thou hast excelled them all 2. Branch Prerogative of Faith And secondly the prerogative of faith is sutable to her nature for although many things are very pretious in nature as jewells which excell in lustre and brightnesse which yet equall not the price with any reall use Job 28.19 yet this pretious grace is as usefull also and therefore well might Salomon say and so Iob also She is more pretious then Rubies and the Topaz of Ethiopia shall not bee taken for her And that appeares by this that she is the doer of all in all in the soule both for light In sundry respects direction and strength First for light as the Sunne is first subject of naturall light in the world So is Faith in the supernaturall divine light in the soule And is to the whole man as our Saviour speakes of the eye if it be light then is the whole body light the hand Matth. 6.22 the foote the members are all light if the eye be cleare And as the Ephod or Urim were to the Priest so is faith to the soule even the oracle of it and conceives the deep things of God and reveals them to us to whom before they were hidden And if it be true as it s most true that we know no more in Gods matters then wee beleeve then surely faith is the key of all true and saving knowledge in the soule Then also she is the directresse of the soule As servants from the Master or Mistresse so doe all the graces of the Spirit receive direction from the gift of faith As in a ship each boy hath his taske some to row with oares in the boat others to climb the shreeds to pumpe to stop the leaks some to attend the steridge but all receive direction from the boatswaine he orders them and their works So Faith workes not every thing immediately in the frame of a Christian she hath abundance of workemen and as the Centurion said to his so Faith saith to hers Doe this suffer this conquer this come goe and they all obey If a crosse come goe Patience endure it If a blessing come Sobriety use it temperately as if thou didst not use it If any duty of mercy to soule or body to be done Charity and Liberality must doe them If any hard taske then Wisedome Diligence or Selfe-deniall must step forth and to these Faith gives their charge and orders their worke Thirdly she is the strength of all other graces of the Spirit As all sinewes are from the braine all Arteries from the heart all veines from the liver thence they derive their originall and all that activity which they exercise in the body So 1 Joh. 3.9 all the graces of the Spirit fetch their being and support from Faith Shee is the seed of God in the Soule and she is the strength of God also His seed because whatsoever divinenesse is in the gift of patience long-suffering thankfulnesse mercy love hope of salvation it comes from the fountaine of Faith She is the Merchant Royall all other Chapmen have their wares from her Store-house Then she is the strength also of God in all graces Whatsoever thou seest excellent in a Christians frame or graces if thou hadst an eye to see thou shouldst behold them all in one faith out of whole Forge and Anvill they are all formed For why Faith taking hold of Gods maine strength to save carries away all his strength to obey if God will save me surely hee deserves my love my patience and surely hee and his love will put mee forth and uphold me in doing for him in curbing my passions in mortifying my Giant-like corruptions the great sonnes of Anak those Emims and Zanzummims 2 Cor. 5.8 Esay 26.12 which are above all the rest in fiercenesse and strength So that now mark this Doctrine of Faith casting the Soule upon the Word and Promise for pardon and life argues the most excellent nature and prerogative of faith above all other It is evident by this whatsoever the Lord workes in man he workes by the Word and the Spirit and whatsoever these two act in the soule they act it by faith as their onely instrument so that Faith is the onely Intelligencer to the Soule from the Spirit and from Heaven and that grace which is maintained as agent for God in the soul No other gift is so As hee saith of the ship that there are in it many who do needfull works but the Pilot doth all in all he doth not so sordid works as they but he doth greater and better for he sits at the sterne and guides the course of the Ship into the Haven the other are but subordinate but shee is principall so I may say of Faith and other graces all of them conferre to the well-being of a Christian but faith to the being The Ship boyes stop leakes and row with Oares but they doe not the great worke of guiding the Ship by Card and Compasse till she come at land So all that which any grace of the Spirit doth that faith doth But faith doth somewhat which they doe not nor can doe Nay faith is faine to cover all the defects of other graces to save them harmlesse and to beare their chin above water from sinking