choice notions and excellent truthes Arrius himself and other dangerous instruments of Satan were too wise to stuffe their discourses with nothing but heterodoxe matter precious truths dropt from them with which they sprinkled their corrupt principles yet with such Art as should not easily be discerned This as one observs our Saviour warns his disciples of when he bids them beware of the leaven of the Pharisees that is of their errours But why leaven for the secret mixture of it with the wholesom bread you do not make your bread all of leaven none would then eate it but crumble a little into a whole batch which sowers all thus Christ doth tell the disciples that the Pharisees among many truths mixe their errours and therefore it behoves them to beware lest with the truth the errour goes down also Again leaven is very like the dough of the same grain with it only differs in age and sourenesse thus Christ intimates the resemblance of their errours to the truth scraped as it were out of the Scriptures but sowered with their own false glosses This indeed makes it easie for Christs sheep to be infected with the scab of errour because that weed which breeds the rot is so like the grasse that nourisheth them Thirdly their subtilty appears in holding forth such principles as are indulgent to the flesh This brings in whole shoales of silly soules into their net the heart of man loves of life to shape a Religion according to its own humour and is easie to believe that to be a truth which favours its own inclination Now there are three lusts that Satans instruments labour to gratifie in their doctrine Carnal Reason Pride and steshly Liberty First Carnal reason this is the great idol which the more intelligent part of the world worship making it the very standard of their faith and from this bitter root have sprung those Arrian and Socinian heresies And truly he that will go no further then reason will carry him may hold out in the plain way of the Moral Law but when he comes to the depths of the Gospel must either go back or be content that faith should help reason over Secondly another lust that Satan cockers is pride Man naturally would be a god to himself though for clambering so high he got his fall and whatever doctrine nourisheth a good opinion of man in his own eye this is acceptable to him and this hath spawned another fry of dangerous errours The Pelagian and semi-Pelagian which set nature upon its own legs and perswade man he can go alone to Christ or at least with a little external help of an hand to lead or argument to excite without any creating work in the soule O we cannot conceive how glib such stuffe goes down If one Workman should tell you that your house is rotten and must be pull'd down and all new materials prepared and another should say no such matter such a beam is good and such a sparre may stand a little cost will serve the turne it were no wonder that you should listen to him that would put you to least cost and trouble the faithful servants of Christ tell sinners from the Word that man in his natural state is corrupt and rotten that nothing of the old frame will serve and there must needs be all new but in comes an Arminian and blows up the sinners pride and tells him he is not so weak or wicked as the other represents him if thou wilt thou mayest repent and beleeve or at least by exerting thy natural abilities oblige God to superadde what thou hast not This is the Workman that will please proud man best Thirdly Satan by his instruments nourisheth that desire of fleshly liberty which is in man by nature who is a son of Belial without yoke and if he must wear any that will please best which hath the softest lining and pincheth the flesh least and therefore when the sincere teachers of the Word will not abate of the strictnesse of the command but presse sincere obedience to it then come Satans instruments and say these are hard task-masters who will not allow one play-day in a yeare to the Christian but tie him to continual duty we 'll shew you an easier way to heaven Come saith the Papist confesse but once a year to the Priest pay him well for his paines and be an obedient son of the Church and we 'll dispense with all the rest Come saith the Familist the Gospel-Charter allows more liberty then these legal Preachers tell you of they bid you repent and believe when Christ hath done all these to your hand What have you left to do but to nourish the flesh something sure is in it that Impostors finde such quick return for their ware while Truth hangs upon the log and is it not this that they are content to afford heaven cheaper to their disciples then Christ will to his He that sells cheapest shall have most customers though at last best will be best cheap Truth with self-denial a better penny-worth then errour with all its flesh-pleasing Thirdly Satan makes choice of such as have a great name for holinesse none to a live bird to draw other birds into the net But is it possible that such should do this work for the devil yes such is the policy of Satan and the frailty of the best that the most holy men have been his instruments to seduce others Abraham he tempts his wife to lie Say thou art my Sister The old Prophet leads the man of God out of his way 1 Kings 13. the holiness of the man and the reverence of his age 't is like gave authority to his counsel O how should this make you watchful whose long travel and great progresse in the wayes of God have gained you a name of eminency in the Church what you say do or hold because you are file-leading men and others look more on you then their way Fourthly Satan chooseth such as by relation or affection have deep interest in the persons he would gain Some will kisse the childe for the Nurses sake and like the Present for the hand that brings it 'T is like David would not have received that from Nabal which he took from Abigail and thanks her Satan sent the apple by Eves hand to Adam Delilah doth more with Samson then all the Philistines bands Jobs wife brings him the poison Curse God and die Some think Satan spared her life when he slew his children and servants though she was also within his Commission as the most likely instrument by reason of her relation and his affection to lead him into temptation Satan employes Peter a disciple to tempt Christ at another time his friends and kinsfolk Some Martyrs have confest the hardest work they met withal was to overcome the prayers and tears of their friends and relations Paul himself could not get off this snare without heart-breaking What mean ye to weep and to
of these then the other There is hardly a fleshly lust but hath some spiritual sinne analogical to it as they say there is no species of creatures on the land but may be pattern'd in the sea Thus the heart of man can produce spiritual sinnes answering carnal lusts for whoredom and uncleannesse of the flesh there is idolatry call'd in Scripture spiritual adultery from which the seat of Antichrist is call'd spiritual Sodom for sensual drunkennesse there is a drunkennesse of the minde intoxicating the judgement with errour a drunkennesse of the heart in cares and feares for carnal pride in beauty riches honour there is a spiritual pride of gifts graces c. Now Satan in an especial manner assaults the Christian with such as these it would require a larger discourse then I can allow to runne over the several kindes of them I shall of many pick out two or three As first Satan labours to corrupt the mind with erroneous principles he was at work at the very first plantation of the Gospel sowing his darnel assoon almost as Christ his wheate which sprung up in pernicious errours even in the Apostles times which made them take the weeding-hook into their hands and in all their Epistles labour to countermine Satan in this design Now Satan hath a double design in this his endeavour to corrupt the mindes of men especially Professours with errour SECT I. First he doth this in despite to God against whom he cannot vent his malice at a higher rate then by corrupting his truth which God hath so highly honoured Psal 138.2 Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Every creature bears the Name of God but in his Word and truth therein contained 't is writ at length and therefore he is more choice of this then of all his other works he cares not much what becomes of the world and all in it so he keeps his Word and saves his truth Ere long we shall see the world on a light flame the heavens and earth shall passe away but the Word of the Lord endures for ever When God will he can make more such worlds as this is but he cannot make another truth and therefore he will not lose one iota thereof Satan knowing this sets all his wits on work to deface this truth and disfigure it by unsound doctrine The Word is the glasse in which we see God and seeing him are changed into his likenesse by his Spirit If this glasse be crackt then our conceptions we have of God will mis-repesent him unto us whereas the Word in its native clearnesse sets him out in all his glory unto our eye Secondly he endeavours to draw into this spiritual sin of errour as the most subtil and effectual means to weaken if not destroy the power of godlinesse in them The Apostle joynes the Spirit of power and a sound minde together 2 Tim 1.7 Indeed the power of holinesse in practice depends much on the foundnesse of judgement Godlinesse is the childe of truth and it must be nurst if we will have it thrive with no other milk then of its own mother Therefore we are exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow 1 Pet. