wheat yet they remained firm as our Saviour saith of the faith of miracles If ye had faith as much as a grain of mustard-seed ye should say to this Mountain be removed and it would obey you Mar. 11.23 So for common faith which the Apostle calleth so because it is common to all the Elect Tit. 1.4 if thou hast so much faith thou shalt be able to remove Mountains of Corruptions suppose thou hast a trembling hand scarce able to hold yet have the perswasion of the woman in the Gospel If I may but touch him I shall be whole I shall be saved healed if I can but touch him And mark our Saviour The People thronged about him and he saith Who is it that toucheth me A wonder that he when they crowded him should ask such a question but Christ knew that some body touched him beside the touch of the multitude indeed that woman â—ouched him more than the crowd that pressed him as St. Augustine saith Illa mulier quae fimbriam tetegit magis tetegit quà m turba quae pressit it is said in the Text The poor woman came trembling and told him all the truth And he said be of good comfort though thou hast a paralytick and palsie-sick-hand yet the touch is enough Luk. 8.47 the least faith brings as much life as the greatest Object But then what need a man look for a great faith Sol. Yes by all means for though thou hast much comfort by a little weak faith yet the more faith the more comfort and therefore it is to very much purpose to labour after a strong faith Abraham it is said staggered not through unbelief Rom. 4.20 if thou hast a strong faith thou wilt have a strong consolation Thou mayest by thy weak faith be healed of thy disease yet by the weakness of thy faith mayest want much of the strength of thy comfort therefore thou must go from faith to faith Rom. 1.17 but know this that a new-born child 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not yet so strong as a man yet he is as much alive as the strongest and tallest man so that again thus thou art yet but a new-born babe not so strong or so lively as one more grown but yet thou hast all the lineaments of the new creature in thee though thou art not so strong and lively as another may be Object Did not you tell me that it was not every faith that did justifie but a working faith how then doth faith alone justifie Sol. I answer When faith justifieth there is one thing said of another the subject and the predicate are Faith justifies Justification is attributed unto faith Look on the word only whether it doth determine the subject or the predicate doth faith which is alone severed from good works justifie so the proposition is false First that faith which is alone separated from love and the fruits of good works doth not justifie but let the alone be put to the predicate faith justifieth alone i. e. faith is the only vertue in the soul whereby a man is justified that is true As if a man should say the eye alone seeth 't is true if we put it thus the eye severed from the members of the body seeth it is false If the eye were taken out of the head it would neither see alone nor at all but the meaning is this the living eye is the organ whereby a man discerns a visible object so faith though joyn'd with other graces yet takes not other with it for helps of Justification Object But why should God select this vertue among others that are more noble Sol. I say as before God had respect to the low estate of his hand-maid it was reason that God should chuse the lowest and the meanest God selected this poor beggars hand for two reasons First in respect of God I say 1. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all Rom. 4.16 so that here are two strong reasons one in respect of God thaâ— God by so mean a thing as a beggars hand should bring a man to justification and the other in respect of faith it self that it might be by grace for when thou bringest nothing but a bare hand ready to receive a pardon this must needs be of grace If God say thou must love me this were an exchange not a free gift I lay down something and I take up something for it Faith is that naked hand which fills it self with Christ it layeth fast hold on Christ crucified with all his merits As if a man were ready to be drownd there is a cable cast to him to lay hold on and he laying hold on it is drawn safe to the Land but a man when he lays hold on the cable must let go all his other holds which he laid hold on before Thus must a man let go all other holds and lay fast hold on Jesus Christ. Faith hath two faculties 1. It opens its self to let fall all other things And then 2. When it is a naked hand it layeth hold on Christ and then it is filled with Christ when the believer esteems all dross in comparison of Christ it hath all fulness by grace Where is then rejoycing and boasting Rom. 3.27 it is excluded by what Law of works nay but by the Law of faith And then chap. 4.2 For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God faith taketh away all boasting Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. Therefore it is of faith that it might be of grace This is the reason in respect of God 2. In respect of our selves To the end the promise might be sure to the seed what is the reason why people doubt and think nothing sure it is because they come not with a naked hand I must have such a measure of humiliation of patience all to bring somewhat with us whereas if we look on these things we shall never be heard If the bare acceptation of Christ with a trembling hand will not make thee sure thou understandest not the excellency of that very treasure whereof thou art possessed what canst thou have more than the bare receiving of such a gift by faith The reason why we are not more sure is because we come not with a naked hand By the way there are many means some à priori others à posteriori 1. For the first they are those things by which faith is wrought though they are not so evident yet they are most sure when I consider God calls me in my blood having nothing in me and will be friends with me bids me take his Son and I do not bids me take his Kingdom and glory with him and I refuse it though this be a matter not
hand to receive whatsoever God hath a mouth to speak What is the Object He in whom you trusted It is a wonder to see how many are deceived who make the forgiveness of sins to be the proper Object of faith A man may call as long as he lives for forgiveness of sins yet unless there be the first Act to lay hold on Christ in vain doth he expect forgiveness of sins Until thou dost accept Christ for thy King and Saviour thou hast no promise We are never Children of the Promise till we are found in him The proper and immediate Object of Faith is first Christ and then God the Father by him For Faith must have Christ for its Object I must believe in none else but God in and through Christ. Now that this is so we may see in that famous place 1 Pet. 1.21 When he had spoken of the precious blood of Christ the Lamb without blemish he goes on and shews that he was manifested in those last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised up Christ from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God There is no true believing in God the Father but by the Son The proper Object of Hope and Faith is God and he that doth believe or hope or trust in any thing else there is Idolatry in it we believe in God by him so that the primary Object of Faith is Christ. Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. What 's my Faith then If thou wilt be the Child of God receive hold Christ Jesus accept him for thy Saviour and for thy Lord He is the proper Object of thy Faith Again you must have Christ Jesus and him crucified that should be the highest knowledge in our account To know Christ and him crucified and by it to accept him Hereupon the Apostle to the Romans when he speaks of faith makes the Object of it Christ and Christ crucified Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Whatsoever then thou findest in Christ is an Object of thy Faith John 6. The point is He who eats my flâ—sh and drinks my blood that is he who receiveth me and makes me as his meat and drink dwelleth in me and I in him ver 56. Compare this Rom. 3 2â— with Rom. 5.9 for its worth comparing We are said to be justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 By faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Now both these come to one and they resolve the point and clear the Question whether Faith in it self as a Vertue doth justifie or in respect of its Object surely it s in respect of the Object You that have skill in Philosophy know that heat if considered as a quality its effects are not so great but considered as an instrument it transcends the sphere of its own activity it doth wonders for its the principle of generation and many other strange effects So here take faith as a Vertue and it s far short of love but consider it as an instrument whereby Christ is applyed and it transcends it works wonders beyond its proper sphere for the meanest thing it layes hold on is the Son of God He that hath the Son hath life c. Some would think this an hard kind of speech when we are justified by faith we are justified by Christ apprehended by faith and yet that place is clear to be justified by his blood And faith in his blood becomes one faith As if a man should say I was cured by going to the Bath So faith comes unto Christ faith is the legs A man is not said properly to be