my Discourse All that may be said to manifest this truth unto you may be comprehended in those few Lines with which I concluded my former Sermon on this Text True Faith Roots all Feare out of a Christians Heart and turnes all his Expectation into Hope even through the strength of this Perswasion that All things worke together for Good to them that love GOD and also that Himselfe is One of Them I have now Finished the Doctrine I raised from this Text That Faith enables a man to draw Comfort from all the objects of his Thoughts Having shewne you Particularly how the Faithfull take Comfort in all things that concerne themselves from whence as I said in the beginning of my Former Sermon you may easily apprehend how they may also Comfort themselves in the Notice they take of other things as of all those Workes of Providence which they see in the Affaires of the World c. therefore I shall not extend my Discourse to any of them but proceed to application And here I shall speake first to the Faithfull those that have taken CHRIST'S Yoke upon them utterly renouncing the Filthy Conversation of the Wicked those who Mind Earthly things absolutely resolving to Walke with GOD in true Holinesse and Righteousnesse all their dayes And if at any time being Overborne by some sudden and impetuous Temptations as the Best of Christians often are they Fall back into any Uncleannesse not like Swine in the myre to Wallow in it but to Repent and to Cry unto God their Father to help them up to * Purifie their hearts by Faith to wash and Cleanse them by his Spirit in the * Blood of JESUS CHRIST His Sonne Then I shall speake to those that Go on in the Wayes of the Ungodly those that * Regard Iniquity in their Heart those that do not absolutely resolve never to Allow themselves in any One Knowne Sinne Praying continually that God would so strengthen them by his Grace that their Iniquities may not Prevaile against them that if they have been Drunkards they may be Drunke no more if they have beene Wantons they may be Wanton no more if they have been * Desirous of Vaine Glory provoking envying their Brethren they may be such no more if they have delighted themselves in Foolish Talking or Jesting * or that Elaborate Scurrility and Witty malice in which some men of Parts and Learning Exercise their Invention then which what can be more Opposite to The Spirit of meekenesse to the Calme and Sweet Nature of the LAMBE and the DOVE that they may do so no more Briefly to speake in the * Apostles words that Denying ungodlinesse and worldly Lusts they may live soberly righteously and godlily Those that have not taken such a resolution and such I feare are some of you I must reckon amongst the Wicked If therefore any of you are conscious to your selves that you are such as here I have Described Apply to your selves I beseech you for the good of your Immortall Soules what I shall speake in the second place but first as I said but now I shall speake to the Faithfull c. Beloved Brethren You know by Experience the truth I have spoken E're since you took CHRIST'S Yoke upon you have you not found Rest unto your Soules E're since you Bare that Easie yoke since your Hearts stood in * awe of GOD's Word Have you not found your selves most Sweetly and Gently and yet most Powerfully Restrained from Following the Track of your Lusts and Extravagant Affections from Breaking over the Inclosures of a strict and holy Conversation to * Run with the men of the world to the same excesse of Riot In a word have you not found all your Christian thoughts in what Subject soever you have imployed them to Worke Comfort for your soules Surely you have good thoughts are the Beames of the SUN's OF RIGHTEOUSNES which Stream forth continually upon the Hearts of Christians to warm Comfort them and to cherish and to make to Grow the Fruits of the Spirit Well my Brethren hath the Holy one of Israel the Great and Glorious GOD Shewne himselfe so Gratious to you Sinfull Creatures Dust and Ashes wormes and no men as to send his Beloved SON into the World to Dye for you by Faith in whose Blood you Rejoyce in some measure even in this Vale of Teares this miserable life and shall shortly even when a few dayes are past be inhabitants of Heaven see the Face of GOD * In whose presence there is fulnesse of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Well my Brethren hath GOD Dealt so Bountifully with you and will you not love him will you not with all the Powers of your Soule Warre against your Lusts that you may be no more as formerly you have been what ever Temptations befall you Lovers of Pleasures more then Lovers of God I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of GOD by all that Sweetnesse Love and Favour of His towards you that your Soules have ever Tasted That you would This Day Renew your Vowes Resolve afresh To Love the LORD your God with All your Heart That You may no more Judg of Things as the Vulgar doe amongst whom give me