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if this milk be but a little dash't with errour it is not so nutritive All errour how innocent soever any may seem like the Ivy draws away the strength of the souls love from holinesse Hosea tells us Whoredom and wine take away the heart now errour is spiritual adultery Paul speaks of his espousing them to Christ when a person receives an errour he takes a stranger into Christs bed and it is the nature of adulterous love to take away the wises heart from her true husband that she delights not in his company so much as of her adulterous lover and do we not see it at this day fulfill'd do not many shew more zeal in contending for one errour then for many truths how strangely are the hearts of many taken off from the wayes of God their love cool'd to the Ordinances and Messengers of Christ and all this occasioned by some corrupt principle got into their bosomes which controuls Christ and his truth as Hagar and her son did Sarah and her childe Indeed Christ will never enjoy true conjugal love from the soule till like Abraham he turns these out of doors Errour is not so innocent a thing as many think it it is as unwholesome food to the body that poisons the spirits and surfeits the whole body which seldom passeth away and not break out into sores As the knowledge of Christ carries a soule above the pollutions of the world so errour entangles and betrayes it to those lusts whose hands it had escaped Thirdly Satan in drawing a soule into this spiritual sin hath a designe to disturb the peace of the Church which is rent and shattered when this fire-ship comes among them I hear saith Paul there are divisions among you and I partly beleeve it for there must be heresies 1 Cor. 11.18 19. implying that divisions are the natural issue of heresie Errour cannot well agree with errour except it be against the truth then indeed like Pilate and Herod they are easily made friends but when truth seems to be overcome and the battel is over with that then they fall out among themselves and therefore it is no wonder if it be so troublesom a neighbour to truth O Sirs what a sweet silence and peace was there among Christians a dozen years ago me thinks the looking back to those blessed dayes in this respect though they had also another way their troubles yet not so uncomfortable because that storme united this scatters the Saints spirits is joyous to remember in what unity and love Christians walk't that the Persecutors of those times might have said as their Predecessours did of the Saints in primitive times See how they love one another but now alas they may jeere and say See how they that loved so dearly are ready to pluck one anothers throats out SECT II. The application of this shall be only in a word of exhortation to all especially you who bear the Name of Christ by a more eminent Profession of him O beware of this soul-infection this leprosie of the head I hope you do not think it needlesse for 't is the disease of the times This plague is begun yea spreads apace not a flock a Congregation hardly that hath not this scab among them Paul was a Preacher the best of us all may write after and he presseth this home upon the Saints yea in the constant course of his preaching it made a piece of his Sermon Acts 20.30 31. he sets us Preachers also on this work Take heed to your selves and to all the flock for I know this that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things therefore watch And then he presents his
enlarged in duty most assisted in his Christian course Remember Christian when thou hast thy best suit on who made it who paid for it Thy grace thy comfort is neither the work of thy own hands nor the price of thy own desert be not for shame proud of anothers cost That assistance will not long stay which becomes a nurse to thy pride thou art not Lord of that assistance thou hast Thy Father is wise who when he alloweth thee most for thy spiritual maintenance even then keeps the Law in his own hands and can soon curb thee if thou growest wanton with his grace Walk humbly therefore before thy God and husband well that strength thou hast remembring that it is borrowed strength Nemo prodiget quod mendicat Who will waste what he begs or who will give that beggar that spends idly his almes when thou hast most thou canst not be long from thy God his door And how canst thou look him on the face for more who hast imbezell'd what thou hast received CHAP. III. Of acting our faith on the Almighty Power of God THe third Branch followeth which contains an encouraging Amplification annexed to the exhortation in these words And in the Power of his might where a twofold enquiry is requisite for the explication of the phrase First what these words import The Power of his might Secondly what it is to be strong in the Power of his might For the first the Power of his might It is an Hebraism imports nothing but his mighty Power like that phrase Eph. 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his grace that is to the praise of his glorious grace And his mighty Power imports no lesse then his Almighty Power sometimes the Lord is stiled mighty and strong as Ps 24.8 sometimes most mighty sometimes Almighty no lesse is meant in all then Gods infinite Almighty Power For the second to be strong in the mighty Power or Power of the Lords might implies these two acts of faith First a setled firme perswasion that the Lord is Almighty in Power Be strong in the Power of his might that is be strongly rooted in your faith concerning this one foundation-truth that God is Almighty Secondly it implies a further act of faith not only to believe that God is Almighty but also that this Almighty Power of God is engaged for its defence so as to bear up in the midst of all trials and temptations undauntedly leaning on the arme of God Almighty as if it were his own strength for that is the Apostles drift as to beat us off from leaning on our own strength so to encourage the Christian to make use of Gods Almighty Power as freely as if it were his own when ever assaulted by Satan in any kinde As a man set upon by a thief stirs up all the force and strength he hath in his whole body to defend himself and offend his adversary so the Apostle bids the Christian be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might that is Soul away to thy God whose mighty Power is all intended and devoted by God himself for thy succour and defence Go strengthen and entrench thy selfe in it by a stedfast faith as that which shall be laid out to the utmost for thy good From whence these two Notes I conceive will draw out the fatnesse of the words 1. That it should be the Christians great care and endeavour in all temptations and trials to strengthen his faith on the Almighty Power of God 2. The Christians duty and care is not only to believe that God is Almighty but strongly by faith to rest on this Almighty Power of God as engaged for his help and succour in all his trials and temptations First it should be the Christians great care in all temptations and trials to strengthen his faith on the Almighty Power of God When God holds forth himselfe as an object of the souls trust and confidence in any great strait or undertaking commonly this attribute of his Almighty power is presented in the promise as the surest hold fast for faith to lay hold on as a Father in rugged way gives his childe his arme to lay hold by so doth God usually reach forth his Almighty power for his Saints to exercise their faith on Abraham Isaac and Jacob whose faith God tried above most of his Saints before or since for not one of those great things which were promised to them did they live to see performed in their dayes and how doth God make known himself to them for their support but by displaying this Attribute Exod. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the Name of God Almighty This was all they had to keep house with all their dayes with which they lived comfortably and died triumphantly bequeathing the promise to their children not doubting because God Almighty had promised of the performance Thus Isa 26. where great mercies are promised to Judah and a Song penn'd before-hand to be sung on that gaudie day of their salvation yet because there was a sharp Winter of Captivity to come between the Promise and the Spring-time of the promise therefore to keep their faith alive in this space the Prophet calls them up to act their faith on God Almighty v. 4. Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength So when his Saints are going into the furnace of persecution what now doth he direct their faith to carry to prison to stake with them but this Almighty power 1 Pet. 4.19 Let them that suffer commit the keeping of their souls to him as to a faithful Creatour Creatour is a name of Almighty Power we shall now give some Reasons of the Point Reas 1 First because it is no easie work to make use of this truth how plain and clear soever it now appears in great plunges of temptation that God is Almighty To vindicate this Name of God from those evil reports which Satan and carnal Reason raise against it requires a strong faith indeed I confesse this principle is a piece of natural divinity That light which finds out a Deity will evince if followed close this God to be Almighty yet in a carnal heart it is like a rusty sword hardly drawn out of the scabbard and so of little or no use Such truths are so imprisoned in natural conscience that they seldome get a faire hearing in the sinners bosome till God gives them a Goal-delivery and brings them out of their house of bondage where they are shut up in unrighteousnesse with a high hand of his convincing Spirit Then and not till then the soule will believe God is holy merciful Almighty nay some of Gods peculiar people and not the meanest for grace amongst them have had their faith for a time set in this slough much ado to get over those difficulties and improbabilities which sense and Reason have objected so as to relie on the Almighty Power of
