speaks 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing minde it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that a man hath not The law will have perfection whether a man hath power or no or else it will damn a man but in the Gospel a man may say as Peter to the lame man Silver and gold have I none but such as I have that give I thee Lord such a memory and such parts and gifts have I not but such as I have that give I thee according to that measure of knowledge I have according to that grace I have I will give it thee If a man can say thus he is accepted not according to that he hath not but according to that he hath as it was in the law of Moses Levit. 5.6 7. A trespasse-offering should be a lamb or a kid but if a man were not able to give that then two turtle doves or two young pigeons if he be not able to give that let him give two or three handfuls of fine flowre Levit. 5.11 So Levit. 14.20 Let him give according as he can get he shall be accepted according to that This is the perfection of the Gospel according to the help and assistance God gives a man and according to the means God affordâ— a man it shall be accepted Fourthly The perfection of the law admits of no failings if a man fails no matter though it be out of infirmity the law condemns him the law requires perfection without failings but the perfection of the Gospel by way of sincerity admits of failings as the best gold hath his allowances so it is with a true Christian he may be sincere and upright though he hath a thousand failings as it is said of David 1 Kings 15.5 He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord in all things but onely in the matter of Uriah That indeed would not stand with sincerity his sincerity was quite in a swoun then that could not stand with sincerity if he had gone on to sin in that fashion he could not have been sincere but in all other things he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. You will say he had a thousand failings yet saith the Text they all stood with sincerity he numbred the people and God was mightily angry with him and you know how unjust he was in the matter of Zibah and Mephibosheth you know how he told a lye to Abimelech and was the occasion of the death of the Priests of the Lord you know how he counterfeited himself mad and he had horrible disorders in his family and had lost the power of controul over his children were not these horrible failings and what a company of Wives and Concubines had he yet all these stood with sincerity because they were either done out of ignorance or want of due consideration sometimes or through humane frailty and infirmity or through violence of temptation contrary to his constant course and intendment and purpose they might all stand with sincerity and an upright heart according to the perfection of the Gospel Fifthly The perfection of the Law makes nothing of repentance if you break the commandements of God if you shed tears of blood and repent your heart out what cares the law the law will have perfect obedience or else to hell you shall But now in the perfection of the Gospel repentance is a great matter nay if a man be never so vile and wretched if yet he humble himselfe before God and be unfeignedly sorry for sinning against God this is a great matter this man is an upright man that is unfeignedly humbled and abased before God The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart thou shalt not despise This is the voyce of the Gospel So Ezek. 18.21 If the wicked will turn from all his sins and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die As it is Job 23.27 28. He looked upon men and if any said I have sinned he will deliver his soule from going down into the pit In the Gospel a man is an upright man if he come before the throne of grace with shame and confusion of face for all his sins with unfeigned sorrow that he hath broken Gods Covenant if he hath never so many failings if he set himselfe to please God and when he fails he repents and humbles himself before God this man hath the perfection of the Gospel Thus we see the meaning of the words Perfect before God The point of Doctrine is this That every man is to labour to be perfect that is the thing that God will require and enquire after at the last day whether we be upright You see this 1 Cor. 5 7 8. and so likewise in other places of Scripture The first Reason is from the nature of God with whom we have to doe Reason 1 he is upright therefore it concerns us to labour to be like him he himselfe is an upright God and there is no unrighteousness in him his wayes are perfect and his judgments are truth therefore if a man be not perfect he cannot be like him Mat. 5.48 Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect we know his spirit is the spirit of truth himselfe is the God of truth his Son is the way the truth and the life he is the faithful witness and as God is upright so he looks that his servants should shew what Master they serve that they may make it appear that their Master is an upright Master Psalm 92. ult to shew forth that the Lord is upright This is our duty God is upright and Christ is upright and therefore we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 22. Secondly God hath commanded us to be sincere though he remit from the first Covenant of absolute and perfect righteousness and holiness without sin ye he will have his people truly fearing him and hating sin universal in obedience that they shall be from the bottome of their hearts followers of him therefore this stung David to the heart when he committed sin O thought he Thou desirest truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 As who should say thou lookest into the heart thou requirest truth of thy servants O what a false heart have I had in this businesse God hath many worshippers in this world such as they are but God cares for none but such as deale faithfully in his Covenant as Christ speaks John 4.24 Thirdly God knows our hearts therefore though we serve him and do duties to him though we call upon his name hear his Word come to his Table observe his Sabbaths keep his Ordinances yet if we doe not doe these things in truth his eyes are ever upon our bosomes he casts his eyes upon the secrets of men if our hearts be rotten and proud and vaine and loose and filthy if our hearts be not of a right frame all is nothing
thinks he hath life and is dead Rev. 3.1 I know thy works thou hast a name thou livest but thou art dead Here the Church of Sardis did imagine she was alive and others conceived so she seemed to be alive and yet notwithstanding was dead she had no true life in her she seemed to be alive not only in the sight of others but in her own apprehension she seemed to be alive and yet was dead now this is the meaning of the words without the Law I was alive once that is I thought my self to be alive I apprehended my self to be no dead man no damned man I thought not my self to be under the wrath of God and one that should perish evermore if I continued in that estate wherein I was I hoped better things of my self I saw these signs of Grace and Life in me and I thought I was alive indeed till the Commandment came till the Law of God was pressed upon my Conscience and shewed me the contrary I thought my self to be a very live man and one that had some hope of eternal happiness and one that might enter into glory I took my self to be alive Thus we see the meaning of the words Now the Point I intend at this time to insist upon is the livelinesse of a carnal mans heart before the Law comes home to him and is pressed to him and shews him his damnable estate and that he is dead in his sins and trespasses he hath some colour of Righteousness that he is moral and civil and orderly and he hath somthing that is like Grace and Life he hath some hope towards God and hath some kind of obedience he seems to be obedient to the commandment of God before he is humbled by the Law of God he is a live creature Here St. Paul shews it by his own example Without the Law I was once alive noting out unto us how it is with every unhumbled man with every unmortified man that is not yet converted to God he hath many things to say for himself but he doth not understand the purenesse of the Law the Law hath not yet killed him it hath not yet pulled him flat down before Almighty God A man that is unhumbled by the Law of God is a live man he will not be perswaded that he is a dead damned creature he doth apprehend and hope he hath life it is so with men before their Conversion they will not believe that they are damned creatures and they think it uncharitablenesse in any to say they are damned creatures and dead creatures they will not believe it so long as the Law is not charged upon their Consciences so long as they see not how it is with them they do verily apprehend that they have life in them their hearts are not killed their spirits are not dead within them they are not pulled down in the apprehension of their own cursed estates before Almighty God this is the thing I intend to insist upon 2. For the Proof of the Point we may see 1 Tim. 5.5 there the Apostle speaking of VVidows that lived in pleasure saith She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she is alive that is dead in pleasure dead in sin dead in the vanity of her own heart and yet such a VVidow liveth she liveth not only a natural life but she is alive in her own conceit in regard of a spiritual life for if she conceived she were a dead creature a damned creature such thoughts would kill the heart of any creature under heaven it would break the neck of all her pleasure but in that she took her pleasure it was a plain token that she was not killed Now for the Opening of the Point I will do these Three things First I will shew what this liveliness is and wherein it consists Secondly I will shew what the Effects of it are Thirdly The Uses First I will shew what this livelinesse is and it consists in these Three things I could branch them into Four but I will reduce them into Three Heads 1. First It consists in the non-appearance of a mans dead and damned estate So long as a mans dead and damned estate doth not appear unto him so long a man thinks he is alive and that he is not a dead man he is not a man that hath the sentence of condemnation lying upon him so long as the Law hath not come and shewed a man his wretched estate and made his damnable estate appear in its ovvn colours unto him vvhy he is alive man he conceives himself to be alive because the Lavv of God hath not convinced him of the contrary if the Law of God doth seise upon a mans heart and in its own colours appear to a mans eyes and hold it self as a glasse to a mans understanding and shew him his wretchednesse and what a cursed estate he is in before God this will kill his very heart and break the livelinesse that is in him and make him burst out into out-cries Oh! I am a dead man I am a damned man so that the livelinesse that is here spoken of consists in the non-appearance of a mans dead and damnable estate As for example an Adulterer his damdable estate doth not appear to him he knows not that he is a dead man as Prov. 9.18 He knows not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell When he goes to lie with his Whore and commit his wickednesse he doth not think that they are dead and damned men that are there nor that they are in the pit of Hell Though his Conscience may tell him that he is wicked and sinful and wretched and that he is half dead yet he is not a dead man he is not absolutely a dead man he doth not know this It may be he will confesse it Lord I am a dead man Lord I am a damned man it may be he will confesse this in his Prayer because he hath some light but yet his heart is not taken down the livelinesse of his heart is not killed I will prove it to you for let another man a Minister of God or a child of God say he is a dead man a damned man one that lies under the wrath of God he will deny it and say he is uncharitable and judgeth hardly and why may he not be a live man and a good Christian he hopes he is he doth not know that he is a dead man as the wise-man speaks Prov. 14.12 There is a way that seemetht right to a man but the issues thereof are death that is there is a way that seems to be a way of life and a man seems to be alive that walks in that way but the truth is it is a way of death and a man that goeth in that way is a dead man and a damned man but yet in the mean time while he walks in that way it seems to be a way of life
