the greatest judgement that God can shew in this world to give us up to our own wits to our own devices for we shall wind and turn and work our own ruine And that is the hell of Hell in hell when the soul there shall think with it self I brought my self hither God will be exceedingly justified when men by their own wit shall damne themselves When God hath revealed to man taught them this is the way O man I have shewed thee what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee he hath revealed it in his Word doe this and doe that and he hath given conscience to help and yet out of policie to contrive thy own pleasures and profits and advantages in the world thou hast done the contrary When a mans soul shall reason thus My owne wit brought me hither I am damned by wit I am damned by policie a poore policy it is that brings a man to damnation Therefore we should beg of God above all things that he would not deliver us up to our selves As Saint Austin hath a good speech Lord free me from my self from my own devices and policy The divell himself is not such an enemie as I said as our own carnal wit for it is that that betrayes us to Satan Satan could do us no harm unlesse he had a friend within us Therefore beg of God above all things Lord give me not up to my own brain to my own devices for man is a beast by his own knowledge but let thy wisdome and thy will be my rule Again if so be that we ought not to make this carnal fleshly wisdome the rule of our life then let us have a negative voyce ready presently for it whensoever we find any carnal suggestion in our hearts say nay to it presently deny it presently have a jealousie presently when any plot ariseth that is not warrantable by the Word of God and that is contrary to conscience and to simplicity and sincerity presently deny it consult not with flesh and blood as Saint Paul saith of himself Gal. 1. I consulted not with flesh and blood And when you have any thing to do Considering that this is not the rule you are to live by or when you have any thing to resist when you have any thing to suffer Consider what God requires consider what is for the peace of conscience consider what is for the good of your selves and for the good of the Church consult with these advisers with these intelligencers and not with flesh and blood Consider not what is for your profit for your pleasure for your ease but resolve against them Get the truth of God so planted in your hearts that it may carry you through all these impediments and all these suggestions whatsoever And because we cannot do this without a change we cannot have a disposition contrary to carnal wisdome without a change for except a man be born anew except he be a new creature he cannot have holy aimes you must labour therefore more and more to have the spirit of your mind renewed and to grow in assurance of a better estate for what makes men carnally to project for this world they are not sure of a better They reason thus with themselves It may be I may have heaven it may be not I am sure of the pleasures present of the profits present although alas it be but for a short time whereas if thy soul were enlightned with heavenly light and thou wert convinced of the excellent estate of Gods Children in this world in the state of grace That a Christian is incomparably above all men in the first-fruits of heaven in the peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost which is above all prosperity and all profit whatsoever And that in heaven which is above our capacity and reach every way they shall be happy if men were convinced of this certainly they would not prostitute their pates to work so worldly If they were sure of heaven they would not so plod for the earth Let us therefore labour to grow daily in the assurance of salvation beg of God his Spirit to have your minds enlightned And withal to joyn both together to see the vanity of all earthly things which set carnal wisdome on work For first outward things they work upon the sense upon the outward man profits and pleasures are outward things and therefore they work upon sense they work upon opinion in opinion they be so as indeed worldly things are more in opinion then in truth A carnal worldly man he thinks poverty a hell he thinks it is such a misery it is not so Labour to have a right judgmenr of the things of the earth that set carnal wisdome on work to avoid poverty to avoid suffering for a good cause The Devil inflames fancy fancy thinks it is a great hurt to be in poverty fancy thinks it is a great good to be in honour to be in credit to have great place that other men may be beholding to us Alas get a sanctified judgment to see what these things be that set our wits on work What are all these things Vanity and vexation of spirit Let our meditations walk between these two often think of the excellent estate of a Christian in this world and in the world to come and that will set heavenly wisdome on work it will make you plot and be politick for heaven And then withall see the vanity of all other things of pleasures and honours and profits and whatsoever that we may not prostitute our soules to them which are worse then our selves that our soules may not set themselves on work to project and proule for these things that are worse then themselves Let this be your daily practice the meditation of these two things is worthy to take up your cogitations every day To consider the vanity the vexation and uncertainty that accompanies all these things when you have got them as we see in Ahab when he had gotten the Vineyard Besides the vanity of thâ—… consider how you have gotten them and how miserable will you judge your selves presently How doth God meet with the carnal wits of men in the attaining of things The wicked man shall not roast that which he took in hunting He hunted after preferment he hunted after riches to scrape a great deal for his posterity how doth God deal with such he overthrowes them utterly and his posterity perhaps they spoyl all Himself roasted not that which he took in hunting Ahab got much by yielding to the carnal wisdome of Jezabel Hast thou gotten and also taken possession What became of Ahab with all his plots and devices Achitophel and others God may give them successe for a while but afterward he gives them the overthrow Herod he had successe a while in killing of James and therefore he thought to work wisely and get Peter too God struck him with Worms
estate is not good because it is not such an estate So foolish and as a beast was I before thee saith David because I regarded such things No marvell if men be uncomfortable that are led away by scandals Look to faith goe to the Word to the Sanctuarie I went to the Sanctuary saith he and there I saw the end of these men So conscience must be suffered to have its work to be led by a true rule Again conscience sometimes concludes not comfort when there is ground of comfort from the remainders of corruptions and infirmities whereas we should be driven by our infirmities to Christ. And conscisence sometimes in good men doth not exercise its work in good men it is drawn away with vain delights even in the best men And conscience of its owne unworthinesse and of the greatnesse of the things it lookes for being joyned together it makes a man that he joyes not when he hath cause As for instance when the soule sees that God in Christ hath pardoned all my sins and hath vouchsafed his Spirit to me and will give me heaven in the world to come to such a wretch as I am here being a conflict between the conscience and sense of its own unworthinesse and the greatnesse of 〈◊〉 good promised the heart begins to stagger and to doubt for want of sound faith Indeed if we look on our own unworthinesse and the greatnesse of the good things promised we may wonder but alas God is infinite in goodnesse he transcends our unworthinesse and in the Gospell the glorie of Gods mercy it triumphs over our unworthinesse and over our sins whatsoever our sin and unworthinesse is his goodnesse in the Gospel triumphs over all In Innocency God should have advanced an innocent man but the Gospel is more glorious for he comes to sinners to condemned persons by nature and yet God triumphs over their sins and unworthinesse he regards not what we deserve but what may stand with the glory of his mercy therefore we should banish those thoughts and enjoy our own priviledge the promises of heaven and happinesse and all comforts whatsoever so much for the answer of that objection Now if we would joy in the witnesse of a good conscience we must especially in the time of temptation live by faith and not by feeling not by what we feele for the present but as we see Christ in his greatest horrour My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he goes to my God still We must live by faith and not by sense And then if we would rejoyce in extremities remember that God works by contraries God will bring us to heaven but it must be by hell God will bring us to comfort but it must be by sense of our own unworthinesse He will forgive our sins but it must be by sight and sense of our sins he will bring us to life but it must be by death he will bring us to glorie but it must be by shame God works by contraries therefore in contraries believe contraries When we are in a state that hath no comfort yet we may joy in it if we believe in Christ he works by contraries As in the Creation he made all out of nothing order out of confusion So in the work of the new creation in the new creature he doth so likewise therefore be not dismayed Remember this rule likewise that in the covenant of Grace God requires truth and not measure thou art not under the law but under the covenant of Grace A little fire is true fire as well as the whole element of fire A drop of water is water as well as the whole Ocean so if it be true faith true grief for sins true hatred of them true desire of the favour of God and to grow better truth is respected in the covenant of Grace and not any set measure What saith the Covenant of Grace He that believes and repents shall be saved not he that hath a strong faith or he that hath perfect repentance So Saint Paul saith as we shall see after This is our rejoycing that in simplicity and sincerity we have had our conversation among you he doth not say that our conversation hath been perfect So if we would have joy in the testimony of conscience we must not abridge