concerning some truth or promise but then hath a spiritual eye which the Christlesse person wants and so is darknesse And this darknesse cannot be enlightened but by its union with Christ which is exprest in the following phrase But now are ye light in the Lord. As the eye of the body once put out can never be restored by the creatures Art so neither can the spiritual eye lost by Adams sin be restored by the teaching of men or Angels It is one of the diseases which Christ came to cure Luke 4.18 'T is true there is a light of reason which is imparted to every man by nature but this light is darknesse compared with the Saints As the night is dark to the day even when the moon is in its full glory This night-light of Reason may save a person from some ditch or pond great and broad sins but it will never help him to escape the more secret corruptions which the Saint sees like atomes in the beams of spiritual knowledge There is such curious work the creature is to do which cannot be wrought by candle-light of natural knowledge Nay more where the common illumination of the Spirit is superadded to this light of nature yet that is darknesse compar'd with the sanctifying knowledge of a renewed soule which doth both discover spiritual truths and warme the heart at the same time with the love of truth having like the Sun a prolifical and quickening vertue which the other wants so that the heart lies under such common illuminations cold and dead He hath no more strength to resist Satan then if he knew not the command whereas the Christians knowledge even when taken Prisoner by a temptation pursues and brings back the soul as Abraham his Nephew out of the enemies hands which hints the third Thirdly the Christlesse state is a state of impotency Rom. 5. When we were without strength Christ came to die for the ungodly What can a disarm'd people that have not sword or gun do to shake off the yoke of a conquering enemie Such a power hath Satan over the soule Luke 11.21 he is call'd the strong man that keeps the soule as his Palace If he hath no disturbance from heaven he need feare no mutiny within he keeps all in peace there What the Spirit of God doth in a Saint that in a manner doth Satan in a sinner The Spirit fills the heart of his with love joy holy desires feares so Satan fills the sinners heart with pride lust lying Why hath Satan filled thy heart saith Peter And thus fill'd with Satan as the drunkard with wine he is not his own man but Satans slave Fourthly the state of unregeneracy is a state of friendship with sin and Satan If it be enmity against God as it is then friendship with Satan Now it will be hard to make that soule fight in earnest against his friend Is Satan divided will the devil within fight against the devil without Satan in the heart shut out Satan at the door sometimes indeed there appears a scuffle between Satan and a carnal heart but it is a meer cheat like the fighting of two fencers on a stage you would think at first they were in earnest but observing how wary they are where they hit one another you may soon know they do not mean to kill and that which puts all out of doubt when the prize is done you shall see them making merry together with what they have got of their Spectatours which was all they fought for when a carnal heart makes the greatest bussle against sin by complaining of it or praying against it follow him but off the stage of duty where he hath gained the reputation of a Saint the prize he fights for and you shall see them sit as friendly together in a corner as ever Vse 1 First this takes away the wonder of Satans great Conquests in the world when you look abroad and see his vast Empire and what a little spot of ground contains Christs subjects what heaps of precious souls lie prostrate under this foot of pride and what a little regiment of Saints march under Christs banner perhaps the strangenesse of the thing may make you ask Is hell stronger then heaven the armes of Satan more victorious then the Crosse of Christ No such matter Consider but this one thing and you will wonder that Christ hath any to follow him rather then that he hath so few Satan findes the world unarm'd when the Prince of the world comes he findes nothing to oppose the whole soule is in a disposition to yield at first summons and if Conscience Governour for God in the creature stands out a while all the other powers as will and affections are in a discontent like mutinous souldiers in a garrison who never rest till they have brought over conscience to yield or against its command set open the City gate to the enemie and so deliver traiterously their conscience prisoner to their lusts But when Christ comes to demand the soul he meets a scornful answer Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of the most High We will not have this man to reign over us With one consent they vote against him and rise up as the Philistines against Samson whom they call'd the Destroyer of the countrey Ye will not come unto me saith Christ O how true are poor sinners to the devils trust They will not deliver the Castle they hold for Satan till fired over their heads Pharaoh opposeth Moses on one hand and Israel cry out upon him on the other Such measure hath Christ both at Satans hand and the sinners That which lessened Alexanders Conquests was he overcame a people buried in barbarisme without armes or discipline of war and that which heightened Cesars though not so many he overcame a people more warlike and furnish't Satans victories are of poor ignorant gracelesse souls who have neither armes nor hands nor hearts to oppose but when he assaults a Saint then he sits down before a city with gates and bars and ever riseth with shame unable to take the weakest hold to pluck the weakest Saint out of Christs hands but Christ brings souls out of his dominion with a high hand in spite of all the force and fury of hell which like Pharaoh and his hoste pursue them Vse 2 Secondly this gives us a reason why the devil hath so great a spite against the Gospel Why because this opens a magazine of armes and furniture for the soule the Word is that Tower of David Cant. 4.4 built for an Armourie wherein there hang a thousand bucklers all the shields of mighty men Hence the Saints have ever had their armour and the preaching of the Gospel unlocks it As Gospel-light ascends so Satans shady Kingdom of darknesse vanisheth Rev. 14.6 there one Angel comes forth to preach the everlasting Gospel and another Angel followes at his back verse 8. crying Victoria Babylon is fallen is fallen The very first
Apostle Peter in his second Epistle chap. 1. ver 5 6 7. presseth the Christian to a joynt endeavour to encrease the whole body of grace indeed that is health when the whole body thrives Adde saith he to your faith vertue Faith is the file-leading grace Well hast thou faith adde vertue True faith is of a working stirring nature without good works it is dead or dying Fides pinguescit operibus Luther 'T is kept in plight and heart by a holy life as the flesh which plaisters over the frame of mans body though it receives its heat from the vitals within yet helps to preserve the very life of those vitals thus good works and gracious actions have their life from faith yet are necessary helps to preserve the life of faith thus we see sometimes the childe nursing the Parent that bare it and therein performes but his duty Thou art fruitful in good works yet thou art not out of the devils shot except thou addest to thy vertue knowledge This is the candle without which faith cannot see to do its work Art thou going to give an almes if it be not oculata charitas if charity hath not this eye of knowledge to direct when how what and to whom thou art to give thou mayest at once wrong God the person thou relievest and thy self Art thou humbling thy selfe for thy sin for want of knowledge in the tenour of the Gospel Satan may play upon thy ignorance and either perswade thee thou art not humbled enough when God knowes thou art almost quackled with thy teares and even carried down by the impetuous torrent of thy sorrow into despair or else shewing thee thy blubber'd face may flatter thee into a carnal confidence of thy humiliation Perhaps thou seest the Name of God dishonoured in the place where thou livest and thy spirit is stirred within thee as Pauls at Athens now if knowledge sits not in the saddle to reine and bridle in thy zeal thou wilt be soon carried over hedge and ditch till thou fallest into some precipice or other by thy irregular acting Neither is knowledge enough except thou beest arm'd with Temperance which here I conceive is that grace whereby the Christian as Master of his own house so orders his affections like servants to reason and faith that they do not irregularly move or inordinately lash out into desires of cares for or joy in the creature-comforts of this life without which Satan will be too hard for thee The Historian tells us that in one of the famous battels between the English and French that which lost the French the day was a shower of English arrowes which did so gall their horse as put the whole army into disorder their horse knowing no ranks did tread down their own men The affections are but as the horse to the Rider on which knowledge should be mounted if Satans barbed arrows light on them so that thy desires of the creature prove unruly and justle with thy desires of Christ thy care to keepe thy credit or estate put thy care to keep a good conscience to disorder and thy carnal joy in wife and childe trample down or get before thy joy in the Lord judge on which side victory is like to fal Well suppose thou marchest provided thus far in goodly array towards heaven while thou art swimming in prosperity most thou not also prepare for foule way and weather I mean an afflicted estate Satan will line the hedges with a thousand temptations when thou comest into the narrow lanes of adversity where thou canst not run from this sort of temptation as in the Champaigne of prosperity Possibly thou that didst escape the snare of an alluring world mayest be dismounted by the same when it frownes though temperance kept thee from being drunk with the sweet wines of those pleasures yet for want of patience thou mayest be drunk with the wine of astonishment which is in afflictions hand therefore saith the Apostle to temperance adde patience either possesse thy self in patience or else some raving devil of discontent will possesse thee An impatient soule in affliction is a bedlam in chains yea too like the devil in his chaines that rageth against God while he is fettered by him Well hast thou patience an excellent grace indeed but not enough thou must be a pious man as well as a patient Therefore saith the Apostle to patience adde godlinesse There is an atheistical stupid patience and there is a godly Christian patience Satan numbs the conscience of the one and no wonder he complains not that feels not but the Spirit of Christ sweetly calmes the other not by taking away the sense of paine but by overcoming it with the sense of his love Now godlinesse comprehends the whole worship of God inward and outward If thou beest never so exact in thy morals and not a worshipper of God then thou art an Atheist If thou doest worship God and that devoutly but not by Scripture-rule thou art an idolater If according to the rule but not in Spirit and truth then thou art an hypocrite and so fallest into the devils mouth Or if thou doest give God one piece of his worship and denyest another still Satan comes to his market Prov. 28.9 He that turneth back his eare from hearing the Law his prayer is an abomination to the Lord. Yet Christian all thy Armour is not on Thy godlinesse indeed would suffice wert thou to live in a world by thy self or hadst nothing to do but immediate communion with God But Christian thou must not always dwell on this mount of immediate worship and when thou descendest thou hast many brethren and servants to thy Father who live with thee in the same family and thou must comport thy self becomingly or else thy Father will be angry First thou hast brethren heires of the same promise with thee therefore you must adde to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse If Satan can set you at odds he gives a deep wound to your godlinesse You will hardly joyne hearts in a duty that cannot joyne hands in love Secondly there are not only brethren but servants a multitude of profane carnal ones who though they never had the names of sons and daughters yet retain to Gods family and thy heavenly Father will have thee walk unblameably yea winningly to those that are without which that thou mayest do thou must adde to brotherly kindnesse charity by which grace thou shalt be willing to do good to the worst of men when they curse thee thou must pray for them yea pray for no lesse then a Christ a heaven for them Father forgive them said Christ while they were raking in his side for his heart-blood And truly I am perswaded the want of this last piece of armour hath given Satan great advantage in these our times We are so afraid our charity should be too broad whereas in this sense if it be not as wide as the world it is too strait for the