unbelief and hardness of heart no question when they read such passages but they have a great deal of succour to their own consciences for when their consciences flie in their faces for their untowardness and heartlesseness in any thing that is good they think the Saints of God have a great deal of heartlesseness and so reckon themselves to be Saints of God and so the Church of God when it was grown to be marvellous remiss and prophane and loose Jer. 7. though God had told the ten Tribes that he would out them off yet they comforted themselves how did they comfort themselves they comforted themselves in this they thought verily they were a Church so people if they can get any word that falls out of the Ministers mouth that may make for themselves they catch at it if any word drop out from a Ministers mouth or if any miscarriage or distemper be seen in a godly mans life they lie at catch for these things therefore it is dangerous Thirdly It is dangerous because it may teach people how to be dead nay people that were stirred at their deadness and saw an infinite need of laying it aside and took pains to do it yet when they hear this Doctrine through the corruption of their own hearts they may grow careless and think what need I keep such a pudder I am a child of God still though I am so dead and heartless and have no more feeling under Gods word yet I may be a child of God I heard a Minister make an excellent Sermon upon that point that a child of God may be very dead but let me tell you if any of you came to Church this day with a kind of joy and delight oh this day we shall hear how a child of God may be dead if it be thus you may justly fear that you have a rotten heart for what is this a sign of but that your hearts lie at catch and if you have but any argument to make you think you are a child of God this is enough I know this may be a comfort to the children of God but they are such as are absolutely dejected and cast down and wrought upon and whatsoever they hear out of the word of God they use it for their help that they may be recovered out of their deadness but if any of you hear this to the end you may be secure this will be your bane Fifthly Though it be dangerous yet it is a necessary point to be insisted upon the people of God may have need of it but you will say it is pitty such a Sermon should be preached to shew how far a child of God may be dead there be so many stumbling blocks and such a deal of mischief I answer whatsoever truth may tend to the establishing of the people of God and the building of faith is not to be omitted though thousands of reprobates break their necks at it as Christ when the Pharisees stumbled at his doctrine Mat. 15.12 see how he answers ver 13. Every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up so I say we must hazard that we must tell people what danger they may catch if they take not heed and we must deliver the truth for it is helpful to the people of God we know that the credit of his servants is precious in his sight and yet he hath disgraced his servants in the Scriptures as it were and hath left their dulness and untowardness upon record that the world may know it as who should say it is of such use to all generations to know this that it may not be concealed from the world you may see those horrible sins of David and fowl offences that one would think the spirit of God would cast a vail over yet he is so far from hiding of that his murther and adultery and making Vriah drunk that he doth not only record his murther and adultery once 1 Sam. 11. but again Psal 51. and committed the Psalm to the Musitian to be sung in the Church to the end of the world so Peters denial of his Master one would have thought the Scripture would have said nothing of that what a Disciple of Christ to deny his master and curse and ban himself yet the spirit of God is so earnest to have this known that he will have all the Evangelists set it down you have things of great importance that our eternal life depends upon yet there is but one Evangelist toucheth them but every one tells us of Peters fault how shamefully he did forget himself and how he was carried away with his lusts so that it is very needful to be known now then to come to the sixth thing how far a child of God may be dead for this we will shew you these particulars First he may lose all his zeal you know zeal is a thing that God baptizeth his people with not only with the holy Ghost but with fire yet a child of God if he stand not upon his guard and looks to himself if he grow secure and drowsie and give way to sin he may come to this to lose his zeal it was the case of many of Gods people in Laodicea though the chiefest bulke in the Town were lukewarm yet it is plain that many of those that were neither hot nor cold were Gods own children for he saith Rev. 3.19 as many as I love I rebuke and chasten so in the daies of Saul when Religion went down the wind and the Ordinances of God were slacked every thing went to wrack during his government you shall see how the Church of God had lost their zeal 1 Sam. 17.16 it is said there that when Goliah of Gath came into the host and all Israel were there and the main bulke of the Church of God were looking on and hearing what this fowlmouth said there he stood defying and blaspheming the Army of God and he shewed himself so forty daies together and all Israel heard him and they were all dull and blockish and not a man stepped out to hazard his life to appear in Gods cause until it pleased God to make a little child take up a weapon and fight against him so our Saviour Christ shews us in the last times which is strange for in the last times knowledge shall abound the love of many shall wax cold Mat. 24.12 you know what zeal is it is when a man doth not only walk in Gods commandements and do them but useth Gods arguments and useth them with all his heart and stirreth up himself to take hold on God he presseth hard after the mark he is a man that stands upon his guard a man that will be precise and strict in every thing he will eschue every evil if he find any lust rising he is never at quiet till he get it down again if this man be in company he will not stand upon curtesie to see who will begin
with him and I am with him and I will be with him I am ready to dye with him I profess my self to be his Disciple he had no heart in the world to stand for Jesus Christ he had no heart to appear in pleading for him and expose himself to danger for him he was now called to it but he had no heart at all sin it is even like ashes cast upon the fire the fire cannot then send forth its heat so sin doth even cast ashes upon the soul that it cannot express such life as otherwise it would The first reason is because sin is a soul killing thing it is like Mare Mortuum the fishes dye as soon as ever they come there so when the Divel hooks a man into sin he hooks him into the dead sea as the Apostle saith of the Ephesians you were dead in sins if the Divel can but hook a man into sin he is presently in the dead sea Hos 13.12 it is said of Ephraim when he offended in Baal he died c. before when their affections were up and they trembled before God they were lively but when they gave way to sin and iniquity the Church presently died they withered away more and more till they came to nothing therefore the Apostle calls the Law of sin the Law of death the Law of the spirit of Christ hath freed us from the Law of sin and of death Rom. 8.2 sin doth even bring a man to deaths door it doth weaken all the powers and faculties of the soul that a man cannot stir to any duty it makes a man like a snake that is frozen with the cold it cannot stir so it is with a man when he gives way to sin and iniquity it freezeth all the powers that are in him and lesseneth all the powers of Gods spirit it is even like a weight as the Apostle calls it Heb. 12.1 If a man should have a great weight upon his back fetters upon his legs how can that man go he must needs go very dully so it is with sin and iniquity when a man gives way to it it is like plumets of lead like great weights and burthens that clog a mans heart and affections it makes them dull and lumpish and heavy to any thing that is good as Christ speaks of the cares of this life if a man give way to them they will overcharge the heart they will lie heavy that the heart cannot stir Luke 21.34 sin poysons all the soul it poysons the mind that a man cannot look upon things as he did it poysons a mans heart though his heart were deeply affected towards God it is strange if a man give way to sin how it will take off the affections from God it separates between God and the soul and comes between God the fountain of life and the soul and therefore must needs be a killing and deading thing Secondly Sin is a deading thing because it doth grieve the holy spirit of God that dwels in a man you know all the quickning of a Christian consists in the gracious assistance of Gods spirit as long as Gods spirit is pleased to go along with us and work our works for us then we can pray and deny our selves then we are fitted to every good word and work but if the spirit of God retire if it withdraw and suspend his actions and forbear his operations what can a man do a man is even a block without the spirit of God now though the spirit of God delight never so much in doing good to the Saints and delight in accompanying of them and aâ—â—iâ—ting of them and enlarging of them in all their wayes yet if they give way to sin directly he will be grieved and sent sad back again to heaven as it were and when the spirit of God is grieved all must needs go sad and heavy with the child of God suppose a child of God give way to vain talk and discourse you shall see what the Apostle saith this will grieve the spirit of God grieve not the spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption Eph. 4.13 he speaks of that very sin if a man give way to it the spirit of God will be grieved though formerly he was pleased mightily to help yet now he will withdraw and then how dully shall a man go on so if we should give way to the suffering of our hearts not to be affected with God and his truth not to see God in all his wayes in all his goodness and dealings that we should not be thankful this will quench the spirit of God it will quench its motions as if a man should pour pail-fuls of water upon the fire so this will quench the spirit of God 1 Thes 5.18 19. there is a manifest dependence between all those exhortations and this is certain let a man once not be affected with God let him not see Gods goodness in all his wayes let him not be affected with Gods mercy and loving kindness it will quench the spirit of God and then consider what a lamentable case a man shall be in Thirdly Sin must needs dead a mans heart because it doth put a most woful bitter hard task upon the soul to go through for you know hard tasks stir up reluctancy against them when a man hath an hard task to go through the very thought of it dulls him it is like a stone upon his heart now let a man sin against grace and the goodness of God and Gods gracious dealing let a man sin against these it doth put a man to a most hard task to go through to go and humble himself before Almighty God and the soul shall find a world of conflicts that he is loth to come to it loth to deal about this bitter business to go about to renew his repentance with bitter remorse for his sins it is like a desperate debtor that hath run himself over head and ears in debt the very thought of coming to a reckoning is death to him he cannot abide to think of it it is like a boy that hath made false Latine if his Master should call him to construe and pearse it and give a rule for every word he knows it is not according to rule he hath not looked after rule and every thing is false now he cannot abide to come to construe and pearse it so when a man hath provoked God by his sins and hath broken his covenant and slighted his ordinances when God calls him to construe and pearse what do you make of such an action and such a word and such a thought the heart is even afraid of these things as a dog is of a whip it is an hard task to be brought to this as David when he had yielded to his security and idleness and unwatchfulness and so had given way to Satan you may see what an hard task he brought upon his soul and how his soul was ever
