as we sometimes say of children they are spoyled with kindnesse It is not so apt to be puffed up with mercies and to turne them into wantonnesse as others are 3. It receiveth mercy most thankfully and in that respect is most fit for mercy Beggars by how much lower they are brought thorough want by so much more thankefull will they be for any small almes that is given them whereas those that are not sensible of much want begin to looke bigge if you offer them a small matter 4. Broken hearted Christians make the best use and improvements of their mercies and therefore are most fit for mercy They who thinke themselves most unworthy to receive are alwayes most carefull what and how to render c. 5. The fifth benefit of a soft heart is a soft heart is most fit to doe any thing that is good as to pray heare receive the Lords supper or performe any other duty acceptably Indeed no heart but a soft heart is fit for duties or can performe them as they ought to be performed Prayer that proceedes not from a broken and contrite heart though it be joyned with fasting is as no prayer no fast in the sight of God If we be frequent in hearing the word and have not our hearts broken and humbled thereby we lose the benefit of that duty So likewise if we come to the Lords Table and then behold the body of Christ brokē with unbroken hearts we shall goe away as empty as we came and do God as little service in coming as if we had staid away And it must needs be so that a soft heart should be most fit for duty because an humble self abasing temper is the best posture for the soule to draw nigh to God and not onely so but this is further observable namely that humility and brokennesse of soule fills men with zeal and activity for God an humble heart thus thinkes with it selfe I have hitherto beene very unprofitable it is little service scarce worth speaking of that God hath had from me as yet Oh how shall I redeeme time for God how shall I make amends for my former basenesse and uselesnesse If God will but honour my utmost endeavour to be any wayes instrumentall for his glory how happy shall I account my selfe c. 6. The sixth and last benefit of a soft heart is that it doth fit for a Kingdome for Heaven and happinesse We read of being made meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light now brokennesse of a heart is a thing greatly conducing to the meetnesse for an inheritance in light there spoken of And that it is so will appeare if we shall but consider what is the worke and employment of Saints and Angels in Heaven Is it not to admire and adore God and to sing everlasting Hallelujahs Now who so fit to praise and to admire God as broken hearted humble men I can but thinke how poore humble hearted Christians will stand amazed and astonished at the day of judgement when God shall call them to his right hand when Christ shall bid them sit downe together with him and judge the world Do you thinke they will not be full of such thoughts as these Alas what were we or what are we that God should thus delight to honour us that we should be made Kings and Queenes unto God when thousands of the great ones of the world are cast downe to hell Surely they will cry out Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name be all the Praise and Glory For by grace we are saved by free grace alone are we saved Hallelujah Thus have we set before you the severall benefits of a soft heart so much shall suffice by way of motives to put us upon endeavouring after the getting of soft hearts Qu. But peradventure some will be ready to aske How may we come by soft hearts which we have heard to be sacrifices so acceptable to God By what meanes may we attaine thereunto Ans That it may be attained in the use of meanes such Scriptures seeme to signifie wherein God cals upon us to rend our hearts and to plow up the fallow ground of our hearts c. Now the meanes to be used are as follow 1. Meanes We must attend upon the word of God For that is Gods hammer to breake the heart and we must heare it with reverence faith and diligence else it will harden our hearts and encrease our condemnation It had wont to be no strange thing to heare of hard hearts broken by the power of Gods word sometimes severall in some one towne or village and that within the space of a few years There is the same efficacy in the word now as was then were it not that the prejudice which is in the minds of men against it and great neglect and contempt of it did intercept the benefit which they might otherwise receive by it That it is the proper worke of the word of God to soften mens hearts I meane as an instrument in the hand of the spirit I may make appeare from this experiment you see when the word of God doth not soften mens hearts usually nothing else doth the worke remaines undone Men ordinarily carry hard hearts with them to their graves when they will not make use of the word of God wherewith to breake them See Heb. 4 12. The word of God is quick and powerfull and sharper then any two edged sword piersing even to the dividing of soul spirit and of the joynts and marrow c. David prayes that God would sanctifie him by his