salvation As are the sinews of all Religion As most concern our selves and families That concern righteousnesse and mercy That concern the avoiding of greater sins We should do all affectionately in or to observe Sol. I humbly conceive that our special care should be First Of those which do principally and immediately respect Gods Glory Summa ratio in summo fine Secondly Of those which do most absolutely and necessarily respect our own salvation as Regeneration Repentance Holiness Faith Thirdly Of those which are the bond and sinews of all Religion upholding it in the power and practice of it as the sanctifying of the Sabbath Fourthly Of those which do most concern our selves and such as are under our charge as family-duties Fifthly Of those which do require and enjoyn righteousness and mercy unto others and preserve publick society Sixthly Of those which do concern the greater sins which should be most carefully avoided Fourthly we should walk in Gods statutes and keep and do them affectionately we should affect the acts of obedience and be affected in them Suppose that a man did walk up to every statute of God yet if this were not done affectionately all were nothing Now there are four affections with which we should perform every service or duty that we do unto God 1. Love and delight 2ly Joy 3ly Fear 4ly Zeal First With Love and Delight We must love the Lord and his statutes and the With love and delight duties which he requires from us and take delight in obeying and doing his will Psal 119. 97. O how I love thy Law Ver. 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly Psal 40 8. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Secondly With joy and alacrity Psal 119. I have rejoyced in the way of With joy and alacrity thy testimonies as much as in all riches Psal 100. 2. Serve the Lord with gladness Our walking in Gods statutes should be our meat and drink we should find more satisfaction and soul contentment and refreshing when we are doing the will of God and are enjoying communion with him than we do find or take in any earthly enjoyment whatsoever Thirdly With fear Serve the Lord with fear Psal 2. 11. when ye are a performing With fear any duty to God ye must do it with a 1. Reverential fear Thou shalt fear this glorious and fearful Name the Lord A reverential fear thy God Deut. 28. 58. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him Psal 89. 7. Pray and hear with fear and trembling 2. Humble fear of our own sufficiency and of our own performance left Humble fear any thing should fall in with our duties by which God may be offended and our service of him may miscarry c. Fourthly With zeal or fervor of spirit The people of God must be zealous With zeal of good works and zealous in good works fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. It was said of Jehoshaphat that his heart was lifted up in the wayes of the Lord 2 Chron. 17. 6. And of Josiah that he made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandements and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul c. 2 Chron. 34. 31. See also 2 King 23. 25. Wrestling and striving in Prayer attend earnestly in hearing We must not walk in Gods statutes with careless sloathful indifferent spirits but with heightned and lively and enlarged spirits doing his will with all our might and strength bringing out all the might and power that we have in his service stir up our graces and our hearts Fifthly We should walk in Gods statutes uprightly and sincerely Gen. 17. 1. Walk before me and be thou upright And 1 Kin. 3. 6. David my Father walked Walk in them uprightly before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee Isa 38. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. 2 Cor. 1. 12. Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Quest But here now is the great Question how one may know that he walks Signs of sincerity uprightly in Gods statutes Sol. There are 〈◊〉 discoveries of this First The prevalent motive which alone sufficeth to his obedience and that If we obey because God commands is the will or command of God if a man be upright and walk with an unright heart then he will and doth act and move upon the sole account of Gods command that alone is reason enough and will prevail with him for obedience There are several Motives which induce men to do good works some do respect our selves and are drawn from a respect to our credit and profit as do such a work and perform such a duty and you shall have honour amongst men by it and you shall gain much by it these considerations are the prevailing Motives which men of unsound hearts to some things which God requires as it was with Jehu c. And some are drawn from God himself only from his Commandement and this is sufficient and this prevails with men of upright heart Psal 119. 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts dilgently Ver. 5. O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes Mark how his heart is drawn out to obedience upon the meer command of God Thou hast commanded us c. Isa 2. 3. He will teach us of his wayes and we will walk in his paths Mark there is no more considered to move to walk in his paths than this he will teach us of his wayes i. e. he will make us to know that this or that is his will and command concerning us Paul relates that it was the earnest prayer of Epaphras for the Colossians that they might stand perfect and be filled with all the will of God Col. 4. 12. It is not Compleri but Repleri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some look upon that word as Metaphorical to be filled with the will of God as the sails of a ship are filled with wind which is enough to carry the ship in voyage so it is enough when the will of God fills our hearts and that carries them out to duty and David hath a singular expression in Psal 119. 6. When I have respect unto all thy Commandements you know that to have a respect unto a thing is this when that of all other swayes most with us as when a Master commands a servant he will do such a business because he respects him and at his command he will go and come though he will not at the command of any other this was Davids
it is See the antiquity of the Grace of God it hath been acting and putting forth it self from the beginning of the world it is of antient days and running along through all ages unto our age and so shall it hold on until the end of the World God hath had some ever since the fall whom he hath owned in special a manner for his people There is no age but his Covenant in some measure hath been afoot and some have been tasting of his Grace and Mercy We in our generation are not the only vessels of them thousands and thousands before us have been restored by Grace and saved by Grace Vse 2. How should this bow in our hearts to come into that Covenant of Grace This should move us to come into this Covenant which hath in so many Generations been found so full of mercy and life and to trust upon that God who is good and always keeps Covenant there is not any thing spoken of in any one Dispensation of the Covenant but it hath been still performed Surely that Covenant which hath held out so many years to so many Believers it will be sufficient and effectual for us all our days Vse 3. Then it is a gross error of the Anabaptists who put the Fathers under a carnall It discovers the erâ—or of the Anabaptists Covenant and that God fed them only with husks with Temporal Promises with earthly blessings as if they had no interest in God himself nor Christ nor Grace nor Glory whereas the Old Covenant under which they lived made up the same relation 'twixt God and them as between us and God and they had the same Christ revealed unto them as we have and their Faith looked on him as promised and to come as our faith looks on him as come and exhibited and they and we are the same children of God by faith and heirs of the same glory by Christ Vse 4. Then it is also a gross error to lay any other foundation than what is laid And their error who set up a Coveâ—anâ— of Woâ—ks â—or life my meaning is To set up a Covenant of Works for life and justification to build our confidences and hopes for life and salvation upon our own works for God as you have heard hath from age to age and from generation to generation set up a Covenant of Grace though in several ways of dispensation for his people and in these latter times as the Apostle stiles them hath setled fixed an invincible Covenant of grace to the worlds end And the Covenant of grace layes Jesus Christ alone for the sinners foundation and gives faith to lay the soule upon him not upon our own righteousness but upon his righteousness You do for lying vanities forsake your own mercies when you leave Jesus Christ and expect life from a Covenant of works Use 5 Vse 5. If they who had the Covenant of grace more dimly and darkly revealed were brought in as a people unto God what shall we say for our selves who have the Covenant of grace most clearly revealed in the Gospel and who have How unexcusable are sinners under this Covenant Christ and all the work of Redemption by Christ and all the way of salvation by Christ written as it were with the beams of the Sun what shall we say for our selves if yet 1. We remaine ignorant of mercy and life and Christ and salvation 2. We remaine obstinate and refuse to hearken unto the way of life and unto the terms of grace propounded unto us in the Gospel 3. We still receive the grace of God in vain and are no way wrought on by the ministration of the New Covenant but it is still a dead Letter unto us not a quickâ—ing Spirit c. O how inexcusable are our soules and how unanswerable shall we for all this grace of God and how heavy will the condemnation be for despising the grace of God shining amongst us with such glorious light in the face of Christ and in the Ministery of the Gospel of Christ If our Gospel be hid it is hid unto them that are lost 2 Cor. 4. in whom the god of this world hath blinded the mindes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them verse 5. Vse 6 O what manner of persons should the people of God be in these times who live under the new Covenant the best of all Covenants Better than the Covenant of works better What manner of persons should we be For knowledge than the Old Covenant of Grace for perspicuity for efficacy for liberty c. 1. What manner of men should we be in knowledge of Christ and of the grace of God in Christ 2. What manner of men should we be for soundness of judgement in the truths For soundness of judgment of the Covenant having so much light of the Gospel revealing the Covenant 3. What manner of men should we be in the estimation of Christ in affections In estimatioâ—s of Christ and in affection to him unto Christ in love to Christ in faith in Christ to whom Christ is so fully and so evidently made manifested by the Gospel in his Person in his Offices in his Love in his Redemption in his Salvation 4. How rich in grace how abounding in every grace to whom the New Covenant of grace is preached which is of more power and efficacy than any other How rich in grace Covenant which hath a more abundant presence and influence of the Spirit As to whom much is forgiven of them shall much be required So they who have received much from them doth God expect more 5. How should you serve your God and live up to Christ in all intention of mind How should such serve their God! and fervency of Spirit and freedom of heart and chearfulness of soul and readiness of obedience who are brought into that Covenant which sets you at liberty from a world of Ceremonies and Sacrifices and restraints and besides from sin and Satan 6. How chiefly should your hearts be raised to the better promises in Christ fully How should our hearts be raised to the better promises manifested now in the Gospel In the Old Testament you finde more mention indeed of temporal blessings and the spiritual were many times vailed in them But in the New Testament you finde the greatest mention of Spiritual blessings and temporal blessings be annexed unto them And why is this but because your hearts should be more taken up with and more set upon the great things of salvation and heaven than the mean things of earth and of this life O that you had hearts suitable and answerable to the choisest chiefest manifestations of the Covenant of grace and of the blessings more fully revealed and promised in the Covenant Use 7 How should we Gentiles blesse the Lord whom he hath reserved for
Spirit He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit and he hath received the Spirit the Spirit of Christ who is in Christ But I have I but I have not the Spirit not that Spirit I finde him not I feele him not Answered Sâ—l This also is a truth that the communion of the Spirit is inseparably annexed to union with Christ And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of Christs But then know 1. You must consider in what posture a Christian must be who may judge of the presence In what posture a Christian must be who may judge of the presence or absence of the Spirit or absence of the Spirit of Christ in him 1. He must be out of melancholy 2. Out of violent temptation 3. Out of Desertion He must be himself see himself that he is able and fit to judge Spiritual works and to compare things together and to weigh all that may be said in the ballance of the Sanctuary If thou be in this free posture and upon diligent search and serious consideration canst finde not any one effect of communion with Christ the case is very heavy But I believe the contrary touching thee O weak Christian when those above mentioned impediments are off so that thou art able to use the light of grace and of a renewed conscience much of Christ and from Christ will be found in thee a love of thy Christ a delight in thy Christ a heart ready and willing to hear and to obey thy Christ Distinguish of vital and vivifical acts 2. Distinguish of vital acts and of vivifical acts that is effects of a real union and effects of a comfortable union The estate of a comfortable union and communion thou dost not perhaps espy at present viz. Not actual joy not actual chearfulness not actual assurances O but though you do not finde the childe smiling yet if you finde it living there is union There are yet the effects and characters of life and of vital union and communion with Christ though not of a comfortable communion there is yet a breathing after Christ a hunting after Christ an heart renewed and changed an image of Christ unto which thou art changed and conformed a will agreeing with the will of Christ an end agreeing with the end of Christ c. And yet thou canst serve thy Christ in tears though thou canst not serve him in joyes and though the Spirit of Christ be not seen so as to comfort thee yet he is found so as to lead and uphold thee 3. There is a communion by way of influence and a communion by way of eminency and a communion by way of evidence and all these depend upon union with Christ There is communion by way of influence and of eminency and of evidence 1. Communion by way of influence when we partake of the Nature and Life of Christ ye are made partakers of the Divine Nature saith Peter Christ liveth in me saith Paul 2. A communion by way of eminency when Christ appears mighty in the soule in the large and high and strong degrees of acting of particular graces of faith of love of patience of self-denial of zeale of wisdome of humility 3. A communion by way of evidence as when Christ kisseth the soule with the kisses of his lips That is when he sheds abroad his love into our hearts by the Spirit which he hath given us and makes us to know that he loves us and saith by his Spirit unto our hearts I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Perhaps you have not attained to this last communion with Christ to this Osculumoris and perhaps you have not attained to the second of these which as Bernard speaks is Osculum manus well But yet you have attained to the first of these which is Osculum pedis perhaps you have not the sensible manifestations and impressions and seals of his favour by his spirit but yet you are young men in Christ and strong in the might of his Spirit perhaps you are not come to the strength of the Spirit but yet you are babes in Christ yet the liâ—e of Christ is in you you have that Spirit of Christ in way of influence which brings you into fellowship with