As we see that the Shield is not onely armour to fence the body Ephes 6.16 but also to fence off blowes and affronts from all the armour it selfe so that the dint come not at the head-peece or corslet or the rest Onely faith brings the Lord Jesus into the soule to doe all her workes in her and for her and when all is done to pardon the wants and to cleanse away the spots thereof by cloathing her with that robe under which God seeth no deformity to impute or punish it To conclude I say brethren that I presse this purposely that as I have spoken much of those things in this Book which tend to faith so I would perswade you to thinke no paines too great to bestow in the getting thereof because this grace being once gotten to cast the soule upon the Word and Promise yea God himselfe in Christ By this meane she hath all because she encloseth him who is all in all in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdome who is the fulnesse of God in whom we are complete And so much may serve for this use Vse 2 Another use of instruction may be to give us some further light into the substance of this grace of faith Of Instruction Faith hath two parts 1. Self denial by shewing you of what ingredients the receit is made or of what parcels it consists And they are two The former deniall of our selves The latter resigning up of the soule to Gods Word For to cast the soule upon the promise implies both these Selfe-deniall then first is one parcell of this grace For why It is impossible that the soule should cast it selfe upon a Word
it to see an insufficiency in a thing which is the price of every thing Mony and wealth can build Churches pulpits buy all ornaments of a Church Bibles and Tables and Chalices and hire Preachers and maintaine the Gospel now why then should it not buy Christ too especially if alms good deeds and workes of charity accompany a profession of Christ and his religion and a verball depending upon him and his merits alone not any Popish works or Idolls for salvation Alas such profession of word and holding Christ in judgement may easily stand with living upon the creature and building the soules nest of joy content and sufficiency in the holes of this rocke How hardly then should such a rich man or such a selfe in the creature enter into heaven What an enemy it is to Christ It is easier for a Camell to goe through a needles eie The Lord Jesus the truth it selfe spake it of a yong man who thought himselfe past danger Matth. 19.23 who yet hearing of this sufficiency of Christ if he would sell all went away sorrowâ—ull and why he had great possessions that is great possessions had him and filled him top full with another sufficiency which made Christ unsavory and the same I may say of these who were in the chase to get them when the sufficiency of Christ and all his dainties and fulnesse even a feast was offered them lo their answer was I am to goe see a farme I have bought oxen Luke 14. I am to marry a wife have us excused we have that which we like better we cannot come Farmes and oxen are joyned with wives to shew that selfe in any creature and carnall content sets the heart at rest and gives it a common wealth within so that it need not seeke out Matth. 13. So the third and last bad ground which had both some roote and some depth within yet without was so cumbred with these thorns of mony and pleasures living preferment great dependances favor and repute in the world that like a canker they fretted out the marrow and vigor of Christ and faith or neede of his sufficiency First How the creature forestalls Christ 1. It swells the soule with imagination that God loveth it 2. Prides it selfe in the ease and welfare which it feeles the fulnesse of the creature swells the soule up with a conceit that God loves it deerely that hee will entertaine it so richly thinking him to be as busie in heaven to make it a mansion as hee hath beene liberall in giving it one here not dreaming that the body may be full when the soule is leane and that riches are given for a snare of the owners as Micoll to betray David Secondly it prides the soule to thinke of her selfe according to the outward appearance and glee of wealth and welfare and that the soule is in as good case to God as worldward and though there bee infinite much in the world against it yet such is the bribing property of selfe in the creature that it perverts sound judgement not suffering the soule to thinke a thought against her owne worth conceiving that all should think her as she doth her selfe very good and in a safe condition Not remembring that for all the creature it may be blinde miserable and naked and go from a Paradise here to an hell hereafter as Dives did Thirdly it stiffens and hardens the heart against the words both of Law and Gospel 3. Stiffens the heart against the word preached the one