truth his word is truth Now brokennesse of heart is a great part of sanctification c. 2. Meane we must take away that or those sins which doe harden our hearts Sin is the great cause of hardnesse of heart It is like some evill humour which is got to a head and causeth a great swelling and hardnesse There is no mollifying the place until such time as the evill humour which is in it be either dissolved or dissipated There are some kinde of sins which doe more especially conduce to hardning of mens hearts as for example scandalous sins sins against knowledge sins which have much of a mans understanding and will in them deliberate sins sins committed upon very slender temptations delightfull sins customary sins sins which begin to justifie themselves and to put men upon pleading their cause or at leastwise extenuating and making light of them It is impossible for a man to keepe a tender conscience if he will entertaine any one sinne as his constant welcome guest I might shew you severall wayes whereby sinne doth harden mens hearts One is this any sinne that a man doth allow himself doth as it were shade his soule that is keepe off the warme beames of the light of Gods countenance which would otherwise shine upon it you see how it is with the high wayes such as lye open
A Briefe DISCOURSE TOUCHING A Broken Heart In which the nature causes and signes of it are solidly treated of as also its acceptablenesse to God Together with many other motives pressing us to labour after the procurement of it and the means leading thereunto Being the summe and substance of certain Sermons preached by Mr. Daniel Carwardine late Minister of Eling in the County of Middlesex And since his death put forth by S. R. a friend of his Whereunto is annexed A CONFESSION OF FAITH by Mr. Samuel Rowles late Fellow of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge And now Minister of Thistleworth in the County of Middlesex London Printed by E. G. for J. Rothwell and are to be sold at his shop on the North-side of Pauls 1652. To the Reader Christian Reader THis little Treatise if thou wilt please to peruse it as thou soon mayest hath a very gracious and profitable designe upon thee namely to help forward the great work of softning and breaking thy hard heart that so it may become a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour to the great God who delighteth in nothing wherewith the sonnes and daughters of men can present him more then in an humble and contrite spirit I have ventured to call thy heart hard whoever thou art that mayest cast thine eyes upon these lines taking it for a certain truth that the hearts of all the sons and daughters as well of God as of Belial are more or lesse obdurate if you consider them absolutely though the hearts of good men may be called soft in comparison with the hearts of wicked ones or if compared with that greater degree of hardnesse which was sometimes upon themselves even since the time of their conversion Such as doe take themselves to have least need of any helpes and furtherances in order to brokenness of heart it is to be feared have of all men else the most The Church of Laodicea which thought it selfe to have been rich namely in grace and holinesse and increased in riches that is in a growing thriving condition more holy every day then other yea at length so rich as to stand in need of nothing arrived at the very perfection of grace was it should seem in the account of God wretched miserable poore blind naked Revel 3.17 usually by how much richer any man is in spirituals by so much poorer he is in spirit and by how much poorer in spirit by so much richer in spirituall substance If I may measure thy wheat by my Bushell as Solomon gives me leave to doe Prov. 27.19 As in the water face answereth to face so the heart of a man to man I say according to that maxime of Solomon I can tell thee by the hardnesse of my own heart that there is some of that bitter root of obdurateness springing up in thine I would not doe thee so much wrong not knowing of thee nor being ever able to know thy heart as to say that there is so much of it in thy heart as in my own But how little soever it is you know what the Scripture saith touching leaven A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump so it is with the leaven of heart-hardnesse If thou look not to it in time what our Saviour saith concerning Mustardseed Matth. 