leave to reckon most of those that are commonly Accounted Great Scholars or Fine Gentlemen that you may not Esteem any Action Wise Prudent Noble or any way Praise-worthy and becoming a Generous Spirit but what is done To the Glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 in Defiance of the Wicked WORLD And on the other side That you may Account nothing Base Sordid and Degenerous but what is Done in Compliance with your own Lusts or the Vaine Humours of other men contrary to the Commands of that All-Glorious Majesty to whom we Owe Homage for the Air we Breath In Him we Live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 And as for those Absurd Fellowes who own the Name of CHRISTIANS and yet Delight in scorning You and call you Puritanes and I know not what You must be so farre from being Fierce and Raging against Them from thinking of Revenge c. that you must from the heart Pity them as it may be they say they Pity you for your Weaknesse and imprudence as they terme your Wisedome and Spirituall Understanding you must I say heartily Pity such men and Pray for Them as Your Fellow Creatures yea as Your Brethren in ADAM who miserably expose Themselves to the Utmost Danger of Everlasting Destruction Ah Poore Soules What Madnesse and Folly hath possessed Them Doe They say they Believe that there is an HEAVEN and an HELL and yet esteem those for a Ridiculous sort of people Who by what they Write Talke or Do for the most part plainly Discover that their Mind is wholy Bent upon This that They may Enter into the Kingdome of GOD Poore Soules Simple Ones indeed Doe They say They Believe that the
he considers how by that GOD hath beene pleas'd to make the WORID Bitter unto him to Heighten his Appetite to Spirituall Delights to make him Long more earnestly to Taste and See the Goodnesse of GOD or to make him Meeke and Humble or some other way to Advance his Soule towards Perfection in Piety and Vertue by the Low Estate of his Outward Man If he have been in Prosperity he considers how by that God hath been pleas'd to Provoke him to Christian Magnanimity and Magnificence to make him Instrumentall for His Glory in some Great and Eminent Acts of Charity or to save him from Despondency and Faintnesse of Spirit and such like Infirmities which He knowes most Incident to men in Adversity Still Sanctifying unto him all * Outward things as Poverty or Riches Honours or Disgraces Health or Sicknesse to the Use of his Soule before Conversion to Put Him out of the way to HELL and after to Bring Him on in the way to HEAVEN And may we not here say with Holy DAVID * Who so is wise and will Observe these things even they shall Understand the Loveing-kindness of the LORD All that can be said in this place may be briefly Summ'd up thus All things worke together for Good to those that Love GOD And the Observation that a CHRISTIAN takes of that Reall Spirituall Good that GOD has Wrought for Him by His Temporall Condition whatever it has been Affords Him infinitely more Comfort and Satisfaction then any man can Declare or Conceive but He that Knowes it by Experience I am now come to the Second Proposition that I intended to Handle in This Discourse A CHRISTIAN takes Comfort in the Sense Apprehension of the Present Condition of His Outward Man whether it be Prosperity or Adversity By Prosperity I Understand that Estate wherein He has the Enjoyment of His Health of abundance of Riches and Great Possessions and is in Honour and Reputation amongst all those with whom He has to doe Adversity is the Want of These Things if we Want All of Them we are Wholly if but some Partly Miserable I speake as to the Outward man That Christians take Comfort in their Prosperous Condition I suppose to be a truth so plaine and obvious that I need not spend much time in the Demonstration of it I shall onely shew you one principall Reason of the Comfort They take in their Outward Enjoyments Health Goods Good Name They look upon them as the meanes of performing in Deed what every true Christian constantly Wills That speciall Duty which Christ enjoynes us Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good Workes and Glorifie your Father which is in Heaven This truth will be most evideÌ„t if we coÌ„sider that the body is the Instrument of the Soule That whereby we performe the Outward Operations of all our Faculties whereby we Act before men as Writing or Talking or Performing any other Action whereby we discover to the World what Temper and Disposition we are of Now Health is the Firmenesse and Soundnesse of this Instrument and without it we cannot so well Performe any Outward act of Vertue and if we do enjoy our Health without Riches and Honours There are many Vertues which we cannot so well Discover for instance How can a man shew himselfe Liberall that hath nothing to Give to those that Need How can a man discover his Humility that hath no Honour and Reputation in the World that is so Low already that he cannot