including all the richest within wrath and driving them to a losse within themselves the other offering the eie-salve gold and robe of the Lord Jesus to supply that losse How shall that soul hearken to either which feeles no neede when the eare and heart is so bedulled and ingrossed with fulnesse and fatnesse of the creature that none of the Redeemers sufficiency can enter Now if it stumble at these two in the porch how should it ever enter into the secret the holy of holies in faith and regeneration This may be enough for the purpose of this discourse to open the truth save that this one reason may be added That selfe in welfare and wealth hath in it the spirit of scorning the Ministery of Christ With disdaine it bewrayed it selfe even when Christ himself preached for it is said That some who heard him scorned him for they were rich Luke 5. and the like humor possesses their successors And this property agrees well with them who make the creature their strong hold as I have heard of a City besieged which cast out loaves and victualls to the enemy in scorne and telling them that they were farre from starving As he said soule take thine ease thou hast laid up for many yeares Even for so many that the need of Christ will hardly be felt Therefore to conclude this branch also let mee admonish these persons that if ever the Lord will settle the alsufficiency of Christ upon them Admonitions to this sort he will first captivate this selfe in the creature and sub-ordaine it to himselfe he will cause the image of it to be despised yea cause the soule to cry out of her selfe and say what a foole yea a beast am I in thy sight Psal 73. the soule I say shall bee full of the creature even in a contrary sense that is stomacke sicke of it as a surfet The Lord shall rectifie the soules judgement about this selfe then the ranknesse of this pleurisie to be let out of the soule 1. See the vanity of the creature First by shewing it the vanity and insufficiency of it to helpe in the day of wrath how poore a fort it will prove in the day of affliction and feare It cannot rid the owner of an ague of the tooth ache of the least affront it hath no bloud in it to satisfie 2. Behold the image and face of God in the promise Secondly the Lord shall set the soule in a serious posture and meditation of that presence of his which shall make all the earth and the glory of it to vanish and melt and those who have beene formost in this creature-happinesse to come hindmost stand a far off from them who have chosen Christ to be their sufficiency then shall the glory of the one bee turned to confusion and the disdaine of the other to admiration Then shall all their worldly proppes become as broken staves the splinters of which shall pierce them much more then ever the care to get them could pierce them with sorrow 3. Behold the curse stamped upon the creature yea despaire The Lord will cause them to looke into the creature and to behold it as branded with a curse by sinne but doubly cursed when in stead of serving Christ it resists him and fights against him and makes Christ and the soule servants to it which is to renounce him who is blessed for ever
our selves to trouble and need not We hope we are as honest as others and would be as loth in cold blood to prevaricate as others but being now snared we must provide for our selves as well as we can we must save our selves for better times and not betray our owne safety Our opinion is sound and our practice shall be honest howbeit if any command of men come betweene to try and compell us what would you have us to doe We can dispense so with our people that they shall not stumble at us we can so order it that we can confute that with one breath which we allow with another Oh! thou temporizing hypocrite is thy conscience kept in a box like those witches eyes to pull out and keep in at thy pleasure Doest thou I say not reject the paterne of Gods ancient and moderne Confessors and Martyrs Heb. 11.37 but the expresse charge of commands that thou shouldest dare to please men to dishonour God Exod. 32. Take therefore that famous example of Aaron that it may give thee thy belly full of thine equivocations and distinctions against a Command Moses being gone up into the Mount the people would needs have a Calfe and to that end would needs presse Aaron to make it for them they knew his authority would carry it through better then their owne and so urge him to bee active in it What should Aaron have done Surely abhorred the thought of it and clave to the second Command with many other to that purpose But here feare or flattery or infirmity steps in and makes him a Politician hee bethinkes himselfe of a witty trick to out-shoot the Divell in his owne bow for supposing they would not easily bring their Eare-rings and Jewels to be molten he tells them If they would have