13.31 thou wilt finde true in relation to hardness of heart Mustardseed saith he is the least of all seed but when it is grown it is the greatest of al herbs and becommeth a tree so that the birds of the ayre come and lodge in the branches thereof Hardness of heart is at the first one of the least sinnes not in respect of nature but degree for men doe set upon great sinnes at the first with tenderish reluctant consciences and softish hearts hardness of heart being usually introduced not meerely by the hainousness of one sinne once committed but by frequency and custome in sinning but afterwards it grows up to be as a mighty tree and well it may seeing all sinnes do contribute sap and moysture towards the growth of it and then the birds of the ayre I mean all sorts of soring high flown wickedness doe come and lodge in the branches of it that is to say are welcomed and entertained by means of it When the heart of a man is waxen hard it becomes a very cage of unclean birds an open house keeper to receive all sorts of profane vagabonds If thou art any waies prejudiced against this argument of heart-contrition as too legall which is the usuall form of their Mittimus who doe imprison soul-searching truth in unrighteousness T is legall doctrine say they away with it I say in case thou dost apprehend this doctrine too legall the common imputation cast upon unpleasing truths the ensuing Treatise will sufficiently convince thee of thine error if thou hadst rather part with it then keep it when thou hast light sufficiently whereby to see that it is indeed an error I need not tell thee how frequent a thing it is with Christ and his Apostles in the new Testament to commend encourage and exhort unto humility poverty of spirit unfained repentance godly sorrow all which expressions signifie no other then brokenness of heart and contrition of spirit which some are so loath to heare of and so upon a true account unwilling to come under the influence of those beatitudes benedictions pronounced by ur Lord Iesus Christ Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are they that mourne c. Darest thou to lay any thing to the charge of that doctrine which Christ hath not onely justified by his preaching but also crowned with his blessing which also was much in use amongst the Apostles who were exact followers of their Lord and master Christ If God despise not a broken heart but accepts it delights in it and dwels with it take heed of entertaining undervaluing thoughts concerning brokenness of heart Believe it God will despise thee and whatsoever proceedeth from thee if thou despise it What Paul saith in reference unto preaching the Gospel 1 Cor. 9 16. Necessity is laid upon me and woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel we may say the same in reference to brokennesse of heart necessity is laid upon us not a necessity of custom or tradition but of commission and therefore woe unto us if we preach it not See our commission for it Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily lest any of you be hardned thorough the deceitfulnesse of sinne Even private Christians are enjoyned to exhort one another for the prevention of hardnes of heart how much more ought the Ministers of the word to doe it yea the text saith it must be done daily and all little enough to keepe our hearts soft which are as subject to be hard as water that is taken of the fire is to waxe cold Reader if thou art desirous to have thy heart spiritually broken for so thou oughtest to be though many doe all they can to keepe their hearts from being broken
was somewhat else which God did more looke at then all the burnt offrings and sacrifices that he could present him with of which he makes mention in the words of the text vers 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit It is put in plurall number The sacrifices of God for emphasis sake thereby intimating that a broken heart is more worth to God then many outward sacrifices yea then all of them put together not but that other sacrifices were of some account with God in Davids time especially if they were joyned with this inward sacrifice of a broken heart but this alwayes had the preheminence in Gods esteeme even in those dayes when he did appoint so much outward worship to be used Of the verses which doe follow the text we shall need to say nothing onely this we may observe from them by the way namely that David was not unmindfull of the Church its publicke good when his heart was as full as it could hold of griefe and sadnesse by reason of the weight and burthen of his sinnes together with the absence of the light of Gods countenance which was so grievous to him that he saith it broke his very bones vers 8. That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce A high expression indeede you know that sicknesse and sadnesse may weare a man to nothing but skin and bone may make a very Anatomy of him and yet never a bone of him be broken thereby yet when David was in this low bone-broken condition he forgets not the Church of God but prayes heartily for it vers 18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion and build thou the walls of Jerusalem of this by the way Returne we to the words of the text The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit c. It were needlesse to divide the words being one single proposition The doctrine which is held forth in them we shall commend unto you in these words Doct. A broken heart a soule humble for sinne is a sacrifice well pleasing to God you have this truth averred once and againe in this Psalm yea in this one verse First In that a broken heart is called Gods sacrifice it is thereby intimated to be well pleasing to him God will not own those things for his he will not call them by his name which he hath no pleasure in Is this such a fast as I have chosen to hold downe his head of