Christ in his death and in his resurrection ye are dead to sin and you are alive unto righteousness and Christ is setting up himself in your hearts more and more Be not discouraged this shews true union with Christ for ever This is the communion of the Spirit of Christ when our hears are fashioning and conforming to Christ and have any part of his image stamped upon us If you can finde any one grace depending upon and flowing from union with Christ that is enough to satisfie you about the communion of the Spirit and that you have the faith which hath indeed united you unto Christ I but I am under much weakness of grace and many wants Ob. But if I had indeed this faith which unites to Christ I should not all this while have lived with so much weaknesse of grace and under so many spiritual wants certainly I should have found more of the strength and of the fulnesse of Christ who filleth all in all Answered Sol. I grant it for a truth that the right union is an imparting and strengthening and supplying union Whosoever is united to Christ indeed by faith to him is Christ a supplying Fountain a feeding Root and an helping Head and he will never leave the communicating of his Spirit unto him untill he hath filled him with all that fulness whereof a lively member of Christ is capable but then remember 1. Comparatively the original and first receptions from Christ are weak and little The first Receptions from Christ are weak as the seed that is cast into the earth or as the light which breaks forth in the morning compare the first works of grace with the flowing growth of grace it is but as the babe to the strong man but as the Lambe to the sheep I believe Lord help my unbelief this is that most of Faith at first Thou knowest that I love thee this is the highest of your love at first whom I serve with or in my spirit this is the greatest of our obedience at the first 2. The Communications of Christ unto the soule united by faith unto him are The communications of Christ are partly for justification and partly in sanctification Justification is perfect partly for justification and partly in Sanctification His communications in Justification are at once and full and perfect as soon as you are by faith united unto Christ you are perfectly reconciled to God you are perfectly cloathed with the righeousness of Christ you are perfectly pardoned all your sins your peace is so perfectly made with God that you cannot be more fully reconciled you have the righteousness of Christ so perfectly imputed to you that you cannot be
mend the soft heart 3. In respect of the Works and Dealings of God all of them make impression on the soft heart those of mercy and those of judgement those of blessing those of affliction they all work kindly Fifthly The Author and Cause of all this is God himself Job 23. 16. God is the Author of it God maketh my heart soft Zach. 12. 10. They shall look on him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn c. The Lord doth give this soft and tender heart when he doth effectually call and convert a sinner as you may see in Pauls conversion and thus you see what the heart of flesh is what a soft and tender heart is SECT II. Quest 2. NOW to the second Question How it may appear that the people of How this appears God are people of soft and tender hearts First By Instances all the Scripture over I will mention some David was By Instances a godly man and he was a man of a soft and tender heart when he did cut off the lap of Sauls garment his heart smote him as soon as Abigal spake with him he was with-drawn from his rash and dangerous resolution Nathan spake but one word unto him Thou art the man and presently he is struck I have sinned and that made him to water his couch with tears Josiah was a godly man and he was a man of a soft and tender heart see 2 Chron. 34. 27. Because thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before God when thou heardest his words against this place and against the Inhabitants thereof and humbledst thy self before me and didst rent thy cloaths and weep before me c. Joseph was so both to God Gen. 39. 9. How can I do wickedness c and to Man How tender to his father and brethren Job was so and so was Peter on whom one look of Christ did work so kindly that he went out and wept bitterly What should I speak of Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Nehemiah Ezra Daniel or of Paul or of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 3. 3. Ye are the Epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart nay see more of this softness and tenderness 2 Cor. 7. 11. Behold this same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire c. Secondly By Practice and there are eight things appearing in their By Practice practice which do shew that they are persons of soft and tender hearts First Quick apprehensions even of a frown and of Gods displeasure afar Quick apprehensions off in the beginnings in the threatnings in a with-drawment in any stop or estrangedness of communion and visits and unusualness in these cases presently the heart of them begins to misgive and fear Is all well is not the Lord angry He looks not on me I hear not from him as formerly Have not I offended him c Secondly Easie convictions A reproof saith Solomon Prov. 17. 10. entereth Easie Convictions more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool and so doth any conviction if the people of God have sinned Christs look to Peter Nathans word to David sometimes a glance an hint a passage in a Sermon or in Discourse is enough for conscience is very tender and takes presently and yields and confesseth c. Great griefs for lesser trespasses Thirdly Great griefs for lesser trespasses Great sins trouble not an hard heart Simile no more than the nettles and thorns do the hardned hand but little sins do exceedingly trouble the hearts of the godly being soft and tender Simile if a mote fall into the eye it causeth vexation because the eye is tender the omission of duty the coldness of performance distraction in services vain and idle thoughts unprofitable words losing of time sit heavily upon the hearts of Gods people c. Fourthly Special care of sure warrant for special actions They must have Care of sure warrant for special actions a light and a voice going before them This is the way Walk in it May I do this and may I do that Doth the Lord command such a work and doth he enjoyn me and am I sure and clear that I do not transgress if I should venture upon it Fifthly Wise Caution in doubtfuls Where if the work or way seems doubtfully Caution in doubtfuls good or doubtfully evil the godly person makes a pause a stand a stop he dares not to act boystrously if it be but a perhaps it is evil but a perhaps God may be dishonoured or his Gospel prejudiced he will abstain untill he gets more light to clear his steps as Job offered sacrifice in the case of perhaps Sixthly Present obedience When God commands no delays no shufflings Present obedience no consultings with flesh and blood their hearts are indeed at Gods command I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments Psal 119. 60. You need not use many arguments and perswasions to the people of God a word of Gods command is of easie authority c. Seventhly And Choice obedience they would serve the Lord with their spirits Choice obedience Rom. 1. 9. and seek him with their whole hearts Psal 119. 10. and serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear Hebr. 12. 28. and love him with all their might Eighthly Earnest supplications that they might not offend or if they have Earnest supplications offended that they might not offend so David Keep thy servant from presumptuous sins Psal 19. 13. Let not any iniquity have dominion over me Psal 119. 133. And in case of offence O take away iniquity I have sinned I have done exceeding foolishly O Lord forgive be merciful unto my transgressions heal my back-slidings return in mercy speak peace whence is all this but from the tenderness of their hearts Simile they cannot live out of doors under frowns having any difference 'twixt their God and their souls no more than the tender wife or child c. Quest 3. Why the Lord gives a heart of flesh a soft and tender heart to his Why God gives a heart of flesh Four reasons of it people Sol. The Reasons may be these which I will but mention First God will teach them they shall be taught of God and write his Law in their inward parts Ergo. Secondly His people must be his servants they must serve the Lord their God be at his command to do his will and his work Ergo. Thirdly They must be like unto their God and Father and have a nature answerable to his nature God is a God of very merciful nature very tender and gentle easie to be entreated and if I may so say to be wrought on sometimes a prayer works on him sometimes a tear sometimes
durationis He that hath a soft heart mourns and grieves 1. For his own sinnes Ezek. 7. 16. They that escape of them shall escape and shall be on the mountains like Doves of the valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity David that man of a soft heart how mourning and lamenting for his sin My sin is ever before me Psal 51. 3. I water my couch with my tears Psal 6. 6. Those in Zechary mourning as one mourneth for his only son And in bitternesse as one that is in bitternesse for his first born Zech. 12. 10. Mary Magdalen weeping and washing the feet of Christ with her tears Luke 7. 38. Peter remembred the words of Jesus who said unto him Before the cook crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice and he went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26. 75. The Penitent Corinthian so mourning for his sin that Paul writes unto the Church by all means to forgive and comfort him least he should be swallowed up with over much sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7. Now by the way observe that persons whose hearts have been really soft and tender they have mourned not only for their gross sins but also for their lesser sins not only for corporal sins but also for their spiritual sins for pride hypocrisie vain-glory unbelief not only for outward sins but also for inward sins not only for the sins in life but also for their sins in heart for the sin of nature original sin and the secret motions thereof not only for his sinful doings but also for his sins which do accompany his best doings not only for the sins which they have committed alone but also for the sins which they have caused others to commit either by their perswasion or by their evil example Not only for their sins of knowledge but also for their sins of ignorance as he prayed Lord forgive me my known sins and Lord forgive me my unknown sins so c. not only for present sins but for sins long since committed and pardoned 2. For the sins of others as well as for his own sins Psal 119. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law Ezek. 9. 4. Go through the mid'st of the City through the mid'st of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the mid'st thereof Jer. 13. 17. If you will not hear it my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride Exod. 32. 31. Oh this people have sinned a great sin and have made them Gods of gold Luke 19. 41. When he came near he beheld the City and wept over it The sins of others do grieve the Lord Fourty years long was I grieved with this generation Psal 95. 10. and dishonour him and how can a tender heart endure to see his God and Father grieved and dishonoured but his soul must grieve and mourn be afflicted and troubled Paul reproves the Corinthians because they grieved not for the sin of the incestuous Corinthian Thirdly Fear to sin True tenderness of heart alwayes breeds the greatest care to please God and the greatest fear to displease God where there is no Fear to sin fear to sin there is no tendernesse of heart and where there is true tendernesse of heart there is an exceeding fear to sin against God Prov. 23. 17 Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long Act. 9. 31. The Churches walked in the fear of the Lord. There is one who sets out seven degrees of fear which are to be found in every truely tender-hearted child of God viz. 1. He is afraid to commit grosse sinnes though never so secretly as you finde in Joseph when tempted by his Mistris O saith he How can I do this great wickednesse and sin against God! Gen. 39. 9. And in David when he was strongly tempted to take revenge of his mortal enemy and had an opportunity also put into his hands yet he durst not do it and why because he durst not sin against God! Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless 1 Sam. 26. 9. 2. He is afraid to commit little sins what a small matter had it been for Daniel and the three children being brought into Babylon to have eaten of the meat and to have drunk of the wine which Nebuchadnezzar appointed for them but Daniel saw it was such meat as was contrary to the Ceremonial Law then in force and therefore he would not defile himself with it Dan. 1. 8. 3. He is afraid to omit the least duty Moses was commanded to fetch the people of Israel with their cattel and substance out of Egypt Pharaoh consents for the people and their little ones but he would have the Flocks and Herds stayed by no means saith Moses Our Cattel also shall go with us there shall not an hoof be left behind Exod. 10. 24 26. So in the setting up of the Tabernacle and in all other Services commanded by God he was faithfull in all things he durst not leave out one knop not one tach not one pin which the Lord prescribed about the Tabernacle c. 4. He is afraid to serve the Lord carelesly and negligently Awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early Psal 108. 2. With my whole heart have I sought thee Psal 119. 10. Not slothful in businesse fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. 5. He is afraid to do any thing that is of evil report which though in itself it may be lawful yet if advantage may thereby be taken to cause Religion or the profession to be reproached and evil spoken of he is afraid to do that thing 1 Cor. 6. 1. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to Law before the unjust and not before the Saints And why might they not do so what unlawfulnesse was there in that Is not civil Magistracy ordained of God 't is true but though all things are lawful all things are not expedient 1 Cor. 6. 12. At that time such applications would have exposed the Christian Religion and Profession unto scorn and contempt amongst unbelievers c. Give none offence neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God he speaks it concerning things indifferent 1 Cor. 10. 32. 6. He is afraid not only of apparent evils but also of the appearance of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil if it hath the look or shew of evil it is enough to a tender heart to avoid it and abstain from it If it looks like pride if it looks like unchastity if it looks like unbefitting service of God if it looks like persecuting of the Gospel c. like error idolatry c. 7. He is afraid not only to do any thing that is evil Let not any iniquity have dominion over me Psal 119. 133. nor only to speak any evil Set