shew any Condescention Here then let us Observe that 't is the duty of every Christian to use all means possible in a Right way that are truly Honest to gain such Riches and Honours as he knows himselfe able to Manage And in the pursuit of them never to be deterr'd by any Feare of being accounted Covetâ—â—â— or Proud whilst his owne Conscience tells him that he doth not endeavour after these Outward Things that he may enjoy them but God in them using them to His Glory And now I shall shew you by Gods assistance that a true Faithfull Christian takes Comfort also in his Adversity when ever it pleases God to put him into such a Condition That you may have a more cleare and distinct Notion of this Truth I shall shew you particularly what Comfort and Satisfaction he takes in Poverty Sicknesse Disgrace or the losse of his Reputation All Temporall evils or Afflictions being comprehended under one of these three Heads As for the first the main ground and principle of that Comfort which a Christians Heart is possessed of when he reflects upon his Poverty is the thought of that safety which he enjoyes from those Spirituall Dangers and Perplexities which Rich men are entangled in by reason of those manifold Opportunities to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin and allurements thereunto which the abundance of their Worldly Possessions continually presents unto them You know who said 'T is * easier for a Camell to goe through the eye of a needle theÌ„ for a Rich man to enter into the Kingdome of GOD Here we may observe how the Great Ones of the World deceive themselves in thinking they deserve to be admired and had in such high Esteeme for their | Brave Cloathes Stately Houses Rattling Coaches c. a true Christian that goes in Rags though he gives them that outward respect which is due unto them by the Lawes and Constitution of the Commonwealth wherein he lives in his Heart pitties them and dispises their Worldly Height and Glory as That which in his Baptisme he Vow'd to Forsake to slight and contemne the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World He sees himselfe by the Eye of Faith to be in a Condition infinitely more High and Noble then theirs though those Earthly Creatures Carnall minded Men whose discourse is only of Lands and Livings Dogs and Horses Coaches and Howses Fine Cloathes and Banquets c. are no more able to Discerne it then a Mole to Behold the Sun To conclude this point A Poore man that is truly Gracious whose Heart is Rich towards GOD lookes upon himselfe as one of Those that have an interest in that Blessing which Our Saviour gave his Disciples * Blessed be ye Poor for yours is the Kingdome of GOD And in all those other large Promises which the GOD of Truth hath made to Believers which most commonly the Hearts of Christians Cleave unto so much the more closely by how much the lesse they have of the Good Things of this Life to Allure and Draw off their Thoughts Now my Brethren how such Sweet and Comfortable Words from Our Almighty Father as the Holy Scriptures abound with all being Apply'd by Faith will relieve the heart of any true Christian whil'st he labours under the heaviest sense of Outward Poverty What Comfort I say what Spirituall delight Sweetness a Poore CHRISTIAN Driven into Himselfe by the Stormes without if I may so expresse
I say to the Heart of any such man and be Try'd by Him whether I do not speak Truth surely he knowes it by Woefull Experience Whenever thou hast Offended Thy GOD to satisfie the Importunity of any of thy Impetuous Lusts hath not thy Conscience Dampt thy Flaming Spirit Cool'd thy Courage as we use to speak telling thee that thou hast done Foolishly telling thee of HELL and DEATH and so Mixing thy Wine with Wormwood turning thy Delight into Vexation of Spirit Having thus briefly discovered unto you the Black and Dismall Condition of the Soules of the Wicked which Sit in Darknesse and in the Shadow of Death I shall now endeavour to discover unto you the Pleasant and Comfortable Estate of those that are truly GODLY who have the Day-star arising in their Hearts who through Faith in CHRIST walke in the Light of GODS Countenance enjoy his Favour who is KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS The Father of Mercies and GOD of all Comfort That I may give you a more clear and manifest Discovery of this Happinesse of a True CHRISTIAN I shall Point as it were as those men use to do that Shew you some Excellent Sight to make your Notice the more accurate at the Principall Parts of it Opening and Demonstrating unto you this Proposition or Doctrine True Faith enables a man c. in these three Particulars First True Faith in CHRIST inables a man to draw Comfort 1 From the Remembrance of what he hath been of the Condition he hath formerly been in 2. From the Apprehension of that which He is in at present 3. From the Expectation of what He may be in for the future Now these Three things What a man hath