up this Particular on which I have dwelt something long Is it so that men that content themselves with a form of godliness do thereby deny the power of it and so contract unto their souls the guilt of an hainous sin Yet let me offer one word of comfort unto such men and not leave them as men without hope though
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden Matth. 11.28 29. and I will give you rest and you shall find rest unto your souls Joh. 7.37 Jesus stood and cried saying If any man be athirst let him come to me and drink of the waters of Life freely So again in the Revelation of John Revel 22.27 The Spirit and the Bride said come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is athirst say come and whosoever will let him take the water of Life freely Many more places of Scripture might be instanced and brought for this purpose but these are sufficient to set forth the free invitation of all sinnners both by God by Christ and the Spirit of Grace the Lord looks for nothing at thy hand but to receive pardon and to be reconciled unto himself therefore why will you perish O sons of men your condemnation is of your selves Let this then take off those that do refrain to come unto Christ because they have nothing to come withall such a soul is best welcome unto Christ that is emptiest in himself thy approaches and addresses unto Christ are not to be measured with those unto great Personages here on earth there needs no rich presentations to usher in or plead thy acceptance nor purchasing of Mediators by clandestine and close-fisted bribes the dearest and highest Saint in heaven cannot so soon procure thy access unto and acceptance with Jesus Christ in heaven as the fauning Parasite and Saint-seeming Devil can with man on earth nor doth Christ accept of any creature or worthiness in creature either in heaven or earth on the behalf of a poor soul to ingratiate it into his favor and embraces but of his own breathings in a contrite spirit O then if sin be a burthen to thee come unto Christ and he will take it off he will deliver thee from that weight God he hath laid help upon one that is mighty by his Stripes we are healed by his Merits saved by his Wounds cured and by his Power preserved unto everlasting life and to press more home unto the souls of poor sinners the consideration of the free offer of Grace and Salvation of Christ let them but read the ingeminated invitation of the Spirit of God in that one Text before cited Revel 22.17 Come come come The free Word Come is no less then three times reiterated in that one Verse O then do not wilfully refuse and cast off the free offers of Life Grace and Salvation for know it is tendred as freely to thee as ever it was to any creature under heaven and know that to reject this mercy is to reject the greatest mercy that ever was tendered to any soul upon the face of the earth it is to reject not onely thine own good thine own life thine own salvation and thy sweet communion with and enjoyment of Christ and the blessed Saints for ever hereafter but also of the free Love of God and Christ the loss whereof is worse then ten thousand hells yea it shall be an aggravation of all thy sins that ever thou didst commit in thy whole life for he that will not believe is damned already there is no hope of such a man take heed therefore of Unbelief for it is worse then Hell it self as being the cause of all miseries that a soul can be afflicted with Hell that 's an Ordinance of God but sin is from the devil and mans own corruption Hell is the fruit of sin as sin is the cause of punishment by sin came death into the world yet that man that believes shall be preserved from sin death hell and what ever else is miserable yea not onely so but he shall have that sweet enjoyment of God Christ his Spirit Saints Angels Heaven Life Glory yea more then his desire or thoughts can comprehend for no eye hath seen ear heard or heart conceived what is laid up in life and glory for all them that believe there the soul shall see God as he is yea it shall be filled with the fulness of God and ravished with his presence yea more the soul shall hold communion with Christ and with the father in a more excellent measure then any creature can be capable of in this life yea there the soul shall be in union with God and Christ God will be giving out himself unto his Saints they shall partake of his glory they shall be in him and he in them this is the excellency and preeminency of faâ—th that doth instrumentally and mediatly through Christ alone act and carry the soul above the pitch of earth and conveighs and lodgeth it in the bosom of Christ O then who would be destitute of this Armor of proof Who would not be shrouded under this helmet as sufficient to defend the soul against all worldly and spiritual conflicts who would not get this wing to elevate and mount his soul into the Heaven of Heavens where the act of faith shall cease then shall believers live no more by faith but by sight there expectation shall be swallowed up of fruition invisible things become visible glimmerings of light become flames and ravishments of glory Saints here can better tell what God is not then what he is we can here say he incomprehensible and immutable but then we shall see God in his essence in his nature and excellency as he is a spirit so far as a soul can be made capable of so glorious an object O then of what happiness and bliss do unbeleevers deprive themselves that will not believe though everlasting life depends upon it O sinners remember how often hath the Gospel been preached unto you how often have you been invited unto the marriage Feast and you would not come How often have you preferred the wedding of your souls unto the profits and lusts of this world rather then unto Christ Consider Christ hath invited you your own wicked wills have refused to comply with his call he would have gathered you together under his wings but ye would be dispersed separated from him certaintly it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment then for you and thus I have dispatched the first branch Having a form of godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sed qui vim ejus abnegarint But denying the power thereof THe Apostle still continues his complaint of what should come to pass in the last and evil times which are accomplished in these days wherein we live which we have shewed you in the precedent part of this Treatise these men in the text retain the form of godliness at the same time when they deny the power of it things of least value most set by and those of the greatest concernment most slighted contemned and despised darkness before light vanity before verity shadows before substance weakness before power here you may see men acting much outwardly and intending nothing less inwardly men contending for
Salomons the King of Kings estimate the greatest things in the world nay the power of the whole world to be nothing yea less then nothing who of nothing raised the world and all created Beings therein and to the same nothing can reduce them at his will and pleasure This I say is that God which sendeth godliness with a power into the soul of his Saints The next thing that we must consider is The ends why God sends godliness into the souls of his people with such power By the way taking notice of godliness as it is observable in its Cause and Effect for godliness in this place is Metonimically spoken the Effect for the Cause now Grace is the cause of godliness and godliness is the effect of Grace for Grace is that which makes a man a godly man and its Grace that comes with power into the soul whereby the life of man is acted and carried on in the wayes of godliness These things thus premised we shall proceed to the aforesaid Ends or Reasons Reas 1 The first End or Reason that God hath in sending godliness into the soul with power is because of the great opposition it must encounter withall and that is from the devil the world the flesh and spirit of men The devil he is the strong man and hath taken possession of the soul and alwayes stand upon his guard to keep his ground with all the powers of hell and all the strength that he can possibly make yea he bids defiance against Heaven Satans plea. Men and Angels and maketh this or the like plea for himself This soul is mine it was born mine We were by nature the children of wrath Ephes 2.2 3. c. yea it hath lived mine I have had the possession of it these twenty or thirty years yea it may be forty or fifty years what power now shall snatch him out of my hands he is my bounden servant he is my ancient souldier he hath covenanted to fight under my banner he is a loyal subject of my Kingdom he is true to his trust he will oppose my opposers he will defend my right and interest he will not have me lose any footing he will rather perish then have me dispossessed why then should not I actuate all my power and force for him to keep him still my faithful servant rather die then part with him Now Christ he comes and laies claim to this soul and saith This soul is mine Christs plea. and it was given me of my Father yea Joh. 17.6.9.29 24. I have loved him more then mine own life I have shed my pretious blood for him that I might redeem him out of the jaws of hell and deliver him from the power of Satan I am the Captain of his deliverance yea Heb. 2.10 I have bought him at a dear rate and paid more for him then heaven and earth it self yea 1 Pet. 1.18 then all the createed power in both and I will have him and Christ enters this Fort binds the strong man and doth cast him out by the strength of those weapons which are not carnal but spiritual yea mighty through God to cast down strong holds this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Saviour that can that will ransom and deliver his People maugre all oppositions whatsoever this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Anointed one Ephes 4.8 that victorious King of Kings that leads captivity captive and gives gifts to men of whose power the Saints receive power 1 Joh. 2.13 and grace for grace whereby they are inabled to wrestle against pincipalities and powers Ephes 6.12 against the Rulers of the darkness of this world yea against spiritual wickednesses in high places As it must be powerful to stand in opposition against Satan so against the world for if Grace and Godliness were not powerful the world would soon repel and overcome it it would exclude and bar the door of the soul against them for the world doth as really fight against the soul as the devil doth now what is the world certainly all that is in the world that is the lust of the flesh 1 Joh. 2.16 the lust of the eyes and the pride of life the first and strong invaders of our first Parents that did invade and overcome that laid siege unto took possession of the strong-fortified and enabled-to-resist faculties of the soul of Adam and in him do still smite his loyns and ensnare and seize upon the power and strength of all his seed they plead a right and possession by antiquity and they will keep their hold until they be evinced and cast out by the power of Grace which is the onely weapon we have to ward off the assaults of these spiritual wickednesses 1 Joh. 5.4 Rev. 15.2 this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith and by the power that God put into those glorious Martyrs they overcame the world in all its persecutions imprisonments yea and death it self It comes with power that it might beat down the corruptions of flesh and spirit that daily rebel and rise up against the Saints and that made Paul say I beat down my body I club it down 1 Cor 9.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vi subjicio corpus meum I beat it black and blue as the Original word signifies and all yet all was little enough for Naturam expellas furcâ licet usque recurrit there are such imperfections in the perfectest Christians such reliques of Nature that there will be still continual buffetings and conflicts between the Spirit and the Flesh though the Spirit doth oppose and sometimes get ground yet the Flesh will be returning and getting head again so long as we are in the body little doth the world know what ado Grace hath with the Flesh and Spirit of the Saints there will be such reluctances such combates such heavy burthens upon the soul that oft times it makes the Saints go very heavy and sad most part of their dayes And therefore the Apostle exhorts us To cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Rom. 7.23 24. and this makes him cry out Who shall deliver me from the body of this death well I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord that is by that power of Christ that he sends into his soul he was delivered and by that power alone are all the Saints delivered from these three great capital Enemies Reas 2 That it may make us stand strong against all our enemies that oppose whatsoever Stand fast saith Paul in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free Gal. 5.1 1 Cor. 16.13.15.57 Watch you stand fast in the faith and quit you like men and be strong for God he hath given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord and ye are kept by the power of God through faith to eternal salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Now the reason why the
Saints do so often fall and slip is because they trust to their own strength and rest not on this power which they receive from Jesus Christ for he that hath this power in his soul and doth make use of it by Faith it may contend against Sin Corruption Death and Hell it self yea and overcome all as the Apostle saith I am able to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me In him we are more then conquerors and certainly did we but know what comforts we lose and what foiles we receive in not making use of this power it would put us upon our Watch and Guard and make us careful to keep Centinel by this power in our souls Had David and others made use of this power and stood upon their Watch he had not committed Adultery Peter had not denied his Master Jacob got the Blessing by a lye Abraham denied his wife for fear of Pharoah and so divers others which I could wish might be as Landmarks unto us whilst we sail through the sea of this world Reas 3 Why godliness comes with power into the souls of the Saints is that it might put another frame of spirit into them then they had before as the Lord spake of Caleb Because he had another spirit with him therefore he shall see the Land yea I will bring him into it and his seed shall possess it Yea he followed me fully saith the Text now this Spirit was nothing else but the Spirit of Faith so he fulfilled after me as the Hebrew Word signifieth that is He was constant in obedience to Me or to my Commands Certainly where Grace raigns in the soul sin doth not onely decay but die the man is become another man as Paul when he was converted he was another man then he was before he was of a new mould a new temper before he persecuted the Saints but now he embraceth them and preacheth to them before he knew not who Christ was Who art thou Lord but now he doth not onely know Christ Ego non sum ego but preacheth Christ and suffereth for him yea now he is willing to die for him yea the Saints know this by experience that there is a certain vis a power infused into the soul from God which was not before in them otherwise they could never have had any dominion oversin never have been made new creatures but should have still remained under the power of darkness and in their natural estate they should never have known any difference betwixt themselves and the wickedest man on the earth but should have committed the same abominations with them they should never have been translated from death to life neither should their spot have been differenced or known from the spot of the wicked had not God made them experimentally to know and feel a mighty overawing and sin-conquering power sent and let in unto their souls from the Almighty Spirit of God which doth divide between the marrow and the bone between the Flesh and the Spirit Reas 4 That it may make us to carry on Gods great design in the advancing of the Lord Jesus for in such souls where this power comes Christ is greatly exalted in his Kingdom in his person and in his offices for he that believeth glorifieth the Father who hath sent his Son into the world and the Son who is the glory of the father these souls put to their seals that God is true such a soul gives a testimony unto the world that whatsoever God hath said of his Son in the word is the very truth of God yea it can freely adventure all and lay all upon Christ for life and salvation yea had it ten thousand souls it would cast them all into Christs arms it s resolved there to live and there to die its faith is surely fixt that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it come what will come he is confident that neither life nor death principalities nor powers shall be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord thus is the soul sustained and upheld by the power of grace and acts couragiously to and for Christ and the exaltation of his glory Reas 5 That such a soul where this power comes may strongly hold its communion with Christ that as Christ gives out of himself and fulness unto the soul by a direct act so the soul may be somewhat enabled to retribute unto Christ of what he hath received by a reflect act as the beams of the Sun are made reflective by the earth unto us which is the cause of the heat we feel so the beams of the Sun of righteousness descending and coming into the soul make it warm vigorous and communicative to and for God and as it hath received mercies so it will be alwayes returning praises whereunto it would be altogether dead for by nature we are dead to every good work had it not first been enlivened and quickened with a power from above for we cannot stir nor move for God until he stirs and moves in us we are altogether senseless till made sensible by him t is in him we live we move and have our being we could not love God had not he loved us first nor could we give out our selves unto Christ did not Christ first breathe into our souls the spirit and power of grace and therefore we may well say that none can hold communion with Christ but those and those onely to whom Christ sends the power of godliness Reas 6 That godliness may predominate and bear rule and sway in the soul that it may be the Queen Regent and sole governess thereof that as sin hath formerly raigned to Gods dishonor so now grace may raigne to Christs glory That as sin hath raigned unto death Rom. 5.21 even so might grace raign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord so that as sin hath mastered and over-powred all the faculties of the soul and members of the body in bringing of them in subjection to Satan so now godliness sitting upon the throne exerciseth them for Christ and brings them into subjection unto him now grace and godliness stand Centinel in the soul and command all so that when any cavalering lust or corruption appears it may take them off or if they should prevaile through frequent assailings that then the soul may flee to Christ for more forces to incounter and cast them out for Christ he hath promised to assist his people against all their enemies who by the power of his death will bury all his and his Saints enemies in his grave so as they shall never prevaile against them here nor hereafter Reas 7 That it may continue a soul in that new nature whereunto it hath been begotten again unto Christ for were it not that there were a certain power in godliness to keep the soul from falling into its old natural condition and a spiritual physick to