will never be quiet untill repentance be renewed and God appears to be pacified Thirdly If we have hearts spiritually soft and tender this will appear by the respectiveness of our hearts to the word of God And there are ten Properties of a tender heart in relation to the Word of God 1. It sets up the Word as a Light and Rule So Psal 119. 105. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths ver 133. Order my steps in thy Word 2. It studies the Word and meditates therein to understand the mind of God concerning it Psal 119. 15. I meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways ver 148. Mine eyes prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy Word 3. It layes up and gives special heed unto what God saith in his Word 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have also a more sure word of Prophesie whereunto ye do well that ye take heed Psal 119. 11. Thy Word have I hid within my heart that I might not sin against thee Prov. 7. 1. My son keep my words and lay up my commands with thee ver 3. Bind them upon thy fingers write them upon the table of thine heart 4. It stands in awe of the Word Psal 119. 161. My heart stands in awe of thy Word 5. It is led and guided by the Word Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel Psal 73. 24. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors Psal 119. 24. My sheep hear my voice and follow me Joh. 10. 17. 6. It keeps close to the Word in all matters of faith and practice receives all and admits no more will not go without it and dares not strive against it 7. It conformes itself unto the Word Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it even to the end Psal 119. 33. All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient Exod. 24 7. O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes Psal 119. 5. He will teach us his wayes and we will walk in his paths Isa 2. 3. Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine whereto ye were delivered Rom. 6. 17. Moulded cast 8. It is quickly reduced wrought upon and recovered by the Word As in Davids case when Nathan said Thou art the man 2 Sam. 12. 7. David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord ver 13. So Judges 2. 2. Ye have not obeyed my voice why have you done this ver 4. And it came to passe when the Angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel that the people lift up their voice and wept ver 5. And they called the name of that place weepers Bochim and they sacrificed there unto the Lord. 9. It will often review and try itself by the Word lest it hath sinned or lest it should sin against God Psal 77. 6. I communed with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search Psal 119 59. I considered my wayes and turned my feet unto thy testimonies 10. It desires and endeavours to comply with all the Word of God and to fulfill all the will of God and to walk according to it in all things I have lived in all good Conscience unto this day Act. 23. 1. We trust we have a good conscience Heb. 13. 18. I have respect unto all thy commandements Psal 119. 6. Zachary and Elizabeth walked in all the Commandements and Ordinances before the Lord blameless Luke 1. 6. Fourthly If we have hearts Spiritually soft and tender this will appear by By our sensibleness in cases of Gods honour or dishonour our sensibleness and choice behaviour in the cases of Gods honour and dishonour This I think is one of the fullest discoveries of a soft and tender heart and therefore I will insist the more upon it by shewing unto you 1. The several wayes how God is honoured 2. The several expressions of a tender heart in relation unto Gods honour 3. The several wayes of Gods dishonour 4. The several affections and workings of a tender heart in the case of Gods dishonour First The several wayes of Gods being honoured God may be and is honoured How God is honoured As â—â— his Name and Attribuâ—es 1. As to his glorious Name and Attributes Deut. 28. 58. That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Name the Lord thy God When we do acknowledge and admire and exalt God in his holiness and goodness and mercifulness and Omnipoâ—ency and wisdom and greatness and authority and justice and faithfulness c. Exod. 15. 11. Who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods who is like thee glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Job 9. 4. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Exod. 34. 6. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in goodnesse and truth Ver. 7. Keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquiâ—y transgressions and sins and that will by no means clear the guilty Deuter. 7. 9. Know that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandements to a thousand generations 2. As to his worship and service Psal 29. 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name or as it is in the Hebrew the honour of his Name worship the As to his Worship Lord in the beauty of holiness When we set up the true worship of God and serve him only and worship him only in Spirit and in truth and keep faithful unto it now we do honour and glorifie our God Thou hast not honoured me with thy sacrifices Isa 43. 23. The place where God is worshipped is called the place where his honour dwelleth 3. As to his Word and truths when they are magnified believed and embraced At his Word and upheld and obeyed when they have liberty and prosperity and success of efficacy 4. As to his works of Providence whether merciful respecting the good As to his Works of his people or judicial respecting the punishment of his adversaries in both which very much of God is to be seen and admired and blessed Secondly Now a soft and tender heart is exceedingly affected with Gods honour How the tender heart is affected in case of Gods honor and glory and with all the wayes publick and private for the honouring of God Such a person will take much pains to recover and restore the honour of God as you may see in Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah and Josiah to restore the true worship of God such a person will be at much cost to promote the honour of God 1 Chron. 29. 3. Because I have set my affection to the house of my God I have of mine one proper goods of gold and silver which I have given to the house of my God over and above all that I have prepared for thy holy house even three thousand talents of gold of the
several relations and any one who is of a soft and tender heart makes conscience of them all The tender Magistrate makes conscience of governing and ruling and believing and protecting and reclaiming and punishing and rewarding and dare not be unjust neglect or unfaithful or oppressing or out-facing or over-bearing and so people of tender hearts dare not to be disobedient unruly reviling despising c. The tender Minister makes conscience of feeding his flock with wholsome food and not to keep back any of the counsel of God concerning them he is instant and diligent in his work he instructs and exhorts and warns and reproves and comforts according to the several conditions of his people and the people will pray will love will honour will encourage will obey them that have the rule over them in the Lord. The tender husband will love and cherish his wife and the tender wife will love and please and reverence her husband The tender Parent will pray for will instruct will teach his children and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and the tender child will hearken c. Fourthly A person of a tender heart and soft heart makes conscience of all He makes coâ—scâ—ence of all duties 〈◊〉 the â—imâ—s the duties respecting the times and changes that do befall him He meets with times of adversity and with times of prosperity with times of love and with times of hatred with times of peace and with times of trouble with times of light and with times of darknesse with times of Gods clear presence and with times of Gods desertions And there are several and distinct duties proper unto these variations the which he strives to draw out and act in their time If his time be the time of prosperity he is doing whilst he hath that time and to honour God with his increase and to blesse him and to do for him and if his be the time of adversity he desires patient submission unto the hand of God and special instruction and improvement and refining c. In an high estate he will love his God and in a low estate he will by faith live still upon his God Fifthly A person of a tender heart will make conscience of duties 1. Though never so small and little thou shalt not lay a stumbling block before the blind nor cause the deaf c. thou shalt fear the Lord thy God The smallest 2. Though never so great and difficult and strict to deny himself to enter in at the strait gate to render good for evil blessing for The greatest cursing 3. Though contemned and reproached by profane men and erroneous Most contemned men or disaccepted by those unto whom it is performed 4. Though dangerous and exposing c. as Daniel of praying the three children Most dangerous of worshipping God only the Apostles of preaching Christ 2ly For the manner of performing these duties The manner of performance of duties A tender heart hath a special regard unto that he will serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb 12. 28. And as David after the due order 1 Chro. 15. 13. The duties which he performes they are by him done 1. Willingly Psal 110 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Rom. 7. Willingly 19. The good that I would do And Isa 26. 8. The desire of our soul is to thy Name freewill-offerings 2. Delightfully 1 Joh. 5. 3. His Commandements are not grievous Nay Delightfully Psal 40. 8. I delight to do thy will It was Christs meat and drink to do the will of his Father that sent him Joh. 4. 34. 3. Humbly as Paul Act. 20. 19. Serving the Lord with all humility of Humbly mind and with many tears 4. Believingly resting on the strength of Christ for their performance Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me And he acknowledgeth Believingly all that is done to be done in his strength 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me and expecting all the acceptance of duties for Christs sake Rev. 8. 3. The prayers of the Saints were offered up with incense upon the golden Altar 5. Sincerely with a plain honest obediential heart with all his heart Sincerely with his very soul and spirit in truth without guile and with a direct pure and single respect unto Gods glory These are the desires and these are the endeavours thus to serve and obey the Lord by every truely soft and tender heart and if he misseth or is interrupted in any of these his heart is troubled and grieved and he strives and wrestles with God to cloth him with the strength of his Spirit that he may thus serve his God according to his will Sixthly If our hearts be soft and tender hearts this will appear by the temper of our spirits in the occurrences of temptations There are temptations and suggestions By the temper of our spirits in temptations From Satan 1. From Satan he many times presents unto the minds even of the people of God thoughts of Atheism and blasphemy and other vile and inglorious thoughts O what an affrightment amazement and grievous burden are these unto a person of a soft and tender heart they do even crack and crush his spirits and take away all rest from him and fill his heart with tears and complaints and prayers 2. From the World to withdraw from God and Christ and the truth and From the World holy walking partly by reproaches scoffs threatnings restraints and punishments these a tender heart will bear and suffer and rejoyce in and by them grows more resolute for Christ and to hold fast his truth and to walk with him And partly by profits pleasure friendship fears and honours these a tender heart will trample under foot rather than sin against Christ Like Moses who refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs daughter Hebr. 11. 24. Châ—sing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ver 25. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the creasures of Egypt ver 26. 3. From our own hearts in several wicked motions to several vile affections From our own hearts And if your heart be tender it will not dally with them in contemplation nor yield unto them in prosecution but will resist them and pray against them and strive to have them mortified and subdued and instead of them would have a daily frame of holy and heavenly thoughts raigning in the mind SECT IV. Vse 2. DOth the Lord promise to give unto all his people a soft and tender Get such a heart heart an heart of flesh Then by all means let every one of uâ— strive to get this heart which God promiseth to give Now for this I will propound 1. Some Motives
Causally in us c. 3. Without faith no salvation He that believes not shall be damned Mark 16. 16. But without the spirit there can be no faith because that grace is the fruit and effect of his Almighty power So now you see plainly the infinite misery of being destitute of the Spirit of God Quest But how may we know whether the Lord hath put his own Spirit within How to knw that we have the Spirit of God us that the spirit of God is given to us indeed Sol. This may be known 1. By the works of the spirit 2ly By the qualities of the spirit 3ly By the properties of such who have the spirit in relation unto the spirit 1. By the works of the spirit The spirit of God is a vigorous and active and operative spirit and By the works of the Spirit when he is indeed put within any mans heart there he works in order unto the salvation of that man for unto that do all the works of God the Father as our Father tend and unto that do all the works of Christ the Son of God as our Redeemer tend and unto that do all the works of the spirit of God within us tend What are the works of Gods Spirit in them that shall be saved Now the works of the spirit in them which shall be saved are these .. Conviction 1. Conviction Joh. 16. 8. And when he is come that is the spirit whom Christ calls the Comforter ver 7. he will reprove the world he will convince the world of sinne Simile As when the light of the sun shines in a room this opens and discovers all the nastiness and sluttishness in the room so when the spirit of God comes into the heart he doth by his own light clearly discover and represent the sinful foulness that lies therein Here now I will briefly speak unto two Questions Quest 1. How the spirit convinceth a person of sin Sol. He doth convince of sin 1. By opening the Law of God unto us partly in the spiritualness of it as How the Spirit convinceth of sin reaching not only to our outward words and actions but also to our inward thoughts and affections both in the commands of it and likewise in the prohibitions of it that God doth not only command of us a Righteousness and holiness of conversation but also a righteousness and holiness of heart and nature not only that we do good but also that we be good not only that we hear him but also that we know and love and fear and trust upon him not only that we draw near unto him with our lips and bodies but also that we draw near unto him with our hearts and serve him in spirit and in truth That God in his Law doth not only forbid and condemn sinful words and deeds but also sinful desires and delights and motions not only murder in the hand but murder also in the heart not only adultery in the act but adultery also in the heart as Christ assures us himself in Matth. 5 28. Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart Perfection of it that it is so precise and exact that it expects from us not this or that particular duty but an universal obedience and full conformity unto all and every particular which is required and not for some little space of our life but constantly and invariably as to all the time of our lives and if we fail either in the fulness or in the continuance of obedience at any time in any particular presently the Law pronounceth a sentence of curse against us Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all these things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Secondly By opening our sins the transgression of the Law unto us Rom. By opening our sins to us 7. 9. When the Commandement came sin revived and I died i. e. when the Law came accompanied with the Spirit of God now sinne revived now it appeared now I saw what a sinful creature and what a miserable creature I was This is certain that when the spirit of God doth convince any one of sinne he then doth by an invincible evidence or lâ—ght so set out a mans sinful life and heart that he cannot but confess and acknowledge the same and withall himself to lye under the curse of God as long as by unbelief he remains in his sinful estate Quest 2. Whether a wicked person may not be convinced of sin and if he may how then can this work of conviction be any distinguishing character that we have the spirit Sol. To this I answer First I do not make every work flowing from the Spirit a character of his What are not characters of the presence of Gods Spirit gracious presence not illumination not conviction solitarily considered by themselves alone but as concomitantly considered with other more powerful and effectual works of the spirit following them 2. But secondly there is a difference between that conviction of sin in wicked The difference between the convictions of the wicked and the godly men and that in the people of God and the difference lies thus First The conviction in wicked men is ordinarily levis mollis it is such an evidencing of their sins as doth not much afflict and distress them indeed they cannot deny but that they are sinners yet they hope to escape well enough for all this c. Secondly The conviction in wicked men is ordinarily semiplena imperfecta it is of some outward gross sins as swearing lying adultery drunkenness but for all these they think their hearts are as good as the best they are seldom convinced their sinful hearts and natures and that original sin which is the fountain of all sins and which pollutes the whole soul Thirdly The conviction in wicked men if it be full and strong it is but Judicialis it is not Remedialis it is not in salutem but proves only in perniciem for when they are so convinced either they sin more desperately against the convincing light of the Spirit or else they fall into despair as Cain and Judas and Spira crying out that their sinnes are greater than can or shall be forgiven But now the conviction of sin by the Spirit in the people of God is another kind of conviction For 1. It is deep and powerful it makes discovery of the very root and foundation What is the conviction of the Spirit in Gods children of all sins even of that corruption and vileness in the heart In sinne did my Mother conceive me said David Psal 51. 5. And I see another Law in my members said Paul Rom. 7. 23. And Ecce cor meum Deus meus ecce cor meum said Austin Ah Lord what a wicked heart had I c. 2. It is graciously effectual this work of conviction works graciously upon
