that rather than wee should be condemned with the world hee will take this course with us Though our salvation be sure and that wee shall not be condemned with the world yet the knowledge of this doth not make us secure for though God doth not damne us with the world yet hee will sharpely correct us here and by a carefull sober life we might obtaine many blessings and prevent many judgements and make our pilgrimage more comfortable therefore it argues neither grace nor wit that because God will save mee therefore I will take libertie no though God will save thee yet he will take such a course with thee thou shalt indure such sharpenesse for thy sinne that it shall be more bitter than the sweetest of it was pleasant Gracious persons in times of peace and quiet doe often underprize themselves and the graces of God in them thinking that they want faith patience and love who yet when God calleth them out to the crosse shine forth in the eyes of others in the example of a meeke and quiet subjection God oftentimes maketh wicked men friends to his children without changing their disposition by putting into their hearts some conceit for the time which inclineth them to favour as Nehemiah 2. 8. God put it into the Kings heart to favour his people so Gen. 33. 4. Esau was not changed onely God for the time changed his affe ctions to favour Iacob so God puts into the hearts of many groundedly naught to favour the best persons Vsually in what measure we in the times of our peace and liberty inordinately let loose our affections in that measure are we cast downe or more deepely in discomfort when our adulterous hearts cleaves to things more than become chaste hearts it makes the crosse more sharpe and extreame A man indeede is never overcome let him be never so vexed in the world by any till his conscience be crackt If his conscience and his cause stand upright he doth conquer and is more than a conquerer Partiall obedience is no obedience at all to single out casie things that doe not oppose our lusts which are not against our reputation therein some will doe more than they neede but our obedience must be universall to all Gods Commandements and that because he commands us In every evill worke that we are tempted unto wee neede delivering grace as to every good worke assisting grace That Christian who is privie to his owne soule of good intentions to abstaine from all ill hee may presume that God will assist him against all ill workes for the time to come Wee should watch and labour daily to continue in prayer strengthening and backing them with arguments from the Word and Promises and marking how our prayers speede when wee shoote an Arrow wee looke to the fall of it when wee send a shippe to sea wee looke for the returne of it and when wee sow seede wee looke for a harvest and so when we sow our prayers into Gods bosome shall wee not looke for an answer and observe how we speed it is a seede of Atheisme to pray and not to looke how we speed but a sincere Christian will pray and waite and strengthen his heart with promises out of the Word and never leave till God doe give him a gracious answer Take a Christian and whatsoever hee doth hee doth it in feare if hee call God Father it is in feare hee eates and drinkes in feare as Saint Iudc speakes of them that eate without feare the true servant of God hath feare accompanying him in all his actions in his speeches and recreations in his meate and drinke but hee that hath not this feare how bold is he in wicked courses and loose in all his carriages But marke a true Christian and you shall alwayes see in him some expressions of an holy feare The relation of servant is of great consequence to put us in minde of our dutie if wee will be Gods Servants wee must make it good by obedience wee must resolve to come under his governement and be at his command or else hee will say to us as to them in the 10. of Iudges Goe to the gods whom you have served Therefore emptie relations are nothing to purpose if wee professe our selves Gods servants and not shew it by our obedience it s but an emptie title therefore let us make our relations good at least in our affections that wee may be able to say I desire to feare thy name In reading of the Scriptures let us compare Experiments with Rules Nehemiah 1. 8 9. If you sin you shall be scattered and if you returne againe I will be mercifull wee should practise this in our lives to see how God hath made good his threatnings in our corrections and his Promises in our comforts Those that have had a sweete communion with God when they have lost it doe count every day tenne thousand till they have recovered it againe and when Christ leaves his Spouse he forsakes her not altogether but leaves something on the heart that maketh her to long after him He absents himselfe that hee may enlarge the desires of the soule and after the soule hath him againe it will not let him goe hee comes for our good and leaves us for our good wee should therefore judge rightly of our estates and not thinke wee are forsaken of God when we are in a desertion When men can finde no comfort yet when they set themselves to teach weaker Christians by way of reflection they receive comfort themselves so doth God reward the conscionable performance of this dutie of discourse that those things wee did not so sweetly understand before by discourse wee understand them better this should teach us to be in love with holy conference for