sustaine and keep it from relapsing into its former fits it would soon be reduced into its former station and be visited with its old disease wherein it was seated and wherewith it was infected before grace entered into it and the ground is because of the abundance of strong corruptions inherent and accompanying the best regenerate for the flesh is still warring against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for there was ever a strong antipathy between these two Now Christ who is the Captain of our Salvation make his graces powerful in his Saints that so they may not give ground but stand fast in that condition whereunto he hath called them for the Saints are kept through faith unto salvation by that power of grace which is given unto them of God the Father and and our Lord Jesus Christ otherwise were it not powerful all the grace the Saints had received was but in vain and so Christs death and resurrection had been to little purpose for one end of Christs death was to kill sin and so of his resurrection to raise us up to newness of life and so to keep us there that we should never be surprised and conquered by the old man but contiue in the new and walk as a people ransomed by the Lord. Reas 8 That by this power the soul might act for God for Christ the Gospel and the Saints in the performance of its duty to all that it might honor the Father with that honor that is due unto his name that it might suffer with and for Christ and that it might love embrace and defend the Gospel and the Saints against all oppositions whatsoever for had not the graces of the Spirit of Christ come into the soul with power the soul could never have performed any duty acceptable to God for God accepts of nothing unless it come first from his Spirit for its the voice of his own spirit whereby the Saints cry Abba Father for as on the one hand every good and perfect gift cometh from God who is the Father of lights so on the other hand no man of himself without this power is able to think a good thought or speak a good word much less do any good action man through his lost ability in Adam is spiritually dead but carnally living nothing that he can own or lay claim unto as his act but sin but when godliness comes into a soul with power O then the faculties of the soul are resuscitated and made alive again and the members of the body are regulated brought into conformity unto the spirit and made by it to act for God who before acted against God that before were the weapons of unrighteousness unto sin are now become the weapons of righteousness unto the glory of that God who by his power cast into the soul did change that vile and sinful body and made it glorious and instrumental for his praise hereby the understanding is unvailed it s now brought unto new discoveries its carnal foolishness is sanctified wisdom it 's now able to discern and know the wonderful mysteries of godliness this power of godliness is the Eye-salve of the soul which takes off the condense film of ignorance and works a sensible illumination in that faculty of the understanding also this is the restorer of the will it brings it from nature to grace from willing the things of the flesh to will the things of God it disingageth the affections it stops their pursuit after the world and causeth them to run after God and the things of God nay further this power of God is a new Heaven created in the soul it s the new birth it s the regneration it s the new nature it s the death of the first and the life of the second Adam it s the extirpation of nature and sin and the renovation and transplanting of grace and life in the soul hereby the eyes can see for God the ears hear for God the tongue speak for God and the feet walk for God in a word the whole man by vertue of this power is made serviceable for God which it could never have been had not this godliness come into the soul with power Reas 9 That the Saints might be made fit for a suffering condition Phil. 1.29 for it s not onely given to Saints to beleeve but also to suffer for his names sake The Saints they are Christs witnesses on earth against the world Act. 5.32 Rev. 11.3 how have the people of God stood as a wall of brass in witnessing for the truth of Christ in the times of those ten persecutions what wicked cruel and barbarous dealing did they finde and receive from this world was not all maner of cruelty exercised against them that hell and men could invent and yet by this power of godliness they were enabled to indure all yea and with rejoycing also that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ O ineffable support O glorious conquest the sense of pain was swallowed up of the sense of joy the torments of hell vanquished and slighted by the thoughts of Heaven whilest burning burnishing while extinguishing reviving whilest crucifying enjoying Paradise Do but look into the book of Martyrs and see what sawing asunder roasting ailve putting into boiling oil eyes burning out and what not and yet by this power God made them stand strong and oppose his and their enemies to their own shame and confusion so that the Saints slaughterings at length became their persecutors sufferings they were wearyed and tired out with afflicting and butchering of the Saints and as God by his Power did then make them couragiously to stand so is he still the same God nor is his hand shortned that he cannot help but still will continue this power unto his people that they shall stand for Christ and undergo any kinde of suffering with joy for we fight against principalities and powers yea against spirituall wickedness in high places and this is another end why godliness comes into the soul with power That it might make the Saints live above the world that is might elevate their affections and make them live in Heaven where Christ their head is that it might dispossess worldliness and enthrone heavenly-mindedness that it might glorifie the soul and take it off from poring on this dunghil the world and the seeming glory thereof and fix it upon a Kingdom Pecuniam quae permaneat ac continuo duret gloriam quae semper floreat Basil and the real and permanent glory thereof to be enamored of the ravishing beauties of God the King of that glory that so the temptations allurements of the world being slighted and the glory and excellency thereof counted as dirt and dung the eternal glory of God may be advanced and onely aimed at in that soul for it is the glory of the Church here to have the Sun upon her head and to be crowned with a crown of
this point were not fulfilled in our eyes Forms are more contended for then power outside more then inside she l more then kernel the truth is extrinsecall things are more set by then intrinsecall the outward reading of the bare letter then the inward influences of the spirits holiness of life and the lively power of godliness is now out of fashion with most professors outward performances are the requies of their conscience and the sole perfection of their holiness their duties are taken up in contentions and strifes about words and questions disputes and conferences about differences in Judgment these have almost disputed the power of Religion out of this Kingdom for it is now come to that pass that he that cannot invent some new thing never heard of before is accounted no body in matters of Religion this is the condition of most on the one hand There are others that on the other hand love to bear such sway and rule over others that they must have all men come to their bow Here I intend the temporizing Clergy who are like the Maypoles neither root nor Branch only a weather cock on the top thereof they must be honored and reverenced with high respects they must be looked on as men of an infallible spirit all that they do is done Jure divino when indeed being well examined it proves very hardly jure humanoâ— yet they are the onely men whose lips must preserve knowledg and at whose mouth you must seek the Law all they say is Gospel and all they decree is to be obeyed to question any thing that they propound is faction and to contradict them is heresie they look on themselves as the absolute pattern if you go before them then you go too fast if you come after them then you go too slowly if you speak against them it is Blasphemy nor will their pride suffer them to walke cheek by jole and yet these mens Religion is Parliamentary If the Parliament decree Popery then they are for that if Episcopacy then for that if Presbytery or any other then for that they have such excellent skil that they are like the Philosophers stone that turns all things into Gold so can these men make any government Jus divinum As do but consider that story of those that in King Edward the sixth time had preached mightily against Popery and were very zealous for Reformation and the advancement of the Protestant Religion how soon did they conform to the Sacrament of the Altar and to all manner of Popery in Queen Maries time yea did not they in their convocation house at their first meeting subscribe to all those Popish Articles but very few excepted And of that generation how many â—ave we in this Kingdom nay of a more suddain mutability then the former who at one time were very fiery and zealous for the maintenance of Episcopacy and were esteemed learned Preachers and much followed Yet out of the abundance of their learning or rather superstition could bow and cringe before the Altar and read Service there as well as any Popish Priest in Rome and yet almost in the same punct of time or a very little space intervening were and still are mighty and earnest acclamators of Presbytery and if you will demand the reason it is only this Because Presbytery was the next in fashion and being in fashion they are resolved never to be out unless another government succeed and take place they are so much obliged to form that they will make any Goverment whatsoever Jus divinum They have their consciences made of retching leather and their hearts of wax the one can be made as large as you will and the other can receive what impression soever provided that it be a State Seal wherein authority pride and covetousness may shelter it self when Episcopacy was in fashion then they could worship towards the East now Presbytery is in fashion they worship towards the North they are so skilful in turning and resolved to play so sure a game that they will never be out they will not swim against the stream they have not been used to any such labor nay they are not onely mutable but violent how would these men have persecuted their brethren to death it self had not God put it into the minde of the Parliament to retain the power in their own hands yea we should have had Boner Gardner Harpsfield Succedunt alii homines non alii mores Watson and the rest of them risen up in this Kingdom for though these men are dead yet their spirits live in too many men They will deceive the very Elect if it were possible O whited walls O painted Sepulchres O form of godliness where is thy power Reader do but consider what enemies such as these have been to Christs Kingdom and to Saints in all Ages See but their carriage to Christ himself how did the Scribes Pharisees and High Priests combine themselves together that they might intrap him insnare him intangle him yea put him to death which design they never deserted till they had accomplished Look into all Ages Times Kingdoms Nations Read but the Ecclesiastical Histories yea do but consider the great and wofull miseries of Germany and examine whether those that go under the notion of Clergy men have not been the introducers of all differences and distractions yea they have been so are so and will be so as long as any State Kingdom or Nation will commit the reins into their hands they do so much affect Soveraignty that they will break Kingdoms States and Nations to pieces before they will be abridged of any of their honors or preferments their pride or covetousness it is bred in the bone and will never out of the flesh and no marvel for the most part they are men endued with admirable gifts and parts of natural Knowledg and Learning which indeed are the outward gifts of God yet not being spiritualized and sanctified serve onely to the elation and puffing up of the heart whereby nothing but Self is admired upheld and maintained whatsoever they do though indeed tending to their own ends must be done under a form of godliness as the Jews did under the keeping of the Sabbath washing of Cups and Platters c. O generation of Vipers who shall deliver you from that wrath that is to come it s not your learning your parts your high looks your crying up Jus Divinum nor your form of godliness that can do it nay rather all these shall be aggravators and pleaders against you you were born and bred the brats of Babel Amos 2.4 and confusion will be your end unless God turn your hearts in time unto himself I may well say of England Isai 3.12 as the Prophet Isaiah said of Israel O England they that pretend to be thy Teachers are they that have caused thee to err yea and they shall be destroyed that are led by them Offences will come
of Godliness as fire is the cause of heat and yet as the cause is such is the effect for powerful causes make powerful effects that 's an undeniable truth in Philosophy and that 's the very reason why godliness is so powerful in the souls of men Now wouldst thou know the working of Grace or of the Graces of the Spirit of God in the soul First then I will set down some of these fundamental Graces which cause godliness and secondly how they are wrought in and upon the spirits of men First then Take these four Graces Faith Repentance Self-denial and Love not that I intend to speak of the Doctrine of Faith or the rest of the graces here mentioned but onely to speak a word or two to each and so proceed To shew how they are wrought and their footsteps in the souls of Believers And first to begin with Faith not to trouble you with that which is Historical Temporary or Legal but to speak of that True Evangelical Saving and Justifying Faith Faith then is a certain grace wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God Fides est actus intellectus and by the Word preached and its an act of the Understanding also now I put the Word and the Spirit together as they ordinarily are appointed to work together to make a man a Believer for I dare boldly say that the Word of it self never yet to this day wrought faith in any man without the Spirit of God working with it but I am confident that the Spirit may and doth where the Word preached is not to be had work this faith in the souls of the Elect 1 Cor. 3.6 Paul may plant Apollo may water but it is God that giveth the increase a man may live all dayes of his life under a powerful Ministry and stand by Christ and hear the joyful sound of the Gospel and yet never the neerer they shall count it but as thunder as those did in John 12.29 Joh. 12.29 unless the Spirit of God boreth the ears and sanctifieth their hearts to understand and believe the things of God and though Faith be the gift of God yet as God puts forth an hand in giving of Faith so he gives a hand to his Elect to receive Faith otherwise they could never have it thus God illuminates the Understanding whereby it comes to know that there is such a thing as Christ is Christ the object of Faith and then he convinceth the Judgment that this Christ is very excellent and that of necessity he must be had or else the soul is undone then comes the Will saying If Christ be so good and that of necessity I must have him O then I will receive him thus at length is faith begotten in the soul yet we must take heed of attributing any thing to man in this for all this is Gods own work and none of mans Now the other three graces may be stiled Faiths subsequents or concomitants Faiths companions or the fruits of Faith yet I shall speak a word to each of them and first to Repentance I say of the working of this grace in the souls of Gods Elect as I have said of Faith and in this work of Repentance we must note these four steps or degrees True Repentance There is a sight of the nature of sin A convinced judgment of the guilt of sin There is a cordial and hearty sorrow for sin There is a dislike of or an abhorring and forsaking of sin For the first of these namely The sight of sin in its own nature and proper colours now sins vail begins to be pluckt off before sin was pleasurable and delightful now it is odious and loathsom now the soul discovers sin to be a Scorpion a Serpent whose sting would have caused eternal death that which seemed to be the pleasantest and delightfullest companion is now the ugliest basest and contemptiblest thing that ever the soul beheld since it had a being that which formerly was embraced and hugged as a Dalilah is now thrown out of the windows as a Jezabel Gods enemie now the soul looks on sin as Gods greatest enemy yea as that whereby the soul hath cast dirt in the very face of God and hath grieved and done despight unto his holy Spirit and crucified the Lord of life and glory Again The souls greatest enemie the soul looks upon it as its own greatest enemy it did unparadise it it hath ever since blindfolded it and fettered it up amongst a legion of devils and hath made a separation between God and it it hath made it at emnity with God and hath brought it into a state of condemnation and was able to sink it into the very bottom of hell The soul is convinced of the guilt of sin and that by the same it s bound over to the Judgment Seat of Christ Rom. 3.19 there to answer the breach of all the Laws of God James 2.10 Moral and Evangelical yea and that this guilt lies so heavy on the soul that its able to press it down into destruction 2 Thess 1.8 and to banish it from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power for ever sin now is become a burden to purpose yea such a burden as David complaineth of in Psalm 38 4. Psal 38.4 saith he there Mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me that which once was so light that the soul could not feel it O now it is so heavy that its like to break the very heart of it now conscience is wakened and sin stands as a brasen wall in its order before the soul I will set his sin in order before him Psal 50.21 there is a Scripture to that purpose in the Psalmist There is a cordial and hearty sorrow for sin O saith the soul that I that such a wretch as I should sin against so great so good and so gratious a God now the soul begins to be cautious of sinning now its ready to say with Joseph Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Now the soul is sensible of its indignity to God now it can grieve and rent its very heart for its unkinde dealing with God who hath dealt so kindely with it and by this means the soul is brought into contrition and godly sorrow never to be repented of Upon this the soul is brought into a dislike of sin yea to an abhorring hating and detesting of sin yea it hates the very thoughts of it not onely in others but much more in it self it s now more ugly then a Toade more bitter then Gall and Wormwood now the soul knows the fruits of sin how it leads unto destruction now it can say of it as Salomon said of the Harlot Pro 5.4 5. Her end is bitter as Wormwood sharp as a two edged sword her feet go down to death and