object of my hatred I hate that which hath so much provoked God against me and which is the cause of all the evil upon me I will never love nor serve it any more Thirdly Then all our hopes are in mercy alone of which we judge our selves unworthy Fourthly Then it draws out the heart to make after a Christ who only can give peace and ease and bind up the broken in heart the Spirit of God leads out this humbled sinner to Gospel enquiries and to Gospel helpers As Act. 2. 37. What shall we do And Act. 16. 30. What must I do to be saved Fifthly Thus the heart strives earnestly with the Lord to give Faith that it may be able to close with Christ and the man is not and will not be satisfied untill he be by faith possessed of Christ how he prayes how he hears how he attends and waits till it be given unto him to believe 3. Union and Conjunction with Christ this is another choice work of the Spirit apparant in all to whom God gives his Spirit Union with Christ It is the Spirit of God who perswades and inclines and draws in the broken-hearted sinner unto Christ by him is the match made between the soul and Christ by him is Christ joyned unto us and by him are we joyned unto Christ Now the Spirit unites or brings in the humble and broken-hearted sinner to How the Spirit unites the broken-hearted sinner to Christ Christ on this wise First By opening the Gospel that word of glad tidings and of good news that good word of life and of hope unto the humbled sinner wherein as in a glass he doth see the great love rich mercy and free grace of God in Jesus Christ unto such who was sent and given by the Father to suffer for our sins and to take away our sins and to make our peace and to reconcile us unto God and to deliver and save our souls and that'â— the way to partake of him and all good by him is to believe on him this the Spirit of God makes evident unto the humble sinner and withall offers him that whosoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 16. Secondly By presenting strong and safe Grounds or Arguments to the humble sinner that he ought to believe and may lay hold for his particular v. g. 1. The express command of God 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his command that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 2. The express offer unto the humble sinner and plain call of Christ Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden c. 3. The designation of Christ to this work of help and comfort Isa 66. 1. The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted 4. The promises and assurances of Christ that he shall not be disowned if he comes to him Joh. 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out nay he shall be accepted and eased Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Thirdly by answering and resolving all the doubts and fears and exceptions of unbelief from the greatest of former sinnings and from present unworthiness and multitudes of wants these the Spirit inwardly answers and takes off by convincing the sinner that Christ must be his Righteousness and will be so to every one that believes and that our unworthiness hinders not but he that is athirst may come and take the water of life freely Rev. 22. 17. And he that hath no money he may come and buy wine and milk without money and without price Isa 55. 1. Fourthly By making the Gospel at length through his own power an effectual means of faith so that the humbled sinner becomes a believing sinner his heart is perswaded and opened to Christ and he glorifies all the goodness and kindness of Christ he receives and embraces him takes Christ for his Lord and Saviour and Husband and Head and is joyned unto him and made one with Christ and Christ is one with him This is the great and notable work of the Spirit which he works in every one of the people of God in Covenant not one of them but he is by the Spirit brought in to Christ The Spirit doth not only in a preparative way convince and humble them for their sins but also he doth in an effectuall manner bring them in to Christ whom he hath before prepared for Christ Therefore let us look well unto our selves by this may you know undoubtedly whether God hath put his Spirit within you If his Spirit be in you then you are in Christ If the Spirit be in your hearts then Faith is in your hearts If you be possessed of the Spirit then you are possessed of Christ your hearts are overcome are perswaded are drawn to Christ he hath been the great desire of your souls and he is the very portion of your soules You are Christs and Christ is yours But if your hearts remain ignorant of Christ or undesirous of Christ and careless of Christ and stubborn and opposite to Christ you will not have Christ to reign over you and you will not come to him though you may have life and you love your sins better than Christ and you will sit down with the pleasure and with the profit of the world assuredly you have not the Spirit of God and if you continue thus you shall dye and perish in you sins Fourthly Regeneration or Renovation this is another eminent work of the Spirit extant in all the people of God they are all of them regenerated and Regeneration renewed by the Spirit Joh. 3. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Tit. 3. 5. According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost For the better opening of this I will shew unto you 1. What this work of the Spirit is what Regeneration or Renovation is 2. That this work of the Spirit is to be found in all the people of God to whom the Spirit is given Quest 1. What is this work of Regeneration or Renovation Sol. It is that work of the Spirit by which we partake of a new spiritual being What regeneration is even of the life of Christ yea of the same image of Christ and by which we are made new creatures As in every natural generation there is as the Philosophers speak an introduction of a new form as when the water is turned into aire or the are is turned into fire there is still another form a new form brought into them or as when a child is generated there is another new form brought into the matter which it had not before viz. a reasonable soul So is it in Spiritual
if I may so speak the very Genius and natural disposition of the holy Spirit to be casting out pulling down cleansing and purging of all our impurities and fleshly lusts which are so contrary to his nature and so offensive unto his presence Hence it is that he maintains a constant and perpetual war with sin in the hearts of the people of God till at the last he gives unto them a compleat and perfect victory Now from what I have delivered in this concerning the Spirit of judgement and of burning two things will flow 1. A conviction unto some that they have not yet received the Spirit of God because 1. They have not received the spirit of judgement to disallow and condemn their sinful lusts and wayes but are so far from it that on the contrary they do approve them and defend them and support them and cannot endure to hear the reproof and condemnation of them from the Word or Ministry or any other but presently they rage and swell and grow discontented and malicious and revengeful 2. They have not received the spirit of burning to abhor their sins and to crucifie them forasmuch as they do still love their sins and will serve them and will not forsake them Job 20. 13. But their great delight is in their sinful wayes and they hold fast their iniquities and hate to be reformed surely these persons have never received the Spirit of God 2. A comfort unto others that they have received the Spirit of God Because 1. They do judge themselves and really do disallow and condemn all sin in themselves Rom. 7. 15. That which I do I allow not 2. They are daily mortifying their sinful lusts by striving after a fuller fellowship in the death of Christ by relying on sin-subduing and mortifying promises and by constant hatred and opposition of their lusts which war against the law in their mind so that they will not serve sin any more and though as the Apostle spake in 2 Cor. 10 3. they walk in the flesh yet they do not warre after the flesh Secondly The Spirit of God is the Spirit of knowledge and wisdom so you read in Isa 11. 2. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Ephes 1. 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Whosoever hath the Spirit of God that man hath wisdom given unto him by the Spirit not carnal wisdom but heavenly wisdom true wisdome indeed which wisdom appears in four things First as to the subject If thou be wise saith Solomon thou shalt be wise for thy self Prov. 9. 12. And herein is a mans wisdom for himself when he principally minds and looks after and spends his choysest cares and layes out his chiefest pains to make sure work for the saving of his immortal soul That man is wise indeed and he only is wise who so attends his soul that he is never at rest untill he finds his soul to be ready in a safe and sound condition And thus doth every one who hath the Spirit of God given unto him he is by the Spirit made wise unto salvation What shall I do to be saved Act. 16. 30 He workâ— out his own salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. And gives all diligence to make his calling and election sure 2 Per. 1. 12. 2ly As to the Object in making choice of the best and most necessary object for the soul and in refuâ—ing that which is pernicious and impertinent And this wisdom all have who have the Spirit of God For 1 They pitch upon the most excellent and most necessary object to enjoy that viz. God to be their God and reconciled Father and Christ to be their Lord and Redeemer and Saviour One thing is necessary and Mary hath chosen that good part c. 2. They abhor sin which is the pernicious object I hate every false way said David Psal 119. 104. And Solomon saith Prov. 14. 16. A wise man feareth and departeth from evil 3. They are above the world which is the impertinent object for the soul We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal 2 Cor. 4. 18. Thirdly As to means and wayes tending to the fruition of eternal blessedness These they find out and in these they walk untill they come and appear before God Repentance Faith Holiness Righteousness Love new Obedience Uprightness these are the vety paths and wayes to heaven and all these do they chuse and walk in who have the Spirit of God given unto them Psal 119. 30. I have chosen the way of truth Ver. 35. Make me to go in the path of thy commandements for therein do I delight Isa 26. 7. The way of the just is uprightnesse Fourthly As to time or season Eccles 8. 5. A wise mans heart discerneth both time and judgement And this part of wisdom also is found in all that have the Spirit of God There is a day of visitation a day of knowledge of the things which do concern our peace Luke 19. 42 44. A day of salvation an accepted time 2 Cor. 6. 2. A time when Christ offers himself and love and mercy and happiness and strives with the hearts of men to know and accept of him And this time they who have the Spirit of God discern and do lay hold on and do gladly embrace they do not slight nor delay nor harden their hearts But while it is called to day they hearken Like the wise Merchant who as soon as he found the pearl of great price sold all and bought it Matth. 13. 45 46. Now if this wisdom of the spirit be as indeed it is the evidence that we have the Spirit O how few then have the Spirit of God given unto them Who takes care in the first place for his soule and makes sure the salvation of it Who sets his heart upon a God upon a Christ upon Reconciliation upon pardoning mercy and not rather upon his sins and on the world Who knows the day of grace the day of his visitation the day of his salvation the accepted time Who chuse the path of holiness the way of uprightness c. 3. Thirdly The Spirit of God is the Spirit of power and he is such a Spirit in and unto all unto whom he is given Rom. 15. 18. The Gentiles were made obedient Ver. 19 By the power of the Spirit of God 2 Tim. 1. 7. God hath given unto us not the spirit of fear but of power Isa 11. 2. The Spirit of the Lord is there called the Spirit of might Ephes 6. 10. Be strong in the Lord aâ—d in the power of his might The Spirit of God is a most strong
c. Who can pray thus but he who is a child of God but he who hath the Spirit of God to shew unto him his spiritual wants to stirre up in him spiritual and earnest desires to quicken his Faith on God and to depend on his good and faithful Promises in Christ c. Fourthly I will adde one instance more concerning the power in all who have received the Spirit and that is this All who have received the Spirit have received a power to do such works as none else in all the world can do for they are able in the strength and power of the Spirit 1. To abhor the dearest lusts which have formerly been more unto them than their lives and heavenly happiness 2. To forsake Father and Mother Husband and Wife and Children and Friends Houses and Lands for Christ and an afflicted estate with Christ 3. To prize communion with God and to take more satisfying delight therein than in all earthly enjoyments whatsoever But Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Psal 4. 6. Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Psal 73. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee c. 4. To live by faith in the times of desertion Though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13. 15. and in times of desolation when as creature helps and comforts fail Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vine and the labour of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat and the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Hâ—b 3. 17 18. The Lord God is my strength ver 19. 5. To be contented in every estate and to comply with it Phil. 4. 12 13. and to glorifie God under it O where is this power of the Spirit of God where are any great things or works of the Spirit within us I cannot pray saith one and I cannot leave my sins saith another and I can find and take no delight in God or communion with him saith another and I cannot trust on his Word nor wait upon his Promise c. Few men have any Spiritual power and therefore few men have the Spirit of God Fourthly The Spirit of God is the Spirit of liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty Liberty is a freedom from bondage or slavery and Gospel-liberty which principally respects the soul is a freedom accruing unto us Partly by price and purchace namely by the blood of Christ The Lord Jesus by his death hath purchased many glorious liberties for us he hath freed us from the Law as it is a Covenant of Works Gal. 3. 11 12. and from the curse and wrath ver 13. and from all condemning power of sin c. Rom. 8. 1. Partly by strength and efficacy this liberty comes unto us by the Spirit who puts forth a strong and mighty hand upon all the hearts of all the people of God and rescues and frees them from spiritual slavery under which they were held whiles they were in their natural condition The Spirit of God doth free them First From slavery to sin See Rom. 8. 