a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him wilt thou call this a fast c. Isaiah 58.5 as if God should have said wil you offer to call such a fast as this my fast Gods fast It is no fast of mine It is your own you have not at all fasted unto me in this That which makes for our purpose is that God will not have that called his which is not pleasing to him So then forasmuch as a broken heart is called Gods sacrifice this very expression if there were no other doth speake it that which pleaseth him But there is another expression or two in the text which are observable for this purpose The one is that a broken heart is called The sacrifice of God which you know is a note of eminency as when we say Christ was the word of God that is the word of words the essentiall word or Christ is the Sonne of God that is the Sonne of God in a more speciall way namely by eternall generation Secondly In that a broken heart is said to be the sacrifices of God and not onely one of the sacrifices of God it speaks as if this sacrifice were instead of all others did containe all other sacrifices in it eminenter as Philosophers speake as if God could be satisfied with such a sacrifice as this though he had no other but this c. But the third and last expression in the text is most emphaticall A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Here are two expressions used to signifie brokennesse namely broken and contrite which may signifie thus much to us that if the heart of a man be ever so much broken and shattered with sense of and sorrow for sinne be a man ever so vile and worthlesse in his own eyes though he account no more of himselfe then of a broken potsheard or earthen vessell that is dashed in pieces yet God will not therefore despise nay indeed he will respect him the more for it Though men are wont to trample when the hedge is low and to slight those that are in a broken condition broken in their estate and broken in their spirit by much sadnesse yet God will not doe so There is much in this phrase viz. that God will not despise c. It is a plaister which doth excellently fit the wound of a broken heart That which men in such a condition are wont chiefly to fear is that God who is a great a glorious and holy God will not vouchsafe to take notice of such poore vile sinful creatures as they are or of any thing which can come from them They think they are as vile yea more in Gods eyes then they are in their own As if God should have said in so many words by the mouth of his Prophet I know what poore broken-hearted sinners doe thinke their secret thought is that I will despise them because they are so despicable in their own eyes No such matter saith God by his Prophet here appealing to God A broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise that is thou wilt accept thou wilt have respect unto it thou wilt smell a savour of rest from it as from a well pleasing sacrifice c. So much of the truth of the doctrine evidenced from Scripture In the further pursuance thereof we shall this doe namely shew you in the first place what this broken heart is which is said to be a sacrifice well pleasing to God wherein it doth consist Secondly what it is that causeth brokennesse of heart Thirdly why it is that God will not despise a broken and contrite heart but accepts of it as a sacrifice so well pleasing to him Of these in their order 1. Quest What is the brokennesse of heart here spoken of or wherein doth it consist Ans Here to we shall give answer First more generally Secondly more particularly First In the generall take this account of it Brokennesse of heart is a true griefe and sorrow in the sight of our sinnes Heart-breaking as well in Scripture phrase as in our common language denotes deep sorrow so it is taken Act. 21.13 What doe you weeping and breaking my heart said Paul to those who disswaded him from going to Jerusalem which you know is the same as if he had said why doe you thus grieve me and fill me with sorrow at my departure by weeping over me We may also gather that by heart-breaking is meant sorrow forasmuch as God is said to dwell with
thinke every good thing too good for them as he that said he was lesse then the least of all the mercyes of God The reason why men are so hardly brought to deny themselves in any thing which may any wayes gratifie them is this namely because thorough the selfe-love that is in them they doe thinke nothing too good for themselves Now when humility and broken heartednesse hath once taken men of from this conceipt and made them to thinke the quite contrary namely that every thing is too good for them they can safely deny themselves in this or that which they would otherwise seeke to enjoy By how much more of selfe denyall is in any man by so much more is there in him of broken heartednesse and by how much more of broken heartednesse by so much more of selfe denyall You know that famous instance of the Prodigall returning to his father with a broken heart Father saith he Jam unworthy to be called thy sonne make me as one of thy hired servants A broken heart will deny it selfe in many things as for example not onely