cured by going to the Bath nor justified by coming to Christ by the legs of faith but the applying of the Bath the coming to Christ and applying of his vertue to make him the Object of my faith this is the way to be justified As it is not the making and preparing of a plaister that cures but the applying it so that this concludes this point that the true Object of faith is Christ crucified and God the Father in and by him Here then is the point thou must not look for any comfort in faith till thou hast Christ and to think thou shalt ever have any benefit by God till thou Christ thou deceivest thy self It is impossible for a man to receive nourishment by his beead and drink till he partake of it in the substance so thou must pertake of Christ before thou canst receive any nourishment by him Christ saith not thou must have forgiveness of sins or thou must have my Fathers favour but take my body and blood take me crucified Buy the field and the treasure is thine but thou hast nothing to do with the treasure till thou gettest the field This is preferment enough to have the Lords Promise to Abraham I am thy exceeding great reward I am my well-beloveds and my well-beloved is mine There is a spiritual match betwixt Christ and thee There are many who are matcht with Christ and yet know not how rich they are When a man reckons of what he shall get by Christ only when all his thoughts are on that he marrieth the portion and not the person thou must set thy love on Christs person and then having him all that he hath is thine How rich Christ is so rich art thou he must first be thine He that hath the Son hath life but the Son must first be had Is there any now in this congregation who is so hardhearted as to refuse such a gift as this When God shall give thee his Son if thou wilt take him is there any so prophane as with Esau to sell his birthright c. To pursue the poor pedling things of this life and refuse salvation so high a gift A gift which is not given to Angels they think it an honour to wait at the Lords Table They have not this precious food given to them they never tast it and therefore many Christians on serious consideration would not change their estate for the estate of Angels Why Because hereby Christ is my Husband I am wedded to him he is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh which priviledge the Angels are not capable of Our nature is advanced above the Angelical nature for we shall sit and judge the world with Christ judge the twelve Tribes of Israel And what an high preferment is this Nay observe this and take it for a Rule Never beg of God pardon for thy sins till thou hast done this one thing namely accepted of Christ from Gods hands For thou neâ—er canst confidently ask any thing till thou hast him For all the Promises of God are in him yea and Amen This may serve for the Object of faith to shew that the primary Object is Christ
in his heart to do it he saith not with Joseph How can I do this great wickedness and sin against my God The other saith I could do this evil well enough but I will not Thou canst not beâ—n those that are evil saith Christ in his Epistle to the Church of Ephesus This was her great commendation Revel 2.2 Now he that is born of God cannot sin there is that seed that spring in him that for his life he cannot sin but it turns his heart from it for his life he cannot tell how to swear lye c. or joyn with others in wickedness but this must be understood of the constant course of their lives I speak not what they may do in temptations when they are surprised but in the course of their lives they commit sin as if they knew not how to do it the other doth it skilfully these coblingly and bunglingly they do it ill-favouredly thus it is with a wicked man in doing a good work he cobles it up This is intimated unto us in the very Phrase of the Apostle Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin It is not the same thing to sin in St. John's acception and to commit sin committing sin is the action of the Artist and Practitioner in the Trade From this the seed of God which abideth in the regenerate secureth him 1 Joh. 3.9 Psal. 32.12 Thy faith then must be a faith that worketh by love Canst thou do those good works thou doest out of love then my soul for thine thou art saved Get me any temporary that loves God and I shall say something to you Hast thou then a faith that causeth thee to love God a working faith and a faith that will not suffer thee to do any thing displeasing to him if thou hast such a faith thou art justified before God 2. And so I come now to the point of justification the greatest of all blessings Blessed is he saith David whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity It is the most blessed condition that can be it is set down by way of Exclamation O the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity or as the Original imports O the blessedness of the man discharged from sin Here are many blessings conceived in our justification from sin For justification see what it is the Scripture in St. Paul's Epistles speaks of justification by faith and in St James of justification by works Now it will be useful to us in this point to know whence justification comes it comes from justice Tsedeck as the Original hath it and Hitsdiq to justifie so that justification and righteousness depend one upon the other for what is justification but the manifestation of the righteousness that is in a man And therefore in Gal. 3.21 they are put for one the same thing For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily righteousness had been by the Law that is justification had been by the Law Again If righteousness be by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2. that is also if justification had been by the Law c. Justification is a manifestation of righteousness and as many ways as righteousness is taken so many ways is justification which is a declaration of righteousness so that if there be a double righteousness there must be also a double justification Beloved I bring you no new doctrine be not afraid of that but I shew you how to reconcile places of Scripture against the Church of Rome and those things which the Papists bring against us in this point It stands by reason seeing justification is a declaration of righteousness that there must be so many sorts of justification as there be of righteousness Now there is a double sort of righteousness Rom. 8.4 That the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us see then there is a double righteousness there is a righteousness fulfilled in us and a righteousness fulfilled by us that is walking in the Spirit The righteousness fulfilled in us is fulfilled by another and is made ours by imputation so we have a righteousness without us and a righteousness inherent in us the righteousness without us is forgiveness of sins and pardon of them which is a gracious act of God letting fall all actions againsts me and accounting of me as if I had never sinned against him all my life time then there is a righteousness within me an inherent righteousness And if a righteousness then justification for that is but a declaration of righteousness And so that which the Fathers call justification is taken generally for sanctification that which we call justification they call forgiveness of sins that which we call sanctification they call justification so that the difference is only in the terms Justification we must know is not taken only as opposed to condemnation which is the first kind of righteousness Rom. 6.7 He that is dead is freed from sin if you look to the Greek or to the Margent it is he that is dead is justified from sin This is not took in the first sense as opposed to condemnation but in the other sense as it hath relation to final grace The perfection of sanctification is wrought in me for where there is final grace there is a supersedeas from all sin so Rev. 22.11 Let him that is righteous be righteous still the Greek is let him that is righteous be justified still See then the difference between St. Paul and St. James St. Paul speaks of that which consists in remission of sins as in comparing the Apostle with David will appear Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven St. James speaks of justification in the second acception You need not fly to that distinction of justification before God and justification before men Think not that St. James speaks only of justification before men Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac on the Altar What justified by killing his Son this was a proper work indeed to justifie him before man to be a parricide to kill his son though it were not so before God So Psal. 106. we read how God accounted the act of Phineas for righteousness Thus you see how works are accounted righteousness in the second kind of righteousness In the former righteousness we are justified by faith for in righteousness inherent there is goodly chain of vertues Add to your faith vertue c. add one grace to another Add to vertue knowledge Faith is but one part of the Crown Now this justification in the first sense whereby my sins are forgiven is called the righteousness of God because of Christ which is God because it is wrought by Christ Dan. 9. he is called an everlasting righteousness which continueth for ever world without end for do not think the Saints in heaven have only the second kind