2 The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death i. e. The power of the Spirit hath freed me out of the hands and power of sin so that it shall not command and rule over me as heretofore it is no longer my Lord nor am I any longer his servant I am delivered and freed from the dominion and tyranny of it and service unto it by the Law i. e. by the powerful and authoritative command and work of the Spirit upon this account the Apostle affirms that all the servants of God are made free from sin Rom. 6. 18 22. they are not in bondage they are not at the command of it sin hath lost its law and authority in them the yoke is broken by the spirit which is given unto them sin indeed will stirre and trouble and usurp but slavery unto it is taken away Isa 10. 27. The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing Secondly From slavery to Satan Before we receive the Spirit of God we are in bondage unto the Divel who rules or works effectually in us Ephes 2. 2. and takes us captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. 26. as one that hath a bird tyed c. O what power hath Satan over a natural man how he fetters and shackles and binds him and imprisons him and makes him to drudge in the fulfilling of his motions and obeying of his suggestions and temptations But now when the Spirit of God comes into us he spoiles the strong man armed and takes from him all the armour wherein he trusted Luke 11. 21 22. For he is stronger than he 1 Joh. 4. 4. He leads captivity captive he turns us from Satan unto God Acts. 26. 18. Object But Satan still tempts and assaults never was man so tempted as I am Sol. Temptation is one thing and salvation is another he bestirred himself in tempting and we obeyed he now tempts and we resist He frees us from him 1. By making us to abhor his Kingdom 2ly By translating us out of his power into the Kingdom of Christ 3ly By arming us with the armour of God against his assaults 4ly By stirring us up to resist him Jam. 4 7. Resist the Divel and he will flee from you And 5ly By strengthening us to overcome him 1 Joh. 2. 13. Ye have overcome the wicked one Thirdly From slavish fear and a slavish spirit in working in this respect he makes us to serve God without fear Luk. 1. 74. that is without servile fear for there is a twofold fear There is Timor filialis which is grounded in the love of God as a Father and there is Timor servilis which looks upon God only as a Judge and hath a respect to fo wrath Now when the Spirit of God is given unto us we do not serve God tor fear of wrath and punishment and damnation but out of love and reverence and ingenuity Though there were no Law to curse us though there were no Conscience to terrifie us though there were no Hell to burn us yet the Lord our God and Father we will love and him will we serve Fourthly From slavish indispositions as averseness to what is good and indelightfulness in it They that are anointed by the Spirit and power of God it makes them ready and willing out of love and working out of love Fifthly The Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth Joh. 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter Ver. 17. even the Spirit of truth John 16. 13. When the Spirit of truth is come he will guide yâ—u into all truth SECT I. THere are divers
men destitute of the Spirit though we be civil and courteous and friendly and helpful if we be born of the Spirit c. Gal. 4. 29. as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now Here is Ishmael born after the flesh i. e. an ungodly and wicked wretch and here is Isaac born after the Spirit i. e. according to the promise of the Spirit and according to the powerful and gracious renewing of the Spirit and presently he is persecuted by Ishmael That must needs be good which Nero persecutes so he must needs be good he must needs have the Spirit of God against whom all the scoffings and mockings and reproaches and persecutions of the wicked are raised Fourthly They that have the Spirit do walk in the Spirit and after the Spirit you read those expressions Gal. 5. 25. and Rom. 8. 4. We walk not afâ—er Such walk in the Spirit the flesh but after the Spirit Now as to walk after the flesh is to set anâ— order the course of our life after our corrupt reason and wills and affections following them as our guides so to walk after the Spirit is to dispose and order our conversation according to the rules and motions of the Spirit so to lead our lives and move on in our courses as the the Spirit of God doth teach us in the Word and stirs us up inwardly to follow Thus doth every one who hath the Spirit of God he walks after the Spirit his conversation is in heaven Phil. 3. 20. His course of life is the course of new obedience that newness of life which the Word sets forth He walks not as the men of this world walk nor according to his own lusts in the times of his ignorance but before God in Holiness and Righteousness for by the Spirit he is sanctified to obedience 1 Pet. 1. 2. 1. He prayes with David Psal 119. 133. Order my steps in thy Word Ephes 5. 10. Proving what is acceptabe to the Lord. 2. For the paths Psal 119. 101. I have refrained my feet from every evil way Ver. 8. I will walk in thy statutes Isa 26. 7. The way of the just is uprightnesse 3. For the end so as to advaace the Kingdom and advance the Gospel a living unto the Lord. Fifthly They that have the Spirit are spiritual worshippers The true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth for the Father seeketh Such are spiritual worshipers such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth John 4. 23. 24. So Paul in Rom. 1. 9. God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son Phil 3. 3. We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit Beloved take these two things for certain truths viz. 1. Carnal men are but carnal worshippers a form of worship satisfies them bodily service outward performance Isa 29. 13. This people draw near me with Carnal men are carnal worshipers their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart farre from me c. Jer. 12. 2. Thou art near in their mouth and farre from their reins 2. But spiritual men or men of the spirit are spiritual worshippers they do worship God in spirit Object But you will say What is it to worship God in spirit Sol. I answer to worship God in spirit is First To have our inward man taken up imployed and acting in all those Religious duties which we do owe and which we do present unto him As when What it is to worship God in Spirit we draw near to him in prayer for power to repent to believe to obey c. not only our mouthes do pray but our very hearts also do pray and our prayers are the lifting up of our hearts Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Psal 25. 1. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens Lam. 3. 41. And the very desires of our souls Isa 26. 8. The desire of our soul is to thy name And when you come to him in confession of sins not only your lips do acknowledge them and condemn you for them but your very hearts are ashamed of them and bewail them and judge them And so when you come to hear the Word a bodily presence doth not satisfie you but your hearts do come with your bodies and your hearts do hear and your hearts are ready to receive the Word with gladness and fear Secondly To have an edge upon our hearts in the services of God a kind of heavenly vigor and strenuousnesse so that our souls do come in to it with all the actual strength which they have for the present Indeed a Christan hath sometimes a stronger and quicker keeness of spirit than he hath at other times but still he puts forth as least in his desires and endeavours what power he hath in his communion with God As he seeks God with his mouth so he seeks him with his whole heart Psal 119. 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee he doth not serve the Lord with a cold formal indifferent spirit but as the Apostle speaks Rom. 12. 11. He is fervent in spirit serving the Lord He prayes and hears fervently and repents fervently and believes fervently 'T is true that he falls very short yet what he doth to the Lord he doth the same in good earnest it is his work and his business and if he finds it otherwise with himseâ—f if he finds a dulness and deadness upon his spirit this troubles him and he strives to shake it off by stirring up himself as the phrase is Isa 64. 7. and that of 2 Tim. 1. 6. and by awaking of his heart and graces I my self will awake saith David Psal 108. 2. and beseeching of the Lord to quicken and to enlarge his heart I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou shalt enlarge my heart Psal 119. 32. Sixthly They who have the Spirit of God are most pleased and delighted in Such delight in spiritual ministrations spiritual and vigorous ministrations which deal most with their spirits and do in a spiritual power most reach their hearts and spiritual condition Beloved this you shall find in experience that a profane heart cannot endure but alwayes hates and despiseth a spiritual and searching Ministry A formal heart hath most satisfaction in a formal Ministry A gracious heart is alwayes best pleased with a spiritual and powerful Ministry with that Ministry which doth come in power and in the demonstration of the Spirit and makes it self manifest unto the consciences of men which is quick in operation and piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. and which is mighty
they should not have done well to have observed it Thirdly If the Moral Precepts were ceased as to the people of God then God would have expressed in the delivery of them a purpose after some time to have revoked them and to have exempted his people from further obedience unto them or else Jesus Christ would himself have abrogated them as now unuseful but neither of these do we find Object Yes Christ saith in Luke 16. 16. The Law and the Prophets were untill John Sol. The Law here spoken of is not to be understood de Lege Morali of the direct and commanding Law of the Moral Law prescribing obedience sed de lege Prophetante per figur as as Rivet well observes Fourthly What shall we say to that of Paul Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inner man And Ver. 25. So then with the mind I my self serve the Law of God And Chap. 8. 4. That the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit What shall we say to that of David Psal 119. 1. Blessed are the undefiled who walk in the Law of the Lord Object But the Apostle saith we are not under the Law in Rom. 6 14. c. Sol. First One may be said to be under the Law in several respects How we are said to be under the law 1. For justification by the Law 2. For condemnation by the Law 3. For perfect and personal obedience to the Law 4. For a slavish and servile constraint In these respects the people of God are not under the Law nevertheless for direction and instruction to frame their lives unto the precepts of the Law thus they are under the Law But secondly the place to me expounds it self best of all The Apostle there saith We are not under the Law but under grace and this he gives as a reason why sin should not have dominion over them We are not under the Law i. e. in such a state where there is only a command given against but no power but we are under grace which is such a condition or estate where besides a command against sin we have also a power given with that command which pulls down the dominion of sin And verily all that can be concluded here is the comfortabâ—e estate of believers and regenerate persons not in this that they are utterly freed from the commanding Law of God but in that they are now under such a gracious Covenant vvhere there is not only a Law to command but grace also given to obey 2. Quest The next Question is what manner of obediential observation of God commands that is which concerns the people of God in Covenant Sol. It is an Evangelical manner of obedience or observation which hath four What obedience is required of Gods people It comes from Gospel-Principles ingredients in it First It must come from Gospel Principles even from the life and strength of Christ no man can walk without a Principle of life within him It is a living work which poceeds from a living Principle All the obediential workâ— of the people of God are performed in the vertue of their union and communion with Christ without me you can do nothing Christ doth not only give the Law unto the people of God but also he gives the Spirit unto them Heb. 8. 10. I will write my Law in their minds He doth by his Spirit write them in their hearts and makes them complying and willing to obey Secondly It must come from Gospel motives even from the mercy and love of God the people of God do obey him rather as a Father then as a Judge looking From Gospel-motives more at his goodness than at his severity They shall fear the Lord and his goodness Hosea 3. 5. And Psal 130. 5. There is mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared 2 Cor. 5. 14. The love of Christ constrains them And Ver. 15. He died for all that they who live should not hence forth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them The great love which God hath shewed unto his people in Christ inflames and swells their heart and moves cares and endeavours to walk before him in all well pleasing Thirdly It must come from Gospel-affections especially from love and delight From Gospel-affections O how love I thy Law Psal 119. If a man love me he will keep my cemmandâ—ments Joh. 14. 23. The love of God which the people of God enjoy carries out their soules in all holy obedience unto the will of God and so likewise they serve him with delight I delight to do thy will O God Psal 40. 8. And thy Law is within my heart Psal 101. 1. Serve the Lord with gladness The Commandements of God are not grievous unto his people they say not What a weariness it is to serve the Lord no but as David I rejoyce in thy testimonies and I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou shalt enlarge my heart It was Christs meat and drink to do the will of his Father O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes c. There is a servile serving of God which ariseth from a slavish Spirit unwilling backward constrained by threats and blows and there is an ingenuous free chearful delightful serving of God As the people of God are volunteers Psal 110. 3. of a princely spirit as the word signifies their duties though as to the rule are under a command yet as to their hearts and manner of performance they are a free-will-offering they find so much sweetness and happiness in communion with God and with a holy fervency of spirit they are not indifferent cold slothful but fervent in Spirit boyling hot serving the Lord Rom. 12. 11. their hearts are conjoyned and united in the duties of obedience intent and intensive Fourthly It looks at a Gospel-end at the glory of God and Christ Phil. It looks at a Gospel-end 1. 20. Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or death Ver. 21. For to me to live is Christ Rom. 14. 7. None of us liveth unto himself for ver 8. Whether we live we live unto the Lord. Natural men do act from themselves and for themselves but the people of God do act from Christ and for Christ 3. Quest Why the people of Gods Covenant are in a more special manner charged to walk in his statutes keep his judgements and do them Sol. I will not insist on this but briefly thus the people of God should walk in his statutes keep his judgements and do them Why Gods people should walk in his statutes First In respect of God and here are three Reasons 1. His Will Psal 119. 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy preceps diligently 1 Thes 4. 3. It is the will of God even your sanctification 2. His Glory They are called to shew forth