our selves of joy because we have not a perfect measure of Grace but rejoyce that God hath wrought any measure of Grace in such unclean and polluted hearts as ours are for he least measure of Grace is a pledge of perfection in the world to come This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience c. Hence we may gather clearly that A man may know his own estate in Grace I gather it from the place thus Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity c. Where there is joy and the ground of joy there is a knowledge of the estate but a Christian hath glorying and a ground of glorying in himself and he knowes it he hath that in him that witnesseth that estate he hath the witnesse of conscience therefore he may know and be assured of it If this testimony were not a true testimony it were something but all men naturally have a conscience and a Christian hath a sanctified conscience and where that is there is a true testimony and true joy from that testimony therefore he may be assured of his salvation and have true joy and comfort a Heaven upon Earth before he come to Heaven it self If conscience testifie of it self and from witnessing give cause of joy much more the Spirit of God comming into the conscience The Spirit beares witnesse with our spirits If our spirit and conscience bear witnesse to us of our conversation in simplicity and sincerity and from thence of our estate in grace much more by the witnesse of two By the witnesse of two or three every thing shall be confirmed but our spirits and conscience and the Spirit of God which every Child of God hath witnesseth that we are the Children of God Rom. 8. The Spirit witnesseth with our spirits that we are the sons of God Therefore a Christian may know his estate in Grace The spirit of a man knowes himself and the Spirit of God knowes him likewise and it knowes what is in the heart of God and when these two meet the Spirit of God that knowes the secrets of God and that knowes our secrets and our spirit that knowes our heart likewise what should hinder but that we may know our own estate It is the nature of conscience as I told you to reflect upon it self and upon the person in whom it is to know what is known by it and to judge and condemne and execute it self by inward fear and terrour in ill and in good by comfort and joy in a mans self It is the property that the soul hath above all creatures to return and recoyle upon it self If this be
A Learned COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION UPON The first CHAPTER of the Second Epistle of S. Paul to the CORINTHIANS BEING The Substance of many SERMONS formerly Preached at Grayes-Inne London By that Reverend and Judicious Divine RICHARD SIBBS D. D. Sometimes Master of Catherine-Hall in Cambridge and Preacher to that Honourable Society Published for the Publick Good and Benefit of the Church of CHRIST By Tho. Manton B. D. and Preacher of the Gospel at Stoake-Newington near London Vivit post funera virtus Psalm 112. 6. The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance 2 Pet. 1. 15. Moreover I will endeavour that you may be able after my decease to have these things alwayes in remembrance LONDON Printed by J. L. for N. B. and are to be sold by Tho. Parkhurst at his Shop over against the Great Conduit at the Lower end of Cheapside 1655. RIC SIBBS S THEOL D AVL KATHARINAE CANTAB MAG NEC NON HOSPITIO GRAI AS CONCIONIBVS Aetat Suae 58. The Portracture of the Late Reverend and Iudicious divine Richard Sibbs D D Mr. of Katharine Hall in Camb and sometimes Preacher to that honble Society of Grayes-Inn London Printed for Nich Bourne at the South entrance of the Royall Exchange 1655 To the Reader Good READER THere is no end of Books and yet we seem to need more every day there was such a darknesse brought in by the Fall as will not thoroughly be dispelled till we come to Heaven where the Sun shineth without either cloud or night for the present all should contribute their help according to the rate and measure of their abilities Some can onely hold up a Candle others a Torch but all are usefull The Presse is an excellent meanes to scatter Knowledge were it not so often abused all complain there is enough written and think that now there should be a stop indeed it were well if in this scribling age there were some restraint Uselesse Pamphlets are grown almost as great a mischief as the erroneous and prophane Yet 't is not good to shut the door upon industry and diligence there is yet room left to discover more above all that hath been said of the Wisdome of God and the riches of his grace in the Gospel yea more of the stratagems of Satan and the deceitfulnesse of mans heart meanes need to be encreased every day to weaken sin and strengthen trust and quicken us to holinesse Fundamentals are the same in all ages but the constant necessities of the Church and private Christians will continually enforce a further explication as the Arts and sleights of besieging and battering encrease so doth skill in fortification if we have no other benefit by the multitude of Books that are written we shall have this benefit an opportunity to Observe the various workings of the same Spirit about the same truths and indeed the speculation is neither Idle nor unfruitfull There is a diversity of gifts as there is of tempers and of tempers as there is of faces that in all this variety God may be the more glorified The Pen-men of Scripture that all wrote by the same Spirit and by an infallible Conduct do not write in the same stile In the Old Testament there is a plain difference between the lofty Courtly stile of Isaiah and the Priestly grave stile of Jeremiah In Amos there are some marks of his Calling in his Prophecie In the New Testament you will find John sublime and Seraphicall and Paul rational and argumentative 't is easie to track both by their peculiar phrases native elegancies and distinct manner of expression this variety and manifold grace still continueth the stones that lye in the building of Gods house are not all of a sort there are Saphires Carbuncles and Agates all which have their peculiar use and lustre some are doctrinall and good for information to clear up the truth and vindicate it from the Sophismes of wretched men othets have a great force and skill in application Some are more Evangelical their soules are melted out in sweetnesse others are sons of Thunder more rouzing and stirring gifted for a rougher strain which also hath its use in the art of winning soules to God 't was observed of the three Ministers of Geneva that none thundred more loudly than Farell none piped more sweetly than Virett none taught more learnedly and solidly than Calvin so variously doth the Lord dispense his gifts to shew the liberty of the Spirit and for the greater beauty and order of the Church for difference with proportion causeth beauty and to prevent Schisme every member having his distinct excellencie so that what is wanting in one may be supplyed by another and all have something to commend them to the Church that they may not be despised as in several Countreys they have several Commodities to maintain traffique between them all we are apt to abuse the diversity of gifts to divisions and partialities whereas God hath given them to maintain a communion in the Churches Vestment there is variety but no rent varietas sit scissur a non sit All this is the rather mentioned because of that excellent and peculiar gift which the Worthy and Reverend Authour had in unfolding and applying the great Mysteries of the Gospel in a sweet and mellifluous way and therefore was by his hearers usually termed The sweet dropper sweet and heavenly distillations usually dropping from him with such a native elegancie as is not easily to be imitated I would not set the gifts of God on quarrelling but of all Ministeries that which is most Evangelical seemeth most usefull the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecie Rev. 19. 10. 't is spoken by the Angel to disswade the Apostle from worshipping him you that preach Jesus Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead have a like Dignity with us Angels that foretell things to come your message is the Spirit of Prophecie As if he had said This is the great and fundamental truth wherein runneth the life and the heart-blood of Religion The same Spirit is breathing in these discourses that are now put into thy hand wherein thou wilt find much of the Comforts of the Gospel of the sealing of the Spirit and the constant courses of Gods love to his people fruitfully and faithfully improved for thy edification Let it not stumble thee that the work is posthume and commeth out so long after the Authours death it were to be wished that those who excell in publick gifts would during life publish their own labours to prevent spurious obtrusions upon the world and to give them their last hand and pollishment as the Apostle Peter was carefull to write before his decease 2 Pet. 1. 12 13 14. But usually the Churches treasure is most encreased by Legacies as Elijah let fall his Mantle when he was taken up into heaven so Gods eminent servants when their persons could no longer remain in the World have left behind them some