from the Scepter of his Kingdome The one is without me the other within me The one receives degrees the other not As a man that is holy may be more holy but imputed righteousness doth not more forgive one man than another Imputation is without augmentation or diminution Those things which have divers contraries cannot be one and the same thing Justification and Sanctification have divers contraries The contrary to justification is condemnation but the contrary to sanctification is wickedness and false dealing c. Aristotle distinguisheth homonymous words and bids you consider their contraries thus you see the difference between these two I should now come and descend unto the dependence one hath on the other i. e. in what respect doth faith justifie Is faith an instrument to work justification or to receive it only The answer is clear it justifieth in regard of the object If you remember the two places I bid you compare Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood is that all compare this place with chap. 5.9 Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him we are justified by his blood and by faith in his blood here are two acts which signifie the same thing It is no more then to say I was cured by the Bath or by going to the Bath so that saith is the legs of the soul that bring a man to Christ. And so my faith is an instrument not to procure my justification but to receive it so then seeing faith is an instrument to receive justification and not to procure it then the weakest faith carrieth away as much forgiveness as the strongest A strong faith rids a great deal of work because it is an active instrument The stronger faith worketh the greater work but in the point of justification it is an instrument whereby my justification is wrought an instrument whereby Christ is received And the weakest hand may receive a piece of gold as well as the strongest we must know that in the point of receiving we live on Gods alms All our justification is his free gift and faith is that Palsie hand which receives all our comfort It is not then a strong faith that justifieth but faith it is called by Peter a like precious faith Simon Peter a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.1 It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the meanest Christian that hath a trembling hand to pitch on that and draw vertue from him it is a like precious faith in them as in the most great Apostle Peter and all the rest ROM 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. I Have heretofore declared unto you that in these words and the words following there are set down the great graces and great blessings which you have in Christ in the Kingdom of grace before you come to thâ— Kingdom of glory First here is set down the mother and radical grace of all the rest and that is justification by faith and then followeth the blessed fruit that issueth from thence 1. Peace with God 2. A gracious access into his presence 3. A joyful hope arising from that great glory that we shall enjoy for the time to come 4. In the worst of our troubles and midst of our afflictions this joy is so great that it cannot be abated by any of them yea it is so far from being abated by them that they are as fuel to kindle it We rejoyce in affliction saith the Apostle that which would undo the joy of a carnal man is made the matter of this man's joy Concerning the first of these I shewed you that justification is the ground or foundation of all the rest Being justified by faith that is the root and ground without which there is no fruit no peace no joy no hope much less any kind of rejoycing in tribulation Faith is that which seasoneth all we must first be justified by faith before we have any other comforts for that is the first ground the first rudiment for a Christian in the School of Christ. Therefore I proposed unto you three things for the understanding of it 1. What that faith is that justifieth 2. What that justification is that is obtained by faith 3. What relation the one of these hath to the other Concerning the first of these I shewed you that it is not every faith that justifieth I shewed you that there is a dead faith whereupon the Apostle saith The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.2 A dead thing cannot make a living man it must be and I shewed you how a living faith Again I shewed that bâ—side the true faith there was a temporary faith which is active too and comes near the other It had the operations of the Spirit but it wanted root It had supernatural works but it wanted the new creature There was a conception that was but an abortive kind of birth it came not to maturity not to a full gâ—owth it did not continue And I shewed unto you how a man might discern one of these from the other for herein lieâ—h the wisdom of a Christian not to content himself or be deceived with flâ—shes therefore the Apostle exhorts us â—o prove and try and examine our selves 2 Cor. 13.5 it is an easie matter to be deceived and therefore God's people should be careful to examine themselves to have their senses exercised herein that however others may slight and slubber over the matter they may be careful in it and then they will not only do it themselves but they will crave the aid of God also Prove me O my God c. try me c. Psal. 139.23 Then for the second thing concerning that justification that is obtained by faith I shewed you that the word justification was derived from justice or righteousness and as many ways as justice and righteousness may be taken so many ways may justification be taken Sometimes for justification of righteousness in a man and sometimes it is opposed to condemnation so it is taken in St. Paul and it is taken as an acquital sometimes it isâ— oppose to hypocrisie and pollution in a man's soul so it signifies sanctification whereby God not only covers our sins past but heals our natures The first is perfect but imputed the second inherent but imperfect When the time cometh that God will finish his cure he will then make a perfect cure when final grace cometh we shall not need to think of a Popish Purgatory Death is the Lord's refining pot then there is not a jot of sin shall be left in a Christian. Now when God hath taken away our dross then to think we shall be put in a refining fire that an
entire soul that hath no blot that one that hath no spot should be purged after final grace hath made him clear and whole this is against reason and common sense They might have learned better of their own Thomas all the fire in the world will never put away sin without the infusion of grace This by the way concerning them I shewed besides that these two being both righteousnesses the Church of Rome confounds them both together Saint James his justification with Saint Pauls They confound inherent righteousness which is begun and shall be perfected in final grace with the other so that the point is not between us and Rome Whether faith justifieth by works or no but Whether it justifieth at all In truth that is the state of it The question is this whether there be such a grace as justification that is distinguished from sanctification or whether there be another grace of sanctification Do not think that we are such block-heads as to deny faith and sanctification yet faith is but a piece or part of that train of vertues There justification is taken for sanctification we acknowledge a man is justified by faith and works but the question is between us and them whether there be any justification besides sanctification i. e. whether there be any justification at all or no we say sanctification is wrought by the Kingly office of Christ he is a King that rules in our hearts subdues our corruptions governs us by the Sceptre of his Word and Spirit but it is the fruit of his Priestly office which the Church of Rome strikes at i. e. whether Christ hath reserved another righteousness for us besides that which as a King he works in our hearts whether he hath wrought forgiveness of sins for us we say he hath and so saith all the Church till the new Spawn of Jesuits arose They distinguish not remission of sins from sanctification Bellarmine saith remission of sins is the extinguishing of sin in the soul as water though it be cold yet the bringing in of heat extinguishes the cold and so remission of sins is the bringing in of inherent righteousness which extinguisheth all sin which was before A strange thing and were it not that the Scripture does speak of a cup in the hand of the Harlot of Rome whereby she makes drunk the Inhabitants of the earth with the wine of her fornication Rev. 17.4 18.3 except the men of her communion were drunk it were impossible that a learned men should thus shake out an Article of our and their Creed which hath ever been believed by all the Churches When the Scripture speaks of forgiveness of sins see how it expresseth it Ephes. 4.32 Be ye kind one to another Brethren tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Observe in the Lord's Prayer we pray that the Lord would forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us Let him that hath common understanding judge Do we forgive our Neighbours by extinguishing sin in the subject I forgive you i. e. I take away the ill office you did me Doth he forgive thus Alas no! forgiveness is without a man I have an action against you perhaps an action at Law I will let fall my suit my charges I will forgive this is forgiveness God justifieth who shall condemn Though God has just cause to proceed against me as a Rebel yet he is content to let fall his action to fasten it upon the Cross of his Son there to fix the Chirographum the hand-writing against us Colos. 