with patience the coming of the Lord he quickens them by the example of Job and the Prophets so when he would quicken them up to prayer he presseth them by the example of Elias he was a man as well as we saith he and had the like passions yet he prayed when the heavens had been shut three years and six months c. Consider this the zeal of others may provoke us specially if we set it before our eyes we should think with our selves What he so believing and I so full of doubting he so lively and I so dull and blockish he so affected and I so untoward this should shame us and provoke us to stir up our selves by looking upon such especially upon those that have taken up the profession since we did and yet have gone beyond us it should awaken us this is an excellent means to quicken us as our Saviour Christ when he would exhort his Disciples to suffer persecution saith he consider the Prophets that were persecuted before you so if we would be quickned up we should look upon the Saints that have been quickned before us that we may have their grace and comfort We come now to the last thing and that is to perswade you by some Motives to shake off this deadness Motives are special things to quicken up a man the Apostle when he would quicken up the Corinthians to love he useth divers Motives unto them the first is taken from the collation of love with all the extraordinary gifts of Gods spirit he shews without love they are all nothing though a man had all knowledge and all faith so that he could remove mountains and had not love it were nothing so that you see love is an excellent grace 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. Another Motive he takes from the effects and adjuncts of love love suffereth long c. from the fourth to the seventh verse Thirdly He useth another Motive to shew how love doth generally surpass most graces in the endurance of it Prophesies they shall cease knowledge that shall cease and be done away but love that shall never be done away love never faileth Lastly He compares it with the cardinal vertues with the principal graces namely faith and hope and shews how love is beyond them hope edifies a mans self but love edifies the whole Church of God faith and hope must vanish and will not go into the Kingdom of heaven with us but love it doth alwayes accompany us so that you see the Apostle is careful to use motives to quicken up people to that which he exhorts them unto the Scripture as it doth bid us do a duty so it useth motives to quicken us up to the doing of it And again When it forbids any sin it useth motives to take off our hearts from that sin as when the Apostle would diswade from the unworthy receiving of the Sacrament what abundance of motives doth he heap one upon another to terrifie us from it 1 Cor. 11.23 c. the first is from the institution of the Lord Jesus Christ I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus c. as who should say what will you prophane his institution Secondly From the time when he instituted it the same night he was betrayed in his agony and in the midst of his sorrows he thought of your good will you prophane such a mercy blessing Thirdly From the nature of the Sacrament it is the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and will you not reverence that Another is from the end of the Sacrament it is to shew forth the Lords death till he comes therefore how should we have a care of this that we may come to the Sacrament in a gracious and reverent manner duly meditating what it is having a lively apprehension of the Lord Jesus Christ and to keep a constant memory of what he hath done for us Another is from the greatness of the sin of unworthy receiving he shall be guilty of the body and blood of Christ again from the danger of it whosoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself again from the particular judgements that God had inflicted upon that town for this cause many are sick among you and many sleep and questionless it is for this cause for your unworthy receiving of the Sacrament you see what abundance of motives he brings for this now I say if Motives be good in any point look whatsoever we exhort people unto if it be good to use Motives to stir them up to it then much more in this point in the point of deadness to shake it off in the point of quickning that they would labour to get it and indeed when a man useth Motives to faith and repentance it is not only to get that but to quicken them up to faith and repentance when a man spurs a horse it is not only to make him go but to quicken him up to go we are all dull and careless and blockish now Motives serve to stir us up Eccles 12. the words of the wise are as goads to provoke and stir up people Motive 1 Well then The first motive shall be this to consider the woful ingredients of this sin of deadness the horrible sins that are contained in it what a compound of spiritual diseases are in this sin First There is a dulnesse and blockishnesse of mind dull and heavy to learn any thing that is good as it is said of the Jews Acts 28.27 when a man hath an unteachable mind though he be never so long under the word of God it cannot strike into his heart and enter into his understanding his mind cannot feel the weight of divine truths take outward truths of profit and pleasure a man may lead him up and down with these truths he feels weight in these but for the word of God he hath no understanding in that may be he can tell what the Ministers say and talk of it but for the weight of divine reason the mind is blockish to this men are like to a blockish scholler that hath gone seven years to school and yet is not beyond the primmer so when a man shall sit so long under the Ministry of the word and yet be a stranger to it as if he had never heard of it he hears discourses of faith and can speak of it and talk of it of the letter of it as well as the best believer and yet is as blockish to go about it as can be what an horrible thing is this that the truth should come to a mans mind and a man should be dull to conceive it Secondly Another evil is awkness and averseness of heart listleseness to the wayes of Jesus Christ as Christ saith of the Jews Mat. 15.8 their hearts cannot be pulled to that which is good their hearts are untoward and have no list or disposition that way even
about every duty and please God in all his wayes in some measure a little faith is strong so love is a strong grace it is as strong as death Cant. 8. If a man hath but a little true love to God it will enable him to doe strange things it will make him suffer any thing doe any thing leave any thing for God Now natural people they say they love God but it is a weak love it cannot make them leave a lust for God it cannot make them doe any thing for God it cannot carry a man beyond nature but all the graces of Gods spirit are marvellous strong things therefore as ever we desire to have a sign and token that we are true Christians and have the grace of God in truth in any measure in us we should labour to strengthen all the good things that are in us for if we doe not strengthen them they are not of the right stamp Reas 2 Secondly We can never doe any act of new obedience unless we be strengthened as the Lord saith to Joshua Josh 17. Onely be thou strong and doe my commandements c. He would have him strong that he might observe all the Law of God as who should say Joshua thou canst never be able to observe my Law there be mighty performances things that flesh and blood can never reach unto therefore unless thou hast strength and divine strength thou canst never be able to doe this therefore be strong strengthen thy self labour to have all the courage and might that may be God bids us do nothing but he requires all the strength of the whole man Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy strength it must be thus if the water man be to rowe with the tyde and the wind he puts forth no strength the stream will carry the vessel but if he be to rowe against wind and tyde now he must put forth all his strength else the boat cannot go nay it will go the contrary way so if we would please God and work the workâ— of God and attain to his heavenly Kingdom we must rowe against wind and tyde and without tugging and hailing and putting forth a great deal of strength we shall never do it as suppose a man be wronged and offered an inâ—ury he cannot be quiet an hour together but he is abused and misused and mocked and opposed now he cannot be patient unless he be strong and have great strength to deny himself as Col. 1.11 Be strengthned with all might according to his glorious power to all patience and long suffering with joyfulness As who should say if you would have patience you must be strengthned with all might specially if you would be patient with joy may be a man may be patient but then he is surly and lumpish and all amortâ— may be he bears but he is like a block or stock he cannot joy in tribulation he had need have a great deal of strength to do this so if a man would pray can he pray without a great deal of strength it is not a little heave will lift up a mans heart to God I lift my heart to thee he gave a great lift to his heart and Heb. 5.7 it is said that Christ prayed with strong cries we cannot pray aright unlesse we come with strong cries and strong desires so if a man hear the word if it awaken him and quicken him he will lose all again and be as blockish as he was before unless he be strong we can do no good duty without strength and therefore we had need to labour for strength Thirdly We can never overcome temptations nor make our part good Reas 3 against temptations without strength nay we cannot resist them or combate with them or stand in the field against them but we shall be beaten out and be overwhelmed if we have not strength if we would go to heaven we shall be sure to meet with abundance of temptations and if temptations will put us out of the way we shall have enough of them if they can sway us and make us do this and that we shall not want temptations if a bowl hath bias the strength of the arm will take away that though the bias be never so strong as long as the strength of the arm lasts the bias goeth according to the strength of the arm when the strength of the arm is gone then the bias begins to sway it So if a man have strength it will swallow up the bias of temptations but when a man hath no strength then the bias of temptations carries him away then the world bows him then pleasure and his natural inclination sways him this way and that way whereas if a man had strength he might resist temptations 1 Cor. 15.58 be stedfast and unmoveable abounding in the work of the Lord that is if you were strong you would be unmoveable and abound in the work of the Lord all the world could not withdraw you from the work of the Lord for all temptations you would abound in good things what infinite need have we to resist temptations none of us can arrive at heaven unless we be able to go through thick and thin and a world of temptations blessed is the man that endures temptations he shall have enough of them and happy is the man that can endure them and overcome them if we be not strong if we have not this spiritual might what shall become of us if we have not strong love to the truth we shall be hooked away from it if we have not strong love to obedience we shall be disobedient if we have not strong love to the wayes of God we shall be pulled away from them by force of temptations Reas 4 Fourthly Without strength if we should chance to fall we cannot get up again what man is there that falls not in many things we offend all how often doth the godly man fall into sin through weakness and infirmity and ignorance and sometimes in a worse manner now if he have spiritual strength in him then he may rise up again if he hath a strong relation to God in Jesus Christ that cannot be broken then he may get up again as the body if it hath abundance of sores and blains and divers diseases and distempers upon it yet as long as the strength of nature lasts it may work them out again if you give this man Physick as long as the strength of nature lasts Physick may do him good but if the strength of nature be gone the disease will overcome him it will be his death so it is with a Christian as long as there is any spiritual strength in him it will work out corruption if a man have strong relation to God strong interest in Christ strong apprehension of the evil of sin and of the goodness of Gods wayes strong fear of God and a strong judgement these will work out