besides the good wee doe to others we are much bettered our selves We may use Gods creatures but not scrupulously nor superstitiously singling out one creature from another nor yet may wee use them as wee list there is a difference betweene right and the use of right the Magistrate may restraine the use of our right and so may our weake brother in case of scandall so that all things be ours yet in the use of them wee must be sober not eating nor drinking immoderately nor using any thing uncharitably whereby others may take offence for albeit wee have a right to Gods bountie yet our right and use must be sanctified by the Word and Prayer Many men fall to questioning Oh that I had assurance of my salvation Oh that I were the childe of God why man fall to obedience I but I cannot for it is the Spirit that enables but yet come to holy Exercises though wee have not the Spirit for many times in the middest of holy Exercises God gives the Spirit and therefore attend upon the meanes untill wee have strength to obey waite upon Gods Ordinances till hee stirres in thy soule all that love your soules attend upon the meanes
frame it hinders all the rest If we will hold out because the errour is in want of deepe apprehension of the miseries wee are in by nature let us labour therefore to have our hearts broken more and more Vpon this fault it was that the stony ground spoken of in the Gospell wants rooting therefore it is Christian pollicie to suffer our soules to be humbled as deepe as possible may be that there may be mould enough otherwise there may be a great joy in divine Truths and they may be comfortable but all will be sucked up like dew when persecution comes if it be not rooted What is the reason that Gods children sinke not to hell when troubles are upon them because they have an inward presence strengthening them for the holy Ghost helpes our infirmities not onely to pray but to beare crosses sweetening them with some glympes of his gracious countenance for what supports our faith in prayer but inward strength from God In prosperitie or after some deliverance its the fittest time for praise because then our spirits are raised up and cheared in the evidence of Gods favour for the greater the crosse is from which wee have beene delivered the more will the spirit be enlarged to praise God When ever we receive any good to our soules or to our bodies who ever is the instrument let us looke to the principall as in the gifts wee receive wee looke not to the Bringer but to the Sender Take heede of Satans policie that God hath forgotten mee because I am in extremitie nay rather God will then shew mercie for now is the speciall time of mercy therefore beat backe Satan with his owne weapons Whatsoever God takes away from his children he either supplies it with a great earthly favour or else with strength to beare it God gives charge to others to take a care of the fatherlesse and widdow and will he neglect them himselfe That is spirituall knowledge which alters the taste and relish of the soule for wee must know there is a bitter Antithesis in our nature against all saving Truthes there is a contrarietie betweene our nature and that Doctrine which teacheth us that wee must deny our selves and be saved by another Therefore the soule must first be brought to relish before it can digest there must be first an holy Harmony betweene our nature and truth If we will walke aright in Gods wayes let us have heaven daily in our Eye and the day of judgement and times to come and this will sterne the course of our lives and breed love in the use of the meanes and patience to undergoe all conditions let us have our eye with Moses upon him that is invisible A man may know that hee loves the world if he be more carefull to get than to use for we are but Stewards and wee should consider I must be as carefull in distributing as in getting for when wee are all in getting and nothing in distributing this man is a worldling though hee be moderate in getting without wronging any man yet the world hath gotten his heart because hee makes not that use of it he should It is a sottish conceit to thinke that wee can fit our selves for Grace as if a child in the wombe could forward its naturall birth If God hath made us men let us not make our selves Gods As naturall life preserves it selfe by repelling that which is contrary to it So where the life of Grace is there is a principle of skill of power and strength to repell that which is contrary It is the nature of the soule that when it sees a succession of better things it makes the world seeme cheape when it sees another condition not liable to change then it hath a sanctified judgement to esteeme of things as they are and so it overcomes the world In the Covenant of Grace God intends the glory of his Grace above all Now faith is fit for it because it hath an uniting Vertue to knit us to the Mediator and to lay hold of a thing out of it selfe it empties the soule of all conceit of worth or strength or excellencie in the creature and so it gives all the glory to God and Christ. What wee are afraid to speake before men and to doe for feare of danger let us be afraid to thinke before God therefore wee should stifle all ill conceits in the very conception in their very rising let them be used as Rebells and Traytors smoothered at the first The heart of man till he be a Beleever is in a wavering condition its never at quiet and therefore it s the happinesse