commonly made of the Christians wood First he tempts to sin and then for it Satan is but a creature and cannot work without tooles he can indeed make much of a little but not any thing of nothing as we see in his assaulting of Christ where he troubled himself to little purpose because he came and found nothing in him Though the devil throws the stone yet 't is the mud in us which royles our comforts 'T was in vaine for the Philistines to fall on Samson till his lock was cut take heed therefore of yielding to his enticing motions these are the stumbling block at which he hopes thou'lt break thy shins and bruise thy conscience which once done let him alone to spin out the cure Indeed a Saints flesh heals not so easily as others drink not of the devils wassel there is poison in the cup his wine is a mocker look not on it as it sparkles in the temptation what thou drinkest down with sweetnesse thou wilt be sure to bring up again as gall and wormwood Above all sins take heed of presumptuous ones thou art not out of the danger of such Sad stories we have of Saints falls and what follows then Take him Jailor saith God Deliver such a one unto Satan and if a Saint be the Prisoner and the devil the Keeper you may guesse how he shall be used O how he will teare and rend thy conscience Though that dreadful Ordinance is not used as it should be in the Church yet Gods Court sits and if he excommunicate a soule from his presence he falls presently into Satans clutches Well if through his subtilty thou hast been overtaken take heed thou stayest not in the devils quarters shake the viper off thy hand ply thee to thy Chirurgeon green wounds cure best but if thou neglectest and the winde get to it thy conscience will soon fester Ahab we read was wounded in battel and was loath to yield to it it is said he was held up in his chariot but he died for it when a soule hath received a wound committed a sin Satan labours to boulster him up with flattering hopes holds him up as it were in his chariot against God what yield for this afraid for a little scratch and lose the spoile of thy future pleasure for this O take heed of listening to such counsel the sooner thou yieldest the fairer quarter thou shalt have Every step in this way sets thee further from thy peace A rent garment is catch't by every naile and the rent made wider Renew therefore thy repentance speedily whereby this breach may be made up and worse prevented which else will befall thee SECT II. 2ly study that grand Gospel-truth of a souls justification before God acquaint thy self with this in all its causes the moving cause the free mercy of God Being justified freely by his grace the meritorious which is the blood of Christ and the instrumental faith with all the sweet priviledges that flow from it An effectual door once open'd to let the soul into this truth would not only spoil the Popes market as Gardner said but the devils also when Satan coms to disquiet the Christians peace for want of a right understanding here he is soon worsted by his enemy as the silly hare which might escape the dogs in some covert or burrough that is at hand but trusting to her heels is by the print of her owne feet and sent which she leaves behinde followed till at last weary and spent she falls into the mouth of them In all that a Christian doth there is a print of sinful infirmity and a sent by which Satan is enabled to trace and pursue him over hedge and ditch this grace and that duty till the soule not able to stand before the accusation of Satan is ready to fall down in despair at his feet whereas here 's a hiding place whither the enemy durst not come the clefts of the rock the hole of the staires which this truth leads unto When Satan chargeth thee for a sinner perhaps thou interposest thy repentance and reformation but soon art beaten out of those works when thou art shewen the sinful mixtures that are in them whereas this truth would choak all his bullets that thou believest on him who hath said Not unto him that worketh but unto him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is imputed for righteousnesse Get therefore into this tower of the Gospel-Covenant and rowle this truth as she that stone on the head of Abimelech on the head of Satan SECT III. Thirdly be sure Christian thou keepest the Plains Take heed that Satan coop thee not up in some straits where thou canst neither well fight nor flie Such a trap the Egyptians hoped they had the Israelites in when they cried They are entangled they are entangled There are three kindes of straits wherein he labours to entrap the Christians Nice Questions obscure Scriptures and dark Providences First he labours to puzzle him with nice and scrupulous questions on purpose to retard the work and clog him in his motion that meeting with such intricacies in his Christian course which he cannot easily resolve thereby he may be made either to give over or go on heavily therefore we have particular charge not to trouble the weak heads of young Converts with doubtful disputations Sometimes Satan will be asking the soul how it knowes its election and where he findes one not so fully resolved as to dare to own the same he frames his Argument against such a ones closing with Christ and the promise as if it were presumption to assume that which is the only portion of the Elect before we know our selves of that number Now Christian keep the Plains and thou art safe 'T is plain we are not to make Election a ground for our faith but our faith and calling a medium or argument to prove our Election Election indeed is first in order of divine acting God chooseth before we beleeve yet faith is first in our acting We must believe before we can know we are elected yea by believing we know it The Husbandman knowes 't is Spring by the sprouting of the grasse though he hath no Astrology to know the Position of the Heavens thou mayest know thou art Elect as surely by a work of grace in thee as if thou hadst stood by Gods elbowe when he writ thy name in the book of life It had been presumption for David to have thought he should have been King till Samuel anointed him but then none at all when thou believest first and closest with Christ then is the Spirit of God sent to anoint thee to the Kingdom of Heaven this is that holy oyle which is poured upon none but heires of glory and 't is no presumption to reade what Gods gracious purpose was towards thee of old when he prints those his thoughts and makes them legible in thy effectual calling here thou
heart or thine own Or meanest thou to apply thy self to thy old Lord in whose service thou hast undone thy soule and cry to him as she to Ahab Help O King Alas thine eye shall see him in the same condemnation with thy self Hadst thou not better now renounce the devils rule while thou mayest be received into Christs Government poure out thy tears and cries now for mercy and grace when they are to be had then to save them for another world to no purpose Quest But possibly thou wilt say How may I that am a home-borne slave to sin yea who have lived so many yeares under his cursed rule get out of his dominion and power and be translated into the Kingdom of Christ Answ The difficulty of this great work lies not in prevailing with Christ to receive thee for his subject who refuseth none that in truth of heart desire to come under his shadow It doth not stand with his designe to reject any such Do Physicians use to chide their Patients away Lawyers their Clients or Generals discourage those who fall off from the enemy and come to their side surely no. When David was in the field 't is said 1 Sam. 22.2 Every one that was in distresse in debt or in discontent gathered themselves to him and he became a Captain over them And so will Christ be to every one that is truly discontented with Satans Government and upon an inward dislike thereof repairs to him But the maine businesse will be to take thee off from thy engagements to thy lusts and Satan till which be done Christ will not own thee as a subject but look on thee as a Spy It fares with sinners as with servants There may be fallings out between them and their Masters and high words passe between them that you would think they would take up their pack and be gone in all haste but the fray is soon over and by next morning all is forgot and the servants are as hard at their work as ever O how oft are sinners taking their leave of their lusts and giving warning to their old Masters they will repent and reform and what not but in a few dayes they have repented of their repentance and deformed their reformings which shewes they were drunk with some passion when they thought or spake this and no wonder they reverse all when they come to their true temper Now because Satan has many policies by which he useth to keep his hold of sinners I shall discover some of them which if thou canst withstand it will be no hard matter to bring thee out of his power and rule First Satan doth his utmost that sinners may not have any serious thoughts of the miserable state they are in while under his rule or heare any thing from others which might the least unsettle their mindes from his service Consideration he knowes is the first step to repentance He that doth not consider his wayes what they are and whither they lead him is not like to change them in haste Israel stirr'd not while Moses