2.14 He will let fall that which was the ground of a suit against us all that he could say against us That you may understand the thing the better there are two things two kinds of righteousness the one of justification the other of sanctification The Holy Ghost distinguisheth them by several terms 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption You see here are two distinct graces righteousness and sanctification they make them but one sanctification and remission of sins Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Rom. 8.30 Here justification and glorification are nothing else but justification and sanctification St Paul speaks of a thing past not of the glory to come them he glorified not shall glorifie he means sanctification which is inchoate glory For what is the glory we shall have in heaven but the enlargement of those inherent graces God begins in this world Here is the seed there is the crop here thou hast a little knowledge but there it shall be enlarged now thou hast a little joy there thou shalt enter into thy Master's joy here some knowledge but there thou shalt have a full knowledge and a full measure Here glory dwelleth in our Land but there we shall with open faoe behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and be changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 i. e. we are more and more conformed to the image of Almighty God by obedience and holy qualities infused into us that we grow from one degree of sanctification unto another And so you see how these are distinguished by their terms Justification and glorification justification and sanctification There is another place in St. John an hard place but yet as I take it these two righteousnesses that have the same name for justification and sanctification are righteousnesses both of them to be distinct in their terms in that place it is said Joh. 16.8 That when the Spirit shall come he shall reprove or as we should translate it and as you read it in the margin he shall convince the world concerning sin righteousness and judgment Thus I say it should be translated for it is of no sense to say that God should reprove the world of righteousness on what occasion this was spoken we must not stand to speak but righteousness and judgment is justification and sanctification And the drift of the place is this when the Spirit shall come how not upon me or thee but the Spirit here spoken of is that Spirit that should come upon the Apostles it shall begin at the day of Pentecost and these 1. should set forth like twelve Champions to conquer the world and to bring them unto the Sceptre of Christ. He shall convince the world i e. when the Spirit shall come on you and your tongues be tipped with that spiritual fire which shall be active it shall convince the world of three particulars of sin righteousness and judgment Of the point of humiliation for sins the point of justification by righteousness imputative and the glory of sanctification in judgment and righteousness inherent This method St. Paul useth in the Romans to stop every man's
Christ. If we would have comfort therefore let us mark the knocking of the spirit and not grieve him by withstanding holy motions and then we shall find him sealing up our salvation witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God Men you see wait for the wind and not the wind for them otherwise they may wait long enough before they reach home so must we watch the knocking 's of Christ and let him in that his spirit may seal us up to the day of Redemption Thirdly Another thing the true witness of the spirit leaves behind it is Love It makes a man more inflam'd with love to God If a man do not love God more after such an enlightening it is false and counterfeit Psalm 116. I will love thee dearly O Lord my God because thou hast heard my voice And says the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constraineth us And therefore if we be obedient Sons we will shew it in loving and honouring our Father more and more as the Prophet speaks Malach. 6. A Son honoureth his Father and a servant his Master if then I be a Father where is mine honour These are the trials before and after a true illumination to try it from the counterfeit which that we may always find and observe in our selves Let us pray O Lord our God c. FINIS A TABLE TO THE SERMONS A ACceptation and Affiance two acts of Faith 95 Active Obedience See Obedience Aggravations of sin 37 A temporary Believer desires Christ only in Affliction 119 120 Assurance no part of justifying faith 97. It is attainable 150. Why so many Christians want it 141 B. BAptism what it obliges to 23. It hath not its full effect till the day of our death ibid. To believe is a hard matter 22 96 To believe is our duty 88 Five words or Scripture-ways that God uses to perswade sinners to Believe in Christ viz. General Proclamation 86. Special invitations 87. Entreaties 87. Commands 88. Threatnings 89 To Believe is to come to Christ 111 It is exprest by Hungring and Thirsting 113 A Believer's case like the Beggars 114 A true Believer distinguished from a Temporary 1. by the ground of his desires 119. 2. by his desiring Grace as well as Mercy 122. 3. by his Love to God 122 A Believer's privilege 150 C. GOd Calls sinners to Christ by five words 86 Christ's equality with God 68. It renders his Humiliation the greater and more meritorious 68 Christ's Humiliation the extent degrees and particulars of it 69 72. Part of his Humiliation to be God's Servant 74. He was a Servant on earth in respect of men 70. Vsed and valued at the rate of a bondman 71 Christ's sufferings the more meritorious because voluntary 74 Christ's Active Obedience in the course of his life 74. his Humiliation and sufferings from his Conception to his death described 75 c. Christ's death described in the Accursedness of it 78. in the shame of it 78. in the painfulness of it 78 Christ suffered not the pains of Hell proved 80. yet he suffered in his Soul immediately from God 80 Whether Christ takes away all the sins of the world 83 Christ's being offered for us no comfort unless he be offered to us 66 That Christ died sufficiently for all is an improper speech 66 To receive Christ what 84. Christ offered freely 83 86. He that hath a will to receive Christ hath a warrant to receive him 86 Christ the proper and immediate Object of justifying Faith 93. Christ loved and valued above all by true believers 96. Christ and the Cross go together in this life 96 Christ very compassionaee 111 Christ is our peace 149 To be a Christian indeed is no easie maâ—ter 96 Civil Righteousness See Morality Men deceived by Comparing themselves with others 20. and with themselves 20 The Conditions of Faith and Obedience required hinder not the freedom of Gospel Grace 80 92 Confession of sin necessary and why 114 Carnal Confidence as to our spiritual estate dangerous the vain grounds of it discovered 19 Conscience one of the Tormentors in Hell 62 Peace of Conscience See Peace Conviction necessary to Conversion 17 33 Conviction a work of Gods Spirit 109 Two hindrances of Conversion 2 A limited time for it 4 Crucifying a Cursed Shameful Painful death 77. The manner of it 79 The Curse follows sin 40 The Curses attending an unregenerate man in this life 48 c. The Curses on his Soul 51 The Curses at his death 53 Custom in sin hardens the heart 12 D. DAy of grace limited 45 15. The folly and danger of neglecting it 13 Death the wages of sin 45. The comprehensiveness of the word Death 48 Death terrible 45. The terribleness of Bodily Death set forth in three particulars 53 c. What the first and second Death is 48 The Death of Christ described 78 c. Death-bed Repentance See Repentance Deferring Repentance dangerous 7. The reasons of Carnal mens Deferring Râ—pentance 9 c. The vanity of them ibid. Desires after Christ may be stronger in Tâ—mporaries than in true believers 119 120 The Devil takes possession of those whom God leaves 43 44 The Reason of Christians Doubting 141 E WHat use to make of the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation 15 Encouragements for sinners to come to Christ 86 Examination of a mans self See Self-Examination F. FAith why required to the receiving of Christ since he is a free gift 84 Faith consists not in a mans being perswaded that God is his God and that his sins are pardoned 86 91. It s proper and immediate Object is not that forgiveness of sins but Christ 93 Faith must have a ground for it out of the word 91. What Faith justifies 118 c. Faith justifies not as a vertue but in respect of its object 93. Faith justifies not as a Habit but as an act 132. The Acts of Faith 94. By what sins the Acts of Faith are hindred 92. How those obstructions are removed ibid. Faith an instrument to receive Justification not to procure it 135 140 Why Faith chosen for an instrument of justification rather than any othâ—r grace 141. A weak Faith justifies as much as a strong 140. yet a strong Faith is to be laboured for and why 140 How Faith alone justifies 140 Faith may be certainly known There may be Faith where there is no feeling 90 96 113 128. Faith strongest when sense least 147 Encouragements to Faith 86 Carnal Fear its sinfulness and danger 56 57 Men apt to Flatter themselves as to their spiritual estate 18 Five false glasses that cause this self Flattery 18 c. Forgiveness of sins not a distinct thing from Imputation of Righteousness 85 c. Forgiveness is properly of sins past only 125. It is one continued act 131. and therefore may be prayed for by a justified person ibid. Forgiveness frees from guilt and punishment 133 God forsakes none till they forsake him 44 True believers forsake