in the pleasure which it might have in repeating sins formerly committed against which it doth firmly resolve in the strength of Christ but also in those lawfull actions which may any waies give occasion unto relapsing into former sins or be any appearance of setting their faces towards them Yea such a person wil be apt to deny himselfe in the lawfull use of that which he hath formerly abused through excesse as wine company recreation c. 5. It consists in or rather is alwaies accompanied with self accusing and condemning before God Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth wil speake Persons that are full of self judging wil fall to self accusing and from thence to self condemning The divel who is called the accuser of the brethren might spare himselfe that labour forasmuch as broken hearted sinners are as forward to accuse themselves as he can be How highly doth Paul charge himselfe whom he cals the greatest of sinners David doth much accuse himselfe in this and severall other Psalms and condemn himself also For then is a man said to condemn himself when he acknowledgeth that God were most just if he should condemn him in respect of any argument which can be drawn from himselfe to the contrary what may be alledged to the contrary in reference to his surety Jesus Christ is another matter c. Men that Pharisee like doe stand upon their terms and goe about to justifie themselves before God I do not speak of pleading their sincerity for that is lawful in some cases but rather their innocency in a great degree as if they were no great sinners but like the cloud which the Prophet Malachy saw at the first of the bignesse of a mans hand sinners of a small size I say they who so justifie themselves may talke much of broken heartednesse but they never knew indeed and in truth what it meant Men that take up a new fashioned kinde of praying new in reference to those prayers which are recorded in the word as also which have beene used amongst Gods people generally leaving out the confession of sinne and taking of shame to themselves for it it is to be feared have their hearts little broken in that duty Sixthly broken heartednesse consists in selfe abhorrence as was instanced before in Job A man that hath a noysome disease upon him as an overspreading leprosie c is not onely offensive to others but also loathsome to himselfe He is an abomination to himselfe so that he could even leape out of his skin if he knew how So it is with broken hearted sinners they are even an abhorring to themselves by reason of the leprosie of sinne which cleaves to them Hence Paul cryed out O wretched man who should deliver him from his body of death which he carryed about with him Because he could not tell how sinne and his body could otherwise be parted then by parting soule and body he did long to be rid of his very body As a man that is given to cleanlinesse if any vermine come neere him begins to be sicke of him selfe or at leastwise of his cloathes and longs till he be shifted So Paul did long to put off his mortall body because the loathsome vermine of sinne did breede in it doe what he could and to put on immortality in which condition all filth would be done away You know sinne is mitted As it is amongst friends in the world though they truly love each other yet because there are certaine differences betweene them for the present uncompremised such courtesies as may be offered on either hand for the present will not be accepted It is the complaint of the Church unto God Lament 3.44 Thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayers should not passe thorough It was a time in which God had led his people into captivity for the hardnesse of their hearts and it should seeme that was not all but he did also for the present stoppe his eares against their prayers looking upon them as yet not sufficiently humbled and heart broken for their sinnes 4. Vse This should put us upon examination whether we have broken hearts or not And believe it there hath beene much said to put us upon diligent inquiry thereinto forasmuch as we have proved it to be a sacrifice well pleasing unto God Who would not think it worth his while to enquire whether himselfe and his services be such as God accepts Quest But how may we come to know whether our hearts be truly broken for sinne or not Ans For the discovery hereof you may have recourse unto the description of broken heartednesse laid downe in the beginning of this discourse in which we told you that brokennesse of heart did consist in these severall particulars namely in a thorough conviction of the ugly nature of sin Now put the question to your hearts are you convinced of the evill of sinne after such a manner as is there described nextly in being really ashamed of sinne Now doe you finde this also viz. that sinne is matter of great shame and confusion of face to you that you looke upon sinne as that which is your great reproach Thirdly what mourning and relenting of heart is there in you for the commission of sinne is it matter of griefe and lamentation to you Fourthly hath the sight and apprehension of your sinnes brought you to the unfained deniall of your selves looking upon your selves as lesse then the least of the mercies of God by reason of them Fifthly are you come to that passe as even to loath abhor and be weary of your selves by reason of sinne Sixthly doe we judge accuse and condemne our selves before God sincerely for sinne adde hereto a seventh signe of broken heartednesse which hath not as yet beene mentioned and that is doe we really pitty those that hang downe their heads and are perplexed