our corruptions would be weak our carnal hearts would be weak we should not be so able to goe against God and his commandements I can doe nothnig against the truth saith Paul why he had a strong light he saw so clearly that it was the truth of God and it was the way to be damned for ever to goe against it and he saw so clearly what an admirable thing the truth was that he could do nothing against it as Joseph saith How can I commit this great wickedness c He had such a light and so saw the nature of the evil that he durst not do it for a world the understanding is a very strong thing see it in that which is in wicked wretches what a deal oâ— strength hath that little knowledge of God that is in their hearts when a wicked man knowes that his courses are of the Devil and he is informed and reads it in the Word of God he knows his wayes are condemned of God I tell you this knowledge keeps a great deal of stir in his heart and makes his conscience afraid and sometimes qualms come over his heart and sometimes makes him resolve I will be a drunkard and adulterer no more it makes him that he cannot goe so freely about his wicked courses Mark 6.20 When Herod knew John Baptist was a godly man this made him fear him So when Saul knew assuredly that David should be King though he went out to destroy him he let him goe nay a very persecutor if he knows they be the people of God he persecutes it will make his very heart ake and will make him give over his persecution except he be marvellous strong Isa 11.9 Why how will God bridle persecutors The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord There shall be such a deal of knowledge that they shall not be able to hurt in my holy mountain nay this knowledge may make wicked men mightily to deny themselves Balaam though he was greedy after riches and preferment yet when he knew that it was Gods mind that he he should not curse Israel he should provoke God saith he If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord c. Nay knowledge may work Reformation After they escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2.20 Now if knowledge be such a thing where it is not rooted soundly in the mind then how strong would it be if we did get our understandings soundly informed if we would get knowledge rooted in us the very knowledge that God hath commanded us to serve him and fear him that he hath revealed his wrath from Heaven upon all disobedience that Christ is the Saviour of the world it would strengthen us against sin and to do good therefore let us labour to have strong minds Secondly Let us labour to have a strong will as David had Psal 119.15 16. I will meditate in thy precepts I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy Word You see how absolutely he is set upon it I will do thus and thus and I will not do the contrary this is a strong Will and therefore you see what admirable things he could do because his Will was strong what is the reason people are so weak they cannot resist sin they cannot give over such a lust they cannot get life and quickning in prayer and other duties if an Enemy come they cannot put it up if affliction come they cannot bear it patiently if they are called to stand for God they cannot put off carnal fears this is the weakness of our Wills if our Wills were absolutely set that way we should be marvellous strong and break through all oppositions all the strength of a man lies in the Will of a man if a mans Will be set upon a thing he will go through fire and water he will do it therefore we should labour that our Wills may be strong in the works of God to the pleasing of God and hatred of evil and opposing of all the wayes of the flesh as David saith Psalm 119.10 I have sought thee with my whole heart We should do thus you may see this in wicked men when their hearts are absolutely set to do evil how do they go through difficulties nothing shall hinder them how wonderfully did Saul persecute David over hills and dales and caves of the earth over rocks and craggy places if he had not been furious and mad he could not have followed him in such places nay he spurned against conscience God met with him oftentimes and infatuated his counsels which could not but be as hedges in his way but he broke over all Whence was this his Will was absolutely set 1 Sam. 23.23 he was resolved if David were to be found under the copes of Heaven he would have him so if our hearts our wills were absolutely set to finde God and his grace if we would say if Christ be to be found we will have him if he be in Heaven or Earth we will have him we will run over all Ordinances and duties what sin will we not leave what course will we not take if he be to be found we will have him A man might go through any difficulty if his Will were absolute the Will is a strong faculty it hath the command over the whole man the mind thinks and the heart intends and the affections stir and the tongue speaks and the foot walks and the hand works but the Will sways all nay if a mans appetite be to a thing yet if he will not do it he may refrain it the Will is the strongest faculty in a man as soon as we heare the Prodigal had a Will to goe to his Father the next news we hear he did go I will arise and go to my Father and now nothing could stay him if our Wills were set earnestly towards God that we would serve him and obey him and would not be carried away with our lusts what a deal of strength would this help us with we should be strong to trample Satan under our feet and mortifie our lusts and this is the reason God accepts the Will above all if there be a willing mind God accepts it nay not only accepts it but rewards it also 1 Cor. 9.19 If I do it willingly I have my reward The will is the strongest faculty God knows if he hath a mans will he hath all that ever a man can do he hath all his power nay he hath more then his power the will is able to go beyond a mans power as it is said of the Macedonians 2 Cor. 8.3 they did to their power and beyond their power the will is a mighty strong thing therefore if we will be strong in the Lord let us labour for strong wills Thirdly Let us labour for sound affections that our affections may be conversant about
could see an honest life and conversation whither he had pleased God saith he I communed with my spirit and made diligent search Psal 77.6 How have I pleased God and followed God what manner of life have I led he ransacked all his life and conversation and would be glad to see he had done the things pleasing to God it would be more comfort then if all the Angels in heaven had spoken comfort so temptations or afflictions may be upon us that we would be glad to see signs and tokens of Gods favour in sanctifying our hearts and making us to be obedient to his will and tremble at his word and if we cannot see these things woe unto us 1 Tim 6.19 charge them that be rich in the world that they be not high-minded c. So we do not know what times may come we had need lay a good foundation for comfort against the time to come and charge rich men that they be rich in good works charge all Christians all that desire to stad in the evil day to be rich in good works and abound in them and lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life Lastly Consider that your want of obedience and good works is the cause of all Gods temporal judgements why God doth stop the bottles of Heaven and turns the Earth into dust and parcheth our Corn we see God hath begun the plague among us in the principal place of the Kingdom wherefore is all this see what the Prophet saith Jer. 3.3 therefore have the showers been withholden because you have been wicked thou hast an whores forehead and refusest to be ashamed thy carelesseness and barrenness under the means of grace thy impenitency and hardness of heart these have caused the showers to be withholden and have made God to deny the former and latter rain The second point is this As the Covenant of grace requires works so it requires perfect works he tells the Church of Sardis that he looks for works and perfect works but cannot find them so that the second Covenant requires perfect works But you will say how can that be Paul himself that was as forward a man and had as perfect works as any man yet he confesseth he was not perfect Phil. 3.12 so likewise here we know but in part 1 Cor. 13.10 perfection is not yet come in the world to come it may come Heb 12. there we read of the spirits of just and perfect men then men are made perfect but they are not perfect in this life I answer 't is true therefore there is a double perfection First A perfection of degrees to be perfectly perfect and so no man can be perfect by any perfection inherent indeed the Covenant of works requires this perfection but the Covenant of grace doth not indeed when we come to glory there shall be this perfection but not in this life in this life the Lord only subdues our sins but casts them not into the bottom of the Sea til the life to come therefore this perfection cannot be looked for upon earth Therefore secondly There is another perfection and that is a perfection by way of sincerity and uprightnesse Job 1.1 Job was a perfect and upright man Now this perfection differs from the other five wayes the perfection God requires in the Gospel from that in the Law First The Law stands upon performances as well as the will and desire and a man is not perfect unlesse he perform all as well as desire to doe it But now the perfection of the Gospel is without these performances indeed that man labours for as many performances as he can but it may be onely by desires Rom. 7.18 Paul was perfect by Evangelical Perfection he was upright before God yet he could not reach performances no he had a will to be good he did unfeignedly desire to be godly and serve God in every thing unfeignedly endeavouring after godly courses yet could not attain to that which he did desire So it was with Nehemiah and all the good people of God Nehem. 1.11 O Lord I beseech thee let thine ear be attentive to the prayers of thy servants who desire to fear thy name He could hardly say that he did perform it but he did desire it he could hardly say he did love and obey God and doe his will but this he would say he did desire to doe it and unfeignedly desire it as Solomon saith Prov. 21.21 He that followeth after righteousnesse and mercy findeth life He doth not say he that reacheth it he cannot reach it may be but he that followeth after it shall have life it is a sign that he hath the life of justification and that he shall have the life of glory Secondly The perfection of the Law it stands upon quantities as well as upon qualities truth it is not satisfied though a man be never so truly holy and religious unless man hath quantities and is so much holy But now the perfection of the Gospel indeed it will have as much quantity as a man can but yet it will stand with truth though a man hath not that quantity of humiliation and self-denial and power against sin yet if he have it in truth he is Evangelically perfect in some measure he is sincere and upright before God as Solomon saith of his Father 1 Kings 13.6 Mâ— Father had great mercy according as he walked before thee in truth He doth not say he walked before thee in legal perfection he was perfectly righteous but he was truly righteous he was humble in truth and godly in truth and zealous in truth he had none of all these things to the utmost yet he walked before thee in truth So Josh 24.14 Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth He doth not say serve him as if you should doe every thing he commands but doe it in truth and sincerity Now sincerity is when there is no commandement but a man sets himselfe to doe it there is no sin but he labours to avoid it and there is no right manner but he sets himself to doe it in the right manner to his power this is the perfection of the Gospel Thirdly The perfection of the Law stands upon full measure whether a man have power or no that is nothing to the purpose the law will have all holiness and righteousness whether a man hath power or no But now the perfection of the Gospel by way of sincerity it looks at what measure God hath given and bestowed and no more but what God hath given and enabled a man to doe as you may see the Lord doth not require the gain of ten talents when he gave but five nor the gain of five when he gave but two the widows two mites were accepted and taken for a good and sincere gift because she gave all that she had Luke 21.4 as the Apostle