and arguings of the soul I may call the spirit of bondage under which the soul sinks and sees no way of hope of recovery but now Christ intervenes and darts the raies of his glory into such a lost soul resolves its doubtings calmes its frettings and disputings and come and makes his abode in that soul and takes it by the hand and saith Is there no deliverer for thee I will deliver thee I have satisfied divine justice I am thy surety and the propitiation for thy sin At this the soul begins to startle it s recovered from its lethargy now it ariseth from death to life and saith What voice is that I here What mercy for me A Christ for me for such a sinfull wretch as I am O how sweet is this voice how welcome is this Gospel How excellent is this Christ O the sweetest of ten thousand now the soul is humbled to purpose its fit to receive any impression to do to suffer any thing that Christ cals for now the soul flies to Christ as to a rock hangs about him like a burre closeth with him in what ever Christ commands Christs voice is a soul-humbling and a soul-melting voice more excellent then the law Object But some may say that surely many have believed that never came in such a legal way to Christ as Matthew Lydia and others Answ I answer that though it be not recorded of the grief and spirit of bondage that these underwent yet it s not safe to conclude they did not come to Christ that way seeing others came that way as the Jews at Peters Sermon Act. 2.37 the Jailor the woman that washed Christs feet with her tears and many others as David Peter c. Look upon that to the Romans where the Apostle saith ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Rom. 8.15 which shewes cleerly that once they had received it before they came to Christ in their preparation to conversion And again Christ comes to call sinners to repentance yea those that finde sin to be a burden to them and such as are weary and heavy laden and prest down to hell in their own apprehensions by reason of their sins that they are guilty of The whole needeth not the Physitian but such as are sick saith Christ such as are sick at the heart of sin as are sensible of the pain and horror of sin I am somewhat the larger in this point because there is a generation of men in these days that deny the use of the moral law to be any means of driving the soul to Christ yea or so much as the use of it in any sense to the Saints that are brought to Christ let these remember that the Apostle saith the Law is a Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ not onely the Law Ceremonial but moral also See Rom. 3.31 Where he saith Do we make void the Law behold we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 And I suppose none dares say but he speaks there of the moral Law and again the Law is Just holy and good what then is there no use to be made of that which is just holy and good by beleevers under the Gospel surely yes and then Christ himself justifies maintains the Law moral in that of Matthew Mat. 5.17 18 19. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law no no I am come to fulfil it Therefore whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments and teach men to do so shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven The Law first breaks and kills us with the fight of sin before Christ cures us and binds us up The Holy Ghost worketh and maketh faith effectuall by these three acts It puts a power and authority in the Law whereby it makes a man poor in spirit Now blessed are poor in spirit What 's the reason Mat. 5. O it makes the soul in a fit temper to receive Jesus Christ in the Gospel preached for the spirit of bondage doth make the law effectual as the spirit of adoption maketh the Gospel The second work in the soul is to receive Christ being revealed in the Gospel O here he shewes the unsearchable riches of Gods love in Christ to poor creatures yea here he shews what is the hope of his calling and the glorious inheritance of the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to them that believe certainly the Saints of God need the Spirit of God to shew these glorious mysteries Thirdly The Spirit testifies with the Spirits of the Saints First that these are true Secondly that they belong to them O when the Spirit of Christ shall say These things are thine Christ is thine God is thy father that thou art now an heir and joynt-heir with Christ and hast right to life and glory by vertue of free grace then is the soul brought into a sweet and happy condition But I would not here be mistaken I do not say that the spirit of bondage works alike upon and in all that come to Christ but in some more and in some less neither dare I limit the Holy one of Israel who is tyed to no means or wayes to call home his Saints to himself But this I say that first its Gods ordinary way of working in and with his Saints Secondly it s a safe way for the Saints to know their estates by it being that way in which the Saints have been called home to Christ in general This may inform us if that godliness have such a power in it then there are but few in the world that are acquainted with it for godliness cannot lie hid but it will break forth wheresoever it cometh there is no fire but there will be some smoak there can be no moving or acting without life its impossible for a godly soul to be a liveless soul but the generality of men are ignorant of it because they are naturally dead godliness is an herb that grows not in every mans Garden a flower not in every mans garland a Crown not set upon every mans head a garment not fit for every mans wearing No no it s that which is onely given to Saints that are redeemed from the earth by the bloud of the Lamb Christ Jesus yea it s for those that are called and chosen and faithful O how few great men and rich men in this world participate of these high priviledges or are made possessors of these riches these onely true riches which neither Moth nor Rust can corrupt Mat. 6.19 nor theeves break thorow and steal How few come to have a taste or to meddle with the Saints joy which is communicable to none but them in Christ Where is the Wise 1 Cor. 1.20 21 22 26. where is the Scribe where is the Disputer of this world Not many wise men after the flesh not many noble not many mighty are called hath not God made foolish the wisdom
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God it throwes it self into the armes of Christ on whom it is fixed there it is unremoveable there it lives and there it dies Where godliness dwels there dwels the Spirit of love for God is love and he makes his Saints like to himself as the father is the Father of love so are his children the children of love certainly this grace makes a man love God in the first place and secondly it makes him love his people who are Gods off-spring a man may safely conclude where there is no love there is none of God dwelling in that soul if we do but consider how little love there is among many of those who are called professors in these dayes it would make a man amazed O the inhumane carriages of men to men yea to those that they themselves do confess are truly godly O the bitterness the censoriousness of men against their brethren especially if they do but differ from them but in things circumstantial Away cry they with such a man let him be admonished and then if he will not be of our mindes let him be hanged or banished Witness the late London Remonstrance but if he scape either of these either for want of Law or Power then say they Let us Petition that he may have no place of publike trust yea let us do what we can to weary him out of the Parish where he dwels if he be a Minister he shall not come into the Pulpit to Preach though known not only to be godly but sound in the faith and of long standing yea though it be for the fulfilling of the desire of the dead it shall not be granted but pleaded against even by them which formerly thought all that he said to be Gospel yea and yet these bitter spirits must be looked upon as professors of the Gospel of Christ as if the word of God and his Spirit were of contrary meanings O know that such a spirit as this is none of the spirit of Christ certainly these men have not obeyed that exhortation of the Apostle to the Ephesians Eph. 4.31 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice And be kinde one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you and walk in love even as Christ hath loved us and given himself for us O it s very sad to consider what a spirit of bitterness is gone out over this Kingdom yea in this City of London especially if a man ask them the reason they are to seek for an answer but truly it s because they hear with other mens ears and see with other mens * That is with the eyes of the Clergy at least many of them for I at a morning Lecture heard one of them who is famous for rayling say that those rebels meaning the Army had now got all the strong holds of the Kingdom into their hands with an intent to cut our throats now they send forth their Ministers to Preach to us a Sermon of brotherly love And then he said that it was a mark of a deceiver to preach of brotherly love the Spirit of meekness and peace c. but that honest piece called the Pulpit-incendiary hath Characterized them and him I shall not stain my pen with his nomination eyes but at last let them know they must answer for themselves another day and I am confident when these men come to die they shall have as little peace and comfort from this spirit of bitterness as the malefactor hath from the hangman when he comes to the Gallows wherefore remember this that wheresoever godliness dwels there dwels a spirit of love meekness gentleness long-suffering and forbearance there dwels tender-heartedness and bowels of compassion each to the other and therefore never believe mens professions but look on their practices and carriages each to others for the Spirit of Christ is a spirit of love and of a sound minde I have heard of one that hath said he hath trembled to think of giving way to a godly Minister in this City that he should come into his Pulpit and yet I am confident he that spake the words was not worthy to carry the others book after him neither for godliness nor learning Was not this man of that minde that Jeroboam was who would not let Israel go up to worship at Jerusalem under this pretence because it was too far but the truth was it was for fear it would weaken his Kingdom and so his greatness might have been eclipsed so did not this man tremble not for fear of error but for fear he should steal away the hearts of the people its good for men to know their own hearts certainly this is far from the spirit of Love which is the Spirit of Christ Where godliness dwels that soul never findes so much sweetness in any thing as he doth in the wayes of God as David saith Thy Word is sweeter then the honey Psal 119. and the honey comb thy Word is better then thousands of gold and silver As the Hart panteth after the rivers of water so panteth my soul after thee O God and I rejoyced in thy Word as one that findeth great spoil It s a lanthorn to my feet and a light unto my paths c. O with what an eager pursuit will the soul follow after the Ordinances of Christ it will force thorow all contrary ingagements and oppositions to meet with Christ it hath alwayes an eye fixt upon the loveliness and beauty of Christ it breathes after the reflections of his glory its restless thoughts travel with pain untill they be eased and lodged in the bosome of Christ untill when they shall never injoy their chief delight and comfort all its study is for communion with Christ and for the enjoyment of his glory whereever it is whatever its about it s alwayes harping upon eternity the further enjoyment of grace here and glory hereafter Come to a soul who hath tasted of the sweetness of Christ and knows what it is to enjoy communion with God who hath tasted of the flagons of his love ask such a soul What wouldest thou have O saith the soul this I would have that I might never sin against God more that I might be as instrumētal for the glory of God as ever any man was upon the earth then I am sure I should enjoy more of God then now I do When David had tasted how good the Lord was he was ravished with his sweetness and he would have others taste also O come and taste and see how gratious the Lord is O here is the godly mans delight My delight is in thy Law and I will meditate thereon day and night In this he findes all excellencies Psas 1. here he findes profits and pleasures preferments riches honors and whatever his soul can desire what joy
what consolation can a man have greater then this to finde in the book of God that his name is written in the book of life which the Saints do finde and that often in the Scriptures O what pleasure can a man be capable of more then to enjoy life and health nay an Eternal life free from cares sorrows or sickness a life as durable as the life of God and enjoyed with and in God full of glory full of sweetness full of delight where nothing but pleasures are for evermore Now others see no excellency in things of this nature ask them what they would have to compleat their delight their answer will be gold silver riches lands honors esteem in the world and things of that nature that afford seeming joy and contentment to their carnal sense these are their Jewels these are the objects of their happiness it can never enter into their thoughts much less can they perceive that there is such delight and sweetness in the wayes of God as in the enjoyment of these sublinary treasures they are perswaded that the sweetness that men talk of that is found in the practices of godliness are but meer notions and conceipts in mens brains of such as these the Lord complains by the Prophet Hosea saying I have wrote to them the things concerning the weighty matters of my Law but they were accompted as strange things they have no skill in them they are things that they never heard neither hath it ever entered into their hearts to conceive them it is as impossible for them to understand those hidden mysteries as for a blinde man to Judge of colours an excellency in any thing that tends heaven-ward or savors of the Spirit of grace is not at all to be discerned by the blinde and carnal eye of the world Such a soul wherein godliness dwels is wholly swallowed up with that infinite fulness that it seeth in God when the Queen of Sheba saw the excellency of that wisdom that was in Solomon the text saith that there was no more spirit left in her 1 Kings 10.5 O then how much more is that soul that looks and meditates on the glorious wisdom beauty righteousness excellency and sweetness that is in God and Christ swallowed up lost confounded and utterly undone in it self its beholding Gods fulness maketh it come to see its own emptiness and to say of God O Lord thou art Almighty thou art al-sufficient but I am frail and weak I am nothing yea less then nothing O therefore blessing honor glory and power be unto him that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever It s reported of one that had much communion with God as he was sitting at meat with his friends he was rapt with such a suddain extasie of spirit that he to the amazement of his friends broke out into these words saying O for ever and ever and ever blessed be the great and glorious God and this was his deportment for half an hour together certainly we may well say this man was ravished and swallowed up with that fulness he saw in God and in Jesus Christ our Lord now such a man seeth nothing in himself nor in any creature whatsoever for the brightness of the glory of the Lord maketh all â—â—ings in the world to appear as they are meer emptiness and vanity yea every man in his best estate is altogether vanity that is in his most setled estate wherein he thinketh he stands but let him take heed lest he fall But here men must beware of that error of the Antinomians who deny the performance of all duties to God Certainly these men do not onely deny the Law but the Gospel too for though duties before faith are abominable yet when they flow as the fruits of faith they are not onely accepted and required of the Saints 2 Jam 18. Note that as saith justifies the person so works justifie his faith but they are faiths witnesses also Shew me thy faith without works I will shew thee my faith by my works for faith without works is a dead faith which works are a mans duties to God and which God himself commands how is it possible for a man to manifest to another that he hath grace when there are no fruits of grace appear how can a tree be said to have life without the budding and sprouting of its branches O it s a sad thing for men to boast that Christ dwels in them and yet they alwayes do the devils service because they cannot merit heaven by their duties therefore God shall have none from them but be robbed of his glory but a soul truly gratious will tell you that the love of Christ constrains it it cannot choose but it must draw neer to God in holy duties there is its life it can finde no communion no refreshment no subsistence without its addressing unto Christ in holy duties Now when men by their profession say that they enjoy Christ free grace in a plentiful manner and yet walk loosely carnally and vainly in their conversations saying They trust all unto Christ vainly believing that he will do all their works for them that he will not be onely their Mediator but their Actor they lying in sin alas how short come these of evidencing their Justification and their Interest in Christ by their Sanctification these are no fruits of Christs dwelling in a soul O therefore you that the devil and your own fleshly corruption hath so far blinded as to perswade you that free grace and Christ coming into the soul gives liberty to all licentiousness no no where the Law saith thou shalt not do the Gospel saith thou shalt not will no not think He that lusteth after a woman in his heart hath committed adultered already saith the Gospel know therefore that such a loose doctrine as this is damnable and not fit to be owned by any who would go for Christians O Christians your conversations must be suitable to your profession you must not only profess Christ but act Christ you must now live as that you may honor that great and glorious name of Christ 1 Pet. 15.16 O be you holy for the Lord your God is holy Now this holiness must extend to all manner of conversation towards God and man I shall freely grant that duties Justifie not and to rest in them is sin yea the best that ever man did perform was full of imperfection and when we have done all that we can we are but unprofitable servants for the best of Saints while they are in the Body are clothed with all maner of infirmities but the way to destroy them is to be often with God in the Mount If now thou canst appeal to God that thou hast found these nine particulars in thee and that they are sixed in thy heart and that thou hast the witness of Gods Spirit with thy spirit for the truth thereof then thou mayst safely conclude that