came and had some discourse with them about their woful slavery and the gracious thoughts of God towards them and then they begin to desire to be gone Pharaoh soon bethought him what consequence might follow upon this and cunningly labours to prevent by doubling their task Ye are idle ye are idle therefore ye say Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go thorefore and work Exod. 5.17 18. As if he had said Have you so much spare time to think of gadding into the wildernesse and have you your seditious Conventicles Moses and you to lay your plots together I 'le break the knot give them more work scatter them all over the land to gather straw that they may not meet to entice one anothers hearts from my service Thus Satan is very jealous of the sinner afraid every Christian that speaks to him or Ordinance he hears should inveigle him By his good-will he should come at neither no nor have a thought of heaven or hell from one end of the week to the other and that he may have as few as may be he keeps him full-handed with work The sinner grindes and he is filling the hopper that the Mill may not stand still He is with the sinner as soone as he wakes and fills his wretched heart with some wicked thoughts which as a morning draught may keep him from the infection of any favour of good that may be breathed on him by others in the day-time All the day long he watcheth him as the Master would do his man that he feares will run away And at night he like a careful Jayler locks him up again in his chamber with more bolts and fetters upon him not suffering him to sleep as he lies on his bed till he hath done some mischief Ah poor wretch was ever slave so look't to as long as the devil can keep thee thus thou art his own sure enough The Prodigal came to himselfe before he came to his Father He considered with himself what a starving condition he was in his huskes were poor meat and yet he had not enough of them neither and how easily he might mend his commons if he had but grace to go home and humble himself to his Father Now and not till now he goes Resolve thus poor sinner to sit down and consider what thy state is and what it might be if thou wouldest but change the bondage of Satan for the sweet Government of Jesus Christ First ask thy soule whether the devil can after thou hast worne out thy miserable life herein his drudg'ry prefer thee to a happy state in the other world or so much as secure thee from a state of torment and wo If he cannot whether there be not one Iesus Christ who is able and willing to do it and if so whether it be not bloody cruelty to thy precious soul to stay any longer under the shadow of this bramble when thou mayest make so blessed a change A few of these thoughts abidingly laid home to thy soule may God striking in with them shake the foundations of the devils prison and make thee haste as fast from him as one out of a house on fire about his eares 2ly Satan hath his instruments to oppose the messengers and overtures which God sends by them to bring the sinner out of Satans rule When Moses comes to deliver Israel out of the Egyptian bondage up start Iannes and Iambres to resist him When Paul preacheth to the Deputy the devil hath his Chaplain at Court to hinder him Elymas one that was full of all subtilty and mischief Some or other to be sure he will finde when God is parlying with a sinner and perswading him to come over to Christ that shall labour to clog the work Either carnal friends these he sends to plead his cause or old companions in wickednesse these bestir them one while labouring to jeer
Christians that are not instructed in the grounds of Christianity The want of this is the cause why many are so unstedfast First of this way and then of that blown like glasses into any shape as false Teachers please to breath Alas they have no center to draw their lines from think it no disgrace you who have runne into error and lost your selves in the labyrinths of deep points which now are the great discourse of the weakest professors to be set back to learn the first principles of the Oracles of God better too many are as Tertullian saith in another case pudoris magìs memores quà m salutis more tender of their reputation then their salvation who are more ashamed to be thought ignorant then careful to have it cured Fifthly If thou wouldst attain to divine knowledge wait on the Ministery of the Word As for those who neglect this and come not where the Word is Preacht they do like one that should turn his back on the Sunne that he may see it if thou wouldst know God come where he hath appointed thee to learn Indeed where the meanes is not God hath extraordinary wayes as a Father if no School in Town will teach his childe at home but if there be a publick School thither he sends him God maketh manifest saith Paul the savour of his knowledge by us in every place 2 Cor. 2.14 Let men talk of the Spirit what they please He will at last be found a quencher of the Spirit that is a despiser of Prophecy they both stand close together 1 Thes 5.19 20. Quench not the Spirit Despise not Prophesying But it is not enough to sit under the meanes Wofull experience teacheth us this there are some no Sun will tan they keep their old complexion under the most shining and burning light of the Word preached as ignorant and prophane as those that never saw Gospel-day and therefore if thou wilt receive any spirituall advantage by the Word take heed how thou hearest First Look thou beest a wakefull hearer Is it any wonder he should go away from the Sermon no wiser then he came that sleeps the greatest part of it away or heares betwixt sleeping and waking It must be in a dreame sure if God reveales any thing of his mind to him So indeed God did to the Fathers of old but it was not as they prophanely slept under an Ordinance O take heed of such irreverence He that composeth himselfe to sleep as some do at such a time or he that is not humbled for it and that deeply both of them betray a base and low esteeme they have of the Ordinance Surely thou thinkest but meanly of what is delivered if it will not keep thee awake yea of God himselfe whose message it is See how thou art reproved by the awfull carriage of a Heathen and that a King Ehud did but say to Eglon I have a message from God unto thee And he arose out of his seate Judge 3.20 And thou clapest downe on thy seat to sleep O how darest thou put such an affront upon the great God How oft did you fall asleep at dinner or telling your money And is not the Word of God worth more then these I should wonder if such Sermon-sleepers do dreame of any thing but hell-fire 'T is dangerous you know to fall asleep with a candle burning by our side some have been so burnt in their beds but more dangerous to sleep while the candle of the Word is shining so neare us What if you should sinke downe dead like Eatychus here is no Paul to raise you as he had and that you shall not where is your security Secondly Thou must be an attentive hearer He that is awake but wanders with his eye or heart what doth he but sleep with his eyes open It were as good the servants should be asleep in his bed as when up not to minde his Masters businesse When God intends a soul good by the Word he drawes such a one to listen and hearken heedfully to what is delivered as we see in Lydia who 't is said attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul And those Luke 1948. The people were attentive to heare him They did hang on him as you shall see Bees on some sweet flower or as young birds on the bills of their dammes as they feed them that is the soul which shall get light and life by the Word Heare ye children and attend to know understanding Prov. 4.1 Labour therefore in hearing the Word to fixe thy quicksilver-minde and set thy selfe to heare as 't is said Jehosaphat did to pray and that thou maiest before thou goest get thy heart into some deep sense of thy spirituall wants especially of thy ignorance of the things of God and thy deplored condition by reason of it till the heart be toucht the minde will not be fixt Therefore you may observe 't is said God open'd the heart of Lydia that she attended Acts 16.14 The Minde goes of the Wils errand we spend our thoughts upon what our hearts propose If the heart hath no sense of its ignorance or no desires after God no wonder such a one listens not what the Preacher saith his heart sends his mind another way They sit before thee as my people saith God but their heart goeth after their covetousnesse They do not come out of such an intent or desire to heare for any good to their soules then they would apply themselves wholly to the work no it is their covetousnesse hath their hearts and therefore as some idle servant when he hath waited on his Master brought him to his pew then he goes out to his good fellowes at the Alehouse and comes no more till Sermon be almost done so do the thoughts of most when they go to the Ordinance they slip out in the street market or shop you may finde them any where but about the duty before them and all because these have their hearts more then God and his Word Thirdly Thou must be a retentive hearer without this the worke will ever be to begin againe Truths to a forgetfull hearer are as a seale set on water the impression lasts no longer then the seale is on the Sermon once done and all is undone be therefore very carefull to fasten what thou hearest on thy memory which that thou maiest do First receive the truth in the love of it An affectionate hearer will not be a forgetfull hearer Love helpes the memory Can a woman forget her childe or a maide her ornaments or a bride her attire No they love them too well Were the truths of God thus precious to thee thou wouldest with David think of them day and night Even when the Christian through weaknesse of memory cannot remember the very words he heares to repeate them yee then he keeps the power and savour of them in his spirit as when sugar is dissolved in wine you cannot see it but you may taste it