for God and goodnesse and at the last they come to shew plainly that there was never any soundnesse in them thus the Lord doth many times lead them forth among evil doers Psa 125.5 and so such as have kept company among good doers are discovered to be evil doers thus Demas was discovered for a time he followed St. Paul but having a worldly heart the Lord discovered him by it in the end it made him weary of Pauls company and he fell to embrace this present world 2 Tim. 4.10 Lastly By the times by persecutions that arise against the Church of God and this knocks off all that were but meer hangbyes it knocks them off from the good course they seemed to follow before and they follow the contrary as Christ notes Matth. 13.20 21. They that received the seed into stony ground when persecution arose they fâ—ll off When persecution and trouble did arise they were offended this discovered them as if there be any rift or unsound place in the house a sharp tempest will discover it and shew where is a flaw in the building so if there be a flaw in a mans faith or profession if a man be not right towards God the times will discover this The Reasons of this are First because it is Gods Prerogative thus to doe because the perfection of mens works though men may give a guesse at it yet it is a secret Now it is Gods Prerogative Royal to reveale secrets Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart c. The heart is deceitfull above all things who can know it 'T is true but I the Lord search the heart and try the reins So you see God takes it to himselfe as his own Prerogative Royal to search men out what they are And indeed the Lord sometimes in Scripture is described by this very thing the searching of the heart Rom. 8.27 He that searcheth the heart Who is that The Apostle doth not tell us who it is but you may guesse who it is by the Epithite he gives him So that God I say is known by this and will be known by this by searching mens hearts and discovering what men are and aym at and intend what men hate and what they love what things they doe and how they doe them Secondly As this is Gods Prerogative Royal so of all things in the world he will bring that which is secret out whether men be sincere or no. Men make a shew O they are baptized and come to Church and take paines in their places and callings and what can you alledge against me Now of all things in the world God will discover this if men be not as they seem to be if men have malice in their hearts and pride if they seek the world and be ambitious and seek to please men and make as if they would please God if they be false-hearted God will discover this he will discover all things but specially Hypocrisie if any will be Adulterers and will not be known to be such if any will be proud or scoffers of Religion and will not be known to be such God will bring this to light as Job saith If you secretly accept persons God will surely reprove you Job 13.10 God will bring all the world and all their doings to light but of all things if men have secret haunts and back-doors to doe evill if men have devices and colours to put off their actions if men can dawb up wretched and filthy cases as if they were good if men will goe about in this fashion to dawb with untempered morter such sins and sinners as these God will lay before him as Moses saith Psal 90.8 As who should say thou layest all our sins before us but if we have any secret sins thou layest them upon a rock in the open Sun the Lord especially ayms at them there be many persons in the world that are godly and honest and yet are covered by the scoffs and reproaches of the world as if they had no good nor did any good and there are others again that are boulstered up in the world as if they were good men and better then those that keep such a pudder Now the Lord as he will bring every thing abroad so specially this Thirdly Because it is for the glory of God to search men out as Solomon saith of a King Prov. 25.2 It is the glory of a King to search out a matter as when the two Harlots were brought before Solomon concerning the child whose it was there was no way in the world to know it there was nothing but their own asseverations the one said it was hers and the other said it was hers the one affirmed the other denied it before the King now we shall see what a glory it was to Solomon to search out who was the mother of the child the Text saith all Israel feared King Solomon because of this thing 1 Kings 3.28 They trembled before him they saw he could search out secrets and hidden things therefore they durst not do wickedness in secret for fear he should finde them out so it is the glory of God to search out secret matters and bring them on the stage if a man be upright and this man is spawl'd and spit upon and born down in the world if the Lord should not search it out what a dishonour would it be to God and if a man should goe for a good Christian and is not and God should not finde them out what a dishonour would it be to him it is the glory of God to search out secret matters Fourthly It is for the truth of God he hath said he will search every one out as you may see Job 34.22 So he hath said He that hideth his sins shall not prosper Prov. 28.13 So he hath said He that walketh uprightly walketh surely but he that perverteth his wayes shall be known If God hath said thus certainly it concerns his truth to see it made good and therefore he must search them out Fifthly This is for the Justice of God that God should search out every one what he is and what his works be how should God judge the world else therefore when God said he would judge Judah and punish them because they had forgotten him he gives this as the reason of it Therefore saith he I will discover thy skirts upon thy face that thy shame may appear So when God means to glorifie his Saints and bestow the Kingdome of Heaven upon them therefore he will discover their honesty and lay open their godly courses and reward them for all the taunts and vile reproaches of the wicked The first Use may serve to reprove most men generally we do not consider that God will search us what a company of pleas are there to doe evil what a company of put offs to doe good duties If men can but find any starting hole glad are they and if they can but finde any silly pretence then
not know it so it is with a man that is a new beginner in Religion he is a new man though he doth not know it he hath that in him that let him have but time let him but grow he will quickly be able to look upon it and be able to see what it is so it is with the people of God they are at first very ignorant what God hath given them as the Apostle prayeth for the Ephesians Eph. 1.17 that God would let them be no longer children but that God would open the eyes of their understanding that they might know what the hope of their calling was that he would let them know what he had given them they hardly knew what they had at the first they had an effectual calling from God and they had a thousand hopes they might hope to be strengthened against corruptions to be delivered in six troubles and in seaven they might hope when they died to be translated into the Kingdome of immortallity and glory for evermore they had this hope now saith he the Lord of heaven and earth open the eyes of your understanding that you may see the hope of your calling and the exceeding riches of those things that God hath bestowed upon you Againe they may be ignorant of the voyce of the Spirit they do not understand the Spirits language when a child of God is first effectually called he comes into a new world and meets with a new language he is a Barbarian to it and that is barbarous to him he cannot understand the language of the Spirit the Spirit speaks many comfortable things and there are many works of the Spirit whereby the Spirit doth speak to a man for his comfort and consolation if he could take them as a man that comes into a strange Countrey he lives a very uncomfortable life at first he hears them speak but he cannot understand them they speak strange language he cannot tell what to make of it but the longer he is there he comes to understand such a word and then such a word and it may be a sentence now and then and so in the end he understands them plainly so at the first when God calls his people into a new world the Spirit speaks many things to them but yet it is in an unknown tongue it is gibberish to them they cannot tell what to make of it but when they come to understand the dialect they come to rejoyce Againe the children of God are ignorant of the work of grace they think certainly never could any of the children of God that were aright be in that estate that I am they never find their hearts so like a log in prayer when I go to the Sacrament sometimes I behave my self like a block and cannot behave my self in any competent manner as I ought certainly none of Gods people can be thus as I am they are ignorant what may be in the people of God what may stand with the truth of God and so they question their estates and conditions out of ignorance afterwards when they come to more experience and finde the wayes of God in them and come to have a knowledge of their owne corruptions and of the goodness of God in purging them out more and more in the end they are able to speak it to Gods glory and their own consolation Againe the knowledge of a mans effectual calling may be hindered by being unresolved of a mans Christian liberty when there be Christian liberties that a man hath need of every day and yet notwithstanding a man is not resolved upon it many a man thinks verily if he should finde any delight in the good creatures of God if he should be merry or chearful at any time if he should be talking of his calling in the world and speak of it in his communication and follow his calling diligently if he should be angry and let bitter words fly at any time though his nature make him so he thinks verily and concludes that he hath no grace he is a very worldly carnal man he savours of these things here below he savours of the creature and he is carnally merry though a man may take care for outward things moderately and be chearful so for anger a man may be angry be angry saith the Apostle but sin not now if he be angry at any time though the thing be lawful and he hath Christian liberty in the thing yet not knowing his Christian liberty this doth exceedingly trouble a man many times and makes him question his effectual calling there be abundance of Christian liberties that we have need of every day and have need of the knowledge of and when the soul and conscience doth not know his Christian liberty I do not speak of this in regard of the world they had need have straight limitations curbs and we had need put in all the caveats that can be for they are apt of their own accord to take too much elbow-roome every man is ready to stand upon his liberty what he may lawfully do but though wicked men damne their own soules in these things yet it is fit the children of God should have their portion and know it and the want of this knowledge hinders a man from the knowledge of the things given him of God Againe a man may be ignorant of the tenderness of Jesus Christ and of the infinite bowels of the Sonne of God and how chary he is over his people and that he regards a graine of wheat under an heap of chaffe it is very probable that the son of Jeroboam had a taint of the family he was taken from which was marvelous soule yet notwithstanding God takes notice of the good things that were in him though in the Churches in the Revelation foule and grievous things were found yet the Lord notwithstanding takes notice of any thing that was good in them if there be but a drop of true saving grace in the heart God will take notice of it though a man be but smoaking flax God will be tender of it now many a child of God doth not know the tender compassions of Jesus Christ and that he will accept them notwithstanding a thousand weaknesses and though they have but a little hold and a little strength to put forth in the wayes of God and they see how many thousand things they can say against themselves when they see not the tender compassions of Jesus Christ and what a tender Saviour he is the tender mercies of our God as it is Luke 1. This hinders them from the knowledge of that which otherwise they might know Againe it may be hindered very much through melancholy it is the very coach that the devil rides in as Divines speak it corrupts a mans imagination and fills it with groundlesse fears and doubts and makes a man speak he knows not what and he saith he doth not do those things he doth when