hypocrite in many respects but in this one mainly that a true Saint of God is altered in the inward frame and qualification of his soul he is a new Creature therefore there is a spring of better thoughts of better desires of better aimes in him then in other men And he labours more after the inward frame of his heart then after his outward carriage what he is ashamed to do he is ashamed to think he is ashamed to lust after what he desires to do he desires to love in his heart he labours that all may be true in the inward man because grace as well as nature begins from the heart from the inward parts An hypocrite never cares for that all his care is for the outward parts he is sale-sale-work so his carriage be acceptable to others all his care is taken he lives to the view therefore he looks not to the substance and the truth but to the shadow and appearance Now I come to the Salutation it self VERSE 2. Grace be unto you c. GRace doth enter into the whole conversation of a Christian and doth sweeten his very Salutations Which I observe because many men confine their Religion to places to actions and to times there is a relish of holinesse in every thing that comes from a Christian in his Salutations and Courtesies St. Paul salutes them Grace and peace from God c. And the use of holy Salutations are To Shew Love Win To shew love and respect therefore he salutes them and by shewing love to gain love for there is a Loadstone in love And thirdly the use of salutations is by them to convey some good for these salutations are not meer wishes but prayers nay blessings Gods people are a blessed people and they are full of blessing they carry a blessing in their very speeches What is a blessing A blessing is a prayer with the application of the thing prayed for it is somewhat more then a prayer Grace be with you and peace It is not onely a meer wish I desire it nay my desire of it is with an applying of it grace shall be with you and peace and the more because I heartily wish it to you It is no light matter to have the benediction and salutation of a holy man especially those that are Superiours for the Superiours blesse the Inferiours there is a grace goes even with the very salutations with the common prayers of a holy man It is a comfortable sign when God doth enlarge the heart of a holy man to wish well to a man And surely the very consideration of that should move us to let them have such incouragement from our carriage and demeanour that they may have hearts to think of us to the throne of Grace to give us a good wish to give us a good desire for every gracious desire every prayer hath its effect when it comes from a favourite of God especially from such a man as St. Paul was from a Minister a holy man in a calling a man of God they have their efficacy with them they are not empty words Grace and peace The Popes think it a great favour when they bestow their Apostolical benediction and blessing their blessing is not much worth their curse is better then their blessing but surely the blessing of a man rightly called those that are true Ministers of Christ they are cloathed with Power and efficacy from God Grace be with you and peace it is no idle complement And here you see likewise what should be the manner of the salutation of Christians as they ought to salute to shew love and to gain love so all their salutations should be holy There is a takingthe name of God in vain in salutations oft times God save you c. and it must be done with a kind of scorn and if there be any demonstration of Religion it becomes them not that which should become them most What should become a Saint but to carrie himself Saint-like and yet men must do it with a kind of scorn with a kind of gracelesse grace that which in the religious use of it is a comfortable and sweet thing and is alway with a comfortable and gracious effect in Gods Children Either it hath effect and is made grace to them to whom it is spoken or returns to them that speak it As Christ saith to his Disciples when you come into a house pronounce peace to them and if the house be not worthy your peace shall return to you So the salutations of a good man if they be not effectual to the parties if they be unworthy rebellious creatures they return again to himself they have effect one way or other Let it not be done therefore with a taking the Name of God in vain in a scornful manner but with gravity and reverence as becometh a holy action There is some limitation and exception of this Salutations in some cases may be omitted As in serious businesse salute no man by the way as Christ saith to his Apostles A neglect sometimes is good manners when respect is swallowed up in a greater duty As it was good manners for David to Dance and to carry himself as it were unseemly before the Ark because he was to neglect respect to meaner persons to forget the respect he was to shew to men being altogether taken up with higher matters it was a kind of decencie and comlinesse And overmuch scrupulousnesse and nicenesse in lesser things when men are called to greater is but unmannerly manners in these cases these lesser must give way and place to the greater Salute no man by the way dispatch the businesse you are about that is if it may be a hindrance in the way salute not this is in respect of time And as for time so for persons a notorious incorrigible Heretick salute not to salute such a one would be as it were a connivence or an indulgence to him salute him not The denying of a Salutation many times hath the force of a censure the party neglected may think there is somewhat in him for which he is neglected in that manner In these cases salutations may be omitted sometimes But I go unto the particulars Grace be unto you and peace These are the good things wished We see the Apostle a blessed man that had been in the third heaven wrapt up that had been taught of Christ what things were most excellent and had himself seen excellent things which he could not utter when he comes to wishes we see out of heavenly wisedom and experience he drawes them to two heads all good things to Grace and peace If there had been better things to be wished he would have wished them but Grace and peace are the principal things What is meant by Grace here Grace in this place is the free favour and love of God from his own bowels not for any desert or worth or
deliver me from every evill work and that is that which the Saints and Martyrs and all good people desire that God would deliver them that they may not sink in their minds that they despair not that they carry not themselves uncomely in troubles but so as is meet for the credit of the truth which they seal with their blood he hath delivered me and he will deliver me from every evill work and what saith he afterwards He shall preserve me to his Heavenly Kingdom He doth not say he shall preserve me from death he knew he should die but he shall preserve me to his heavenly Kingdom So put the case that God do not deliver from death yet he delivers by death There is a partial deliverance and a total deliverance there is a deliverance from this and that trouble and there is a deliverance from all troubles God delivers us most when we think he delivers least for we think how doth he deliver his Children when we see them taken away by death and oftimes are massacreed That is one way of delivering them God by death takes them from all miseries they are out of the reach of their enemies death delivers them from all miseries of this life both inward of sin and outward of trouble all are determined in death therefore God when he doth not deliver them from death he delivers them by death and takes them to his heavenly Kingdom God oft-times delivers his by not delivering them out of trouble for when he sees us in danger of some sin he delivers us into trouble to deliver us from some corruption Of all evills Gods Children desire to avoid the delivering up to themselves and to their own lusts to their own base earthly hearts to a dead heart he delivers them into trouble therefore to deliver them from themselves God will deliver us for the time to come so that we depend upon him and humble our selves and be like our selves When God delivereth us at the first it may be we are like our selves but perhaps afterward we grow prouder and self-confident and will not do that we formerly did therefore God sometimes though he put us in hope of deliverance yet he will not deliver us because we are not prepared we are not throughly humbled As we see in Judges 20. there the Israelites were to set on the Benjamits they go the first time and had the foile they go the second time and are foiled the third time they set on them with fasting and prayer and then they had the victory What was the reason they had it not at the first time they were not humbled enough they did not flee to God with fasting and prayer It may be there is some sin some affection unmortified of revenge and anger when God hath subdued that and brought it under and brought us to fasting and prayer then God will deliver us as at the third encounter they carried away the victory When we have not made our peace with God we may come the first and second time and not be delivered but when we are throughly humbled and brought low then God will deliver us And then we must know that alway these outward promises have a reservation to Gods glory and our eternal good God hath delivered me and he doth and will deliver me if it may stand with his glory and my good and therefore the soul saith to God with that reserved speech of him in the Gospell Lord If thou wilt thou canst heal me if thou wilt thou canst deliver me if it be for thy glorie and my eternall good or for the Churches good thou wilt do it and neither the Church nor the particular members of the Church desire deliverance upon any other termes but when it may be for the glory of God and for the Churches good when they may be instrumental by long life to serve God and to serve the Church and when it is for their own advantage to gather further assurance of their salvation then he hath and doth and will deliver still This is enough to build the confidence of Gods children upon for their deliverance for the time to come God will deliver his Church and Children and he will deliver them out of all he will deliver Israel out of all his troubles he will not leave a horn or a hoof as Moses said he will not leave one trouble he will deliver us at the last out of all and advance us to his heavenly Kingdom His bowels will melt over his Church and Children he is a Father and he hath the bowels of a Mother This may serve to answer all objections that will arise in our hearts as indeed we are ready to cavil against divine truthes and comforts especially in the time of trouble and temptation our hearts are full of complaints and disputes therefore I thought good to answer this But what is the argument of the Apostle here Especially experience he hath delivered he doth deliver and he will deliver me As God will deliver his Church for the time to come so this is one maine argument that he will do it experience of former favours and deliverances This Saint Paul useth familiarly 2 Tim. 4. 18. I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon and the Lord shall deliver me from every evill work and preserve me to his Heavenly Kingdom A blessed arguing So David argues God delivered me from the Bear and the Lyon and therefore he will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine So Jacob pleads that God would deliver him from Esau he had had experience of Gods mercy till then and therefore he trusted that God would deliver him from Esau. It is a good argument to plead experience to move God to care for us for the time to come It was used by the head of the Church By the body the Church and by every member of the Church It was used by the head Psalme 22. which is a Psalme made of Christ I was cast on thee from my Mothers wombe therefore be not far from me It was Tipycally true of David and it was true of the Son of David So the Church pleads with God in diverse places in Isay 51. 2. God calls to his people to make use of former experience Look to Abraham your Father and to Sarah that bare you c. Look to former times to the rock whence you were hewen and to the hole of the pit whence you were digged he that was your God then is your God now Look to Abraham your Father and from thence reason till now So in Isay 63. 7. I will mention the loving kindnesse of the Lord and the praise of the Lord according to the great goodnesse of the Lord bestowed upon us In all their afflictions he was afflicted c he speaks of former experience In love he bare them and carried them all the daies of old So in Psalme 44. Our Fathers have told