iniquity I never knew you saith Christ These things being thus premised I will now shew unto you 1. How a man may so perform his obediential works that he may please God and they may be accepted How we may so perform duties as to please God 2. How he is to walk in Gods Statutes so c. 1. Case How a man must perform obediential works so that he may please God and that they may be accepted of God Sol. For this take these answers First He must be in Christ It is a sure rule That the person must be accepted The person must be in Christ before his works can be accepted Now no persons are accepted but so far only as they are in Christ He hath made us accepted in his beloved saith the Apostle Ephes 1. 6. If the Lord looks on any person as out of Christ what shall he find him what shall he behold in him nothing but a sinful cursed enemy an object of his justice and wrath an offending and offensive displeasing and provoking creature and he cannot but loath him and what comes from him only in and by Christ doth he look upon uw with grace and favour Secondly He must have the Spirit of Christ For they that are in the flesh cannot He must have the Spirit of Christ please God Rom. 8. 8. The Apostle in the precedent verse saith That the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be whence he instances in this verse That they that are in the flesh cannot please God A wicked unregenerate man defiles every good work which he takes in hand Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles saith Christ Matth. 7. 16. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit ver 17. That of Solomon is pertinent to our purpose Prov. 15. 8. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight And ver 29. The Lord is far from the wicked but he heareth prayer of the Righteous By all which you plainly see that a person must be sanctified by the Spirit of Christ if he would have services or performances pleasing to God and accepted of him if God sees not something of his own work in our works he accepts them not but that cannot be unless our work comes from his Spirit within us c. Thirdly He must worship God in Spirit and in truth this our Saviour delivers He must worship God in spirit and in truth in Joh. 4. 23. The true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him And ver 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth A bare external bodily service the Lord utterly dislikes if the soul and heart come not within our duties they are of no account to God Spiritual service is proper for God who is a Spirit and this pleaseth him Rom. 1. 9. God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit Ephes 6. 18. Pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit Fourthly He must perform all his duties of obedience in Faith For without He must perform them in faâ—th Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. Now to perform our duties in faith implies 1. That we know and discern the will and command of God concerning the duties which we do perform unto him This is a certain truth That what God requires not that God accepts not He appoints all the paths of obedience unto the sons of men and will not be obeyed according to our mind but according to his own mind and whatsoever we do if we do it not with faith i. e. being not perswaded that this is that which God requires of us it shall not be accepted For Rom. 14. 23. Whatsoever is not of Faith is sinne 2. That we rely upon the grace and strength of Christ to walk and perform the duties commanded For without him we can do nothing Joh. 15. 5. It was a good speech of Bernard upon that passage in Cant. 8. 5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon his beloved Frustra nititur qui non innititur no good can be done but by leaning on Christ from him is the strength of your sufficiency and not from your selves 3. That we offer them up to God in the Name of Christ resting on his merits and not on our own duties on his doings not on our own doings and expecting acceptance for his sake Joh. 14. 13. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do Ver. 14. If ye shall ask any thing in my Name I will do it Col. 3. 17. Whatsoever ye shall do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus The prayers that were offered up with the incense upon the Altar were pleasing Rev. 8. 3. and came up with acceptance Ver. 4. The brethren were kindly used for Benjamins sake and David shewed respect to lame Mephibosheth for Jonathans sake Simile All our services and duties are pleasing to God and accepted of him not for their own sakes but for Christs sake 4. That whatsoever we do in the way of obedience let it be done to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. Do all to the glory of God For Rom. 11. 36. Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen 2. Case Now I come to shew you the choice Rules which do concern us Rules concerning our walking in Gods statutes in walking in Gods statutes or the manner how we must walk in them if c. Sol. The Rules which I will propound all of them shall be taken from the VVord of God and they are these First VVe are to walk in them willingly As Ephraim is said in a contrary We must walk in â—hem willingly sense to walk willingly after the command he was not compelled oâ— forced but freely of his own accord gave up himself unâ—o idolatrous worship So should we in a true spiritual sense willingly walk after the commands of God The willingness of our hearts is all in all in the duties of obedience and the more of that the more precious and acceptable is our obedience to Gods statutes 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my son know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts q. d. Look well to this for God takes special notice of this and looks more at this than any thing else Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power This is the choice Character of the people of Christ they shall be a willing people the word signifies they shall be
voluntaries freely offering themselves and freely serving without hire and pay people of a princely spirit and magnificent as if all their acts of obedience were their own free will-offerings Carnal men are but so many hirelings they are coacti serviles not servi but serviles men of a slavish spirit they are forced and driven to their duties out of fear of wrath and punishment and out of terror of conscience their hearts like not God nor his statutes nor doing of them they look on spiritual duties as their grievances and burdens But the people of God are a willing people they obey and serve him with a willing mind with a readiness and freeness of Spirit and well they may for they do discern and find that in their duties and obedience they have communion with God through Christ they speak to their God and their God speaks to them Object How may one know that he willingly walks in Gods statutes When do we willingly walk in Gods statutes When we make them our choice Sol Thus 1. When he rather chuseth them than any other wayes to walk in election is an act of the will Josh 2. 4 15. Chuse ye this day whom ye will serve but I and my house will serve the Lord. Psal 119. 173. I have chosen thy precepts 2. VVhen our obedience unto them springs from a love of them Psal When our obedience springs from love When we find a sweetnesse in them 119. 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly all the service of love is a willâ—ng service 3. VVhen we find a sweetness in them and in our walking in them Psal 119. 72. The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver And ver 127. I love thy Commandement above gold yea above fine gold And ver 14. I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches 4. VVhen the great desires and requests of his soul are that God would enable When we pray for ability to walk in them and enlarge his heart to walk in them O that my wayes were directed to keep thy statutes Psal 119. 5. And teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end Ver. 33. And give me understanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart Ver. 24. Make me to go in the paths of thy Commandements Ver. 35. Incline my heart to thy testimonies Ver. 36. I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou shalt enlarge my heart Ver. 32. When we are not weary of well doing We must walk in them seriously 5. VVhen he is not weary of well-doing but his heart still holds â—ut and is in its element when walking with God and accounts it a special favour and happiness to mainâ—ain commuâ—ion with God Secondly VVe should walk in Gods statutes seriously carefully marking what they require of us and conscientiously endeavouring to conform our lives and actions unto them David calls this an ordering of our conversations aright Psal 50. 23. And an ordering his steps in the word Order my steps in thy word Psal 119. 133. As an Artificer puts every stone in the building according to rule and line Simile Or as one who goes in a narrow path 'twixt dangers on either side he hath a care how he sets his feet So a Christian should take heed unto his wayes and direct them by the VVord he should set and square them by the rule Solomon calls this a pondering of our path Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy wayes be established turn not to the right hand nor to the left Pro. 4. 26 27. To ponder is to weigh and to consider well of what we are about to do whether it be agreeable or disagreeable to the will of God what the work or way is for the nature of it and scope and end of it Thus should we ponder the path of our feet i. e. the wayes wherein we walk and all the works we have to do and have a care that they be established i. e. set upon a good foundation and really allowed by God and commanded in his VVord and then we should go on in those wayes without swerving to the right hand or to the left A seriousness of consideration how God would have us to walk what his will is concerning us and then a seriousness of observation conscientiously to do what God would have us to do and to walk as God would have us to walk this is the right and acceptable walking in Gods statutes Now there are four Reasons why we should thus seriously and conscientiously Why we should be so serious Because God hath honour or dishonour by every action consider the statutes of God and every step of our walking 1. Because there is not any step not any one action or work which we do but God hath either honour or dishonour by it for either it is good or it is evil either it is conformed unto his will or it disagrees with his will if it agrees with his will this conduceth to his honour if it doth 〈◊〉 disagree then it is evil and brings dishonour upon him And should we be serious and conscientious in every thing wherein the honour or dishonour of God are concerned 2. Because there is not one moral work of ours but it hath our peace or comfort It bâ—ings either comfort or discomfort or our trouble and discomfort in its hand Let the good we are bound to do be greater or lesser if we do conscientiously observe and act it there will ensue peace of conscience upon the right acting of it Great peace have they that keep thy Law saith David Psal 119. 165. And this is our rejoycing â—â— the testimony of our conscience that we have had our conversation in simplicity and godly sincerity saith Paul 2 Cor. 1. 12. And so on the contrary let our vvandering or swerving from Gods statutes by sinning be never so little there is enough in that little to disquiet conscience and to cause trouble unto us Simile If the foot tread awry but one step though a man fall not into the dirt yet the small irregular motion doth cause much pain So the irregularity or inconformity of any one action may disquiet conscience and may cost us a great deal of sorrovv and trouble Ergo. Every work is a step to eternity 3. Because every individual vvork vvhich vve do it is a step to eternity either to a blessed or to â— cursed eternity Simile Though men think not of it yet every motion or action done by them is a step tovvards eternity as every step that a traveller takes brings him forvvard to his journeyes end VVhen a man vvalks in paths of righteousness or in Gods statutes the further he goes every nevv step that he takes brings him nearer to a blessed eternity And vvhen
the Church dores and cast away Bibles and renounce all duties regard not Scripture regard not ordinances regard not duties O the Lord work upon thine heart in time for thou regardst not thine owo soul Thirdly All Formal Non-proficients such I mean who keep still to their All non proficients circle and move like a horse in a mill so much as they have taken upon them of Religion so much they will stick unto they will neither abate nor rise neither go backward nor go forward they know enough already Some outward duties they do but if you will press them a jot higher then you are precise you cannot possibly perswade them to proceed on to humble their heart to mortify their lusts to yeild to God in inward sanctity c. Fourthly But above all they offend most who turn Apostates and Revolters All Apostates who like Hymeneus and Alexaender make shipwrack of faith and a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. Or like the Galatians begin in the spirit and end in the flesh Galatians 3. 3. Or like those in Peter who after that they knew the way of righteousness did turn away from the holy Commandements delivered unto them 2 Pet. 2. 21. Beloved there are three sorts of men in the world 1. Some never would endure to look or walk in Gods Statutes but resolve to walk in their own sinful wayes these are prophane Atheists 2. Some will take upon them to walk in Gods Statutes so far as consists with their own wayes and lusts these are hypocrites 3. Some make an enterance and a little progress but do after a while renounce them and fall off to their own lusts Now here give me leave to open three things unto you 1. The principal cause why some men hold not on in walking in Gods Statutes The cause why some Apostatize but break off and turn Apostates 2. Their great sin in so doing 3. The great danger and judgment 1. The principal cause why c. Because of the strictness of Gods Laws First The Spiritual strictness which they do meet with in Gods Statutes which they did not preconsider and which their loose hearts cannot bear Simile It is with many professors as it is with many lazey and idle servants who frame unto themselves a reputation and benefit to be in such and such great mens families but meeting there with diligent and constant paines they presently give up their place and service So many Christians fancy unto themselves an easie obedience to God and think that any kind of serving God will suffice but when they come to finde that God will not be pleased with easie and formal performances but he will be served in Spirit and in truth that we must mortify every sinfull lust and that we must seek and serve him with our whole heart and come up to all the duties of obedience though crossing our profits and delights now they complain and murmur as they in Joh. 6. This is a hard saying and turn away from the Commandements as too heavey a yoak for them to bear rather likeing their old wayes of wickedness and looseness Secondly Secret Hypocrisie of heart this is another cause why men do not Secret Hypocrisie continue and persevere in the way of obedience but do revolt and fall off Job 27. 10. Will the Hypocrite delight himself in the Almighty will â—e alwayes call upon God Some times he will call upon God but alwayes he will not for his delight is not in God There are foure things in every Hypocrite Four things in every Hypocrite 1. His sinful heart was never changed by Grace 2. His Soul was never mortified to all sin 3. His Heart could never comply with all which God requires 4. He never did Obey God out of love to God intending only the Glory of God but still had an eye unto himself seeking his own praise and advantage in the world And every one of these is a sufficient ground of revolting and what principle is there of perseverance in the wayes of God where no grace at all â—s planted in the heart Is it possible that the Commandements of God should be sure of us when sin hath the dominion over us Or can he hold out in obedience whose heart did never like obedience and of necessity his heart must break with God who doth prefer himself before God Thirdly External Difficulties and troubles The Apostle saith that all who External troubles will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. We may say of walking in the way of Gods Statutes what they spake to Paul of the way of Christianity it is every where spoken against Acts 28. 22. There is no travailer in the way to Heaven but shall meet with barking curs with many scoffes reproaches contempts indignities injuries hazzards losses But many men neither can nor will suffer these things they set a higher value upon their own names and ease and liberty and plenty and safety than on their Souls and Gods Commandements When the young man heard of selling all and taking up the crosse and following of Christ he took his leave of Christ and of the way to Heaven Simile Many travailers are taken from their joruney when foule weather appears although they were forward when the sun did shine forth c. Fourthly Sordid unbelief There are three things which some men do not Sordid unbeliefe believe 1. That the way of obedience is a necessary path to life What some men do not believe 2 At least that much obedience and constant or continued obedience is that path some little service for a little time if men have any to spare perhaps is but to spend a whole life in holy walking c. 3. That God is true in his promises of protection and benediction in case of conscientious and constant obedience they do verily think that by this course they shall be losers If they did not some times worke and sell on the Sabbath day why they should lose their custome and if they should deny visits on that day they should displease their friends c. O these unbelieving hearts of ours Not without cause said the Apostle Heb. 3. 12. Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Tell men seriously who is the God of blessings and God of mercies in whose power is it to make great Is it not God who blesseth and the man shall be blessed And who curseth and the man shall be cursed And read you not expresly of his blessings promised to the obedient and his curses to the disobedient And is not God faithful in his promises and true in his threatnings Hadst thou faith God should have better obedience and didst thou give to God more upright and stedfast obedience God would give unto thee more plentiful and abundant blessings If thou couldest say that latter part with