speaks not there in regard of particulars but in the general it is dangerous to erre in any point but to erre in such a thing as is of this nature it is most woeful Reas 1. Because this is the foundation now it is a horrible thing in intellectuals in matters of theory to erre in fundamentals so it is in practicals it is an horrible thing for a man to erre in the very foundation of Religion in the first acquaintance with God in the very ground and bottom of all a man had need lay the foundation well because else the whole building falls effectual calling is the very ground of a mans going to God it is the very ground of a mans laying hold upon God and of the profession of Religion and all the building must come to nothing if this be not well laid God forbid I should go about to shake any man or call in question any mans Religion or hope or comfort I deny not people the professing of Gods name or the calling upon God or the coming to the Sacraments I do not deny them this but I beseech you be sure that you have a good foundation for all for all will come to nothing elss you remember what became of the mans house that was built upon the sands that had no foundation Mat. 7.26 When the winds came and the floods beate upon that house it fell the house came falling down as if it had never been built so have a care of the foundation it is a most miserable thing if the foundation be not well laid Secondly Because effectual calling is a thing that a man must have a thousand references unto before he die if he lives he must every day have a reference to this a man can do nothing but he must still have a reference to his effectual calling he must ever and anon be looking back to this God hath called me to his glory and vertue he will be driven to this whether he will or no it is like a mans evidence when any wrangling companion shall question his right in his estate he must have reference to his evidences and if he find them hardly currant what a stound will he be put unto if he find his evidences rotten and unsound he knows not what course to take why effectual calling is that which a child of God must have reference unto all the dayes of his life from the first estating of him in the Kingdom of God from the first bringing of him to partake of eternal life when David was in affliction in body and minde and doubts came upon him thick and threefold he was faine to have reference to his effectual calling and that comforted him Psal 119.50 This is my comfort in affliction for thy Word hath quickened me when he was in affliction of conscience and minde and body he began to look back time was when I was dead in sinnes and trespasses I never looked after God but thy Word hath quickened me this raised him up this was his comfort in his affliction the Lord had called him to his Kingdom and made him partaker of the work of grace and this cheared him had he not had reference to this he could have had no hold without this a man is as in a wilderness a lost man therefore what a feareful thing is it for a man to take himself to be effectually called when he is not it is as it were to lay a springe for a mans soul it is as a net for the devil to take a man and to carry him on in hopes and expectations and then when he looks back and sees his bottom and foundation he stands upon is nothing but conceit this is a miserable thing Thirdly Because it is the beginning of the works of God now what a thing is it for a man to strike out of the way at his beginning if a man have a journy to go if he go out of the way as soon as ever he goes out of doores he must needs be wide he had been better have stayed at home a man were better go out of his way at any time then at the beginning if he go ten miles and then go out of his way there is some hope it is not all in vaine he hath gone ten miles onward of his journy but for a man to go out of his way as soone as ever he steps out of doors he is cast further off then if he had never stirred a foot it is an excellent thing when a man begins well Gal. 3.3 Ye began in the Spirit c. though they struck out of the way afterwards and yielded to a great deale of carnal doctrine and fleshly propositions and were a world out of the way yet this was to great purpose that they began well St. Paul durst not but call them the children of God he could hardly tell what to make of them yet he saith little children ye have put on Christ and done thus and thus and went out to eternal life in a right manner therefore God will bring you in againe certainly you must come againe you began well you began in the Spirit but when a man in his very beginning shall erre his error was in principiâ— as ever he set out of doors he went clean contrary this man hardly ever returnes nay he had been better never to have stepped forth when a man steps into a way which seems good to him commonly that way is death to him when he hath gone a thousand miles as he thinks in the profession of Religion and hath gotten the apprehension in his own soul to be the child of God then to lay it down it goes to the heart of him he will build an high wall in his own imagination certainly it is thus indeed it is better to turne then go forward but it is the corruption of a mans heart he cannot abide to returne it will be a shame to him and there must be such a do that he is not able to beare it I do not desire to unsettle any man if a man hath but his fingers ends to lay hold upon Christ any truth to hang upon him let him hang God for bid I should shake such a one but if your error be in the beginning and if you have gone out of the way you were better to returne for you will never go right Vse 2. Here we may see the reason why the Scripture is so urgent to make our calling sure because this is the first entrance and admission into Jesus Christ there is an excellent place 2 Pet. 1.10 11. Wherefore the rather brethren give all diligence to make your calling and election sure for he that doth these things shall never fall for so an entrance shall be made unto you into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ make it sure why for if you do you shall never fall that is not all neither though this is a
to you it is given saith the Apostle not only to beleeve in him but to die for him Phil. 1.29 so that God gives more grace to his people then to others he gives onely common grace to the wicked 't is true God is not wanting to the wicked God will ever be aforehand with them and they shall have more then they make use of now wicked men the Lord leaves them without excuse for they stick not at an impossibility but at a will they will not come in that they might be saved they will not do that which God hath put into the power of their hands to do God gives them knowledge and they will not practise it God shews them their sinnes and they will not leave their sins may be God makes them leave their sinnes and then they return to them againe it may be God makes them that they never return to their sins again but then they take up onely a kinde of forme and there they stick and go no further thus they stick at the will they will not have the Gospel upon Christs termes The first use of the point is this it is a great comfort and encouragement to the faith of all Gods people what an excellent and sure word is this when they shall finde that they have such an excellent warrant to lay hold upon Christ when he is so publickly tendred in the Scripture there is a common salvation in Jesus Christ Jude 3. Christ hath made it to be common for any man that will have it upon the tearms thereof it is as common as Adam was As in Adam all died so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 not as though all men simply shall be made alive for all men possibly are not alive as all men possibly are not dead in Adam for there might be millions of men after the world is ended but only those that are in the loynes of Adam all men that came out of the loyns of Adam shall die so all they that ever are in the loyns of Christ as all they are that will have him they shall be made alive it is as general as Adam as many as were in the loyns of Adam and lived and died so shall die so all that are in the loyns of Christ and have a will to come to Christ shall be saved for it is the will that carrieth all the soul when a man will do or suffer any thing for Christ whatsoever sin Christ will have him leave he will leave it whatsoever duty Christ will have him take up he will assume it he will break through all hindrances and use all means he will have it the righteousnesse of Christ is for every one that will have it I will have it saith the soul therefore it belongs to me the Gospel of salvation is tendred to every one that hath a minde to it I have a mind to it upon the Gospels tearms and therefore it belongs to me The second use is of confutation to confute those that desire faith by the full assurance of the pardon of a mans sins and the salvation of his soul this is a dangerous doctrine and condemns the half of the generation of God nay all of them at one time or other you see how the Gospel calls a man to believe concerning justification and salvation it calls to beleeve in the record of his Son that he is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that he is eternal life that he is the way the truth and the light that he is the hope of glory that he is the way of coming to God the Father now when a man hath this faith in a lively manner and this pulls a man out of the world draws him to Christ this is the true faith this is the faith of the Gospel faith is not defined by assurance in Scripture but by beleeving in Christ John 3.18 by trusting upon Christ Ephes 1.12 by resting upon God 2 Chr. â—4 11 by relying upon God 2 Chr. 19.8 by adhering and cleaving to God in Christ Acts 11.23 this is true faith when a man relies upon God when he believes this same blessed record and throws himself and casts himself upon it and will obey God I may say to you all that have this faith as the Prophet Esay saith to such as you are Who is there among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servants though he sit in darknesse and seeth no light yet let him rest upon the Lord and stay himself upon the God of his salvation Esay 50.10 as who should say though you be in the dark and have no light no assurance no sense and feeling no inkling of Gods mercy though you be in darkness and know not where you are yet if you have a heart to fear God and obey the voice of his servants and hearken to the tender of the Gospel trust in the Lord your God relie upon him for all want of sense and feeling for all darknesse for all want of light in you for all want of comfort and stay your souls that way yet trust in the name of the Lord relie upon him for all his mercies though you be at this passe Object But the soul will say I am afraid I have nothing I have no interest in Christ but what of that Answ If thou be never so much afraid mark what David saith Psalme 56.3 What time I am afraid I will trust in thee as who should say though I be in the middest of fears and doubts and terrors of conscience what time this fear comes upon me I will cast my self upon thee so that this is that which the soul is to do that beleeves the tender of the Gospel and this draws him and works upon him it is not a dead faith but an operative faith it pulls him and draws him to Christ he must have Christ and he must have righteousnesse is there such a faith then relie upon God though thy fears come upon thee yet urge thy self to trust in God Obj. And againe it may be objected I have hardly any hope that ever I shal have the pardon of my sins that ever God will hear my prayers and accept my duties and performances What of that if thou hast this faith Answ Mark how it was with Abrahams faith when God told him he should have a sonne though it were above hope besides hope against hope yet he believes in hope so though thou hast hardly any hope yet above hope believe under hope and though thou art put besides all hope and art even ready to be at the brink of despaire yet through thy self upon God if I perish I perish go on in the ways of God and seek after the ways of Jesus Christ and rest upon him from day to day and strive to draw neerer to him to have communion with him and though thou beest put