publick view but meerely for that season occasion and Auditory If after perusall thereof thou shalt thinke it worthy keeping by thee which I dare not say thou hast any cause to do doe not thank me for it but rather those friends of mine who importuning me for more written copies then the little time I could spare from ministeriall employments would afford them did upon the matter compell me to expose both it and my selfe to common censure by committing of it to the presse which I was the lesse unwilling to doe in regard I had a more then ordinary opportunity for such a purpose in as much as the preceeding Tract touching brokennesse of heart was to passe thorough my hands which I thought not so bigge but that it might well admit of an Appendix especially such an one as this which was too too little to came forth by it selfe I have printed it with confidence onely touching the undoubted verity and truth of all that is contained in it else I had beene much to blame to have made styled it the confession or profession of my Faith and I hope I am so far confident of that as that I should not refuse to seale much of it with my bloud God assisting me without whom I am unable to doe any thing much more unable to suffer for the truth if ever I should be called thereunto Touching the phrase and method of it judge as thou pleasest In case thou shalt approve one or both I shall thinke it thy candor more then its desert and if thou disapprove either or both I shall not say thou dost me any wrong whatsoever they may thinke of it whose love and groundlesse respects to me may cause them to prize what is mine farre above the measure of its reall worth I have gone the way of a generall dedication unto whomsoever pleaseth to reade this little summary of divine truths partly because I thought it too small a worke wherewith particularly to present my best friends and partly because the persons and places whereto I am obliged are more then I could gratifie at once and of three places whereto I am much indebted I knew not which to single out to begin with namely Trinity Colledge in Cambridge where I had the greatest part of my Vniversity education and encouragements and was severall yeares together happy under the government of a most pious and prudent Master and in the Society of as deserving Fellowes I speake it without the lest tincture of flattery or partiality as I believe either Vniversity hath any from whom I did all along receive more love and respect then I shall be ever able to deserve or requite The next place which I became a debtor to was West Farleigh in Kent where I was much ingaged to the worthy Knight of that shire in whose family I there dwelt and to his religious consort for the great affection they did beare to me not to omit the reverend and godly ministers of those parts from whom I received my Ordination together with many respects and encouragements from first to last in that place where God called me to bestow the first fruits of my ministerial labours Nor am I lesse engaged to the inhabitants of Thistleworth for whose soules God hath set me to watch these two or three last yeares amongst whom I yet continue I bless God with less gainesaying and more generall acceptation from them then many not to say the most of my brethren doe in their severall places It is the Lords doing and marvellous in my eyes knowing my selfe to be the unworthyest of all the faithfull servants of my Lord and master Christ I say not knowing which of these three places for I have not time to mention persons I am most obliged to and consequently should begin with I have made my dedication inclusive of all my friends who are most like to be the readers hereof but not exclusive to others if they also please to reade it Touching the worke it selfe I have onely this to say namely that I call to minde very few if any branches of truth growing upon the root of this confession which I should not thinke it very dangerous for any man to turne his back upon or looke towards with an eye of meere indifferency or scepticall neutrallity The reason it because I take them to be fundamentals which whosoever denies or derogates from doth in my opinion runne a great hazzard and Sampson-like take hold upon the pillar of that house in the fall whereof himselfe is like to perish and cause many more as he did to perish with him Errors rising up against truths but preter fundamentals doe many times prove of sad consequence to the Church and state in which they are held but fundamentalls alwayes much more hurtfull and prejudiciall to the soules of them that hold them Wherefore let thou and I receive each divine truth in the love thereof lest we be given up by God to strong delusions to believe lies a judgement ordinarily inflicted upon the wantons of this unsetled age which that we may never be is the hearty prayer of him who is Thine in the service of the Gospel SAMUEL ROWLES From my Study in Thistleworth March 26. 