of the creature to be satisfied and to have rest for perplexitie makes a man miserable if a man have but a little scruple in his conscience hee is like a shippe in the sea tossed with contrary windes and cannot come to the Haven The righteousnesse of Workes leaves the soule in perplexitie that righteousnesse which comes by any other meanes than by Christ leaves the soule unsetled because the Law of God promiseth life onely upon absolute and personall performance Now the heart of man tells him that this he hath not done and such duties he hath omitted and this breeds perplexitie because the heart hath not whereon to stay it selfe Glory followes afflictions not as the day followes the night but as the Spring followes Winter for the Winter prepares the earth for the Spring so doth afflictions sanctified prepare the soule for glory This life is not a life for the body but for the soule and therefore the soule should speake to the body and say stay body for if thou movest mee to fulfill thy desires now thou wilt lose mee and thy selfe hereafter But if the body be given up to Christ then the soule will speake a good word for it in heaven as if it should say Lord there is a body of mine in the earth that did fast for me and pray with me it will speake for it as Pharaohs Butler to the King for Ioseph Afflictions makes a divorce and separation betweene the soule and sinne it is not a small thing that will worke sinne out of the soule it must be the Spirit of burning the fire of afflictions sanctified heaven is for holinesse and all that 's contrary to holinesse afflictions workes out and so frames the soule to a further communion with God When the soule admires spirituall things it s then a holy frame and so long it will not stoope to any base comfort Wee should therefore labour to keepe our soules in an estate of holy admiration All those whom Christ saves by vertue of his merit and paiment to those hee discovers their wretched condition and instead thereof a better to be attained hee shewes by whom wee are redeemed and from what and unto what condition the Spirit informing us throughly that God enters into covenant with us Spirituall duties are as opposite tâ—â— flesh and blood as Fire to Water
thou whosoever thou art if thou beest a man or a woman and wilt come and take Christ upon his owne termes for thy Lord and Husband for better for worse with persecutions afflictions crosses c. Take Christ thus and take him for ever and then thou shalt be saved When wee beleeve divine truths by the Spirit they worke upon the heart and draw the affections after them therefore if wee spiritually beleeve the story of the Gospell wee shall have our soules carried to love and imbrance it with joy and comfort Wee may be brought very low but we shall not be confounded yet wee shall be brought as neare confusion as may be to shew us the vanity of the creature in the judgement of the world wee may be confounded but a hand of mercy shall fetch us up againe let the depth of misery and disconsolation be what it will be we shall not be ashamed The reason why Gods children doe oftentimes with great perplexitie doubt of their salvation is because they have a principle of nature in them as well as of grace corruption will breed doubtings as rotten wood breedes Wormes and as Vermine comes out of putrefaction so doubtings and feares come from the remainder of corruption For want of watchfulnesse God oftentimes gives us up to such a perplexed estate that wee shall not know that we are in Grace and though wee may have a principle of Grace in us yet wee shall not see it but may goe out of the world in darkenesse Wee ought not at any time to deny the Truth nor yet at all times to confesse it for good actions and graces are like Princes that come forth attended with Circumstances and if Circumstances in Confession be wanting the action is marred It s true of actions as of words A word spoken in season is like Apples of gold with pictures of silver therefore direction must be our guide for speech is then onely good when it is better than silence It is not lawfull for any weake one to be present at the Masse Dinah ventured abroad and came crackt home its just with God that those that dally with these things should be caught as many idle Travellers are its pittie but those should perish in danger that love danger Hee that will not now denie himselfe in a lust in a lawlesse desire will not deny himselfe in matter of life in time of triall Hee that hath not learned the mortification of the flesh in time of peace will hardly be brought to it in time of trouble Wee must not onely stand for the truth but we must stand for it in a holy manner and not swagger for it as proud persons doe we must observe that in the first of Peter 2. 