David I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever then mayst thou confidenly say with him Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes oâ— my life Psal 23. 6. 2ly Their great sin in Revolting and giving over walking in Gods The great sin of Revolters Statutes There is a Question which I have read somewhere of Infidels and Hereticks and Apostates which of them do sin more heinously And it is Resolved that the Apostate is the greatest sinner of them defection is a greater sin then the negation of subjection because in defection or Apostasie 1. More of God is rejected and the Apostate sins more against God Why Apostaâ—es are such great sinners 2. Having received the knowledge of God and his wayes 3. And likewise breaks asunder more bonds which lay upon him to continue his obedience And indeed the Apostle speaking of Apostates delivers three things concerning them which do set out their sins unto amazment Heb. 6. 6. First One is that its impossible to renew them againe unto repentance How great It s impossible to renew them is that sin which doth so harden the hearts of men that he doth never repent of it nay can never repent of it nay that it is impossible to renew him again to repentance A Second is that they crucify to themselves the Son of God they deal with They crucify to themselves Christ a fâ—esh Christ as the Jews did who rejected and crucified him O what a sin is this to crucify the Son God and to crucify him a fresh to pierce his heart and to shed his blood the second time The third is that they put him to open shame they themselves do put a reproach They put him to open shame and contempt upon Christ and cause others so to do as if Christ were not a master fit to be followed and his wayes were not worth our regarding and that the poor woâ—ld and our base sins are rather to be regarded and embâ—aced and followed then the Lord Jesus and his precepts and his wayes And take one thing more that never did any fall off or turn away from walking in Gods statutes but he grew far more wicked then ever he was before and likewise a desperate enemies to the wayes of God 3ly Their great danger and judgement This I shall shew unto you in three Particulars First Revolters or Apostates are judicially given up to the great power of Satan The great danger and judgement of Apostates They are given up to Satan The Lord doth in his just judgement give them over unto Satan that he should rule them and that they should be his sworn servants who will break off with God and refuse to serve him any longer Mat. 12. 44. That unclean spirit returned unto his house from whence he came out ver 45. and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and enter they in and dwell there and the last estate of that man is worse than the first Secondly They are judicially given up to the power of their sinful lusts they And to the power of their lusts grow worse and worse they having cast away the cords and all fear of God there is no wickedness but they are ready to obey it and they do now go on in their daring wayes of bold profaness with seared consciences Thirdly They are judiciously given up to the powers of damnation therefore And to the power of damnation it is said that they draw back unto perdition Heb. 10. 39. And the soul of God hath no pleasure in them Ver. 38. O what a dreadful condition is this to forsake the path of life and heaven and to turn back to walk in the path of death and Hell Fourthly They are many times in their life given up to exceeding terrors They are oft given up to terrors of conscience and despair of conscience and despair You may read this in Judas who turned back and what horror did that poor creature fall into he forsook his Master and left the path of life for a few pieces of silver but what got he by this he lept out of the ship into the Sea he could never meet with rest or peace afterwards but conscience brake in pieces and did so pursue him with guilt and terror that thereupon he fell into absolute despair and made an end of himself Simile The like you read of Spira who revolted from the truth and the path of Evangelical obedience after clear convictions and secret warnings of Conscience but what befell him O he presently fell into terror of conscience and despair and never could recover the least hopes of mercy to his dying day Fifthly They are many times punished by some extraordinary judgement here They are oft punished with extraordinary judgements on earth Take an instance in Israel and Judah they gave up to walk any longer in Gods statutes and wayes they forsook God and his Laws and what came of this why God forsook them and gave them up to their own hearts lusts and at last overthrew them with an utter destruction and scattered them over the face of the earth So you read of Joash who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the dayes of Jehoiada the Priest 2 Chron. 24. 2. But afterwards Ver. 18. He left the house of the Lord and served Groves and Idols but what befell him for this you read of two great judgements that did befall him one in verse 24. That the Syrians came in with a small company of men and the Lord delivered a great Host into their hand because they had forsaken the Lord so they executed judgement against Joash The other is in ver 25. His servants conspired against him and slew him SECT II. 2. Use SHould the people of God continue proceed on and persevere in walking in Gods statutes then you who are the people of God give me leave to offer unto you 1. A few Cautions about your walking 2. A few exhortations concerning our walking 3. A few encouragements for your walking continued walking in Gods statutes 1. The Cautions about your walking You see that it is your duty to walk on to proceed to persevere in walking in Gods statutes therefore take heed unto your selves and beware of four Cautions about our walking in Gods statutes Beware of slothfulness things First Beware of slothfulness and carelesness at any time in doing the will of God or in walking in his wayes Rom. 12. 11. Be not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord. When a man doth a business slothfully he doth it with a slight spirit he doth not put out himself not his strength he hath no care in doing of it he doth it not with a serious and diligent spirit but remisly and indifferently as one not affected about what he doth nor addicted unto it saith the Apostle Heb. 6. 11. We desire that every
obedience is still accepted that which God principally looks at in our services of him is our Sincerity is ever accepted heart My son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. and the uprightness of our hearts his eyes are upon the truth and he is a God that takes pleasure in uprightness 1 Chron. 23. 19. A man is sincere in obedience when 1. He intends the glorifying of God Who are sincere in obedience in what he doth 2ly When he serves God with a willing heart 3ly When he puts out all the present strength and might of his soule in doing the will of God Now although this person falls very short of perfection in his works of obedience and many failings accompany his duties yet God passes by them and God is the Father of such as are upright takes no notice of them will not reject but will accept of them and of his weak services And there are three Demonstrations of this 1. God whom he serves with his spirit is his Father and of a very merciful and gracious nature Psal 103. 13. Like as a Father pities his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Mal. 3. 17. I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him 2. He hath made many indulgent promises to him Isa 30. 19. He will be God hath made many promises to such very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it he will answer thee Chap. 56. 7. Even them will I bring to my holy Mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer their burnt-offerings and their sacrifice shall be accepted upon mine Altar c. 3. Jesus Christ bears away all the iniquities of our holy offerings and by his Christ bears away all the iniquities of such merits procures the acceptance of all our services Rev. 8. 3. He is that Angel that stood at the Altar having a golden censer who had much incense given unto him that he should offer it with prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which is before the Throne Ver. 4. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand Now this is a singular Encouragement unto us to hold on stedfast in our walking in Gods statutes never to be weary in well doing For our labour is not in vain in the Lord not any work of obedience is lost not a Prayer not a tear not any one work performed with sincerity of heart but it is graciously accepted Fifthly There is no safety in going back from walking in Gods stautes and there is no hazard in going forward and holding on unto No safety in going back â—â—e end First There is no safety in going back from walking in Gods statutes For â—â—â—s only is the path of life and the path of salvation he that turns from it â—â—â—iseth his own soul he is lost he is out of protection out of blessings out 〈◊〉 promised good and shall be sure to meet with curse and wrath and â—â—â—â—ction â—â—condly There is no hazard in going forward and holding out un to the 〈◊〉 end You cannot hazard 1. Your souls by it for he that keepeth the Commandement keepeth No hazard in going forward his soule 2. The recompence you expect by it for he that continues to the end shall be saved 3. Your safety by it for God is a Sun and a Shield unto them that walk uprightly Psal 84. 11. The Lord is with you whiles you are with him 2 Chron. 15. 2. 4. Your honour by it Those that honour me I will honour 1 Sam. 2. 30. 5. Any outwardly blessing by it For Prov. 3. 23. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked but he blesseth the habitation of the just Prov. 28. 10. The upright shall have good things in possession And ver 20. A faithful man shall abound with blessings There is no death but life no curse but blessing no danger but safety no loss but gain in walking in c. Sixthly Though we meet with many oppositions in the stedfast walking Many higher encouragements yet you have higher and greater encouragements to the certainty of that way There are four things which do shew that the walking on in Gods statutes is the true way to heaven 1. The holiness of it 2. The warrantableness of it 3. The aim of the traveller 4. The universal opposition made against it by Satan by all ungodly men and by the remaining corruptions in every mans heart it is the opposed and discouraged way Nevertheless you have higher and greater Encouragements to hold on your walking in the way of Gods statutes e. g. 1. The excellency of the way itself it is the way of God and the way It s an excellent way of life and the way of holinesse the way of Christ the way of peace and rest 2. The company of travellers The best men that ever were upon earth did The company of travellers chuse this way to walk in Enoch walked with God so did Noah and so did Abraham and so did all the excellent Kings mentioned in Scripture David Jehoshaphat Hezekiah Josiah and so did all the faithful Prophets of God and so did Christ and all the faithful Disciples and so do all the Saints of God who are the excellent on earth and so did all the souls which are now glorified in heaven should not this encourage you to hold on your course in walking in Gods statutes all that are now in heaven have gone on in this course and all that shall come to heaven do so It is the path of the just still the living walk in it The delight of God 3. The delight of God The Lord himself loves you and owns you and takes pleasure in you approves of you and commends you there was no King like Josiah c. Seest thou my servant job c. Psal 147. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him And 149 4. The Lord taketh pleasure in his people And Prov 11. 20. Such as are uprigh in their way are his delight 4. The promise of God O how many and how choice and how sweet The promise of God Isa 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismaid for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness Ver. 11. Behold all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded they shall be as nothing and they that strive with thee shall perish Rev. 3. 8. Thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word Ver. 9. Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee 5. The actual comforts encouragings and refreshings from the Lord Acts Actual