my self upon him I was confident in him Now when he sends down a token and a Seal under the Kings Majesties hand now I know the event that I have gotten a pardon So it is with a poore creature that is under condemnation and the wrath of God is gone out against him and the justice of God is threatned against him which way soever he looks he can see nothing but hell and damnation and the Gospel hath told him of a friend the Lord Jesus Christ he can help him to a pardon and he trusts to him the Law may be proceeds against him and fears and terrours and may be he is upon the ladder ready to be turned off yet he hangs upon Christ a pardon will come he trusts upon Christ he will not go to the world and to carnal company to pacifie his conscience a pardon will come he casts himself upon this and yet he is not certaine it will come he hath affiance in Christ that it will come now if it be so that whereas he believes in Christ for forgivenesse so Christ sends him a token there is peace of conscience for thee and joy in the Holy Ghost for thee and as he depends upon him for meanes and maintenance so Christ saith there is something for thee to live upon or patience to bear poverty as he believes he shall be accepted of God so here is a token thy prayers are heard Now he hath a token now he may know it Psal 22.4 They trusted in God and they were delivered that is they trusted in thee and thou diddest send them a token now they knew they were delivered 't is true a man might know this though God should send him no token he might know that he is justified and pardoned and hath title to all the mercy in Christ he might know it without this but that for his own weaknesse and that by two things First by looking into the Word there he might find that he which trusts in Christ and commits himself to God shall be saved Another thing is to reflect upon himself there he shall find that he truly goeth out of himself and casts himself upon God then here he may know it he that believes in Christ shall be saved but I find that I believe in Christ therefore I shall be saved but this is not the act of faith but the knowing of it Fifthly it is not the truth of faith but the strength of faith that apprehends the event let a man believe in Christ and cast himself upon him in all his ways and follow him in all his Commandments this is faith be it never so weak and this doth intitle to justification and sanctification and salvation though it be never so weak yet while it is weak it cannot apprehend the event it will be much afraid in regard of that as suppose a man were learning to swimme he beleeves that if he could but spread his armes and legges the water would beare him up now when he begins to learne he commits himself to the water and spreads his armes and leggs but this is with much feare and misgiving and he sometimes sets one leg on the ground and he hath but little sense and feeling of the waters bearing him because he commits not himself to the water but the more and more he commits himself to the water the more he finds the water bears him and now he can fling away his bladders and swimme over the river he did believe before that the water would beare him but when he did commit himself to the water he had a great deal of feare and could not swim to any purpose but when he had learned the art then he committed himselfe to the water and then he could spread his armes and leggs and swimme So when a man comes first to believe in Christ he thinks I should be the happiest man in the world I should be in a better estate then Kings and Princes if I could believe and withal it makes him to believe in Christ and to deny himself and cast himself upon Christ plucks up both his feet and commits himself to the water and fling out himself upon Christ sink or swim yet at the first this is very weak and sometimes he doth it and sometimes he doth it not and sometimes he is feelling for this sometimes for that and somtimes he doth not pray well enough and is not humble enough this is nothing but trusting to himself may be a pleasure comes he cannot deny it he cannot commit himself to Christ the weakness of this is the reason why he cannot apprehend the event for a strong confidence in Christ carries all along with it it will reflect upon it self and gather all these things and be assured he will not only have confidence in Christ but also be confident for the having of those good things he believes in him for HEB. 11.8 By faith Abraham being called to go out into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went WE have spoken of Effectual Calling what a great mercy it is that God should vouchsafe this unto us and the abundance of benefits it brings to a man we have shewed how it is differenced from in-effectual Calling How a man may know whether he be effectually called yea or no and so we came to shew you how a man answers this call and he answers it only by faith and so we made a digresse to speak of faith what it is that it is an affiance in Christ not every affiance but a rooted affiance in Christ and now we come to take up the point again that it is only faith whereby a mans calling is made effectual when a man is first called out of darknesse into marvelous light out of the Kingdome of sinne into the Kingdome of God it is only faith that answers that call and so it is ever after whatsoever God cals a Christian to do or to leave undone it is faith that makes a man obey this call The Apostle in this Chapter doth set out many commendations of faith to exhort the Hebrewes and all Beleevers and all persons to the getting of it and to labour to have it grow in them and to make much of it as being a most excellent Grace of God and he commends faith two wayes First by the description of it in the first verse Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen a Believer hopes for great matters though he seeth not any of them may be he is yet a poore miserable contemptible creature in the eyes of the world yet he hopes for great matters he hopes for a glorious resurrection and for an excellent triumph over sinne and death and hell and to have his body and soul for ever in the Kingdome of Christ Jesus you will say he seeth none of these things he hopes that God will blesse him
faith then look that you have no other gods but me look that you honour me in all my wayes and stoop to me and obey my Word as the Lord propounded the one so he set before them the other a man forgets that God is his God by faith if he keeps not his Commandements beware saith Moses least thou forget the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandements How can a man believe in God when he forgets that which he should believe When a man forgets to be subject to God and to give up himself in all his wayes The Promises and Commandements are tyed together with bonds of adamant and no man can pull them asunder as it is with sinne and the threatnings if a man go on in sinne he shall be sure to have the threatnings light upon him they are bound together by bonds of adamant and everlasting coards let a man do what he can if he howle and roare to God to take away his plagues to take away Hell fire and damnation if he go on in sinne it will never be they hang together in an everlasting truth The way of the wicked shall perish and if a man soweth iniquity he shall reap misery saith the Wiseman As a man soweth so he shall reap do not deceive your selves We are marvelous apt to reason as Eve did to put in perhaps perhaps you shall dye Nay assuredly we shall dye if we go on in sinne and will not live that life which God hath set before us the life of faith the life of God the life of Heaven the life of true Holinesse and righteousnesse if we will not submit to this and give up our selves to be brought under it we shall assuredly perish never did any man live and goe on in sinne but he dyed in perdition Never any man lived a wicked and ungodly life but had a wicked wretched and damned death if a man do go on in sinne he shall be sure to have the threatnings of God light upon him he cannot avoyde them so it is on the other side the Promises and the Commandements go together and if a man do observe the Commandements of God by a true and lively faith he shall assuredly have the promises and if he reject the Commandements or be unsound in the doing of them he cannot have the Promises if he have the one he must have the other he can never make a faithful Plea for Peace for Pardon for Heaven or any thing that God hath promised that bindes not himselfe over to God to do his will in every thing Nay the strength of Faith puts forth it selfe in as strong an act towards the Commandements as towards the Promises and if there be any difference it is on the Promises side for the Promises are more supernatural then the Commandements for they were once written in the heart therefore the Commandements are not so supernatural a man was once acquainted with them but the Promises of Mercy and Pardon and Redemption are more supernatural and we see this in poore weak beleevers that go on and are enabled to make good conscience of their wayes and to be very carefull of sinning against God and walk in very good strictnesse diligence and circumspection and yet have much ado to apply the Promises and appropriate them to themselves I say broken-hearted people that are weak in faith in regard of personall confidence may yet notwithstanding be very strong in the doing of the Commandements of God The reason is because obedience flows from a direct act of faith and this bearing a man upon the Promises from a reflect act of faith it flowes from a consciousnesse of obedience when a man is conscious that he is sincre then and never before can a man have confidence that the Promises are sealed to him this is a reflect act of faith but it is a direct act that makes a man obey Gods Commandements so that faith must needs work obedience for if there be this blessed couple propounded to the soule in the Gospel together with the Commandements Faith looking on both takes one as well as the other Fourthly there is another close couple that faith looks upon and that is as upon a Title to the Kingdome of Heaven so also to a fitnesse for the Kingdome of Heaven and one is as needfull as the other as things without which a man cannot enter into the Kingdome of God Now Faith as it helps a man to a title to Glory so it helps a man more and more with fitnesse because it seeth it cannot be otherwise When David had committed his two fowle sinnes of murther and adultery though he had not lost his title to the Kingdome of Heaven yet he could not enter into it he could not have actual possession of it Why Because he was unfit Heb. 12.14 Without holinesse a man cannot see God though a man hath all the titles in the world though he be elected to it before all worlds yet till he is made fit for it he cannot enter into it flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God as the Apostle Peter speakes it is an inheritance holy and undefiled and a man must be holy before he can be made partaker of it Joseph must shave himself before he come before Pharaoh Ahasuerus women must be prepared and purified with spices and odours and mirrhe Hest 2.11 And then they came before the King when they were prepared and adorned and made sweet and perfumed So a man must first be prepared and fitted for the Kingdom of heaven or else there is no admission into it heaven is too fine a place for adulterers and drunkards c. As soone as ever the Angels of heaven though glorious creatures began to sinne against God God thrust them out of heaven they left their habitation it was too fine for them and do you think the Lord will admit the Devill into heaven againe in his members what a thing is it when every drunkard and profane person shall think himself meet company for the blessed trinity it cannot be God will never take such foule loathsome creatures into fellowship and Communion with him they are too neare him already in the world and therefore be will fling them out of his presence into Hell in Heaven is nothing but beatifical vision viewing of God and delighting in God and not thinking a thought but of God and therefore no roome for those that are empty of grace and not fitted and prepared for it now faith knowes this and believes this and therefore as it layeth hold on Christ for title so it never leaves till it hath gotten fitnesse from Christ as the Apostle speakes Col. 1.12 Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet c. God makes all meet for Heaven that he brings thither and till they are so they cannot be admitted thither if a man will go to heaven he must be a vessel of honour 2 Tim. 2.21 Therefore Faith