1651. A SHORT CONFESSION OF FAITH I Believe there is a God Concerning God and but one who is an infinite spirit one in essence three in persons truly though not fully made known to us by his glorious attributes of wisdome holinesse Justice mercy c. which are not so many qualities in God as in men they are but his very essence thus represented to us he being Holinesse Justice and Mercy it selfe and that the distinction of persons or Subsistences ariseth from three severall incommunicable properties wherewith the divine essence is clothed the incommunicable property of the father being to beget of the son to have bin begotten of the Holy Ghost to have proceeded from the Father and the Son Yet are all these three persons coequal coessential coeternal as the Sun and the light are contemporary though light do streame from the Sun I further doe believe that the Heavens the earth and the great deepe with all things contained in all and every of them whether living or without life are the workemanship of his hands by the onely word of his power in time created out of nothing As also that God did from all eternity foreknow and pre-ordaine all those things which have or shall come to passe in time and both hath and will by his executive power give being unto all such things in his own fulnesse of time which he had decreed and resolved upon in himselfe from all eternity Providence Onely the decree of God concerning sin I stedfastly believe to be meerely a permissive decree which he doth not prosecute and pursue by the exerting of any such positive power or casuality as in other cases Sin for sinne hath no efficient cause but springs from meere deficiency
those same things as in a glasse we may as well know a man by the representation of him in a glasse as if we should see him face to face and with open face too which may signifie more light shining into the understandings of men under the Gospell then did in the time of the law and to behold the glory of God whereas they saw little of it in comparison 3. Efficacy 3. In point of efficacy the new Testament administration of the Gospell doth excell But believers in the old Testament were generally as trees growing in the shade except some few worthyes such as Abraham and David Whereas believers under the new Testament dispensation are as trees growing in such places where the influence of the warm beames of the Sun may come at them without hinderance or interposition Hence the time of the old Testament is called the time before the comming of Faith Gal. 3.23 Before Faith came i. e. in that plenty that it comes in the time of the new Testament we were shut up unto the Faith which should afterwards be revealed All which expressions doe speake the old Testament administration of the Covenant of grace to have beene lesse effectuall then is the new some thinke that place Zach. 12.8 He that is feeble shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angell of God before them I say some thinke that it is a promise of that eminency of grace which shall be in believers in the time of the new Testament above what was in the generallity of old Testament believers 4. 4. Change of Seales a a fourth difference The administration of the Covenant of grace under the new Testament differeth from that of the old in respect of the alteration of seales of which we have spoken already Thus have I declared my perswasions touching the Covenant of grace and the severall things belonging thereunto After the publication of the foresaid Covenant in that first promise the seed of the woman shall breake the head of the Serpâ—nt God was pleased by severall piece-meales and in severall manners to make knowne himselfe to those who lived in the infancy of the world declaring himselfe to them sometimes by a voyce from Heaven as the law was given from Mount Sinai sometimes by visions other times by dreames other times by prophecies sometimes by inspiration of things not propheticall which things were afterwards written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the world are come that we thorough Faith and patience might inherit the promises Scriptures which writings are commonly knowne by the name of the Bible or holy scriptures concerning which I thus believe namely that they were inspired by God and left as a rule of faith and manners so to continue to the worlds end and are able to make the man of God perfect to every good word and worke As also that we who live under the Gospel ought still to have respect unto that part of Scripture which is called the old Testament My reasons for it are these 1. That exhortation of Christ Iohn 5.39 Search the Scriptures Reasons why the old Testament should be still respected which is meant of the old Testament for then they had no other for in them yee thinke that is you your selves are perswaded as well as the truth is