what excellency there is in godliness that so your carriages to others may make them to enquire after it to be in love with it to desire to know it and to be acquainted with it O be sure to carry your self so as that you give no offence to Jew or Gentile nor to the Church of God but let your carriage be such as that all men may be in love or at lest convinced that the way you walk in is just holy and good Pity poor souls that are ignorant of this power of godliness O remember it was once your condition and had been so still had not infinite free grace and tender mercy made a difference O therefore let your bowels yern towards them that are your brethren according to the flesh and let your prayers be to God that they may be endued from above with this power that the Spirit of grace would overshadow them and breathe the breath of life into their souls that they may be saved that they which belong to his eternal election may be speedily called home to partake of that sweetness of that Olive Tree Rom. 11.16 whose root is Jesus Christ stretch forth your helping hand to save poor sinners let your prayers be incessant for them O intreat and beseech them to be reconciled to God O let them know from you that there is sufficiency in the blood of Jesus Christ to save their pretious souls perswade them to come in to Christ and tell them what sweetness you have found in the wayes of God let them know that when you were in their condition that you thought your selves in a good condition but now God having opened your eyes you can tell them the error of your thoughts for you were going to the pit of destruction and knew it not O put them upon the consideration of Eternity let them know that their pretious souls must shortly launch into the ocean of Eternity and if there be not provision made for them if they have not Christ Jesus for their Pilot to steere their course for them they must certainly sinke and perish and be cut off for ever from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his Power and do all that possibly you can in all your addresses to them to perswade them that what you say to them is out of that love and intire affection that you bear to their poor souls Jude ver 23. And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh as you ought to use all means to perswade and draw men by the Spirit of Love to forsake their evil wayes and to enquire after Jesus Christ so if that will not prevail you may yea you ought to thunder against them and to rouse them out of their security in denouncing the Judgments of God by the terrors of the Law that you may do as much as in you lieth to terrifie and affright them out of their miserable condition so that if it be possible you may be instrumental to deliver them from eternal fire and from the wrath of an infinite God hereby shall you gain glory to God and testifie to the world your lothing and detestation of sinful wayes and discover unto such leprous souls that those spots wherewith sin hath defiled them are not the spots of Gods people for this the Lord saith of sinners Deut. 32.5 who walk in the imagination of their own hearts Their spot is not the spot of my people This may also exhort you who are the Saints who have received the power of godliness into your souls to pay your tributes of thankfulness unto the Lord. O do you bless praise and magnifie the great and glorious Name of God for ever O let your mouthes be filled with praise and thanksgiving to your God for ever and ever O you have cause to say Blessing and honor and glory and praise be given to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever who hath looked upon you in your low estate and redeemed you from condemnation This is the Lords own work and it ought to be mavellous in your eyes this should cause you to spend the length of your dayes to the honor and service of your God in holiness of life and all manner of godly conversation this the consideration of your deliverance from your spiritual enemies sin death and hell should be a strong engagement upon your spirits to serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness all the dayes of your lives Luk. 1.74.75 for you owe your selves to Christ remember you are bought with a price be not any longer the servants of sin and Satan live not to please men for if you be men-pleasers you cannot be the servants of Christ O dedicate your souls spirits and bodies to Jesus Christ yea and offer them up to God a living sacrifice for this is that Worship that is required at Saints hands by the word of God Rom. 12.1 O know there can be no greater manifestation of your thankfulness to God then your universal obedience to all Gods commands let this be done in the whole course of your lives hereby shall you evidence unto the world that you are those in whom dwels the power of godliness and by this you may draw others to be in love with the wayes of holyness and stop the mouths of all gain-sayers and opposers of it Now there are several motives to incite you Saints to this great duty of thankfulness 1. Praedestino 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.29 praecognovit First From the consideration of your predestination why should God preordain that you should be to the praise of the glory of his grace from all Eternity yea to appoint you to be his adopted children in Christ Jesus Yea you are those whom God acknowledged before nd therefore he was pleased to predestinate you to life glory O now that God was pleased to appoint you for his people pass by so many thousands of the same lump and extend his mercy to you will not this raise up your hearts to thankfulnes shall not this be the theam and subject of your everlasting praises 2. Electio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the consideration of your Election why should God choose you out of that common mass of mankinde to make you heirs of life and glory yea coheirs with his Son Jesus Christ even as a Potter of a rude mass of clay maketh one vessel to honor and another to dishonor it s the Apostles allusion Rom. 9. Why wert not thou whom he hath made a vessel to life and glory made a vessel of wrath and confusion Why wert not thou passed by from all Eternity and numbered amongst the children of perdition it was only free grace that made the difference it was the good pleasure of the Lord to elect you to Salvation and pass by others leaving them under the curse of sin O remember
it was God that chose thee thou didst nor couldst not choose him O that an incomprehensible God should be comprehended by a poor wretched creature that he should bestow himself upon him and give him the riches of his grace O let the Saints for ever breath out thanks and praise to this gratious God and begin that work on earth which shall be their work for ever in the highest Heavens From the consideration of your redemption 3. Redemptio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is no less then a glorious redemption as being bought with a glorious price not with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the pretious blood of Jesus Christ of more worth and excellency then all the created powers in heaven and earth Consider what you are Redeemed from First From the curse of the Law Secondly From the wrath of an infinite God Thirdly From the power of sin Fourthly From a vain conversation Fifthly from the second death Sixthly Out of the jaws of Satan that great red dragon even from hell and condemnation What you are Redeemed to First To be in an estate of Son-ship to be the Sons of God Secondly To be heirs and joynt heirs with Jesus Christ Thirdly To have a sweet communion with God Christ and the Spirit of grace Fourthly To have communion with Saints Fifthly To enjoy life glory for ever where you shall sin no more where all teares shall be wiped from your eyes where you shall reign with God Christ Saints and Angels to all Eternity O this cals for thankfulness render unto him therefore the praises due unto his name 4. Justificatio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est propria ipsa judicis de innocente reo pronunciatio significatione nimirum activa The consideration of your justification which is done by the merits of Christ that is to be fully acquitted of all sin as if a man had never sinned to stand right and just in the sight of God Christ having paid the debt to Divine Justice and blotted out the hand-writing against you so as now it s with the Saints as if they had never been defiled with sin you and onely you are they which stand justified in his sight in that fift to the Romans are these three words used viz. Justifying Justification Justice and they are thus distinguished The first Signifieth the merit of Christs Justice whereby the Saints are Justified The second The action it self of Justification whereby Christs Justice is communicated to the Saints The third the Justice it self which is imparted and communicated to the Saints you know by sin every man is bound over to the Judgment Seat there to answer before God for all things done against him in the flesh and to pay that debt that the Law requires now Christ is the Saints surety and in their behalf hath taken this debt upon himself and hath paid the utmost farthing that can be exacted by the Law he hath loosed the chains of darkness broken the strong holds and hath enlarged and set free the Saints in the sight of God so that neither the Law sin nor the devil can lay any charge or accusation against them they have their pardon written on their breast declaring there is no condemnation unto us because we are in Christ Jesus let the Saints therefore never cease to magnifie and praise the name of the God of their Salvation From the consideration of your vocation 5. Vocatio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your calling out of darkness into the marvellous light whereby you can rejoyce in God your Saviour whereby your soul enjoyes the manifestation of all its comforts yea of its communion with God and Christ while its in the body God might have called his Saints at the last hour of their departure out of this life and so they might have lived without God in this world as every man doth before his calling and so without comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost now then if one hours communion with God be more worth then thousands of worlds O how are the Saints bound to bless God for so great a mercy as their enjoyment of communion with him here in this life for many days and yeers after they are called praise God therefore for your Vocation 6. Sanctificatio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the consideration of your Sanctification and holiness a godly man ought to be as truly and really thankful that his sins are purged as that his sins are pardoned it is one of the greatest mercies that a soul can partake of to be purified washed and cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit to receive of Christs communicated holiness to be imputed holy for Christs sake so that he who hath this robe of righteousness is made pure yea so pure and holy as if he had never sinned the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin and this holiness and purity of spirit is a soul invested with by vertue of the blood of Christ flowing to it in the Covenant of Grace O this must needs be a strong motive to inlarge your hearts with gratitudes for so inestimable a mercy to be made pure as Christ is pure and holy as he is holy and for that this your holiness and Sanctification is not only universal but its perfect in its parts in every part of soul and body God doth not sanctifie one part now and another part at another time but he sanctifieth the soul thorowly at one the same time Therefore know that if thy heart be sanctified then thy judgment thy will thy understanding thy affections yea all the members of thy body and all the faculties of thy soul are sanctified also Yet you must know likewise that no man is perfect in the degrees of holiness on this side heaven yet bless God who ever thou art who knowest that sanctifying grace doth rest upon thy spirit here for though now it be in part yet it shall be made perfect in heaven for ever The seventh and last motive to stir up the Saints to thankfulness is this that thou who art a partaker of the power of godliness shalt be preserved to Eternal Life in spight of sin devil hell or any thing that can gainsay thou mayest slip and fail but never totally fall thou hast the spirit of God to guide and sustain thee thou art already passed from death to live with God eternally thou shalt never miscarry concerning thy eternal being thy trips and slidings shall but set thee forwarder on thy journey God will be thy God for evermore thou art safe for eternity and thy soul lieth in the bosome of Christ thou art given to Christ of the Father and those the Father hath given him he hath promised that none shall take them from him O bless the God of Gods whose mercy endureth for ever whose love is permanent whose purpose immutable and whose power All-sufficient to preserve thy soul and body unto eternal life Vse 6
who are found to be chosen and faithful God hath not left himself without witness 1 Tim. 1.11 even among these whose love affections and zeal are manifested to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God a continuall supply of such godly Patriots the Lord grant and prosper unto us which is far dearer to every gratious heart then its dearest blood or what ever is desirable under the Sun or to be admired by the sons of men and according to mens gifts and greatness of place is the excellency of good or excess of evil men in authority have the greatest opportunities of doing good or evil as they are improved so is the ruine or happiness of a state therefore we may heartily wish that all men in eminency of place who are enemies to Jesus Christ might be fools and dunces that they might not be able to manage their malice and power with such depths dexterity to the more dangerous undermining of the power of godliness great men are more subject to temptation then others yet God chose himself a David a Moses a Jehosaphat a Josias c. to be very excellent instruments for his glory and if God doth expect most from them to whom he hath given most and the greatest Harvest where he hath sown most seed then dreadful will their account be who cannot answer God one for a thousand who have not imployed their gifts talents and power to the glory of that God who hath so liberally bestowed them on them for God will not have the sword of Magistracy lockt up in the scabbard unto a wicked offendor nor maliciously drawn against the just 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.3 For rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil that is they should not be a terror to good works how then have many rulers mis-exercised their power in punishing vertue and countenancing vice how have the fair and tender locks of Jesus Christ in the profession of the power of godliness been cropped and singed and the black ruffled hair of the whore of Babylon decked crisped and curled to the view of the world to the sensible grief and wo of many thousands in this Kingdom how hath formality been advanced and reality depressed how hath truth suffered and error raigned how hath the sword been turned against the faithful in the Land and they made the only Butt against whom all the arrows of malice have been directed and I am confident that no Nation under heaven have been greater or more bitter enemies to the power of Godliness then some in this Nation have been and still are and would be yet they themselves profess the same faith the same Christ the same God and the same baptism but the deeper will their wound of conscience be and the heavier their damnation Indeed as he is not a Jew that is one outwardly even so he is not a Christian that 's one in shew that hath only an outside in Religion that is he is onely so nomine non re in name but not in truth Yet we see that all that are baptized they appropriate the name of Christians unto themselves in word they profess they know God Tit. 1.16 but in works they deny him being to every good work reprobate for to God they are abominable and disobedient to all the commands of God and of Jesus Christ yea how many thousands in this Nation are there that are so far from the power of godliness that they hate the very form yea shall I say more they are without humanity it self O how Atheistically barbarous and prophane do men live These are they who are without God in the world Ephes 2.12.2 3. they only are lead by the power of the prince of darkness the God of this world hath blinded their eyes hardned their hearts yea and they are sealed up unto everlasting condemnation and yet know it not and yet these must pass for Christians O let these know that it will be easier for Turks and Indians in the day of Judgment then for them Now the scope of what I shall in this small Treatise humbly present unto your serious meditations is to set forth the sad condition of all them that content themselves with a form of godliness and deny the power thereof as also the excellency and happiness of those that can make it out to their own hearts that the power of godliness dwels in their spirits having also laid down several marks of both whereby every serious inquisitive soul may know how its condition stands with God they are the meditations and endeavors of some spare hours from other Imployments which I have made use of O let not the humility of the stile or any prejudicated thoughts of the insufficiency of the author be a scandal or impediment to your perusal of his labors or to make you say with Antipater King of Macedonia when there was a book concerning mans happiness presented to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have no leasure but read and Judge by the rule of the Spirit of love which is the strongest obligation Quis legem det amantibus major Lex amor est sibi Love is at once a freedom from all Law and yet a law of the greatest necessity My desire is and God say Amen to it that this plain Pill though naked and altogether without the guildings of Rhetorick and therefore the more consentaneous to true Gospel Physick might be very effectuall both to City and County which indeed it will be to all that take it down into their hearts O that God would be pleased by it to purge us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and make us live up to every mercy we enjoy giving the glory of all grace to the God of glory and power who onely can make all means effectual by the working of his own spirit in the hearts of the sons of men he can aswell bless weak means as strong Jer. 37.10 wounded men shall take the City if he command them pezants shall be more potent then Princes if they have Gods commission so it s in the power of the Almighty to make these few gleanings as copious in fruitfulness as the fullest sheaves of harvest these weak and unsinewed meditations as effectual as the high and strong parts of others which I shall leave in the hand of him who is all sufficient to do abundantly more then we can ask or think humbly desiring your candid acceptance of these my slender endeavors and I shall desire at the hand of the Lord your daily increase in faith in Jesus Christ for that is that potent princely grace that is that victorious grace attended with all her glorious train reading down triumphantly before you all vain pomp and transitory glory that she may hold still fresh and flourishing in your eyes the immortality and bliss of a never-fading crown and shine fair fruitfull in your souls untill