he intends mischief when he pretends he would be a worshipper of Christ and so Absalom he pretends he had a vow to make when he intends murther a dissimulation pretending good when there is an intention of ill before So there is a dissimulation in the project for the present which comes from this doubling when men carrie things fairly outwardly to those with whom they live and yet notwithstanding have false and treacherous hearts As Judas had all the while he conversed with Christ he covered his ill with good pretexts a care for the poor c. So after when the ill is done what a world of doubling is there to cover ill to extenuate it and excuses and translations This is the simplicitie that reigns among men where there is no strength of grace where there is want of simplicitie there is this dissembling And with dissimulation there is simulation that is when we make our selves sometimes worse then we are when we are better then we seeme to be sometimes that wins on us too then we carrie not our selvee simply For if we were good we would be good every where But a man that useth simulation if he be in evill company he fashioneth himself to the company he speaks that which his Conscience checks him for he carries himself vainly and lightly he holds correspondence with the company So that by dissimulation and simulation there is a fault committed against simplicitie which yields the Testimony of a good conscience It is a base fault this simulation which we think to be a lesser fault then the other which is dissimulation for whom do we serve are we not the sons of God are we not the sons of our heavenly Father the sons of the great King and for us to carrie our selves not to be such as we are in the middest of the wicked world it is a great want of discretion Saint Paul would discover who he was even before the bar David would speak of Gods righteous testimonies even before Princes and not be ashamed And this is that which Christ saith He that is ashamed of me before men of him will I be ashamed before my heavenly Father Let us take heed of dissimulation and simulation which are opposite to this simplicity Again this simplicity is opposite to curiosity and finenesse And thus the Apostle both in his calling and conversation St. Paul conversed in simplicity as a Christian and as an Apostle As an Apostle he was not over-curious in words he reproveth those foolish vain glorious spirits that were so among the Corinthians He delivered the Word plainly and plainnesse is best in handling the Word of God for who will enamell a precious stone we use to enamell that that hath not a native excellencie in it self but that which hath an excellencie from something without True Religion hath this with it alway that it is simple because it hath state enough of its own The whore of Babylon hath need of a gilded cup and pictures and what not to set her out but the true Religion is in Simplicity Christ himself when he was born he was laid in a Cratch he was simple in his carriage and his speeches It was a common speech in ancient time when the Chalices were gold the Priests were wood In Religion finenesse and curiosity carrie suspition of falsehood with them Those that overmuch affect finenesse of speech they are either deceived or will deceive That which is not native and comes not from within it will deceive Some falsehoods carrie a better colour then some truths because men set their wits on work to set some colour upon falsehood alway And here take notice of the duty of Ministers that they should utter divine truth in the native simplicity of it Saint Paul as a Minister delivered the plain Word plainly And as a Christian in our common course of life as we should take heed of doubling so of too much curiosity for too much curiosity in diet or apparell it implies too much care of these things which hinders our care of better things as our Savour Christ saith to Martha Martha thou art troubled about many things The soul is finite and cannot be set about many things at once therefore when there is overmuch curiosity in smaller things it implies little or no care in the main What is morethen for decency of place it argues carelessenesse in the main Therefore the Apostle labouring to take off that he bids women that they should not be decked with Gold and broydered haire c. But to look to the hidden man of the heart And therefore Christ took off Martha from outward things because he knew it could not be without the neglect of better things Seriousness in heavenly things it carries a carelessenesse in other things And a Christian cannot chuse but discover a minde that is not earthly and vain when he is a true believer he regards other things as poore petty things that are not worthy estimation A Christian when he hath fixed his end to be like to God to be simple as God is he still drawes toward his end and therefore he moderates his carriage in all things What is unnecessarie he leaves out his end is to be like God and like Christ with whom he shall live hereafter Now the best things are the most simple as the Heavens the Sun and the stars c. There is diversitie but no contrariety there is diversity in the magnitude of the stars but they are of the same nature so in a Christian there are many Graces but they are not contrary one to another So that a Christian hath his maine care for better things he cares not for the world nor the things thereof and therefore he accounts them in comparison of better things as nothing and that is the reason that he is carelesse and negligent of those things that he did formerly regard as having better things to take up his thoughts We see then that simplicitie as it is opposed to doubling so it is opposed to finenesse and curiosity And usually where there is a finenesse and curiosity there is hypocrisy for it is not for nought when men affect any thing Affectation usually is a strain above nature when a man will do that which he is not disposed to by nature but for some forced end it is hypocrisy So the Corinthian teachers argued the falsenesse of their hearts by the finenesse of their teaching they had another aime then to please God and convert souls Usually affectation to the world is joyned with hypocrisie towards God Again this simplicity is contrary to that corruption in Popery namely equivocation what simplicity is that when they speak one thing and mean another when there is a mentall reservation and such a reservation that if that were set downe that is reserved it were absurd Or else there may be a reservation a man may reserve his meaning A man may not speake
Therefore he that hath any truth of grace in him he will look to himself and look to God in the most free actions of all You see then how we may judge of our sincerity whatsoever we do A sincere Christian stands thus affected in some measure in some degree in the good he doth in the ill he abstaines from whatsoever it be he thinks he hath to deale with God Now to stir us up to this blessed state to labour for this frame of soul to be sincere to have our conversation in sincerity what needs be added more then this that without it all is nothing all our glorious performances are meer abominations without sincerity God will say you did it not to me you did it for vain-glory you did it for custome or out of education for vain and by-respects and not to me and do you look for a reward of me you did it not for conscience for conscience alway looks to God and what we do not in conscience and obedience to God in our generall or particular calling it stands not on our reckoning with God it is as good as if it were not done in regard of God and of the life to come You have your reward saith Christ. It is no matter what your respects be here if you carry your selves carefully in your place to have the credit of men to gain the favour of men you have your reward Will you looke for a reward from God when what you did you did it to the world What a pittifull thing is this that a man should doe many things many years together and yet do nothing that may further his day of account because it was not done out of conscience of his duty his conversation was not in sincerity to God Now if we have not truth we have nothing in Religion Saint Paul saith as I said before Of an Idol It is nothing why it is a piece of wood or a piece of Gold the materialls of it is something But it is nothing to that which it should be If a man be not true in Religion he is nothing in that he is a true hypocrite but a false Christian. He is nothing in Christianity he is something in hypocrisy but that something is nothing All the shewes in the World and all the flourishes they are nothing What is the reason that excellent Clerks men of excellent parts die comfortlesse many times VVhy God is not beholding to them for all that they did they sought their own praise As the Prophet Isay saith When you fasted did you fast to me When you did good works did you do them to me may God say there was no truth in it so much simplicity so much comfort sincerity is all that we can come to in this world perfection we cannot attain to Christ is perfection for us Truth is all that we can reach to and without that all is nothing therefore we ought to regard it especially Again on the other side this is a great encouragement to be sincere to be