15. to doe it in meekenesse and feare wee must not bring passion to Gods cause nor must our lives give our tongues the lie There is such a distance betweene corrupt nature and grace that wee must have a great deale of preparation and though there be nothing in preparation to bring the soule to have Grace yet it brings the soule to a nearer distance than those that are wilde persons Nature cannot worke above its owne powers as vapours cannot ascend higher than the Sunne drawes them our hearts are naturally shut and God doth open them by his Spirit in the use of the meanes The children of Israel in the Wildernesse saw wonders upon wonders and yet when they came to be proved they could not beleeve Its Gods free love that hath cast us into these happy times of the Gospell and it s his further love that makes choise of some and refuses others This should therefore teach us sound humility cōfidering that God must open ro else we are eternally shut Seeing Grace is not of our owne getting therefore this should teach us patience towards those that are under us waiting if God at any time will give them repentance though God worke not the first time nor the second time yet wee must waite as the man that lay at the poole of Bethesda for the moving of the water Hee that attends to the Word of God doth not onely know the words which are but the shell but he knowes the things he hath spirituall light to know what Faith and Repentance is there is at that time a spirituall Eccho in the soule as Psal. 27. 8. When thou saidst seeke yee my face my heart answered thy face Lord will I seeke and therefore must men judge of their profiting by the Word not by their carrying of it in their memories but by how much they are made able by it to beare a crosse and how they are made able to resist temptation c. There should not be intimate familiaritie but where we judge men faithfull and those whom upon good grounds we judge faithfull we must be gentle towards them and easie to be intreated and wee wrong them if wee show our selves strange unto them True faith workes love and then it workes by love when it hath wrought that holy affection it works by it as when the Plant is ingrafted and takes it growes presently and shewes the growth in the fruits The Word of God is ancienter than the Scripture for the first word of the Scripture was the Promise The seede of the Woman should breake the head of the Serpent The Scripture is but that Modus that manner of conveying the Word of God this Scripture is the Rule whereby wee must walke and the Iudge also of all controversies of Religion and in spite of the Church of Rome it will judge them S. Augustine hath an excellent Discourse When there is contention betwixt brethren witnesses are brought but in the end the Words the Will of the dead man is brought forth and these Words determine Now shall the words of a dead man be of force and shall not the Word of Christ determine therefore looke to the Scripture All Idolaters shall be ashamed that worship Images that trust to broken Cesternes Let those be ashamed that trust to their wits and policies all those shall be ashamed that beare themselves bigge upon any earthly thing for these crutches will be taken away and then they fall these false reports shall make them all ashamed The way to bring faith into the heart is first there must be a judicious convincing knowledge of the vanitie of all things within us and without us that seemes to yeeld any support to the soule and then the soule is carried to lay hold on Christ as David saith I have seene an end of all perfection Secondly the soule must be convinced of an excellencie in Religion above all things in the world or else it will not rest for the heart of man would chuse the best and when it is perswaded that the gaine in Religion is above the world then it yeelds And thirdly a consideration of the firmenesse of the ground whereupon the Promise is built put God to it therefore either to make his
all and therefore oftentimes God in justice to them suffers good men to fall that such men may take scandall at them to their ruine A man may know that the Word hath wrought upon his conscience when hee comes to it that hee may heare and learne and reforme A man that hath a heart without guile is glad to heare the sharpest reproofes because he knowes that sinne is his greatest enemy but if we live in a course that wee are loath should be touched it is a signe our hearts are full of guile corrupt men they mould their Teachers and fashion them to their lusts but a good and upright heart is willing that Divine truths should have their full authoritie in the soule giving way to our dutie though never so contrary to flesh and blood It is the duty of Ministers to labour to prevent objections that may arise in the hearts of the people so as to hinder the passage of their Doctrine and that truths may more readily come into the heart wee should labour to rellish the person for secret surmises are stones to stumble at therefore both Ministers and people should be carefull to remove them A man ought not to commend himselfe but in some speciall cases first because pride and envie in others will not indure it secondly it toucheth upon Gods glory and therefore we should take heed thirdly it deprives us of comfort and hinders the Apologie of others The Heathens could say that the praising of a mans selfe is a burdensome hearing Le ts take heede therefore that wee snatch not our right out of Gods hand but now on the contrary in some cases wee may praise and commend our selves as when we have a just calling to make an A pologie in way of defence and for the conviction of them that unjustly speake evill of us secondly wee may speake well of our selves in way of example to others as Parents to their children and this doth well become them because it is not out of pride or vaine-glory because the end is discovered to be out of love unto them It s the dutie of those that are Gods children when they have just occasion to take the defence of others upon them and thus did the blind man Iohn 6. He defended Christ against the Pharisees and Ionathan spoke to his Father