adoe and such a stir and such a deal of opposition this is a plain sign that it is not of man it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God which sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 Neither can man Will neither can he run neither go nor stir towards it nay though God make him go how apt is he to laggar in the way and draw back again So you see the Fourth Thing Why it must needs be the Spirits Work The Fifth Thing is How the Spirit of God works this Work It is after an unspeakable manner Who can declare the noble acts of the Lord The works of God in Nature are marvellous David himself when he looked upon his natural Birth the Conception of him in the Womb of his Mother he wondered at it Psal 139.14 That was a wonderful work how much more is this unspeakable and unutterable As it is said of our Saviour Christ Who can declare his generations So may I say in a lower sense of this Work Who can declare this Regeneration of his people But yet thus far the Scripture doth authorize and warrant us to go First That he doth it by the word of Life By the Gospel of Salvation by the Preaching of it or otherwise according as he pleaseth that is the immortal seed 1 Pet. 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God c. And as Paul saith to the Corinthians Though you have ten thousand instructers yet you have not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4.15 As who should say You are begotten and born again and you are born again by the Word and I was an instrument under God of your new Birth by the Word which I have Preached among you and therefore 1 Tim. 1.2 he calls Timothy His own Son So Tit. 1.4 he calls him His Son in the Faith that is he was an instrumental Father under God by the Doctrine of Faith to bring him to be a Child of God So that I say it is done by the Word Of his own Will hath he begotten us by the Word of truth Jam. 1.18 The Spirit of the Lord sanctifies the Word when he is pleased to convert a man the Word shall shew him what a miserable creature he is by nature it sheweth him that flesh and bloud cannot enter into the kingdom of God it sheweth him that he is utterly forlorn in himself and past all recovery and shews him where life is to be had namely in Jesus Christ discovering his worth and excellency and necessity and that all Grace and good is in him and shews him the freedom of this gracious offer Thus the Spirit of God when he propounds the Word to the soul holds it before the eyes and conscience and sanctifies it and puts a power into it to enter deep into the soul that it may Conceive in the soul Secondly The Lord doth it by an unspeakable working There is a Divine work which the Lord worketh The spirit comes into the soul after the manner of water as Christ saith Joh. 3. Except a man be born again of water and the holy Ghost c. that is unless he be born of the Spirit which worketh in the spirit of a man as water doth in working upon a foul thing Now what this working is we cannot tell but we can tell you the effects of it whereas the soul was rotten and naught before and impotent to all good now it begins to have a better disposition and a new power And whereas it did savour of the things of this life before now it savours of the things that are above but this is a secret kind of working in the soul therefore it is called the washing and the laver of it And the Apostle speaking of the Corinthians what miserable creatures they were before Regeneration he nameth Drunkards Idolaters Adulterers c. and all manner of filthy persons Such were some of you saith he before your Regeneration but now you are washed and justified and sanctified in the Name of Christ 1 Cor. 6.11 That same washing there he means by that you are Regenerated so that Regeneration it is a supernatural an unspeakable kind of washing of the soul by the holy Ghost whereby the soul hath its Corruption washed from it in part and made clean in part and way made for all the Graces of Gods Spirit to come in now and all the fruits of the spirit to be brought forth Thus the Spirit of God works this work he works it in an ineffable manner by the word of Life and by a secret kind of washing I come now to the Application of this Point And first of all If the Spirit of God be the Regenerater of Gods people â—hen we may here see the errour of the Papists Pelagians and others That set up the Will of man and put any activity in the Reason and Judgement and Wisdom and Election of man This Doctrine of theirs is unsound and contrary to the working of Gods holy spirit If it be such a work as God sends his own Spirit to do it What man can do it It is called Regeneration and this shews it is not of man who is able to beget himself and shape himself in the womb and dispose of his own body in the belly Nay more Can any man beget himself again The very name of Again shews that it is a work only of God none but he can do it and we see it plainly it is wrought no where but where God himself doth it and they that have it are able to speak it that they did not chuse God but God chose them I was found of them that sought me not all the souls of his people will subscribe That it was not in them that willed or in them that ran but in God that shewed mercy It is God only that is the Author of this thing and none but he Secondly Again This should teach us to consider that we have alwayes need of the Spirit of God If the Spirit of God hath begotten us again then we have alwayes need of him it is not in this as in the first Birth when the Child is born though the Father be gone the Child may subsist but it is not so here but the Spirit of God as he begets a man so he is fain alwayes to stand by him and bear him up and give him supplies of Grace from day to day As it is with the Air the Sun doth not only enlighten it but it doth every moment give light to it for suppose the Sun should shine four or five hours in the day yet if the Sun should with-hold its light the Air would be dark presently it is not as it is with Fire let a man heat the water though he take away the Fire the water will keep its heat a while after but do but with-hold the
if there be any way of wickednesse in us if there be any secret sins or cursed corruptions that we favour our selves in if there be any false way we secreâ—ly haunt the Lord shall search it out for the knowes the secrets of our hearts therefore it becomes us to be upright as he saith of Ephraim Hos 5.3 I know Ephraim he is not hid from us So if we preach never so zealously and doe not according to our preaching the Lord knows us so if we hear never so zealously and doe not practice what we hear he knows it therefore it concerns us to be upright Fourthly Because the Lord will let down the Covenant no lower Now God hath been pleased to moderate the first Covenant which it was impossible for us to keep and hath brought it down to the Covenant of faith to believe and to be sincere in all our wayes this God requires and will let it down no lower Isa 63.8 the Lord saith there Surely they are my people children that will not lye and so he was their Saviour So he requires his people should be children that should not lye and be base-hearted and deal deceitfully and crookedly in his Covenant he was their Saviour so they would be children that would not lye So Eph. 6.24 Grace be with all them that love Christ in sincerity There is no man is under the Covenant of grace unlesse he be sincere in all the will of God in Jesus Christ There are two things the Covenant of grace gives the one is the forgivenesse of sins the other is a sincere heart if a man hath not these two he is yet in his sins as we may see Psal 32.2 Blessed is the man c. Fifthly The Examples of all the Saints in all Ages all the people of God that ever were upright to begin with Noah Gen. 6.9 The text saith he was a just and perfect man in his generation You know it was in a corrupt time all the Earth had corrupted their wayes no question a man that was religious in those dayes he could not chuse but be scorned and derided but what cared he he would be a just man and was perfect in his generation though it were a devillish generation yet he was an upright man and would not doe as the world did but he would draw near to God and walk with him from day to day So it is said of Job Job 1.2 That he was an upright and perfect man though Job lived in a blind corner out of the Church and setting aside 304 generally the whole Countrey were Heathens and Pagans and he was as an Owl in the Desart yet he would not doe as the world did but keep himself to God So Luke 1.6 Zachary and Elizabeth were both righteous before God c. You know the times were then very bad and all the devotion that went for currant was nothing but to be zealous of humane inventions and traditions and worshipping God after the imaginations of men this was the holiness of the world yet the Text saith this man and his wife would be righteous before God and walked in all the Ordinances of God blameless not in the Ordinances of the Scribes and Pharisees but they were righteous before God and walked in all the Ordinances of God blameless Then this may serve to reprove these dayes and times and places of ours where we live where are hardly any upright people we may say of them as the Prophet Micah said of his time Micah 7.2 The good man is perished off the earth As who should say we had a great company of godly and holy people religious Ministers painful in their places and abundance of private Christians faithful before the Lord but now there is hardly an upright man there are so many drunkards and adulterers so many unclean persons so many covetous there are so many mockers and enemies to sincerity so many complementers with God so many ignorant nay willingly ignorant though they live under the means of knowledge so many that have a form of godlinesse but deny the power thereof so many that are come to the birth but have no strength to bring forth they will never come to be godly indeed there are so many that are dead-hearted and never were quickned by Jesus Christ nor endued with the life of the spirit of grace that we may say as Solomon saith A faithful man who shall finde Prov. 20.6 Many fathers we have among us but a faithful father who shall finde that doth discharge his duty towards his children many Masters we may finde but who carries himself towards his servants as he ought to doe so we have many in place of Authority that might stand for God and hinder sin and doe some good in their places but a faithful man who shall finde but here one and there one rare birds and they are the offscouring of the world and are hated and mocked and persecuted so we have a great many that have gotten a great deal of light God hath awakened their consciences and made them see their miserable condition but a faithful man that doth discharge a good conscience in that place wherein he is that carries himself uprightly under the means of grace under the Word under the preaching of it under Gods Ordinances such a man where shall we finde as David saith Psalm 12.1 Help Lord c. He had occasion through the persecution of Saul to travel thorough the most of the Towns of Israel and all were so loose and licentious and carnall and worldly and serving the times and pleasing and humouring the Court he saw the Countrey so empty of goodness that he prayeth Help Lord c. and as the Lord saith Isa 1.21 How is the faithful City become an Harlot c. So we may say How is the faithful City become an harlot a faithful Town that hath had the Word sincerely taught that hath had many walking sincerely in obedience according to the Word in some measure and hath set up the power of the Word in their Families but what is become of them there was â—udgement and righteousnesse but now where is it there was truth and truth could have abode but now it can have no admittance But how may we complain that our faithful Countrey is become an harlot I doe not speak of Papists and Turks and Pagans but of the Church of God the faithful are diminished from among the sons of men Secondly This may serve to humble the best of all Gods children it may serve to ashame us before God to think what a deal of corruption is in our hearts if David might complain of himself how much more may we Lord saith he thou dost require truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 As who should say Lord how far am I from it who would ever have thought that Davids heart should so play fast and loose that ever he should so abase Vriah his faithful servant that ever