a Calfe it must be made of their costliest ornaments bring him them and they should heare more whereas hee should have checkt himselfe and said What if they bring them as indeed they did wil that discharge me No surely therefore I will put my life into Gods hands cease to colour against Command and abhorre their motion What came of this Alas he was taken in his owne snare and so was not able to goe backe but makes them a Calfe Had he not think we infinite many arguments to shift off his sinne Yes verily he feared their violence or was loath to crosse them too farre his conscience was honest in the maine and what should he doe What Should they rend him in peeces He knew Moses would curbe them afterward but he was not able But what of all these Could these shield him from Moses his bitter rebuke and Gods more bitter wrath Shouldest thou mine high Priest betray mine honour to the lust of rebells Was there none but Aaron to make the people naked Should their father their nurse expose them to wrath and vengeance Oh we see what it cost him Nay even Kings themselves have been such fearefull examples for their audaciousnesse Judg. 27.8 2 Chron. 24.17 Gedeon for his Ephod Ioash for hearkning to his Princes and their bribes Saul for sacrificing without Samuel And shall wee venture to violate the Soveraignty of Gods commands Beware lest if we dare to doe it wee pay for it as they When those Princes of Samaria heard Iehu's challenge for the children of Ahab 2 King 10.4 what said they Behold two Kings could not stand before him and shall we venture No doubtlesse we will send in their heads rather So say I let not any feare or favour of man embolden you to try conclusions with God to remove his landmarkes to descant upon his Statutes for if Prophets Priests Kings have not beene able to stand it out how much lesse you Transgresse who dare or will but bring you the heads in baskets to Iehu tender you close obedience to God The more ye are pursued for conscience the more sticke to it Cast not that away to the hunters As they say the Bezor whose stone we prize understands she is hunted for nothing save her stone therefore if the hounds put her hard to it she bites them off and saves her life Doe not you so lest the misery of a lost conscience prove more fearefull then all the gaine of your ease and ends can prove sweet And to adde another item to inferiours 2. Branch Inferiors follow not the example of superiours in the breaking of Gods commands If others will be so base as to betray us to make us naked let us winde our cloake the closer about us trust God and save the darling of our peace entire If our Ministers will defend usury petty oathes jeastings riots abusing of the Sabboth let us be so much the more resolved against them and for the Sabbath to keepe it holy not only as a day of voluntary devotion at our pleasure for so wee may grow to sanctifie one of tenne or twelve aswell as seven but the eight day and Lords day consecrated by himselfe doubtlesse by intimation to his Apostles and by their practice to the honour of his rest from the worke of redemption Note And howsoever so expresse a text for the change and prorogation of the seventh to the eight as we might wish be not found yet were not our sinfull hearts prejudiced against the power of godlinesse wee might rather conclude that by this silence God tries our honesty then provokes our treachery Epecially the command of the Sabbath If the Lord Jesus purposely would defile and abdicate the seventh day Sabbath of the Jew by lying in the grave that whole day and no other else that he might early rise upon the next morrow after the light appeared whereas else he might have lien that day too To this end that as the first Sabbath was devoted to the honour of Gods rest from his creation so this second might much more be deputed to the honor of the finished redemption a far greater worke shall we quarrell with him and call it a wil-worship Christ Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath translated the rest of Creation to the rest of Redemption No verily but rather the more we see Gods Sabbaths and their morality opposed the closer let us cling to them let us know that although the meditation of Gods creation and providence be not abandoned by the eight day yet there is added a more forcible one for us to chew upon To wit the excellency of the Evangelicall Sabbath serving to magnifie the power of the resurrection which as it gave our Saviour a rest from his worke of satisfaction so it gave us the full accomplishment of the merit thereof for what had his death and grave beene worth to us without his victory And what lesse fruit can we reape thereby then the clearenesse of our justification Rom. 4. ult As he shewed himselfe the sonne of man in dying so doth he shew himselfe the Sonne of God by the power of his rising