it set you down safe in the midst of a most glorious and ever-induring kingdom of heaven and having finished her blessed task resign you up leave you for ever in the bosome of Christ the Author and finisher of your course there to remain everlastingly blessed in the injoyment of fullness of joy and pleasures at his right hand even to all Eternity Your hearty wel-wisher in Christ Tho. Hubbert To the READER Christian Reader I Fear I may take up that complaint of the Prophet Isaiah in his time Isa 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed If this Prophet had cause to complain in his dayes O what cause have Christians to complain in these dayes wherein error and profaneness shake hands together and are at union and band themselves against the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Who is sufficient for this complaint What deep contentions about Trifles Forms and Shadows when pretious Things and real Truths are accounted circumstantial of no value So that the life of Christ the power of godliness and communion with God the Summum bonum of mortal man is generally neglected if not made a scorn and reproach and how many men which heretofore have made large professions of the Gospel of Christ do now by their base looseness on the one hand and by their gross errors on the other bid defiance to the very face of Christ and so become a shame to Religion and as so many goades and thorns to the Saints and all real professors of it Certainly I may say of these men as a Heathen Philosopher said of his gods Deos non naturae ratione sed honoris causâ nominamus we call them gods not that they are so by nature but for honors sake so these men are called Christians not that they are so by nature but it s a name of honor that they take upon them which will do them no good nor stand them in any stead another day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for though Christ be the end of the Law to his Saints yet these men without Repentance shal find Christ the terror of the Law to them most men in these erronious days make Religion to be like a nose of Wax they can turn it which way it may serve their own turn best that is called truth that corresponds best with private gain advantage what profession soever it be that answers not the gaping mouth of profit is cried down for erronious unsound now adays the objects of most mens choice are according to the dictates of their covetous hearts it is not godliness but gain that sways their affections These things I having seen and felt in my spirit did consider with my self whether that Scripture was not now fulfilled 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5. I concluded on the affirmative and he that runneth may read it for its most clear that a form of Religion is now in fashion and all the other sins in the first four Verses bound up in it Christ in his dayes on earth cried out Wo unto you Hypocrites but we have just cause to ingeminate this cry Wo wo wo for our age is over-grown with a kinde of profane hypocrisie our Religion is become formal and extrinsecal when the intrinsecal part thereof to wit the power and life of it is not regarded O there was never more strife contention and disputes about Opinions yea meer circumstantials not deserving the least consumption of pretious time nor ever was there less practice in the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the sense whereof deeply affecting my spirits caused me in discharge of my conscience to publish this ensuing Treatise the scope whereof is not here intended to be delivered but having respect unto the welfare of thy soul that thou maist more fully discover it read and ruminate upon it at thy convenient times I have caused it to be more amply set forth and published in this following Book Which if thou wilt but read thorowly read love and practise it may be to the conducement of thy good here and eternal happiness hereafter Read it not with a censorious eye let not a supercilious brow be cast upon it but let love sobriety patience wisdom and willingness to be instructed be thy Guides and Schoolmasters to teach thee to read and peruse it and the blessing of the eternal Spirit of Grace the grand Schoolmaster and edifier of thy soul rest upon thee directing thee humbling thee and throughly instructing thee in the right and constant practice and performance of it till it hath conducted thee unto the full end and enjoyment of thy hopes eternal life and glory the accomplishment whereof unto thy soul Is the Prayer and delight of Thy Soul-pittying Friend Tho. Hubbert From my House in More-Fields this 6th of June 1649. Pilula REcipe tantum verae fidei quantum Christum tenaeciter comprehendat cujus fructus cor mundificat tantum amoris quantum te ad fingulis Christi mandatis obediendum cogat tantum resipiscentiae quantum te ab operibus carnalibus resuscitet in te timorem Domini viventis figat tantum vitae integritatis quantum te Deum ipsum de amoris tui simplicitate approbandâ audacter appellare faciat tantum sinceritatis quantum cum eo in sanctâ communione te integram agere vitam provocet Haec componantur in massam pietatis tantum capiaes quolibet mane quantum animam tuam ab omni impuritate tum carnis tum spiritus intactam reddat conservetque haec Pilula per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum usque ad vitam aeternam te salvum custodiet Probatum est Si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos The Pill TAke as much true Faith as will lay sted fast hold upon Christ the fruits of which purifie the heart as much love as may constrain thee to obedience to all the commands of Christ as much Repentance as will raise thee from dead works and make thee fear the living God as much Sincerity as may make thee boldly appeal to God for the truth of thy love unto him as much Uprightness as may make thee walk perfectly with him in holy communion all thy days Make these up into a mass of godliness and every morning take as much as may keep thy soul from the infection of all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit And this Pill shall preserve thee to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If thou wilt reade nothing but what was intended by the Author amend these misprintings The rest are but small PAge 2. In the Margent pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 13. l. 8. r. most p. 18 l. 22. r. God p. 22. in the Mar. r. devenerunt p. ibid. l. 12. r. Spirit p. 52. l. 17. r. O self sanctity p. 60. l. 9. r. commune p. ibid. l. 23. r. eating p 67. l. 16. r. low p. 77.
but wo to them by whom they do come Consider again that saying of the Prophet Micah The Priests teach for hire Micah 3.11 the Prophets divine for money and yet they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us Can men say now more then they said then What to lean on the Lord to rest on the most High to say that the Lord was among them yea and at that very time when they preached for hire and prophesied for money and did all manner of wickedness and is not this thy condition O England they are for thy money for thy tithes for thy fleece they are alwayes crying What will you give what will you give though they have two or three Livings apiece the more they have the more they desire and there is no end of their covetousness and yet they are not ashamed to say The Lord is among us what is this but a meer form of godliness so they may but thrive and eat of the fatlings of the people they care not how the word of grace thrives in their hearts so they may be possessed of temporal means they care not how little the people be possessed of spiritual it is their own private gain they aim at for their preaching and not the inward gain of any soul by their preaching O what a miserable condition are poor souls brought unto that shall pay so dear a price for that which Christ Jesus hath so freely purchased and go without it And yet here I do not intend to muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn to binde a consciencious godly powerful Ministry to their performance of their duty of labouring in the Word and Doctrine and free their Hearers that are taught by them from communicating to those that teach them Freely you have received freely give look as well to those to whom the Word is dispensed as to the dispensers of it and that man wil hardly evidence himself to have more then a form of godliness that holds his hand from this There are others that would take it in great scorn if you but question them for their Religion and yet are carried with the stream of the Times they can put on any Religion they will alwayes be of that Religion as the Parson of their Parish for the time being is they will say as he saith they will hang their faith on his lips and do as he doth theirs cannot be properly called Religion but Election they alter and chuse their Religion as they chuse their Parson Christ shall not be their pattern but man they will do as their Forefathers did they will follow the most in the matters of their Religion they love not such fellows that disturbe the Parish wherein they live and trouble their heads with those things that concern the Ministry of the Word no no say they He that made us will save us God is merciful we will keep our own Parish Church play a game at Bowls or go to the Alehouse with our Parson after Evening Prayers yea love our neighbors and live civily with them and pay every man his due lo is not here a very fair account of a form of godliness The Gospel will appear so glorious as that it will be a shame to every man that hath not at least a form of godliness yea it will be a great disparagement to that man that hath no form no shew at all What will that man say shall the Gospel of Grace be so conspicuous and so clearly evidenced in the lives and conversations of such and such men and shall I lead an open profane life No that will lay me open to all detestation and shame though I am not cordially and really godly yet I will profess the life of the righteous Hypocrita cupit videri Justus I will at lest personate their wayes and actions I will be accounted just lest all men contemn me and say there goes an Athiest there goes a wicked wretch there is a man in whose thoughts is neither heaven nor hell God nor devil with such a man have not to do in commerce or trust thus for some oblique and sinister ends doth this man outwardly act the life of godliness and for these reasons doth he place his content and delight in a form of godliness Others there are that think a form of godliness will serve their turn and carry them to heaven well as the best yea they resolve to be merry and wise they will run no hazard they are all for the fair and smooth way let it lead whether it will they hope nay they will be confident that their way though it be Via latissima leadeth to the gates of eternal life They are as well pleased with a form as may be for that it bids as fair for heaven in the sight of men as the power doth and all they do is to be seen of men in stead of doing good works before men that thereby God the Father might be glorified which is in heaven they do their good works that they themselves might be glorified and canonized amongst men Thus they rob God of his Glory and their souls of eternal comfort A meer form exposes not to sufferings when the power doth for a Formalist is approved on of all sides he shall not meet with reproaches and rubs in his way he may go quietly to hell without molestation for I am confident you never heard of any man that ever suffered any thing worth the speaking of who did content himself onely with a form of Religion for it is impossible that a form which is but a shadow a resemblance a meer nothing should undertake or encounter with a fiery triall A form of godliness doth not tie up a man to that austerity and strictness of conversation as the power doth forms give more liberty to the flesh can more easily submit to any injunction and lye under any command without reluctancy of conscience or opposition of spirit when the power can nor will do neither so that they that have onely a form may live easier and have their Religion at a cheaper rate then others being less obnoxious to the times for they shall pass for very quiet honest harmless men when others shall be stigmatized with the reproachful name of common distrubers and factious persons c. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof VVe shall look but this once upon these words Obser 3 That those that deny contemn and abhor the power of godliness do at the same time imbrace the form of it We shall not hear shew you what the Power of Godliness is but shall leave it to its proper place to be handled The consideration both of our former and later Times will evidence and make good this You cannot be ignorant of the Nicknames and Reproaches that have been cast upon the truly godly both Ministers and People Read but the History of the Church and you shall
expect that Preach nothing but division dissention incitations and provokings to new wars and bloody designs and onely grounded upon humane prescript and authority These men are good at turning and can do it by art yet they cannot dance so in the dark but men may see them if they are not blinde or Priest-ridden yea to mine own knowledg some of them did in a manner promise the ingagers victory again how many of the people did underwrite great sums of money and lay out all their endeavors for a fresh engagement to war well may the people be seduced that are led by such spirits and yet of a suddain how did this slowing stream abate and upon how dead and low water did the spirit of these men move behold how your furious Jehus assumed new spirits or at least seemed so to do what preparations what goings out to meet that Army in a seeming kiss of love whom ere while they were plotting to destroy how did they seem to congratulate with presents those that so lately they did abominate and detest O damnable design O hellish hypocrisie But I shall not shew more of the nakedness of these men to the publike eye I shall onely advise the Reader not to suffer this sort of men to delude him any longer under any specious pretence whatsoever for though the Saints count godliness gain yet these men count gain godliness yea they fear men more then God and so are opposers of godliness while they hold out the form thereof They always oppose a through-reformation or at least like it not What The English Proverb is None too old to learne must a man that hath lived fourty or fifty yeers in a parish alwayes receiving the Sacrament freely now have his faith called into question must he now be catechised as boyes are before he can be admitted O this goes against the grain this cannot be indured yet in this thou opposest godliness They love Christs enemies they love cherish their bosom-sins their lusts their corruptions are very dear unto them they will enjoy them though they never enjoy Christ they will not be willing to part with a secret beloved vanishing darling for a perpetual and an everlasting Kingdom yea for heaven it self such as these are of the same mind that Theotimus was Theotimus saying Vale Lumen amicum who being told by his physitians unless he would leave his uncleanness he must look to lose his eyes his answer was then farewell sweet light so is it with these men they are resolved to have their lust though it cost them the loss of the most pretious light and the love and favor of Christ yea what mad men are these to do what in them lieth to damn their souls for the embraces of a momentany lust which they must forgo when they come to die Those that oppose godliness can hear of the nicknames and reproaches cast upon the Saints with delight and approbation and do not lay it to heart and mourn for it but make it their sport and matter of rejoycing and publish it to the world this is the custome of thousands of our professors in these dayes if they can but hear the least ill report against a man differing from them in Judgement they will be sure to add to it and spread it further and further it will be the tickling and delight of their hearts to set such a mans credit upon the tainter hooks do but consider Can a son indure that dirt should be thrown in his fathers face surely no then how can a man rejoyce in the reproachings of the godly whereby dirt is thrown in the very face of God himself and yet this man at the same time professing God to be his father but God loaths the owning of such children for they are of their father the devil and his works they do That man that onely likes Religion well in a great man and applauds him for it but despiseth it in a poor man and condemns him for it James 2.2 It s not Religion that this man applauds but the man this clearly shews that it s not Religion this man loves but the persons of men are onely had in admiration with him yea I must say that civility in a great personage is reputed to be an high form in Religion when true godliness is vilified in a man of a love condition yea and among them that a man dares not say but that they look heaven-ward O this is sad indeed for even these oppose Religion in the power and purity of it Lastly those that dare even in their Pulpits mock and cry out against new lights yea and others that in their conferences and disputes inveigh against any that shall speak of a further revelation of light in the Gospel of Christ what 's this but a mighty opposing of the power of godliness when John had seen many heavenly visions in the three first Chapters of his Revelation yet it is said in the first verse of the fourth That he looked and saw a door opened in heaven c. and the truth is the more true Gospel and spiritual light that any man hath the more darkness he sees in himself and the more light he desires and the reason why men do so much despise Gospel light is because they themselves are in darkness and have never had their souls ravish'd with the beams of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ unto them for let a man but taste of this glimpse of glory he is never at rest till he can have a further enjoyment of it Not that hereby I may seem to â—ustifie any vain phantasies or whimsies in men that will labor to bring the Gospel to their light and not their light to or from the Scripture that will forsake fundamentals in Religion and tell us there is another way to heaven for men of yeers besides that of Faith and repentance which is the old and sure way but so far forth as new light keeps close to sound fundamentals so far let the Saints own and embrace it as true saving light with all thankfulness It may inform us that the power of godliness hath many enemies besides those that profess themselves so to be some preach Christ out of envy and some of good will and some to add afflictions to the Saints bonds so some profess Christ of envie some of good will and others that they might spie out the Saints liberty and heap up the measure of their sufferings had not Judas been privie to Christ and his Disciples meetings in the garden he could not so readily have known where to have found him when he came with the high priest officers to apprehend him for the Holy Ghost saith he knew the place Now the reason why the power of godliness hath so many secret enemies is for that it fighteth and contends against every secret and bosom sin what irksomness and reluctancie of spirit will