in the behalfe of David though hee was called the sonne of a rebellious woman yet he knew that hee ought this unto the truth God hath a cause in the world that must be owned and therefore when the cause of Religion is brought upon the stage then God seemes to say as Iehu did Who is on my side who God commends his cause and his children to us And therefore curse yee Meroz said the Angell of the Lord curse yee bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the helpe of the Lord to the helpe of the Lord against the mightie so a curse lies upon those that when the truth suffers have not a word to defend it Vsually the defamers of others are proud vaine-glorious persons if a man will search for the spirit of the devill in men let him looke for it amongst vaine-glorious Teachers Heriticks and superstitious persons the ground of it is from the neerenesse of two contraries there the opposition is the strongest as fire and water when they are neere make the strongest opposition and who are so neere Gods children as vaine-glorious Teachers that are of the same profession Pilat a Heathen shewed more favour to Christ than the Pharisees and this use we should make of it not to take scandall when we see one Divine deprave another for it hath beene so and will be so to the end of the world All things out of God are but grasse when wee joy in any thing out of God it is a childish joy as if wee joyed in Flowers that after we have drawne out the sweetnesse we cast them away all outward things are cōmon to Castawayes as well as to us and without Grace they will provesnares at the houre of death what comfort can wee have in them further than we have had humilitie and love to use them well Therefore if wee would have our hearts seasoned with true joy le ts labour to be faithfull in our places and endeavour according to the gifts wee have to glorifie God To glorie in any thing whatsoever is Idolatry because the minde sets up a thing to glory in which is not God secondly its spirituall adultery to cleave to any thing more than God thirdly its false witnesse bearing to ascribe excellency where there is none wee have a prohibition Let not the wise man glory in his wisedome nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches God will not give his glorie to another and therefore when men will be medling with glory which belongs to God alone he blasts them and sets them afide as broken vessells and disdaines to use them A Christian joyes aright when it proceedes from right principles from Iudgement and Conscience not from Fancie and Imagination when Iudgement and Conscience will beare him out when there is good termes betweene God and him for our joy must spring from peace Rom. 5. Being justified by Faith wee have peace towards God The Apostles beginne their Epistles with Mercy Grace and Peace Mercy in forgivenesse Grace to renew our natures and Peace of conscience here these are things to be gloried in if wee finde our sinnes pardoned our persons accepted and our natures altered then we may comfort our selves in any thing in health in wealth in wife in children in any thing because all come from the favour of God we may joy in afflictions because there is a blessing in the worst things to further our eternall happinesse and though we cannot joy in affliction it self as being a contrary to our nature yet wee may joy in the issue so that we may joyaright when having interest in God wee glory in the testimony of a good conscience when looking inward we finde all at peace when wee can say upon good grounds that God is mine and therefore all is mine both life and death and all things so farre as they may serve for good The hearts of men yea of good men are apt to be taken up with outward things when the weake Disciples had cast out devils they were ready to be proud but Christ quickly spies it and admonishes them not to rejoyce that the devils were subject to them but that their names were written in the Booke of life Therefore when wee finde the least stirrings to glory in any thing wee must checke our selves and consider what Grace wee have to temper them what love wee have to turne these things to the common good for whatsoever a man hath if hee have not withall humilitie and love to use it aright it will turne to his bane It hath beene an old imputation to lay distractednesse upon men of
humility and for this purpose God hath furnished us with the Spirit of all Grace Let us therefore remember when we have any dutie to doe to pray unto Christ to blow upon us with his Spirit God doth not so much looke at our infirmities as at our uprightnesse and sinceritie and therefore when we are out of temptations wee should consider and examine what God hath wrought in us and then though there be infirmities and failings yet if our hearts be upright God will pardon them as wee finde that David and others were accounted upright and yet had many imperfections Watching is an exercising of all the graces of the soule and these are given to keepe our soules awake we have enemies about us that are not asleepe and our worst enemy is within us and so much the worse because so neere we live also in a world full of temptations and wicked men are full of malice wee are passing through our enemies Countrey and therefore had neede to have our wits about us the devill also is at one end of every good action and therefore we had neede to keepe all our graces in perpetuall exercise we should watch in