true-hearted in all our courses and actions because it gives acceptance to whatsoever we doe and it is that by which God values us God values us not by perfection not by glorious shewes but by what we have in truth So much truth so much worth A little pearl is worth a great deale of rubbish A little sincerity because it is Gods owne creature it is the sincerity of God it is wrought by him it is his stuffe There is an almighty power to work truth in us for by nature we are all false God gives to some men to carry themselves more civilly then others but it is nothing worth except God change a man by grace because God accepts us according to sincerity God values us by truth so much truth so much esteem of the God of truth And where this sincerity is God beares with many infirmities As in marriage the husband that is discreet that knowes what belongs to marriage if the heart of the wife be true though she have many women like infirmities he passeth by them as long as the conjugall knot is kept unviolate So a Christian if his heart be true that he looks to God in all things though he have many infirmities God passeth by them As we see in Asa how many faults had he committed he trusted in the Physitians he used the Prophet hardly and many other faults and yet it is said that his heart was upright all his daies because he had truth in him It was in passion that he did this or that otherwise So Hezechias although he had many infirmities yet he could say that he had walked uprightly before God and God did well esteeme him for it And when he speakes of those that were to come to the Passeover Be mercifull to those that prepare their hearts those that have true hearts though they have many weaknesses Now if the heart be false though a woman have many vertues yet if she want the main if she have a false heart to her husband what is all the rest So the soule that is married to God that hath sweet communion with God if the heart and soul be naught what are all the shewes in the world they are nothing Let us take it to heart therefore and labour to approve our hearts and souls to God in all that we doe more then our lives and outward conversations to the world Let them think what they will so God approve of our hearts and intentions and purposes we are not to passe what the world judgeth as Saint Paul saith of himself Again this should incourage us to labour for sincerity and truth because wheresoever that is there is a growing to perfection To him that hath shall be given If we order our conversation aright as the Psalmist saith and labour to please God in all things the more we doe the more we shall have grace to do and the more we have the more we shall have to him that hath shall be given that is he that truly hath and doth not seeme to have but hath not indeed that seemeth to have goodnesse and hath none indeed that which he hath shall be taken from him A true Christian is alway on the mending hand it is a blessed prerogative he is alway mending and bettering by Gods blessing For where God gives in truth if it be but a little if it be but a grain of mustard-seed if it be true he will cherish it till it come to be a tree he will adde grace to grace one degree of grace to another Where there is truth it is alway honoured with growth It is not onely a sign of truth but where truth is there will be an endeavour of growth it is a prerogative where God bestowes truth he will alwaies adde the grace of growth though not at all times alike yet if Christians sometimes do not grow their not growing and their failings shame
them and makes them grow more afterward and recover their former backwardnesse A true Christian is alway on the mending hand An hypocrite growes worse and worse alway till he be uncased altogether and turned into hell These and such like considerations may stirre us up to labour to have a conversation in simplicity and godly sincerity Now how shall we come to carry our selves in sincerity that we may have comfort in all estates That we may carry our selves in sincerity First we must get a change of heart our nature must be changed for by nature a man aimes at himself in all things and not at God A man makes himself his last end he makes something in the world either profits or pleasures c. the term that he looks unto therefore there must be a change of heart a man must be a good man or else he cannot be a sincere man Such as we are such our actions will be therefore we cannot be sincere till we have our hearts changed No man can aim at Gods glory but he that hath felt Gods love in himself therefore as a particular branch of that labour to get assurance of the love of God in Jesus Christ for how can we endeavour to please him unlesse we love him and how can we love him unlesse we be perswaded that he loves us in Christ Therefore let us stablish our hearts more and more in the Evidences of his love to us and then knowing that he loves us we shall love him and labour to please him in all things These are grounds that must be laid before we can be sincere to get assurance of Gods love to us in the pardon of our sins Our conscience must be purged from dead works to serve the living God as the Apostle saith that is we cannot serve God to our comfort till our consciences are sprinkled with the blood of Christ which assures us of the pardon of our sins Therefore saith Zachary We are redeemed that we might serve him in righteousnesse and holinesse before him all the dayes of our life So that unlesse a man be redeemed he cannot serve him in righteousnesse and holinesse before him all the daies of his life that is he cannot serve God in sincerity For who will labour to please his enemy Therefore the Papists maintain hypocrisie when they say we ought not to be perswaded of the love of God for then we ought to be hypocrites for how shall we seek him with the losse of favour and of credit and of life it self if we know not that his favour will stand us in stead if we lose these things for him Again that we may be sincere let us labour to mortifie all our earthly affections to the world for how can we be sincere when we seek for honours and pleasures and riches and not for better things Therefore we must know that there is more good to be had in truth in a down-right Christian profession then in all worldly good whatsoever And if we be hypocrites in our profession there is more ill in that then in any thing in the world This will make us sincere when we can be perswaded that we shall get better things by being sincere in Religion then the world can give us or take away from us For why are men insincere and false-hearted Because they think not Religion to be the true good they think it is better to have riches then to have a good mind these things therefore must be mortified and a man must know that the life of a Christian is incomparably the best life though it be with losse of liberty yea with the losse of life it self Simon Magus grew to false affections in Religion because he thought to have profit by it So the Pharisees they had naughty hearts and therefore they had no good by Religion No man can profit by Religion so long as his heart is naught so long as there is some Idol in his heart A good Christian had rather have a large heart to serve God and rather grow in the Image of God to be like him then to grow in any thing in the world and that makes him sincere out of a good judgment because Christian excellency is the best excellency incomparably For he knowes well what all else will be ere long what will all do good riches honours friends what good will they do in the hour of death There is nothing but grace and the expression of it in the whole conversation that will comfort us therefore he undervalues all things in the world to sincerity and a good conscience Again that we may have our conversation in sincerity let us labour in every thing we do to approve our selves to the eye of God We see the Scripture every where shewes that this hath made Gods Children consciencious in all their courses even when they might have sinned not only securely but with advantage What kept Joseph from committing folly with his Mistresse Shall I do this and sin against God Gen. 39. And so Job in chap 31. he shewes what awed and kept him from ill doing in vers 3. Doth not he see my wayes and account all my steps this was it that kept him in awe So the Church of God Psal. 44. being in great distresse they kept themselves from Idolatry and from the contagion of the times wherein they lived upon what ground you shall see in vers 21. If we had done thus and thus shall not God search it out for he knowes the very secrets of the heart So a Christian being perswaded of the eye of God upon him it makes him sincere The eye of God being Ten thousand times brighter then the Sun he being light it self he made the heart and he knowes all the turnings of the heart The consideration of this will make us sincere in our closets in our very thoughts for they all lie naked and open to his view What is the reason that men practise secret villainy secret wickednesse and give themselves to speculative filthinesse because they are atheists they forget that they are in the eye of God who sees the plots and projects of their hearts and the nets that they have laid for their brethren Therefore David brings them in saying Tush God sees us not And that is the reason they are unconscionable in their desires in their hearts in their secret thoughts It is from a hidden Atheisme For if we did consider that the eye of God sees us in all our intents and actions and sees us in what manner we do all and to what end that he sees every action with the circumstances the aimes and ends if the heart did well ponder this it would prevent a great deal of evil Conscience is the witnesse of our conversation a witnesse that will keep us from offending If there were a witnesse by and that witnesse were a great person a Judge c. it would keep us in our