them or perswade themselves there is no danger from thence the coast then is clear they may be as wicked as they please These make inward sins so hugg'd and embraced If thou therefore canst find thy heart set against these I may venture to call thee a Christian and for thy help against them First be earnest with God in prayer to move and order thy heart in its thoughts and desires If the tongue be such an unruly thing that few can tame O what is the heart where such a multitude of thoughts are flying forth as thick as bees from the hive and sparks from the furnace It is not in man not in the holiest on earth to do this without divine assistance Therefore we finde David so often crying out in this respect to order his steps in his Word to unite his heart to his feare to enâ—â—ine his heart to his testimonies As a servant when the childe he tends is troublesome and will not be ruled by him calls out to the father to come to him who no sooner speaks but all is whist with him No doubt holy David found his heart beyond his skill or power that makes him so oft do its errand to God Indeed God hath promised thus much to his children to order their steps for them Psal 37.22 only he looks they should bring their hearts to him for that end Commit thy work to the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Prov. 16.3 or ordered Art thou setting thy face towards an Ordinance where thou art sure to meet Satan who will be disturbing thee with worldly thoughts and may be worse Let God know from thy mouth whither thou art going and what thy feares are never doth the soule march in so goodly order as when it puts it self under the conduct of God Secondly set a strong guard about thy outward senses these are Satans landing places especially the eye and the eare Take heed what thou importest at these vaine discourse seldome passeth without leaving some tincture upon the heart as unwholesome aire inclines to putrefaction things sweet in themselves so unsavoury discourse to corrupt the minde that is pure look thou breathest therefore in a clear aire And for thy eye let it not wander wanton objects cause wanton thoughts Job knew his eye and his thoughts were like to go together and therefore to secure one he covenants with the other Job 31 1. Thirdly often reflect upon thy self in a day and observe what company is with thy heart A careful Master will ever and anon be looking into his work-house and see what his servants are doing and a wise Christian should do the same We may know by the noise in the school the Master is not there much of the mis-rule in our bosomes ariseth from the neglect of visiting our hearts Now when thou art parlying with thy soule make this threefold enquiry First whether that which thy heart is thinking on be good or evil If evil and wicked such as are proud unclean distrustful thoughts shew thy abhorrency of them and chide thy soul sharply for so much as holding conference with them of which nought can come but dishonour to God and mischief to thy own soul and stirre up thy heart to mourn for the evil neighbour-hood of them and by this thou shalt give a testimony of thy faithfulnesse to God When David mourn'd for Abner all Israel 't is said understood that day that it was not of the King to stay Abner Thy mourning for them will shew these thoughts are not so much of thee as of Satan Secondly if they be not broadly wicked enquire whether they be not empty frothy vaine imaginations that have no subserviency to the glory of God thy own good or others and if so leave not till thou hast made thy selfe apprehensive of Satans designe on thee in them though such are not for thy purpose yet they are for his they serve his turne to keep thee from better All the water is lost that runnes beside the mill and all thy thoughts are waste which help thee not to do Gods work withal in thy general or particular calling The Bee will not sit on a flower where no honey can be suckt neither should the Christian Why sittest thou here idle thou shouldest say to thy soul when thou hast so much to do for God and thy soul and so little time to dispatch it in Thirdly if thou findest they are good for matter thy heart is busied about then enquire whether they be good for time and manner which being wanting they degenerate First for the season that is good fruit which is brought forth in its season Christ liked the work his mother would have put him upon as well as her self John 2. but his time was not come Good thoughts and meditations misplaced are like some interpretations of Scripture good truths but bad expositions they fit not the place they are drawn from nor these the time To pray when we should hear or be musing on the Sermon when we should pray this is to rob God one way to pay him another Secondly tarefully observe the manner Thy heart may meditate a good matter and spoile it in the doing Thou art may be musing of thy sinnes and affecting thy heart into a sense of them but so that while thou art stirring up thy sorrow thou weakenest thy faith on the promise that is thy sinne He is a bad Chirurgion that in opening a veine goes so deep that he cuts an artery and lames the arme if not kills the man Or thou art thinking of thy family and providing for that this thou oughtest to do and wert worse then an infidel if thou neglectest but may be these thoughts are so distracting and distrustfull as if there were no promise no providence to relieve thee God takes this ill because it reflects upon his care of thee O how near doth our duty here stand to our sinne so much care is necessary ballast to the soul a little more sinks it under the waves of unbeliefe like some things very wholesome but one degree more of hot or cold would make them poison CHAP. VIII How Satan labours to corrupt the Christians minde with errour THe second sort of spiritual sinnes are such as are not only acted in the spirit but are conversant about spiritual objects proper to the soules nature that is a spirit and not laid out in carnal passions of fleshly lusts in which the soul acts but as a Pander for the body and partakes of their delights only by way of sympathy for as the soul feels the bodies pains no other way then by sympathy so neither doth it share in the pleasures of the flesh by any proper taste it hath of them but only from its neer neighbourhood with the body doth sympathize with its joy but in spiritual wickednesses that corrupt the minde here the soul moves in its own sphere with a delight proper to it selfe and there are no lesse
God proclaims so much and would have the proud man know where-ever he meets him he will oppose him he resists the proud Great gifts are beautiful as Rachel but pride makes them also barren like her Either we must lay self aside or God will lay us aside Secondly pride of gifts hinders the receiving of good from others Pride fills the soule and a full soul will take nothing from God much lesse from man to do it good Such a one is very dainty It is not every Sermon though wholesom food nor every prayer though savoury will go down he must have a choice dish he thinks he hath better then this of his own and is such a one like to get good And truly we may see it that as the plain Plowman that can eate of any homely food if wholesome hath more health and is able to do more work in a day then many enjoy or can do in their whole life that are nice squeamish and courtly in their fare so the humble Christian that can feed on plain truths and Ordinances which have not so much of the Art of man to commend them to their palate enjoy more of God and can do more for God then the nicer sort of Professours who are all to be served in a lordly dish of rare gifts The Church of Corinth was famous for gifts above other Churches 1 Cor. 1. but not in grace none so charged for weaknesse in that 1 Cor. 3.2 he calls them carnal babes in Christ so weak as not able to digest mans meat I havé fed you saith Paul with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to beare it neither yet now are ye able Why what is the matter the reason lies verse 3. Ye are carnal there is among you envie and strife v. 4 One saith I am of Paul another I am of Apollos Pride makes them take parts and make sides one for this Preacher another for that as they fancied one to excel another And this is not the way to thrive Pride destroyes love and love wanting edification is lost The devil hath made foul work in the Church by this engine Zanchy tells of one in Geneva who being desired to go hear Viretus that preach't at the same time with Calvin answered his friend If Paul were to preach relicto Paulo Calvinum audirem I would leave Paul himself to heaâ— Calvin And will pride in the gifts of another so far transport even to the borders of blasphemy what work then will pride make when the gifts are a mans own SECT II. Vse 1 Doth Satan thus stir up Saints to this spiritual pride of gifts first here is a word to you that have mean gifts yet truth of grace be content with thy condition Perhaps when thou hearest others how enlargedly they pray how able to discourse of the truths of God and the like thou art ready to go into a corner and mourn to think how weak thy memory how dull thy apprehension how straitened thy spirit hardly able though in secret to utter and expresse thy minde to God in prayer O thou art ready to think those the happy men and women and almost murmur at thy condition well canst thou not say though I have not words I hope I have faith I cannot dispute for the truth but I am willing to suffer for it I cannot remember a Sermon but I never hear the Word but I hate sin and love Christ more then ever Lord thou knowest I love thee Truly Christian thou hast the better part thou little think'st what a mercy may be wrapt up even in the meannes of thy gifts or what temptations their gifts expose them to which God for ought I know may in mercy deny thee Josephs coat made him finer then his brethren but this caused all his trouble this set the Archers a shooting their arrows into his side thus great gifts lift a Saint up a little higher in the eyes of men but it occasions many temptations which thou meetest not with that art kept low what with envie from their brethren malice from Satan and pride in their own hearts I dare say none finde so hard a work to go to heaven as such much ado to bear up against those waves and windes while thou creepest along the shore under the winde to heaven It is with such as with some great Lord of little estate a meaner man oft hath money in his purse when he hath none and can lâ—nd his Lordship some at a need great gifts and parts are titles of honour among men but many such may come and borrow grace and comfort of a mean gifted brother possibly the Preacher of his poor neighbour O poor Christian do not murmur or envy them but rather pity and pray for them they need it more then others his gifts are thine thy grace is for thy self thou art like a Merchant that hath his Factour goes to sea but he hath his Adventure without hazard brought home Thou joynest with him in prayer hast the help of his gifts but not the temptation