it to hurt and wound us So that we may look on sin as the Barbarians looked on the viper on Pauls hand they expected continually when he would have swollen and burst Sin bites like a Snake which is called a fiery Serpent not that the Serpent is fiery but because it puts a man into such a flaming heat by their poyson And such is the sting of sin which carries poyson in it that had we but eyes to see our ugliness by it and how it inflames us we should continually every day look when we should burst with it The Apostle James 1.15 useth another metaphor Sin when it is accomplished bringeth forth death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Original sin goeth as it were with child with death The word is proper to Women in labour who are in torment till they are delivered Now as if sin were this Woman he useth it in the faeminine gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So it is with sin sin is in pain cries out hath no rest till it be delivered of this dead birth till it have brought forth death That is sin grows great with child with death and then it not only deserves death but it produceth and actually brings forth This is generally so Now consider with your selves death is a fearful thing When we come to talk of death how doth it amaze us The Priests of Nob are brought before Saul for relieving David and he saith Thou shalt surely die Ahimelech And this is your case you shall surely die death is terrible even to a good man As appears in Hezekiah who though he were a good man yet with how sad a heart doth he entertain the message of death The news of it affrighted him it went to his heart it made him turn to the wall and weep How cometh it to pass that we are so careless of death That we are so full of infidelity that when the word of God saith Thou shalt die Ahimelech we are not at all moved by it What can we think these are Fables Do we think God is not in earnest with us And by this means we fall into the temptation of Eve a questioning whether Gods threats are true or not That which was the deceit of our first Parents is ours Satan disputes not whether sin be lawful or not Whether eating the fruit were unlawful Whether Drunkenness c. Be lawful he 'l not deny but it is unlawful But when God saith If thou dost eat c. Thou shalt die he denies it and saith ye shall not die He would hide our eyes from the punishment of sin Thus we lost our selves at the first and the Floods of sin came on in this manner When we believed not God when he said If thou dost eat thou shalt surely die And shall we renew that Capital sin of our Parents and think if we do sin we shall not die If any thing in the World will move God to shew us no mercy it 's this when we sleight his Judgments or not believe them This adds to the height of all our sins that when God saith if thou dost live in sin thou shalt die and yet we will not believe him That when she shall come and threaten us as he doth Dâ—ut 29. v. 19. When he shall curse and we shall bless our selves in our hearts and say we shall have peace though we go on c. v. 20. The Lord will not spare that man but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against him It is no small sin when we will not believe God This is as being thirsty before we now add Drunkenness to our thirst That is when God shall thus pronounce curses he shall yet bless himself and say I hope I shall do well enough for all that There are two words to that bargain Then see what follows The anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against that man c. We are but now entred into the point but it would make your hearts ake and throb within you if you should hear the particulars of it All that I have done is to perswade you to make a right choice to take heed of Satans delusions Why will ye die Ezek. 33.11 Therefore cast away your sins and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die Ezek. 18.31 Where the Golded Candlestick stands there Christ walks there he saith I am with you Where the Word and Sacraments are there Christ is and when the Word shakes thy heart take that time now choose life Why will you die Consider of the matter Moses put before the people life and death blessing and cursing Deut. 30.15 19. We put life and death before you in a better manner He was a Minister of the letter we of the spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 Now choose life But if you will not hearken but will needs try conclusions with God therefore because you will choose your own conclusions and will not hearken unto God because you will needs try conclusions with him will not obey him when he calls therefore he will turn his deaf ear unto you and when you call and cry he will not answer Prov. 1.28 I press this the more to move you to make a right choice But now to turn to the other side as there is nothing but death for the wages of sin and as I have shewed you where death is So give me leave to direct you to the Fountain of life There is life in our blessed Saviour if we have but an hand of faith to touch him we shall draw vertue from him to raise us up from the death of sin to the life of righteousness 1 John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life You have heard of a death that comes by the first Adam and sin and to that stock of Original sin we had from him we have added a great heap of our own actual sins and so have treasured up unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 Now here is a great treasure of happiness on the other side in Christ have the Son and have life The question is now whether you will choose Christ and life or sin and death Consider now the Minister stands in Gods stead and beseeches you in his name he speaks not of himself but from Christ. When he draws near to thee with Christs broken body and his blood shed and thou receivest Christ then as thy natural life and strength is preserved and encreased by these Elements so hast thou also spiritual life by Christ. If a man be kept from nourishment a while we know what death he must die If we receive not Christ we cannot have life we know that there is life to be had from Christ and he that shall by a true and lively faith receive Christ shall have life by him There is as it were a pair of Indentures drawn up between God and a
he is the child of God and shall go to Heaven is not Faith thou mayst carry this assurance to Hell with thee This Faith is not Faith For faith comes by hearing and that not of every word or fancy but by hearing the Word of Truth Faith must not go a jot further then the Word of God goeth If thou hast an apprehension but no warrant for it out of the Word of God it is not faith for it s said After you heard the Word of Truth you believed So that we must have some ground for it out of the Word of Truth otherwise it is presumption meer conceipts fancy and not Faith Now I shew'd unto you the last time how this might be for while a man is an Vnbeliever he is wholly defiled with sin he is in a most loathsom condition he is in his blood filthy and no eye pities him And may one fasten comfort on one in such a condition on a dead man And this I shew'd you was our case When Faith comes to us it finds no good thing in us it finds us stark naked and stark nought yet there is a Word for all this to draw us unto Christ from that miserable Ocean in which we are swimming unto perdition if God catch us not in his Net Hearken we therefore to Gods Call There is such a thing as this Calling God calls thee and would change thy condition and therefore offers thee his Son Wilt thou have my Son Wilt thou yield unto me Wilt thou be reconciled unto me Wilt thou come unto me And this may be preacht to the veriest Rebel that is It is the only Word whereby faith is wrought It is not by finding such and such things in us before hand No God finds us as bad as bad may be when he proffers Christ unto us He finds us ugly and filthy and afterwards washes us and makes us good It is not because I found this or that good thing in thee that I give thee interest in my Son take it not on this ground No he loved us first and when we were defiled he washt us from our sins in his own blood Râ—v 1.5 Now there is a double love of God towards his Creatures 1. Of Commiseration 2. Of Complacency That of Commiseration is a fruit of love which tenders and pities the miserable estate of another But now there is another love of Complacency which ariseth from a likeness between the qualities and manners of persons for like will to like and this love God never hath but to his Saints after Conversion when they have his Image enstamped in them and are reformed in their Vnderstandings and Wills resembling him in both then and not till then bears he this love towards them Before he loves them with the love of pity and so God lov'd the World that is with the love of Commiseration that he sent his only Son that whosoever believed in him might not perish but have everlasting life And therefore he said in the Prophet Isaiah In his Love and in his pity he redeemed them chap. 63. ver 9. Now we come to the point of Acceptation The Word is free and it requires nothing but what may consist with the freest gift that may be given Although here be something that a man may startle at Object Is there not required a condition of faith and a condition of obedience Sol. Neither of these according to our common Understanding do hinder the fulness and freedom of the Grace of the Gospel 1. Not Faith because Faith is such a condition as requires only an empty hand to receive a gift freely given Now doth that hinder the freeness of the gift to say you must take it Why this is requisite to the freest gift that can be given If a man would give something to a Begger if he would not reach out his hand and take it let him go without it it s a free gift still so that the condition of Faith is such a condition as requires nothing but an empty hand to receive Christ. 