like himself he comes with power and authority he darts his grace into the soul like his thunderbolts into the world that cleave asunder divide and shake the very frame and condition of created Beings and so in the Acts 2.2 Act. 2.2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting What was this but the Spirit of God that fell upon the Apostles and gave them other tongues to declare the mysteries of the Gospel to the Sons of men it came from heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it came with power yea strengthned with all might to work powerfully prevailingly upon the hearts of men and that 's the reason why Christ compares the new birth to a wind that blowes John 3.8 and blowes where it listeth and no man knowes whence it comes nor whether it goes now what 's more powerful yet what 's more invisible then the wind even such is the working of the Spirit on them that God cals home to himself this is that white stone that no man knows Rev. 2.18 but he that receives it I will give him a white stone saith God and in the stone a new name that no man knows but he that receiveth it its thought that the Holy Ghost alludes here unto the custom of the Grecians in their Courts of Judicature when they were to condemn a man to death then the Judg sent him a black stone if he were to be freed and delivered then he sent him a white stone but yet it was so made up that he that carried it knew not what it was none but the Judg and the man that received it had knowledg of it so none but Christ and the soul that receiveth him knowes of the maner of conveyance or of the gift of eternal life There are two things in this point to be unfolded What 's meant by godliness What 's meant by the coming of it into the soul We have spoken somewhat of the first in the former part in the explicating of the words and now we will somewhat enlarge upon it Godliness is the right exercising and acting of those graces which the soul hath received of the Spirit of God Godliness what it is both to the glory of God and good of man or the bringing forth of the fruits of grace in holiness of life and conversation that is when a man improves all his graces given unto him to the advantage of his Master Christ to be glad of every occasion whereby he may advance the glory of that God that hath advanced him by the glory of his grace as God is pleased to shew the glory of his grace to a soul and that to the utmost so godliness in that soul desires to improve and actuate all that grace and mercy to its utmost power to and for God Christ the Gospel and the Saints And this is the very life and soul of godliness and this is the continual course that godliness acts this is its full scope and aime the perfection of this is that which it doth aspire after for this is the souls breathings from the time that the soul received it unto the end of life and so godliness becomes the souls witness here and hereafter 1 Tim. 4.8 for it hath the promise of this life and that which is to come Secondly This godliness comes I say it comes into the soul of man it is not attracted or by industry atchieved nor is it inherent in any soul but it is grace poured out from God and freely given and breathed into the soul of man by the Spirit of grace I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh Joel 2.28 Act. 2.16 Isa 44.3 Math. 13.11 c. Vnto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom c. Yea Christ communicates himself unto his people and makes them partake of his fulness freely it s not attained by skill art wisdom learning riches or any created power whatsoever yea all the created power in heaven or earth is not able to attain unto one scruple or grain of godliness it s not from men nor from the word of God or dispensation of the Ordinances in themselves but from Heaven and that by the breathings of the Spirit of Jesus Christ I shall but onely touch upon this point in this place We have now seen that godliness where it comes it comes freely and comes with power the next thing to be considered is how it comes to pass that godliness comes with so much power into the soul Answ The Author of all godliness is the Essence of all Power which is God blessed for evermore It s a rule in Philosophy That as the Cause is so is the Effect if the Cause be powerful the Effect must needs be so as in Fire the greater the fire is the greater is the heat in making other things hot which is its effect so the earth being in it self naturally cold causeth a frigidity and numness in all creatures so man naturally springing from his principle earth is nothing but a heavy mass and lump of Clay dead and fruitless untill heat and life be inspired in him from a principle and fountain of life Thus the Almighty being infinite in power causeth those things which come from himself to be very full of power Now that God is powerfull is clear by those names given to him in Scripture Nomen Elohim est personarū 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is called Elohim Elohim signifies the mighty Judges it s a Word of the Plural Number and expresseth the Trinity of Persons in Unity of Essence so Jehovah which signifies the eternal Being of himself then I am Exod. 3.14 I am that I am I will be what I will be a most significant expression of the absolute and uncontroulable power of God yea this name is attributed to Christ I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then he is called Lord and so a Lord that he is absolute of himself and can do whatever he pleaseth in heaven and earth then he is called God which commonly signifieth a burning fire one that runs through all things Again He is called the strong God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esai 40.17 Shaddai the Almighty God all which denotate and set forth the Almighty power of God and so in his Works For he is the God that weigheth the Mountains in a Balance and taketh up the Iles as a very little thing yea that counteth all things less then nothing what an expression is this what Soveraignty what Omnipotency is this what debasement of of all power in competition with his If it were the thoughts of Solomon an earthly King after his fruition of all sublunary pleasure and power to account them but vanity nay less then vanity well may then the Salomon of
twelve Stars and to have the Moon under her feet that is the earth and the glory thereof in its most glorious Robes must be stamped upon by Saints even as Samuel stamped upon Agag the King of the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15. when a temptation comes and offers it self to Saints they ought to be higer minded then to embrace it In this point Saints should be like unto Themistocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who having gotten a great victory by war would not stoop to take the spoil it would not stand with his state and honor to do it and when others did it his answer was you may you are not Themistocles for when the world having received a foil by this power of godliness offers its glory and pomp to such a soul which indeed is but the spoil of grace that soul should refuse them and leave them to be taken up of the worldlings and say Such as you may entertain and hug the embraces of the world but for my part I am born higher I am of a nobler blood then to minde such off all such contemptible things Saints should be like Antipater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 King of Macedon who being offered a book to read said I have no leasure so when the Saints have the glorious book of the whole world and the pleasures thereof laid open unto their eyes and tendered to them to be read they should answer we have no leisure to contemplate upon such follies nor to receive such vanishing delights our spirits soar aloft we must follow our Fathers business which is in heaven it must be our delight and our meat and drink to do our Fathers will for he hath taught us that we are crucified to the world and the world to us And as Saints by this power live above the world in its glory and pomp so they must live above the world in its scorns reproachings and persecutions and say in plain tearms Quo tendit non quid passura sit cogitat World and Devil do your worst for true Vertue doth not so much consider what it suffers but whether it tends whether its going and what 's its end Virtus dum patitur vincit Vertues sufferings are its overcomings the world and all its reproaches are thereby conquered so that Saints should not look what share they have in the Whip Noli attendere quam poenam habeas in stagello sed quem locum in Testamento but what portion they have in the Word of God what interest they have in Christ Jesus what crown of glory is laid up for all them that love the appearing of Jesus Christ who shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body For when Christ who is our light shall appear then shall we appear with him in glory then shall all tears be wiped from our eyes then shall the worlds scoffs be turned to our glory the worlds despight to our rejoycing the worlds cursings to our Hallelujahs and praising of that God that did so powerfully deliver us from them and hath now cloathed our despicable and loathed bodies with immortality and our souls with the Robes of Jesus Christ That by it Saints may see what emptiness there is in themselves and what fulness there is in the author of this power it s through Grace that a man sees that nothingness yea less then nothing that 's in himself that all his duties performances and abilities whatsoever are empty bubbles and meer nothing you know where light comes there darkness is discovered yea banished so where power comes weakness is made known and discovered so that a man may see it for where this power comes not men do and can trust in themselves and not in him who is all Power God blessed for evermore by this Self comes to be debased by this conceited riches become naked poverty all creature-fulness becomes emptiness by this the soul desireth to decrease that Christ may increase Reas 12 Lastly That it might keep and preserve the Saints to eternal life and glory Ye are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 O how soon would Saints turn their backs upon Christ and go back to imbrace their former sins lusts and corruptions and quite fall away from what they do now profess were it not that God did hold them in the hollow of his hand O whither was David going whither was Peter going and Lot Noah and divers other of the Saints had not God by a mighty power given a turn to their spirits its his Promise to his Saints that when they go astray they shal be made to hear a voyce behind them saying This is the way walk in it thus God by this power of Grace doth carry his Saints from grace to grace till he brings them to life and glory were it not for this they would with Demas forsake Christ and imbrace this present world the strongest Saint on earth left to himself would quickly fall and miscarry in his way to salvation its impossible for any man to be saved if he should be left to stand upon his own legs what infinite need then do we stand in of this preserving power it is not the beginning but the end that crowneth the work Finis coronat opus Luke 9.62 No man having put his hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God it was the complaint of God against the Church of Ephesus Revel 2.4 That she had left her first Love in Revel 2.4 Therefore he saith again in Verse 7. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God And again in Revel 21.7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God c. Rev. 21.7 If then perseverance obtain the Crown and onely he that overcometh shall inherit eternal Life What will become of poor miserable creatures that are not able to stand one moment nor to resist the least temptation if the merciful power of an Almighty God doth not aid them and carry them on through this boisterous and troublesome world and conduct them safe unto the Haven of Rest had it not been for this 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Paul could never have said I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness c. It is therefore by the power of grace that we are kept and preserved faithful unto the end Quest You say that godliness comes into the soul and that it comes with power but after what manner or what are the footsteps of it Answ You may call to minde how I told you that the words were Metonymical the Effect is here put for the Cause Godliness in its highest excellency is but the fruit of Grace the improvement or exercise of Grace Grace is the cause
her steps take hold on hell thus the soul by the power of grace being made acquainted with the loathsomness and bitterness of sin begins to be weaned from its brest and forsakes its embraces let God or man say what can be said of sin in respect of the vileness of it the soul can give its free assent and consent unto it yea it s so hateful to the soul that it hates the very name of any thing that doth but tend to sin yea it hates it in its most glorious robes of pleasures profits honors credits or what ever the world can afford it will shake them off as Paul did the Viper from his hand it knows sin to be viperous infective and stinging it looks upon it as its bane its poyson its undoing yea in the souls apprehension its worse then hell then the devil or all or any thing that can be thought upon The next thing is Self-denial that 's a soul that hath no Self no will when any thing comes in competition with God with Christ it owns its being from God it renounceth any self-existency its naked till cloathed from above its barren till made fruitful by Christ it stands in need of all things till supplied by that Fountain that openeth his hand and filleth all things with his blessing this Grace subjecteth the soul and makes it lie down at Christs feet it s alwayes lying under the droppings of Grace that it might receive replenishings from the Spirit this causeth the soul to look out of it self and to be carried out with an expectation hungering and thirsting after Christ and his righteousness this makes the soul to decrease that Christ may increase it debaseth it self that it might advance Christ its willing to part with all that Christ may be all in all it doth not onely make the soul to see emptiness in it self but to see emptiness in every thing besides In a word It s a soul-denying and a Christ-advancing Grace in whatever it doth it will not suffer the soul to aim at any thing which may tend to sinister ends it doth willingly cast off ease profit pleasure honor or what ever can be thought on before God and Christ shall lose their glory this Grace brings the soul into a right temper where this Grace hath its true working the bias of the soul runs from the world and runs heavenward God-ward and Christ-ward Self-denial as its Faith 's concomitant so it worketh with Faith in purifying the heart in mortifying of sin Matth. 12.37 39. and in following of Christ For he that will follow me saith Christ must first deny himself not regarding profits pleasures afflictions or what ever else lies in the way to life and glory For he that loveth any thing whether it be father or mother more then Christ is not worthy of Christ and he that will finde his life shall lose it but he that loseth his life for Christs sake shal finde it Fourthly Love its Gods will to man and it is a grace shed abroad into the hearts of the Saints by the holy Ghost in man it s a certain passion flowing from the Affections which are the souls wheels to carry it to its Object be it either God or man It may be stiled a characterizing grace whereby men may know God for God is love whereby men may know Saints from Reprobates 1 Joh. 4.8.3.14 the children of God from the children of the devil it s a sign that you are departed from death to life because you love the brethren he that loves not his brother is not born of God neither doth he know him to her much is forgiven because she loved much Love is of such an excellent nature that it transcends the tongues of men and Angels it excells the gifts of prophesie all mysteries 1 Cor. 13.1 2. all knowledg nay all faith it is of an enduring nature as Paul saith in the 1 Cor. 13.8 Charity never faileth it out-lives faith and hope 1 Cor. 13.8 for they shall cease but love shall be perfected and endure for ever Quest 2 Secondly how comes godliness into the soul and what are the steps thereof Answ 2 That as godliness is the fruit of grace and grace the cause of godliness as I have shewed before so are they made perfect in the soul at one and the same instant of time that is perfect in parts not in degrees for there are degrees of grace as well as glory one Christian more eminent in grace then another yet the least spark is as true as the greatest flame the whole man is at one and the same time changed and become new all the faculties of the soul all the members of the body are at once transformed and renewed the understanding that 's illuminated the Judgement rectified the will turned to that which is good the affections run after the right object conversion is not in part but in whole the feet cannot be washed alone but the hands and other members must be also cleansed for so said Christ unto Simon Peter one of his Disciples when he said unto him Lord wash not onely my feet Joh. 13.9 10. but also my hands and my head Jesus answering said unto him he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet but is clean every whit c. intimating that he that is washt by the blood of Jesus Christ is not onely cleansed from one sin but from all not onely purified in one member of his body but in all he is sanctified throughout both in soul and body but though this grace of sanctification or godliness be thus thorowly operative in it self yet oft times its not so to the souls apprehension that 's in Gods ordinary way of working now to open unto you in a word how to mans apprehension this great work of conversion grace and godliness is wrought First God by the preaching of his word together with the working of his spirit gives a touch to the conscience of an elect vessel which the Scripture cals a prick in the heart that 's in the ministery of the word as those in the Acts were pricked in their hearts saying Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved Act. 2.37 God doth here discover a mans condition to himself whereby he comes to see himself First To be a woful miserable and sinful creature Secondly that there is an exact satisfaction to be given to Divine Justice for those sins that he stands guilty of before God Thirdly that there is nothing in him that can possibly give satisfaction or make up that breach which he hath made by his sin there is no possibility in Angels or men in Heaven or earth that can take of the guilt of one sin And yet that divine justice must be satisfied or he is a lost man he is undone for ever yea he stands at the very brink of hell ready to be swallowed up every moment now these and the like reasonings