of his pride Vse 2 Secondly doth Satan labour thus to draw to pride of gifts this speaks a word to you to whom God hath given more gifts then ordinary beware of pride that is now your snare Satan is at work if possible he will turne your Artillery against your selfe thy safety lies in thy humility if this lock be cut the legions of hell are on thee Remember whom thou wrestlest with spiritual wickednesse and their play is to lift up that they may give the sorer fall Now the more to stir up thy heart against it I shall adde some soul-humbling considerations First consider these spiritual gifts are not thy own and wilt thou be proud of anothers bounty Is not God the Founder and can he not soon be the Confounder of thy gifts thou that art proud of thy gourd what wilt thou be when it is gone surely then thou wilt be peevish and angry and truly thou takest the course to be strip't of them Gifts come on other termes then grace God gives grace as a free-hold it hath the promise of this and another world but gifts come on liking though a father will not cast off his childe yet he may take away his fine coat and ornaments if proud of them Secondly gifts are not meerly for thy self As the light of the Sun is ministeriall it shines not for it self so all thy gifts are for others Gifts for the edifying of the body Suppose a man should leave a chest of money in your hands to be distributed to others what folly is it in this man to put this into his own Inventory and applaud himself that he hath so much money Poor soul thou art but Gods Executour and by that time thou hast paid all the Legacies thou wilt see little left for thee to brag and boast of Thirdly know Christian thou shalt be accountable for these talents now with what face
he had said I knew the time if Paul had been come to town and newes spread abroad in the City that Paul was to preach you would have flock't to hear him and blessed God for the season but then you were poor and empty now ye are full you have got to a higher attainment Paul is a plain fellow now he may carry his cheere to a hungry people if he will we are well apaid And when once the heart is come to this 't is easie to judge what will follow Secondly this trusting to the strength of grace will make the soule bold and venturous The humble Christian is the wary Christian he knows his weaknesse and this makes him afraid I have a weak head saith he I may be soon disputed into an errour and heresie and therefore I dare not come where such stuffe is broach't lest my weak head should be intoxicated the confident man he 'll sip of every cup he fears none no he is stablish't in the truth a whole team of hereticks shall not draw him aside I have a vain light heart saith the humble soule I dare not come among wicked debautch't company left I should at last bring the naughty man home with me but one trusting to the strength of his grace dares venture into the devils quarters Thus Peter into the rout of Christs enemies and how he came off you know there his faith had been slain on the place had not Christ founded a retreat by the seasonable look of love he gave him Indeed I have read of some bragging Philosophers who did not think it enough to be temperate except they had the object for intemperance present and therefore they would go into Taverns and Whore-houses as if they meant to beat the devil on his own ground but the Christian knows an enemy nearer then so which they were ignorant of and that he need not go over his own threshold to challenge the devils He hath lust in his bosome that will be hard enough for him all his dayes without giving it the vantage ground Christian I know no sin but thou mayest be left to commit it except one It was a bold speech of him and yet a good man as I have heard If Clapham die of the plague say Clapham had no faith and this made him boldly go among the infected If a Christian thou shalt not die of spiritual plagues yet such may have the plague-sores of grosse sins running on them for a time and is not this sad enough therefore walk humbly with thy God Thirdly this high conceit of the strength of thy grace will make thee cruel and churlish to thy weak brethren in their infirmities a sin that least becomes a Saint Gal. 6.1 If any one be overtaken you that be spiritual restore such a one with meeknesse but how shall a soul get such a meek spirit It follows considering thy self lest thou also be tempted What makes men hard to the poor they think they shall never be so themselves Why are many so sharp in their censures but because they trust too much to their grace as if they could never fall O you are in the body and the body of sin in you therefore feare Bernard used to say when he heard any scandalous sin of a Professour Hodie illi cras mihi He fell to day I may stumble tomorrow SECT II. The second way a soule may be proud of his grace is by resting on it for his acceptance with God The Scripture calls inherent grace our own righteousnesse though God indeed be the efficient of it and opposeth it to the righteousnesse of Christ which alone is called the Righteousnesse of God Rom. 10.1 Now to rest on any grace inherent is to exalt our own righteousnesse above the righteousnesse of God and what pride will this amount to If this ware so then a Saint when he comes to heaven might say This is Heaven which I have built my grace hath purchased and thus the God of Heaven should become tenant to his creature in Heaven No God hath cast the order of our salvation into another method of grace but not of grace in us but grace to us Inherent grace hath its place and office to accompany salvation Heb. 6.9 but not procure it This is Christs work not graces When Israel waited on the Lord at Mount Sinai they had their bounds not a man must come up besides Moses to treat with God no not touch the Mount lest they die thus all the graces of the Spirit wait on God but none come up to challenge any acceptance of God besides faith which is a grace that presents the soul not in its own garments But you will say what needs all this where is the man that trusts in his grace Alas where is the Christian that doth fully stand clear and freely come his off his own righteousnesse he is a rare Pilot indeed that can steere his faith in so direct a course as not now and then to knock upon this duty and run on ground upon that grace Abraham went in to Hagar and the children of Abrahams faith are not perfectly dead to the Law and may be found sometimes in Hagars armes witnesse the fluxe and refluxe of our faith according to the various aspect of our obedience when this seems full then our faith is at a spring-tide and covers all the mountains of our fears but let it seem to wain in any service or duty then the Jordan of our faith flies back and leaves the soule naked The devils spight is at Christ and therefore since he could not hinder his landing which he endeavoured all he could nor work his will on his person when he was come he goes now in a more refined way to darken the glory of his sufferings and the sufficiency of his righteousnesse by blending ours with his this doctrine of Justification by faith hath had more works and batteries made against it then any other in the Scripture Indeed many other errours were but his slie approaches to get nearer to undermine this and lastly when he connot hide this truth which now shines in the Church like the Sun in its strength then he labours to hinder the practical improvement of it that we if he can help it shall not live up to our own principles making us at the same time that in our judgement we professe acceptance only through Christ in our practice confute our selves Now there is a double pride in the soule he makes use of for this end the one I may call a mannerly pride the other a self-applauding pride First a mannerly pride which comes forth in the habit and guise of humility and that discovers it self either at the soules first coming to Christ and keeps him from closing with the promise or afterward in the daily course of a Christians walking with God which keeps him from comfortable living on Christ First when a poor soul is staved off the promise by the sense
that ye are of mine elect ones which will stand you more in stead at the great day then all this SECT II. A second Priviledge is when God honours a person to suffer for his truth this is a great Priviledge Vnto you it is given not only to beleeve but to suffer for his sake God doth not use to give worthless gifts to his Saints there is some preciousnesse in it which a carnal eye cannot see Faith you will say is a great gift but perseverance greater without which faith would be little worth and perseverance in suffering this above both honourable This made John Carelesse our English Martyr who though he died not at the stake yet in prison for Christ say Such an honour 't is as Angels are not permitted to have therefore God forgive me mine unthankfulnesse Now when Satan cannot scare a soul from prison yet then he will labour to puffe him up in prison when he cannot make him pity himself then he will flatter him till he prides in himself Affliction from God exposeth to impatience for God to pride and therefore Christians labour to fortifie your selves against this temptation of Satan how soon you may be called to suffering work you know not such clouds oft are not long arising Now to keep thy heart humble when thou art honoured to suffer for the truth Consider First though thou doest not deserve those sufferings at mans hand thou canst and mayest in that regard glory in thy innocency thou sufferest not as an evil doer yet thou canst not but confesse it is a just affliction from God in regard of sin in thee and this methinks should keep thee humble the same suffering may be Martyrdome in regard of man and yet a fatherly chastising for sin in regard of God none suffered without sin but Christ and therefore none may glory in them but he Christ in his own we in his God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of Christ Gal. 6. This kept Mr. Bradford humble in his sufferings for the truth none more rejoyced in them and blessed God for them yet none more humble under them then he and what kept him in this humble frame reade his godly letters and you shall finde almost in all how he bemoans his sins and the sins of the Protestants under the reign of King Edward It was time saith he for God to put his rod into the Papists hands we were grown so proud formal unfruitful yea to loath and despise the means of grace when we enjoyed the liberty therof and