that yee have eternall life that is the way to eternall life which is Christ himselfe declared to you as appeareth to be the meaning by the following words and they are they which testifie of me Who dare reject that word which gives testimony to Christ if you say that the ceremoniall law did so I answer that the observation of it now would be a witnessing against Christ as if he were not already come in the flesh but expected hereafter and therefore it is abolished 2. The identity or samenesse of the old and new Testament is another reason why I contend for having respect to it The old and new Testament doe both treate of the same subject namely Christ and the way of salvation by Faith in him though with some difference of circumstance c. It is said that unto Christ did all the prophets beare witnesse 3. The frequent quotations which are in the new Testament out ot the old as if Christ himselfe and his Apostles had but commented upon the old Testament and would not urge things upon the beliefe of those to whom they Preached without good warrant and testimony from Moses and the Prophets 4. I am induced to have respect to the old Testament from this undeniable principle namely that as it is dangerous to plant what God hath not planted so much more dangerous to plucke up what God hath planted till he begin to doe it with his own right hand Now we doe estranging them to the world affecting them to and enflaming them for God 2. Touching the duties of men towards God The duties of men towards God I thus believe viz. That all sorts of men are bound to love feare serve and trust in him with all their hearts and soules by vertue of their being received from him in conjunction with all other mercyes as also for the continued preservation which is equivalent to a continuall creation of their beings and wel-beings But that there is a double tye upon believers to give up their whole selves souls and bodies unto God For they are least of all their own being Gods not onely by creation and forfeiture as all wicked men are but by redemption also he having bought them with a price The manner in which they are to serve God for the externall part of it I conceive to be in the way of his ordinances viz by praying reading Singing of Psalms what it is hearing meditating singing of Psalmes which is meditating and praising of God with the voyce lifted up for the expressing and provoking of greater cheerefulnesse and affording further leisure by due pausing and treatable delivery for divine consideration not to omit attendance upon God in the sacraments of baptisme and the Lords supper Right manner of performing duties what it is As for the manner of performing these duties in which the life and spirit of religion doth consist they are to be done in Faith from Gospell motives to spirituall ends by way of testifying our thankefulnesse and the rule of them is to be the word of God I might adde that God is to be served in the exercise of all graces as Faith humility patience self-denyall zeale Expectations of men from God Of all men c. which are the fruits of the spirit of God within us Lastly I shall conclude with my perswasions touching what men are to expect from God 1. In generall 2. In speciall In the generall all men are to looke for a summons by death to a particular appearance and accompt for the resurrection of their bodies after they have laine awhile in the grave for a citall of soule and body to appeare before God at the day of the great Assize to give an account of the deedes done in their bodies These things are to be expected in common both of good and bad Of wicked men But to descend to particulars As for men continuing in unbeliefe and impenitency I know nothing belongs to them but a certaine dreadfull expectation of fury and vengeance to be poured out upon all the adversaries and that having compassed themselves with sparkes they should have this at length at Gods hand namely to lye downe in sorrow and that their soules being at the great day reunited to their bodies should return to hell whence they came the Sentence of eternall condemnation being irrecoverably past upon them Depart yee cursed c. Of good men in respect of the present life and of that which is to come But as for Believers they have something to expect from God here and something hereafter Here they expect some things for themselves and other things for the Church for themselves the keeping of them by the power of God to salvation the peace of God to guard their hearts For the Church The presence of Christ with it by his spirit to the worlds end the breaking of the Serpents head and putting downe of the man of sinne and all other enemies of Christ which shall be made his footstoole For hereafter they expect that their soules being joyned to their bodies which shall be made conformable to the glorious body of Christ shall re-enter into their mansions of glory being an intire glorified essence whereas but a part of them was before in glory having heard their judge who is also their redeemer and surety thus pronounce concerning them Well done good and faithfull servants enter into your Masters Joy FINIS