2. Obedience hinders it not I am required may some say to be a new man a new Creature to lead a new life I must alter my course And is not this a great clog and burthen And do you account this free When I must crucifie lusts mortifie Passions c. Is this free when a man must renounce his own Will Yes It is as free as free may be as a I shewed you the last time The very touching and accepting of Christ implies an abnegation of former sinfulness and a going off from other courses that are contrary to him If the King give a pardon to a notorious Rebel for Treason so that now he must live obedient as a Subject the King need not in regard of himself to have given the pardon if he give it it takes not from its freeness that he must live like a Subject afterwards the very acceptance of the pardon implies it But now to declare Faith and to open the Mystery thereof Faith is a great thing It is our life our life stands in the practice of it That as in the offering of Christ for us there is given him a name above every name That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow As I say in the purchasing of Redemption so in the point of acceptation God hath given unto this poor vertue of faith a name above all names Faith indeed as it is a vertue is poor and mean and comes far short of love and therefore by the Apostle love is many degrees preferr'd before faith because love fills the heart and faith is but a bare hand it lets all things fall that it may fill it self with Christ. It s said of the Virgin Mary That God did respect the low estate of his hand-maid So God respects the low estate of Faith that nothing is required but a bare empty hand which hath nothing to bring with it though it be never so weak yet if it have a hand to receive it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a like precious faith 2 Pet. 1.1 that of the poorest Believer and the greatest Saint Now that we may come unto the point without any more going backwards In the words read there is the point of faith and a thing God confirms it withal a seal In whom also after that you believed you were sealed Faith is of it a self a thing unsealed The sealing with the holy Spirit of Promise is a point beyond faith it s a point of feeling and not only of believing of Gods Word but a sensible feeling of the Spirit A believing in my soul accompanied with joy unspeakable and full of glory of which sealing we shall speak more hereafter Observe for the first 1. The Object of it In whom you trusted We speak of Faith now as it justifies as it apprehends Christ for its Object for otherwise Faith hath as large an Extent as all Gods Word Faith hath a
crucified and God by him We come now to declare 2. The Acts of faith what they are and there is some intricacy in that too There is much ado made in what part and power of the soul faith is We must not proportionate the Act of faith according to our own fancy For it 's no faith but as it hath relation to the Word now look how is the Word presented After you heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your salvation Now the word is presented under a double respect 1. It s presented Sub ratione veri After you had heard the Word of Truth and there comes in the Vnderstanding 2. Then Sub ratione boni as a good word that so we should lay hold on it and here comes in the Will For the Will we say challenges that which is good for its Object Now the Gospel of salvation is a good Word its glad tydings worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 And now as the Word is presented as a good Word so must my Act of faith be answerable unto it See in Heb. 11.13 The act of faith answering hereto These all dyed in faith not having received the Promises What did their faith to them It made them see the Promises afar off and they were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth So that by comparing place with place it appears that first this Gospel was presented as the word of Truth they were perswaded of it It is the first Act of Faith to perswade men of the truth of the Word and then as it is a good word they embraced it These are the two arms of faith as true it perswades me as good I embrace it We must not now be too curious in bringing in Philosophical Disputes whether one Vertue may reside in two Faculties whether Faith may reside in the Understanding and the Will The truth is these things are not yet agreed upon and shall we trouble our selves with things not yet decided in the Schools as whether the practical Vnderstanding and the Will be distinct faculties or no The Word of God requires that I should believe with my whole heart Act. 8.37 As Philip told the Eunuch If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest If with the heart but with what faculties may you say Why I tell thee believe with thy whole heart And what shall I piece and divide the heart when the whole is required Now to come to those two The Word is presented 1. As a true Word 2. Then as a good Word a word like Gospel like salvation 1. As a true Word And the Act of faith answering thereto is called in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowledge and Acknowledgement Tit. 1.1 2 Pet. 1.3 and 2.18 1. Knowledge that is a thing requisite Why because if there be a Remedy able to cure a man's disease if he do not know it what is he the better for it Knowledge is so essential unto Faith that without it there can be no faith In Joh. 17.3 the terms are confounded the one put for the other This is life eternal to know thee to be the true God and whom c. to know thee that is to believe in thee because knowledge is so essential to belief as one cannot be without the other thou canst not believe what thou hast never heard of I know saith Job that my Redeemer liveth that is I believe he liveth Job 19 25. And hereupon it is said in Isa. 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Knowledge is an Act primarily requisite to Faith to be justified by his knowledge is to be justified by faith in his blood This then is the first thing that I know it to be as true as Gospel then comes the acknowledgement 2. The Acknowledgment Joh. 6.69 We know and are assured that thou art that Christ. This is an assurance I say not the assurance of my salvation for that is another kind of thing But an assurance that God will keep touch with c. will not delude me but that if I take his Son I shall have life I shall have his favour When God illuminates me I find all things in him when I have him I am made When the Understanding clearly apprehends this then comes the next word it is the Gospel of salvation there being a knowing and acknowledging the Act of the Understanding then comes the Will and it being 2. Propounded as a good word then follows 1. Acceptation 2. Affiance 1. Acceptation which receives Christ Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name Then a man resolves I will take God on his word and thereupon follows A resting or relying on God which is a proper act of faith I need no other place than Rom. 10.13 Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved But how shall they call on him on whom they have not believed that is on whom they have not reposed their confidence Mark the Apostle How shall they call on him on whom they have not believed That Faith which was the Antecedent must be in the conclusion therefore our faith is a relying on God and so in this place this trust is made the same with faith as it is in the Text in whom you trusted after you had received the word of Truth for our trust and belief there is the self same word Nimium ne crede colori this Credo is to have a great confidence in fleeting and fading things and so it is in justifying faith With respect to the unshaken truths of the incorruptible and unchangeable Word of his which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 If I have a knowledge of God and acknowledgment of him and from my knowing my will is conformed to accept Christ and if when I have accepted him I will not part from him this is faith and if thou hast this faith thou wilt never perish Suppose thou never hadst one day of comfort all thy life long yet my life for thine thou art saved Perhaps by reason of thy ignorance thou hast no feeling yet if thou consent thou art justified it is the consent makes the match If thou consent to the Father and take Christ the Son know it or know it not thou hast him though thou knowest not whether thy sins are forgiven yet as long as thou keepest thy hold all the Devil's temptations shall never drive thee from him thou art justified and in a safe case though ignorance and other things in thee cause thee not to feel it if thou layest hold on him for his sake thou art apprehended Object Now then this is an easie matter you will say Sol. Not so easie a matter as you guess it to be It were