therfore God hath brought the wheele of persecution on us As he look't at the honour to make him thankful so to sinne to keep him humble Secondly consider who bears thee up and carries thee through thy sufferings for Christ Is it thy grace or his that is sufficient for such a work thy spirit or Christs by which thou speakest when call'd to bear witnesse to his truth how comes it to passe thou art a sufterer and not a persecutour a confessour and not a denier yea betrayer of Christ and his Gospel This thou owest for to God he is not beholden to thee that thou wilt part with estate credit or life it self for his sake If thou hadst a thousand lives thou wouldest owe them all to him but thou art beholden to God exceedingly that he will call for these in this way which has such an honour and reward attending it He might have suffered thee to live in thy lusts and at last to suffer the losse of all these for them O how many die at the Gallowes as Martyrs in the devils cause for felonies rapes and murders Or he might withdraw his grace and leave thee to thy own cowardise and unbelief and then thou wouldest soon shew thy self in thy colours The stoutest Champions for Christ have been taught how weak they are if Christ steps aside Some that have given great testimony of their faith and resolution in Christs cause even to come so near dying for his Name as to give themselves to be bound to the stake and fire to be kindled upon them yet then their hearts have failed as that holy man Mr. Benbridge in our English Martyrol who thrust the faggots from him and cried out I recant I recant Yet this man when re-inforc't in his faith and indued with power from above was able within the space of a week after that sad foile to die at the stake cheerfully Qui pro nobis mortem semel vicit semper in nobis vincit He that once overcame death for us 't is he that alwayes overcame death in us And who should be thy Song but he that is thy strength applaud not thy selfe but blesse him 'T is one of Gods Names he is call'd the glory of his peoples strength Psal 89.17 The more thou gloriest in God that gives thee strength to suffer for him the lesse thou wilt boast of thy self A thankful heart and a proud cannot dwell together in one bosome Thirdly consider what a foule blot pride gives to all thy sufferings where it is not bewailed and resisted it alters the case The old saying is that 't is not the punishment but the cause makes the Martyr we may safely say further it is not barely the cause but the sincere frame of the heart in suffering for a good cause that makes a man a Martyr in Gods sight Though thou shouldest give thy body to be burnt if thou hast not an humble heart of a sufferer for Christ thou turnest Merchant for thy self Thou deniest but one self to set up another runnest the hazard of thy estate and life to gain some applause may be and reare up a monument to thy honour in the opinions of men thou doest no more in this case then a souldier who for a name of valour will venture into the mouth of death and danger only thou shewest thy pride under a religious disguise but that helps it not but makes it the worse If thou wilt in thy sufferings be a sacrifice acceptable to God thou must not only be ready to offer up thy life for his truth but sacrifice thy pride also or else thou mayest tumble out of one fire into another suffer here from man as a seeming champion for the Gospel and in another world from God for robbing him of his glory in thy sufferings SECT III. A third priviledge is when God flowes in with more then ordinary manifestations of his love then the Christian is in danger of having his heart secretly lift up in pride Indeed the genuine and natural effect which such discoveries of divine love have on a gracious soule is to humble it The sight of mercy encreaseth the sense of sin and that sense dissolves the soule kindely into sorrow as we see in Magdalen The heart which possibly was hard and frozen in the shade will give and thaw in the Sun-shine of love and so long all pride is hid from the creatures eye Then saith God
day Secondly having done all to stand that is both able to fight and able to conquer As for the first general the Exhortation we shall wave it as to the substance of it being the same with what we have handled v. 11. only there are two observables which we shall lightly touch The one from the repetition of the very same exhortation so soon one verse only interposed The other from the verbe the Apostle useth here which being not the same with v. 11. affords a different note There it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. I. The reason why the Apostle renews the same Exhortation as also what truthes Ministers are often to preach to their people FIrst of the first the repetition of the same exhortation and that in so short a space Sure it was not for want of matter but rather out of abundance of zeal that he harps the second time on the same string Indeed he is the better Workman who drives one naile home with reiterated blowes then he which covets to enter many but fastens none Such Preachers are not likely to reach the conscience who hop from one truth to another but dwell on none Every hearer is not so quick as the Preacher to take a notion as 't is first darted forth neither can many carry away so much of that Sermon which is made up all of varieties where a point is no sooner named but presently pulls back its hand and another makes a breach and comes forth before the fiâ—st hath been opened and hammered upon the conscience by a powerful application As where the discourse is homogeneal and some one necessary truth is clear'd insisted on and urged home with blow upon blow Here the whole matter of the discourse is a kin and one part remembred brings the memory acquainted with the other whereas in the former one puts out the other in a weak memory Short hints and away may please a Scholar but not so profitable for others the one more fit for the Schooles but the other for the Pulpit Were I to buy a garment in a shop I should like him better that layes one good piece or two before me that are for my turn which I may fully peruse then him who takes down all his shop and heaps piece upon piece meerly to shew his store till at last for variety I can look wishly on none they lie so one upon another Again as it is profitable thus to insist on truths so 't is not unbecoming a Minister to preach the same truths again and again Paul here goes over and over the same exhortation v. 11. v. 13. and elsewhere tells us this is not grievous to him but to them it is safe to hear the same things over and over Phil. 3.1 There are three sorts of Truths must in our Ministery be preached oft First Fundamental Truths or as we call them catechise-points that contain truths necessary to be known and believed The weight of the whole building lies on these ground-cells more then on superstructory truths In a Kingdome there are some staple commodities and trades without which the Common-weale could not subsist as wool corne c. in our countrey and these ought to be encouraged above others which though they be an ornament to the Nation yea adde to the riches of it yet are not so necessary to the subsistence of it Thus here there is an excellent use of our other Ministerial labours as they tend to beautifie and adorne yea enrich the Christian with the knowledge of spiritual mysteries but that which is chiefly to be regarded is the constant faithful opening of those main truths of the Gospel These are the Land-marks and shew us the bounds of truth and as it is in townes that butt one upon another if the inhabitants do not sometimes perambulate and walk the bounds to shew the youth what they are when the old studs are gone the next generation may lose all their priviledges by their encroaching neighbours because not able to tell what is their own There is no fundamental truth but hath some evil neighbour heresie I meane butting on it and the very reason why a spirit of errour hath so encroach't of late yeares upon truth is because we have not walk't the bounds with our people in acquainting them with and stablishing their judgements on these fundamental points so frequently and carefully as is requisite And people are much in the fault because they cast so much contempt upon this work that they count a Sermon on such point next to lost and only childes meat Secondly those truthes are oft to be preach't which Ministers observe to be most undermined by Satan or his instruments in the judgements and lives of their people The Preacher must read and study his people as diligently as any book in his study and as he findes them dispense like a faithful steward unto them Paul takes notice that the Galatians had been in ill handling by false apostles who had even bewitch't them back to the Law in that great point of Justification and see how he beaâ—s upon that point Our people complain we are so much so oft reproving the same errour or sin and the fault is their own because they will not leave it who will blame the dog for continuing to bark when the thief is all the while in the yard Alas alas it is not once or twice rowsing against sin will do it When people think the Minister shews his lazinesse because he preacheth the same things he may then be exercising his patience in continuing to exhort and reprove those who oppose waiting if at last God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth We are bid ro lift up our voice like a trumpet and would you have us cease while the battel lasts or sound a retreat when it shou'd be a battel Thirdly truths of daily use and practice These are like bread and salt whatever else is on these must be on the board every meale Saint Peter was of this minde 2 Pet. 1.12 I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things though ye know them He had you may see been speaking of such graces and duties that they could not passe a day without the exercise of them and therefore will be ever their Monitour to stir up their pure mindes about them All is not well when a man is weary of his ordinary food and nothing will go down but rarities the stomack is sickly when a man delights rather to pick some sallet then eate of solid meat and how far this dainty age is gore in this spiritual disease I think few are so far come to themselves as yet to consider and lament O Sirs be not weary as in doing so not in hearing those savoury truths preach't you have daily use of because you know them and have heard them often faith and repentance will be good doctrine to