of this world Christ gives thanks to his Father That he hath hid these things from the wise and prudent of the world and hath revealed them unto babes and this Christ gives as a reason Because it was thy good pleasure It was Gods good pleasure to put godliness into the souls of the poor and despised ones of this world and to pass by so many great and mighty ones Grace is free and God gives it to whom he will O this speaks very sad tidings to men of the world what for a man who was made so excellent to have his portion here in this life to be not differenced from the bruit beasts how miserable is this mans condition whose happiness is terminated in this life now the Saints condition is far better they have their bitter-sweet but the wicked have their sweet-bitter their glory pomp and greatness their heaven kingdom and paradise are in this world onely but their wo misery and torment Job 5.3 is in that which is to come whereas the godly may here endure heaviness and sorrow for a night and enjoy future bliss and happiness to all eternity This also may make men to cease wondering at the Saints Jude ve 3. when they see them so earnest to contend for the faith which was once given to the Saints yea when they contend for Christ the wayes of God and follow the Gospel of Salvation so earnestly here they may see the reason of it they have a certain power given them within that puts them upon it that excites their affections and kindles a holy zeal in their heart and carries them on with strength to wrestle with the strongest oppositions Psal 39.3 My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned saith the Psalmist there is an inward heat in the breast of the godly which makes them lively and acting for the faith of the Gospel they must act will they nill they the power that is in godliness puts them upon it the Love of God that constrains them to do it what made David to dance before the Ark of the Lord when he was despised in the eyes of his own wife but this power of godliness what made the three children so resolute and careless in answering the King when he threatned them that unless they would fall down and worship the golden Image they should be immediatly cast into the fiery Furnace observe their answer Say they Dan. 3.17 18. That God whom we serve is able to deliver us out of thy hand O King and he will deliver us but if not know we are not careful to answer thee in this matter for be it known to thee O King we will not fall down before thy gods nor worship the golden Image that thou hast set up now did not the standers by look on these men as mad men and wonder at their peremptory answer and blame them for their folly in not yielding to what the King had commanded certainly they looked on them as men meer men little dreaming that there was any other power in them then was in themselves but you see how they were deceived for these men had on the armor of proof that the Apostle speaks of they had this power of godliness in their souls that did maintain their courage and fortifie their hearts against what could assay them it was not the fear of the King could shake the loyalty of their hearts to the King of Kings it was not the fire of the Furnace could affright their thoughts or any way dimm or out-burn the glowing raies of the light of the Sun of Righteousness within them so now in these dayes when carnal men see a man so mighty and zealous for a godly Minister or to take much pains in the hearing of the Word Preached that he will go through thick and thin wet and dry and spare no endeavors that he may enjoy or meet with Christ in an Ordinance when profit cannot tempt him pleasures draw him aside and threatnings divert him from his course they stand and wonder and are as it were at a loss to see a man so industious in such a way O now this will give you carnal wretches a full account this man hath a power in his soul which doth uphold him put him on and carry him thorow in spight of all gainsayers he can say as Paul said I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Christ bears sway here godliness is predominant and the man is now led by another power then he brought into the world with him the man is carried captive by the Spirit of Christ and power of Grace so that he is not now as other men are who have not this power in them Cast but your eyes on men of the world and you shall see them given to several vices sins and lusts one who is given to company-keeping that man is never himself but when he is in a Tavern or Alehouse there 's his delight that is the end of his thoughts let all other business sink or swim let his wife or children pine and languish at home with thirst and hunger nay let their tears and silent mournings pierce the hearts of their pittying neighbors yet they shall never reach his his care and pitty are drowned in carowsing bowls and Bacchus alone shall be his god another addicted unto whoring whose own wife though never so honest never so well pleasing and good conditioned can be as she ought to be the sole subject of his content but his sinful and venereous thoughts must carry him on and prompt him unto adulterous actions contaminating his body with lewd and lothsom Harlots satifying and quenching his sulphurous lust in dirty puddles and refusing clearer and pleasanter streams of his own sporting himself in the arms and bosom of a prostituted Strumpet and rejecting and defiling the sweet embraces of a chast wife this man sacrificeth unto Venus and she is the Goddess of his heart And another he is possest with voluptuousness and pleasure and is never wel but when he is swimming in that stream he is presently taken with that temptation of Satans Matt. 4.8 9. who doth but shew him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and promiseth to give him all those things to worship him and do him service O this is a welcome prize to him what more delightful what more sought after by him then the pleasures and glory of this life the devil may buy his soul for a Poppit-shew so that his outward man be but pampered and satisfied with a moment any pleasure let his soul perish in eternal wrath and burnings what cares he the devil is his god a voluptuous life the consummation and perfection of his hopes now let a moral civil man cast but his eye on this company-keeper and he admires at his course and looks upon him under the notion of a mad man take a chaste man that beholds the
reason why the Apostle exhorts to work while it is day the night comes O then no man can work therefore let us work out out salvation with fear and trembling the working soul is the truly godly soul life and action is the true manifestation of godliness without which the soul is said to be dead O Christians as you have the greatest help of any men in the world so you have the greatest work to do First You must live after the spirit not after the flesh and that 's no easie thing to do Rom. 8.13 14. it s a matter of high cōcernment and great difficulty for a man to spiritualize all his actions yea by this power of godliness a man ought to make a spiritual use of all his thoughts words and actions yea of all his objects discourses readings and meditations whatsoever as to the pure all things should be pure so to the spiritual man all things should be spiritual if a man read the book of the creatures and behold all those varieties in nature certainly if he would make a right use of them he must see God through them and admire God in them as for a man to reason with himself If the creature be so excellent O how excellent is the Creator if the creature be so sweet O how good how sweet is that God that gave it that sweetness as the creature is very glorious in its several colours and objects as in flowers c. O then how much more glorious is that God that gave it that beauty as the succession of creature-comforts makes them mercies indeed so Gods various dispensations to the sons of men but especially to his Saints O how excellent are they O how sweet and glorious are they that come into the souls of his Saints Now you know if a man should alwayes eat and drink alwayes lie in bed alwayes be walking up and down if mans life should have no vicissitudes but be spun out in one perpetual act O what a misery would this be it would bring mans dayes to a suddain end therefore God gives in several refreshments in the neck of one another which makes them mercies indeed to man and so it is in things spiritual should a man always be hearing of the word receiving Sacraments or be always at prayer or conference a man would quickly faint under these frequent performances come to nothing the great God knows that the Saints have bodies aswell as souls therefore you see he is pleased to give six dayes to provide for them and only one namely the first day of the week to serve worship him publikely and yet not so tied up but that we may even then take creature comforts for our refreshment so that you see when we are to draw neer to God on his day he is pleased even then to give that liberty to his Saints as that they may call it a delight for he gives us our delights in drawing neer to himself in publike worship in family duties in closet meditations and ejaculations and in the use of all creature enjoyments with moderation so far as they may fit us for our publike and private duties Secondly As we must live after the spirit so we must be in a continual warfare with the flesh the spirit striveth against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit and these two are contrary one to the other there will be continual conflicts and engagements one against the other there is a deadly feud between the flesh and the spirit and not onely for a moment for a day or for a yeer but for the whole term of natural life Now it s no easie imployment for a man day and night to act the part of a souldier without any intermission of relief for as first he ought to be well armed so secondly he ought to have skill to use weapons otherwise his enemie will circumvent him and foil him at his own weapons and so put his life in hazard now this is the condition of all them who have received the power of godliness into their souls they are most obnoxious to the enemy oftenest assailed invaded and besieged with the most ingenious and crafty subtilties and insinuations of Satan none so encountered none so narrowly watched no failings so soon discerned no weakness with so suddain advantage taken hold of them therefore and them in an especially maner it behooveth strictly to stand upon their watch and to maintain their guard and still to be armed with these excellent weapons the Holy Ghost hath given unto the Saints to fight with Ephes 6.13 14 15 16 17. against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places namely the whole armor of God which he exhorts us to take and put on least we be taken unprovided and the enemy prevaile against us yet this enemy is not onely flesh but flesh and spirit world and devil which by us must be opposed wherefore seeing a Saints life is no idle life be informed and exhorted not only to know but to do your duties to stand fast and keep your watches and live as wise and valiant souldiers always fighting the good fight of faith untill you have finished your course and received the Crown of Glory which Jesus Christ the Captain of your Salvation will give unto you in that day Rev. 15.16 when you shall be crowned with victory and have Palms in your hands in token thereof Is it so that where godliness comes into the souls of men it comes with power Then this may inform us that godliness is Gods free gift and his gifts are powerful and operative it s not from men it s from Heaven it comes and it overcomes the gift participates of the giver an Almighty giver and a potent gift Grace is the gift of God saith the Holy Ghost thereby intimating and declaring the excellency and powerfulness of the gift its free grace poured out into those souls who were ordained for vessels of mercy from all eternity its Christ that first makes his Saints temples and then he wil dwell in them and needs must that building be pure holy and strong whose builder maker and inhabiter is God it s an infinite God manifesting himself to and in a nothing creature its mighty power working freely in an empty vessel it s the old of days nourishing a new creature it s an increated power strengthing the feeble loins of a created Being its fulness comprehending emptiness in a word it s the Almighty Creator overshadowing and over-powering the poor creature without the influence of whose grace and mercy it would instantly perish and be reduced to nothing O you Saints of the most high the majesty of Heaven God Christ and the spirit of his grace are all your friends the Father he hath loved you from everlasting and made choice of you to be of his Family in infinite love and mercy and because he loved you he sent his dear Son into this
by mans own industry neither by parts gifts learning or what ever man as meer man is able to attain to That its the meer gift of God flowing to Saints in the streams of the blood of the Covenant of Grace all these are but signs or preparatives to know whether godliness be in thee or no for thou maist know all this and yet be far from the power of godliness but if thou art not clearly convinced of these four particulars let me tell thee thou hast not so much as the least part or step so much as towards the power of godliness These things thus premised we shall proceed First then If the power of godliness dwel in thee thou art changed from an estate of nature to an estate of grace thou art delivered from the power of Satan and translated into the Kingdom of Christ yea This man hath the witness of the Spirit of God in himself and thou knowest it and art convinced of it in thine own conscience for it s not with thee as with a yong Christian that is onely in the nonage of his conversion for he that hath the power of godliness dwelling in him is one of a high Form in the School of Christ yea his condition is such that he can appeal to Christ and Conscience that this power dwells in him and is daily acted by him Where this power dwells there sin is mortified such a man is dead to sin sin cannot seize or take hold on him he hath no lust no affection to entertain the least sin it s not enough that thou art no drunkard no base company-keeper no profane swearer but thou must be dead to every sin of what nature soever it be He that is born of God cannot sin that is so as other men sin with consent of the Will with the least allowance of any sin no though thou mightest gain a Kingdom to tell a lye yet thou wouldst not do it yea though thou mightest be made the greatest Prince in the world if thou wouldst but swear by thy faith and troth yea thou wouldst tremble at it and refuse it esteeming godliness to be the best gain and the reason is first because the Love of God constraineth thee so to do secondly for that the fear and dread of the great God of heaven and earth lieth deep upon thy spirit and for the truth of this thou canst appeal unto God who is the searcher of the hearts and reins of his people Thirdly If godliness dwell in thee then grace is predominant in the course of thy life for grace is the very rock and foundation whereon godliness is built therefore as the cause is so is the effect as I have formerly declared even as sin hath by Adam raigned unto death so grace by Jesus Christ might raign to eternal life so that when a temtation comes and is offered unto thee thou canst say as Joseph to his Mistress How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God how shall I sin against that God who hath been so gratious so tender-hearted and loving unto me who pitied me cleansed me and took me into his bosome when I lay in my blood and filthiness O how shall I how dare I how can I attempt to sin against the God of all my mercies and so wound the peace of mine own conscience and eclipse the enjoyment of that sweet communion with God which I prize and value more then heaven and earth yea then all that can be thought upon Fourthly He that hath godliness in him is an holy and sanctified man in all maner of conversation in his thoughts words and actions he walks up to his profession his head heart hands and feet yea all the faculties of the soul and members of the body are for God and for Christ yea he yeildeth universal obedience to all that God commands as David saith Psal 119.6 I have respect unto all thy Commandements the man doth not pick and chuse what to obey and what not he pleads no exemption of any he leaves not some and takes others his eye is upon them all his Wil is for the performance of all his obedience is not partial but total all Gods Commandements are his delight and meditation day and night the whole bent of his desires runs after the Laws of God its sufficient to him that God commands it he is as willing yea as ready to obey as God is to command It s speedy When God commands he will not delay Gen. 22.3 though it be to offer up his dearest Isaac as Abraham when he was commanded to offer up his son the Text saith He did rise very early in the morning he deferred no time and when Zacheus saw Christ Luke 19.5 6. He came down hastily to receive him joyfully It s willing and chearful obedience Zacheus received Christ joyfully David rejoyced to run the wayes of Gods Commandements Psal 119.16 yea and Christ rejoyced to do the Will of his Father for God loves a chearful doer If ye be willing and obedient then ye shall eat the good things of the Land but if ye refuse and be rebellious ye shall be devoured with the Sword for the month of the Lord hath spoken it So you see it s required to be willing to obey whatever God commands It must be diligent obedience for as the hand of the diligent maketh rich in things temporal Heb. 11.6 Psa 119.4 and is a duty commanded so much more in things spiritual the diligent inquisitive soul after God and godliness is a thirsting soul it stores up grace and comfort against the time of need it s like the Ant in the Proverbs that provideth in the Summer against the Winter The power of godliness puts a man upon diligence in hearing the Word in prayer in meditation it makes a man to make his often addresses unto the throne of Grace and watchful after every opportunity to manifest his love to God to Christ and to the Saints and to be very active in doing what God commands This obedience is continual it s not to obey now and to disobey anon to serve God to day and the devil to morrow no the truly godly man cannot serve God and Mammon God will not be served by fits and starts he will admit of no interpositions or mixtures God is a perfect God and requireth perfect obedience it must be a continued act from the first hour that the power of godliness entred into the soul even unto the expiration of its last breath it must be the souls whole desire to be continually active for God in the general course of its life That soul in whom Christ or the power of godliness dwells is often in communion with God yea and it prizeth it at an higher rate then heaven and earth and all things that can be thought upon there is no pleasure profit preferment or dignity whatsoever that can divert him from this fellowship wherein