of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knows save he that receives it that is there is a particular intimation that I shall know of my self more than any other more than all the world besides It is such a joy as the stranger is not made partaker of Prov. 14.10 such joy as is glorious and unspeakable 1 Pet. 1.8 Such peace as passâ—th all understanding Philip. 4 7. One minute of such joy surpasseth all the joy in the world besides Now consider sure there is such a thing as this joy or else do you think the Scripture would talk of it and of the Comforter the Holy Ghost by whom we know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 There is a generation in the world that hath this joy though you that know it not do not nor cannot believe it there is a righteous generation that have it and why dost thou not try to get it do as they do and thou mayest obtain it likewise The secrets of the Lord are revealed to them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal. 25.14 These are hidden comforts do you think God will give this joy to those that care not for him No the way is to seek God and to labour to fear him The secrets of the Lord are revealed to such and such only as fear him do as they do and follow their example and thou mayest have it likewise Object Many have served Christ long and have not sound it Sol. It is long of themselves you are straitned in your own bowels or else Open your mouths wide and God will fill them No wonder that we are so barren of these comforts when we be straitned in our selves There is a thing wondrously wanting amongst us and that is Meditation If we could give our selves to it and go up with Moses to the Mount to confer with God and seriously think of the price of Christ's death and of the joys of heaven and the Privileges of a Christian if we could frequently meditate on these we should have these sealing comforts every day at least oftner This hath need to be much pressed upon us the neglect of this makes lean souls He that is frequent in that hath these sealing days often Couldst thou have a parley with God in private and have thy heart rejoyce with the comforts of another day even whilst thou art thinking of these things Christ would be in the midst of thee Many of the Saints of God have but little of this because they spend but few hours in Meditation And thus as this hour would give leave have we proceeded in this point 1 COR. 11.29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body I Have heretofore declared unto you the ground of our salvation and have represented unto you first Christ offered for us and secondly Christ offered to us Now it hath pleased Almighty God not only to teach us this by his Word but because we are slow of heart to believe and conceive the things we hear it pleases his glorious Wisdom to add to his Word his Sacraments that so what we have heard with our ears we may see with our eyes being represented by signs There is a visible voice whereby God speaks to the eyes and therefore we find in Exod. 4.8 God bids Moses that he should use signs saying It shall come to pass if they will not believe thee neither hearken to the voice of the first sign that they will believe the voice of the latter sign Signs you know are the Object of the eye and yet see they have as it were a visible voice which speaks to the eye Now God is pleased to give us these signs for the helping 1. Of our Vnderstanding The eye and the ear are the two learned senses as we call them through which all knowledge is conveyed into the soul and therefore that we may have a more particular knowledge of Christ God hath not only by his Ministery given us audible voices but visible also in his Sacramenss by which as by certain glasses he represents to us the Mystery of Christ Jesus offered for us and offered to us And hence is it that Paul calls the eyes to witness as well as the ears Gal. 3.1 O ye foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified amongst you That is before whose eyes Christ hath been crucified not by hear-say only but evidently before your eyes not in any foolish Crucifix with the Papists but in the blessed Sacrament wherein he is so represented as if his soul were before our eyes poured out to death so that by these Sacraments heavenly things are as it were clothed in earthly Garments and this is the first reason viz. to help our Vnderstanding But besides he doth it 2. To help our Memory we are apt to forget those wonderful things Christ hath wrought for us And therefore verse 24. and 25. Of this Chapter we are bid To eat his body and drink his blood in remembrance of him To take the signs as tokens of him the Sacrament is as it were a monument and pillar raised up to the end that when ever we see it we should remember the Lords death until be come It s said 2 Sam. 18.18 That Absolom in his life time had taken and reared up for himself a Pillar which is in the Kings dale for he said I have no son to keep my name in remembrance He would fain be remembred bu he had no Child whereby he might live after he was dead therefore he raises it and calls it after his own name Absoloms place as it is this day That so as often as any came that way they might remember him Christ doth thus by his Sacrament and erects it as a Monument for the remembrance of his death and as it were calls it by his own name saying This is my body and this is my blood That when ever we see them we may call to mind Christ offâ—red for us and to us But that I may apply this my Doctrine to the ears also know that 3. These signs are for the strengthning of our faith and therefore it is considered as a seal Rom. 4.11 Abraham received the sign of Circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised It helps our understanding by being a sign and is a confirmation a seal by vertue whereof Chrlst is passed and made over to us so that we have as true an interest and right to him as to our meat and drink yea he becomes as effectually ours for every purpose in our spiritual life as our meat and drink doth for our corporal To which end these Elements are changed spiritually in their natures not in substance
no Physician there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered What though then we are sick to death yet there is an help in time of need And this knowledge of the people that there is a Throne of grace is the first comfort comes to a miserable and sinful soul. A man that hath a deadly disease though the Physician do him no good which he hath made use of yet this he comforts himself in when he sees a Physician that hath cured the same disease he sees then there is some hope Thus it is with a sinful soul. When the welcome news of the Gospel comes after the Law hath discovered his disease and says Be not discouraged there is a Throne of grace prepared for thee God hath a seat of justice to deal with Rebels and open Traytors but if thou art weary of thy estate if thou wilt submit to God take Christ for thy King and cast down all thy weapons if thou wilt live like a subject he hath prepared a Throne of grace for thee Christ is thy Attourney in the Court to plead for thee he is not as the Papists make him so stout and one that takes such state on him as that a man may not come near him This is the highest injury that can be offered to Christ to think that any creature hath more mercy and pity than he hath It is to rob Christ of the fairest flower in his garden when we rob him of his mercy and pity Mark that place in Heb. 4.15 that we may not think him austere We have not an high Priest that cannot be touched with our infirmities with the feeling of our infirmities Christ is no hard-hearted man when you were his enemies he loved you insomuch that he humbled himself and suffered death even the death of the Cross for you And he hath the self same bowels in Heaven that he had on earth he wept over Jerusalem and the self-same weeping heart carried he to Heaven with him the self same weeping eyes Believe not then the Papists that he is so hard-hearted or so stately and that his Mother is more ready to speak for us fie on it This is to pervert the Gospel and make Christ no Christ. We have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 2 17 In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest c. Alas poor soul saith Christ what the malice of the Devil is I know by mine own experience in the flesh for Christ was tempted in all things according to us sin only excepted I know what the temptations of the world are but whereas we have three enemies the Devil the world and the flesh only the two former were his Christ had the temptations of the world and the Devil not of the corrupt flesh for he had no corrupt flesh A man that hath been himself in terrible Tempests on the Sea when he sees a storm out of his own experience he pities those that are in it when as others are not a jot moved for he hath seen that consternation of mind which on every side appeared That plurima mortis imago wherereas others having not been there lay not their miseries to heart Christ having suffered himself and being tempted