stones and pearles Solomon presseth it have a high estimation of wisdome of the government of Gods Spirit as the best government And be out of love with carnal reason with carnal affections and their guidance account them as base things not worthy to come into the esteem of a Christian heart Those that highly prize wisdome God will lead them by it those that sell all for the pearl shall have it There must be a high price set on the guidance of Gods Spirit and on grace as indeed it is worthy of it and then we shall have it Again if we would lead our lives according to spiritual and heavenly wisdome according to grace and gracious wisdome let us learn as it is Job 22. to be more and more acquainted with God by prayer for grace comes not from within us Grace is in Christ as in the root as in the spring as in the Sun we have it but as the beam as the stream therefore let us learn to be acquainted with God and with Christ by prayer and meditation and search into his Word by reading and by hearing him speak to us and let us often speak to him Let us acquaint our selves with him by prayer and by hearing his Word and then we shall have his grace to guide us For grace is a fruit of his peculiar love he gives grace to his own peculiar people How do you think shall he have a peculiar delight in us if we labour not to be more and more acquainted with him by often speaking to him by often hearing of him by coming into his presence and attending as much as we can upon his holy Ordinances by conversing as much as we can in the holy things of God Those that will be warm they come under the beams of the Sun those that would have the Spirit work effectually they must come where the Spirit is effectual where the Spirit works Now the Spirit is effectual in the Word preached the Spirit fell upon Cornelius and the rest when they were hearing of S. Peter And the Spirit is where there is conversing in good company Where two or three are met together I will be in the middest of them saith Christ. If we walk with the wise we shall be wiser It must be the heavenly wisdome of a Christian if he would lead his life by grace to attend upon all the meanes of grace because the Spirit of God is effectual by his own means he works by his own means therefore use the meanes that the Spirit hath sanctified for the working of grace I do wonder at a company of vain sottish creatures that carry themselves according to their vain conceits according to the whirling of their own brain in toyes and baubles that come into their heads they care not for the hearing of Gods blessed truth either they abstain altogether or else they hear it carelesly as if it were a thing that concerned them not Oh but those that will lead their lives by grace they come to it by the Spirit and the Spirit is onely effectual in holy Ordinances It must be our wisdome therefore to bring our selves under some meanes or other that the Spirit may be effectual The wisest and the best men in the world are no longer gracious then they are wise this way if they neglect good company good acquaintance if they neglect the hearing of the Word if they neglect prayer they will grow dead and dull and carnal-minded they will be possessed with base thoughts How do men differ one from another not so much by any habitual grace that is in them as by avoiding all that might prejudice them in a Christian course and by using all means whereby the Spirit of God may be effectual Again the way ro be under the grace of Gods Spirit is often to meditate of the grace of God the free love of God in Jesus Christ for so it comes first The first grace of all is Gods free love in the forgiving of our sins and accepting us to life everlasting and then he doth alter and change our natures more and more he transforms us more and more when we find therefore any defect of grace in our hearts when we find coldnesse and deadnesse and dulnesse go to the first fire to the first Sun to the free grace of God in Christ pardoning all our sins and accepting us to life everlasting and promising us grace to lead our lives in the mean time If you have fallen into any sin by the temptation of Satan or your own weaknesse beg not first grace to alter your course to sanctifie your life but renew every day your interest in the first grace in the forgivenesse of sins and your acceptation to everlasting life For till God have pardoned your sinnes and have witnessed to your soules that you stand reconciled he will not give the best fruit of reconciliation which is grace Therefore every day examine your lives if you have offended God in what termes you stand with God and if you stand in ill termes that there is any sin against conscience the best way is not presently to amend that for that will not be except the heart be warmed with Gods love and favour in the pardon of your sins first and in the acceptation of you in Christ notwithstanding your sins as he justifieth us every day not onely in the first act of conversion but daily he acquits our consciences daily from our sins and therefore in the Lords Prayer Christ teacheth us every day to say Forgive us our sins And then after forgivenesse of sins to beg the particular graces for our lives that we want I would this were better thought on Challenge likewise the Covenant of grace we have a promise of all grace and the spring of all grace We have a Promise of Love God will teach us to Love one another We have a promise of Fear he hath promised that He will put his fear into our hearts that we shall never depart from him We have a promise of the holy Spirit Let us challenge these Promises every day So much for the Directions how to lead our lives by Grace But by the Grace of God Saint Paul here makes it the ground of his rejoycing that he led not his life by fleshly wisdome but in simplicity and sincerity and by the Grace of God and all that are led by S. Paul's spirit live thus There is a Religion in the world that bears it self very big on high terms of Universality Succession Antiquity c. and they will have it thought to be a spiritual and holy Religion Well if a man be a carnal man that is led with fleshly wisdome and not by the grace of God that Religion must needs be a naughty Religion that hath onely the support and the foundation of it in fleshly wisdome which is an enemy and opposite to the grace of God and to simplicity and sincerity But Popery is this
why do you not take them Your justifying them in the end will be little to your comfort if you condemne them all your life against your conscience for afterwards it is not so much a work of Grace for you to justifie good courses and to acknowledge good things in most men it is not so much a work of Grace as it is the evidence of the thing and when the cloud of sensuallity and the fume that riseth out of worldly pomp is taken away then the naturall conscience comes to see clearly better things not from the love of them not that it is changed and transformed with the love of them but God so discovers it to them to make them justifie his sentence of Damnation the more he discovered to them better courses then they tooke it shall justifie their damnation We are deceived oft-times in mens ends they acknowledge good waies and good courses and on the other side some of Gods good Children they pronounce the contrary but let none trust to that good courses are so evident and clear that if men be not Atheists they must acknowledge them especially when the impediment that hindred them before is taken away You must acknowledge therefore acknowledge now not in your hearts onely but acknowledge them in laying aside your opposition in casting away your weapons and by joyning with them in good courses set not your hands against good courses and good persons set your tongues to speak for their good Take Gods part stand on Gods side it is the best side if you allow it onely hereafter it will be a barren allowance it will be no comfort to you it often falls out to be so O beloved whatsoever courses else you take they will sink and fall they will sink first in your own soules and none will be readier to condemn you then your own conscience when God shall make you wiser you will censure your selves What folly was it how was I deluded with this ill company and with that as wicked company is wondrous powerfull to infuse ill conceits as the Spies they infused discouragement by the Oration they made of the Giants in the Land c. they altered the mind of the whole people It is a dangerous thing to converse with naughty persons the Devil slides together into the soul with their carnal reasoning and alters the judgement for the time that they are not so wise as conscience would make them and as they might be if they did not hearken to the hissing of the Serpent First if you take any conrse but good your own conscience is by and will be the first that will find you out For sin is a base thing a work of darknesse it must be discovered it is a madnesse it must be manifest to all men Popery and all their slights must be discovered and the Whore must lie naked and stink nothing shall be so abominable as Popery and Popish persons ere long Truth will get the victory in the consciences of people and good courses will get approbation Therefore if you approve them not first you shall be unhappy in this life and everlastingly hereafter this shall be the principal torment in hell that you saw better courses then you lived in and you would not give your judgments leave to lead you There was something better Conscience told you but you gave way to your lusts and to the insinuations of wicked men instruments of the Devill rather then to the motions of conscience and of Gods Spirit that awakened conscience This I say will more ease your torment in hell that you might have done otherwise if you had had Grace but you willingly betrayed your selves you silenced conscience you willingly condemned your selves in the things that you acknowledged were naught you did that which you condemned and you did not practise that which your judgment did allow God will have little to do at the day of Judgment with most men in the Church to condemn them for alas their own consciences will condemn them the consciences of all will condemn them that their courses were naught And that makes wicked men so cruel especially if they get into place of authority they know they are not allowed they are not acknowledged in the consciences of those that are judicious thèy know they are condemned there and they fret and fume and think to force another opinion of themselves upon others but it will not be and that makes them that they cannot endure the sight of them that are of a contrary judgment they think themselves condemned in the hearts of such men and that makes them cruel Especially those that have some illumination they cannot abide their own conscience to take its course they cannot abide to see themselves They think themselves condemned