been What he is and What he expects to be are the Principall and most Usuall Objects of our Thoughts therefore if I shall be able to shew you how a True Faithfull CHRISTIAN may draw Matter of Comfort from all These I suppose you will easily apprehend how He may Comfort himselfe also in the Notice he takes of other things as of all the Workes of PROVIDENCE which he Sees in the Affaires of the World or the like therefore I shall not extend my Discourse to any of them Each of the Particulars which I have propounded unto my selfe to be insisted upon as the Subject and Ground-worke of my Discourse consists of Two Parts our Condition being Two-fold viz. of the Inner and Outward Man or as the common words are Spirituall and Temporall At present I shall speak only of the Temper and Disposition of a CHRISTIANS Spirit in reference to his Spirituall Condition Past Present and to Come As for his Temporall Condition or the Estate of his Outward Man I shall defer my Discourse of That 'till some other Opportunity The First thing that I am to Shew you is That a True CHRISTIAN one that hath taken CHRIST's Yoke upon him c. can take Comfort Find Rest unto his Soule in the Remembrance of his Life Past whether it have been Sinfull or Holy But here probably some of you may presently Object within your selves against what I say thus How Can a True CHRISTIAN take Comfort in the Remembrance of his Sinfull Estate why what then is meant by Poenitence or Godly Sorrow is not that the Sorrow which we conceive by the Remembrance of our Sins In removing this Objection I doubt not but by Gods Assistance I shall give you a full discovery of this Truth That a CHRISTIAN can Comfort Himselfe through the Help of GODS Spirit even in the Remembrance of his Sinfull Estate We grant that when He thinks of His Sinfull Estate as Sinfull to wit as it relates to GOD as that Course of Life wherein He did so often Dishonour the Name of the GOD that Made him of JESUS that Redeem'd him and Griev'd the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD that Now Sanctifies Him I say my Brethren when a CHRISTIAN does This way look back upon his Sinfull Life He cannot chuse through Indignation against Himselfe but Rent his Heart vex his Spirit cherish and foment his own Sorrow saying with David * I will be sorry for my Sin But let us Observe that This kind of Sorrowing is but as the taking of Physick 't is not any Disease or Settled Distemper of the Soul I say when We are thus Prickt with the Sharp sense and feeling of our SINS we are not Wounded but Let Blood and this Spirituall Phlebotomy is that which Cures us of our present and Prevents future Maladies To speak more plainly This Godly Sorrow as the * Apostle saies worketh Repentance {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} worketh a Change of the Mind Alters the Temper and Constitution of the Inward Man Confirmes a man in Holinesse which is the Health and Strength of the Soule that hath formerly been Wicked that is to say that hath abounded with all manner of Infirmities with all manner of Lusts and Burnings and inordinate Affections which are as it were the Feavers and Agues and Swellings and Tumours of the Soule And thus My Brethren though the Sorrow which a True Christian a Faithfull Servant of the Living GOD conceives by the Remembrance of his Sinfull Life Past be in it selfe very Painfull and Grievous yet it worketh for him the greatest Ease and Comfort It only Roots out of the Heart all Carnall Joy all False Fading worldly Comfort to Plant in it Ioy Unspeakable The Comfort of the Holy Ghost To fix this Truth in your minds to Confirme you in the Apprehension of it I shall recite unto you that Saying of Our SAVIOUR * Blessed are they that Mourn for they shall be Comforted All that I have here said may be briefly summ'd up thus the Thoughts which a GODLY Man has in the Remembrance of His Unregenerate Estate though they do not Directly yet they doe By Consequent Continually Afford Him abundance of Comfort to wit as in effect I said but now by Fitting and Preparing His Heart to Entertain the Holy Ghost the only True COMFORTER The more a man Sorrowes after a Godly sort as the * Apostles expression is the more Entertainment He gives to the Spirit of GOD and receives the more Comfort from Him As often this way as â CHRISTIANS Spitits faile him GOD gives him a Cordiall to Revive and to Delight his Soule Having thus spoken of the Temper and Disposition of a CHRISTIANS Spirit in the Remembrance of His Sinfull Estate in relation to GOD that is as that Course of Life wherin He did so often Dishonour the Name of the GOD that Made Him c. I shall now shew you how His Spirit is Affected what kind of thoughts He hath in the Remēbrance of it as it relates to Himselfe as an Estate of Trouble of which he is Eas'd and of Danger which he hath Escaped Now my Brethren that a Sinfull Estate is Troublesome and Unquiet I have shewne you from these words There is no peace c.