godliness dwels in thee and thy estate to be good and that thou art walking in the way to Eternal life O give God the glory of the riches of his grace and mercy in his Son for ever but on the contrary if none of these be found in thee but rather their contraries then there can be no godliness dwelling in thee and so thou remaining in a miserable estate and condition As first if thou art in that estate of nature wherein thou wert born and that thou never sawest any change or alteration from that conditionn or never endeavouredst after any but restedst contented and thoughtest thy self to be in a good and happy estate let men say what they will or can yea let God Christ and the Scriptures testifie the contrary as is most cleer they do as you may see in these ensuing places of Scripture John 3.3 Verse 5. Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God now what birth is this but the new birth of the water and of the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must understand the water of Regeneration and the Spirit working effectually in us for our conversion as water doth cleanse the filth of mens bodies so the water of regeneration the souls of men from sin now the Spirit of God is that whereby we live to God through grace 1 Cor. 15.4 5. The first Adam was made a living soul but the last which was Christ was made a quickning Spirit that is such a man that is regenerate lives supernaturally above the sphear of nature that is another maner of life then a natural man can live now this word Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiro ut spiritus à spirando 2 Cor. 13.5 both in the Greek and Latine properly signifieth Breath and therefore Christ compareth the working of the Spirit to the Winde That bloweth where it listeth no man knoweth whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one which is born of the Spirit Joh. 3.8 Again Know you not if Christ be not in you ye are reprobates now Christ lives in no soul but where godliness dwels if Christ be in a soul there will be a conversation suitable to Jesus Christ now no natural man can know or partake of Christ or of his Spirit Rom. 8. For he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his If sin raign in thee that thou obeyest it in the lust thereof if thou art a Drunkard a Swearer a profane Person an enemy to the Saints and the wayes of God and that thou takest delight in all maner of sinning O know that thou art far from godliness thou art still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity If thou livest suitable and conformable unto this world unholily and unsanctifiedly in thy conversation so as thou canst like and approve of any thing better or as well as holiness thou hast no power of godliness in thee If thou art ignorant what communion with God is and canst not speak by experience what sweetness is in Christ nor canst prize it at an high rate because thou knowest not what it is nor the worth thereof If thou canst not rest upon God in a streight but fleest to the creature and usest any indirect means to deliver thy self or else thou sinkest under thy affliction when thou placest confidence in outward means and forsakest the God of life If thou have no love to God Gospel the wayes of God and the Saints nor seest no excellency in them and yet hast an eye to see and admire an excellency in the things of the world as in profits pleasures riches honors good bargains and such in which indeed no excellency is it is to be feared that there is not the least spark of godliness in thee If thou couldest be content to live and enjoy the world for ever with all that it can afford and in thy thoughts couldest wish that all things in the world were at thy command and that thou wouldest willingly take them for thy heaven and for thy portion that thou hadst rather have thy Tabernacle here on earth then to enjoy the mansions of heaven that thou hadst rather associate and hold fellowship with the men of this world then be a companion to and with the blessed Saints and Angels in heaven O this speaks thee carnal this renders thee worldly if men would but examine their hearts and awake their benummed consciences it would be found to be the condition of millions of men and women in this world and it is for that they are of the earth and have nothing to do with any acquaintance or familiarity with God or the things of God For the natural man knoweth not the things of God for they are spiritually discerned If thy thoughts and affections be set upon the things of this world in the general course of thy life so that the god of this world hath taken the whole possession of thy heart and hath blinded thy eyes do but ask thy conscience what thy affections run after and what thy soul is most taken up with if thou art a carnal wretch then it will speak pure world The first thing wherewith thy minde is agitated in the night when thou awakest and in the morning when thou arisest is What must I do this day where shall I first pitch upon my imployment where shall I light upon a good bargain how shall I put off such and such a bad commodity what wile shall I use what stratagem shall I invent what way shall I go to work to pull a thorn out of my own foot and put it into my neighbors to advantage my self and over-reach my friends to ease my self and burden others such as these will be thy Soliloquies these will be thy reasonings and machinations and having through these night-studies accomplished thine ends O how will thy heart rejoyce O what a perfect man art thou in thine own wisdom thy onely joy is in the increase of thy Corn Wine and Oyl but as for God Christ and his wayes and for the graces of his Spirit they are not at all in thy thoughts O this is a lamentable sign that thy portion is in this world and that thou hast no part of that Inheritance which is given to the Saints If thou findest a certain antipathy or opposition in thy spirit against those Scriptures or Ministers that meet with thy sin couldst thou wish that the Scriptures were all compliances to thy will wouldst thou that God himself were not so holy as in his Word he is held forth to be and that there were less preaching more recreation then now there is on the Lords Day other dayes would one Sermon in a day yea in moneth please thee better if thou mightest have but Common Prayer with it well know that these things demonstrate a deadness to grace and godliness in the soul Vse 3 A third use
Sixthly Let this be also of terror to all wicked and ungodly men who are so far from having this power of godliness wrought in their heart that they resist the offers of it and quench the motions of the Spirit of Grace who are bound up under the power of sin in whose mortal bodies sin reigneth such as these are ruled by the Prince of this world Satan is their Lord they are his Slaves and Vassals they do his work they follow his imployment By this they may know they are of their Father the Devil for his children they are to whom they obey they fight for his Kingdom and are the subjects thereof O tell me you sinners what will become of your souls another day your end of dayes hastens on and the day of account is at hand when you must stand at the Bar of Jesus Christ to answer for things done in the flesh what answer will you make what plea can you have 1 Pet. 4.18 If the righteous shall scarcely be saved who then dares plead your cause And this will not onely be the condition of notorious wicked and ungodly sinners but of all such as have not the power of godliness wrought in their hearts let them carry themselves never so upright and holy in the eyes of men O the civil honest man though never so well qualified and gifted with natural endowments with Moral vertues with loving and affable carriages this man is in that condition which will prove woful to his own soul for ever for where no power of godliness is there is no Christ and where there is no Christ there must needs be a devil do but consider you must shortly come to lie on your death-beds thou dost not know how soon O then it may be thou art tormented in thy body in thy spirit and in thy conscience thy conscience then comes to be awakened which in thy prosperity was asleep and stupified now it opens her mouth wide which before was dumb now it flashes the very flames of hell into thy face now thy sins come into thy minde which thou hast committed twenty thirty nay fourty years ago now they stand in array before thee now they strike horror and amazement into thy wounded soul there is no cessation of Assaults no parle to be admitted there is none come to thy relief thy friends forsake thee thy God forsakes thee that is thy unrighteous Mammon thy riches thy gold thy silver thy lands nay thy wife thy children and all things in the world cannot administer one drop of comfort unto thee but on the contrary they are as fuel to thy torments thy sight of the want of help in them aggravates thy woes at length thou sendest for Physitians to prolong thy days well they come to thee and tell thee there is no hope thou art a dead man all the means in the world are inavaileable what sad tidings is this what duplication of thy pain is here well maist thou truly say My sins are become a burthen too heavy for me to bear and cry out Was ever sorrow like unto my sorrows what must I die O that I had never been born O that I had been abortive from the Womb that I had never drawn the first breath of life now thy soul sits on thy trembling lips ready to take her flight for Eternity then comes the devil to claim his Interest Give me thy soul I am sent for thee thou art mine thus he sets upon thee like an armed man he will weary thee like a mastive Dog and will not leave thee whilest thou hast breath do but consider what a woful time this will be whilest thou art here and do but weigh these several aggravations First When thou comest to Judgment as thou shalt stand at Christs left hand when on his right hand thou shalt see many that were inferior to thee for breeding and education for estate and for parts yea them whom thou didst despise as fools and silly men men of no account or esteem in the world O I say when thou shalt see these on Christs right hand whom he doth own and embrace for his people and thou left to misery and destruction will not this be an aggravation to thy misery When thou shalt see them which lived in the same parish with thee under the same Ministery and thou hadst the same means of grace preached to thee as they had and yet they are saved and thou art damned will not this cut thee to the very heart yea it may be thou mayest see some of thy servants there whom thou hast checked and rebuked nay whom thou hast despised and hated for their forwardness in Religion and following the means of grace calling them Fools Sectaries and Separatists O how wilt thou be amazed astonished and confounded how will this terrifie thy soul when thou shalt see them united and joyned to Christ their Saviour and accompanied with holy and blessed Spirits and thou separated and cast out into utter darkness amongst the devil and his cursed angels When thou shalt see those who have told thee from the Lord that thou shouldest not come to life and glory but that thou wert a castaway and couldst not be saved for that thou rebelledst against God Christ Gospel and the light of thine own conscience yea thou that wouldst trust to thy morality and good dealings with men thou that lookest for some excellency in thy self but didst see none in Christ nor his ways O now these men are come to witness against thee to thy wo and it may be thou wilt think and say with thy self of such a man as Ahab said of Elijah Hast thou found me O mine enemy O this will heighten thy misery this will heap coals of fire upon thy head When thou shalt be convinced that hadst thou made as good use of the mercies that were offered thee had God given thee an heart so to have done as those that stand before thee did thou mightest have been as happy as any of them thou mightest have enjoyed the like sweetness of God excellency of Jesus Christ with them but when it shal be said unto thee thou enjoyedst thy good things in this world thou rejectedst the proffers of grace thou wouldst none of the counsels of God but didst cast his Laws behind thy back therefore art thou punished and they blessed now do thy repentings come too late now are thy thoughts fruitless O into what a gulf of horrors will this plunge thy soul When Christ now shall call thee by thy name and say Soul in what place of the earth didst thou dwel peradventure thou mayst say Lord I lived in London now why may not Christ say in a place where my word was as powerfully preached as in any place of the world where the Sun-shine of the Gospel shined as bright as any where under heaven where my mercy was extended as largely my goodness flowed as abundantly as in no place more what at
sutable to such places would not be better spent in prayer reading the Scriptures self-examination godly conference and â—ther holy duties would it not bring more glory to God and peace to thy soul when thou comest to die do but make trial one week in spending thy time in holy duties and then compare that with the hours spent in profane company and if thou hast any spark of grace glowing in thee to thy own apprehension or any working of conscience remaining then see and judg impartially which time is best spent thou wilt certainly conclude and say with David One day in thy Courts is better then a thousand in the tents of the ungodly one hours communion with Christ in publike in family or in closer duties is better spent then ten thousand hours in any other places though it may seem to the flesh to be never so profitable or never so pleasurable Now that God that dwels in heaven so rule in and dwell upon the spirits of all his Saints on earth and make then so wise that they may keep such company on earth as are fit for heaven or at least that look heaven-ward Now one word or two to those which no man that hath any spark of spirituality dares calls Saints who say that they would not keep company with profane men nor lie at the Tavern or Alehouse as they do could they well avoid it it is not the greedy desire of the wine or the beer but the company that is there that causeth them to come to those houses and when they are called by such company they cannot withstand it Let these men know and take notice that they read this Text backward for the Text saith From such turn away but they read it But to such we will turn O it s a fearful thing to dally with the Almighty and to fall into the hands of the living God who is a consuming fire O dare you provoke God to his face and by your practice plainly tell him you will not obey his Word I say to all such that the time is at hand that God will make you know that his Word shall not return unto him voide but it shall accomplish that whereunto he sent it O thou bold sinner dost thou dare thus to affront the great God of heaven and earth before whom thou must sportly come to give an account of things done in the flesh I say think with thy self how thou shalt be able to answer these Scriptures O read them and lay them to heart And it shall be when he heareth the words of this oath that he bless himself in his heart Deut. 29.19 20. saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my heart to add the drunken to the thirsty the Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man and every curse that is written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord will blot out has name from under the heavens do but read the former part of this Chapter and consider what thy condition is and remember that this curse doth extend to every breach of the Law of God Gal. 3.10 for cursed is he that continueth not in every point of the Law to do it or in all things of the Law to do them O you that imagine to your selves peace and prosperity in a way of evil in your wayes of company keeping the Chaldee renders such imagination but a conceit and that 's all that 's in it you do either conceit that God doth not regard your sinful course of life or that Scripture-prohibitions are but conceits but the time is coming wherein you shall know that these conceits of yours do but add your drunkenness to your thirst that is your sins of ignorance to your sins of presumption O know that if you refuse and be rebellious you shall be destroyed for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Isaiah 1.20 Isa 66.4 Secondly That of Isaiah 66.4 They have chosen their own wayes and their souls delight in their own abominations I also will choose their delusions and will bring their fears upon them because when I called none would answer when I spake they did not hear but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that wherein I delighted not O sinners you will chuse your own companions though the Lord hath prohibited you yea though he calls upon you to turn away from them now you have your choice now you have that which your soul delighteth in the next thing unto you is That God will make a choice for you also but it shall be for your wo and misery Thirdly Pro. 1.25 But you have set at naught all my Counsels and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your destruction and mock when your fear cometh upon you Object But some will say That God is merciful and if we can but say at the last The Lord have mercy upon us we need care for no more Answ To this I answer That all the mercy in heaven is not sufficient to save such a sinner as thou that continuest in this condition what for a man wilfully to sin that Gods grace may abound O thou bold sinner wilt thou obtrude thy iniquity upon Gods Mercy dost thou dare to think that God will endure this O know that lenity provoked will turn to fury that God is as just as merciful that he is a repaier of the wicked as well as a pardoner and know further that if ever thou hast thy sins forgiven thee thy pardon must be as well sealed in the Court of Justice as in the Court of Mercy as thou hast sinned so know that Justice must be satisfied yea and that for thee if ever thou art pardoned But for you that think to go to heaven with Lord have mercy upon you in your mouths Do but well consider the sad story that I shall relate There was a man that was a notorious Swearer a wicked Company-keeper and being oft-times reproved for his sin His answer always was Tush God is merciful Upon a time as the story relates he being on horse-back riding over a Bridg that crossed an arm of the Thames part of the bridg fell in and as he was going he was heard to say Horse and man and all to the Devil as his Companions testified O here you see though he might have gone to hell with Lord have mercy upon me in his mouth yet God would not suffer him so much as to take his Name into his mouth O then let this one example make ungodly sinners tremble and not to dare to harbor a thought or conceit within them that so many words at the last hour shall do them any good or redeem their souls from eternal burnings and carry them into the bosom of everlasting Loves but admit they were sure to have Lord have mercy on me in their mouths at the last gasp