in the judgment of others and those that think they have the prejudice of others that their courses are naught they carry an implacable hatred it is a desperate case Hast thou knowledge that they think thy courses naught and on good ground and doest thou hate them and hate to be reformed thy self will this alway hold out No as I said before truth is eternal that which thou acknowledgest must continue it will be acknowledge it will get the victory at the day of Judgment by Men and Angels truth will have the victory it is eternal Take that course for the present that thou mayest be good for the present and hold out to the end as we see the Corinthians here You do acknowledge me and you shall acknowledge me to the end and testifie to the world that you acknowledge the best things and the best persons that you may be one with them by love here and in heaven for ever hereafter I trust you shall acknowledge to the end To shut up this point Let me seal it up with this Make this Quaere to your selves what estate you are in when you come to the Communion whether it be well with you or no if not why will you live any whit at all in the uncertainty of our lives and the shortnesse of them and the danger of the wrath of God when there is so little between you and eternal Damnation in a doubtful in a dangerous estate Are you resolved to be naught then No if you be not Atheists you will not say so Do you intend to be good and come and make your Covenant with God Yes why then resolve to be so A good conscience looks not onely back to sins past to repent of them but for the time to come it resolves to please God in all things and to hold out to the end Some make a mockery of the holy things of God one part of the year they will be holy a rotten foolish affection of people that are Popish In Lent they will use a little austerity O they will please God wondrously but before and after they are devils incarnate so they make that part of the
atheisme how can these men hope for favour from God when he hath sealed his Word with this that as he is true and truth it self his Word is true they shall never enter into heaven So again if this be true that God is true and his Word thereupon is not yea and nay it serves to comfort us many wayes When we are oppressed in the sense of sin If we confesse our sins he is merciful to forgive our sins he that is true hath said it whose Word is not yea and nay but yea trust to it If we doubt of perseverance for the time to come he that hath begun a good work will perfect it to the day of the Lord. He is yea and his Word is yea he is true and his Word is true Again hence for our judgment we learn this truth That the Word of God hath the same ground of truth as God himself therefore it is the Judge of all Controversies of all things questionable in Religion the Word of God is Judge because it is not yea and nay but yea and it is true as God is true And it is Judge of this controversie too whether it be the Word of God The question between the Papists and us is whether the Epistles and the Prophets be the Word of God or no whether is it or no I answer from Apostolical testimony S. Paul saith As God is true his Word is true the true Word of God and All Scripture is given by inspiration The Word of God therefore is the Judge of all Divine truths because it is most certain even as certain as God himself What are the properties of a chief Judge He must be true without errour authentical without appeal such as can from himself without a higher determine He must be infallible without perill of errour All these belong to Gods truth It is yea it is true without errour it is alway yea And then it is authenticall there is nothing higher but God himself whose Word it is and it hath the same authority that himself hath As God is true so it is true It is authenticall without all appeal we cannot go higher then God himself in his Word We cannot call God or Christ from heaven he hath left us his VVord and therefore it is to be credited of it self And it is infallibly true without danger of errour one depends upon another As God is true so our Word is true If God be true infallibly this issues by consequence that the Scripture is the Judge and infallibly true without danger of errour Hence we may know what to judge of that Romish assertion There are no other Judges in the world can be said to be yea alway Councels are not alway yea they are yea and nay what one Councell hath set down another hath reversed In the Councel of Basile the Pope was above the Councel In another Councel that is above the Pope So one Popes decrees thwart another The Popes are yea and nay and not yea for many hundred years they laboured to crosse and thwart one another So Councels and Popes are yea and nay and not alway yea Traditions of the Fathers are yea and nay and not alway yea they thwart themselves S. Austin the best of the Fathers to whom the Church is most chiefly beholding of all the rest he was yea and nay Doth he not retract He wrote a book of Retractations of his former opinions then he was yea and nay and yet a holy man That which is the Judge of controversies must be yea that is infallibly true authentically true that there be not a higher From all others from Fathers and Councels there may be appeal to Scripture but from Scripture to none because it is the Voice and Word of God All things else are yea and nay they are changeable and they may be so without prejudice to the being of them A Councell may be a good Councel and unconstant in many things Fathers may be holy Fathers and uncertain it is onely the prerogative of God to be infallible like himself unchangeable in his nature and his Word is like himself Hence likewise issues this That whatsoever agrees not with the Word of God which is not yea and nay is false and naught Therefore those opinions of the Church of Rome that say they cannot erre if they be not yea with this yea then they are not yea for onely the Word of God is not yea and nay but onely yea that is onely certain and true All other Religions that are not Divine are yea and nay Popery is not grounded upon the Word of God because it is yea and nay that is it is uncertain See how they crosse many wayes this Word of God that is alwayes yea and true as God himself is true Is it yea that they saw no Image of God and therefore they must make and worship no Image Nay saith the Church of Rome they have a nay for this yea they will make Images and worship them the Image of Mary and other Saints Yea saith the Scripture drink ye all of this Nay saith the Church of Rome they have a nay for this yea only the Priest must drink the wine Let the Word dwell plenteously in you is the yea of Scripture The Church of Rome hath a nay for this yea it is dangerous for the people to read the Scripture and therefore they are forbidden it VVe must pray with the understanding as well as with a good affection 1 Cor. 14. that is we must know how we pray it is proved at large excellently Nay understand or not understand so the intention be good saith Rome pray in Latine or howsoever there is their nay to this yea Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers is the yea of Gods Book therefore the soules of the Clergy and whosoever The Church of Rome hath a nay for this yea therefore their doctrine is bad for only God is true and his VVord is only not yea and nay but alway yea infallible therefore that which is contrary to it must needs be false If onely yea be true then that which is contrary to it must needs be false And likewise again if Gods VVord be not yea and nay that is not unconstant then whatsoever is unconstant and thwarts it self in contradictions is not Gods VVord Popery is full of inconstancy full of contradictions to it self First besides inconstancy and uncertainty it is full of contradictions it is yea and nay for a body to be in many places at once and yet a true body to be in a hundred in a million of places at once as they would have Christs body to be in the Sacrament here is to be and not to be a body and no body for it hath not the properties and quantity of a body for a body can be but in one place at one time here is yea and nay For Christ to be a perfect
in the truth is not properly concord but conspiracy consent in a lie in falshood The builders of Babel they had a consent among themselves when they came for a wicked purpose as we see oft-times in Scripture Consent must be in the truth in that which is good or else it is not consent but conspiracy By reason of our weaknesse consent is usefull and that is the reason why in doubtful cases we may alledge Antiquity not that the Word is not sufficient in it self but to help our weaknesse to shew that we do not divert from the truth but that it is a truth warranted by others before In doubtfull cases this is warrantable He brings it likewise to enforce obedience the more when it was a truth brought to them by so many But that is not a thing I mean to stand on a touch is enough That which I will spend a little more time in is the next thing that is That Evangelical doctrine now is most certain Something I spake of it before in the former verse but I have reserved something to speak of it now The Son of God preached by S. Paul with the consent of these blessed men it was not yea and nay it was not unconstant Evangelical truth is not yea and nay and the Preachers of it the Apostles were not yea and nay in the delivering of it As it is true in it self so it was true in the delivery of it they were constant in it they sealed it with their blood some of them How shall we know the doctrine of the Gospel concerning Christ to be yea undoubtedly true I answer how do we know the Sun shines I know it by its own light and by a light that I have in my eye there is an inward light joyned with the outward light So it is in this businesse how do we know Divine truth out of the Book of God to be Divine By the light in it self by the majesty of the Scriptures by the consent of the Old and New Testament by the opposition of the enemies and the confusion of them at the last that have been opposers of it by the miraculous preservation of it and the like But especially by the powerfull work of it on the heart by the experience of this blessed truth I know this to be an undoubted truth I find it quelling my corruptions changing my nature pacifying my conscience raising my heart casting down high imaginations turning the stream of nature