feare of jealousie taking heede of a spirit of drowsinesse labouring also to keepe our selve unspotted of the world It may be asked how we shall know the Scripture to be the Word of God For answer Doe but grant first that there is a God it will follow then that he must be worshipped and served and that this service must be discovered to us that wee may know what hee doth require and then let it be compared what Word of God can come neare to be the same with this Besides God hath blessed the superstition of the Iewes who were very strickt this way to preserve it for us and the Heretickes since the Primitive Church have so observed one another that there can be no other to this Word But now wee must further know that we must have some thing in our soules suitable to the truthes contained in it before we can truely and savingly beleeve it to be the Word of God as that we finde it to have a power in working upon our hearts and affections Luke 24. 32. Did not our hearts burne within us when he opened to us the Scriptures Againe it hath a divine operation to warme and pacifie the soule and a power to make a Felix tremble it hath a searching quality to divide betweene the marrow and the bone we doe not therefore onely beleeve the Scriptures to be the word of God because any man saith so or because the Church saith so but also and principally because I finde it by experience working the same effects in me that it speakes of it selfe and therefore let us never rest till when we heare a promise wee may have some thing in us by the sanctifying Spirit that may be suitable to it and so assuring of us that it is that Word alone that informes us of the good pleasure of God to us and our duty to him There is in God a fatherly anger after conversion he retaines that and this Fatherly anger is also turned away when in sinceritie we humble our selves There is one saith well A child of anger and a child under anger Gods children are not children of wrath but sometimes they are under wrath when they doe not carry themselves as sonnes when they venture on sinnes against conscience c. but if they humble themselves and reforme and flie to God for mercie then they come into favour againe and recover the right of sonnes Wee may know that God loves us when by his Spirit he speakes friendly to our soules and wee by prayer speake friendly to him againe when wee have communion and familiaritie with him whom God loves to them hee discovers his secrets even such secrets as the soule never knew before Hee reveales them to us when our hearts are wrought to an ingenuous confession of sinne and when we have no comfort but from heaven even as a father discovers his bowells most to his child when it is sicke so God reserves the discoverie of his love especially untill such a time when wee renounce all carnall confidence therefore if wee can assure our soules that God loves us let us then be at a point for any thing that shall happen to us in this world whether it be disgrace or contempt or whatsoever because we may fetch patience and contentednesse from hence that Gods love supplies all wants whatsoever After a gracious pardon for sinne there are two things remaining in us Infirmities and Weakenesses Infirmities are corruptions stirred up which hinders us from good and puts us forward to evill but yet they are so farre resisted and subdued that they breake not forth into action Weakenesse is when we suffer an infirmitie to breake out for want of watchfulnesse as if a man be subject to passion when this is working disturbance in the minde it is infirmitie but when for want of watchfulnesse it breakes forth into action then it is weakenesse and these diseases are suffered in us to put us in minde of the bitter roote of sinne for if we should not sometimes breake forth into sinne wee should thinke that our nature were cured Who would have thought that Moses so meeke a man could have so broken out into passion we see it also in David and Peter and others and this is to shew that the corruption of nature in them was not fully healed but there is this difference betweene the slippes and falls of Gods children and of other men when other men fall it setles them in their dregges but when Gods children falls they see their weakenesses they see the bitter roote of sinne and hate it the more and are never at quiet till it be cast out by the strength of Grace and Repentance Therefore let no man be too much cast downe by his infirmities so long as they are resisted for from hence comes a fresh hatred of corruption and God lookes not upon any sinne but sinne ungrieved for unresisted otherwise God hath a holy end in suffering sinne to be in us to keepe us from worse things There is none that out of sinceritie doe give themselves to holy conference but are gainers by it Many men aske questions and are inquisitive to know but not that they might put in practise this is but a proud desire to taste of the tree of knowledge but the desire of true affected Christians is to know that they might seeke Christ we gaine oftentimes by discourse with those that are punies in Religion Saint Paul desires to meete with the Romanes though they were his converts that he might be strengthened by their mutuall faith Rom. 1. 12. When once the Spirit doth fasten the wrath of God upon the conscience of one whom he meanes to save then there followes these afflicting affections of griefe and shame and from hence comes a dislike and hate of