run to hell 3. If you would enjoy liberty indeed then become the servants of God and walk in his wayes If the Son shall make you free then are you free indeed Joh. 8. 36. Now your shackles and fetters and prison doores are broken open we are freemen in a spiritual sense when we are freed from sin Rom. 6. 18. Being then made free from sin we became the servants of Righteousness We are freed from all slavish fears by reason of sinne when we receive the free spirit of liberty we become a voluntary people to serve the Lord with newness of spirit and freeness of spirit Dsal 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy servant thou hast loosed my bonds 4. Object But men will disesteem us neglect us cast us out of their favour and But then we shall be disesteemed reproach us if c. Sol. 1. It is their sin to do so but it is our duty to walk as God would have us to walk 2. What men will do so none but ungodly men who speak evil of us because 1. we run not with them to the same excess of riot 2. A goodly conversation is a reproach to their ungodly life and shames them 3. Regard not the praises of men but the praise of God this you shall be sure to meet with he will own you and honour you though men do not Psal 27. 10. When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord shall take me up The Pharisees reviled and cast out the blind man cured by Christ but Christ met with him and owned and saved him Joh. 9. 35 36 c. 4. You will give a fair account to God that you feared man more than God Lord I should have walked in thy wayes but c. 5. Object Then I will walk in these statutes hereafter Then I will do it hereafter Sol. 1. Hereafter may be too late Gods command is for all our dayes and for the set time whiles it is called to day c. Secondly Continuance in sinful wayes will harden your hearts in them keep up the love of sinne and render the wayes of God more distastful unto you Thirdly And God may in judgement give you up to your own hearts lusts to walk in the counsels of them because you do not hearken unto him See Psal 81. 11 12. 6. Object But I have assayed aad can make no work of it But I find I cannot do it Sol. First Because you assayed slightly and not with all your heart Secondly And because you assayed in your own strength 7. Object But it is a great work however to walk in Gods statutes and How shall we get power to do it what shall I do for power to enable me to walk in them Sol. God who requires us to walk in his statutes doth promise to give us power I will cause you to walk c. Ezek. 36. 27. And cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Judgements and do them THese words as I have heretofore observed contain in them two parts 1. The work or duty which concerns the people of God viz. to walk in his statutes c. this Subject I finished the last Lords day 2. The help or sufficiencies for all that work and duty I will cause you to walk in my statutes whence observe CHAP. XV. Doctr. TThat the people of God have the promise of God to enable them to God will enable his people to walk in his wayes walk in the statutes of God I will cause you c. Zech. 10. 12. I will strengthen them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in his Name saith the Lord. Phil. 2. 13. It is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure Isa 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our works in us Chap. 45. 24. Surely shall one say In the Lord have I righteousness and strength For the opening of this excellent and comfortable Truth I will shew unto you five things 1. The many parallels 'twixt Gods command of our duties and Gods promise of help for these duties 2. The parallels 'twixt promises to and instanceâ— in Gods people 3. The several wayes how God doth cause or enable his people to walk in his statutes and do them 4. How far the Lord doth engage his strength of grace to enable his people to walk in his statutes 5. The Reasons both in respect of God and in respect of his people why he will cause them to walk in his wayes or statutes c. 1. The parallels 'twixt Gods commands and his promises or 'twixt the Parallels betwixt Gods commands and his preceps duties commanded by him and the helps promised to enable his people First The Lord commands his people to know him and his wayes 1 Chron. 28. 9. Know thou the God of thy Father c. And God doth promise to cause them to know him Jer. 24. 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord. And Jer. 31. 34. They shall all know me from the least of them to the greattest of them saith the Lord. Secondly The Lord commands his people to trust upon him Psal 62. 8. Trust in him at all times Isa 26. 4. Trust ye in the Lord for ever c. And God doth promise to enable his people to trust on him Zeph. 3. 12. I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the Name of the Lord. 3ly The Lord commands his people to fear him Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him So Deut. 8. 6. Thou shalt keep his Commandements and walk in his wayes and fear him This likewise hath God promised unto his people Jer. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Fourthly The Lord commands his people to love him Deut. 11. 1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Psal 31. 23. O love the Lord all ye his Saints and God doth promise to give them an heart to love him Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise the heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul Fifthly The Lord commands his people to pray unto him and to call upon his Name Call upon me Psal 50. 15. Pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5. 17. I will that men pray everywhere 1 Tim. 2. 8. And the Lord hath promised to give unto them a spirit of prayer Zech. 12. 10. I will poure upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and the Spirit of supplication Sixthly The Lord commands his people to mourn for their sinnes and to loath their sins and to turn from their sins Isa 22. 12. In that day did the Lord call to weeping and to mourning Jam. 4. 10. Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord And
who have the Lord to be their God what will not a reconciled God do for you His love and friendship is as fruitful of mercies and blessings as his Justice and wrath is of punishments and miseries 10. Can any thing hinder you from being saved If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Vse 3 Is Reconciliation the fruit and effect of the death of Christ Then let trembling broken humbled even sinking hearts under the weight of their sins and Let trembling hearts make in to Christ and trust on him to make their peace bitternesse of Gods wrath and displeasure I say let them in this condition make in to Christ and look up to Christ and trust on Christ to make their peace Ah poor creature why dost thou take this work upon thy self I confesse we must use means to finde peace but we have not power to make peace we must pray and confesse and repent c. but these are not our peace Object Will not these do it Sol. No but Christ only 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. If any man sin we haue an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins And therefore if ever you would have the wrath of God removed if you would see all partition walls broken down if you would have God to be pacified to be friends with you again to be at peace with you then go to Christ and make him your friend Oject Do not lose time by impertinent disputes and reasonings But may we come to Christ and can he and will he make peace for us and take up our differences Sol. Let me tell you 1. Dispute what you will you shall never finde peace with God but by Christ No peace with God but by Christ his Name only is Prince of Peace he only is the Mediatour of Peace he only reconciles God and sinners 2. It is his Office to reconcile God and sinners and make peace that is his work It is his Office to make peace unto which he was called and for which he was set apart He is that Mercifull and faithfull High Priest in things pertaining to God to make Reconciliation for the sins of the people Heb. 2. 17. Mark the place the Office of Christ is to be a Priest c. One chief work of that Office is to make Reconciliation for the sinnes of the people and he is one that is very good in his Office you need not be afraid to go to him for the work of his Office for saith the Text He is a mercifull High Priest very tender very affectionate very compassionate easily wrought on by any distressed sinner that comes to him and calls on him Lord Jesus my soule is affraid and oppressed with the fear of Gods wrath and sense of his displeasure I am grieved for offending and displeasing of him O that thou wouldest undertake for me I beseech thee step into the breach make my peace reconcile my soule get thy Father to be friends with me c. He is a faithful High Priest O he will not faile you he will not put you off he will not thrust you aside he will surely undertake your condition he will make Reconciliation for our sins 3. It was the work of Christ from first to last in life and in death Heb. 9. It was the work of Christ from first to last 26. He appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself yea and it is his work now in heaven He appears in the presence of God for us Heb. 9 24. and he ever lives to make intercession for us Heb. 7. 25. 4. You of all other have special grounds of hope and trust that Christ will be You of all others have grounds of hope your Attonement and Reconciliation Not only because the Reconciling Christ calls you thus burdened to come unto him and he will give you ease Matth. 11. 28. but also because that the day when the peoples soules were to be afflicted for their sins on that day was the Priest to make an Attonement for their soules Levit. 16. 29 30. 4. The fourth great benefit which we have by the sufferings of Christ our mediatour Redemption is Redemption or deliverance Alas sirs In what a miserable condition were we by reason of sin Methinks the more vertues and blessed fruits that I read accâ—â—â—ing by Christ unâ—o us â—â—e more do I still discern of our deep and involved misery by reason of sin Sin was such a debt as none but Christ could satisfie for Sin was such an offence as nothing but the blood of Christ could expiate or get the pardon of it Sin was such a breach and such an enmity as nothing but the death of Christ could take up and reconcile And sin was such a bondage and thrâ—â—dom as nothing but the blood of Christ could redeem us from In him saith the Apostle Ephes 1. 7. we have Redemption but then he adds through his blood So Pet. 1. 18 19. Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ In this Redemption by Christ there are two things considerable 1. The parts of it 2. The degrees of it 1. The parts of it are two one is Privative and respects that from which we are The parts of it redeemed or freed the other is Positive and respects that state unto which we are translated or if I may so expresse it of which we are made free 1. The Privative part of Redemption is that from which we are freed by Christ and that is from all the chaines of Spiritual bondage Now there are six chaines The Privative part from what we are freed From the power of sin of bondage with which every sinner is bound and from them all there is Redemption by Christ 1. With the chaines of bondage under the power of sin 2 Pet. 2. 19. Of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage Every servant of sin is a Bond-slave to his Lusts and so many sinful lusts as he hath so many Tyrants doth he serve as a slave And there is no slavery or bondage like unto that of sin for sin never gives rest nor wages but is infinite in its commands and damns us at last for a requital of all our services But from this bondage doth Christ redeem or deliver us For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the Divel 1 Joh. 3. 8. Those works of the Divel were our sins as the same verse expounds them Rom. 6. 6. Our Old Man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Two things in sin from which Christ delivers us 1. Jesus Christ hath by his Redemption delivered us from the dominion of sin Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you
for you are under grace by his Spirit which sanctifies 2. And from the damnation for sin There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. by his blood which justifies 2. With the chaines of bondage under the power of Gods Justice By reason From the power of Gods justice of sin we fall into the hands of a just God who hath threatned sin and revealed his wrath against it So that wheresoever the sinner lives he lives under this cloud of Gods wrath which at any times may break and fall down upon him and utterly and eternally overwhelme him This is a very dreadful bondage worse than his who sate eating with a great sharp sword hanging over his head with a little weak small thread And worse than his who hung by a rotten bough which if it brake he had immediately fallen down and had been dashed in pieces upon the Rocks But Jesus Christ hath redeemed us out of the hands of Gods justice by satisfying and appeasing the same and so hath delivered us from wrath 1 Thes 1. 10. Even Jesus who hath delivered us from the wrath to come we are saved from wrath through him Rom. 5. 9 3. With the chaines of bondage under the power of the Law of God The From the power of the Law Law of God speaks death and curse unto every sinner and under that is the sinner concluded The soule that sins shall die and cursed is every one who continues not in every thing that is written in the Law to do it What a heavy bondage is this for a sinner to carry about with him many Inditements and accusations in his own heart and to read as many curses pronounced against him in the Law of God For this sin thou art cursed and for that and for every one c. so that the sinner is condemned and cursed and dead in Law Which curses if the Law be not satisfied will as surely befall him as God is God But from this bondage also hath Christ redeemed us Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us From the 1. Execution of the Law by his active obedience 2. Condemnation of the Law by his passive obedience 4. With the chaines of bondage under a guilty accusing and condemning conscience For out of every sin there doth arise a particular guilt which guilt From an accusing and condemning conscience bindes over the sinner to the Judgement Seat of God to answer for it and to receive that condemnation threatned against it and this lies heavy on his Conscience Terret me conscientia mea ubicunque vadit mecum Testis Judex And truely this chain of bondage is such an iron yoke and such a fiery furnace and such a restless Sea and such an amazing wound that none can bear it who yet must bear it It is the very spirit of bondage the very terror of the Almighty the very hell on earth Yet also from this bondage doth Christ deliver us by making peace in his blood and by speaking peace through his Spirit unto our spirits and by preaching and sealing the forgivenesse of our sins Matth. 9. 2. Son be of good chear thy sins are for given thee And now Conscience is quiet ceaseth to accuse and condemn and excuseth and comforteth 5. With the chaines of bondage under the power of Satan who is the From the power of Satan Prince of the power of the Aire the Spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes 2. 2. who takes us captives at his will 2 Tim. 2. 26. and whose lusts and will we do naturally serve Joh. 8. 44. Power of his 1. Dominion 2. Operation and temptation But Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from this bondage also He hath bruised the head of this Serpent Gen. 3. 15. And by his Crosse hath spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumphed over them Col. 2. 15. and overcome that danger Rev. 12. 8 9. And hath destroyed him that hath the power of death that is the Divel Heb. 2. 14. And hath delivered us even from this power of darknesse Col. 1. 13. He hath bound the strong man so is Satan called Matth. 12. 29. who bound us and ruled over us and now we may by Faith quench all his fiery darts in the blood of Christ Ephes 6. 16. 6. With the chaines of bondage under the fear of death and hell A perpetual From the fear of death fear of which lies upon the conscience of the sinner who although in the presence of his mad and wild companions and in the midst of his cups and delights seems to be either unmindful or slighting yet when he is alone and more serious his heart doth tremble at the thoughts of death and judgement I would not die I am afraid to die But from this bondage also all that believe in Christ are redeemed or delivered Who Heb. 2. 15. did deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life-time subject unto bondage And so 1 Cor. 15. 56 57. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ And thus you have the Privative part of our Redemption by Christ viz. The evil from which by him we have deliverance 2. Now follows the Positive part of our Redemption by Christ For his Redemption The Positive part what we are free to is not a meer deliverance as if one should only be freed out of prison or only be kept from drowning or only be reserved from condemnation But besides the evil estate from which we are delivered by Christ there is also a good estate unto which we are brought by the Redemption of Christ As when the Israelites were Redeemed they were not only delivered out of Egyptian bondage but they were also brought into that goodly Land of Canaan And truely so it is with our Redemption by Christ As it is an outlet from all evil and misery so is it an inlet to all blessings and mercies The reason whereof is this because this Redemption was not only a sufficient price to satisfie but it was also a superabounding price to purchace There was not only enough in it to get off all evil but more yet remaining to merit and puâ—chace all the good which our soules did need Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son For that now we are 1. Under another Lord. 2. Under other Laws and commands 3. Under the best Liberties and Priviledges Rev. 5. 9. Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood verse 10. and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on the earth Here you see what an excellent estate the Redeemed by the blood of Christ are brought into They are redeemed unto God so as