another way to make me do that which I thought I should never have done onely because I have a strong light of Divine truth and comfort There is this experience of Christ that a man finds in his soul it sets him down that he can say nothing but that it is Divine truth because he finds it so Besides this the testimony of the Spirit of God and the work of the Spirit in him For as to see there is an outward light required and an inward light in the eye so to see Divine truth there must be a light in it self a Divine sparkle in Gods Book in every passage but yet I must have an eye to see too I cannot see it except God witnesse to my soul that these things are divine that they are yea that they are certainly and infallibly true There is a great difference between us and our adversaries I can but touch it and I need but touch it They say we must believe and we must believe because of the Church I say no The Church we believe hath a kind of working here but that is in the last place For God himself in his Word he is the chief The inward arguments from the Word it self and from the Spirit they are the next the Church is the remotest witnesse the remotest help of all For the Church is but to propound Gods truth to lay it open to be as it were the candlestick now the candlestick shines not but upholds the candle while that shines So the Church is but to propose to set up Divine truth that of it self being set up will enlighten well enough The Church is to set out the Word and to publish it by the Ministery which Word of it self will shine That work which the Church hath therefore is the last and the inferiour for the Spirit of God and the inward majesty of the Word is of more force If a messenger come and bring a relation or bring a letter from one and he tells me many things of the man I but I doubt him because he may be false for ought I know but when I see his hand and seal and his characters and stile that shewes such a spirit to be in him I know by his own characters certainly this comes from the hand of that man Now the messenger brings it and gives it but I believe it because I see the characters and hand and seal of such a one that it is a truth So the Church propounds it is the messenger that brings the truth of God to us but when a Christian soul hears the truth and sees Gods seal upon it there is a majesty and power that works on the soul now we believe not for the messenger but for the thing it self Here is the difference we believe the Scripture for the seal of Divinity that is in it self they believe it for the messenger As if a doubtfull messenger should come that is not certain and a man should believe the things he brought for him for his sake we believe and entertain the messenger for the message sake not the message for the messengers sake our faith is better built then theirs But they say this All comes to this at the last God speaks by the Church as well as by the Scriptures therefore the Church is to be believed more then the Scripture it self I answer God speaks indeed in his Church by his Spirit and by his Word but his speaking by his Word is the cause of his speaking in the Church For what is the Church but begotten by the seed of the Word How is the Church a Church but by the Word Therefore he speaks first by the Scriptures there is a majestie and a Spirit in the Scriptures and then he speaks by the Church as cleaving to the Scriptures in a secondary manner He speaks by the Church mediately because that goes to the Word which speaks immediately The Word was written by men led immediately by the Spirit of God and the Church relying on that he speaks by them in the Church but primarily by his Word Having just occasion I thought to touch this Undoubtedly there are none that are not led with partiality but incomparably they see our faith is built on a better foundation then theirs they have a rotten foundation They talk of a Church and when all comes to all the Church their mother is nothing but the Pope their father What is their Church but the Pope
things Magistrates and Officers go with their broad Seal and deliver things that they would have carried with authority sealed and the Seal of the Prince is the authority of the Prince so that a Seal is to make things authentical to give validity to things answerable to the value and esteem of him that seales These four principal uses there is of sealing Now God by his Spirit doth all these for God by his Spirit sets the stamp and likenesse of Christ upon us he distinguisheth us from others from the great refuse of the world he appropriates us to himself and like wise he authorizeth us and puts an excellency upon us to secure us against all when we have Gods Seal upon us we stand against all accusations Who shall separate us from the love of God we dare defâ—… all objections and all accusations of conscience whatsoever a man that hath Gods Seal he stands impregnable it so authorizeth him in his conscience for it is given us for our assurance and not for Gods God seales not because he is ignorant He knowes who are his But what is the Spirit it self this seal or the graces of the Spirit or the comforts of the Spirit what is this seal for that is the question now whether the Spirit it self or the work of the Spirit or the comfort and joy of the Spirit I answer indeed the Spirit of God where it is is a sufficient seal to us that God hath set us out for his for whosoever hath the Spirit of Christ is his and whosoever hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his but the Spirit is the Authour of this sealing and the sealing that is in us is wrought by the Spirit so that except you take the Spirit for that which is wrought by the Spirit you have not the right comprehension of sealing and so the Spirit with that which the Spirit works is the seal for the Spirit is alway with his own seal with his own stamp Other seales are removed from the stamp and the stamp remains though the seal be gone but the Spirit of God dwells and keeps a perpetual residence in the heart of a Christian guiding him moving him enlightning of him governing him comforting him doing all offices of a seal in his heart till he have brought him to heaven for the Holy Ghost never leaves us it is the sweetest inhabitant that ever lodging was given to he doth all that is done in the soul and he is perpetually with his own work in joy and comfort though he seems sometimes to be in a corner of the heart and is not discernable yet he alway dwells in us the Spirit is alwayes with the stamp it sets upon the soul. What is that stamp then to come to the matter more particularly what is that that the Spirit seales us with especially what is that work I answer the Spirit works in this order for the most part and in some of these universally First the Spirit doth together with the Word which is the instrument of the Spirit the Chariot in which it is carried convince us of the evil that is in us and of the ill estate we are in by reason thereof it convinceth us that we are sinners and of the fearful estate that we are in by sin this is the first work of the Spirit on a man in the state of nature it convinceth us of the ill that is in us and of the ill due unto us and thereupon it abaseth us therefore it is called the Spirit of bondage because it makes a man tremble and quake till he see his peace in Christ. When the Spirit hath done that then it convinceth a man by a better by a sweeter light discovering a remedy in Christ who is sealed of God to reconcile God and us And as he enlightneth the soul convinceth it of the all-sufficiency that is in Christ and the authority that he hath being sent and sealed of God for that purpose so he works on the affections he inclines the heart to go to God in Christ and to cast himself on him by faith Now when the soul is thus convinced of the evil that is in us and of the good that is in Christ and with this convincing is enclined and moved by the holy Spirit as indeed the holy Spirit doth all then upon this the Spirit vouchsafeth a superadded work as the Spirit doth still adde to his own work he addes a confirming work which is here called Sealing that seal is not faith for the Apostle saith After you believed ye were sealed so that this sealing is not the work of faith but it is a work of the Spirit upon faith assuring the soul of its estate in grace But what need confirmation when we believe Is not faith confirmation enough when a man may by a reflect act of the soul know that he is in the state of grace by believing It is true as the natural conscience knows what is in a man as the natural judgment can reflect so the spiritual understanding can reflect and when he believes he knowes that he believes without the Spirit by the reflect act of the understanding except he be in case of temptaton what needs sealing then This act of ours in believing and the knowledge of our believing it is oft terribly shaken and God is wondrous desirous as we see by the whole passage of the Scripture that we should be secure of his love he knowes that he can have no glory and we can have no comfort else and rherefore when we by faith have sealed to his truth he knowes that we need still further sealing that our faith be current and good and to strengthen our faith for all is little enough in the time of temptation and therefore the single witnesse of our soul by the reflect act knowing that we do believe when we do believe it is not strong enough in great temptations for in some tryals the soul is so carried and hurried that it cannot reflect upon it self nor know what is in it self without much ado therefore first the Spirit works faith whereby we seal Gods truth Joh. 3. He that believes hath put to his seal that God is true when God by his Spirit moves me to honour him by sealing his truth that Whosoever believes in Christ shall be saved then God seales this my belief with an addition of his holy Spirit so that this sealing is a work upon believing and as faith honours God so God honours faith with a superadded seal and confirmation But yet we not come particularly enough to know what this Seal is When we honour God by sealing his truth then the Spirit seales us certainly then the Spirit doth it by presence by being with us in our soules What then doth the Spirit work when we believe How shall we know that there is such a spiritual sealing I answer the Spirit in this seaâ—…g works these four things First a secret voyce or