as we were in sensible of our miseries and therefore never count it boldness to come boldly to him that gives thee this encouragement Come boldly to the Throne of grace We must understand that all this is before faith we must 1. Know that we have a need 2. That there is a Throne of grace when God enlightens my conscience and encourages me to come And thus having spoken of the preparatives I come to the work the main thing it self Now this is 2. The Act Coming this coming is believing as the feet which carry a man to the place he would be in his feet carry him nearer and nearer If a man cannot be cured but by the Bath his feet must carry him thither Now faith is the legs of the soul the feet that carry us unto Christ whereas we are afar off and draw back as all unbelievers now by believing we draw near Now as unbelievers draw back so believers draw forward and therefore John 1.12 and John 6.35 To come to Christ and to believe in him are the self-same thing He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst Coming is there made an act of faith and the same thing with it The one is the explâ—cation of the other thy coming to Christ is thy believing in him When thou hearest of a Throne of grace and seest the Lord of glory stretching out his golden Scepter come and touch it take the benefit of the King's pardon If a man know there is such a Throne of grace he must come unto it And now begins faith to work And that thou mayst understand it the better know that faith then begins first to work when thou settest the first step towards the Throne of grace And this is the hour in which salvation is come unto thy house Luk. 19.9 None can come to me saith Christ except my Father draw him If thou seest a vertue to come from Christ and to draw thee as an Adamant and thou feelest that loadstone working on thee then begins faith It makes thee draw near to Christ whereas before thou wert a stranger Till then thou art like thy Grandfather Adam thou runnest away and thinkest thy self most secure when thou wast farthest from God but now thou seest no comfort unless thou draw nigh unto him now as the Apostle saith Phil. 2.13 It is he that worketh in us the will and the deed this must must be wrought in us by God First a will then the deed and then it is not only I would do such a thing but I do it God works not only the will of coming but the deed of coming and all his acts are acts of faith and have a promise God makes no promise till we be in Christ till we have faith we are no heirs of the promise when a man sets his face towards Jerusalem and begins to set himself to go to Christ all he doth then hath the promise not a tear now that he sheds but is precious God puts it into his bottle not a cup of cold water that now he gives but shall have a great reward this is a blessed thing when every thing we do hath a promise annexed to it when every step we step hath a promise made to it Now then the will is the first thing that is wrought in us this is that which makes the act of faith that is I have a will a resolution to do this And the Apostle makes it more than the very deed it self 2 Cor. 8 10. as I may so say For this is expedient for you who have
testifie I answer In this place our Spirit is as it were an evidence of God from heaven as a loud token given assuring me upon good grounds that I have not mis-applyed the promises but though God do write bitter things against me yet that I love him still and cleave unto him that for all this I know that I still hunger and thirst after Righteousness that I will not be beaten off nor receive an ill report of my Lord and Saviour that I rest wait fear and trust in him still When thus our valour and faith is tryed then comes the same spirit and seals with our spirit that we are the children of God When our seal is first put then God seals with our spirit the same thing by his spirit To this effect is that in 1 Joh. 3.8 we read three Witnesses are set down the Spirit the Water aand the Blood and these three agree in one These three witness that we have everlasting life and that our names are written in heaven How do these three agree with these two Witnesses very well St. John he ranks them according to the order of their clearest evidence first the Spirit then the Water then the Blood the Apostle here he ranks them according to their natural being first our spirit in Justification and Sanctification and then God's spirit For the spirit of all other this is the clearest evidence and when this is bright and manifest there needs no more the thing is sealed So the Testimony of Water is a clear evidence whereby is meant Sanctification this is put next unto the Spirit for when the Spirit is silent yet this may speak for though I have many wants and imperfections in me yet if my spirit can testifie unto me that I have a desire to please God in all things that I resolve upon and set up his service as the pitch of all my utmost endeavours that with allowance I willingly cherish no corruption but set my self against all sin this Water will comfort and hold up a man from sinking as we see in all the sore tryals of Job Job 28.2 Still he stood upon the integrity of his own spirit and would not let that go though he were sore beaten of the Almighty and slandered for a wicked person But the water may be muddy and the strugling of the flesh and spirit so strong that we happily shall not be able to judge which is master What then Then faith lays hold of the blood in Justification which though it be the darkest testimony yet is as sure as any of the other Now in comparing of these witnesses together in St. John and in my text I rank the water and the blood with the testimony of our spirit And the Spirit mentioned in St. John and in my Text to be all one not as though we wrought them but we believe them to be so If a man ask how I know that I am sanctified the answer must be I believe and know it to be so the work producing these things in me comes of God but for the work of discerning this is certain how our affections stand in this case it comes of us but yet to come nearer the matter The testimony of our spirit I conceive to be when a man hath taken a survey of those excellent things belonging unto Justification and Sanctification when according to the substantial truths which I know in the Word I observe and follow as fast as I can what is there commanded when I take the Candle of the Word and with the bright burning lamp search into the Word what is there to be done and so bring it home to my self thereby mortifying my corruptions this is the ground-work of the witness of our Spirit First as in the blood with my spirit I must see what is needful to be done in order unto Justification what free promises of invitation belong thereunto I must see how God justifies a sinner what conditions on our part are required in Justification I must see what footings and grounds for life and what way of hope there is for a graceless man to be saved yea even for the worst person that may be In this case a man must not look for any thing in himself as a cause Christ must not be had by exchange but received as free gift as the Apostle speaks Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it may be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed I must there bring unto the receiving of Christ a bare hand It must be of grace God for this cause will make us let fall every thing before we shall take hold of him Though qualified with humiliations I must let all fall not trusting unto it as to make me the worthier to receive Christ as some think When thus at first for my Justification I received Christ I must let any thing I have fall to lay hold of him that then he may find us thus naked as it were in our blood and in this sort God will take us that all may be of mere grace Another thing the Apostle adds and that is that the promise may be sure If any thing in us might be as a cause or help to our Justification a man should never be sure therefore it is all of grace that the promise might be sure As though God should say I care for nothing else bring me my Son and shew me him and then all is well And in this case you see he doth not name hope or love or any other grace but faith for the nature of faith is to let fall all things in laying hold on Christ In Justification faith is a sufferer only but in Sanctification it works and purgeth the whole man and so witnesses the certainty and truth of our Sanctification and so the assurance of Salvation Hence from the nature hereof in this work the Apostle in 2 Pet. 1.1 writes to them who had obtained like precious faith In this case it is alike to all in vertue in this work whatsoever the measure be And I may liken it thus St. Paul you know writes With these hands I get my living Now though strong hands may work more than weak hands and so earn a great deal more yet a beggar who holds out his hand may receive more than he or any other could earn So faith justifies only receiving not working as we may see Joh. 1.12 But to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his Name Received him that is believe in him How Come and take him How as it is in Rev. 22. And let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him come and take of the water of life freely Now when I see that God keeps open house come who will without denying entertainment to any and when God's spirit hath wrought the will in me what lets me now to receive